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After reading Bridgette's dialogue, I'm starting to think that Nancy is actually demanding answers Jack Bauer style from a really  woman WHO ARE YOU!? DO I KNOW YOU!? You do now. I’m Bridget. I’ll be outside, there’s something very important I need to tell you. WHY ARE YOU WASTING MY TIME!? WHERE'S REVENENT!? I NEED THE INFORMATION NOW! Teach me your ways! GODDAMNIT THERE'S NOT ENOUGH TIME!
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Oct 30, 2014 18:33
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:The writing in this game is great. It's mostly a regular point-and-click. There's codes and inventory puzzles, but as you've seen there's a hell of a lot more dialog than anything else. Which is fine, because as should be obvious the writing is their speciality
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Oct 30, 2014 20:20
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Moira was kidnapped, and soon Nancy is going to ransack her house like any good adventure game protagonist. But first, she’s got a caller on the line: You’re in Scotland!It’s Carson, Nancy’s dad. So I guess Nancy didn’t bother telling anyone that she was going to Scotland? Like Nancy, he has no official appearance. He’s also a lawyer, but that doesn’t really matter in this game. You don’t have my permission to be in Scotland. Come home, right now. Your permission? I think I’m a little too old for that.Yes, all you people talking about highschool hijinks were way off. Nancy is about 20 at this point, and appears to solve Scooby-Doo ghost cases for a living. She still lives with her dad, though, so I’m sure many people reading this will find her quite relatable. What you’re too old for, is running headfirst into a dangerous situation and leaving the rest of us to clean up after you. What is with you right now? Calm down.Yeah, why are you upset about your daughter running off to work with the people who got your wife killed? Grow up, Carson! Nancy, you don’t get it. I am not angry at you, I am scared. Please, just come home. Why are you being so difficult? Nancy, if I help you I’m pushing you right to whoever has lured you there. I can handle myself. Your mother said the same thing. Can I have Mom’s notes. No. It might be helpful. I bet it would be extremely helpful, but no. You really can’t. They’re gone. I shredded them. You what?! Remember when you picked the lock on that filing cabinet? Which one? I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, to my knowledge it was just the one… I knew you were looking for her notes, so I shredded everything. How could you do that? I thought it might prevent you from doing what you’re doing right now. Talk to you later!We also need to call Nancy’s boyfriend, because otherwise he won’t give us a key puzzle solution we need later on.  Hey, Nancy. What’s going on? Your dad wanted me to book a flight to Scotland. What’s going on? Your dad seemed really upset. He is. He thinks I’m in danger. And he’s just NOW noticing this? He seems to think that it’s different this time. He might be right. I had my bag stolen at the train station. Oh no! Did you lose anything valuable? This poem I had, it was my mom’s. It was her favorite poem, Jabberwocky. That poem is confusing. I prefer haiku. Easier to understand. I see what you did! Well, at least you can replace it. No, that’s the thing, I can’t. My mom had marked it up in this strange way. She color coded it in the book. I always thought it was a code. But my dad was really weird about all of her things. So I was only ever able to make a copy. The original is still there? I think so. I need you to get the original copy of the Jabberwocky poem. Original meaning… The color version my mom had, I need you to scan it and send it here. Shouldn’t you ask your dad? He’ll say no. Ned, I need you to break into my house and get that poem. …Alright. I’m sorry, Ned. No need to apologize. You’ve certainly made my life weirder, but you’ve also made it much better. If all you ask in return is a little burglary now and again, it’s a fair trade. But I don’t think the “Nancy said it’s cool” approach will be all that effective in a court of law. …Hey, if your dad catches me, do you think he’ll still be my lawyer?That was a hell of a lot of dialog. But now, a real puzzle. “Under the teapot”:  We also steal some wires:  And a book called Clan Tartans of Scotland. There’s a safe where we hid from the kidnappers, and each switch adds or subtracts a certain amount, they have to add up to 164.  I hate puzzles like this, because they’re tedious, but whatever. Inside is a key, which goes to the safehouse, and also a folder of letters.   There’s also a box, which can’t be opened.  The safehouse is in Loch Lomond, so let’s go there. On the train, Nancy passes out and we get another flashback. Don’t worry, eventually there will be more spy stuff, I promise.   Come in Nancy. Big sad news coming down the pike. Breaker breaker, smokey niner? Do you even have any idea how selfish you’re being right now? Nancy, is everything okay? Bess, something’s going on. It’s bad. Sneak down and listen. K. No, you’re not doing this! You made me a promise! This is more important. What do you want me to tell Nancy, huh? That her mom doesn’t care enough about her to stay? Just leave then, run off to Scotland! Oh, grow up, Carson.The train finally arrives.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Hiw1CNXVc   Not a very impressive safehouse.  One of the letters mentioned the Acts of Union and a television. They were passed in May, 1707.    See you next time!
