What do you hope for in the future games of Sos and RF?

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Anonymous Fish

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I was thinking a lot about Story of Seasons and Rune Factory lately and it made think:
what do you hope for both Story of Seasons and Rune Factory games to have in the game in future releases?
(feel free to list and why you want this to happen)

For me:
More diversed marriage candidates
When they announced the marriage candidates for Rune Factory 5, I was really disappointed to see female marriage candidates have more range of girls to marry like succubus, elf and a sage whereas the male marriage candidates only has a werewolf. I see this a lot in past Rune Factory games where the male protagonist gets to marry mermaids, elf, goddesses and etc. I want to see more diverse male marriage candidates like mermans, fairies, gods and etc in future Rune Factory games.
Same goes for Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town, I was a little disappointed to see the girls designs are so much pretty and detailed compared to some of the boys who are reused personalities (especially the mean and cold but friendly types) and similar style to characters from past games like Damon for example is basically Neil and Wayne combined (really weird that Neil is chosen to be part of DLC Expansion pack).
I don't dislike how the characters are designed and written in Rune Factory 5 or Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town, but it starts to get really boring when these kind of things gets recycled a lot. And to be honest, I would like to see more diverse male candidates than females candidates since we get to see a lot in past Story of Seasons and Rune Factory games.
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PaleSunflower
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I would like to see more magical candidates as well. I think the only game to have an equal number of magical bachelorettes to magical bachelors was HM:AP, with the Harvest Goddess, Harvest King (whose wedding ring identifies him as a « Harvest Goddess »), the witch, and the wizard.

I know quite a few people who like more variation in the love interests, such as more widows and widowers, older gentlemen and gentlewomen, and single parents.

There was a thread on Reddit a while back where the poster basically wanted more dark-skinned characters with more variation in how these dark skinned characters are portrayed. A lot of them have Indian (as in the country, India) influence in their designs, and the poster wanted more African or African American influence.
Anonymous Fish wrote: Same goes for Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town, I was a little disappointed to see the girls designs are so much pretty and detailed compared to some of the boys who are reused personalities (especially the mean and cold but friendly types) and similar style to characters from past games like Damon for example is basically Neil and Wayne combined (really weird that Neil is chosen to be part of DLC Expansion pack).
Unfortunately, that type of character (also know as tsundere) will likely continue to appear and re-appear in future titles. They are kind of everywhere, existing in seemingly every game with a dating sim aspect. The primary variation you get is in whether the character is trying to be mean (many are more socially awkward than intentionally rude), how mean the character is, and their excuse or reasoning, if given, for being mean or cold in the first place. They can get a bit boring after a while.
Spoiler:
A rare exception would be Allen from HM:ANB. He is a rude, arrogant jerk with with a ... odd sense of humor at best. While he reluctantly agrees to handle chores after marriage and can be charming and caring when he feels it, he never quite softens up like most cold and mean characters in the series. While many players find him refreshing (I don't think the series has another character like Allen), many other players find him overly abrasive or even abusive, so he likely not return. If another character like him does appear, I would expect him (?) to, not only be more polite, but also nicer in general. In other words, more like a typical tsundere instead of a subverted one.
RodCopper Fishin
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I mainly want a more involved family life. I want multiple kids with different looks and the ability to affect their personalities. I think the AP kids were just great. The family events such as birthday parties, which they seem to be cutting from the games lately, need to also make a comeback. I want to take my spouse on dates after marriage and see unique dialogue. I want other villagers to acknowledge my marriage and children. I want to have an army of children... like 5 lol! I think 3oT was headed in a great direction with all of this and then suddenly PoOT just dropped all that progress. I might be in the minority with this one, but I also wish the customizing and crafting would just stop. I can’t stand gathering materials and planning the farm layouts. Nothing ever looks as pretty as the pre-made farms. The Bluebell farm from ToTT for example *chef’s kiss*
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Burning Spear
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RodCopper Fishin wrote:I think 3oT was headed in a great direction with all of this and then suddenly PoOT just dropped all that progress. I might be in the minority with this one, but I also wish the customizing and crafting would just stop. I can’t stand gathering materials and planning the farm layouts. Nothing ever looks as pretty as the pre-made farms. The Bluebell farm from ToTT for example *chef’s kiss*
I think this says it perfectly. The series seemed to be evolving largely for the better while adhering to its core game play. Imagine a console game that built upon what Trio gave us. And then Marvelous mysteriously shelved it for years before outsourcing it to a developer of dubious credibility with the result being something that feels lost in translation. As though the people who developed the game -- whether it was Marvelous, Three Rings or both -- were trying to copy something they'd never played and had no appreciation for. It seems odd to me that Marvelous is only now committing itself to listening to what the fans like and dislike about Pioneers and patching accordingly. You've been developing these games for two decades and yet you're not in step with what the fans like and want? That's bizarre to me, and it again suggests that the people who designed Pioneers had little frame of reference from which to work.

