Having only played Mineral Town and Olive Town as my prior SoS experience (which means that I never played the original AWL), I thought this Remake was an enjoyable experience.

The farming mechanics are a bit simple for the most part. The starting fields are all small although the largest unlockable one is of decent size. The game lacks many varied livestock to own other than the cow variations and the basic crops are limited. That said, the crop hybrids have quite a lot of depth. Making them is annoyingly RNG reliant, but there's a lot of variety with these at least.

The town is surprisingly rural where it even lacks a general shop. The town is big in size, but there's a lot of empty spaces in between. The townspeople are likable fortunately.

The most appealing feature and highlight of AWL is definitely the family and child raising mechanic. You're forced to marry by the end of Year 1 which is pretty early, but then you have a child at the beginning of Year 2 and then you get to see their growth throughout the game until it ends when they are an adult. Being able to interact with your child and seeing how they change for the better (and sometimes not as good) is interesting to experience.

This indirectly relates to how I really enjoyed that time seems to move forward with this game unlike the other SoS games where time doesn't seem to move forward after one year. Everybody remains single and don't age. No further significant character growth. AWL is not perfect in this matter too where single characters remained single despite the massive amount of years of progress, but you get to see people growing older. Young children become adults. Adults get gray hair and wrinkles.

I do think that Year 4 is where people will start to get burned out. Festivals are limited and play out nearly the same every year. There isn't enough new story or character development to look forward to so instead of interacting with other villagers, you're probably focusing more on the farm activities. Which by then, you probably have enough money to buy every important thing in the game. It makes the last few years a bit boring with the standout being your child's growth.

Overall, I do wish that the game put more focus on the family development and villager interactions instead of the crop hybrids. The latter just feels like it belongs in another SoS with a stronger focus on farming instead. Because other than the hybrid crops, there isn't much here for farming content. Even mining is pretty much gone and the fishing list is very small.

With all of that said, I recommend AWL just for the child/family development which stands out among similar titles.

Coming into this game I had very little experience with pure farming games which is Stardew Valley and Rune Factory 4. Yes you read that right, I have never played a Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons before. I'm not the largest fan of this genre, what got me into wanting to try this was the whole "life" aspect. There aren't many games that I've played where you go through the whole rigmarole of going from young adult, to married with children, to growing old together. I had the ending of this game spoiled for me but I can't be all that upset because the original game is old, I was very much alive and able to play it at the time, and the ending STILL got me so it doesn't matter. Also this game took me longer than most jrpgs, oh my lord. I didn't think it would have taken me over 2 weeks to beat this game.

While it was a bit repetitive, the game definitely could have used more automation upgrades, that is a staple of the genre as far as I'm concerned but I got REAL tired of playing musical chairs with my chickens. Animals also didn't seem to die and from what I can tell that is new to this remake. Speaking of animals I really wish there was a way to put the horse back in the barn without needing to call all the animals back out only to put them all back in. Putting in the effort to get the best tools was worth it because of how much more they let you do. I also wish you could fuse more than one crop at a time, instead of needing to do it for each and every one in the stack you intend to. I get why its limited but its still tedious as af especially when Vinny is needy as all fuck and won't shut the fuck up EVERY TIME you talk to him.

I was iffy on the artstyle. The bachelorettes all looked fine, some of the bachelors were ok and others were not. But some of the regular residents were hideous to me, like Sully. The man looks like what an Easter Island head would be with a full body.

I named my character after myself and played a male character which is something I haven't done in decades. I just don't really care about being "myself" in games but it felt like it should be done here. I married Nami, anyone who knows me even a little bit shouldn't be surprised by this. This game has the Animal Crossing New Horizons issue of lots of repeated dialogue. Outside of events, you get the same couple of lines form everyone and it made me not wanna talk to people unless I had to and even those evens play out mostly the same each year. Also you couldn't gift people items while they were doing ANYTHING but standing still or walking (LET ME GIFT YOU GORDY PUT YOUR FUCKING ARMS DOWN FFS) but you can give them request items during those actions so that dumb stipulation should have been removed along with needing to shove the item in certain characters faces several times before they accept them.

Another thing I don't really agree with or understand is this game's profanity filter. First of all, its a single player game so why is it even here? There is no online connectivity whatsoever. Second half of its triggers didn't make sense. How is Cream not allowed but Creamer is fine or using the number 14 (despite the game calling said crop Crop 14) is unacceptable?

