On a far distant ocean planet you live peacefully with your daughter on one of the many islands. Out of the blue your daughter goes missing. She had been kidnapped by your insane brother. You must find and steal the Lunastone, a powerful weapon, to be found on a secret island. If you don't steal it for him your daughter will die.
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I love the inclusion of background music (a very pleasant tune greets you right when you boot this game up, I must say), and I do understand the idea behind this game: its lack of clues, and therefore, high difficulty, combined with its deep sense of mystery, are inspired by the PC classic Myst.
My issue is that Myst had a point-and-click interface, and in that sort of setting, it's easier to pull off that sort of atmosphere while keeping the player intrigued. Here, I found myself frustrated (even when I solved puzzles), although a lot of people, including the author, have left helpful comments.
With that said, a lot of people *love* this game, and what I find frustrating is actually endearing to many others, so hey, you just might really like The Lunastone a lot. Its universe, once you get to know it, certainly has its charms, and there's a considerable amount of length and depth if you manage to make it far enough.
[[Reviewer's Note: If this game had a limited walkthrough (in other words, one that didn't spill the beans, but guided you in the right direction if you thought what it offered over) and was a little more descriptive, I would have rated it at least 4 stars.]]
A very difficult, but fun game! It definitely reminded me of the Myst series. I highly recommend this game to the daring text-adventurer.
Though a little more hints in the game would have been a little more user-friendly. I don't really like having to resort to the comments in order to proceed through a difficult puzzle.
This is a very good game, I enjoyed the setting and the puzzles were just the right level of difficulty. It was one of the first I played on the site once I'd made an account and was one of the things that convinced me that there was something to this Quest thing, and the OTHER good Quest game I'd come across in the IF comp wasn't just a fluke. Anyway, I just now realized I'd never actually reviewed it and so am correcting that now. :)
Oh, and @JCB_diggerbrown: Wow, an excellent example of why children should never be allowed on the internet, ever. 1 star spite review after admitting to only playing for 15 minutes? Very classy.
I found this game (and site) quite by accident, after looking to revisit the old text adventure game Zork (in my youth, I was a bit too young to fully appreciate the game). Little did I know that text adventures were still being developed in 2014. Lunastone was the first game I tried on the site, as the cover art reminded me of the Myst series. Immediately, I was hooked. I found the game to be quite more elaborate than I had anticipated, which was a welcome surprise. I found that once I became accustomed to the syntax, navigation became easier, especially after I had solved some of the game's initial puzzles. I must admit to getting stuck in multiple places, sometimes in locations that ultimately proved to be "red herrings". The comments were both a blessing and a curse, as I had misinterpreted what some of the other players had been saying. The syntax required to solve some of the puzzles was exacting, which led to some frustration. However, there was ultimately enough hints so that the player could intuit solutions (often after multiple attempts), and the puzzles were challenging (but not nearly as fiendish as those I had encountered in prior games). For what this was, it was excellently designed and executed. The hints in the comments section make the game ultimately soluble (thanks to everyone who posted), but even with the hints the game was sufficiently challenging so as to be enjoyable. I cannot wait to try some more, especially by this author,
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