History VideoGame / StoryOfSeasons

The name changed in 2014 from ''Harvest Moon'' to ''Story of Seasons''. The official continuation of the series is now being released under that title, while the ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonNatsume Harvest Moon]]'' name continues onward by Natsume as a separate series, causing no small amount of confusion for fans and retailers alike. In early 2014, Marvelous dropped Natsume as publishing and localization company for ''Bokujou Monogatari'' in the West, switching to Creator/XSEEDGames--their Western division who were already localizing the ''Rune Factory'' series--starting with ''VideoGame/{{Story of Seasons|2014}}''. They picked a new name for the series, as Natsume still owned the rights to the ''Harvest Moon'' brand (and decided to make their own farming sim games under that label). Many fans favour XSEED's localisation and translation style and still have fondness for older games; two older games have been rereleased under the ''Story Of Seasons'' name as {{Enhanced Remake}}s.

* ''Harvest Moon GB'' (Platform/GameBoy, 1997)

* ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon3 Harvest Moon 3]]'' GBC (Platform/GameBoyColor, 2000)

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* ''Puzzle De Harvest Moon'' (Platform/NintendoDS, 2007)

* ''Minna de Bokujou Monogatari'' (browser game, 2010; Japan-only, servers closed in 2012)
* ''Harvest Moon: Pocket Ranch'' (mobile, 2011; Japan-only)
* ''Return to [=PopoloCrois=]: A Story of Seasons Fairytale'' (Platform/Nintendo3DS, 2015; based on the ''VideoGame/{{PopoloCrois}}'' series of manga, anime, and [=PlayStation=] games)

* ''Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom'' (Platform/NintendoSwitch, Platform/PlayStation5, and PC, 2022; sequel to ''Doraemon: Story of Seasons'')
* ''Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons'' (nonogram puzzle game; multiple platforms, 2024)

** Natsume misspelled their own name on the title screen of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 Harvest Moon 64]]'', among tons of other mistakes, as well as at least one character who doesn't even speak English in the translated version.

** ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' changed all the [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Grandchild]] characters' names to those of their predecessors and tried to adapt out the decendant plotline. For example, in the original, for example, that wasn't Celia, it was ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife AWL]]'' Celia's granddaughter Serena. They also changed Retasu to Leia, probably because naming the obvious {{expy}} after the reference in ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' is a little risky if someone doesn't know the reference.

** Almost all of the girls, and the protagonist himself, in ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' are similar to characters from the [[VideoGame/HarvestMoonSNES first game]], however it's handwaved that [[GenerationXerox they're their grandchildren]]. Elli looks almost exactly like her grandmother Ellen, the protagonist is an exact replica of his grandfather (down to the clothes), Popuri resembles her grandmother Nina, Ann looks extremely like the original Ann, and Maria looks like the first Maria but with glasses. Karen is the exception, looking little like Eve (though sharing personality traits with her).A few non-bachelorettes also are substitutes of characters.

** Lyla from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonSaveTheHomeland'' is a pink haired woman with her EyesAlwaysShut who has a job selling seeds and flowers. This sounds exactly like Lillia from ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' who in turn is an substitute for Nina's mother from the [[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 SNES game]]. It's justified with Lillia as Nina is her mother.
** Gina from ''Save The Homeland'' is a shy, glasses wearing woman like Maria (Mary) from ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature''. Sabrina from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness'' is even more obvious. She is essentially Mary with different clothes and hair. They're both ShrinkingViolet bookworms with glasses and long black hair.
** ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody'' was a 10th anniversary title where most characters were from previous games. The one's who weren't are substitutes. Blue is identical to Gray in ''VideoGame/{{Harvest Moon 64}}'' down to being named after a color, Ray looks like Cliff from the same game, Carl bares a resemblance to Jeff from the same game, and Dan looks a little like Kai from that game too (and works at a grape farm like him). Meryl and Tai look like the fortune tellers granddaughter and the peddler from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon1''.

