Secrets

A place for your hidden thoughts concerning the Nancy Drew pc games

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Custom Game:

Issue One: The Roswell Reaper

If ever given the opportunity to write and design a Nancy Drew game, this would be mine. It is designed to be perfect for the first meeting with Sonny Joon.

The beginning:

Nancy is finally home on vacation. She's ready to take a break from mystery solving and spend time with her family and friends. The game starts with her going to a movie with Ned, Bess, and George. After the movie, her cell phone rings. She has received a text message from a blocked number. The message says something along the lines of "it's time."

Nancy ignores the message and goes home. She checks her email only to find multiple anonymous emails all saying "Time has run out, I need your help."

Each email ends with a different number. These numbers will create the first puzzle of the game. After solving the puzzle, you will end up with an address. You'll be flying to Roswell, New Mexico.

Upon arriving in Roswell, you will be solving a few puzzles to get different addresses. The last address leads you to a small home owned by Stormie May. Stormie introduces herself as Sonny Joon's partner. Her and Nancy drive into the middle of the desert. After stopping at what seems to be the middle of nowhere, they start off walking. After a short distance, they arrive at a small cave. Entering the cave, we meet Sonny Joon for the first time.

Nancy is thrilled to finally meet him. She begins asking questions, but he won't answer. He ignores what she has to say before informing her about the "Roswell Reaper." The Reaper is an unknown person that has been abducting people across the city. Sonny asks Nancy to help him figure out who this is.

So, why Nancy?

Sonny, being the person he is, believes Aliens to be the cause of the abductions. He believes that she is the only one with the sleuthing skills needed to get down to the bottom of this mystery.

Settings:

The locations would be Misty and Sonny's house, the cave, an adobe restaurant owned by the loud and bombastic Abilene Garza, and the local police station.

Characters:

Sonny Joon- Medium length green, pink, and brown hair. Tall, thin, and pale. Wears Tshirts and jeans. Glasses that sit on the tip of his nose. Very relaxed but extremely focused. Not one that is willing to deal with distractions at this time.

Misty May- Messy blue and black hair. Short and thin. Jeans and open jackets. She has anger issues and wants everything done perfect the first time she asks. The only person she's nice to is Sonny. She, like Sonny, is extremely intelligent and firmly believes in Aliens. She is a human encyclopedia.

Abilene Garza- Short brown hair. Large and in charge Hispanic woman. Always joking around, doesn't take anything seriously. She likes word games and practical jokes. Loathes Sonny, but loves Misty.

Sheriff John Velasco- The sheriff of the town. He moves between the police station and Abilene's restaurant. He's a serious man that comes across as very intimidating. He takes his job very seriously. Tall and lean.

I will not be revealing my culprit or the ending. That's up to you to decide, for now :)

Please, let me know what you think!

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Setting:

Issue One: Shadow Ranch

None of us can deny that setting is one of the most important details in a game. Whether you're playing Nancy Drew on your PC or Silent Hill on your Xbox, the setting makes the game.

One of my favorite game settings was in The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Growing up in Texas, you would think that I live on a big horse ranch and talk in a thick southern accent. That's not the truth for me, but it is for my aunt and her family. 

The game takes place mostly outdoors, which is rare in Nancy Drew games. Being rare, it also provides a breath of fresh air. Mix that with a home-style country landscape and you've got yourself a good game.

Now, the setting did have some faults. Granted, it was the 10th game in the series, but previous games didn't face the problems this one had as a game that took place outside. 

My biggest problem with the game, which I noticed the first time I played it almost 7 years ago, was the blending. Rather than creating a full landscape that stretched as far as the eye could see, a set background was added. No attempt was made to blend the lines.

This wouldn't have been a problem, had you not been able to visibly see the lines separating set and background.

One more con about this setting would be that it got repetitive. There was little variation between each of the locations you got to visit. 

Readers, remember to send your confessions to my ask box! I need your help to keep the blog alive.

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Shipping and FanFiction:

Issue One: Sonny and Henrik

I'm going to start off by saying that I don't like shipping characters, and I hate fanfiction. There are very few exceptions I'll make to this. One being Sonny Joon and Henrik van der Hune.

We know that Sonny worked at the Beach Hill museum with Henrik. They worked in the same room and spent countless hours with each other. When Nancy meets Henrik, he doesn't share much love for Sonny. Why?

If you read my previous issue about Minette and her symbolism, you'll notice I mentioned Sonny possibly leaving her after a short lived romance. I'm going to say that is again the case. This, of course, would have happened before the issue with Minette.

So, why the pairing of Henrik and Sonny?

