Story of Seasons: AWL remake announced!

What happened to Murrey!? A remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life (2004) and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life (2005) for Nintendo Switch. [ Game Guide ] JP release = Jan 2023. NA release = June 2023. EU release = June 2023.
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infel
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Crystal Power wrote: Dec 01, 2022 2:46 pm
infel wrote: Dec 01, 2022 5:29 am I'll be honestly, I don't really agree with this. While I think nostalgia does play some into the backlash, I also think a lot of it has to do with his generic design. While I don't hate pretty boy's, they could've done a better job with making Cody/Gordy more unique. He doesn't even look like an artist honestly, nor unfriendly. In my opinion, Marvelous has had a tough time when designing certain characters. For me the best example is Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town. While a decent game, I found a lot of the designs for the new characters to be very boring. While for A Wonder Life the redesigns are better, I still don't find them very unique. Heck, if you look at Marlin/Mathew for long enough, he starts to resemble Brandon.

I think people's problem is just how Cody/Gordy really doesn't look that unique. Sure he's handsome/pretty, but that doesn't make him special for some. While I agree it's good to have an open mind, I also get why some don't want to play a game because of the design choices. They are valid is why something might be problematic or just lacking in uniqueness over the original.
While I do think the designs being "unique" does play into some of the criticism (I did mentioned Gustufa and Matthew could have retained some of their original features) however many of Gordy's unique features are better left in the past and yes they could have made him more buff and give him a mohawk, but beside vouching for all the characters to retain their "unique" flair including Murrey, Gordy would be the one I wouldn't act so upset about if I was going to complain about any of the redesigns..
I'm just gonna have to say that I don't find the designs very special in this game. While not bad and , and I admit that Gustufa has a nice redesign, that new ones still do not seem very unique to me and don't hold up compared to the original games. Yes, I like them, but they still feel a bit bland to me. The same goes for Pioneers of Olive Town. I find the designs for the new characters in that game to be on the dull side. While not bad, they aren't very interesting. In Mineral Town the designs are better, but with A Wonderful Life, they changed a lot when it came to the bachelors. For me, a good example of interesting designs is with Rune Factory 5.

As for Gordy/Cody, yes his design needed to be changed, but I don't think this was the best way to go. He doesn't need to keep his mohawk or even be buff, but the redesign they gave him is generic for me and doesn't even look like a loner artist.

I think a good example of my point is with the game Coral Island. That game doesn't have much (if any) nostalgia attached to it, but there are those who won't play it because they find the designs boring or uninspired. This to me is not them being closed minded, but just not finding interesting in playing the game. Again, I do believe nostalgia is part of the backlash for these new designs, but it's not the main thing in my eyes. Also, if someone likes pretty boys/bishonen, it can be easier for them to not mind the direction that Marvelous has gone with it's designs. However, for others who either want something different at times or more realistic, a style like Marvelous's or even Coral Island can be a put off.
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midnighttherabbit
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I think it's just one of those things that requires nuance.

It's true that Cody needed a redesign due to the nature of his original design. However, it's also true that his new design is very bland and too similar to the other bachelors. It's true that some of the changes made are lacklustre and could have been left alone, but it's also true that there are people who would have complained no matter what the quality of the changes were.

Personally, I wouldn't have minded redesigns if they were done well. I personally like Nami's new design because it stays true to her character while also modernising her.

Make or break for me is the writing, though. I can look past bad design if the characters are written well. I was really disappointed with the dialogue in Olive Town so I'm hoping they learned from that.
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Shan O 123
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Sorry, how did Cody look like before?




I’ve been quiet because I didn’t play the original. I don’t have any say if they look better now or not
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infel
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Shan O 123 wrote: Dec 02, 2022 1:39 pm Sorry, how did Cody look like before?




I’ve been quiet because I didn’t play the original. I don’t have any say if they look better now or not
https://harvestmoon.fandom.com/wiki/Cody_(AWL)
Last edited by infel on Dec 02, 2022 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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The picture is broken
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infel
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Shan O 123 wrote: Dec 02, 2022 1:43 pm The picture is broken
Sorry, just changed it. It's the wiki page for him

https://harvestmoon.fandom.com/wiki/Cody_(AWL)
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infel
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midnighttherabbit wrote: Dec 02, 2022 1:29 pm I think it's just one of those things that requires nuance.

