Fashion Dreamer, the newest release from the developer (Syn Sophia) of the cult classic Style Savvy games, garnered high expectations from fans hoping to find a spiritual successor to the series. While Fashion Dreamer is not technically part of the Style Savvy family (known as 'Style Boutique' in Europe), it offers fans of those DS and 3DS games an opportunity to take their fashion expertise to Nintendo Switch.
Unfortunately, Fashion Dreamer’s gameplay leaves a lot to be desired. At the beginning, we are welcomed into a virtual world called Eve, where we play as an influencer putting together outfits for NPCs and even other players if utilizing the online mode. The majority of the game is spent creating outfits, called 'look-its,' for characters that are spaced out across a small map, called a 'cocoon.' Each character wants their outfit to meet specific criteria, like featuring a certain color, including a clothing item such as a jacket, or having a particular vibe such as being “cool” or “unique.”
When styling a look-it for a character, we could pick pieces from our own collection or from a limited selection of other clothes that often did not actually help with the criteria we were trying to meet. Each look-it is scored out of three stars where one star is a freebie, one star is for meeting the character’s criteria, and one is for following an active trend.
There are multiple active trends at a time that are viewable in the “pop-up area” of the map. For example, a trend report at our time of playing included the color purple, leather, long skirts, jackets, boots, and animal prints. Including any one of these significantly in an outfit could be enough to earn that final star.
The thing is, scoring poorly while styling a character didn’t seem to have any impact on the overall path of the game. Even when we scored just one star on a look-it, the NPC dialogue indicated that they loved the outfit and we still received a reward, albeit a slightly smaller one than if we had maxed out the score.
The reward system itself is needlessly fragmented. Reputation points, which you get by creating outfits and getting 'likes' from other players on your look-its or designs, ultimately determine influencer ranking, which seems to go up to platinum level. Then there is brand level, which is related to how many clothing items are made in the item creator. Creative keys allow for the purchase of new designs that can be customized using the item creator, but blue tickets also unlock different designs through a gacha-style machine featured on each map. E-points are used for buying furniture and creating individual instances of items in the item creator and we ended up with way more than we could ever use just from other people online interacting with our designs. Yellow tickets are used to play bingo at a separate machine on the map, but winning bingo just results in more E-points. Finally, gold coins are used at vending machines to buy props for pictures. It was exhausting just typing this, let alone keeping track of it all while playing.
Shockingly, none of these currencies are used to purchase actual clothing items. It’s ridiculously easy to get new items simply by 'liking' the clothes that other characters are already wearing or interacting with trend boards that display various items in each cocoon’s pop-up area. Not having to work for or purchase clothing items took all the drive out of hunting down that perfect piece.
We were hoping that unlocking the ability to style our own boutique would bring more complex and engaging mechanics, but all it really involves is putting furniture and clothing in a small room. The clothing you display doesn’t even have to be of your own design, which seemed to defeat the purpose of it being our own boutique. After our boutique was set up, other online players could visit it and 'like' the articles we had on display, ultimately drowning us in even more E-points.
Despite Fashion Dreamer’s frustrations, it definitely delivers on being a fun dress-up game, even if the novelty wears off quickly. Playing around with different color combinations and ways to layer pieces kept us well-occupied for the first portion of our playthrough. We were very excited to find that most shirts can be worn tucked or untucked, allowing for greater variety in how to style outfits.
And although online play causes an overabundance of e-points, it was cool to see what types of items other players were making and wearing. We especially enjoyed receiving styled looks from other players who put together outfits for our muse.
Conclusion
Fashion Dreamer’s main focus of creating outfits is enjoyable, but there isn’t a whole lot else going on in the game. Some players might be able to spend hours just collecting clothing items and putting together different combos for their muse and other avatars to show off. However, those who enjoyed the more mechanics-heavy and story-influenced elements of the Style Savvy series aren’t going to find the same charms in Fashion Dreamer. Either way, it’s probably worth waiting for the price to drop before trying this one on for size.
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Comments 34
It didn’t look that good from the trailers so this score isn’t really surprising.
Sadly the game really misses the "run a boutique to sell clothes/outfits" like the older games did. Also the game feels a lot easier to pick out an outfit for someone. They always seem to like it, even if you completely mess up their style.
All in all, it is quite a dissapointment tbh.
If i get it then it will be just to make design/ outfits. I just hope there are lots of styles. Knowing myself I will be spending time making Perfume outfits.
Bought the game for my partner but she played it twice and now selling it, apparently there's not a lot of things to do and is less engaging than the style boutique games.
Is this even the same Studio behind the style boutique games?
For your information, every Fashion games have different objection so don't compare too much with Style Savvy which emphasizing on boutique activity.
I still have a faith with Fashion Dreamer despite I know Fashion games tend to be mediocre at the best.
It still decent enough for me.
