So I have been into chill games lately. I found this Stardew Valley upgrade called Fields of Mistral, so now am I playing that.
It’s Stardew Valley, but better. Most of the QoL mods (maybe 95%) that I usually add for Stardew are already part of Mistral.
In Stardew, there was a lot of waiting. Example upgrading your tools took days, and you could only do one at a time. The combat was also not fun, just annoying. It was mostly spam-clicking, and you had to make sure your aiming was right and I felt forced to do the museum to be able to progress.
In Mistral, you actually fight monsters in a specific way depending on monster and version of that monster (if you want to be effective). You can also craft all your stuff yourself (or buy it if you don’t want to) as long as you have the level and the materials. There is also character progression that makes your life easier for example for crafting can you unlock to remove x min from time cost. And for fighting you can unlock crit hits, as two examples there are a loooot more to unlock.
You can jump and swim, so shortcuts are a thing.
I also like the main quests more. It feels more involving with the people and the world. I don’t feel the constant stress of when and how I need to do things to optimize my time or even unsure what to spend my time on. There is no waiting and the museum is not forced progression that has to be done to actually unlock parts of the game instead there is a main quest and it isn’t locking you away in the same way. But time will tell. Side quest is a fun way to get some easy money and some lore.
I haven’t played enough to say anything of the main story yet. So far, it seems good, and it might be better from a game perspective than stardew because it gives you an actual purpose and a clear goal that you can ignore for as long as you want. Plus the magic part of the story doesn’t feel so out of place as it did in stardew. The ppl seems happier, unsure as of yet but noone seem depressed (many were pretty unhappy in stardew) so the mood is a bit different, it isn’t a bad or good thing, just different way to tell a story, there are hints of deeper character progression tho, I just haven’t focused on leveling up their affection for me, stardew showed pretty quickly how unhappy ppl were and how they cope with life.
The characters feel very integrated. Everyone has their quirky side (in a good way). They hang out with each other, but some more than others. It feels like they like being together, and there are a lot of get-togethers, which makes it fun to get to know them through how they interact.
Their conversations with you feel contextual. If you first talk to them in town (and there isn’t an ongoing event), they can mention things you’ve done, like filling the museum with something they like. If you talk to them again in the inn, they can talk about the upcoming game night, or even do group conversation with others there about how fun last night was.
So if you like Stardew, try Fields of Mistral. So far will I be picking Mistral over Stardew (I have 200+ hours in that game). Main reasons are that the gameplay is more fun and the character interactions are much better. But maybe also because it is new.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
TLDR: I am playing Fields of Mistral which is a Stardew Valley upgrade (in my opinion)
So I have been into chill games lately. I found this Stardew Valley upgrade called Fields of Mistral, so now am I playing that.
It’s Stardew Valley, but better. Most of the QoL mods (maybe 95%) that I usually add for Stardew are already part of Mistral.
In Stardew, there was a lot of waiting. Example upgrading your tools took days, and you could only do one at a time. The combat was also not fun, just annoying. It was mostly spam-clicking, and you had to make sure your aiming was right and I felt forced to do the museum to be able to progress.
In Mistral, you actually fight monsters in a specific way depending on monster and version of that monster (if you want to be effective). You can also craft all your stuff yourself (or buy it if you don’t want to) as long as you have the level and the materials. There is also character progression that makes your life easier for example for crafting can you unlock to remove x min from time cost. And for fighting you can unlock crit hits, as two examples there are a loooot more to unlock.
You can jump and swim, so shortcuts are a thing.
I also like the main quests more. It feels more involving with the people and the world. I don’t feel the constant stress of when and how I need to do things to optimize my time or even unsure what to spend my time on. There is no waiting and the museum is not forced progression that has to be done to actually unlock parts of the game instead there is a main quest and it isn’t locking you away in the same way. But time will tell. Side quest is a fun way to get some easy money and some lore.
I haven’t played enough to say anything of the main story yet. So far, it seems good, and it might be better from a game perspective than stardew because it gives you an actual purpose and a clear goal that you can ignore for as long as you want. Plus the magic part of the story doesn’t feel so out of place as it did in stardew. The ppl seems happier, unsure as of yet but noone seem depressed (many were pretty unhappy in stardew) so the mood is a bit different, it isn’t a bad or good thing, just different way to tell a story, there are hints of deeper character progression tho, I just haven’t focused on leveling up their affection for me, stardew showed pretty quickly how unhappy ppl were and how they cope with life.
The characters feel very integrated. Everyone has their quirky side (in a good way). They hang out with each other, but some more than others. It feels like they like being together, and there are a lot of get-togethers, which makes it fun to get to know them through how they interact.
Their conversations with you feel contextual. If you first talk to them in town (and there isn’t an ongoing event), they can mention things you’ve done, like filling the museum with something they like. If you talk to them again in the inn, they can talk about the upcoming game night, or even do group conversation with others there about how fun last night was.
So if you like Stardew, try Fields of Mistral. So far will I be picking Mistral over Stardew (I have 200+ hours in that game). Main reasons are that the gameplay is more fun and the character interactions are much better. But maybe also because it is new.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
TLDR: I am playing Fields of Mistral which is a Stardew Valley upgrade (in my opinion)