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Review
I just played Fate several times over, and then read much of the source (after I had gotten as many endings as I could on my own). I really enjoyed solving the puzzles, and was thoroughly excited about my prospects (and what I could achieve) later in the game. The story was very interesting, and I was glued to the game for most of the day. Why only 3 stars then? Let me tell you...
I enjoyed the game up until "decision time." (Spoiler - click to show)Admittedly, I was hoping for a "fairytale" ending for all my trouble. I took great care in planning out the game (not hurting my pixie, not snake-biting my servant, etc.) but sadly fate was not affected by these decisions. I felt that I should have been able to tip the scales in my favor by doing good... that perhaps my smaller actions would snowball into a better ending. Nope.
Also, I wish there was a little more guidance toward the end of the game. As a rule, I don't like to ask for hints until absolutely necessary. I was near the end of the game (let's just say my inventory was plentiful, but I had not made my final decisions) but by that time, apparently there were no hints available! I wish the hint system would have remained intact throughout the game so I could have gotten some clarity when I decided to break down and ask for it. (I ended up reading the source which answered all of my questions.)
The most frustrating three parts of the game (for me):
1. (Spoiler - click to show)The "Greater" spell calls for a silver crown. I had not noticed that Harold wore a crown. Even if I had, I had not made my final decision. My next thought was that there must be some other way to procure a crown. I scoured the kingdom for anything made of silver, and I finally found it. The goblet. I really thought there was some secret here, since when you see the goblet it does not announce it as silver until you examine it. I wanted to melt it down to make a crown! I realize this is a little bit of a stretch, but I was trying to innovate, not having seen a crown elsewhere.
2. (Spoiler - click to show)Pixie dust for the "Sleep" spell. Okay, I admit, I played this game about ten times before I thought of a clever idea (that did not pan out). I figured if I could avoid finding the viper altogether, I could smash the blue vial, ask for pixie dust, talk to Charles, slip the ingredients into his wine, and put him to sleep. I would then go get the red vial from Amy and ask for the "Snake" spell. That way the snake wouldn't have to die and I wouldn't have to cut my pixie's wings off either! Nope, no dice. The game still cautioned me to not put Charles to sleep until the viper was handled. Rats!
3. (Spoiler - click to show)The "Haunt" spell. Ugh, this drove me mad! I was carrying all of the ingredients for this spell but no matter how I tried, I could not make a paste out of the ingredients! I tried smashing them with the mortar and pestle. I tried putting the ingredients on each other. I tried "make paste". Nothing worked! I finally gave up and went to see the witch who vengefully made the paste. Really? Why was I able to perform all of the other spells but not this one?
On a side note, I found a bug. (Spoiler - click to show)Upon restarting the game I could not ask my servant to lift the covers for me to take a nap. I had to quit out entirely and start fresh to receive this option (Yes, I examined the bed first and saw there "might be something at the foot...").
Comments on this review
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Thanks for the review! I hope to revisit the game at some point, and I'll try to fix the places where you got stuck.
About finding more positive solutions, though, I think adding them to the game would destroy it. If you can escape from your difficult moral choices by being a great puzzle solver, than they weren't real moral choices in the first place. (Or rather, they would be choices of the form "do you want to take the time to solve this puzzle, or do you want to do the evil thing", which are not very interesting.)
Wow, thanks so much for your response. I never imagined you would personally respond. Now I feel bad that I only gave you 3 stars! Thank you for making such an intriguing game.
I agree that I should not be able to solve the game by tiptoeing around the actual moral decisions. I just thought if I made good moral choices (not harming the pixie, not killing a servant, etc.) that I would get a better ending than if I recklessly chopped through the game without consideration for anyone else. The opposite actually occurred: the more violent I acted, the better the ending was for my child.
When I said fairytale ending, I meant that I would succeed in saving myself and my child -- and continue to rule the kingdom. (Is that too much to ask?) I felt a bit defeated after having removed my rivals, when a third rival appeared whom I had no chance to defeat. I halfway expected that if I was good to my servant and my pixie, that they would rush to my aid at the end. I suppose I have been playing too much Fallout (not an IF game but still one of my favorite games of all time).
Thanks again for your reply.
One of the fun things about IF is that most of the authors are also actively engaged in discussing, reviewing, and so on. But hey, don't give me more stars just because I reply to you! :) I often give three stars to games I like, it's not a score I sneeze at.
I see what you mean with your analysis. However, a game with that structure (if you do the good things, even though you don't need to, people will help you later on) is a game with a moral. It would illustrate the Dutch proverb "wie goed doet, goed ontmoet", that is, "who does good things to others, will receive good things in return". Of course, that is a fine moral, and I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to a game that is built up around it. But in Fate I did not want to have a moral; I wanted to have tough choices. You can do good to others, but only by harming yourself; you can do good to yourself, but only by harming others. What will you choose?
In theory, doing good things should be its own reward, and doing evil things should be its own punishment. I don't think Fate is entirely successful in that respect, because there is just not enough time for the player to start caring about the characters. Do you feel a pang of guilt when you betray the king? Probably not. So that is something I feel should be done better in future games.
