Nintendo Direct February 8th, 2023

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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Mikodesu
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There are also a whole bunch of trailers up on Youtube, too. Only goes up to 1080p, though.


I think what would salvage Tears of the Kingdom for me is if the whole 'it go up' business ends up unearthing a whole bunch of temples and whatnot to explore underneath Hyrule. I don't mind the wait, I don't mind the asset reuse, I DO mind the map reuse. Map reuse is what makes it feel like glorified DLC. What was so incredible about Majora's Mask (aside from the clockwork town) was how much NEW Nintendo managed to make out of old stuff. The characters are the obvious bit, but when you get down to the brass tacks of what textures and animations were salvaged from old bosses, that was great. (Honestly, that's the kind of « Cow Poopoo » Fromsoft does. :| HUH)

I didn't care one way or another about the story in BotW. Zelda was my least favorite character in the game, but she was probably on screen for the total length of one cutscene in a Kojima game, so it was all very... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That does remind me, we haven't seen any new characters either, have we? Just Link and Zelda. I wonder if Kass is still around. Bird man was nice.

In the end the whole thing is a question of 'is it good value for you?' If so, great! That's all that matters. It would be nice if Nintendo weren't so stingy about sales. Any other game company I could say, I'll wait for Christmas! Nintendo it's...I'll wait 4 years. If I'm lucky.

Also, it occurs to me. No news about a direct for Pokemon DLC, and nothing about the Mario movie. Can't remember when the latter is coming out, though, so if there's a mythical June direct maybe it'll show up then?
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Mikodesu wrote: Feb 08, 2023 3:14 pm I think I needed time to brood, but I have thoughts to 'contribute' now.
Spoiler:
The Professor Layton reveal was the only thing that got me to yell at the screen. Even the streamer I was watching with went "WHAT?!" :lol: What a welcome surprise. PROBABLY the game I'm looking most forward to, out of the whole direct, to be honest. I hope the Level 5 studio closures don't impact the translation, though. I guess we'll see?
I’m still super hyped but I’m afraid to have high hopes and expectations.
Spoiler:
I’m assuming that the new Layton game is going to be set after the events of the Layton’s Mystery Journey anime, which means that we’ll possibly see characters like Kat and her gang, Luke, and Marina (I’m also hoping for Alfendi, Lucy, Flora, D e s c o l e and all of the others but I think I’m hoping for too much)? I could be totally wrong about this, but Layton’s got a slightly new outfit so that’s one reason why I think he will be older in this game. Layton’s Mystery Journey was good and it had its charms, but when it first came out I was so disappointed, to the point that I was actually in the boat of Katrielle-haters. And that’s why I’m afraid to expect anything.
Ahhhhh I can’t wait to get my hands on the soundtrack :lol:
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Mikodesu wrote: Feb 08, 2023 6:33 pmAlso, it occurs to me. No news about a direct for Pokemon DLC, and nothing about the Mario movie. Can't remember when the latter is coming out, though, so if there's a mythical June direct maybe it'll show up then?
I heard before the direct that Pokemon announcements are usually their own thing, and that there would likely be something on the 27th, "Pokemon Day." I'm taking that with a small grain of salt, but it sounds plausible. We'll probably at least hear about the DLC separately this month.

---

Oof, that wasn't what I meant about Mario & Luigi. ;_; With Level-5 busting down the doors, I had small hopes about AlphaDream coming later. I will take them to my grave.
Spoiler:
The GB/GBA service is cool, and I am glad folks have access to great games again. But I bought all these when they originally came out, and my gameboys still work, so I don't have much use for the service. I can play the original Mario & Luigi whenever I want.

Kinda... same with Metroid Prime. I already bought that game twice, and not that long ago! I do rebuy games for many reasons, and that game looks pretty slick. But I'm not getting it a third time when the Gamecube version is still my fave, and my BFF that helped me beat it isn't around anymore.

