The review's a bit long and focused on just a few things I personally have paid most attention to. Feel free to scroll down to the pros and cons list at the bottom if you want a quick skim.First off let me start with the disclaimer that most of the reviewers for this are going to mention. This is the true next game in the Bokujo Monogatari series as they call it in Japan. This is the successor to Harvest Moon A New Beginning. Natsume localized HM: A New Beginning, they didn't make that game, they only localized it for North America. For some reason or another Marvelous chose to not let them localize their games anymore and XSEED localized this new one, Story of Seasons seems to be the new title for the series, for here on out in North America. The game Harvest Moon The Lost Valley which Natsume put out last fall was not made by Marvelous and has no connection to the Bokujo Monogatari series. It was Natsume's first attempt at making their own farming sim and not just localizing since they're no longer allowed to localize the Marvelous created series. Natsume just happens to have the rights to the Harvest Moon english name.Now moving onto my review.I'm reviewing partly off of my own experience of the game so far, as of writing this being at the beginning of Summer Year 1. But this review is also partially based off of what I've read in faqs or little forum thread guides from what few there are online right now. This game is definitely an improved game in the series from it's prior game in the series, HM: ANB. With every new Bokujo Monogatari there is a lot improved, but some stuff they've also taken out and changed. This game they made a lot more difficult. Way more complication to the making products in the makers, and now you make your own clothes completely and stuff takes time to be made in this game's makers like the yarn makers, cloth, seed, etc. Not only that, they've cracked down on what you're allowed to trade online and no more gathering products from peoples' animals online, you can only help their crop quality and animals happiness and whatnot with this little magic wand. There is a lot rarer stuff not allowed in online trade like silkie eggs, good and great quality products, etc. On the bright side, there is a ton more to make in this game, at least when it comes to clothing and wool products. You can dye them all various colors, you can now make accessories and hats as well as full outfits. And there are supposed to be a ton more. I almost feel like it's a little overwhelming though with how much you can make and the various animals you'll need. But being able to make duplicates of outfits, I would imagine you'll be able to sell extras for money, and being able to convert so much different wool into various colors for ultimate profit and outfit making, is great. Not only that, you can now change your skin color, eyes and eye color, hair and hair color for free in the closet of your house whenever you want. Also there are more hairstyles, not just the ones brought over from ANB, but also new ones exclusive to Story of Seasons. Some of the new hairstyles are thicker and feel like they have more life.I definitely feel like the art in this game is improved from ANB. The grass is still a bit on the bright green plain side, but aside from that everything looks really good. For one, the town isn't fully customizable anymore, just certain areas and your own farm. So it actually looks built up and fancy and whatnot. Also the water in the rivers I feel like is really pretty and the improvement on the new hairstyles like I mentioned before, and the trees and whatnot. The art just looks higher quality in this game. The music I feel like isn't the most amazing Bokujo Monogatari music from the two seasons I've heard so far. It would've been nice for it being like the start of a new series in North America, if they would've mixed it up a little and given different tunes to different areas or extended the songs with some different parts to it. It's still enjoyable though and far from being bad music or anything like that.Overall this is a great new addition to the Bokujo Monogatari series and plenty playable as your first game into the series if you've never played it before. There's a lot to do, a lot to collect, probably way too much stuff to make and animals needed to make that stuff, but that can be a good or bad thing. Maybe a little overwhelming for someone like me who isn't a hardcore Bokujo Monogatari player, I eventually will find some stuff too tedious or crazy, although that's no reason though for anyone to not play this game. If you don't wanna collect all the stuff and unlock all these things, you can just relax and enjoy regular farm life as well as wooing your future wife or husband of choice. Also there's a new Seedling mode XSEED got permission to add in for people who wanna take it a little easier or are new to the series. Your energy won't deplete as easily, prices of stuff are a little lower, and it doesn't take as much selling of things to unlock stuff or as much product to create the blueprint items. Despite the cons I'll list below or have already discussed above, I still think this is a great game for farm/dating sim fans or just anyone who's a previous player of Bokujo Monogatari games and it still deserves the 5 stars I gave it.Pros:-Improved Artwork-New difficulty mode for less hardcore players and newbies to the series-A whole lot to collect, unlock, make, and do-Great bachelors and bachelorettes to woo-You can now have two kids rather than just one-They've improved the crop raising with tools being more continual use and not quite as tedious-Plenty of great festivals and different town events to participate in-No characters complain to me for not talking to them in a while. Probably means their friendship won't deplete from neglect. Though you may wanna still raise them all to certain points for various events that you may not expect or could miss out on.-Game time moves 1 real life second per in game minute. Nothing terrible like what Sunshine Islands time movement was.-A great new entry in the Bokujo Monogatari series or new start for anyone who's never playedCons:-The music's decent but they could've changed it up for once or made the tunes a little longer with different parts-They've cracked down on what you can trade or get in wifi rooms with friends or random people-There's almost too many things to collect what with all the different colored clothing materials you can dye and various animals you'll need, especially with them having cracked down on the trading rooms online. That may improve as I get further in though and upgrade my tools-You can no longer go ship stuff whenever you want and wake up with money. You have to trade with various in game countries that come to town on certain days instead. It sorta fits in with the theme to this new entry in the series though, so it can be good or bad depending on your opinion.-Compared to ANB the camera angle sucks. There are only 4 measly positions and I feel like even fully zoomed out, it's a close up from above angle that doesn't really let you look at the town around you.I'm enjoying this game still, only in the beginning of Summer Year 1 like I said, so if I noticed something messed up in my review, or feel like adding on, I'll come back and edit this another day. Happy farming old and new players of Bokujo Monogatari alike.