Nancy Drew: The Final Scene - August 30th, 2013

Flip

ktwo

Edit history:

ktwo: 2021-06-11 01:04:13 pm

Flip: 2013-08-30 01:11:25 pm

2013-08-15 01:15:39 pm

1-Up!

Game Page: Doesn't exist yet

Nancy Drew: The Final Scene (Any %) (Single Segment)

Decision: Accept, for now

Reason: The gameplay seems to be just this side of acceptable, but if some questions (segmentation, etc) can't be answered by the runner during post-verification work, then this may not see the front page.

Congratulations to 'Runa!'

Thread title:

Flip

2013-08-15 01:15:44 pm

1-Up!

Run Information

Nancy Drew: The Final Scene (Any %) (Single Segment)

Verification Files

http://v.speeddemosarchive.com/nancydrew/

Please refer to the Verification Guidelines before posting. Verifications are due by Aug. 29, 2013.

Please post your opinions about the run and be certain to conclude your post with a verdict (Accept/Reject). This is not a contest where the majority wins - I will judge each verification on its content. Please keep your verification brief unless you have a good reason otherwise.

After 2 weeks I will read all of the verifications and move this thread to the main verification board and post my verdict.

ZenicReverie

Edit history:

ZenicReverie: 2013-08-18 08:07:47 pm

2013-08-18 08:00:17 pm

Waiting hurts my soul...

No notes?

Watching this now and in the first 10 minutes I'm leaning towards rejection. Would be nice to get the runner's thoughts. Main reason are a couple of sloppy puzzles in the beginning, and not know what triggers are necessary to hit. I'll post more later.

Edit: Question for the runner. This is marked as single segment, but there are three video files. What's the reasoning behind that? Is it actually segmented? If so, where are the save/load?

UraniumAnchor

Edit history:

UraniumAnchor: 2013-08-25 04:31:12 pm

2013-08-18 09:29:46 pm

Not a walrus

Comments were declined on the submission form, so hopefully the runner will show up and clarify things. Haven't watched it yet so I can't offer an opinion.

Edit: Ok, having watched it, it's pretty hard to figure out what the sequence of events is supposed to be. How many of these puzzles are random? Some of them seem a bit unpolished.

Also, the run seems to be about 90% cutscene, though you do have control over the dialogue to some extent.

As far as the video being in three pieces it seems to be broken on the day barriers, but I'm not sure if that's still single segment or not.

It's hard to evaluate this run without the runner(s) explaining a few things but I'd give it a tentative accept for now.

MaturedSinner

Edit history:

MaturedSinner: 2013-08-27 08:41:13 am

MaturedSinner: 2013-08-27 08:39:51 am

MaturedSinner: 2013-08-27 08:17:44 am

2013-08-27 07:57:32 am

Watching this now. Aside from the question of splitting the video up per day, I'm seeing a few other things.

Day 1: Route seems to be thought out well. Conversations seem to be that annoying type where you have to get the main character to realize something before they will do something with it even if you figure out the answer first. I know point and click games can sometime have spotty movement controls, but the runner manages well enough. I doubt the gear puzzle is random. The runner lost a bit of time starting with different moves but recovered. I don't quite understand how the Beat the Magician game works, but the runner solves it easily. The puzzle box in the safe seems to be a bit of a stumbling block. If the initial positions of the pieces are random, it is understandable why so many mistakes were spent on it. If not, then this puzzle just appears sloppy. Either way, this appears improvable. The rest of the day seems to be just advancing dialogue to get to the end of the day.

Day 2: More dialogue. Not sure why the runner goes from the Men's Dressing Room to the Woman's and then back to the Men's. Either the actor guy is randomly in either room or going in both triggers him appearing. A few movement mishaps happen but nothing too wasteful. The tech board puzzle seems static. I'm not the best with moving block puzzles, but I did see one lapse during the Magician's Door solution. The keypad puzzle must be random, and the runner's trial and error approach makes quick work of it. More dialogue to end the day.

Day 3: Lots of dialogue. The key making seems to be a set solution hopefully. More keys, I'm guessing the chosen key is always the right one. Pretty straight forward route for the last day.

