One of the most highly anticipated remakes among Harvest Moon fans,Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Lifeis a beautiful blend of nostalgia and modernization. From the hybrid crops to influencing what your children grow up to be, it does a fantastic job of retaining those special qualities from the original game we all loved.
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Not everything stayed the same, though. Quite a few things were tweaked, altered, or completely new to the Forgotten Valley experience. While some are more obvious, others might have slipped under the radar. Twenty years is plenty of time for something to slip your mind, after all.
10You Can Sell The Goat
After the first chapter, Van will add a special item to his stock: a goat! This adorable little lady will offer a year’s worth of Goat’s Milk, which sells for a better price than cow’s milk. In the original GameCube game, you had to purchase a separate milker for the goat.
But that’s not the noteworthy change. Originally, there was no way to sell the goat after that year was up. By then, the goat only took up valuable barn space and feeding resources. There even was a phase of people searching online for ways to kill the goat. In SoS: AWL,you can now sell the goatlike any other farm animal.
9Your Market Stall Is Better
Another unique feature of the AWL games, Story of Seasons and Harvest Moon both, the in-town shop allows you tosell your items to the locals directly. This offers a more immediate way to get some coins while potentially earning favor with the villagers.
In the 2003 game, anything in your inventory would be ‘up for sale,’ prompting citizens to ask for things like your tools and seeds. Now, you have a dedicated crate to store the items you intend to sell.
8You Can Buy The Seed Maker
Every farmer’s dream, the Seed Maker works much like how it did before. Put a crop in, wait, and two seeds come out. In the remake, you need only order the equipment after a certain point.
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Originally, you had to befriend the local scientist Daryl. After a point, you would unlock a cutscene where he would rant about someone in the city stealing his seed maker invention, and he will give you one as proof.
7The Alarm Clock Works Differently
Similar to the Seed Maker, the Alarm Clock is also different. Before, you had to befriend Grant (now called Garrett), and he would give you an Alarm Clock he no longer needed. You could use it to control when you wake up in the morning.
In Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life,you are rewarded the Alarm Clockby completing a bulletin board task for Garrett. It can then be set to any time on a 12-hour clock face. It can even wake you up in the PM hours.
6Play As And Romance Men OR Women
Often the most frequently asked question about slice-of-life farming sim games, Marvelous-Developed or otherwise, is whether or notsame-sex romance and marriage is an option.
In Harvest Moon, it wasn’t an option. In fact, to play as a woman and romance a man, you had to buy an entirely separate game called “Another Wonderful Life.” In the Story of Seasons game, you may play as, and romance, either a man or a woman.
5You Can Take Pictures With A Camera
With such a charming atmosphere, interesting characters, and lovable animals, there’s plenty of reason to want to snap a few pictures for an album. You get the camera tool from your Uncle and can use it to aim and snap pictures.
The original game had no camera. You could go into a first-person perspective view, but no snapshot option existed, in-game or on the console.
4Many Villagers Have New Names
Another difference you’ll notice sooner than later, many of the locals have different names now. Some were changed to better fit the localization, while others were likely to better fit the character’s new designs.
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Some names make sense, like Tartan being changed to Vinnie and Muffy going by Molly. Others seem unnecessary, like Celia becoming Cecilea and Galen becoming Gary. New names or not, they’re still the same characters we love in their hearts.
3The Names And Nuances of Hybrid Crops
Arguably the most unique mechanic of any Harvest Moon game, and one we didn’t see again until now, you canfuse two crops together to create new hybrid crops. More than that, you can then fuse those hybrids again to even more hybridized crops. You even get to choose the name of the latter.
While the core of this mechanic remains the same, there are a small handful of changes to it. First, every First Generation hybrid has a new name compared to the original game. So what used to be called a Trady is now called a Turnmato. Second, the introduction of blue crops, where you may get a color-swapped variety by fusing the crop with a Trick Blue flower.
2The Bulletin Board
Tired of missing out on cutscenes and interactions with characters because you never knew it was an option? Then you’ll love this change. There is nowa bulletin board in the middle of town. Here, you’re able to view special requests from the various townsfolk, which will grant rewards ranging from new outfits to the previously mentioned Alarm Clock.
Some requests reward you with basic items like seeds. These will have a limited time frame to complete. There are also special requests with no time limit; those are where the good rewards come in. It’s a new system to the game and a very warmly welcomed one.
1The Tool Upgrade System
While the Bulletin Board may be the most jarring change, the new tool system is, by far, the most gameplay-altering upgrade. Previously, you had a shed next to your barn that acted as a storage space for all of your tools. You began with a basic set. Others were available for purchase, and you get various rare and unique tools from special cutscenes.
Throw all of that out the window. In Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life, you don’t have a shed; you keep all tools in your inventory. If you want better, you’re able to upgrade them to copper, silver, and gold, respectively. Each upgrade comes with more powerful abilities. Don’t worry, though. You canstill unlock rare toolsby befriending the locals.
