Ratings and Reviews by forgepoet

I spent a large part of the day tinkering with some very old school games, and when I saw this one had an Inform port, I jumped at the chance to see if it would hold up to modern standards with a better engine.

The answer is "sort of"; the world and implementation are solidly three stars, but the unfairness of some of the puzzles makes it hard to appreciate. It's pretty obvious that the game is designed to take a couple of weeks of exhaustive searching to solve, but the plot really wasn't interesting enough for me to want to devote that much energy to it.

It must have been an innovative game by the standards of the time, with NPCs who move around on schedules and a plot that actually drives the exploration and advances as you play. The puzzle of managing your heroine's time isn't overly difficult and adds life to the world, but the NPC dialogues are unfortunately limited and fiddly, and often require very specific phrasing to trigger the required result.

(Spoiler - click to show)And I don't know about you, but after crossing a moor in a rainstorm, climbing down a steep, muddy cliff, crossing a raging river, reaching a safe place, lighting a fire, and heating up some grub, I INSIST on walking all the way back to town because I forgot to order coffee at noon and thus lacked a spoon. Eat with my fingers? What am I, a barbarian? This is even funnier when you find out that the heroine is so frail she collapses from exhaustion if she spends the night without a blanket.

I'm proud of myself for finishing it, even though I had to dig into the source pretty hard to find a few hidden items (I somehow didn't think to search, look at, and examine every single piece of scenery in every single room just in case a plot item might be hidden there. And each action uses up a minute of game time).

It's not the game's fault that gamers expect a lot more today, but it still has to be judged against modern games because those are what it's competing with for a gamer's attention. And I would say this is worthy of your attention, but don't be surprised if you have to sneak a peek at the source eventually.

I first played this game a decade ago, and I can safely say it's one of the better AIF titles from that time period even if it doesn't quite hold up to the standards of today. Setting the sex aside, it's a fine puzzler, with puzzles that feel logical and generally intuitive. However, this is definitely a game about sex, with sex as part of some puzzles and as the reward where another game might hand out narrative.

The design is fine, but the implementation is only passable, with that "first-time author" feel (but that's okay, we're not here to look at tables and scenery, are we?). Where the game shines is in the variety of NPCs and the skill the author used when writing them. All have their own personalities (unfortunately too often stereotyped, but a bit less so than you would expect of a school romp), and their responses are varied and unique (and pretty much too eager, but that's the kind of game this is).

The puzzles were generally fair, although there were a couple of actions that really needed more synonyms implemented (Spoiler - click to show)(getting the oregano and climbing through the window).

I definitely recommend this (with a walkthrough handy) as both a look back and as a decent game.

For a game titled "Dracula", this starts off the way you'd expect, as a spooky, incredibly atmospheric piece, with the hero arriving in a small seaside town after dark carrying nothing but a letter from the endangered Lucy Westenra. Terrifying supernatural forces array against you as you seek to understand what's going on and locate your only ally.

And then it goes all sideways. It's still a lot of fun, but it's not Dracula.

(Spoiler - click to show)Essentially, by the second chapter, you've somehow wandered into someone's Ravenloft campaign. It's as if the writer wrote the first chapter, took a few years off, reread it, and decided it was good but needed more pirates. So it becomes a creepy dungeon crawl, with some very dark fantasy creatures to encounter, and a few vignettes tied together by the four mystical whatsits you're trying to recover.

The game took me about three hours and was challenging, but I finished it on my own without a walkthrough, which means it wasn't that hard. A number of puzzles are timed, and you only have one shot (and any interactions, including "look" and "examine", cost you time). Undos were sufficient to handle most issues, but saving when you enter a new area is wise.

Deaths are plentiful and you get used to it. NPCs are marginal and mostly there for shock value or to dispense a few specific bits of advice. The game's design is fantastic, a cleverly laid out series of rooms that require careful exploration and unlocking of further areas with actions, nicely punctuated with clever shocks. The ending was satisfactory, but I would have liked to learn more about the hero's backstory; after some time to think about it, I think I've puzzled out how all the pieces go together to fit with the ending, but I'm not at all certain about it.

There were a few typos (the author had issues with "it's" and "its", especially in the first chapter), and one glaringly misnamed item (Spoiler - click to show)(a dustbin implemented as "bin"; meaning the first time I tried to look into it I got a generic message that sent me looking for something else to interact with). Otherwise, nothing too difficult, as long as you remember to examine each object when you get it for any specialty verbs.

I would say that this is a game worth spending a few hours with, as long as you're aware that what you're getting, while good, is not what necessarily what you might expect. And that you will end the game with more questions than answers.

I'm a little confused by this. The writing was fine, but the story never really took off; it seems promising at first but never really blossoms into an actual story. It's possible I'm missing the choice that will send me off into a different, more exciting branch, but there's not much incentive to keep hunting for it after a bunch of attempts have ended up in roughly the same spot -- and, frankly, the choices are so opaque it's hard to feel any sense of agency at all.