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Oct 31, 2014 17:08
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 I swear I once had a walkie-talkie of that exact model.
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Oct 31, 2014 17:29
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Your tax dollars at work, everyone!
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Oct 31, 2014 17:59
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quote:That poem is confusing. I prefer haiku. Easier to understand. Did nobody bother to tell the writers that haiku are 5-7-5, not 7-5-7?
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Oct 31, 2014 18:43
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Nancy Drew now has access to her mother’s MI-5 safehouse. Unfortunately, the system is locked with a password, so it’s not very useful yet. There’s a book, which will come in handy later: I think the puzzle this goes to is solvable now, but we don’t need to do that yet. The only thing the computer will display is this message:  Ned still hasn’t sent us the poem, so we can’t solve this puzzle. But fortunately, Ewan gives Nancy a call, so the plot can continue.  Nancy, come see me. I’ve put a card in your safe. Your password is your room number times the price of a serving of haggis in the deli outside the hotel. Why? Why not?There’s something else we need to get from Loch Lomond, though. And I can’t explain in words how loving terrible this is so I will just let these images explain it.       Also, Nancy steals a book about how to play bagpipes. The code to the safe in Nancy’s room is 3635.  Using it in the elevator takes us to the secret spy floor, which all British hotels have.  This is so stupid. Anyway, it’s time to meet Ewan face-to-face, which means a lot of exposition, as Ewan explains what the hell Revenant is trying to accomplish. Unfortunately, as you’ve seen, the writers seem to be pretty confused about it themselves.   My code name is Ewan. And before you ask, no, I did not choose it. Would have chosen something better. Shadow, Blizzard, some better word that doesn’t also sound like a name you’d give a horse. Is Cathedral a part of MI5? It is, and yet it is not. I understand. And yet, you do not. I love duplicity and yet… You hate it. What exactly do you do here? In the intelligence game, the dumb ones get manipulated. And the clever ones get buried. And the particularly clever ones? Well, they win of course. But that’s most likely not you… No offence, it’s not me either.Nancy “Delivers Letters for Terrorists” Drew has no time for this talk of manipulation. Let’s cut to the chase:  That is what Revenant wants. They don’t want to take over the world. They want to keep it.Nancy Drew is going to defeat the goddamn Illuminati with a cookie minigame. Who is Revenant? We do not know exactly. That’s just what we’re calling them. I’m seeing a pattern. That pattern is called chaos. In this game of cat and mouse, we thought we were the cat. But you’re the mouse. We’re the mouse. They’re the trap. What exactly was the Colony Operation? The idea was simple: manufacture a disaster. In this case it was the release of a virus designed not to kill, but to incapacitate. Pushing the city into a state of disaster. That’s stage one. As far as we understood, if the Glasgow cell carried out the first stage, Revenant would take over. Ok, what would they do next? They’d send in support, put the city back on its feet. And in the days that follow, seize all positions of authority under the guise of emergency action. Drive the stake into the ground, so to speak. And never give back what was taken. It seems like Revenant was obsessed with getting the formula correct. Why? The formula is important. Too deadly, obviously a problem. Revenant will not show up unless you hit the sweet spot. They’re interested in using this as a test run, not in racking up civilian casualties. Too easy to fight off, then it’s just a cold. You need to knock three quarters of the city under a pile of blankets, then you’re home free. What about the children, the elderly, people who are already sick? Ah, you know, I don’t want to think about that. Back to the formula. If the operator is running again, there is most likely a lab working on an approximation of the virus. Getting everything ready in place for when the proper formula is available. If anyone can find the original scientist, or the original formula, it’s a matter of time. If they find both? They’ll have it ready almost instantaneously.Glasgow had better hope no anonymous callers ask Nancy Drew to find this stuff. What does Revenant want? What is your role with Cathedral? I’m the watcher in the wires. I protect the status quo and, for the time being, you. What do you mean by “protect the status quo”? Society rides on a rail. Like a trolley. The rails are solid and modest and predictable. Those are your desk types. They get married, they have some kids, buy a house they can’t afford… and never again are they unpredictable. Or interesting. Or alive, even. But the catenary line, the third rail, that’s what drives the world forward! People that have a charge running through them, they move the world forward. Or… they try to destroy it. I make sure that won’t happen.  These are the worst spies in the goddamn world. corn in the bible fucked around with this message at 00:26 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 00:07
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Some stories run on dumb assumptions, but kinda make sense when those assumptions are allowed. Others are dumb on a number of levels. Then, every so often, you come across a story that's truly dumb on every level. No matter how narrow you focus in, it's dumb. If you pull back to a broad overview, it's still dumb, often for entirely different reasons. Even moment to moment, the flow of events is dumb. This game possesses that rare quality of truly fractal stupidity. I'm impressed.
