Now that all of the major updates are done...

Poot Poot Poot! A mainline Bokumono game set in a resort town that wants to be more resort-y. Available for Nintendo Switch, Steam/PC, and Ps4/5. [ Game Guide ] JP release = Feb 2021. NA = Mar 2021. EU = Mar 2021.
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Burning Spear
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As far as I'm concerned, the series we know as Bokumono died with Trio of Towns. There is very little human connection to the past games; Marvelous is essentially starting over with a new, suspect, development team, which apparently has been given quite a bit of leeway to apply its own vision to the series. We knew this would happen at some point, but the transition was poorly executed. We know Miyamoto does very little with Nintendo's top IPs, but he and his colleagues have done well to instill the Nintendo way upon their successors, so a Mario game still feels like a descendent of the original Mario Bros. game. With Bokumono, it seems everything Wada and, later, Hashimoto built is now being imitated by a development team that appears to have little understanding of what makes the games fun. Marvelous shoulders a lot of this for releasing Pioneers in a half-baked, slim-downed format that was essentially a cash-grab vehicle to generate lots of pre-order business. Now they've got our money, and we've got plushies and a pale imitation of the game we've come to know. Apologizing after the fact for something the company knew was defective upon release rings hollow to me. Marvelous now needs to convince me it is restoring the series to what it was.
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Burning Spear wrote:As far as I'm concerned, the series we know as Bokumono died with Trio of Towns. There is very little human connection to the past games; Marvelous is essentially starting over with a new, suspect, development team, which apparently has been given quite a bit of leeway to apply its own vision to the series. We knew this would happen at some point, but the transition was poorly executed. We know Miyamoto does very little with Nintendo's top IPs, but he and his colleagues have done well to instill the Nintendo way upon their successors, so a Mario game still feels like a descendent of the original Mario Bros. game. With Bokumono, it seems everything Wada and, later, Hashimoto built is now being imitated by a development team that appears to have little understanding of what makes the games fun. Marvelous shoulders a lot of this for releasing Pioneers in a half-baked, slim-downed format that was essentially a cash-grab vehicle to generate lots of pre-order business. Now they've got our money, and we've got plushies and a pale imitation of the game we've come to know. Apologizing after the fact for something the company knew was defective upon release rings hollow to me. Marvelous now needs to convince me it is restoring the series to what it was.
Wow okay, I had heard some details along the lines of this, but this is actually really sad lol... I mean #1 it fully explains why I had the impression(s) I had of the game, but #2 it feels like losing a childhood friend.

With that being said, it's already been hard to say I'm hopeful for the next round. I too really enjoyed Trio of Towns. But after this I really need something beyond this realm good :shifty:
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There's nothing wrong with waiting on a new game. If SoS:PoOT and its latter-patched bugs and inadequacies (such as the dialogue) is any indication, waiting a month or two or more after the initial release is probably the best approach for the next game. I really hope the next release, whether remake or original title, has a better release than SoS:PoOT.

As for myself, I still don't like SoS:PoOT. I haven't seen anything to really impress me or change my mind about it. I ended not buying the game at all, but I am keeping track of the series and am willing to try another game if one manages to pique my interest. If SoS:PoOT has done anything for me, it has successfully inspired me to try alternatives, such as RF4 and HM:OW.

I could be wrong with all of this, but here's a quick summary of what what I understand about the game.

The game seems to consistently delight most players up to about the middle of the first year. The general consensus appears to be that the game makes a pretty strong, good first impression. The farming gameplay is solid and addicting. The first Spring is often great and gets players hopes up. Cracks in enjoyment usually start showing within the first year. Pre-existing fans in particular are susceptible to this happening upon finishing the storyline, especially for players who finish the storyline by Summer of year 1.

