Bandai Namco Reveals How Doraemon Nobita’s Story Of Seasons Came About, Its World, And More
Recently, Famitsu sat down with Bandai Namco to talk about Doraemon Nobita’s Story of Seasons – an all-new farming sim game.
In particular, we hear more about how producer Kouji Nakajima’s love for Doraemon kickstarted the crossover project. The interview also revealed more insights about the story of the game, its core themes, and scope of sub-stories. From the sound of things, the game will certainly be a faithful Doraemon experience with a loads of heartwarming content!
Check out the full interview below, with translations courtesy of Siliconera.
Q: Please tell us how this project got started.
Kouji Nakajima, Bandai Namco producer: “I am part of the generation that grew up watching Doraemon, and after becoming an adult and a parent, I once again began to appreciate the series and wanted to spread the wonderfulness of the series with a game. Also, I’ve always liked Harvest Moon: Back to Nature, as I played it a lot. I thought it would be nice if there were a game that had the sort of gameplay in Story of Seasons where your effort is rewarded, and the messages and type of story Doraemon tells, so I created the proposal for this project. On top of that, if we were to make a Story of Seasons game, I wanted to ask Marvelous to handle development, which is how this partnership happened.”
Q: What sort of place is Shizen Town like?
Kasumi Sugita, Brownies development planner: “Shizen Town is a town overflowing with nature, and one of its landmarks is the giant tree near town. It is said that the tree was grown long ago by a Goddess.”
Q: Will the tree and the legend of the Goddess play a part in the main story?
Nakajima: “Why did Nobita and the others come to Shizen Town? As you progress through the main story, the reasons will become apparent. The original Doraemon is all about unrealistic things in a realistic world, and I wanted to recreate that in this game. The feeling of adventure, and a linear main story, are things that are quite different from the Story of Seasons games up until now.”
Q: Were there any other themes you focused on in the story?
Sugita: “The biggest theme is “family”, and the focus is on familial love. The sub-stories will also be related to familial love, such as between siblings or for family pets.”
Shouhei Yamashita, Brownies development planner: “We’ve got lots of sub-stories. The volume of sub-stories is around 5 times as much as the main story.”
Q: Really! Are there sub-stories for every character?
Sugita: “There are lots of family-run shops in town, and each shop will have its own sub-story. It’ll be connected to the relationship system, and their stories won’t proceed if you don’t get closer to them. Shizue, Gian, and the rest are helping out at the stores too, so you’ll see familiar faces during the events.”
The game will be launching digitally and physically in Japan on 13 June 2019. An English retail version of the game is also presumably in the works for release in Q4 2019.
