Don’t you wish sometimes that you could just start a brand new life? Just go and explore a brand new world, and meet a variety of different characters along your journey? Those are the key ideas behind Fantasy Life, which is the latest simulation/RPG from Level-5 on Nintendo 3DS (published by Nintendo in Europe and North America). You begin by creating your own character, choosing a job, and then setting out on your adventure.

During my initial preview time, I chose to be a Paladin and have been sticking to that ever since. You are free to choose whatever you like, including a Hunter, Magician, or Carpenter. After your initial run with a job, you are even free to change your job, though you lose some abilities in the process. I want to come back to these at a later date and simply focus on my experiences as a Paladin.

Paladins have sworn to protect the kingdom of Reveria and try to guard the people of the town Castele from harm. Quests are doled out by the mustachioed captain Mustang. These quests include defeating bandits, slaying monsters, and putting your sword moves to the test. Completing them earns you stars, which in turn help you to unlock brand new ranks, unlocking new skills in the process. The opening is very tutorial heavy, but that washes away quickly.

From an early point, you are given the keys to the game and are free to do whatever you feel like. You could go and make Mustang happy, follow the main storyline, or go after an even bigger variety of challenges. You see, Mustang is not the only one who gives your Paladin things to do. For example, early on, you meet a talking butterfly called Flutter and she wants to explore the world to the fullest. By talking to certain characters or going to specific spots, you increase Flutter’s happiness and that earns you Bliss. Bliss runs on a separate level counter than the jobs and when you collect enough, you can choose from a variety of rewards. You can earn the ability to ride a horse or get the possibility of storing more items, just to name a few examples. Another slew of challenges at your disposal are the wishes of the town, which are the individual requests of Castele citizens. Some want to see you collect specific items or while the others just want to see your skills in action.

The story and the variety of missions make for quite a bulky package and one that I have, at the time of writing, only played for seven hours. Most of that time has been spent out on the field slaying enemies. The combat is simplistic as you only have two real-time attacks that can alternatively be charged up to deal more damage. While charging up makes attacking effectively easier, there is a limit to what you can do. Running and charging have influence on a Special Attack meter and this meter gets quickly drained if you are not careful with your reserves. The bar recharges over time (or you can simply drink a potion), but it asks you to have a strategy at hand just to be safe. Successfully slaying enemies makes items appear, which help you to make a quick buck back in town.

You can use that money to a number of things, including buying a house. This house can be decorated in various ways and become a compelling place for your avatar to live. You can have a pet in your home, add pieces of furniture, and give the walls a stylized look. Money can also be used to offer quick ways of transport, buy the materials needed for specific jobs, or purchase items to survive your fights against enemies. Other Paladins offer to bring you quickly to places, which is a delightful thing. This makes your sessions never take too long, perfect for those 30 minutes while you are on the go. What makes all of this portable fun a bit sour is that you need to go to specific spots to save. When you are need at the end of a story mission, the options to do this become sparse and those situations are rather tricky to deal with.

Fantasy Life looks good on the screens of the Nintendo 3DS. It is a colorful and shiny adventure with a wide variety of lovely character designs, not that I expected anything else from the old Final Fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano. Amano makes striking designs that immediately stand out. Add to that the music from Nobuo Uematsu, who also has roots with the Final Fantasy series. While Fantasy Life isn’t analogous with Final Fantasy, the talent from Amano and Uematsu is used well to cap off the experience.

Fantasy Life is shaping to be one hefty RPG/sim game for the Nintendo 3DS. I have already seen so much, yet it barely feels like I am getting started. Next to that, I still have so much more to tell you in later previews. What strikes me the most so far is that the adventure is simple yet engaging. Most players will able to instantly pick the game up and get a lot out of it. The game takes a while to get going, but once it does, you just want to keep going. That’s certainly what I will do and I shall come back to you with another report soon!