Did I ever say the game of the month has to be a new game? I’d have to look back at my game of the month blogs, but I don’t think I did ( nice to make my own rules here😆). A good thing too, as the game of this month is an oldie!
I writing this while I’m in the airplane, we are having a wonderful vacation traveling through the U.S. for a couple of weeks. We have 10 hours to kill from Amsterdam to Houston. And after a stop over for 5 hours we will fly on to Dallas. more then enough gaming time I’d say. Best to think back now to remember what games I played this month of June, before the holiday fun distracts me in the best of ways.
The first game I played was Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven, which was released at the beginning of June in the West. I’d already had a taste of the game in Japanese, and though I didn’t exactly know back then what they were talking about ( and there is a lot of talk in the game) I did like the fighting system. I don’t often actually finish a game, but Lord of Magna is all but finished, in about 25 play hours. Good fights, nice storyline, but the game feels as if it should have been so much more. All the background is there, the village with lots of character, a crafting system, a vast world map to practice battles on, even a bulletin board that’s perfect for requests. Yet, all of that is missing. You can indeed craft, but you hardly need to to advance in the story. And the villagers feature in the story in some way, but that’s all. It’s such a pity that the studio that started the game is bankrupt, because I’m sure that it would have been a grand game if it had been properly finished.
My second purchase this month was Popolocrois: a story of seasons Fairytale on the Japanese 3DS. I wrote about it a couple of days ago, and I think this could be a very enjoyable release in the West this winter. The game has RPG and farming, a nice story and lots to collect. While playing it I found that the translation is beyond me, the texts are partly in Kanji ( the Chinese looking signs). There’s lots of text too, so a lot of the story is escaping me, which is a pity. Nevertheless, I will keep on playing and enjoying the game, but I know I’ll enjoy it at its best a couple of months from now in English.
What Popolocrois did however for now, is to steer me back to an older favorite, Fantasy Life. Popolocrois reminded me of that, and I felt it was time to jump right back into the game where I’d left it. Having all these hours to spend gaming in the air has made me remember how much I enjoy Fantasy Life. The Tales of Lunares chapter can be very text heavy, I’ll admit. But doing all the different jobs leveling up, trying to cut down that one elusive tree or mining a rich but tough ore deposit really is fun to me.
So for this game of the Month June, I’m going for one of the oldies: Fantasy Life on the 3DS.
Yeah, Fantasy Life is a bit too text heavy. I feel that, during the single-player campaign, I read more than I played, but all the extra missions make up for that!
True, I was thinking that I hardly got to fight anywhere through the chapter, only go and talk to several people. But between the chapters it’s more then perfect. I only wish they’d included a job as a farmer.
Maybe on a sequel!
Here a 45 gamer agrees with you.
Actually a thought about replaying this game in summer, since my next “must buy” is Happy Home Designer and won´t be released until october. As Fantasy Life is such a great game and so long lasting I believe is a good idea to dive into its charms again.
Happy holidays !
I really enjoyed Fantasy Life. I got super side-tracked with all the different classes though, and ended up burning myself out. I’l have to give it another go sometime.
How far did you get in The Tales of Lunaris before you stopped playing? I’ve just done the mission to find the island in the sky.
I think the next thing I was supposed to do was travel to the second major city to the West.
Lots of gameplay ahead of you then!
I didn’t bother with Lord of Magna’s crafting system either, as it was rather clunky. Due to the studio’s financial problems the game feels a little unfinished, but it was fun none the less.
I agree, fun! And a pity they couldn’t expand the game with good crafting and interacting with the villagers. Did you manage the last battle? I am stuck there without Edouards healing powers!
My party was around level 50 when I tackled the final boss. I think I would have struggled without Ed’s heals. My main strategy was to have the girls fight and Ed skip turns so he would have enough AP to cast a heal whenever needed. In the penultimate fight I scraped by using restorative items.
Oh my, my party isn’t near as high as yours! Because I used the same modus operandi as you did, Eduourd healing and the girls fighting, I hardly needed to do any leveling up in random fights, and could only concentrate on my storyline. That cost me dearly in the end!