Pytho's Mask

5 star: (15) 4 star: (40) 3 star: (10) 2 star: (0) 1 star: (1)

Average Rating: Number of Ratings: 66 Write a review

- Shigosei, December 6, 2008

- Linnau (Tel-Aviv, Israel), October 31, 2008

- Genjar (Finland), August 31, 2008

- NotVerySubtle, July 31, 2008

- Beekeeper, July 28, 2008

- jwbjerk (Mid-West USA), July 22, 2008

- Mike Ciul (Philadelphia), June 11, 2008

- ECarter, May 24, 2008

- Clare Parker (Portland, OR), April 22, 2008

- Tom Hudson (Durham, North Carolina), April 15, 2008

- Catherine Daze, March 4, 2008

- jfpbookworm (Hamburg, New York), February 25, 2008

- Dan Schmidt (Boston), January 31, 2008

I've always liked a good fantasy romance, but I did dither before playing Pytho's Mask. I wish now that I'd played it earlier. It has all the important (some would say cliche) elements of the genre -- the masked hero, the evil villian, the unsuspecting kingdom needing rescuing. And, of course, the enterprising heroine.

If you like puzzly IF, I'll tell you now -- this game has almost no puzzles. Almost all information to be gathered comes from conversation; and much of the game is spent talking to various NPCs. Conversation is menu-based, but with a topic command -- handy for hiding spoilery options, but it can lead to the occasional game of 'guess-the-noun'. The game doesn't railroad you into any particular attitude towards any of the NPCs -- (Spoiler - click to show)it's even possible to refuse the proposal of the hero at the end.

The fantasy setting was captivating and well-written, but I was let down to earth with a bump once or twice when a interesting-sounding piece of scenery wasn't implemented. It's the setting and connected mythology that saves this game from the realm of predictability, actually. I had no navigation problems, and normally I get lost within the first five minutes of beginning a game.

Overall, I throroughly enjoyed Pytho's Mask, despite one or two guess-the-verb hiccups and getting stuck at the end. If you like swashbuckling romance stories, you'll enjoy this game.

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- Michel Nizette (Brussels, Belgium), January 18, 2008

- Isxek, December 4, 2007

- Wesley (Iowa City, Iowa), November 11, 2007

Baf's Guide

Intrigue and romance at a fantastical royal court on the brink of astrological derangement. You play a capable young woman from a secret order, invited to the ball by a cloaked and masked stranger. It continues in that vein. Very good atmosphere, with timed events independent of the player. Heavily story-oriented, with a large cast for a relatively small game and lots of conversation, but contains puzzles as well. In fact, the whole story leads to a problem of detection that can be approached in multiple ways (including trial-and-error). Features an experimental conversation system (later used in Best of Three) that combines aspects of ASK/TELL and menu-based conversation in a fairly natural and inobtrusive manner, although it is pretty easy to run out of things to say to a person - not because there are few things to say, but because the system encourages one to talk a lot.

-- Carl Muckenhoupt