Being a Princess is not an easy job. Being a Queen is even harder. Especially when you're only fourteen years old, and the reason you've inherited the throne is that your royal mother has just met an untimely end.
Now power is up for grabs. You may be the official heir, but much of the country's nob...
Being a Princess is not an easy job. Being a Queen is even harder. Especially when you're only fourteen years old, and the reason you've inherited the throne is that your royal mother has just met an untimely end.
Now power is up for grabs. You may be the official heir, but much of the country's nobility would love to steal the throne for themselves. Aggressive neighbors will take advantage of any weakness to enlarge their borders at your expense. And that's not even mentioning the magical dangers which are lying in wait...
Can you survive long enough to reach your coronation?
Deceptively adorable graphics hide a deadly interior. Collect all the ways to die!
Every decision unlocks further consequences down the line, allowing you to shape the future of your character and her country with the skills you choose to pursue.
Uncover secret plots, outwit invasions, unlock mystical powers, dodge assassins, and get your enemies before they get you.
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DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
A lot of the reviews will try to tell you that there's only one way to survive.
There isn't.
LLTQ, if played legit', will result in Elodie's death/s.
However, that just ends one story.
Try again, attempt to compensate for that failure.
You might die in a different way.
(Low frustration thresholds: Save across multiple slots to make backtracking easy.)
[Recommended: Pen & paper to make notes.]
Multiple paths, multiple endings, multiple viable solutions for many instances.
NO SINGLE VIABLE BUILD.
THIS GAME IS ESSENTIALLY A VISUAL NOVEL RPG INVOLVING STATS BALANCING.
If that is not your style, I don't recommend it.
All in all, there are a lot of people that QUITE CLEARLY HAVE NOT ACTUALLY EXPLORED THE GAME.
Their reviews are full of blatant misinformation and insulting remarks.
Yes, it's a low-cost indie game.
No, the art isn't actually low quality as a consequence.
No, it doesn't have any bugs/glitches.
Yes, IT WILL RUN ON PRACTICALLY ANYTHING.
All in all, I found it fantastic.
Good quality writing, interesting story & characters (you will learn things in one playthrough that you might not ever have guessed in another), and so many ways to die/survive.
So yes, ignore the reviews being disrespectful and spouting off lies about "only one way to win" or how awful it is that a game doesn't just let them click their way to victory but demands they stop & think.
I had a good time playing this the first time. I did die once and then reloaded an earlier save and actually it to the one of the endings. I was on the fence for this one for a while but watched "let's play" video on Youtube and had to buy it since it was on sale. It is both cute and yet complex. Decided what skills to learn has a huge impact on how the story turns out. The main goal is to simply survive until your 15th birthday when you are officially made queen. A big part of the game is all the tons of ways you can die, so don't be bummed if you die a lot. It's part of the game. Fortunately the game his a ton of save slots and you can save almost anytime so it's a good idea to save often and many different save slots so you can more easily try different things. Also you can use the mouse wheel to roll-back the text and even the choices so you can easily try one thing and if you don't like it, roll back the game and try a different choice. If you like visual novel sim/time-management type games you might like this. I'll definitely be playing this over and over.
Long Live the Queen (LLtQ) is an interesting blend of puzzle game and visual novel. It deftly weaves its roleplaying mechanics into an advanced narrative that is slowly revealed on multiple playthoughs of the game. The question is... will you be able to guide Elodie to a succesful reign of benevolence or tyranny or will you die a direful death!
Gameplay
Long Live the Queen melds its carefully constructed rpg like system to a puzzle game mechanic whereby you control Elodie's moods so that she will be able to learn the appropriate lessons in order to gain the skills she will need to become Queen… or just survive.
The RPG system works on the premise of classes, not classes that you choose such as warrior, mage or ranger (although you can choose to make her fulfil those roles) but rather of school classes. As Queen in waiting Elodie is still learning the skills she requires in order to run her realm. Whether its points in internal intrigue or archery, Elodie can develop a full range of abilities to assist her in her goal of running her future kingdom.
However learning is determined by what is called ones ‘affective filters’ and the game adopts a mechanic around Elodie's moods; if she is feeling willful she is more accomplished at studying military matters however if she is feeling melancholic, the expressive arts such as music might be more appropriate. In short moods provide a bonus to certain lessons. The player’s role is to guide Elodie’s moods each day so that she will be able to learn the appropriate lessons that she needs to rule her kingdom or survive deadly encounters.
Her mood is determined by what sort of activities she engages in, going to court can lead her to feeling submissive and depressed, whereas an escape outside the castle walls will leave her feeling willful and encouraged. More options for activities to assist in controlling Elodie's activities unlock as you advance Elodie in certain skillsets i.e. progress far along in military knowledge and you can review your troops at the Barracks location. This gradually allows you to better manage Elodie as you move further in the game. However all is not so simple events in the game also affect Elodie’s mood and may upset your emotionally balanced princess.
