Thought I would just quickly give my views on keepsake..when I finished it I felt a loss.. and as games go that is good.. ..at times I thought this game is a navigational h*ll..but it was not..it was me..follow the map and you will get there..

when I thought it was all over..the adventure surprised me with another wonderful section which lasted just as much as the first..I throughly enjoyed this adventure..much more than I thought I would..its longlevity play was a dream...something I looked forward too after a long day..

Thanks Sweetpea--I loved it too!

So far I'm not too enthusiastic about Keepsake, but I'm hoping that will change as I get deeper into it. I am staying with it because I like Lydia, who fortunately runs from place to place and that's good since those red X's say there is nothing to look at or do. I also like Zak who makes me laugh and who has an air of mystery about him, is he really a dragon, since he seems to forget that fact now and then? The puzzles are too much like Myst which I hated and returned the next day in exchange for GK:The Beast Within, a great game.

I agree with sierramindy.Even though Keepsake was a great looking game it was no Beast Within.

Don't forget though--you can use the hint button to get going in the right direction with those puzzles, or even skip them entirely

Loved that feature--I did not use it a lot, but it was comforting just to have.

I liked Keepsake, although i thought of it as a childsgame first, because of the magic and Zak being a wolf, saying he was a dragon. But eventually it turned out to be a very nice game.

Gandalf, I personally do not compare Keepsake with the Beast within. It is so different. But both good games.

I loved it, myself. I love anything to do with magic and magical creatures. Also, the human element of the story was so good. Actually, it was a character-driven story rather than a plot-driven, and maybe that's why some people didn't like it as much.

I do think some of the riddles were overly obscure, though!

WW

I had some problems with some of those riddles myself--

Keepsake might be a great game, but where is the "adventure" when there is nothing to do but puzzles where you take action one place and things happen somewhere else (My main objection to Myst! Graphics were great though.) Oh yes, I'm using the hint key and letting it do the puzzles too. Even after 3 hints on some puzzles, I didn't understand what I was supposed to do, plus some of the hints didn't stay long enough for me to read everything. I guess I took too much time trying to visualize what I was supposed to do. Walking through screen after screen is not my idea of adventure, no matter how great the eye candy.

Just goes to show people have different ideas of what "adventure" means, I guess!

ww

I really loved Keepsake. I played it twice.

I'm not into the Harry Potter stories, but I think this game attempts to provide the female version. I enjoy watching a magical TV show called "Charmed" -- which ran for 8 years on the WB Channel (just ended), and was not just for kids.

I agree, though, that some of the puzzles (and their hints) are very confusing and/or nearly impossible to solve without lots of help. There's a puzzle near the end of the game (in the Forge) for which the GB walkthrough gives an incorrect solution... due to changes made for the North American version. I had no choice but to let the game solve that puzzle for me.

I think of this game as "Myst meets The Wizard of Oz."

Thanks to Zak Keepsake is beginning to interest me! It also helped that I managed to solve a puzzle after the 3rd hint. Gave my ego a boost, even though the hint spelled it out, move by move, I couldn't miss. Before that I not only needed the hint system to learn about a key, but the walkthrough to help me find it. I just wasn't going far enough down the passageway it turned out.

i absolutely positively enjoyed this game and i hope another from same development group is in the works (but maybe w/not so sad ending). I thought this was a very original game. i enjoyed the exploration of area you could do...to me that can always be an adventure....and the puzzles were at times a bit hard but gosh...sure loved the hint system!!!! and the story line....where is her friend???? i thought the artwork, music, and all just great...it ran great too...not a single crash or booboo. and i liked having that map! (wished there had been one at the beginning too).

There is a map at the beginning of the game and I use it a lot to find out in what general area Lydia is in, so I'm not totally lost. However, it doesn't show exactly where Lydia is in the highlighted area and she can move from top to bottom of the map in a move or two and I don't know how she got there. I gather there is another map later in the game that works differently. Oh, maybe mine isn't a map, but simply a layout of the school? Whatever, it's better than nothing.

I liked this game very much! I thought the graphics were awsome, and I would love to be able to run freely in the academy.

I think they created a stunning world.

I wish I could have explored the surrounding forest more though.

I grew tired of the constant overhead perspective, except for the floating islands. I would have liked to have a 360 eye level view.

