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Sacred Reviews: Fancy and the Fox
thesacredlobo- 11/15/2023 01:33 AM
- 59 views
Intro
"Fancy and the Fox" is a short visual novel developed by Des using RPG Maker VX Ace that was created for the 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest. A contest whose results have partially been lost to time since a lot of the pages for that event were either deleted or recycled for the 2015 Indie Game Maker Contest which has made finding entries for that contest a bit of a chore to say the least, but were not here to discuss how well "Fancy and the Fox" did in the contest and if it deserved it's spot. Were here to cover how good of a game "Fancy and the Fox" is which is always a difficult beast to pickle. Even more so in the case of this game since it's look and feel is radically different from most games I've played and reviewed over the years with Des trying to recreate the look of old silent films. Though before I go into depth about the graphics I should probably cover the narrative first.
Story
Summary
We play as Fancy, a young woman, whose fiancé has gone missing after going on a quest to find the towns three orbs. These orbs are sacred artifacts that help maintain the peace between the town and the spirits inhabiting the forest surrounding the town. And while the game never goes into who stole them or why. The fact the orbs are missing has caused evil spirits to appear in the forests that are to the West, East, and North of the town. In fact, these spirits have apparently killed several towns people as well as interrupted the delivery of goods to the town on several occasions, but before we can worry about that we need to do a fetch quest for our mom which will lead to us finding the first orb while looking for berries in the forest. And since we found the first orb the townspeople decided to stick us with the task of finding the rest. After all, us finding the orb has to be a sign from the gods. Though if this story will ultimately have a happy ending or not is up to our search skills. So we better find those orbs and any other potentially useful items real quick.
Comedy
The game tries to be comedic in a few spots to mixed success in my opinion.
Though I'll admit the opening scene where the old man dies screaming about how he's to young to die despite being an old man is hilarious. Though I'll admit not everyone enjoys gallows humor.
Greatest Strength/Weakness
"Fancy and the Fox" moves at a brisk pace which does make sense considering how costly it was to make silent films back in the day. As such the game tries to push you towards quickly working your way through the game in order to reach the bad ending. Though even if you take your time and look for the items you need to win the fight with the evil spirit in the forest and get the good ending will probably take you somewhere between 20 to 30 minutes.
On the negative side of the scale the game's brisk pace means the characters feel extremely lacking in terms of depth. So much so that it's next to impossible to describe these characters in a way that would be meaningful. For example it's possible to describe a character like Han Solo as a thief with a heart of gold, but I really can't achieve a similar result with Fancy since she really doesn't get that many lines and out of those the most memorable is either her thinking about how her mom makes the best pies or her declaring her love for Issac in the good ending.
Gameplay
There isn't that much gameplay to be had here in my opinion. Beyond advancing the game's dialogue the only other thing you can do is explore the town and nearby forests a bit while constantly checking for hidden items by tapping the z key. And if you want the game's good ending you'll definitely want to find most of these items. Though some of the items you can find are of questionable value in my opinion such as a pendent with Fancy and Issac's first initials on it. As for why I consider this item useless it never appears to do anything sort of like the letter you can find from Fancy's dad if you search the desk near her bed.
At any rate upon entering the final battle the developer will prompt the player with questions if they wish to use a specific items against the spirit or on the game's playable characters as the battle progresses. Though I find the notion you wouldn't use the items if you found them rather weird. Though, I suppose it's meant to help players experience both endings if they picked up all of the items necessary to win the battle on their first playthrough of the game and don't want to experience the game from start to finish all over again in order to see the game's bad ending.
Graphics & Sound
On the graphical side of things the game appears to use a few different resource packs that can be found online if you know where to look. Though if these are free resources or ones you need to pay for I couldn't say. I just know the game couldn't have been entirely relying on the RTP because of the trees that appear around the town and inside of the forests. This is made even more apparent as the town becomes more and more colorful as you return the orbs to their rightful place. And while the size of the orbs are rather inconsistent the overall layout of the tiles that comprised this world is rather solid.
On the other hand the audio is a lot more mixed in my opinion since the game seems to play the same song throughout the bulk of the game. A tune that sounds rather familiar if you've watched a few silent films on youtube or listened to music from that era of movies. To be fair, it's rather catchy at first, but it eventually becomes grating as you advance through the game's story.
Conclusion
"Fancy and the Fox" is an odd visual novel in that it's graphics are probably the most memorable thing about it. After all, the game's story centers around a trio of sacred orbs that need to be found in order to restore harmony. It's a plot so basic it sounds like something out of the early days of the Final Fantasy series. As a result the story feels rather generic and forgettable. On the other hand the game looks and sounds like an old silent film starring someone like Charlie Chaplin which is far more memorable since it's a lot easier to find games about magic rocks than games that are comparable to this one in terms of look and feel.