Speaking of rebuying games, Etrian Odyssey. I've also technically bought the first two twice, but I will do it again and hope they make a new one. Super hyped about these, even though I know they will make me terribly angry!

FANTASY LIFE!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE WE GOT IT BACK!!!

Was hyped about the new flavor of Style Savvy too, but I don't know that I can do the influencer angle. It does make me wanna get the last two in the eShop before it closes, but I love the first ones to pieces and am more likely to replay those.

Ghost Trick was a surprise, and it's a really good game. I do have it on DS, but that's another I might grab to support/replay. Rain Code looked VERY cool, but I need to play one or two Spike games in my backlog before I grab that.
I'm not quite as hyped as I was after the last direct, but there were still some games for me! Looking forward to a few things quite a bit!
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FarmingForDaysMan wrote: Feb 08, 2023 7:16 pm
Mikodesu wrote: Feb 08, 2023 3:14 pm I think I needed time to brood, but I have thoughts to 'contribute' now.
Spoiler:
The Professor Layton reveal was the only thing that got me to yell at the screen. Even the streamer I was watching with went "WHAT?!" :lol: What a welcome surprise. PROBABLY the game I'm looking most forward to, out of the whole direct, to be honest. I hope the Level 5 studio closures don't impact the translation, though. I guess we'll see?
I’m still super hyped but I’m afraid to have high hopes and expectations.
Spoiler:
I’m assuming that the new Layton game is going to be set after the events of the Layton’s Mystery Journey anime, which means that we’ll possibly see characters like Kat and her gang, Luke, and Marina (I’m also hoping for Alfendi, Lucy, Flora, D e s c o l e and all of the others but I think I’m hoping for too much)? I could be totally wrong about this, but Layton’s got a slightly new outfit so that’s one reason why I think he will be older in this game. Layton’s Mystery Journey was good and it had its charms, but when it first came out I was so disappointed, to the point that I was actually in the boat of Katrielle-haters. And that’s why I’m afraid to expect anything.
Ahhhhh I can’t wait to get my hands on the soundtrack :lol:
Ooh you're good I didn't even notice that! Lemmie go back and watch again...
Spoiler:
HUH. I wonder if that's what the shirt has always been supposed to look like, and we just never got buttons for reasons. Guess we'll find out more when we see what the rest of the cast looks like. And oh yeah, the soundtrack is sure to be a banger, no matter what.
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I think anyone who didn't like BotW was always bound to be disappointed with this direct sequel. Once I found out that that's what TotK was to be, I never thought they wouldn't reuse the map, so there's no disappointment for me in that, though I did wonder how they'd make a whole game out of areas you've already explored, the up-and-down thing answered my question. I don't see how they could have done otherwise about reusing the map and have it be a direct sequel rather than some alternate reality goop (I hate alternate reality stuff. I loathe the multiverse and split timelines/branching realities. Am also enraged by time loops where you have to play or watch the same thing over and over and just change small things each time. I can't even re-watch that episode of Star Trek TNG.) I don't want to see what might have happened if things had gone differently (which was why Hyrule Warriors having those time shenanigans was such a disappointment for me) I want to see what happens in that world after BotW ended, which is what this looks to be. Though they could still have worked branching realities in there somewhere. They're still being wary of plot spoilers at this point, it looks like. (That may change.)

As I mentioned, I do think there's basically now a huge, fractured, world-sized dungeon (or shrines, not sure how they're gonna tackle it) below and above ground. My idea is that somehow now the entire under-world is one huge dungeon that you'll get access to as you unlock more abilities with your...whatever it is that makes all these changes (that weird hand/arm, I assume) and that it'll be the same in the sky...like you'll have to interact with the surface world in new ways to go up or down, to get through shrines (or a dungeon) to make your way along whatever story framework they've got set up.

No theories on what's up with Ganon, though, or why Zelda sounds like she's frozen in space again.

