Whereas different studios had been riffing on the formulation with dinosaurs, corpses, slimes, witches, and queer relationships, Marvelous faltered, releasing mid-tier Doraemon tie-ins, remakes of Associates of Mineral City and A Great Life (which had been admittedly good, however a bit geriatric in comparison with trendy farming video games), and the one unique launch, the empty grind-fest that was Pioneers of Olive City.
It was beginning to appear to be the glory days of Story of Seasons video games had been lengthy behind us. Trio of Cities, the final SoS recreation made in a pre-Stardew world, was considered one of their greatest. It appeared like Marvelous was spooked by their competitors, and worse, like they had been making an attempt to copy it – Pioneers of Olive City cribbed closely and clumsily from Stardew’s homework moderately than remembering what made them the style trailblazer within the first place. Even Natsume’s Harvest Moon spinoffs began getting higher than Story of Seasons, which is like watching a pug with three legs outrun a greyhound.
So by the point Grand Bazaar was introduced – one other remake, this time of a a lot much less fashionable Story of Seasons recreation (albeit one with a cult following) – I had already grown jaded. It might in all probability be effective. It could not presumably be worse than Pioneers of Olive City’s abandoned cities and uninteresting mines.
However they did it! They really did it! Marvelous dug deep, went again to the drafting board, discovered an ember of their outdated magic hidden in the back of a cabinet, and nurtured it right into a roaring flame.
Grand Bazaar’s remake is deep, detailed, beautiful, and as a pleasant shock, absolutely voiced. Not is Marvelous trying over its shoulder on the different farming video games in the marketplace. Not are they making an attempt to maintain up with the cool children. As a substitute, Story of Seasons is lastly getting again in contact with its roots, specializing in characters, a way of neighborhood, and that signature supernatural silliness that introduced us issues like Vinnie the speaking plant and the Harvest Sprites.
Even higher, I really feel like you possibly can inform that the builders themselves are happier. Pioneers of Olive City felt like a recreation that struggled to search out its id – usually the results of over-iterating on the design with no clear imaginative and prescient, or extra merely, simply not having a ton of cash or time – whereas Grand Bazaar virtually glows with character. There are small touches of care and element in all places, from the flags and window shutters flapping within the wind to the post-game addition of the Glad Bingo system, simply to present gamers extra to do.
There are tons of additives to the unique recreation, together with new characters, villager requests, a Breath of the Wild-inspired gliding system, voiced dialogue, character customisation, and the all-important same-gender romance – all of which present an excessive amount of data about what the farming recreation neighborhood likes to see in these types of video games.
After which there’s the Bazaar itself. I by no means performed the unique, however from what I perceive, it was a a lot less complicated factor, which has been completely reworked and expanded, with deeper programs. It additionally does away with a few of the frustrations of its predecessor, like buyer questions. It is an insightful method to carry the sport as much as trendy tastes with out shedding the flavour that made these outdated video games profitable within the first place, and I am unable to wait to see them channel these learnings into a brand new, unique recreation.
We in all probability will not get any perception into what it was wish to develop Grand Bazaar, however I would not be shocked if Marvelous did some drastic reshaping of the studio and its growth processes to make Grand Bazaar nearly as good as it’s. It isn’t simply fairly – as a result of Associates of Mineral City and A Great Life had been fairly – it is a recreation that lastly stands as much as others within the aggressive farming recreation style. I simply hope that it isn’t a fluke.
I actually, actually need to see Marvelous proceed to show why they have been round for therefore lengthy, and Grand Bazaar is, finally, a step in the fitting path.
Have you ever performed Grand Bazaar on Change 1 or 2 this yr? Do you suppose that is the very best SoS recreation but? tell us within the feedback!