Oh thank god, I was worried it might have too much depth. I wanted to get it for my ex wife, the non gamer. Even the poirot games were too gamey for her.
@Anti-Matter But isn't this one literally a Style Savvy game, but the Dev dropped the name?
@Frogspree
I have played different Fashion games like Style Savvy, Girl Fashion Shoot, JS Girls, Imagine Fashion games and they have different emphasis.
Style Savvy is focusing on boutique management which you have to find the right clothing, right brand, right color depend on client request.
Girl Fashion Shoot is focusing on taking photoshoot with a lot of different poses that can be learnt from other models or special occasion.
JS Girls is almost same like Girl Fashion Shoot but every poses have different types which categorized with different card color and the creative director will ask you to take the poses based on specific category and you must prepare the right pose card to make the photoshoot session success. And your photoshoot will be published, rated and compared with other models.
Imagine Fashion games by Ubisoft as publisher are basically cheap fashion mobile games which your objection is from making the clothes by touch the screen, choosing the right combination of fashion, doing boutique management like Style Savvy, taking some pose during photoshoot, etc.
I'm a fan of the Style Savvy series on 3DS. All the games are great with the later ones even adding more amazing features like cute amiibo items and being able to draw and design your own clothes.
However what really made the games special was the game world. A fun sense of humor, friends and rivals, and a sense of community in the world. That charm is all gone in this version. It's just about unlocking clothes and slapping them on folks with not much else.
This game was a very disappointing purchase. Dressing up characters IS fun but without the rest of the Style Savvy charm, it feels more hollow and I've lost interest already. There used to be more management also that made purchases thoughtful and variety essential in your shop. There may be those who still will enjoy it as an beefy doll dress up game but for those who loved the original Style Savvy game, keep expectations lower.
Hopefully whatever money SynSophia makes on this us used on a more faithful follow up.
It’s a great game. The art style and the loop are very satisfying. Get into it eyes closed. 👏 Syn Sophia is amazing. I do love previous games: yes it is different but the essence is here and it is plenty unique. « Story » and « management mechanics » were never the central point of this series btw.
Kind of a shame. I was interested in this game, despite having not played a Style Savvy game.
Hopefully the incoming updates make a difference to this product...
Why do these fashion games always have such ugly character models
Not being able to alter the patterns in clothing items is such a weird omission for a game that’s about designing “your own” outfits. I don’t know if this was a feature in the previous games, but it certainly feels lacking here.
I really love the game for what it is. It´s my "play before I sleep" it´s very relaxing to create clothes and accessories, dress up other users requests, getting likes, make my showrooms better and better, getting more followers and dress up my own avatar.
Sure, it is not Style Savy, but a nice base to eventually build on.
So well worth the money to me!
@Princess_Lilly Ugly?! They have a certain art style in this game, used in every Style Savy-games.
@Friscobay I agree! The focus helps the game feel both relaxing and exciting at the same time.
@Sveakungen Idk maybe its this attempt at anime style but with semi realistic eyes and heavy makeup, its a bit creepy?
@Sveakungen yes ! And oh my I love these animations and the art style so much. I like that they feel a bit plastic and elegant it’s very special very Syn Sophia, very stylish actually.
The way I feel about this game is similar to how I felt about Happy Home Designer: there are ideas that I hope are expanded on in future Style Savvy games, when they can be bolstered by the franchise's strengths.
The foundation for social play here is very special. It's fun making custom outfits for real people, and rewarding when they send back a thanks, like, love, showroom visit, or returned favor. Logging in to a bunch of new lookits is a highlight of my day. Despite the influencer bent, it's not even about building a following of real people. You don't feel less valuable as a new player, and you don't feel like building a presence is as impossible as actual social media
I can see a Style Savvy proper build on this for the multiplayer component of a true-blue game that has everything that makes Style Savvy so special (and so noteworthy in a genre that is typically shovel ware): rewarding single-player, charming characters, cute stories, and basic business management.
This sounds like maybe this was going to be a mobile game but got moved to the Switch? The shallow nature has more of a mobile game feel. My kids have a ton of those shallow dress up games. I guess they enjoy them well enough. I assume there won't be much in the way of new features after launch.
I never played Style Savvy, but my family’s been having a nice time with this one. There are some things I would do differently but as someone else said, we still like it for what it is. We’ll see how long it lasts, but four of us are playing it now for a little bit at a time, so I don’t regret the purchase at all. Also looking forward to the updates in December and January.
Thank you for acknowledging the lack of body types for your character in the review summary it's nice they let you change height but that seems to be it. I'd love to see a fashion game that lets you dress characters of different shapes. Right now the only option is The Sims 4 which is pretty good in that regard but thats not even a fashion game!
@Frogspree glad she's your now ex-wife
I feel like Syn Sofia should bring these games to mobile.