Also no idea where they'll go AFTER TotK, as they always do pretty big style jumps (to me, this is the first time they've done what I see as a sequel.) The next LoZ will almost definitely be on a new system and I wouldn't want to place any bets on what that'll be like, except that they'll try something different. It'd be weird (for Nintendo) if they didn't. It was a pretty big surprise that TotK was to be a direct sequel (basically 'part two', as I see it) to begin with, but Nintendo's always got to please different groups of fans in order to keep them all stringing along, so I'm almost certain the next LoZ game isn't going to be my cup of tea.

EDIT: This was a weird choice for trying out a price hike, though. I suspect they actually did as much work on it as on a new game (seems like they were having trouble making the physics work at some point) but still, it's basically part two of BotW, and it's on the same system...seems decidedly NOT worth more than the first game. I'm not against the prices going up because prices are going up wildly on EVERYTHING but I do think this was the wrong game to do it on. If the next console is coming up soonish it'd make more sense of the prices to have gone up with that. If not, it's still weird that the price went up on BotW pt. II rather than some flashy all-new game.
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Mikodesu wrote: Feb 08, 2023 9:13 pm
FarmingForDaysMan wrote: Feb 08, 2023 7:16 pm
Mikodesu wrote: Feb 08, 2023 3:14 pm I think I needed time to brood, but I have thoughts to 'contribute' now.
Spoiler:
The Professor Layton reveal was the only thing that got me to yell at the screen. Even the streamer I was watching with went "WHAT?!" :lol: What a welcome surprise. PROBABLY the game I'm looking most forward to, out of the whole direct, to be honest. I hope the Level 5 studio closures don't impact the translation, though. I guess we'll see?
I’m still super hyped but I’m afraid to have high hopes and expectations.
Spoiler:
I’m assuming that the new Layton game is going to be set after the events of the Layton’s Mystery Journey anime, which means that we’ll possibly see characters like Kat and her gang, Luke, and Marina (I’m also hoping for Alfendi, Lucy, Flora, D e s c o l e and all of the others but I think I’m hoping for too much)? I could be totally wrong about this, but Layton’s got a slightly new outfit so that’s one reason why I think he will be older in this game. Layton’s Mystery Journey was good and it had its charms, but when it first came out I was so disappointed, to the point that I was actually in the boat of Katrielle-haters. And that’s why I’m afraid to expect anything.
Ahhhhh I can’t wait to get my hands on the soundtrack :lol:
Ooh you're good I didn't even notice that! Lemmie go back and watch again...
Spoiler:
HUH. I wonder if that's what the shirt has always been supposed to look like, and we just never got buttons for reasons. Guess we'll find out more when we see what the rest of the cast looks like. And oh yeah, the soundtrack is sure to be a banger, no matter what.
Ooooh, I was wrong! Check out this picture (I hope I did this right?) The art is soooo good. This picture excites me but I’m wondering how it fits into the timeline? unLeSS…
Spoiler:
Luke still looks like he’s 13, so what if it’s the mystery that Luke mentions in his letter after the events of Unwound Future? Could it be that “to be continued” is actually happening? :’D
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FarmingForDaysMan wrote: Feb 09, 2023 7:06 amOoooh, I was wrong! Check out this picture (I hope I did this right?) The art is soooo good. This picture excites me but I’m wondering how it fits into the timeline? unLeSS…
Spoiler:
Luke still looks like he’s 13, so what if it’s the mystery that Luke mentions in his letter after the events of Unwound Future? Could it be that “to be continued” is actually happening? :’D
Oh wow. :o Leave it to the internet.

It's either that or a soft reboot, which I honestly wouldn't mind because it would get us more games. (The other option being related to one of my favorite stories in the series, so it's a win-win for sure!)

--
I do have a couple of Direct related, not Layton tidbits...

