Summary
Farmagiais, all around, an incredibly interesting title. Sure, this means ‘interesting’ in the ‘engaging and engrossing’ sense of the word, but also interesting in the ‘people in lab coats should be looking at it for study’ sense. Is it a farming sim? A creature collector? A strategy RPG? The Steam tags say yes. To all those things. So that’s the answer, it seems. This game takes many new and fresh takes on thestoried monster collector genre, so it’s understandable that many players might be unfamiliar with the systems at play.
Like thebest monster tamer games, there’s a wide variety of creatures available in this title, but the question remains on how to appropriately utilize them all.Farmagia’s many unique mechanics come together in interesting ways, but for players feeling a little lost, here are some tips to get started.
8Prioritize Strange Creatures
These Are Rare But Valuable Encounters In Mazes
The combat sections inFarmagiaareroguelike in nature, exploring expansive, maze-like maps and engaging in combat within most rooms, searching for items along the way. Defeated enemies drop seeds that can be used to grow creatures, but the rare strange creatures drop more magia (currency) than standard enemies, and their seeds are far more valuable, should they drop some.
Strange creatures can appear from very early on in the game, and they can give an exceptional boost to early-game resources, creatures, and funds for those who find them. Make sure to keep an eye out, though the game will make it clear when players have found one.
7Understand Every Stat And Parameter
There Are Some Unique Stats In Farmagia
A Battle Buddy’s stats are the five metrics ofEndurance, Attack, Defense, Teamwork,andMeditation. These stats feed into parameters, which determine things like the buddy’s defensive stats or HP. Some of these stats are fairly straightforward. The Attack stat, for example, raises the ATK parameter.
Because some stats cover multiple parameters (endurance and meditation both raise HP, for example) it’s important to understand how boosting stats with training items will affect the type of creature your buddy will be overall.
6Don’t Over-Train
It is quite catharticto command hordes of monstersin battle, but players who don’t understandFarmagia’s training system won’t be getting the most out of combat. While there are a variety of training items available to boost buddy stats, there are consequences with each use.
Buddies who train too often become unmotivated, and while they can still be trained, there will be greatly diminishing returns on each stat investment while unmotivated. Make sure to feed buddies treats to get them motivated.
5Complete Elemental Spirit Trials
The Game Has A Strange Pseudo-Romantic Element With Spirits
Many farming sims and RPGs have romance as one of thecentral components of gameplay.Farmagiasteers away from this, taking a different tack with players needing to bond with elemental shrine maidens in order to gain a plethora of benefits as the game goes on.
One way to increase the bond with these maidens and also earn some great rewards is by completing the trials available at every elemental shrine. These trials are difficult tests of buddy composition but are the main way to get better fusions.
4Understand Unite Blitz And Fusion Summons
These Skills Are Integral To Defeating Powerful Enemies
There are two main ways for players to bring their creatures together and strike hard at powerful enemies. Unite Blitz brings creatures of the same type together for powerful attacks - it can be used infrequently but isn’t too costly.
Fusion Summons are special creatures earned from shrines that come together with all buddies, regardless of type, to dish out some monstrous damage. This ability is dependent on shrine affinity in terms of damage but is otherwise similar to the group fusion from titles likeDragon Ball Fusions.
3Utilize Agri-Buddies
Farming Is A Vital Component To This Game
Unlike certain monster-tamer games,such asPokemon, buddies in this game can help out in a variety of ways beyond fighting. Agri-Buddies do not assist in combat, but can instead take on many of the farm chores needed to harvest buddies.
Effectively utilizing Agri-Buddies is vital to keeping the farm running at peak efficiency. Players who know how to get Agri-Buddies to shoulder the burden of farming will have better items and more buddies at their disposal.
2Be Careful With Farm Space
Farm Space Is Limited In Early Game
Like manymore challenging farm sims, the early game inFarmagiabegins with a fairly cramped, small-scale farm. To get through early game efficiently, organize seeds, don’t just plant anything anywhere.
Grouping seeds in crops together is the best way to go because it allows players to keep the smaller one-tile seeds in one spot, and the larger two or four-tile seeds in places where they’re not taking away one-tile options.
1Keep Meal Preferences In Mind
Each Buddy Has A Meal Preference
As mentioned before, one of the dangers in this game is over-training your buddies, wasting high-quality training items on exhausted creatures for diminishing returns. One way to mitigate this is with the use of meals to restore motivation.
Buddies have preferences for particular meals. Some of these meals will explicitly state what buddies like them, but in general creatures will like a broad flavor profile of foods, such as sweet or spicy.
