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Smashing in spite of the footsteps.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: April 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

How can a company,Wicked Studios make the best adventure game in years, with an intriguing story, a great female character and incredible beautiful and amazing graphics and not work out a little thing like the sound of footsteps? When the character stops walking -- the footsteps continue. I guess because otherwise, the game would be perfect.

In spite of the footsteps this is a perfect game those of us who like fantasy, castles, dragons, magic, adventuresome girls, clever puzzles with hints and the incredible scenes that will have you on your knees wondering why you can't go to magic school.

Young Lydia comes to Dragonvale Academy to study magic with her closest friend, Cynthia. Upon her arrival she finds the school deserted and so begins her quest to find her friend and discover what happened. She has a companion to talk to, Zac, a wolf who was locked up and therefore escaped the disappearance. Zac, is somewhat suspicious -- claiming to be originally a dragon but sounding more and more like a student. Lydia's character is strong and adventurous and she gains in wisdom and awareness as she goes through the trials to qualify as a student at the Academy.

The game play takes place in two castles and a sanctuary. -- But what castles! The designers have evoked the feeling of being in a truly magical world with tapestries, dragon sculptures, gardens, endless corridors with flickering lights all created in a gigantic scale that both intimidates and amazes.

The lushness and construct is beyond human scale and so evokes the feeling of being in a truly magical place. Magical teleportation pads send you soaring dizzingly through the towering heights instead of just appearing from one place to another. The quest for the Oracle will lead you on narrow paths to islands suspended in the mid-air. If everything is magical, anything can happen. The wow factor happens when something exceeds your expectation and I experienced it numerous times. You have to see it for yourself.

The puzzles are many and are all built into the architecture . Many are geometric, a few are mathematical most are required to get something to work, or get an item for a potion. When requested, hints to all the puzzles are given in three steps. One which tells you what you have to do. This answers the question, "What am I supposed to do with this?" The second hint starts you on your way and the third solves it for you. This is the best hint system I have seen and the technique could bring a lot of games into the reach of the "casual gamer"

This is only part of the hint system. Because the game is like walking in a three dimensional maze, there are hints, if asked for, that will tell you where to go next and gives you an image of that space. How you get there is your training in how you find your way and skill in remembering locations .By game's end you can pretty well find your way around. And the footsteps? What footsteps? I don't hear them anymore.

Involved and enjoyable.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: April 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed this game. I liked the voices, at least most of them. It was a very long and involved game with lots of puzzles that were interesting. I also enjoyed using my navigational skills in going all over the school. It had many places to visit inside and outside. One of the reviewers mentioned the steps continuing after stopping but my game didn't do that at least that I noticed. In all, it was a very fun game and well worth the money.

A wonderful game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: June 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I play adventure games on a regular basis and I really enjoyed this game for the following reasons:
1) The storyline is well put together and made sense
2) The scenery can be quite breathtaking
3) The puzzles range from quite easy to extremely difficult, but there is always the chance to get hints or (if you spent way too much time on the puzzle and its time to move on) you can get the solution
4) The main character interacted with others on a regular basis. I'm so tired of never encountering another person in adventure games!
5) I initially thought the characters were going to be quite shallow and predictable, but things change!
Great job on this one!! It's certainly one of my all-time favorites!

Surprisingly good game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I decided to try this game because it was listed as a similar game that customers purchased with other games that I really like. I am a fan of Longest Journey, Syberia, Gabriel Knight, Broken Sword, etc. etc. I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I started Keepsake, but I was looking to kill time because I love PC games. From the very start, I was swept into the story, the setting, the characters (I LOVE it when there is a fun mascot sharing your adventures!). The voice-overs and some graphics really are pretty unrefined, but that also makes the game more endearing. These factors could be the reasons this game is not listed way up there with some of the other titles I mention. I have added it to my list of favorite games, and I play games ALOT!

not bad

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was very good. My daughter and I both enjoyed this. We had to think about some of the puzzles. It took us several hours a day to play this. I would recommend this to everyone.

Sharing a great game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: May 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've been playing adventure computer games since they first started up! This is among one of the best. Its beautiful graphics and music helps you become involved in the storyline and stay there. Fun to play, challenging at times, and always beautiful to look at, I highly recommend this one.

Keepsake

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a very long involved game with alot of puzzles and fun. It was delightfuly fun. She is a very modern girl and yet she is caught up in the magical fanticy. The artwork and the story line are unbelieveable. It feels like you are really in that castle. I kept wishing I had a room there so I could go to the acadamy too. I would recommend this game to anyone over the age of 14. It takes a lot of concentration and thinking to get through the puzzles, however, the game doew supply some help. Hope everyone likes it as much as I do. I have played it several times and I am sure I will play it again.