It's true that Cody needed a redesign due to the nature of his original design. However, it's also true that his new design is very bland and too similar to the other bachelors. It's true that some of the changes made are lacklustre and could have been left alone, but it's also true that there are people who would have complained no matter what the quality of the changes were.

Personally, I wouldn't have minded redesigns if they were done well. I personally like Nami's new design because it stays true to her character while also modernising her.

Make or break for me is the writing, though. I can look past bad design if the characters are written well. I was really disappointed with the dialogue in Olive Town so I'm hoping they learned from that.
Yeah, this is just like me. They designs are okay, but bland sadly. Nami is the best and they redid her nicely. For some reason though, outside of Nami, the girls look really boring. Like they are pretty but boring. You're right though in that not every one will be happy, no matter what direction they took. At the end of the day, it really matter how they are in game. As for Cody, I agree he needed a redesign, but sadly this wasn't the best way to go for him in my eyes.
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I’m the oddball here because I like his new design better. Sorry to anyone who’s attached to the old one…
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infel
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Shan O 123 wrote: Dec 02, 2022 1:50 pm I’m the oddball here because I like his new design better. Sorry to anyone who’s attached to the old one…
No need to apologize. It's fine to like the new design. It's just that for some we miss the old design because, while problematic, he looked more interesting. I still think he needed a redesign though and don't hate the new one. I just don't find it very appealing because it's a bit generic. At the end of the day though, what matter for me is how he's written. The new design is personally okay with me, just not very interesting.
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I also think it's important to note the bachelors were never intended to be dated so that is why their original designs appeared more unique and the bachelorettes are still more identical to their original designs (I don't know why they felt they had to change everyone in the FOMT remake though) that wasn't because the team was creative or progressive back then, because besides A wonderful life and DScute what others games featured bachelors (and even bachelorettes) that weren't "conventionally" beautiful and handsome? For that option you will have to look to indie developers. The only others I can think that comes close to this is the Wii games and that more likely due to their change of character artist but maybe I'm forgetting another my memory isn't that great. ^^;;
Shan O 123 wrote: Dec 02, 2022 1:50 pm I’m the oddball here because I like his new design better. Sorry to anyone who’s attached to the old one…
No you aren't odd, everyone have different opinions. :lala: I personally like his new design more too though I wish he had more muscles! On the other hand I am sad Gustafa doesn't have a thicker beard because he was my favorite, yet I still appreciate his new design and his previous one. :heart:
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Crystal Power wrote: Dec 02, 2022 4:05 pm I also think it's important to note the bachelors were never intended to be dated so that is why their original designs appeared more unique and the bachelorettes are still more identical to their original designs (I don't know why they felt they had to change everyone in the FOMT remake though) that wasn't because the team was creative or progressive back then, because besides A wonderful life and DScute what others games featured bachelors (and even bachelorettes) that weren't "conventionally" beautiful and handsome? For that option you will have to look to indie developers. The only others I can think that comes close to this is the Wii games and that more likely due to their change of character artist but maybe I'm forgetting another my memory isn't that great. ^^;;
Last edited by infel on Dec 02, 2022 4:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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double post-sorry..
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infel
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Crystal Power wrote: Dec 02, 2022 4:05 pm I also think it's important to note the bachelors were never intended to be dated so that is why their original designs appeared more unique and the bachelorettes are still more identical to their original designs (I don't know why they felt they had to change everyone in the FOMT remake though) that wasn't because the team was creative or progressive back then, because besides A wonderful life and DScute what others games featured bachelors (and even bachelorettes) that weren't "conventionally" beautiful and handsome? For that option you will have to look to indie developers. The only others I can think that comes close to this is the Wii games and that more likely due to their change of character artist but maybe I'm forgetting another my memory isn't that great. ^^;;
Shan O 123 wrote: Dec 02, 2022 1:50 pm I’m the oddball here because I like his new design better. Sorry to anyone who’s attached to the old one…
No you aren't odd, everyone have different opinions. :lala: I personally like his new design more too though I wish he had more muscles! On the other hand I am sad Gustafa doesn't have a thicker beard because he was my favorite, yet I still appreciate his new design and his previous one. :heart:
They were intended to be dated in Harvest Moon Another Wonderful life. There were two games. And honestly, while I can agree they weren't being progressive, I do think they are less 'progressive' than now in terms with the designs. But for the bachelors, they were intended to be dated when the girl version came out. I find it kind of depressing though that all the guys needed to have a big update, but the girls didn't really change at all or at least barely. For the Wonderful Life series, the girls (outside of Nami) are conventional beauties. The guys weren't, but had a level of attractiveness that could catch the eye of players depending on their tastes. Even Rock, who was the most conventionally handsome of the guys, didn't really have the style they are doing now. It is interesting to now however, that Rock has not changed much or at all from his original design. To me, it's because he's was considered already conventionally handsome and so they didn't need to change much.
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They made it a point to single out Gordy's design in the Famitsu interview, stating that Igusa (artist / illustrator since pretty much the beginning of the series... so, Cody's original art designer) personally pitched the redesign himself to the team. It wasn't a request made on Marvelous's part to change the character. So, you know if the original art designer felt the need to personally go back and change it then what else is there to say, really, the creator wanted it corrected.

