Fields of Mistria
Jan. 20th, 2025 04:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
estiroseI gave in and bought this game, which is in early access but getting a lot of accolades from cozy gamers.
It's definitely got Stardew Valley in its ancestry, but I think that it's also got something of the Rune Factory series in there as well. The character designs remind me of Sailor Moon and similar anime/manga of the same general time period.
Obviously, the plot is the tried and true "You've been invited to (remote location) to start a farm there". But like a lot of Stardew-esque games, this actually has a plot.
Price-wise, right now it's priced the same as Stardew Valley is. I picked it up at a slight discount (10%).
Initial impressions:
Hey, not the most detailed character creator ever, but I really appreciate the multiple styles of outfits right at the start. It's rare for something like this to give you multiple clothing choices that are not different color variations of the same thing. I also appreciate the pronoun choice - obviously this is 10 pronouns out of a large variety, but better than a lot of games!
Also, you can change your character's name and pronouns as easily as you change your clothes (which is also an easy menu selection). Much appreciated!
Pretty standard intro, this is one of those that doesn't hand you all the tools in the beginning (much like Rune Factory 4) - you start with a hoe and watering can and get your axe, pickax, and net soon after. You also need to pick up a shovel and fishing pole, but you have to pay money for those. (In-game money, not real money.)
They started talking about town ranks and I thought "Oh no!" as I'm not a fan of that mechanic in Coral Island. However, so far it's only proved to be important for a story quest and most of the time it's just something that you rank up for more goodies. Expanding available buildings (including expanding the general store's seed selection) is from quests, not town rank.
Like Fae Farm you can jump and swim, two mechanics I did really appreciate in that game.
Watering can seems to be endless. Not complaining!
Weeds/grass/trees seem to regrow more rapidly than a lot of other farming sims. Can be slightly annoying if you're trying to keep an area cleared up, but does mean that you'll be able to get a ton of wood.
Obviously they have skills - this game's skills cover the usual farming (and ranching, again split out from farming), fishing, combat, and mining, along with archaeology, blacksmithing, and woodworking.
I have yet to meet a quest - main or side - that had a time restriction, apart from one festival-related quest. (and that one basically just determines if you get a prize - if you fail, no harm, no foul).
Catching insects is a simple swing of the net with no worrying about if you can sneak up quietly enough on them. Likewise, fishing just requires you put your line/bobber relatively close to where the fish is swimming but it's pretty much a tap to catch once it takes the bait.
Monsters are interesting. You've got slime-like things that attempt to jump on you, lanterns that attempt to shock you, monsters that shoot out rocks (you're supposed to hit the projectiles with your sword to damage the monster), a stalagmite enemy that tries to emerge underneath you, and a mimic that gives better rewards if you feed it rather than defeat it.
There's a woodworking station and a blacksmithing station in town. You can make anything that you have the materials and skill level to do - for example, you can make copper ingots at blacksmith level 1 but need to be at level 4 to forge tools and level 6 to forge armor.
This one has another one of those irritating "you have to offer certain special items to get beyond this level" things - I had to go do some fishing, some bug catching, mining, and foraging in the mine to get past the first one.
It's got a fairly decent sized map, and while character faces show on the map, I found it hard to figure out who was who from the tiny faces on the map on my Steam Deck. It also may be that you can switch around maps to look for people, but I haven't figured out how yet.
Building a barn or a coop is similar in some ways to Stardew Valley, but different in others. You purchase a "blueprint" from the woodworkers' shop, go back to your farm, plunk it down, and then add the required materials.
One of the highlights of the week in this game is the Friday evening sessions in the inn. There are always at least 3 groups of people chatting together, including a run of their world's Dungeons and Dragons (at least in the first month). It gives you as sense that this is a community, not just a bunch of random NPCs waiting for you to save the day - at least most of the time.
NPCS: There are 28 currently in the game - 10 romanceables, 14 regular PCs, 4 weekly vendors after a particular quest. Most of the romanceables are, for obvious reasons, young adults - Hayden is obviously a bit older, though, and Valen and Juniper might be, hard to tell. (Juniper is a sorceress and Valen's looks make it hard to tell).
Romance, Marriage, Children: Apparently the game is up to 6-heart events, no marriage, no children as of yet.
