Neopets: The Darkest Faerie
released on Nov 25, 2005
Players control Tor and Roberta, two animal-like Neopets on a quest against evil. By switching between the two at any time, players can use Tor's up-close melee attacks or cause damage from afar with Roberta's spells. This game stays faithful to the traditional third-person action-adventure. Magical items and weapons gained along the way will develop the characters' abilities and strengths. In particular, elementally-aligned motes can be attached to weapons and armor as a combat bonus. There are many puzzles and side-quests along the way, and players will fight evil Neopets.
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This game takes me back, it was one of the few PS2 games I had as a kid, and I've never actually gotten around to finishing it. Until now.
To start with the good, for a simple Zelda clone, this game is actually a lot better than one would think. The world is expansive and varied, challenges are usually interesting, and the lore is actually kind of varied. There are books scattered around everywhere that have useful information, like about Motes, Petpets, or how to get past that stupid Endless Staircase that stumped my entire family on how to do it until we just looked it up online.
On top of that, if you play the game properly and upgrade your equipment frequently, you actually can feel yourself getting more powerful. I really noticed it with Roberta, at first I thought that she was just not that useful in combat, but as I upgraded her wands I noticed that she was getting much more powerful, to the point where I think I actually used her more than Tor in Hero's Rest.
It's kind of a game that got better the further I got into it, like in Act 3 as I was doing all the side quests, and the entirety of Act 4, I was much more into this game than I was with the first 2 Acts. To the point I would almost say this is a good game... Almost.
It does have a few flaws, most of them minor, like some annoying enemies, some side quests that aren't really that easy to complete, and some level design not being that great, but there is really only one major flaw in this game that does keep me from calling it "Good", and that's the camera. The camera will get stuck on everything, it literally drags across the floor when you need to aim at something above you, and does become a major pain in less open areas.
That being said, all the effort put into the tiny details do make up for it, like how the luck system works, or how different effects can clue you in to what element your enemies are aligned to and therefor what mote to use, and even the Cursed effect making some enemies impossible to defeat. The amount of effort put into this game is respectable, dare I say even admirable. For something that could have just been a cheap licensed cash grab, they put a lot of care and effort into this game, and while it sucks it's not a better game, the fact that it's not a bad game is pretty amazing.
Nitro Rad, in his video about this game, which full disclaimer inspired me to actually play and finish it, brought up the potential of a remake, and I think that would be cool. Update the visuals, fix the camera and few other smaller issues, and I genuinely think this would be a good game, potentially great even. Maybe NeoPets isn't as big as it once was, but I think this game has some potential to be more, so I can't help but say that I do in fact recommend trying out this game.
Also, to anyone else who has played this, did you also ship Tor and Roberta?
To start with the good, for a simple Zelda clone, this game is actually a lot better than one would think. The world is expansive and varied, challenges are usually interesting, and the lore is actually kind of varied. There are books scattered around everywhere that have useful information, like about Motes, Petpets, or how to get past that stupid Endless Staircase that stumped my entire family on how to do it until we just looked it up online.
On top of that, if you play the game properly and upgrade your equipment frequently, you actually can feel yourself getting more powerful. I really noticed it with Roberta, at first I thought that she was just not that useful in combat, but as I upgraded her wands I noticed that she was getting much more powerful, to the point where I think I actually used her more than Tor in Hero's Rest.
It's kind of a game that got better the further I got into it, like in Act 3 as I was doing all the side quests, and the entirety of Act 4, I was much more into this game than I was with the first 2 Acts. To the point I would almost say this is a good game... Almost.
It does have a few flaws, most of them minor, like some annoying enemies, some side quests that aren't really that easy to complete, and some level design not being that great, but there is really only one major flaw in this game that does keep me from calling it "Good", and that's the camera. The camera will get stuck on everything, it literally drags across the floor when you need to aim at something above you, and does become a major pain in less open areas.
That being said, all the effort put into the tiny details do make up for it, like how the luck system works, or how different effects can clue you in to what element your enemies are aligned to and therefor what mote to use, and even the Cursed effect making some enemies impossible to defeat. The amount of effort put into this game is respectable, dare I say even admirable. For something that could have just been a cheap licensed cash grab, they put a lot of care and effort into this game, and while it sucks it's not a better game, the fact that it's not a bad game is pretty amazing.
Nitro Rad, in his video about this game, which full disclaimer inspired me to actually play and finish it, brought up the potential of a remake, and I think that would be cool. Update the visuals, fix the camera and few other smaller issues, and I genuinely think this would be a good game, potentially great even. Maybe NeoPets isn't as big as it once was, but I think this game has some potential to be more, so I can't help but say that I do in fact recommend trying out this game.
Also, to anyone else who has played this, did you also ship Tor and Roberta?
peak
It's rough around the edges, but c'mon, it's neopia. I've played this game so many times. It's just comfy.
Esse jogo envelheceu mal, é cheio de bug e mal otimizado, mas eu o amo
mama the number of hours i spent after school just running around in this game. that alone gets it to 4 stars at LEAST
It's so rough I almost wish I left the experience of playing it as a memory. lol