Fantasy Life is an action RPG developed by Level-5. The key gimmick to this game is the twelve different classes that you can pick, which are referred to as Lives. While you have to pick a life upon starting the game, you can change your Life any time afterwards and still be able to keep the skills that you have learnt. Therefore, you can chop wood or mine even while as a Paladin, or cook while as a Blacksmith. The game is set in the world of Reveria. As the character, you start off in the city of Castele, which is actually of a fairly large size that spreads over multiple screens. This is because here is a building for each of the Life classes that act as headquarters, as well as a bunch of shops. Furthermore, you start off living in the attic of a house but are able to move into larger buildings and decorate them with items. The game has colorful graphics and although there is a 3D effect, it’s not very strong or impressive compared to other games.
The story has you waking up on the day that you have to select your Life. You meet a talking butterfly along the way, named Flutter, and together you end up investigating the Doom Stones that has been falling down on Reveria. This will naturally spiral off into its own chain of events that carry you along for the ride. The story is very structured in that you’ll complete a bunch of quests that introduce you to the new area, and then you’re sent off to the next place to find treasures that’ll help with the Doom Stone issue. It never gets that intense or complicated, which makes it a casual easy game. The combat in the game is really simple since it’s pretty much mashing a button to hit enemies. Holding down the button will allow you to execute learnt skills, including special attacks. You may also block if you equip a shield. Since it is real time combat, you can run around and kite stronger monsters to slowly chip them down. The game encourages exploration at your own pace with big open areas filled with enemies and stuff to pick up. The game has a lot of unique items that you can gather, sell and use to fulfill quests. Enemies will respawn whenever you change areas, which can be a bit annoying, especially in the unique dungeons. These dungeons usually hold decent treasure as well as stronger bounty monsters.
The key draw here are the multiple Lives and the tons of fetch quests that accompany them, which is better than it sounds. There are three main sets of quests in the game: one is for the main story, one is related to your Life class, and the third one relates to random quests from the townspeople. These will all involve either killing a number of monsters or obtaining a number of items. Completing the ones for the story will increase your Bliss Level which unlocks nice perks such as extra bag space, while completing the ones related to your Life class will increase stats that helps that Life. Once you’ve picked your life at the beginning of the game, you’ll play through the introductory quest. Afterwards though, you’re free to change Life at any time with no penalties. This is great if you wanted to check out one of the other Life classes, especially since you can use their abilities for any Life later on. However, this also means that the game is easy on the whole since it is designed to be able to be completed no matter what Life you choose, even if you choose a non-combat Life.
There is a quick travel system that requires in-game money to use. This isn’t too bad but money is a bit harder to come by, especially if you want to buy a bigger house for your character to stay in or if you want to keep up to date with equipment. Travelling back home is easy and free, it’s travelling to other cities or areas that are more cumbersome as you need to go to designated points and pay in-game money. Eventually, you’ll be able to add up to two NPCs to your party and assist you in fighting. They automatically leave the party during story quests as those have their own party members that join. To form your party, you have to find the character (who are always in their same spot) and then manually add them, which is cumbersome.
Combat-wise, the ending is going to disappoint. However, story-wise, and the game gets pretty good in the last few chapters as the big fetch quest finally comes to an end and you learn a few things about this world. It’s interesting and holds a lot of potential, but doesn’t go far enough to fulfill that potential. There’s quite a bit of post-game left, including harder dungeons, as well as all the other dungeons you were forced to skip earlier on due to the powerful monsters. That isn’t to mention checking out all the other Lives and their mini-games and short sub-stories. Completing the story only takes around 10-15 hours, but it’s all the other optional things you can do that will rack up the time.
Overall, Fantasy Life is a fun game where you can chill and yet still make a lot of progress. It’s the perfect balance of a more casual action RPG, but has enough going for it to still be addictive. The various Lives are a unique idea, although since the game is designed that any Life can beat it, you might end up only trying out a few once or twice before going back to your favorite one. The story and game has a slow beginning, but picks up from around midway. Even though it’s a gigantic fetch quest, it is interesting enough, and the characters and visuals are charming enough, to take you through the time it takes to beat the story.
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