Video Game / Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

Raise crops. Raise animals. Raise children.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is the next installment in the Story of Seasons Farm Life Sim series, and an Enhanced Remake of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and its derivatives, by Marvelous Entertainment and translated by XSEED Games.

The player character, living in the city and aimless in life, sends out a letter from, Takakura, their late father's best friend. Learning their father had a farm in Forgotten Valley (formerly Forget-Me-Not Valley), they take a chance and ask to come and inherit their dad's old farm with the goal of making it prosper. The player's also encouraged — strongly — to settle down, marry, and start a family of their own, with a choice among eight different romantic interests — four guys and four girls, and see how their child grows up and what their own path in life will be.

It was announced on Nintendo Direct on September 13th 2022. It was released on the Nintendo Switch in January 26th, 2023, in Japan, and internationally June 27th of the same year. The game was also released on Steam, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The official site is here.

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Tropes that are up to date:

A to H

• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Gustafa no longer has the beard, big brimmed gnome-style hat hat, and big nose, instead having some fine stubble, a bucket hat, and a smaller nose, making him look as young as the other bachelors.
  • Pui (formerly Murrey) is shown as being well-groomed despite being homeless, and the flies that buzz around him are now butterflies.
  • Gordy (formerly Cody) now has a full head of hair and a more conventionally attractive face and body shape.
  • Tartan's center head was originally an eyeless Flower Mouth. Vinnie's now more closely resembles his other two heads and it's the one he talks from.
• Adaptational Dye-Job: In A(nother) Wonderful Life and the sequels Harvest Moon DS/DS Cute, Rock (and his identical DS descendant — or, in the English version that dropped that plot, his AU self) Romeo/"Rock" — was blond and would have blond(e) children, which has long been one of the points brought up by fans speculating on whether he was adopted or not, given his parent(s) had black hair. Now he's still blond, but it's obviously dyed and his child inherits his naturally brown hair (though his son as a teen will also dye his hair blond before reverting back to brown as an adult).
• Adaptation Distillation: While none of the events change per chapter, the length of each chapter is now a single year, rather than some of them being two or three years. Then the whole of the story is followed by the endless "Beyond", Playable Epilogue.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Every marriage candidate has an introduction scene that lets you meet them before you ever start to romance them.
  • Every marriage partner has a unique engagement event fitting their personality that can be seen the day after you get engaged to them by walking out of your house in the morning. These were added to give an idea of what your unseen interactions together are during the engagement period, as well as an indication of what you can look forward to in your married life with them.
  • An actual wedding scene has been added to follow the existing "marriage announcement" scenes at the end of Chapter 1, with you and your spouse marrying formally in a private ceremony near the goddess pond in the woods under an arch of flowers the Sprites put up. The scene also lets you choose the gender of your child then, rather than going through the pot in the Sprites' house like Special Edition made you do.
  • Many "family events" have been added to show tender moments with you, your spouse, and your child — with each spouse having unique dialogue that reflects their personality during the scene. There is also a series of "family events" between Takakura and your child to emphasize the grandfatherly relationship between them.
  • Various other interactive scenes have been added, such as seeing Nina race Hugh, interactions among characters, and others interacting with your child depending on their skills and interests.
  • A Camera has been added as a tool, allowing you to take in-game pictures.
  • Dreams aren't just limited to bad, average, and good; now the player dreams of various scenes around the valley, which don't really connect to their feelings at all and are just randomized.
  • Trick Blues, which before were just a standard Autumn flower (with the added bonus of being the only flower Nami likes), now have an additional trait of turning basic crops blue when their seeds are blended with Vinnie.
• Adapted Out: Originally, if you didn't marry or befriend Nami she'd leave the valley altogether, having run out of money to stay (but returning in another cut scene and being embraced by Tim and Ruby). These scenes have now been fully removed — Nami stays in town regardless.
• Adaptational Job Change: Rather than running a pub/bar as in the original version, Gavin and Molly now run a café called the Bluebird Café, where meals can be purchased that help restore stamina and alleviate hunger.
• Adaptational Modesty:
  • Molly's dress no longer has a low V-neck, instead now having a slightly higher, straight across neckline with a higher bodice and comes down to her calves.
  • Chris (Sully's wife and Hugh's mother) now wears pants instead of a skirt.
• Adaptation Name Change: All characters who were renamed by Natsume in the English translation of the original Wonderful Life games could not have those English names reused because the names belonged to Natsume. When choosing new dub names, XSEED chose several to be closer to the original Japanese meanings, and some to be phonetically similar Western names. XSEED explained some of the changes they made on their blog posts here.
  • The Valley itself is now called Forgotten Valley instead of Forget-Me-Not Valley. ^note The Japanese name, Wasuredani, translates loosely to "valley that has been forgotten", while the prior name more implies "a place not to forget", which isn't the same meaning. There's not even forget-me-nots growing there.
  • Marlin is now Matthew in the remake — a more phonetically accurate rendering of the Japanese "Masshu".
  • Celia, who was "Sepiria" in Japanese, is now Cecilia, closer to the original Japanese.
  • Muffy, originally called "MuuMuu," in Japanese, is now named Molly. (This is because the "Muffy" name, like "Harvest Moon", belongs to Natsume.)
  • Murrey ("Moi" in the Japanese version of the original titles) now goes by Pui in both the Japanese and English versions of the remake. ^note In the Japanese katakana, it's a difference of only the first kana — モイ vs プイ— so the name change wasn't as dramatic.
  • Cody is now referred to as Gordy, matching the pronunciation of his Japanese name.
  • Muffy's boss Griffin (originally Garfan in Japanese) is renamed Gavin, more closely matching the pronunciation.
  • Rock's parents, previously dubbed Tim and Ruby by Natsume, now are called Tei and Lou to match the names they've always had in Japanese. Their inn, called Mitemitei in Japanese and dubbed "Inner Inn" by Natsume, is now called the Lei-Over Inn to preserve the Punny Name — both Mitemitei and Lei-Over are portmanteaus that incorporate the innkeeper's name(s).
  • San, previously dubbed Samantha, returns to her Japanese name of San. Her husband Gurat, previously dubbed Grant, is now Garrett.