Even when deliberately trying to avoid the paths I'd already explored, I still ended up with the same game ending event happening in roughly the same way on every play through. (Mild) (Spoiler - click to show)You could make the case that experiencing the same event from the same POV but in different locations counts as multiple endings, but with no epilogue or explanation, it seemed more like padding than anything else. (Major) (Spoiler - click to show)Is there really enough of a difference between walking to a cafe and dying in a pool of vomit outside it vs going home and dying in a pool of vomit to count as two endings? So I'm assuming I only saw two of the ten endings ((Spoiler - click to show)I also managed to die at my desk before vomiting), but I really couldn't figure out how to access any others.

And even when my choices were clearly very consequential, or should have been in the game world ((Spoiler - click to show)opening an email revealing my sister's been kidnapped versus deleting it unread), they didn't seem to make much difference to what happened or to be reflected at all in the ending.

That said, I'd play another game by the author, assuming the setting were more interesting and something exciting happened in it.

This is a fairly long but easy puzzler, with a defined world and an interesting story (and a clever travel mechanic) that reminds me in a lot of ways of a graphical point-and-click adventure. Ultimately, I think it would have been a better game if the resources put into writing so many rather forgettable dating targets had been put into other aspects of the game.

Adult stuff, very mild spoilers: (Spoiler - click to show)All the encounters are strictly heterosexual; the only overtly gay character is cowardly, ineffectual, and obnoxious (this may have been a joke, since he's a vampire and I entirely expected to be offered a sex scene with him). There's not much going on otherwise besides willing sex between (with one exception) equals, one of whom wants to repay the other for a favor. The one exception is easy to avoid and telegraphed as "bad" in big, bold neon. None are particularly meaningful or add much to the story except the witch and the pirate.

Since that aspect of the game is entirely optional, I would recommend only pursuing the NPCs who feel plot appropriate or just skipping the adult stuff entirely. It isn't poorly written, but the engine used is obviously based on incrementing meters with actions and that gets tedious pretty quickly, especially with chunks of text recycled between characters.

The plot is dramatic, the stakes high and personal, but the hero never seems to be too concerned about the fate worse than death awaiting him (or about the others who may have already suffered it). The hero remains a blank slate throughout; we know his name, his occupation, his lifestyle, and what he's been doing for the past five years, but his description is the generic "about the same as always" and he has no opinions about anything going on around him (or happening to him) besides mild feelings of guilt if he's unkind. This bugs me, and is representative of the game as a whole; it just can't seem to commit enough to have real impact.

The puzzles are straightforward and somewhat varied. I did flounder a bit occasionally trying to figure out what I should do next other than wander around and look at everything to see what might help. The key seems to be asking everyone you meet about everything you can think of. Personally, I find that I almost never hit on the right things to ask, not just here, but any time an "ask X about Y" system is used without suggested topics. Fortunately there's any ally you can get early on who will guide you somewhat.

I had some issues with the specific phrasing of commands (during the first puzzle, no less), but the game has a context-sensitive hint system that provides two hints and then an outright solution, so I was never stuck for long. None of the puzzles are cruel or require mind-reading. I did find two a bit unfair. In one, a crucial plot item is (Spoiler - click to show)hidden behind a locked door in an out of the way spot, just past a room with six locked doors in it, and the solution is (Spoiler - click to show)to knock on that door even though the first six do nothing. By the time I found the important door, I had assumed the locked doors in this area were scenery. In the other, (Spoiler - click to show)you need to "look in" an item that's only marginally a container (examining it won't work). (Spoiler - click to show)If you can't find the coin to pay the apothecary, (Spoiler - click to show)"look in red chair" in the Ice Flow Tavern.

Be aware that "strip" is not implemented correctly; NPCs may not realize they've been divested of their clothes, and they certainly won't notice if you're naked. And inventory management in general is kind of a pain, but you're given a mobile base to keep everything in that's never more than three or four rooms away. "Drop all" is your friend here.

All in all, worth playing at least once, and a game I would definitely recommend to someone familiar with IF who wanted to try an adult game.

The author has perfectly captured the engaging, slightly-to-very cartoonish feel of a King's Quest (or maybe Leisure Suit Larry) adventure and blended it with an adult game that is on the "naughty" side of things without (surprisingly, given the source tale) being repellent. And this is definitely an adult game, with the adult content integrated into the puzzles.

The tone starts out very light, and it's obvious this is a fantasy that isn't meant to be taken too seriously. For a fantasy game with such a direct purpose, it made me think a lot more about my actions (and gave more incentives to play "in character") than other games it might superficially resemble. You aren't exactly penalized for your choices, but it definitely feels as if the tone of the game (and thus how the world treats your character) adjusts itself to your actions. Something I'd love to see the author explore in a longer work in the future.

Which leads to my biggest complaint; just like any good short story, it left me wanting to stay longer. I wanted to see a lot more of the castle, and have more puzzles to solve (maybe even restore the whole place)! But as an "encounter", it works just fine without anything extra added. (Spoiler - click to show)Also, if you're really unpleasant to Beauty, I think she should make you suffer directly for it in the end. It's definitely possible such an ending exists, as I wasn't all that rude towards her.

