Fields of MistriaA big problem is that the daily cycle is very fast – time passes quickly and before you know it, it's 2am and you're passed out in the mines. The big new update released on November 18th doesn't change the cycle at all, but does have a new feature that I found very helpful: animal mounts. If you meet certain requirements, you can unlock a purple horse named Mistmare.
After a storm, Hayden asks for help finding his weather vane, and while you're looking for it, you come across a new statue. There you unlock Mistmare for 100 essences. There are customization options available later, but the benefits of Mistmare are immediate. She is a horse, and horses are faster than humans. You can take them anywhere outdoors, which is extremely helpful for getting around Fields of Mistriaaccess the large map faster. Again, it doesn't solve the game's short day problem, but I did find myself passing out muchlet alone if I stay in the mines too long; I simply jump onto Mistmare and rush back to the comforts of my own bed, rather than crawling through Mistria at a walking pace that feels like the pace of a glacier racing against time.
According to the Fields of Mistria According to Wiki, the length of a game day is 12 minutes and 30 seconds of real time. This goes away particularly quickly if you have a lot of animals to look after; It's very easy to spend half the day going from stable to stable, collecting eggs or milk, petting the animals and then feeding them. Combine this with a relatively slow walking speed, and there may be little time for other tasks such as watering and harvesting crops, fighting monsters in the mines, or building relationships with the other residents of Mistrian. Mistmare can't help in many of these areas, although it saves the time it takes to get around the city, but it's also helpful when harvesting crops: After unlocking Mistmare, you can unlock other abilities by using the Horse statue gives essence. Two hundred essences increase your mount's movement speed by 10%, while 190 essences give your mount the ability to harvest crops and dig up spots by simply running over them. No extra clicks! (Regardless, Essence 205 allows you to ride any large animal that has more than five hearts.)
Overall, Mistmare is only a small part of the big update, but it is a perfect quality of life improvement and makes the already exceptional early access game even better. In addition to this adjustment, there is another big innovation in the romance area: You can now earn up to six hearts with single residents, and there is also a new, romantic Shooting Star Festival in the summer. I'm in Spring in my game, so I have yet to try out the festival, but I'm also working on romancing March, Celine, and Juniper to invite one of them to climb to the mountaintop with me. I haven't triggered any new love quests yet – I'm stuck at five hearts on all three – but I enjoyed seeing new dialogue as I worked my way through the seasons.
Fields of Mistria is still in Early Access and NPC Studio expects the game to stay there for at least a year. Beyond the major content updates, the studio releases smaller updates that fix bugs, etc.
