Nylige anmeldelser av Falkeep

This is an interesting... item. It is an annotated and atmospheric visualize of the story rather than a game to play. The story advances by matching a circle with a dot on the picture, which is difficult to accomplish by constant motion, which I imagine is a way to try to recreate the psychological unsteadiness of the narrator. I would not say that it is a waste of money on here because it is not a game, but you should understand what it is (a form of storytelling) rather than expecting some kind of game. For what it is, it is well done.

There are things to like about this game, but I think that the negatives outweigh the positives.

1.) You cannot chose to save the game at any particular point(s). It saves at preset points in the game. When it does save the game, it wipes out any previous save. As a result, if you want to replay any part of the game to either try to improve your game play, or if you want to try different options (character stats, dialog choices, etc.) your only option is to start over from the very beginning. If it would at least save at the beginning of each chapter and allow you to reload from the beginning of any chapter it would be helpful but you don't have options for saving that might be better for how you play games.

2.) The movement / control system is very cumbersome and awkward. It is also not very intuitive. You have to move via your keyboard (W,A,S,D) which is bad enough but you also pick up or examine items with other keys (E), crouching requires you to use CTRL (while you're moving), running requires W and Shift together. It's just a mess, especially if the way your brain operates makes it difficult for you to mentally shift between keys, or to use multiple keys on the same side of your keyboard at the same time. Basically, all of the controls are on the left side of your keyboard because you have to use your mouse with your right hand to indicate which direction you are moving or looking. Trying to move quickly while maneuvering with your mouse is seriously problematic. There are times in Chapter 10 when your life depends on running very fast to safety. Trying to do this without running into things (including things at knee / shin level) because taking the time to look down while trying to move quickly is ridiculously difficult. It would be helpful, if you know the path you have to run along if you could at least put down markers for directions so that the only thing you need to take care of is your running speed.

3.) In Chapter 5, you have to sneak or move stealthily which avoiding being caught but, again, the movement controls are cumbersome, so it is difficult to accomplish. In addition, in that chapter, you are avoiding patrols but, while there are theoretically a limited number of characters to patrol, they seem to be patrolling back and forth where you are specifically at any point in the game. For example, I need to get into a particular room to get a required object but the patrols are back and forth in that room and one across the hall while, I guess leaving the rest of the space unpatrolled. So, you keep getting caught because the guards never move to other parts of the building.

4.) The story and plot are too controlled to allow you to explore the maps without being pushed to be in particular places at particular times in the game. It will also cut off your chances to move back to cover or reexamine where you have already been. In one place, you can pickup a lamp to use (just one particular lamp in one particular location even though, for some reason, there are identical lamps in place all over the map but you can't grab any of the others to use). In this particular case, the lamp burns oil. In one room is a can of oil. I wanted to wait until I was finished in that room before I refilled it but when I opened the way to leave the room, there is a cut scene and no chance to go back or to determine when you are ready to enter the next stage. And, since you can't replay that point without starting the entire game over, you can't make a different choice to accommodate what you learn at that point.

All in all, I just find the game very frustrating and not conducive to improving your game play as you learn. It just doesn't give me any satisfaction as a game player. Ultimately, this is what will keep me from replaying the game after I finish it. My curiosity about the different paths and endings is not enough for me to want to subject myself to it more than once... if I even manage to stick with it for long enough to even finish it one time.

P.S. -- Okay, I finally finished the game... once. I stick with my negative review of the game. A few additional points (1) there is no difficulty setting or story mode, (2) there are way too many points where I spent hours replacing 10 - 30 second of game play, especially without a difficulty setting, (3) while there are "clues" to the in-game mystery, there is no tutorial or any clues about what needs to be done in way too many parts of the game, or too many points where you are trapped on a one-way road where your own creativity is meaningless, (4) One of your character traits is strength and yet, without a gun, you can't physically defend yourself when you are caught or attacked, (5) along with creativity being meaningless in the game... you have oil burning lamps, but you can't throw them or set them down for a distraction while you make an escape, (6) important characters and plot points (like the dead orca when you arrive in Darkwater) just disappear from the game in the last chapters, (7) you spend the game earning character points to improve your stats and, yet, in the last couple of chapters, you can't even check your character sheet, much less add more points before the end, (8) because this game does not make me want to play it again to improve my game play, it would be helpful if there was an official file that list all of the opportunities for improving your stats (especially for Medical and Occult, which you cannot allocate points to) or of what items (in sight and hidden) are out there, listed by chapter.

Yeah, I could go on.but what's the point I just didn't enjoy the time I spent playing this game.

I had this game in my collection for a long time before a set of circumstances a couple of weeks ago had me looking for something different. While I bought the game, I have never really found a satisfying "adult" game so I wasn't expecting much from this one. Very quickly, though, I found it oddly compelling and have spent a LOT of hours on it over the last 2 weeks. The story line pulls you along, the characters are well-developed, the sex scenes are surprisingly arousing, and the art-work is outstanding. In fact, in many ways, this game gives me a glimpse of what might become possible and even normal as game designers move us ever closer to the uncanny valley.

So, what's the downside? There has to be a catch, right? Well, I would say that it depends on how you would define a downside or negative aspect of a game. In this case, the problem is that there is almost too much choice and complexity. I find myself going back and replaying long portions of the game in order to get all of the options covered / revealed. This includes how this is just the first 4 chapters of a story that will be an unknown number of chapters (episodes) long. When I first started playing it, I just saved my game as I went along without thinking about clearly labeling paths and choices and relationships. After reaching the end (of episode 4), I went back to make different choices and see where different paths took me. Unfortunately, I find myself getting confused about having the saves I need (and the clarity to allow me to know which saves are which). As I approach the time when I will invest in Season 2, I don't know what will keep which possibilities open, not to mention not knowing how many more and new divergent paths will crop up with those next 4 episodes.

