Which Should I Buy - Fashion Dreamer or MODEL Debut3 #nicola?

Now that the Nintendo Switch is home to another fashion game after the release of MODEL Debut3 #nicola, I've seen a number of people on the internet wondering if they should buy this or Fashion Dreamer.  Or if it worth buying since they already own Fashion Dreamer. I thought it would be helpful to put together a handy guide comparing the two games so that people can make an informed decision on which one to purchase. There are a number of game features that I will compare to make it easy to tell the difference between the two. Please note there are just my opinions on the game and whether or not I think it is worth it. My screenshots for MODEL Debut3 are in Japanese as I play the Japanese version however there is an English version available on the eShop. Let's go!

Storyline

Honestly I believe that MODEL Debut3 #nicola has the stronger storyline than Fashion Dreamer. The aim of the game is to become the top model by completing various jobs and increasing your follower count/rank. The game cycle runs by month and you get four jobs per month such as modelling, TV spots and commercials. You can unlock special jobs by reaching certain follower counts. This is super easy to do and all the jobs are super fun to complete. Each day you complete a job in the morning and in the afternoon you can either rank up a skill at various locations (ie gym or library) or hang out with NPC's to increase your friendship with them. I have played over 30 hours of MODEL Debut3 and I'm not even halfway through the story line! So there is plenty of content to keep you entertained and enjoy ranking up stats. If you are wondering about fashion shows, yes they do appear in MODEL Debut3! However when I took part in one recently, I was only able to choose my outfit and that was it. The game plays a montage of your character walking and then the top model is announced. I've included a screenshot of the fashion show and it isn't as detailed as the old Style Boutique ones.

Attend social events with friends!

Complete various jobs and gain more followers

Rank up friendships with NPC's

Map of MODEL Debut3 #nicola

Fashion shows are back!

Fashion Dreamer doesn't have a set story line like MODEL Debut3 however it does focus on increasing your follower count as well. First you create a muse which is your in-game character and then the game guides you through the aspects of the game such as setting up your showroom, increasing your influence and designing clothes. New areas which are called cocoons open up as your progress further in the game and basically you just go around creating outfits for other characters/online players to increase your followers. There are some neat tricks you can use to grind out likes and followers such as taking photos a certain way with other muses. Once you reach the platinum rank, the game credits will roll and I guess you can officially call that the game ending even though there are ranks after that. Most players are happy to just play Fashion Dreamer for the funnily enough fashion aspect as it is super fun to create your own items and dress up other players. Some have even create full fashion lines you can download at their showrooms. The game has monthly events that you can take part in along with mini games of bingo or gatcha for clothing patterns.

Create Lookits for other players via online

Complete tasks as part of events to unlock items

BINGO!

Map detailing one of the various cocoons in Fashion Dreamer

Winner - MODEL Debut3 #nicola has the more linear story line however it is a personal choice of whether you prefer that or the freedom of Fashion Dreamer to just dress up.

Character Customisation

Definitely the winner here is Fashion Dreamer by a long shot. One of the main appeals of the game is the many ways you can customise your character. There is a good range of facial and body features which are diverse. It was great to see the developer take diversity into consideration when creating the game and that has helped it gain a wide fanbase. You can unlock new customisation options through events in game such as the Fairs which can give you things like new hairstyles or eye colours.

Some of the lip shades and textures

Fashion Dreamer has a wide range of skin tones

Variety of hairstyles to choose from

MODEL Debut3 #nicola is pretty much your standard dress up game character customisation wise. You create your character at the start and the options are limited. The skin tones are restrictive which can be the standard for games in Japan and some players have noted that diverse skin tones was an important thing to them. One cool feature is that with hair colours you can use two tones by adjusting sliders and you can create some unique styles with this. I often use this to find the perfect shade that matches the outfit I put together.

Lots of lovely lipstick shades

I swear I only ever wear this hairstyle

Cool feature to change the hair tones

These are the skin tones available in MODEL Debut3 #nicola

Winner - Fashion Dreamer has an amazing range of customisation options.

Clothing Brands & Items

Fashion Dreamer 100% has the better range of clothing items as one of the main features is to design your own clothes and download other muses clothes they created. There are so many different items to create and you could even do your own fashion line if you wanted as the design features save such as the colour palettes used. You do need to be careful not going nuts with creating as some designs as limited (event items) or you only have a select amount of keys. There are no clothing brands in game besides the ones created by players.

This is only a small selection of just the dress patterns you can design!

