Fantasy Life

 3DS
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 275 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 217 out of 275
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 275
  3. Negative: 19 out of 275
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  1. rubin
    Oct 27, 2014
    6
    Jack of all trades, master of none. That phrase probably best describes my thoughts when playing Fantasy Life. The game, advertised as a life sim, is actually a simple jRPG with an even simpler story. Fantasy Life's main strength lies in a vast, beautiful game world (by handheld standards) and addicting gameplay (if spite of it's simplicity). Multiplayer (online and wireless) is alsoJack of all trades, master of none. That phrase probably best describes my thoughts when playing Fantasy Life. The game, advertised as a life sim, is actually a simple jRPG with an even simpler story. Fantasy Life's main strength lies in a vast, beautiful game world (by handheld standards) and addicting gameplay (if spite of it's simplicity). Multiplayer (online and wireless) is also surprisingly fun, although the game's niche status means you probably won't get to experience it very often. Unfortunately, major design flaws prevent Fantasy Life from becoming something more than a fun little timewaster. The game supposed major selling point - 12 different character classes (standard ones like paladin or mage, but also woodcutter, miner, cook, tailor etc) - falls flat when you realize most of them are essentially clones. This is especially true for crafting classes like tailor and blacksmith, all of which use the same minigame for creating new items. Another big flaw - questing system, which is the standard kill&fetch fare most of us got bored off ages ago with their MMO of choice. Moreover, the questing rewards are often so pitiful that doing them is simply not worth the player's time. Third and final flaw I'd like to present is music, which is boring at best, and painful to listen to at worst (just search for the Main Menu music on YT to see what I mean). There is also a hefty amount of smaller flaws (like horses terrible controls), but to prevent this text from becoming needlessly long and nitpicky I'd like to end my review here.… Expand
  2. EZ4
    Nov 1, 2014
    7
    Fantasy Life is a well crafted TO-DO list game with a large and colourful world to explore. It is easy to pick up on the go and if you are a gamer capable of setting your own goals, the post-game in Fantasy Life can last you hundred of hours of quality entertainment.

    Graphically and musically, this game took the right direction. However the story falls flat and it is written for a    Fantasy Life is a well crafted TO-DO list game with a large and colourful world to explore. It is easy to pick up on the go and if you are a gamer capable of setting your own goals, the post-game in Fantasy Life can last you hundred of hours of quality entertainment.

    Graphically and musically, this game took the right direction.

    However the story falls flat and it is written for a younger audience. Everyone is good, everyone is happy, the humour is forced, all in all uninteresting from my perspective. This is not a bad thing, but hardly enjoyable for the mature audience in a game filled with blocks of texts.

    This title has a lot to offer, the cheerful amount of content is impressive but lacks in depth. Is it worth picking up? If you are a fan of sim-RPG games, absolutely! If you are expecting a deeper RPG aspect or do not like to read/skip through lots of dialogues, I suggest you pass on to the next game.    … Expand
  3. SylaxSYN
    Nov 1, 2014
    7
    Fantasy Life is an overall decent and fun game but suffers from terrible pacing. The story is rather minimal but everything is extremely long winded. You get locked into overly long dialog scenes constantly. And the worst offense to this the game does is in between story chapters. Before you can even progress in story, you're forced to go talk to several people which takes quite awhileFantasy Life is an overall decent and fun game but suffers from terrible pacing. The story is rather minimal but everything is extremely long winded. You get locked into overly long dialog scenes constantly. And the worst offense to this the game does is in between story chapters. Before you can even progress in story, you're forced to go talk to several people which takes quite awhile and doesn't have much of an impact on story. It's more of character progression for mainly non important characters.

    Constantly getting locked into long dialog scenes drastically hinders character/job progression as you play through the story. After just a few hours in the beginning you end up looking around for silver to forge new weapons, only to find that you have to progress the story in order to get to it. 2 hours later you finally can go make your weapons. It's the constant stop and start of progression that really makes trying to level up aspects of your character almost pointless. The story has no bosses in it. And the only bosses you encounter are ones on the fields or caves that are avoidable.(unless you need them for a life quest)

    However, if you enjoy grinding and maxing out all the jobs then end game is what you want. Once you finish the story you are free to go back and have complete freedom. I personally think it's too little too late and would have liked to have had much more freedom and much less unnecessary dialog.

    The visuals of the game are nice. Music is underwhelming considering it was done by Uematsu. Gameplay was simple, enjoyable and decent. The story was rather generic but the added flair of childish humor made it tolerable.

    All in all, good grinding game if you spam the A button all the way through the dialog.    … Expand
  4. Magus80
    Dec 31, 2014
    5
    I'll be up front here, I generally don't like open-world games as they often rely on repetition and quantity over quality of content so bear this in mind.

    Didn't find it charming as others claimed. There is an excessive amount of mediocre dialogues to wade through.and I found myself skipping the majority of them as they don't offer anything substantial. I didn't like the overall game    I'll be up front here, I generally don't like open-world games as they often rely on repetition and quantity over quality of content so bear this in mind.

