Farmagia Review: A Crop Circle of Disappointment

Farmagia: A Mixed Bag of Genres

Farmagia is an ambitious game that attempts to meld multiple genres, including dungeon crawling, creature collection, and farming. However, achieving a successful integration of these elements proves challenging, leaving players questioning whether Marvelous fully realizes this vision.

Setting the Stage in Felicidad

The game unfolds in Felicidad, a region of the underworld inhabited by mages referred to as Farmagia. These mages harness the abilities of various monsters for battle. In this world, five continents are under the control of elite commanders known as the Oracion Seis. Following the demise of their leader, a new figure named Glaza has usurped power, leading to tyranny. Most generals have submitted to his rule, except for Nares, whose resistance has branded her nation, Avrion, as traitorous. This conflict ignites a civil war, thrusting players into the role of Ten, a Farmagia apprentice under Nares’s wing. As war looms closer, Ten and his friends embark on a journey across continents to confront the Oracion Seis generals.

Farmagia Group Battle
Screenshot by Siliconera

Dungeon Crawling Mechanics

Gameplay primarily involves exploring dungeons, termed Mazes, and engaging in combat with various monsters. Players command a team of creatures known as Battle Buddies, reminiscent of Pokémon. However, a more fitting comparison might be to a hybrid of Pikmin and The Wonderful 101.

Strategic Combat Systems

You can assemble four distinct squads, each tailored for specific roles: close-range attacks, long-range damage, support for buffs and debuffs, and formations for healing. Commands mapped to controller buttons allow players to deploy monsters against foes, gradually depleting enemy health. Occasionally, players can fuse monsters, enabling powerful shield formations or more substantial attacks.

Farmagia Gigas Battle
Screenshot by Siliconera

Combat Limitations

While the combat system shows potential, it falls short of the strategic depth found in Pikmin’s resource management or The Wonderful 101’s creative ability combinations. Farmagia’s combat feels somewhat constrained, reduced to recognizing enemies’ weaknesses, demonstrated next to their health meters. Smaller monsters can be easily dispatched through strategy, but larger foes require a level of vigilance, primarily encouraging a repetitive pattern of attack: guard during enemy strikes, exploit weaknesses, unleash powerful Legion Attacks, and repeat.

Farmagia Ranch
Screenshot by Siliconera

Maze Traversal Challenges

The monotony of navigating the Mazes detracts from the experience. These environments lack diversity, presenting the same layout across continents. Players encounter enemies in a linear progression, with Fairy Dens offering random abilities that rarely impact gameplay meaningfully. Every floor serves as little more than a relentless onslaught of enemies to defeat in order to find the exit.

Farming Mechanics and Creature Management

Despite its flaws in combat and exploration, Farmagia introduces farming and care for Buddies as gameplay elements. However, these too present challenges. Training involves feeding creatures to enhance their stats, but excessive feeding diminishes returns, requiring players to wait for specific story progression before obtaining new food items. This simplistic design feels like a missed opportunity for dynamic stat progression through victories in battle.

Farmagia Farming
Screenshot by Siliconera

Farming: A Lackluster Aspect

The farming elements replicate fundamental mechanics found in the genre: tilling soil, planting seeds, and watering crops. However, unlike other farming titles where produce enhances gameplay, Farmagia’s crops are bizarrely designed monsters that provide minimal utility. Although Buddies can be grown, the seeds harvested from dungeons primarily yield Research Buddies, vital for upgrading but lacking significance otherwise.

An additional drawback is that larger monsters yield the same research points as smaller counterparts, rendering size inconsequential. Once players cultivate three of a particular type, there’s little incentive to continue farming that species, leading to a sense of stagnation.

Farmagia Dialogue
Screenshot by Siliconera

Overall Experience

Farmagia ultimately suffers from underdevelopment across its major gameplay components. The integration of dungeon crawling, combat, and farming feels disjointed, with each aspect lacking the depth necessary for long-term engagement. The repetitive nature of combat, combined with uninspired farming mechanics, fails to spark excitement.

Despite these setbacks, the narrative and character development shine. While the overarching plot offers little originality and features predictable twists, the character interactions resonate well. Ten and his allies exhibit genuine chemistry, providing comedic moments that enhance the overall engagement, reminiscent of a well-crafted shonen anime. The character-focused side quests involving the Elemental Spirits also deliver enjoyable narratives, rounding out the experience.

In conclusion, while the attractive writing and character dynamics may momentarily captivate players, Farmagia ultimately embodies mediocrity through its repetitiveness, disjointed gameplay, and half-baked mechanics. For those seeking a more cohesive blend of adventure and farming, many might prefer Marvelous’s prior release, Rune Factory.

Farmagia is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, and PS5.

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