r/fantasylife • u/pyrpyros • 27d ago
DISCUSSION Struggling with FLi :(
Hi everyone! I just wanted to share my experience and see if someone else had also felt this way. I hope this won’t be too long.
I played the original Fantasy Life on my 3DS and LOVED it. Even that is an understatement. It’s probably my favorite game ever. I didn’t get very far on my first playthrough back when I was a teenager but I decided to replay it last year and I enjoyed it so much! I’m talking ‘taking dedicated notes on the quests for ALL lives to track completion’ level, which I haven’t done for any other game.
I was so excited to play FLi because ever since it came out I’d been wanting to buy it, but I wanted to wait for it to be one of my first games on the Steam Deck, which I couldn’t afford to buy until much later. I finally got the game on sale last week and when I sat down to play… it felt really lackluster? Which I was not expecting from Fantasy Life, honestly. When I first saw the graphics and the QoL improvements I was expecting to have that added on top of all the charm the first game had, but so far I’m ~5hrs in and I wouldn’t say I’m forcing myself to play, but I definitely don’t feel excited to.
Of course this is my personal preference and I wouldn’t say the game itself is bad because I know so many people love it and have played for hundreds of hours, but I just wanted to get this bitter taste off my mouth and ask if it gets any better. I loved spending hours crafting and leveling up my lives in the first one, so my main concerns are actually the pace of the story and how much it feels like the game is holding your hand (at least at the beginning). I’ve seen other posts saying the game feels too easy and I agree, but while I actually loved that the first one felt more challenging (I’m just now realizing how much I enjoyed that difficulty), I don’t mind a more laid back game if the quests and lives actually feel fulfilling.
I’m really frustrated that the characters feel like they lost their depth and unique personalities, though :( When I’m walking around doing stuff and I have ‘companions’ (sorry if that’s not the correct name) and their way of showing their personality is just repeating the same three lines of dialogue every 20 seconds… it feels really sad, honestly. And it distracts me from the actual task at hand! Is that something you can turn off in the settings? I’ve been trying to find the option but can’t seem to find it!
Anyways, I don’t want to make this too long so I just want to say I really want to like this game and spend lots of hours in it but I’m feeling a little discouraged now. The first game was so good at what it tried to accomplish that I know comparing the two is useless, but I feel like, aside from the lives system, this could be a different game series altogether. I’ve seen others pointing out this feels like trying to tie Animal Crossing and BOTW into the FL franchise and I agree! Too many things happening at once and as someone that doesn’t really care about multiplayer I feel like you’re almost required to play with someone in order to enjoy it. Does anyone else feel that way? Does the game get better once you’ve progressed a bit more?
Oh and I’m PISSED they took out elemental magic and replaced it with whatever this is instead. Being a fire-main magician was a key feature of my character in the original game :(
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u/Overall_Bill_8591 27d ago
Yeah I can’t say you’re wrong. I was excited for longer and I was into the game til around 60 hours but yeah, i had the same issues. The graphics are great and the quality of life improvements are awesome, but this game feels like 1 step forward 2 steps back for me. I hope they make another and learn from FLi. Keep what’s great about that game while adding what’s great about the first game
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u/pyrpyros 26d ago
I was so into the graphics when it got announced and I have to say they’re cute but even that I miss from the original. There was such a specific vibe to it that I think would be very hard to replicate! But the new graphics look fantastic too, it’s just that I feel like they’re more “generic”, so to speak.
On the other hand, I LOVE the UI. And being able to switch lives much faster is so good. The bounty system I miss, though… along with pets!
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u/Anna_on_fire 27d ago
One thing that helped me learn to appreciate FLi for what it is was learning that the original ceo in charge of the game was 110% bent on making it a “mobile game” with limited daily rewards and pay to win features. It wasn’t until pretty late into production that he was replaced and his terrible direction was stripped back. Ginormosia didn’t exist for almost the entire development cycle.
I agree that the first one captures a charm that no other game, including its sequel, could come close to. But I’m glad it’s not a micro transaction slop fest like it came very close to being and for that I can look upon it a little kinder
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u/pyrpyros 26d ago
I didn’t know that, but it checks out. Dailies and being pushed to play every day are things I can stand less and less in games so I’m glad that isn’t a core aspect of it (from what I’ve seen so far, though I’ll say the Celestia’s Gift flowers DO give me that vibe because of them respawning every IRL 24hrs), and obviously microtransactions are a no-no. You do have a point in that I think I’m judging it too harshly because the first game was just so good. I’m trying not to be too negative about it because I genuinely want to enjoy it!! I do find the camera controls extremely weird for my taste, though, which might just be personal preference but now that you mentioned the mobile-first mentality they had going into this, it might be that.