Apparently people are speculating that the dragon on the bridge in the TotK trailer may be Gleeok (from Zelda 1) which would be awesome. Dragon combat! And getting to see high def Gleeok would be awesome.

And! If you were on the fence at all about the Metroid Prime remaster, apparently it's only 40 USD! Leave it to Nintendo to port WiiU games, charge full price for them, and do a gorgeous remaster of a Metroid Prime game, and charge 40 dollars for it. :shock: It looks so good I maaaay be tempted, honestly...
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Does anyone know if Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe demo's save data carry over to the full version?

I'm super excited for the following games from the Nintendo Direct:

1) Pikmin 4 (July 21, 2023)
2) Ghost Trick remaster (Summer 2023)
3) Decapolice/Deca Police (2023)
4) Disney Illusion Island (July 28, 2023)
5) We love Katamari Reoll+ Royal Reverie (June 2, 2023)
6) Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection (June 1, 2023)
7) Master Detective Archives: Rain Code (June 30, 2023)
8 ) Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (2023)
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That was a fun Direct! Lots of detective/mystery games it seemed to me. The games I'm most interested in are:
Spoiler:
Etrian Odyssey Origins - this is my sibling's favourite series so I'm super pumped for them, and also interested in trying them someday. I'm leaning towards getting them on Steam though, and probably on sale since that price is a bit steep for me.

Fantasy Life i - Another game beloved by both my sibling and one of my brothers, and I've heard such great things about the original here too. I really hope it's better than the unfortunate mobile game, but it looks like it could be something my mom would like too.

DecaPolice - Don't know much about this one but I liked the style and music in the trailer, so I have my eyes on it now.

Baten Kaitos I & II remasters - I've heard great things about the original games but I know physical copies are rather expensive so I'm excited they'll be more accessible now. Might give them a shot!

I'm also interested in the Mega Man collection but will probably wait for a sale on that since it seems to happen fairly often for the other Mega Man collections. A friend of mine is also urging me to play Ghost Trick so I guess that's on my maybe list as well. And new Professor Layton is awesome, I really have to play the older Layton games that I have sometime.
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Nintendo has again made a post-Direct infographic. It's here if anyone wants to see it...good way to see every game that was shown without needing to watch the Direct, or to refresh your memory. Not sure if this infographic includes all of the mini clips of games shown in the reel toward the end, or if it's only the games that got a full showing. I think it does include the mini clips. It doesn't include any that were shown only by Nintendo of Japan...just the stuff that was in the NoA Direct.
Spoiler:
Image
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Oh yeah, what is Fantasy Life? It looks interesting. I know there was another one on the 3DS, but I never got to play it. This looks like Animal Crossing mixed with the Link's Awakening remake.
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Terranigma Freak wrote: Feb 12, 2023 9:07 pm Oh yeah, what is Fantasy Life? It looks interesting. I know there was another one on the 3DS, but I never got to play it. This looks like Animal Crossing mixed with the Link's Awakening remake.
I can't say for sure about THIS entry into the series, but the original Fantasy Life was nothing like Animal Crossing or Link's Awakening. In fact, the gameplay was so unique, I can't think of a single other game I can compare it with. It does look like Link's Awakening in this new version because of the graphics, and it does look like AC because of the terraforming, but neither of those things were in the original. I think they added the terraforming from AC inspiration, but I don't think the gameplay will be much like AC.

So I can only tell you about the original, anyway. You have 12 'lives'. Which is a rather poor word to replace 'jobs', imo, cuz that's what they are. You've got 4 combat jobs: Paladin, Mercenary, Hunter and Magician. You've got 3 gatherer jobs: Miner, Woodcutter, Angler. Then you have 5 'creator' jobs: Carpenter, Blacksmith, Cook, Alchemist, Tailor. (Though you also gather ingredients via combat. Leather, claws, etc.)

