Does Fields of Mistria Live Up to the Hype?

Fields of Mistria has just released into early access. I've been watching it since it was revealed at the Wholesome Games Direct last year, and I finally get to give it a try! I played through a month to get an idea of things.

In the future, you can expect a 100 days (1 year) video, where I try to experience everything the game currently has to offer in early access, so look forward to it!

Sections
0:00 - Introduction
2:02 - Story Summary
3:31 - Gameplay Summary
5:29 - Do the Mechanics have Depth?
8:12 - How Good is the Writing?
11:00 - Is the Game Relaxing?
12:44 - Likes and Dislikes

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[Battlemage]

The 90's anime art style is what drew me in. How well made the game is, that's what kept me around.

[SergeantLuke]

One interesting thing about this game that I haven’t seen mentioned much at all: the creators, Andrew Duff and Claire Belton, are also the creators of Pusheen the Cat. It’s not brought up at all on the game’s website (nor are their last names, they’re just credited as “Andrew” and “Claire”), so perhaps they don’t want to publicize that connection for whatever reason, but it’s true!

[jas]

imo the best part of FoM that sets it apart from other games (namely, sdv) is the community. the villagers are all well integrated w each other, you can talk to all of them *many* times a day, they comment on other villagers (and talk WITH them!), recent story events, friday nights at the inn, quests you fulfilled, and things you’ve donated to the museums.

[Duanathar]

I love a well-written jerk character. This one kinda reminded me of the one in Rune Factory Frontier that moves in about one season in, who straight up says to your face that his only reason for being there is to make you miserable and run you out of town.
Fast forward to winter and he'll tell you, "Hey, do you know why I'm still wearing these short-sleeve shirts even though it's the middle of winter? It's not because I'm used to it, and it's not because I'm trying to show off how tough I am or anything. It's that I thought I would've run you out of town by now. So I didn't bother to pack any warm clothes when I moved here." And then with the biggest grin on his face, he admits, "I'm freaking freezing over here! HA HA HA!"
He had my respect from then on.

[catscanhavelittleasalami]

My favorite thing about this game is that many dialogues are linked between characters. You'll talk to the store lady who tells you to refuse her daughter if she ever asks you to take her with you to the mines, and then if you go talk to the daughter in question, she'll ask you to take her to the mines! It's a small thing but it makes the town and cast feels so much more realistic and charming.

[sunsittersinc.]

So glad im not the only one with a completely normal relationship with March

[hannahallerton]

I genuinely adore this game. What makes me frustrated is people calling it Stardew Valley with XYZ. I love Stardew Valley, but it didn’t invent farming sims- it does a lot of the things that Harvest Moon did, and is very clearly also heavily inspired by that. This game is a farming sim with a pixel artstyle, which does not make it a ripoff of another game. It is another game apart of the same genre. To dismiss it completely because of the way it looks is honestly a shame. I hope this video shows people that it is so standalone in its own right and is fantastically written and absolutely gorgeous.

[CTMillan]

you forgot to mention 1 little thing. NPCS TALK TO EACH OTHER!!!! I that. I never even notice repetitive dialog (they probably do but they have so many things to talk about that I didn't notice). Also, later you will see that sometimes npcs will remind you of their family birthdays and give u ideas for gift (happened to me 3 days before Dell birthday and with the pink hair guy birthday, their sisters reminded me their bdays and gave gift ideas).

[selunita]

I'm also around March a completely normal amount (it's worse when he's nice to you when he's drunk, Friday night it's really the best...)

[crowshroud]

The thing I especially adore with FoM so far is just how absolutely involved the community members and dialogue is, EVEN this early into early access. It's been the thing I see praised the most with the game so far other than the art style and pixel art, and it's the thing I'm the most enthusiastic about. I was expecting to see significant repeating dialogue even as soon as halfway into Spring, but the way that every character has meaningful dynamics and interactions with characters outside of their general 'group'? I looove it.

Balor gets semi roped into playing D&D. He ends up loving it enough he shifts to be the second DM after the original campaign wraps up for every Friday inn meetup. The other NPCs comment on how they saw him having fun, or how he seemed enthusiastic, or how they could see him taking notes. Even this far into early access and I can already see the writers put a lot of thought and time into the community feel of this game, which just makes it all the more investing.

For lack of better comparison, it feels like if someone took the style of an RPG's party banter (where your entire group of companions interact with each other) and extended it to the whole town. Which takes a LOT of work, but it absolutely hit the mark with the community of small town members in a happier, peaceful life sim game.

