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The Mystery of the Dragon Prince Giveaway
$9.99
EXPIRED

Game Giveaway of the day — The Mystery of the Dragon Prince

Solve the mystery of the Dragon Prince!
$9.99 EXPIRED
User rating: 31 24 comments

The Mystery of the Dragon Prince was available as a giveaway on January 6, 2019!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$5.00
free today
Crazy Desert Car is an exciting game in the arcade genre.

Exclusive offer from Giveaway of the Day and MyPlayCity! No third-party advertising and browser add-ons!

Explore an ancient castle that has been cursed! Solve the mystery of the Dragon Prince in this exciting Hidden Object game! After receiving an invitation at home, set off on an exciting adventure inside of an old castle. Solve puzzles, find Hidden Objects, and explore different rooms in The Mystery of the Dragon Prince!

System Requirements:

Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10; CPU: 600 Mhz; RAM: 512 MB; DirectX: 8.1; Hard Drive: 97 MB

Publisher:

MyPlayCity

Homepage:

https://www.bigfishgames.com/games/6045/the-mystery-of-the-dragon-prince/

File Size:

98.1 MB

Price:

$9.99

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#1

The Mystery of the Dragon Prince
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The following review is divided into several sections (see the list below). Some are specifically for the actual review, others for installation and problems with the game, suggestion for those able to post their own opinions of the game plus a final section that links to other games, which I've added in case you don't fancy todays game.

In Brief
Installation:
Introduction:
The Game:
Conclusion:
Videos of the Game (will contain spoilers)
Suggestions:
Problems getting the game to work:
Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:

In Brief
An eight year old Hidden Object Game
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Installation:
The Mystery of the Dragon Prince downloads to a 98.1 MB zip file that unzips to three files, (a setup.gcd security wrapper, the set-up file and a read me). Those with multiple hard drives can save games on any drive they wish by replacing the C drive with whatever drive letter they wish the game to be installed to or if you have multiple hard drives you can save games on any drive you wish by replacing the C drive letter in the path with whatever drive letter you wish the game to be installed to. The newly installed game is 99.3 MB in size. The game installs to the following path by default:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity.com\The Mystery of the Dragon Prince
However, if you prefer a different path for installation for example I use G:\Games\ name of game instead of 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MyPlayCity\name of game'. You can edit the default path when the Setup - The Mystery of the Dragon Prince - Select Destination Location window appears.
Four shortcuts are installed to the desktop, three of which can be safely deleted (i.e. Play Online Games, MyPlayCity Games and shortcuts to a free online game; the name of which may vary each week). If you don't want to install the games shortcut to the desktop during installation, just make sure the install desktop shortcut is unchecked when the 'additional task's window appears; you will still get two of the other MyPlayCity shortcuts installed i.e. the Play Online Games and MyPlayCity Games shortcuts. Also, if you don't like icons installed to the quick launch task bar, make sure you also uncheck the appropriate checkbox when the 'additional task's window appears (after the Select Start Menu Folder window).
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Introduction:
Explore an ancient castle that has been cursed! Solve the mystery of the Dragon Prince in this exciting Hidden Object game! After receiving an invitation at home, set off on an exciting adventure inside of an old castle. Solve puzzles, find Hidden Objects, and explore different rooms in The Mystery of the Dragon Prince!
Edited reference accessed HERE. 5th January 2019
The Game:
Nevosoft has a long and fairly accomplished track record in the casual realm, with popular games like Mushroom Age and Vampireville to its credit. That’s what makes The Mystery of the Dragon Prince such a surprise, as it’s a badly dated, poorly executed hidden object hybrid adventure that doesn’t come close to the company’s own highest standards. The premise is simple enough: A woman named Anna receives a letter imploring her to come to an old castle to save it, but the letter is 200 years old. Intrigued, she heads off to this castle (apparently she knows where it is from only a picture, because its location is never otherwise specified) and discovers that it’s fallen under a dark magic spell that has mystically preserved it, empty and unchanged for two centuries. At the urging of the old gardener who calls her “Countess”, Anna’s challenge is to explore the castle, solve its puzzles, and try to undo its curse.
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This is easier said than done, as the original spell distorted some castle functions, including simple door locks. That sets up the convenient opportunity to roam around looking for crystals, keys, and practical items like matches and water faucets. Some are found in the main environments and others in hidden object screens that feature an annoying amount of shuffling items around to see what’s behind them. Apart from that, it’s a very traditional casual adventure hybrid, really, but there’s just nothing to support it. The hazy graphics would have looked bad years ago, there is no voicework of any kind, and the music is eminently forgettable. The presentation isn’t the only shoddy element, however. Though interative areas sparkle, it’s very difficult to find exits in the castle’s meandering layout, making it easy to overlook new areas. The hint option charges glacially and is totally useless for most of the standalone puzzles. When confronted with a tiled jigsaw or pipe alignment task, it brilliantly highlights one square, as if that’s supposed to mean something. That’s it for help, too, as there’s no skip option at all, no hints whatsoever for the adventuring segments… and no notebook, no map, no objective list, or any of the other modern conveniences casual gamers have come to expect. There are a few promising encounters with a dwarf, troll, and dragon, but these quickly fizzle out. With no compelling story or gameplay driving you forward, then, in the end there’s really no reason for players to bother.
Edited reference accessed HERE. Originally posted by AG Staff {Jack Allin, Merlina McGovern, and Robin Parker} December 10, 2010, reposted by Whiterabbit-uk January 5th 2019
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Conclusion:

