Fantasy Life is at heart, a role-playing game, but it also blends in a few other genres, such as life simulation. The basic idea behind the game is to create a character and live out one of twelve different Lifes, which are job classes. While the game is fairly open-ended, doing certain quests will open up more areas for you to explore.
At the beginning of the game, you will have to create your character. Here, you have a myriad of choices, such as gender, hair, face, body type, head and voice. Your last choice, at the beginning, is to choose a Life Class. Pick whichever you want, as you will be able to switch to any other not long into the game.
Life Classes
Life Classes in Fantasy Life are essentially job classes, with there being a total of 12 available, all from the beginning of the game. These classes are divided into three types, combat, gathering and crafting. While you start picking a single one, not long into the game, you will be able to freely switch Lifes whenever you want.
Each Life starts at the Novice rank and can level up by doing Challenges specific to them. Depending on the type, this usually entails doing a specific action a certain number of times that's related to that Life (ex. killing a certain enemy 10 times for a combat Life). As the Life levels up, the player will gain access to more Challenges and other things.
Requests
There are three main types of quests in the game, which are Challenges (described above), Butterfly's Requests and Other Requests. You can access the list any time by tapping on the Quests icon on the touchscreen. Other Requests are basically fetch-type quests that you can get from townspeople and other NPCs. You can only have up to 30 in your log at a time and can drop them/pick them up again if needed.
Butterfly's Requests are related to the story, as you will need to complete them in order to advance it. They usually entail you visiting a specific person or location, where you'll view a short scene and then be finished with that particular one.
Bliss
Performing specific actions and doing Butterfly's Requests will earn you Bliss, which can be exchanged for certain bonuses once you've acquired enough of it. In order to cash in this Bliss, you'll need to speak with Butterfly in your room. Bonuses you can get are things like extra storage, extra carrying capacity for your character, shops selling more items and more.
Battle System
While you can spend a great portion of time doing things like gathering resources and crafting, you will eventually run into a situation where you have to fight. You are able to fight using all available Lifes, but some are better suited to it than others, hence why there are a group of Combat Lifes.
These are Paladin, Mercenary, Wizard and Hunter and they operate differently. The Paladin and Mercenary use melee attacks with a sword, where you can execute combos with timed button presses, while Hunter and Wizard are ranged combatants. Each Life will gain special attacks as the player advances in them.
Bounties
While fighting, you will come across stronger enemies than normal, that drop a box after defeating them. If you press "A" next to these when your weapon is away, it will begin following you around. You can have a total of three Bounties active at any time, including ones you kill and don't bring along with you.
Note that you can actually damage Bounties, and enemies will usually make a beeline towards them to attack them. This means they can be destroyed, so it's best to drop them off in a safe area (press B) before engaging in combat. Bring the Bounties to a Bounty Clerk, who is located in a Guild Office and sometimes at safe areas in the wild.
Note that mining, fishing and woodcutting all have Bounties as well, which function the same as far as taking them along. However, in order to obtain them, you will need to perform the respective action related to that Life. Remember that your skill level and stats determine how easy it is to perform these tasks.
