I wasn’t expecting it, but I noticed quite a lot of negative opinions about The Golden Rose. Main complaints: too slow action (getting boring during longer reading), a lot of unnecessary and long descriptions, lots of small insignificant choices, incomplete and unsatisfactory story, because the whole game seems to be a prologue, no conclusive ending
I won’t read the whole thing myself yet, but I already knew the unique style of this author and for me it seemed to be an advantage. And her ability to building detailed world.
Apparently, others feel differently these are mainly people who did not know the game before, did not read the demo.
I haven’t seen any such opinions here in the forum, so I’m curious what you think about it.
Huge congratulations on the release of your story! I know so, soo many people were excited for it and it’s clear to see how much work you’ve put into it — I mean, over a million words — you deserve more than a pat on the back. Thanks for being such an inspiration to fellow IF writers like myself
I finished it! It was as great as I thought. So. When’s the next one?
I guess I’ll play it again. Once or twice. Or more. Who knows.
Tbh, my heart dropped when I read the “Epilogue” button. It feels like it was just starting! I hate series, why do they have to be so good but make me wait?! (/s)
Anyway, see you when the demo for book two drops! I will be patiently waiting.
I noticed that this game is the priciest game so far on the hosted game catalogue (sans current discount) so far. Sooo what gives? Is it cuz it had a million or so words?
I’m pretty sympathetic to most of these criticisms (except the one about the small choices, which I really like), particularly that it feels like one long prologue and doesn’t really satisfy any of the plot arcs set up except hunting down Rafael .
That being said, I did appreciate the writing and the characters, and I can definitely see the completed story being really good - maybe one of the best on the site. It’s just that this particular series of interactive fiction I think is different from most of the others in that it doesn’t feel episodic; it feels like it’s going to be one long novel delivered in installments rather than a bunch of smaller, mostly self-contained but interconnected novels like Wayhaven or Relics.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing long term I don’t think, but it does feel like in the short term the installments will have a harder time standing on their own. Super curious to see how this goes, since I think it’s a pretty bold choice by the author. I believe they can pull it off though - there is a lot of promise in this book!
So, as I’m playing through, might as well make comments on specifics before a final overall appraisal. Here’s the first:
I just met the bard at the fountain, and am now faced with the choice of giving him a coin. The problem with this choice is that I have no context with which to make it. How far does each type of coin get you in society? Am I handing this dude a month’s wages with a gold coin? I dunno. How much does this impact my own finances? I dunno, I have no idea how much money I have. I don’t even know what people typically give buskers here, because I’m told there’s some coins in his collection box, but not any denominations. Feels like I don’t have enough information to make an informed choice here.
5 copper will buy you a fish in the market place, while 5 gold will buy you water at the leaping lion inn… one gold pays for passage from one kingdom to the next in a caravan… a purse of 5 gold is considered a rich purse, while betting a silver is something considered within most people’s means…
Your guild has given you enough resources to cover even unforeseen expenses, and multiple beggars and that sort of ilk have commented on your fat purse…
These are the different things I remember throughout the story. Perhaps this will help you make a decision.
Finishing this game reminds me why i REALLY don’t like cliffhangers. Like, at all!!! Granted, that’s not to say that cliffhangers can’t sometimes be pulled off excellently by getting the readers pumped for a sequel, but the ending to this story just let me feeling unsatisfied.
Basically none of the main questions were answered. Who exactly was that fellow at the start? What attacked him l? Why did it attack him? What exactly happened to the MC’s parent? What about the mark on the MC’s hand? What is it? Why is it there? Who is that witch? What are her plans? Wjat are the twins plans? What about the giant? Is it a zombie giant? Was that woman lighting candles a zombie? And finally, what the hell does the Devil want with us???
I know, this is only book 1 and I may have went a bit overboard with the questions, but come on, that is an unreal amount of questions to touch on throughout the story only to leave unanswered until we get our hands on book 2 which, considering book 1 is like a million words, is going to be a long time from now.
Anyway, everything else about the story is amazing. The characters, the setting, the world building, all of it is superbly delivered. We should all be congratulating the author, they created a stunning world.
Out of all the interactive fiction games I tried so far this was probably the one I enjoyed the most. Even if some of the descriptions were a bit long the frequent character inputs broke that monotony really effectively. I really enjoyed those inputs or “small choices” as they call them also because they allowed me to shape my character’s personality. But yeah, I do agree with the “prologue” criticism. The entire game to me feels like a massive set-up with not much payoff. Most of the game just adds layers and layers to the plot without actually moving it forward. The moment the plot does actually start moving forward, the game immediately cuts off.
I’m quite curious, does anyone know if a poly romance is/will be possible? I’d love to see the stoic, awkward romance from Alessa mingle with the seemingly charming and smooth romance of Ysabella.
Thank you for the concern! I was afraid any looking at the stats a lot and clicking quickly made the whole thing happen so, I did a stat-check rarely and i was patient with clicking. It worked out (And it was all worth it, I loved the story a lot!).
All in all, it was so great I was so disappointed that it ended, that I had to come back living my own life outside the range of The Golden Rose(got comfortable with Hadrian now👰) …Cannot wait for book 2!
You know, they did to me. But I got caught up with family issues, so I was the one not responding after all:sweat_smile: they replied in a few hours, so helpful!
But I did what I stated before and that worked. Sorry for the trouble…
This was my train of thought for what coin my MC was going to give to the bard: His hair is blue, his outfits are bizarre, and the most important thing; he has a dog! The dog needs to be fed. So yeah, my MC gave a gold coin.
I also gave a gold coin because meh, if the game can’t be arsed to track my money, why should I? I’m a tomb looter intent on boinking his tomb looting companion with violent tendencies, what part of this says “responsible adult”? None, that’s what.
I just want to say what a DELIGHT it was to play this game once again after so many months. I honestly think I enjoyed it as much (or even more) than the first time.
The Golden Rose is a game that makes you fall in love with its writing from the very start. The sentences are flowy but not heavy or dull, and they make an amazing job setting the scene for the kind of game we can expect. The characters are well rounded with virtues and defects which makes them likeable even when you don’t want to like them.
Furthermore, I think the story gives you enough information that it doesn’t reveal too much but you get enough info to formulate theories, while also creating the need to read more right now!!! But it also has a really interesting replay value (especially in very small details), to keep people busy for the next few months. More importantly, you really can tell how much love and passion there is behind this story, which makes reading it much more enjoyable
I don’t have much to say other than the fact that this game really checked all the expectations of my list and I think it is one of the best HG in quite some time
Congrats Ana! You have worked so hard on The Golden Rose and deserve all the praise and love!!
these are mainly people who did not know the game before, did not read the demo.
This was my train of thought for what coin my MC was going to give to the bard: His hair is blue, his outfits are bizarre, and the most important thing; he has a dog! The dog needs to be fed. So yeah, my MC gave a gold coin.
