FANTASY LIFE 3DS

I thought I’d never get a chance to talk about this game. An amazing and charming game on the 3DS and easily one of my favorites, Fantasy Life released at possibly a pretty bad time in 2014. Given that several new releases and sequels came out so peoples attention was elsewhere. Despite this game not really getting the attention it deserves I still love it to this day and play it whenever I can. It did have a game for a short while on mobile devices that shut down and after no announcement of any kind of switch port or sequel for the longest time I felt that the series was just ending. Then while trying to find a similar game a forum post informed me that a sequel was in the future. I didn’t actually believe it and searched LEVEL 5’s and Nintendo’s Youtube channels finding the trailer posted to both.

Gameplay

The game is heavily centered on specific roles called lives. There are twelve in total split into three categories, Combat, Crafting, and Gathering. Each Life has specific challenges for the life chosen Woodcutters have different quests than Carpenters. That doesn’t mean you can’t cut down trees as another life, but you’re encouraged not to. Some quests specifically have certain buffs and abilities that can help in certain lives and roles and you also lose some experience points. Fortunately, Fast Travel is easy and you can switch the role at any point and the world resets when you sleep. Combat has four lives Paladin and Mercenary which focus on light and heavy attacks and Wizard and Hunter which focus on ranged attacks. The Gathering is focused on getting certain materials Miners get ore and gems, Woodcutters get wood, and Anglers get fish. Finally Crafting is where you can use all the materials you find during the other lives. It gets you stronger equipment, healing items, and better gear. Cook and Alchemist get food and medicine that can provide buffs, Carpenter is used for better weapons and furniture, Smithing is used for better armor and other weapons, and Tailor is used to make clothes and furniture like rugs and curtains, but in reality is the easiest way to make money since armor is more useful.

Conclusion

Despite this being a great game I feel like even now the developers are repeating mistakes. This year alone there are several sequels and well-established IP are releasing. So if this does release there is a chance that once again it will be overlooked in favor of other releases this year, but I will definitely be looking forward to it possibly more than other upcoming RPGs this year. Is it a perfect game? No, but it’s charming and enjoyable enough and has enough in it to make up for it’s faults.

Nintendo of America “FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time – Nintendo Direct 2.8.2023.” YouTube, uploaded by Nintendo of America, Feb 9, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iewOAF-MO8c&t=3s

LEVEL5ch【公式】. ” FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time – 1st Trailer.” YouTube, uploaded by LEVEL5ch【公式】, Sep 16, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBNvg-1MC4E&t=13s