Doraemon Story of Seasons Review (HoundCiS)
Frankly, this game didn't meet my high expectations after its release. However, as I decided to complete the game 3 years after it was out, I slowly began to love this game.
Pros:
Story - The styles of the stories feel impressively consistent with Doraemon movies (the main storyline) and mangas (the side stories). They are simple and relaxing, yet well designed to bring you tears and joys at the right moments. And just like Doraemon series, it values friendship, kindness, and innocence. You don't have to be a Doraemon fan to enjoy this game, but if you are then you'll surely love the stories, especially the main story.
Art - Although there are only a limited number of 3D models, the overall atmosphere feels vibrant and delightful. The 2D background is nicely detailed and blends with the 3D figures/animals naturally. In terms of the visual effect, this is definitely one of the best in all harvest-moon-like games.
Music - Most background music complement the beautiful visual in a very natural way.
Voice - I believe the voice actors of all the main characters are the same with the movie/anime series. Although not some conversations (most in stories) are voiced, the voice actors did a great job bringing the player a immersive experience.
Ending - Unlike most harvest moon games, this game DOES HAVE AN END. You'll need to achieve that by talking and gifting to specific NPCs to trigger the main story line. No spoiler here but I love the bittersweet heartwarming ending.
Casual gameplay - Compared to other harvest moon games, farming and pasture seem to yield less but foraging and fishing brings you more benefit. In my opinion this make the whole economy system more balanced. You can spend several in-game hours to tender your 5-star crops or you can wander the whole day across maps catching insects and fishing. Also, there is nothing really worth grinding (except a few junk-related gadgets if you like), which puts even less pressure on the player to gain money fast and effectively.
Cons:
Tutorial - Like most comments have pointed out, the tutorial at the beginning is lengthy and could not be skipped.
In-game storage - When you play into year 2 when all the crops unlocked, you may encounter some serious storage problem.
Lack of critical information - There are details that the game simply doesn't tell or hint you. For example, after you fish at the same spot 3 times, you are supposed to wait for the next hour before you cast your rod again. Without knowing this, you will likely spend more than 1 hour in-game time (1 minute) staring at your fishing buoy with actually 0% chance encountering a single fish. Similarly, whether and when should you should leave your livestock outside? How can you catch beetles? What does upgrading your fishing rod do? The player deserves to know the answers before they waste too much time.
Overall, this is an above average harvest moon game and will be specifically attractive to Doraemon or similar manga lovers.