As soon as the first expansion pass was revealed for Pioneers of Olive Town via Nintendo’s Japanese website my mind couldn’t help but swim with ideas about what kind of content we could see from it. It’s almost a shame that a few hours later Marvelous would go ahead and confirm exactly what would be coming on the official site, with silhouettes leaving little to the imagination for the returning characters in particular. To put it simply: I love speculating! So, since a majority of the content they’re selling us on is confirmed already, let’s imagine… what if there was a second expansion pass?
Also, let me state again, this is 100% speculation for fun. There is no second pass confirmed. Think of it as more of a wish-list than anything.
Returning Characters
One of the things that struck me the most about the initial expansion pass was that it’s only pulling in characters from the most recent three mainline games. It’s the 25th Anniversary though! Surely, to celebrate the totality of the series it’d be ideal to draw from as many different games as possible to show how much has changed throughout the years. It also kind of bothered me that a lot that 4 of the 6 returning candidates are blondes and there are still some notable missing archetypes that date back to the oldest games in the series like inventors, wanderers, magical entities, and classic Bokumono visual flair like pink hair or even just a candidate with glasses.
If we assume Marvelous will continue supporting Pioneers of Olive Town after the first pass however, there’s ample opportunities to cover all their bases! That’s a pretty dang big topic though. With something like 9 or 10 more unique groups of characters to pick and choose from, this probably merits its own article rather than making this one two or three times as long.
Scenarios
Another intriguing aspect of the first expansion pass is the promise of new events that have never been done in a Story of Seasons before, with a detective mystery being among them. Even keeping things “grounded” to the series setting, it leaves a lot to the imagination what kind of odd or unusual situations future scenarios could bring. Maybe something like…
- Pirate Adventure!
With so many features from past games returning, I’ve been holding my breath for a feature like the boat from GBC3 to return. Ocean fishing, meeting a mermaid, sailing the open sea… but if we’re looking for events that haven’t happened before, what better choice could there be than something pirate-y? Treasure, maps, spooky abandoned ships, and a lot of nautical fashion could come together to bring a unique mini-adventure to Story of Seasons. Pirates have been lightly touched on in previous games, with treasure in FoMT and characters like Saffron, but there’s never been a chance to really explore the idea before.
- Harvest Deity Convention
You ever think about how there’s so many Goddesses and other special deities from throughout the series, but they rarely meet? Though no Goddess is confirmed for Pioneers yet, should there be one, it would certainly be a special event to gather them in one place. Gaia, Marina, Sephia, Ignis, Mariel, little Dessie, and maybe even more obscure choices like the Grape Spirit or spin-off exclusive characters like Vera. I wonder what stories they could tell?
Fashion
Finally, the simplest and least particularly impactful DLC: New outfits for yourself and the marriage candidates! The first pass lays the groundwork pretty simply: These are basic, no-frills packs containing outfits such as yukata and kigurumi. So, to follow that, here’s just a few random ideas as they come to me:
- Sci-Fi or Innocent Life themed
- Fantasy or Rune Factory themed
- Steampunk themed
- Warm and cozy Winter themed
- Breezey Summer themed
- Sports themed
- Formal dancing themed
- Grunge themed
- Business themed
- Some crossover stuff like we had with Mario in past games
If I’m completely honest, I never do care much for small fashion DLC like these when they’re not part of a larger pack. There’s certainly a lot of fun themes they could do though, and I bet there’s a whole lot of things I didn’t even consider!
The base game for Pioneers of Olive Town is already looking to be one of the most expansive in the series, so additional DLC feels like a pleasant, optional way to add even more to the game. Is there anything you feel like it’s still lacking though? Certain kinds of characters, additions beyond the scope of the existing pass like returning or new gameplay mechanics, or something else?
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