Dark Parables: The Little Mermaid and the Purple Tide Collector's Edition

TLDR: Final verdict: could've been better. I have mixed feelings about this game, but I love the series it's part of. Pros: - Excellent Fragmented Object scenes - Enjoyable puzzles - Soundtrack is well-made, as usual. Fits the vibe of the game to a tee. - Dialogue is voiced and, unlike a few of the previous games, did [i]not[/i] have any issues with voicelines playing over each other or cutting off before they were supposed to. - In-game achievements; I've gotten all but the one that asks you to complete the main game within 5 hours. They are well-devised for the selection of puzzles and features this game has to offer. - The Fast-Travel mechanic got lots of use, especially in the mid-game. Bit of constructive criticism: the devs who worked on the previous games chose the placements of their puzzle rewards and found items so that most of them would belong or be used in the same section of the map where they were found. This game has some of that in the early- and late-game stages, when the player only has the outside gardens and the temple to explore. The mid-game (time spent in the caves and palace) could have benefitted from something like that. - "Parables" collectible items that the player misses can be retrieved by clicking on their page in the Extras menu and scanning the scene that that action brings them to. Starting the whole story over again is not necessary. (Not sure if any of the previous games had this feature. I hadn't missed any in those.) - The search for (some of the) other collectibles (which, in this game, are crescent moons, Big Fish-es and cups of tea) extends into the Bonus Chapter. I liked that. Stopping my search for shapeshifting objects at the end of the Main Game has always felt weird. I also appreciated the presence and colour-changing of that moon icon, telling me whether or not I'd already found a moon in a given scene. - The princesses' names are well chosen; they fit both the characters themselves and the setting (Greece). (Naida means "water nymph". Calliope, the name of the eldest Muse in Greek mythology, means "beautiful-voiced". [spoiler]Princess Calliope gave her voice up to become human again.[/spoiler]. Theresa is a name of uncertain meaning, possibly linked to "harvest", "summer", or the Latin word for "earth". Princess Theresa loved forests and mountains. Althea, means "healer". [spoiler]Princess Althea was desperate to help her father.[/spoiler] Daphne, meaning "laurel tree" or "bay tree", is a name shared by a nymph in Greek mythology who turned into a laurel tree to escape Apollo. Princess Daphne has lots of plants in her room. The fact that her fate remains a total mystery has me hoping that her story is something that might be explored in one of the remaining games.) - It's also nice that [spoiler]the deceased Red Riding Hood Sister Theresa got more backstory the way she did here. It seems unlikely that we were ever going to speak with her again, considering any unfinished business her ghost might have had concluded back in the fourth game.[/spoiler] Cons: - Very little flavour text, and most of what is there is abysmal. None of it changes as the protagonist learns more about the setting (the names of the red and green kingdoms and the relationship between them, the identity of the hooded guy, etc.), and, with the exception of the bits that come after the [spoiler]ghost encounters[/spoiler], much of it seems almost out-of-character for a detective who's no stranger to magic. One does not simply receive an assignment that involves exploring a kingdom beneath the sea, and then act surprised to find oneself in a temple with windows that show a landscape the waves conceal! [i]The fairytale detective. Has been. In underwater rooms. Before![/i] Whoever was put in charge of the flavour text clearly hadn't played the previous games, and put no effort into writing anything interesting to keep players engaged and make exploring fun. - The transparency of some of the "Parables" collectibles is too high. They are barely visible. It is a darn good thing this game has a way for players to go back and get them without making them play the entire game again, because lore be damned, I would not have been willing to dive back in for those. - Reusing assets from previous games is one thing. Reusing one picture of a character and then giving her a whole new face and outfit is another. Back in the second game, the (then unnamed) mermaid princess that the Frog Prince had married had tan skin and deep red or auburn hair. Outside of the image of her that was reused in this game, Naida has light copper hair and skin almost as pale as milk. Was her appearance changed for copyright reasons? Because that's the only reason that would make sense to me; she looked gorgeous as she was. - There is also at least one mural with a reused or traced image of the Frog Prince's first wife, Ivy Green. Likenesses of the Frog Prince, I completely understand why those would be there. Naida had to wait a while for Prince James to [spoiler]find and return with the elemental orb she needed to break her curse[/spoiler], and I'm sure she missed him. But a likeness of his first wife, plus two puzzle items making a vague reference to her and her sister, in a kingdom where neither the floral Guardians, nor the nature and fate goddess who gave Ivy and Rose their powers even seem to be worshipped? Seems a little out of place, wouldn't you agree? In summary, this is the first less-than-good game so far in my favourite Hidden Objects Game series. An at least decent story undermined by the absence of the attention to detail that gave the previous entries in this series their charm. Dear Eipix devs: If you're going to make a sequel to a well-liked game made by another dev team, at least play through the previous installment(s) yourselves to figure out what made them so great. Please.

