I've been giving this another go after playing it on Switch and being too disappointed and underwhelmed by it to continue. I will state upfront that I never played Mineral Town on the Game Boy Advance back when it was still under the Harvest Moon name, so it's not scratching that nostalgia itch the way it would for fans of the original and that's likely heavily effecting my experience. All that said, after giving it another chance, I've come to the conclusion that it is a decent game. I was able to get some enjoyment out of it, it just doesn't hold a candle to the previous two for me personally. I would probably give it a "mixed" rating if it were available, but with my own bias in mind, and again, not having played the original, I decided to go with a thumbs up with some big caveats.

The first two Story of Seasons are among my all-time favorite games, second only to Rune Factory 4. Having played all four Story of Seasons titles, there has been a noticeable (and in my opinion, negative) change in tone and style compared to the previous two, the first in particular. It's more compact, less detailed, and the world and characters just feel sterile in comparison, which is depressing considering how pretty the 3DS games were and what they could have achieved visually on a more powerful console, but didn't. The first game in particular dealt with heavy topics; the town grieving together after losing a long-time resident, animals falling ill and dying of old age or if not cared for properly, elements which in this game appear to have either been glossed over or removed entirely.

My biggest issue with Mineral town is a somewhat subjective and arguably a shallow one, but it bothered me immensely nonetheless. While I know this is a remake, as mentioned before, there's been a drastic shift in art direction since the first Story of Seasons game, particularly the portraits, which were much more painterly and detailed, and much less bobble-headed in previous games. As a visual novel junkie, portraits have always made a massive difference in immersion for me, and while the character sprites and portraits in this series have always been on the cutesy side and not completely proportionate, for me they still managed to strike a good balance between being cute yet able to be taken seriously when needed. This installment feels like they just grabbed the chibidometer and cranked it up to eleven to unsettling effect. It's a look that bugs me a lot less and I think can work well in titles like Animal Crossing, but in a game where you're procreating with the human townsfolk, it just doesn't do it for me and greatly detracted from my experience. Even the animal models look less appealing (cows in particular went from cute and stylized to big marshmallowy blobs barely resembling bovines) and this isn't just true of the Mineral Town remake; it's something they carried over to Olive Town, too. I really hope they eventually return to the old style, but if the most recent game is anything to go by, we'll be lucky if future games get character portraits at all. While I didn't like the portrait style of this game, I'll still take it over the cold, soulless 3D stares of Olive Town any day. To me, Mineral Town marks the point where the series started taking a nosedive, and it's a little heartbreaking.

One significant improvement that I do want to give Mineral Town credit for is the addition of same-sex marriage. Bachelors and bachelorettes are no longer gender-locked or relegated to being "best friends". You're free to romance them all with your protagonist of choice, and even if you prefer one demographic over the other, it's still nice to be able to see everyone's stories without having to start an entire new game to do so.

Despite my issues with it, Mineral Town isn't a bad game in and of itself. Style and tone aside, the core mechanics remain largely the same, so it's still a solid farming/life sim that's sure to be loved by fans of its Harvest Moon predecessor, but if you're buying it as a die-hard fan of the first two Story of Seasons games like me, you may want to taper your expectations before diving in.

I've been giving this another go after playing it on Switch and being too disappointed and underwhelmed by it to continue. I will state upfront that I never played Mineral Town on the Game Boy Advance back when it was still under the Harvest Moon name, so it's not scratching that nostalgia itch the way it would for fans of the original and that's likely heavily effecting my experience. All that said, after giving it another chance, I've come to the conclusion that it is a decent game. I was able to get some enjoyment out of it, it just doesn't hold a candle to the previous two for me personally. I would probably give it a "mixed" rating if it were available, but with my own bias in mind, and again, not having played the original, I decided to go with a thumbs up with some big caveats. The first two Story of Seasons are among my all-time favorite games, second only to Rune Factory 4. Having played all four Story of Seasons titles, there has been a noticeable (and in my opinion, negative) change in tone and style compared to the previous two, the first in particular. It's more compact, less detailed, and the world and characters just feel sterile in comparison, which is depressing considering how pretty the 3DS games were and what they could have achieved visually on a more powerful console, but didn't. The first game in particular dealt with heavy topics; the town [spoiler]grieving together after losing a long-time resident,[/spoiler] animals falling ill and dying of old age or if not cared for properly, elements which in this game appear to have either been glossed over or removed entirely. My biggest issue with Mineral town is a somewhat subjective and arguably a shallow one, but it bothered me immensely nonetheless. While I know this is a remake, as mentioned before, there's been a [i]drastic[/i] shift in art direction since the first Story of Seasons game, particularly the portraits, which were much more painterly and detailed, and much less bobble-headed in previous games. As a visual novel junkie, portraits have always made a massive difference in immersion for me, and while the character sprites and portraits in this series have always been on the cutesy side and not completely proportionate, for me they still managed to strike a good balance between being cute yet able to be taken seriously when needed. This installment feels like they just grabbed the chibidometer and cranked it up to eleven to unsettling effect. It's a look that bugs me a lot less and I think can work well in titles like Animal Crossing, but in a game where you're procreating with the human townsfolk, it just doesn't do it for me and greatly detracted from my experience. Even the animal models look less appealing (cows in particular went from cute and stylized to big marshmallowy blobs barely resembling bovines) and this isn't just true of the Mineral Town remake; it's something they carried over to Olive Town, too. I really hope they eventually return to the old style, but if the most recent game is anything to go by, we'll be lucky if future games [i]get character portraits at all[/i]. While I didn't like the portrait style of this game, I'll still take it over the cold, soulless 3D stares of Olive Town any day. To me, Mineral Town marks the point where the series started taking a nosedive, and it's a little heartbreaking. One significant improvement that I do want to give Mineral Town credit for is the addition of same-sex marriage. Bachelors and bachelorettes are no longer gender-locked or relegated to being "best friends". You're free to romance them all with your protagonist of choice, and even if you prefer one demographic over the other, it's still nice to be able to see everyone's stories without having to start an entire new game to do so. Despite my issues with it, Mineral Town isn't a bad game in and of itself. Style and tone aside, the core mechanics remain largely the same, so it's still a solid farming/life sim that's sure to be loved by fans of its Harvest Moon predecessor, but if you're buying it as a die-hard fan of the first two Story of Seasons games like me, you may want to taper your expectations before diving in.