Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town for Switch

[HummingGillz]

So I recently saw this very unexpected news for SoS on the switch. FoMT was my very first game in the series when I was like 9, so it's interesting to see the character design changes for the villagers (lmao Harris is really fat now and Thomas looks like a bug) and the marriage candidates so far (Kappa has hair!). Nostalgic either way.

Optimistic and open to see further news on this game!

[Kikki]

I just thought about this: Xseed will have two SoS games to localize. I´m asuming they´ll start (or have already started) with Doraemon. I hope the same team works on both games to keep consistency, but at the same time I can´t help but worry that Doraemon will hold back Mineral town a few months.

Xseed isn't doing Doraemon...Bandai Namco is, because it's not actually a SoS game, it's a Doraemon game for which they licensed the right to use the Bokumono name and assets to make their game a crossover, so they're the ones who actually have the rights to it. It's due out this fall, so yeah, it's probably well underway

[Gothicat]

Some more big screens. I hadn't noticed before that Karen now wears lipstick.

Spoiler:

Regardless of whether people agree she was a tomboy before or not, one must admit that this feels very different.

Cliff no longer looks like a kicked puppy when he's sad. He lost the hobo and the woobie charm. (unless that his not his new 'sad protrait'. Can someone translate the pics?)

Spoiler:

It's pretty much confirmed by the bachelor silhouettes that Gray has no hat. Sad.

[ChaosAzerothCat]

They haven't let us have gay marriage but the first SoS did have an openly gay character.

I find it weird it was okay for an E rated game to have so much drinking and physical abuse and emotional mistreatment but gay marriage has been a no-no. Backwards imo.

Between chronic alcoholism and gay marriage, only one will destroy your liver.

That being said, I always thought of E10+ as family games as well. Not like parents aren't getting their kids games full of murder anymore anyway. I'm not judging, but it is weird to me.

Idk, point being they did add a gay character. It's time to take the next step. A lot of us in the community could really use that right now.

I'm still excited either way, but get the disappointment. I have so few games to look forward to anymore tbh. Waiting is going to be hell.

[Beedlebud]

Anyway my guess is that even if the creators added anything hinting at same gender relationships it would just get omitted from the localized versions again. So I wouldn't really have my hopes up, at least for the time being.

This would be PR suicide. Not to mention the fact that Xseed themselves have been pushing for same-gender marriage, so why would they take that out?

[white66]

I'm still confused. Just because its a mainline title doesn't mean they don't have another one at least in progress. Has anyone said that this is what they've primarily been working on?

[Kikki]

I'm still confused. Just because its a mainline title doesn't mean they don't have another one at least in progress. Has anyone said that this is what they've primarily been working on?

No. As I mentioned a few posts ago, there has been NO direct confirmation that this is the title they spoke of. It COULD be, but it's still only 'could' be, imo. Xseed's press release referred to the game as the first mainline game for the Switch, but I think only Marvelous could say 'Yeah, that's what we meant when we said we had a mainline Bokumono game underway." Xseed could well know what's underway, in fact I suspect they do know, but I doubt they'd be allowed to confirm or deny. Marvelous themselves would probably have to be the one to do that first, and as far as I know, that hasn't happened. We could try asking Xseed, but they're probably under a non-disclosure order. Like how they knew about RF5 but weren't allowed to tell us about it until Marvelous announced it themselves.

Unless someone knows something I don't, but obviously, I don't know what I don't know, lol.

[marumaru]

Can someone translate the pics?

First one with Karen is "When I was younger I believed that I could meet the Harvest Goddess by coming here".
The second with Cliff is a bit harder to word in english since it's out of context but possibly "Is it alright if it's me?", I believe with context it's more like "am I good enough (for this thing/task)", but it's hard to say. If someone knows better please correct me.

They haven't let us have « homosexual » marriage but the first SoS did have an openly « homosexual » character.

I won't go too into detail since it is off-topic, but it's important to understand that Japanese culture and views are very, very different from western (and especially American) ones. In general Japanese people are a bit more chill about homosexuals, but not actually that progressive or understanding about the subject. It's pretty common to have homosexual characters (more often than not portrayed as overly eccentric and feminine, maybe even cross dressing (this is due to not fully understanding the difference between being a homosexual and being transgender)) as joke characters even in media aimed at children, but it's a whole nother thing to let your child play as a character that has the option to be homosexual. It pretty much mirrors the general attitude towards homosexuals which tends to be "as long as they behave and don't bother me, I don't mind that they exist: but if someone from my family was one I'd be devastated" sort of thing. So like I said, not that progressive but definitely a different approach than what most of us are used to.

Not to mention the fact that Xseed themselves have been pushing for same-gender marriage, so why would they take that out?

I'm personally not that familiar with Xseed or how the newer games have been localized, so I'm only speaking from experience regarding the previous games that I have played. If things are different these days, that's great! But I'm not expecting much even from the original creators regarding this subject, at least not for a while.

[white66]

I'm still confused. Just because its a mainline title doesn't mean they don't have another one at least in progress. Has anyone said that this is what they've primarily been working on?

