As fantastical as the name implies, Fantasy Life is an immensely charming RPG on 3DS.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/38791/fantasy-life-review
Originally released in Japan nearly two years ago, Fantasy Life is a Level-5-developed 3DS life sim/RPG that combines elements of a variety of games including Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, Rune Factory, and many more. At the beginning, you create your character and quickly choose a job class. After wrapping up the lengthy and drawn-out tutorial, you then can go in any direction you wish, whether it’s becoming a jack of all trades or a master of one. With 12 varied classes that oftentimes feel like they could sustain an entire game by themselves, this Nintendo-published (in North America and Europe) adventure is packed to the brim with fun content.
While playing Fantasy Life, an appealing kind of monotony pervades through the gameplay. Some of your time is spent exploring the world and defeating monsters, but a large chunk is spent doing more staid tasks like completing townspeople’s quests and acquiring materials to craft tools and outfits. Somehow, it’s almost always entertaining with the breadth of content even if some aspects sound lame on paper. The key is that Fantasy Life is more about solving everyday problems for the citizens of Reveria than it is about slaying the dragon and completing missions (though there is a lot of that, too). This 3DS game stands out as a novel approach to the life sim/RPG genre and feels like a Nintendo-ized version of Microsoft’s Fable series.
The structure of Fantasy Life is built on unique jobs, referred to in-game as Lives, in which you take on different careers that all feed off of each other. As a Miner, you go to caves and get ore, which can then be turned into materials and used by a Blacksmith to make weapons and armor that can be used by a Paladin in battle. Each of the 12 jobs has its own unique characters and storylines that are all charmingly written and engaging. They have their similarities, but the writing really helps each one stand out. Even if you’re doing similar mini-games to make clothes as a Tailor and make a sword as a Blacksmith, both Lives still feel unique. You can switch between them at any time and even use the skills you earn with one when you’re learning another trade. Adventuring is rarely boring when you can switch between a Cook, an Angler, or a Hunter, each with their own unique quests, at a moment’s notice.
In addition, there is a driving main storyline that is focused on bringing the different regions of Reveria together. I’d often get sidetracked from the main quest because I’d get distracted by each Life, but that highlights how the primary story is used more as an entry into the deeper world than it is as the whole experience. The main storyline takes about a dozen hours if you plow through it, but the fun of Fantasy Life is about exploring the worlds, jobs, and quests while taking your sweet time. The variety of gameplay elements is extremely diverse. There is even an Animal Crossing-like element where you can move into different homes and style them however like. You can even rides horses and tortoises and domesticate cats and dogs.
While I didn’t get to try out any of the StreetPass or local multiplayer, I did test some online multiplayer. You can team up with two other players and go exploring. You can’t progress the story, but it’s still fun to mess around and show your friends your Life progression and gear.
Fantasy Life is a game at a medium pace that performs at its best when you to just kick back and explore the varied classes as you adventure through the colorful world. The best part is that you can make of it whatever you want. You can become a Paladin and focus on fighting enemies, or you can take up an artisanal trade and focus on making the best armor. You can complete the main story, or sit back and make every meal you can as a Cook. Fantasy Life is an elegant, malleable experience that is one of the most compelling 3DS games I’ve played in a long time.
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