nancy drew 11: curse of blackmoor manor
Jan. 24th, 2024 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
porticoi thought this one was going to be easier than it was, because i have replayed it a lot, but there are so many moving pieces that i kept remembering that a thing was supposed to happen but not how to make the thing happen. ANYWAY STILL VERY FUN.
nancy is called all the way to england at the behest of a neighbor, whose daughter linda married a british diplomat a few months earlier and has since starting acting....strange. nancy arrives at night, in the dark, and is startled by glowing eyes and subsequently told she was imagining things in short order, and thus our stage is set. blackmoor manor has a lot of moving parts because nancy is solving puzzles that have been set out by one family for a single purpose over the course of 600 years. fun!
so: characters. blackmoor is different from the other nancy games for a few reasons. the first is, there's a parrot. the second is, one of the primary characters is behind a curtain the entire time, so we never see her. the third is, one of the pictured characters only shows up to startle you and then vanishes again. so, while there is some circling of characters and checking in, not nearly as much as in other games.
first off here we have mrs. drake, hugh's aunt (hugh is the brit linda married, who we can speak with but never see as he in abroad). it's never explained why she is called mrs. drake by everyone instead of aunt leticia. i guess she prefers formality. i LOVE her. she spends all her time in the conservatory (WAIT TIL I SHOW YOU THE CONSERVATORY!!!), tending to the plants, most of which appear to be carnivorous. she speaks in that uniquely british way where it's unclear whether you are being complimented or insulted. yet another W for her interactive's old women. continuing counterclockwise, we have loulou! loulou is also an old woman--around 80! she was brought back from the amazon by a penvellyn ancestor, and is a conversation partner, guide (she gives hints), and integral part of a puzzle. she can be bribed with treats and also accidentally killed so, uh. watch out.
next is nigel mookerjee, a researcher who has taken up residence in the library. he's fine. next, there's ethel bosinny, jane's tutor, apparent worshipper of the penvellyn name, and professional jump-scarer. you cannot seek her out to talk to her, but she WILL appear next to you out of nowhere and scare the life out of you. she also threatens that as soon as she gets permission, she'll be removing you from the house. unclear from whom she is getting this permission, but she never gets it i guess because you are not removed. next, there's jane, hugh's daughter and linda's stepdaughter. jane's mother is an opera singer, and jane's room is full of opera posters and dramatic sighs. jane is tutored in everything from maths to family history from 6 am to 2 pm every single day. kill me. she is obsessed with games, and makes nancy play several before she'll reveal a piece of information or hand over a useful item. she professes to love linda deeply but is also a very bad liar. FINALLY: linda. linda is behind a curtain in her bed the entire time you're there, because she claims she's ill or cursed?? her mother insists it's all very unlike her, hence why nancy has been called in. there are a couple photos of her on the wall, where she looks like a hot goth lady.
OKAY. SO. the house is soooooo cool. it's all in very deep jewel tones. above is the great hall. nancy's room belonged to bridget, who was an astronomer, so it's all about stars.
and oh my LORD the conservatory. two stories! wrought iron! a fountain!
i love it. im in love with it. i want to live in there forever i don't even care about the pitcher plant that eats nancy if she gets too close.
right, ok. the game. the mystery nancy goes to blackmoor to solve is what's happening to linda. the mystery that she ends of solving (because like a rat, if you put nancy drew in a maze she WILL solve it) is how a penvellyn "initiate" finds their way to the treasure. the penvellyns are a family of scientists, and have been so for centuries, so the "science" includes things like alchemy. i always take so many notes playing this game because there are sooooo many little symbols to remember. nancy solves the mystery, and in doing so flushes out the person at the root of linda's troubles. she also memorizes like. 30 personal coats of arms. it's a fun game but the moral of the story is it's shockingly easy to convince someone that they're turning into a werewolf.
nancy is called all the way to england at the behest of a neighbor, whose daughter linda married a british diplomat a few months earlier and has since starting acting....strange. nancy arrives at night, in the dark, and is startled by glowing eyes and subsequently told she was imagining things in short order, and thus our stage is set. blackmoor manor has a lot of moving parts because nancy is solving puzzles that have been set out by one family for a single purpose over the course of 600 years. fun!
so: characters. blackmoor is different from the other nancy games for a few reasons. the first is, there's a parrot. the second is, one of the primary characters is behind a curtain the entire time, so we never see her. the third is, one of the pictured characters only shows up to startle you and then vanishes again. so, while there is some circling of characters and checking in, not nearly as much as in other games.
first off here we have mrs. drake, hugh's aunt (hugh is the brit linda married, who we can speak with but never see as he in abroad). it's never explained why she is called mrs. drake by everyone instead of aunt leticia. i guess she prefers formality. i LOVE her. she spends all her time in the conservatory (WAIT TIL I SHOW YOU THE CONSERVATORY!!!), tending to the plants, most of which appear to be carnivorous. she speaks in that uniquely british way where it's unclear whether you are being complimented or insulted. yet another W for her interactive's old women. continuing counterclockwise, we have loulou! loulou is also an old woman--around 80! she was brought back from the amazon by a penvellyn ancestor, and is a conversation partner, guide (she gives hints), and integral part of a puzzle. she can be bribed with treats and also accidentally killed so, uh. watch out.
next is nigel mookerjee, a researcher who has taken up residence in the library. he's fine. next, there's ethel bosinny, jane's tutor, apparent worshipper of the penvellyn name, and professional jump-scarer. you cannot seek her out to talk to her, but she WILL appear next to you out of nowhere and scare the life out of you. she also threatens that as soon as she gets permission, she'll be removing you from the house. unclear from whom she is getting this permission, but she never gets it i guess because you are not removed. next, there's jane, hugh's daughter and linda's stepdaughter. jane's mother is an opera singer, and jane's room is full of opera posters and dramatic sighs. jane is tutored in everything from maths to family history from 6 am to 2 pm every single day. kill me. she is obsessed with games, and makes nancy play several before she'll reveal a piece of information or hand over a useful item. she professes to love linda deeply but is also a very bad liar. FINALLY: linda. linda is behind a curtain in her bed the entire time you're there, because she claims she's ill or cursed?? her mother insists it's all very unlike her, hence why nancy has been called in. there are a couple photos of her on the wall, where she looks like a hot goth lady.
OKAY. SO. the house is soooooo cool. it's all in very deep jewel tones. above is the great hall. nancy's room belonged to bridget, who was an astronomer, so it's all about stars.
and oh my LORD the conservatory. two stories! wrought iron! a fountain!
i love it. im in love with it. i want to live in there forever i don't even care about the pitcher plant that eats nancy if she gets too close.
right, ok. the game. the mystery nancy goes to blackmoor to solve is what's happening to linda. the mystery that she ends of solving (because like a rat, if you put nancy drew in a maze she WILL solve it) is how a penvellyn "initiate" finds their way to the treasure. the penvellyns are a family of scientists, and have been so for centuries, so the "science" includes things like alchemy. i always take so many notes playing this game because there are sooooo many little symbols to remember. nancy solves the mystery, and in doing so flushes out the person at the root of linda's troubles. she also memorizes like. 30 personal coats of arms. it's a fun game but the moral of the story is it's shockingly easy to convince someone that they're turning into a werewolf.
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Date: 2024-01-29 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-01-29 02:26 pm (UTC)