Review: Mado Monogatari: Fia's Enchanting-Yet-Flawed Magical Journey

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy feels like an RPG for kids; there's not a lot of depth and the characters feel one-note. There's only so much whining from Fia and the other characters that you can withstand before you close the game and revisit it a few hours or days later.

It Isn't That Deep But Maybe That's a Good Thing?

In Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy, you play as a freshman in a magical school. Things don't start in the best of ways, though, as Fia is placed in a ragtag group of delinquent students, whom some of the professors seem to be keen to expel. The characters Fia meets are one-note for the most part. One of the best party members, however, is Will, a red-haired boy who wants to become a hero. While he can be boisterous, the game shows that he has a secret intelligence beneath the heroic banter. Leena is kind of like Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. She's prickly to start with, but she begins to trust Fia and the others more. It's actually adorable how she opens up to her friends. These two are the most interesting.

Totto and Eska are annoying to have in cutscenes, though. The latter is frankly a creep. She initially wants to defeat Fia and then wants the heroine to eat her after losing. She then falls in love with Fia and keeps wanting physical attention. It's bizarre and off-putting. To explain further, Eska is a Dragonewt, who has different traditions than the others. Totto seems friendly at first but is always trying to rip Fia off, and to be honest, it gets irritating fast. At one point, both of these characters betray the main three and somehow get accepted back into the group with little to no reason.

The characters Fia meets are one-note for the most part.

Overall, the storyline is fine with some fun little character moments here and there. It isn't remarkable in any shape or fashion, though. Honestly, this kind of works for Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy as it provides a simple plot for those who are tired of its more complex counterparts. What doesn't help, however, is some of the voice acting. Fia's voice actor is high-pitched and will get on your nerves more often than not. Her pet Carbuncle can also be frustrating to listen to over and over again. Most of the cast are fine, though, and fit the characters perfectly.

Another part of the game that's just fine and not entirely riveting is the combat system. You have a variety of different elemental spells on offer that can roast your foes or drench them in water, for example. None of them set the world on fire or look particularly impressive, but they all work within the battleground well enough. Each foe has an elemental weakness that you can utilize against them. You'll be defeating all manner of creatures like Puyos who are in different colors representing the element they represent.

You may know the Puyo monsters from the puzzle game series Puyo Puyo. It's a spinoff of the RPG Mado Monogatari franchise, which began in 1996 on the Sega Mega Drive.

SImilar to Final Fantasy XII, there's an active time bar on the top of the screen that dictates when you can commit to a spell while you're moving in place. You can avoid incoming attacks by dodging spots on the battlefield while waiting for your next move, but it feels awkward as you try to get away from foes. Aiming your attacks can be cumbersome, especially with magic, as foes move away from the circle that's highlighted on the screen. Your direct attacks with your weapon like the spear or a sword don't feel powerful and are like you're poking foes.

You can't control your allies directly, but they often do a great job of keeping you healed if you instruct them properly in the tactics menu before fighting. The combat feels sloppy, but you do thankfully manage to get most of your attacks to hit. The combat isn't fun to control or makes you feel powerful. There are more powerful spells at your disposal if you collect enough elemental energy from hitting enemies with magic, but they too feel anticlimactic. The combat will begin to get repetitive as it lacks depth and will have you fighting the same enemies over and over and over again.

Part of what makes dungeon hunting fun is the loot you can get. Think about the Diablo series, for instance, as you collect cool new weapons. Unfortunately, Mado Monogatari falls short in this aspect. You're not rewarded for going the extra mile and risking your energy (if you run out, your HP starts to decrease). You collect resources like Steel Ore for crafting or seeds to grow vegetables, but there isn't any rewarding loot to make you want to explore like a cool sword or a new spell.

What the dungeons do get right, however, is how they implement hazards. You'll see swinging blades heading towards Fia's chibi self as she tries to run around the area. You can also hit spikes that reduce your energy while in the dungeon or fall off. It's a good change of pace as you get further into the game. Unfortunately, the dungeons themselves aren't too interesting to look at. While each area is somewhat themed, developer Compile Heart doesn't necessarily implement enough to make them feel unique. It's like a generic Wild West theme park taking a bumper car ride and slightly theming it by placing fake cacti around the area in an attempt to make it fit.

Mado Monogatari's graphics are uninspired.

Not the Best-Looking Game

You can tell Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy wasn't made with a big budget and it shows. The overall character art is bright and showcases their personalities well, but there's a deep lack of animations. When Leena says something nice, for example, she still manages to maintain a moody face during cutscenes, which doesn't make a lot of sense. It would have been great to get more expressions from the characters. It is neat, however, that the characters are breathing and moving slightly while they're on the screen.

The environmental art is basic, especially in the dungeons. There is some attention given to a few of the school's locations, however, like the library and the principal's office that have interactable objects. The graphics are colorful, and the character models are chibi, which make sense with the overall theming of the RPG. Other than Eska's weird infatuation with the main character, Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is well-suited to kids (and kids at heart) and they'd enjoy the anime art style.

Additionally, the music is pleasant. Cutscenes have a wonderful little melody playing in the background, while the dungeon crawling music has an entertaining energy to it. The battle theme, however, is forgettable, which is a shame. It also would have been nice to have an English dub to have an alternative to Fia's obnoxious vocals.

Closing Comments:

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is hard to recommend because of its dull gameplay, sloppy combat, repetitive enemies, uninspired dungeons and lacking plotline. It does have a few bright sparks within its three main characters and anime aesthetic, though. For some reason, this game keeps bringing you back, so it must be doing something right, despite all of its downfalls. It's just hard to figure out why. It may be the camaraderie between the characters and wanting to see them succeed in their adorable, magical academic journey.