Buy Return to PopoloCrois: A Story Of Seasons Fairytale

Based on a manga, PopoloCrois developed into a lengthy, if somewhat-obscure, JRPG series that follows the story of Prince Pietro as he seeks to thwart evil with the power of friendship and cheer. Story of Seasons is the Bokujō Monogatari franchise, previously localized as Harvest Moon but these days called Story of Seasons. Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale tries to show off the strengths of both franchises, though only to partial success.

Return to PopoloCrois starts during Prince Pietro's 13th birthday. Mysterious beasts have been appearing and attacking innocent people, and an ambassador from another land, Galariland, offers help, but it turns out to be a trap. Prince Pietro offers his assistance in defeating the beasts and is swept off to Galariland as part of a ritual to summon a demonic evil. Pietro must cure the blight that plagues Galariland and use the power of the goddess Galariel to find a way back to PopoloCrois. The fate of two kingdoms hangs in the balance, and only Pietro can save it.

Return to PopoloCrois is an adorable, good-natured game from start to finish. The characters are simple but charming and the plot is frequently funny. There's no heavy melodrama or serious danger here. The bad guys are bad (but not too bad), the good guys are good, and the story is appropriate for all ages. It's like a children's fairy tale, but that works entirely in its favor. The childish romance between Pietro and his longtime friend Narcia plays out so well that you can't help but smile. Between the cast of wacky characters and the cheerful tone, it hits all the right marks, though it won't satisfy someone looking for a deep storyline.

At its core, PopoloCrois is an old-school RPG. You travel from village to dungeon to village again, searching for the sources of evil while collecting loot and gaining experience points. In some ways, the game may feel too old-school for some players. Its pace is extremely slow, and early on, you'll do a lot of backtracking, fight a bunch of random foes, and search for poorly marked goals. Things improve once you get past the initial areas, but the game feels closer to Dragon Quest than anything modern. It's charming and nostalgic, but it's easy to see how it can be off-putting.

The combat system is simple but engaging. Each character in your party can freely move on the battle map, though they have a designated radius. All attacks have a certain range, and attacking the enemy involves getting in range of them while trying to keep your team out of their range. There are occasionally rocks, stumps or other environmental objects that allow you to better manipulate ranges, but it works in both directions. Characters can spend MP to cast special spells that hit in wider areas or at larger ranges. Certain combinations of characters can use Pair Up spells, so with some careful planning, you can have access to additional powers. There's also an Auto-Battle mode that is surprisingly intelligent and can win most random battles and some boss fights on its own.

PopoloCrois' RPG elements don't break the mold, so the title feels basic in some areas, like the dungeon design. Questing through the dungeons, fighting monsters, and finding upgrades is very by the book, but it hits the right sense of adventure and excitement to please fans of old-school RPGs while remaining accessible and enjoyable for newcomers. A few bosses can wreck your party with a combination of high-damage attacks that hit in a large area. It's never going to be too stressful, and players of all ages and skill levels should have little trouble finishing the game. The instantly adjustable difficult level is nice. There's also a Bravely Default-style encounter rate adjustment, though it can only be reduced to low and can't be turned off completely, which would've made several areas less tedious.

Of course, the second part of the title is Story of Seasons. Early on in the game, Pietro gains access to a small farm, where he learns to plant and harvest crops. As the game progresses, he gains access to more farms that have different crops to harvest and other farm life aspects to tend, such as raising animals. If you've ever played a Harvest Moon or Story of Seasons game, you'll know what to expect. Crops grow in real time as you travel around the world, and stamina and similar features are almost entirely absent. As long as you can water and harvest, you can have a successful farm. Pietro already has a designated love interest in Narcia, so there's no marriage in the story. However, he can still befriend girls to gain bonuses for his farm or combat, but they're platonic relationships. There's very little in the way of the more complex mechanics found in recent Story of Seasons or Harvest Moon titles. All you need to worry about are crafting, harvesting and planting.

Return to PopoloCrois only has one real problem: The Story of Seasons elements feel half-finished.  It's impossible to not compare this title to Rune Factory, which combines Story of Season mechanics with RPG gameplay more naturally. Everything is a simple, broad example of the usual Story of Seasons gameplay, so it's disappointing to a longtime player. Rather than trying to manipulate your farm for maximum profit, you're just planting and harvesting when it's ready. It's still fun, and setting up thriving agriculture feels more satisfying than simply finding items in stores, but it's no replacement for a true Story of Seasons game.

Return to PopoloCrois is a good example of how to make the 3DS's limitations work in your favor. The graphics are simplistic, but the art style means they can convey a lot of subtle charm in each character's simple animations. The environments are cute but a little generic. The only odd thing about the game is the voice acting. There are three vocal tracks (two Japanese and one English), and they do their job well. The English voice acting is the cheesy Saturday morning cartoon style, but that fits the game so perfectly that it's difficult to complain. Oddly, the game is half-voiced. Characters read entire lines, parts of lines, or don't have voices without much rhyme or reason, and it sometimes changes mid-conversation. It isn't the worst thing, but it is really distracting and makes it impossible to listen to the scenes. As for the music, there are a few good tunes, but most slip in one ear and out the other.

Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale is exactly what it tries to be: an old-school charming JRPG with some farming. It's not particularly ambitious, but it hits a lot of marks and is genuinely enjoyable. The old-school elements may turn off gamers looking for something more modern, but if you give it a shot, the nostalgic delight of the game shines through. Some annoying elements drag down the game, and it's more PopoloCrois than Story of Seasons, but there's nothing that really sours the game as a whole. Old-school RPG fans or those looking for a good game for all ages will find a lot to enjoy, and even the most hard-hearted players may crack a smile at Pietro's adventures.

Score: 7.5/10