Playthrough Status: COMPLETED STORY (still working to unlock the DLC content)
Approx. Length: 10-ish hours for the story; 70-ish hours for everything else (and is still counting)
Language: English
Played on: 3DS
Also Available for: Not applicable
Type of Game: Action-RPG, stat-building, class-building
Overall Impression: For completionists (like me most of the time), this can be a really grindy game. If you are just looking to play through the story, though -- no grinding required!
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a "Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
Well, I am generally a fan of Level-5, so I often like supporting their games whenever possible. When I read that Fantasy Life was being localized and it was developed by Level-5, I pre-ordered it soon after watching the trailer.
STORY
Meteorites are falling in the land of Reveria, and it's up to you (the player) and a butterfly sidekick to investigate. Along the way, you explore new areas and meet new characters, all with stories of their own. On the surface, the story is as generic as they come. But when the situation and focus becomes more clearer, I think there is a bit of substance.
I will be honest: when I first started playing the game, the story did not grab me very much -- I was more interested in the grindy aspects (will be covered later). That was one of the reasons why it was on my "Currently Playing" list for so long. When I finally did decide to continue and the story's focus became clearer and some characters got more developed, my priorities reversed: the story kept me playing instead of the grind.
THE WRITING
So even when the story put me off in the beginning, I always remembered the writing. I found the writing style blunt, quirky, and often self-aware and funny. I find it pretty refreshing. I'll mention some quirky writings in the "Spoilers" section.
GAMEPLAY
One fairly unique thing about Fantasy Life is that you play one character that can unlock multiple classes -- or as Fantasy Life calls it, multiple Lives. They'll be covered in the next section.
Gameplay-wise, Fantasy Life is broken into seven chapters, and this is how a typical chapter would play out:
1. Follow the story quests to progress the chapter, which usually leads to a "boss" battle. (optional grinding but slightly limited)
2. Complete all the requests from Butterfly (optional grinding)
3. Either speak with Butterfly after all her requests are done or sleep to go to the next chapter (follow whatever instructions pop up).
While playing through the chapters, there are many other things you can do (depending on what Lives you have unlocked), such as:
-Changing into a different Life (if you have another Life unlocked)
-Mining ores (if you have unlocked the Miner Life)
-Chopping wood (if you have unlocked the Woodcutter Life)
-Fishing (if you have unlocked the Angler Life)
-Crafting recipes (if you have the corresponding crafting Life unlocked)
-Buying and decorating houses
-Buying a pet for your house (if you have it unlocked)
-Roaming around and beating up monsters
-Inviting certain NPCs to join your party (this is not possible while doing the story quests)
-Taking on and completing quests from various NPCs
If you are only playing the game for the story, some of the above features could be missed.
But... that is actually something I like about this game. You have free rein to decide just how much time to put in and what features to unlock for yourself.
THE OPTIONAL GRINDING
I'm talking about the various Lives and the skills associated with them. Levelling your Lives and skills can extend the gameplay length by a lot, depending on what you want to do. There are 12 Lives in total. Each Life has its own set of quests to do. Unlocking some Lives unlock new skills which are still active while in another Life. For example, if I unlock the Miner Life, I unlock the Mining skill. Then I can change to another class and still be able to mine ores because I unlocked the Mining skill.
Besides the quests for each Life, the bigger grind are the skills. Every Life unlocks skills and they level up through usage. The higher level the skill is, the more stronger it becomes. Also, some gear is dependent on certain skill levels.
Then on top of all that you have your character Level. When you level that up, you gain stat points that can be allocated. The stats affect the performance of your various Lives. For example, more stat points into Dexterity would result in a stronger Hunter (Archer) and Tailor Life.
I won't go into tooo much detail, but overall there is a lot of levelling in Fantasy Life -- but only if you choose to do it. For me, personally, I enjoy gathering and crafting so much of this grind is fun.
STREETPASS FUNCTION
The streetpass function is very minimal here, but is quite beneficial at times. If you have streetpass on, you can set it up to send out your player card. If you choose to, you can also attach an item to the card.
If you streetpass somebody, you will receive their player card, and that player will show up as an NPC in the main town. If you talk to the player, you might increase your friendship level with them. If the friendship level reaches 100, that player will give you the item attached to their player card (if they had an item attached).
It is a very useful feature when you're just starting out.
MULTIPLAYER
I actually just have this section here to highlight / mention that multiplayer exists for Fantasy Life. I have never done it myself so I do not know how it is like and what it entails. From what I've read, you can exchange some items when playing multiplayer.
CHARACTERS
Some of the many characters in Fantasy Life.
Possible spoiler text is greyed out.
Besides the main characters (you and your Butterfly sidekick), there are a bunch of other characters in Fantasy Life. Some are fleshed out. Some are not. Regardless, most are colourful and with their own special... quirk. My favourite characters are the Butterfly sidekick, and ... I will mention in the "Spoilers" section.
My current character. Just like in FFXIV, I main an archer.
And... just like in FFXIV, I'm leveling all the other Lives, too.
MUSIC
This, to me, was the most lacking part of the game. To me, the music clashed so much with the overall feel / atmosphere of the game that I often played while commuting, keeping the game muted.
I like the sound effects, though!
DLC
I have this here as a placeholder, because I am working to unlock the DLC content. Parts of the content is immediately available upon purchase, but the area portion is not.
According to GameFAQS, this is what the DLC includes:
-New area (currently locked -- I am underleveled)
-Extra character customization features
-New materials, equipment, crafting recipes
-New class rank
-New pets
-Friendship system with NPCs (NPCs can fight with you and get stronger)
-New special currency
-Level cap increased from 99 to 200
-Stats cap increased from 50 to 100
REPLAYABILITY
I think replayability here depends on how much you want to do in the game after beating the story. If you see no point, then there would be no replayability. If you want to level up your classes some more or you want to decorate your many houses or whatever else, then replayability is there for you.
I think for me, once I master every class and complete every quest, I'll be completely done.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Fantasy Life is a quirky game. I can't say I recommend it outright, but if somebody is wanting to experience a story that's short and sweet (and read some quirky, blunt writing), this is worth it -- at sale price. If you enjoy grinding out various classes and you love gathering and crafting, then this game may be enjoyable to you.
Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free. :)
So I'll do the scrolly thing and the "Spoilers" section will appear after that. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
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SPOILERS
I'll mention some quirky writings.
There were a lot more quirky moments, but below are some that I actually screenshotted. At least, they are quirky to me.
I really liked what Yuelia said before this line. She said something like:
"You can have all the time in the world to cover up your emotions."
I find it sweet and cute -- Yuelia really understands Noelia. :)
Here is the same screenshot as earlier, but with the actual text. Such bluntness!
I actually find this line a bit out of character. But I also find it very funny.
I mean, who says that?! Hahaha.
My favourite characters are the Butterfly sidekick, and ...
Noelia! Her trying to come across as emotionless and uncaring is pretty cute. I also really like Celestia.
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading them! Now to finish with more scrolly things. Feel free to comment :D
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