Lets\r face it, we all hate chores, running errands, and pandering to the needs of\r annoying neighbours, but for some reason we just can't stay away from\r games that incorporate these aspects of life into game-play. Fantasy Life, for the Nintendo 3DS, is\r essentially what you would get if Final\r Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles and Harvest\r Moon had a baby; it's a magical RPG packed with quests, weapons, fishing, flower\r picking, crafting, and monsters. Like Harvest Moon before\r it, Fantasy Life allows you to explore and\r immerse yourself into a colourful world filled with a wide array of charismatic\r NPC's and their never-ending requests. 

In many\r games the class you choose during character creation is the class that you are\r stuck with, one of the key features that Fantasy\r Life offers is the opportunity to have your character switch between 12 unique\r classes at almost any point during game-play. This allows the player to embrace\r their inner miner while living the peaceful life of a fisherman but still being\r able to kick-ass as an adorably ruthless mercenary. Additionally, each class\r has unique goals which will no doubt keep the player occupied for hours. One of\r the more disappointing qualities of the 12 class system is that the fundamental\r game play does not change in any way when you switch between classes, and aside\r from gaining new skills and quests when you switch classes (which are retained\r when you switch again) there is no real change in how the game is played. In\r some respect this makes the 12 class system unnecessary, but at least the class\r specific costumes are cute. 

Fantasy Life also offers a main quest\r that involves the player running about, defeating monsters, and saving the\r world. Despite following the standard RPG archetype the story line it is quite\r charming, and besides, if you're already venturing out into the world to\r improve the rank of your life-at-the-time you might as well get some of the\r main quest done too.

The\r majority of time spent with this game will involve forging swords, sewing hats,\r and mining gem stones for NPC's, and aside from being able to purchase a few\r different homes and a wide array of items there isn't much to work towards\r financially. That being said Fantasy Life\r is a game that you will either love or hate; if you enjoy games like Animal Crossing you will no doubt be\r hooked on Fantasy Life after an hour.

Graphics

Now the DS version released in late 2007 was much different as it has fully polygonal characters, enemies, and environments which made everything feel much more alive and vibrant. Plus it allowed for much more detailed character animation which was shown quite prominently from the game's many dancers scattered around the world's many towns and kingdoms (I'm quite partial to the City of Troia myself). Overall, the DS version a much better visual treat than the SNES version.

Music

If Final Fantasy's spinoff series Theatrhythm has shown anything, then the music is just as iconic as everything else in the game. The music in the SNES version is especially good, ranging from atmospheric, to intense, to melancholy and even climactic. It certainly does its job considering the hardware limitations imposed by the console's specifications.

The DS version however is honestly not much different. Aside from having some slightly better audio files for the game's midi tracks, the music is virtually identical. There are a couple of songs in the game where the music is noticeably higher quality than its SNES counterpart (Most noticeably Fabul Castle) which is I guess a pretty nice bonus if you happen to remember what the orginal sounded like. All in all, I'd say the DS version wins this category, but not by much.

Translation

Now because the DS had a much more memory, a more accurate and faithful translation of the original story could be used in the game allowing for a much better understanding of the plot which was also accompanied by cut-scenes with stellar voice acting. In addition to this, more of the story that had been left on the cutting room floor during the SNES version's development period was able to be re-added allowing for even more back story to be told on the game's antagonist, Golbez. Gonna have to give the scoring point to the DS version here.

Gameplay

Now if you want a REAL challenge, the DS version is where it's at. The enemies are much more threatening and items and characters can actually be customized further to better suit your needs. The boss battles are also require much more thought involved as well as many of them either counter half of what you throw at them, or they they are immune to everything else. Also, exclusive to the DS version are special side missions with Namingway, and a special little Eidolon that you can also customize and have fight in place of your summoner, Rydia. This Eidolon can be trained to become stronger through minigames that are played with the touch screen and can also be used in a special one-on-one battle mode with another player a la Pokemon. The DS version is definitely the way to go here.

Overall

The DS version is hands down the winner of this contest. It just has so much more to offer than the original and it really shows. While the SNES version has a special place in my heart, it just can't hold a candle to this exceptionally well made remake. Plus, since it is a DS game, it can be played on 3DS systems without any problem. Don't have a 3DS either? Well there is also a PC version available that is basically the same version as the DS one, minus the special Eidolon and the associated minigames. Not really a big loss, but I like to have my games with as much content as possible. Maybe you do too, who knows? But until then, I'll see you next time.

SNES Score:

DS Score:

Even though this video was a little shorter than the last one, there was a lot more interesting details shown off. Here's a quick recap.

