Fields Of Mistria

[h3]"You're sunshine even in the rain." ☀︎ .✦ ݁˖[/h3] I’ve played Stardew Valley, part of Coral Island, Moonlight Peaks, Sunhaven, etc. and though I still consider them all good games and still pull them up to play once in a while, none of them have really struck the same hype and adoration for me that Stardew Valley evokes in most people. I really wanted to experience that same level of happiness and enjoyment some of my friends do when they talk about their farms in that game. So when I redownloaded Fields of Mistria in its full release (I played part of the early access and then put it down to try everything fresh in 1.0), I didn’t have high hopes and figured that Disney Dreamlight Valley would stay my Designated Cozy Game of choice after a long hard day. I'm very delighted to say I am HOOKED and I’m sad I didn’t play it more when I first got it! This game is so much fun, and so addictive. I finally get the Stardew Valley hype I was missing out on, but for Fields of Mistria instead. Not to say one is better than the other, of course, just that this one suits my personal tastes far more. This game takes mechanics that SDV had and (in my opinion) improves them while also having a fun 90s anime Sailor Moon type of art style to it. The villagers have their own distinct personalities (except sadly Eiland, I mention this later in my review). The mechanics are fun, I’m loving the mysterious vibes of what happened to the town and why. And the reasons your character help out make sense to the storyline, where for some of the other farm game genres it really just feels like your character was slapped awkwardly into a preexisting story. Even though there is some grindiness to the game-- there is in pretty much all farm games, this game doesn't feel exhausting in its requests. I accidentally spent like 8 hours in this game in one day the first day I played it after full release, and I almost never do that. I was so absorbed that I completely forgot pretty much everything else I needed to get done for the day. I’d say that says quite a bit about my enjoyment of the game in and of itself. I know I will spend many more hours in this cozy little farm sim. 💖 [b]The good:[/b] ✔ Characters: almost all of them are quite loveable and distinct. ✔ Art style: I am weak for 90s anime artstyles. I used to be obsessed with Sailor Moon when I was a kid, so this really hits a level of nostalgia I wasn't really expecting. ✔ Kind of related to the point above, but I do like the season changes. They're all very pretty. ✔ Game mechanics: usually in farm games there's one aspect of the game I despise. Usually fishing. But I can't find a single mechanic I hate in this game. All of them are fun and I don't dodge any of the mechanics in the game. ✔ If you're one of those gamers that love to pick up and hoard resources, oh boy does this game reward that with the amount of requests that roll in. I would definitely recommend holding on to a bunch of your resources over time and not sell everything. You never know what might be helpful later! ✔ Character’s place in storyline makes sense, and they have to earn their place as much as anyone else. ✔ Wholesome storylines: it's so cool watching everyone in this game grow in various ways. ✔ Luc's bee facts, coolest kid ever. Actually in general I love that you can adopt a gaggle of kids as your siblings, basically. Found family is a great trope, okay? ✔ I love how much Holt and Hemlock talk about how much they love their wives. So many games do the "ol' ball and chain" joke and it's refreshing to see these two absolutely adore and talk up their wives and how much they love them. And also how much they are openly proud of their kids too. This goes with good game/character writing, technically, but I keep mentioning this to my friends as something I love about this game so it gets its own separate point. ✔ And for my friends who know how much I love Kurt from Greedfall, this game also has a muscley bearded handsome man who is inexplicably lonely despite being a genuine sweetheart deserving of hugs. (Hayden). All the more reason for me to love this game. He's just such a sweetheart. [b]Two things I don't like, and a bug mention:[/b] ✘ I really wish they'd done more with Eiland. I love archaeology and history, they're two of my favorite subjects irl but that's genuinely all he's interested in and all he talks about. Buddy, I love to talk about my special interests too but please tell me more about [i]you[/i]. ✘ Some of the monsters in the mines. For example: the saplings in the mines that somehow slingshot around walls to hit you from literally across the mines map. Like fine if they fly that far, but their physics of skirting around a wall are kind of absurd. Nothing compares to the lava caves and though. Fire spirits? Most annoying. That entire area is just... ugh. Went through it once and speedran trying to find the stuff in the museum for it because if I have a choice I will just pretend that part of the mines doesn't exist. The rest of the mines are pretty fun though. ✘ Super minor bug, but when you get the quest for the [spoiler]stone refiner[/spoiler] the cutscene repeats twice in a row for some reason. It gave me a chuckle though, so this is only in this section because it technically wasn't supposed to happen. [b]Things I'm neutral about but wanted to mention:[/b] ➽ March: I think his character arc is interesting. Personally he's not my type at all, but I do understand where people are coming from with him and my advice is to go through the game and give him a chance. ➽ Hayden is so hard to get hearts with originally, I don't know if it was just me but I really struggled with getting points with him until I got later into the season and finally had access to more things that he was interested in to gift him. It's my fault for being so hung up on dating him, really, but I wanted to attend the first festivals with him. Ah well, it's not bad waiting for them to come up again the following year to attend them then. I'm just impatient, haha. ➽ Similarly, it does make me a little sad that you can't interact with merchants the same way you can with most of the regular townsfolk because you only see them one day a week. I wish they came around a little more often! To be honest it just means it takes longer to get heart points with them and it's not too big of a deal, but I did have to set a bunch of stuff aside for them and remember what it was for which got confusing if you play a lot and the days all start to blur together lol. Wholeheartedly recommend this game for someone looking for a cozy farming game to enjoy and spend time away from real life and any of its problems. This game is easily a 5/5 for me with how much I love it and how much I've been enjoying playing it. Update: I have 165 hours in this game, and I'm still loving it! 💖the most recent update from a few days ago added new hairstyles and decor, and I'm pretty sure future updates will bring even more content and QOL aspects to the game. I just wanted to come back and update that this game still brings me so much joy and I've since bought it for a few of my friends because I want them to experience the joys of this game too lol. 5/5 farming cozy game.

