Then and now: Elli

This is a legacy article and was originally published August 8th, 2019.

So, clearly, one thing a lot of people noticed with the announcement of Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is that a lot of the characters have changed their appearance. While some of these changes are hit and miss, there’s a lot of changes that make sense! So I thought I would do a little series about them. So I present…

Then and now: Elli!

Elli is a character who always felt like they had a unique scenario: their outfit could easily be applied to two completely different jobs! Between Flowerbud and Mineral Town, as a baker or as a nurse, she could fairly comfortably wear a blue dress and a white apron. Though, admittedly, this outfit for a nurse is fairly old fashioned. That’s not to say there’s no differences at all however, as Elli is an example where the smallest details of the character changes really shine.

As I noted, Elli is a fairly old fashioned nurse, but there are very specific changes to the details of her outfit that help highlight her new role. To start with, she now has pockets, a more than essential tool, which are adorned with crosses. While it would feel natural to make these red, the Red Cross is actually a copyrighted logo and one that is fiercely protected, making the blue a a safer (and color coordinating!) alternative. She’s also wearing compression sleeves, another tool Nurses may use for improving circulation and helping them work longer hours. It wouldn’t surprise me if she was wearing compression socks as well, which reminds me…

The overall design of the sleeves and apron certainly are distinctive. I wonder if her grandmother, Ellen, made them for her? After all, her shawl has a very similar pattern and she can knit the player a pair of socks for the Stocking Festival if they befriend her.

Back in Flowerbud, Elli herself is quite talented and would make the player an embroidered handkerchief for their birthday. I kind of wonder if this minor trait is something Mineral Town Ellen borrowed since it wasn’t something she made particular use of before in the Flowerbud titles. Whatever the case, it’s a nice detail to spot between Mineral Town’s Elli and Ellen’s new outfits.

Thank you to our Discord community for helping out a bit with this one! It’s fun to learn.