There are a couple of jobs you can get away with ignoring, but in reality you have to level nearly all of them up fairly evenly to progress through the game smoothly. It's disingenuous of them to suggest you can choose 'a life'...you've pretty much got to choose them all. Gathering 'lives' are all essential, as that's how you'll get the materials that every other job relies on. (I don't find Angler all that necessary, personally. There'll be a few quests you can't do without it, but you can just not make any fish dishes if you don't want to level up angler. But then again, I feel you can also ignore the Cook/Chef job and just use potions. Depends on how you play!) Most creator lives are essential, too, unless you manage to get rich some other way and can BUY every bit of equipment (and furniture and clothing and potions and buffs via food) you need or want.

But the 'lives' are the point of the game, imo. Certainly the first one! Every life has 8 ranks (10 if you got the DLC). You rank up by doing tasks for your master (you're basically an apprentice in every career and each one has a different master.) Kind of like school, almost, and projects you turn in for grading. Sorta!

Everything is done by mini-game, and in the original, the mini game for every life that involves creation is the same. (Very slight variance, as for example a blacksmith uses a quenching pot, an anvil, and a bellows, while a tailor uses scizzors, a sewing machine, and a needle.) But the mechanics of every mini-game are the same, you can see what that looks like HERE. It gets longer and more difficult depending on the craft you're trying to make, and then you have to make use of golden coin drops and the charged X button to speed up your crafting enough to get a good result. You can fail, you can do okay, good, great, fantastic. Not that they use those words, but there are five possible results to every crafting, depending on how many mistakes you make and how fast your final time is.

Items created better than 'okay/normal' will have a stat boost and sell for more...a LOT more in the case of a top-quality item. So the game wants you to be good at that mini game! But you have to do it so very often, you probably WILL be good at it before long. And when it starts to feel too difficult to get good results, you'll somehow go up a rank in you profession, and get better equipment (which you'll probably make yourself) and more features to speed up your crafting and then it'll be good again. It's pretty well balanced in terms of never getting so easy you can do it with one hand while eating a meal...you do have to pay attention to the creation or you'll make garbage.

Anyway, the combat classes have battle challenges. Kill 1 noolynobbly. Kill 5 noolynobblies. (Not a real monster name, by the way, but I can't remember the specific name of any of the monsters atm. Roller beetles and fire caterpillars and stuff like that. Every region has different trees, rocks, gem deposits, and enemies. And fish and flowers/plants.) Defeat 10 enemies with a charged X attack. Kill the Napdragon. Defeat this or that special enemy. Etc. And you must do it while playing as the life you're trying to rank up in, for almost all of them. (There are a few cases where what you do counts no matter what life you're actually carrying a card for at that time.) No exact task is duplicated between any of the combat classes, but they are all basically the same, even if for one you'll be killing noolynobblies and for the other you'll be killing nabblenobblies.

Gathering classes don't have a mini-game either, exactly, but you do have to experiment with position when mining or woodcutting, to find the sweet spot that does greater damage and cuts or mines faster. You'll get extra out of it if you manage to do your final hit with increase damage. Plus as trees and mineral deposits get tricker, you'll find you have to employ tricks (like charging your tool and making sure you're always on the sweet spot) to be able to cut down the tree or bust open the deposit at all...otherwise they'll be too tough for you until you rank up or get better tools.

It's a game that sounds VERY BORING to just talk about, but it's really, really fun. The story of the original was absolutely infantile, and yet I still loved that game, because the gameplay is just so compelling. I love ranking up, doing little tasks here and there, getting a new home in each major city and decorating it with stuff I've found or made, etc.

If you have questions, you can ask. A lot of us have played Fantasy Life so no doubt many others can also answer.

EDIT: There's also a friendship system and you can add people to your party. It doesn't go anywhere, imo...there's no romance in the game, or making a family. But you can take your senior apprentices in each life along with you in battle, as well as various NPCs you'll meet through the story. You don't have to but it's like Rune Factory...having extra people in your party can be very useful even if they're not as good as you, to take some of the enemy's attacks or to be a healer, etc. There were 60+ people you could add to your party in the original. The only benefit to raising friendship with them (which is done just by spending time with them in your party) is that they'll become better and better as a party member...using special abilities more often and so on.