Conclusion to be posted later. I've not played the game long enough to give a fair assessment


Videos and Walk through of The Mystery of the Dragon Prince....... (SPOILER ALERT):
You can see several in-game videos of game play HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE (part 1) & HERE (part 2) and a written walk through HERE.
Suggestions:
After you've had an opportunity to play today's giveaway please take a few moments to give some positive or negative feedback; for example, what you liked or disliked about the game, or how it could be improved. If you don't like the genre at all, please explain why and if any, what improvements would change your mind? If you don't have time to post a comment today, please do so at your convenience, thank you. If you wish to post a review or comment about the game later, you can access the comments section by going to the game giveaways home page, then scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Archives and select the date the giveaway was live (giveaway days are in bold type). This will open the appropriate page for you to post your comment or review. Alternatively, you can google the name of the game and include Gamegiveawayoftheday in the search. This should give you a list of links to whenever this game was given away.
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If you miss today's game giveaway you can always get the game via MyPlayCity 24/7 HERE; or If you prefer to purchase the game you can get it HERE via Big Fish Games.
Problems getting the game to work:
If you're having problems installing or activating or getting The Mystery of the Dragon Prince to work please visit the FAQ's Thread HERE and read through the communities comments because sometimes fixes have already been posted, for example, a common issue seen since the Themida wrapper was introduced three years ago is that some community members installation of the game are blocked by their security because Themida code has been known to hide malware, (usually an error message is flagged for example 'The executable is corrupted' even though in reality it is not); so as a precaution some anti malware programs will block and even delete the suspect installation files even though the files (i.e. the setup, read me and setup.gcd files are actually totally free from malware. This issue can be solved either by rebooting your computer in safe mode with networking or a quicker method is to temporarily turn off your security software to allow the installation. You could also try white-listing the setup.gcd file. In the almost 12 years this game giveaway site has been operating there has 'never' been a game given away that was infected with malware.
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If for any reason you want to contact the giveaway team, for example, you have a game to offer the community, or are unable to download the latest game or other issues that the FAQ's thread or these comments don't cover or solve you can do so HERE
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank MyPlayCity for giving away The Mystery of the Dragon Prince and also to the game giveaway team, as always, for securing other ways to get free games.
Useful Information not related to today's game giveaway:
If The Mystery of the Dragon Prince doesn't interest you, but you still hanker for something new to play, you'll find details of some game deals whether they be sale items, indie bundles or games being given away for free HERE (I've not updated the thread in a while, but most of the links still take you to the latest deals).
The rest of the information that used to be posted in the game review can be found in the forums HERE. Finally, check out Delenns threads for details of other free games and offers HERE and elsewhere in the game discussion forums HERE, (usually on the first page of the game discussion forums).
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Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)

Hi, Stephen! Hope you had a fine Xmas & New Year, aside from that hack you reported a few days back (BTW, did everything work out fine there?). Thanks as always for all your care and friendship.

