Player Comments on The Tower of Rowena

TOWER OF ROWENA: 98%

SHOULD I READ THIS?
Yes, absolutely, especially if you’re fond of discovery-based puzzle games.
Preview: You go around the tower in an open map, coming up with solutions to various problems that will let you get the treasures. Much of the game is exploring the tower, and fiddling with different objects and activities as you search for the treasures.

=SPOILERS BELOW=

RATINGS:

Basic Plot & Coherence: 3/3 (usually 5)
As an open map exploration game, this game doesn’t really need a nuanced plot. The plot that does exist works perfectly, and provides an intriguing and engaging frame for the exploration of the tower. Rowena’s tower was filled with a number of fascinating details that fleshed out the feel of exploration and discovery. Even after finding all 17 treasures, I was left with the lingering feeling that there was more to explore, which is exactly the mood a really good puzzle game evokes. Kudos to the author!

Characters & Development: 2/2 (usually 5)
Again, as a puzzle game, the characters don’t really need a personality, yet though character was by no means the focus of the game, I thought the author did a good job fleshing out the thief’s character. I really got a sense of the main character’s personality through the narration and the phrasing of the choices.

Grammar: 5/5
No problems here.
Mastery of Language: 2.5/3
I quite liked the use of language here. Though there was nothing special about it, the narration in this game brought just the right humorous and lighthearted mood to it.

Mechanics & Coding: 5/5
The coding allows for an open-map exploration game, and all the items are coded excellently. The bag of holding mechanic allows the player to easily review their progress.

Branching: 0/0 (usually 3)
This isn’t a traditional story, and doesn’t have branching.

Player Options/fair choice: 3/3
All of the puzzles had fair, and retrospectively logical solutions. The player always had options for things to do and places to search, and there were no obvious solutions that you weren’t allowed to try. I really felt like I could do anything I wanted in this game, which I don’t usually get from storygames.

Nitpicks: Were we supposed to be able to find a way to free the prince? I never found a way to do that.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
Creating an exploration-and-item based game for this site was something I had been seriously considering doing myself in the past few days, so finding one that’s already been done so magnificently made me both awed at how masterfully this was constructed, and irritated someone else beat me to it. Oh well, I may make one anyways.
I found all 17 treasures. I thought the mechanic for getting to the roof was particularly clever. I kept falling off the tower and dying because I thought my strength potion would let me climb better. I particularly liked the way the log was used to solve both the first and last puzzle of the game.
I could just be because I'm a fan of puzzle games, but this may be one of my favorite games on the site.

CONCLUSION: 20.5/21 = 97.62%

Wow. Clicking something on the new storygames list and then actually wanting to say nice things about it is such a foreign experience for me I almost don't know what to do, but I had a ton of fun with this.

The open exploration and all the little details when poking around the tower were appreciated, and the writing style was consistent with a sense of humor and just the right amount of blatant anachronism. I don't think I've ever played a CYOA that has so strongly evoked the feeling of a proper text adventure, it kind of makes me want to fire up ADRIFT again.

In the end I sadly didn't manage to get all of the treasures, only fourteen. If there's a way onto the roof I didn't find it, nor did I figure out what to do with the pond or how to break the spell on the prince. (assuming that's possible.) So, a replay may be in order.

The only suggestion I have is regarding the treasure index. Trying to examine several at once requires a slightly annoying amount of clicking. A 'go back to index' link on each one would have been appreciated, or since the descriptions are all pretty short, you could have put them right on the same page with the name of the item.

Anyhow, congrats on your first game, and I'm hoping there are more like this to come.

One of my favorite games of the site!

I was able to collect all 18 treasures. What a wonderful game!

Seriously, the author did a marvelous job. There were so many funny jokes. The author also snuck in some really clever ways of hiding the treasures from the seeker.

I really enjoyed just the exploration part of the game. This is one of those games you can play for hours, sipping a hot beverage and clicking on every link. Even the most seemingly useless activities hold a clue to the treasure.

