REVIEW/THOUGHTS [VIDEO GAME] -- Fantasy Life

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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EXPOSURES (VIDEO GAME) -- 4 Streetpass Games (Mii Force, Flower Town, Warrior's Way, Monster Manor)

So two weeks ago, I read this article about 4 new StreetPass games coming to the 3DS. Watching the trailer got me super-excited, and I purchased them all last week for my birthday. I personally like the StreetPass feature on my 3DS, so any games that incorporate it and encourage others to carry around their 3DSes is great.

The StreetPass games are $4.99 each, but as of this writing, there's a promotion where buying all the games will cost $14.99 ($16.94 after taxes for Ontario). To get to this promotion, first make sure that you can connect to the internet with your 3DS. Then go into StreetPass Mii Plaza. In the Games area, go to one of the new games and select that you will purchase it. At that point, you will be asked if you would like to take advantage of the promotion of buying all 4 games for $14.99.

A new perk about these 4 new StreetPass games is receiving plaza tickets for reaching certain achievements in each game. You can use the plaza tickets at the Exchange Booth to exchange for new hats / costumes for your Mii.

Since these are StreetPass games, I have to mention that in order to fully enjoy them, living somewhere where StreetPassing takes place fairly frequently is critical. You could use Play Coins to hire "Miis", but I wouldn't recommend it.

StreetPass Games (July 2013)

Playtime Length: 30 to 40-ish minutes each session (about 10 or less minutes per game)
Platform Played on: 3DS
Language: English
Types of Game: See below.
   Mii Force: Shoot'em-up
   Flower Town: Gardening simulation
   Warrior's Way: Strategy
   Monster Manor: Puzzle, Dungeon-exploring, RPG
Overall Impression: I enjoy each of the 4 games in their own way. They provide a nice short break and they're fun!

Mii Force

Mii Force is a classic sidescrolling shoot-em up game. You pilot a spaceship and you go through various stages, shooting baddies and gaining power-ups. I think the basic premise is that evil forces are trying to take over the world and you and your StreetPass buddies are there to stop them (I don't really remember -- I just know that I want to shoot some baddies, lol).

Look at this craziness.

StreetPass Perk

The docks where you can place the Miis.

In Mii Force, those you have recently StreetPassed are the power-ups for your ship. When you get them in the stage, you can place them on one of 4 open docks. The type of power-up you get depends on the Mii's shirt colour. Placing two or more Miis on the same line will power up the Mii on the outer dock.

The Miis also serve as your healthpoints -- every time you're hit, you'll lose a Mii. When you lose them all, you lose, but you get a chance to start over. It's like having an extra life. I'm currently not sure if you can start over more than once. 

Brief Impression

This is really fun! The gameplay experience for each stage is always different since you never know what kind of power-ups you'll get (i.e. who you'll StreetPass). It can get a little hectic at times, but it's engaging and really easy to play. Currently, my favourite power-ups are white, blue, and green. Red is really good, too.

Flower Town

Flower Town is a gardening simulation-type game. I don't think there was a real premise to it at all. Your Mii just wants to become a Master Gardener. The most basic thing you do in Flower Town is grow flowers. The ultimate goal is to grow at least 20 different breeds of flowers. Then there's some other things like customizing your flower pots, decorating your garden, taking on jobs and growing flowers specific to the client's needs. If there's anything more, I haven't unlocked it yet.

Example of a garden.

StreetPass Perk

Each Mii you StreetPass has one of two roles:
1. Watering your flower so that it blooms or gets close to blooming.
2. Cross-breeding a bloomed flower to harvest a seed.

Now, only a certain amount of seeds can be harvested from a flower. If there are still Miis left and your current flower doesn't have any more seeds for harvest, then those Miis are "wasted". Thankfully after the tutorial, you have the option of changing your current flower before meeting all your recently StreetPassed Miis.

After the Miis do their stuff with your flower, you can briefly talk to them about the flower they're growing. If you talk to those who also own Flower Town, you have the option of visiting their garden.

Brief Impression

Unlike the other new StreetPass games, Flower Town is more laid back -- kinda like a game meant to unwind and relax with. And that's not bad. It's kinda nice to have a game where the goal is to simply grow flowers and take in the beauty of nature (or something). Of course, it's not a game for everyone, but it works for me. 