  • Jock parent Wally, originally Suary in Japanese, has been changed to Sully.
  • Dr. Hardy is now Dr. Baddoch, retaining the Punny Name in a different form closer to the original Japanese name of "Badoggu".
  • Fireworks twins Kassey and Patrick^note The Japanese names of Kesaran and Pasaran combine to be the name "Keseran pasaran", a white thistledown puffball creature resembling a firework. are now Charlie and Cole.^note Charcoal.
  • Tartan the multi-headed plant^note This was a direct word translation of Tsurutan by Natsume; Tsuru means "vine" while -tan is a cutesy diminutive of the Japanese honorific -chan. is now called Vinnie, which more closely preserves the Japanese style Punny Name.
  • Along with now being called "Nature Sprites", Nic, Nak, and Flak have been renamed to Jack, Ace, and Hart. (This is a nod to them offering various card games in DS Cute in the Sprite Casino.)
  • Several of the foragables are renamed due to Natsume having tried to change the plant names to match real-life plants in the original game's translation. For example, Sorrel ^note originally called "Flower Bud" or はなすぼみ (hana sumobi) in Japanese is now simply called "Budding Herb", while the "Hottake" that Natsume had dubbed "Matsutake"^note Confusingly, Natsume also called the Yattake/Speshroom mushroom "Matsutake" (it more closely resembles one) in the original — so both mushrooms had the same name in English. is now called Roundshroom. These more closely fit the whimsical names these have in Japanese, and also help clarify what the flowers, plants, and mushrooms do.
• Aerith and Bob: For the English version, many of the characters were given common Western names — e.g. Molly, Matthew, Gary^note Their names in the Japanese version— and the way the JP devs chose to spell those names in English in the game files (Muumuu, Mash, Ghali) — are examples of the odd names peculiar to early Bokujou Monogatari titles, which have been localized by XSEED into English as Western names that are phonetically similar (Matthew, Gary) or retain the general cadence (Molly). — with some exceptions like Nami, Tei, and Takakura left alone. Later San moves in with her husband Garrett and daughter Kate.
• All There in the Manual: The US game manual packaged with the game is written like a guide from Takakura to the player who's moved there. It mentions some small character traits not specified in game — like all the marriage candidates being near the player's age or that Romana is a prankster. It also informs the player that if they don't give out their Blue Feather or accept a proposal from someone at the end of the first year, then Takakura will reckon this means you've decided to leave the farm and go back to the city — which may be news to people who never played the original or who've played other games in the series where there wasn't such a tight deadline for marrying.
• Alternative Calendar: The calendar is simplified like before, with four seasons of ten days each. As with the original game, this is taken even further in the Japanese version with the seasons being called Parrot, Pepper, Amber, and Indigo instead of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Gustafa's seasonal outdoors dialogue contains nods to the alternative season names.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes:
  • Getting a higher Fashion Degree (by changing clothes/hairstyles) will unlock more outfits to buy from Van. Some other outfits are accessible via friendship and/or bulletin board rewards.
  • Getting 50 of the wonderfuls (in-game achievements) has Jack, Ace, and Hart present the player with their own set of Nature Sprite clothes.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Many little things were added, changed, or improved upon from the original game to improve the gameplay and interactivity. Now has its own page.
• Arcadia: Forgotten Valley is nestled away in the middle of nowhere, with lots of green spaces and even a nearby forest. There's a city up a mountain path, but said city is never seen.
• Art Evolution:
  • The visuals and character design had been changed to match the new style that changed over the years, done by long-time artist Igusa Matsuyama. This includes more details on everything from character clothing to the valley's environment. For example, Molly's red dress now has a subtle pattern close to the hem and subtle lace at the neckline, her shrug — not jacket — gathers at the wrists, and there are little bows on her heels at the ankle strap. It also helps make it clear that Lumina is not wearing a sailor-style top, but instead a shawl over a sweater top.
  • Originally, the drinks at the Blue Bar didn't have their own models and were simply represented by milk bottles. In this version, every menu item has its own unique design.
• The Artifact:
  • The Mountain Pass. In previous versions of the game, this path was used to link up with Friends of Mineral Town (via the GBA link cable) for some exclusive bonuses. In this version, it's basically an in-game time killer; go up the path and your character will travel to another town off screen, spending six hours of the day out of the valley with a short sentence about what they did out of town (and restore stamina); they can go out once a day.
  • While the diaries are no longer needed to see any candidate's heart levels — they're recorded in the relationship menu, showing your connections to everyone — they're still present where they were in the originals, showing hearts on a 1-5 scale about how they feel for you. (Gordy also has one, being a new bachelor.)
• Balance Buff: Certain products like crops and wool now sell for much more than what they were worth in the GameCube or PS2 version, allowing the player to make more money sooner. Buying fertilizer from Vesta is also much cheaper — only 20 gold as opposed to the high 120 it was before.
• Bittersweet Ending: Your character, after years of maintaining the farm, passes away in their sleep unexpectedly after your child is an adult. Characters will meet in the Café to mourn you and lament your passing together, including Takakura on his own. He informs you (and your father) how your child took on their career — which, if pushed, means farming or ranching in your footsteps. In a meta sense, the main game ends with your passing—then continues in Beyond with your adult child, so the save file isn't just over allowing you to spend time with everyone again and aim for 100% Completion.
• Book Ends:
  • The game begins with the player heading to Forgotten Valley to start their new life as a farmer after the death of their father. The game ends with your child starting their own career after the death of one of their parents. You.
  • The main story of the game also begins and ends with Takakura standing on the beach, Talking to the Dead — your father. And at the end, you too.
• Bowdlerise:
  • In the original game, Griffin owned a bar, and you were able to buy drinks that were explicitly alcoholic, with Muffy calling them "cocktails" and townsfolk inside the bar acting drunk while there even with the cocktail names themselves using nondescript language like "MooMoo Milk" and the drinking contest at the Inn being based on milk but complete with Drunken Glow. Here, Griffin — renamed Gavin — instead runs a café that offers coffee, tea, sodas, and meals and there is no drinking contest at all. The café still has a bar feel; some of the visitors still sound drunk, and the cafe is open late into the night. Also, Gavin's cigarette has been completely removed.
  • Takakura no longer has a tattoo on one arm.