From there, players usually try focusing on romance and marriage, both of which tend to fall short of expectations for one reason or another. A common complaint is that the romance itself or romance-able characters are lacking depth, even after the dialogue patch (though the patch did improve things). A lot of people praise the game for having same-« Chicken Hugging » marriage, but, apparently, there is no one worth marrying in the first place compared to the other games in the series. Most players are disappointed that kissing is apparently banned in Olive Town. Making a baby with your spouse (when the two of you are able to) is also seemingly banned, as the protagonist adopts a kid no matter whom he or she married. Some players are also unhappy that they are effectively forced to accept a baby in the first place, as the previous few titles had a way to keep children from happening (ex. in HM:ANB, if players didn't build a crib, then all child-related events would not occur). The main bright side to the child-system in SoS:PoOT is that the child resembles both its parents at least of the time.

No farming festivals means little incentive to improve the farm. The mining is more impressive than the farming in some aspects, as it has been expanded from the mining in SoS:ToT. The makers are better now than they were at release, but they are still not super well-liked and are tolerated more than anything else. The ranching/animal aspect uses the same breed-to-improve-star-quality mechanic from SoS:FoMT that I greatly dislike. The customization options for both player character and farm are great, but not enough to keep most players engaged for long periods of time. DLC is half-baked and painfully self-contained.

All in all, the game struggles to shine when compared to other games. SoS:PoOT is not a bad game, but, compared to SoS:ToT in particular, it tends to fall short of expectations.


Edit: I was mistaken. It may vary depending on which DLC love interest is the parent, but at least some of the DLC children can resemble the DLC parent.
Last edited by PaleSunflower on Sep 14, 2021 4:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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I read the first page of comments and stopped to write my thoughts.

I finally got to play the game, not knowing the final updates hit a few months ago it seems? So I am playing the version of the game that it should have been at launch, right? Well, I'm enjoying it a lot! I think I recall them adding more events or something? Because the villagers are very funny, there isn't a cut scene where I haven't been laughing. I genuinely like everyone in town for the events, though admittedly they do fall flat with their daily conversation. I think the expressions are not bad, I know they focus on that a lot since there aren't any portraits, but it's hard for me to recognize/remember what any character looks like from the semi-birds eye camera angle we get.

Maybe I should just make bullet points. I am only a month in.

What I like (MY OPINIONS):
-Villager events are funny, so I like them all.
-I like the fast loading times. It feels more polished vs. One World for sure.
-the town is very pretty

What I don't like:
-no villager portraits (after looking up Blaire's picture she is SUPER cute?!)
-elements feels super borrowed from Stardew Valley. Come on, you are the flagship original game..
-weird « Mr.Gourmet's hat » camera angles which COULD HAVE BEEN FIXED with portraits. Harder for me to engage in an event sometimes when I can't see the character's face.

All in all it does feel super chill and relaxing to me so I am having a good time just winding down. It seems all of the features I'm enjoying were patched updates, so now I feel bad for those who had to suffer without those. LOL It would be hard to play the game then..
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Shan O 123
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Before the update, makers would only make one item at a time, whenever you’d order food there was a awkward same scene with a fish meal. Loading times were slow and the dialogue was plain. Lag, and the egg festival wasn’t enjoyable by most.
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PaleSunflower wrote:unless the player character married a DLC love interest, then the child only resembles the protagonist.
Wait, seriously?
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Kikki
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There is so little integration of any of the DLC characters, that it's kind of like the DLC was made by a different company, with no contact with any of the others and get everything put together. (I don't think that's the case, though.)
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Shan O 123
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Ronin19 wrote:
PaleSunflower wrote:unless the player character married a DLC love interest, then the child only resembles the protagonist.
Wait, seriously?
There’s one way to find out. I’m really close to getting Neil’s confession in my boy file unless it doesn’t count.
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PaleSunflower
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Ronin19 wrote:
PaleSunflower wrote:unless the player character married a DLC love interest, then the child only resembles the protagonist.
Wait, seriously?
Well, I went and checked this one. One redditor and huge fan of Reager complained on multiple threads that Reager's and the protagonist's child looks nothing like Reager, but everything like the protagonist. Another redditor was upset that Iris' child didn't look anything like her as well, so I assumed that DLC children simply did not resemble the DLC parents. After checking Youtube, however, it appears that isn't necessarily the case. I found 2 videos with the kid not looking like the DLC parent at all, and two were the kid did resemble the DLC parent. Of possible note, the 2 videos where the kid did not resemble the DLC parent were, in fact, Iris and Reager. (A coincidence? Maybe.) Neil and Ludus' kids did resemble them. I'll edit my first post to reflect this information.