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Nov 3, 2014 00:44
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How do you eat your cereal? Well it starts with society. In this society there is a separation of animals. Some animals give the milk, and other take the milk. Then there is a third party. These are the one who take the milk and give cottage cheese. They are the most dangerous party in our entire society.
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Nov 3, 2014 00:45
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How far are you into the game? That seems like the kind of infodump you get as part of a major plot twist and then you have to make a moral choice near the end. Now I want to see Nancy Drew bowhunting terrorists Rambo-style. Maybe that sounds outlandish, but this seems like the kind of game where anything is possible
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Nov 3, 2014 00:47
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corn in the bible posted:
Also, the buckle on that belt is pointed the wrong direction. That's bugged me ever since every costume in Dragon Age got it wrong.
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Nov 3, 2014 00:50
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Dude not only has a Hawaiian shirt with fire on it, it's pixel fire. What a goon. Also, I do not understand a single thing that happened in this update. Edit: Oh, and let's not forget Joe Hardy. I only recently learned that the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were created by the same person, so this crossover makes sense. Waffleman_ fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Nov 3, 2014 |
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Nov 3, 2014 00:50
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Waffleman_ posted:Dude not only has a Hawaiian shirt with fire on it, it's pixel fire. What a goon. Early on in The Labyrinth of Lies it's established that the Hardy Boys are members of a secret teen detective division of the FBI.
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Nov 3, 2014 02:16
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OF COURSE THEY ARE!
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Nov 3, 2014 02:23
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This game is amazi.. sorry, I meant this game is katemazing.
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Nov 3, 2014 02:57
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Ewan is the personification of 
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Nov 3, 2014 07:08
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There are three main features of the Cathedral base. Ewan has given us access to the information database, but most of it is locked up behind passwords. The other information is mostly just character profiles, and thus not very useful apart from one strange code.  If people want me to post all the character profiles, I can do that, but it should probably wait until we get all the passwords regardless. We can also dick around with Ewan’s servers, but we can’t do anything more with them yet.  And there’s a case of spy gadgets, similarly locked up tight.  Honestly, MI-5 is pretty underwhelming. Nancy makes a quick trip to Gifnock to grab the knife and screwdriver I forgot to have her grab the first time we were there, and then she gets another phone call.  It’s time for a new test. Cut the lines on the trash compactor at the station. And you will be rewarded.Nancy Drew is the third catenary mousetrap who refuse to be manipulated.  Listen. The scientist is in hiding, the storehouse has been secured. The chemical agent is no longer a threat. I know you’re recording this. I know you can pass this to my family. They need to know why I left. You have to make sure they find out! What message?…whatever. let’s just go talk to Bridget again. Where were you? I wasn’t sure if you had a party or if you got murdered! Either way it would have been nice to be invited. I went to spend a little time at a cabin. Who just goes to a cabin by themselves… Shut up! Did you bring Alec? You know Alec? I know he’s not into me. But now I see why. Alec did not come with me. And how do you know about him anyway? I’m not here to judge. There’s nothing to judge! Let me check the docket… Hmm. May I refer you to the case of Tree vs. Nancy and Alec. Tree alleges k-i-s-s Enough! Even Bridget knows it! Nancy has another phone call. Hi, Nancy. So how’d… Am I on speaker phone? Yeah. Yes, Nancy, you are on speaker phone. …Oh. Mmm-hmm. I would like to remind… Shut up, Ned. Don’t talk to Ned that way. Actually, at this… juncture… that might be warranted. Thank you, Ned. You’re welcome! Shut up, Ned. I am upset with Ned because he let you talk him into something dangerous, and he wasn’t smart enough to stop you. Whoa, hold on. Nothing we say is going to stop Nancy… not this time. I understand why you don’t want to help her but that’ll make things more dangerous for Nancy. So – now you can tell me to shut up.Ned argues that Nancy Drew is so irresponsible and insane that she’s going to get herself killed unless everyone helps her. This is probably a fair assessment of what’s happening here. The poem is on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. Can you go get it and give me a moment with Nancy? Sure thing, Mr. Drew. Nancy, I don’t know what to do here, kiddo. I wish you would just come home. But I think you were right to go to Ned… Thanks. I’ll talk to you again soon.Nancy goes up to her room to wait for something interesting to happen. Then, somehow, she notices Bridget, who coincidentally has the room across the courtyard from Nancy’s, sweeping her room for bugs.  