The key to this game is to have fun and explore as much as you can of this world. Look up words in the dictionary, make a cup of tea, the world is your oyster.

I especially loved the clever trick with debugging the site to find the last treasure.

This was a wonderful game to play

Great story!

I spoke too soon! Didn't see the "read all comments" button at first; browsing through them led to just enough of a hint, finally, to finish. I do think a hint somewhere in game about the jewelry box would have been nice. The answer didn't feel intuitive or logical to me at all. It felt like "try everything everywhere" which does tire me out. Other than that, I love your work here! Cute and believable endings. Thanks for a great game definitely 8!

An outstanding game! Smart, witty, and fun. Unfortunately I couldn't find the last treasure. I read the hint in the earlier comment, and went back in to try everything again. But after half an hour of the text equivalent of pixel hunting, trying previous dead ends cboices over and over again, I'm no longer enjoying it. And I can't think of anything else to do that I haven't tried several times, including using objects all over the place. I found a couple obscure (?) uses for the log, yielding nothing; never got the junk jewelry box to do anything at all. I tried to do several things that made sense to me, but the options didn't seem to exist. Such as emptying a drawer of seeming junk into the junk jewelry box. Things on that level. With 16 treasures, I'm calling it quits. It would be lovely if there was a hint system or walkthrough, if only so a stumped player like me can enjoy the rest of your writing which is phenomenal. I'll leave with one quote from the game, a treasure description: "Sapphire stud earrings as blue as two drops from a tropical lagoon. Set in white gold." If that isn't a clever, subtle little nod to Blue Lacuna, I'll eat my hat. :)

That was fun. 13 out of 17? not bad I think. I can't imagine where the rest were hidden, except in the suit of armour, and I couldn't see how to change the frog back into a prince.
Very cleverly and entertainingly written!

That was fun

this was well made and I thought the puzzle to get to the last treasure was particularly clever. People trying to get that last treasure, remember that everything in the game was put there for a reason, including messages that might be kind of meta. So don't discount anything and be willing to try everything no matter how stupid it might seem since it took me a while to get through that because I had already gone through the mechanism but you have to do it after trying and failing

I now have a fear of windows. 7/8

This was great - really enjoyed the humour, the creativity and the different endings! I got stuck at the beginning because I wasn't sure what screen to do a specific action on but it was definitely user error. The hint was helpful as I had the right idea but somehow was doing the action on the wrong screen! I was also a bit confused as I thought you might need to use the treasures but I don't think you do? Really enjoyed this and would definitely play more storygames from this sarcastic and brilliant author.

Got all 17 this time. I feel like a genius even though I’m stupid.

Not bad. While it was hard getting all of the treasures, it is fun and satisfying to get all 17 of them on your own.

It was amazing! However I spent 30 minutes looking for the 17th treasure. Couldn’t find it though. Any Tips?

I could only find 10 treasures but I am going to come back and find the rest. Or at least attempt to.

Brilliant fun. I love the breaking of the 4th wall. I laughed aloud a bunch of times. I like that the game doesn't take itself seriously. Challenging but not frustrating. Perfect!

A storygane with a classic fourth wall breaking, lighthearted, comedy feel. It reminds me of Tower of Riddles, for obvious reasons, but also for its tongue in cheek fun in its narration and storytelling. It's great for a short session of puzzle solving amusement.

You have to be creative with some of your solutions or just persistent with multiple clicks, but it's worth the feeling of accomplishment when you find all the treasure. I personally found 16 of 17 treasures before getting a little hint from the comments for the final one.

