NeoQuest

A feature on the website Neopets, these games are PHP RPGs, hard coded into the website. You can get Neopoints, avatars, items or even trophies for your efforts. Despite both games being pretty old by the standards of the site (the original is over 10 years old, and II is 7. 3-D is 4, but isn't as well known), they are still well played to this very day, and have very good fanbases still talking about them.

The first game (NeoQuest I) tells the story of a rather dashing young Lupe. He is transported back in time (for a reason) to Ancient Neopia (1,000 years ago), and has to fight the members (some former) of the Circle of Twelve, incuding Xantan, the Archmangus of Roo, Gors, and eventually Jahbal.

You can unleash the power of five different types of Magic Wand, make new ones out of materials such as Bearog teeth and Lupe claws, and save Neopia, for a truly epic experience, all by just pointing and clicking.

As for the second game (NeoQuest II) -- it starts out with a very artistically similar plot to the first game. You control a young Blumaroo, Rohane (and eventually, an Acara, Mipsy) as he makes his way throughout Meridell to stop the acts of Ramtor, who has crowned himself king after dethroning King Skarl from power.

That doesn't sound like much compared to the first game, does it? Well, there's more to the story. After completing the first level, the truth about Rohane is revealed--he's actually not from Meridell, nor did he defeat Ramtor and save the kingdom. That was actually a computer simulation, and Rohane is one of it's crew members. He was trapped in the program by a virus who later turns out to be the final boss, King Terask, and the ship he is on is headed straight for the sun. The only way to deactivate the program is to complete the other levels of the game, with the help of the other members of his crew.

The third game, Neoquest 3-D, isn't as well known as the first two, and it shares virtually no gameplay mechanics from either of them. Instead, it's a Text Adventure, following most of the conventions of the genre.

The plot of the game really isn't much, involving no combat whatsoever. Instead, you have to open a treasure chest. The parts of the key to open it are scattered all across the surrounding area.

Tropes used in NeoQuest include:

Neoquest I

  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Just about every enemy in the game has a recolored cousin, with varying effects.
  • Big Bad: Jahbal. Or so it seems...
  • Character Customization: It's largely all about choosing the kind of skills you will be investing in for 50 entire levels -- either Fire, Ice, Spectral, Life, or Shock, but you can spread out and pick skills from each sphere.
  • Character Level
  • Dead Person Conversation: After you kill Faleinn, you get to talk to her ghost.
  • Dem Bones: On your way to Xantan the Foul, you'll find all sorts. Burned, frozen, broken, rotten, how do you want 'em?
  • Disney Villain Death: Jahbal
  • Elemental Embodiment: In the Mountain Forest, complete with elemental pseudobosses.
  • Elemental Powers: NQI recognizes five elements: Fire, Ice, Life, Spectral, and Shock, even having five bosses that use these abilities to the extreme. Never you mind, young grasshopper.
  • Evil Overlord: Jahbal.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Archmagus of Roo, Jahbal, and Mastermind.
  • Experience Points
  • Foreshadowing: Xantan does this when he's defeated. If you're playing on InSaNe mode, and you reach the final boss, after you defeat Mastermind...
  • Final Boss: Jahbal -- although if you go Evil, it's Mastermind. And if you go all the way to InSaNe, it's Xantan Reborn.
  • Final Death: If you die on InSaNe mode, you have to start the whole game over, rather that starting from the last save point. Also applies to NQ2.
  • Game Breaking Bug: On Evil! mode, losing to Mastermind after you beat Jahbal means you are unable to finish the game; Mastermind only appears when Jahbal is defeated, and since you've already defeated Jahbal...
  • Golem: The Temple of Roo is crawling with all sorts, from your basic rock-type to crystal and even glass golems.
  • Healing Factor: You can specialize in Life Magic.
  • Healing Hands: Boraxis the Healer. Save up on healing potions at the beginning of the game by constantly going to him for a free full heal.
  • The Hero: The Unnamed White Lupe.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels:
  • Level Grinding: Plenty.
  • Level Up Fill Up
  • Life Drain: Subverted for the player character; there is a skill called Lifesteal, but it doesn't drain your opponent's hit points; instead, it increases your own. Enemies, on the other hand, can drain plenty.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Averted. There are only a few NPCs in the entire game.
  • Magic Wand: In the original Neoquest, this is the only type of weapon that the player can use.
    • And you can make more!
    • Of course, it's split up into five types. It's an RPG, after all.
  • Man Behind the Man: Mastermind claims that Jahbal was only his puppet -- at least, in Evil! mode. But on InSaNe, Xantan Reborn rears his (very) ugly head and claims to be the Man Behind the Man Behind the Man.
  • Meaningful Name: The Man Behind the Man is named Mastermind.
  • Muck Monster: Xantan the Foul. 'Nuff said.
  • No Name Given: The white Lupe hero. Although he just takes the name of your active pet, still.
  • NPC
  • One-Man Army: The poor white Lupe doesn't have a party.
    • At least you can't fight more than one monster at a time.
  • One-Winged Angel: Xantan the Foul. He even looks like such a pushover when you first fight him, but on InSaNe mode, he turns out to be the Big Bad. His fate is to turn into a Clipped-Wing Angel.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Justified in Jahbal's case; he is trapped in the Two Rings Palace, so he can only send out monsters while he is stuck there.
  • Peninsula of Power Leveling: If one misses the Mountain Fortress, there's the Chia Spur.
  • Point of No Return: The Two Rings mountains/palace. Home to the last NPC in the game.
  • Post Final Boss: Xantan Reborn is reputed to be considerably easier than Jahbal and Mastermind, both of whom you fight immediately beforehand. Considering the fact that you can't restock on health potions between battles, and the fact that dying on InSaNe (the only level where you fight him) forces you to redo the entire game, this may have been done on purpose.
  • The Professor: Eleus Batrin, sure, but wait until you meet his teacher, Gali Yoj.
  • Shout-Out: Probably more than one, but this line comes to mind:

Mokti: Oh, you know how little brothers are... he wanted adventure, excitement. Bah! A Swamp Edge citizen craves not these things. He is reckless. Well, I hope he comes home soon, anyway.

Neoquest II

  • Aerith and Bob: Rohane, Mipsy, Talinia, Velm. It's reversed, actually.
    • The main characters in NQII are named after characters from an EverQuest server.
      • Only Rohane. The rest were named after other players from a guild.
  • A Glitch in the Matrix: Your first clue to the reality of this RPG.
  • Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: Same as before, except there's more variety.
  • Anti-Villain: The ghost of King Coltzan III appears as a boss, but he's quite unhappy about having to fight you.

"It is not my will -- but you must die!"

"Live in your world, get eaten by a Vampire Bearog in mine. - Mr. Insane The Architect
Except there is no Vampire Bearog.
Whoo! It's all about aim, baby! - Talinia
We emerge victorious! - Rohane

  • Character Level
  • Chekhov's Boomerang: The sword you start off with is also the best sword to use against the final boss.
  • Combat Exclusive Healing: You've got potions and some limited automatic healing outside of combat, but don't ask Velm for help.
  • Cutscenes
  • Dead Person Conversation: King Coltzan III has been dead for a while. First you fight his ghost in Chapter III, then you sit down and have a nice conversation about the next piece of the Medallion of Wind.
  • Deflector Shields: Mipsy has her damage shields, which damage any monster who attacks at close range, while Velm specializes in shields that raise defense stats without the damage. Some monsters and bosses may also be capable of these skills.
  • Dem Bones: Zombom's tower is crawling with them (especially the ever-annoying Skeleton Knights). The Revenant also comes with two possessed skeletons, but they die when he does anyway.
  • Disc One Final Dungeon: After trekking across Meridell, entering Ramtor's tower, and laying the smackdown on the man himself (which seems to be your ultimate goal), you return to Meridell Castle and receive a hero's welcome... and then The Reveal happens, and you find out you've only completed the first chapter out of five.
  • Dismantled MacGuffin: Assume that your Ultimate Evil is a bunch of destructive tornadoes. The Medallion of Wind was used to control the weather before it was broken and scattered all over the place. The aim of this chapter is to put it back together. But Phebiya warns, "The artifact is powerful and should not be kept in its assembled form except when needed."
  • Disney Villain Death: Scuzzy.
  • Dronejam: See those stairs in Sakhmet Palace? That guard won't let you in, and it stays that way.
  • Evil Overlord: Terask.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Zombom, Ramtor, Hubrid Nox... might have missed a few.
  • Experience Points
  • Final Boss: You have Ramtor, Scuzzy, Anubits, the Esophagor, and the final FINAL boss, Terask.
  • Final Boss Preview: Ramtor, in the first chapter, who runs away like a coward after a bit of beating up. The Faerie Thief takes this to a whole new level later on in Faerieland, in which she actually flees twice.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble:
    • Rohane - Obviously choleric. It's a leader thing.
    • Mipsy - Possibly sanguine, judging from how excited she was to leap out of her chair and into a life of adventure.
    • Talinia - More melancholic than phlegmatic.
    • Velm - Can be either melancholic or phlegmatic; leaning more on phlegmatic.
  • The Ghost: Rohane's father.
  • Glass Cannon: Mipsy. She can use many powerful spells (offensive and defensive) and so is of valuable assistance in battle, but her HP doesn't leave the double digits until she hits level 23. That coupled with her low defense and the fact that many early-game monsters' normal attacks hit for around 10-20 HP at a time...
  • The Hero: This fits Rohane the most out of the four main characters. And yes, Rohane does prefer a sword and is also The Captain.
  • Improbable Species Compatibility: This pretty much happens with every NPC that has children. For example, in a village in Chapter 3, one family is made up of an Acara (a cat/goat hybrid) father and a Wocky (cat) mother, who have children who are a Cybunny (rabbit) and an Uni (unicorn).
  • I Call It Vera: There is a NPC called Bledynn who calls his sword Vera.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: Again:
  • Inside a Computer System: Natch.
  • Kill It with Fire: Quoth Mipsy: "The next time something bites me, it's going to get set on fire." Incidentally, there IS a monster that bites and is also on fire.
  • Level Up Fill Up: As with the previous game.
  • Level Grinding: Much like with NQI: a lot.
  • Lighter and Softer: The Happy Fun Non-Haunted House. You have to defeat the Four Faeries near the house to get Balthazar to hunt faeries again.