  • The spooky Skull Fossil in the mines has now been replaced with the tamer Leaf Fossil.
• But Thou Must!:
  • Get married at the end of your first year there. Haven't proposed to anyone? Takakura will list everyone you've gotten six or more hearts and 70+ friendship with for you to pick from, and the one picked will come over to propose to you. Failed to do so, or ignored everyone for the entire year? Your choices default to Cecilia and Rock and you have to pick one of them to propose. Refuse the proposal altogether? You give up farming and leave the valley in a Non-Standard Game Over.
  • Lumina's proposal event has her grandmother Romana asks the player if Lumina makes them happy, with the options being "Absolutely!" or "Um..." Selecting "um..." just makes Romana ask you again until you say yes.
  • You can, any chapter before Chapter 6, go in Sebastian's room and activate a scene where you see a picture of a young Romana he keeps. He'll ask you to keep his having it a secret, and if you refuse twice, Sebastian will plead with you until you agree to do so.
• Canon Name: "Mark" and "Pony" are now named "Shion" and "Maya" respectively — in promotional images. The character has no default name in game.
• Calling Parents by Their Name:
  • Your child will do this if you are a nonbinary player — rather than appending Mama or Papa to your name, your child will just call you by your name alone.
  • Rock calls Tei and Lou exclusively by their first names in Japanese and English. He also calls Lou "ma" occasionally in his English dialogue, but still only calls Tei by his name. He gets a bit defensive about this habit of his in response to the farmer's reaction.
    Rock:Oh, that's Lou's spice, right? ...What? Is it weird for a guy to call his mom by her first name sometimes?
  • Enforced with Lumina, who is expected to call her grandmother "Aunt Romana" and not grandma or grandmother.
• Call to Agriculture: Why you move to the valley in the first place — to take over your late father's farm that his friend Takakura has been taking care of and they founded together.
• Constantly Lactating Cow: Unlike the original game, cows and goats can constantly be milked without a drop in milk quality or the milk supply ending a year after breeding (or in the case of the goat, a year and then being useless since they were unbreedable). Breeding does makes more milk come in for a short time.
• Character Customization: Unlike the last remake, players can now choose three gender options: male, female, and non-binary (called "other" in the Japanese version and selected in the international versions by picking they/them pronouns at the start). They can also choose between four face styles and five skin tones. A screenshot from the Bokumono website reveals that hair style and hair color options are also available for the main character, and another trailer shows customizable eye-styles and five available skin tones. However, the skin tone, face shape, and eye color cannot be changed after the start of the game; hair style and color however can be changed, as well as outfits in the mirror.
• Cheap Gold Coins: You pay for everything in G, short for gold. The gold coins that can be dug out of the mine starting in Chapter 3 are worth some value of G, but even that's only 120G. Golden forks are worth more and show up in the first year.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Nina is named after one of the bachelorettes in the first game, Harvest Moon.
  • Rock will, during his romantic proposal, say you're "the Romiet to his Julio." This is a nod to his Japanese name in DS/Cute, Romeo. (Natsume didn't translate this, instead opting to use the prior names.)
  • Lumina has an old picture of herself and her "Aunt" Romana on display in her room. Getting a closer look at it by using Photo Mode shows that they're in their old designs from the original Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.
• Cooking Mechanics: From the start of the game you can cook — with or without recipes. Recipes gathered around town mean you'll succeed, while trying randomly may result in a failure if you're not skilled enough. If you already know what the dish requires and you successfully cook it in your kitchen, the game will record the recipe for you for next time.
• Crush Blush: All of the potential marriage options will have this around your player, especially during their heart scenes or if you invite them to the fireworks show/winter starlight concert as a date — and definitely if you take the step to propose to them or vice versa. The three pairs with rival events also have them around each other.
• Delicate and Sickly: Matthew. While downplayed to keep him conventionally attractive, his new design features bags under his eyes and the top of his hair slightly unkempt, hinting that his illness (first mentioned in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life) is starting to take a toll on him to the point of self-neglect.
• Developers' Desired Date: As in the original, Cecilia is exceptionally easy to woo, happy to take flowers as a gift and gaining hearts quickly. Rock as well, who will happily take spring and summer flowers and even fodder as some of his best gifts. If the player somehow ignores everyone in town and/or doesn't have enough romantic levels with anyone by the end of the first winter, these two will be the options offered — and one has to be picked and married, or it's a Non-Standard Game Over.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • If you attend the Starlight Concert with Gustafa as your date or husband, instead of standing in the crowd — as you would with any other date or spouse — you stand next to him, since he's playing. Also if you invite someone the first year but then decide they're not going to be your date after all they'll still attend the concert, just standing behind you.
  • Nami, being a drifter, doesn't know the cultural tradition of the Blue Feather proposal. Proposing to her with it has her asking what it is at all, and her reverse proposal has her — unlike the others — not take yours from you, simply happy to marry you.
  • If you propose to Nami while you're in her room at the inn, she won't need go back there to think about it.
  • There's different dialogue for every marriage partner's reverse proposal if you've done only the bare minimum for them to propose (i.e. seeing no romantic events at all, but getting enough hearts they'll come propose), which is more awkward and impersonal than if they truly love you. For example, Rock (who doesn't need any hearts at all) will say his parents have told him to get his life together — and he's noticed you have yours together; Matthew says that being around animals does wonders for his health and he's noticed you have a dog and some other animals around that might help with that; while Nami will say she's run out of money and so has to leave — but really doesn't want to, so asks to stay with you and pleads that she won't be any trouble.
  • If characters older than you are at the memorial service for you at the Bluebird Café, they'll mention how they didn't expect you to die before they did and how you were so young.
• Downer Ending: If you refuse to get married by the end of the year and trigger the Non-Standard Game Over. Not only do you have to reject a marriage candidate to their face, everyone has a different and varying degree of sad reactions, all complete with downbeat music in the background. Nami says she'd thought she could rely on you and says she'll see you around — or not, since she'll have to leave town; Lumina apologizes for even bringing it up and makes her way out in embarrassment; Rock, flabbergasted, says he doesn't want to hear about it if you regret turning him down later; and Gustafa appears to take it in stride and says he hopes life's good to you. And then after the rejection, Takakura says that he guesses farming's not your style and if you want another career, it's not here — and tells your late dad above that your heart wasn't in the farm, with the last scene of you walking out the valley to leave forever before a Fade to Black.
