Doraemon: Story of Seasons Review – Beautifully Executed

Doraemon Story of Seasons PS4 Evaluation

Attempt to describe the final premise of any farming sim to any person who’s by no means performed one, and there’s a superb likelihood you’ll be met with clean stares or unamused nods. It’s troublesome to elucidate what makes a easy sport based on doing chores enjoyable, and it’s maybe a secret solely those that have fallen in love with the style are in on. If there’s a comfortable spot in your coronary heart for (just about) tending gardens and milking cows, Doraemon: Story of Seasons might be an amicable addition to your library. Although it doesn’t add sufficient new content material to the established method to rival say, Stardew Valley, it enormously improves upon earlier Story of Seasons video games, making it among the best titles the collection has ever provided.

Doraemon: Story of Seasons is a crossover between the favored Japanese manga and anime collection starring Doraemon, a robotic cat with devices from the longer term, and Story of Seasons: the decades-old legacy of farming video games previously often called Harvest Moon. The tie-in story options Noby and buddies, who’re transported to a unique dimension after planting a particular seed for a college mission. They discover themselves trapped within the lovely city of Natura, with all of Doraemon’s devices misplaced and scattered. As they struggle to determine the way to get again dwelling, they submit up and observe the mayor’s little one labor coverage at his demand. Sue, Sneech, Doraemon and Huge G snatch up the final accessible jobs on the town, leaving Noby to have a tendency our trusty farm.

Life in Natura

The story is well-realized, although the supply is inarguably sluggish. The opening chapter and tutorial takes nearly an hour to get by earlier than you truly get free rein, and most subsequent dialogue can be prolonged. Regardless of this, there’s extra steering and function supplied within the expertise than most earlier Story of Seasons video games, making it fairly participating and a bit extra significant.

Every day, Noby can have a tendency crops, elevate animals equivalent to chickens, cows and sheep, and wander across the many areas of Natura. Virtually something you decide up may be shipped for cash on the finish of every day, and there are a pleasant handful of townsfolk to befriend. At first, you’re given a handful of farming instruments for elevating crops, a pickaxe for mining, and a fishing rod. A bug internet is on the market for buy, which permits Noby to catch bugs that may be offered along with just about another merchandise you’ll be able to carry.

Noby will usually come upon quests and cutscenes all through every season, including longer-term goals to work in direction of. Every day, he’s given a stamina bar that wears down with each motion carried out. In earlier video games, this might usually be an enormous buzzkill that enormously restricted the quantity you may obtain in sooner or later and successfully dragged out gameplay. In Doraemon, there’s a napping system that permits you to plop down at nearly any level and fast-forward time to regain stamina. I like this mechanic, and located it to be particularly helpful after I set my thoughts to a activity that I simply needed to complete multi functional go.

Music for the Eyes and Ears

Doraemon: Story of Seasons is among the most visually hanging video games the franchise has ever seen. Its comfortable animation, painted artwork fashion and exquisite use of shade provides so much to understand when exploring the map. The buildings are stuffed with beautiful particulars and energetic litter each inside and outside, and the hub of East Natura appears like essentially the most vibrant metropolis this collection has ever had. Rural areas really feel extra detailed and crammed out than ever earlier than, and particularly giant kudos ought to be paid to the great thing about the water. Fishing in video video games has by no means been a favourite exercise of mine, however the tranquility and deep blue hues of Doraemon’s lakes and seas makes the idle activity a nice one.

Much more lovely than the visuals is the music. The soundtrack is totally unbelievable, with an enormous vary of songs that ebb and circulate with the development of conversations and occasions. The music will change to match the tone of the dialogue or to accompany a sure character’s presence, and songs function the whole lot from classical guitar to large, orchestral scores. The variety of the compositions and the superb efficiency strongly persuades me to think about it among the best online game soundtracks I’ve heard shortly.

The world of Natura has a superb handful of areas to discover, with nearly two sorts of each atmosphere. Noby runs at a noticeably sluggish tempo, making traversal across the city’s mountains, forests, seashores and metropolis facilities arduous and a bit irritating. Fret not, as a result of ultimately you’ll be able to acquire a quick journey gadget and a horse to hurry issues up, however at first the map will really feel reasonably giant — a welcome various, at the least, to the oft-tiny maps in Story of Seasons video games.

Nice Efficiency, Tedious Gameplay

Doraemon’s efficiency is nice on PS4. The controls really feel clean, loading screens are comparatively quick, and I skilled no glitches, crashes or framerate drops. The one complaints that could possibly be made relate to gameplay design decisions that won’t swimsuit everybody.

For one, the sport is tedious. Tedium is principally a given for video games of this style that depend on grindey duties and slow-burn mechanics like ready days for bushes to develop again so you’ll be able to chop them once more for wooden, or spending lots of time each in-game and in actual life gathering assets to improve instruments or buildings. These are video games about doing work, for Pete’s sake. The grind drives the sport ahead and offers function to theoretically mundane duties that will in any other case get outdated. It’s not for everybody, and solely you’ll be able to discern whether or not or not you take pleasure in one of these gameplay.

Doraemon additionally doesn’t reshape the Story of Seasons method as a lot as you’d hope when you’ve grown accustomed to all that’s provided in Stardew Valley, nevertheless it does add a large number of components that make it extra enjoyable and complex than earlier entries. The devices you uncover over time combine up the core gameplay, with gadgets that may velocity up the expansion cycle of your crops or assist you to cross by blocked passages. Moreover, there’s a a lot bigger collection of dwelling furnishings, decor and buildings than nearly ever earlier than.

A Farmer’s Life For Me

Doraemon: Story of Seasons is fantastically executed, and it’s one of the vital participating Story of Seasons video games I’ve ever performed. The story is nice and progresses with out overly extreme downtime in between main occasions, and there’s no scarcity of issues to do to maintain you entertained. Although the core gameplay could also be tedious for some, it’s fully engrossing for others who love video games of this nature or have cherished Story of Seasons video games previously. As for me, I hope that Noby and his goofy buddies keep trapped in Natura for some time — I received’t be prepared to depart life on the farm anytime quickly.

***PS4 overview code supplied by the writer.***