Our interview unveils some new details on the next game in the Story of Seasons series.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/interview/43178/story-of-seasons-trio-of-towns-interview
At E3 this year, NWR got to sit down with Yoshifumi Hashimoto, producer of the upcoming Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns to discuss the next game in the farm franchise.
Nintendo World Report (NWR): We just had an opportunity to play the game. It was really fun, very beautiful. Obviously the main deviation would be that instead of one town, now there’s three towns, very distinct cultures. What was the decision behind branching out like that?
Yoshifumi Hashimoto: So actually it’s going to be the 20th anniversary coming up soon in North America for Story of Seasons (Editor’s note: Harvest Moon debuted on the SNES in 1997.) and in the previous Story of Seasons you could only stay in one city, but it’s really hard to travel around a different town or country in real life so I thought it would be fun to implement this new system into the series for the 20th anniversary.
NWR: I think before with the Harvest Moon series, which is the same series in Japan they had The Tale of Two Towns so it did branch out before and then it brought it back to one town. Why go to two towns and then pull it back to one? Are you incorporating it in a different way this time?
Hashimoto: The reason we went from two towns back to one was timing, we switched out the hardware (Editor’s note: Tale of Two Towns was on DS, while the follow-up, A New Beginning, launched on 3DS.) and also people just think if there’s two towns then next there will be three towns so we just wanted to finish the two town story in the series and get back to one and start over with new things too. Also, at that time (in Tale of Two Towns), the two towns used to have a very good relationship, but then that relationship broke down, but in the new game the three towns it’s not like a relationship and more a whole city you can go through, it’s three towns, but it’s more like one. That’s the difference between three towns and two towns.
NWR: So is that something we can maybe expect in the future, for this to grow, for the maps to get bigger like this or will it go back to what the rest of series has been like?
Hashimoto: Yeah, it’s going to be hard to tell, but I’m so sorry if it turns into four different towns in a future title.
NWR: What’s your favorite features of the new game. What are you excited for old and new fans to experience?
Hashimoto: Since we implemented the three different towns in one game, they all have a different lifestyle and you used to only be able to enjoy one lifestyle in one town, but this time, for example in the Western themed town, the store opens in the morning and closes at night, regular business hours, but then in the tropical island themed town, which is called Lulucoco, in that town all the stores open super early in the morning and then they have this system called the Siesta where the store will be open and then suddenly close and later reopen. I think players will really enjoy all the different lifestyles.
NWR: Have you considered adding amiibo support?
Hashimoto: We’re not currently thinking of amiibo for this title, but we actually have a special feature in the Japanese version, we have a collaboration with Super Mario, we have Super Mario costumes, Peach, Luigi, Toad, and all the costumes have a different type of skill booster so that’s a really interesting feature too.
NWR: Will that be in the North American version too?
Hashimoto: Since it has a different feature booster, I’d love to put it in the North American version too, but we’re still adjusting. I can’t discuss anything about it.
NWR: I know you work very closely with localization for the games. Is there anything in past or with this title that hasn’t been able to come over, that’s been changed or eliminated? What are the challenges that come with that?
Hashimoto: Localization has become smoother since we started working with XSEED. Before there was an invisible rule that there are certain things we can’t change, but since we started working with XSEED, they’ve needed to translate from scratch so we were able to have a fresh start. We always get new questions so we can reconsider stuff and we get more ideas from the XSEED side, the North American side so it’s much smoother.
NWR: So instead of seeing it as a limitation when developing for an international market, it’s more opportunistic and helps the creative process?
Hashimoto: Yep.
NWR: With the series coming up on the 20th anniversary for the North American market and with the series originating on console, is there any interest in returning to a home console version in the future?
Hashimoto: It’s not going to be impossible, but we always think of the next console based on how many people are using that console and we have a lot of children players too. So we always want to be sure that lots of children have the console or handheld so the next Story of Seasons depends on how many people and what type of people actually have that console.
NWR: And of course 3DS has been great for families.
Hashimoto: I think I would be interested in porting it to PlayStation 4 too.
NWR: I believe this is the first in the series to have the protagonist’s whole family present. What was the decision behind that?
Hashimoto: We just wanted to put in more of a deep down storyline to Story of Seasons. In the previous Story of Seasons, all the other games you just played on the farm by yourself and there was no one on the farm to see you and watch how much effort you’re putting in, and you don’t get cheered up by anybody else. By adding a family member to the protagonist, it’s a really good opportunity to add an accomplished feeling so that’s why I involved the family.
NWR: What drives you to return to the next game in the series and what’s your favorite part of development?
Hashimoto: Since it’s been like 20 years in North America I feel like there’s going to be a lot of people who have stopped playing the Story of Seasons titles or a lot of people who heard about it, but never played, and also people who are still keep playing, but we always think about how to bring back past players and how to open up the door to new people. We’re always thinking about how to make things easier or smoother so we’re always thinking of ways to open up the door so that’s something we’re always thinking about during development.
NWR: Thank you very much.
Hashimoto: Thank you.
Topic: Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns Interview (Read 1492 times)