The other thing I really disliked about the game was the dialogue and voice acting, except for Zak, I thought it was sadly lacking.

joe

If I could be transported into a game it would have to be this one! Like Joe says, the graphics were stunning. Oh to be there to see it all for myself.
The only downside for me was Mustavio's voice!!!....horrible! I used to turn my sound way down whenever he opened his mouth Loved the cutscenes too.

Mary

Ah, Mustavio... His voice bothered me, but he wasn't as bad as the man who played the tree, the ghost, and Nathaniel.

Am finding the whole thing a little too cute at the moment, but I will certainly keep going.

Katsmom, is this true, the NA version has a different upper floor? So they really made two games??? Which version did you like more? I played the British version (with patch) and I just love this game. So, if you tell me the American version is even better, I'd be off like a shot to get it!

I had not heard about the European and North American versions having different upper floors--it would be interesting to see the differences.

I played the NA version to verify the European walkthrough (as requested by the authors) and didn't see any difference. I might not be discerning enough.

I also did not see a difference.

I am playing Keepsake now. Is it just me or are the puzzles really hard? I'm frustrated because the graphics are so good but I am always stuck and even though it has a hint system I am too stuborn to use it.

I don't know why I'm always tempted to say "just you" but no, it isn't. Some of the puzzles are very easy and then I think there are those that range up to hard. The kind developers added the hint system so no one would miss out if they had a problem - something I really appreciated. Kudos to you for doing them all on your own!

Hi Y'all, I'm improving in Keepsake as I finally solved one puzzle ALL by myself, not even one hint. I don't want to give anything away but it was a simple puzzle with only 6 pieces to move! Funny, odd not haha, but I seem to be reading more criticism from those who really liked the game than I would make myself and I'm not overly fond of it.

I haven't played the European version of Keepsake. I used the GameBoomers walkthrough for the game, which is based on a European version (German, I believe)... and the map of the upper floors included in the walkthrough has a completely different layout than the North American version I played. Some of the names of locations (rooms) are also different... such as "Smithy" instead of "Forge." I'm also curious to hear from those who've played both versions, to find out just how different they are.

The label of the maps are English translations of the German labels.
I did follow the map on the walkthrough and found my way through when playing the NA version. I liked the way the teleporters are marked which I think are brilliant.

Ah, Katsmom, thank you, now I get it. I understood that Gimli and Jochen in their kindness provided a map for the upper floor themselves because at that time there was no inbuild map in the game. This came later with the NA version as well as the patch for the European version.

MaG, nickie - thank you for your inside information (although it shattered my hopes of a 'second Keepsake'. )

However, the developers promise to make their next game even better, so we have something to look forward to, don't we!

Well after Ankh, I will need to reinstall the game. I loaded it up, played for about an hour and did not care for it at all. Now I will give it another shot and stick with it for a longer period before I decide.

I think for me,despite the pros and cons,the biggest letdown was the ending - if it had been handled a little differently,i think it would have made a huge difference in the way i considered the entire game...

Why did you conside the ending a letdown? I saw it coming from miles away, and it was sad and a little abrupt, but not a letdown. Just curious.

WW

Which ending would you have liked better, niteowl07? And do you mean by ending the last few sentences or the sanctuarium?

Oh, you knew how it would end alright,but after the last puzzle ,the ending just seemed a little flat - hard for me to explain. Just my opinion.

Well, I have to admit that I wanted to beat Nathaniel over the head with a big stick and his belated realisation about his behaviour didn't satisfy me--in fact, it kind of seemed as if he went from beating his breast in one way to doing it in another. Indulging in self-pity rather than taking real responsibility. Oh well.

WW

I completely agree. I was hoping he'd make an effort to be like the kind and helpful person Lydia remembered him being from when she was a kid.

I just finished it last night. Have to admit I absolutely loved it. It's the game I was hoping Dreamfall was going to be. I didn't mind the to-ing and fro-ing at all (guess because I'm used to it in RPGs.) Loved Zak as a sidekick - he's right up there with Crow IMHO. The only puzzle I absolutely gave up on (and not because I didn't know what to do) was the telescope one - could not get thosee numbers to line up correctly to save me. Sure reminded me of the magical school in Harry Potter - which is another point in it's favor since I'm a Harry Potter fan

And as to Nathaniel - I was ready to smack him upside the head also.

