Trials of Guinevere

Review

“Eighteen years ago, Guinevere was on the brink of destruction. Aided by his army, one powerful man nearly conquered the city for himself …” 

Guinevere has been attacked; King Leorus III has been killed by The Warlord who seeks to rule Guinevere and its people. However, there are still some who oppose The Warlord and his cruel murdering army and will do anything to protect Guinevere. Uriel, Lowangen, Kei and Vhalidir make a final stand against The Warlord, finally defeating him. He accepts that he’s lost this fight, but states that he will return.  For now, though, Guinevere is safe.

It’s now the present day, eighteen years later, and the people of Guinevere have lived in peace and prosperity since The Warlord was defeated. It’s here that your story begins.  You play as Lane (you can change name of the characters if you wish) who has been having these weird dreams lately. Lane is hoping that tonight something more will happen in his dream so that he can try and understand what it means.  Light and Darkness now begins, after a short introduction you’re woken up by Amber, a friend of yours, as you had just dropped to the floor asleep in class. You need to join the rest of the class down in the courtyard, so you head off to join the rest of the class. Lane explains to Amber about his weird dream on the way to the courtyard.

As you make your way to the courtyard, you can interact with other students and characters who may give you some information on the history of Guinevere, Guinevere's Academy of Magic, and its people. When interacting with some characters you may have options to choose from, such as encouraging them or staying quiet. You can also find more information in the Academy’s library which will help you learn about things such as Allies, Elements, The Eldyrians, Professions. Check the Glossary for information, which can be found in the menu.

Unlike some games of this genre, battles are not random; you can see your enemy. Moving to them and selecting the A button (on gamepad) will take you into battle mode with the enemy. Your characters will be on the right-hand side of the screen with the enemy on the left. Your characters are divided into two rows; the back row is ideal for those who are of more use in a support role, while the front row is for those who use more physical attacks. Each character in your group will take turns in any actions you give them to proceed with. Once you have defeated the enemy, you may be rewarded with Experience Points, Gold and Dropped Items.

As you make your way through the game, you’ll uncover new areas and dungeons. To move through these areas, you may have to solve puzzles to progress. There are some places which don’t have any effect on the story, but they may have some lovely unique loot should you be able to progress in those areas. These areas consist of tougher encounters compared to other areas, so it’s up to you whether you take on the challenge and see what lies beyond. Loot is usually found in chests, but you can also find things scattered around rooms on tables etcetera.

New characters will join and leave your group of characters as you progress through the game. They all have their own abilities; some can use magic while others are more melee fighters at the frontline of battle. All characters will need to work together as they battle enemies.

In the game’s settings you’ll find All, General, Audio, Visual and Controls. All is where you’ll find all the settings under one category. In General, there’s options for Always Dash and Command Remember On/Off. Audio shows settings for Master, Background Music, Background Sounds, Music Effects and Sound Effects. In Visual you’ll find Window Tone Red, Green and Blue which will allow you to customise the colour tone of the games window. In Controls there’s Gamepad and Keyboard Configs where you can configure your gamepad or keyboard keys to your own preference. You can also Reset to Default should you wish to go back to the standard configuration. Starting a new game, you’ll have the choice of four game difficulties: Storyteller, Student, Journeyman and Wind Adept.

I am a sucker for these types of games, especially when they’re well-made, as Trials of Guinevere is. The graphics and sounds are very good, the story is excellent, and there’s plenty of interaction with the characters of Guinevere. There’s also plenty of information about the region of Guinevere. The battles are easy to learn, and they aren’t too hard or overly complicated. Overall, I’m loving the game so far and would certainly recommend it, especially if you like these types of games. THUMBS UP!!!

Review written by Piston Smashed™ for Zeepond.com!