Each item has different parts you can customise

Here are some of the clothing items in my inventory

MODEL Debut3 has improved the range of items available since the second installment in the series. There are a limited amount of brands available in the game and all are not available at the beginning as they require unlocking. It is pretty easy to collect items however the selection is limited. I thought I would unlock more items as the brands as the game progressed however this wasn't the case and the selection was pretty much what is there. Easy to collect everything I guess and sometimes I just randomly buy stuff to have it. It is important to buy clothing items as you need to use your personal wardrobe at certain jobs like commercials or TV spots. 

Finally a game with fun summer beach wear

I have to admit that MODEL Debut gets points in this section though as it has bags. Like how does Fashion Dreamer not have bags?!?! I get it might be because it can clip through outfits or maybe the developers thought the character models couldn't hold it. Same with necklaces and other jewelry. MODEL Debut3 has an wide range plus you can wear multiple items such as a necklace and bracelet at the same time. Remember when you couldn't do that in Style Boutique? I adore the backpacks in MODEL Debut3 as I wanted them forever in Style Boutique and my character even had on a bracelet on her hand for ages as I never noticed I had put it on!

Wear both a necklace and earrings!

Obsessed with this backpack

Winner - Fashion Dreamer for the amazing range and design feature. Points to MODEL Debut3 for including bags.

Friendship & Romance

So I put this category into the blog post as I've seen a few players being turned off by the romance aspect. Now I have played over 30 hours and are yet to encounter this so called romance. I'm thinking it might mean more friendship as you can gain the same friendship ranks with both genders. There are three male NPC's that you do interact with and so far I haven't had any romance or dates with them. On certain occasions, the game will ask what person you would like to spend an event such as Christmas or viewing cherry blossoms with. This isn't a romantic event and is standard for however you choose. I've been focusing on ranking up the friendships with all characters at the same time (i.e. everyone has to be on the same level before moving to the next one) and will update if any serious romance occurs at higher levels.

Rank up friendships with NPC's in MODEL Debut3 #nicola

My bestie in the game

Fashion Dreamer doesn't have romance and I would call the friendship in this game ranking up the levels with character muses. Who can be rather bizarre. There are some that I downright cannot stand because I find them annoying but everyone has different tastes. You need to rank up friendships with character muses to unlock things and it is pretty easy. Ignore my low muse ranks as I haven't focused on improving these and only really make their outfits for tasks. Let's call it a work in progress.

Handy notebook of character muses

Winner - It's a draw as both games require you to rank up friendships.

Game Difficulty

Neither game is impossible to play and I haven't struggled with either. Some players might find the timed events in Fashion Dreamer difficult to complete due to their personal life and they may feel upset about missing out on timed items which luckily do get repeated. Honestly I get frustrated at the lack of search tools in the game which makes creating outfits impossible sometimes. Like I don't understand how the developers didn't include search features even though items have categories associated to them like cool or elegant. So I'm marking that as a difficulty thing because it is a negative in the game. No comment on MODEL Debut3 as it quite a simple game to play and was designed for a younger audience.

The lack of search features in Fashion Dreamer. Also why no pink colour?

The search feature in MODEL Debut3 is way better

Winner - No clear winner as there is no difficulty slope in either game.

Graphics

This one would be a personal preference and you can generally tell yourself whether you like the graphics style of a game. Fashion Dreamer does have a better looking graphics however MODEL Debut3 has a cute art style to it that I quite appreciate. I have read online that some players think the graphics of MODEL Debut are ugly so it isn't for everyone. Both games render clothes well such as cardigans or skirts/dresses. I have seen clipping of hairstyles in both games which is always annoying where you are trying to take a nice photo yet your long hair has clipped into the jacket.

Example of the graphics in Fashion Dreamer

Example of the graphics in MODEL Debut3 #nicola

Winner - Fashion Dreamer has the high quality graphics however MODEL Debut3 has a unique art style that some may like.

Photos

One big aspect of fashion games is to take photos and both games do well in this area. MODEL Debut3 has a great editing feature where you can add various things to your photos such as borders, backgrounds, move the position of the head/eyes and stickers. You can access all the photos you take yourself and in the modelling jobs at the Production Studio. They look amazing when you put it into portrait mode and these can be easily moved off the switch.

You can tilt the position of the head or move the eyes to look elsewhere

So many backgrounds to pick from

Go crazy with stickers on your photos

Fashion Dreamer is top notch for taking photos as well and features a crazy amount of options. You can take photos in cocoons as well as the photo egg. I take most around the cocoons because I find it easier however I do hate the placement of the UI when taking them. Sometimes I see a nice location or pose that my character is making however the game will have the UI or game interface over it. There is a great range of poses and accessories you can use when taking photos. If only we could remove that ugly watermark in game though.