The story is driven forward by events, that require certain stats to either pass or fail (failure isn’t always a problem but it can affect the ending you receive) and each decision you are given during an event determines some of the checks that you will need to pass (or fail). In this way the game doesn’t simply use choice as a method of determining which branch of a narrative you are on but also as an actual mechanic that allows you to choose what trials Elodie will face.
Another important aspect is the way achievements are actually integrated into the gameplay. In LLtQ, achievements can be as much of a puzzle to achieve as finally guiding Melody to her coronation. Some of the achievements require certain events, others require an event and to pass an appropriate skill check, whilst others relate to various deaths and endings. It’s just as much fun to try work out all the ways to gain achievements as it is to simply play the game. And in this game at least the achievements aren’t just glorified for your steam profile but actually add longevity to the game.
Narrative
The story in “Long Live the Queen” seems fairly simplistic at first but is actually underpinned by a fairly robust world. The story is revealed in a variety of ways and possesses a fairly extensive narrative tree, to explore to various endings.
The first thing to note however is that not all of the narrative unfolds in the events, a major aspect is that skills when leveled up grant flavor text which also sometimes reveals additional details about the world and characters. Since LLtQ is a game in which you will die, often, exploring the skills flavor text can be crucial to success.
The characters are not altogether interesting and far more important is how your Elodie will interact with them, and most of the time seem as if they are merely obstacles to overcome to set Elodie on her path to greatness or tyranny.
What is interesting is the rather extensive worldbuilding that has gone into the game… this worldbuilding is sadly backgrounded to Elodie’s narrative but it does exist for those who are interested in discovering the intricacies of the royal plots, and foreign machinations upon Elodie’s kingdom.
Events in the game are fairly linear, and will unfold in similar ways in each instance of play, however some choices do allow you to avoid some events and learning which events require which skills to survive is just as important as learning their sequence.
The game is such a clever blend of narrative and mechanics that it is truly something that future visual novels should take note of. By incorporating the RPG mechanics directly to what knowledge is given to the player (and which they’ll possess on future playthroughs) is not something many games in the genre have attempted.
Graphics
LLtQ looks like a late 90’s mahou shoujo anime. (Magical girl). It is somewhat appropriate and whilst perhaps not as cute as say, Cardcaptor Sakura, Elodie will slowly develop her own unique charm.
The bright bubbly colours and array of outfits, as well as Elodie’s bouncy curled hair and large eyes, are often quite disconcerting against some of the events that play out (later games like Doki Doki Literature Club also use such innocuous graphics) in addition the exaggerated expressions assist in determing which mood Elodie is in.
The overall menus are slightly bulky however the essential information is available at a glance and the text is clearly legible even if the font is not quite befitting the girlish pinks and roses, and medieval aesthetics.
The graphical settings are rather limited in options but the game does scale to a number of standard resolutions.
Music and Sound
The music is rather devoid of sound effects but is accompanied by a rather pleasant piano soundtrack that adapts to events and Elodie’s mood. The opening theme may also be rather familiar to many British players!
Conclusion
LLtQ is quite an accomplishment, its unique blend of mechanics and daring attempts at incorporating storytelling into the actual mechanics is unprecedented. It was a bold move and a highly successful one. LLtQ is a highly memorable game and definitely one worth playing and whilst I have some arguments as to the morality of controlling emotions and searching for ways to achieve your characters demise in a nihilistic precedent, the game is still charming and interesting to play.
Recommended to: Anyone interested in unique ways of storytelling.
Not recommended to: Those who don’t like replaying a game multiple times… you will die, a lot!
I got the Steam version of Long Live the Queen as part of a Humble Bundle. I never would have bought a pink princess game otherwise, but I decided to try it out quickly anyway. I was surprised when at first it turned out I liked it despite all the pinkness. I was surprised again when after many hours of playing it and winning and losing in various very different ways I still liked it.
For me, the game aspects of this software are just good enough to make me forgive it its infantile theme and the often weird word choices that are no doubt the result of someone using too big a dictionary for translating Japanese to English. On the other hand, the story-telling aspects are just good enough to make me forgive the software the fact that it's not a proper game, either.
If a mixture of game and interactive fiction sounds like something that might be fun, then your reaction might well be similarly positive. If on top of this you really dig the theme, then *maybe* it's even worth its full price to you. But if none of this applies, then it's probably nothing for you.
Despite the theme, it's not a children's game. I am not talking about 'mature' themes. Sure, there is death and intrigue and witchcraft and marrying (very young) for political reasons. Normal children have no issues with all these topics, and every good fairy tale needs a few of these. Children are just clearly not the core target audience. Still I would have made my daughter try this out despite her hate contempt for pink princess stuff if it weren't for the fact that her English, after living in English speaking countries for over a year, is still not quite good enough to understand enough of the unidiomatic story-telling she would encounter here.
Nope, still haven't beat it. But it's very interesting once you figure out how to work the stats and emotions. Your choices WILL have consequences, and serious ones too. Plus the achievement list makes things fun.
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