Story of Seasons is coming to North America very soon. As Gematsu reports, XSEED announced a final release date of March 31 for the farming and life simulator for the 3DS. Pre-orders of the game at participating retailers will be packaged with an Angora rabbit pocket plushie as well.
Story of Seasons is a port of Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi, the latest installment of the series known as Harvest Moon in North America. However, Natsume, the usual North American publisher of the games, decided not to localize this game in favor of a game of their own creation Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley. It was a pretty clear mistake on the publisher’s part as The Lost Valley was not received well by critics or fans of the Harvest Moon series alike. XSEED Games decided to fix this mistake and bring Tsunagaru Shin Tenchi to North America. It only comes out under the name Story of Seasons because Natsume owns the intellectual property of the Harvest Moon name.
For all intents and purposes, though, Story of Seasons follows the traditional pattern of the Harvest Moon games with customizable farms, animal care, fruit and vegetable cultivation, and relationship-building that ends with marriage and family. The game will bring back the character customization feature from Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, allowing the player to control features such as hair color, accessories, and other traits. The game will have new kinds of seeds, pets, and farm options as well. The biggest addition for Story of Seasons, according to XSEED, is a “theme of connectivity” where players can trade with ‘other countries’ to add to their crop variety, make some money, and grow their town. Local connection via WiFi is also available for players to visit each other’s farms and work together as a team.
Story of Seasons follows a character who decides to leave his regular life behind to start his own farm in a small village of Oak Tree Town. With the help of NPC farmer neighbors, the player will learn how to perform all the neccesary tasks of maintaining a farm while also forging friendships and romances. Story of Seasons has been rated E10+ by the ESRB.