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xyzzysqrlLast time we made a tiny sliver of progress, but this time we're going to try and plow through a hunk of game. As such things are gonna get a little breezy description-wise, but I don't really want to take until next month to clear this game. Accordingly, onward!
First off I try an idea that came to me while I was drowsing last night. That plank that Nancy found in the backyard gets plopped on the rotten area of the floor. Nancy then looks at it and proclaims it "Still not fixed". So I have not solved anything, but I -can- solve this with... maybe some nails, to do impromptu repairs? LOGIC AND TRIAL AND ERROR. These are the keystones of adventure gaming.
I also prod at the four dogs in that cabinet. The others rotate fine, but Nancy declares Iggy "Stuck" and further muses that she "needs some sandpaper" to get him turning. Meanwhile, out in the yard, that water pump Nancy was eying last night doesn't actually work. I yoink the bucket from underneath it, and head off to see if I can find that boat that was mentioned last night. Remember, my to-do list involves those previously mentioned puzzles and making some connections with various people I can only see using that boat.
I'd like to note that while I'm dicking around playing Nancy Drew video games, WE JUST LANDED A ROVER ON MARS. AGAIN. Fuck yes.
Okay. I get to the boat! The boat is full of water. I have a bucket. This one doesn't slow me down very long. At the bottom of the boat is a screwdriver, and a lifejacket, both thusly yoinked. However, the boat is missing a spark plug. It's always one thing after another, isn't it? I hop back out to check the premises.
Way off in back, there's a shack, which I ransack. Let's see. There's a key! I take it with me. There's also a locked box in the corner, so naturally I stick the key in the lock. It instantly snaps off. ... Well okay then. Hopefully that won't make the game unwinnable in sixteen hours or anything. Looking closer at the box I notice that the screws are on the outside. Sloppy work. I undo the screws with the screwdriver and it promptly pops open. Inside are a hammer, some nails ... okay, now I can fix the floor I assume ... and a gas mask, which Nancy stores with the rubber gloves.
A gas mask and big rubber gloves. Apparently Nancy will be, uhm, making meth at some point? I don't even know what the hell.
I also locate Red Knott's(the birdwatcher's) observation platform. Then, with a SIGH, I head into the forest. Y'guys remember that map? Oh yeah. That's... clearly gonna get a workout here. There are several obvious marked areas, so I resolve to check them all out. This doesn't take too long. The maze is dull and full of nothing, although I do find someone's lost shoe. Nancy doesn't comment or pick it up, though. Out at the cemetary I find gravestones for the four dogs.
IGGY - Born Nov 11, 1919 - Died Jan 29, 1932
LUCY - Born April 4th 1922 - Died Jan 29, 1932
XANDER - Born Aug 16, 1923 - Died Jan 29, 1932
VITUS - Born Feb 8, 1924 - Died Jan 29, 1932
Interesting. I check the graves, but they're not facing any odd direction, so no help with that one. Hmm. I also find a second piece of wood and inspect the cairn out there. PAW PRINTS all over the walls. And a big coffin inside that I can't interact with. Okay... back through the maze. ... This forest maze, incidentally? Big load of bullcrap. Roughly forty clicks from one end to the other assuming I make no wrong turns by accident, and it looks like I'm gonna have to go through it several times. This is obvious padding crap, and the only excuse I can offer is that in 2002, the release year of this game, standards were lower.
BUT NOT THAT LOW.
Anyway, while I was blundering my ass through the maze I found another hunk of wood, so that's three of them. THe image of the hammer has three nails, so I bet I can fix the floor in the cabin now.
I tromp back into the cabin, click one time too many on the floor and Nancy hurls herself to her death. Facepalm. I -reload- and tromp back into the cabin and FIX THE DAMN FLOOR this time. There we go. Nancy slams some nails and wood down on the floor and just kinda... flails at them until the floor is "repaired".
