*Edited (see the post-note below at the end of the post!)
I decided to download and install a new game house called Matches and Matrimony – A Pride and Prejudice Tale after reading its review (click here to read the review). So far, I managed to play the free trial twice (a total of 2 hours, with 60 minutes for each trial) and since it is almost impossible for me to purchase the full version of the game, I’ve been looking for the crack and the keygen for this game, and so far, I didn’t succeed. (Perhaps anyone would be so kind to send me the keygen, or software or such?)
Before I go on with public opinion (nah, MY opinion, to be exact), I think I should first tell you what the game is about.
A fan of Jane Austen (or simply a devoted reader of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) can instantly imply that this game revolves around Pride and Prejudice itself. And it is, indeed, for in this game, you are playing the very role of Elizabeth Bennett (though you still have the privilege to give a different first name to your character), and as the player, you hold a crucial role in determining Elizabeth’s fate–including who she should marry and whether Elizabeth would become a sensible, witty character, or simply the nice little doll who thinks a great deal of what society’s opinion upon her.
So, in the game, after you pick a name for your character, you would be responsible in arranging the weekly schedule of your character. You need to choose wisely what your character should do from Monday to Friday, and that would pretty much influence your character’s disposition. There are about six different activities you could do, which are: ‘Study the Arts’, ‘Read A Book’, ‘Go Visiting’, ‘Go Outside’, ‘Do Needlework’, and ‘Rest.’ All those activities, except 
for ‘Rest’ take 10 points of your energy (out of 100), and you need to consider carefully, since you would need to rest, or else you would be running out of energy by the weekend and that would pretty much determine the success of every interaction your character made with other characters. In weekends, in which you need not to arrange any activities for your character, the game would have many different occasions arranged for you instead. Most of the times, weekend activities are going to the parties, meeting eligible men as your suitors, and visiting relatives. Weekends play a crucial role in determining your fate as well for weekends are the times where you would meet and converse with other characters. If you are intending to marry at the end of the game, you would need to attract the men in the game in order to make them falling in love with you, hence propose you to marry them. There are 9 possible endings for this game, and, again, your character would very much play an important role to the ending that you would have.
Playing the 60 minutes free trial, I only managed to finish one ending (and I’m dying to play again to see how the other endings would be like), and my ending… I have to say, rather sucks. I end up being an old maid, and I might as well, made my big sister in the game, Jane, become an old maid as well, for Mr. Bingley didn’t propose to her.
Since I only manage to play the free trial and see only one of the endings, I didn’t know precisely what the other endings were, but reading the reviews, as well as playing the game itself, I could simply guess that the other endings would be marrying each eligible bachelor presented in the game. The bachelors are:
- Mr. Darcy
- Mr. Bingley (Oh, yes, you could marry mr. Bingley, although it would definitely break your sister’s heart, for she is very much in love with mr. Bingley, just like how it is presented in the novel–the alternative ending for Jane, hence, would be marry Colonel Brandon.)
- Colonel Brandon
- Mr. Danny
-
Mr. Wickeby Mr. Wickeby (in the review, you would read that even though the title says ‘A Pride and Prejudice Tale’, the game actually combines three of Jane Austen’s works, including Pride and Prejudice itself. The other two are Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. Therefore, Mr. Wickeby here, is a mix of mr. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice and mr. Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility. You could read further in the review.)
- Mr. Collins
- Colonel Fitzwilliam
- Mr. Wentworth
I was, unfortunately, unlucky enough to meet mr. Wentworth. I managed to meet the others, though. Meeting each of the gentleman is also influenced by your character. There are 6 traits of your characteristic which you need to gain points: Willpower, Talent, Kindness, Sensibility, Propriety and Wit. Each of those traits gain points from different activities that you choose during the weekdays, for example, choosing to ‘Read A Book’ would add some points for your sensibility, will power and wit, but ‘Go Outside’ would deduce your points in ‘Propriety’, although it would definitely gain more ‘Willpower’ for you. In the second trial that I played, I was lacking enough points of my Willpower which made me marry Mr. Collins.
Oh yeah, I forgot, I actually managed to get another dreadful ending, actually. I guess I’d never wanted to consider that as one of the ending for the horrible nightmare that I’d definitely get from marrying mr. Collins.
Anyway, another example would be choosing activities which would not gain you any point of ‘Talent.’ I did this in the first time I played the trial, and I ended up not meeting Colonel Brandon at all. In my second attempt, I managed to meet Colonel Brandon after I gain enough points in ‘Talent.’ (You could get points in ‘Talent’ by choosing ‘Study the Art’ or ‘Do Needlework’ in one of the activities that you do during weekdays.
