I’m procrastinating looking at the DMV handbook, and I haven’t played ACNL yet this morning, so I’m not ready to blog about my awesome weekend yet. Instead I thought I’d post a few pics of Fantasy Life: Link aka the reason why I haven’t been visiting dream villages, getting all the club tortimer goodies, and amassing my fortune.

Changing to Cook Profession

When last I mentioned Fantasy Life, I was enamored with the sewing job. I still am and I’m actually a “master” at it though I think there’s at least one more skill level beyond that.

I decided to try my hand at cooking as well so I switched my job. Yes, in the picture above I am rocking a pot on my head. The crafting mini games so far are virtually identical between jobs and yet I don’t get bored of them. I find myself wanting to see if I can make just one more thing to see if it will unlock another recipe or if making something new will give me “star points”. Each item crafted also yields exp. And it’s true that you can play the entire game without fighting monsters. You could just level up by crafting. Often times you get more exp for making something difficult than by killing a lot of the monsters.

Essentially the star points are turned into your guild leader and raise the level of whatever profession you are.

Turning star points into the sorcerer guild leader

Aaaand ranking up after turning them in. Yay!

I made some awesome apple juice that recovers SP (essentially magic points or stamina)

Unfortunately I hoard everything in Fantasy Life (much like in Animal Crossing) because I never know when/if it will come in handy. As a cook I spend a lot of money on ingredients. Ditto with the seamstress job, so I’m almost always broke. My husband was able to buy another house in a different city, and while I had enough money to buy it, I quickly lost all the money purchasing silk, buttons, and jewels to craft clothes. He has mainly been a lumberjack, a miner, blacksmith, and mercenary. I’m thankful for the blacksmith job and the multiplayer mode because he made me a set of armor that was better than the dragon costume I was running around in (though not nearly as cute).

My husband (left) putting items in the trading box for me

The awesome armor my husband made me

My husband may have more money than me, but I can make tuxedos and princess dresses. 😉 Not to mention curtains and rugs. Although currently my house has a shipdeck theme that I got from the royalty in PortPort village.

The pictures are from king Erik and the princess in PortPort city

I made all the stuffed animals.

And this is the magical castle from the third city. It’s very ominous. I hope they’re not the bad guys…

spooky castle!

I’m taking a break from playing Animal Crossing in the evenings (and looking for the damnable scorpion) and playing Fantasy Life for a while. I played it back when it came out but stopped because a million other games came out, I didn’t have time etc etc.

My character in a dragon suit that was a “present” for buying the upgrade.

They released an updated version in Japan on July 25th increasing levels and adding internet play and the ability to take screenshots. You can buy it in game for about $20. I shelled out the cash and have been playing it with renewed devotion. For some reason my multiplayer didn’t unlock once I upgraded (I may have missed something?), so I started over and decided to test out the seamstress job after leveling up as a sorceress for a bit.

Look how excited I get when I make wool.

In my previous game I had been working on the fishing job, which also is surprisingly fun. Occasionally you run into giant rare fish like this one:

They’re usually little shadows much like animal crossing.

I caught the huge fish!

Good news is I hear it’s going to be localized and you (we?) probably won’t have to buy two games to get the internet functionality and the screenshot functionality. Bad news, god only knows when it will get here.

That’s bored little king Erik probably waiting for the game to release.

Me (the dragon) fighting some red wolves with my trusty side kick Kuromi (the black cat)

My room. I made most of the stuff in it, the wallpaper, floor, curtains, and even the vegetable garden rug using my seamstress job.

I admit that I play other games besides Animal Crossing (heresy right?). One of the games I’ve been looking forward to is Fantasy Life. I bought it off of the e-shop the other day and have been thoroughly enjoying it. It’s done by level 5. Nobuo Uematsu (of Final Fantasy fame) did the soundtrack and Yoshitako Amano did the art (also of Final Fantasy fame). It’s kind of like a cross between Dragon Quest and Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon.

You start off by creating your character and picking a job. There are 12 different jobs to choose from. When I say job I mean job, not class so much. You can be:

• carpenter
• lumberjack
• blacksmith
• cook
• needle worker
• prospector
• soldier
• fisherman
• alchemist
• mercenary
• sorcerer
• hunter

I started off as a prospector because I um like to treasure hunt. I have since switched to a sorcerer. But I kept all my skills and can go back and forth willy nilly.

You can do so many things. The townspeople will give you quests ranging from getting them 10 apples to slaying a dragon! I’m only level 10. I accidentally took the dragon quest. LOL. There’s even a magical talking butterfly that rewards you for making people happy. 🙂 I don’t think the butterfly is quite what it seems though…

You can keep up to three pets. I have a cat. She goes on quests with me and fights by my side. (I mostly get her killed when I try and take on monsters that are too strong.)

You level up your professional skills by using them. You mine a bunch and your mining skill goes up. Use fire magic and your fire skill goes up. I haven’t tried any other classes, but I want to learn to fish!

Of course you can decorate your room. There are adorable costumes in the game. I got an angel suit and a devil suit from passwords in magazines.

I didn’t think there was a story in the game when I first saw it. I thought it would be very unstructured like Animal Crossing, but that’s not the case. There is a story. I haven’t gotten very far in it. You can do the story quest when you like, explore when you like, and further your profession when you like. It’s all about enjoying yourself and having fun. I’m liking it.

There’s local co-op play too and I’m hoping I can convince my husband to get a copy so we can go hunt dragons together. 🙂

Check out the video. Look at some articles on Siliconera I’m really hoping this gets localized!