How Prince Quisborne the Feckless Shook His Title

One of the largest IF games I’ve played to date, and what a delightful game it is.

It is a pseudo-medieval fantasy with very classic adventure game gameplay: explore, gather items, and talk to people, solve puzzles to unlock new areas to progress. This plays out on a huge and varied map; many locations could be their own IFComp entries, each with their own puzzles to solve plus overarching goals that stretch across the entire map. The puzzle structure feels like, I need to do A, which requires solving B to get the info that I need for C & D, and to access the C location I need to get E... The feeling when you finally put it all together is very satisfying.

It can feel a bit unfocused at times. Oftentimes solving a puzzle gives an item that is needed for something on the other side of the map 7 hours later. Or the other way around, one could struggle against a puzzle, not realising it currently not doable because it requires an item that's 2 puzzle chains down the line.

So I find the puzzles fun but just alright; what stands out for me is the writing. It is charming and somewhat self-indulgent in the best way, you can tell the author enjoyed coming up with whimsical locales and also telling us interesting facts about the setting. One of my favourites is the Chelkwibble town, with its houses with roofs that slope down to the ground and its impressive array of punny random interactions you get as you pass through. The following is an excerpt from the 3-paragraph description of the Chelkwibble mead hall, which you cannot actually enter and is not relevant to any puzzles:

The mead-hall is a relic from a far-off age when most of the land was wild and unsettled. It's the largest structure to be seen in town, and seems to have been well kept up over time. The building is covered with a large mass of sod, and was made with a cruck frame, meaning that large bent trees were split in two, the matching halves being separated and mirrored to lean against each other at their peaks, forming one rib or section of the building. By appearances, the old hall still serves the age-old fermented honey drink in addition to serving as a town hall/dance hall/feasting hall.

Elsewhere in the game I learned about cockleoffen ovens in a farmhouse (which also feature a baby crib made from a barrel cut in half), the exact shape and structure of a quarry, and how a lathe works. My general assumption that detailed descriptions have story/puzzle relevance did work against me a bit. For a while I was convinced I’d need to use the lathe at some point because its operation and parts were explained in such detail, but not so.

The “nudge” option to see what unsolved puzzles you have access to and should be focusing on is very useful too, and I wish I started using it earlier.

The world itself is wonderfully varied, with lots of interesting locations. The monastery, the town with windmill houses, the cider festival, the wizard’s library. The surprise turn into helping Not-Robin Hood rescue not-Rapunzel! Each time the world expanded and I got to explore someplace new was a great feeling.

I loved Prince Quisborne’s growth in the game. This comes through mainly in his evolving commentary as you progress: early on, scenes of learning to set up camp, going from being horrified at the idea of sleeping outdoors to enjoying being under the stars. Learning about life for regular folks, realising how empty his life of leisure at the castle was.

"Wow, sir!" he says in a hushed tone. "You can do just about everything, it seems! I never learned how to play any music. But now, I think I'd like to. It seems like something worth doing, and you can probably make a lot of people happy with it. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever did anything that required practice or study, when I lived at the castle. Doing nothing but amusing yourself all the time actually gets pretty wearying."

The effect is also from the various ways the game translates player commands to events. Sometimes it’s Vathyrian coming up with the plan, sometimes, increasingly, it’s presented as Quisborne coming up with ideas. It’s really endearing how excited he gets when his ideas work.

Throughout the game he grows more responsible, thoughtful, and caring, I’m actually quite proud. The ending sequence he officially becomes no longer feckless is incredible.

Had a great time with this game and was sad when the end approached.