Maybe the best path is to just commit to a specific path (♥♥♥, Neutral, or Chick) and a specific romance (5 main romances and a lot of side romances along the way) and just plan to play it through 9 or 15 times. That said, I am an old man and not only do I not know how much time I have left on this planet ;) , but I need to also have time for other things... like movies and TV shows I want to watch, work I need to do to make a living, and meals I need to eat along the way. Where this whole thing leads in the game post-episode-4, I cannot know... and that is kind of a strange problem to face.

P.S. -- Finding good walk-throughs or guides is essential and, when I buy Season 2, I imagine that I will also spend the extra for the official guides on the assumption that guides put out by the game designers will probably be more complete than those written by players or other websites. Truly an embarrassment of riches to contemplate.

If time is something you have plenty of, then I wholeheartedly recommend this game.

While there are things that I like a lot about this game (visuals are great, a good pace, nice detailing, etc.), I can't recommend this game. First, it is, in many ways, a typical micromanagement city-builder... and when I say "micromanagement" I mean "MICRO". I know that a lot of people like micromanagement games or, going by the number of games which have that feature, there seems to be. But here, it is combined with the inability to actually control anything other than things like building and field placement. The people in the game do what they want to do without regard to their assigned tasks / jobs, and their "work ethic" is horrible. Prioritizing tasks / jobs doesn't seem to help either.

While, at the regular (1) setting, it takes quite a while to just get through a year, I have had four houses that I have been ordering to be built for over 4 years now. People in the game also do not even prioritize doing their own jobs and, while you will frequently see things that aren't being done, you can look at the individual people assigned to a job and they will be all over the map, and doing things, like picking up resources, that are NOT their job. I have, as an example, a single wheat field that requires 4 people to work that field. I have assigned it a full work crew but I will frequently only see 2 or 3 people doing things like planting crops each year, and harvesting is even worse. Even if I assign more than the necessary number of people to the field, they still won't do the work in a timely manner and, every year it takes them so long to do the harvest that a lot of the crops die on the vine when the weather turns cold and snowy.

I had an infestation hit a pasture. I immediately shut down that pasture and ordered a new one to be built. It took over a year-and-a-half to get it up and running and, in the meantime, my cattle were just wandering around. Not only did prioritizing the task not help, but I also couldn't even set it as an emergency to try to speed it up that way.

When workers ARE doing their tasks, it is not uncommon for them to just wander away. I frequently have buildings that ARE being built but, when they are just a few percentages away from being completed they will still wander off rather than finishing the job... no matter how close they are to completing it.

I have played four times now, and there are several problems that have been consistent in every game. No matter how much food or housing I have, and no matter how healthy and happy the population is overall, I can't build up my population and I end up with food and produced goods that just pile up. I have to keep building additional storage for everything that isn't being used up. In addition, since there is no real economy / money in the game, options for doing anything with a surplus is very limited. There is a trading post available in the game, but traders come by no more than once or twice a year. When they do, if I want to buy any of the limited things that have available, I have to use items I do have to trade for them, but I have no way of sending my own traders out to sell off my surplus, much less being able to send them out to try to exchange my surplus for things I do look for / want.

You can click on every single character wandering around on the map, and you can see what their assigned job is, what they are doing (usually INSTEAD of their job), what their health and happiness is (like I said, some nice detailing) but, say they are unhappy, you have no idea why they are unhappy and nothing you can do to make them happy. Their clothes might be ragged or they have a broken tool, but you can't make them go to the tailor, or the blacksmith, or the vendor to get replacements. I have also had builders who finally get to the site of the building they are supposed to be constructing, pound in like one nail (1 or less percentage of the work needing to be done) and then they wander off to replace their ragged clothes, even though they passed through the village and the market without doing so then before they go to the job site. And I have no ability to make them do what they need to do to be productive, or even happy, or to fire them, or to kill them when they waste all of their time over the course of years (you can see the names of characters when you click on them so, when you have a small population like I always do, you get to know them over the years and know how irresponsible they are).

There are also specific businesses, like a tavern, that also require severe micromanagement. Not only do you have to tell the brewer to brew ale (the only thing that they CAN do), you have to tell them what specific ingredient they have to use to brew with... wheat or any of the wide variety of fruits you can grow or buy. And, when they are out of that ingredient, they don't contact you to ask you what you want to use next. So, not only do I have to give them idiot-level instructions, I also have to continually monitor them to tell them what to do when they need to find a different ingredient to brew with. They're brewers. Why do they not simply brew with whatever it is that they can find? There could be options to tell them to use a specific ingredient if it piles up but, other than that, they won't simply do their job using their own "judgment" (i.e -- I need to make ale. Look, there is an ingredient that I can use to make ale. I'll use it, and then switch to some other ingredient when I have those available). Now, if you think that one reason to include that level of micromanagement might be a good thing because that lets them have a variety of different ales on hand, the reality is that, no matter what the ale is made with, the end product is simply a barrel of "ale". What it was brewed with makes no difference at all.

In any case, there is so much that this game could be. Instead, it is simply annoying and pretty much a frustrating waste of time because of your inability to really guide what happens and when. I will also be happy when someone designs a game like this, a well-designed game, with options to NOT have to micromanage it if you don't want to.