• Downloadable Content: Several outfit changes for the character can be downloaded: Spring Cow-digan, Summer Raincoat, Autumn Aviator Jacket, Winter Peacoat, Red Happi Coat, Mukumuku Outfit, and Pumpkin Patch Pants. The outfits were pre-order bonuses in Japan depending on where the game was preordered — with the Mukumuku Outfit also being a preorder bonus worldwide — but are now either free (the latter three) or purchased as a complete set for $3.99 (the seasonal clothing) in the West.
• Easter Egg:
  • Various places around the valley have hidden trios of mushrooms in the colors of the local Nature Sprites Ace, Jack, and Hart.
  • Mr. Potson (a creature living in a pot in the Nature sprite's house) who offered the option of a child's gender in Another Wonderful Life now gives a record once bothered long enough — the title theme from Harvest Moon DS. His dialogue also sounds like the Harvest King from that game.
  • Nami's Hidden Depths include knowing a lot about weather and the seasons. In Harvest Moon: Magical Melody she was added in as the weather forecaster.
  • Rock/Lumina's first rival heart event together has Rock approach Lumina out of concern that her mansion is haunted, saying he heard the voice of a woman's creepy laughter coming from the direction of the Villa grounds late at night. (Lumina, positively incensed, accuses him of lying — then is scared by turning around and seeing you behind her.) Harvest Moon DS, which takes place 100 years after the GameCube version, states the Witch Princess is living in the shed next to the mansion and has lived in the Valley for centuries. If you investigate that shed in the remake, it’s been redesigned with a more gothic appearance, and there's now smoke coming out of the chimney stack despite the door being doubly locked from the outside. There's also a white Toadstool next to the door, infamously loved and required for wooing the Witch Princess to poison the whole Valley in Harvest Moon DS.
• Everyone Is Bi: As with the prior two installments, you may marry any bachelor or bachelorette of your choosing regardless of the player's gender.
• Equipment Upgrade: You can upgrade most of your tools from the Old level to Copper, Silver, Gold, and up to the Blessed level. The first levels are through Van for a price (and he'll take the old tools from you — no discount), while the Blessed Tools are obtained via high friendships with residents and then fulfilling a high level request from them.
• Fade to Black: When you step outside while your animals are being bred, it literally fades to black and then switches to you standing outside while Takakura coaxes the animals into what they need to do — followed by animal sounds and his commentary, then inviting you back in to see two smiling animals and him informing you your animal will be pregnant soon.
• Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: You can crossbreed plants with Vinnie's help to make new hybrid plants, such as the Banapple, Greach, Berrytoma, and Melomelo. You can then cross several of these a third time against each other to make rare fruits and vegetables, some of which are realistic and others which are not — and all of which are named by the player. You can also cross the base crop seeds with the Trick Blue plant to make blue variations that sell for more, Happy Lamps to grow in any season, Sagesoil to grow in any quality soil, and Upseeds to boost the seeds to S Level.
• Fireworks of Love: Alluded to at the summer fireworks show in the first year. As long as you've at least seen their introduction, you can invite any marriage candidate to view the fireworks with you regardless of affection and give you the opportunity for you to compliment them afterwards for a flustered response and a slight boost in affection. Zigzagged with Nami and Gordy; Nami will get upset if you compliment her instead of the fireworks and complain that you weren't even looking at them, while Gordy will just awkwardly acknowledge it — but their affection still increases like the rest of the candidates, though.
• Flowers of Romance: Most characters that can be romanced adore flowers as a gift; the two exceptions are Nami (who instead likes fossils/sculptures from the dig site, certain dishes, and Trick Blue - a specific Autumn flower) and sickly Matthew, who wants eggs (or egg soup), milk, meals, and crops.
• Follow in My Footsteps: The player character, following their dad into farming. Also said player, if you push for your child to be a farmer or rancher like you've been.
• Framing Device: As with the Wonderful Life games prior, there are many transitional scenes between chapters rather than each skipping right to the next, with Takakura talking to your father about the past several years. Including your death before him.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • With the two default options for marriage, if you spend the first year sleeping and never leave the house, ignoring everyone in town. Rock says his parents want him to get his life together and implies that you have your life together (even though you haven't done anything at all), and Cecelia will say you've been a joy to be around and have always been kind to her — even though you might have never spoken to her.
  • There's Time Skips of what's shown to be years between each chapter of the story — but whatever state your plants and animals were in on Winter 10 carries to Spring 1. Never mind that you got married and had a baby that's now a toddler, or that that toddler is now a school aged child while Hugh is now a teenager — the plants you put down before your marriage won't have changed, and if an egg was going to hatch or a baby animal be born, it just happens after the time skip.
  • Due to only the three original bachelorettes having reactions to you accepting their confession and then proposing to another of the three, no one else will be offended if you propose to them after hearing the love confession from the three. This can result in a situation where you can propose to their rivals without issue — for example, Matthew (who is rather protective of Cecilia) accepting your blue feather without any emotional conflict from him or Cecilia.
• Garden Garment: Pui has an outfit and hat made of moss. His outfit also can include flowers, mushrooms, and/or vines, depending on the season.
• Gay Option: Since Everyone Is Bi, the player can enter a same-sex marriage with anyone and have a kid with them. Unlike the prior two installments (which magically grants a baby to same-sex couples^note All couples in Pioneers of Olive Town get a gifted baby, regardless of genders.) there's a Time Skip after the end of the first year to the happy couple having a toddler that looks very much like both their parents.
• Glowing Flora:
  • The large plants in the forest and mushrooms in the Nature Sprites' home all give off a glow. Your character comments on the ones in the Sprites' house, asking how they even do that.
  • Some second tier hybrid crops glow, such as the lightbulb style plants.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • There are two different weathermen on the TV's Weather Report, a newscaster and a farmer. The game gives no indication that the farmer is much more reliable overall than the newscaster, who is almost never right unless he's aligned with the farmer.
