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Fantasy Life Hands-on Preview #3

by Daan Koopman - September 15, 2014, 10:17 am EDT
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For our final preview, Daan looks at the jobs and all of their benefits.

Jobs are a central part of the experience in Fantasy Life. Sure, I touched upon them before in the previous previews, but now it’s time to dig deep. The jobs are the mechanic that makes this experience extremely long lasting. As much as the story and world matter, the gameplay found in Fantasy Life is what counts.

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Unlike other games where new jobs are something that you gain, Fantasy Life lets you freely bounce between them. At the start, you have to pick one to go through the tutorials. After those boring moments though, you are allowed to roam free and take on quests that are required for your current job. These are, early on, easy tasks and you don't have to give them much thought. As you progress, the quests become tricky, but remain straightforward at heart.

Completing these quests earns you stars that, in turn, allow you to upgrade your license. License upgrades are important to earn new skills and stat boosts. Each job has their own license and quest paths, but the best part of it all is that a majority of the important earned skills carry over from job to job. Some abilities run on a specific experience bar of their own and if you continue using said skills outside of their original job, you continue to grow them over time. You can still attack enemies with the weapons you are most happy with and gain experience to level up your own character, which runs on another experience bar entirely. The systems may seem too separated from one another, but they work very well in tandem.

The jobs are even more important than the story, as each one is quite unique. For example, as the Miner, you go on grand quests to find the shiniest rocks and rank up some sweet money for doing so. The further you get in the upgrade path, the more difficult ore rocks you must find. But maybe the Miner isn’t for you? Why not try your hand at being a Tailor? As a Tailor, you can earn skills like Sewing and Garment Tailoring, which doesn't seem like a lot, but you sure as hell look great while going on quests. Another neat one is Carpenter, which allows you to make your own furniture and brighten up all of the houses across all of Reveria.

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Each of the 12 jobs feels unique and different, even the unconventional ones based more on object creation than attack power. Even if you don’t like one, you can easily change your job. This takes a lot of frustration out of the game and makes it easier to create your own fun. Some players might just focus on one class, like I did with the Paladin initially because I was afraid of starting over with a new job. Luckily, once the initial prelude chapter is over, you can skip the tutorials for any future jobs. The ease of changing jobs put me on a long trail of job hopping that I’m still doing. I have now touched all 12 in one way or another and have enjoyed all of the different mechanics and twists. Each job wastes little time and quickly gets you to the fun stuff. Some jobs are a little one note, such as hunting and woodcutting, but man, they sing that note so well.

Level-5 really did an excellent job making the jobs fell like their own self-contained adventure. You meet certain characters over and over, but meeting the various job masters and learning their quirky ways is super fun. They each have their own goals and ideas about Reveria as a whole. And with time, those quest givers give you some important tips and tricks. Listening to what those characters have to say and experimenting with all of the nuances in each job is what makes Fantasy Life great. It’s a compact world with flair and voiceless characters that are just fun to read about.

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3DS

Game Profile

Fantasy Life Box Art

Genre Simulation
Developer Level-5
Players1 - 3

Worldwide Releases

na: Fantasy Life
Release Oct 24, 2014
PublisherLevel-5
RatingEveryone 10+
jpn: Fantasy Life
Release Dec 27, 2012
PublisherLevel-5
RatingAll Ages
eu: Fantasy Life
Release Sep 26, 2014
PublisherLevel-5
Rating7+
aus: Fantasy Life
Release Sep 27, 2014
PublisherLevel-5
RatingParental Guidance

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