It's fairly obvious that Sonny is a bit immature. Sure, he's highly intelligent, but he also has the attention span of a five year old. This is why I consider this ship. Henrik is a well collected man. He's patient and good at his job. To me, he would act as a father figure to Sonny. Showing him guidance and walking him through simple tasks. 

Why the sudden dislike of Sonny?

Well, Sonny left the job. He moved on to other things. This hurts Henrik.

BUT

Yes, there is a but.

We can't blame Sonny for this. I feel like Sonny leaves whenever he starts to get close to someone. He doesn't want to be put through heartbreak because he feels that he's not good enough for anyone.

So, until Sonny is willing to settle down and look at life, he continues his chase for higher beings. Them being Aliens. He wants answers, and he feels that their intelligence is beyond his wildest dreams. They hold his answers.

Only after Sonny gets a true Alien encounter will he be happy.

That's what he's searching for.

Note: The picture posted above of Sonny Joon is a Sim that I created. He's my own representation of him. You can see the rest of the screenshots here: http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=Sonny+joon#/d4vg36r

Second Note: Send your favorite ships to my ask box. The most popular ones will be filed away for a future issue.

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Characters I would bang:

Issue Two: Minette and Her Symbolism

Minette is my favorite female character from any of the games. Her character is symbolic, to a sense that it's almost surreal.

Minette's ego often gets the best of her, which is her tragic downfall. She's a top designer that's envied by many people, and she knows it.

She wears the mask to hide her tattoo, that much is known. But, there's more to it. The mask is a visual symbol. Saying that someone "hides behind a mask" is saying that they're acting as a different character. They don't appear as they really are. That's Minette. She's hiding herself from the world, because everyone has drawn up an image of who they think she is. She's just trying to live up to that image.

When the mask falls, we see her face for the first time. This could symbolize her change. She knows what she has done wrong, and she's going to put the past behind her. She's giving up on who she pretends to be. She's just going to be Minette.

The tattoo. It's an alien. We know that Sonny Joon worked for her prior to Nancy's arrival. It's safe to assume that Sonny's influence was strong. Who knows, maybe him and Minette had a short lived romance? She got the tattoo for him, only for him to leave shortly after. Him leaving could have driven her to a state of denial, hatred, and anger.

Minette's a good person that has been through a lot. She's not evil or a "bad guy," she's simply misled and misinterpreted. No one is there for her to talk to. She's alone with her thoughts, which is enough to drive anyone insane.

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~Anon

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Music:

Issue One: Bridget's Ballad

Bridget with her eyes so bright looks toward Heaven at midnight. On the longest night of year, that's the one she holds most dear. "Starry friends" she's often heard to say. "Oh I wish that I could make you stay." Though she knows they can't remain, time will bring them 'round again.

None of us can deny that music is a big part in making a story what it is. You can't have a thrilling chase scene with bubble gum pop playing in the background. It won't have the same effect that deep notes on a piano would.

What comes to your mind when I mention Nancy Drew and music? I'm sure everyone has a certain song or a certain game in mind now. For me, I automatically think about standing in front of Jane's door while she sings "Bridget's Ballad." For some reason, that song just stands out.

That one single song makes Curse of Blackmoore Manor the most memorable game to me.

Now that you're thinking of a song, what game are you thinking of? Which game is the most memorable to you?

I'm sure most of you picked a song from your favorite game. Now, why is that?

Music is a powerful tool that tends to stick to our minds. It gives us pictures and settings that we may or may not have seen before. Have you ever found yourself memorizing lyrics faster than school work? Now, why is that?

We listen to music because we enjoy everything it has to offer. While we all have favorite genres, we can all relate to the reason we listen. We like it.

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Design:

Issue One: Improvement. The past, the present, and the future.

Pictured above we have a setting and a character from both Stay Tuned for Danger (#2) and Tomb of the Lost Queen (#26).

I'll be starting with Stay Tuned for Danger because it was the first to use the same animation as today.

Now, looking at the pictures you can obviously see many differences. We see that HeR updated their program, got some better artists, and found the shade tool.

I've played all of the games, I've seen improvements in each one. What dissapoints me is that HeR seems to focus more on setting than characters. Not only have the characters become repetitive and banal, but their animation style is still lacking.

Rather than setting full attention to background detail, I would like to see the next few games focused on improving the characters themselves. I want more animation from the characters. Most seem to only have a few programmed motions that can become very egregious over the course of the game.

Aside from actions, let us analyze the looks themselves. It's no secret that the settings have drastically improved. I myself find all of the settings quite beautiful for a PC game. I feel that because so much time is spent making each set perfect, with realistic colors, textures, and layouts, the characters themselves miss out on full attention.

