Fia and the Wondrous Academy Is Okay

Progression in Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is a little unconventional, as it isn’t a straightforward Mystery Dungeon sort of roguelike. It’s more of a visual novel with the roguelike elements. So while Fia is at the academy, you need to advance through “classes,” brief segments explaining magical properties and classes, to get assignments that send you to the dungeon. Then, upon completing them, you can unlock new Magic Artes in your Grimoire to bolster your moveset. Fia herself can also belong to various classes, and at Egard the principal’s office you can change your Role or take a Promotion Exam to become more powerful. When not advancing the story or handling your moveset and equipment at the school, you could also do some light crafting involving tending plants, fishing, cooking, and using dungeon materials. 

While some of the scenes between Fia and her classmates Eska, Leena, Totto, and Will can be fun or fascinating, the parts at the academy are when Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy can drag quite a bit. The pacing is all off, and it moves slowly. And not in a comfortable, cozy, this is taking its time in a manner I appreciate fashion. It feels like it takes forever for things to happen, Fia even just moves slowly around spaces, and it’s all quite dull. There are sometimes events like contests, that can be fun to watch, but aren’t all that exciting. The Puyo series references can pop up too, such as Suketoudara and Skeleton T showing up and enemies like Puyos littering dungeons. I do feel like I could have used more of that. 

Once you do get to enter a dungeon for some exploring and fighting, it almost feels like Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy tries to be innovative and interesting in a way that sometimes makes the experience too rudimentary and frustrating. The layout of the dungeons means they never really feel as meandering or “dangerous” as ones in true Mystery Dungeon installments, given that where you need to be going is pretty clearly telegraphed and each run is incredibly short. (You won’t be spending hours wandering around, like in similar games.) There can be traps or some light puzzle elements, but I didn’t find them too tricky. The threat of “enemies moving when you move” isn’t an issue, since it changed from a turn-based, attack on the field structure to one in which you enter a battle upon connect.

Said battles are probably the most ambitious part of Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy, and I think they might be the most unsteady element in the game. You put up to three characters in your party, Fia included. You attack foes in a contained space during an active battle, though there is a timeline at the top of the screen showing who’s up next. (Said foe designs repeat a lot, by the way.) When you attack, you see the range of your weapon or spell. You then need to make sure the foe falls exactly in it to hit. In the case of a more standard physical attack with a sword or spear, that’s a bit easier. With a spell, an AOE circle appears and you need to ensure they are in the center when cast. Except everyone’s constantly moving, it isn’t as fluid as I’d like, trying to collect the right elements from everyone’s spells for a Great Magic Artes attack can be frustrating, and I found it easier to just whack things with my weapon until they were dead instead.

I enjoyed Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy in spite of itself. I think the characters can be cute and fun, and I’m a sucker for any Mystery Dungeon style roguelike. The problem is that it really moves at a plodding pace, the combat system’s AOE and range systems get in the way of themselves, and the dungeon exploration feels more boring than challenging. I do think that, if there’s a sequel, a lot of this could be used as a foundation for something better. Trim some of the fat, like gameplay elements that didn’t work, tighten up the story, and adjust things to play more like Sorcery Saga (which was great) or the original first-person dungeon crawlers. 
 I feel like the issue is that what’s here is too easy of a game with too cumbersome of a combat system for folks looking for a new Mystery Dungeon type of roguelike, but perhaps too slow-moving and awkward for those unfamiliar with the genre.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is available on the Switch, PS4, and PS5.