As part of their E3 press release, XSEED Games announced a number of titles that they will be localizing for the upcoming year. One of these is a crossover announced last year between PoPoLoCrois and Bokujō Monogatari (now known as Story of Seasons in the West). The game will be localized as Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale and is expected to release this Winter. It should also be noted that this reveal comes days after Natsume announced their new Harvest Moon game, the second of their new series.
Here’s the description of the game from today’s announcement:
Return to PopoloCrois: A STORY OF SEASONS Fairytale
[Platform: Nintendo 3DS; Release: Winter 2015] – A new game based on the Japanese PopoloCrois Story comic book series, and a new entry in the wildly successful Bokujo Monogatari farming and life simulation series, now known as STORY OF SEASONS in the West, Return to PopoloCrois: A STORY OF SEASONS Fairytale features both classically-styled turn-based combat and towns full of lively and interesting NPCs who contribute to a heartwarming narrative about friendship, forgiveness and the bounty of the earth that veterans and newcomers alike to either franchise can enjoy equally. Ample farming and life simulation elements are also on offer in this comprehensive crossover, including real-time crop-raising, bug-catching, rock-quarrying, item synthesis, and relationship forging. Players can collect over 600 items and undertake nearly 100 quests throughout the game, supplementing its 25+ hour main story with nearly unlimited potential for replayability. StreetPass™ features are also present, allowing players to connect with one another and earn bonus items through treasure-hunting.
We hope to have more for you on this title as E3 comes and goes. We will also have more information as XSEED posts to their Tumblr page as localization progresses as well as sales figures for its June 18th release in Japan. For now, here are some screenshots as well as some details on the story of the game.
It’s Prince Pietro’s 13th birthday, and all the people of PopoloCrois have come out to celebrate! But among them is a very special guest: Marmela, a representative from an otherworldly kingdom called Galariland. Her country has been ravaged by shadowy creatures who corrupt the soil, preventing crops from growing – and since this same phenomenon has been occurring in PopoloCrois as well, King Paulo now seeks her counsel.
Her expert opinion? Prince Pietro should visit Galariland personally as an ambassador for PopoloCrois, to see the damage first-hand and learn all the ways the Galari people are fighting back. But once he’s there, he finds there’s no way back home, and his princely name holds little sway over the long-suffering people of this new world.
Forced to take up residence in an abandoned farmhouse on a long-forgotten plot of land, Pietro works to cultivate the desolate, darkness-stricken earth and bring life back to Galariland one field at a time. His ultimate goal is to resurrect the Goddess Galariel so he can drive back the darkness and return to PopoloCrois – but the road ahead will be a long and difficult one filled with hardships, adventure, farming, robots, wolves, bugs, betrayal, romance, friends both new and old, and a whole lot of fairydust…
