Forbidden Magic

An interesting read, until things started going south. Its another one of those, ALL the CHOICES are the wrong stats situations. And honestly, it just made me angry that I skimmed / skipped over the next three pages until I realized I was not going to be able to enjoy whatever might happen next. What is the point of having and using stats, if you are just going to set up situations where the player wont have the needed stats to get through your obstacle course? Yes, I can play again. No, I really don't want to. I enjoyed the fact the story was still in the same kind of world setting as the first book I read by this author. And some of the characters are interesting as is the relationship dynamics at play with them. But that really doesnt mean much, if I am going to get screwed over time and time again with skill checks. It is like the author is saying, Yeah, I know your a quiet methodical by the book kind of guy,... but if you cant hit people, dodge whatever they throw at you and cast magic at everything you can see you are not going to make it in this story. To wit: I hate when I am offered a chance to play a certain way, and then punished for it. As always, YMMV, and perhaps you will pick the kind of responses needed to build the stats to sail through all the check points. But a story that allows a reader to build a certain kind of character, should provide choices that allow that kind of character to succeed as well.

Forbidden Magic is written by the same author who gave us Brimstone Manor and shares several characteristics. A single play-through is not particularly long, it took me three hours, but it will take several play-throughs and choices to reveal all the twists and turns in the story. You can choose the character you play and have a choice of love interests according to your tastes. In my one run-through I have not had a heavy love scene, Forbidden Magic seems to be more about the story than the sex, which suits me. The plot is also not as involved, complicated, or angst-ridden as many other IF novels in the Choice of Games, Hearts Choice and Hosted Games catalogues, making it ideal for when you need to relax, and its priced accordingly. Its even more of a bargain when you consider the replayability, even if you only a follow a couple of the paths through the game. And for those that need them there are achievements too and you can track your statistics if thats your thing. Or else you can just relax and enjoy the story as it unfolds.

|Без спойлеров| Крепкий средячок. Игра из категории НЕ маст хэв, но если вы хэв, то по идее денёк развлечения в кармане. Мне понравилась история. Она немного приправлена детективом, который так сразу не решить, хотя кажется, что решение на поверхности. Я почти до конца колебалась насчет виновных-невиновных и долго выбирала между подозреваемыми, но может потому что статы у меня были такие, где я просто не могла найти прямые доказательства/подсказки. Кстати, статы тут хоть и играют небольшую роль, но и без правильных вы скорее всего сможете раскрыть преступление. Вопрос только в том, насколько эффективно у вас это получится. Самым большим минусом для меня был факт того, что нельзя сохранятся вручную. Во всяком случае, я не нашла. Игра запускается на том месте, где вы в последний раз читали. Однажды я случайно забыла выбрать нужный ответ и нажала автоматом на "дальше", и пришлось перезапускать полностью весь мой прогресс. Зачем так наказывать игроков непонятно. При том, что выбранные ответы сбрасываются, когда ты заходишь во вкладку статов, поэтому будьте внимательны и после статов всегда проверяйте, что выбрали. Не смотря на то, что история мне показалась приемлемой, сам язык был немного суховат. Я играла много интарактивщины и есть полностью бесплатные похожие игры и там язык намного лучше. Мне не хватало художественных абзацев, чтоб добавить атмосферы. Концовка выглядит скомканной, особенно без описаний того хаоса и жести что происходит. Как бы игра пишет, что велосипед горит, и ты горишь, и всё горит, и ты в аду (с), но это как факт, нет описаний того, как это плохо по ощущениям. А еще меня выбесило, что вместо того, чтоб решить проблему, все чето-там стоят в сторонке, смотрят, думают нужна ли им подмога, спорят кто тут главный и пытаются договорится с преступником. Стоят и пританцовывают, словно в боевиках с массовкой, которая делает вид, что что-то делает. Хочется уже, чтоб кто-то пошел и дал п__ды врагу. Вы на представление пришли или мир спасать? В романтическом плане тоже средне. Кто-то писал, что романтика спонтанная, но я видела хуже. Мне показалось что более менее все плавно, но могло конечно быть лучше. В общем, 7/10.

[h2]真的很想骂这本垃圾，但是...[/h2] 很可惜，RO包含： +砂金色头发对家侦探 +they/them恶魔老板（偏姐 +地狱犬前朋友兼同事（性别可选，前尘往事可选 +红羊毛卷女巫嫌犯 +哥...布林？(为什么他有好感条?_? [h3]对不起，我被小头控制大头了[/h3] [b]6.5/10[/b] 属于差一点的wayhaven，文笔还行，浪漫剧情写的挺好的 但是其他地方....怎么这么[b]尬[/b]（狼人撕衣 主角言行会有很脚趾扣地的地方，很多地方设定/转折也很莫名其妙，不能仔细思考，稍微带点脑子都不行 就像the boys里sage想搞deep必须脑叶切除一样，看这本的时候你也可能需要 （但romance确实看得我doki doki，唉，一到浪漫剧情我好像就被催眠了，晕，RO们实在是太可爱了，我真的对颓废侦探和前朋友文学一点抵抗力都没有 篇幅不长，剧本算是有头有尾（烂也一下子就看完了反正，体验还好） romance属于想选谁选谁，没有任何要求（任何！RO好感度就是摆设一样 想过数值检定成功/最终抓住嫌犯之类的话，性格/行事风格/习惯什么的最好从刚开始每次都坚持一种（不过我是乱玩的，最后啥也没抓到，后面数值好像有点奇怪 [spoiler] 我前面看数值我还很大一截支持魔法公开，后面又莫名其妙变成支持隐瞒了 [/spoiler] 不过最后也能自选自己的结局