I didn't check it in the first place because of how half-baked the DLC was integrated (aka painfully self-contained) in the first place, so the kids not resembling the DLC parents seemed about right to me.
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Ronin19
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PaleSunflower wrote:
Ronin19 wrote:
PaleSunflower wrote:unless the player character married a DLC love interest, then the child only resembles the protagonist.
Wait, seriously?
Well, I went and checked this one. One redditor and huge fan of Reager complained on multiple threads that Reager's and the protagonist's child looks nothing like Reager, but everything like the protagonist. Another redditor was upset that Iris' child didn't look anything like her as well, so I assumed that DLC children simply did not resemble the DLC parents. After checking Youtube, however, it appears that isn't necessarily the case. I found 2 videos with the kid not looking like the DLC parent at all, and two were the kid did resemble the DLC parent. Of possible note, the 2 videos where the kid did not resemble the DLC parent were, in fact, Iris and Reager. (A coincidence? Maybe.) Neil and Ludus' kids did resemble them. I'll edit my first post to reflect this information.

I didn't check it in the first place because of how half-baked the DLC was integrated (aka painfully self-contained) in the first place, so the kids not resembling the DLC parents seemed about right to me.
I mean, I think it's just luck of the draw; I married Jack and my kid doesn't look like him at all.
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Burning Spear
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Ronin19 wrote:I mean, I think it's just luck of the draw; I married Jack and my kid doesn't look like him at all.
This is not a big deal to me, but it actually seems more realistic if the child could end up looking like one parent, both or neither. It widens the range of outcomes. But I do think the DLC characters need to be upgraded so they have more effect on the game, including the kids if that's not already the case.
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It's going to take a lot for me to get excited about more SoS games, especially if the same companies are involved.

It feels as if PoOT was outsourced to people who had no idea what the games are, why we love them. If feels like Marvelous has lost interest and just doesn't care any longer. I mean, it's the 25th anniversary, as they keep telling us on Twitter but instead of cake we got gruel.
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Burning Spear
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K8sMum wrote:It's going to take a lot for me to get excited about more SoS games, especially if the same companies are involved.

It feels as if PoOT was outsourced to people who had no idea what the games are, why we love them. If feels like Marvelous has lost interest and just doesn't care any longer. I mean, it's the 25th anniversary, as they keep telling us on Twitter but instead of cake we got gruel.
There's zero doubt in my mind that Marvelous cares little about SoS beyond its ability to generate money. Just put out whatever and we'll make whatever we can.
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PaleSunflower wrote:
Ronin19 wrote:
PaleSunflower wrote:unless the player character married a DLC love interest, then the child only resembles the protagonist.
Wait, seriously?
Well, I went and checked this one. One redditor and huge fan of Reager complained on multiple threads that Reager's and the protagonist's child looks nothing like Reager, but everything like the protagonist. Another redditor was upset that Iris' child didn't look anything like her as well, so I assumed that DLC children simply did not resemble the DLC parents. After checking Youtube, however, it appears that isn't necessarily the case. I found 2 videos with the kid not looking like the DLC parent at all, and two were the kid did resemble the DLC parent. Of possible note, the 2 videos where the kid did not resemble the DLC parent were, in fact, Iris and Reager. (A coincidence? Maybe.) Neil and Ludus' kids did resemble them. I'll edit my first post to reflect this information.

I didn't check it in the first place because of how half-baked the DLC was integrated (aka painfully self-contained) in the first place, so the kids not resembling the DLC parents seemed about right to me.
this is absolutely not true, my palest skin tone, blue-eyed black-haired farmer married ludus and their baby has ludus' skin tone and eye color and my farmer's hair color. the genetics for the dlc characters do not differ from what's available in character creation so they automatically exist in the genetics pool as long as one parent possesses it.
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Shan O 123
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Restarted my boy file last night and with the game fully updated, I was able to build the bridge to the second farm faster than I normally would. I think it was on day 3 or something.
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