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kjorteoThis write-up assumes that you've read my take on episode 3, because there's a lot of "Okay but I can explain" in this series and I already explained last time. *sage nod*
Also, for the sake of full disclosure: Not only did I get a free copy of this game from knowing the author, but I also contributed to it during development. The author wanted one area to be a graphical recreation of ZZT, and he thought it would be a funny gag to have every room of this ZZT area look like poorly drawn My First ZZT Board (By Billy, Age 6) fodder except for one room that's inexplicably gorgeous with full STK graphics and shading and everything. He commissioned me to make the "good" ZZT room. It was a bit of an unusual task for me; even though I am a ZZTer, art boards and graphics/visuals were never really my strongest suit. I considered myself more of an engine person, you know? Still, I'd like to think or at least hope that my contribution turned out all right. And hey, I was paid very well for this and it gave me a chance to slip a graphical Easter egg into the scenery, so why not?
Anyway! Farnham Fables continues to be a thing. Not on Steam yet (the author didn't like the way it handled DLC for future episodes that aren't done yet, so that's coming later) but the itch.io collection is still in full swing.
As before, this is a point-and-click adventure with enjoyable gameplay and sweet, low-tension plots, if you can get past some questionable content. This one has the least stakes of any of them so far: the plot as a whole is nothing more than "one night, Theresa has a weird dream." What this means in practice is wandering around the land of bizarre dream logic solving puzzles to uncover the six rainbow keys that lead to the endgame.
The setting is pure dream nonsense because the player character is in an actual dream, which means the author has an excuse to just throw in whatever he finds funny. The end result is a bit hit or miss, but I don't feel like I have room to say anything here because undoubtedly my hits were other people's misses, and vice versa. Personally, I loved the whole ZZT area, "Mount Sierra" was great as well, and the visual novel parody had some lines that definitely got a laugh out of me. Maybe other people out there wouldn't get the same kick out of those that I did (let's face it; ZZT is a deep cut,) yet they find clown butts funnier than I do. Who knows? This game has a lot of monkeycheese, and maybe at least a handful of it might be to your tastes.
Speaking of things that didn't land for me, I do unfortunately have to single this game out as the first time in the series where the author appeal for anthropomorphic minors in "SFW fetish" tier situations (nudity, tickling, etc. but played innocently) made even me uncomfortable, and I say this as a fan of episode 1. This one... I don't know. I can't explain why this one rubbed me the wrong way in a way that makes logically consistent sense. It's not that it ratchets up the content beyond previously-acceptable thresholds (though the inflation scene was admittedly kind of weird); episode 1 is still by far the closest this series ever gets to explicit. There are things out there that are a lot worse than this, content-wise, that I don't mind. Episodes 1-3 were fine. Hell, I can even just straight up browse Inkbunny and still be like "well at least it's fictional." This is comparatively tame, and I can even say that the author isn't getting off to it because I actually know him. And yet, somehow, this one pushes my "oh, this is unwholesome" buttons in a way that far more gratuitous things don't. I wish I understood why.
Maybe it's the in-universe justification/normalization of it all, as opposed to other works with an at-least-they're-honest "this is bad and wrong but we're doing it anyway because it's that type of game" approach. Or maybe it's the self-insert aspect? There are lines like, "Theresa doesn't usually go around the house completely naked unless her best friend Andrew [who is very obviously the game's author] is visiting or spending the night with her. She and Vincent [her brother] are absolutely fine with this because he's [Andrew's] never done anything to harm her (and it certainly helps that he prefers to keep his own clothes on)." This... bothers me. I feel like it would somehow bother me less if was a character who wasn't Andrew, who actually was doing something untoward. Again, I really can't explain that, and I won't attempt to claim I'm being in any way rational here. And for that reason, I can't even pass judgment on this game's content, because I have neither the moral high ground nor the logical consistency to do so. All I can say is that this one had a lot of implied (not shown) lines and comments like that one that were... not for me.
RIGHT SO UH ANYWAY BACK TO THE GOOD STUFF
By Farnham standards, this game is a massive leap both in size/scope and difficulty compared to the rest of the series. I actually got lost at first and stuck a couple times toward the end of this one, neither of which has happened before. I did get frustrated at one or two specific puzzles that I felt were poorly clued. However, all the rest were fine and even rewarding. Like any good adventure game, it feels good to solve a puzzle and it feels like an accomplishment to reach the ending, and this game captures those feelings brilliantly. The land is fun to explore, and the visuals are among the best the Farnham Fables series has yet produced. Areas that recreate old game references (ZZT, "Mount Sierra") use perfect authentic style that really shows just how much care and dedication the author put into this. Things like the sci-fi graphic novel world are just plain pretty, both the landscape and its inhabitants.
Overall, I feel... mixed isn't even the right word for this, because I did enjoy it overall. It's just a lot to take in, you know? Like, this was the most Farnham Fables Farnham Fables game I've ever played. It's Farnham Fables but everything is bigger and more. The good and bad points are magnified. This is concentrated Farnham Fables. There is more Farnham Fables per Farnham Fables than every previous game in the series combined. Does any of this make sense? I don't really know how else to explain it.
