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Casual Friday

Most of the scenes that appear on Casual Friday are from games I’ve played, and, often replayed years ago. The above screenshot is from Nevertales - Legends. It’s a game I played almost by accident less than a week ago. I thought another of the casual regulars had recommended it. Turns out she didn’t, but I had already downloaded the demo. And I liked the demo so much, I bought the game. And I liked the game so much, I forced it into the AGSotD rotation.

The game is standard fantasy fare. You are the Queen of the realm. The realm is made up of five baronys. Each of which holds a relic that possesses special powers. The relics are separated lest any one individual hold too much power and threaten the realm’s peaceful existence.

Unfortunately your husband, the King, has been stricken by a dreadful, and quite possibly terminal affliction. The only thing that has the potential of curing him is a relic held in another barony. So, off you go. But when you reach the barony, you find that your husband’s affliction is not limited to him, but has also infected the baroness who holds the key to the relic’s vault.

Obviously you must find an alternate way to enter the vault. You also find out that affliction is not caused by an unknown germ. It is caused by a very well-known person who wants access to all the relics so that this individual can rule the realm according to this person’s own perception of what is right or wrong.

Ironically, in order to save the kingdom from this individual you, yourself, must collect all the relics in order to prevent your antagonist from doing so. And so the quest continues.

There are a number of things that made me like this game. First, the graphics are wonderful. And while I like the above scene, it seems they get better as the game progresses. I just didn’t have time to replay the game far enough to grab a better screen. Two, the story, while fanciful, is plausible once you buy into the situation. Three, the puzzles are, I think, very well integrated into the story. Some of them are sufficiently complex so as to appeal to a regular adventurer. Four, there are HO scenes, but the variety is remarkable. And finally, there is no mascot to solve things you ought to be able to solve yourself.

I plan to nominate it for the next CCPT.

And now it’s off to practice for tomorrow’s guitar lesson. 

That premise sounds like a classic setup where you go through all the hoops to get the artifact only for the villain (who wants that same artifact) to show up and take it from you, just as you’ve found it / assembled it.
That trope is called the MacGuffin Delivery Service.

Let me guess: they couldn’t resist this right before the endgame, could they?

TimovieMan - 19 February 2016 04:09 AM

That premise sounds like a classic setup where you go through all the hoops to get the artifact only for the villain (who wants that same artifact) to show up and take it from you, just as you’ve found it / assembled it.
That trope is called the MacGuffin Delivery Service.

Let me guess: they couldn’t resist this right before the endgame, could they?

Actually, the antagonist is revealed during the first quest, which makes out thinking him more of a challenge than it would be if you only had to defeat him at the endgame.

Becky - 19 February 2016 06:23 AM

Tim—I don’t own this one because it’s late in the series, but it looks as though it’s separate from the main Nevertales storyline. I’m adding it to my list—it looks enticing.

The opening of the game states “Many stories exist in Taleworld.” So I’m guessing that while this game is one of a series that share the Nevertales title, it stands alone. (At least for the time being.)