Comments: It is hard to say how difficult movement optimization is with arrow hit boxes, game lag and loading, and also route choices without actually playing it a little bit. Clarification on puzzles and solutions would be very helpful. The runner makes a few mistakes here and there, some worse than others, but otherwise seems to have thought out the majority of the run. There is room for improvement though. The decision to split up the video needs to be addressed. Video and audio are good otherwise. So until these things are clarified, I'd give it a tentative accept for the time being.

Watching this now. Aside from the question of splitting the video up per day, I'm seeing a few other things.

Day 1: Route seems to be thought out well. Conversations seem to be that annoying type where you have to get the main character to realize something before they will do something with it even if you figure out the answer first. I know point and click games can sometime have spotty movement controls, but the runner manages well enough. I doubt the gear puzzle is random. The runner lost a bit of time starting with different moves but recovered. I don't quite understand how the Beat the Magician game works, but the runner solves it easily. The puzzle box in the safe seems to be a bit of a stumbling block. If the initial positions of the pieces are random, it is understandable why so many mistakes were spent on it. If not, then this puzzle just appears sloppy. Either way, this appears improvable. The rest of the day seems to be just advancing dialogue to get to the end of the day.

Day 2: More dialogue. Not sure why the runner goes from the Men's Dressing Room to the Woman's and then back to the Men's. Either the actor guy is randomly in either room or going in both triggers him appearing. A few movement mishaps happen but nothing too wasteful. The tech board puzzle seems static. I'm not the best with moving block puzzles, but I did see one lapse during the Magician's Door solution. The keypad puzzle must be random, and the runner's trial and error approach makes quick work of it. More dialogue to end the day.

Day 3: Lots of dialogue. The key making seems to be a set solution hopefully. More keys, I'm guessing the chosen key is always the right one. Pretty straight forward route for the last day.

Comments: It is hard to say how difficult movement optimization is with arrow hit boxes, game lag and loading, and also route choices without actually playing it a little bit. Clarification on puzzles and solutions would be very helpful. The runner makes a few mistakes here and there, some worse than others, but otherwise seems to have thought out the majority of the run. There is room for improvement though. The decision to split up the video needs to be addressed. Video and audio are good otherwise. So until these things are clarified, I'd give it a tentative accept for the time being.

Onin

2013-08-27 08:55:37 am

I'd have to assume that there's some form of resolution switching happening between the days that forces Fraps/Dxtory to split up the files. That's happened to me a lot with older games.

AlecK47

Edit history:

AlecK47: 2013-08-28 10:27:21 am

2013-08-28 10:26:25 am

I checked gamefaqs and according to two of the guides the puzzle inside the safe is not random, but I doubt the guides can be trusted. One isn't finished, and the other presents a different code for the keypad puzzle than what appears in the run as the correct solution.

Everything else I'd say has been said, so I'll go ahead and give this an accept. I'd reject the voice acting, but this is Nancy Drew so I guess that's to be expected. Wink

MaturedSinner

2013-08-30 01:40:17 am

Some searching yielded these walkthroughs: http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcNn/final.htm http://www.freewebs.com/thenancydrew/Walkthroughs/HTML_FIN2.html

Going through these was a little helpful in figuring out the difficulty and randomness of the puzzles. First, that the runner is playing on Senior difficulty, as noted by the moving block and jazz note puzzles. Second, that every puzzle is static except a few. The Ace of Spades/Beat the Magician game is random, or some variation close to random. The keypad is always random, and would always need to be solved with trial and error since there doesn't seem to be anyplace you are supposed to figure out the combination otherwise. And the last key puzzle in the safe on Day 3 is random per person but not per game, so it would be the same key for every run by the same person. Third, there is a fair amount of intended solution finding and phone calls that the runner skips. Some because they are unnecessary since the solution is always the same, and some because the information is not needed to reach the ending despite being crucial to the plot.

Given that, the mistakes the runner makes don't add up to much, and the routing seems very well thought out. Video split aside, I am convinced this is an accept from me.

