There have been many hurdles for Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, the newest edition of the Story of Seasons series. The game introduced a number of mechanics from other popular farming simulators like Stardew Valley, but upon release it was found that much of the new content was broken, leading to a need for major patches to overhaul Maker Machines, character dialogue, and numerous bugs and glitches. While the patches released so far have made Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town playable, the game still requires several large updates to compete with other popular farming simulation games.
Currently, the Pioneers of Olive Town patch 1.0.5 is out for every player, and 1.0.6 is available in Japan. The 1.0.5 update introduced changes like improving the functionality of Maker Machines and removed the need to press "A" when going outside, among many other changes. Story of Seasons' 1.0.6 fixes issues with the Egg Festival, as well as cleaning up the visuals for activities like upgrading tools. While these changes have improved the playability of the game, it is frustrating that they weren't part of Pioneers of Olive Town's originally released content.
Unfortunately, there are still a number of areas where Pioneers of Olive Town could make improvements. Currently, processed goods are lacking in diversity. For example, all milk types make the same cheese, butter, and yogurt. While different fleece and wool animals will produce several types of cloth, there aren't enough uses for the cloth to make the time and effort valuable. In previous Story of Seasons games, different animals produced different goods, which were processed into a variety of final products. Pioneers of Olive Town could reintroduce these concepts, adding a wider variety of products for players to make.
Story Of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town DLC Doesn't Add New Items
Pioneers of Olive Town has also introduced a Story of Seasons DLC Expansion Pass. Unlike previous games, which allowed players to purchase outfit bundles but no additional content, Pioneers of Olive Town has released new areas through the DLC updates for players to explore. However, these areas are empty of content, possessing only a few NPCs from previous games. While the ability to befriend or romance past characters is exciting for fans of the Story of Seasons series, the DLC would likely be more interesting if it introduced new animals to raise, crops to plant, or new open areas to forage for location-specific items.
One of the biggest areas that could be improved is the Pioneers of Olive Town festivals. Currently, there are only a couple of festivals each month, and they are frustratingly repetitive. Events from previous games like animal competitions have been removed, taking away the incentive to breed and raise livestock in Pioneers of Olive Town. Festival prizes are also lacking, with the player earning the same trophies to display in their home year after year. Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town should consider bringing back popular mechanics from past games in future content updates, expanding the ways players can enjoy exploring Olive Town.