When
we last left The Silver Lining, King Graham’s children
were locked in a coma-like state, cursed by some unknown evil entity.
Graham was searching the Green Isles for spell ingredients to help
combat the unknown plague when all of a sudden problems started to
occur with Valanice, the Queen of Daventry.

Honestly, I was never sure
exactly what those problems were with Valance but it appeared her
face had morphed somewhat, and this episode alluded to the fact that
she tried to jump off the balcony. In Episode 3, the story
picks up right where it left off. Graham starts searching for more
ingredients while also trying to find out what happened to Valanice.

Focus on the Task at Hand

Graham decides to focus
on finding the ingredients for his children instead of dealing with
Valanice’s problems. This time four ingredients are available
in the surrounding lands. He needs to find the strength of the male,
the voice of the female, a silver crescent moon, and some shaken up
salt.

Unfortunately,
this episode opens up no new islands for you to explore, so you’re
going to retrace a lot of old ground looking for new clues and ingredients.
Unfortunately, this episode has taken a turn for the worse with both
logistics and technical issues.

My Kingdom for a Hint

First, I’d like to
talk about the logistical issues related to this game. The puzzles
are obtuse at best. You’ll find yourself doing a lot of guessing,
experimentation, and some of the random “click everything until
something happens” that often pollute lesser adventure games.
The hints to puzzles are obtuse, misleading, and confusing. That is
when hints should exist. At least two puzzles leave you scrambling
on your own with no hint in sight.

I
realize it is a fine balance in adventure games to naturally lead
players to their next goal without making the game so easy it has
no challenge. Silver Lining 3 has solved that in the worst
way possible, by not leading the user in any direction. It is up to
you to create your own path. Discovery of one ingredient does not
give the user clues to another one. All items can be discovered almost
independently of each other.

This frustration reminded
me of King’s
Quest 6, a game also set in the Green Isles. Perhaps it was
done on purpose. KQ6 was pitched as a challenge because there
were fewer areas to explore, but my personal belief is that it just
made the game less fun and more frustrating.

This
game also decided to throw in an arcade sequence in the middle of
the game. Unfortunately, they just throw you in with no instructions
or prep on how to control your character through the sequence. I died
three times trying to figure out how to control Graham, but once I
had figured it out was able to easily bypass the sequence. This segment
was, in actuality, the most enjoyable part of the game, which says
a lot.

A Crash a Day

Second, I’ll talk
about the technical issues. I could not play the game for more than
1 hr without it crashing. As a result, there were quite a few scenarios
I had to play through multiple times. I got in the habit of saving
often. Occasionally the game would experience issues with audio dropout.
When this happened, a reboot of my computer was the only fix. And
finally, I found two conversations that went into dead ends, meaning
I couldn’t exit out of them and had to force quit the game.

I
went back and forth multiple times with the developers and they provided
me two upgrades along the way. The “conversation lock”
bug was fixed completely. I’m assured they are working hard
to address the issues in the underlying engine so that Episode 4 runs
much more smoothly. I suspect that the Episode 4 game engine upgrade
will help solve a lot of the Episode 3 problems too. I’ll
give them a plus for customer service.

Mysteries Left Unsolved

This game includes a big
reveal that has caused some controversy in the fan community. It is
a bit of a retcon of some past facts and takes some liberties with
some of the characters and events. I think this reveal will play an
important part in the remaining plot of The Silver Lining.
There are also allusions, both in this game and in Part
2, that the land of the green isles is moving back in time.
Maps are fading at the mapmaker’s hut and the Smith is having
trouble making his creations stick as they often revert back to their
former states. I’m unsure if my interpretation of these events
is correct, but it’ll be interesting to see how things play
out.

I finished playing Episode
2 excited for Episode 3. Unfortunately, Episode 3
has left a poor taste in my mouth. The frustration I had in completing
the game has depleted my passion for continuing. Perhaps in another
month or two, when Episode 4 comes out, I’ll be refreshed and
ready to take another chance.

System Requirements:

• Windows XP, Vista or
  7
• 1GHz Intel or AMD Processor
• 512 MB RAM (1GB recommended
  for Vista and 7)
• 100% DirectX compatible
  video card with 256 MB video RAM
• DirectX 9.0c+