Neopets: The Darkest Faerie

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie
Developer(s)	Idol Minds Digital Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	NA 2005-11-16 (PS2) Canceled (PS1)
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone 10+
Media/distribution	DVD

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie, released on November 15, 2005, is a single-player PlayStation 2 action-adventure game based on the popular Neopets universe.

Setting

Neopets: The Darkest Faerie is set in "Neopia", the land of the Neopets universe, which is inhabited by anthropomorphic versions of various Neopets species. The adventure is based on a story written by Neopets founder Adam Powell^[1].

Plot

Long ago, a dark faerie was imprisoned at the bottom of the Maraquan sea as punishment for attempting to take over the realm, her name having been erased from history and the faerie remembered only as 'the Darkest Faerie'. However, after a thousand years, the spell imprisoning the Darkest Faerie has become weak and breaks, and the faerie escapes, returning to the surface intent on taking over the realm of Neopia and exacting revenge upon the Faerie queen Fyora who imprisoned her. The game begins with Tormund Ellis (nicknamed "Tor"), a young Lupe farm boy who has long dreamed of being a knight in the city of Meridell. After being accepted into the ranks and training under the discipline of the castle's master-at-arms, Torak, Tormund is knighted after saving the village of Cogham from The Ixi Raiders. But when answering a plea to defend the nearby forest glade of Illusen, the earth faerie, from an invading tribe of Werelupes, the mission fails, and Tormund returns to Meridell to discover both it and its inhabitants under a cloud of dark magic and the control of the Darkest Faerie. Though unaffected himself, he is driven out of the castle and city by the faerie's minions.

The neighboring kingdom of Brightvale notices the dark clouds, and sends a diplomatic envoy to the city of Faerieland, home to the Faerie queen Fyora, to investigate. A young Acara, Roberta, the niece of Brightvale king Hagan, is among the diplomats. The Darkest Faerie attacks Faerieland that night, capturing and binding the Faerie queen and covering the castle in a dark aura. Roberta is able to escape the castle but is pursued and falls to the countryside of Neopia below.

Roberta and Tormund meet each other and then proceed to warn the king of Brightvale about the Faerie. It is revealed that both were given amulets to protect against the Darkest Faerie's power, and upon research discover that the Darkest Faerie was once sealed away by the power of Fyora's magical rod, now lying deep underneath the city of Meridell. After freeing the neighboring regions from control of dark magic, they are able to infiltrate the castle of Meridell and find a way deep underground, recovering Fyora's ancient rod. With its power they are able to drive the darkness out of the city, and then return to Faerieland to stop the Darkest Faerie. It is a trap, however, as the Darkest Faerie seizes the rod and a fight between the two Faeries ensues. Fyora is able to teleport Tormund and Roberta to safety before being captured and imprisoned again.

It is learned that Tormund and Roberta have been transported out of time itself into a legendary city called "Altador", allegedly destroyed by the Darkest Faerie a millennium ago. There they set out to free the city's four greatest founders, each of which is revealed to have helped them in some way earlier, before freeing an Aisha known as Jerdana, who fashions them a magical amulet capable of sealing away the Darkest Faerie. Tormund and Roberta together are teleported back to Faerieland, and do battle against the Darkest Faerie, who has used Fyora's Rod to cause Faerieland to fall towards the surface of Neopia right above Meridell. They ultimately seal her with Jerdana's amulet, turning the Faerie to stone once again, and freeing the Faerie queen Fyora in the process. Fyora uses her powers and manages to stop Faerieland from crashing into Meridell at the last second. They are given thanks by the faerie queen and founders of Altador, and the Darkest Faerie's frozen form is kept in the kingdom of Faerieland where it can be monitored.

Gameplay

Magic

In the game, only Roberta can use magic attacks, but each of them has the power to use specials, or motes. There are 2 versions of motes and 7 elements which are fire, water, air, earth, light, darkness and nova (all elements). And when used in a powerup attack, they unveil special effects ranging from poisoning the enemies to creating a beam of light.

