Fields of Mistria beginners tips to know before starting

Fields of Mistria is an early access farming sim that clearly pulls its inspiration from iconic predecessors that came before it: Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons and Stardew Valley. While playing these games will already give you an idea of what you should be doing in Fields of Mistria, there are some unique differences in this one.

Below, we list some beginner tips that we wish we knew before progressing too far in our run of Fields of Mistria.

Every day, you can grab free soup from the cauldron in the center of the inn to restore 20 health and stamina. This is great if you need to top yourself off before heading to the mines or if you just need a small boost to finish whatever errand you have set for the day. (There’s also other unlockables in the game that you can consume daily for additional stamina as well, but we won’t spoil it.)

Adeline tells you in the beginning of the game that accepting tasks daily from the board in town is important, but we cannot stress how important it is, especially in the early game. These quests are typically quite simple to complete (as they are often turned in with foragables and goods you should be able to procure), and they help bolster Mistria’s renown. You want to build up this renown as much as you can, as you can get things like money and permanent stamina boosts from doing so.

There are a ton of different types of foragables found around immediately and they do sell for a good chunk of change, especially when you’re hurting for money early in the game. We recommend keeping at least two of each foragable in case an NPC needs them, but you can sell the rest. There are foragables that grow in specific locations, indicated by a little sprout left on the ground or in the water after picking it up, but sometimes you’ll find these items in random one-time locations.

Days in Fields of Mistria are short, and as it stands right now, there’s no automation for your farm. No sprinklers, no auto-feeders, and no auto-petters, which means if you start ranching tons of animals and growing lots of crops right off the bat, you’re gonna spent most of your day tending to them. There’s a lot of other money-making activities to do in the game outside of your farm, so don’t go too nuts right off the bat.

There are spells and skills that will help you with your farming in place of sprinklers, but they don’t replace full automation.

Being able to jump in a farming game is unironically groundbreaking, so don’t forget about it. You can jump into water to swim and even jump across chasms in the mines. That little landmass surrounded by water isn’t actually just for decor! You can jump in the water, swim across the river to it, and harvest those foragables!

If it’s hitting late at night and you still have a hefty amount of stamina left somehow, grab your fishing rod and reel up some fish from the river on your farm. Fishing takes up a ton of stamina and it’s a great way to prevent your stamina from going to waste — especially since fish can sell for a good chunk of money.

If you’re having the opposite issue from above and you’re all out of stamina with lots of time left in the day, head to a crafting bench and make some stuff. It’ll make time pass quickly and you’ll gain crafting, cooking, or blacksmithing experience (depending on what you’re doing), which is always valuable.

Hovering over your items will tell you how much money they sell for, but more importantly, it’ll tell you if that item needs to be donated to the museum. You can see a little building icon in the top right. If it has this, then it’s required for museum completion and if it has a checkmark, it means that you’ve already donated one. If it doesn’t have the icon of the building, then you’re all good — you can do whatever you want with said item without worrying about it.

This is a staple of every farming sim! Talk to all the villagers every day to increase your relationship with them. You don’t have to go out of your way to talk to each individual person, but if they’re walking past you, you might as well chat them up.

Rather than spamming your sword to attack, pay attention to the enemies. Slimes will bounce and stun themselves if they miss, the lamps will have vulnerable moments where they’re not electrified, you can slap back projectiles to critically hit those blobs — the list goes on. Taking a moment to study your enemies to counter them is much better than rampantly swinging your sword at them.