Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town - Review (PS5)

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Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town  is, despite its name, a Harvest Moon game. For some reason at some point the name of the Harvest Moon games was changed to Story of Seasons. Currently Olive Town is free to play on Playstation Plus Extra.

 

 

I never got past the beginning of the second year in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life because it's such a damn boring game. And so is this one, even though it has tried to copy some of the finest things from the highly entertaining My time at Portia. 

 

Yes, you can still get addicted to Olive Town, even though it is a numbing repetition of the same things, and there are about a million times fewer story missions than in Portia. But a word of warning, in the end the game is just a boring grind. 

 

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town orichalcum

And mining the last mineral of the game, orichalcum, is very slow and even difficult at first, as it can only be obtained from the lowest levels of the last mine, which are full of annoying and dangerous electric orcs. Later in the game you can get orichalcum easier from a place where it respawns every few days (Stonebreaker Valley).

 

 

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town romance

 

There aren't that many bachelors/marriage candidates to choose from, and I didn't really like any of them. To be able to marry in Olive Town, you have to go through the character's romantic heart events. They happen at specific times at specific places. Good look finding them without a guide (wiki is always a good source).

 

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town Damon

I chose Damon as my husband for some reason, although I don't normally prefer blondes. He gives that bad boy vibe, which I don't like. He likes motorcycles, and I don't. But he does work at his family's animal shop, so that is a plus. He's also like me because he prefers the company of animals over people.

 

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town child

You shouldn't be on too good terms with your spouse because then a child will mysteriously appear from somewhere. My dear husband had no idea how that could happen. Maybe you shouldn't get married if you don't know where babies come from?

 

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town animals

The best part of the game are of course the animals. Horse, cows, sheep, chickens, alpacas, goats, bunnies. I'm not even sure that I have listed them all.

 

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town pets

You can buy pets from the animal shop. I named the white cat Olle after my own white cat (sadly she passed away recently). Of course you can choose your own cat from many options.

 

Olle is such a happy free-range cat that you get envious when you watch her running freely outside.

 

And then when there were 11 animals plus Olle, I just couldn't take care of them every day anymore, especially since I couldn't fit all their loots to my bag at the same time, and had to go back and forth for them. And towards the end, it also started to be a real problem that the sales box could no longer fit all the stuff that I wanted to sell on that day.

 

So in the end it was just a boring repetitive daily grind. Too many animals (I didn't even know there could be too many), and too much stuff they produce. And above all, too little main story. As you can see, only honest reviews here.

Some people enjoy cozy games like this. I want more action, like in My Time at Sandrock. In my opinion that game is close to perfection.

 

Ps. The joke is that my character's name Ripuli means diarrhea.