Re: Bookrage's choiceofgames reviews
Bookrage's review of "Treasure seekers of Lady luck
Hello all, It has been a bit since my last review, but I have a new one for you guys this time. This one is the space sci-fi, golden age-style space piracy game "Treasure seekers of lady luck." In this one, you play someone who has wound up among a crew of very unique space pirates and adventurers and must decide whether to work kindly with the crew, work grudingly with them, or even betray them to the authorities.
biasses: first, I have not played extensively in this game and I know simply from all the grayed-out options that I have not explored anything close to the full potential of this game and I will try to keep that in mind going forward in this review though a second opinion down the road if I play this game again. I do like this sort of game though and like golden-age sci-fi games.
genere: When this game gives itself out as a classic space-sci-fi game that seems to resemble golden-age sci-fi space pirate adventures, it isn't lying, though there are a lot fewer individual capers than you might expect for a 99k-word game. I know I have not explored the full extent of the game but when it talks of the things you do, the things I was not allowed to do as a player because of choices I made indicate that most of the stuff the game talks about in its advertisement are really there. I will tell you the way you get to be a number of sexualities in this game is rather intriguing, but more on that when we get to the romance section.
Gameplay: This isn't quite the same sort of game as many games in the Choiceofgames line, there are few real stats and you simply have an area of expertise and your success in the game is more determined by making smart choices as a player rather than working with a wide array of skills and traits such as cunning or vigilance from Choice of the Dragon. USually each hapter, with a couple exceptions has a sort of puzzle where you move around a location trying to gain access to a particular location or accomplish a particular goal in a certain location, being able to move freely between parts of the location back and forth without being trapped in a sequence like in many games. This is the most noteworthy and highest point of the game, though the puzzles get a little redundant after a while and by the time you've reached the second one, you already see a pattern. You have instead of managing skills and what you are good at, will more have to work with the money you are given to buy supplies and use them wisely as well as avoiding personal harm to yourself, and sometimes organizing intrigues with or against the Crew of the Lady Luck.
Characters: The characters on the Lady Luck are certainly unique, though they are not well-executed in that uniqueness. You have an agnostic scholar who is too alloof to properly gage, a mimic that is really hard to manage socially as I tried to be really nice to her only to do more and more damage to our relationship as we went. An over-sexualized scince officer with super-attractiveness traits (more on that in "Romance") And characters that are uninentionally characatures all around. The exceptions I would say are the captain and the religious insect security officer. They have some degree of depth. Your interactions with most of these characters can be rather exaggerated as well and the social aspects of the game are not very realistic or engaging despite relationships with the characters of the game being a major part of the story.
Mechanics: The mechanics in this game are among the most straightforward I have seen in Choiceofgames. You have a collection of equipment you can buy at different points in the game, your relationship with the crew members, both individually and as a group, a position among the crew, your area of expertise, and a couple simple questions like gender and name. These stats, unlock and lock various options as you play rather than unlocking and locking success options if you try to do something. If you are good at science, you will be able to do most science things automatically. It is easy to navigate your stats in this game.
Romance: There is a romance option in this game, but it is executed so poorly, I wish there wasn't. First, I will say what is cool about it. There is a crew member that because of their unique species, appears as the gender of whatever the observer preers and this race is very interested in romantic companionship. That is something I had yet to see Choiceofgames do and I applaud this game on the uniqueness. The rpoblem arises with the way it is mentioned. Almost everything this character says is either sexual in language or the game mentions the closeness of this character thrills you or their voice (they change pronouns based on how you see the character) send a surge of warmth through you or something of the sort. It is heavy-handed and ubiquitous enough that it is painful. I would much prefer a game with no romantic angles than the one they offer here.
Railroading: You seem to go through a set path to some extent, and I have only played the game once, but the number of options I was not able to take, often showing the reasons youccould take those options which show a lot of things I did not do but could have. Although I magine I would involve myself with the same sorts of capers, I see a lot of different ways this story could go and I might have to eat some of the words of this review if I play again.
achievements: There are lots of courses of action to take in this game and doing something like making it through the game without being hurt or something might the hazards in the game or getting different endings either individually with characters, working without using gadgets, or something like that should've been rewarded and such with achievements but the game sadly has none. It really needs them and would've benefited from them.
closing remarks: "Treasure Seekers of Lady Luck" Prmises to be a golden-age of sci-fi style space pirate adventure, and in terms of genre it delivers that. It also has very easy-to-follow mechanics and a new way of solving puzzles as a player as a main aspect of gameplay. That is to its credit. The Characters, monotony of the puzzles, and weird character interactions make this a lackluster game. "Treasure Seekers of Lady Luck" is by no means a worthless adventure, but it is by no means a hidden gem of the Choiceofgames lineup and for games I have played regarding space, definitely beats "Choice of the Star Captain" but is nowhere as good as "The Fleet"
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