Fantasy Life Review

What is Fantasy Life?

Fantasy Life is a breath of fresh air from the usual 3DS game that have been coming out lately, this title stays true to the JRPG genre while not only being enjoyed by the ‘Hardcore’ gamers that normally pick up this kind of game.  Like most JRPG’s this title has many routes that the player can follow to increase the enjoyability of the story.  But unlike the need of starting a new game to experience the story that is created through picking the other routes, Fantasy Life allows you to pick another route, or ‘Life’ as they are referred to as in game you can stop halfway through one Life and start a completely different Life.  This aspect allows players of the genre to fully enjoy the story and not be limited by what route they have chosen.

The Gameplay

The diversity of characters throughout Reveria as well as the tale they have to tell makes this game shine through with its narrative alone.  That being said its play style is quite unique with its multiple ways to do a task such as each Life allows you to do something that the other Life’s cannot do.  This could means that some Life’s are suited for combat but yield little money yet other Life’s allow you to create or scavenge various items such as fish or furniture which could be sold for a lot of money.  The character creation allows you to create your very own character that could look like anything you want due to the the depth that it goes into.

The Story

The story of this game is rather unique due to the way it allows the player to progress though it.  At first you will be playing through the main storyline which will take the player through each part of the land of Reveria, but inorder to go forward in this story you will need to pick a Life to proceed with.  Each Life has a vastly different story when compared to each of the other Lives.  While the main storyline progresses this will open up new areas to explore as well as let you progress forward with your own Life story.  To most people it may seem like an over load of story but due to the pacing that the story is given to you at, it will seem like a seamless transition between the stories.

Who is most likely going to enjoy this Game?

This game is targeted to a range of ages from a young demographic to an older audience due to the way this game is handled e.g. gameplay, story, crafting ect.  This is done by not over loading the player with information that they will need to remember thus allowing children to play and still be able to follow the story but without dumbing it done so that adults won't feel bored while playing it.  As well as the gameplay being relatively simple compared to most other JRPGs because it has the element of combat at near enough its simplest with each Life that deals with combat only using very standard type attacks and none over the top attacks but is still capable of making the player still feel like they have damaged the enemy.  The overall look of this game can be described as simplistic but with enough colour and depth so that it is not plain and boring.  The only people that I feel will not be able to enjoy the game to its fullest are people who seek a challenge or those who strongly dislike the JRPG genre in general.