So, recap -- adult, atmospheric, presented in a light way that takes a lot of the sting out of some otherwise really not too appealing actions. And too short!

This was the first game by this author I played through to the end, and I found it surprisingly entertaining. Years ago, I had slotted it into the "don't bother" category over some of the flaws that are glaringly apparent within ten minutes of beginning, and I'm glad I disregarded that initial impression and tried again.

Where the game shines, and where it's entirely focused, and what makes it worth playing despite the implementation flaws, is the narrative and the characters (there are no "he looks exactly as you would expect a clerk to look" descriptions here), and both are engaging enough in a light action movie kind of way to want to see through to the end. Too often I found myself in a situation where I needed to simply "wait" a turn before talking to an NPC again or before something interesting happened on its own. I can't help but think this would have been a better game if it had been written in a different format (say, CYOA or CYOA-hybrid) that allowed these strengths to really shine.

Unfortunately one of the four or five missions in the open world segment gives away much of the ending if you're at all genre savvy and even remotely paying attention (if you want to avoid this, don't hunt down (Spoiler - click to show)Failed Romero).

Even though I knew what was coming, it was still compelling enough to make me want to see how it played out. In some respects it felt as if the author lost interest after the big reveal; I would have liked to have known more about the ramifications of what was going on. But the conclusion was rewarding and the game definitely felt complete.

If you enjoy action science fiction, this is well worth playing, just save often and have a walkthrough handy.

This is actually not bad for a first or casual foray into the medium.

The central conceit of two players is cute, clever, and makes sense inside the game, and also leads coherently into the sole moment of interactivity. The writing is sturdy and hints at more world than we get to see. It's definitely silly, but serious enough within its own framework to work. It's not terribly interactive, but then again, it's not a bad short story.

I've played worse Speed-IF games.

Worth the two minutes to click through.

This definitely comes down hard on the narrative side of IF, with a light, linear story and explicit sex scenes that are integrated into the plot and don't feel tacked on. I felt that it relies a bit too heavily on genre conventions, and that those genres (YA series mystery and Cinemax film) don't mix entirely comfortably, but the game never takes itself too seriously or veers into making fun of itself or the material it pays homage to. The format, an interesting blend of CYOA and parser, kept things moving quickly and forward as events unfolded.

Well, with one exception: (only a spoiler if you're as obtuse as I was, in the very first scene) (Spoiler - click to show)I didn't realize I needed to read the newspaper to move things forward -- I read all of my news online -- and on my first play through never advanced the main plot at all. But even with my cluelessness (seriously, I failed about as hard as you can fail in a scene with two implemented objects, despite being given seven separate attempts to wise up), the game appreciated my efforts and rewarded my character with a nominal win (and some, shall we say, interesting scenery). So, while the story itself is strongly linear, there are a number of exit points that aren't the "optimal" ending to see on the way.

The title and some of the characters seem to be intended as a fairly direct reference to Nancy Drew, but I really picked up more of a "Made for TV Mystery of the Week" vibe. You know the kind of movie -- the one that's playing at two in the afternoon on a weekday, the heroine is feisty, attractive, billed by everyone around her as brilliant but can't spot that the guy she's just hopped into the sack with is a psycho stalker, and nobody ever gets killed, they're just kidnapped and made uncomfortable. Usually based on a cozy mystery book, often with the same title and character names, but generally bearing no resemblance to the source material in any substantial way. (The author of the book probably cried when she saw it.)

None of the above should be taken as a spoiler for this game, by the way, except maybe the "kidnapped and made uncomfortable" part but since that's in the blurb, it's not much of a surprise. Movies like that aren't usually totally unenjoyable, they're just forgettable and often disjointed; this game's plot, as slight as it was, actually held together very well and made sense in context.

I think "slight" actually sums it up, and I very much hope the author uses this format to make more games, ones with more confident and original stories.

Note on adult stuff (read this if you don't care for it): (Spoiler - click to show)You can pretty easily mentally replace everything between the start of a sex scene and the end of it with "fade to black" and not miss anything too important.

CYOA is a difficult medium because it has to succeed as both a short story and as a game. And what one person enjoys in a short story another might dislike intensely (see "Lovecraft, H. P."). There's nothing here to distress anyone, but (slight) (Spoiler - click to show)there is an uncompromising statement about how the world works, and I found it thought-provoking.

As a short story, this is competently written in a serious, slightly overblown way that recalls the simplest high fantasy of my childhood. And it skips over the boring bits, as stories like that usually do, in favor of the parts where you get a cool item or get some bit of sage and cryptic advice or meet someone interesting.

Most clicks, even ones that appear decorative, move the story forward, but choices are not uninteresting, usually reward you with specific text, and are often reflected on your character sheet. There was an appropriate amount of interactivity for the story to have maximum impact and to allow for a replay or two without becoming tiresome.

I played through three times, twice as a wizard and once as a warrior, and I'm pretty satisfied that the endings are fair reflections of my choices. I also quite liked the second ending I ended up with; bittersweet but surprisingly okay.

To sum up, nicely entertaining and more challenging than it might seem from the first few clicks. Well worth the time to enjoy.