Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar
Developer: Marvelous
Publishers: Marvelous, XSEED Games
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), Switch, Switch 2
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $59.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Over the last few years the line between remaster and remake has blurred to the point that most remasters are just straight remakes. Sure, there are still plenty of collections and titles that are given a slight visual upgrade or quality of life features, but there are just as many that have been re-built from the ground up, using only the framework of the original to help establish itself. Such has been the case for the last few Story of Seasons games and nowhere is it more evident now than with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar that has seen countless mechanics that were previously tied to DS mechanics or limited by the handhelds’ systems now grow far beyond the roots that it once had. So now that Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar has fully arrived in its remade form, is it a worthy harvest?
Story
Zephyr Town used to host one of the biggest and bustling bazaars that one could possibly attend but those times have long since passed. Now, while this quaint town might still host its bazaar every Saturday, it barely sees any visitors to the point that many of its residents have grown disheartened and even the town’s signature windmills have been left to fall into disrepair. Players take on the role of their own created farmer, male or female, and are given the opportunity to take control of the former farmer’s farm that has been left to sit idle since she departed for reasons unknown. With the town’s mayor hoping that revitalizing the farm may see the town’s bazaar also see some revitalization, it is up to the player on how to handle things from then on.
As per usual for many Story of Seasons games, the grand storyline takes more of a backseat here, though some primary story beats are unveiled and revealed as players progress through the game and clear primary goals such as meeting certain requirements imposed by the “Bazaar Committee” that’ll increase the “rank” of Zephyr Town’s bazaar and draw not only more customers but also more vendors to potentially set up their own stalls, including some of the townsfolk themselves and even some familiar faces that fans have played other games in the series will recognize, open up more facilities for use in the town, and even open up more of the town as well. Instead the primary story comes from the villagers of the town itself and who players may want to pursue.
Considering the game has been made so players can marry any of the six bachelorettes or six bachelors in the game, with a brand new man and woman being added into the game as marriage candidates, there are a wide-range of options available. Many of the characters remain the same looking, or at least relatively similar, to how they did originally though all have been given name changes, though it is worth noting that the girl helping manage the town’s inn, Maple, has been completely retooled from her previous version of Daisy. Interestingly enough, as soon as players meet a character they are given some small clues as to what they may like such as favorite color and general items, making initial romance building quite easy to figure out. June for example, loves Magic Blue Flowers because she likes the color Blue, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some challenges along the way.
In an interesting twist on offering different challenges, there are not only various fully voiced scenes that players will be able to see, indicated by little exclamation marks on the map, for characters at certain relationship levels, there are also literal locks that appear on a character’s heart from time to time as well. This means players usually need to either see a specific scene or complete a request from the character to actually help move the relationship further. Not only does this help encourage players to engage in some elements of the game they may have otherwise not bothered with, but also makes the relationships in the game, including even townsfolk that players can’t marry, more engaging.
It is interesting to note as well that, while the game does not feature the Harvest Goddess in any way similar to the original version, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar does feature the harvest sprites. These five little guys play less of a story role but do help factor in when it comes to various gameplay elements which we will go over later. Their inclusion does help maintain series consistency and it is nice to see that each has their own special theme this time around as well, even if it is kept rather minimal.
Gameplay
For many fans of Story of Seasons, Grand Bazaar will still feel mostly the same as the core farming mechanics are all the same as usual with players being given a plot of land that allows them to plant various crops/trees that only grow or produce during certain seasons. Players will need to water these crops daily and eventually harvest them, with fertilizer being optional to increase the quality level of the item. It is interesting to note that sometimes special rare types of crops can grow instead, such as extra-large turnips though these seemed more random than something players could plan for. What has changed is the fact that players no longer have an individual axe and hammer, instead the item is combined into a two-in-one used for cleaning up debris and mining, the “pasture” that players will use to feed their farm animals is actually a legitimate pasture in the back of the barn, not just grass planted in the field, being able to actually jump, and of course the fact that sets this game apart entirely, the way money is almost entirely made. The Bazaar.
Whereas most games in the franchise see players dropping their items in the shipping container without a thought about what will happen to them or perhaps turning them in for a request that might reward some money, instead every Saturday players will find themselves being able to manage their very own stand at the town bazaar through the morning and evening shifts. While it is entirely possible to sell items at the general store, doing so does not contribute to the bazaar’s growth, a persistent story mechanic as mentioned before, nor does it allow for various modifiers to increase their value. You see, while players will initially start with only a basic vending stall with a standard tent and one table, they can eventually unlock and purchase various bonuses and different decorations that do everything from boosting the quality of items, their sales price, how much a certain type of item might attract attention from passerbys and more.
Actually selling things is simple, players will need to store items within their “stock” before starting a shift and anything in the stock can then be placed on an empty spot on a table. Players can ring a bell to help draw attention to their goods and if people see what they want, they’ll head right over and an item can be sold with a tap of a button. Sometimes items that the player may have in-stock but not displayed will appear as “thought bubbles” above a customer’s head and replacing an item with the one they are looking for will instantly draw their attention and a purchase. In-between shifts players can take some temporary time to run around the bazaar and do some shopping of their own as special seeds, personal and town upgrades, livestock and pets, and many other aspects are only available for purchase on Saturday. This can be a bit limiting at times but does allow players to put their hard-earned cash to immediate use, spending their profits to expand the size of their plantable land or even the quality of their soil, the size of their storage, or even using another currency entirely in the form of “Happiness” with the aforementioned Harvest Sprites.