• Final Fantasy VII's Cloud Strife and his stage, Midgar, were both released a couple of hours after the Direct ended. Their cost is $5.99 for one version and $6.99 for both in a bundle.
• Corrin from the as of yet to be released Fire Emblem Fates was announced as a future DLC character. He/she will be worth $4.99 for one version and $5.99 for the two version bundle and will include two brand new songs that will be added to the Castle Siege and Coliseum stages. It is scheduled to be released around February 2016.
• A bunch of new Mii Fighter costumes were revealed for future release. They are a Chocobo Hat from Final Fantasy, Tails and Knuckles costumes from the Sonic series, a Takamaru costume from The Mysterious Murasame Castle, an Ashley costume from Wario Ware, a Gil costume from Tower of Druaga, some cool Bionic Armor made specifically for the Mii Brawler, and a costume based on Geno from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The Geno costume and the Chocobo Hat were released at the same time as the Cloud Strife DLC. QR Codes of the characters using the costumes were also made available on the Smash Bros official site.
• As always, amiibo of the new characters will be made and released some time in the future. It has also been confirmed that the Roy, Ryu, and Famicom version of R.O.B. will be released on March 18, 2016.
• And last but certainly not least, Bayonetta was announced to be the final DLC character and was also confirmed to be the winner of the Smash Bros Character Ballot. She will be released at the same time as Corrin and will cost the same as Cloud. She will also come package with a stage based on the game she is from called Umbra Clock Tower.

I was certainly surprised about this Direct as I was only expecting one new character. I am definitely looking forward to playing as both Corrin and Bayonetta when they are released next year, and I JUST CAN'T WAIT for the Bayonetta amiibo to be released. But until then, I'll be seeing you.

First of all, all of the game's battle mechanics are the same as they've always been: Your and your opponent's pokemon take turns attacking each other until only one is still fit to fight; there is the usual pokemon type match-up system where certain types are weak to or strong against certain other types; and there is the 3 starting pokemon that you have to choose one of being of fire, water, or grass in element. So with all of this formulaic stuff that has been virtually unchanged since the series beginning back in 1996, what makes this one so special? Well let me tell you because it's actually a pretty significant alteration.

Unlike the previous 6 generations of Pokemon games, Sun & Moon do not have gym battles or a Pokemon League. Instead of gym battles, "Island Trials" exist in their place where you must complete a unique task presented to you by a trial captain and then fight a special boss fight with a "Totem Pokemon" which has the ability to permanently boost one or more of its stats before a battle starts and can summon a fixed number of pokemon to help it fight. And if that wasn't enough, after you finish each trial on the island, you then need to fight the island's strongest trainer, called the Kahuna, who was specifically chosen by that island's guardian deity or "Tapu." This provides a much needed change of pace and it keeps it from getting stale too quickly.

Now when a trial captain or Kahuna is defeated, you are presented with a Z-Crystal as a reward for successfully completing the challenge. This is where the game's new battle mechanic is introduced: Z-Moves. These crystals have the ability to greatly boost the ability of the moves that your pokemon has available, assuming the move's type matches the type of the crystal AND for only one time per match. This adds an unusual new kind of strategy to the game that makes it battles much more interesting and more stressful if you don't expect them to happen. I especially like Z-Splash because it makes the original move no longer useless.

In addition to Z-Moves, a new battle style called Battle Royal is introduced where 4 trainers with 3 pokemon each face each other in a no holds barred competition to see who knocks out the most pokemon before one trainer loses all three of their fighters. This is a very interesting inclusion to the series and I would love to see it expanded upon in future installments of the series. While we're at it, another thing from this game that I want to see return in a future installment are the ride pokemon which completely replace HM moves from the previous games. HM moves were moves that you could teach your pokemon that allowed you to better traverse the world map. This was extremely annoying and I'm so glad this game got rid of them.

Now as for the villains this time around, what pokemon game would be complete without an evil crime syndicate for the player to face? Well things feel a bit more realistic this time around as Team Skull isn't your usual villainous affair. All members, with the exception of Guzma, are all trainers that attempted the Island Trials when they were of age, but bailed when it started to overwhelm them. It makes them feel more believable and pitiable this time around. It is a very nice touch overall.

Now the one feature that enjoyed the most about this game was the Poke Pelago. After you get the ability to fly to anywhere you've already been, you can visit this place at any time from the pause menu and I don't think I've ever been this enthralled before by a feature that feels like a mobile game. All of Poke Pelago is based around waiting for various actions to finish and it usually takes around 24-48 hours for anything to get done, but the beauty about it is the multitasking. It streamlines everything that was annoying about the previous generations into this compact waiting game system. While that sounds bad at first, I love it so much because of the ability to train and level up pokemon WHILE THE GAME IS OFF. As someone who rarely has time to play through RPG's any more, this feature was sorely needed.

Now I know I've only touched upon a fraction of the game's content in this article, but if I were to cover absolutely everything this game had to offer, we'd be here all day. I mean, I didn't even touch upon the Alolan form pokemon, Ultra Beasts, or the Aether Foundation, but I think that's best left to be experienced yourself. All in all while it isn't completely perfect, I haven't been into a Pokemon game this much since Pokemon Diamond on the original DS. The music is quite catchy, the graphics are splendid to look at, the battle mechanics and new game modes are top notch, and the story starts to get wonderfully dark toward the end of the third act. I give this game very high praise and I hope this marks the start of a new trend of mixing up the Pokemon formula every once and a while. So until next time, I'll be seeing you.

Score