It’s been a difficult few years for Level-5, from the highs of the likes of Professor Layton, Ni No Kuni and Yo-Kai Watch a decade ago to the lows of… well, everything that it’s done with those properties in recent years. Level-5 just hasn’t been the same company since the 3DS days. Thankfully, it seems it has just been a hibernation rather than a decline, because Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time has been a much delayed project, but the end result is incredible.
Fantasy Life i has a lot going on for something that looks as wholesome and twee as it does. In it, you’re going to be moving between worlds and time periods, spending time in an ancient city and village one minute, and the ruins of that same place, 1,000 years into the future, another. Within that, you have an almost incredible amount of freedom. There are 14 different job “classes” that you can take on. Some of these a combat-focused, others are not. You’re free to switch between them at will, so you can spend time completing missions as a fisherman or cook when you need a break from slaying enemies. Each of these jobs has its own side quests and progression.
Then there’s the ability to build a town and see it blossom. This means placing houses and objects, and shaping the landscape around you. You can also build up your own personal house and fill it with furniture as a place to relax and get away from it all. Yes, that bit’s quite blatantly borrowed from Animal Crossing, but then again, people love that for a reason and playing interior decorator really is a lot of fun.
What is perhaps the single greatest quality within Fantasy Life i is that all of this is balanced just right so that, whatever your mood, you can drop into the game and come out feeling like it’s given you the escapism that you need. When you are in the mood to follow a narrative and “play a JRPG,” the game has you covered. Not only are the action JRPG mechanics sharp and enjoyable, but the plot itself showcases Level-5 at its best. For those who aren’t familiar with Level-5’s unique style of storytelling, this is a company that loves a pun and thoroughly quirky characters, but at the same time writes them up in such a way that you end up genuinely attached to them. Minor characters and major alike are given a full treatment to ensure that there’s never a dull moment when you are in the mood to follow the marker objectives and tackle the next story beat.
But when you’re not in the mood for that, the game never tries to press you into it. Perhaps you do just want to clear some minor side quests for characters, or indulge in the more creative modes. Fantasy Life i contrasts strongly with the other recently-released JRPG/life sim hybrid, Rune Factory, in that the entire game doesn’t try to push you out into the combat and adventuring bits if you’re just in the mood to fish for hours.
Exploration, independent of the combat, is a joy in its own right thanks to a world that is teeming with interesting things to see, and some truly delightful modes of travel. There are 15 or so mounts you can pick up through the game, ranging from a camel to a turtle and dragons. These companions are adorably cute and can also help you reach some of the hardest-to-get-to spots.
And then there’s all the building and decorating for when none of the above catches your interest. Eventually, you’ll want to do all of this, to reach the end game and then end up getting the best equipment and stuff for your town, but Fantasy Life i approaches it in such a laid-back, non-demanding way that you’ll never feel pressure. Just play as you want to.
Really, the only disappointment is the multiplayer component, which works fine but is too limited. Exploring with friends comes with a 60-minute or 30-minute limit (depending on what you’re doing), but more critically, it locks you out of story missions, progression and the activities that you can do while playing with others is limited too. I can understand that some of this stuff might have broken Fantasy Life if multiplayer were enabled, but on the flipside, there’s just not much incentive to engage with the social features at all.
Some people might find the content in the post-game to be a little grind-heavy, too. The story itself runs long enough that it doesn’t really matter if you do stop playing at the end of it, but it is a fair criticism that once you get past that, you are locked into an endless game of “numbers go up” of dungeons, material collection, and so on. Thanks to the Level-5 charm and personality, however, this is all still enjoyable, and I’m comfortable that when I do finally stop playing, I will be satisfied by both what the story offered and the game-y bits that came afterwards.
As one Steam review pithily, yet totally accurately put it: “It’s like if Runescape was fun.” Fantasy Live i has that big MMO feel to it, yet throughout the adventure never becomes exhausting. Whether the post-game stuff is for you or not, the journey there is such pure, wholesome, moreish escapism that it doesn’t matter. Level-5 took many years to get this out the door, but the wait has been more than worth it.
