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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Faerie Solitaire Harvest
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:Your game is saved in your profile whenever you exit the game. This includes progress within a world. Nothing in this game is timed, so there's no real need to pause it. The option is still there however; press ESC to bring up the pause menu. Time needed per session:This game can be played whenever you have some free time, as it's just a solitaire card game.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | No - this is a great game for Christians Although this game is themed after faeries and other magical creatures, none of this really features in the gameplay. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/faerie_solitaire_harvest_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/faerie_solitaire_harvest_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/faerie_solitaire_harvest_2.jpg)
Game Overview
Back in 2010, a solitaire card game called Faerie Solitaire was released. It's a fun game, based around the story of a young boy who ends up getting tasked with saving the faeries of the world. The game itself is an otherwise normal take on the tripeaks solitaire game. Faerie Solitaire Harvest is the next major game in the franchise, and while it's pretty similar to the first game, it's also pretty different.
Like the first game, you'll be using a card game to free faeries from their crystal prisons, collect materials, and raise an assortment of magical pets, but that's where the similarities stop. There's no story mode this time, and instead of playing a game like tripeaks, you're simply clearing levels by matching cards according to rank.
You'll get more points and rewards by creating "combos". These are made by matching cards with the same rank and color. The more matches you can make in this fashion, the longer the combos grow, and the better your results will be. In a pinch, you can also extend combos using wild energy.
Another noticeable change from the first Faerie Solitaire game is the complexity of the layouts. Since the rules for clearing cards are much more restrictive, the layouts are much more detailed and spread out, allowing more cards to be selectable at any time. This doesn't exactly make the game easier, but it helps avoid situations where nothing can be matched.
The new layout options also provide many more places where rewards can be hidden. Every stack has a chance of covering some sort of prize. These prizes may be coins, pet eggs, materials, flasks of wild energy, or lore crystals. Fans of the first game will recognize some of these, though wild energy and lore crystals are new. Wild cards have been replaced with wild energy, which can be earned by creating combos or finding flasks. After enough has accumulated, you can activate it to clear any card from the level, much like a traditional wild card.
Lore crystals, on the other hand, don't affect the gameplay directly. These unlock bits of Faerieland's history, and you can read them in the pause menu whenever you want. This adds some flavor to the world, but it also leaves the story utterly disconnected from the game itself.
Once you've completed every level in the game, you have the option to start over with a New Game Plus. Using this option, you can loop through the game as many times as you like, effectively creating an endless solitaire adventure.
Now, whether this game is better than the original may be worth some debate; I think the way combos worked in the first game was more fun than they were here, but Faerie Solitaire Harvest still has its charms. Personally, I'd recommend both, as they are both nice ways to passing the time.
Like the first game, you'll be using a card game to free faeries from their crystal prisons, collect materials, and raise an assortment of magical pets, but that's where the similarities stop. There's no story mode this time, and instead of playing a game like tripeaks, you're simply clearing levels by matching cards according to rank.
You'll get more points and rewards by creating "combos". These are made by matching cards with the same rank and color. The more matches you can make in this fashion, the longer the combos grow, and the better your results will be. In a pinch, you can also extend combos using wild energy.
Another noticeable change from the first Faerie Solitaire game is the complexity of the layouts. Since the rules for clearing cards are much more restrictive, the layouts are much more detailed and spread out, allowing more cards to be selectable at any time. This doesn't exactly make the game easier, but it helps avoid situations where nothing can be matched.
The new layout options also provide many more places where rewards can be hidden. Every stack has a chance of covering some sort of prize. These prizes may be coins, pet eggs, materials, flasks of wild energy, or lore crystals. Fans of the first game will recognize some of these, though wild energy and lore crystals are new. Wild cards have been replaced with wild energy, which can be earned by creating combos or finding flasks. After enough has accumulated, you can activate it to clear any card from the level, much like a traditional wild card.
Lore crystals, on the other hand, don't affect the gameplay directly. These unlock bits of Faerieland's history, and you can read them in the pause menu whenever you want. This adds some flavor to the world, but it also leaves the story utterly disconnected from the game itself.
Once you've completed every level in the game, you have the option to start over with a New Game Plus. Using this option, you can loop through the game as many times as you like, effectively creating an endless solitaire adventure.
Now, whether this game is better than the original may be worth some debate; I think the way combos worked in the first game was more fun than they were here, but Faerie Solitaire Harvest still has its charms. Personally, I'd recommend both, as they are both nice ways to passing the time.
Points of Interest
Talents tweak the rules
As you free faeries, you'll earn Talent points and Pure Gold (PG). These can be spent on various talents, each of which alters the game's rules in some way. Some talents just increase the odds of favorable drops, while others add more cards to your spare deck or provide new ways to keep combos going.
You can also choose to have all your pure gold and talent points refunded, allowing you to try alternative sets of talents if something doesn't seem to work for you.
You can also choose to have all your pure gold and talent points refunded, allowing you to try alternative sets of talents if something doesn't seem to work for you.
Valor
Speaking of altering the rules, Valor refers to a special set of options that can be enabled or disabled between levels. Unlike talents, which usually tilt the rules in the player's favor, Valor works on a risk vs reward system. By enabling Valor, you'll make the game harder for yourself, and in return, you'll reap greater rewards.
Note that Valors are unlocked as you play, so you can't use them at first.
Note that Valors are unlocked as you play, so you can't use them at first.
Pets grow as you play
Just like in the previous game, your "active pet" will earn experience as you complete hands. This will eventually allow them to grow into their adult form, unlocking some extra lore for you to read. But, experience isn't the only thing they need: you'll also need to pay a given amount of materials to mature them.
Replay any level you've reached
Once you've cleared a level, you can go back to it at any time by selecting its bubble in the world map. Replaying a level costs 1,000 PG per attempt, and instead of freeing a faerie, you'll earn a box containing some random loot. However, if you fail any hand during the replay attempt, you're kicked out of the world, losing both your progress and the box you were trying to earn.
In the New Game Plus modes, you can replay any world on the map, not just the worlds you've reached in that specific game.
In the New Game Plus modes, you can replay any world on the map, not just the worlds you've reached in that specific game.
Steam community features
There are 44 achievements to earn as you play through this card game. Most of them are earned by reaching various milestones, such as saving a given number of faeries, using so many wilds, and collecting so much pure gold.
Interestingly enough, these are tied to your in-game profile, not your Steam profile, so you can actually earn them all over again just by signing in as a different user.
Interestingly enough, these are tied to your in-game profile, not your Steam profile, so you can actually earn them all over again just by signing in as a different user.
Concerns and Issues
Fantasy creatures
The cards themselves feature pictures of different fantasy creatures, and as stated above, your pets comes from many different fantasy races. There's also the lore section, which contains various stories and poems about the game's magical world. Overall, this doesn't seem to get any more serious than a fairytale, and the player's involvement is very limited.