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Last King of Africa (DS) Status: Stopped playing - Got frustrated I started playing this game on Wednesday 28 June, 2023 // I stopped playing this game on: Monday 17 July, 2023
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
July 14, 2023 05:29:50 PM
I played a bit more, mostly to see what the hint system was, and I THINK it's pressing the select (or start?) button. This results in a "sparkle" on the screen on areas you can interact with. Problem is that they sparkle even when (I think) that area is no longer relevant (e.g. you already picked up the item, solved the puzzle) and they don't point you in the direction you need for future progress. I wish there was another sparkle for "exits" from the screen - that would help a lot. I still spent some more time wandering around and did manage to solve the puzzle I was stuck on. Mostly it was that I had to go back to my room to talk to a character that appeared there, given them an item I had, and got a key in return. Kind of lame. That being said, I made significant more progress - talked to some characters, and got a sense of what is going on. The story seems kind of dumb - I went from cut-scene in an airplane accident to "oh no, I've been kidnapped into a harem from which you can never leave" (you must escape) which seems...odd? Also, the character seems very non-plussed about the whole thing. There's no "I demand to call my embassy! You can't hold me here" and just - "oh, that's interesting, how can I leave? oh I can't? shame" (and then you solve puzzles that will hopefully lead to you being able to escape). Right now I think I'm trying to do stuff that will result in my meeting with "the prince" - who refuses to go anywhere because of some disease where light affets him. To do so I need to somehow get the black gown his favorite wife wears, correctly set the temperature of her bath (I assume once she's in the bath, I can nab the gown), and re-create her perfume (done!) such that, presumably, the prince won't be confused? The perfume puzzle was odd - because I solved it without knowing what I was trying to do - I just wandered around areas, picked up stuff, and then created the perfume sort of not understanding why. And then, I THINK I solved the bath temperature puzzle because none of the hot water machinery is interactive anymore - but the character who should take the bath hasn't reacted to this when I talk to her. I'm not too excited about continuing at this point, but who knows.
July 5, 2023 06:45:59 AM
I picked this up because it seemed interesting and the name on the cover (Benoit Sokal) was one that I thought I recognized from somewhere... It turns out that Sokal is a franco-belgian comics guy, but also did Syberia! But, I think I was going off the game? I started playing this on a plane trip - and didn't get very far. It's an adventure game in the tradition point and click sense...and, man, the precision on the pointing and clicking (here tapping with the stylus) is pretty terrible. Like, the first puzzle I also didn't solve because there was a location/screen I was supposed to see and could find it....until at one point it worked. So, pretty frustrating to get started. Sigh. The saved files on my copy also didn't seem to have made it very far - so, I'm not exactly hopeful for this (especially because I stopped playing when I got stuck - and I hope it's not a "you missed this pixel with your too-thick-stylus"). I'm going to take a quick look at a guide to see what's what - perhaps the style of puzzles is different from what I'm expecting so calibrating my understanding might help? (also, the DS games are still at a moment where many have manuals that are useful/helpful in learning to play the game...)

Last King of Africa (DS)