I do wish that the in-game model did the actual artwork more justice though. Because, in-game, his neck and forearms look perhaps too thin for example and his skin seems a bit too plastically, imo. And I actually went back and looked, and it appears that they have used the same at least face, if not the entire base model for both Matthew and Gordy even lol. If you look at the most recent Harvest Festival screenshot with both of them in it, that's what it looks like. They both have the same pointy chin and stance and such. So, maybe they had an actual model closer to the previous design early on that they had intended to use, until they were presented with the new concept art, and then kind of half-heartedly remodelled him... but, I mean, that's completely just me theorizing at this point though. No real proof of it, I suppose.

Here's the screenshot I'm referring to:
Spoiler:
Image
That aside, the only thing that truly bothers me about his new design is that body shape-wise, Vesta's new design looks more like Cody than Cody does now. And I'm not saying they should've modelled him off of Vesta instead, but I do believe that you could've kept more of his original body shape in this new design. The old clothes, I think, played into the problem though, or it at least didn't help things. He is an artist, yes, but he works with metal... he has no reason to make his own clothes out of the little bits and bobs of cloth that he finds laying around, literally nobody else has to do that. And the mohawk was probably just a similar situation to what they said about Marlin, that being the thought of-- would a new modern fan find the haircut outdated? A silly reason, yes, but an excuse they made for the new Matthew design nonetheless. That being said, I personally don't dislike any of the redesigns nearly as much as I initially thought I did. Pui in particular I really like now. It still is a shame that we had to lose the classic designs, but I appreciate these new ones.


Anyway. The storyofseasons Twitter account posted Matthew's EN bio earlier today:
Spoiler:
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Another thing is that original 3 bachelors weren't intended to be love interests in the first game, HM:AWL, and were later turned into marriage candidates later without changing their designs or models. The "girl" versions of the old HM games tended to re-use the models and assets of the original "boy" versions, so Marvelous not changing any of the designs back then was standard procedure for them at the time. Basically, the bachelors looked as unconventional as they did because none of them were originally designed as love interests, and Marvelous at the time couldn't be bothered to change them much after they became marriage material.

(I also may be wrong, but I thought there was an interview where the developers confirmed that HM:AnWL wasn't scheduled to come out initially and only came into being because the first game was such a success at the time.)

This situation would also explain why most of the bachelors got beat with the conventional pretty-boy stick this time around. The bachelorettes already had that happen to them, more or less, because they were meant to be conventionally pretty and date-able in their first designs. Now that the bachelors are intended to be, well, bachelors, and Marvelous will completely redesign characters rather then reuse old assets, the bachelors had to brought to the relative same standard of pretty as the bachelorettes, hence their extreme redesigns compared to the single ladies. Rock only got mostly spared because he was meant to be a pretty party boy who messes around with women, so he was already conventionally attractive. Cody was not conventionally pretty at all, so his old design was almost completely scrapped and replaced with a handful of elements from his old design remaining as to keep him vaguely recognizable.

(As for why Cody would make his own clothing, I assumed it would be a part of how he expresses his artistic vision. His art is avant-garde and nonstandard, and so is his distinctive appearance. I do wonder whether his art is going to be changed to be conventionally pretty in the remake as well, though.)

After years of redesigns and remasters in other media and franchises, I was expecting changes and character replacements when SoS:AWL was announced. None of the new designs are drawing me in and I'm not particularly pleased by what's in the new game, and it is what it is. My grumbling means very little at this stage of the game's development, considering how it's currently meant to come out by the end of Summer next year, and, with how Marvelous has changed, I don't expect the new games to grab me right away anymore anyway. I will think about getting them more after they come out and knowledge such as general glitchiness become known.
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