The 3DS is the last iteration of Nintendo’s DS, serving as the last all-out handheld console, which hasn’t doubled as a traditional plug-and-play model. Depending on who you ask, it may not have been the best of the bunch, but one thing is for sure. He played the host of knockout hits.
One was Fantasy Life, a devilishly addictive JRPG created with affection, pose as a clone across an animal. But this was far from a cheap cash grab. The fantasy life of 3DS was an underrated gem.
Ultimately, this is why we marvel at the girl who finds ourselves today, upscaled and refined remake, Fantasy Life I: The Time Stealing Girl. Ultimately, it’s not just dragging existing stories, visuals, scores and gameplay into modern times. But these tweaks and changes make all the difference here.
This new, improved version, like its predecessor, threatens to do as the title suggests, and steal the precious free time you have. But the question remains, should you submit and pour hours into this previous handheld hit? Well, in short, yes. But stick to find out why.
JRPG Journeyman Approach
When we discuss the game as novel as this with the gameplay blueprint, it’s natural for us to jump straight in and explain what’s under the hood of this cozy JRPG.
Fantasy Life I’m not content that has led to a single world with a clear period of focus on one core gameplay mechanic or manipulation inside. Instead, they offer multiple worlds, each with very different activities from each other.
First of all, you have a work system. This is similar to leveling up various skills by crushing them into something like Runescape, not about combat classes in the way Final Fantasy presents work.
It’s MMO-esque in its approach, but it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming set of tasks, thanks to the story beats, random excursions, and the freedom to passively level up in each role while flying around over time, so it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming set of tasks, but it feels like a cross section of the handling you try.
However, these roles are only part of the framework. There is an island now. This feels like a town that crosses the typical animals that can build your own image, live in your favorite NPCs, develop your own creative talent and build your own image.
Fantasy Life I’m not content that has led to a single world with a clear period of focus on one core gameplay mechanic or manipulation inside. Instead, they offer multiple worlds, each with very different activities from each other.
It’s probably more than enough for the most greedy JRPG fans, but Fantasy Life also adds the exploration-based dungeons crawling into the mix, providing a Zelda-esque layer to this elaborate JRPG Trifull.
On paper, it feels like a “too many cooks” situation, but to continue the trivial analogy, all layers complement the other layers and create a very tasty arrangement.
Idol’s hands are the devil’s play
Just as the frameworks that make up core gameplay are very busy, so are you. It sounds daunting, but that’s exactly what you want from a game like this.
In most JRPGs, the initial novelty of learning each system is faded and locked, then the gameplay turns into a fairly repeated, predictable grind. But thanks to the diverse approaches of fantasy life, you will not perform one task for too long.
The infinite bounty of this task is what makes fantasy life so addictive.
In a few minutes’ space, you will join story missions, check plot points, mine ore, complete Job missions, fight bosses, complete daily life, hook fish, find strange forms, and eventually return to the island to human form.
The infinite bounty of this task is what makes fantasy life so addictive. Most games start by giving players an endless little victory to provide players with bursts of serotonin to injure our little rat brains.
But in the end, these games will drive you out and make you work hard for their little crumbs of joy. But merciless, fantasy life never happens.
But what stops this as the most threatening mountain is the fact that these tasks are not temporally critical, without failure states, allowing you to advance at a steady pace that suits you in the game.
Certainly, you hit the wall on a daily basis when you force the game to switch jobs to roles that correspond to other roles, such as the role of a blacksmith, build better gear towards combat roles and farmers’ roles, and allow you to replenish ingredients in chef roles.
But even so, there is never any pressure to play in a certain way. You can be involved in what you want when you want, and that’s all about a cozy game.
Great but basic
It is a game that offers a smolgas board with variations in activity and gameplay. To do that, you need to sacrifice detail and nuance. That’s the story of my fantasy life.
I would like to set up a stall out first and say that there is no problem with the rather basic nature of each aspect of gameplay. This is because you’re looking as a game as what you’re looking for when you’re tired of the depth and nuances of a bigger AAA adventure. But that still needs to be said, the instantaneous gameplay is a throw of stones that leaves you at all heartless.