I want to see the characters become more realistic. Let's give them natural movement, fix the lip syncing, and sharpen their features.I appreciate that clothing has been given a bit of shadow and movement, but lets take it one step farther. Make it flow with the character, give it life. On top of that, the characters bodies are very computer generated. With robotic movement, the bodies leave little to be desired.

This has been bugging me for the past few games. I'm still waiting for the characters to be given the same sense of realism as the setting.

I feel like HeR has been trying to improve characters, but they're going about it wrong. In my opinion, which you may or may not disagree with, the characters have been going down in quality from the past few games.

I believe that the characters have looked their best so far in Legend of the Crystal Skull and The Haunting of Castle Malloy.

I play a ton of games, from all genres and systems, I know it can be better. It's good as it is, but it's about time that it becomes great.

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No limits, keep sending your confessions.

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Games:

Issue One: Danger by Design

If you've read my first two issues you'll see that they're a bit pointed. So, for a breath of fresh air, I'm going to do a positive issue.

I'm going to start off the games issue with one of my all time favorites, Danger by Design.

This game demonstrates everything that makes the Nancy Drew PC series great. It's probably one of the few reasons I continue to buy the new games, hopeful that they'll one day return to true greatness.

First off, the Paris setting. It was very well laid out with multiple places to go to. That's always a plus, as it gets boring to stay in one location for an entire game.

Next, the storyline had depth to it. It worked well with the characters. It gave everyone equal motivation to be the true culprit. Now, the story did get sidetracked a few times. I found some tasks, such as swimming the maze in search of a bottle of wine, a bit redundant.

Lastly, the characters. This was the one part of the game that I truly found lacking. Everyone, with the exception of Minette, seemed bland and very unimpressive. By the 3/4 mark, I dreaded every boring conversation I needed to have with Heather.

Heather, honey, I don't care how bad Minette is, how weird Sonny was, or how rude Jean-Mitchel is. You work for Minette. You do what she says and you do it with a smile.

I'm not going to write about Minette for now, because I will write an issue based around her entirely in the near future.

So, this brings us to the end of this issue of games. Though it's not quite my favorite, it is one that I haven't hesitated to play multiple times. I give it an 8/10.

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~Anon

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Send your confessions and questions to my ask box.

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Voice Actors:

Issue One: Overuse

In this issue, I will focus on Walayn Sharples. Sharples has played both Emily Crandall (Secret of the Old Clock) and Renee Armand (Legend of the Crystal Skull). Now, as some of you may know, there were only four games between the release of the two. Secret of the Old Clock is still fresh on your mind. 

Now, I'm not picking on the games at all. They were both very good games (Skull being in my top three). My problem is that HeR chose to use the same voice actor for two separate leading characters.

I can understand using the same voice actor to play minor voices, but I have a problem with a lead character being voiced by the same person. In general, Nancy Drew PC Games have very good voice actors. There have been a few bad ones, but I'll talk about that in a different issue.

Overuse, you say? This is simply one case!

No, it's not. It has happened before and it will continue to happen.

I bet you're wondering where I'm going with this. I'm simply saying that there are hundreds of thousands of hopeful voice actors scattered across the United States. Any of those actors would be more than happy to work for low pay, just to be able to add to their resume.

Again, I'm not saying that each of those hopefuls are good, but there's bound to be more than a few that would be perfect for any character.

Think about it. Why overuse the same actor when you can make each game more personal and unique?

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Characters I would bang:

Issue One: Henry Bolet Jr.

He's so dark and mysteriously creepy. He's the most gorgeous character in any of the games. To me, he's more unknown than anyone else. Yes, that includes Sonny Joon.

I don't understand why he puts up with his girlfriend. She's an ungrateful gold digger. Seriously, he jumps over the moon to get her what she wants and she still complains. If I was his girlfriend, I'd be sitting next to him, refilling his cup of tea, and comforting him through the death of the person who raised him. I'd be the one jumping over the moon for him. That's what he deserves.

Something tells me he's incredibly kinky too. Probably into anthropomorphic stuff. He probably has a ton of fantasies that he can never express to his girlfriend.

Out of all the characters in any of the games, he is possibly my favorite.

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Introduction

This blog will be dedicated to my, and your, thoughts concerning things in Nancy Drew games and books. I will randomly be posting what's on my mind about characters, settings, music, etc.

You may participate with this blog as well. You don't even need a Tumblr account! I have opened up anon "questions" on my official page. It is under Confessions and Secrets. You can use that to submit your confessions, secrets, or questions concerning anything to do with Nancy Drew games or books. I will then put them into picture form and post them. Everything will be anonymous.

There are NO limits to what you can say. But please, I beg of you, at least try to use decent grammar. No substituting letters for symbols and numbers.

I hope you enjoy the blog.