  • The Fireworks of Love summer show and romantic options for the winter Starlight Concert can only happen in the first year (you're married with a kid after and will go as a family to the fireworks show and with your spouse to the concert). For the fireworks you either have to go to the beach to participate or be inside your house to have Coal and Charlie pick you up, and for the Starlight you have to be in your house so Gavin can invite you — both after 6 pm. Otherwise, you don't go — unlike the other two festivals, you don't get a reminder beforehand.
  • Many of the heart events require specific times, places, and/or people in the certain settings to activate. For example, Cecilia's 8-heart event requires her, Vesta, and Matthew to all be inside the farm house, and Cecilia can't be upstairs in her room. Prepare to do a lot of back-and-forthing to get actions to all line up for someone.
  • Three couples — Nami/Gustafa, Rock/Lumina, and Cecilia/Matthew — all have "rival" events brought over from Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life that show them interacting with each other romantically. (They won't marry each other, only the player, but they're neat little snippets.) They all have to be done before the end of the first year as after that — even if you don't marry them specifically — you don't see any more romantic events. However, activating them is another challenge, as each has specific times in which they occur and specific triggers — such as weather or moving past certain locations — and they must be seen in order, without having triggered the 8-heart event for any half of the pairs (as they will be too much in love with you at that point to bother flirting with their rival for affection). For example, Rock/Lumina's first event requires both to be outside in sunny weather between 9 AM and 2 PM, and it be at least summer, so if Lumina stays in playing piano past 2 PM, it can't happen. Nami/Gustafa's third is one of the hardest to activate. It has to be fall or winter between 11 AM and 6 PM, Nami can't be inside the inn, and it has to be raining (snow doesn't count.) The problem is that if it's raining too early — before about 9:30 AM, when she leaves out for the day — then Nami won't go outside the inn at all until the rain stops, which may be the whole time span.
  • Going steady with one of the first three bachelorettes after the nine-heart scene doesn't obligate the two of you to actually marry. It only means you won't see anyone else's heart events. You still have the Blue Feather, so you have to take the step to propose. Even if to another person.
  • Carter will request from the player a fine tree crop, saying that he'll take any kind in exchange for some cakes. However, "any" is incorrect — it has to be at least A level, or he won't accept it.
  • There's no #10 Tier Two Hybrid Crop. It's just skipped in the numbering, so don't worry about trying to find it.
  • You can't cross Upseed flowers with tree crop seeds to get them to S level. You can cross them with S-level crop seeds to get to S Level, but there's a chance of failure.
  • Gary won't take any gifts for Year 2 because he's too depressed after Nina dies. But this is only for a year. Starting in year 3 he'll be open to gifts again.
  • Sagesoil and Happy Lamps — used to have a crop grow in any soil or in any season respectively — don't carry over to the next generation of seeds. You'll have to blend the new crops again with the flowers to make this possible.
• G-Rated Sex: For your farm animals breeding, if you employ outside assistance by having a bull or stud brought down from the city. Takakura will send you out of the barn so the animals don't get nervous, and you'll hear his commentary and some animal noises, before he invites you in to see two smiling animals and informs you the female should be pregnant in a few days. You'll also never see how the animals get pregnant or eggs get fertilized if you have a male and female of any pair of animals. There's just a chance that any of the female animals might be pregnant when you observe them or that the eggs you gather in the morning are fertilized.
• Grow Old with Me: This is one of the main goals of the player and their marriage partner; they will both show aging as the years pass on. Also shown with Nina and Gary, though like Nina, the player will die, leaving their partner widowed.
• Homosexual Reproduction: Unlike the two prior games with a Gay Option — where nature would just "magically" grant a baby to the same-sex couples^note To be fair, this was the only option for a child in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town even if the couple was heterosexual — the baby is always a magical gift from nature. — the happy couple will, post-Time Skip, have a child that looks very much like both their parents. With absolutely no explanation given on how the child turned out that way. While the hair and eye color are always the spouse's, the child's skin tone is adjusted depending on that of the player and the spouse. Having a child say, with Gordy while having light skin and being male still has the child come out with a tan at minimal — and if the player has the darkest skin tone, so will the child.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player character has no default name in-game and can be named anything. ("Shion" and "Maya" are the default names for promotional data.) They also name the farm, all animals on the farm, and later their child and any higher level Hybrid Crops.
• Hunk: Gordy isn't as muscular as he was originally but he still fits the trope — especially compared to the other 3 bachelors who are much more slender in build. He's also the tallest, easily a head or so above the player while the others match in height.

I to R

• Lighter and Softer:
  • The game's coloration is overall this, with brighter and more saturated colors instead of the toned down, muted and overwhelmingly brown tones of the original.
  • Homeless, grubby Murray has changed to Pui. He still doesn't have a home, but now has butterflies buzzing around his head instead of flies and is overall cleaner and more presentable in a Garden Garment, appearing more like a forest dweller.
  • This version brings back the Heaven mode that was added in Another Wonderful Life (now called Beyond) which the original didn't have, allowing a save file to be played indefinitely. All the children will remain adults, and any other adults return to their Chapter 2 appearances. Nina remains dead.
  • In the original, Nami's worry about leaving is returning home to a drunk father she'd have to move in with. In the remake, it's stated that she's being cut off financially, and her father isn't mentioned to be drunk, just neglectful.
• Limited Wardrobe: Even as the years pass and many of the characters age including yourself, they'll be wearing the same thing they did when you arrived. There's some slight changes in colors, and Lumina has a full change in Chapter 2 as do the kids when they grow up, but there's little variety beyond that. Cecilia will still have the same blouse, skirt, bandana, and apron she did when she was a young twenty-something as she does when she's an older sixty-something. Lampshaded by Rock, who says it only looks like he's wearing the same outfit every day — he claims he switches up tiny details in his outfits every day, but sighs that no one ever notices.
• Money Sink: The teddy bear Van sells from Chapter 3 now costs a whopping one million gold. Time to rise and grind if you want to see your child interact with it.
• The Mourning After: After Nina's death, Gary will mourn her after, moving to a small hut near her grave overlooking the sea. He won't take any more gifts until you help him out by cleaning her grave regularly enough that he starts to reconnect with you.
• Moving-Away Ending:
  • Four of the six potential paths for your child will result in them leaving the valley to strike out on their own. Only if they become a farmer or rancher like you will they stay in the valley. The Artist ending has them leaving in secret, not even telling your spouse except via note later.
