Fantasy Life Review

This is my first time writing a blog for a game. My reason for doing this is because this is a wonderful game yet there are not much hype for it. I have just clocked over 160 hours into it and in the final stages of the game. Hopefully I can commit time into writing my review and guides for this game. For starters, let's start with some introduction of the game.

Title: Fantasy Life
Platform: 3DS
Developer: Level 5
Genre: RPG
Release Date: Oct 2014 (US)
DLC: Origin Island

To start off, Fantasy Life is one of the best RPG I have played over the years. I am new at this and English is my second language. So bear with me..

1.0 Storyline
The story is about a hero/heroin on a quest to save Reveria (the world) from impending destruction. The story is quite straightforward and suitable for people of all ages. The content is mild and filled with humors. The dialogues are very well written and there are numerous funny conversations along the way.

The only downside is that there are 6 chapters only associated with the main story. The chapters themselves are considerable short so skipping contents/cutscenes/dialogues will only make it shorter. Mashing on the A button to skip dialogues and scenes are not advisable as the contents are quite good and funny. However, this is compensated with the various side contents of this game which can be a huge time sink.

2.0 Game Features

2.1 Lifes
Lifes are considered as jobs or professions that the players can take. There are 12 lifes in the game. It is mainly divided into Combat , Gathering and Crafting lifes. The game allows player to change into any lifes anytime throughout the game without penalty. For example, you would still be able to use wizard skills even though you suddenly decided to change into a miner later. The game is so flexible that you can even complete the game with a gathering or crafting life. However, it is advisable to take up a combat life and mixed in a few other lifes in it.

Combat Lifes
For combat lifes, they are divided into Paladin, Mercenary, Hunter and Wizard. Combat lifes focused purely on mob hunting. Each class has their skills and gears.

-Paladin uses a sword and shield which allows balance between offensive and defensive play style.

-Mercenary uses a two hand great sword which focuses purely on offensive skills.

-Hunter is a ranged class that uses bow. There are different arrows with different effects.

-Wizard is a ranged class that uses wands. There are 4 elements at disposal: fire, water, wind, earth

Gathering Lifes
Gathering lifes focuses on harvesting materials all over Reveria. The materials are located in specific locations of maps and the diversity is quite impressive. The available lifes are miner, woodcutter and angler.

-Miner focuses in mining ore and shards. These materials are used in crafting especially for blacksmith.

-Woodcutter focuses in felling trees. These materials are used in crafting especially for carpenter

-Angler focuses in fishing. Fishes can appear in pond, lakes, lava, sand and even cloud. These materials are used for cooking and some other crafting recipes.

Crafting Lifes
Crafting lifes focuses in processing raw materials obtained from gathering lifes, pick-upsand monster loot to craft gears, items, and even furniture.

-Blacksmith deals with ore and metal works. The equipments produced are mostly for paladin, mercenary, blacksmith, tailor, miner, and cook

-Carpenter deals with wood. The equipments produced are mostly for wizard, hunter, angler, woodcutter, and carpenter. Furniture are also produced by carpenter. They are used to decorate your house.

-Tailor deals with fabrics. The equipments produced can be worn by most of the class. Tailor can also produced decorations used for your house.

-Alchemist deals with herbs, monster loot and a combination of various materials. Alchemist is able to produce potions, equipment for alchemist and accessories. 

-Cook deals with food and requires a lot fish from angler. The food prepared by Cook offers temporarily boost in status.

2.2 Status
The game has Str, Vit, Int, Focus, Dex, Luk. These stats have different effects on different jobs. Each parameter can go be assigned up to 100 max excluding equipment bonuses (DLC required). They can be reset anytime once the main story is completed. Max level with DLC unlocked is 200. Every level up will grant 2 stats point while every 10th level up will grant 3 stat points.

Str improves sword attacks, mining, and woodcutting.
Vit improves carpentry, blacksmithing and defense.
Int improves magic and alchemy.
Focus improves fishing and cooking
Dex improves bow skill, dagger skill and sewing
Luk improves rate of critical hits and rare drops (unconfirmed but seems like true to me).

2.3 Housing
Players are able to decorate their house with furniture, doormats, wallpaper and trophies. These houses are obtainable once the required fees are paid. Players can own more than 1 house and put pets inside it. 

2.4 Allies
These game allows online gameplay. Up to 2 friends can visit your world and play together with you over the internet or local wifi. If you prefer solo, there are a lot NPCs that can be invited into your party.


3.0 Technical Features

Graphic
Graphics are cute and vibrant. Colorful yet pleasing to eyes. However, the 3d function is a bit poorly implemented..

Soundtrack
This game certainly has one of the best soundtracks among 3ds games. I can't really describe it but it is as good (or even better than) as pokemon soundtracks.

Controls
Controls are easy to use and understand. There are no complicated movements or combo's in game. They are quite user friendly.

4.0 Summary
This is a must get game for RPG lovers. I would definitely give this a 9/10. The last point went into the fact that we need to purchase the DLC which is quite pricy.