Pictured above: THIS LOOKS LEGIT.
Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have done much. Nancy can now read the "Rotten Floorboards" sign without dying... and there's the clear, visible outline of a Harry Potter-style door beneath the stairs. Sadly this is not an interactable object. Hrm. Well, I feel better having fixed things. THAT deathtrap is now up to code, although we'll want to get new wiring so when ghost dogs try to eat the place it won't flicker so badly. (Watch for "Drew on Homes", PBS, check local listings.)
With every obvious daytime option exhausted, Nancy troops upstairs and hits bed until nightfall. Out to Red's platform, to talk to and/or ninjitsu him in the face. They snark at each other about being noisy and birds for a while, then Nancy hits him up for a spare spark plug. Good thinking, Nancy! He agrees, but only if I'll do a sidequest for him. Uh, a favor, I mean. He hands Nancy an expensive digital camera and a tape of birdsongs, and tells her that she is now assigned to photograph RARE BIRDS for him.
Fantastic! The only birds I've seen anywhere are... guess where? IN THE MAZE. Aw man they're getting such MILEAGE out of that fucker.
Sigh. Anyway, he also gives Nancy a suspiciously specific warning: "Don't you dare smoke in the woods." Because they're super-dry and he doesn't care if SHE dies, but he's worried about the bird habitat. Nobody this antisocial and dickish could possibly be a suspect in a mystery like this. He's too obvious. He's off my list.
Back up to the cabin and sleep 'til day.
Down to the boat! The spark plug goes in, there's a puzzle involving adjusting screws to various settings of positive, negative, and neutral which doesn't take much time, and we are BOATING. I can hit the store or the ranger station. I think aboutbossgoji mentioning going straight to animal control, and hit the Ranger Station.
Upon entering the Ranger Station I am instantly greeted with this:
I'm just gonna leave that there.
I flip around, read all the pamphlets and signs on outdoor safety, read about avoiding Hantavirus ("wear filter mask and gloves when near anything that may be contaminated by mouse droppings!" ... Hmmm.) and water testing safety and so on. There's also a computer terminal, which... has exactly the same information in a Geocities-circa-1998-style web page. Well, at least they want to make sure SOMEONE reads it. I turn away and head to JEFF AKERS, SUPER RANGER. He's... a bit of a tool, but a -helpful- tool. I'm not writing up all the chatter here, but blah blah water testing kit blah blah no such thing as ghosts blah blah. Nancy also asks about the graveyard, and about a "Waldo Mathias" who happens to be buried there. I didn't notice this, but maybe that's why I'm not a GIRL DETECTIVE. ... He has no comment. Figures.
He also takes a beat to specifically warn me about Hantavirus and the local deer mouse population, so I -get it- I should wear the gloves and gas mask when exploring mouseland. Ranger Akers then mentions that "Em" at the store may have been trawling the lake for "Artifacts". This is illegal. I decide to pay her a visit.
At Em's Emporium (god that name) there's a BIG SIGN on the wall about her AMAZING ARTIFACTS, FISHED OUT OF THE LAKE (bylegalmeans). Uh-huh. There's also a fridge full of live bait! I open it up and poke a worm, and Nancy goes "EWW." and closes the fridge again. Good to know she's a real person after all. Talking to Em, my first dialogue choice is "I need someone with a chainsaw." Em doesn't even react oddly. She'll send someone out to cut down "that old tree" soon. Sigh. My attempts at being weird and creepy NEVER pay off. Em, meanwhile, is super-happy to hear that Sally is not in the house anymore. Those terrible ghosts! Oh, of course they drove her away!
She also instantly starts badmouthing the park ranger (for wanting to preserve the lake by not dredging it for artifacts) and Red (for being a "creepy tree-hugger"). I kind of suspect HER of being behind all this. She has motive, she's a storeowner so she could rig together a fake dog easily enough... hmm. Anyway she also gives me a line on Sandpaper. She sold it all to Red. ... Of course. I'll have to see about getting his bird photos done.