  • The "Divorce" bad ending has your spouse take your child and leave for good in response to the player yelling that they don't care what happens to the farm. Then Takakura tells you to get out and leave town too, since you clearly have no interest in running a farm.
• Multiple Endings: Zigzagged. There's only one ending for your player character — dying in your sleep — but your child can have one of six possible endings that lead into their future career. Regardless, this is followed up by a Playable Epilogue that goes on forever.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The butterflies hovering around Pui are named Pete and Claire.
  • The recipe for curry mentions that kids and phantom thieves love it.
  • You can use the Blessed Fishing Rod to retrieve a golden axe in the spring, a nod to how you acquire the golden axe in the first Harvest Moon.
  • The boxes in Vesta's storage shed are labeled with the towns of Mineral Town and Flowerbud Villages.
  • When you use the mountain trail, you'll do things like going to a library or meeting a man in yellow selling apples, referring again to Mineral Town.
  • Talking to Tei will inform you that Lou had a judge in a cooking contest call her food atrocious. Furthermore, the judge had such a pretentious title — "Bon Vivant."
• No Hugging, No Kissing: Zig-zagged in a very peculiar way — the main point of the game is to raise a family, and you must get married in order to progress past the first chapter. There are cutscenes and dialogue that even imply intimacy with your partner, such as an event that ends with you following your spouse into the bath after a conversation that makes them blush. However, as is standard in modern Story of Seasons titles, you can hug your livestock, your poultry, and your child, but not your spouse. In lieu of a kiss, your wedding ceremony has the two of you stand with your arms sort of outstretched towards each other while leaving more than enough room for the Harvest Goddess. It's even more noticable than usual in this title given that there's scenes for your livestock breeding (with a discretion shot and Takakura's live commentary giving a play-by-play) but you can't so much as hold hands with your spouse, and the game never explains where the baby that resembles both you and your partner even came from. Molly as your wife may say in a lonely voice that she needs hugs from you, but there's nothing the player can do about it.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted like the original game. Your child will appear first as a toddler, then grow to a child, a teenager, and finally an adult. You will also age as well, as will the children of the valley and the residents.
• Non-Standard Game Over:
  • At the start of the game, merely back out of taking over the farm and immediately leave the valley. Roll credits.
  • At the end of Winter the first year, refuse to marry anyone, even the default choices offered, and turn down their proposal. Game over.
  • You can also get one by neglecting the farm. In the second or third chapters, don't ship out anything for the entire year. You'll get a cutscene at the end of the year where your spouse approaches you to ask if everything's okay, as Takakura's getting worried about the lack of shipments. You can either say "I'm sorry...I've got to step it up." or "I'm sick of this place!" Choosing the latter shocks your spouse, who begs for reassurance that this is just some kind of cruel joke. They'll give you three chances^note literally called "warning questions" in the game files to tell them you were just kidding, which will leave them shaken — especially if you wait until the last chance to back out — but if you agree to do better, they'll be relieved and the game will continue. But if you stick to your guns and yell that you hate it here and that whatever happens to the family farm is not your problem, your spouse will sadly accept your answer and tell you to do whatever you want. The scene cuts to them taking your child and leaving you for good in a Downer Ending. Game over.
• Parental Bonus: While the remake mostly toned down the adult references that A Wonderful Life was known for, two of the newly added post-proposal events qualify:
  • Cecilia's event has her visit your farmhouse in order to survey what the two of you will need to do in preparation for living together. As she muses about possible renovations to the farmhouse, suggests bringing furniture and cooking utensils so she can make you delicious meals, you have the option to tell her "There's only one bed." Her response is first to reassure you that she doesn’t need a lot, so she's fine with sharing a bed with you — before realizing the implications of what you said, panicking and blushing before giggling and calling you a silly goose. At the end of the event she lingers a little before leaving, remarking that the next time she'll be back here will be after the wedding... and she's really looking forward to it. This time it's your farmer who gets flustered as they look to the bed and then back to her.
  • Rock's event is ostensibly a "surprise picnic", but it plays out more like a metaphor for something that couldn't be depicted. After leading you through the forest to the farthest spot near the waterfall to let the mist hit your faces, he rambles about how excited he is to spend time just the two of you, psyched that you'll be able to do this every day once you're married. Which reminds him, he has something to show you — an oversized raw mushroom that he whips out of his pocket as the camera cuts to a long, silent shot at an angle that makes it appear to be growing out of his crotch. If that was too subtle, the camera cuts back to his face for him to say "Heh heh. Impressed, right?" The event continues in this odd way as he has you hold it, claims it's a homemade meal, and insists you dig in, saying it's "bursting with love". Afterwards you can either tell him it was amazing or "mushroom-y" — either way, he shows some insecurity about his inexperience in the "kitchen" before resolving to improve for you... and then runs off, leaving you alone in the forest to discover that it apparently took 5 hours to eat one singular fungus. When you return to the forest for the wedding ceremony, unlike the other candidates who just ask what inspired this walk, Rock alludes back to this event as he asks if there's any particular occasion this time or if you're just craving to be alone with him.
• Patchwork Kids: The child you have doesn't look purely like your spouse (or have a generic child look that every kid gets regardless of parents like in older games). While the child will always have the spouse's hair, eye color, and some of their facial features, the player having the darkest skin tone means the child will be some shade of tan — and if the father is Gordy, the child will take on a darker skin tone like his. Conversely, having a light-skinned player marry Rock or Gordy will result in a child whose skin tone is partway between your farmer's skin tone and your spouse's.
• Permanently Missable Content:
  • The Fireworks Show the first year can be a romantic date with anyone you choose. After that, you'll always attend with your spouse and child.
  • The Winter Starlight Concert also can only be with a date of your choice the first year; after that, you'll automatically attend with your spouse.
  • All of the romantic events are unobtainable after the first year once you're married, including any rival events; the heart levels are also removed from the friendship meters.
  • You have to befriend Nina and see her two event scenes in the first year before she dies. You can also get the recipe for Marinade from her at high enough friendship, but it's also available through the Nature Sprites if you miss it.
