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This is the follow up to the first Dark Parables and follow up is the right word. There is nothing unusual or different about the story except this time it's the Frog Prince and his froggy captives who need your help. There are certainly a lot more scenes and locations to discover and re-discover over and over and over. Lots of backtracking to the same scenes 4-5 times. It's one hidden object scene after another. Be prepared to have your hind end and brain get numb. Yes, it's a longish game for you enthusiastic hardy cravers of such games. But long doesn't mean good. Step by step, they devoutly follow the mechanics of the first game.The makers of the game had the blueprint already, why not use it? Because it's unimaginative, Blue Tea.
It's a dark and moody game with grapics in the mid range of quality;. Blue Tea mixed clear and blurry, bright and dark, colors blended and washed out, in almost every scene which can drive you batty when it comes to that last one or two hidden objects. For me, using the hints for those two or so blurry, tiny, indistinct, objects takes away from the accomplishment of finding all of then yourself but take heart; hints refill fairly quickly. There is little to no vocalization in the game. The music itself is quality and non-intrusive and goes great with the atmosphere. It should since, of course, it's from the first DP game. There's really nothing wrong with that in a sequel but *everything* being duplicated was a little much.
The storyline itself is very interesting and I liked it. At times I felt really sad for the Frog Prince and his 'others'. Don't want to give it away so I'll stop with that.
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Absolutely stellar game - Blue Tea designs amazing games... I've loved every single one of them. Totally worth buying!
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This was an incredibly beautiful game. I loved the first one, Briar Rose, but have to say this one really surpassed it. Even on normal mode there were a few challenges. A great fairytale story, lovely magical graphics, and good adventure elements and music. The fragmented object scenes, which I usually do not like at all, are so well done by these developers I have to say it in no way lessened my enjoyment of the game. And the objects themselves, when complete, were so beautiful...
The game was a very good length, although the bonus was on the short side. It gave a nice set up for the next in the series, which looks to be another great one. The map was a little confusing, but did help some - I tried not to use hints. I loved the cursed morphing objects - it really adds to the game - and am sorry to see that they are not going to be in the harder mode, which I will play through someday after a little time passes.
Overall, an excellent CE game. I hated to see it end, and am so glad to know the next one is in development, which I am very much looking forward to.
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Really enjoyed the game and the bonus mode, particularly as I was expecting something even better for Hard mode!!!! I always play hard mode normally, so I was very disappointed that in actual fact it is easier as there is nothing new or different. I didn't need help once. I don't count the crown and the tree as enough to warrant having to play it twice, didn't even get morphing. If they are going to make you play easy mode first at least make it worth while playing again in Hard mode especially as you can't even improve on speed as it isn't timed.. They could have had harder puzzles or something to actually make it more challenging. Still, I liked the game and would recommend so long as you are not expecting something more 2nd time round.
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Just finished playing the game and the bonus play. The game is one of the best: complex, challenging and lovely. I kept pages of notes and my own map. Loved every minute. The bonus play not so much. If you buy the CE solely for the bonus play, as I did, then it is not worth the additional cost. The play was linear -- you need X, you find X, you use X -- and lasted approx an hour. Its purpose is to create a bridge between this game and the next one in the series, but it is not necessary. This was another CE that -- for me -- was not worth the additional expense. . I see a growing trend here.
The concept of temporal bigamy is intresting!
Edited on 03/11/2011 at 7:31:10 AM PST
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![[Post New]](/templates/wanda/images/icon_minipost_new.gif) by Ceorl on Mar 12, 11 1:57 AM
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HI,
As usual, another one bites the dust. This games provides the usual tricks and turns in order to be completed and I personally was entirely carried away by the music and the scenery. I don't know if using the hints defeats the purpose of success but they are handy in the extreme if needed. The scenes are great and the hidden objects are in themselves a series of composite constructions that are revealed when each part is found. I recommend it. If anything I thought the bonus play finished a bit abruptly into what appeared to be a kind of cliffhanger but nevertheless was a welcome addition to close the game.
Ceorl
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I love this game. I'm so happy that we have a great game with no glitches. More of these, please!
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I normally don't play FROGs, I'm more of an IHOG girl - that being said - sometimes I need a change of pace and this game fits the bill!
First off, the art work - outstanding!! The scenes, the objects - beautiful eye candy! The music was the same from Briar Rose (which I did get as an SE), so it is fairly neutral and unoffensive. The story line wasn't bad and a nice twist on the original tale (trust me, I've played games with much worse or boring stories). Overall, this game is simply a treat! A wonderful, fun romp through fairy tale land.
The extra levels really weren't worth the cost of the CE, but given the quality and beauty of the core of this game - it is worth every penny. For a "casual" game - simply wonderful!
Thank you Blue Tea Games and Big Fish!
Happy Gaming!
