Return to PopoloCrois: A STORY OF SEASONS Fairytale - Info

[wyrdwad]

Btw Tom, IDK (or forgot) where/who to relay this to, but I just wanted to say I have been really happy to see various games localized by XSeed in the Humble Store, so I just wanted to say thanks to whoever did that and to you guys for localizing the games for us so they can be there. I just really think it's great when game companies help support charities so I hope you don't mind me posting this message here in case you know who I should send it to or if you could for me, or something, if that makes sense? Sometimes I feel like with a smaller company it can be even harder to know where to go to say stuff like that for me so I figured I would say it here.

Well, thanks! That's mighty kind of you to say! I'll pass it along for sure, and if you're ever looking to make comments like this in the future, feel free to direct them to comments@xseedgames.com.

Also this is only the second PoPoLoCRoIS game to be localized in English, right? I have to admit I never even heard of the series before this so I am excited to see how this game is! (Maybe I should read the manga or watch the anime, if either are in English.)

The manga, no, but the anime is... unofficially. Translated by me. My first translation project of all time was a fan-subtitling of the anime series (both anime series, actually: the 25-episode one from 1998, and the 26-episode one from 2003), and I'd definitely recommend both of them -- the 1998 series is more character-centric, with a slow pacing and an almost philosophical bent to it at times (also AMAZING animation and music for a 1998 TV anime), while the 2003 series is more action-packed and "kiddy," feeling a bit like an old-school Saturday morning cartoon (but with somewhat darker themes than you'd typically see on American TV, especially toward the end).

The 1998 series tells a totally original story, while the 2003 series retells the story of the two Japan-only PopoloCrois games for PS2 (which aren't particularly good games, but tell a pretty nice tale, especially the second). Because of this, the 2003 series is kind of split into two: the first 13 episodes tell one story, and the next 13 episodes tell another. So when asked to rank the anime, I usually tell people that my favorite is the second half of the 2003 series, followed by the 1998 series, followed by the first half of the 2003 series.

You definitely don't need to watch the anime to enjoy Return to PopoloCrois, though -- the PopoloCrois series is pretty episodic, each one telling an entirely self-contained tale (and filling you in on any character details from previous adventures that may be even remotely relevant). The 1998 anime isn't even referenced in any of the games (the games don't discount the possibility of the anime's events occurring, but the events are never actually mentioned), and the 2003 anime isn't referenced either on account of being the latest entry in the series chronologically.

-Tom

[Melody Muse]

Ah, thank you so much, Tom! I appreciate you that and I will make sure to do so in the future.

Also thanks for all the details on the anime! I generally love anime made in the 80s and 90s, in large part due to the philosophical bend a lot had then (or at least the ones I saw did), so the 1998 one sounds especially good to me. Of course, Saturday morning cartoon feels hit the nostalgia as well (and I love shorter, contained stories too). Plus seeing your old work on both would be fun. I'll look into it. I am glad the game and the anime serieses are self contained though, since it means I can surprise friends with the game for a present sometime.

I'll be excited to see how the game differs and such from the anime then! Besides the SoS crossover ofc.

Thanks for all the great information, Tom! And again, welcome to the forums and thanks for joining!

[Bluie]

I have a question for you Tom! Its more of a fun thing. Who's your favorite of the "bachelorettes"?


Design wise, I like Iris but from what ive seen and read, Lily seems like best girl.

[wyrdwad]

I have a question for you Tom! Its more of a fun thing. Who's your favorite of the "bachelorettes"?

Design wise, I like Iris but from what ive seen and read, Lily seems like best girl.

For me, it's either Emilia or Leyla. Emilia is probably the most interesting and well-rounded of them, and her English voice is just freaking adorable -- she was played as a southern tomboy, and the southern drawl just fits the character SO PERFECTLY. She's the most confident of the five girls, and arguably the most capable, but she has a lot going on deep down.

Leyla, then, is just... really, really sweet. Easily the most "moe" of the five girls, and the one who seems the most genuinely glad for your friendship -- she's kind of lonely, and kind of shy, and just has a lot of lines that kind of make you go, "awww"!

Lily is a very close third, though, as... well, she just has a few screws loose, but in the most entertaining possible way. She is OBSESSED with bugs, and kind of almost acts like she IS a bug on occasion. It's adorable, but also very slightly worrisome, in that "I'm not sure what you're going to do next and I'm a little scared" kind of way. Heheh.

Iris is probably my least favorite, as she's very much the "tsundere" type -- and I've never been a big fan of tsundere characters. She does have a pretty cool story arc, though, and has a few decidedly adorable moments.

And Claudia is the bookish type. She's sweet, and intelligent, and quite inherently likable, but feels to me like she has the least development of any of the five girls. I'm quite certain she'll be someone's favorite, though -- she's too likable not to be!

-Tom

[Arcy]

Sign me up for Claudia fanclub!

[Bluie]

WOAH TOM, your forum user level has increased drastically! Congrats!

I actually wanted to ask about the bug catching. Are the bugs just buzzing around everywhere or are there nodes to swing the net at? I'm curious.

[Arcy]

WOAH TOM, your forum user level has increased drastically! Congrats!

I actually wanted to ask about the bug catching. Are the bugs just buzzing around everywhere or are there nodes to swing the net at? I'm curious.

Don't want to step on any toes here, but... from what I can tell, all the gathering is at nodes. There's an example (specifically of insect catching) right in the beginning of this YouTube gameplay footage that Tom posted in the PoPoLoCrois thread on the Marvelous forum:

Love your custom title there, Tom!

[wyrdwad]

I actually wanted to ask about the bug catching. Are the bugs just buzzing around everywhere or are there nodes to swing the net at? I'm curious.

