Games Happy

Fantasy Life on Nintendo 3DS was my most performed sport on the system and one in every of my favourite video games of all time. Again then, a pal of mine offered me on the thought of taking part in it by saying it was like Remaining Fantasy XIV meets Animal Crossing. I loved it a lot that I imported the soundtrack, and I additionally requested a pal of mine to assist me discover the Japanese-exclusive guidebook. Fantasy Life made me a Stage-5 fan to the purpose the place I finally purchased each single sport they launched on 3DS and DS. I by no means thought I might get to expertise a sport like that once more, with the way it appeared to completely cater to what I loved doing in an MMO, but in addition one which by no means careworn me out. 

Now, over a decade later, a real follow-up has been launched with Fantasy Life i: The Woman Who Steals Time. True to its identify, the sport has basically ‘stolen my time’ with over 75 hours performed throughout numerous platforms in lower than two weeks. In truth, I actually have this sport now arrange on each display screen in my house, so I can boot it up from wherever in my home or play it on a conveyable once I’m outdoors. I am nowhere near having my fill of Fantasy Life i, and I can see myself getting nicely over 100 hours extra out of it earlier than even pondering of future updates and the free DLC. 

If you happen to’re new to this collection, it excels in the way it blends parts of MMORPGs with enjoyable life simulation video games. Fantasy Life i well builds on the unique 3DS sport with new mechanics, high quality of life enhancements, and a plethora of methods that synergize with one another with out feeling overwhelming. In truth, I am shocked Stage-5 managed to nail this, as a result of it is arduous to think about a sport with such a mix of methods not crumbling below its weight someplace. Stage-5 calls Fantasy Life i a “slow-life RPG”. I positively see that, however I used to be shocked at how free type it was with how one can mainly do no matter you need, everytime you need.  

There’s some construction for the primary story and the way it gates some content material and mechanics, however I have been enthusiastic about how the opening chapters of the primary story function the sport’s tutorial. Fantasy Life i may be very a lot a sport the place you may simply spend days fishing or mining as an alternative of even partaking in the primary story or any fight. Are you a fan of crafting in MMOs, however not the fight side, Fantasy Life i has an NPC system that permits you to construct your individual celebration so you may concentrate on what you’re keen on. Are you the form of one that loves checking off to-do lists and exploring lots? Fantasy Life i will probably be your dream sport. 

Often, I might be speaking about the way you comply with a particular gameplay loop in a life simulation RPG, however with Fantasy Life i, there are a number of units of gameplay loops you’ll be following to some extent. After starting the story and selecting your top quality or Life, you comply with a brief tutorial, after which you might be left to your individual gadgets. While you’re initially restricted from exploring in all places, there’s a lot you are able to do by way of gathering, looking, facet quests, and extra.

Fantasy Life i is a sport geared toward a youthful viewers, however it doesn’t dumb issues down. I might go as far as to say it completely encapsulates what I like about Nintendo’s method to video games like Animal Crossing: New Leaf and handheld RPGs on the 3DS, whereas ensuring there’s sufficient complexity throughout its many modes for many who wish to sink their enamel into one thing meatier. 

Whereas the narrative or primary story content material is not something mindblowing, it ended up sticking with me lots by way of its well-written characters and shockingly good cut-scenes. Fantasy Life i makes good use of Unreal Engine for some attractive results and framing in cut-scenes that I did not anticipate.

With out stepping into any main spoilers, Fantasy Life i has you transferring between three totally different main areas. The primary is the preliminary island you’ll spend most of your time in. That is the place you entry the numerous masters in your numerous Life courses and largely the place you will expertise the primary narrative. As you progress by way of mentioned story, totally different islands change into accessible with their very own NPCs and Life courses you may unlock. 

The second space is the place you may design your individual island, have entry to multiplayer, and spend time with the numerous NPC celebration members you recruit by way of the primary story and exploration. This space feels very very similar to Animal Crossing: New Horizons with how one can terraform it to your liking, enhance it, and even attempt to increase the general score to earn rewards. Considering again on how I used to be offered on Fantasy Life 3DS with “Remaining Fantasy XIV meets Animal Crossing“; the comparability hits much more strongly now.

Fantasy Life i’s third space is an open world known as Ginormosia that additionally occurs to be the sport’s largest space. Whereas I initially thought it was a bit an excessive amount of like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s open world with towers to activate across the map and shines, Fantasy Life i well makes it in order that you’ll all the time have new cases of sure occasions happening, starting from battling monsters, merchandise gathering, and even witnessing recreations of The Tortoise and the Hare with this sport’s monsters. You do all of this to earn space factors that allow you to increase mentioned space degree. 

