In Celebration of the upcoming 20th anniversary of the longest-running farming and life simulation series, the beloved Bokujo Monogatari franchise now known to us as Story of Seasons returns with the latest edition Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. Settled on a homestead in the middle of three distinct and uniquely themed locales. Now there are more ways for players to grow their farms and friendships. Trio of Towns offers extensive customization and gameplay options. Each village offers its own regional crops, people to romance, animals, festivals, furniture, decorations and more. There are more ways to connect with other players via the internet as well.
Trio of Towns is not just another rehash of Story of Seasons. There are many differences between this release and the previous one. It is called Trio of Towns for a reason. In the previous Story of Seasons, you stayed in one town throughout the game. You didn’t get to travel at all. Instead, vendors from all over the world came to your small town. They would set up shop in town, and you could do business with them if you wanted to. This is no longer the case in Trio of Towns. Instead, there are a few roads leading to other towns where you can do business with. You can buy, sell, or just relax. You can visit these nearby towns just to have fun if you choose. There is Westown, Lulukoko Village, and Tsuyukusa Town. Each town has its own villagers, customs and people to build relationships with. The drawback is that you have to travel more, and you don’t have as many towns to do business with like in the previous Story of Seasons.
In the previous Story of Seasons, you had about 5 vendors from other towns to do business with. That means you had more ways to make money. You also had a list of what each vendor was looking to buy to take home. This isn’t available in Trio of Towns. You can still ship your goods to the neighboring towns but you put them in a shipping box. Then at the end of the day, a person from that town picks up the goods from the box. Putting your goods in the shipping box is more convenient. The only thing I don’t like is that you basically have to guess as to what you should put it in it. I also don’t like that you can’t set up your own store like in the previous Story of Seasons. In the previous one, you got to open up your own vendor both in the town square and set up whatever shop you wanted. Then you would collect your money at the end of the day. Plus you could still sell your goods to the other vendors visiting that day.
To make up for not having your own vendor both Trio of Towns has a job system in place. Where you can pick up as many part-time jobs as you want. They range from deliveries to milking a cow. The pay is different for each job. If the person you are doing the job for likes your work they will even give you a gift. When I took a job cutting wood for one of the villagers in Lulukoko Village not only did I get paid but she gave me 2 pearls. You could even sell the gifts they give you to make extra money. Another thing that is different in this one is that you don’t have to make everything from scratch. In the previous Story of Seasons if you wanted clothes you had to buy the blueprints, get the materials and make them. In this one, you have people who will tailor your clothes for you. You also don’t have to build everything yourself either for your farm. One of the villagers in Lulukoko village will actually build everything you need. Not having to make everything from scratch does make things a lot easier.
There are also multiple restaurants instead of just one. The food you eat gives you special abilities such as your stamina lasting longer. You can still make your own food too if you wish but you will have to upgrade your house to get a kitchen. A new feature that I love is that you can eat with the friends you make in the towns. If you see one of them eating you can say hi and start eating with them. One thing that hasn’t changed is the friendship/romance part of the game. You can still make friends, have boyfriends/girlfriends, and get married in the game. To build your relationships you still have to talk to them and give them things they like. The game won’t tell you what they are so you have to look it up for yourself online. Each one also has their own friendship events as well. To find out how to trigger them you have to look it up yourself online.
I also liked that each town has its own distinct style. Each character in each town has its own personality as well. Even though you have less towns to do business with I do like the fact that you can actually travel now to them. A new feature for the towns is that you have to build up your rank with each town. As you build your rank you get rewards. You build your rank with each one by taking on jobs or selling items. The graphics aren’t all that much different than the previous Story of Seasons. The game has two sets of difficulty seedling mode and veteran mode. Seedling mode is for people who have never played any of the games and Veteran for people who want more of a challenge. Replayability is pretty high for a few reasons. One reason is that you can pick different people to marry. Another reason is that you can play as either male or female. Also if you find seedling mode too easy you can replay in veteran mode.
All the controls in the game are explained and haven’t changed since the first one. Anyone at any age and skill level can play Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns. You don’t have to be an expert to play this game. Parents and kids can actually play this game together. There are a lot of differences between this one and the previous Story of Seasons but I still enjoyed it just as much. Before I knew it I was hooked and couldn’t put the game down. I actually liked that it wasn’t just another installment in the franchise. Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is a game that has its own unique storyline and characters. One of the best farm sims games out there.
REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.
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