Copying a lengthy gaming rant I posted elsewhere but still feel like reposting even though I realize no one here cares.
So, I've been playing Story of Seasons: Pioneers Of Olive Town while keeping eyes on the A Wonderful Life remake. SOS is still one of my favourite video game series and I consider it the best farm life sim franchise, but I'm starting to worry that I'm just... Outgrowing it in a way.
The current atmosphere of the series is far different from what it was in the early 2000s. It's a lot more chipper and fluffier. It also feels like the character designs don't do it for me anymore.
I've noticed that most bachelors are baby faced and clean shaven. They even cutened up Cody and Gustafa for the AWL remake. Cody is still muscular but he's not nearly as bulky and tall as he was before (though I am glad that he has curly hair now), while Gustafa isn't the prematurely bald big-nosed hippie he used to be. I keep on wishing for bachelors with facial hair but I feel this won't happen, largely because Japan has different views on facial hair.
I could deal with that if every bachelor didn't look 22 tops. The series always had a "puni plush" art style but I could always interpret the characters as their Mid-to-late twenties. Maybe they should bring back characters have canon ages? I loved reading the manual for ANWL and seeing everyone's ages. It's just small flavor text but it adds character depth. I look at my box for Rune Factory 4 and the protagonists look like 13 year olds, not adults.
The last few games have shyed from alcohol and that's most upsetting of all. Blue Bar has been changed into a coffee shop. I've seen people say it's to modernize the game, except a coffee shop doesn't fit the setting or characters. Forgotten Valley/Forget-me-Not Valley is supposed a 1930s-1970s inspired small town bordering on dead. It's drab and dying but there's just enough of a spark in it for now. The Blue Bar made sense in the narrative. It was a cool place for the adult characters to hang out at night and listen to some guitar. I can't see Marlin or Grant (a salaryman) binging at a coffee shop. The bar was also a reference to the first game in the series: Muffy/Molly was very inspired by Eve, a bartender and Karen's grandmother.
It's likely that rating problems are the reason behind the alcohol censoring. Still, I wonder if going for a higher rating in order to keep the writing unfeathered isn't the best solution. T (and the Japanese equivalent) may mean fewer sales though. I know a lot of parents don't really care about ratings more so compared to the actual content of the game though. Kingdom Hearts, Psychonauts, and Super Smash Bros Brawl games were T rated but they were light T's.
I understand why some people prefer Stardew over the current games. I could personally never get into Stardew Valley and feel it's just a holdover while waiting for SoS games, but it definitely feels closer to AWL and 64 than POOT. POOT clearly takes from SV but it got the wrong ideas. Fans didn't want to put dozens of makers on their farm.