Posted By: Reenie
Dark Parables: Goldilocks and the Fallen Star - 11/01/17 12:10 AM
I am playing this game now, and as with all the Dark Parables games, it is beautiful, challenging, long and detailed. This is the 11th game in the series that I have played over the years. Of those, I gave three my highest rating and four my second highest. I have replayed a few so far.
However, I have quibbles about this one. There are four:
1. The HO scenes are relevant to the game and beautifully rendered but not simple to solve because the pieces you search for often are hidden to as much as 50% of their image and are not the same color nor the same size as is depicted in the diagram. If you enjoy HO scenes, maybe this won't bother you. If you suffer through them in order to play these games, this may be irritating.
2. In the third chapter of the game, I encountered a flawed puzzle. It involves inserting into a gate seven keys that you have collected, and each has an icon showing where it goes. You can put them all in correctly, and the puzzle won't "Solve." I did a RESET, in case I had done something wrong, and worked it again. Same thing. Finally, I tried taking out one key and re-inserting it again in the same place. For some reason, that solved the puzzle. So be prepared to tinker.
3. There is a fun Marble Maze sort of puzzle in mid-game that is marred by incomplete instructions. You cannot solve it from the Information given. I had to leave the game and look on line for the additional bit of info needed. (I'm playing the CE, with a Game Guide included, but it provided no help at all with this. As is typical, all it showed was the Solution.)
4. Near the end of the game, there is a "Magic Cube" puzzle involving an artifact you carry through most of the game. There are a series of these puzzles involving the artifact as you progress, all the same type, but getting progressively more challenging as you go along, and they are great fun. You take turns moving geometric game pieces into the sockets that match their shape. The problem arises because the sockets APPEAR to have only one open side by which to enter ~ but this is not true. You can enter any of the sockets from the side, by passing through what looks like a wall in your way! I'm not sure why they set up this puzzle like that, but again, I could find no solution without first looking at the on-board Game Guide. It clearly showed entering the socket by passing through the "side wall."
Oh, and there are Pop-Ups, frequently. However, they are located up in the top left corner and after a while, I didn't even notice them anymore. So they aren't what I'd call intrusive.
I still love the game, and don't mean to discourage anyone from playing it. Just thought people might like to know it has its flaws. Go into it with that knowledge, and it still will be fun.
However, I have quibbles about this one. There are four:
1. The HO scenes are relevant to the game and beautifully rendered but not simple to solve because the pieces you search for often are hidden to as much as 50% of their image and are not the same color nor the same size as is depicted in the diagram. If you enjoy HO scenes, maybe this won't bother you. If you suffer through them in order to play these games, this may be irritating.
2. In the third chapter of the game, I encountered a flawed puzzle. It involves inserting into a gate seven keys that you have collected, and each has an icon showing where it goes. You can put them all in correctly, and the puzzle won't "Solve." I did a RESET, in case I had done something wrong, and worked it again. Same thing. Finally, I tried taking out one key and re-inserting it again in the same place. For some reason, that solved the puzzle. So be prepared to tinker.
3. There is a fun Marble Maze sort of puzzle in mid-game that is marred by incomplete instructions. You cannot solve it from the Information given. I had to leave the game and look on line for the additional bit of info needed. (I'm playing the CE, with a Game Guide included, but it provided no help at all with this. As is typical, all it showed was the Solution.)
4. Near the end of the game, there is a "Magic Cube" puzzle involving an artifact you carry through most of the game. There are a series of these puzzles involving the artifact as you progress, all the same type, but getting progressively more challenging as you go along, and they are great fun. You take turns moving geometric game pieces into the sockets that match their shape. The problem arises because the sockets APPEAR to have only one open side by which to enter ~ but this is not true. You can enter any of the sockets from the side, by passing through what looks like a wall in your way! I'm not sure why they set up this puzzle like that, but again, I could find no solution without first looking at the on-board Game Guide. It clearly showed entering the socket by passing through the "side wall."
Oh, and there are Pop-Ups, frequently. However, they are located up in the top left corner and after a while, I didn't even notice them anymore. So they aren't what I'd call intrusive.
I still love the game, and don't mean to discourage anyone from playing it. Just thought people might like to know it has its flaws. Go into it with that knowledge, and it still will be fun.