Also, this is such a niche ask, but Valen and Juniper have to have a rival marriage system. I NEED to see these two get together, because that tension in all the inn scenes? The blushing? The mage/doctor rivalry growing softer? 🤨🏳️‍🌈

[SakuraStallion]

Did we all find ourselves after March? Thought it was just me but I see him in everyone's videos lmao

[aldrichunfaithful]

one of my biggest gripes with stardew is how disconnected the npcs are from the game progession (in most of my farms i just pick someone to romance, speedrun marriage with them and completely ignore everyone else coz it's such a chore) so seeing this game fix that looks like a very positive start. my other main gripe with stardew is the lack of variety between playthroughs, there's a lot of crops, combat builds, enchantments, farm types, etc, but there's not a lot of difference between the viable strategies and there's a whole lot of unviable things that you either ignore or get forced to interact with by the community centre and perfection tracker, and FoM looks to have sorted that out too from how the perks and recipes look which i'm very happy about. i'll almost certainly be getting it which is surprising since i went into the video thinking "what's the point it's just a stardew clone" lol i'm happy to eat my words

[galaxybrainz]

After being disappointed with Coral Island and a handful of other indie farming sims, I was scared to try Fields of Mistria, but I absolutely love it. It's the first farming sim since Stardew I've genuinely felt that special spark with and don't find myself wishing I was playing Stardew instead. It has some ideas Rune Factory style, like groups of people having special dialogue when they're together that shows off their relationships. I just finished the first season, and I have only seen one character have repeat dialogue. I genuinely adore every character already.

[stephanieinjuly]

The NPCs are so superior to any other farming sim, including Stardew. They are just so well written, polished, and really feel like they are significant in the world. There is so much dialogue and interaction. They comment on recent and upcoming events, even small things. They are just fantastic. That along with the incredibly cute pixel art has made this a favorite for me and I can't wait for the updates to come!!

[NassiLove]

I saw this game and immediately thought “harvest moon”
It’s so retro… the old anime style… it’s like they took an old harvest moon game and used the colors from stardew valley (harvest moon games I find are typically desaturated, darker and more natural or pastel.)

It made me nostalgic and hit me in the face. Stardew has become the poster child for farming sims but man this is more harvest moon than any other farming sims I’ve seen, including stardew (that was also inspired by harvest moon, but the creator changed things he didn’t like about the series)

I haven’t been so excited for the final release of a farming sim in a long time. Not even stardew caught my attention as much as this.

[planescaped]

I hate to say it, but every farming game I have played since Stardew Valley has only made me think I would rather be playing Stardew Valley. It just did everything so right that other farming games just feel like pretenders.
Mistria looks alright... I will wishlist it and wait and see.

[GG-tjne]

This game gives me those Harvest Moon and Runefactory vibes I’ve been missing since the old games. So looking forward to playing this.

[RainySideUp]

I learned from Eiland that different locations has different artifact sets tied to them. This made looking to complete certain artifact sets for the museum much easier. This might seem obvious but I honestly didn't even consider that before learning it from him. And it makes sense for him to know that being an archaeologist and all, so that exposition felt incredibly natural. I'm sure many more moments like that exists.

[mariairina]

I've binged this game the last two days, and I totally agree with everything you said. I actually really love this game, I can see the thoughts put into every aspect of it. One thing I'd love is for the specific mechanics to be explained better (my chickens sometimes won't produce eggs or won't eat when I hand feed them), but this will probably go away when there's a good wiki.

One thing I totally agree is the moth thing. I tried not to be a hoarder and sold everything except for potential gifts, so I sold like 3 moths before I knew I needed one. Then... I just couldn't find any, for a looong time. This happened AGAIN at the lvl 40 gate, with another bug (and also the fish, but the fish I got solved in a day or two).

One thing I really like, which you didn't mention, is that the crafting can use materials from your chests back home, which is amazing. Speaking of chests, I'm disappointed you can't place chests at the entrance of the mines. Inventory space is a struggle, especially when there's like 10 different forgeables, which I like to pick up when I pass by them. I got the first upgrade and I'm still consistently struggling when I'm not planning my routes, which I want to avoid, because I tend to stress about "optimally" playing the game, so I need to remind myself to take it easy

All in all, this game, depending on how it evolves, has a ton of potential, and I might even like it more than Stardew Valley haha. The sense of community and the interesting story are things I didn't know I lacked in SV

[Tky_Cho]

Farming games recently have had the misfortune of following after Stardew Valley and the expectations that come along with it. However, this game looks pretty good so far! I think the game has mechanics that seem very fun and interesting, I just hope people give this game a chance instead of casting it off as a Stardew Valley copycat.