Fantasy Life is here and between the three of us, we’ve been playing it 24/7. We discuss how our new lives are living up to our expectations. Also, crafting things in games, and real-world anxiety over imaginary houses.
Episode Timeline
0:00 – Intro
3:55 – Fantasy Life
29:30 – The Eorzean Housing Crisis
41:25 – Arts and crafts
68:10 – Outro
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This Week’s Music:
“Crack Your Knuckles” and “No Problem Here” by Saskrotch.
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I had so many comments while you guys were discussing Fantasy Life! First of all, I agree that hearing that it’s “Animal Crossing” plus an rpg is misleading. It’s definitely a grindy little game that’s all about slowly increasing your abilities. That being said, here are some pointers (for what they’re worth!) I hope none of this is too spoilery- I’m trying to avoid specific later-game information.
– Paul was right- pick up all the gathering lives! You can then gather as any Life when you come across resources. Granted, you will collect a smaller amount of each resource type than if you are that specific gathering Life, but you will still find most of what you need to later turn those into armor and whatnot. If you are crafting and feel like you are missing out on ingredients, it’s probably time to go gather outside, in a cave, or move on to another area, which leads to the next point…
– If you want the game to move forward a bit, focus on Butterfly’s requests. Then you will have access to other areas and be able to explore around a bit more.
– Once you start turning in bounties, you can collect each bounty/defeat the monster as ANY class- just make sure you switch to the appropriate Life before you turn it in. For example, if you catch a legendary fish while running around as a wizard, just switch to Angler before you collect the bounty for the first time. That way, you’ll get the Angler achievement for turning it in.
– Yes, the crafting classes are repetitive, and they are all the same. I see them as more of a means to an end than a main Life to play. The nice thing is that you can make armor, weapons, and consumables that are superior to what you can buy in the store simply by perfecting the button mashing portion of it. In addition, there are mechanics that make it a bit easier/faster to craft that will be introduced as you increase you rank in each class. Otherwise, just do each craft enough so that you can do it in bulk or even automate it. There are certain things you can do to spice up what you make later on.
– I don’t see any value in exploring/gathering as a crafting class, but it’s nice to do as a gathering class. You can still use any weapons or abilities you have learned previously. For example, I play as a mercenary and a wizard. When I’m a miner, I can do my sword combo with my greatsword equipped, and switch it out for my wand to heal myself if I want to save a potion. I generally play as a gatherer unless there are class quests I want to achieve.
– I kind of only turn in villager quests if I happen to find the right person who needs something. I have also put just about as much time into this game as Paul has, and I haven’t turned many of them in yet. I wish they would have a different icon if you were able to fulfill their request instead of everyone having the same red flag. I’ve just been doing my class achievements in between storyline quests.
– Try the multiplayer! It’s a blast to be able to take down a big meanie that you can’t on your own. Not only that, but being able to collect what each other gathers is great. That way everyone can play to their strengths and collect something that they have a high amount of skill points in.
Phew! I enjoy this game a ton. I am also of the mindset that it’s a simple game that you can kind of relax to. No, it’s not as vast and complex as FF14, but I can take it around with me and play in bed or on my lunch break! As a side note, I also wanted to comment on FF14’s crafting system. Yes, it is very involved, but like DJ said, once you understand how it works you pretty much know which abilities to use to maximize the quality of what you are making. I got to the point in that game where I made macros to craft things like cloth, so that’s just another example of any game going “grindy” to me. It was different if I was making jewelry or armor that would benefit my combat classes, but for the most part it always feels like a bit of a grind in the end!
Please play Fantasy Life multiplayer with me if you ever see me on! My name is Jenni, friend code is 2380-2464-4342. I would love to take down some bosses or just kick back and gather stuff or trade items. Love the show you guys!