On today’s E3 Treehouse stream, Nintendo surprised us all with a new RPG series headed by Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana legend Koichi Ishii. He’s the man who created chocobos and moogles, and his design sensibilities are immediately obvious in the colorful world of Ever Oasis , a desert land populated by adorable Egyptian-inspired humans and animal tribes.
You’ll be playing a male or female character who is in charge of an oasis in the middle of the dangerous desert. Your job is to venture out into various dungeons and collect the supplies needed for your oasis to prosper. And you’ll literally be growing it, because the buildings are all created with plant magic. Along with your main adventures, you can take on side quests to recruit new wanderers who will populate your settlement and perhaps even join your party.
When you’re dungeon-delving, you’ll be fighting your foes with a fast-paced, simple action combat system. You can easily switch between your three party members, which is not only useful for combat but for puzzle-solving. Different characters have different skills, so you may have to return to the dungeons with different characters to open up new areas. Once you get back home, you can use the items collected in the dungeons to craft new weapons and armor as well as stock the shops in your oasis.
Ever Oasis looks a bit like Secret of Mana and Fantasy Life had a baby. It’s an action-adventure-RPG-life sim for all the crazy people like me who are into that kind of thing. Check out the trailer; maybe you’ll be into it too!