The Ballad Singer

The Ballad Singer by Curtel Games Story & Gameplay This Visual Novel offers you an extensive (good 20h) Fantasy story in an interesting And well thought-out world, well-written Lyrics and initially quite superficial but over time quite profound Characters. You take on the Role of a Character, with 4 to Choose from. Leon and Ancalimo On one Side and members of the Resistance, Ancoran and Daragast on the other. By playing Characters from 2 hostile Factions, some Events overlap, but you also get additional Information. This ensures that you can better capture the Overall Situation and the Characters gain more Profile. Only so much about the Plot: Leon is a powerful Magician who is currently preparing for the Conquest of a City and The Resistance does everything possible to stop And eliminate Leon. Each of the Characters starts with a different Task. In the Course of this, one can also decide to turn his Back on the looming War and to go your own Way. There is relatively little Gameplay, but this is not uncommon with a Visual Novel. Decisions must be made in a genre-typical way, which determine how to proceed. Unfortunately, some Decisions are absolutely superfluous, as they have no Influence whatsoever. Other Choices lead to the Character's Death. However, in many cases it is obvious which Choice is the right one. However, You have to listen carefully and in the Fight Scenes it is practical if you also have a little Idea of the Matter, then you know, for example, that it is not clever to want to block a War hammer with a Dagger. In such a Situation, you can either use points to revive your Character and make a different Decision in the final Scenes (these Points are limited in the Standard Campaign) or you switch to a different Character and then play along with it This one on. How often and when you can Save is unfortunately also limited. Presumably, the developers wanted to make it feel more like an RPG and you slip more into the individual Roles. Personally, though, I found this more of a nuisance, as you have to explore the whole Side paths of history so much more awkwardly. A nice Idea, especially since it can go further if the Story has already been influenced by a different Character. For example, if you play with Leon, die and decide to play with one of the two Members of the resistance, you will learn in due Course that Leon is already dead and that there will be no Fight. Once you have the Campaign, you can also play in "Explorer Mode," which allows you to revive your Character indefinitely, the Memory problem remains anyway. Graphics In the Game there are allegedly 1700 different Behind-the-scenes scenes. I've seen just under 1000 now after over 20h Of game time. A really impressive Amount, especially at the high Quality of the Pictures. Unfortunately, there is no Gallery or Possibility to completely block away all Symbols, a small Residue of Characters remains on the Edge. The different Characters are very clean elaborated and designed. Many Scenes have dozens of lovingly incorporated Details that you can hardly see yourself full of. With special Characters, there's even a short, slightly animated "movie" to Better stage these Characters. Sound The Setting is also very successful. All Lyrics are completely set to music (except for 2 Scenes that seem to be bugged). Every Character, including the Supporting characters, has their own Voice, which makes for a very dense and believable Atmosphere. Many Characters speak with Accent (which I find very charming) but still the English is easy to understand and in an Emergency you can read along anyway. The Music that plays in the Background fits the individual Sections of the Story is only sometimes a little too loud, so you understand the Narrator badly. I recommend screwing down the Volume a bit before The Game starts, so that this Problem does not arise in the first place. Conclusion A Visual (Audio) Novel Which impressed me a lot. Even though many of the Decision-making Possibilities exist only in appearances, it is still extremely extensive and just what you get to see and hear is really immense. If you like Fantasy or the UN Genre, you should definitely get this Game. The current Price of around €20 is quite reasonable for this "Audiobook." If the Review has helped you fall then follow our Review Program and if you want to tell me something about this Review then he likes to write in the Comments. The Game was made available to the GGC for Review purposes.