Software:A Witch's Tale

From HandWiki
A Witch's Tale
Developer(s)Hit Maker
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
  • JP: 28 May 2009
  • NA: 6 October 2009
Genre(s)Role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

A Witch's Tale[lower-alpha 1] is a 2009 video game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Hit Maker and published by Nippon Ichi Software.

Gameplay

Gameplay consists of a mixture of battles and puzzle solving: the player must complete certain tasks in order to proceed to the next world in the game. Battles are fought by having players correctly draw runes with the stylus on the Nintendo DS touch screen to attack enemies.[1] Monsters appear randomly in the game and in certain situations such as boss battles. Players are given the opportunity to collect various dolls throughout the game, several of which are based upon the characters in the game. The dolls have the ability to launch attacks, give boosts to various stats, or heal the player depending on the type of doll. The dolls can become damaged, making repair necessary.

Plot

The game's plot is set within several different worlds, many of which are loosely based upon various fictional characters and stories such as The Little Mermaid, The Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland. Thousands of years prior to the start of the game, powerful witches existed below the surface of the earth in a world that was filled with darkness and decay. They soon grew jealous of the beautiful surface world and with the assistance of the Eld Witch, invaded the surface world. The ensuing battle was filled with violence and bloodshed, but was stopped after the mysterious and magical Queen Alice sealed the witches away by using their own rune magic against them. After the battle, rune magic was considered to be lost and forbidden.

Liddell is one of several young girls that are training at an academy to become a witch. She is, however, often scolded for her rude behavior and her attitudes towards the magic classes, which she views as inferior to ancient magics. After speaking with a classmate and the witch Babayaga, Liddell is informed of the whereabouts of a magic castle that potentially holds an ancient magic. She proceeds to the castle despite warnings from Babayaga, where she discovers the vampire Loue, whom she awakens after breaking into a nearby room in search of magic. The room actually contains a magic book containing the sealed Eld Witch, who takes Liddell's break in as a chance to escape. Liddell is then enlisted by Loue to go to seven different kingdoms and rescue the princesses in each one.

During the course of her travels Liddell learns additional rune magic and gains the ability to use dolls, one of which is her personal doll Dayna, to boost various stats and abilities, as well as to cast various magics. As she rescues each princess, Liddell is given their personal sigils. When combined, the six sigils will allow Liddell to travel to Alice's world and confront the Eld Witch. Various elements about Liddell's past and personality are revealed, such as Liddell's abandonment as a child, the resurgence of memories where she was rescued by what appears to be Queen Alice, and her admission that her desire to become the strongest witch stems from a belief that if she becomes strong that her mother will return to her. It's eventually revealed that the six kingdoms were created by Queen Alice as a form of added protection for the seal she placed on the Eld Witch, and that she also descended into the underworld to serve as a permanent watchman and guardian against any potential further action.

Liddell eventually manages to gather all six sigils and defeat the Eld Witch, but in the process the Eld Witch apparently kills Alice. Liddell is told that she must become the new Alice, but after the credits, Liddell wakes up and it's revealed the events of the game were both a dream and a test from Queen Alice to ascertain her worthiness. Meanwhile, Queen Alice and Loue discuss Liddell's powers, the possibility that Liddell is a creature of the underworld, and plans to continue to monitor her in the future.

In a second replay, additional content is unlocked that has Liddell traveling back in time and befriending a young girl named Anne. She is eventually revealed to be the Eld Witch before she became consumed with the need for revenge, as Queen Alice refused to reincarnate her daughters. After a second battle, the Eld Witch reverts to Anne and remembers her friendship with Liddell before turning to ashes. Upset, Liddell wanders through a maze forest and comes across the Mad Hatter, who explains that death is not permanent in this world and it's possible she might see Anne in the future. Liddell then attends a tea party with the six princesses from each kingdom who explain the game's events are a real dream that Queen Alice created, and they hope to meet her in real life someday. Liddell gives Loue a spell book containing all of the rune magic she has learned, saying that she doesn't need it to become a powerful witch. In return he gives her a necklace that Liddell is showing to be wearing when she wakes up in her school's library, where she has lost her memories of the events of the game.

Characters

  • Liddell: The main character, Liddell is a witch-in-training that accidentally releases the Eld Witch while searching for strong magic.
  • Loue: An ancient vampire that was guarding the book holding the sealed Eld Witch. He accompanies Liddell on her journey in bat form.
  • Eld Witch: An ancient witch that is said to have invaded the upper world due to her jealousy of its beauty. Liddell befriends the Eld Witch when she was just a young girl named Anne, which gives the player the game's true ending.

