Fields of Mistria is an excellent farming sim, in my opinion it is a must-have for fans of these games. Like most others in the genre over the last decade, it is obviously inspired by Stardew Valley. Most of the mechanics and systems of Stardew show up in some form. However I feel that Fields of Mistria deserves a lot of credit for also being a unique game that sets itself apart. So I will focus mainly on ways I think Mistria stands out.
*The art style very charming with a simple pastel color scheme. Character designs draw heavy inspiration from 90's-era shoujo in a way that is immediately obvious to anyone familiar with Sailor Moon and the like.
*The characters are all interesting and well-designed. They're literally all fun to talk to & build relationships with, more so in my opinion than other farming sims. I have run into very little repeat dialogue overall. One thing I especially like is the "Friday Night at the Inn" event every week, where groups of villagers gather and each have a month-long storyline among the group (for example, a group of characters playing D&D, or taking a figure drawing class together). You get to see a lot of unique dynamics between different characters. This is the first game like this where I am interested in doing the heart events for all the bachelors & bachelorettes just to learn more about them.
*The setting is fantasy-oriented with a handful of modern ideas. So there aren't cars or TVs, but characters do walk around in semi-modern clothing. You also can unlock and cast a few magic spells. It's hard to describe here but it's an interesting blend of ideas that somehow don't clash.
*There are two 'main story' questlines you can follow. One is about restoring the town after it was damaged in an earthquake. The other develops as you progress through the mines, with a focus on the dragon statue character you find on your farm at the beginning of the game.
*The animal breeding system is surprisingly deep, with a bunch of unique colors and tiers that you have to breed toward in order to unlock. It's a fun little side challenge and I think the final tier colors are really worth the effort to get.
*There is a very heavy focus on customization-- everything from your character's clothes and hair styles to furniture and structures around your farm. The sheer amount of decorations and customization options dwarf other games in the genre, it is truly staggering once you realize the scope. For example there are almost 1000 unique furniture items to collect.
*In general the game is relaxed and chill. A lot of busy work in other farming games is gone, such as needing to refill your watering can or buy specific tools to care for your animals. You can access shops at any time of day whether the owner is there or not. None of the quests have a 'hard' deadline. While some of the museum collections are season-specific, it's not the end of the world if you have to complete them the following year. There is even an option in the settings to slow down the day so you have more time to do things.
Here are some ways I feel the game can continue to improve:
*While I did praise the breeding system, I wish it was a little bit more intuitive in-game. As it is now the wiki page is pretty much mandatory to understanding how it works and tracking particular colors.
*Festivals currently feel lacking. All of the major ones simply involve collecting a unique currency by doing your regular activities in the farm and around town/the mines for a couple days before and then turning it in for a prize. Gameplay wise there's no difference between this and what you already do in order to progress your character and unlock new traits, it's just an 'extra' currency you get. I wish there was something more unique for each festival in the vein of other farming sims, like entering crops in a contest. I know more festivals are being added in a future update, but I hope all of the festivals get some kind of adjustment to make them more interesting.
*There are a lot of collision issues with the structures in the overworld you interact directly with, such as trees and rocks. It's usually not a problem to get un-stuck (just chop the tree, for example), but there was at least one time I got stuck on a tree while out of energy and food and just had to restart the whole day.
*In general I would like to see a more robust system to track resources in the pause menu. Stuff like tracking how much stone/wood I have in storage, as well as progress on the different museum collections so I can easily see which items I'm missing. As it is now you have to manually check all of this in-game at specific locations.
Overall a very strong recommendation; I think $14 is actually too cheap for the quality and amount of content you get in this game.