* GuiltBasedGaming: Just let an animal die. For some reason, people get angry at you if an animal dies ''of old age''... In later games, this has been rectified so townspeople won't get a bit upset when a animal dies naturally. They still get upset if you are the cause of death however.

* KissingCousins: In ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]'', apparently and potentially. In the original ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon1 SNES]]'' games you marry one of the four bachelorettes. The protagonist of ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoon64 64]]'' is the former protagonists IdenticalGrandson. The child of the original protagonist and his unknown wife are one of the bachelorettes. So, if you think about it, you could be courting or even marrying your cousin.

** The various {{Expy}}s throughout the series are usually kept separate - there are two separate but very similar Basil's, for instance, though they're from different games - but ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonDS DS]]'' brushes up against this. The priest from ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature Mineral Town]]'''s church is named Carter. The professor who runs the excavation site is also named Carter. They'll both send you New Year's cards if you're friends with them.

* YouCanSeeMe: Any game that has supernatural elements in it -- which is almost all of them -- have it so the magical people in the area are only seen by the player character (and maybe one other person, such as Jamie in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody''). Be they Harvest Sprites (later called Nature Sprites), the Harvest Goddess (or God), or a Main/{{Kappa}} living in a pond, the player is generally the ''only'' one who interacts with them. Others might know of or think about them, though.

* LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain: Used almost verbatim during a random event in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonANewBeginning A New Beginning]]'', when the women of the town wonder how Dunhill has taken so many pictures of them (and your farmer) without them ever knowing. He's taken enough to fill up entire albums to give to each of them.

** You can woo all the girls at the same time, and in some games this seems to prevent them from marrying your rivals.
** you can leave your animals to die in various ways. The game will make you feel bad for it.

Compare and contrast with other FarmLifeSim games like ''VideoGame/HometownStory'', ''VideoGame/LittleDragonsCafe'' (by the creator of the franchise, Yasuhiro Wada), ''VideoGame/RiverKing'' (''Story of Seasons'''s sister series), and ''VideoGame/StardewValley'', a game created in the spirit of the older games and highly successful in its own right.
For many other SpiritualSequel and SpiritualSuccessor games, see FarmLifeSim.

* KiddyCoveralls: Many of the children your player character can have will wear these at some point when young, often as a toddler or child; this is both to show their youth and related to the idea that OverallsandGingham means "rural life."

Earlier games imposed a time limit (usually between two and three years of in-game time) to improve the farmland, at which point an event (such as the character's father visiting the farm) occurs and the player is "graded" on the success of their farming. Still, it's almost always possible to continue playing indefinitely afterwards, leaving you to run your farm as long as you'd like. Early games als had male protagonists only; this was followed by games allowing players [[DistaffCounterpart to play as a female farmer]]--with many versions splitting the girl option off into a separate versions--but nowadays the choice of player gender is available at the start of the game.

** The obscure UsefulNotes/GameBoy game ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon3'' was ''the'' first game to give you the option of customizing your player character's appearance. You could only change your bandanna and clothes colors.

** There's multiple outfits in ''Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town'', but they're all just PalletSwap outfits outside of the mascot costumes.

* WeatherReport: Many games have a television that, among other channels, includes a weather report station that shows the next day's forecast.
* WideOpenSandbox: Narrower than some other examples, perhaps, but there's still a startling amount of ways to go about playing these games.
* WithThisRing: In the ''HM'' universe, you propose through means of a Blue Feather, so there's no need to worry about rings... except in ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonTreeOfTranquility Tree of Tranquility]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/HarvestMoonAnimalParade Animal Parade]]'', where they somehow make the Blue Feather into a ring after the proposal and it becomes a wearable accessory. There's also ''commitment'' rings in several games where you have to gift them to you beloved and commit or you don't get to see their heart events past a certain point.

* YourFavorite: Most characters have several favorite items that will tend to revolve around a particular theme - usually one of your crops. In several games, characters actually have one particular favorite item that can score you more heart/relationship points than anything else.