Neopets: The Darkest Faerie

"Shiny Armor? Check! Long, Pointy Sword? Check! Potion of Power.... Oh, No! The Bandit's Got It!"

Ah, Neopets: The Darkest Faerie! This is the video game Neopets promised to release and didn't get around to actually releasing for a long time. Of course, most decent video games take time to create and test, especially when the creators change their minds and decide to put the game on the Playstation 2 instead of the original Playstation. So, was the wait worth it?

Story: 10/10

In Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, you play as a young Lupe named Tormund (Tor for short). One day, he delivers a package to the Meridell Army Recruitment Centre, where he gets the chance to become a squire. Since Tormund dreams of being a knight of Meridell, he signs up. Soon enough, Tormund is learning more about swordplay and the duties that come with his new life. Oh, if only Tormund knew that his skills would be put to the test much sooner than he thought.

After one-thousand years of being imprisoned in a statue at the bottom of the sea, the spell sealing her wears off, the charm fails, and the evil Darkest Faerie returns for revenge on those who trapped her. Her first target is the tiny, ancient kingdom of Meridell. Once the more powerful forces of good are out of the way, the Darkest Faerie's spell falls over the kingdom, corrupting the hearts of all its inhabitants, save for a certain Lupe hero.

The clouds of evil hovering over Meridell do not go unnoticed by the nearby Kingdom of Brightvale. King Hagan sends his niece, sorceress-in-training and diplomat Roberta, to meet with Fyora, the Queen of Faerieland, a city in the clouds. Fyora promises that she will look into it as Faerieland drifts closer to Meridell.

But Faerieland is not completely safe from the powers of darkness, either. Roberta flees the city and falls down to Neopia, where she meets Tormund, who only just escaped from Meridell. So now, it's up to these two teenagers to save the medieval worlds of Neopia from the Darkest Faerie.

Controls: 10/10

As usual, the player moves the character around with the left analog stick. The character's speed depends on how far the left analog stick is pushed; a little and the character walks, much more and he or she jogs. Holding down one button while jogging causes the character to break into a run, allowing faster travel over longer distances. As a plus, the right analog stick controls a nice camera, which the character usually has his back to. So, the player can hold the left analog stick forward while tilting the right analog stick left or right to perform more accurate high-speed turns (adjusting the camera to make the character turn gives the player a better view of the surroundings). When used properly and at once, these two analog sticks actually make gameplay easier.

Pressing the START button brings up a nice pause menu, where the character can equip and use items, check quests, and look at a map, but I'm not going into detail about that right now. While the player can go to this big menu and flip through the seperate little menus, the directional pad can be used to jump straight to the quest list, the area map, or even go through a list of fruits and potions to heal or help the character in some other way (but switching and using items with the control pad is hardly recommended in an unsafe area, because in this case, the action continues and the active Neopet can be hurt). The features assigned to the directional pad add convenience!

Finally, the SELECT button brings up another sort of menu, where the player can set options and even load another saved game. The ability to load any saved game without resetting the Playstation 2 itself is quite nice, and it even lets the player fix the background music glitch without going to any real trouble.

Other than that, you have your button for talking to people, and your buttons for fighting, which deserve to be in a slightly different section because there's more to them than you'd assume.

Really, the controls in this game really are easy to master, and they certainly enhance gameplay! Though, I would subtract half a point for the mostly useless sneak button, which only really helps when you're trying to round up a few timid little Petpets. And since nine and five tenths rounds up to ten, that's the score the controls get!

Gameplay: 8/10

Basically, Tormund and Roberta run all over the medieval worlds of Neopia, fighting monsters, doing main quests and sub-missions, and searching for better equipment. And there is quite a bit of running around. The maps in this game are huge! Some have criticized this game for map size, and that's a bit understandable, since many quests will have you running back and forth between two points very far away. Players will often find themselves making long trips revisiting certain area just to dig up some treasure they heard about in a completely different part of the map. All this running around can become tiring, especially with the huge numbers of monsters that won't leave you alone. On the bright side, this game has nice-looking worlds.

Just like the site, this game has currency called Neopoints. And just like the site, this game requires you to perform all kinds of painful, tiring tasks for just a handful of Neopoints. Neopoints are not easy to come by, and even if they are, they take a while to get. For example, you might gain about... one to two-hundred Neopoints by rampaging through some poor farmer's crops (money doesn't grow on trees; it grows in fields!). But players can gain more Neopoints by defeating monsters and participating in activities, like fighting in an arena or betting on a wheel, in certain towns. What are Neopoints for? Buying things, like new equipment and healing items! But, unlike on the site, you won't find yourself dealing with inflation and n00bs. Yay! Now if only the people making the game had added a way for players to sell the unwanted potions they picked up in the dungeons.

So, you run back and forth doing loads of quests, killing monsters, saving your money, and buying upgrades to make the monster-killing easier. Yes, there is a lot to do and much you won't discover the first time around. Completing the game takes hours... even days!

But what stinks about making it to the end? How about the fact that you don't get the option of going back and finishing any quests you didn't do in story mode? Once you defeat the Darkest Faerie and save in Faerieland, you're trapped, with nothing to do but have everyone congratulate you and watch the credits roll. Heck, once you save in Act Four, you're completely cut off from the rest of the game's world unless you've saved in another slot. Not cool....

Combat: 9/10

What would an action-filled fantasy game be without combat? Along the way, you fight countless monsters, skeletons, and plain old highwaymen.