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

Hi, thanks and yes, all was sorted. :) Hope you have a happy and successful year.

Reply   |   Comment by alexyu  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#10

When i click on the paper on the door it just disappears. I tried it with different profiles as you cannot go back to it. I use My Play City games a lot but have never had a problem before. My preference is hidden objects so hopefully a better one will come up soon.

Reply   |   Comment by Margaret Jennings  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#9

I am totally disappointed. It downloaded and installed fine, but playing it was a nightmare. If you missed what was said when you entered a spot, forget it, you had to wing it. I spent an hour trying to figure it out, then I uninstalled it. These types of games are my absolute favorites, but not this one! It needs a total makeover. Hp Pavilion 23 All in One Windows 10 64 bit.

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

Hi Marshell, thank you for your feedback.

Reply   |   Comment by Marshell Wooley  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)
#8

I truly hate to be critical of a free game, but...
My impression is that this looks an awful lot like an unfinished high school (or junior high) programming class project that got turned in for partial credit when the deadline arrived and time ran out to get it done.

VERY inconsistent. Some items you find are labeled, most are not. Good luck figuring out what they are.
Some mini-games have a "Skip" in them (thank gawd), some do not.
Apparently "Hints" only work for hidden-object puzzles, no help at all if you're completely lost as to what to do next.
Most hidden object puzzles (and many screens in general) are just dismally dark. Be prepared for MUCH "blind-clicking". Be sure to click all over the dark areas because many objects are just hidden in black areas. Turning up the screen brightness -might- help, but then it would make other areas way toooooo bright. Argh.
And worst of all, no logic to anything. I've got a bunch of objects with no purpose, no labels to identify what they might be, and nothing to use them for.

No, actually worst of all... I used to write text adventure games at the dawn of the computer era and this thing is just insulting.

No cigar.

Reply   |   Comment by BobR  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

BobR,

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

Hi BobR, there's no need to feel that way. That's what this comments section is about. Both positive and negative feedback. Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)
#7

The game is horrible. Nevosoft has been surely conquered some times ago by ugly brainless goblins. This is a junk, less useful than any of myriad old nonsense HOG games that you can download for free legally from established game sites. Don't waist your time with a game without any real working hint system. This is a quest game with a hint that does't know at all where you should go... You should simply delete ......deleted due to unacceptable language.........

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

This is a family site, so please refrain from using unacceptable language. Thank you.

Reply   |   Comment by Vladimir  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#6

Windows 10 Using Windows Defender - no problem downloading, installing or playing. However, it's a very primitive game. The sound does not shut off in all screens. The hints take a very long time to reset. No skip key for dialog.

Reply   |   Comment by Marcy  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#5

I had no problems installing and running this game. This one is a tough one - no tutorial and no 'map'. Hints only work on the search screens so sometimes I don't know what to do next and I end up doing a lot of wandering around. I am running the game on a 15" laptop and some of the scenes are dark and hard to see objects. I do a lot of blind clicking (luckily no penalties). I am enjoying this game despite the frustrations. Thanks White Rabbit!
~Annie

Reply   |   Comment by Anne Hogan  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

ron goodin, Thanks Ron, I did lighten it up a bit but ended up mostly just clicking everywhere. I did finish the game (resorted to the walkthrough for a few of the later puzzles though). :)
~Annie

Reply   |   Comment by Anne Hogan  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
#4

