Fantasy Life

I've put about 12 good hours into it and unlocked two towns. I think it's time to tell you about it.

Napdragon!

First of all, I don't understand why people think this game is going to be like Final Fantasy. The combat isn't turned based, you don't have a party of brooding teenagers, and the "Life" system is bigger than the story missions themselves - you need to do that to unlock the new areas, and of course the story is important overall, but you can also do your gathering and crafting and fetch quests without worrying about the story.

In fact, I'm not the biggest fan of how the story's played out so far. There's a lot of talking, a couple of very tiny fights, and then more talking. *** is further than I am and said the story gets better, so we'll see how it goes. As it stands, I am in no hurry to finish the story simply because I don't want to hear what Butterfly has to say every time I enter a new area. The characters I interact with during the story are very memorable, however. They did a good job creating individuals. I just get annoyed because the story is talking. I want more action. But, I'll wait to see how good it gets later.

So, my favorite part: The Life You Choose 

Dun dun dunnnn. You have twelve different classes to choose from in the beginning.

I think I've said it before, but *** chose Paladin, the automatic option. I chose Fisher, since I like fishing, and ***, thinking he'd be helpful, chose alchemist. Our costumes were extremely silly. I loved wearing the fish hat.

I decided to, after going through the tutorial of Fishing, jump into many of the crafting skills and see what was in store for me. I picked up woodcutting and mining and skipped the tutorials - which you can do after your first Life and get the items you need for your new Life without all the fuss - and jump to Cooking. That one seemed pretty weird since I'd only done gathering Lives, so I did the tutorial anyway. I'm glad I did, because I wouldn't have known otherwise that, for cooking, you stand behind a pot, cutting board, and stove, and you must, in that order, hold A, smash A, and time-hit A in order to beat the clock and cook your dish. If you don't mess up once, you get a superior food item. If you beat the clock to 20 seconds (I think) you receive two of the dish.

To me, that's more exciting than Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy XIV: ARR crafting. The Fishing, too, is more exciting, since you not only have to time the jerk right to hook the fish, you must also battle against it with your A-holding and circle pad direction. If your meter gets too high the line is broken and you've lost your fish. When mining, the longer you hold A, the harder you hit. When you level your skills further, X becomes your "special attack" and you hit harder/have steps done in cooking automatically/whatever happens in Smithing and Tailoring. It's more innovative, in my opinion, and you don't lose your items if you mess up. I find that quite nice.

If you've learned a Life, and you practice it while in another Life, such as mining while a Cook, your mining skill is still increased and your actions count toward your mining challenges. That way, you don't have to change your life every five minutes just to mine a bit of copper you've come across. Your overall experience still goes toward your current Life, though, so if you're doing a story quest, make sure you're in the Life you want to level. 

The fetch quests are annoying to some people, but I think it's a good way to show players where a certain monster is so when they need that item, they know where to look. Some of them are a bit challenging, since the item is considered "rare" - you have to try for a while to catch the right fish in an area. It gives you something to do if you need a distraction from the story or leveling up your Life.

I really, really love the combat. The combos really help keep Radishys from kicking butt, and everything is fairly easy to clear out in each area - if your level is high enough. If it's not, you're 1 Hit KO'd and sent back to either your house or the last save point. No money or items are lost, though. Also, any allies you may have - dogs, cats, humans - help you fight. They usually mirror what you do and don't go off and get killed. So far. The AI is pretty intelligent.

The protagonist starts out in an attic, a really crappy place just like Animal Crossing. As more money is collected and the story progressed further, more houses are available to rent. The rooms are customizable, as they are in Animal Crossing, and items to decorate are sold at a furniture store and given to the character during quests.

Bliss is another thing leveled up by granting people's wishes and helping Butterfly complete the requirements for the next story quest. Each time Bliss is leveled up, various unlockables are presented: a bigger bag, the ability to have pets or a horse, or to listen to music from Reveria in the protag's room. Once unlocked, options for a bigger bag/more pets/whatever are opened, up to three tiers of that option. The Amazing Bag is extremely helpful.

The music is extremely fitting, and never grates on my nerves. I'm also glad there is no voice acting, it allows me to "hear" the characters as I want to. That being said, I'm glad Butterfly does all the talking and you're allowed to continue believing the protagonist is you, rather than stuffing words in your mouth. If that happened, I'd find this game more like Final Fantasy, since the reactions wouldn't be your own, but the character on the screen. In this, it's like Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, an actual RPG. It also makes me think of Little King's Story because of the character models and the snark. And the King. Look at that guy.



Before you say it, yes I know FF is an RPG. But, I find the ones where you are pretending to be yourself in a game more intriguing rather than watching the story of someone else unfold. I don't care about Cloud. My B.

The graphics, as shown through all these pictures, are beautiful. Each area is vibrant and different from the last. Perhaps they're generic areas for RPGs, but come on. At least it was executed well.

This game was definitely worth the purchase. The more I play it, the more sure I am. Multiplayer is more helpful in the higher levels, so Wade says, because the monsters get pretty tough, and he's only in the third town.

This game is for people who enjoy Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing Little King's Story, and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. It's also for someone who really wants a time sinking RPG with zest.

Choose your Life, change your Life, Fantasy Life. I'd score it at a 9/10, just because the story, so far, bores me a little, and you can't change your Life til you finish a chapter in it.

Different Lives: Notice the fish hat!

My writing is a train wreck. :)