Marvelous' star farming series is one I hold somewhat dear. Starting all the way back in 2003 with Friends of Mineral Town, I've experienced the highs and lows, with some of my best memories coming from the DS era in particular. Originally releasing in 2008, Grand Bazaar was one such positive memory; having not returned to the game in more than 10 years, I was excited to see this familiar landscape in an entirely new light.
Starting Out
Kicking off with a brief cutscene, Grand Bazaar is happy to slowly introduce you to the larger world of farming that is to come. Once you’ve created your character and named your farm, you get an introduction to the town and its current situation from its mayor, Felix. It’s not terribly far off most other farming games you’ve seen before, and naturally with it being a remake, it’ll be familiar to some out of the gate regardless. Zephyr Town used to be known for its bazaar, but when the previous farmer left interest started to wane. Only getting a handful of visitors now, the mayor hopes that your arrival and taking over of the nearby farm will help breathe new life both into the town and the game’s titular bazaar. It’s a simple setup that’s kept relatively short; regardless it does a good job of pulling you in and gives you enough to work with.
The first week of the game is probably the slowest, with a character from the town visiting you each day to introduce a new tool and bit by bit expand what you can do. It threw me off a little that I couldn’t even gather flowers at the start, this requiring a sickle. With each new tool a matching tutorial is offered, going over the basics of farming, foraging, fishing, and more. Something that stood out to me with these tutorials is that notable aspects do still get a quick mention even if you opt to skip them. This might sound like a bad thing, but I can certainly imagine most people who have played a Story of Seasons game in the past would opt to skip over things like farming basics. I really appreciated that the game recognises this and shines a quick spotlight on an aspect that’s entirely unique to this game, this being the idea of jumping before using tools to enhance their effects. I’ll take a moment here to say that I really do like this concept as a whole, removing a good bit of tedium that used to come with standing in the same spot for a few seconds to charge up a tool. It speeds up the farming part of the game without necessarily relegating its importance, compared to something like the mouse-controlled farming we saw in the latest Rune Factory title.
This introductory week culminates in your first real shift at the bazaar, with the bazaar opening to the public every Saturday. Selling at the bazaar is split into two shifts, one starting in the morning, and one starting in the afternoon. Before your shift starts you can load up your stall with whatever stock you have to hand. Each season there will be hot products that will attract more attention, but as a whole you tend to find people are interested in just about anything you put on your storefront. With your stock loaded up, your shift can begin.
I wasn’t sure I’d really enjoy the bazaar part of the game at first, which is something I admit sounds odd for a game with the bazaar as its titular selling point. It’s easy to see it as arbitrary extra steps for selling your farm’s produce, and in some ways it’s exactly that. The basic premise sees you stood behind a table as people walk past your stall. If you ring your bell you’ll get their attention, and they’ll either spot something on your stall to buy, stop and think “I hope they have X item”, with said item being in your stock but not currently on display, or just walk away. The minigame sees you constantly running between ringing your bell to get attention, tending to the people stood in front of items they want to buy, and putting out the stock for people who are stood waiting. It’s surprisingly engaging, with further complexity being introduced later to keep you interested and active.
Daily Life
With most of the tutorials out of the way early on, the game largely leaves you to settle into your daily farm life. There’s a decent amount to fit into each day, with stamina management being one of the key considerations early on; you burn through it much faster than I'm used to. I didn't necessarily hate it though, which did surprise me. The first few days it's common to be low on stamina, with tilling the fields and sewing your seeds being an added burden on top of the daily watering of the crops. Subsequent days you'll have more stamina to work with, only needing to repeat that final step of watering. That much does remain true here, but I did find myself struggling regardless. You can do very little for free in this game.
Watering your crops will burn through maybe a quarter of your stamina bar, but from there you've got multiple daily-respawning resources to collect. As you might expect from previous titles this includes using a tool to break ores for minerals and chopping wood for lumber, but on top of this you've also got cutting weeds and flowers. Foraging really stands out here, with it usually being an action that doesn't require stamina. It's not like you need to do everything in a day, but as somebody who likes to, it becomes a lot to juggle.
If Grand Bazaar does one thing better than any Story of Seasons game before it, it's in pushing you to engage with everything it has to offer. This idea of pushing a fuller experience onto you is felt throughout, and goes beyond a somewhat limiting stamina bar. Stamina can be restored as you play; a few times a day you can use the bath to recover a significant chunk, but beyond that you can also cook meals and eat them to do the same. These meals can also confer bonuses like a movement speed increase, or even a modifier to how much stamina is used as you're going about your various activities. I've never felt the need to engage with cooking in previous titles, but in wanting to forage to my fullest, I was pushed towards it. And it was a mechanic I ended up enjoying. Cooking itself is naturally supported by both farming and fishing, keeping you in a cycle that really does a good job of filling out your days.
I'd go so far as to say that if you want a faming game just for the farming, that this one might not be for you. You definitely can skip over certain parts that aren't to your fancy to some degree, but where it gets challenging is in fulfilling the requests of the townsfolk. Some of these are optional, sure, but it's incredibly likely you'll hit a wall when trying to woo your character of choice, with the relationship level locked at certain points behind one such request. So much of the game is connected, and as a larger package it feels really well thought through, if a little constraining early on as you're just getting going.
Unlike the majority of classic titles in the series, crafting plays a large part in this game. Beyond cooking, which is ultimately just another form of combining items for something new, we also see windmills come into play. Unlocked fairly early on, the windmills are like blending Minecraft's crafting table and furnace into one. The essence here is that you put set items in and, after a certain amount of in-game time, will get an item out the other end. Through this you can refine your materials, upgrade your tools, and even make decorations for your bazaar stand. Of all the systems in the game this was the one you really have no choice but to engage with, and it's designed well enough to just slot into the background of your days. You might set a few things going in the morning and come back before you sleep to them being complete. The speed of crafting is also affected by the weather, which is a nice touch; it makes sense that stronger winds would make the sails go faster. As you upgrade your tools you gain access to new materials, and in turn new things to make.
Where the game really surprised me was just how easily I was able to keep on top of the various events happening around town while still keeping up a daily routine. What I'm used to doing is looking up guides to figure out the often specific combination of being in a certain place at a certain time with certain weather after doing a laundry list of activities beforehand. You don't quite get everything spelled out here, but what you do get is a map that'll tell you when there's something happening, and where to go if you want to be a part of it. It's more than enough for me, and encourages variation in my routine from day to day to go see what's going down.
A Slower Life in Zephyr Town
As a whole Grand Bazaar feels like a much slower game than I'm used to. It's not necessarily a positive or negative thing, but it is something worth keeping in mind if you're considering picking the game up. Both starting out and going into the larger day to day cycle it's difficult to avoid moments of waiting, be it for an item to finish crafting in the windmills, which takes a set amount of in-game time, for materials to respawn day by day, for the weekly bazaar to come to sell your goods. You're rarely idle in these windows of waiting, but it can often feel like it gets in the way of progression.
Grand Bazaar was a great game when it first released, and I feel like this is the definitive way to experience it. Refreshed and renewed while maintaining much of the original charm, this release serves as a fantastic entry to the series, and one I can very much recommend jumping into. Whether you're coming back to Zephyr Town after all these years or visiting for the first time, there's a lot to do and a lot to enjoy. It's not one to skip for the enjoyers of farming, foraging, and everything else that's on offer.
Recommended Comments