Most of the work behavior is summarised into mashing buttons that drain the health bar. Craft actions are just Quicktime events, and quests other than the main story are basically a series of filler odd jobs and fetch quests.
This is something you would expect, but this simplicity is common in all aspects of game make-up. Combat is a typical example. Because it’s just a cheap imitation of last year’s top-down Zelda game. It has attacks, basic power-ups, and ability to dodge. It’s usable, but you’d expect from an average MMO.
Then you have a story. If you haven’t jumped into Fantasy Life I yet, you need a reference point. Imagine all the looting of JRPGs over the past 20 years, clench your fist and close it in a tight little wad. That’s essentially what you get from this title.
The biggest compliment that can give you a new version of this game is that it looks so good and it’s hard to believe it was originally a 3DS title.
Again, this isn’t enough to drive the fun, as the writing is solid and the combat simply acts as a means of ends. But if you’re on the fence and want a material-filled JRPG, this probably won’t protect your appetite.
Almighty Shine
For anyone who played the game’s predecessor of the same name, you’ll see that it was a game that looked and felt like a product made for the 3DS. The model and world were granular. The UI was designed for small screens, and everything felt a more jagged and clunky touch.
This is not something that bothers this new, improved version. This offers incredible visuals, hilarious scores, and many quality of life improvements that ensure that the return players feel like they’re playing something completely different.
The HDR fuel visuals make the game look and feel like a top-notch Chibi JRPG, evoking a Nintendo-style family vibe. The biggest compliment that can give you a new version of this game is that it looks so good and it’s hard to believe it was originally a 3DS title.
However, considering how much of the game has been changed and refined, it raises some of the decisions questionable. For example, the pace of the spells in the main quest.
There is a wide area where players enter caves and depths and explore deeper into the area, but once they finish what they’re doing, they need to go back all the way back as they came.
I’ve played Oblivion and Skyrim recently, so the looping dungeons are no surprising differences in contrast to the rooms. This is just one of the handful of small grips that this rework has managed to deal with.
The inevitable grind
I danced about topics as much as I could. You need to deal with the huge circles of the room. Do you get it because you grind with wet stone? Forget it.
Aside from medieval blacksmith equipment, fantasy life I’m a game where everything forces you to accept the grind from the word immediately, and your temperament for this will determine whether you have an atmosphere in this game.
As soon as you select a job, you will be led into an infinite loop of repeating tasks, rarely evolving beyond “Go here, collect this.”
However, it is clear that this is what the game is cooking from the outside. That’s not the problem I have with crushing. The problem I have is the speed of progression and lack of concrete rewards.
Certainly, you actually level up something every second and trigger a celebratory sound effect. Or defeat a large enemy and showcase your advantage in the battle along the way. However, it rarely shows anything other than a slightly full XP bar.
Your bags are daily filled with items and materials, but it is very difficult to identify what they are worth keeping and what they are worthy of. In many cases, bosses and quest rewards are quite hollow.
Then there is the fact that many of the craft and decoration aspects of the game that your island is concerned about are not available to you because of what feels like age.
I’m all looking for a steady progression from scratch to hero in JRPG. After all, that’s true in a nutshell to put it in a nutshell. However, this gatekeeping in this fantasy life feels unnecessary as it limits players’ freedom until the game is dozens of hours.
If you’re someone who really gets a kick from looking back at the monumental hours played to see how far you’ve come, this is definitely a game that gives you an overwhelming sense of satisfaction, pride and catharsis. But only if you are willing to get a job. It’s not a tough job, but there are certainly plenty.
Conclusion of comments:
Fantasy Life I: The Time Stealing Girl is a natural glow, made with love for one of the shining stars of the 3DS era. The visuals, scores and overall presentations have risen beyond recognition, but leave the original large ones unharmed. The mechanics and richness of gameplay through various islands and periods is an outstanding feature that makes endless shattering paletteable, and does not exceed the threshold that is considered boring while all the actions in the game are adjacent to the basics. It’s a typical cozy game worthy of its flowers, and for those who have long wanted a competitor across the true animal to relax from Nintendo’s grasp, it seems your wish has finally been given.
