A Home Far Away

Graham Nelson, writing about interactive fiction (= text-based adventure games), once described them as being "a narrative at war with a crossword". By this he meant, quite simply, that every game of this kind must strike a balance between telling a story (narrative) and providing puzzles and other tricky situations for the player to solve (crossword). The same can be said, in principle, about RPGs in general and RPG Maker games in particular. The truly great ones (such as The Way and Love and War) have enough story to draw you in, but also have challenging gameplay - battles, side-quests, minigames and so forth - to keep them from remaining "just" visual novels or Choose-Your-Own-Adventures.

Admittedly, it's a difficult balance to strike. Strangeluv's A Home Far Away, which is a fine game in its own right, comes down rather firmly on the "crossword" side of the equation. But crosswords can be fun if they're done right. Perhaps the best way to describe this game would be a crossword with human interest.

This game can be divided, rather neatly, into two halves. The first, chronicling our hero and heroine's voyage from Everdale to Willow, is great fun in a conventional RPG way - there are a variety of battles and monsters, challenging but fair bosses, sequences of unfortunate events, and everything you'd expect. The supporting cast, including the villainous but ineffectual Skaarsgard and the ever-amusing Captain Grizzlybeard, add a lot to the appeal.

However, once you land in Willow, the crosswords take over with a vengeance. There is a long list of missions to be completed, and the only way to complete the game is to complete them all; there are no options! This can be infuriating at times, especially since some of the mini-games can be very tricky (the Rain Tree in particular had my number far more times than I'd care to admit), but the payoffs are rewarding. And while I won't spoil the ending, it more than makes up for some of the frustrations the player may encounter.

Ultimately, what makes A Home Far Away work (besides the ending) is a juxtaposition of two factors: the richness and warmth of the supporting cast, and the ever-varying and challenging gameplay. At the end of the day, it's simply very rewarding to know that your actions have brightened up the lives of ordinary folks a little, and to see the sum of all those changes once your missions are complete.

What suffers a little, in the process, is the development of two of the three main playable characters; it would have been nice to see a little more of Farrah or Danais' natures, and explore their relationship a little further. But regardless of this, A Home Far Away succeeds on its own terms. If I could change one thing about it, it would be an "easy" mode for some of the tougher puzzles (as in The Way), but perhaps that's just me.

Recommended.

For a game by the same author with a far more coherent story and a single quest, which is also great in its own right, try Leo and Leah.