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![[Post New]](/templates/wanda/images/icon_minipost_new.gif) by dlb628 on Mar 13, 11 6:39 PM
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I hate to say it, but I did not like this. I like fragmented hidden object scenes, but I don't like having to travel 10 screens (I didn't count, but it felt that way) every time I need to accomplish a goal. There's a reason I stopped playing adventure games, which this reminded me a lot of. I don't want to spend more time wandering around than actually playing. The map was helpful about 50% of the time. The biggest challenge for me in this game was just finding out where to go. That is not fun. I also thought the storyline was either nonsensical or just plain stupid - I couldn't decide which.
Fortunately, the bonus area was mercifully brief. I finished it in about a half hour, and I am not a fast player. It doesn't add anything to the story (such as it is), so a person could easily wait for the standard edition and not miss anything.
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![[Post New]](/templates/wanda/images/icon_minipost_new.gif) by HOGger on Mar 13, 11 11:23 PM
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Goofy & Gran.... great reviews, as usual. Thanks!
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You will be frogged until you croak with this one! Both figuratively and literally since this is a tale of frogs in a game that is a complete FROG [which is usually not my  of tea]. You will need 4 or 5 pairs of sneakers going here there and everywhere, and back again to break the amphibian spell on the handsome prince [hello gorgeous  ]. Art and graphics are great and imaginative, and puzzles that fit the story line. Played the CE so I had the built-in SG.....thankfully! Wish the map had been marked denoting names of the [room] sites. I got stuck, like many of my fellow fishies, with the crown for the cave frog, but found my answer here in the forum. Liked the idea of the morphing "cursed" items.......always like having the extra touches to look for. Haven't been back through in the hard mode..........maybe at a later date........I'm all FROGged OUT!!!! ...."it ain't  easy being  green"  ...........ha!! This is about a  for me.........  ......  ........*smack
Edited on 03/15/2011 at 11:32:22 AM PST
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My opinion: I found this game okay. Not too good, but not too bad either.
Loved the graphics, stunning! The interactive little critters were nice and the morphing objects were nice too! Although it was a bit of a pain in the b*m because they were so scattered. The map was good, but it was a bit confusing at times.
The story was a bit of a letdown. I have my occasional feminist moments, so I didn't like the "I'm an immortal handsome prince therefore I have many lovers" -part of the story  I did tho like the twist that you suddenly have to take the curse away.
All in all, a good game!
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Gorgeous game, the atmosphere so immersive that you forgive the occasional artificiality in plot. Graphics some of the best I've seen since RTR. Music by Somatone, which should speak for itself: beautiful themes and long enough so that the looping isn't unbearably repetitive. This is one of the rare games in which I wandered from scene to scene simply enjoying the art. Superb coloration.
It's an IFRAG, love 'em or leave 'em. A very few of the pieces were a little too cleverly hidden but the hint system is generous. The plot itself is a weird Chinese amalgam of Disney and Brothers Grimm - a fine cross-cultural effort if a little strange to the conventional eye. Anyone who finds a political statement in this probably needs to find something more important in their lives than politics. Beauty, for example.
A wonderful effort, all in all. I give it nine fins of ten.
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Really nice game. Very bright and pleasant graphics, interesting puzzles but story... I'm not sure but I guess it can be better.
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Although I typically tend not to be a fan of the hidden object genre, Dark Parables: the Exiled Prince Collector’s Edition”
is a very enjoyable game. It has stunningly detailed graphics, with impressive depth and texture to the colors, a nice variety of scenes and areas to explore, lots of puzzles of several different varieties and levels of difficulty, an immersive, atmospheric soundtrack, and is overall a very entertaining game. I’d say it’s a bit of a highbred between a hidden object and an adventure/puzzle game. I didn’t time myself, and I played in stages, but I’d say it probably offers about six hours of entertainment, which is better than average for most of the Big Fish games. It is a bit high on the price scale, however. But, in general, they do tend to charge most for their “Special Editions”. I’d give it a 7 ½ on a 10 point scale, and would say if you like hidden object/adventure games, you really shouldn’t miss “Dark Parables: the Exiled Prince Collector’s Edition.”
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Finally finished this gem! Played it over the course of about a week due to my work schedule and after missing about 4 days of play, I found it extremely difficult to get back on track, even with the SG. I agree with an earlier comment that you will be frogged out on this one. Tons of hidden frog scenes which makes for great gaming IF you a fan of frags.... I'm not, so this became tedious at times which is probably why I walked away from it so many times. The story line was so intriguing that I kept coming back and the ending was a cliffhanger, so I can't wait for the sequel!! Can't say enough about the beautiful graphics!! Brilliantly colored and detailed... very nicely done! I played this in the relaxed mode this time, and will shelve it for a while and play the hard mode for giggles and grins.... Great game, all in all....
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This game was great. I find that for about every 10 HOG there is one great one like this. It was refreshing to have the fragments to find rather than objects. It made the hidden object parts go more quickly (which I always find a little monotonous, my favorite parts are really the puzzle parts & figuring out where this object goes, etc.). The puzzles were mostly a little challenging, but not super hard. I got through this in a couple of hours. The graphics were beautiful, the story was decent, there were tons of puzzles of many different sorts throughout the whole thing. This is one of the better HOG puzzle games I have played for sure.
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