Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is the long-awaited next entry in the Story of Seasons farming sim series, and it's got fans absolutely raving for more relationship-building, crop-harvesting, and adventuring in the decades-old series.
Story of Seasons used to be called Harvest Moon in the U.S. until a split forced the developers, who did not own the rights to the title, to create their own new title for the same series – if you recognized the game's style and in-game names, that's why! However, even longtime fans of the series will find that Pioneers of Olive Townis a bit trickier than previous Story of Seasons games.
Updated September 17, 2021 by Erik Petrovich: The Story of Seasons series has steadily picked up traction in the last decade and Pioneers of Olive Town is looking to be one of the most popular entries in the series thus far. It was released only a little while ago, but dedicated players have already finished the game time and time over again, unlocking the full potential of their farm and the social experiences within. However, new players to the series might find themselves making rookie mistakes like not setting the right difficulty, buying too many things, or not planning out their future enough. It's a casual game, certainly, but that doesn't mean there aren't any mistakes to be made.
13 Buying Groceries Without A Fridge
One of the most common mistakes first-timers to the Story of Seasons series (and farming simulators in general) is to forget that some essential home appliances can't be used until the house is upgraded. Games like Stardew Valley, for example, only grant the player a Kitchen once they've spent a significant amount of money and resources to buy an expansion.
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is no different. Players won't be able to use a fridge to free up inventory space until they have upgraded the home at least once – be sure not to go on any extravagant grocery-and-ingredient shopping trips until this first tier is unlocked, or you might just have to destroy everything that was just bought to free up room in the inventory.
12 Accidentally Using the Animal Whistle
The animal whistle in Pioneers of Olive Town is a pretty simple device; players need only use it once and their loyal dog will start to herd the animals currently being ranched. However, it's all too easy to accidentally use this item when hovering over it in the inventory, which can be detrimental when trying to set up the farm according to a planned layout.
For one, animals get in the way of things being put down (and can even get in the way of crops being planted). For another, it causes chaos on a farm that's already organized, as the animals will suddenly start getting in the way and being in places they shouldn't be. Be careful with the whistle or be ready to see all of the farm animals go berserk at once.
11 Not Preparing for a Trip to the Mines
Trips to the Mines in Story of Seasons are no small task. Players aren't able to feed their animals, tend to or harvest crops, develop relationships, or do a variety of other daily tasks while delving into the deep places of the earth. It's vital that players planning to take a trip down under, as it were, prepare as best as they can to be away from the farm for a while.
Make sure the animals are all watered and fed, be sure that no crops will be ready for harvest while you're down there, check the maker machines for outputs, and otherwise make sure that the normal daily tasks are attended to before heading out. You'll save yourself a headache (and angry farm animals) upon returning to the surface.
10 Don't Sell Wildflowers...
Wildflowers are found in a variety of locations all over Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, but their abundance shouldn't make you want to sell them. Wildflowers are used in a huge number of crafting recipes, most of which are very useful.
One such recipe is the Honey Maker, which requires three of each of the Moondrop, Pink Cap, Magic Blue Flower, and Magic Red Flower. The money will be nice short-term, but it'll be a pain hunting down materials later on down the road.
9 ...But Sell One Of Everything You Have
When you sell something to certain shops in-game, it will unlock the ability to purchase that item from the vendor from then on. Ores, coal, seeds, and other items are not available for purchase until the player sells at least one of them.
Keep a good stock of items to ease crafting later on in the game, but be sure to sell at least one of each to unlock them in the shop. It's especially useful when the player is low on these items to have sold them beforehand, as extra cash reserves can turn into extra resources when they're most necessary.
8 Hoarding Anything And Everything
While it's important to keep a well-managed well-organized stock of a variety of items, it's also important not to let junk and useless items take up too much space in your inventories.
Spend some time in each game session organizing and cutting the fat off of your storage, especially when nearing capacity. Craft more storage if necessary, but it's generally better to keep a few quality items than too many meaningless ones.
7 Spending Too Much Money On Cosmetics
Money (G) in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is used for a variety of things like upgrades, materials, and even cosmetics. As nice-looking as some cometic items are, they aren't worth it in the early stages of the game.
As the farm is improved, players will make more money quicker. These cosmetics are expensive early in the game, but as time goes on they make a much smaller dent in the wallet. Once the farm is making reliable income, players can start to think more aesthetically rather than practically.
6 Not Making A Plan
When it comes to farming and life simulator games, nothing is as important to long-term sustainability as having a good plan before even starting. Do you want to focus on crops or ranching? Relationships, or maintaining the homestead?
When starting for the first time, go into the game with some clear goals, work towards those, and come up with new plans to keep yourself motivated throughout the experience. It's the best way to build towards something bigger, and eventually, the plan will be realized, giving you an unmatched sense of accomplishment (and new inspirations).
5 Normal Mode Isn't As Easy As You Think
Normal mode, generally speaking, is the default difficulty setting in a game. It sets enemy AI to a regular level, sets player stats to a regular level, and generally is how developers intended the game to be experienced.
In Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, though, Normal mode makes the game much harder by reducing prices and increasing the difficulty across the board. If you've never played a Story of Seasons game before, it's best to stick with Seedling mode.
4 Keep Your Capability To Work In Mind
It can be tempting to buy a huge amount of seeds and farming accessories when players get a fat sack of G, but they shouldn't bite off more than they can chew. It's important to only work as much as someone is able to.
A small field with a few well-managed crops will do better than a field that a farmer can't finish tending due to its size. Unwatered and unkept crops will wilt, leaving players with nothing but wasted money and wasted time.
3 Avoiding Accessory and Optional Tools
In the story, the player will get just about every tool that they need to tend to their farm and play the game properly. However, there are four other important accessories everyone should pick up at some point: the fishing rod, the camera, the bucket, and the leash.
The fishing rod lets people catch fish, and the camera can be used to take photos which can then be donated. The leash lets players walk their pets, while the bucket lets farmers clear water on the farms.
2 Not Maintaining Friendships
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town lets the player build and benefit from being friends with the characters throughout Olive Town. It's a system that has inspired a number of other simulator game friend systems over the years, so it might be familiar.
Give gifts, do tasks, and talk to everybody in the town often to maintain your friendships and reap the rewards of being the most well-liked person in town. Even if that side of the game doesn't seem appealing it's still important to keep up with story progression (and even some secrets) central to the game.
1 Makers, Makers, Makers
Makers in Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town are a general term for crafters that produce an item from materials. The Honey Maker, the Thread Maker, the Ingot Maker, and the Lumber Maker are some examples of these crafting machines.
It's much better to be able to process materials than let them sit around, so save up for one of these and get it early to make money-making and later crafting a little bit easier.
Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town is available exclusively on the Nintendo Switch.