Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar follows that oh-so-familiar farming sim pattern. You play as a new farmer coming to Zephyr Town, a small village known for its gusty breeze and its weekly bazaar. No sooner do you arrive than you're given a farm and tasked with finding a way to bring the small town from a relatively obscure place to the biggest and best shopping center in the land. Along the way, you'll meet new friends, charm one of a series of bachelors or bachelorettes, and discover how to put Zephyr Town on the map.

At its core, Grand Bazaar is going to feel very familiar to anyone who has ever played a Story of Seasons or similar title. The core farming, harvest and romance mechanics are all pretty much exactly what you'd come to expect from the franchise, to the point the game actually offers you the option to skip most tutorials and just hop right into the action. This isn't necessarily a criticism of the game, as these core mechanics are still some of the most fun and addictive gameplay you'll ever find in the series. If you've ever played a farming sim, you know what you're getting into, almost word for word.

The most intriguing element of Grand Bazaar is the titular Grand Bazaar. Instead of the franchise's standard "put items in box and get money the next day" shipping method, you have a weekly bazaar to attend. During the bazaar, you're able to sell anything you grew, mined or found during the week, but you're limited to what you can bring with you. People will pass by, and you can ring your bell to attract attention, bringing them to your stall where you can promptly sell to them. Keep up a good chain of sales, and you'll be able to summon the Harvest Sprites for a bonus period of increased sales and profit. In your break period between sales, you can visit the stalls of other people in the town. This is also how you upgrade your character and house and find rare items that you can't find elsewhere.

I'm a bit torn on the bazaar because I really like a lot of elements of it. Making the items you sell feel more significant instead of feeling like they vanish into a money hole helps add an odd sense of satisfaction to the standard act of farming. It adds more variety in what you grow based on people's needs and your ability to min-max. At the same time, it can become a tad tedious. There were absolutely days I didn't want to bother with the bazaar simply because of the time it would take up, even though it was a relatively small portion of the day. It's a neat feature, but I'm not sure I'd want to see come back for another Story of Seasons title.

Also exclusive to Grand Bazaar is how it handles crafting. Rather than simply having a crafting table or something similar, you have large windmills situated throughout the city. Each windmill can be used to craft, but there's a twist. Crafting takes actual time, which means you have to plan out how to optimize the windmills to properly craft for maximum profit. The speed at which windmills function also depends on how windy the day is, so if you're in the mood for a big crafting binge, you might be better off saving your materials for an upcoming blustery week.

There are some other mechanics in place that are also quite fun. Rather than upgrading tools directly, you can learn new techniques and abilities to improve your potential. For example, you start with the ability to do a jump into the air, which allows you to move more swiftly around the map, but when you use a tool after jumping, you can hit a wider area, allowing for more effective harvesting and planting. You can upgrade to double-jumps and even wider areas, or you can unlock a glider that allows for swift movement around the town — or more.

If there's one thing I really hope comes back for future games, it was the additional mobility. While it sounds like a relatively small change, the mobility and ease of using specialized skills made the basic act of farming a lot more fun than the standard "charge up" mechanic in other games. I was particularly in love with the "quick harvest" feature, where you do a ground pound in the middle of your plants to quickly gather them all at once. It feels faster and more satisfying, and the general act of moving around in Grand Bazaar is probably the best it has ever been in a Story of Seasons title.

If Grand Bazaar has one core problem, it's a small game. It's Story of Seasons at its most straightforward, and that can be positive or negative. You know exactly what you're getting into, and that's another Story of Seasons title, which doesn't do anything super new for the franchise besides the bazaar concept, which is a mixed bag. It's still a fun game, and I really enjoyed my time with it. The simplicity and back-to-basics feel of the game made it great to pick up and play in bursts. It means that if you're not looking for a relatively polished Story of Seasons title, then it doesn't have a ton of new features to offer. As such, it's a fantastic entry point to the franchise, but if you're someone who goes out and buys all the games, then it might feel overly familiar.

This sense of polished simplicity applies to the graphics, too. The character models are adorable super-deformed 3D models that are very simplistic and oddly charming, with a fair amount of effort invested to make the basic visuals look adorable. The game runs buttery smooth on the Switch 2, which is a huge step up from some of the other recent games that struggled a fair bit. In general, the whole thing is pleasant in motion. The voice acting, which is new for this version of the game, is quite nice and does a good job of lending character to some of the various townsfolk, making them stand out more than they did with solely text.

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is a polished and enjoyable, if slightly unambitious, entry into the franchise. It does everything it needs to, and it does it well. It's a notable improvement over the original game in terms of quality of life and general design. The worst thing about it is that it's a predictable entry in the franchise, which makes it a fantastic starting point for those looking to get into Story of Seasons, but it might feel too safe for longtime fans. If you have any interest or love for the franchise, there's a lot to like, even if it feels safe.

Score: 8.0/10