Downloadable role-playing action waits on PSN
Role-playing games are not for everyone. They usually require hours of gameplay with tons of character management and customization and days of turn-based battles. The hook is usually a deep story where gamers know and care for the characters and settings during the course of such a long journey. Faery: Legends of Avalon looks to crack, no break, but crack this mold as an RPG download experience on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade. The first biggest change is the hours invested, usually clocking in around 10-15 hours (main quest) but what else? What should RPG fans get excited about and does Faery offer enough to hook new non-RPG gamers? Let’s take a look.
Gameplay – Gamers make the choice, become an Elf or Fairy and begin a journey to take on evil in the land. The chosen character will advance and evolve in battle and gamers make the choice on how to strengthen their main character and party members. Standard RPG formula here with a story seeing the magic of the fae world fading and gamers tasked with finding out why. Battles are turn based with the story being advanced through tons of reading. This is old school RPG as there is no voice work in-game. Conversations determine relationships so tread carefully on who you alienate as it could come back to haunt you later in-game.
Graphics – A very pretty looking game but don’t expect to see tons of unique characters. Heroes and baddies alike recycle look and feel. The environments look nice with bright visuals mixed with dark and gloomy settings. The over world detail is solid and continues into each battle sequence, very well done. The game will not hurt the retinas and is a solid effort as a downloadable title.
Sound – It’s not Final Fantasy in scope but the music matches the look and feel. Soothing and gentle, guiding the gamer is the core of the music but enter battle and the beat steps up. In an RPG good music is expected and Faery gets the job done
Design – The conversation relationship tree is well done and the leveling up / customization for each character is deep. The overall RPG formula hits on almost every cylinder with the one exception being the caring for characters. For a downloadable RPG Faery is solid but there is no connection forged with these characters and their story. It’s a fun tale but not a memorable one.
Miscellaneous – Episodic games are a mixed bag. There is price to consider but also time invested. With more Faery to come will gamers find enough in Legends of Avalon to make that next purchase at the same price?
Overall Faery: Legends of Avalon is one solid RPG that sports a decent price point and shows new gamers what RPG’s are all about and will feel welcome and familiar to fans of the genre. Gamers can go the route of looking for older RPG’s being made for download or they can take a fresh approach with a title that offers good customization and an interesting conversation tree for relationship building. Go with something new gamers.