Elevating an space degree in Ginormosia makes the enemies stronger, however it additionally makes the loot higher. This is applicable to the extent of gathering factors, bosses, treasure chests, and extra. Whereas I believed it is perhaps annoying doing this for a number of areas in Ginormosia, it solely actually felt like a grind to hit a few of the greater ranges. I view Ginormosia as the proper place to spend time with mates in multiplayer or whereas listening to a podcast. It’s loopy to me that Fantasy Life i manages to combine not just a few parts from video games I get pleasure from, however ship what looks like three totally different full video games along with all the things working in tandem to make me wish to spend all my free time right here. 

I’ve not spent a ton of time with each single Life right here. In video games like this and even Monster Hunter, I concentrate on a number of I get pleasure from and follow them. In Fantasy Life i, I ended up sticking to 1 fight class (Magician), alongside the entire gathering and crafting courses. Farming is the one one I anticipated extra from in comparison with the remaining. Along with simply having a ton to do throughout the facet quests, optionally available dungeons, bosses, numerous tiers of enemies, Fantasy Life i additionally has totally different talent timber for every Life, large units of Life quests to finish so you may increase your rank, and extra. I additionally love that you would be able to quick journey to your life grasp immediately from the life-changing menu.

On paper, it’d look like Fantasy Life i is more-or-less an enormous guidelines sport, and when you might cynically scale back it to only that, it excels in the way it continuously sprinkles one thing new onto the participant. I can not think about anybody can have skilled even a tenth of the number of content material obtainable in Fantasy Life i till at the least thirty or forty hours into it. 

I additionally wish to spotlight how far forward the builders thought with the assorted in-game methods. When exploring a dungeon in multiplayer or by yourself, you would possibly run into ore or timber in a room with enemies you have simply cleared. Usually, you’d manually swap your Life to a gathering one right here. In Fantasy Life i, the brand new fast change system routinely swaps to the right Life (in the event you’ve unlocked it and completed the tutorial) so you may collect and instantly swap again while you press the assault button.

The launch expertise for Fantasy Life i has additionally been a delight. When the unique Fantasy Life on 3DS was launched in North America in 2014, the sport had already been launched in Japan practically two entire years earlier. English gamers might virtually lookup something they obtained caught on from gamers who put in a ton of time within the Japanese model. With Fantasy Life i, due to a simultaneous launch, everyone seems to be on the identical taking part in discipline, it has been unbelievable discovering new issues each day. Even the sport’s subreddit is continually discovering out new methods to search out particular objects or become profitable in-game. This group side provides to the Fantasy Life i expertise. I normally get up to messages from mates telling me they raised a degree in Ginormosia to the utmost degree and that we must always discover a bit and even go into the Treasure Grove dungeons, as a result of they obtained a particular dungeon prepared for multiplayer.

Talking of multiplayer, Fantasy Life i just isn’t a sport you play with mates to undergo the story. In truth, it’s best to consider the multiplayer as one thing to concentrate on as a break from the story or within the post-game when you find yourself grinding your technique to 100% completion. In its present state, the multiplayer has dramatically improved for the reason that nineteenth when the sport’s Digital Deluxe Version was unlocked to the purpose the place nearly all my complaints have been addressed. I am not a fan of the cut-off dates in place for multiplayer classes, however all the things else works brilliantly.

We not too long ago had Elden Ring Nightreign and Monster Hunter Wilds launched as huge multiplayer experiences. The previous has no cross-play or cross-progression, which is extremely disappointing after the large success of Elden Ring. The latter gives cross-play, however not cross-progression. As somebody who performs on a number of platforms, I might have beloved to have Elden Ring Nightreign let me play on Steam Deck after which come house to select up my progress and play with mates on PS5. I have not spent an excessive amount of time with Monster Hunter Wilds on Xbox for a similar motive. I am tons of of hours into my PS5 save, and I’d love to hold that over to play on Xbox within the different room.

With Fantasy Life i, Stage-5 delivered a mammoth RPG that ships with each cross-platform on-line multiplayer help and cross-progression. I have been taking part in the sport throughout all consoles and Steam, bringing my progress with me with none points. Stage-5 already had this in place for Megaton Musashi W: Wired, however I am very glad to see it in Fantasy Life i particularly. With the ability to play on Steam Deck or Swap when outdoors the home after which come house to select up my progress on PS5 or Xbox is unbelievable. Fantasy Life i has joined the likes of No Man’s Sky, Spelunky, and Monster Hunter Wilds as part of my “At all times” folder, which incorporates video games I wish to all the time have put in. 

