The Lost Heir: The Fall of Daria Reviews

This game has a well developed, realistic world, diversified characters with moderate depth and creative, if not a bit cliché locations. It has varied events with a decent amount of options without being overwhelming and those actually give different outcomes. Unfortunately, it "ends" (this is just part 1) too soon, making it short. Also, it gives u little sense of acomplishment.

This is the better, and dare I say only playable, part of the three out. Seriously, stop after this part and then just imagine the rest of this story. You will be 100% less frustrated.

Absolutely loved this game and encourage it of people that are ok with graphic-less choose-your-own-adventure games. It has depth once you add the next two games. Pros: lots of customization, and it makes a decent effort of trying to make it all feel like it mattered. Good story with cool characters. Sequels. Cons: It checks the numbers, a lot.. which becomes very limiting quickly. In the sense that if you want certain character concepts you pretty much need to grab the walkhthroughs, do up a path through what gives you bonuses, and pick your choices almost explicitly based on that and the concept you want. And you pretty much need the (cheap but mandatory) DLC. Suggestion: For each game in this series play it once through without looking at a walkthrough, just freestyling it. Then go back, figure out what you actually want, and do the number pathing through it. The second and third aren't that bad in this respect but the first one is almost mandatory. Wishlist: This game SO BADLY NEEDED A SAVE SYSTEM. Omg. Especially as you replay it for the ntheenth time because you clicked a radio button wrong, or an option didn't quite do what you thought it would because of some hidden check... and then you have to click.. through everything.. again... and so help you if as you mindlessly reclick everything you missclick and have to start over.. omfg...

While this game has a good and solid plot, it falls in the stats section. The required stats are abnormally high and ruined the game for me. Want to make a mage assassins? No can do, only one skill is possible, otherwise you fail every single skill challenge in the game. Put all your egs in one basket and hope for the best. Same goes with in the relationship sector. No point trying to "please" anyone. Just pick your favorites and lick their asses. So don't buy this game unless you're completely sure that being thing X for the entire journey is what you want

Storyline is good but you get many options and no idea in knowing if you can do them or not. And some options require too much stat so early on in the game. Other similar games do a better job in informing if you can do something or not or only the options you can successfully do will be available to choose or in bold. This game needs some more mechanics. At least automatic failure does not mean immediate death so loosing a roll is not the end of the game. But later on you don't know if this choice can be done or not because you don't know how much skill you require and eventually you will end up dying.

The writing is very well done, but the game expects you to make decisions based on stats and depending on whether or not you have stayed on one path and only one path you will fail checks that could lead to your death. But that is the only big flaw. For the price its at I'd say go for it.

While the story is enjoyable, the advertisement is incredibly misleading. The "game" ends abruptly shortly into the story unless you continue to buy more chapters.

One of the more mechanically complex offerings from the Hosted Games line, Fall of Daria serves as an excellent opening to what is planned as a triology. The story is well-written with a large degree of customization from the onset. The game attempts to get you invested in both your character's upbringing and the relationship they have with their guardian. The villains remain largely an enigma in this chapter and it is implied that they are simply being human; most of the conspirators appear to be opportunists rather than any sort of dedicated evil mastermind. If the game has a flaw, its that there is too much customization. As there are a plethora of stats, and thus stat checks, no one character can pass a majority of them. Just like in old pencil and paper tabletop RPGs, your character belongs to a Class and should behave accordingly. Although in theory the game is skill based, due to the fact that large stat gains are generally found in adopting class levels, it is in effect a Class system. Thieves generally do not do well at stand up fights and magicians should not try to pick locks. Splitting your focus will render many of the harder stat checks impossible. So approach this game with this in mind. As the first chapter, it does well enough to set up the premise and gives you the freedom to guide your character's training for the upcoming challenges. It also features a colourful cast although without the right interactions, most of their characterization is only hinted at rather than stated outright. Overall its strengths lie in the story rather than system although the latter still services its role. Think of it as akin to one of the more mechanically driven gamebooks like Lone Wolf or Blood Sword and if that appeals to you, then this game should be your cup of tea.

This game suffers from a very simple design flaw. In the game there are challenges, and certain stats need to be a specific level in order to get through it without losing health. For example your strength stat might need to be at 20 in order to push an annoying troll into a fire. Only one problem, your stats need to be extremely high for every one of these challenges. So unless you devote every single choice you make to advancing a couple of certain skills, you'll fail. It's not an autmatic failure, which is good, but eventually you'll run out of health. And even if you do keep improving certain skills, sometimes it won't even give you an option to use them, and thus, you'll lose even more health. I really wanted to like this game, but I'm afraid it forces you to keep improving the same skill over and over again, which makes for a very limited experience. Story's good, but that's about it I'm afraid.

While I found the setting of this game intriguing, I can't recommend it. My largest complaint with this title is that I felt like a spectator, and not a participant of the game. I noticed getting told how I felt and what I thought, and most choices just boiled down to me either interacting with others as a normal person, being a complete jerk to them, or ignoring them completely. I can't think of a single choice I made in the game that actually felt meaningful to me. Another bad thing about this game is that it seems to have 3 chapters. This is only chapter 1, as far as I can tell, and felt incredibly short to me. I actually restarted about 3 or 4 times, and it still only took me 2 hours to beat it. There were also at least 3 times that I was forced into failure as a way of continuing the story, though I only played as a mage, so it may be possible to avoid some of those. There are other CYOA's out there that aren't going to leave you on a cliffhanger, are longer, and have more varied choice.