Development

After releasing Disgaea and Puchi Puchi Virus for the Nintendo DS, NIS America announced in the summer of 2008 they would also remake Rhapsody and release a new game, A Witch's Tale, in October 2008.[2] Nintendo Power described the game as an "action-RPG with a The Nightmare Before Christmas-esque art style" in their August 2008 issue, before they had a chance to play it.[2] A Witch's Tale was developed by Hit Maker, known for Blade Dancer and Dragoneer's Aria and is their first Nintendo DS game.[1] According to Haru Akenaga, the President of NIS America, A Witch's Tale targeted a North American audience.[1] The game was initially planned for a Q4 2008 release, but was pushed back to 2009.[3]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic50/100[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Edge4/10[5]
Famitsu25/40[6]
GameProStarStarHalf star[7]
GameRevolutionD−[8]
GameSpot4/10[9]
GameZone6.3/10[10]
IGN6/10[11]
Nintendo Power4/10[12]
RPGamer3/5[13]

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[4] Reviewers typically praised the game's story line while criticizing the game's battle system as "slow" and "lackluster".[14] IGN commented that "for a game that starts off so strongly with its excellent theme, characters, visuals and audio, it just completely falls off in the critical category of actual gameplay" and that "getting to see and interact with any of the interesting elements means slogging through a whole lot of sluggish battles that really feel like the Plan B option we know they were."[11] RPGamer gave it a mixed review, a month before it was released Stateside.[13] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of 25 out of 40.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Released in Japan as Witch Tale: The Apprentice Witch and the Seven Princesses (ウィッチテイル 見習い魔女と7人の姫, Witchi Teiru Minarai Majo to Shichinin no Hime)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Yip, Spencer (6 June 2008). "Introducing A Witch's Tale". Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on 14 July 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20080714215542/http://www.siliconera.com/2008/06/06/introducing-a-witch%E2%80%99s-tale/. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Justin C. (August 2008). "A Witch's Tale (Preview)". Nintendo Power (Future US) 231: 14. 
  3. ↑ Fletcher, JC (2008). "Don't expect A Witch's Tale any time soon". https://tinycartridge.com/post/65812384/dont-expect-a-witchs-tale-any-time-soon. Retrieved 15 September 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "A Witch's Tale for DS Reviews". Red Ventures. https://www.metacritic.com/game/a-witchs-tale/critic-reviews/?platform=ds. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  5. ↑ Edge staff (September 2009). "A Witch's Tale". Edge (Future plc) (205): 97. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "ウィッチテイル 見習い魔女と7人の姫" (in ja). Famitsu (Enterbrain). https://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=4863&redirect=no. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  7. ↑ Kemps, Heidi (21 October 2009). "A Witch's Tale". GamePro (GamePro Media). Archived from the original on 25 October 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091025043908/http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/212684/a-witchs-tale/. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  8. ↑ Card, Ben (5 February 2010). "A Witch's Tale Review". CraveOnline. Archived from the original on 12 October 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151012015812/http://www.gamerevolution.com/review/a-witch-tale. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  9. ↑ Joynt, Patrick (2 December 2009). "A Witch's Tale Review". Red Ventures. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/a-witchs-tale-review/1900-6241889/. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  10. ↑ Platt, Dylan (29 October 2009). "A Witch's Tale - NDS - Review". Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091101064919/http://nds.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r35634.htm. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Thomas, Lucas M. (21 October 2009). "A Witch's Tale Review". Ziff Davis. https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/10/21/a-witchs-tale-review. Retrieved 31 October 2013. 
  12. ↑ "A Witch's Tale". Nintendo Power (Future US) 247: 86. November 2009. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 den Ouden, Adriaan (8 September 2009). "A Witch's Tale - Staff Review". CraveOnline. https://archive.rpgamer.com/games/other/nds/witchstale/reviews/witchstalestrev1.html. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Wallace, Kimberley (13 November 2009). "A Witch's Tale". Emerald Shield Media LLC. https://www.rpgfan.com/review/a-witchs-tale/. Retrieved 25 July 2022. 
  • MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

See also

  • IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/. 
  2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/. 
  3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1. 
  4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 
  6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521. 
  8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media. 
  9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned. 
  10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner. 
  11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames. 
  12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games. 
  13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/. 
  14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/. 
  15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/. 
  16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/. 
  17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames. 
  • No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.

Template:Atari



Warning: Default sort key "Witch's Tale, A" overrides earlier default sort key "Mobygames".



Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Software:A_Witch%27s_Tale&oldid=798008"