Don't think you can button-mash your way to victory in this game! One button may be all that's used for sword strikes and spell-casting, but the character's current actions and the player's timing make a real difference. For instance, button-mashing will cause Tormund or Roberta to stab or fire magical energy quickly, but the damage is minimal. Press the button three times in a row at just the right speed, and the character uses a powerful chain attack. Spinning in a circle and then holding the button will start a spin attack, perfect for damaging and scattering multiple enemies when the character is surrounded. Jumping and attacking results in a jump attack, which is best done by Tormund since he puts his weight into striking enemies below him.

Success in combat also depends on the weapon, shield, and clothing worn by the character. Obviously, an iron sword is more helpful than a wooden one, and more powerful wands do more damage. Stronger shields block heavier damage. Chainmail will keep Tormund safer than his simple clothing will. Swords, wands, shields, objects for upgrading the magical shield, armor, and robes can be found in shops or dungeons, or the player may need to go on a long quest to get them. But finding the upgrades is worth it, since they make the characters stronger (and better-looking).

Different attacks and equipment aren't all. The lands of Neopia are home to motes, little beings that provide offensive and defensive elemental magic. Just about every enemy Tormund and Roberta must face belongs to one of the six Neopian elements: light, darkness, water, earth, fire, and air. By equipping a mote of the element opposite of the enemy's element to a sword or wand, the character can do more damage. If the player uses a charged attack with a mote equipped, the character casts a powerful spell, with effects depending on the type and stength of the mote used. Also, equipping a mote that matches the enemy's element to the armor or robes reduces the damage that the character takes when struck by that enemy. The same goes for shields and magical shields, which may block attacks entirely, and in the case of magical attacks, send the magical energy right back at the opponent. Of course, using a mote drains your magical energy, as well as the mote's power, so these awesome little things cannot be overused.

If the character loses too much stamina or magical energy, there are a variety of fruits and potions to help. Fruits can be found growing in certain places in Neopia. The most common fruits, Red and Purple Juppies, restore a small amount of stamina or magical energy, respectively. Rarer Chokatoes and Peachpas restore larger amounts of stamina, while Starberries and Ergyfruit give more magical energy. Spotted, Striped, and Silver Neggs restore both. Red Neggs, Starry Neggs, and Golden Neggs even provide permanent stamina and magical energy boosts. Finally, extremely rare potions can fully restore these stats and keep them from going down for a little while.

But I'm forgetting Petpets, aren't I? Well, those cute little creatures that normally become dinner for the site's Turmaculus are either companions or monsters. The companions, Doglefoxes, Galleons, Noils, and more, can be found hanging out in different parts of Neopia. These Petpets aid you in combat. They don't attack, but they give your active Neopet some kind of stat boost. They'll follow you around if you feed them their favorite type of food, which usually has something to do with the bonus they provide (they'll stay longer if you feed them rarer foods in the same category). Of course, you have to keep feeding them, or they'll go away when their bellies are empty. Cuddly little mercenaries, aren't they?

Graphics: 10/10

This game took a bit of criticism for having cartoony graphics, but those graphics suit the world the game is set in very much. Everything looks like it came from the site and got turned 3D. Perfect for Neopets!

Once thing I really love about this game is the fact that if there are no obstacles, and you're in a good position to look around, you can see the rest of the world. Sound weird? Okay.... Let's say you're standing on the little beach between Meridell and Brightvale. You can see Meridell Castle in the distance! Stand on the roof of the barn at the Ellis Family Farm, and you can see the trees of the Shadowglen Woods, and the cliffs around Cogham. Nice, huh? And it's pretty realistic! I know plenty of great games that would be even better if the players could see the surrounding world without spending ages on a loading screen. Developers could learn a thing or two from the way this is set up!

And, yeah, areas under the Darkest Faerie's control are covered by evil, purple clouds. If you have a nice view of the sky, you can tell which areas are cursed from a distance. As you enter these cursed areas, the clouds of evil quickly make the area look dark and depressing.

Okay, so a few things about this game's graphics could've been slightly better, especially the water. There is no visual difference between shallow water, which can be waded through, and water deep enough to drown Tormund and Roberta if they fall in. You can only tell which water does what in the Bogshot Swamp, and that's if you have good eyes and nice colors on your television!

Sound: 10/10

All the worlds in the game have music that suits them very much. Run around one of the many fields, and you hear uplifting tunes. Go into some catacombs, to do a bit of grave robbing or defeat an undead Quiggle wizard, and the music is quiet and creepy, with a bit of chanting in the background. Brrrr...!

And that isn't all. For every cute, cheery tune that plays when you travel around the medieval lands of Neopia, there is a spooky, creepy, somewhat-depressing tune that plays if that area is still under the Darkest Faerie's influence.

Finally, if a nearby enemy spots you and begins an attack, the music speeds up, or a new tune plays, until the enemy is defeated or loses interest.

I'd say they did a really good job with the music! And the sound effects are pretty good, too.

Play Time: 10/10

There's a lot to do, so it'll take a long time to beat the game. And that's a good thing! I do not happily spend over thirty dollars on a game that can be completed in a few hours. Another reason to love this game!

Glitches: Does this get a score...?

Sadly, for a game that took a while to create and test, this game has a few bugs. To name just a few, sometimes the background music stops completely, sometimes Neopians freed from the Darkest Faerie still look cursed, and sometimes you get missions that are impossible to complete because somebody did not code the triggers and events properly.

Conclusion

This game is really very good! It takes a while to beat, the quests have just the right difficulty level, and playing the game does not feel like a chore. Isn't it funny how games that don't get as much attention from the audience can turn out to be better than the games released to go along with movies and books? This is one of those games, and even with the occasional glitch, it's worth purchasing. Rent it, and you won't have enough time to find everything, or even complete it!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/10/07

Game Release: Neopets: The Darkest Faerie (US, 11/16/05)