So, you get it now when I say you character is defined by each activity that you choose during weekdays, and hence affect your story as well?
How you attract each gentleman also depends on how carefully you pick your response when interacting with the gentlemen. At some points in the game, you could pick your response when answering other characters’ questions or interrupting others’ conversation, for example, when Mr. Collins asked me whether I’ve met Lady Catherine de Bourgh, I could choose to lie to him that I’ve met her, or I could frankly answer that I’ve never met her, or even better, I could excuse myself to avoid further conversation. Or when mr. Collins asked me to dance with him on the Netherfield Ball the next day, I could simply accept his offer, or I could say that I’ve engaged to someone else which would make him ask further whoever is my partner. Then, I could choose to lie when answering this since the game gave me various options of answer to this: Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wickeby, Mr. Bingley or Mr. Danny. The ideal answer, of course, would be Mr. Wickeby, if were we sticking to the story line of Pride and Prejudice, since Elizabeth was longing for mr. Wickham’s presence in the Netherfield Ball (and this, too, happened after you were introduced to mr. Wickeby and then he lied about mr. Darcy which would cause you to like mr. Darcy less).
As I am still very much infatuated with the 2005 Pride and Prejudice (oh yes, I’ve been re-watching the movie for some time, lately!) my ideal ending would be married to mr. Darcy. The thing is, he is, most probably, the most difficult gentleman that you could attract. Of all three novels (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion), mr. Darcy is, after all, the most unpredictable alpha-male, and apparently, the game determined not to change this very trait of him, and hence, what seem to be favorable to all other gentlemen might be perceived differently to mr. Darcy. When I got the chance to dance with mr. Darcy (as was proposed by Lady Lucas), and I accepted the offer, mr. Darcy’s opinion toward my main character was unchanged, but when I declined the offer and excuse myself from dancing with him, he began to like me more and more, instead. (Gaaahhh, this gentleman is totally unbelievable!)
However, if you’re a fan of Pride and Prejudice as well, you could be rest assured that as long as you follow the predictable plot from both the movie and the novel, you would be able to get more and more of mr. Darcy’s attention towards you. (And of course, just like both the movie and the novel, you, as the main character never realized that the gentleman has become more and more fond of you! Remember, in the story, mr. Darcy was attracted to Elizabeth for her wit and sensibility, so make sure you gain many points for those two traits. I managed to get mr. Darcy to like me more and more on my second attempt playing the trial, although, unfortunately, I didn’t managed to get him to propose to me. :(
You could still end up with anybody else, of course, if you prefer to do so. The easiest gentleman to be attracted is, unfortunately (and obnoxiously), mr. Collins. I can’t seem to get him to like me less until after I declined his proposal three times! (Which I could only do if I had enough willpower, or else, I would marry him right away on the first proposal! This was why I got the ending of marrying mr. Collins. Whew, what a horror!) Next in line after mr. Collins are, I would say, all other gentlemen other than mr. Darcy. Simply agree to whatever they say, or show off your talents and kindness, and they would like you more and more. But if I had to choose one of the gentlemen I would say, perhaps, mr. Wickeby is the second gentlemen who is very easy to be attracted. At one point in the game, you get the chance to introduce mr. Wickeby to mr. Bingley and mr. Darcy, and if you do that, he would like you more. Of course, you could choose not to do this, and mr. Danny would be the one introducing him to mr. Bingley and mr. Darcy instead.
Overall, I could say this game is satisfactory, if you’re a Jane Austen fan, or you’re someone who’s not looking for too many complicated action-game. And, I hate to admit this, but I agree with one review saying that this game is completely a game designed for girls (or gays, according to the review). I mean, for people who’s so into Travian, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, this game would most definitely bore them, but as a fan of Jane Austen fan, I have to say I like this game. One of the reason is, of course, because I could create my own story and make my own ending (9 possible endings! Not bad, surely). Although, if I had the chance to play the complete version and manage to get all possible endings, I might get bored soon, but so far, after playing the free-trial two times, I have to admit I don’t hate this game. (I guess I’m not really looking for too many actions in the games that I play, huh?)
*Edited 7/25/2011: Just got the crack of this game!! YAAAAYYYY!!! I’m very very very excited, and now I just managed to finish 3 out of 9 endings!!!! Apparently, there are two endings where we would not marrying anyone (and one that I managed to finish is, of course, marrying mr. Darcy–finally!!) But those two are somehow different in context. One of them is where Jane and I ended up alone, and another one happened when Jane was already engaged to mr. Bingley, yet when mr. Darcy offered his second proposal, I refused, but I felt very much content for being so much of an independent woman. Whooo! I didn’t know I actually had that option!
A Bunch of Nonsense 