As I said above the whole life aspect is what got me to play. Seeing my character age throughout the game, as well as other characters, just seemed so novel to me. I can't name a game that does this outside of like post credits "where are they now" type deal. Seeing my child become her own person was something I didn't think I'd get to see again in my life, though I think making the kid such a depressed mess was a little too real. I cried right after the credits finished, I held it together but that whole last year had this underlying sadness all throughout its events. Every single one I saw just made me sad which is a far cry from the excitement for seeing each one earlier in the game. The people of the town seemed to think highly of me, my family and animals loved me and the farm was in a great state.

So despite the repetitiveness in actions and dialogue, some iffy character designs, I think the life aspect is what sets this game apart from the rest. If you have some interest in this game I say go for it. I can assure you that you'll most likely have...

A Wonderful Life

Love the aesthetic, and the hybrid crops were cool. I ended up shelving this one because the pacing was a bit too slow for me, but other times way too fast? Mandatory marriage at the end of year 1 and the lack of dialogue change while building relationships/friendships was difficult. I made it halfway through year 3 before I decided this one is maybe just not for me, though I did love the charm of starting over in a small town and finding the Wonders of life. I may have loved it more if I had played the original.

I played the original Another Wonderful Life on my PS2 years ago, but never really got past Spring, as it is so difficult to earn money in that game, and I remember my cow and goat stopped giving me milk at some point, and I couldn't figure out what's happening.

So when the announcement for the remake came about, I was thrilled and apprehensive, as I didn't enjoy Another Wonderful Life much back then, but decided to give it a chance. And I'm glad I did.

Not only did the devs fixed a lot of the annoying stuff that is in the original, they made the game a lot better. Earning money is still difficult, especially in the first year, since the seasons are only 10 days long still. But raising friendships are a heck lot easier this time around to the point that I managed to get the free Seed Maker from Daryl in early summer! Several characters in the game however underwent a full 'makeover' like Marlin (or Matthew) in the remake to the point that I barely recognised him from the original (he's hot in the remake tho).

I played this game on the Steam Deck, and while officially, it isn't verified by Valve, you can still play it with some tweaks. Not perfect, but still completely playable.

I'm still in late Autumn of year 1 at the point of writing this review, but so far, I'm enjoying the game.

This is the best rendition to play if you want to experience the A Wonderful Life story in all of its glory and then some.This faithful rendition takes everything you love about the original and expands upon it with well needed Quality of Life changes and new content.

I have to say though- if you haven't played the original, it's tough to say whether or not you'll like this game. This is based on an old game- and because it's so faithful to the original- it plays like an old game too. Farming sim fans that have only played modern farming sims might see this game and its lack of complex mechanics and they might find it boring. This is a slow, small game. Focused on a small sleepy town with basic mechanics. You don't customize your farm like you would in Stardew Valley. You don't travel to faraway places. It's you, your spouse, your kid, and the old folks in town.

Where the game shines is definitely your child. Unlike most farming sims, your child grows up. Their interests change, their personality changes. And they might grow up and decide- instead of inheriting the farm- they might want to be a musician instead. Or an artist. Or even an athlete. You watch your child from toddler to young adult- becoming their own person. It's unlike any farming sim out there. Likewise- the people in town change too. Some come and go. They get older. You spend a lifetime with them. They may not be super complex- I honestly wish there were more dialogue and even more cutscenes to flesh them out more- but regardless- you can't deny that they are memorable, strange people.

If you loved the original, you'll adore this. And if you've never played the original- and you're willing to play a simple game on a simple farm- give this a try.

There's always the hybrid crops, at any rate. That can get preeetty crazy!

I'm unfortunately really disappointed in this game :(

I love farming sims, being a lifelong fan of the Rune Factory series and having hundreds of hours in Stardew Valley. I didn't go into this expecting Rune Factory, even though that's a Harvest Moon spinoff, because I know that those games are rather eccentric. They're also RPGs, and that adds an extra element. However, I did not expect it to be on the opposite side of the spectrum. As far as I can tell, these characters have no personality or story beyond surface level. I'm at half hearts with one of the bachelorettes, and I still know nothing about her. She never talks about herself. I didn't even know her preferred gifts until I looked up a guide online.

The same can be said for everyone else as well. They'll comment on the season, the weather, the town itself, but they barely talk about themselves or their relationships with the others. There's the occasional cutscene, but they're usually vague and uninformative. Anything they do say to show personality is archetypal, basically screaming "I'm the lazy character" or "I'm the brooding older brother". Maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but I don't know what I could do differently other than talking to them daily and giving them gifts.

