Neopets: The Darkest Faerie
| Neopets: The Darkest Faerie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Idol Minds |
| Publisher(s) | Sony Computer Entertainment |
| Director(s) |
John Hight Allan Becker Jon Steele |
| Producer(s) |
Jacob R. Buchert III Doug Dohring Lee Borth |
| Designer(s) |
R. Scott Campbell George Weising Bo Kinloch |
| Programmer(s) | Jim Mooney |
| Artist(s) |
Peter Walters Andy Meier Shaddy Safadi |
| Composer(s) |
Jack Wall Keith Leary |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is an action-adventure game in the Neopets franchise, developed by Idol Minds and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 in 2005.
Plot
Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is set in "Neopia", the land of the Neopets universe, which is inhabited by anthropomorphic versions of various Neopets species. The adventure is based on a story written by Neopets founder Adam Powell.[1]
Long ago, a dark faerie was imprisoned at the bottom of the Maraquan sea as punishment for attempting to take over the realm, her name having been erased from history and the faerie remembered only as 'the Darkest Faerie'. However, after a thousand years, the spell imprisoning the Darkest Faerie has become weak and breaks, and the faerie escapes, returning to the surface intent on taking over the realm of Neopia and exacting revenge upon the Faerie queen Fyora who imprisoned her.
The game begins with Tormund Ellis (nicknamed "Tor"), a young Lupe farm boy who has long dreamed of being a knight in the city of Meridell. After being accepted into the ranks and training under the discipline of the castle's master-at-arms, Torak, Tormund is knighted after saving the village of Cogham from The Ixi Raiders. But when answering a plea to defend the nearby forest glade of Illusen, the earth faerie, from an invading tribe of Werelupes, the mission fails, and Tormund returns to Meridell to discover both it and its inhabitants under a cloud of dark magic and the control of the Darkest Faerie. Though unaffected himself, he is driven out of the castle and city by the faerie's minions.
The neighboring kingdom of Brightvale notices the dark clouds, and sends a diplomatic envoy to the city of Faerieland, home to the Faerie queen Fyora, to investigate. A young Acara, Roberta, the niece of Brightvale King Hagan, is among the diplomats. The Darkest Faerie attacks Faerieland that night, capturing and binding the Faerie queen and covering the castle in a dark aura. Roberta is able to escape the castle but is pursued and falls to the countryside of Neopia below.
Roberta and Tormund meet each other and then proceed to warn the king of Brightvale about the Faerie. It is revealed that both were given amulets to protect against the Darkest Faerie's power, and upon research discover that the Darkest Faerie was once sealed away by the power of Fyora's magical rod, now lying deep underneath the city of Meridell. After freeing the neighboring regions from control of dark magic, they are able to infiltrate the castle of Meridell and find a way deep underground, recovering Fyora's ancient rod. With its power they are able to drive the darkness out of the city, and then return to Faerieland to stop the Darkest Faerie. It is a trap, however, as the Darkest Faerie seizes the rod and a fight between the two Faeries ensues. Fyora is able to teleport Tormund and Roberta to safety before being captured and imprisoned again.
It is learned that Tormund and Roberta have been transported out of time itself into a legendary city called "Altador", allegedly destroyed by the Darkest Faerie a millennium ago. There they set out to free the city's four greatest founders, each of which is revealed to have helped them in some way earlier, before freeing an Aisha known as Jerdana, who fashions them a magical amulet capable of sealing away the Darkest Faerie. Tormund and Roberta together are teleported back to Faerieland, and do battle against the Darkest Faerie, who has used Fyora's Rod to cause Faerieland to fall towards the surface of Neopia right above Meridell. They ultimately seal her with Jerdana's amulet, turning the Faerie to stone once again, and freeing the Faerie queen Fyora in the process. Fyora uses her powers and manages to stop Faerieland from crashing into Meridell at the last second. They are given thanks by the faerie queen and founders of Altador, and the Darkest Faerie's frozen form is kept in the kingdom of Faerieland where it can be monitored.
Gameplay
In the game, only Roberta can use magic attacks, but each of them has the power to use specials, or motes. When used in a powerup attack, they unveil special effects ranging from poisoning the enemies to creating a beam of light. Magic power does become weaker as more magic is used. However, Purple Juppies, and other fruits/potions, replenish your migicka bar when they're eaten/used.
In Neopia, there are many motes that assist Tor and Roberta in their fight to bring light to the shadows. These motes can be equipped to Tor and Roberta's weapons, shields, and armor. The motes throughout Neopia include; Light, Sun, Fog, Wind, Fire, Lava, Nova, Supernova, Dark, Shadow, Leaf, Rock, Bubble, and Water
Players can feed a petpet so that he can follow them. When fed, it will follow the character for a certain time depending on food type that it was fed and its inherent species. It will give a range of special effects: seeing the invisible/health restore/etc. After feeding the petpet the same kind of food for too long, it will not accept it.
