The Far Rings: A Space Opera Visual Novella

The Far Rings presents the player with an unexpected journey of personal discovery and a moral dilemma. Do you, as Doctor Athena, sacrifice members of one species to save another – when the two are at war – or try to find a way to save them both? Considering the relative brevity of this free to play offering, the development of the backstory to the situation that the player begins in is really quite laudable. The game begins with the Doctor aboard a rescue ship piloted by her now-distant childhood friend, (who has become a member of the military responsible for a planetary invasion); having been recovered from a refugee camp which had been attacked by “freedom fighters” native to the invaded planet. Their only other sentient company aboard the ship is an alien captured during the rescue, who has admitted guilt to the murder of both medical staff and patients from the camp. Interactions throughout the game are therefore restricted to just two other characters, but with several different endings available, dialogue choices do have a significant impact upon how your time will conclude. It is not always immediately apparent which course of events you have set in motion, so regular saving during initial play through will likely benefit in subsequent plays, if you decide to chase the 9 achievements available. There is also a third additional character in the story, a cleaning robot which Athena takes a shine to and even gets to name. [spoiler]Your choice of name for this machine may well be critical to obtaining the best ending. If you skim the dialogue instead of paying attention, then you may never find this end and therefore curtail your experience of the game.[/spoiler] Graphics are simple and uncluttered. For those old enough to remember – I found them very reminiscent of TV cartoons of the 80s. In some scenes you can select the next development by clicking on items in the backgrounds or the character who is present. Audio has included [i]partial[/i] voice acting, which in all honesty would be better left out. Not that it is bad, just that the inconsistency of its presence hampers the reading experience. Voice acting is a nice bonus when it is there in full, but when only some words or sentences are spoken and the rest are not, it is worse than not being there at all. The text box dialogue approach is also open to question. Size of text is used to express both emphasis and distant-or-muttered tones, so someone shouting or being angry appears in larger font, while a whisper is tiny. If you do not have 20/20 vision, you are likely to find some lines difficult to read. Variable font size should really be an option at the beginning of the game, not an enforcement. Despite the odd quibble, the game still holds up quite well. The story is well constructed and endings are not illogical; and some of them are quite challenging to find. There is a romance ending available, though there is no romance to be experienced through the game's progress. For a couple of hours or so of your time, and no financial commitment, there is really no good reason not to give The Far Rings a try. [quote] Please follow our curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4680120/]Otome Lovers[/url], if you'd like to see more reviews like this one! [/quote]

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Nice little short & FREE VN. 5.5/10.

While i appreciate the effort put into this free visual novel, the author picked a heavier topic than they can handle and the result is a mess of a comedy, traumatized people, and a cliche dystopia.

[i]There's not many Visual Novels I've played that include naming a robotic floor-cleaner, it was totally out of the OrDInary!![/i] [b]TFR team[/b] have created a sci-fi [i]Space Opera[/i] with multi-choice routes based around Dr Athena who is the survivor among a medical refugee camp that was attacked by Ogygian forces yet finds herself rescued and taken aboard [u]Ithaca[/u] piloted by [b]Captain Odysseus[/b] alongside a captured Ogygian named [b]Chiron[/b] who is being transported for trial. The multiple choice paths provide the decisions for Athena to ally herself with either the captured Prisoner or to uncover revelations of Odysseus and herself. There are 9 achievements unlocked through the routes during multiple playthroughs where the 1st time can take anywhere from 20-45 minutes and repeated ones skipped for faster completion times to uncover all scenarios. Overall they include 3 Good Endings, 4 Bad Endings & 2 hidden funny achievements. The artwork is visually appealing with interactive background texts, early stage VA that is to be improved on in later updates, neutral BGM that doesn't distract too much though if the VA is to be heard it is worth lowering the Sound effects and BGM so it doesn't overpower it. I enjoyed the story to this with the challenging & fiery Female Protagonist being forceful in some scenes yet in others more sympathetic while Chiron remains distant until Athena attempts to interact and Odysseus is self-focused until, again, Athena seeks to rekindle their history. The main focus of the story centres around conflict between Races and Athena playing the neutral diplomat that can either unite them or individually [i]save[/i] a specific Race; all depending on the routes chosen. As said above, future updates will include additional VAs but it would be great to see artwork added as unlockable in a Gallery, possibly a Reference tab in the menu that can add detail to the two Races of Ogygia and Aeaea alongside any Music themes to boost the Options area and card drops for the Collectors! ~~~ Liked what you see? You can find more at [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32839633/]Have a Word[/url] ~~~