Having performed Fantasy Life i on a number of platforms, the PC model on Steam is by far my favourite. This is not to say that the sport is dangerous on console, however the Steam model is the one one that permits you to disable the depth of discipline blur across the edges of the display screen, for some motive. Barring that, Stage-5 has accomplished job on console with its DualSense options and Exercise Playing cards help on PS5 with tremendous quick loading and even rumble on Nintendo Swap. Enjoying Fantasy Life i is my favourite technique to expertise it, by far. I coated the Swap and Steam variations already right here, and will probably be revisiting that article once I play the Swap 2 model.

The 3DS was such a novel system with its exclusives that I’ve all the time lamented what number of of these franchises suffered when transferring from the dual-screen setup to single-screen HD platforms through the years. Even Bravely Default II, an incredible sport in its personal proper, did not translate the unique sport’s aesthetic nicely sufficient to fashionable shows. I nonetheless get pleasure from taking part in it, however additionally it is fairly ugly in some ways. Fantasy Life i someway managed to ship a sport that appears glorious on excessive decision screens, but in addition one which retains the appeal of the unique. Being constructed on Unreal Engine, I anticipated some tech points, however the sport does an incredible job of working completely on PC, retaining the collection’ aesthetic, and making full use of contemporary results in its cut-scenes with out trying disjointed. 

Fantasy Life i does not have full voice performing, however is partially voiced with each English and Japanese choices obtainable. You hear some NPC shout-outs throughout fight & exploration, and a few of the primary story scenes are voiced, however it feels considerably much like Animal Crossing on this regard. I am in two minds about this, however my solely actual concern is that a few of the scenes I anticipated to be voiced weren’t.

Shifting on from voice performing, Fantasy Life i’s soundtrack is a mixture of older and newer tunes. The unique sport’s soundtrack from Nobuo Uematsu may be very a lot current right here in related scenes, together with battles, particular areas, dungeons, and extra. The brand new songs match proper in, however I admit that I hoped for extra new music. This won’t be a difficulty for a newcomer to the collection, although. There are moments the place the music breaks from the cutesy aesthetic to ship a grand orchestral really feel in particular boss battles, and listening to a type of songs when you find yourself chopping a boss tree by no means stops being humorous.

I’ve praised Fantasy Life i lots, however it is not excellent. I am glad that the sport does not power mounted digicam motion, however the digicam has some points in particular scenes. This makes figuring out factors of curiosity within the distance in Ginormosia a bit annoying. Truthfully, that is my solely largest concern with the sport proper now. The primary story is not some superb narrative, however I do not wish to spend all my time in a sport like this watching cut-scenes or being railroaded into one thing. The characters are well-written, and the English script is certainly a spotlight. 

Even after posting many articles overlaying the sport over the months, I simply could not think about that Fantasy Life i’d stay as much as the reminiscences I had of the unique sport. It had the herculean job of being a sequel to one in every of my favourite video games of all time and being the primary huge sport I performed after finishing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. By some means, Stage-5 smashed it out of the park. It will get my highest potential suggestion.

Even practically two weeks after launch and having spent at the least a number of hours on Fantasy Life i each day, if no more, it does not really feel actual. I suppose I’ve change into so jaded with how folks discuss “Dream Video games” that I simply by no means actually was capable of have that feeling myself till now, apart from some remake bulletins. Stage-5 delivered a sport that I really adore and stay up for taking part in for a few years alone and with mates. I do know it won’t be for everybody, however Fantasy Life i looks like a sport made particularly for me, and one which continues to shock and delight me each time I play it. 

After I take into consideration remakes or remasters of traditional video games, I’ve all the time puzzled how builders steadiness accessibility for contemporary audiences whereas nonetheless attempting to fulfill the needs of authentic followers. Earlier than not too long ago revisiting the 3DS sport and ultimately taking part in Fantasy Life i, I had this grand image painted in my head in regards to the authentic. It’s humorous trying again now that Fantasy Life i has managed to not solely ship one in every of my favourite video games in years, but in addition stay as much as my nostalgia.

Fantasy Life i looks like assembly a pal after a decade and experiencing firsthand how they’ve grown and flourished in life after some ups and downs. I do not understand how Stage-5 managed to do it, however Fantasy Life i’d simply be one in every of my favourite video games of all time, and one I can all the time depend on to enhance my temper. It completely captures what made the unique nice, builds on it, and delivers a huge RPG that oozes appeal in each aspect. 

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