Since summer sees fewer game releases, it is a great time to revisit titles from our backlog, or even try out new titles we may have missed initially. These are the Games for Summer.
One game that certainly flew under the radar towards the end of 2014 was Fantasy Life for the 3DS. Although it was featured in few online advertisements, no one was particularly “aching” for its release. Considering that Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley and Fantasy Life came out a mere two weeks from each other, Fantasy Life surpassed the new Harvest Moon installment by leaps and bounds, capturing most of the series’ fans and surprising gamers everywhere.
Fantasy Life is catered to please Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and Rune Factory fans by taking a piece of each series’ most enjoyable gameplay elements. Combining classic Rune Factory combat, Animal Crossing home design and Harvest Moon farming skills, Fantasy Life is the quintessential simulator hybrid within its competitive genre.
Similar to most simulator titles, you are tasked with working towards one main goal while living within a small community. In order to achieve said goal, you must pick from a variety of 12 different classes which include chef, magician, hunter, alchemist, miner, mercenary and many others. Although picking your class seems like a large decision to make considering the multiple options, it is not. At any point throughout the game, players can switch their class and shift the entire focus of the game.
To my surprise, switching your class is encouraged. For once you do, the knowledge you learned remains, allowing you to utilize the skills and resources you gained from that specific class. For example, I enjoyed the chef class. I was able to level up and sell food for incredible prices. I later learned that seafood was the most profitable, yet the most expensive to buy materials for. So in order to create and sell the most profitable dishes, I changed my class to angler (fishermen), gathered fish from around the world, cooked them and sold them for extremely high prices.
Fantasy Life also has several home and property options. As the story progresses, you leave your small farm town, discovering tropical villages, desert kingdoms and other destinations. With these newly discovered territories, homes will become available for purchase, allowing you to own more than one home at a time. You are allowed to then customize your home with custom furniture, paint and flooring. My personal favorite portion of the home customization was choosing my own animal to adopt (either dog or cat). Every vendor I encountered selling pets, I bought one for one of my houses.
If you haven’t played it Fantasy Life already and are a fan of popular simulation games, you are completely missing out. Take these breezy, warm months and gather under the A/C vent and grind on this title, you will not regret it.
