The Faery Tale Adventure: Book I

The Good
You are not led by the nose with this one. You are plopped down in the middle of a world that is under constant attack by raiders, devoid of survivors, and with scarce details at to what needs be done to succeed. The continent that you can explore is huge and varied, with truly magical creatures. Playing this on the Amiga, you only needed a mouse to move or attack, simply by clicking on compass positions.

The Bad
The challenge is great because you are initially quite vulnerable and have only a dirk for defence (there is no armor). But if you find a sword early and develop your skill, then you will be able to hold your own. As I recall, there were three stats for your character: Bravery, Kindness, and Luck. As you succeed over your enemies, your Bravery increases. At around 35 Bravery you are pretty competent, and you become virtually invulnerable near 100 Bravery. The Kindness stat increases as you do good deeds for the needy, which rewards you later on in the game. And the Luck affects how many times you will be blessed with a restored life.

The Bottom Line
You have to puzzle out your adventure. Quite different gameplay from what fantasy hack & slash players would be accustomed to, and D&D fans would appreciate this effort.

The Good
This game represented the apex of adventure for my childhood. It contains a large mainland that is open to exploration the moment you start the game (however survival is a different matter.)

The sound effects are well put together, particularly for the fighting. Considering the advanced graphics for its time, the game has a large amount of playability, with random elements and treasures spread out to find on different occasions.

The atmosphere the game provides is wonderful. There is nothing more terrifying than running from wraiths at night into an unfamiliar landscape, especially considering they are not slowed by obstacles.

The music was also great for the time, with suitably medieval style synthesized tracks. The music for night time wilderness is haunting in more ways than one.

The Bad
There were numerous small but annoying glitches when the game was released. Mostly graphical problems, nothing which really disrupted the game play.

There is limited interaction in the game between the protagonist and the NPCs may leave some people feeling lonely and isolated in the game. It is also somewhat odd that the brothers in the adventure never meet.

The level of difficulty is also frustrating at the start, but can become very easy by the end of the game.

The Bottom Line
As an isometric action/adventure game it does have some similarities to Legend of Zelda games, especially a Link to the Past. The graphic style is very different, however and the characters look fairly realistic and are not cartoony at all in style. Another similarity is it does contain a fairy that returns you to life if you have enough luck.

It is a very difficult game to begin with, as the character is armed with a small knife (dirk) and the opponents you face are generally as hard as at the start as they are at the end, so be sure to not travel far from safety.

The game is easy to recommend from a nostalgic point of view, and having played it fairly recently, it hasn't aged badly at all.

The Good
Very large map which makes the game interesting. First game I ever played where I had to use multiple characters. I remember doing some type of trick where, I think, I saved the game right when I died and my character's vital points (HP) went from 000 to 999, and would always keep resetting. The creators did a good job on the cover jacket to get the player in the mood.

The Bad
Very large map and the c64 can only load so much at one time. There was so much to do that, eventually, I couldn't remember where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do next... so I quit playing. A guide book would've helped.

The Bottom Line
I played this game way before I even knew about Final Fantasy and, for its time, this was a good RPG. A definite must-have for old-skool game collectors. (gotta remember the infinite-life trick)