Launched in 2019, the first Switch Doraemon: Story of Seasons was praised for blending the cast of the beloved children’s cartoon with the relaxing gameplay of one of the most celebrated farm sim franchises. Nevertheless, its beautiful art style and pleasant atmosphere were generally well received.
But with a lot of life and farm sims out there these days, developer Marvelous would have wanted to keep the charm of the original game, but to keep it from feeling repetitive and corny, with something exciting and new. There were some gaps in the original Doraemon season story — there is room for some improvement.
The story is set through lengthy cutscenes showcasing Nobi and Doraemon’s summer vacation, but after getting into a tense confrontation with their parents over unfinished homework, Nobi decides to pack up and fly to an unknown planet on a rocket ship. I made it Take a break—this sounds like a logical thing to do. When they land on what they believe is a deserted planet that children can explore at their own pace, they find an injured boy. After she repairs her wounds and makes a few self-introductions, she meets Lumis. Lumis offers to guide them around the planet, eventually allowing them to stay at the farm while they decide whether to spend the summer there.
After a few days of getting your bearings and exploring the town outside the farm, a guard will take you to the Queen. Unfortunately, she isn’t happy that a stranger crash-landed on her planet, quickly deleting the new gadgets and technology Doraemon had stuffed in his pocket, and not letting Nobby and friends go home. Best of all, Lumis has ties to royalty and will step up to support Noby and his friends. Promising to work hard to restore the farm to its former glory, it’s your responsibility to earn the Queen’s trust, retrieve Doraemon’s gadgets, and get home before school resumes.
If you have experience with the Story of Seasons brand or other farm sims, you’ll get a good idea of the gameplay here. There are few, but the familiar feel makes it easy for anyone to play the game. Most of your time is spent working all day on the farm, and bulletin board requests from townspeople and the to-do list Lumis gives you at the start of the game means you’ll never run out of things to do. To do.
A valuable addition this time is that you can invite Nobi’s friends to help you with your errands. As you progress, your time on the farm can become more intensive, and you’ll want to optimize and be as efficient as possible. Plus, add even more flavor with the help of her Noby friends in activities like fishing and mining that become pretty stale after a few hours. The AI works incredibly well, and your companion will immediately start any activity that needs to be completed. Heading to the mines, they bring pickaxes to clear chips or grab watering cans to help plow the farm. If you don’t want to rely on AI, the game also features her two-player system, where a companion can take on the role of Doraemon and pick up the slack around the farm.
But as charming as Noby and his friends are, there are plenty of lengthy dialogue and cutscenes. There is no chance to set aside wit or repeat relationships between characters. At first, this is an interesting way to bring the character to life, but anyone familiar with Doraemon will feel like they’re wasting a ton of valuable stuff. time. Even if you try to skip the tutorial, Lumis has a lot to tell you and Doraemon isn’t afraid to join in and wrap up the conversation. By then, it will feel like feature films have passed.
Another gameplay frustration is the lack of events and items to collect during your travels. One thing that helps avoid boredom when moving from one place to the next in an alternative farming sim (like the original Story of Seasons title) is the variety of forageable things to collect along the way. is. Plants like mugwort and ferns gather around Quivering Peak, but they are incredibly scarce and in between. and the travel time between them slowly becomes a chore and feels very empty.
In addition to this, the map is relatively difficult to navigate from the start, requiring more reliance on memory than the in-game navigation tools. The path on the minimap doesn’t correspond to the layout on the screen, so when exploring Lluma there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself wandering aimlessly trying to find the right place. Obviously, the more time you spend in the game, the more familiar you become with your surroundings, but for new players, endless wandering can be quite overwhelming, and the sense of wonder you should have when exploring is slowly diminished. will be broken.
The first work was highly acclaimed for its attractive watercolor-like scenery and painting-like appearance, and the sequel continues as it is. The entire map, down to the grain of wheat, looks stunning, and together they create beautiful places that you can’t help but get lost in, but sometimes less literal than we’d like. Maybe not, but there’s still something exciting and new about taking on this adventure, and it’s mostly down to its lovely art style.
The soundtrack that assists the art is as relaxing as you’d expect, never feeling repetitive or stagnant. You can spend hours growing, mining, and fishing for . Watch the flowers fall in the spring, the ground covered in snow the next, and desperately rake in extra gold for the winter.
Just like the first game, there is still room for improvement. Despite Friends of the Great Kingdom’s failures, if you like Doraemon, farm sims, or Doraemon farm sims, its characters, presentation, and definitely familiar gameplay are compelling enough that it’s worth investigating. I have.
Conclusion
Doraemon: A Tale of Four Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom doesn’t do much to take away from the first game, but it’s a bundle of wholesome farming fun that allows it to carve out its own identity compared to the rest of its life. cannot be denied. farming sim. Outside of the lengthy cutscenes, it never feels too repetitive. It’s a problem faced by quite a few farming sims thanks to the crop-based tasks associated with this genre. Also, outside of map navigation issues, it’s welcome. It still feels relatively fresh to players new to the genre and to players very familiar with the Story of Seasons franchise. If you come into this game expecting a decent Doraemon farming sim, you won’t be disappointed.
