Gaming enthusiasts can’t have missed the fact that there’s the annual E3 in Los Angeles this week. And Nintendo fans were avidly waiting for the video conference yesterday, expecting all kinds of grand game announcements. They were not disappointed: Nintendo gave a stellar show, with humor, and with resounding titles. A new Zelda on WiiU, great news for Smash Bros fans, and a cute new Yoshi platformer that was a visual feast. There was one little tidbit of news that frankly interested me the most: Fantasy Life will be released in October 2014 in the USA! There is no news yet of a European release, but I guess that can’t be far away then.
Last week I wrote about this game in the category of “Never released in the West”. I’ve been playing that game on my Japanese 3DS every chance I get. And you know what? When the game is released in the West I will buy the English version too. Because the game is just that good, and having only a marginal understanding of Japanese, I miss too much of the conversations and the story of the game. Playing it in English will be like getting to know a friend just so much better!
What makes the game so unique is that you can assume different roles. The choice you make at the beginning isn’t set in stone though, and that’s what I like so much. Along the way you can change professions, literally at the drop of a hat. I’ve been a chemist, a soldier and now a cook. I had so much vegetables and plants that I had found in the wild, that I decided I might as well make good use of that and hone my cooking skills. And when I’ve had enough of that, I think I’ll turn back to being a soldier and go and slay some monsters. So you can complete the entire story taking on one role, but you don’t have to!
I think this game might just appeal to a lot of people. It offers a good RPG adventure with a mix of different jobs to do (like in Rune Factory) plus you get to decorate your own home like in Animal Crossing.
The game has good online and streetpass functionality, always a big plus for me, though I have yet to experience it for myself.
So, maybe you are blown away by all the big titles being announced, but I think you should really give this one a try next October!
