This is what we DESIRE!

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Even before the developers of Fantasy Kingdoms told us that the new Quests were created as tutorials for beginners, veteran players surmised this to be the case. If the Quests had appeared during the 'dog days of Summer' when no festivals were being celebrated or anticipated, perhaps we wouldn't have minded them so much.

The fact of the matter is that the Quests were issued at a point in time when the Winter Collection was being retired, the Lunar New Year items had just been released for a very brief period and the St. Valentine's Day Festival Items were being advertised as future offerings.

First via a splash screen and now on Harmony's Kingdom, we are treated to a breathtakingly gorgeous view of the Valentine's Day Collection. Many of us who have five Kingdoms have discovered that we have no space for the new Quests unless we destroy the integrity of a Kingdom's design. Furthermore, even with Artifacts that generate Mana, many of us have beggered ourselves on the Quest items at a point when we would have preferred to have purchased Winter Items, Lunar Festival Items or saved our Mana for the upcoming Valentine's Day Items.

When one gazes at the Castle of Love, the Romantic Gazebo and the incredibly exquisite Trees that have not been released yet, is it any wonder that we rebel from the prospect of spending Mana and KC on the Country Theme, Desert Theme and whatever else the New Quests demand?

Fortunately, the developers have released a new set of Quests that concentrate on the Valentine Day's Theme! Although this is NOT a separate cycle from the Tutorial Quests, players should be advised that the Valentine Quests will not appear on the screen if you have not completed the 'Ring the Bells' Tutorial Quest to plant and gather 10 Belladonna.

YOU THEREFORE NEED TO COMPLETE THE 'RING THE BELLS' QUEST IF YOU WISH TO EMBARK ON THE VALENTINE DAY QUESTS.


Fantasy Kingdoms, as I wrote in an earlier post, is in a peculiar situation because of its incredible creativity and beauty. It is NOT Farmville. The landscapes, Crops and Items are of a superior nature and the concept moreover, is one that lends itself to intricate landscaping. The New Quests are written cleverly but, at the end of the day, amount to a 'walkthrough' of all of the regular Crops and Items available in the Marketplace.

Holiday Quests are different, because they concentrate on Limited Edition Items that no longer would be available in a few weeks. Players therefore are disposed to invest in these Items. When the new Tutorial Quests placed us in a position where we had to choose between Crops and Items that we own in quantity and do not wish to duplicate and Crops and Items that soon will disappear from the Marketplace, many of us were distressed.

Space is a problem for us as well. I know that it only has been recently that we have been able to own five kingdoms, but after exhorting us to be creative in conceiving our Kingdoms with different Themes, Seasons or whatever we desired, we now have to scramble to find a space for the Quest Crops and Items. Perhaps we should be allowed to purchase a SIXTH KINGDOM specifically for the Quests at a very nominal sum! I know that if I had a sixth kingdom, I wouldn't mind completing the Quests as much...

If the Quests had appeared at the same time that the additional three Kingdoms were made available, we still would have had some space that was not used to implement a specific vision or theme. Now, however, most veteran players who have the maximum number of kingdoms have utilised each and every one of them!

I applaud the creativity of the developers in the clever writing that introduces the Crops and Items as well as empathising with their desire to help beginners (of which there are many at this point in time) to become acquainted with the game. There is a very hardcore group of veteran players, however, who have come to perceive Fantasy Kingdoms as our own ideal 'home'. One does forget sometimes that we have no rights of ownership over an online game. It was only when Lovely Farms lost its server for example, that one realised that one might lose that Farm forever... Like any other online game, Fantasy Kingdoms can do whatever it wishes with our Kingdoms, even to the point of consigning them to the dustbin.

Developers at Sneaky Games, the makers of Fantasy Kingdoms, always have shown themselves to be very conscious of our feelings and very quick to try to accommodate our needs and desires. We trust them far more than we probably trust any other online game creator.

I therefore was delighted by the appearance of the Valentine's Day Quests and no doubt, other players who were not terribly thrilled with the Tutorial Quests have been equally pleased by these new Festival Quests. Thank you, Sneaky Games, for THAT. Now, if only we could have a sixth kingdom for those Tutorial Quest items and crops or if we could 'hide' those icons until the end of February... If only the Valentine Day Quests truly were independent of the Tutorial Quests. I am in a sorry position now where, having spent Kingdoms Cash on Minor Growth Elixir to accelerate the process of some of the Tutorial Quests and having spent Mana as well to complete them, I still have Tutorial Quests pending. On the other hand, Fantasy Kingdoms, even if, lost in its beauty, we sometimes forget the fact, is a GAME, which means that we have to try to meet challenges such as these when they arise.