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Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town director details what lead to the game including same-sex relationships
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town may be a remake, but it also includes some brand-new features. For example, players are now able to form same-sex relationships this time around. In an interview with Siliconera, Director Hikaru Nakano explained what lead to this decision.
Harvest Moon DS: Cute had “Best Friend Ceremonies.” This was only available to specific characters, but it allowed two women to have a wedding ceremony. Although it was integrated as a hidden element of the game, we had positive feedback from the fans, and some specific requests to bring it back. If given the chance, it was one of the things that I wanted to include.
One of the running themes for the series is the freedom of choice. We want players to have the freedom to do whatever they please, so regardless of which protagonist is chosen, we want them to be able to partner with their favorite character. With this remake, we wanted to allow players to be able to have a relationship with any of the bachelors/bachelorettes, regardless of what protagonist they choose to play.
As for the response we’ve received, this is basically a first for the Bokujou series, and we’ve received a lot of feedback during development from our peers and from our fans after launch. I will not be going into details, but personally, I would like to think of ways to improve the romance portion of the series so that fans can further enjoy their life within the game.