I do like the gameplay. I think the realism of the crops and the animals is really fun! I like that you can train your dog tricks, and all of the animals are really cute. The town is pretty and has nice locations. The dig site is probably my favorite aspect of the game, and the things you get both act as gifts and a way to make money, which is a bonus! The only thing that frustrates me is the cooking mechanic since you have a fullness meter, but you can't cook anything until you get crops. I would have rated this game lower honestly if the game weren't fun to play. I do have a good time.

However, when I play this genre, I play it for the characters. I want to get to know the people in town, build relationships, and find a love interest that I like. When there isn't an overarching plot, the characters kind of make the game. In that aspect, this game is severely lacking. All of the love interests bore me, and in a game where you're expected to get married or else you get a game over, that is not good. I want to like them. I gave them gifts every day, I took one on a date, I spoke to them as much as I could, but they're just blank slates with a pretty face. It's immensely frustrating, especially for the price I paid.

It makes me sad because Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons is like the third piece of the holy trinity of farming sims! But it does not live up to the other two at all. It was clearly just made for people who played the original and want to see it made anew. I'm definitely going to be returning this one.

I was so excited to see this game get announced since I used to love it as a teen, but this is not at all what I wanted. It's kind of a sanitized, soul-less version of the original with almost none of the charm. There's a few things that are much worse about this game, which you see pretty quickly. Besides the design and name changes to some of the characters for some reason, digging for treasures doesn't really give any satisfaction either, since you can see the treasures before you pick them up. Animals don't die, which some people might find better. I think that takes away any reason for me to really care about them unless I really need S-tier food. It just makes everything a little more boring, with no real urgency to do anything. The controls are awful, too, and I still have no idea how to see missions once you accept them.
There's some things that this game does better, like giving you ability to speed through text, control cameras in the field area where you plant crops and skip the intro where you meet everyone. That and you can save and load anywhere, which is nice.
It's not as god awful as I expected, but it's basically a dumbed-down child version of the original game, but for the same price as the original.

(Also, I want back my cow with her blue eyes and giant head! The dot eyes stare into your soul.)

I feel like a lot of the negative reviews for this game on steam specifically are coming from those who didn't see the charm and appeal of the original. A Wonderful Life was a weird Harvest Moon title. Time passed by, people aged, the game was slow, the town was small, the villagers were odd and had a lot of quirks. They went for realism in certain aspects that aren't in any other SoS or HM titles - and that's why I love AWL so much.

This remake captures so much soul of the original, I'm so thankful for that because I was worried they would make it more palatable to blend in with the other SoS titles. And I'm so glad they didn't.

This is a weird and charming little game, faithful to the original with a lot of QoL updates. I think my biggest complaints with it would be the hitboxing for animal feed bins and the mines, as well as the lack of dialogue for spouses especially the newer added male ones.

But overall this remake made me so happy and brought back so much nostalgia for me!

The original A Wonderful Life's mundanity and slower gameplay diverted it from the series other entries, but what it did succesfully was add for a relaxing experience bundled with a cozy little island wrapped around a neat dynamic weather system and beautiful lightning effects.

It certainly had its share of flaws in several aspects, some of the story chapters were too long ,
Festivals were scarce and not nearly as interesting as the rest of the series, and the characters, while cute and eerie, didn't do anything new past the first 2 chapters. The farm tools didn't offer much expanded flexibility other than the water can having more capacity and other tools spending less stamina.
Even still, I absolutely adore the original, and it has always been a game I get drawn back to when I need to dial out after a stressful event of any sort. It is very relaxing and therapeutic with its slow monotone nature and longwinded crop cultivation and dairy farming.

In comparison the remake is a faithful adaption with some of the same qualities, while also diversifying itself with its share of new nuances.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life is slicker and shortens down the chapter spans to only one year, while drip feeding various content throughout the span of the game.
You get new facility expansions and faster tools to compensate the huger scope of what you need to do daily, and the game just gets a lot busier if you max out the capacity of the farm. Festivals are altered and boasts some different dialogues throughout the years, they are still just cutscenes, but the slight differences per year is a nice touch.

There are monthly requests from villagers to cultivate specific crops, or make dishes in return for rewards, some more interesting than others, but regardless it's a nice extra insentive to have more to do in the game which still may last for 100+ hours. There are plenty of costumes, gender change (non-binaries included) at your choosing whichever point in the game as well as a solid choice of both male and female bachelors to date.
The best thing about the remake is the new achievement system and a encyclopedia you can fill out as an extra challenge.

Even despite the fact that the remake makes the game more feasible to complete, the game still loses some significant steam in the later chapters due to nothing new really happening with the community aside from your kid and some npcs growing up slightly moreso cosmetically.

