Dark Parables: Portrait of the Stained Princess Collector's Edition

[h1]Short version: 57%[/h1] If you like sad fairy tales, you will love Dark Parables 16. It is a truly touching story that knows how to toy with the player's emotions. Too bad it is attached to an annoying fragmented objects game. [h1]Long version:[/h1] After the boredom of Dark Parables 15, I was surprised by the writing quality of Portrait of the Stained Princess. It mixes the Ugly Duckling with Wagner's version of Lohengrin and some Spanish folk tales to create a bittersweet casual game masterpiece. On the surface, it seems to be about a princess stuck inside a portrait, but the real story is learning how she got there. It is a tragic tale of unrequited love, a dark prince who genuinely wants to find happiness, and a lineage of knights carrying a terrible burden. If we add in the optional backstory fables, we get one of the best stories in this series. Sadly though, the gameplay is either dull or just weak. Our goal is always the same, find some chest ornament. Sometimes we solve a boring puzzle to get one, sometimes it just lies in the open. Sometimes we assemble it in a fragmented object scene. Of course, the latter is what we expect from a FROG, but these scenes are the worst part here. They are either laughably easy or nearly impossible, with no middle ground. I wish we had a compilation of just the story bits, that would make a surprisingly good visual novel.

15 out 15 Dark Parables completed and... I still really like the first few games in the series. They had charm, adorable/beautiful items to be collected and had an air of mystery about them. You WANTED to know more about the world/characters and to help the ones in need. Sadly... Or perhaps for the better? Things have to change. This game can join the other depressing ones: the Draconian father... Matchstick girl and now this. Now while this [i]was[/i] a dark/sad story... What was worse was that I identified with the [spoiler]Dark Prince[/spoiler] himself... So much so that I was enraged at what happened to him. Sure, sure... Everyone else got something bad happening to them and things could've been avoided if done differently... But isn't it like that in EVERY Dark Parable?! And life...? Anyway. Beautiful sceneries. I liked the paint stuffs. The duck... And everything else was okay... Apart from the ending. Really? It was hilarious though when he [spoiler] practically force pushed the princess away from him.[/spoiler] I was cheering... Until I realized what he was actually doing... *-* So as you can tell... I am one sided here! You may have a different experience so don't take my words to mean that this is a no, no! This was still better than some of the previous games in the series. Eh. Last thing I'll add: Bonus game... Who in the hell was that? Why? Wth? Couldn't you follow through the mourning or something of the princess? Or did she really not give a sheet? PFFT. Guess another re-write is coming... >.> Even with my not so fun notes... I can't bring myself to dislike this game. It had things that appealed to me (and not just the [spoiler]Dark Prince[/spoiler] himself heh heh)... So if you really need your H.O. fix or you'll play literally anything OR you have an entire bundle set like me... Here is another one to waste/spend your time on. :>....................

[i]Dark Parables: Portrait of the Stained Princess Collector's Edition[/i] is an adventure, fantasy, hidden object game with mini-games and point-and-click elements developed by Eipix Entertainment and Blue Tea Games and published by Big Fish Games. It is the 16th (and probably, the final) installment of the [i]Dark Parables[/i] series. As always, you take on the role of the fairytale detective. This time, your mission is to investigate the disappearance of a man who was suddenly grabbed into a painting by a princess. The princess in question is rumored to be the princess of the Cisneros kingdom who disappeared over 300 years ago. She carries with her a duckling and has been reported in sightings by various witnesses in the area. It's up to the detective to investigate and solve this mystery, or the entire world may end up being covered in darkness. As for the gameplay, this latest installment has the same elements as the previous ones. There are the FROG (fragmented objects) scenes as well as the usual point-and-click elements. There are new mini-games, of course, as well as morphing objects and parable items. As this is a collector's edition, it also contains a bonus chapter as well as the usual things like a strategy guide, wallpapers, etc. At the time of this review, there are no Steam achievements or trading cards although there are in-game achievements. Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my critique. [i]Dark Parables[/i] has been one of my favorite HOG series, so it was only a matter of time before I'd get to this. Now, I read some reviews and there are mixed feelings about this one, but I'll give my thoughts. First, I found the story to be intriguing. The only fairytale that I was familiar with in this one is [i]The Ugly Duckling[/i], so I had no clue about what I'd encounter. I thought the story was fine although I noticed that there were very few (if any) references to other [i]Dark Parables[/i] games. This is something that I missed here. On the characters, I have mixed feelings. [spoiler]The princess turns out to be both a victim and a villain although I'm not a fan of how she or her knight end up treating the detective. Even after their motivations are revealed, the detective just goes along with things. If it had been me, I would have been ticked off over being pushed into a painting. lol[/spoiler] On the gameplay, my feelings are mixed as well. On the mini-puzzles, I found that there could have been some better explanations on some of them, as I thought that some of the directions were unclear. At one point, I even had to refer to youtube playthroughs because I had no clue what to do. lol On the FROG scenes, the difficulty was just all over the place. Either the scenes were extremely easy or really crazy to find all of the objects. It would have been good to have some sort of balance. However, the point-and-click elements were fine, and finding the morphing objects and parable items was fine (for the most part), so no complaints there. As for the art, I love the style. It's definitely one of the stronger points of this game. The backgrounds were beautifully done, depicting the blood moon atmosphere well. As for the soundtrack, the tracks are lovely to listen to. As the story takes place in Spain, some of the tracks have that soothing guitar sound, which fit well with the setting. As usual, this installment has voice acting, and I thought the voices were fine. Overall, would I recommend [i]Dark Parables: Portrait of the Stained Princess Collector's Edition[/i]? If you like the [i]Dark Parables[/i] series, then you'll probably find this one to be passable. It's weaker compared to a lot of other games in the series, but it's still a good game. I'd like there to be more [i]Dark Parables[/i], but it seems unlikely to happen. Still, it's worth getting on a good sale, and it's been an amazing journey playing through all the [i]Dark Parables[/i] games. ^^ [quote]If you found this review helpful/useful, please check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44702020/]The Introverted Gamer[/url].[/quote]