  • Light Is Not Good: Corrupted light faeries.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: Subverted. Mipsy starts out as the damage powerhouse (especially when you invest in her 100 damage spell), with Rohane and Talinia simply picking up the slack. Unfortunately, that's just about the maximum damage she can dole out. By Chapter V, the swordsman and archer easily slide past the 100 damage barrier.
  • Magic Wand: It's not for blowing things up, But that's what it's best at.
  • Marathon Level: Hubrid Nox's dungeon. The IDNQ describes it as "nine levels of solid NQ torture".
    • Also, Cumulonimbus. It's a huge city, and stone clouds are blocking your way everywhere you go. Even with a map, it's hard to make out which path to take.
  • The Medic: Velm, hands down. Once you have him, you rarely need healing potions. Every player swears by his healing abilities. He can also become the Combat Medic if you invest in his only offensive spell.
  • Mind Screw: Just... just check out the cutscenes. [dead link]
  • Muck Monster: The Haunted Woods is full of these, including pools of living pond scum.
  • Mummy: They're all over the place in the Lost Desert chapter.
  • Mysterious Past: Okay, the fact that Rohane's dad is dead is hinted at in the beginning of the game and is confirmed later on when Daddy lashes out at King Terask if you use Father's Sword for the final battle. It kinda stops there though.
    • And because NQII takes place in a simulation, you end up wondering if Rohane truly IS fatherless...
  • NPC: Many of the NQII NPCs just spout useless dialogue. You only need to talk to a handful to advance.
  • One-Man Army: Rohane has to put up with being alone for a while before he finds Mipsy. This is why Zombom is considered to be such a pain in the neck to fight.
  • One-Winged Angel: After defeating King Terask, the heroes quickly run back through Faerie Palace again to free Queen Fyora - only to meet King Terask II, a bigger, uglier, more powerful version of the Big Bad. Did we mention he has two more arms now? Then when he's good and dead, he becomes a Clipped-Wing Angel.
  • Randomly Drops: You can buy basic equipments from stores, but all the cool ones with +skills are randomly dropped, including most Infinity Plus One Weapons and Armors.
  • Roguelike: Despite the easier difficulties, InSaNe will seem like this, with its Final Death rule in place. Made worse that all of the enemies have 2x health.
  • Short Cuts Make Long Delays: Implied with a group of NPCs in Terror Mountain on what's up ahead.
  • Shout-Out: There are a lot of them.
    • One NPC in the Lost Desert has a sword. He calls it Vera.
    • "Live in your world, Get eaten by a vampire bearog in mine."
    • The secret word for entering Phorofor is "ad ro un ta en", which is made up of syllables from "En taro adun". This happens to be from the Protoss race in StarCraft.
      • Phorofor itself is a pronounciation of 404, which means a dead link.
        • City of the dead indeed.
    • Scuzzy also happens to be the pronunciation of the acronym SCSI, Small Computer System Interface.
  • Shoot the Medic First: The only way to win certain battles, particularly the Four Faeries.
    • Luckily for the Neoquester, the mobs always go after Mipsy instead! Oh wait...
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Terror Mountain
  • Snowed In: In Chapter II, the Snowager turned out to be trapped by an avalanche caused by Scuzzy. However, in the simulation, it's more of a figurative blizzard caused by the clogging of data lines when the Snowager, which is actually a sentinel program, was kept from doing its job.
    • A similar effect is halting travel in the Lost Desert, though it's a sandstorm.
  • Squishy Wizard: Mipsy, so very much. And to a lesser extent, Velm.
  • Storming the Castle: Meridell Castle and Faerie Palace.
  • Sword and Sorcerer: Rohane and Mipsy, until Talinia joins their team.
    • Some players are inclined to believe that Rohane and Mipsy are also a Battle Couple.
  • Super Happy Fun Trope of Doom: The Happy Fun Non-Haunted House, where the Four Faeries reside (or, have as a temporary home)
  • Take Your Time: Really. It doesn't matter that your ship has been infected by a virus which will send you to a fiery death if you don't act quickly...
  • Temple of Doom: Temple of the Sky and the unnamed Ruined Temple. There are no booby traps (thankfully), but these places are often inhabited by bosses and of course, the monsters.
  • True Final Boss: King Terask II, the new-and-improved Terask v2.
  • Wolfpack Boss: The Four Faeries. Quite possibly the hardest fight in the game.

Neoquest 3D

  • Canon Discontinuity: Is Neoquest 3-D really part of the series?
  • Interactive Fiction: Unlike the other two, 3D is completely text-based.
  • Schmuck Bait: Newbies asking "will they make a NQ III" are given the link to NQ 3D.
  • Trailers Always Lie: When the game starts to "load" the screen shows a CGI mountain/forest scene, which is then scrolled up and replaced by a plainer than plain text interface.
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