The remake has a plain, but pleasant look, with brushed up models more in line with story of season's current art style, while a couple of the characters are altered from their gamecube/ps2 counterparts, due to making some bachelors look more appealing and younger.

However, the gamecube versions completely conquers over the remake with its lightning effects and draw distance.
Running around the valley and watching the scenery change, while light and shadows gradually marked the landscape added so much to an otherwise very restricted environment.
Instead pop-ins and poorly rendered shadow effects recides over the remake and leaves the visual spectacle for dust.

Story of Season: A Wonderful life is very niche even for its own genre, but if I were to recommend one to the general player it would be the remake due to the improved pacing, extra content and more busy nature, even though personally I'd rather go wind down to the lush aestetics and slower mundane comfort grind of the original version.

I was able to rent the original once back when it came out, enjoyed the few days I had with it. fast forward two decades, was excited to properly enjoy it! unfortunately, time (and some of the remade elements) have not been kind

stardew valley, which I haven't played in years, kinda ruins this experience for me. it is so densely brimming with so much of all kinds of content, and is accessible and engaging and very well fine-tuned. this remake, however, is very barren, in all kinds of ways

I can understand that the farming isn't the core element of the game—it's the chapter-based family storytelling, which can and does set it apart from its peers. but if that's true, then why is the storytelling so anemic?

why am I lucky to get two lines of different dialogue for any given character on a given day, let alone at all within a season? why do I barely have any context for this town's community, or these characters' relationships with one another? why must I stand around for 30 in-game minutes waiting for a character to uncross their arms for a brief millisecond window so I can give them a gift to maybe unlock more dialogue from them?????????

not only is it barren and unintuitive, it's also janky a lot and depends on using online guides to understand things. hell, even the game's instructions on things are wrong in some cases!

and as a minor note, I don't love the aesthetic redesign. I find many of the changes to be commercial pretty, which is my way of saying flat and lacking in character. the autumnal "muddiness" of the original game created a kind of warm, rustic aesthetic that I loved at the time, but this game feels very generically poppy and bright. and I understand some of the character redesigns (thumbs up on gordy), but in aggregate they clearly soften the original's more interesting and unique edges in favor of a generic, boring prettiness. it's unfortunate and common

very disappointed :( I still very much believe I could be in the market for a game like this, if it were more rich and bold and fleshed out and interesting. but this one isn't, and I'm gonna have to leave it behind, sadly

I have shelved this game, but I'd like to get back to it sometime. just too many things otherwise have been priority, whoops!

this remake is fine, as long as you're not expecting more out of it than what the original had. not recommended for people that got into farm games via Stardew Valley.

the qol is fantastic all the way around. it's easier to manage the fields, tools can be upgraded, and fishing doesn't completely suck now! whoa. I do feel like the dig site is somehow worse, though. feels... slower. annoying. I do appreciate the visual indicator, but also feel like it could be better. more distinct, perhaps.
I appreciate that animals aren't so temperamental, and despite the many complaints I saw regarding the way cows work now, I am glad they can continue to produce milk without giving birth. that process in the original game was a total pain. I've got a feeling it's easier in the remake... to some extent, at least... but not having to do it is nice.

character redesigns and renames are fine. most of the name changes are simply to be more accurate to their original names. in terms of redesigns, I do wish Gordy still had his mohawk. his new outfit is a fine spin on the old one, but imo, it leans a bit too sporty to entirely fit his character. but it's whatever. not a dealbreaker or anything. I appreciate the addition of Gordy as a marriage candidate.

the biggest bummer of this game, and the reason I had a hard time sticking with the original as well as this remake, is that you experience 95% of what the game has to offer in the first year. while this game does have that draw of seeing your child grow up and being an influence on them as they do so... it's just so slow, and with little dialogue, that it's never really pulled me in. being a person that's never wanted to have a family irl is likely also relevant for me and my lack of enjoyment/interest in this case... lmao

Story of Seasons A Wonderful Life finalizado después de algo más de 50 horas.

Desde hace mil horas ya no tenía nada que hacer, así que solo seguí jugando por morbosa 🤣

¿Mueres o no mueres al final? Ese era mi punto y por ese motivo jugué los 6 capis 😜

De todos os jogos que a minha bolha consumiu e que sempre tentaram me empurrar - já que até então, eu nunca tinha jogado -, A Wonderful Life sempre foi o mais elogiado. Dito isso, depois de ter jogado e, sabendo que esse é um remake quase 1:1 da versão original de Gamecube e sua Special Edition de PS2 - baseado unicamente em reviews de terceiros -, eu posso dizer facilmente que esse jogo é incrivelmente superestimado e que, em boa parte do jogo, é mediano.