No. As I mentioned a few posts ago, there has been NO direct confirmation that this is the title they spoke of. It COULD be, but it's still only 'could' be, imo. Xseed's press release referred to the game as the first mainline game for the Switch, but I think only Marvelous could say 'Yeah, that's what we meant when we said we had a mainline Bokumono game underway." Xseed could well know what's underway, in fact I suspect they do know, but I doubt they'd be allowed to confirm or deny. Marvelous themselves would probably have to be the one to do that first, and as far as I know, that hasn't happened. We could try asking Xseed, but they're probably under a non-disclosure order. Like how they knew about RF5 but weren't allowed to tell us about it until Marvelous announced it themselves.

Unless someone knows something I don't, but obviously, I don't know what I don't know, lol.

I hope I'm not being naive about this. Its not like Marvelous has never pulled some bs before but this is... uh

[Emurii]

Really not feeling the new character designs, but Popuri's is pretty ok, and pink cows!!

On the topic of rivals, Popuri and Kai are cozying up to one another on the beach in one of the gameplay shots at the end of the trailer (blink and you'll miss it) - it's possible they'll take rivals out, but this gives me some hope.

[Pachi]

Cliff no longer looks like a kicked puppy when he's sad. He lost the hobo and the woobie charm. (unless that his not his new 'sad protrait'. Can someone translate the pics?)

Spoiler:

I first thought that that's his ":/" face but I may be wrong as he was a sad puppy at the start when he hung out at the church

[lyss]

I'm personally not that familiar with Xseed or how the newer games have been localized, so I'm only speaking from experience regarding the previous games that I have played. If things are different these days, that's great! But I'm not expecting much even from the original creators regarding this subject, at least not for a while.

At the very least, Hashimoto knows that people want same-gender marriage (from this article and this one) and that was back in 2016 so it's definitely possible for them to have done something about it by now. I still wouldn't really get my hopes up on any of the old marriage candidates becoming bi, but there's a chance the new ones might be date-able regardless of your player character's gender.

[OctavieKnite88]

Oh, I can definitely see it in that last screenshot Kiki, thanks! It still looks bad to me....why change it from blonde to dark brown? And there's nothing wrong with a tomboy, so why make her more feminine? The cast already had plenty of feminine girls. I can get why they would change the darker skinned characters, as much as I hate it, but I can't get the other changes.

Although, if Marvelous really is thinking more internationally now, you'd think they'd worry more about making characters darker, for diversity's sake, not white-wash them. And maybe consider adding same « Chicken Hugging » marriage in. What they're doing actually looks like the opposite of PC, at least from a Westerner's point of view.

I guess there's nothing to do but wait for the other characters, but it doesn't look good. I'm sure they thought a remake of their most beloved game would be easy money, but they forget making changes to a game as beloved as that can be disastrous. Again, I though these games were overated, I'm a fan of the console and the newer 3DS entries, but even I was used to seeing the characters differently. And something is definitely going on at Marvelous.

I think I can see the Doctor from the screenshot you posted, and at least from the back, he doesn't look too different, neither does Elli. But only their portraits will tell. After all, from the back, Rick's model doesn't look too different from his original sprite, but we all know better.

Edit: Also is that Ann in that screenshot...in a ponytail and wearing what looks like a dress? If so, ooohhh boy. And I can't recognize who's next to the doctor. New boy perhaps? If so, it's definitely not Allen. And that might be Kai peeking from the upper right. If so, at least his model is still dark.

Hasn't Ann always had a (braided and complete with a bow) ponytail? At least in FoMT and BTN.
I love how the silhouette of the new male character looks so much like Allen's pose. He's one of my favorites. And speaking of favorites Popuri's new design is adorable. She looks so much cuter in my opinion (I feel neutral about everyone else's designs so far). Though I did love her old dress. But she looks more like Nina (MM) than Popuri now. This is funny considering Nina used to remind me of Popuri. And even funnier considering Popuri's name seems to be derived from Potpurri which is a mixture of dried flowers and spices while Nina sells flowers and crop seeds.

[quigley]

@OctavieKnite88: Well, Nina is Popuri's grandma, so that makes sense!

It does look like Ann's wearing a dress...Huh. I kinda preferred her with overalls. Not that tomboys can't wear dresses too, but just saying.


I noticed in the video on the main site, at about 20 seconds in, the MC is running down the street and passes by a dirt pathway leading up that wasn't in FoMT. If I recognized the location correctly, it was to the right of the inn. In FoMT, there's nothing there, it's just a bunch of trees. So it could be a new little area in town, or it could just be a shortcut to the northernmost street. Or I could have mistaken where in town it is. But I thought it was the street that the winery and inn are on (especially since Ann's walking down it).

[Shan O 123]

^
Guys. Tomboys definitely CAN wear dresses and or skirts. It doesn’t change who they are.

It’s been years since the first release of FoMT, have you guys considered that they’re trying to keep things fresh and updated?

Sorry, I’m just tired of seeing pages of complaining :/

Personal rant:

Spoiler:

While I get that a lot of people are disappointed about the game, a few of us are still looking forward to this installment. And it’s hard to stay hyped while seeing people complaining about something small such as what is Ann wearing or what did they do with Cliff’s ponytail.