"Fancy and the Fox" is a short visual novel developed by Des using RPG Maker VX Ace that was created for the 2014 Indie Game Maker Contest. A contest whose results have partially been lost to time since a lot of the pages for that event were either deleted or recycled for the 2015 Indie Game Maker Contest which has made finding entries for that contest a bit of a chore to say the least, but were not here to discuss how well "Fancy and the Fox" did in the contest and if it deserved it's spot. Were here to cover how good of a game "Fancy and the Fox" is which is always a difficult beast to pickle. Even more so in the case of this game since it's look and feel is radically different from most games I've played and reviewed over the years with Des trying to recreate the look of old silent films. Though before I go into depth about the graphics I should probably cover the narrative first.
Story
Summary
We play as Fancy, a young woman, whose fiancé has gone missing after going on a quest to find the towns three orbs. These orbs are sacred artifacts that help maintain the peace between the town and the spirits inhabiting the forest surrounding the town. And while the game never goes into who stole them or why. The fact the orbs are missing has caused evil spirits to appear in the forests that are to the West, East, and North of the town. In fact, these spirits have apparently killed several towns people as well as interrupted the delivery of goods to the town on several occasions, but before we can worry about that we need to do a fetch quest for our mom which will lead to us finding the first orb while looking for berries in the forest. And since we found the first orb the townspeople decided to stick us with the task of finding the rest. After all, us finding the orb has to be a sign from the gods. Though if this story will ultimately have a happy ending or not is up to our search skills. So we better find those orbs and any other potentially useful items real quick.
Comedy
The game tries to be comedic in a few spots to mixed success in my opinion.
Though I'll admit the opening scene where the old man dies screaming about how he's to young to die despite being an old man is hilarious. Though I'll admit not everyone enjoys gallows humor.
Greatest Strength/Weakness
"Fancy and the Fox" moves at a brisk pace which does make sense considering how costly it was to make silent films back in the day. As such the game tries to push you towards quickly working your way through the game in order to reach the bad ending. Though even if you take your time and look for the items you need to win the fight with the evil spirit in the forest and get the good ending will probably take you somewhere between 20 to 30 minutes.
On the negative side of the scale the game's brisk pace means the characters feel extremely lacking in terms of depth. So much so that it's next to impossible to describe these characters in a way that would be meaningful. For example it's possible to describe a character like Han Solo as a thief with a heart of gold, but I really can't achieve a similar result with Fancy since she really doesn't get that many lines and out of those the most memorable is either her thinking about how her mom makes the best pies or her declaring her love for Issac in the good ending.
Gameplay
There isn't that much gameplay to be had here in my opinion. Beyond advancing the game's dialogue the only other thing you can do is explore the town and nearby forests a bit while constantly checking for hidden items by tapping the z key. And if you want the game's good ending you'll definitely want to find most of these items. Though some of the items you can find are of questionable value in my opinion such as a pendent with Fancy and Issac's first initials on it. As for why I consider this item useless it never appears to do anything sort of like the letter you can find from Fancy's dad if you search the desk near her bed.
At any rate upon entering the final battle the developer will prompt the player with questions if they wish to use a specific items against the spirit or on the game's playable characters as the battle progresses. Though I find the notion you wouldn't use the items if you found them rather weird. Though, I suppose it's meant to help players experience both endings if they picked up all of the items necessary to win the battle on their first playthrough of the game and don't want to experience the game from start to finish all over again in order to see the game's bad ending.
Graphics & Sound
On the graphical side of things the game appears to use a few different resource packs that can be found online if you know where to look. Though if these are free resources or ones you need to pay for I couldn't say. I just know the game couldn't have been entirely relying on the RTP because of the trees that appear around the town and inside of the forests. This is made even more apparent as the town becomes more and more colorful as you return the orbs to their rightful place. And while the size of the orbs are rather inconsistent the overall layout of the tiles that comprised this world is rather solid.
On the other hand the audio is a lot more mixed in my opinion since the game seems to play the same song throughout the bulk of the game. A tune that sounds rather familiar if you've watched a few silent films on youtube or listened to music from that era of movies. To be fair, it's rather catchy at first, but it eventually becomes grating as you advance through the game's story.
Conclusion
"Fancy and the Fox" is an odd visual novel in that it's graphics are probably the most memorable thing about it. After all, the game's story centers around a trio of sacred orbs that need to be found in order to restore harmony. It's a plot so basic it sounds like something out of the early days of the Final Fantasy series. As a result the story feels rather generic and forgettable. On the other hand the game looks and sounds like an old silent film starring someone like Charlie Chaplin which is far more memorable since it's a lot easier to find games about magic rocks than games that are comparable to this one in terms of look and feel.