Warrior's Way

This game is all about world domination. If you have ever played Dynasty Warrior-type games, there's just a bit of similarity there: the larger your army, the better chance of wiping the floor with your opponent! Every session involves you recruiting more members for your army and possibly invading one country. Sometimes when you win, you'll also win materials to upgrade your tower to unlock new perks.

Warrior's Way uses a Rock-Paper-Scissor-type battle system. Before going into actual battle, you get to divy up your troops between the 3 class-types (hopefully well enough that you will win). Then it's a best two out of three matches, where two or all your troops will get sent out. There's also small details like weather conditions making one class-type favourable or unfavourable -- or an opponent who has two groups of the same class-type.

An example of a favourable match in Warrior's Way.

StreetPass Perk

I think this is a really neat way to take advantage of StreetPass. Each StreetPassed Mii will come with an army that is the total of ALL the Miis that person has StreetPassed before. So, for example, using the screenshot above, Greg's Army is 1,155. That means that whoever has Greg as their Mii has StreetPassed 1,155 different people in real life. That is totally neat.

If you StreetPass a Mii who also owns Warrior's Way, something else happens. They will meet you as a Monarch from another country, carrying with them the army they have amassed. At that point, you can decide to "Greet Peacefully" or "Attack".

If you "Greet Peacefully", then they will say hello, and they might offer some troops to you... or they'll just leave. If you "Attack", you battle them the same way as invading a country. If you win, you win a chunk of their troops. If you lose, you lose a chunk of your troops. I often play it safe and only attack those I know I would win against.

Brief Impression

In my opinion, this has the shortest gameplay session of all the three games. Sometimes you're not doing anything except amassing your army. But... (here's my but) it's really fun! It's quick; the strategizing is quick; the rewards are quick. And it's fun. It's so fun, lol.

Monster Manor

Monster Manor has multiple elements from different genres: puzzle, RPG, and strategy. The premise here involves your Mii investigating this haunted mansion, but the rooms are completely dark. Your goal is to find the stairs to each room and get to the top and figure the great mystery (I forgot what the mystery was, lol...).

Creating rooms for your Mii to investigate.

Gameplay-wise, there's a few things going on. The first is to find the stairs to each room. To do that, you have to place coloured blocks to create hallways and rooms. The blocks have be placed adjacent to a room your Mii can get to. Placing same coloured blocks to create 2xwhatever squares or rectangles will result in treasure chests (for items, weapons, and equipment badges) and other perks. Placing blocks of a different colour next to another room could result in an enemy battle.

Enemy battle!

When facing an enemy, it's real-time battling. You can Attack as many times as your battery life allows (don't worry -- most weapons have a really quick recharge time). When the enemy attacks, if you have some battery life still, you can guard. Rinse and repeat until somebody kicks the bucket (either you or the enemy).

When the battle is over, your equipped weapon gains experience. That's right. Weapons carry max levels and they can be leveled up.

StreetPass Perk

The StreetPassed Miis are super vital since they're the ones carrying your room-blocks. If you've StreetPassed the same person multiple times, you'll have more selections to choose from, to a max of five different blocks.

Sometimes if you create large rooms of the same colour, they'll show up on the map and will either give you some gems (the game's currency), items, or a puzzle. If you solve the puzzle within the time specified, then you receive a deluxe prize (no idea what that could be right now).

Brief Impression

From what I see, Monster Manor is the most layered of the 4 StreetPass games. The combination of puzzle-solving and RPG elements work so well here. There is also some strategy involved as you're trying to decide the best route or order of laying down those blocks (to, you know, yield the most benefits).

For me, I'm not even rushing to the top -- I just want to create rooms and collect treasures, lol. And upgrade my weapon.

Concluding Impressions

I have to say, each of the 4 StreetPass games carry their own charm and level of fun. They are totally worth picking up -- especially so at the promotion price. If I had to recommend just one game to you, though, it would have to be Monster Manor. If you enjoy puzzle games with a bit of RPG elements, $4.99 (before tax) is like a steal. I honestly would have paid more for that game.

Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment about anything. And happy StreetPassing! :)

EXPOSURES (VIDEO GAMES) -- Animal Crossing: New Leaf

So I bought Animal Crossing: New Leaf last Sunday and have been hooked. I'm so hooked that everyday when commuting, if I get a chance to sit, that's the first thing I do, even if my next stop is in a few minutes. Sometimes I wonder: How does Nintendo create many iterations of the same-ish games and still make it so plain fun? Of course, that is a very debatable statement, and not something I'll be exploring in this blog. Feel free to comment about it, though, if you like! :)

Animal Crossing: New Leaf

Playtime Length (so far): 20-ish hours
Platform Played on: 3DS
Language: English
Type of Game: Town Life Simulation, Collection, Mini-Game
Game-specific Details: I'm currently going through my 5th house upgrade, completed one public works project, and my town is a "night-owl" town.