    Didn't find it charming as others claimed. There is an excessive amount of mediocre dialogues to wade through.and I found myself skipping the majority of them as they don't offer anything substantial. I didn't like the overall game structure of managing your Lives because you basically had to run and forth back to your guild to switch between your Life. Combat is basic and clunky, controls border on frustration sometimes. I found myself slashing at empty air wasting few seconds when I wanted to harvest or mine or chop a tree which is annoying. The world is beautiful and interesting to explore but it's somewhat ruined by excessive fetch quests asking for mundane things.    … Expand
  5. alleycat_lady
    Dec 30, 2014
    7
    I honestly expected more. Fantasy Life kind of remind me games like Rune Factory or even the exploring and crafting aspects of WoW (not the multi-palyer aspect so much). It was cute and had gorgeous graphics, and the game engine was well-made. However, I was put off by the practically infantile dialogue. I understand that this game was supposed to be geared towards kids, but there's plentyI honestly expected more. Fantasy Life kind of remind me games like Rune Factory or even the exploring and crafting aspects of WoW (not the multi-palyer aspect so much). It was cute and had gorgeous graphics, and the game engine was well-made. However, I was put off by the practically infantile dialogue. I understand that this game was supposed to be geared towards kids, but there's plenty of well written games/shows for kids that are also entertaining to adults. I also think, like other posters, I was expecting a little more life sim and a little less JRPG. All that being said, it isn't a bad game (though slightly grindy). I just have to skip through most of the dialogue.… Expand
  6. Faphy
    May 29, 2015
    5
    Fantasy life is a story about you, a silent character with a butterfly companion that just won't shut up. I stop reading the game's story because each 4th phrase refers to the silly fact that a butterfly can speak. Almost every word is a pun to remind ous that we aren't the one talking to the NPCs but the butterfly is. You know when you want to talk about something in real life but thatFantasy life is a story about you, a silent character with a butterfly companion that just won't shut up. I stop reading the game's story because each 4th phrase refers to the silly fact that a butterfly can speak. Almost every word is a pun to remind ous that we aren't the one talking to the NPCs but the butterfly is. You know when you want to talk about something in real life but that annoying friend of yours just won't stop talking instead of you? Yeah that's what this whole game feels like. Fantasy life became a "Pressing the "A" button simulator" because I skip all the text and believe me there's allot of it. I feel like this game had potential but it didn't grasp it all. Also what's the point of choosing a life if you can do them all one after an other? It's like an MMORPG with less liberty.

    Nice things: Cute graphics/art style, nice locations but really typical ones (forest, desert, ocean places), I like the bounty idea, I like the special butterfly unlockables, nice overall idea and game concept.

    Bad stuff: The butterfly needs to shut up, when you chose a life it would be cooler to chose like 3 or 4 maximum and then make cool class combinations with them, the game feels repeatable, too much useless dialog (also I don't need to know when someone leaves or enters my party, really I don't care.)

    I bet everyone took a fighting class.    … Expand
  7. MidnaMoon
    May 26, 2017
    5
    The Cons
    90% of this game is cheesy and boring dialogue that isn't even a good story. For example there's nothing deep about it. All the characters are childish and nonsensical and just plain annoying. You can have a rated E game that isn't all butterflies and rainbows. Look at Paper Mario 2 for example, a very dark plot and some sass, but it still doesn't take away from the fun of the    The Cons
    90% of this game is cheesy and boring dialogue that isn't even a good story. For example there's nothing deep about it. All the characters are childish and nonsensical and just plain annoying. You can have a rated E game that isn't all butterflies and rainbows. Look at Paper Mario 2 for example, a very dark plot and some sass, but it still doesn't take away from the fun of the game. If your game is going to be so heavily reliant on the story at least make the story good or it seriously reduces replay value. Every chapter for example is just forced dialogue. You have to trigger the next scene by pressing A where the exclamation point is sure, but that's not really 'gameplay'.

    The Pros
    When you actually DO get time away from the constant monologue, the combat, crafting and exploring mechanics are enjoyable. I find many of the crafting things and things like fishing to be relaxing. You can master a generous amount of jobs. Creating your character is one of my favorite parts of the game however you sadly only get to create one character per file.

    All in All
    If you don't mind repeatedly smashing the B or A button thru countless walls of boring dialogue, and I mean there's a lot of it, Fantasy Life might just be for you. If you're impatient and hate when story writers sugar coat the darkness in the world you're less likely to enjoy it.
    5/10    … Expand
  8. tsdenizen
    Oct 31, 2017
    7
    Fantasy Life is adorable and packed with things to do, but taken individually, each "thing to do" is ultimately quite shallow. All crafting classes boil down to the same dull mini-game, mining and woodcutting are also the same, and the 4 combat classes managed to be both shallow and unbalanced in their usability. Still, despite all the issues with with depth it faces, Fantasy Life managesFantasy Life is adorable and packed with things to do, but taken individually, each "thing to do" is ultimately quite shallow. All crafting classes boil down to the same dull mini-game, mining and woodcutting are also the same, and the 4 combat classes managed to be both shallow and unbalanced in their usability. Still, despite all the issues with with depth it faces, Fantasy Life manages to be an overall pleasant experience due to its charm and polish, if an unessential one.… Expand
  9. sware86
    Feb 26, 2022
    6
    Very easy game, don´t need to do a job, the history is only go to a town and speak with NPC.
  10. grimreapersims
    Oct 27, 2021
    7
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Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Best 3DS Game of 2014
6
#6 Most Discussed 3DS Game of 2014
1
#1 Most Shared 3DS Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 51 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 51
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 51
  3. Negative: 1 out of 51
  1. CD-Action
    Jul 27, 2015
    85
    A great, addictive game that should please the fans of Animal Crossing, simple RPGs and Harvest Moon. [08/2015, p.79]
  2. DarkZero
    Apr 9, 2015
    100
    Despite this game more than likely being in a niche category to most people, it ends up being one of the best selections on the 3DS, and with all the great stuff you can do in it, it deserves all its praise.
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  3. GameCritics
    Feb 21, 2015
    75
    Ultimately, it may not have delivered as much variety as I was hoping for, but with the right expectations there's still a good amount of job-flavored questing to be had.
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