Change of the background of the photo at the Photo Egg

Fun poses to make your photo stand out

The Photo Egg has some lovely templates

Winner - Both have great features and I would put it down to personal preference on what you prefer style wise.

Online

Fashion Dreamer takes the lead for this one as the game is primarily made for playing online. It is basically the main aspect of the game and I play online every time I play it unless I'm out and not connected to wi-fi. With the online function, you can create Lookits for other muses all over the world and share your showroom. You can download and like items created by other players or your item might even show up in the Pop-Up Area.

Like other muses outfits such as this gorgeous one

See feedback you have received from other muses

Receive Lookits from other muses. This one is super cute!

Such a great range of items available at the Pop-Up Area

MODEL Debut3 #nicola only has one online feature which is sharing and downloading others portraits. At the Production Studio, you can enter a ID Code from another player to download a portrait they have uploaded online or you can find your ID codes to share with others. I have made a detailed guide on this game feature so please check it out if you would like more information. Honestly I have only ever found one other ID Code to download so I cannot say much about this feature. Please let me know your ID Codes if you have any as I would love to try it out more.

Here are some of the portraits that I have online for download via ID Code

In order to use the online features of both games, you do not require a Nintendo Online subscription as the games run off external servers run by the developers. This is wonderful as not everyone uses the Nintendo online service (myself included) and the online content isn't locked behind a paywall.

Winner - Fashion Dreamer by a land slide! Seriously I only play online in the game and love making Lookits for other muses.

Cost

So this is a hard section to define as I cannot speak for the price in every country and only have experience with Australian pricing. But I can say that Fashion Dreamer is only worth purchasing on at a sale price as the regular price is quite steep for the content you get. Here are the prices for both games in Australian Dollars:

• Fashion Dreamer - $69.95 on the Nintendo eShop or $64 to $70 at various retailers.
• MODEL Debut3 #nicola - $60 on the Nintendo eShop

I purchased my copy of Fashion Dreamer from JB Hi-Fi and I paid around $50 something as part of a deal. This was still way too expensive for a game with lacking content and I remember being disappointed at the price compared to content when I brought it. MODEL Debut3 was the more expensive one when I brought it as I imported it from Japan through YesAsia. The price was around $86USD which was more for me as I had to convert to Australian dollars. However I do think it was worth it as there is a good amount of content and I could only get it from Japan originally as I got it upon release there. You can check out my original post when I got the game here along with the Fashion Dreamer guide book!

Fashion Dreamer guide book and MODEL Debut3 #nicola game case

Personally I like to buy all my games on sale so I would give that recommendation. Who doesn't love saving money? I add all the games I'm interested in to my wishlist and then purchase them when the price drops. Always get some good bargains around Boxing Day and I have a nice collection of great games I only paid a few dollars for.

Winner - MODEL Debut3 has a longer story line worth the money and I would recommend Fashion Dreamer if it comes on sale.

Game Case

I only included this section as I have seen questions online regarding the physical case for MODEL Debut3. Easiest way to describe this one is if you want the physical game case for that game, you need to buy the Japanese version as that is the only one that comes in a case. The English release is only available via the eShop and is download only. The game case for the Japanese version is quite cute & I love the aesthetics of the design. I have seen a number of players ask if the English one will get a physical release and I would lean more towards the no side. It reminds me of how Styling Star never got a release besides the digital one in America.

Japanese Cover for MODEL Debut3 #nicola

Interior of the Japanese game case

Fashion Dreamer was released with a game case which has a few different cover art designs. The three designs are included below and it can be personal preference on which one you like the most. Of course Australia would get the worst one which is the one I have. So boring -_-  The Japan and North American ones are cute and portray the game in a better manner.

Australian & European Cover

Japan Cover

North America Cover

Winner - I would vote Fashion Dreamer as it is easier to get the physical case for it as MODEL Debut3 does not have one outside of the Japanese version.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, you could buy both games if you wanted to. No one stopping you and I say do it if you are in a position where you can purchase both. Fashion Dreamer and MODEL Debut3 #nicola are both amazing games and we should support fashion games on the Nintendo Switch. Hopefully these points have helped you make a informed decision on which game is more suited for you and with the Christmas sale season coming up, maybe the games will come on sale and that would be the ideal time to grab them!