  • Certain scenes won't play out anymore after the chapter is passed and/or if you don't have the qualifications for the event. For example, a scene where Lumina is upset that Sebastian is nice to Cecilia in Chapter 1 won't play past that because Lumina will have matured; Daryl spying on your toddler child in Chapter 2 can obviously only happen when the child is young; and if you're married to Matthew or Cecilia, you can't see her getting bitter and mean with him or any of the scenes that follow it.
  • This might be obvious, but if you get a reverse proposal — a bachelor or bachelorette coming to propose to you at the end of the year because you didn't do it yourself—you don't get to have an engagement date with them, since there's no time for it.
  • If you don't complete a request in the time limit given, the items gifted are lost forever. Fortunately, this appears to only be true for requests that have items obtained via other ways — requests that get you one of a kind items such as the Alarm Clock have no time limit.
  • If you don't get engaged to Gordy and see his engagement event, the unique updated appearance of the art outside his trailer won't appear in the game.
  • Romana will only offer you a stray cat twice. After that, you can't have a cat at all.
• Playable Epilogue: Carried over from Another and Special Edition, giving the "Beyond" chapter after the credits and allowing the game (in that save file) to go on forever.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Gordy, who was previously a regular villager, is now a bachelor. This was first confirmed with a snippet of him with the player and their son at the beach, who shares his father's features. His toddler daughter can also be seen in the Bokumono website. Marrying and having a child with him will give them a tan skin tone at minimal — and a dark one like his if the player also has the darkest skin tone available.
• Rather Inn-Accessible: Lou notes that unlike other hotels that have a busy season, business for the Lei-Over Inn is pretty slow year-round given the remote location. Exaggerated by the fact that there's not even any vacant rooms available at the Inn — visitors like Van can only stay for day trips due to this. Instead, the Inn is used as more of a restaurant, with all the rooms that would normally be available to guests being occupied long-term by Nami and Rock. If you marry Nami or Rock, Tei and Lou still act like their rooms are occupied, with Tei remarking that visitors can’t even use the guest room Rock's staying in because Rock's there and that he doubts Rock will ever check out of the inn at this rate — even if Rock's been married to you for decades. If you tell Lou you want a room, she laughs at you as she says the following:
  Lou: Ahaha, you're joshin' right? Nami's called dibs on the only room available, as you know. Or maybe...you're tryin' to cozy up to Nami. Well? That's it, ain't it?
• Reality Has No Soundtrack: Aside from the music coming from the Blue Bar, no music plays far from your farm itself when you're outside — the music that does play comes from your record player in the house, which can be turned off. instead the Valley is filled with ambient background noise. Averted in some indoor areas like the Lei-Over Inn, which has its own theme music despite the inhabitants telling you they don't have a record player or any other way to play music.
• Relationship Values: With everyone in town; they can be seen in the menu under the bag on a slider from blue (cold) to red (friendly/happy). Marriage candidates in the first year also have hearts that guide the player towards marriage. Getting great friendship unlocks new dialogue, influences your child's inclinations, and often offers gifts of some kind. Except Nina, who dies after Chapter 1; she will, however, teach you marinade with high enough friendship. Also with the livestock, who give higher quality items the more you love on them.
• Refuse the Call: At the start of the game, you can get cold feet and back out of actually taking over the farm, leaving the valley right after. Takakura will fully accept this, solemnly admitting to your father that it is your life to live as you wish. Roll Credits. Start a new game.
• Romantic Rain: Seen in a G-rated version between Nami and Gustafa in their third rival event; in fact, it explicitly has to be raining or the scene won't play out.

S to Z

• Seasonal Baggage: The seasons are divided into Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each has different plants to forage, tree appearances, crops to grow, and symbols at the top of the screen next to the date. Milking animals also give less milk when it's too cold or too hot, dropping their total production by one. However, the seasons transition into each other smoother than older games. For example, the end days of Winter starts to show the green on the ground and in the trees coming back for Spring.
• Ship Tease: The rival events for Nami/Gustafa, Lumina/Rock, and Cecilia/Matthew. They won't marry each other, but they do show the feelings each set has for each other — and like the heart events, can't be seen after marriage.
• Shout-Out:
  • The blessed fishing rod can pull up a sword which will exclaim "You don't have the right. O' you don't have the right!" You can display it in your house.
  • Charlie's request for a potato in exchange for Brown Milk has him saying he craves one to boil—or mash, or stick in a stew.
  • One of the drama shows has Detective Chance, who's constantly chasing down the criminal Coupon III. Coupon even tries to get away in his Couponmobile Mark III during one episode.
  • When Takakura is talking to your father above about his grandchild, the prompt before naming them has him go "Now, what was his/her name again...?"
  • One of Daryl's events involves him secretly watching Flora and Carter converse while mumbling to himself that when it comes to Carter's hair, clothes, attitude... he loathes it all.
  • If you speak to Gordy in the Bluebird Café, he name-drops the Leitmotif for a certain coffee-addict lawyer:
    Gordy: I love the fragrance of dark coffee... There's nothing quite like it.
  • One of your responses upon meeting Vinnie the first time can be "I've had enough of this guy."
  • Rock asks you out on a date in his post-proposal event. When you accept, he gets very overexcited and shouts about it, referencing a children’s card game while doing so:
    Rock: All RIGHT! That’s the spirit! It’s time to D-D-D-DATE!
• Show Within a Show: The television has four different channels: a weather channel, a fortune telling channel that tells your luck for the day, a farming tips news channel (the only channel with set hours, as it goes off the air at about 10 p.m.), and a variety channel that rotates through various shows such as Infomercials, a music variety show, various drama shows, a fishing show, and a mythical creature exploration show.
• Story Branch Favoritism: While any of the endings with your child's career are possible and the farming ending is easier if you marry Cecilia or Matthew, the game leans hard towards your pushing towards your child to stay in the valley and be a farmer like you. All the other endings have some negative connotation attached and have them leaving the valley with little chance of returning. [[Spoiler:The Artist one has them sneaking out in the night without letting anyone know they're leaving town.]]
• The Simple Life is Simple: Your player comes out to the farm and immediately knows how to grow crops and raise and care for cows without any training other than Takakura's notes on what to do. It might be justified as their father was a farmer (as opposed to grandfather) and it's In the Blood, but still.
