Fantasy Life, it’s fantastic here!

Last week I wrote in my blog about the start of my Fantasy Life in English after having had my first adventure in Japanese. I suspected then that this might just be the game of the year for me, and after playing it for a week, I decided an update was in order.

This game is getting better and better for me. I love how you can play it together with friends, and though you play the same game, each can play it in their own style because of the jobs you have chosen. I have chosen to be a magician first and the alchemist after that, purely so that I could stock up on potions. And because I had picked up so many carrots and milk and such, I was a cook to make some money. To make use of all resources during my quests, I was a miner after that. Because when you’ve mastered the jobs, you can use your pickax as well as your magicians staff when you travel, no matter what uniform you wear. And you level up in both jobs too!
Although the overall reviews on the Internet for the game have been great, I have seen some reviews that were mediocre. I guess it all depends on what you expect from the game. If you expect a hardcore RPG, where you level up a party of your own by battling every enemy you come across, making use of the best qualifications every member in your party has, polishing them until they couldn’t get any better, then this is not the game you want. And in the same way, if you just want to cook and farm and decorate your house like in Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing, then I doubt this game will satisfy you in the end. Because the cooking and making furniture consists more of a mini-game that reminds me of a sort of rhythm game, and it can’t get you through the main storyline. You do have to do some fighting.
I would almost say this game isn’t easily compared to others. The only comparison that comes close is Rune Factory, but even that isn’t spot on. The story is good, yes, it has a lot of text, but I like it when a story has a bit of body. It never gets repetitive, you can chose your own style of playing and your own pace. You can roam around with your companions ( your pets and your in game friends) as much as you like, or go as quickly through the story as you want. And the social feature is very good.

I think I’ll be moving house soon, I’ve made some nice furniture as a carpenter and took another pet ( an orange parrot) and we really need a bigger house in the country, but first I need to finish chapter three in the Tales of Lunares. This game will keep me occupied for a long time to come!