I just got to Town Rank 100, yippeeeee This game wears its Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley influence on its sleeve, and I mean that in a good way. It very typically starts in a "newcomer arrives in a new town and starts a farm", but the main goal is to increase the town rank from 1 to 100. You can do so by completing requests that other townsfolks will post on a request board, giving the museum donations, and shipping stuff; this helps incentive you to keep playing the game till you get to level 100. This game has significantly less stuff than Stardew Valley, but also Stardew has like a decade on this game, so I feel that's an unfair comparison to make. However, one thing I REALLY like about this game more than Stardew are the characters; every character is memorable with unique dialogue, and you can even listen in on conversations that characters will have amongst themselves. All of them are cute and wonderful in their own way, and I cared about them at the end. The art and music in this game is also very charming. I do want to mention that there is a subplot involving the mines which I HEAVILY encourage you pursue. In fact, a lot of stuff is locked behind the mines, such as increasing your HP and Stamina. In a way, I do think the game leans a tiny bit heavier towards the mines than farming, but also I was watching someone play the game and they had way more crops in their first month than me in my third Spring, so maybe I just didn't go hard enough on the farming aspect. Overall, FANTASTIC farm-simulator game!!

I am terribly addicted to this game. It is Stardew Valley, but new. The mechanics and basic idea are the same (develop your farm, mine 100 levels, interact with the villagers and find a partner to marry, gather various bundles of stuff), but the story and villagers are their own unique thing worth pursuing. I find myself engaged with every single town resident, wanting to hear what they have to say multiple times a day. I have one complaint though: can someone PLEASE get the Saturday market music OUT OF MY HEAD? I literally can't sleep at night because that tune is stuck in my head. EDIT after reading some negative reviews: I would like to add that I have barely any performance issues on the Steamdeck. After 30 hours I froze once, and only get very minor moments where the game stutters a little. Nothing worth mentioning, it's smooth sailing 99% of the time.