Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar Impression

Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar manages to turn what’s usually a mundane feature into a main draw.

Story of Seasons, aka Bokujō Monogatari, is no stranger to remakes. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is the latest of these, exploring one of the series’ many Nintendo DS entries, and RPGamer had the chance to play through the first month of the game. As usual, the farming sim puts players to work on a vacant farm, with its change to the routine formula being the weekly bazaar where players trade goods that are produced on their farm. In other games, selling goods is a simple matter of dropping things off in a shipping container, but here it takes the form a shopkeeping mini-game, managing to turn what is usually a mundane task into a main draw.

The main story of the game revolves around the bazaar, which has been in decline, and the town of Zephyr’s mayor wants it to return to its former glory. Each week the player is tasked with setting up shop in the town plaza and hawking their goods. Players can sell essentially anything, from dishes they’ve cooked to grown crops or various foraged items. What items will sell well varies with their popularity, which is indicated when players are shopping or performing farming operations. The actual operation of running the shop is quite simple; players rush around their counter putting down items to sell, ring a bell to attract customers, and finalize the sale. Occasionally a thought bubble will appear above characters with an item they’re looking for, which will always be something in the player’s inventory. If the player puts it out on the counter quick enough, it will result as a guaranteed sale. While simple and somewhat slow in the first week, by the end of the game’s first month things got incredibly hectic, requiring rushing around interacting with customers and constantly restocking shelves.

Farm management looks great on the Nintendo Switch 2.

Naturally, a bazaar needs more than just one vendor and, as the game progresses, side quests will open up that will unlock further stands for the bazaar. These can be run by the general populace as well as the town residents that players can build relationships with. Completing these quests helps improve the bazaar’s level and progresses the main goal of the game, while unlocking new places to shop. Other vendors in the bazaar are also available by default early on, such as a shop to buy farm animals and pets. The player gets a break in the middle of the day of the bazaar, giving them ample time to explore the other shops. It seems certain that many more shops will open up as the game progresses into later months.

Farm management plays out similarly to what players expect from Story of Seasons. The player’s farm has a plot for planting various produce along with space for farm animals to graze. Randomly generated weeds, wild flowers, logs, and minerals pop up every day, providing another way for players to collect resources. Every bit of work takes stamina, which needs to be managed as there’s only so much that one can do in a day. In addition to work, players can wander around the town of Zephyr and talk to its residents and try and improve relationships. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar features some colorful residents with different types of personalities, such as a reclusive and shy clothing designer, as well as an energetic martial arts buff who lives in the mountains near town. Though one month in was not enough time to progress relationships very far, it was enough to see these characters gain some depth as they get closer to the protagonist.

The bazaar is hectic fun.

Though the game runs perfectly fine on the Nintendo Switch, it truly shines on the Nintendo Switch 2. Everything in town pops with vibrant color. Small details are visible everywhere, from the breeze blowing, to subtle character animations as NPCs move about their daily business. There’s nothing here really pushing the power of the system, but it certainly provides a smoother experience. Loading times are quick and snappy, and the framerate remained steady, in both docked and handheld mode, even with many NPCs coming and going during bazaars later in the month.

After a month of in game time with Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, it is clear that a lot of effort was put into this remake. The town and its residents shine with colorful detail. It can be quite hard to tell that this game originated as a Nintendo DS game. The bazaar changes up the usual gameplay loop of the series enough that veteran players should find it a refreshing change of pace. Time will tell if the story and gameplay loop can maintain the level of excitement generated by the first month, but signs are hopeful that this bazaar will be quite grand.

Disclosure: This article is based on a free build of the game provided by the publisher.