A Great Adventure Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Keepsake has a vivid storyline that draws you in, and the acting to match. The result? A completely immersive experience. Soon enough you'll find yourself empathizing with the characters. Add to this brilliant scenery and an intuitive interface, and you have one of the most brilliant games of the past few years.

Pretty Much Fantastic

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 93 / 93
Date: June 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Best friends, Lydia and Celeste were separated eight years ago when, after the death of her mother, Celeste's father became a director of the far-off Dragonvale Academy. Now Lydia is about to start her first day as a student of magic at Dragonvale and looks forward to being reunited with her friend. But when she arrives, she finds the academy deserted except for one odd character: a wolf who claims to be a dragon. Where is everybody? What's going on here? Can this wolf really be trusted? These are just some of the questions you must answer as you explore the school.

Keepsake, the first game from the Canadian Wicked Studios, is a lovely 3D point and click adventure in the tradition of Syberia. And I mean "lovely" literally: the first thing to strike you is the beauty of the environments. The castle is ornate with knotwork motifs and colour themes, making exploration a pleasure. There isn't a lot of animation, but what there is is well done; the water effect was especially nice. Characters are slightly less well-realised, but still quite good.

The sound is also quite good. The music is beautiful, with a different haunting motif for each character and section of the castle. The f/x are somewhat limited and a bit repetetive: lots of footsteps and bird calls, fire and water sounds, etc. However, they fit well with the design of the rest of the game, so I can't complain. I'm very surprised to see so many complaints here about the dialog. I really saw nothing wrong with it or the voice acting. Rather, conversation is used to explain points that are not necessarily elucidated by the action (the philosophy of the magical system, for example) as well as to develop the characters and their relationships. I considered that good writing, not the opposite.

The game starts with a cute little tutorial, in which one of the other game characters leads you through the controls. I kind of liked that, as I dislike reading manuals and it obviated the need for the kind of introductory sequence you find in a lot of games of this type; you coul just jump right in. The puzzles are quite a mix: several straight "games," a couple mechanical, including one that's quite involved, some riddle-type, some inventory, a kind of slider, and a huge maze (not counting the castle itself, that is). There are no timed puzzles and you can't die. I liked the way the inventory worked: once you had acquired the requisite item, it was automatically used in the relevant spot. So you didn't have to keep opening your inventory, picking up the item, clicking it on the hotspot, etc. As for the rest, they were fairly straightforward...EXCEPT for the riddle-type. The clues provided were so obscure that I can't believe anyone but the designers could possibly make sense of them. Fortunately, the game includes a hint feature, which give three hints for each puzzle, after which it offers to solve the puzzle for you. I had to use the "solve" feature once, when even having the clues explained didn't do much to enlighten me. But when you use the "solve" feature, you don't actually get to see the solution, just the result of it. So I still don't know what that puzzle was about!

The hint feature also will tell you if you don't have the prerequisistes necessary to continue a puzzle. If you use it when you're not in puzzle-view, it will clarify your next objective. I found both these aspects very helpful.

I did experience one bizarre glitch with the game: at intervals, without reason or warning, the sound would suddenly start to stutter and echo in a most annoying way. Adjusting game settings had no effect. I eventually discovered that I could correct the problem by exiting the game and rebooting my computer. This seemed to be necessary once every couple hours.

I completed Keepsake in about 25 hours--possibly a little more. I was deligthed that it kept me busy so long as most adventure games these days barely provide 10 hours of play. Some of the second part of the game did get a little draggy, with a lot of toiling back and forth through the castle. However, Keepsake is a good choice for gamers who like straight adventure in a fantasy context. But for the glitch and a couple illogical puzzles, I would have given it five stars. I eagerly look forward to Wicked Studios' next effort!

The Dialogue IS bad :-D

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 28 / 41
Date: April 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

It's true - the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired. And ironically, the rest of the game being so good is a blessing and a curse. Blessing: it makes up for the bad voice acting. Curse: It emphasises the baa-aad voice acting. All that having been said, adventure/fantasy/rpg fans will enjoy this game and if you are one, it is worth the price. One last thing - I have NO sense of direction and navigating the castle ain't easy at first. Once you learn the layout (and use the map) though it gets easier.

I STRONGLY suggest that you play the game with the sound muted.

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