I don't know anything about this genre, but reads like it isn't as good a sim a software as the equivalent DS games?
Eh, as someone who didn't play the Style Savvy games but got interested long after the fact, I think I can still get something out of this. Not enough body types and no Animal-Crossing-style customization are a true shame though.
Style Savvy: Trendsetters is, honestly, one of my top favorite 3DS games, regarding enjoyment and nostalgia. I enjoyed the Style Savvy games very much, and I guess I wanted Fashion Dreamer to be like that series, but in HD! And (if desired) on the TV! Based on this review and others, no, this isn't what I'm looking for. Ah, well! Maybe if the price goes down drastically.
I'm still getting this game.
I haven’t played the other games but I am enjoying this game a lot. It isn’t for everyone for sure. If you aren’t into creative designs and outfits, unlocking new patterns to expand your options, and to create your own brand, this isn’t for you. There is less hand holding and more creativity. It’s all about creating your own style and helping others.
I don’t understand the wonky economy comment. Yes, you can earn a lot of e-points through online play. Yet, I have a nagging feeling the reviewer didn’t play long enough to realize how expensive it is to make one design for higher level clothing patterns.
I am at level 60 and I believe there is 100. I can earn close to a million e-points with a new design and creative outfits for NPCs and other players. HOWEVER, it costs over 200,000 e-points to make a shirt or a blouse at higher levels. I am actually running out of e-points!!
If you want your own designs, this will cost you. Sure, you can get already made designs from others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will get what you want…and frankly, relying on other people’s designs alone will definitely hold you back from progressing. You have no idea how many versions of the same pair of shoes I have but just not that one color or pattern I needed to fulfill a character’s outfit criteria.
The reviewer left out a very important point, the trend of each area, how complete you style an outfit request and what level of clothing you style someone with affect how many coins you get for the gotcha game (where you get special clothing items not found elsewhere) or items for your photos.
Futher, as you play, you do recognize brands and players that fit your own style. You do want to follow them to see and get their new designs or new inspirations and vice versa.
This is a game for wannabe fashion designers who want their fashion house. 😉
I like it I find it fun and relaxing 😌
This reviewer clearly 1) wasn't the intended audience for this game, and 2) didn't play it long enough to realize how things go at higher levels.
First, your influencer ranking doesn't just go up to platinum, as the article claims. There are two more levels above that ("diamond" and "master" ranks). The credits roll after platinum is reached, but that doesn't mean there isn't more to achieve.
Second, as another commenter pointed out, creating clothing items gets expensive at the higher levels. Sure, you can use other people's designs, but it can be hard to find exactly what you want without making it yourself, plus using other people's designs won't help your own brand (which is the whole goal of the game). The same applies to showcasing other people's clothing in your own boutique. Sure, you can do it, but it won't help your brand, so most people shift to showcasing only their own designs once they've made enough to do so.
I also find it odd that the reviewer complains about not having to purchase clothing items in the game. Most people I've heard from who play this game love how easy it is to get new outfits. See one you like? Simply "like" it and it's yours. This gives players the freedom to focus less on currency and more on the central premise of designing perfect outfits.
And therein lies the key problem. People are expecting this to be a new Style Savvy game. But the Style Savvy games were more like business management sims with a fashion twist. I love business sims, but this has never advertised itself as that type of game. Fashion Dreamer isn't about running a business, managing inventory, costs, customers, etc. People coming here looking for that experience are bound to be disappointed.
What this game does do well is exactly what it claims to do: create a relaxing, sandbox type scenario where players have the freedom to create different looks to their heart's content. It's the perfect "hop in, relax for a bit, and hop back out" game. There are things the game could do better, such as not gender-locking clothing items and offering a broader selection of body types. But it's enjoyable enough to keep me checking in from time to time whenever I want to relax for a bit.
Overall, this is a game I recommend for people who just want to create. It's not perfect, but imo it does enough right to be worth a purchase. It's a decent start to a new type of game, with much more content set to release in the coming months.
It's unfortunate to see one of the best dress-up series take a step backward, as the steps forward Style Savvy took for fem-focused games was really encouraging and I thought the only thing holding it back was the 3DS, I couldn't WAIT to see what kinda cool things this dev would do with the Switch's potential. Unfortunate that even though it took so long, it's got even less meat on its bones. I'll still get it but I'm gonna go for physical on ebay-these games have gotten spendy on 3DS.
I understand the critics this game gets. But I do want to make a little side note. (Besides that the price might be a bit high). If you are into character creation and dressing characters, this game is heaven. I myself like that in games a lot, so there this game fills in a gap for me where I could just stay in character creation all game, since it basicly is the game. So if you are into that kind of game play then this game might be for you. I also really like the online feature, I myself have almost 40 hours in the game and I see myself pick it up every now and then
I think I’ll download it
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