Oh well. Let's call today a SUCCESS. I checked off a few of my tickboxes and will work on this more later. First, though...
*ring*
Bess: "Hi Nancy."
Nancy: "Bess! Did you get--"
Bess: "Nancy Drew, I did not rent you any ninja movies. How would you watch them over the phone?"
Nancy: "The idea is that you could watch them and then teach me ninjitsu over the phone."
George: "I really don't think ninjas work that way."
Bess: "Anyway, what'd you find out?"
Nancy: "Well..."
*time passes*
Nancy: "And that was the second time I died. Anyway, after that I went back out into the maze to see if anything was down one of the dead ends I missed..."
George: "(What the HELL is she talking about? She fell through the floor and DIED and she's still talking to us? And how many times has she been through that maze now?!)"
Bess: "(I lost count around twenty. I have got to get off this phone. George, HELP. PLEASE.)"
George: "Actually, Nancy, you know who'd love this story?"
Nancy: "I... uh, huh? Who?"
George: "Th... The Hardy Boys! Y'know, Frank and Joe? I have their phone number right here. Why don't you give them a call?"
Nancy: "Ooh, are you sure? Are we cleared for a crossover? Legally, I mean?"
George: "Sure, I guess so. Anyway they're dying to hear from you, so give them a call! Okay bye."
Bess: "George, I owe you SO MUCH for t--"
*click, dial tone*
...So join us next time, as Nancy Drew runs more mazes! Tries to get sandpaper from a birdwatcher! Catalogs rare birds! And harasses the Hardy Boys via telephone!
First off I try an idea that came to me while I was drowsing last night. That plank that Nancy found in the backyard gets plopped on the rotten area of the floor. Nancy then looks at it and proclaims it "Still not fixed". So I have not solved anything, but I -can- solve this with... maybe some nails, to do impromptu repairs? LOGIC AND TRIAL AND ERROR. These are the keystones of adventure gaming.
I also prod at the four dogs in that cabinet. The others rotate fine, but Nancy declares Iggy "Stuck" and further muses that she "needs some sandpaper" to get him turning. Meanwhile, out in the yard, that water pump Nancy was eying last night doesn't actually work. I yoink the bucket from underneath it, and head off to see if I can find that boat that was mentioned last night. Remember, my to-do list involves those previously mentioned puzzles and making some connections with various people I can only see using that boat.
I'd like to note that while I'm dicking around playing Nancy Drew video games, WE JUST LANDED A ROVER ON MARS. AGAIN. Fuck yes.
Okay. I get to the boat! The boat is full of water. I have a bucket. This one doesn't slow me down very long. At the bottom of the boat is a screwdriver, and a lifejacket, both thusly yoinked. However, the boat is missing a spark plug. It's always one thing after another, isn't it? I hop back out to check the premises.
Way off in back, there's a shack, which I ransack. Let's see. There's a key! I take it with me. There's also a locked box in the corner, so naturally I stick the key in the lock. It instantly snaps off. ... Well okay then. Hopefully that won't make the game unwinnable in sixteen hours or anything. Looking closer at the box I notice that the screws are on the outside. Sloppy work. I undo the screws with the screwdriver and it promptly pops open. Inside are a hammer, some nails ... okay, now I can fix the floor I assume ... and a gas mask, which Nancy stores with the rubber gloves.
A gas mask and big rubber gloves. Apparently Nancy will be, uhm, making meth at some point? I don't even know what the hell.
I also locate Red Knott's(the birdwatcher's) observation platform. Then, with a SIGH, I head into the forest. Y'guys remember that map? Oh yeah. That's... clearly gonna get a workout here. There are several obvious marked areas, so I resolve to check them all out. This doesn't take too long. The maze is dull and full of nothing, although I do find someone's lost shoe. Nancy doesn't comment or pick it up, though. Out at the cemetary I find gravestones for the four dogs.