D/L'd and installed fine. Even though I'm used to these games (which I really like) having very silly premises, this one takes the cake, but got past that and was kinda enjoying the game. But the hint button does NOT seem to work at all. Clicking it gives me a question mark but doesn't tell me anything. Is it only good for finding hidden objects? With no map to see where to go, a working hint buttom to lead me to the next task would be useful. If anyone has a suggestions about getting the hint button working, that would help.
Meanwhile, there is a written walkthrough and that has guided me to the next task but of course it's a pain to minimize the game screen, go to the walkthrough, and then set it to fullscreen again. Going to stick with this one since the puzzles seem fun, but really would like to get a normal hint button.
And developers, please have working maps that actually transport you (a pretty common complaint here.) Overall, though, seems worth downloading and I'll keep at this one.

Reply   |   Comment by neme  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

Finished the game so wanted to update: For an afternoon's diversion, the game was well worth playing, though the absence of hints except for search (where I didn't need them---the searches were not terribly hard once you understand that objects are behind other objects to be moved out of the way) made deciding where to go next difficult. The written walkthrough was a must for me a couple of times in understanding what to do next, especially navigating the tunnels towards the end which are very tedious, and it took me a minute to realize what to do with the very last puzzle, but overall, fun!

Reply   |   Comment by neme  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)
#3

Done all you suggested, but still the same, archive is corrupted….

Reply   |   Comment by ceili  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)

ceili, Just to be clear, is it trying to unZIP the archive file that you see the error message? Or do you see the message — after you have unZIPped the files successfully — when you run the SETUP file?

Reply   |   Comment by Cad Delworth  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

Cad Delworth, when I try to unzip...

Reply   |   Comment by ceili  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

ceili,

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

Hi, did you use the original zip file or did you re-download the game from the giveaway site? If it was the former, the contents of the zip file that the security suite you use will have deleted them, so you will need to re-download thee whole package again. Hope this helps.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

Whiterabbit-uk, Downloaded new zip, unpacked OK, installed OK, but uninstalled again, because the game was freezing allmost at once, but thanks for your help all...

Reply   |   Comment by ceili  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

ceili,

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

two suggestions before you give up on the game. First suggestion, did you check the compatibility settings? The game is quite old. If you have a fairly new computer and/or a new monitor, it may not run well unless you adjust the settings in the compatibility mode. To do this, right click on the games shortcut or the installed games exe file and select properties. when the small window opens select the compatibility tab. Then check various check boxes to see if that helps. finally, you could try the MyPlayCity (MPC) download, the only difference between the game giveaway and the MPC version is that a folder that contains toolbar installation files has been removed from the giveaway version, otherwise it is exactly the same.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#2

Says 'the file is corrupted'

Reply   |   Comment by ceili  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)

ceili, I had no issues. Perhaps something went wrong during download, perhaps try redownloading it?

Reply   |   Comment by Mavadelo  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

ceili, sometimes the anti-virus will interfere. Try to pause the anti-virus for just a moment and give it another try.
Also some older files in the temp can give some trouble; open the Explorer and open %temp% and empty this folder.

Reply   |   Comment by Ootje  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

ceili,

..................................Moderator comment.....................................

I had this issues some years ago and found using a different archiver such as 7 Zip sorted the issue. The other reason for such a message is as already mentioned your security may be blocking the installation. This is due to the Themida wrapper, which has been used by unscrupulous people to hide malware; so some anti malware suites automatically block anything with Themida code. If you are not happy temporarily turning off your security, try white-listing the giveaway files with your security.

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

Whiterabbit-uk, I just installed 7-zip, it unpacked it OK, But the only file that was inside was Setup.gcd

Reply   |   Comment by ceili  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

ceili, There should be 3 files in the ZIP
Setup.exe of 2439 kB
setup.gcd of 98059 kB
readme.txt of 1kB
Certainly download the zip again of 100.498 kB

Reply   |   Comment by Ootje  –  5 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)
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