Hometown Story is the upcoming 3DS title from Yasuhiro Wada, the creator of the Harvest Moon franchise. Though on the surface it seems to be treading similar ground to that of the established Natsume franchise, Wada recently told us in an interview that “you can expect fresher characters and more storyline behind each of them”; the creator’s goal, seemingly, is to step away and find the dynamism of his earlier work, avoiding the cliche-ridden — though still enjoyable — Harvest Moon franchise.
What you may not know is that Hometown Story is actually coming to iOS as well, but at a lower price and with in-app purchases. With characters, community and individual stories important to the title, however, buyers should be aware that the mobile version only includes the shop-running aspect, but the core of the game seems to be reserved for the 3DS alone. Here’s what Yasuhiro Wada had to say recently in an interview.
” The iOS version does not have episodes with other villagers, players just run a shop. You get new items, you can save money, you can sell rare items on iOS too. Eventually, you will get new customers, but that’s pretty much all you can do. The core system of running the shop is the same on 3DS, but you will get to interact with the villagers and involved with their story.
It’s not because of technical limitations. I made the mobile version to be a pick up and play, to reach out to more people. If both versions have the same content, I don’t think the iOS version can be priced at $29.99, I don’t think there is anybody who will be that kind of game. That’s why I made the iOS version more compact with the essence of the game. Eventually, there will be in-app purchases. There will be rare items and villagers, but no story episodes. If you want to play even more there is the 3DS version.”
Wada also shared an example of the kind of character-driven items that may be available in your prospective store, even if his own preference for stock isn’t actually included.
“Games, (laughs) but, you can’t sell games in this. One interesting item is an expired movie ticket that you can’t use. There is a story behind this, actually. A character wanted to take someone special to this movie, but he couldn’t. For this character, this item is sentimental and there are items like that you can sell in the shop.”