But to get back to the topic ... I know this will not be heeded, but I wish they would ditch the crafting, as RodCopper suggested, dial back customization that doesn't involve the protagonist's appearance, and ditch the cutesy kiddie elements, such as pink cows and riding unicorns. There is not much they need to add to these games. Formulate a story, change the character models, create a compelling world, and slap it onto the existing template. This is one series that does not require a lot of reimagining.
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PaleSunflower
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Burning Spear wrote:But to get back to the topic ... I know this will not be heeded, but I wish they would ditch the crafting, as RodCopper suggested, dial back customization that doesn't involve the protagonist's appearance, and ditch the cutesy kiddie elements, such as pink cows and riding unicorns. There is not much they need to add to these games. Formulate a story, change the character models, create a compelling world, and slap it onto the existing template. This is one series that does not require a lot of reimagining.
You mean the strawberry cows that magically make strawberry milk of SoS:FoMT? Your post has reminded me of other things I would like to see.

I like the idea of more animals in general, but I also think that it needs to be consistent in way. Strawberry cows don't exist, but silk worms, ostriches, and other unusual livestock do (I wish they would come back). I also wish the rabbits looked more like actual rabbits. I kinda hate the current design, and I was never a huge fan of the bubble cattle either.

In a way, HM:OW does the animals better in my opinion. The bunnies resemble like real bunnies, and different species exist (though they are just pallet swaps of each other) instead of the generic, bipedal rabbits and other colored rabbits of the same breed, I guess. (Here's a thought - why can't we have white Angora rabbits and just dye the fur to whatever color we need for crafting?) In addition to the usual generic cows, sheep, goats, and horses (the last come in a wide variety of colors), HM:OW allows players to own and ride camels and reindeer (the old description for reindeer even mentioned milking them, which is an idea), keep Araucana chickens, and shear cashmere goats. I wish the games had more Easter-eggers and other breeds that don't normally lay pure white eggs in them. Silkie chickens usually lay white to light brown eggs in real life, not brown as in SoS:PoOT.

(I would like to note that the lava bunny in my profile picture is from the Mythical Wild Animals DLC - it's a pallet-swap of a normal hare, but you won't find it in the base game.)

It seems SoS:PoOT in particular steers away from giving proper breed names to their animals for some reason. Instead of "brown cows," why not bring back Jersey cows from HM:ANB, SoS(1), and SoS:ToT? Instead of just brown, regular alpacas, llamas can make a comeback as a crafting resource instead (why can't we just dye the white alpaca wool brown for crafting). What I find weird is that the Alpine goat, Silkie chicken, and Suffork sheep are named, but the more expensive cows are just "brown" or "black." I wouldn't mind if all the animals had breed names, like the generic cow being referred to as Holstein-Friesian cattle in the encyclopedia or something, in the HM, SoS, and RF games.

Personally, I am fine with fantasy critters (mermaids and at least one probable yeti exist in the series, after all), but strawberry cows, fruit cows, and coffee cows are lazy and brown and black cow "breeds" are just boring. The excuse for a unicorn in SoS:PoOT also irks me - it's just a regular horse with a styled hair in the shape of a horn instead of an actual horn, for some reason. I don't understand why they didn't just include a proper unicorn at that point. Did they think a "real" unicorn would break the immersion of game that features giant and miniture wolves, Earth spirits, and whatever the colophons are suppose to be (magic hamsters)? I don't get it. Either go fully into the fantasy livestock or don't.
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