You can also have pets, and add them to your party.
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Back in here to confirm that the Atelier Marie remake is indeed coming West as well.

https://www.koeitecmoamerica.com/marie/

As to why it wasn't in our Direct, honestly it's probably either not ready to be shown in English OR they don't want to cannibalize sales of Ryza 3 over here. Personally, I'm skipping Ryza 3 and getting Marie myself. Ryza was a good game, and while the second game looked/sounded/played well, the cast isn't compelling enough for me to give a « Puppy Doodoo » about them past game one. I've always wanted to play the older Atelier games (PS2 and backwards) but they either never got localized or are stuck on consoles I never owned. I hope they remake ALL of them from that era, because you have my money automatically.
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Kikki wrote: Feb 13, 2023 4:08 am
Terranigma Freak wrote: Feb 12, 2023 9:07 pm Oh yeah, what is Fantasy Life? It looks interesting. I know there was another one on the 3DS, but I never got to play it. This looks like Animal Crossing mixed with the Link's Awakening remake.
I can't say for sure about THIS entry into the series, but the original Fantasy Life was nothing like Animal Crossing or Link's Awakening. In fact, the gameplay was so unique, I can't think of a single other game I can compare it with. It does look like Link's Awakening in this new version because of the graphics, and it does look like AC because of the terraforming, but neither of those things were in the original. I think they added the terraforming from AC inspiration, but I don't think the gameplay will be much like AC.

So I can only tell you about the original, anyway. You have 12 'lives'. Which is a rather poor word to replace 'jobs', imo, cuz that's what they are. You've got 4 combat jobs: Paladin, Mercenary, Hunter and Magician. You've got 3 gatherer jobs: Miner, Woodcutter, Angler. Then you have 5 'creator' jobs: Carpenter, Blacksmith, Cook, Alchemist, Tailor. (Though you also gather ingredients via combat. Leather, claws, etc.)

There are a couple of jobs you can get away with ignoring, but in reality you have to level nearly all of them up fairly evenly to progress through the game smoothly. It's disingenuous of them to suggest you can choose 'a life'...you've pretty much got to choose them all. Gathering 'lives' are all essential, as that's how you'll get the materials that every other job relies on. (I don't find Angler all that necessary, personally. There'll be a few quests you can't do without it, but you can just not make any fish dishes if you don't want to level up angler. But then again, I feel you can also ignore the Cook/Chef job and just use potions. Depends on how you play!) Most creator lives are essential, too, unless you manage to get rich some other way and can BUY every bit of equipment (and furniture and clothing and potions and buffs via food) you need or want.

But the 'lives' are the point of the game, imo. Certainly the first one! Every life has 8 ranks (10 if you got the DLC). You rank up by doing tasks for your master (you're basically an apprentice in every career and each one has a different master.) Kind of like school, almost, and projects you turn in for grading. Sorta!

Everything is done by mini-game, and in the original, the mini game for every life that involves creation is the same. (Very slight variance, as for example a blacksmith uses a quenching pot, an anvil, and a bellows, while a tailor uses scizzors, a sewing machine, and a needle.) But the mechanics of every mini-game are the same, you can see what that looks like HERE. It gets longer and more difficult depending on the craft you're trying to make, and then you have to make use of golden coin drops and the charged X button to speed up your crafting enough to get a good result. You can fail, you can do okay, good, great, fantastic. Not that they use those words, but there are five possible results to every crafting, depending on how many mistakes you make and how fast your final time is.