Я не так много играл в визуальных новеллах, в которых упоминалось бы название робота-уборщика пола, это было совершенно необычно !! Команда TFR создала научно-фантастическую космическую оперу с несколькими вариантами маршрутов, основанную на докторе Афине, выжившей в лагере медицинских беженцев, который подвергся нападению огигианских сил, но оказывается спасенным и взятым на борт Итаки, пилотируемым капитаном Одиссеем вместе с захваченным оггианцем. по имени Хирон, которого перевозят для суда. Пути с множественным выбором дают Афине решение объединиться либо с захваченным Узником, либо раскрыть откровения Одиссея и себя. Есть 9 достижений, разблокируемых через маршруты во время нескольких прохождений, где первый раз может занять от 20 до 45 минут, а повторяющиеся пропускаются для более быстрого выполнения, чтобы раскрыть все сценарии. Всего они включают 3 хороших финала, 4 плохих финала и 2 скрытых забавных достижения. Обложка визуально привлекательна благодаря интерактивным фоновым текстам, ранней стадии VA, которая должна быть улучшена в более поздних обновлениях, нейтральной фоновой музыке, которая не слишком отвлекает, хотя, если VA должна быть услышана, стоит снизить звуковые эффекты и фоновую музыку, чтобы это не подавляет его. Мне понравилась история, в которой сложная и пылкая женщина-протагонист проявляет силу в некоторых сценах, но в других более сочувствует, в то время как Хирон остается отстраненным, пока Афина не пытается взаимодействовать, а Одиссей не сосредоточен на себе, пока Афина снова не пытается возродить их историю. Основное внимание в истории уделяется конфликту между Расами и Афиной, играющей нейтрального дипломата, который может либо объединить их, либо индивидуально спасти определенную Расу; все в зависимости от выбранных маршрутов. Как было сказано выше, в будущих обновлениях будут добавлены дополнительные виртуальные машины, но было бы здорово, если бы иллюстрации были добавлены как разблокируемые в галерее, возможно, на вкладке «Справка» в меню, которая может добавить детали к двум расам Огигии и Эии вместе с любыми музыкальными темами для повышения область опций и выпадение карт для коллекционеров!

It's a good telenovela VN, enjoyed it so far. Just... all endings I got 1st was Bad Ends, ahaha. OK, now onto my review. Positive aspects: (+) Story-telling is so-so. I can feel the emotions on the characters. (+) Has achievements, but sadly no Trading Cards. Well, for a free game it's OK. (+) It has 5 endings, which depends on what we chose thru the game. Even some of them is "funny" ending. Negative aspects: (-) It's too short. I'm not complaining but there's longer free VN game out there. U should also check them. My final score is 6/10.

Ich bin kein grosser Fan von Visual Novels, denn meistens erlebe ich solche Spiele als langfädig und letztlich einschläfernd. The Far Rings hat mich da aber sehr positiv überrascht. Grafisch wirkt alles etwas altbacken und rein vom Gameplay gibt es nicht allzu viel zu sehen, wie das in diesem Genre sowieso üblich ist. Aber dafür hat das Spiel andere Qualitäten. Das Setting wirkt zuerst etwas verwirrend, doch erstaunlich schnell gelingt es dem Spiel, einem auf unkomplizierte Art und Weise das Setting nahezubringen. Die Geschichte spielt in einer SciFi-Welt, in der ein grösseres Imperium einen Krieg führt gegen eine andere Rasse. Die Hauptfigur ist ein Mischling, der aus dem Imperium stammt, aber soeben von einem humanitären Einsatz zurückkommt. Als Ärztin hat sie der anderen Rasse geholfen, wobei sie und ihr Team Opfer einer Terrorattacke wurden ebendieses Volkes, bei dem ihre Ärztekollegen alle umkamen und in dessen Folge auch viele Einheimische aufgrund fehlender medizinischer Versorgung umkamen. Nun ist sie auf einem Schiff zurück zum Heimatplaneten, wobei die ganze Geschichte wieder aufgerollt wird. Das spannende an "The Far Rings" ist, dass es in der rund einen Stunde die man benötigt, um das Spiel zu beenden, ganz viele extrem hochspannende Fragen und Themen anschneidet wie (beidseitiger) Rassismus und Vorurteile, Kriegsverbrechen, Gegenterror und Verantwortung für zivile Opfer, und noch mehr. Und die noch viel grössere Kunst dabei ist, dass das Spiel es schafft, diese Themen auf eine unglaublich gute, nicht moralisierende oder platte Art zu behandeln und sich auch nicht in irgendwelchen Platitüten ergiesst. Ein ziemliches Meisterstück für eine kostenlose Visual Novel. Fazit: Wer Visual Novels mag oder wer interessiert ist an ethisch spannenden Themen v.a. in Bezug auf Kriegsethik, der sollte sich die Stunde Zeit nehmen und diese kostenlose Geschichte durchspielen. PS: Es lohnt sich durchaus auch mit Hilfe einer Komplettlösung noch alle anderen Enden zu entdecken. In den Guides gibt es hierfür eine hervorragende Anleitung. PPS: Das Spiel ist komplett auf Englisch. Wer kein Englisch muss leider passen.