Now Playing: Fantasy Life

I bought Fantasy Life on a recommendation from a friend. I had heard mixed things about the game, so I was slightly hesitant on picking it up. But I trust my friend’s judgement, so I decided I had nothing to lose. 8 hours in, what’s my consensus?

Honestly, I don’t have one yet. Fantasy Life is a huge game. I can tell I’ve just barely scratched the surface in terms of what it has to offer. The game is a life simulator, while simultaneously containing RPG elements — think Animal Crossing meets Skyrim, really. You can take on a variety of “Lives”, which are basically jobs from other RPG games. You can be everything from a Paladin to a Blacksmith to a Cook to a Tailor, and can switch your Life at your leisure.

By the way, “leisure” is the key word here. Fantasy Life is a very slow paced game. The comparisons I made to Skyrim are not far off. You can do whatever you want in this game, and not feel pressured to complete any particular objective. Want to fell a few trees as a Woodcutter, switch to a Craftsman, and then sell the furniture you end up creating? Go ahead. Want to go mining for materials, use those materials to craft some weapons, and then explore and kill monsters for bounties? Do it! It’s really up to you, and what’s great is that in comparison to games like Skyrim, there’s no overarching, urgent quest that’s waiting for you to hurry up and get the side quests done so you can get back to saving the world.

I’d say that’s one of Fantasy Life’s strong points. It’s truly a relaxing game. At first I was getting anxious at all the quests that I had to complete, but as I settled in and decided to take my time, I was able to enjoy it much more. I can always go ahead and speed through Mario and Luigi: Dream Team. Fantasy Life is a “stop and smell the roses” kind of game.

Also of note! You can create a dark skinned character in this game. I was so relived when I realized I could do that – I’m getting pretty sick of games that are touted as being “life simulators” deciding to forget about one of its demographics. (Animal Crossing, cough cough).

So, Fantasy Life, thus far, has been worth my time. I’m interested to see how it fairs in the long-term — whether the endgame becomes a grind, or if the game as a whole begins to feel repetitive. We’ll see!

Now Playing: Mario and Luigi – Dream Team

I’ve always been fond of the Mario and Luigi series. Superstar Saga exceeded my expectations as a kid, taking the standard turn-based RPG fair, and giving it that Red and Green plumber flair. I skipped Partners in Time — though I plan on going back to it one of these days — but Bowser’s Inside Story was one of my favorite DS games ever, with an indepth combat system, great spritework, and some pretty hilarious Bowser-banter. 

That being said, I was hesitant to try Dream Team. The general impression I got from review websites and the like were that there were way too many tutorials, and that the game’s cast of characters was weaker than those of previous entries. But I managed to nab the title at a steal of a price, so I had no qualms diving in and trying in and finding out whether these criticisms held any merit. 

So, 17 hours in, let’s address both of these issues, starting with tutorial overabundance. I can say that this isn’t an issue. After the first hour and a half of play, the tutorials reduced in frequency. And the ones that were there could be skipped, or introduced a brand new element not seen in previous Mario and Luigi games, so they obviously needed a bit of explanation. After hearing so many complaints of hand-holding, I was surprised how little hand-holding there actually was in the game. Sure, it’s not a particularly difficult entry in the series — it’s not Superstar Saga hard, that’s for sure — but the puzzles gave me the same sort of synaptic happiness I associate with Zelda games. 

As for weaker characters — I’m going to have to agree with this criticism, to an extent. There aren’t very many memorable cast members in this particular entry — the dialogue is entertaining enough, but isn’t as frequently laugh-out-loud funny as Bowser’s Inside Story. That being said, I believe this weakness is made up for by the character depth that Luigi gets in the game.

I’ve always been fond of Luigi. Green is my favorite color, and I’m the younger brother, like he is. And I’ve always felt that Mario is too much of an archytype to be very interesting. He’s heroic, and willing to save and help others…and that’s it. In contrast, Luigi has fears. He’s constantly undermined by his older brother’s heroism. It’s much easier to relate to and root for him as the underdog. 

This concept is built upon in Dream Team. Delving into Luigi’s dreams let’s us learn how much Luigi cares about his older bro. We see how he’s willing to face his fears and encompass the kind of person he believes he should be — as represented in the Giant Luigi battles. In these sections of the game, Luigi finally gets to protect Mario, as opposed to the other way around. The game made me like Luigi even more — especially impressive when you consider that he and his brother don’t have much in the way of dialogue, if at all.

That being said, the rest of the game is what you expect from the Alphadream-created series — exciting battles, a relatively interesting story, plenty of content to get through, and beautiful art. Probably the biggest inclusion I can think of besides the Dream World, is actually the 3D depth. Dream Team is actually one of the few games that I consistenly play with 3D turned on. Enemies frequently approach and attack from the back of the screen, and the added depth of field makes it much easier to gauge distance when jumping and using the hammer to counter attacks. 

So, if you were worried that Dream Team isn’t up to snuff with its previous bretheren, rest assured — while I wouldn’t consider the game as strong of an effort as Bowser’s Inside Story, there’s still a lot here to enjoy. Check it out if you enjoyed the other Mario and Luigi games.