Items created better than 'okay/normal' will have a stat boost and sell for more...a LOT more in the case of a top-quality item. So the game wants you to be good at that mini game! But you have to do it so very often, you probably WILL be good at it before long. And when it starts to feel too difficult to get good results, you'll somehow go up a rank in you profession, and get better equipment (which you'll probably make yourself) and more features to speed up your crafting and then it'll be good again. It's pretty well balanced in terms of never getting so easy you can do it with one hand while eating a meal...you do have to pay attention to the creation or you'll make garbage.

Anyway, the combat classes have battle challenges. Kill 1 noolynobbly. Kill 5 noolynobblies. (Not a real monster name, by the way, but I can't remember the specific name of any of the monsters atm. Roller beetles and fire caterpillars and stuff like that. Every region has different trees, rocks, gem deposits, and enemies. And fish and flowers/plants.) Defeat 10 enemies with a charged X attack. Kill the Napdragon. Defeat this or that special enemy. Etc. And you must do it while playing as the life you're trying to rank up in, for almost all of them. (There are a few cases where what you do counts no matter what life you're actually carrying a card for at that time.) No exact task is duplicated between any of the combat classes, but they are all basically the same, even if for one you'll be killing noolynobblies and for the other you'll be killing nabblenobblies.

Gathering classes don't have a mini-game either, exactly, but you do have to experiment with position when mining or woodcutting, to find the sweet spot that does greater damage and cuts or mines faster. You'll get extra out of it if you manage to do your final hit with increase damage. Plus as trees and mineral deposits get tricker, you'll find you have to employ tricks (like charging your tool and making sure you're always on the sweet spot) to be able to cut down the tree or bust open the deposit at all...otherwise they'll be too tough for you until you rank up or get better tools.

It's a game that sounds VERY BORING to just talk about, but it's really, really fun. The story of the original was absolutely infantile, and yet I still loved that game, because the gameplay is just so compelling. I love ranking up, doing little tasks here and there, getting a new home in each major city and decorating it with stuff I've found or made, etc.

If you have questions, you can ask. A lot of us have played Fantasy Life so no doubt many others can also answer.

EDIT: There's also a friendship system and you can add people to your party. It doesn't go anywhere, imo...there's no romance in the game, or making a family. But you can take your senior apprentices in each life along with you in battle, as well as various NPCs you'll meet through the story. You don't have to but it's like Rune Factory...having extra people in your party can be very useful even if they're not as good as you, to take some of the enemy's attacks or to be a healer, etc. There were 60+ people you could add to your party in the original. The only benefit to raising friendship with them (which is done just by spending time with them in your party) is that they'll become better and better as a party member...using special abilities more often and so on.

You can also have pets, and add them to your party.
Thanks for the extremely detailed explanation! It does sound very interesting. I'll keep an eye on this new game to see what, if any, similarities it has with what you described for the original game. If it's anything similar, it could be fun.
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Terranigma Freak wrote: Feb 15, 2023 3:08 pm Thanks for the extremely detailed explanation! It does sound very interesting. I'll keep an eye on this new game to see what, if any, similarities it has with what you described for the original game. If it's anything similar, it could be fun.
No problem. :)

If you still have a 3DS, Fantasy Life is one of the top games I recommend everyone get before the eshop closes on March 27th, though I believe you now have no choice but to add funds via the Switch eshop and use the same profile on your 3DS to buy anything. (No gift cards, credit cards, etc, work any more.) The Origin Island expansion is very good too, IF you like the game, because it basically just adds about 20% more game, nothing especially unique...you just get to continue increasing your ranks and...I think there are new areas in it? Hard to remember, now. I think it was purchased via the in-game title menu.

Though if you don't have a 3DS hanging around, then that's out.

Fantasy Life i looks like a cross between the first Fantasy Life, the mobile game, and a bit of inspiration from ACNH (though Fantasy Life always had interior decorating.) I'm really looking forward to more information. That Direct was full of great stuff I really want to see more of. I enjoyed the Farming Frenzy direct last time, but this one was better. I liked the balance of genres I ended up adding to my list.
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