It's really bad and I just... had enough of trying to continue with this game. The stats matter in the sense that the author has a specific idea of your main character to "pass" the game. If you dare to actually build your character "the wrong way," you'll get punished. I went with a very blunt, by the books, smart mage who is hellbent on keeping magic a secret, and (understandably) doesn't trust the parallel agency at all. I tried my hardest to just figure out the mystery using the skills I built the character for, and it seems extremely random how I'll fail the same skill check. My highest skills was Willpower, Lore, and Wits. Things you would reasonably need for an investigator. Well, surprise-surprise, the game will randomly fail you at the same skill checks needed to uncover the story. I've restarted at various intervals picking choices in varying orders to rebuild the same stats. I've also caught that the game will say one thing the opposite of your choice. Tyrian, for example, if you pick one of the two non-romantic reasons for the fallout; the game will gaslight you that flirting/romantic feelings were being part of the relationship. The game will put about four red herrings in your face. The first red herring put me off with the attempts at performing police brutality. I'm not white and my character isn't white either, so it really comes off as tone deaf for the fact that police officer is "Well liked by the Mayor" when he tried to assault me in front of my boss, coworkers, and his boss. The other one is straight up abusing his power to stalk you, and is a love interest. Are you pro-cooperation between agencies to keep magic at a minimum? Great! If you aren't, your opinion and choices doesn't matter! Almost everyone is so grossly incompetent. As a crime/mystery, it's genuinely awful. Even if you went out of your way to collect rare clues (which doesn't even actually impact the story as it SHOULD), and correctly guess the culprit, the game will state the wrong outcome. At that point, I was done. The romance options are pretty terrible, and the game will insist you have feelings for someone. Even if you made it clear to the game you want this person as a friend. Sasha's the best one out of a pile of trash, but even then, a hot devil couldn't save this dumpster fire. Don't waste your time, the author should've made a book instead of a game!

This game has two problems: 1. Its to clicheed Its basically a modern fantasy buddy cop show and it plays all the possible hits. That doesnt have to be something bad but i found it to be underwhelming. 2. Romance is not tied to the relationship-score You can be a hostile ♥♥♥♥ to everyone. Normaly that would be a point in the games favor, but because the romance here is tied to a choice in the last third of the game, where you choose who you love (a major mistake in a Loves Choice Game) nothing bevor matters. I was apparently madly in love with a guy that i activly ignored, only spoke twice to and suspected of some bad things.

An interactive story with choices? Where the images are all in your head? YES PLEASE! This was... Rather interesting. I actually WANTED to keep reading it. There was definitely a pull towards the story. There are also stats and that name... Gork... XD My fascination with those things aside, I enjoyed the story and read through once (more than that by now). I will definitely go through it again and see if I can get a slightly different outcome. However... All I can see is Tyrian. I was going to try a different love interest, but then all I heard was "DOG EARS" and "DOG TAIL" and was stuck... By the time I realized what was going on, Tyrian was already with my MC. While that may not be important to you, it is to me. All you had to know from this was... If you like investigative stories and making choices + throw in love interests + supernatural creatures + need a story to read = CORRECT PLACE!!! YOU FOUND IT!!! I am going to go play with Tyrian more... :))))))))))))))))))))))))))) THANK YOU!!! :D ;) :>

恩..这本真的其实不太推荐，但不太好意思点不推荐毕竟我还挺喜欢地狱犬同事和破镜重圆梗的。但主线比wayhaven还糟糕啊，尤其是顶头上司私底下是类似stripper的舞者这种烂俗梗真的很cringe，写反差可以有很多种方式没必要用这种老套bro式幻想梗...故事大致可以概括为主角上班，上班后惨遭背黑锅踏上逃亡之路，洗清冤情这几个部分。总有一种小学时候在新华书店里买的那种手掌大纸张质量差的低质量言情小说的味道。关于可攻略对象可以看另一条评论，我只走了前同事的线，玩过以后把其它角色都忘光了笑死。

Romance部分真的是写得太好了，尤其是恶魔老板和地狱犬同事 尤其是恶魔老板，反差感真的太绝了. 想摸摸地狱犬同事的耳朵，谁不喜欢垃圾食品狗狗, 真的太可爱了 作者文笔不错，整体范围娱乐感很强

Loved this game, and would give it a 4.5/5 stars if I could. Well-written, great world-building, and very colorful and likable characters. I had a couple of beefs with it, like [spoiler](and you'll know what I mean when I play it) the pronoun thing...it kept confusing me because they/them is mostly plural and it was used incorrectly to refer to someone who could just as easily been male or female, your choice. Also, no proper weapons in the hands of norms? What's a rubber disk gonna do to stop crime - if I got hit with one of those, it wouldn't stop me, it'd just piss me off. [/spoiler] Also it was a bit short...as someone who is used to reading an entire series in just a few days, this felt a little fluffy compared to that. But other than those three things, which I'm sure yall are gonna give me lots of jesters for (so tolerant of others' opinions, I'm sure), it was a pretty wild and amazing ride and I really enjoyed it. I can see myself replaying it just to get different outcomes. Worth the full price, imo.