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Faery Tale Adventure, The

Amiga game review, ADF downloads, screenshots, ratings and insights
One of the earliest RPG games on the Amiga, and originally made for the Amiga, David Joiner almost single-handedly created a timeless if not very well-known RPG adventure classic. And not only did he create one of the largest early CRPGs, the graphics are also quite good for an isometric view like this game offers. The music is worth taking a listen - Joiner was multi-talented to say the least.

In The Faery Tale Adventure we are given a game that successfully borrows themes and UI concepts from other games on 8-bit systems and pushes them to heights not really seen again for years.

Using a joystick for movements and the mouse or keyboard for other tasks is really the way to go. Once combat has concluded, switching to keyboard/mouse allows for faster access to menu commands (e.g. Take, Look, etc.) while the joystick is a more natural way to move about the gigantic world.

Joiner also introduced a few cool new twists beyond creating the largest RPG ever at the time, too (the back of the box boasts over 17,000 screens). For one, he has you start off the game as one of three brothers. Each of these brothers has several lives (resurrected by a faery when you are slain) before you are controlling the next brother. This was a pretty neat way of extending play while also letting players keep track of how many chances are left before finding and defeating the Necromancer.

As previously mentioned, the explorable map is vast. With thousands of screens horizontally and vertically, there are tons of places to explore with every type of environment imaginable. If this game is lacking in anything, it's probably a faster way to travel ("quick" shoes, a flying ship... a bike?!). There are a few animals which are peppered here and there to assist, but nothing permanent. If there is any criticism at all to be found with this gem, it might be that the world is too big. Some of the traveling after a while can lead to moments of boredom, and I do think if some permanent "accelerators" one could find or earn along the way had been offered (Zelda-style) Faery might have entered into legendary territory in the annals of CRPGs.

And beware - early days in this game are not kind, nay not kind at all. You will die, brother, and die so many times you might think you've morphed into Bill Murray and magically transported into Groundhog Day.

You will need to save often before leaving an area of safety and trying your best to increase your Bravery score. Once this gets over 100 or so, most monsters you encounter shouldn't mean automatic failure and reboots.

In other words, be patient early on and it'll get better.

And if you do stick it out, you have the potential to play this game for weeks or months. To think that everything fits on a single disk, it's incredible.

You will need the following poem in order to play the game:
Need You'll more than might:
To quest for the Light:
Make haste, but take heed:
Scorn Murderous deed:
Summon the sight:
Wing forth in flight:
Hold fast to your Creed:
From Illusion be freed:
Defy ye that blight:
In black Darker than night.


Back of the box:

Enter the Magical Land of Holm, where you participate in the adventures of three brothers as they seek their ultimate fate in the Faery, Tale Adventure. Travel with brave Julian, lucky Phillip and gentle Kevin, on their quest through a land full of vicious monsters, enchanted princesses, fearsome dragons and even a kindly old woodcutter or two.

Faery Tale Adventure is a game that is beyond belief. Our programmers worked for over six months non-stop creating a new world, a world that will take you weeks to explore, let alone conquer. This new world consists of over 17,000 screens of exploration. Your journey will take you to underground caverns, mazes, forests, deserts, snow covered mountains, lakes, castles, villages, even the astral world.
4.8
6 total votes

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Comments

User avatar
walldog

Thu Mar 26, 2020 3:09 pm

I so enjoy these write ups Eric nice job! I've never played this game. I couldn't resist and have a boxed copy coming.

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4.8
6 total votes
Developer:
MicroIllusions
Publisher:
MicroIllusions
Designer:
David Joiner
Artist:
David Joiner
Music:
David Joiner
Genre:
Role-playing (RPG)
Perspective:
Isometric
Theme:
Fantasy, Adventure, RPG
Player mode:
Single-player
Origin:
USA
Release date:
1987

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