Rating: 
Summary: Pretty, but patronising.
Review: If what you like about adventure games is pretty scenery, then by all means buy this game. If you actually like using your brain, look elsewhere.I was totally offended that Lotus Spring was advertised as "geared towards women," and contained no real puzzles. Like, women don't like to do puzzles? Or is it just that we aren't smart enough to solve real puzzles? I also found it odd that you were playing a male character. What kind of message is that? This game might be amusing to girls under the age of nine, and it might be a good parent-child activity, but it has nothing to recommend it to an adult on her own.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazingly dull
Review: If you have a heart condition or a nerve disorder and your doctor has recommended a life without stress, excitement, or even passing interest, put "Lotus Spring" on your shopping list. This is without doubt the single most tedious title since "Alphabetizing For Dummies." Game play consists of moving around gorgeous but static locations and randomly triggering non sequitur poetry. Ohhhh my. Be still, my foolish heart.
Rating:
Summary: Lotus Spring is Lame!
Review: If you like playing games like Myst or Riven, you'll be bored to tears by Lotus Spring. It only gets one star because the buildings are pretty, and I laud the attempt to make a computer game appealing especially to women. But women who like to play computer games deserve much more than Lotus Spring. The story could have been acceptable -- except we're told in the beginning it ends tragically. So what's the point of solving the truly mindless puzzles and reading bad copy (and worse poetry) in Lotus Spring's Diary that must have been written by a non-native English speaker? There are women gamers out here who enjoy playing intelligent, challenging games that aren't fueled exclusively by testosterone-induced blood lust. If you're one of us, don't buy Lotus Spring--instead go to an online aution site and look for a (now out of print) copy of Obsidian.
Rating:
Summary: If you have a Mac--don't buy Legend of Lotus Spring
Review: In order to open this game a Mac user has to disable QuickTime and the instructions for doing so are inconsistant and confusing. In my case once I did this and then installed the game's version of QuickTime-my computer failed and I had to clean sweep my computer and then try to restore all my files. Now, I suspect any game that has to disable software in order to play it. P.S. Amazon kindly replaced the CD once and neither the original or the replacement would play. I don't know about PC use but for a Mac. I would avoid this game at all costs. P.S. The instructions are not in the manual that comes with the CD. I had to E-mail Dreamcatcher Games and that's when the confusion began. Avoid this game and for me. I avoid anything by Dreamcatcher games.
Rating:
Summary: save your money
Review: Lotus Spring has beautiful graphics. The End. The story is vague. Moving through the game is frustrating. The icon selector is "just tooooo cute for words" as well as annoying. If you have played even one other computer game, Lotus Spring will wean you from ever playing another.
Rating:
Summary: Good graphics, but boring.
Review: Lotus Spring has very nicely done graphics and intricate details. However, there's virtually no plot to the game. Right from the beginning I was already confused as to what exactly the point of the story would be. You end up going around beautiful scenaries looking for really pointless and boring poems. I made myself finish the game because I didn't want to waste my money.
Rating:
Summary: Good graphics, but boring.
Review: Lotus Spring has very nicely done graphics and intricate details. However, there's virtually no plot to the game. Right from the beginning I was already confused as to what exactly the point of the story would be. You end up going around beautiful scenaries looking for really pointless and boring poems. I made myself finish the game because I didn't want to waste my money.
Rating:
Summary: Plodding and static!
Review: One of the single most boring games I have ever run across -- couldn't hold my attention for half an hour. Gameplay consists of moving around an almost silent, unoccupied, uninteresting Celestial Palace, making tea pour and flowers bloom. Characters are static, story is dull, puzzles are monotonous. For the faint of heart and the extremely patient only.
Rating: 
Summary: Star-Crossed Lovers in a Paradise Lost
Review: PROS: ---- 1. The Legend of Lotus Spring takes place in the 19th Century Garden of Perfect Brightness, where the Chinese emperors housed the women they were forbidden to take as official concubines. This is a Myst-style game, with interiors reminiscent of a string of piercingly-lit, palpably inviting, 3-dimension-like shadow boxes. It feels as though you are making yourself at home in a historical summer palace, where for once it's okay to clamber about on the furniture. Here you find fascinating objects to examine and (sometimes) use -- a dragon's head seismograph, a dim sum picnic lunch, bonsai, jade figurines, ancient musical instruments -- every item in itself a work of art. Each room also has a key animation showing the Emperor Xian Feng and Lotus Spring when they were together; and occasionally there are hints that point to the tragedy that will soon separate them. 2. The Garden of Perfect Brightness, which was destroyed during the Opium Wars, was reputed to be one of the most beautiful places ever created. The attempt to recreate it here is intricate and splendid -- paths that wind lazily through delicately structured, astonishing, color-drenched scenes. 3. The Legend of Lotus Spring is contemplative, absorbing, and mysterious; it is set in a world so detailed that you see new things every time you visit. CONS: ---- 1. The opening is a bit too sentimental, the music is repetitive, and the cursor can be annoyingly cute. Also, the Emperor looks pretty young to be acquiring (and losing) concubines. It took me awhile to realize that this game is not so much an actual reenactment of a historical incident as it is a myth-like drama, with the Garden as a stage and history as a backdrop. 2. Even though there aren't any difficult puzzles, it is possible to become "stuck" if you happen to miss an important directional arrow, inventory item, or hot spot. BOTTOM LINE: ---- If you enjoy historical romance, or if you have any interest in art, gardening, or interior design, you will love this game.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful graphics
Review: The graphics are pretty, but the animations are boring and cheesy. The cursor looks like a fisher price person to me. I was totally lost in the garden of perfect brightness, the place was like a maze and I found myself constantly coming back to the same places over and over again. I like the way the scenery begins to darken with approaching night as you get further in the game, but all together while I was playing this, I found myself thinking, what exactly am I supposed to be doing in this game? Like I said before, the scenery is great, and I don't know much about China, but I would say they did a good job reproducing it. It was also a nice history lesson. Maybe more of a plot and less aimless wandering and I would have liked it more.
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