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The Second Half of Fantasian Releases August 13

Video games 3 Responses » Tagged with: fantasy life, rpg

Aug 112021

The first half of Fantasian, the new turn-based JRPG from Mistwalker, came out on Apple Arcade earlier this year, and now the second half is almost here.

Fantasian will be updated with part 2 this Friday, August 13.

While the first part of Fantasian was described as being more story-driven, the second half is described as being quest-driven.

As far as I know, this will be the conclusion of the game. It was always discussed as a two-part release.

Part 2 will have 40-60 hours of content, new areas and music, and new gameplay features, including the ability to swap party members in and out of combat. Two trailers for the second part were revealed alongside the news, a story trailer and a gameplay features trailer.

I keep hoping Fantasian will be ported to another system, but if not, I’ll need to wait on this intriguing JRPG until I have a device that can run Apple Arcade.

Did you play the first half of Fantasian? Are you looking forward to the second? And do you think there’s any chance of a port? Let me know!

Fantasy Life: Cute, Charming, and Addictive

Reviews, Video games No Responses » Tagged with: fantasy life, rpg

May 082015

Let’s talk about Fantasy Life.

As an RPG created by Level-5 with music by Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy fame, Fantasy Life sounded like a dream come true from the moment I first heard of it. Even better, while I mainly know Level-5 from the Professor Layton series, I was already familiar with the Fantasy Life concept. Professor Layton and the Last Specter included an RPG side game called Layton’s London Life, which let Level-5 test the framework they’d eventually use for Fantasy Life.

But while Layton’s London Life was simple, Fantasy Life is not. You might find yourself overwhelmed at the start, especially if you have an aversion to open-world games, like I do. Fantasy Life isn’t open-world, but has a structure somewhat like the first Xenoblade Chronicles–large areas to explore with numerous side areas, a constant stream of side quests, and a story that unlocks new areas as you advance.

Yes, a story. Between exploring, completing side quests, and completing challenges for each Life, it’s easy to lose track of the story entirely. Once you settle down and follow the plot quests, however, it does have a definite story. It may not be the deepest story by RPG standards, but it’s cute, with some genuinely interesting moments.

Some players may be put off by the sheer amount of dialogue in the game, especially when the story doesn’t seem to be the major focus. Even though I love plot-heavy games, there were times I got a little annoyed and just wanted them to shut up. The story’s humor and sense of charm, however, were enough for me not to mind too much.

Combat is fairly basic. It’s an action RPG system with a basic attack and a couple special attacks. As you progress the story or a Life, you gain allies you can invite to join your party. You can also invite your pets. Two party members can be with you at a time, and as your friendship increases by spending time together, they become more inclined to use their own special attacks. Your character will level up, and each level will let you distribute points to increase your various stats.

The Life system is one of the game’s strongest points. You Life is more or less your class or job, and you can switch between them whenever you want. Each comes with challenges that let you level up, and they vary based on Life. For example, a Paladin might have a certain type of enemy to defeat, while a Cook would need to prepare a certain meal. My only criticism of the Life system is that I found the crafting Lives to be a little tedious. I preferred the ones that sent me out into the world to fight enemies, mine gems, chop down trees, etc. On the other hand, if there’s a Life you don’t find enjoyable, you can just ignore it.

That was another marketing point of the game, that you could be any Life you wanted. You can complete the entire story as a Tailor if you want. The main campaign doesn’t force you into any battles you couldn’t win as a non-combat Life, so it’s possibly to play without fighting.

Completionists, however, will want to try everything, and Fantasy Life is a completionist’s dream. It is extremely addictive, especially if you’re exploring or working on quests. I got tired around the 60-hour mark, but players who want to max out every Life and complete every side quest have reported 100-200 hours of playtime. Fantasy Life will never leave you with nothing to do.

I haven’t completed the Origin Island DLC expansion yet. I started it, but decided to take a short break in order to play another game. When I return to Origin Island, I may review it separately if it’s long enough.

As far as the main game goes, however, check out Fantasy Life if you’re looking for a lighthearted RPG adventure with tons of stuff to do.

Buy Fantasy Life from Amazon
Buy Fantasy Life from Play-Asia

Looking Ahead to Fantasy Life

Video games No Responses » Tagged with: fantasy life, rpg

Aug 182014

In the final part of my overview of E3 2014, I mentioned a game I was very happy to see receive a localization announcement, one of the games I already pre-ordered, Fantasy Life.

Fantasy Life is a role-playing game for the 3DS. It was developed by Level-5, the creators of the Professor Layton series (among others, like Dark Cloud and Ni No Kuni). Development was aided by 1-UP Studio (previously Brownie Brown, which worked on Mother 3, Sword of Mana, Magical Starsign, Layton’s London Life, Super Mario 3D Land, among others) and h.a.n.d. (Final Fantasy Fables, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and The World Ends With You Solo Remix, among others). Nintendo is the publisher. Nobuo Uematsu is handling the music, which is awesome.

We’ve got an interesting crew behind this, then. Fantasy Life’s graphics just scream “Level-5” at me, and the trailers suggest it will have the same sort of charm common to their games. 1-UP seems to have a knack for cooperating with other developers on small RPGs. While it’s by no means the biggest name in their history, they also worked on London Life, the small RPG included with Professor Layton and the Last Specter in the Japanese and North American versions.

London Life was described from the start as a test for the framework of Level-5’s upcoming Fantasy Life. Even though life sims aren’t really my thing, London Life’s RPG nature and use of Layton characters won me over, so I was interested in Fantasy Life from the start. (Another one? Do I need to reconsider an entire genre?)

h.a.n.d., meanwhile, seems to work with small/spin-off RPGs and co-develop more major RPGs.

Fantasy Life isn’t a major RPG on the scale of Final Fantasy, but it isn’t a mild adventure in a city like Layton’s London Life. What exactly is it?

Maybe the announcement trailer will help. At the very least, it will remind you who the composer is and show you those adorably Layton-esque graphics.

In Fantasy Life, you choose a class, or “life,” which gives you certain skills and bonuses. You’ll be able to switch to a new one if you want to, while keeping skills from the previous ones. This is reminiscent of Job systems from Final Fantasy, expanded to involve the life sim elements as well as combat.

You also fight monsters and engage in traditional RPG activities.

A new trailer was released today, so let’s take a look. Note, Fantasy Life releases on October 24 in North America. The September 26 date given in this trailer is for Europe.

This trailer shows more of the lives and gameplay, and highlights how switching between different lives works.

It also emphasizes that you will “explore Reveria far and wide,” making it clear this isn’t life London Life where you have a single city to deal with. Exploration is fantastic. I hope it isn’t open world, but I’m afraid it will be. (Update: it isn’t.)

This trailer reminds us of the more epic RPG aspect by suggesting you’ll save the world. It also shows a decidedly Layton-esque creepy tower. Then it focuses on multiplayer, which is great, but doesn’t really matter a lot to me.

If this were Professor Layton, I’d bet it moves, too.

Now, Fantasy Life has been out in Japan since December 2012, so there are more details out there if you dig around. It has a plot with party members and new areas, although there are so many things to do on the side, it’s easy to be distracted from it. You don’t have to play as the combat classes if you prefer not to fight, so it’s actually possible to complete the story without battling.

I really couldn’t find solid details on what the story is, other than “charming.” However, there are a ton of quests and sidequests, and enough stuff to drive completionists to madne–uh, keep completionists busy for a while.

So, what do you think? Do you plan to play Fantasy Life this October?

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