This is great! There are so many nuances and counter-intuitive turns to take and decisions to make. I really enjoyed finding the treasures - all 17! The simplicity of the props made it more an adventure type, which I like - it's much better than the ones with myriad objects that you don't know how or when to use. The log was so simplistic and fun to use - although once I set it down next to the stove and had to go back... Anyway, the whole gameplay was seamless. 8/8

Really enjoyable, it was hard to find some of the treasures

What a fun storygame! I almost left without the last treasure, but decided to search the tower once again and had more luck than brains when I checked the computer again. xD I ended up becoming Rowena's apprentice and doing what a thief does best - stealing! I do wonder if there's a way to defeat the witch in a more permanent manner? I also wish we could have done something about the cursed prince. I thought we could mix up a potion in the Alchemy Lab to lift the curse, but I guess that was not in the cards. It was still a great read. Well done! :)

I think your story was good and well written but the ending was so abrupt that I was confused. Did I take the wrong path? I don't think so because I did all of the other options. Over all I think it was a pretty good story

This story was awesome! It was actually challenging and you had choices! It took me a while to find a good story, and this was great. I think this story deserves an 8. It is great!

I've tried and tried and tried, but I still can't find two treasures. Overall, a great game. There was humor, challenges, and some meaningless things that made it seem somewhat like real life. 8/8

It’s soooooooo fun

It’s soooooooo fun

Terrible. No plot, too much guessing, and not much reading. I thought that was the whole point of chooseyourstory.com! Also, the treasures are very dumb.
The sarcasm and humor was ok, though. Who's this dude that narrates the story anyway?

Urrrggggg! STILL can’t find the last two treasures!

After mastering the labyrinth using the log, I was finally able to climb down the back of the tower after defeating the cat. I'll be back to make sure Rowena doesn't escape her hogtie.

Amazing, very pun- er I mean funny, and does the frog or looking glass do anything?

I had a fun

It was weird that you could go back in time sometimes but if you fell out of a window you were done.

It was fun, but relied a bit too much on guessing.

Good hidden treasure search. Only found 16 of the treasures but could only get 15 of them, since the I could not get the sword out of the suit of armor's hands! Definitely worth playing and I congratulate you on your creation!

I saved and I got stuck on the page that mean incorrect use of the silver goblet, so I had to drop the whole game and start over with only 2 items left to find! Real bummer, but when I did play, the game was funny, clever, and enjoyable.

loved it! had to look in previous comments to find the last treasure but this game was exactly what i was in the mood for! simple text, the perfect amount of humor, and a little bit challenging but not frustratingly so :)
knew there was something suspicious about the black cat in the beginning, esp. cause we couldn't interact with it all at that time lol

I enjoyed the cheeky humor, and collecting things is always a fun time

Nice.

I loved the story and didn't find any spelling mistakes. I got all of the treasures too! This was a very well done story and I hope it gets featured.

5/8 I would rate it higher but it was a pain in the neck to gather all the treasures.

-Treasures-
207 Year-Old Bottle of Burgundy
Antique Oil Lamp
Bar of Pure Roentgenium
Box of Imported Chocolates
Clockwork Orange
Dragonbone Jewelry Box
First Edition of Pride and Prejudice Autographed by Jane A.
Golden Ball
Golden Egg
Meteorite Sword
Mithril Handcuffs
Platinum Credit Card
Ruby Ring
Sapphire Earrings
Silk Shirt
Silver Goblet
Vial of Unicorn Tears

This is my favorite game on this site. I finally figured out how to get the dragon bone necklace. I hope you make more games like this.

This game is nice and challenging. The only thing I'd take out is the guess-and-check factor of the windows. I'd maybe have some way to change the prince from a frog, and maybe have in Rowena's diary that she hates it when people lie to her? Either way, I love the puns and sarcasm of the narrator and the way the main character talks to the narrator. It's funny with just the right amount of difficulty. I died twice and retried, but I eventually found all 13. I like how most of them are pretty easy to find, but some are counter-intuitive, like the Golden Ball and the Bar of Roentgenium. Great game!

I really enjoyed your adventure. I hope you do more like this.

I spent about 30 minutes looking for the earrings. I got to admit the windows got me.

I really liked this story! It had good grammar (which is a plus for me) throughout and an interesting plot with no random death links (it gave you fair warning) The only thing I think the author should work on is their descriptions, which were fine but a bit sparse.

Yes! I got all 17 treasures!