Happiness is earned by doing basically anything and it happens randomly, petting your dog might reward some points, viewing a scene rewards a number of points, even harvesting your own crops can reward points. Either way, Happiness can only be spent at the Harvest Sprites’ own shop and offers a variety of boons such as extra decorations, a Power Berry, and more. While selling at the player’s stall, the Harvest Sprites will also slowly fill up a gauge depending on what items players are selling and can trigger a special sales time that applies extra bonuses to items that are sold for a limited time. Not only can this be used to freeze time when close to closing in an attempt to sell out, but also a way to earn extra money as each Sprite offers unique bonuses during this special sales time.
Outside the Bazaar the Harvest Sprites have another use entirely. Each one has something they like, be it fish, forageable items, mushrooms, honey, etc, and giving them that item will slowly fill up a meter that rewards Happiness points and at certain levels permanently boosts the quality of all items of their specialty. This is a great way to help accomplish specific goals that require higher-quality dishes or items to be created but does cause something of a storage issue since different quality materials do not stack with one another. As such players might end up with a large amount of .5 star ore that then gets compounded with 1 star ore, 1.5 star ore, etc. Sure, they can be sold or discarded but it is an annoyance especially since there are very few mining spots within the game as there is no actual mineshaft. The only form of mining are little ore deposits around town that change from season to season and depending on the wind speed some may not even be accessible.
Yes, there is wind speed in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar and unlike the original, it isn’t controlled by manual breathing but by the actual weather forecast. Wind speed plays a role in two ways, traversal and crafting. In the game players have the ability to jump as mentioned before and can even purchase the “knowledge” to double-jump, which can also be used to increase tool reach and even bulk harvest, but they will quickly be given a glider by the Harvest Sprites that allows them to glide around and reach unreachable places on the windiest days, often with rare mining spots, or simply traverse town in certain directions faster. It also determines how quickly the three unlockable windmills craft items. As players advance through the game, generally by upgrading their Bazaar level, they’ll unlock quests to help repair the windmills around town, each with increasingly more complicated recipes and fancier items that they can produce as a result. Everything is crafted in real-game time, meaning that turning a bottle of milk into yogurt will take anywhere from six to twelve in-game hours depending on the wind is blustery or still that day, though thankfully players can have five items making at the same time and can even set things to craft overnight, allowing longer recipes to still be created even during still days.
Other things such as cooking are handled simply enough, with recipes earned either through completing little quests for villagers as mentioned before, located when exploring the town, or simply by eating an item for the first time. Pets actually serve a few purposes as well and players can even have multiple pets, petting them and even training them for help on the farm. Dogs will help herd larger animals such as sheep and cows while cats will take care of chickens. The higher the training of the pet the more animals they can herd in and out of the barn, making managing and feeding the livestock easier, though players will still need to be hands on when it comes to brushing, milking, shearing, and actually showing affection to their livestock for higher quality produce.
Oddly enough, a few other changes are far less clear or simply make no sense. The fishing game has been drastically altered with players having to take part in directional inputs through lengthy fishing sections, especially against “large” type fish, that simply takes too long to feel worthwhile most of the time. Similarly, while exploring the town we often saw bugs of various kinds scattering around and wondered when they would be catchable with a net only for one of the little girls to request we catch her some ladybugs and finally trigger a tutorial saying there is no net, players need only to walk slowly up to a bug to catch it. This lack of tutorial for such a simple mechanic was incredibly surprising with how prominent they were. Other aspects such as purchasing a log to grow mushrooms on or a beehive in the mountain to gather honey are self-explanatory and simple enough to master but a few more tips here and there would have been helpful.
It is also worth noting that, while all Story of Seasons games are always about managing stamina use and getting things done at the same time, it feels like Grand Bazaar is a bit egregious with how limited players’ initial stamina is. While players can improve their stamina through obtaining Power Berries, they are slim pickings throughout most of the early to mid game and while cooking and eating food is always helpful, taking a bath can also restore stamina but this last option also costs time. Time is another issue that can eventually start to be an issue later in the game as players find increasingly larger locations to explore, tasks to complete, and more, making trying to cram everything in into one day somewhat of a challenge for those that try to spread themselves too thin.
Audio & Visuals
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is impressive looking with a wide variety of different character designs and although all major NPCs have their standard models, they also have their wonderful character portraits as well. These portraits offer more expressive and detailed looks at the characters as players interact with them. It is worth noting that generic NPCs also explore the town to help make it feel a bit more lived in. Zephyr Town is designed well-enough and makes great use of multi-level design to hide various secrets that require the aforementioned movement options to reach them. Crops look the same as players would expect and animals do as well, and it is nice to note that there is a good amount of variety of different dog and cat species to acquire and their breed is purely cosmetic. A husky can herd just as many livestock as a Shiba Inu.
There is some voice work for the game as a new English dub has been recorded but it is also worth noting that not every interaction has fully voiced dialogue. Only event scenes and story scenes are fully voiced with every character having fitting voicework, side-events or standard interactions will just have characters making small quips that players will quickly grow accustomed to. As for the soundtrack, the game features some great background music to fit with its simple farming atmosphere and mixes things up depending on season, location, and of course whether a festival is happening or not.
Overall
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar takes a title that was not only stranded on handheld but limited by its original platform as a result and has expanded on it in almost every way possible. Zephyr Town is filled with a charming cast of characters and a great balance of romance options and adding in various movement abilities along with the farming mechanics being as tried and true as usual mean this endearing farming game is as enjoyable as ever. Some elements, such as having crafting depending on wind speed, fishing being annoying, and an initial stamina hurdle might hurt the experience a bit, but the biggest change of actually having a booth to sell your produce and crafted items makes farm life as engaging as ever, rather than simply dumping everything in the shipping box as usual.
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