Tecnicamente os jogos 3D de Bokujō Monogatari (nome original da franquia) nunca foram um primor técnico. Graficamente também nunca foram os gráficos mais bonitos já feitos, e pra compensar isso a franquia sempre investiu em mecânicas de jogo e uma direção de arte, muitas vezes, lindíssima. E tudo isso é válido pra maior parte desse jogo. Os gráficos não são simples, porém a estilização é simplesmente ótima, o que acaba não te tirando do jogo ou prejudicando a parte gráfica. É extremamente comum ocorrerem Pop-In de elementos gráficos do ambiente (tal qual os jogos de Pokémon no Nintendo Switch), mas, particularmente, eu me acostumei, o que não se tornou um grande problema. Por outro lado se a XSeed conseguiu compensar os gráficos, a jogabilidade está longe de ser a melhor da franquia. Por mais que, jogos do gênero tendem a ser repetitivos, A Wonderful Life ultrapassa o bom senso com folga. Durante os 6 anos (in game) em que eu joguei, foi comum eu simplesmente cuidar da fazenda e então pular o dia por simplesmente não ter mais nada o que fazer, principalmente após o terceiro ano. Se você não busca fazer o 100% e só está jogando pra relaxar ou pra jogar os 6 capítulos da história principal (como eu), não tem muito o que fazer após comprar todos os upgrades e se casar. Em teoria esses 3 anos com o personagem mais velho seriam para fazer amizade máxima com o resto dos moradores de Forgotten Valley e plantar todas as plantações híbridas da enciclopédia interna, particularmente, isso foi nem um pouco atrativo, o que tornou mais fácil só pular o dia com os minigames, indo pra cidade grande ou simplesmente dormindo até dar o horário de cuidar dos animais de novo. De longe, esse é o jogo menos divertido em gameplay de Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon. Outro ponto relativamente negativo vem da trilha sonora, não por ser ruim, mas por ser repetitiva. A música do mundo é selecionável pelo jogador desde o começo, o que quebra (um pouco) esse argumento, porém, as músicas das cutscenes, por serem apenas 3 ou 4, e quase que comum durante uma única cena ter 20 segundos que sejam de cada uma dessas 4, ao ponto que depois de ver os mesmos eventos várias vezes, foi comum achar essas músicas, mesmo que boas, insuportáveis.

Quando eu zerei os 6 anos da main story, eu entendi que o foco desse jogo nunca foi sobre ter a melhor gameplay da saga, mas sim, a melhor história. Tanto a história vivida pelo personagem principal, quanto a dos demais personagens do vale são simplesmente ótimas. Acontecimentos muitas vezes que simples se tornam emocionantes. Muito por que quase todos os personagens do jogo são bem desenvolvidos, mesmo que com poucas falas/cenas. Não só isso, mas todos eles conseguem tocar em assuntos pertinentes e de forma um tanto quanto delicadas. Foi comum em momentos considerados bestas eu me ver chorando (seja por tristeza ou alegria) por que a cena foi simplesmente ótima.

Particularmente eu me considero um grande fã de jogos de Fazenda no geral. A franquia Harvest Moon moldou muito o meu gosto por jogos e consequentemente, quando a chave virou para Story of Seasons e também começaram a surgir jogos inspirados nesta (como Stardew Valley e The Graveyard Keeper), meu interesse conseguiu crescer exponencialmente. E por mais que A Wonderful Life seja - talvez - o jogo da franquia mais elogiado, tanto pelos jogadores de longa data, quanto pelo próprio criador da série, pra mim ele é só Ok. Sim, eu amei as histórias. Personagens como a Nami, a Nina, o Garren/Gary, a Ruby/Lou e o Tim/Tei conseguiram me conquistar desde o começo até a ultima cena do jogo. A filha(o) do(a) protagonista é simplesmente apaixonante, desde a primeira fala dela(e), ao ponto que em vários momentos eu me senti na pele de um pai de verdade. Mas meio que fica por isso mesmo, já que, o maior calcanhar de Aquíles desse jogo está na sua gameplay, que é facilmente superada por jogos fracos da própria franquia (como The Tale of Two Towns, que está longe de ser um dos favoritos da fanbase e mesmo assim tem uma gameplay divertidíssima até hoje). No final o sentimento que tenho referente a Wonderful Life Remake é: Uma excelente história, com personagens incríveis, presos em um jogo medíocre que dura o dobro de tempo do que deveria...