Petpets

Players can feed a petpet so that he can follow them. When fed, it will follow the character for a certain time depending on food type that it was fed and its inherent species. It will give a range of special effects: seeing the invisible/health restore/etc. After feeding the petpet the same kind of food for too long, it will not accept it.

Characters

• Sir Tormund

A 16 year-old Yellow Lupe farmboy, Tor dreams of becoming a knight of Meridell. One day, his father asks him to deliver a package to Meridell, and along the way he defends an Old Beggar from a band of thieves. In return for the compassion, the Beggar gives Tor a mysterious amulet. After several events and adventures, Tor becomes a Knight of Meridell (3rd Class) and leaves on a mission to Ilusen's Glade. He learns from Illusen of a darkpresence and returns to Meridell only to discover dark purple clouds over it with the Darkest Faerie in control. Tor soon teams up with the sorceress Roberta, and after many adventures together, they discover the lost city of Altador and restore it to the world by defeating the Darkest Faerie

• Lady Roberta

Roberta is a blue Acara and niece of King Hagan of Brightvale, being groomed into a diplomat but she is secretly training to be a sorceress under the tutelage of her mentor Seradar. On a mission to Faerieland, she tells Queen Fyora of the purple clouds above Meridell but things take a turn for the worst when the Darkest Faerie attacks. Roberta saves an old woman whom she helped earlier and in return she gave Roberta a mysterious amulet and instructs her to find the amulet's twin as the one who has it can help her (Tor). She meets Tor and they partner together to stop the evil of the Darkest Faerie.

• The Darkest Faerie

The main antagonist of the game, the Darkest Faerie was once one of the Twelve Heroes of Altador, but she turned on her comrades and imprisoned the city in a bubble of slow time, completely cutting it off from the world. In a battle against Queen Fyora, and with the use of a magical artifact, the Darkest Faerie was turned to stone and imprisoned at the bottom of the Maraquan Sea. But time passed and the artifact keeping her stone decayed and she broke free, intending to leave her terrible mark on Neopian History by destroying two kingdoms at once. She was eventually stopped by the combined efforts of Sir Tormund, Knight of Meridell, and Lady Roberta, Sorceress of Brightvale, and again turned to stone and placed on a fountain to be monitored.

• Queen Fyora

The Queen of Faeries and Ruler of Faerieland, Fyroa is beautiful, wise, and pure. It is to her Roberta and Seradar go for advice in concern of the kingdom Meridell but she is captured by the Darkest Faerie. It is later revealed that Fyroa battled the Darkest Faerie a thousand years ago after she imprisoned the kingdom of Altador on an isolated plane of existence. Thanks to Jerdana's Orb, given to her by the sorceress Jerdana, and with the use of her wand, she stopped the Dark one's advance, turned her to stone and imprisoned her at the bottom of the Maraquan Sea. When Tor and Roberta go to her rescue after recovering the Queen's wand they are tricked by the Darkest Faerie into giving it to her but Fyora frees herself and buys the heroes time to make it to Altador before she is sealed into a bottle. When the Darkest Faerie is stopped, Tor frees Fyora and she uses her wand to thwart the Darkest Faerie's plans. Fyora then promises the Darkest Faerie will be monitored at all times (she displayed her on a fountain in the courtyard).

• King Altador aka the Mysterious Knight

Altador is the leader of the Twelve Heroes of old who founded the kingdom of Altador. Altador appears several times throughout the course of the game, advising Tor and encouraging him. He finally reveals his true identity to Tor and Roberta when they end up in his lost kingdom. When Tor and Roberta free the kingdom of the Darkest Faerie's power, he gives his sword to Tor as a token of his respect and faith that he will defeat the Darkest Faerie.

• Jerdana aka the Old Woman

Jerdana is the old woman who gave Roberta her amulet is actually one of the Twelve Heroes of Altador, regarded by many as the greatest Soreceress ever to live in Neopia. Jerdana was also the one who chose Tor to hold the first amulet but sent Kelland the Thief to test the young lupe. When she is freed, Jerdana uses her power to banish away the Darkest Faerie's curse and gives the two heroes the tool they need to defeat her; a magical artifact called Jerdana's Orb.