I just finished Keepsake and I must say I liked it. I enjoyed the plot driven story, sad, yes but neat characters. It is nice to see developers coming up with some variety. This was not necessarily a garden variety adventure. It had what I consider a pretty good to great hint system with the option to work your way around a puzzle that might be too difficult or perplexing. Nice save system too.

Voice acting might have been a tad better, but it isn't even a blip on my radar! I think the fact that I kept coming back night after night to play the next section says it all. It got me involved and thinking and for me that is the goal of a good adventure game.

Yes, I wanted to smack Nathaniel too!

I really liked Lydia (great strong female character) and Zak (nice guy) and the surroundings were just beautifully rendered. Very nice game that I would recommend...

The one thing I would really criticize (trying very hard not to make a spoiler) is that many...okay, ALL of the riddle-based puzzles were just too obscure. I had no problem lining up the numbers in the observatory puzzle, but interpreting the clues in the tapestry... well, they just had no meaning. Same with the garden tapestry (but at least with that one when I checked out the hints I figured out what was going on and could solve the puzzle--with the observatory it was just "what the heck are they thinking??? " I also wish that when you picked the "please solve this puzzle for me!" option, the game had actually shown the solution, rather than just jumped to the next scene.

WW

I'm totally hopeless! Not only do I use the hints and the solutions to puzzles, and the map, but I also have both GB and JA walkthroughs and I still get lost. It's really rough and I keep wondering where are those teleporters I keep reading about?

Sierramindy,
You don't find the teleporters until you get to the second part of the game, after you solve the Minotaur puzzles.

I worried about the teleporters after I read about them in the walkthrough. But they turned out to be pretty handy. You should print the map - it won't really give anything away but it is handy to use to help figure out where you have to go next.

I liked the Minotaur puzzle and tried very hard to work it, but had to save so many times to go back to it after not getting it yet that I was afraid I would run out of SAVES, so I let the 4th hint do it. I watched and I was right for about the first third of the puzzle but after that I lost it. I'm now where Zak had the potion and I'm supposed to solve the next puzzle with him provided I can find the right place. Does the teleporter come after I/we do this puzzle?

sierra, sounds like you have 2 more trials to go before you can access the upper levels of the castle.

WW

I've passed the 2 trials (well, the game did) and Zak and I have been teleported to the upper level. That map is harder for me to understand than the first one! I found 2 teleporters and they don't work! Doesn't that beat all?

sierramindy, before you can use the teleporters you have to power them up. If I remember right, there is a yellow pad (not the one in the hall) that will take you to so some small tower place with 3 different pads: one yellow (the one you arrive at), one red and one grey. Step onto the grey one and you'll get to the 'central control room' for the teleporters.

Hope that helps a bit

Hi Wollmaus, Thanks! Didn't have the teleporters powered up yet. I have them working now, but for me, I'm not sure they are an improvement. I just get zapped all over the place and still don't have a clue about anything unless the hint system tells me what to do next. In a true adventure game you get clues on what to do by what you find and people you talk to as you make progress in the game. If you can't figure things out, then you turn to a hint source, usually a walkthrough. I really do like Lydia and Zak though, even with his new look which took me a bit to get used to. So I will hang in there with them.

Great you got going Sierramindy. If you need more hint - help, please post at Hints forum.

Thanks for the help, Wollmaus. You might drop by hints forum - the gamers could use your help at hints forum.

Okay, will do, but I wasn't really asking for a hint as much as I was venting my frustration. I had been so looking forward to being teleported and when they didn't work right away, I blew my cool. Now I'm past that and trying to find the student's hallway to get to a yellow teleporter to see the rest of the school. Actually I did go there already earlier when I was trying to find my way somewhere else, but by now I have no recollection of how I blundered my way there. Oh well, I will find it eventually. Again.

Oh happy day, I finally blundered my way to the end. If you like third-person games and Myst-type games this will be a good game for you, unfortunately, not for me. However, Lydia and Zak were so great that I managed to stay interested in them all the way to the final scene and now I will miss them, but not the rest of the game. I watched all the credits and they ended with "Thank you for playing Keepsake"! You're welcome!

Thank you for the explanation. The mystery is now solved. The upper floors are the same in both versions, but the two maps were created from different perspectives and therefore look different. Also, the names of some locations were different due to translation from German to English.

Sorry for my delayed reply... but better late than never?