Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale Review 3D
Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale 3D
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If you remember, last year when Story of Seasons launched on the 3DS, we coverd it … a lot! I was doing weekly diary entries about where I was at in the game. I was hoping to do something similar this time around, but unfortunately this title doesn’t really allow for that type of article writing. However, we have published a lot of preview coverage which I will link below. However, it’s now time to put a score on this wonderful title. For more context, however, we urge you to read our other posts!
Return to PopoLoCrois really is a great, dual experience. Although not quite equal part farming and equal part RPG, it does do service to both. This is not a Story of Seasons sequel, however, so if you are looking for more farming goodness, this won’t be the title for you. More on this later. For now, realize that Return to PopoLoCrois is predominantly an RPG title with a few farming elements. The Story of Seasons game play has been severely toned down to create a more casual, time free experience.
The RPG elements here really are great. Whether it’s moving around the world with your party in tow, or being surprised by random encounters, it all works great. The grid-like turn based system works really great, and the various obstacles within each battle keep things somewhat fresh. Fortunately, for those that want more story and farming, and less battling, there are three levels of encounter rate. For my play through, I choose to have infrequent encounters.This option can be changed throughout the game, but I found that even the medium rate of encounters was too much for me. I want to explore and farm, and wasn’t as keen to battle. Of the whole experience, that part is the ‘worst’ – using worst as a relative term, as the entire game is very good.
The story won’t wow you, but is the perfect catalyst. The typical JRPG stereotypes reign supreme throughout this adventure. If those are things you enjoy, this will be something you enjoy. It really is that simple. The voice acting, while used frequently, is not of the highest quality. However, it’s better than reading the text yourself, and really isn’t a big deal as the charming visuals – both in game and during cut scenes – are pretty terrific.
When moving across the worlds, it is your goal as the Prince to, essentially, save the world from evil. You will do this by entering poisoned fields and making them clean. Each field represents a dungeon, and you will be shrunk down in size by a fairy friend in order to complete the dungeons. These dungeons are the MOST disappointing part of the game. Their fairly bland nature eventually makes playing them more of a chore than anything else. As a reminder, however, that overall this game is really great, so for this to be the worst aspect is actually somewhat of a compliment. At the end of the day, these dungeons are few and far between. When you do multiple of these consecutively, ya it becomes a bit much. But when spread out over a period of time – say with some farming in between perhaps – it really isn’t bad at all.
Overall, if you go into this game expecting the RPG to come first, and the farming to be a secondary experience, your expectations are realistic. It is a great RPG with some outstanding and simplified farming mechanics. If you don’t want the RPG element, Xseed and Marvelous have a solution for you: it’s called Story of Seasons, and it was released last year. This review has been fairly brief, but look at the other articles on Games Reviews for more detailed looks into specific areas of the game!
Positives
- Great basic farming; the fun is still there.
- Lots of voice work, regardless of its quality.
- A few decent plot twists veteran JRPG fans will expect, but no one else.
- Good balance between RPG and Farming; offers freedom to players.
Negatives
- Dungeons can become overkill if played one after another.
- Frequent encounter rate is a bit overkill.
Article By Adam Roffel
Adam Roffel has only been writing about video games for a short time, but has honed his skills completing a Master's Degree. He loves Nintendo, and almost anything they have released...even Tomodachi Life.
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