Loved the humor in this one. Clever, especially with the computer. Had me stumped for awhile

:) This is awesome, I found all the treasures! At first I was reluctant to try this game because the main character was a thief, but thankfully I did! The narrator kept me smiling throughout the adventure, and the puzzles were well thought out to roll smoothly with the humor. This is a thoroughly enjoyable treasure hunt with great attention to detail.

What follows are three hints, if you don’t want any hints then stop reading now:
Thank you for recommending this game, Faervel (without giving away too much: something you can find in the old coal cellar will help you with the looking glass, to find the dragon bone jewelry box). [also, for who was looking for the golden ball: you are going to have to do something dangerous to get it, probably skills were needed but I’m not 100% sure] [to get the meteorite sword, you will need something wood that you have used before]

It's a good game...

Brilliant story; each small element of detail mentioned by the narrator is a clue to get the next treasure, prompting a lot of backtracking.

Although there is great description and detail, I would like a bit more out of the pages, other than a few sentences and then right to the choices. Other than that, this was a great game!

I never did find the dragon bone jewelry box. Awesome game

8/8
Wow, it was soooo nice!!
I found 17/17 treasures and I think I am a true adventurer(or at least an assistant;) )I liked how useful many things can be(the log,the computer etc)

I liked the general concept of it.It is very attractive and keeps your attention trough the whole story.I think the author writes naturally and effortless.I like its humor and its ideas.

Nice work has been done with all the items and links.As for me,I found all 17 treasures and I really liked that with the rooftop.
I think it's flawless and if there is one problem that is that I want a part II with another tower.Why not Salazar Slytherins'??;)

I love the witty humor of this story and that a single item (the log) can be used for so many things. Unfortunately, I only found 15 of the items and never figured out the frog prince and rooftop. The difficulty rating should probably be a bit higher since, unlike other games, you can’t just click random links until you win. However, there is a nice mix of difficulty for each treasure, with most being really obvious, several being a bit tricky, and just a few really obscure ones.

Well, anyone be kind enough to tell me how to find the last treasure I missed? Thanks in advance!
Found:
207 Year-Old Bottle of Burgundy
Antique Oil Lamp
Bar of Pure Roentgenium
Box of Imported Chocolates
Clockwork Orange
Dragonbone Jewelry Box
First Edition of Pride and Prejudice Autographed by Jane Austen
???
Golden Egg
Meteorite Sword
Mithril Handcuffs
Platinum Credit Card
Ruby Ring
Sapphire Earrings
Silk Shirt
Silver Goblet
Vial of Unicorn Tears

I liked the simplicity. Some games are too fleshed out. It's a nice change of pace from large games.

A very amusing storygame! Most pages were only a couple sentences each, would have liked a little more, but there was a lot of choices. All in all I enjoyed it and hope you wrote more! 5/8

Not bad. I like that some link appear only after they have been enabled by some action. Not sure about some of the grammar and spelling though. I found a few minor issues that takes some of the immersion away.
I'll have to come back and try not to blow myself up.

Lol entered, grabbed a log, said good enough and left.

Will be reading through this seriously in a few minutes though.

Very good fun. Found 16/17 treasures (never did find out what the jewellery box was for...)

i liked how when you used something it said something unique

This is a really nice little game with some decent scripting and even a few little hidden easter eggs all written in a simple and amusing style. There are a few mistakes here and there but it's barely noticeable. I enjoyed it a lot!

I absolutely love this game! Your writing style is very clever and I love the humor throughout. I found no grammatical errors at all. The story is fun and a decent length without being too difficult. I ALMOST left the tower without the final treasure from the roof, and then I realized what ended up working. It really is such a clever game! To other readers: I can't recommend this enough. To the author: Keep up the excellent work!

I love this game, there was so much detail packed into it and it was pretty humorous. The treasures to find were varied in difficulty and the use of variables was pretty nice. The narrator talking directly to you added a lot to the story. The only criticism I have is the window climbing seemed to be guess and check in terms of what to do, but I may have missed a hint as for what you should do. Overall very impressive and I can’t wait to see with what you come up with next.