Characters
- Sir Tormund Ellis: A yellow Lupe farmboy, Tor dreams of becoming a knight of Meridell. One day, his father asks him to deliver a package to Meridell, and along the way he defends an old beggar Techo from a band of thieves. In return for the compassion, the beggar gives Tor a mysterious amulet. After several events and adventures, Tor becomes a Knight of Meridell (third Class) and leaves on a mission to Illusen's Glade. He learns from Illusen of a dark presence and returns to Meridell only to discover dark purple clouds over it with the Darkest Faerie and three Dark Faerie followers of hers in control. Tor soon teams up with the sorceress Roberta, and after many adventures together, they discover the lost city of Altador and restore it to the world by defeating the Darkest Faerie.
- Lady Roberta: Roberta is a blue Acara and niece of King Hagan of Brightvale. She is being groomed into a diplomat but she is secretly training to be a sorceress under the tutelage of her mentor Seradar. On a mission to Faerieland, she tells Queen Fyora of the purple clouds above Meridell but things take a turn for the worse when the Darkest Faerie attacks and imprisons Queen Fyora. Roberta saves an old Aisha whom she helped earlier and in return the Aisha gave Roberta a mysterious amulet and instructs her to find the amulet's twin as the one who has it can help her (Tor). She meets Tor and they partner together to stop the evil of the Darkest Faerie.
- The Darkest Faerie: The main antagonist of the game, the Darkest Faerie was once one of the Twelve Heroes of Altador, but she turned on her comrades and imprisoned the city in a bubble of slow time, completely cutting it off from the world. In a battle against Queen Fyora, and with the use of a magical artifact, the Darkest Faerie was turned to stone and imprisoned at the bottom of the Maraquan Sea. But time passed and the artifact keeping her stone decayed and she broke free, intending to leave her terrible mark on Neopian History by destroying two kingdoms at once. She was eventually stopped by the combined efforts of Sir Tormund, Knight of Meridell, and Lady Roberta, Sorceress of Brightvale, and again turned to stone and placed on a fountain within Faerieland to be monitored.
- Queen Fyora: The Queen of Faeries and Ruler of Faerieland, Fyora is beautiful, wise, and pure. It is her Roberta and Seradar go to for advice in concern of the dark clouds over the kingdom of Meridell, but she is captured by the Darkest Faerie. It is later revealed that Fyora battled the Darkest Faerie a thousand years ago after she corrupted the kingdom of Altador, causing the sorceress Jerdana to seal Altador on an isolated plane of existence. Thanks to Jerdana's Orb, given to her by the sorceress Jerdana, and her wand she stopped the Dark one's advance, turned her to stone and imprisoned her at the bottom of the Maraquan Sea. When Tor and Roberta go to her rescue after recovering the Queen's wand they are tricked by the Darkest Faerie into giving it to her, but Fyora frees herself and buys the heroes time to make it to Altador. She is imprisoned by the Darkest Faerie once again and sealed inside a bottle. When the Darkest Faerie is stopped, Tor frees Fyora and the Queen uses her wand to thwart the Darkest Faerie's plans. Fyora then promises the Darkest Faerie will be monitored at all times and her statue is displayed on a fountain in the Faerieland courtyard.
- King Altador aka the Old Knight: Altador is the leader of the Twelve Heroes of old who founded the kingdom of Altador. Altador appears several times throughout the course of the game, advising Tor and encouraging him. He finally reveals his true identity to Tor and Roberta when they end up in his lost kingdom. When Tor and Roberta free the kingdom of the Darkest Faerie's power, he gives his sword to Tor as a token of his respect and faith that he will defeat the Darkest Faerie.
Reception
| Reception | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||
The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregator website Metacritic.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie (Video Game 2005) - Full Cast & Crew". Internet Movie Database.
- 1 2 "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
- ↑ Gouskos, Carrie (November 16, 2005). "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie Review". GameSpot. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
- ↑ Bedigian, Louis (November 27, 2005). "NEOPETS The Darkest Faerie - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 31, 2008. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
- ↑ Sulic, Ivan (November 15, 2005). "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie". IGN. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
- ↑ "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 99. January 2006.
- ↑ Padilla, Raymond (December 6, 2005). "Neopets: The Darkest Faerie Review". X-Play. Archived from the original on December 29, 2005. Retrieved June 12, 2016.