I had many games during my childhood that left an impact on me. Many that I still love and replay to this day. Neopets the Darkest Faerie was one of them.
I love it to death. Sadly, it most likely will never ever get a sequel. Why? Nobody seems to know what the hell it is nor did it sell well, as far as I know. It feels like this game only has 15 fans across the world.
My dad bought it for me when I was like, 7, 8? Anyways, it's a miracle that he decided to by it for me. At the time I really loved Neopets and was a blossoming hardcore gamer, so it was perfect for me. Now the only place you can probably find the game is on ebay or amazon. I sold the game a few years back, so I have tried to look for it at Best Buy, EB games, all the local game stores. I couldn't find it at all. It is on ebay, which is good, and for a good price too.I'll get to recommending it later.
I'm biased towards this game, but I know why it didn't sell well. I can't even say it was barely advertised; it wasn't advertised at all, aside from on the official Neopets website. That was a huge mistake on their part, because this game can be enjoyed by someone who is not a fan of Neopets. They only advertised it to Neopets fans, and I don't know how they possibly thought that could sell enough because general video game fans are an extremely larger number compared to fans of Neopets...who are also gamers.
This game isn't perfect. Actually it has a lot of technical flaws (nothing that makes it unplayable, in my opinion.) It can be...quite glitchy. If you play it you'll see what I mean; there's on particular boss battle that you have to save right before no matter what. I've replayed this game quite a bit and it hasn't happened everytime, but sometimes you'll, and keep in mind I'm not entirely sure if I'm remembering this 100% correctly, disappear during the battle when the boss, the Ixi Chiefton, smashes the ground with his staff, because when he does this attack, it shoots you up in the air. I've actually only had this happen to me during one playthrough; luckily I saved.
The characters and story aren't spectacular, but you do end up getting attached to the two main leads anyway. Their personalities are cute and entertaining, especially their banter together. (By the way, don't worry, there's no forced romance in this game. They're besties and Tor is my gay son and Roberta is my pansexual daughter.) The best aspect of the game is the adventure. The atmosphere, the places you go, it really makes you feel immersed into this world and you just want to explore all of it. It's atmosphere is so unique, like in the crypts in this game. Those used to scare the shit out of me when I was little, and last time I recently replayed it, I confess it still freaks me out.
Crypts are just some of the many areas you can explore. There are lots of sidequests and optional places to explore in this game, hidden in neat little areas you wouldn't think of looking. It really adds to the mystery and aids in the players curiosity to fully explore the game.
Another great element of this game are the bosses. They're all unique and all super cool...some are easy, but as you progress through the game it gets pretty damn challenging. Except for the assassin; was disappointed by his battle. Same thing with the darkest faerie herself, which sucks because she's the final boss and main villain of the game. But the werelupe king, for example, is absolutely SICK. And he's not easy. No matter how many times I play this game I end up swearing and throwing my controller cause of that bastard. Don't worry, I still love you, lupey.
I mean, uh...anyways...
There are some tedious quests you have to accomplish, like going into the sewers below Meridell castle and fighting off swamp monsters. That's one of my least favourite parts of the game. The best quests are the challenging ones that send you through the spooky crypts and other creepy parts of the world to beat the snot out of certain enemies to retrieve something...or just to eliminate them because they're a nuisance.
Any quest that sends you to the coolest places in the game are the ones you'll enjoy the most, because as I said earlier, this game's strong point is the atmosphere of these places. There's an area in the game called Shadowglen woods and, oh yeah, it's freaky, especially if you're playing the game for the first time (and your only 6, damn. No wonder I got my dad to play it for me whenever I got to Shadowglen.) After, no spoilers, a certain event in the game causing purple clouds and dark magic to spread across the land, things are already spooky enough as it is...then you have to go back to Shadowglen. Dark, monster filled Shadowglen...with more monsters...and darker.
You find a cave, go into it and...
AHHHH
Oh it's just the juppie monster. Yeah, he's not that scary. Look at him, he's a goofy chubby pumpkin, what a darling! But like I said, after the evil clouds come, you gotta run run run. There is no running from this guy's second phase though. He gets less cute, don't worry, and his difficulty level raises.
After the evil cloud part of the game, you have to refight certain bosses and some of them are significantly more difficult and more freaky. Not the Ixi Chiefton though, he's lame. Super lame. And he makes me disappear into the ceiling, how dare he!
NOT THE CLOUDS! ANYTHING BUT THE CLOUDS!
The thing that really is frustrating isn't the fact that some people don't like the game, because with some of it's flaws and everything I'd get that. It's that barely anybody has heard about it to even see if they like it or not.
Well, now I've kinda spread the word a little bit. Please, if you can find it anywhere or order it online, you might be pleasantly surprised. I might be a little biased here because of how much I treasure this from my childhood, but it is enjoyable. Even to this day. If you're into adventure and cool atmosphere, and don't care about technical flaws and just want to have a fun time, you'll probably like the game just fine.
A final note: watch out for purple clouds. They create purple people eaters, and you don't want that. Oops, spoiler. (Just kidding, there's no eating. People just become assholes to you and eat...your feelings? Why am I putting it that way...)
