After being unveiled at the Level-5 World 2011 last year, news about Level-5's new open world RPG, Fantasy Life, remained mostly silent. Now, with a release of "2012" and only about 5 months of the year left, new information is slowly trickling out.
Set in the world of "Fantazeel," Fantasy Life is an open world RPG where players create their own avatars, select one of twenty jobs and, from the looks of it, do whatever you want. Sort of like a cute simplified version of Skyrim, but with less dirt and arrows to the knee.
Information released from Level-5 show the main city of "Kulburk" which will serve as players' base of operations. The city is divided into three sections: The main street, the craftsman's ward, and the downtown area. The main street houses Kulburk Castle, the library, barracks and various shops. The craftsman's ward, as the name implies, contains the workshops for the different crafters in the city and will likely be a regular location for players with crafting jobs. The downtown area serves as an entertainment district, marketplace and a social gathering location.
Speaking of social gathering, one of the bullet points in the promotional video calls the game a "social encounter RPG," however other than the fact that the game will utilize the wireless "surechigai tsuushin" feature, very little has been revealed about the social interactivity aspects of the game. Level-5 has always made fairly solid and creative games, so there's little doubt that Fantasy Life will at the least be an enjoyable game, but honestly, you'd think that after nine months of silence, they'd reveal a little more information...
The exact release date for Fantasy Life will be announced next week.
『ファンタジーライフ』手のひらの上に広がる、自分だけのファンタジー [ファミ通.com]