A worthy follow-up of a 3DS basic.
I had a model of this assessment written out in my head as I began Fantasy Life’s long-awaited sequel on Nintendo Change. It’s a ok follow-up that captures sufficient of the enjoyable gameplay loops of the unique 3DS sport however is hampered by the technical limitations of the Change 1. Then writer Stage-5 introduced a Change 2 improve and that drove me to a way more ideally suited Fantasy Life expertise. Working a lot better on Nintendo’s latest {hardware}, Fantasy Life i is an extremely engrossing sport that solely stumbles due to the sheer scope and measurement of the whole lot it’s attempting to deliver collectively.
For the uninitiated, Fantasy Life is a self-proclaimed “gradual life RPG.” I believe the time period is foolish jargon, but it surely does sort of sum it up. That is an RPG, full with level-ups, celebration members, and many loot. Nevertheless it’s additionally type of a farm sim? You begin off with entry to 12 completely different “lives” (aka job lessons) which might be cut up into three completely different teams: fight, gathering, and crafting. Every thing works in concord as to greatest make the most of all of the lessons, that you must work collectively. You collect gadgets by chopping down timber or mining rocks. You’ll be able to then jump over to a workbench and don your blacksmith hat to create weapons and armor through crafting. Then you may equip these to be higher ready towards enemies wielding a sword, bow, or magic wand. To begin, it’s important to select a life; from there, you might in concept simply rock that job all by itself however, no less than to me, the sport is optimally performed by beginning off all of the 12 jobs in tandem on the outset. Leveling up the roles requires finishing particular quests and the quests are often operating alongside the story areas. I had enjoyable bouncing between lives and managing all of their progress without delay, however the sport can decelerate to a crawl whether or not you’re attempting to handle all 12 jobs without delay or simply piecemeal doing them one-by-one later within the story.
That speaks to what I mentioned close to the beginning, the place the sport journeys as a result of it’s gigantic. I touched on the 12 lives and the story, and people are enormous elements of the sport. Moreover, you may have a complete city you construct that options villagers, homes, and a proc-gen dungeon. However that’s not all: a complete Breath of the Wild-inspired overworld is inexplicably additionally within the sport, full with towers that unlock elements of the map and a handful of puzzle and fight shrines. The wild factor about this space, known as Ginormosia, is that it’s launched early within the story after which simply…by no means actually referenced once more till the late sport. You’ll be able to go there if you wish to. It’s enjoyable to fiddle with and may be a better solution to construct up a life or clear up some quests. I’ve come throughout some actually enjoyable little secrets and techniques all through. Nevertheless it’s so disconnected from the whole lot else it feels prefer it’s borderline from a distinct try on the sport (which might be true to an extent, since Stage-5 has talked about how this sport wasn’t coming collectively a few yr or so in the past they usually had totally reinvent it). It’s straightforward to get overwhelmed by all there’s to do in Fantasy Life i. I had probably the most enjoyable after I simply adopted what I used to be having fun with, even when it often left some features of the sport within the mud (e.g., adorning my home).
The sequel has a way more action-packed story, particularly within the very wordy intro. The narrative works greatest as a background ingredient that sometimes dips into parodies. Zelda-esque shrines are shiny items of poop. There’s an prolonged bit with a Deku Tree-like character who sings. It’s largely cute and humorous so long as it will get out of its personal method. The unique sport did the superior Dragon Quest factor the place it strung collectively a sequence of vignettes and this one does the identical. A component from the 3DS sport that I liked was how, even if you happen to have been defeating enemies within the fight jobs, the whole lot was all the time just a few type of misunderstanding. That monster wasn’t imply; he simply had a headache! The sequel made me involved it was going to go in the wrong way however fortunately it doesn’t totally lose contact with that antithetical online game theme.
Fight is simplistic however every of the 4 lessons feels completely different sufficient. Paladin mixes faster sword swings with defend parries, whereas Mercenary makes you an enormous lumbering menace with a large sword. Archer is a fast little ranged fella whereas the Magician become my mana-wielding powerhouse over time. The gathering and crafting can fall into repetition since they’re all comparable in execution, however a few of the nuanced variations between farming and fishing helps clean out the general grind of the lessons.
Multiplayer does exist for this sport, but it surely’s not the primary draw for me by far. Regionally, a good friend can hop in and management companion Journey in a glorified Wii-era sidekick mode the place the second participant can’t actually try this a lot. For the web of as much as 4 gamers, you may’t do something with the story. It’s greatest used for messing round Ginormosia or the proc-gen dungeons in your village. Even there, you may’t entry the towers or shrines in Ginmormosia. It’s a restricted expertise, although the developer is making tweaks to it.
I used to be nervous for Fantasy Life i, as a result of I actually liked the 3DS authentic and was not that optimistic that Stage-5 may seize the identical magic a decade later. For probably the most half, they did. This has the addictive gameplay loop of finishing quests and furthering your lives in tandem. This has the seemingly limitless parade of lovable touches stuffed with cute writing. In a method, even the formidable scope that threatens to generally take down the entire thing is paying homage to the unique and the period that its developer Stage-5 was going by way of with the success of Professor Layton and Yo-Kai Watch. If Fantasy Life i is consultant of what they’re going to be doing going ahead with the likes of Professor Layton, I’m changing into increasingly more hopeful that they’ll be capable to attain their outdated heights. Fantasy Life i is gratifying even with its occasional slips. I’m blissful to be again juggling my a number of jobs of Angler, Paladin, Blacksmith, and Artist.