I know it looks like she’s just got a cell-phone out, but Nancy now instinctively knows that Bridget is a secret agent. This theoretically might surprise someone, I guess, so it’s sort of like a plot twist? Regardless, let’s go ask Ewan for something to help us spy on her. Do you have anything that can help me keep an eye on Bridget? Well… not as such. Unless. You’re not afraid of heights now, are you? Check this out. And, for good measure, Ewan gives us more ridiculous spy chat. Why was the attack centered on Glasgow? We wondered that as well. It took us too long, we had that special vanity that made us think our lives were more important than anyone else’s. And that blinded us to the obvious. It was Glasgow because someone here wanted to play a risky game. When Revenant sees someone they think could be pointed in a direction they find advantageous… They drop a trail of breadcrumbs. Is there anything you could tell me about Bridget? That girl upstairs? I ran her background on a hunch. Nothing. Try not to let her become collateral damage, she seems sweet.Then why did you tell us to break into her room loving hell you are the worst spy ever  Kate’s poem has arrived. By mail, for some reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B703YTHnxbY      This is Bridget’s room. If we let too much time pass while Nancy’s trespassing, it’s Game Over. Fortunately, the time limit is extremely lenient, so that that’s very unlikely.  Bridget… is a spy?!? What!? Impossible! But what could MacLorthen mean? That’s one of the Scottish clans mentioned in our kilt book, but how does that apply to espionage? Like this:  See you next time!
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Nov 5, 2014 19:15
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Can you conclusively prove that this game was not made by space aliens?
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Nov 5, 2014 20:01
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That Ewan fellow might not be the most trustworthy sort.
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Nov 5, 2014 20:06
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I think I've got it figured out. Nancy is in the grip of a colossal psychotic break. She's actually locked in a very soft room somewhere in upstate New York, completely catatonic, whilst she hallucinates mad free-association bullshit loosely themed around the world's most grossly incompetent spies set within a reality inspired by a brochure she once saw about Scotland put together by Jack Chick to warn the righteous of Satan's glee at the existence of haggis and whiskey.
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Nov 5, 2014 20:36
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CharlieFoxtrot posted:That Ewan fellow might not be the most trustworthy sort. Unlike all the other characters, right?
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Nov 5, 2014 21:13
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Man, poor Ned. ... it's hard to type that with a straight face. SHUT UP, NED.
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Nov 5, 2014 21:27
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It's like someone took an episode of Danger Man, wrote the exact opposite, removed every other word and then put the script in backwards. 
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Nov 5, 2014 22:09
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corn in the bible posted:
Is this woman secretly five years old?
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Nov 5, 2014 22:41
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Ghostwoods posted:I think I've got it figured out. I am inclined to agree with you. With this new tartan puzzle my theory of "The writer has only read parodies of Nancy Drew" seems more and more likely. 
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Nov 5, 2014 23:02
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Is this woman secretly five years old? My theory definitely has more backing now.Is Alec supposed to be a love interest? We know him for all of four scenes and he has like nothing in common with Nancy.
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Nov 5, 2014 23:05
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http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=278 http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=279 http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=293 http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=317 I think that's the complete collection of Kate Beaton's Nancy Drew cartoons. They're, uh, better than this game.
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Nov 6, 2014 06:29
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Shadow and Blizzard seem like names someone would give a horse though.Unlike Ewan, which is like, let me introduce to my horse Tony.
