In-Tents Shopping
It’s no secret that Marvelous over the years have been in the process of giving the Story of Seasons series a new and fresh perspective, Story of Seasons (Grand Bazaar) is the latest to get the treatment and is a remake of Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar the original game which came out on the DS. The remake saw a release last year on Steam and Switch but like previous remakes also it has now released on Playstation and Xbox consoles Series X/S consoles.
Over the years the team at Marvelous have not been afraid of trying out new ways to keep the farming sim fresh and Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is a perfect example of this. From the beginning you wander into a small town known as Zephyr where a previous owner of the farmhouse there failed to make the farm into something special which had an effect on the towns weekly market falling into obscurity, as a new farmer you are greeted by the mayor Felix who sees a spark shine in you and as the new owner of the farm you are tasked with revitalizing the farm and also the towns Bazaar into the once bustling economy it once was.
The game starts out relatively simple where you create you character and start with the basics of farming. Veterans of the game will know by now how to plant, water and fertilize the fields and will be happy to know you can skip through these options by letting Felix know. There are some cool new options with farming but again Veterans will quickly get used to how this works. You can now jump and perform an action such as planting seeds and watering them, in doing so you will do this three at a time making the process of farming much quicker, this eats up stamina more quickly but at least you have a shower which you can use once a day to restore a good chunk of this.
The main premise of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is its market which takes place every Saturday and you can partake in setting up a stall and selling goods which you have collected during the week, in doing so you will make a lot of money for yourself as well as increasing the towns overall rank, the more successful Bazaars the more the rank increases over time, increasing the rank also allows additional shops to open and this makes it more beneficial to yourself as a farmer as you can then get animals and increase the range of items you sell. It in itself is a fun activity and although it is not highly stressful it requires you to be aware of customer needs. Selling at the Bazaar plays like a mini game where you place Items down on a table and then replenishing them when they sell out, ringing the bell you have as they walk past will attract patrons and they will be amazed at the fact you are selling a grasshopper they really need or will ponder on needing an egg which isn’t on the stall but you will have it in your inventory, then it is a quick game of switching a different item out in order to sell the egg before they wander off. Selling all your items isn’t that quick at first and I found myself with an overabundance of stock but once you unlock the harvest sprites the mini game gets a cool upgrade where you can go into a frenzy type mode where you will sell items quickly whilst increasing the selling price multiplier. If for whatever reason you do end up with stock at the end of the Saturday this can either be left at the Bazaar for next week although or it can be taken with you, you could potentially sell this to Miguels general store for extra money if you need to free up some space. Your bazaar stall can even get some cool design upgrades and display features, you can get a second stall counter which will allow 8 items to be sold increasing the speed of sales early on. Also decorating your tent isn’t just cosmetic as doing so and matching a layout can grant bonuses.
Having a schedule in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is easy, while you will try to do everything in one day the game is fair at making it accessible and you are never far from home. The appropriately named Zephyr town means the weather has an effect on gameplay, you will unlock a glider that pushes you towards the winds direction meaning you can get around the map in seconds, it is not necessary to interact with everyone daily and you can instead offer a quick hello where they will acknowledge you whilst improving the friendship score slightly.
Windmills are a feature unlocked which processes goods into other goods, this can be things like turning wood into logs, tool upgrades and fermenting and turning flowers into perfume. Animals such as cows, sheep and alpacas in all different colours can be unlocked and all have their own individuals produced goods that can be foraged daily and turned into other goods. Goods do have a star quality and higher quality goods can be obtained through healthy animals and well fertilized crops, these goods sell for a much higher price but are also subject to a system of Freshness which is not immediately noticeable within Grand Bazaar. Over time perishable items do lose freshness over time and although it states items are perfectly fresh you will not notice this early on but as you hold onto more things such as Milk and Food that you get it is worth noting as these items decay over time. It can take some time for items to become rotten although certain days can speed up the rate of decay such as keeping items in your backpack during the Summer season.
While Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar does have some unique features the core gameplay is simple and some features are bare in comparison. While there is some upgrades to bag and storage at the house that is all you get so it can be a constant battle of juggling items around if you tend to hold onto or keep a lot of things early on although this is subjective, there is no physical expansion to the house or layout of it but you can upgrade the storage, upgrading to the highest level of storage takes a bit of time and investment and you cant craft chests, although it is nice to not have chests littered about and know all your stuff is in one place. You do get a greenhouse which can be added onto the house and a key requirement to get married is having a double bed, a triple bed is the last in house upgrade for a child. The relationships in Grand Bazaar have also seen a significant upgrade, while voice acting has been added and characters are more vibrant, each character has their own personalities and feel very distinct from each other, the voice acting really adds a whole new range into the relationships that was not there before.
Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is a little more on the hectic side when it comes to gameplay as while farming is minimal and so is looking after animals, a lot of time is spent gathering items for people in need and processing goods in the windmill and going back to collect them and put new ones in. Being aware of your Stamina is also key early on as you can very quickly run out of it and by the end of Friday you will need enough produce to make a good sale at the Grand Bazaar, you can take as long as you need to attain the highest rank of the Grand Bazaar although some elements such as relationships and marriage do require certain events by the first few years to be met, if not these chances are lost forever.
Overall Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is a solid addition to a remake in the Story of Seasons franchise. If you are a seasoned Veteran or someone new looking to spread your wings (or sail) then Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is a great addition to the farming life-simulation franchise.
A Nintendo Switch Code was provided by Marvelous Europe. This article is featured on OpenCritic
