HomeTown Story
Release Date: October 22, 2013
RPG, elements of strategy, life sim, jRPG, Nintendo exclusive, singleplayer
HomeTown Story is a Japan-based Toybox Games studio game that combines elements of RPG and strategy in order to create a simulation of running a shop in a small town. In addition to business management, the player also goes on adventures and helps neighbors.
HomeTown Story is an RPG game that simulates running a shop in a small Japanese town. The production was developed by Toybox Games team, and the main designer was Yosuhiro Wada, the creator of the cult Harvest Moon series.
The game tells about the adventures of the owner (or the owner, if we decide so) of a shop located in a small town full of friendly people. The protagonist opened his business recently and is still learning the trade. A magical gnome helps him in this. Our task is to ensure the success of this duo in business and to enable them to make many friends among the inhabitants of the town. The hero starts the story with seven wishes and only one can be realized during the campaign. In this way you can go through the whole thing seven times, each time experiencing new challenges and storylines. In addition, the helpful gnome also receives its own story, which changes as a result of our decisions. The game is kept in an optimistic and humorous atmosphere.
Playing with HomeTown Story reminds us of the founder's previous series, Harvest Moon, but instead of focusing on agriculture, it focuses on running a shop. So we get a combination of RPG and strategy. Our task is to purchase goods needed by residents, set prices for which we will sell them, develop our business and take care to balance the budget. However, all this is only a part of the fun. Apart from work, the protagonist also has private life. This aspect resembles RPGs and allows you to explore the town and its surroundings, take part in adventures, make friends with new people and help them solve their problems. From time to time we also take part in local festivals. Mini-games such as football and fishing add variety to the fun.
Yosuhiro Wada was not the only veteran who took part in the production of HomeTown Story. The characters were designed by Atsuko Nishida, a man who plays the same role in the production of the Pokemon series. The music was composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the author of soundtracks for most of the Final Fantasy series.
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Last updated on August 14, 2015
Videos and Screens
[2:30] HomeTown Story E3 2013 trailer
HomeTown Story Summary
Platforms:
Nintendo 3DS
Developer: Toybox Games
Publisher: Natsume Inc.
Age restrictions: none