My Impressions

The premise of Animal Crossing: New Leaf is pretty much the same as all the other Animal Crossing games I've played (Wild World for the DS and City Folk for the Wii): your character moves into town, but is in trouble because he / she didn't prepare himself / herself a living space before getting there. Then loan shark Tom Nook steps in and loans you a house. Even though you are the mayor of your town in this game (this is a new feature!), you still find yourself in debt to Tom Nook. The main, main goal of the game is to pay off your character's debt, which gets higher and higher with every house upgrade. That said, you don't have to focus on paying off your character's loan (there are no deadlines). You can set whatever goals you want. One of the best things about Animal Crossing games is that it is very open world and what you decide to do is up to you. And there are a lot of things you can do in Animal Crossing.

Let me try to list all the things you can do in Animal Crossing:

-You can collect things (bugs, fish, fossils, furniture, art pieces, clothing, fruit -- anything that you can stuff in your pocket. And of course, money) 
-You can interact with your citizens (have brief conversations, do errands for them, write letters to them, sell stuff to them)
-You can interact with your town (shake trees, cut down trees, plant trees, plant flowers, water flowers, trample flowers, dig up holes, buy items, etc.)
-You can play mini-games (when you unlock and visit an island)
-You can visit your friend's town and vice-versa (and do all of the above! Yes, you can cut down your friend's trees)
-You can redecorate your house (why else would you want to keep expanding your house and adding more debt to yourself?)
-You can participate in special events (whenever they come, of course)
-You can customize (your character, your town flag, your town tune, clothes, your town, your citizens)

For me, the biggest draw in Animal Crossing: New Leaf (besides quenching my OCD collecting thirst) is the ability to customize and be able to play online with friends.

I LOVE playing a game where I can add my own personal touches -- it just adds to an enjoyable experience. It can give a slightly more intimate experience as well. Also, it allows me to be creative and to express my current interests. For example, my town's name is "Mikunopo". Now, I'm pretty sure nobody would know this, but it is short for "Mikunopolis" (the name for Hatsune Miku's 2011 concert in Los Angeles). My town flag currently features a leek (something that Hatsune Miku often holds). The dress my character is wearing right now is the same dress Alice wears from the Shin Megami Tensei series. In order to customize a flag and clothes, you actually have to design it yourself, but you know what? It's so worth it. I just love that dress to bits. <3

My Alice dress.

 Alice from the Shin Megami Tensei series.

Here's the QR code for my Alice dress (I just unlocked the QR machine):

Now that your character is also the mayor, you can set public works projects and customize your town a bit. You can add a bench, lamp, bridge, whatever you want (from a list of options). The projects can be a bit costly, depending on what you want, but it's pretty neat. When you set a public works project, it requires a certain amount of funding. Now, you could just fully fund the project yourself, but your citizens could also contribute to the fund.

As the mayor, you also have the option of setting an ordinance, which affects your town overall. This is really nice as it can provide a bit more flexibility, or for an extra touch. I mention flexibility because of this:

Animal Crossing games use the system's internal clock for their clock. So the hours of operations for shops, buildings, citizens (when they wake up and when they sleep), and events follow your internal clock. So if a shop closes at 8 PM, it will close at 8 PM, in real life (unless you mess with your system's internal clock, but I'm not going there). Depending on your daily schedule, you may miss out on certain things you want to do.

With the ordinance, you can set your town to either operate earlier in the day, or to stay open until much later. Currently, my town is a "night-owl" town, so shops and everything stay open later. This works with my schedule since I've been getting home pretty late these days and often have just about an hour to do whatever before some shop starts closing.

Playing online with friends often make the playing experience more fun, especially with the mini-games. It's also really nice to just hang out and chat or do whatever. For times when you can't see each other physically, it's a nice way to connect.

Me hanging out with my friends online.

Okay, I think I've blabbed enough about Animal Crossing: New Leaf. If you enjoy life simulation games and collecting things, you'll most likely enjoy this.

Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment about anything. :)

BTW: this blog is my 100th blog (which includes my end-of-month blogs). Woot for me! :)