Something I hope gets fixed in Fields of Mistria 1.0
In the cutscene where the Final Mine Seal is broken, Seridia mentions as an argument for the Player being her Dragonsworn that we offered Essence at her Shrine.
I always wondered if that line would still be there if the player didn't offer any of their Essence at Seridia's Shrine in the mine entrance. So, with the aid of some mods (Just Janes QoL for Movement Speed + Quicker Relationship Gains, Stampingfeets Miner's Mega Pack for better mine drop rates), I tested it. And, well...
(Name of my farmer censored.)
As you can see, the game doesn't check whether or not you have offered any Essence at Seridia's Shrine, as evident by the screenshots I took. (Forgot to record video instead; my bad. May re-do if needed.)
I even didn't interact with Seridia's Statue at all until after the final seal was broken, just to be extra sure. And yet. Seridia says that the player offered Essence at her Shrine no matter if the player actually did or not.
It's a minor detail, but attention to details like that would elevate the game to the next level for me. If in the code there was some value that gets changed when you offer essence at either Shrine (Seridia or Caldarus), and before the final cutscene is triggered, check both values and adjust the dialogue appropriately. The actual end result - Seridia living by Mistria, a better seal placed - doesn't even have to change.
To be fair, this leads to a bigger issue I have with FoM where the Mine Storyline feels very heavy-handed to me.
Take the Fire Seal, for example, the one with the Sealing Scroll and the entire scene where Caldarus becomes mortal. If the player never interacted with the Dragon statue and chose all the 'rude' dialogue options (let's set aside that there is no real negative interaction option, as far as I could find/experience), why would Caldarus sacrifice himself to save the player? Even with Caldarus' tendency to self-sacrifice (re: sealing Seridia, which also meant sealing himself), it feels like a bit of a stretch. Almost illogical, I dare say.
Or when it comes to breaking the Final Mine Seal. You need to have 8 hearts with Eiland and Juniper, and see their 8 heart cutscene. I'll be honest, I heavily dislike this. Because what if a player just isn't interested in Eiland or Juniper as a character? Not even as a Bachelor/Bachelorette, but just as a character in general. What if someone is annoyed by Juniper's "OH HO HO HO HO" or thinks Eiland is an insufferable nerd and wants to avoid both of them while playing. Why are they then forced to still build the relationship with those two characters? (Yes, you could leave the final seal unbroken, but I reckon there's gonna be something in 1.0 that requires the final seal to be broken, for Seridia to be actually there, so...) And to add on, then you need to choose to either become romantically involved with them or become besties? Even if you, the actual player, might not really care for these two characters? This isn't the case for any other character in Mistria, where the game outright forces you to build a relationship with them in order to progress the story. And it's really, really odd to me.
I personally think the better option would be that the storylines which are currently Eiland and Juniper's heart storylines happen outside of their heart events. That if you reach certain levels in the Mineshaft (level 5, 15, 25 - any level that doesn't have a Seal or similar), the Dragonsworn Armor Storyline and the Magic Experimentation Storyline triggers/continues. And it would be fun if other Mistrians could be involved - maybe Adeline stumbles across a piece of the Armor, or Celine delivers a potion ingredient to Juniper and you tag along. Or something like that.
This would, of course, mean that Eiland and Juniper would need completely new Heart Events. And since 1.0 is not far away, I recognize that it probably isn't possible to re-work all that; not with a healthy sleep schedule, at least. To me, that part can happen in a later update - 2.0, maybe? But, yeah. It's one of the odder choices in Fields of Mistria for me.
What I regardless hope for 1.0 is that the dialogue regarding offering Essence at Seridia's Shrine gets fixed in the breaking of the final seal cutscene. (Submitted a feedback about this.) Because that, to me, is an oversight - one that I hope is easily fixable.
Rant over.
An addendum, by the way:
I acknowledge that Eiland and Juniper cannot be completely separated from the Mine Storyline. After all, it is about archeological tablets (Eiland was clearly designed for this purpose) and witchcraft/witchspeak (Juniper was clearly designed for this purpose).
I suppose I am just a bit baffled at the heavy-handedness of it. That a game like Fields of Mistria outright forces a player to befriend 2 characters if you want to finish the Mine Storyline. In that sense, I prefer the major storyline of Town Improvement, because it isn't tied to a character's affection level. Yes, the Town Improvement quests are tied to Adeline and often times another character (Nora, Ryis, Landen, Hayden, Terithia), but you can have 0 hearts with them still and the Town Improvement quests would still come.
Now. I understand why the Devs would implement a "you need x amount of relationship with a character in order to pass this check" part into the game. They want to encourage players to engage with all parts of the game; building relationships with Mistria's inhabitants is a massive part for it.
However, in that regard I am still a bit iffy with the fact that it's focused on 2 characters. That's what strikes me as odd; if encouraging the player to engage with the created characters is part of the goal, then why only those 2? It would've been much more interesting and poetic if all of the characters, or majority, were involved in fully finishing the mine. If everyone contributed in a way. If the player needed at least, say, 2 hearts with every Mistrian - something fairly reasonable to achieve. Or even 4 hearts. Talk to everyone during Friday Night at the Inn and Saturday Markets, and you'd achieve that reasonably soon enough.
I acknowledge, however, that this would be a massive re-design of a massive portion of the game. And realistically, I don't think they'll do it. They have written a very neat and adequately deep story with the Mines; re-writing (and re-coding) all that would only make sense if there was actual dissatisfaction among the player base, and I don't think there is any.
It's just me airing my confusion and slight frustration with the game.
Because if the game encourages me to "Find your ideal match and start a family with one of 12 marriage candidates" and "Get to know 30+ villagers and follow their stories", as stated on the official website's homepage, I'm a bit confused as to why they're taking my choice in how, when and if my farmer gets to know and follow 2 certain characters' stories by being so heavy-handed.
But that's just my two cents.