This is where I stopped playing as a kid, and I do not fault my past self for that choice at all. The change in graphics, the changes to how the parable pieces were hidden across the map, the total lack of focus or clarity or any intrigue in the story, it all culminates in the worst entry in the series thus far. I won't begrudge anyone for enjoying it, as that's a purely subjective matter, but this entry really takes the cake for me in being the very worst. Uninteresting, mechanics changed that didn't need fixing, no interesting lore to follow (outside of what may have been included in parables, which were much more annoying to find because they closer resemble the changing objects than the parable tokens of prior games.) This is the first game in which I didn't bother collecting all the parable notes solely because it was so uninteresting and I was desperate for the game to just be over. Given that I missed those, I'm assuming I missed all of the interesting lore for the game and the characters within it, as there certainly wasn't anything present within the main or side story. :/ The character motivations were also incredibly unclear within the main and side story, and the further introduction of ANOTHER mystical series of items with 'untold power' was super unneeded. We've already got the flower guardians, general magic, the power of the magic beans, curses, and a handful of other odds and ends, did we REALLY need magical elemental orbs as well? And why is Pinocchio even here? Why is his heart's power tied to his wooden orb when in the previous game he appeared in his humanity was given to him by his parents' death? It felt like he was just there to be there. I recognize I am getting way too in-depth and agitated about a game made over a decade ago, but the dip in quality between the previous entry and this one is just stunning. AND somehow this one has glitches? I didn't even think it was possible to sequence break a hidden object game, and yet there I was in the bonus story, having already cut the vines away from one area and subsequently entered it. There sat one of the princesses, unable to be interacted with, so I went "Hm" and went back a few rooms. In the previous room I find her in a net and subsequently free her, and she runs off through the "vines wall" that I had already cut down, and the character I'm playing as says that he can't possibly follow her because of the vine wall.... which was already cut down. I come through the vines and there she is, this time SUPPOSED to be there. It's honestly a little nuts that they didn't account for it. If they needed one to happen before the other, they could've easily put in a simple "Hang on, I hear something from back that way, I want to check that out first before I cut these down" or something. I started this series pretty determined to finish all 16 games in a long-running marathon, but this game's quality has absolutely shattered by desire to continue. Even so, I will, out of morbid curiosity if nothing else.

I love the graphics in this game. The story is well written and engaging. I liked that there are achievements, but I didn't like that they're not listed on steam. I also didn't like that once you complete the game and bonus game, you have to make a new profile in order to replay it. I also very much disliked that it repeated mini-games over and over again, but at least the skip button is very quick to charge. Other than those minor annoyances, I do recommend this game overall.

best ending credits! and nice game!

Sou completamente VICIADA e APAIXONADA em toda a série Dark Parables. A história é muito bem feita e pensada. Divertida de jogar. Essa coleção é simplesmente perfeita.

The first DP game with Eipix is pretty good the Dialogues are different but not too bad and its harder to find all the parable fragements. The parables arent voiced like the first games but that is not too bad. Sadly they used the same minigames very often. Still i liked the story and the bonus was a nice little prologue. Can totally recommend it

Beautiful art work and many hidden treasures. Never boring no matter how many times it's played.

J'aime toute l'ensemble du jeu! Je suis rendu, au chapitre bonus. ☺️

I love these hidden object games and especially this series. I'm so glad I was able to get it. If you also love hidden object games with a connected story, check out this series!

Somewhere in Greece, a strange Purple Tide rose, approaching the coastline leaving a path of destruction in its wake, along with reports of mermaids and a giant eel. Of course, once again, it is a case for the Fairytale Detective in this new installment of the Dark Parables series, the 8th and the first under a new developer, Eipix, although the old ones are still credited.  Along with the detective, another familiar face from the past also joins the investigation, similar to how Ballad of Rapunzel had Greta tagging along. However, this time, the character feels somewhat underused and the ties to some previous titles were underused at best, how they barely touched upon Prince Eric’s wife or Theresa. The story behind the machine itself is somewhat nonsensical as well if one stops to think for a moment, it was one of those plots for the sake of having a plot device to culminate with something exciting. The biggest innovation are the fragmented inventory pieces, objects that need to either be examined or put together before using, which leads to a slightly heavier item-based tasks and a lot of backtracking, the later made easier thanks to the implementation of a fast travel system. Your mileage might vary on the enjoyment of this, but sometimes it feels a lot of busywork. The hidden objects scenes can be downright unfair with transparent objects, obscured placements and even flipped images. And compared to the previous titles, the resulting items look amateurish collages with a bombastic sound effect and cue that should feel a nice accomplishment but it feels a little out of place. The graphic in itself feels a little uncanny too, it is clear that Eipix was trying to keep the style from Blue Tea with mixed results. Some locations feels somewhat uninspired or with strange shading, and the proportions can also be something that takes a while to get used to. There is also many mini-animations and special scenes that tries to showcase how even opening a door is such a big deal that eventually everything loses the impact. The bonus game takes place right before the curse that affects the antagonists of the title and gives some insight into one of the non-playable characters that you meet in the main story. Sadly it is riffled with bugs and sometimes it feels that a chunk of it may be missing. With an interesting concept for a story but somewhat poor execution and an ending that amounts to not much, the game counts with many extras like locating all the hidden crescent moons and in-game achievements that make for some replay, but it is a rather short game. It might be best to buy in a sale.