Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale creator on the marriage of two franchises

A portion of a Nintendo Life interview with PopoloCrois creator Yohsuke Tamori...

NL: How does Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale fit in with the PopoloCrois series as a whole?

YT: I was surprised and a little confused when the crossover was first suggested, but the more I looked into the Bokujo Monogatari games, the more it struck me that these two series have a lot in common. They both focus on warmth and humanity, and when I realized that, it made the idea of a crossover seem like a perfect fit. By adding Bokujo gameplay systems and ideas to the world of PopoloCrois, I feel like the game world can now be a lot more immersive for players.

NL: How did you approach integrating the Story of Seasons elements into Return to PopoloCrois? Were they an easy fit with the PopoloCrois series as a whole?

YT: Prince Pietro has always been very curious about the world around him, so he's played with cows and tried his hand at farming in both the manga and anime series already. Because of this, there was really nothing unusual about seeing him hold a hoe or till a field. I think the two franchises fit together really well.

NL: Were any Story of Seasons elements reimagined to fit in better with the PopoloCrois universe? I know the romance system has been tweaked from a typical Story of Seasons approach, for instance — could you tell us about that and any other examples?

YT: Throughout the PopoloCrois series, Narcia is Prince Pietro's one and only, so I thought fans would be unhappy to see him fall in love with any other female characters. That's why there isn't a romance system in place quite like you'd normally see in a STORY OF SEASONS game, though we did add in some female characters who really look up to Prince Pietro to retain a little bit of that flair. There's no calendar system in this game, however, since that would make it rather difficult to ensure story progress matches up appropriately with the time of the year.