• Kelland the Thief aka Kell the Beggar

Kelland the Thief is one of the Twelve Heroes of Altador and is actually the one who convinced the others to allow the Darkest Faerie to join them. He appeared to Tor as a beggar, on orders of Jerdana, to test the young lupe's heart, and gave him a mysterious amulet when he was satisfied.

• Torakar aka Master Torak

Torakar is another of the Twelve Heroes. He appeared as one of Meridell's foremost knights and was Tor's sponsor. He trained Tor in combat, both weaponry and magical.

• Fauna aka the Cleaning Lady

Fauna is another of the Twelve Heroes and appeared as a Cleaning Lady during one of Tor's chores. When the Darkest Faerie seized control of Meridell, she provided Tor with a means of escape.

• Gordos aka Gord the Merchant

Gordos is another of the Twelve Heroes and appeared throughout the game as a travelling merchant.

• Vanity, Malice, and Spite

Three Dark Faeries who served the Darkest Faerie, they were defeated by Tor and Roberta with the aid of Fyora's Wand.

• Illusen the Earth Faerie

The ruler of Illusen's Glade, Illusen was attacked by her long-time rival, the Werelupe King ho stole her charm. She was saved by Tor and Roberta when they returned the charm to her, freeing her of the Darkest Faerie's power, and she gave them a Faerie Globe to enable them to bypass a barrier barring them from Meridell.

• The Assassin

The Assassin is a shady, sleazy character hired by the Darkest Faerie to kill Tor and Roberta. He appeared several times during the game, preferring to prolong the job as he was having too much fun, and to make things harder for the two heroes. He was finally defeated when he tried to steal from them Illusen's Charm. According to some research in the game, the Assassin once had a lover but was driven mad by her death. The Assassin is clearly a dangerous foe and has access to some dark powers.

• The Werelupe King

The King of the Werelupes and long-time rival with Illusen, the Werelupe King attacked Illusen's Glade and stole her Charm. Tor and Roberta defeated him to get it back. It is known that a prior attempt the Werelupe King made on Illusen resulted in her turning him into a Dogglefox for an entire month.

• Hubert

Tor's father and the mayor of Meri-Acres.

• Patricia

Tor's mother, kind and caring

• Lucy

Tor's spunky little sister

• King Skarl

The pompous yet just ruler of Meridell

• King Hagan

The wise ruler of Brightvale and older brother of King Skarl. He is also Roberta's uncle and he cares deeply for her.

• Seradar

The Royal Sorcerer of the Court of Brightvale, and Roberta's mentor. He fell to the influence of the Darkest Faerie but was rescued.

Reception

• G4TV's X-Play: 2 /5
• GameSpot: 6.1 /10 - "Fair"
• IGN: 6.5 /10 - "Passable"

Voice actors

• Wally Wingert - Tormund, Draik Guards
• Annie Mumolo - Roberta, Lucy
• Debbie Maewest - Patricia
• Charlie Schlotter - Heermedjet, Merouladen, Techo Messenger
• Simon Templeton - Gelert Assassin
• Anne Wilde - Fyora
• Jennifer Hale - Illusen, Vanity
• Adrienne Wilkinson - Malice
• Gwendolyn Yo - Spite
• James Horan - Seradar
• Bob Joles - Werelupe King
• Dwight Schultz - King Hagan
• Fred Tatasciore - King Skarl, Hubert, Torakar (Master Torak)
• James Arnold Taylor - King Altador (Old Lupe Knight)
• Olivia D'Abo - Jerdana (Old Aisha Peasant)
• Claudia Black - Fauna (Servant Faun)
• Steve Blum - Kelland (Kell The Beggar)
• Keith Ferguson - Gordos (Gord The Wandering Merchant)
• Piera Coppola - The Darkest Faerie

See also

• Neopets: Petpet Adventures: The Wand of Wishing

References

1. ^ [1]

External links

• Official website
• Neopets: The Darkest Faerie at MobyGames