Some searching yielded these walkthroughs: http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcNn/final.htm http://www.freewebs.com/thenancydrew/Walkthroughs/HTML_FIN2.html

Going through these was a little helpful in figuring out the difficulty and randomness of the puzzles. First, that the runner is playing on Senior difficulty, as noted by the moving block and jazz note puzzles. Second, that every puzzle is static except a few. The Ace of Spades/Beat the Magician game is random, or some variation close to random. The keypad is always random, and would always need to be solved with trial and error since there doesn't seem to be anyplace you are supposed to figure out the combination otherwise. And the last key puzzle in the safe on Day 3 is random per person but not per game, so it would be the same key for every run by the same person. Third, there is a fair amount of intended solution finding and phone calls that the runner skips. Some because they are unnecessary since the solution is always the same, and some because the information is not needed to reach the ending despite being crucial to the plot.

Given that, the mistakes the runner makes don't add up to much, and the routing seems very well thought out. Video split aside, I am convinced this is an accept from me.

Flip

2013-08-30 01:11:37 pm

1-Up!

Decision posted.

Runa

2013-09-01 09:42:58 am

Sorry about such a late reply... I need to check my message more often...

Thanks to everyone for their input! Yes, I forgot to mention this was definitely NOT a single-segment. Me and my sister did three segments based on days 1, 2, and 3. I'm sorry I forgot to mention this sooner... I'm hoping it won't be too much of a hassle, and I do apologize for not showing the save/loads. I can go back and fix this, if needed.

We both agree; we could have fine-pointed a few of the puzzles (especially in the beginning), but we did take a lot of time going through which steps/conversations/etc needed to be taken to get to the end fastest, and we ended up finding a lot of loopholes/glitches on our own. (For instance, we passed up an entire cutscene towards the end by pressing the knob on the projector once, then putting the slide in, then clicking on the knob again to avoid it falling down and having a suspect come from behind to start more dialogue.) Also, going from the men's dressing room, then going out and back in was indeed intentional, and it triggered Brady to come out faster than what the game intended.

If there's anything else, please let me know! I'm sorry about all the trouble, mates, and thanks so much for accepting it!

Sorry about such a late reply... I need to check my message more often...

Thanks to everyone for their input! Yes, I forgot to mention this was definitely NOT a single-segment. Me and my sister did three segments based on days 1, 2, and 3. I'm sorry I forgot to mention this sooner... I'm hoping it won't be too much of a hassle, and I do apologize for not showing the save/loads. I can go back and fix this, if needed.

We both agree; we could have fine-pointed a few of the puzzles (especially in the beginning), but we did take a lot of time going through which steps/conversations/etc needed to be taken to get to the end fastest, and we ended up finding a lot of loopholes/glitches on our own. (For instance, we passed up an entire cutscene towards the end by pressing the knob on the projector once, then putting the slide in, then clicking on the knob again to avoid it falling down and having a suspect come from behind to start more dialogue.) Also, going from the men's dressing room, then going out and back in was indeed intentional, and it triggered Brady to come out faster than what the game intended.

If there's anything else, please let me know! I'm sorry about all the trouble, mates, and thanks so much for accepting it!

Runa

2013-09-01 01:41:06 pm

Oh, and I just had an afterthought... Me and my sister made up our own (very rough) walkthrough of game triggers for this game... Would you like me to add that as comments for this run, or is it unneeded at this point in time? I notice a lot of runners write their comments in such a way that they explain HOW they do it, rather than WHAT they do, so I wasn't sure our little walkthrough would be decent enough... I'm very sorry I didn't do so sooner; I'm new at this and wasn't aware it was necessary... I'll be sure to do this for my next run.

Also, for future reference, is it mandatory to have save/load screens when doing a segmented run? I wasn't sure if it was 100% acceptable or not, so I'd like to know next time, just in case. Thanks so much!

UraniumAnchor

2013-09-01 01:44:29 pm

Not a walrus

Comments describing the steps you took and why would be very helpful, yes. It's not strictly necessary, but in a game like this where the sequence isn't obvious, it's definitely helpful.

Save/load screens are needed for proper timing in this game's case, I'd say.

Runa

2013-09-02 04:58:48 pm

Okay, great, thanks for letting me know! I'll be sure to do so next time, and I'm sorry for all the hassle it might've caused here. And thanks for your patience as I'm still kinda figuring everything out. Smiley