A Clever, Cozy Sim That Will Dominate Your Life if You Let It
Saturday is meant to be the best day of the week, but I almost dread it in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. Everything in the game builds up to that Saturday. It’s the day when the eponymous ‘Grand Bazaar’ opens, and you get to find out whether you kicked ass in the preceding week. Have you cooked up enough stock for your stall in the Grand Bazaar? Have you helped other stall-holders enough? Have you made enough cash for the next big upgrade? Most of all, have you done enough to rank-up the Grand Bazaar itself?
This intense focus on a single day is Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar’s big idea, and is what separates it, not only from other Story of Seasons games, but almost every cozy game out there. I can only recall Tiny Bookshop that has this imbalance towards a single market day, and even that’s not as top-heavy as this.
Saturday Night is Alright for Bartering
It breaks the rule that I think we’ve all accepted from life-sims and strategy games. You should be able to buy, sell and upgrade stuff whenever you want. If you need cash, you should be able to dip into the game’s loops – fishing, mining or cooking – and make some quick dough. While that is kind of, sort of possible in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, it’s throttled within an inch of its life. Really, you need to wait for Saturday.
I can’t underline enough how much I love this. There’s a constant, nagging tension: should I invest time in the long-term – building relationships with my friends, unlocking windmills, working towards upgrading my tools – or should I focus more on the short-term? It soon becomes clear that raw ingredients don’t sell particularly well at market, so processing them in some way is the best approach. But that takes up hours in a game that’s very much passing in real-time. I could spend a morning making sushi for the market, but am I neglecting my relationship with the villagers?
If this sounds daunting for a cozy game, well, it is and it isn’t. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is absolutely a cozy game that can be played at your own pace. There are the odd villagers who apply some pressure, telling you to rank up the Bazaar (shush, Diana!), and there are scheduled, calendar events that you should probably not neglect. But ultimately if you come up short one week, you can make up for it in the next. Or the one after that. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar isn’t a punishing game in that sense.
There’s Never Enough Time in the Day
But there’s a compulsion there. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is brilliant at layering on systems without overwhelming you, and each of those systems tempt you to spend real time with them. I’m a fan of traditional farming, which feels integral to everything else. Rice and wheat crops are so central to all of the meals you can make, and some of the crafting too. Grand Bazaar has this neat touch where you can perform ‘Super’ versions of watering, fertilising or ploughing by jumping beforehand, slamming down like Super Mario. Suddenly, farming becomes this dynamic, overblown process, which I’ve never encountered before.
I developed a daily routine. Morning was for farming. The crops need to be tended. I invariably moan about the constant need for fertiliser and how there’s never enough farming space. I might poke my head into my barn to see whether my animals hate me yet. I don’t know why, but I have a habit of neglecting my sheep, alpacas, cows and chickens, probably because they’re tucked away where I can’t see them.
Then it’s the mining run. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar heavily orients its markets towards mining and the rarer ores. I’d argue it over-orients it: the ore is not only some of the most desirable in-game materials, but they get you the most cash at market, too. They’re limited, so you can’t over-index on them, but it does also mean that there’s no choice but to gather them.
Then it’s onto the villagers. My stamina is probably low at this point (a quick bath or some food will top up the bar, but only slightly), so I will do a circuit that takes me round everyone and then back to my house. Each villager has a frankly too long number of hearts, and talking to them, completing their mini-quests (lovely, encouraging you to engage with systems you might have forgotten about), gifting them on their birthday, and handing them flowers on Flower Day (Honey on Honey Day, and so on) will slowly make them friends or more.
Just Don’t Ask Us to Remember Any of the Characters’ Names
None of these characters are engaging at all – except my man Felix, who is a giant buffoon and the town’s mayor – but they are pleasant enough archetypes, and unlocking mini-quests makes up for their slight vacuousness.
Then it’s onto processing for the evening. The town’s windmills, unlocked over the seasons, have different crafting options, and the weather (particularly the wind) determines how quickly the crafting option is made. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar has so many of these lovely touches. Then it’s back to my house to store the market produce away until Saturday.
Saturday invariably rolls around, and then it’s the rush to stock my stall. There are only so many slots in the stall, so prioritising the expensive stuff is the way to go. I worried that I was gentrifying the town: selling only the most ludicrous, artisanal foodstuffs and accessories. I don’t know who is buying 1000G necklaces at a market, but thank you anyway.
A Game That is Bazaarly Well made
I’ve only surfaced a tiny amount of Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. I’d love to tell you more about the lovely mobility stuff, as you can double-jump and float around a town that was previously a pain to navigate. I’d love to tell you about the fishing that’s annoyingly lacking in purpose, or the little sprite-like characters who can level up your gathering in individual foraging categories. I want to talk about the farm upgrades, the lovely pet system (dogs that can herd your animals! Amazing!), the constant curve-ball events on the calendar, the role of weather and more.
The combination creates possibly the most addictive game experience of the year so far. I am currently living two lives – one as myself, of course, and the other in Grand Bazaar. And let me tell you, sometimes the Grand Bazaar life dominates. I have a notebook with all of micro and macro aims for the week, and I plan out each day with precise detail. I have Saturday to work towards, and the Grand Bazaar isn’t going to rank up itself.
Which is my way of saying that you have to be careful. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar is all-consuming, and you have to be prepared for farmyard animals, crops and villagers to be what you think about over the course of your day.
Important Links
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/story-of-seasons-grand-bazaar/9p7zq3db1x5v
There’s a Deluxe Edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/story-of-seasons-grand-bazaar-digital-deluxe/9N0DG5CGZR9J/0010
And a Super Deluxe – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/story-of-seasons-grand-bazaar-super-digital-deluxe/9NNHSSHLD48F/0010
