Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy offers goofy characters, stale dungeon crawling

Before Compile Heart, there was simply Compile. Creators of the original Puyo Puyo puzzle games, they would also go on to make a the dungeon crawler spin-off series Mado Monogatari. However, outside of a soft reboot (Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God), the series has never made it over to the west. That is, until now.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is the first mainline game to release officially in English. And unlike Sorcery Saga, it still includes a number of Puyo Puyo staples like the titular Puyos and Carbuncle. This time, the story focuses on a new protagonist Fia, as she attempts to become a fully fledged mage.

Characters are where Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy shines the most, assuming you go into the game with the right mindset. For the most part, this is not a serious story from minute one. Fia herself is a bit of an airhead, and her classmates — a self-proclaimed hero, and a tsundere who has trouble making friends to name a few — are equally colourful. Her school life at the magic academy doesn’t exactly start off strong (thanks to a curry-related incident), and things stay hectic as the days go by.

It’s generally quite fun if you’re after something light-hearted. Some jokes can get a little repetitive at times, though dialogue is generally short enough that there’s always some new gag or bit about to take place. Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is also relatively short in general (under 20 hours unless you want to tackle the post-game), so it’s hard to get too annoyed even by the game’s worst writing.

I just wish that the presentation side of things backed up the energetic characters and writing. While the 2D side of things is excellent (especially the occasional CGs used for some scenes), 3D models are almost lifeless in comparison. Facial expressions are limited, and most of the time characters are just standing around regardless of what the dialogue conveys.

Another thing to note is that Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy only features Japanese audio. This isn’t too much of a surprise though, as even Idea Factory International’s “bigger” franchises like Neptunia only have partial dubs.

However, story is only half of Mado Monogatari, with the other being battling through various randomised dungeons. And unlike the story, I don’t really have anything positive to say.

Dungeons are randomised each time you visit them, though this mostly just means you have different combinations of small rooms and corridors. While later dungeons include additional gimmicks like traps or enemies that can move through walls, they quickly become monotonous.

Outside of finding items or keeping your VT (hunger) meter filled, there’s not a whole lot to discover while dungeon crawling. You’ll also have to keep trawling back through the same areas multiple times for both the main story and sidequests.

Combat does little to improve this. You can attack enemies within the dungeon to trigger battles, which take on a semi-real time form. Characters can move freely and use basic attacks at any time. But magic is only useable once it’s their turn on the timeline bar.

Attacks have areas of effect, meaning you can hit multiple enemies at once, or run away from an attack to take no damage. In practice, most battles just involve spamming whatever your strongest attack is. There’s no real incentive to use your regular attack, since it delays you from using your main damage dealing moves.

The Great Magic system is Mado Monogatari‘s main attempt at adding some semblance of strategy to battles. After using magic, orbs are left behind. These are stored at the bottom right of the screen, combining when certain elemental skills are used in succession. These orbs can then be spent at any time on Great Magic, powerful abilities that hit all enemies at once.

While fine as an idea, it doesn’t do much to change up how you play. In fact, it mostly makes battles even easier than they already are since they’re essentially free extra damage with no downsides. Most battles lean towards low difficulty after the first hour or two, as you gain access to abundant healing and more powerful abilities.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy Review – Final Impressions

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy‘s story is a mostly enjoyable time, even if the jokes can fall flat on occasion. The same can’t be said for its dungeon crawling, which becomes stale fast and never recovers as time goes by.

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A Switch copy of Mado Monogatari Fia and the Wondrous Academy was provided by the publisher for this review.

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