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Nov 8, 2014 15:45
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It's good this is in screenshot form, because I'm now reading everything Nancy says in JC Denton's voice. Ewan is Alex Jacobson And Bridget as Anna Navarre corn in the bible posted:
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Nov 8, 2014 19:53
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Bridget’s phone is locked with a ridiculous puzzle lock. Fortunately, while the puzzle is ridiculous in context, it’s at least a fairly good puzzle – you have to decide in which order the colors should be added so they overlap properly. The range of possibilities means it’s almost impossible to brute-force, but still requires logical thought to figure out. So I don’t mind this bit.    Is she talking about a dead drop? If I work fast enough, I might be able to intercept the package.Clearly, Bridget is not to be trusted. But we have to talk to her anyway, so let’s go do that. I’ve been robbed! What? What happened? Someone broke into my room… What was taken? My money. Just your money? What kind of a question is that? Well, money’s – sorry, just trying to see how I can help. I just saw a group of men in suits headed toward your room. They looked like spies or something. What!She leaves, finally. It’s necessary to get her out of the way because the instructions for the dead drop are hidden around here, and we can’t get at it unless Bridget is out of the way.    I hate this puzzle. Unlike the Kilt puzzle from earlier, the basic pattern is very simple. The problem is that putting it into effect is boring and repetitive, and so it’s easy to slip up as you do the same maneuvers over and over again. Solving it doesn’t make you feel smart, it makes you feel relieved that you don’t have to do it again.  Bridget’s contact requires money, which we don’t have. They want it put into a blue bag, which we also don’t have. Fortunately, I know where to get one:  Prior to this point, the souvenir shop was sold out of bags, but now that we need one we can buy one. Unfortunately it costs money, which is a problem. We also need to buy the musical… thing… which is also suddenly in stock, because it’s needed for a separate puzzle. All of this, added up, comes to 72£.   Bridget’s standing right there, watching. For whatever reason, they didn’t bother to code in a check for when you drop the money off, so it doesn’t matter if she sees it. Want to hear a funny story? Sure Great. Give me your phone. Umm… C’mon. Give. Phone. Give me the phone. Come on! You know you’re curious as to why I want it! I am… but… Curiosity killed the cat! That’s not exactly helping your case. Aaaargh! Gimmie, please. I won’t do anything crazy.At this point, Nancy Drew knows, 100%, that Bridget is a spy. We broke into her hotel room and are in the middle of intercepting a shipment from her agency. As such, letting her mess with Nancy’s phone is probably a great idea.  So! “Dropped my phone into a sewer. This isn’t my phone, don’t write back.” Loophole! I was going to dump him soon anyway, but in person. Like you do. Thanks for your…Suddenly, Revenant calls Nancy’s phone while Bridget is messing with it, blowing her cover. You ARE a spy.No poo poo. I mean… shhh. No you’re not. But you are! Hooray. What are you really up to? You’ve been tracking me since I arrived. I bet your name isn’t even really Bridget. No. Your name isn’t Bridget. Who are you, really? Why were you asking me so many questions? Thank you! I am so sick of that accent. And I am so sick of you. She leaves. Even though we were standing next to it during that entire conversation, let’s go check the dead drop.  These glasses don’t do anything right now, but I promise you they’re going to be fantastic. Bridget’s still here, though she looks a little different. I guess she’s really named Zoe but I don’t give a gently caress. She’s also dropped the horrendously fake Scottish accent. This managed to surprise me, as I had assumed they had just hired a terrible actress.   Keep ‘em, by the way. I remote wiped the drive. You want to play spy? Enjoy the toy. Here’s the deal. You go forward like we never spoke. What are you going to do? Spy stuff. Let me get this straight, you’re an American? Yup. What are you doing here? Trying to pry as much information out of you before you end up dead. Is that a threat? You really think I’m going to be killed? I hope you aren’t. But you’re here to figure out what happened to Kate. She was killed by the same group who will kill you if you don’t leave. Now you know. Now you go.
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Nov 8, 2014 21:59
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Alright, so I can get that she tied her hair up tight underneath a red wig, but when and why did she switch out her dress, her makeup, and even her complexion?
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Nov 8, 2014 22:16
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This game is clearly written by someone who learned everything they know about Scotland from the Geography version of the Drunk History program. (And possibly that CNBC anchor who was utterly astonished to learn that Ireland used the euro, not the pound.) Thanks for LPing this and sharing the insanity with the world.
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Nov 8, 2014 22:27
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Alright, so I can get that she tied her hair up tight underneath a red wig, but when and why did she switch out her dress, her makeup, and even her complexion? She has to switch to a black outfit to show that she's evil, duh.
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Nov 8, 2014 22:34
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Now that's a face.
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Nov 8, 2014 23:23
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I still don't know what the gently caress is going on and it upsets me.
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Nov 8, 2014 23:46
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Alright, so I can get that she tied her hair up tight underneath a red wig, but when and why did she switch out her dress, her makeup, and even her complexion? Fractal. Stupidity.
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Nov 8, 2014 23:49
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I like how the receipt for the glasses just straight-up says 'Sleuthing Spygear' at the top. HEY HEY CLUE SLEUTHING SPYGEAR FOR ONE ZOE WOLFE HMM
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Nov 8, 2014 23:58
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I missed the part in the James Bond films where 007 had to get hired as a part-time cookie maker. I guess it's one of those things Ian Flemming fluffed up to make the stories more exciting.
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Nov 9, 2014 00:23
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Also. Sleuthing Spygear. That sure is a store that loving exists.
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Nov 9, 2014 00:25
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 15:06 |
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Waffleman_ posted:Also. Honestly that's not too much crazier than The Spy Store.
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Nov 9, 2014 00:29
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