Birthday: You do set one. However, you only get gifts from any marriage candidate that you're at 4 or more hearts with - obviously that's pretty far at this point in the game.
It's definitely got Stardew Valley in its ancestry, but I think that it's also got something of the Rune Factory series in there as well. The character designs remind me of Sailor Moon and similar anime/manga of the same general time period.
Obviously, the plot is the tried and true "You've been invited to (remote location) to start a farm there". But like a lot of Stardew-esque games, this actually has a plot.
Price-wise, right now it's priced the same as Stardew Valley is. I picked it up at a slight discount (10%).
Initial impressions:
Hey, not the most detailed character creator ever, but I really appreciate the multiple styles of outfits right at the start. It's rare for something like this to give you multiple clothing choices that are not different color variations of the same thing. I also appreciate the pronoun choice - obviously this is 10 pronouns out of a large variety, but better than a lot of games!
Also, you can change your character's name and pronouns as easily as you change your clothes (which is also an easy menu selection). Much appreciated!
Pretty standard intro, this is one of those that doesn't hand you all the tools in the beginning (much like Rune Factory 4) - you start with a hoe and watering can and get your axe, pickax, and net soon after. You also need to pick up a shovel and fishing pole, but you have to pay money for those. (In-game money, not real money.)
They started talking about town ranks and I thought "Oh no!" as I'm not a fan of that mechanic in Coral Island. However, so far it's only proved to be important for a story quest and most of the time it's just something that you rank up for more goodies. Expanding available buildings (including expanding the general store's seed selection) is from quests, not town rank.
Like Fae Farm you can jump and swim, two mechanics I did really appreciate in that game.
Watering can seems to be endless. Not complaining!
Weeds/grass/trees seem to regrow more rapidly than a lot of other farming sims. Can be slightly annoying if you're trying to keep an area cleared up, but does mean that you'll be able to get a ton of wood.
Obviously they have skills - this game's skills cover the usual farming (and ranching, again split out from farming), fishing, combat, and mining, along with archaeology, blacksmithing, and woodworking.
I have yet to meet a quest - main or side - that had a time restriction, apart from one festival-related quest. (and that one basically just determines if you get a prize - if you fail, no harm, no foul).
Catching insects is a simple swing of the net with no worrying about if you can sneak up quietly enough on them. Likewise, fishing just requires you put your line/bobber relatively close to where the fish is swimming but it's pretty much a tap to catch once it takes the bait.
Monsters are interesting. You've got slime-like things that attempt to jump on you, lanterns that attempt to shock you, monsters that shoot out rocks (you're supposed to hit the projectiles with your sword to damage the monster), a stalagmite enemy that tries to emerge underneath you, and a mimic that gives better rewards if you feed it rather than defeat it.
There's a woodworking station and a blacksmithing station in town. You can make anything that you have the materials and skill level to do - for example, you can make copper ingots at blacksmith level 1 but need to be at level 4 to forge tools and level 6 to forge armor.
This one has another one of those irritating "you have to offer certain special items to get beyond this level" things - I had to go do some fishing, some bug catching, mining, and foraging in the mine to get past the first one.
It's got a fairly decent sized map, and while character faces show on the map, I found it hard to figure out who was who from the tiny faces on the map on my Steam Deck. It also may be that you can switch around maps to look for people, but I haven't figured out how yet.
Building a barn or a coop is similar in some ways to Stardew Valley, but different in others. You purchase a "blueprint" from the woodworkers' shop, go back to your farm, plunk it down, and then add the required materials.
One of the highlights of the week in this game is the Friday evening sessions in the inn. There are always at least 3 groups of people chatting together, including a run of their world's Dungeons and Dragons (at least in the first month). It gives you as sense that this is a community, not just a bunch of random NPCs waiting for you to save the day - at least most of the time.
NPCS: There are 28 currently in the game - 10 romanceables, 14 regular PCs, 4 weekly vendors after a particular quest. Most of the romanceables are, for obvious reasons, young adults - Hayden is obviously a bit older, though, and Valen and Juniper might be, hard to tell. (Juniper is a sorceress and Valen's looks make it hard to tell).
Romance, Marriage, Children: Apparently the game is up to 6-heart events, no marriage, no children as of yet.
Birthday: You do set one. However, you only get gifts from any marriage candidate that you're at 4 or more hearts with - obviously that's pretty far at this point in the game.