As Arcy noted, there are nodes -- specifically, patches of flowers with little white dots flitting around them.

There are numerous upgrades to your bug net that you can get over the course of the game, but TBH, I don't actually know what they do. Same with the quarrying hammer upgrades -- with farm equipment, the upgrade is obvious, but with the bug net and quarrying hammer, the only thing I can think of that they might do is... increase your chances of catching/collecting rarer bugs/ore, maybe? Or allow you to catch/collect MORE bugs/ore with each swing?

Either way, it's always satisfying getting new stuff! Heheheh...

EDIT: Also, Bluie! I noticed you've been updating the OP with new info as I relay it -- which is very cool, thanks! A couple minor corrections, though:

- The character "Lugh" is actually localized as "Rue," even though his name is written in all official works as "Lugh." There is actually a story reason his name has to be spelled this way in English, in case you're wondering (1) why the drastic change, and (2) why not "Lou" or something more common.

- Similarly, GamiGami is always written with no space in his name, and "Pumpkin" is localized as "Pumpkinman."

- And finally, regarding the three animal types, "cuckotti" is the plural form of singular "cuckotte" (we had a pretty long discussion in the office about this one), "sumoo" is the same whether singular or plural, and "pacapacas" is the plural form of the singular "pacapaca." You got the latter two, but the whole cuckotte/cuckotti thing isn't particularly intuitive, so I figured I'd let you know.

Also, sadly, I don't think the ability to paint the roof of your farmhouse is actually still in the game. It looks like it was an idea that was planned during early development, but was scrapped. Popolo is one of the few times we began work on a game while it was still being developed, so we got to see and work with a lot of early text that wound up changing or being removed before the game was published in Japan, and that seems to have been one of the few casualties.

On the plus side, though, there are a few additional features not mentioned in the OP that you can add if you're so inclined:

- Souvenir system! This is a PopoloCrois staple. Every shop in every town has unique souvenirs for sale, and some quests give out unique souvenirs as rewards too. These items are technically useless, but like real souvenirs, they're meant to be collected and remind you of your adventure -- and each souvenir you buy is shipped to your farm, where it's prominently displayed in the back room of the synthesis workshop. In the post-game, too (and yes, you can continue playing after beating the game), you can actually turn each of your souvenirs into SOLID GOLD VERSIONS OF THEMSELVES, which is *completely* useless but *totally* awesome.

- Gameplay quality-of-life options! There's an encounter rate toggle (low, med, high), a difficulty select (seedling, prince, king), and totally exclusive to the Western release of Return to PopoloCrois, the ability to skip spell animations during battle by pressing the A Button -- which is something that I think should be mandatory in EVERY JRPG.

-Tom

[Arcy]

Daaaaaang, just being able to skip battle animations bumped this up to my favorite short RPG of all time and I don't even have it yet! What?!

Thanks for another amazingly informative post!

[Melody Muse]

Okay. Wow. All of that sounds amazing. Especially the animations part; I love JRPGs, and one of the reasons I got into them was because they tended to trigger my motionsickness and migraines less. But sometimes I have to close my eyes or mute frequently when playing games because otherwise some flashy or loud attack will trigger either of those so badly I will be unable to play. That is seriously amazing. Like I keep thinking on players who are even more sensitive than me and how much that could help them.

[Bluie]

Annnnnnd fixed!

Just let me know if anything else needs fixing or needs to be added!

[Melody Muse]

Thank you, Bluie!

I also just realised; isn't Pacapaca a pun? Because it's like an alpaca, but also pacapaca is how you'd say "clip-clop/clipity-clop" in Japanese. So maybe, since we see the knight riding one in the picture, it's a pun? Like a horse's clip-clop? (Or maybe that applies to alpacas too haha.)

[wyrdwad]

Thank you, Bluie!

I also just realised; isn't Pacapaca a pun? Because it's like an alpaca, but also pacapaca is how you'd say "clip-clop/clipity-clop" in Japanese. So maybe, since we see the knight riding one in the picture, it's a pun? Like a horse's clip-clop? (Or maybe that applies to alpacas too haha.)

Oh, undoubtedly. And it's also super-cute sounding!

"Sumoo" is also a pun, in English, on moo + sumo. And believe it or not, "cuckotte" is a pun as a well -- on the French word "cocotte" + cuckoo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%92ufs_cocotte

Pretty sure that was also intended in the Japanese. I mean, it's an egg dish! Ehh? Ehh?!

-Tom

[Melody Muse]

Thank you, Bluie!

I also just realised; isn't Pacapaca a pun? Because it's like an alpaca, but also pacapaca is how you'd say "clip-clop/clipity-clop" in Japanese. So maybe, since we see the knight riding one in the picture, it's a pun? Like a horse's clip-clop? (Or maybe that applies to alpacas too haha.)

Oh, undoubtedly. And it's also super-cute sounding!

"Sumoo" is also a pun, in English, on moo + sumo. And believe it or not, "cuckotte" is a pun as a well -- on the French word "cocotte" + cuckoo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%92ufs_cocotte

Pretty sure that was also intended in the Japanese. I mean, it's an egg dish! Ehh? Ehh?!

-Tom

Ah, thank you Tom!

I had a feeling the other two were as well, but both went totally over my (very tired) head, so I appreciate the explanation! (I kept repeating kokekokkoo... Kokotto... cuckotte?? So it's much appreciated. ^_^) I'm sure tons of others will catch (and love) the puns better than I did though!

Hurray for puns! And thanks again!

[Bluie]

Alright, heres another "fun" question. Tom, who're your favorite party members?