Dark Parables: Queen of Sands
Based on both the CE and SE demos.
A young girl walks across the town square, stopping at a market stall where a young man hands her an apple. Their fingers brush as she takes the apple ..... and then she ............ collapses! YOUR character (affectionately known as "the Fairytale Detective" ) is sent to Montafleur, France to investigate, and put a stop to (of course) the "beasts" from the forest terrorizing the townsfolk and the "shadowy creatures" in the forest.
Difficulty: Casual, Hard, Insane and Custom
Graphics - starts out grainy but improves immensely when the actual game play starts. Voice overs were very well done. Sound fx were great. I love it when you can hear the littlest sounds. I didn't feel the need to turn down/off the music so, while it doesn't stick out in my mind (now several hours after having played the game), I take that as a sign that it wasn't annoying.
There is a tab for "Objectives" near the hint button that sparkles when a new task is available. Not terribly crazy about the transportable map. Love that it shows where you are, actions need to be taken and final objective for that area ... but dislike that you click on your "x" or "!" or whatever icon to get to your next location but ... you AREN'T! After you click on the little icon, you have to click again in the upper right side of the map where a pic of your location is in order to actually GET there. Double-clicking. Seems superfluous.
HOGs (FRAGS - fragmented pieces to find that builds into 3 bigger pieces that, when found, build into a single item for you to use). I DISLIKE FRAGS. Really, really, really dislike them. Unfortunately, FRAGS are the only HOGs that Dark Parables games have. Mini Games - fun, some innovative and new. Easy to extremely difficult (for me anyway - .
In both the CE and SE: Find 2 Parables (Sandman and Seven Ravens). You need to locate the pages, in groups of 3 each, to complete each book/parable. I'm going out on a limb and say there are 5 groups of 3 pages to make 15 pages for each Parable. Now, you don't get ANY indication that you've found anything. Nor where a page might be. Nor what the significance is of locating the entire book/parable. Nor if we NEED to finalize the book/parable in the Bonus Game, which would suck if you bought the SE. A whole lot of "nors" for my taste. Hmmmmm?!?!?!
CE Bling:
* Collect 39 Fleur De Lis symbols (some are quite difficult to spot). There is a fleur-de-lis symbol to the right of the Inventory which turns red when the symbol is found in any area.
* Find every souvenir .... for the Souvenir Room (not sure what this is ..... don't think I found any)
I really like the Dark Parables series. I believe I own every one, even though most are in my "dungeon of unplayed games" - poor things. I will DEFINITELY purchase the SE. I would LOVE a reason to get the CE but, without knowing what the souvenirs are for the Souvenir Room, I can't justify this as being CE-worthy. So that leaves ..... one collectible?
Once again, this is a standalone game. No need to have played previous games in this series. IMO every level of experience will enjoy Queen of Sands. Join me in this beastly investigation in Montafleur, France.
ENJOY!
Overall Impression: A fun SE but definitely not CE worthy.
Based on both the CE and SE demos.
A young girl walks across the town square, stopping at a market stall where a young man hands her an apple. Their fingers brush as she takes the apple ..... and then she ............ collapses! YOUR character (affectionately known as "the Fairytale Detective" ) is sent to Montafleur, France to investigate, and put a stop to (of course) the "beasts" from the forest terrorizing the townsfolk and the "shadowy creatures" in the forest.
Difficulty: Casual, Hard, Insane and Custom
Graphics - starts out grainy but improves immensely when the actual game play starts. Voice overs were very well done. Sound fx were great. I love it when you can hear the littlest sounds. I didn't feel the need to turn down/off the music so, while it doesn't stick out in my mind (now several hours after having played the game), I take that as a sign that it wasn't annoying.
There is a tab for "Objectives" near the hint button that sparkles when a new task is available. Not terribly crazy about the transportable map. Love that it shows where you are, actions need to be taken and final objective for that area ... but dislike that you click on your "x" or "!" or whatever icon to get to your next location but ... you AREN'T! After you click on the little icon, you have to click again in the upper right side of the map where a pic of your location is in order to actually GET there. Double-clicking. Seems superfluous.
HOGs (FRAGS - fragmented pieces to find that builds into 3 bigger pieces that, when found, build into a single item for you to use). I DISLIKE FRAGS. Really, really, really dislike them. Unfortunately, FRAGS are the only HOGs that Dark Parables games have. Mini Games - fun, some innovative and new. Easy to extremely difficult (for me anyway - .
In both the CE and SE: Find 2 Parables (Sandman and Seven Ravens). You need to locate the pages, in groups of 3 each, to complete each book/parable. I'm going out on a limb and say there are 5 groups of 3 pages to make 15 pages for each Parable. Now, you don't get ANY indication that you've found anything. Nor where a page might be. Nor what the significance is of locating the entire book/parable. Nor if we NEED to finalize the book/parable in the Bonus Game, which would suck if you bought the SE. A whole lot of "nors" for my taste. Hmmmmm?!?!?!
CE Bling:
* Collect 39 Fleur De Lis symbols (some are quite difficult to spot). There is a fleur-de-lis symbol to the right of the Inventory which turns red when the symbol is found in any area.
* Find every souvenir .... for the Souvenir Room (not sure what this is ..... don't think I found any)
I really like the Dark Parables series. I believe I own every one, even though most are in my "dungeon of unplayed games" - poor things. I will DEFINITELY purchase the SE. I would LOVE a reason to get the CE but, without knowing what the souvenirs are for the Souvenir Room, I can't justify this as being CE-worthy. So that leaves ..... one collectible?
Once again, this is a standalone game. No need to have played previous games in this series. IMO every level of experience will enjoy Queen of Sands. Join me in this beastly investigation in Montafleur, France.
ENJOY!
Overall Impression: A fun SE but definitely not CE worthy.