Memoria

Daedalic adventure games are acquired tastes at the best of times, that stand and fall on how the player connects with the characters, and their Dark Eye series is no exception. The good news is that Memoria does better in this regard than it's predecessor 'Chains of Satinav'. The bad news is that the driver of the plot comes directly from the events of the previous game and it loses a good chunk of the narrative impact if you haven't played it. However, most of the actual game time is spent following a new main character, Sadja, and her sentient staff. Whereas Geron's story in the previous game is very personal in scope, Sadja's story is closer to a classical fantasy epic, involving much larger world events and her role in them. There is also a B-plot, involving a member of the local town guard, Bryda, and her dissatisfaction with what she considers the dull current state of the world. All the new major characters have their charms, the star of the show being the staff, and like with Chains, I found myself forgiving the flaws in the games execution (of which there are many) due to my enjoyment of the story, which manages to simultaneously be grand in scope, yet ultimately intensely personal at the climax. This series is often criticised for poor voice acting, and it's a valid criticism, although I found it to be merely a missed opportunity, rather than an annoyance most of the time. There are some pretty bad moments though (the main one that springs to mind is the scene with young Sadja and the prince) In terms of gameplay and presentation, everything is functional, but nothing stands out or gives you the impression that you're playing a polished title. Again, this game stands or falls on how you enjoy the story. This game is probably for people who: - played (and liked) 'Chains of Satinav' - like adventure games for the story This game is probably not for people who: - like adventure games for the puzzles - are easily annoyed at pedestrian voice acting

I have to admit, that I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of this game. I picked it up in one of those weekend bundles at a discount. The review promised an old-school point and click adventure, so I thought "hey, why not?" There's no manual, so getting dumped right into the story was a little abrupt. I had no clue what the goal was. I spent the first hour or so wondering what my character was supposed to be doing, and why. Fortunately, the story develops nicely. The things that annoyed me at first (the switching points of view), became enjoyable ways to enjoy it. The puzzles were not obscure "use feather with pig" that make no sense. Each one is logical, and advances the story. I only got 'stuck' once, and then did a headslap because I had simply overlooked something. The background art and character animations were very well done. The voice acting?... well, the background art and character animations were very well done. I'll happily play more games like this one.

If like me you haven't played Chains of Staniav, you can jump into this game without issues. Gameplay wise, well its a point'n click game in the most classic and efficient way. It manages to have a good pacing and challenging riddles, even if I'm quite certain the die-hard of the genre will probably have an easy time. Story wise, it manages to be very good and to have some interesting twists to keep you interested, while at the same time succeeding to give a different outlook on fantasy, away from the tropes and the combat heavy epics, which is very refreshing.

One year passed since Nuri transformed into a raven. Things back to normal in Andraste, Geron again a simple "bird catcher" the streets smells of pigs urine and dung. Though this time Geron's motivation deeply touching. He is up to meet outside of town a "merchant" called Fahi who can help Nuri transform back. IMO this is a strong boundary between player and character. Fahi recounting a tale of Princess Sadja, and ask Geron's help to find out the end of it. Very interesting that two story is completely different - the heroes their motivations, even in time, still their story intertwining at the end. Memoria is an epic tale, about two ordinary people wants to change their fate. Sadja whole story bring some twist in the whole story that for sure. Even the Halef was lively in his strange boundary. So characters rather diverse in the game, but absolutly not bad as you can read in many review. Again artwork is fascinating, I were mesmerised by the faraway places, floating fortress of Drakonia... It really rare nowadays that finished a game and long after thinkin about it. It left deep expression on me thats for sure. ***** Recommended *****

I've played with many adventure games over the years, but I list very few of them in my favourite games. Most of them were either pixel hunting, had very illogical puzzles/boring world/characters, or had very boring stories. By contrast, Memoria was an instant love: first the graphics and the movements of the characters made me think it will be some generic low budget adventure game, but oh boy my opinion changed fast. Maybe the greatest aspect of the game is the story telling: compared to other games I couldn't had enough story and lore info, and clicked through every dialogue options I've seen with anticipation. I especially liked the switching between the two story lines, the pacing was perfect between them. There is no pixel hunting in the game, you can even turn on features to highlight the hotspots and help in the combinations. The questlog is quite interesting in style, and was really helpful. Most of the puzzles were statisfying, some were challanging, and only 1-2 seemed illogical to me. The only thing I regret is I didn't know it was a sequel when I've started the game, so most likely I've missed some references... but I've bought and installing the first episode at this very first moment :)