• Starting a New Life: The player character has moved to Forgotten Valley to start their life over as a farmer in their late father's footsteps. This is also the backstory for Molly, who moved from the city after one too many heartbreaks.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Your child will always have your spouse's hair and eye color, since yours can be anything and the hair color can change at any time. (This subtly reveals Rock dyes his hair, since the child will have brown hair while he has blond.) Rock and Gordy's children will additionally have darker tan and brown skin tones, respectively. If the player has the darkest skin tone, the child will always have a tan skin tone — and with Gordy, very dark brown skin like his.
• Through His Stomach: Practically every character has something edible they prefer highly as a gift. Gary likes fish, Gustafa likes milk, Darryl really likes fish, and Matthew only likes crops or meals and can't be wooed with flowers. While most people in the valley (outside of romantic options) just offer simple gifts such as records, you have to get high friendship with six characters to unlock the option of getting the Blessed Tools, and befriending Daryl can get him to gift you the Seed Maker for free — saving you a whopping 30K in gold.
• Time Skip: Between chapters, narrated by Takakura talking to your father up above. For example, the break between Chapter One and Two has him talking about your taking care of the farm, your spouse, and your child — his grandchild — now being old enough to walk and talk.
• Unnecessarily Cruel Rejection: You can do this as Video Game Cruelty Potential should you not be engaged by the end of the first year. Whoever has at least six hearts and enough affection will be offered as a choice to come in and propose (or Rock and Cecelia if you have no affection with anyone), and they'll ask to marry you. You can immediately turn them down, in some cases with very cold replies such as "I'd prefer to live alone" for Nami (who has nowhere to go). Doing so, however, results in a Non-Standard Game Over (as the rest of the game hinges on you getting married and having a kid you raise).
• Vague Age: None of the bachelors or bachelorettes have a stated age. The manual included with the game only says that they're around your age and implies that Molly is old enough to be worried about not getting married — and Lumina is old enough to be married, even if she's one of the youngest. In this Famitsu interview, director Rika Hoshina elaborates that all the characters are the same as in the original work— but in terms of minor changes, Lumina’s age was changed to 18 for the remake so she can be in a romantic relationship without causing concern.^note This is in reference to her previous age in Japanese official materials for Another Wonderful Life and Special Edition, which had been 16. Natsume listed her as 18 in the manuals that came with the Western releases for those games, but for the remake she’s 18 in all regions.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • You can flirt with everyone in the village, see all their heart events, and then marry someone else entirely regardless. (You can even coldly turn them down if you don't bother proposing and they come to propose to you, resulting in a Non-Standard Game Over.) Regardless, many of the girls will be upset and/or sad about you not marrying them. Lumina will cry at your proposal announcement, Molly will remain single forever and never find a fulfilling relationship, and Cecilia will become cynical (and potentially mean to Matthew). (Nami appears to accept this fine, as her scenes of leaving and coming back were Adapted Out.) You can even (during the first year) invite someone to the Fireworks Show or Starlight Concert as your date and then turn them down once they arrive to attend on your own, bringing them out for nothing and leaving them awkwardly standing there behind you.
  • You can be very nasty to everyone in the valley including the romantic interests: ignoring them, giving them bad or rude answers to their questions (e.g. making a ruckus in the forest when Nature Lover Cecilia asks you to be quiet to observe nature with her) and lower affection with anyone by showing them failed dishes. You can even sleep through the entire first year and not bond with anyone there (which makes Rock or Cecilia your default marriage options, and you have to pick one or it's (again) Non-Standard Game Over).
  • The three bachelorettes from the original games — Molly, Cecilia, and Nami — all have an extra nine-heart event that, if answered to correctly, automatically has the two of you going steady and locking you out of seeing any other heart events for anyone else. You can turn them down in the event if you want to keep flirting about town; in Cecelia's case, this would be after a love confession, so she's embarrassed and ashamed. And even if you accept their confession, you still have to formally propose to them with the Blue Feather. Which means you can instead propose to a different candidate entirely, breaking their heart and causing their family/friends to chew you out. Molly, Cecilia, and Nami have alternate Blue Feather scenes if you propose to them while already dating one of the other two to acknowledge the cheating. And since the remakes has Everyone Is Bi, you can also do this with a bachelor, leading to situations like cheating on Nami with Rock or cheating on Cecilia with Matthew. However, the game isn't programmed to acknowledge this as a betrayal — meaning Nami still appears in Rock's marriage announcement to congratulate you two, Tei and Lou have nothing to say about you two-timing both of the kids in their household, and Matthew accepts the Blue Feather like usual when logically he ought to chew you out for betraying Cecilia with him. Instead, the girls still act like you're "engaged" to them until Chapter 2 rolls around.
  • When Van is happy to have lost weight on his new diet plans, you can rudely say that the scale dial didn't work, dropping friendship with him by 15 points — well over an eighth.
• Virtual Paper Doll: While you start with one outfit, the one you don't pick at the beginning becomes available the first time Van arrives. He also sells several others, and there's also DLC outfits as well as outfits as rewards for tasks. Changing clothes or hairstyles regularly ups your style points, allowing you to buy other outfits.
• Weather Report: There's a specific channel dedicated to the weather report, which updates every six hours. The farmer is much more reliable overall than the newscaster, but the game doesn't tell you this.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: The outfit picked at the start of the game can be Maya's or Shion's, regardless of the character's gender (which is selected separately, with pronouns in the English release). The other outfit can be purchased from Van early on for only 500G — and regardless of gender, any skirt or pants outfits can be worn freely.
• Wish Upon a Shooting Star: During the Starlight Concert, shooting stars will come across the sky. You can then wish on one for either a little money, to be close to everyone in the valley, to be closer with your date (in the first year), be closer with all the marriage candidates (first year if you go alone), to be closer to your family after you're married, to recover stamina, or to push your kid towards taking over the farm.
• You Don't Look Like You: While the redesigns for the characters are overall minimal, Matthew and Gordy had more drastic looking design changes. Matthew nixed his pompadour for a messier spiky hairdo while Gordy — now one of the bachelors — has a full head of hair instead of a mohawk and is much less of a Scary Black Man.

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