IGGY - Born Nov 11, 1919 - Died Jan 29, 1932
LUCY - Born April 4th 1922 - Died Jan 29, 1932
XANDER - Born Aug 16, 1923 - Died Jan 29, 1932
VITUS - Born Feb 8, 1924 - Died Jan 29, 1932
Interesting. I check the graves, but they're not facing any odd direction, so no help with that one. Hmm. I also find a second piece of wood and inspect the cairn out there. PAW PRINTS all over the walls. And a big coffin inside that I can't interact with. Okay... back through the maze. ... This forest maze, incidentally? Big load of bullcrap. Roughly forty clicks from one end to the other assuming I make no wrong turns by accident, and it looks like I'm gonna have to go through it several times. This is obvious padding crap, and the only excuse I can offer is that in 2002, the release year of this game, standards were lower.
BUT NOT THAT LOW.
Anyway, while I was blundering my ass through the maze I found another hunk of wood, so that's three of them. THe image of the hammer has three nails, so I bet I can fix the floor in the cabin now.
I tromp back into the cabin, click one time too many on the floor and Nancy hurls herself to her death. Facepalm. I -reload- and tromp back into the cabin and FIX THE DAMN FLOOR this time. There we go. Nancy slams some nails and wood down on the floor and just kinda... flails at them until the floor is "repaired".
Pictured above: THIS LOOKS LEGIT.
Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have done much. Nancy can now read the "Rotten Floorboards" sign without dying... and there's the clear, visible outline of a Harry Potter-style door beneath the stairs. Sadly this is not an interactable object. Hrm. Well, I feel better having fixed things. THAT deathtrap is now up to code, although we'll want to get new wiring so when ghost dogs try to eat the place it won't flicker so badly. (Watch for "Drew on Homes", PBS, check local listings.)
With every obvious daytime option exhausted, Nancy troops upstairs and hits bed until nightfall. Out to Red's platform, to talk to and/or ninjitsu him in the face. They snark at each other about being noisy and birds for a while, then Nancy hits him up for a spare spark plug. Good thinking, Nancy! He agrees, but only if I'll do a sidequest for him. Uh, a favor, I mean. He hands Nancy an expensive digital camera and a tape of birdsongs, and tells her that she is now assigned to photograph RARE BIRDS for him.
Fantastic! The only birds I've seen anywhere are... guess where? IN THE MAZE. Aw man they're getting such MILEAGE out of that fucker.
Sigh. Anyway, he also gives Nancy a suspiciously specific warning: "Don't you dare smoke in the woods." Because they're super-dry and he doesn't care if SHE dies, but he's worried about the bird habitat. Nobody this antisocial and dickish could possibly be a suspect in a mystery like this. He's too obvious. He's off my list.
Back up to the cabin and sleep 'til day.
Down to the boat! The spark plug goes in, there's a puzzle involving adjusting screws to various settings of positive, negative, and neutral which doesn't take much time, and we are BOATING. I can hit the store or the ranger station. I think about
bossgoji mentioning going straight to animal control, and hit the Ranger Station.Upon entering the Ranger Station I am instantly greeted with this:
I'm just gonna leave that there.
I flip around, read all the pamphlets and signs on outdoor safety, read about avoiding Hantavirus ("wear filter mask and gloves when near anything that may be contaminated by mouse droppings!" ... Hmmm.) and water testing safety and so on. There's also a computer terminal, which... has exactly the same information in a Geocities-circa-1998-style web page. Well, at least they want to make sure SOMEONE reads it. I turn away and head to JEFF AKERS, SUPER RANGER. He's... a bit of a tool, but a -helpful- tool. I'm not writing up all the chatter here, but blah blah water testing kit blah blah no such thing as ghosts blah blah. Nancy also asks about the graveyard, and about a "Waldo Mathias" who happens to be buried there. I didn't notice this, but maybe that's why I'm not a GIRL DETECTIVE. ... He has no comment. Figures.
