Pros And Cons of Playing NeoQuest II

Well anyways, I have just now completed my first ever game of NeoQuest II, and now I feel the need to share with the rest of Neopia the reasons why I think you ought to consider playing it too. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably thought about playing it before, or even started to play it before, but then given up because it’s too boring, it takes too long, whatever. Now that I have actually played it all the way through, I can give my unbiased opinion on the reasons why it’s great, and the reasons why it’s maybe not so great.

Pro: It gives you something to do

Now, this may seem really obvious, but how often do you find yourself aimlessly refreshing the boards, bored out of your mind? I know I do it fairly frequently. Well, NeoQuest II is admirably, a really great time sink. Although at first it might seem a bit boring, and you wonder whether you’re REALLY any better off playing it than staring blankly at the Avatar Chat, as you get further into the plot and further along in the game it becomes more and more addicting. Really! I promise!

Now that I’ve beaten the game, I honestly don’t really know what to do with myself. I guess I COULD play the original NeoQuest…

Con: Some parts ARE kind of boring

I’ll admit it, I have definitely tried to play NeoQuest II before and quit fairly early on because I got bored with it. Certain portions of the game involve lots and LOTS of just walking around and getting into an endless number of fights. The main thing that you have to keep in mind is that NeoQuest II is a great mindless activity, and may not be ideal for someone who is looking for something really exciting. Personally, I like to listen to music, audiobooks, or stand-up comedians while I play. Which brings me to…

Pro: You can multitask while you play

One of my favorite things is that NeoQuest II has no real time aspect to it (unless you’re going after the Fastest Win trophy, in which case.. you’re crazy!). That means that you can wander away from the game and do something else at any time, and then just come right back to it and pick up where you left off. I would often just leave the NeoQuest II tab open, play for a while, then switch over to the boards or do some restocking for a bit, and then hop right back into it. Although playing NeoQuest II can be really time consuming, it also doesn’t really demand all of your attention while you’re play it.

Con: It takes a long time to finish

Well, honestly, it doesn’t take THAT long. If you were really dedicated to playing, you could probably get through the game in less than a week. I was never that dedicated to it, and it probably only took me like 2-3 weeks of casual play to beat the game. Actually, there is a trophy for playing it through the fastest, and apparently it’s possible to play it through on every difficulty in less than a day. That sounds REALLY tiring though, and I think would probably take away from the enjoyment.

Pro: Random Events!

Yes, NeoQuest II involves loading a LOT of pages, since each step you take requires a new page, so you will naturally end up with a lot more random events than you might if you were just chatting on the boards. I know I got a whole ton of random events while I was playing, many of them giving me neopoints or items! So when you’re trying to decide whether you want to play and you’re maybe not sure if the prizes are really worth the effort, you ought to consider how many extra neopoints you have the potential to pull in through random events.

Con: Not necessarily GOOD random events D:

This is the flip-side. While yes, personally I ended up getting more positive random events than negative ones, there is absolutely the potential that you will get more negative ones. It’s probably unlikely, but there is that possibility.

Pro: Avatars! Trophy! Prizes! Oh my!

Admittedly, this is the main reason that I first started playing NeoQuest II. The game awards three avatars, a trophy, some neopoints, and a prize at the end. What a haul! I was mainly after the three avatars, and I must say that now that I have them I feel quite satisfied with the amount of work that I had to put in to get them. These were not some simple clickables, I had to slave hours at my computer to get them! If you’re not into avatar collecting then maybe this won’t have you convinced, but I really think that the prizes awarded through the game are worth the amount of effort that I put into it.

Con: You could make a lot more neopoints in the time it takes to play the game

Although I just said that the prizes were worth it, I will admit that if you’re not into avatar or trophy collecting, the prizes can be a little bit weak, at least for playing it on normal difficulty. In the hours I spent playing this game, I probably could have made at least ten times as much neopoints playing other games or restocking. Really, NeoQuest II is just not a big money-maker.

Pro: It’s actually really fun

This one might be a little surprising if you’ve ever started NeoQuest II and then abandoned it due to how extremely annoying it can be in the beginning of the game. Well, honestly, once you get past that first slump, and even more so once you find out more of the story, NeoQuest II becomes super fun and interesting. I won’t spoil anything, but the story behind NeoQuest II is (in my humble opinion) DRAMATICALLY more interesting than the one in the original NeoQuest, and the addition of other party members mean you have a lot more that you can do in the game. Even though originally I was sort of forcing myself to play because I wanted the avatars, eventually I was actually wanting to play and really enjoying myself.

So that’s that! I really urge you to try out the game, I thoroughly enjoyed it by the end and I’m sure you will too!