I will say that I had fun with this overall, and I'm very much looking forward to episode 5.
Also, for the sake of full disclosure: Not only did I get a free copy of this game from knowing the author, but I also contributed to it during development. The author wanted one area to be a graphical recreation of ZZT, and he thought it would be a funny gag to have every room of this ZZT area look like poorly drawn My First ZZT Board (By Billy, Age 6) fodder except for one room that's inexplicably gorgeous with full STK graphics and shading and everything. He commissioned me to make the "good" ZZT room. It was a bit of an unusual task for me; even though I am a ZZTer, art boards and graphics/visuals were never really my strongest suit. I considered myself more of an engine person, you know? Still, I'd like to think or at least hope that my contribution turned out all right. And hey, I was paid very well for this and it gave me a chance to slip a graphical Easter egg into the scenery, so why not?
Anyway! Farnham Fables continues to be a thing. Not on Steam yet (the author didn't like the way it handled DLC for future episodes that aren't done yet, so that's coming later) but the itch.io collection is still in full swing.
As before, this is a point-and-click adventure with enjoyable gameplay and sweet, low-tension plots, if you can get past some questionable content. This one has the least stakes of any of them so far: the plot as a whole is nothing more than "one night, Theresa has a weird dream." What this means in practice is wandering around the land of bizarre dream logic solving puzzles to uncover the six rainbow keys that lead to the endgame.
The setting is pure dream nonsense because the player character is in an actual dream, which means the author has an excuse to just throw in whatever he finds funny. The end result is a bit hit or miss, but I don't feel like I have room to say anything here because undoubtedly my hits were other people's misses, and vice versa. Personally, I loved the whole ZZT area, "Mount Sierra" was great as well, and the visual novel parody had some lines that definitely got a laugh out of me. Maybe other people out there wouldn't get the same kick out of those that I did (let's face it; ZZT is a deep cut,) yet they find clown butts funnier than I do. Who knows? This game has a lot of monkeycheese, and maybe at least a handful of it might be to your tastes.
Speaking of things that didn't land for me, I do unfortunately have to single this game out as the first time in the series where the author appeal for anthropomorphic minors in "SFW fetish" tier situations (nudity, tickling, etc. but played innocently) made even me uncomfortable, and I say this as a fan of episode 1. This one... I don't know. I can't explain why this one rubbed me the wrong way in a way that makes logically consistent sense. It's not that it ratchets up the content beyond previously-acceptable thresholds (though the inflation scene was admittedly kind of weird); episode 1 is still by far the closest this series ever gets to explicit. There are things out there that are a lot worse than this, content-wise, that I don't mind. Episodes 1-3 were fine. Hell, I can even just straight up browse Inkbunny and still be like "well at least it's fictional." This is comparatively tame, and I can even say that the author isn't getting off to it because I actually know him. And yet, somehow, this one pushes my "oh, this is unwholesome" buttons in a way that far more gratuitous things don't. I wish I understood why.
Maybe it's the in-universe justification/normalization of it all, as opposed to other works with an at-least-they're-honest "this is bad and wrong but we're doing it anyway because it's that type of game" approach. Or maybe it's the self-insert aspect? There are lines like, "Theresa doesn't usually go around the house completely naked unless her best friend Andrew [who is very obviously the game's author] is visiting or spending the night with her. She and Vincent [her brother] are absolutely fine with this because he's [Andrew's] never done anything to harm her (and it certainly helps that he prefers to keep his own clothes on)." This... bothers me. I feel like it would somehow bother me less if was a character who wasn't Andrew, who actually was doing something untoward. Again, I really can't explain that, and I won't attempt to claim I'm being in any way rational here. And for that reason, I can't even pass judgment on this game's content, because I have neither the moral high ground nor the logical consistency to do so. All I can say is that this one had a lot of implied (not shown) lines and comments like that one that were... not for me.
RIGHT SO UH ANYWAY BACK TO THE GOOD STUFF
By Farnham standards, this game is a massive leap both in size/scope and difficulty compared to the rest of the series. I actually got lost at first and stuck a couple times toward the end of this one, neither of which has happened before. I did get frustrated at one or two specific puzzles that I felt were poorly clued. However, all the rest were fine and even rewarding. Like any good adventure game, it feels good to solve a puzzle and it feels like an accomplishment to reach the ending, and this game captures those feelings brilliantly. The land is fun to explore, and the visuals are among the best the Farnham Fables series has yet produced. Areas that recreate old game references (ZZT, "Mount Sierra") use perfect authentic style that really shows just how much care and dedication the author put into this. Things like the sci-fi graphic novel world are just plain pretty, both the landscape and its inhabitants.
Overall, I feel... mixed isn't even the right word for this, because I did enjoy it overall. It's just a lot to take in, you know? Like, this was the most Farnham Fables Farnham Fables game I've ever played. It's Farnham Fables but everything is bigger and more. The good and bad points are magnified. This is concentrated Farnham Fables. There is more Farnham Fables per Farnham Fables than every previous game in the series combined. Does any of this make sense? I don't really know how else to explain it.
I will say that I had fun with this overall, and I'm very much looking forward to episode 5.