He also takes a beat to specifically warn me about Hantavirus and the local deer mouse population, so I -get it- I should wear the gloves and gas mask when exploring mouseland. Ranger Akers then mentions that "Em" at the store may have been trawling the lake for "Artifacts". This is illegal. I decide to pay her a visit.
At Em's Emporium (god that name) there's a BIG SIGN on the wall about her AMAZING ARTIFACTS, FISHED OUT OF THE LAKE (bylegalmeans). Uh-huh. There's also a fridge full of live bait! I open it up and poke a worm, and Nancy goes "EWW." and closes the fridge again. Good to know she's a real person after all. Talking to Em, my first dialogue choice is "I need someone with a chainsaw." Em doesn't even react oddly. She'll send someone out to cut down "that old tree" soon. Sigh. My attempts at being weird and creepy NEVER pay off. Em, meanwhile, is super-happy to hear that Sally is not in the house anymore. Those terrible ghosts! Oh, of course they drove her away!
She also instantly starts badmouthing the park ranger (for wanting to preserve the lake by not dredging it for artifacts) and Red (for being a "creepy tree-hugger"). I kind of suspect HER of being behind all this. She has motive, she's a storeowner so she could rig together a fake dog easily enough... hmm. Anyway she also gives me a line on Sandpaper. She sold it all to Red. ... Of course. I'll have to see about getting his bird photos done.
Oh well. Let's call today a SUCCESS. I checked off a few of my tickboxes and will work on this more later. First, though...
*ring*
Bess: "Hi Nancy."
Nancy: "Bess! Did you get--"
Bess: "Nancy Drew, I did not rent you any ninja movies. How would you watch them over the phone?"
Nancy: "The idea is that you could watch them and then teach me ninjitsu over the phone."
George: "I really don't think ninjas work that way."
Bess: "Anyway, what'd you find out?"
Nancy: "Well..."
*time passes*
Nancy: "And that was the second time I died. Anyway, after that I went back out into the maze to see if anything was down one of the dead ends I missed..."
George: "(What the HELL is she talking about? She fell through the floor and DIED and she's still talking to us? And how many times has she been through that maze now?!)"
Bess: "(I lost count around twenty. I have got to get off this phone. George, HELP. PLEASE.)"
George: "Actually, Nancy, you know who'd love this story?"
Nancy: "I... uh, huh? Who?"
George: "Th... The Hardy Boys! Y'know, Frank and Joe? I have their phone number right here. Why don't you give them a call?"
Nancy: "Ooh, are you sure? Are we cleared for a crossover? Legally, I mean?"
George: "Sure, I guess so. Anyway they're dying to hear from you, so give them a call! Okay bye."
Bess: "George, I owe you SO MUCH for t--"
*click, dial tone*
...So join us next time, as Nancy Drew runs more mazes! Tries to get sandpaper from a birdwatcher! Catalogs rare birds! And harasses the Hardy Boys via telephone!
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-06 11:28 pm (UTC)Don't judge me. I needed the money.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-08 04:25 am (UTC)Well, okay. More for me, then.
no subject
Date: 2017-01-08 04:28 am (UTC)And oh, okay, you are making up the conversations. That... makes me feel slightly better, "oops I derped in retrospect" reaction to the last entry aside.
Edit: Wait, Hantavirus is the reason you need gloves and a gasmask in this game? Okay, I'm from an area where that's actually a thing, and... yeah you kind of need to be careful and don't just go cleaning out your old shed you've been neglecting for ten years without precautions, but I mean it's a respiratory illness that can eventually put you in the hospital after it incubates, not an instant teargas death reaction. How on Earth is this game going to Sierra you with that, unless it does a "flash forward five years later: Did Nancy Drew end up catching anything after this case?" good/bad ending sort of deal....