A very solid entry in the Dark Parables series, with all the expected bells and whistles including in particular: ~ gorgeous art ~ beautiful, satisfying music throughout ~ a complicated blending and retelling of both classic and imagined fairy tales In this story, you are sent to investigate a cursed and supposedly abandoned Kingdom. According to legend, the Princess was turned into a painting - or maybe trapped within it. Clues and journal entries allow you to piece together a tale involving light and dark swans, ugly ducklings, a cursed princess, and a dark prince. A second story plays in the background, involving the betrayal of the Princess by one of her sworn protectors - but were his actions so wrong? The game is a good length, and that's before getting to the bonus chapter. As usual, by the time the tale is told, right and wrong are overshadowed by loss, love, redemption, and revenge. Naturally, there are puzzles and HO scenes along the way! NOTE: My time includes a lot of idle time (as usual). There are no Steam achievements or trading cards; there are in-game achievements.

I honestly was not impressed with this game. It was really short, the story was not very clear even until the end and the puzzles were not challenging enough. The other Parable games in the series were way better than this one. I think this is the first time I'm giving a game a poor review.

Some people might really like this, but it wasn't for me. I like some backtracking, but this was just constantly going from place to place. I never knew what to do with the things I had. Last 30 minutes I played, I just hinted my way around. What's the fun in that? In the hidden object scenes, certain elements were too hidden for my tastes, thought that alone wouldn't make me give it a thumbs-down. But for some, they might like it as more of a challenge than other HOGs. I didn't.

BUG, can't save the game. 无法保存进度，收集品提示无法隐藏，会遮挡画面。

If you are a fan of challenging hidden object scenes or mini games, then the game is tailored for you. But if you are looking for a riveting story, I recommend against it. The main characters are seriously underdeveloped. None of them has a full personality and clear backstory other than stereotypical titles of "Princess", "Hero" and "villain". And the storyline is just... there, not to mention random information coming out of nowhere just to keep the story going [spoiler] (Like the fake princess in bonus game, who is she? why is she kidnapping the real princess?) [/spoiler] Sure, there are additional information in the parables to flesh out the story but when it comes back to the cutscenes everything returns to a boring, one-tracked basis. A perfect match to this confusing gameplay, though. I don't know if this is gonna be the last game in DP series but as a long time DP fan I'd say it's a huge letdown.

TL:DR Good game, but weaker than previous Dark parables games. Worth it on sale, regular price only if you are a fan of the Dark Parables games in general. I have been following Dark Parables ever since the first game and honestly I always buy them as I am already hooked. All that aside, the game can be finished for approximately 4 hours (without the bonus content). I have always liked their stories, but this one was a bit weaker than others and I barely understood what was the whole point of everything. Also, I feel the graphics have not improved much since the earlier games, however, that doesn't bother me that much as for the price, the game is definitely worth it. I think in the past the puzzles were more complex and I think the game got too simplified. If you like Dark Parables, buy it, it is a unique type of game. If you can get the game on sale, do it. I always wait for a sale :D

Every game they partnered with Eipic is not good. Parables are amateurish, the games are repetitive and the story line with the voice acting is the worst. Get the Dark Parables that Eipic has not touched and you'll get some great games.