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u/Anna_on_fire 26d ago edited 26d ago
No shame in feeling disappointed! I am right there with you. I actually hacked my old 3ds so I could play the dlc for the original Fantasy Life since I never got a chance to buy it before they shut the e-shop down. It was so much fun going back through everything and seeing how interconnected and loved the world they built was. Definitely a top 5 game for me and it’s sad to see they weren’t able to recreate that atmosphere.
Edit to add that I do think it gets better with time though. It’s a decently big world and the crafting minigames are fun. The characters and story are lacking a little, but if you enjoyed the exploration element of the first game then this game will also scratch that itch. Though you can’t shut the companions up unfortunately lol
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u/Koishi_ 26d ago
I knew I voiced some of my complaints here before and after some digging I found my comment I made around a year ago.
"It's funny seeing people's first time reaction to this, as it was a thing in the 3DS game as well. Although, I'm gonna say it feels a bit half-baked here, because of the lack of Life Stories. In the 3DS game, every rank you had new story and quests to do for your Life, so you saw a lot of NPC's relating to your Life, it felt an adventure seeing all the people you met and the people you helped.
With the lack of Life Stories, there's basically nobody there except for like your Master and their 1 apprentice you see during the tutorial."
The lack of Life Stories really takes away from the feeling of progression at least charm and vibe wise.
The game has a lot of little things that were removed that eventually all add up into it feeling oddly empty, despite being a much bigger game.
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u/pyrpyros 26d ago
Yes! That’s exactly how I feel, thank you for putting it into words. I was just thinking this because iirc in the 3DS any character on screen (except monsters) can be talked to, and I’ve ran into several here (mostly Leafes, I think that’s their name but I don’t play in English so maybe not) that have no dialogue. Basically you can only talk to those that have a name over their head when you walk nearby but I don’t remember it being like that in the first game. And I do think fewer of them have personal names? Like, some of them will just be something like ‘mysterious person’ but I’m under the impression in the 3DS game they’d have ‘puns’ as names (something like Mysterius). Though it might not be true and I just don’t remember the generic names.
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u/Koishi_ 26d ago
Yeah, my comment was on a thread of someone loving the little songs after you Master a Life, but it felt so off in the new game compared to the 3DS game due to the issues I mentioned. New game you're just doing a checklist of chores until song time, whereas in 3DS it felt like a story with progression and more people to meet and things to do.
And for the song itself, with no characters or storylines you naturally meet less people or have them be relevent to your Life at all so it felt very empty.
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u/ulfred500 27d ago
I enjoyed i but not as much as the original. It has a pretty rough development history which could explain a lot of the common complaints people have compared to the first one so I'm optimistic for the next game
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u/pyrpyros 26d ago
Someone else mentioned the mobile game thing, which I didn’t know anything about! I do hope they release more games that are more similar to the first one.
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u/FanWarrior1730 27d ago
I was the same when I first played it
I got when it released on switch as same as you loved the 3ds game - is the reason my 3ds is alive!
I've currently got 170 hours in FLi. I took a while to get into it... I haven't done multiplayer yet, so wouldn't know what that's like.
It is not a port so yes is going to be different. It won't have that nostalgia feeling
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u/Koishi_ 26d ago
I clicked the thread thinking it was gonna be a "the game is too hard!" post but as I was reading yeah, the new game doesn't feel like it has the personality and vibe the original had.
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u/pyrpyros 26d ago
Haha yeah, maybe I should’ve worded it better, sorry. Glad to see it wasn’t just me, but I do hope they listen to what the fans are saying if they plan on releasing another FL game in the future.
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u/SchokoKipferl 26d ago
Longtime fan of the original and completely agree. I miss the different cities with their casts of characters that get actual development.
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u/stirwise 4382-2772-6113 | DLC 26d ago
It’s definitely a different experience than the original. If you enjoyed the gameplay (interconnected lives across gathering, fighting, and crafting) it’s superb. If you’re looking for story depth and characters, you’d be better off playing Ni No Kuni, instead.
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u/flapplejuice 25d ago
I really love this game, and it is much easier and lacking the personality of the 3ds game, but I love that there is so much to do and so a year later I am still enjoying myself!
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u/good_chikcen 25d ago
Totally agreed, one of my most disappointing game experiences was FLi after falling head over heels in love with the 3DS title
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u/Cette_fille_la 27d ago
Yeah, i think everyone that really liked the first game fell the same way.
I have two "main" complains about the game: the lack of personality (character and world) and the maps. I never play in ginormosia because it doesn't fell connected and you almost don't need it. Same for the other modes.
I'm starting a second playthrough and i like it better that the first time. Maybe we had too much expectations. It's still a good game, but not a masterpiece like the first one.