Bigger environments

[oceanxatlantic]

This isn't a petition, this is just something that has been brought to my attention.

In DED, I was expecting a huuuuge lab full of whirring gadgets as well as, dank, metallic hallways...and perhaps some other locations for Nancy to travel to and gather information about the mystery, such as outside or into a town. But...the lab, in my opinion, was tiny, and there was hardly anything to click on!

Likewise, in GTH, I was expecting a huuuuge manor and many outside locations to creep around in in the night, as well as some town locations around the island. But the house had about....3-4 rooms, and even those didn't provide 360 degree rotation.

I feel that the past few games have offered very few, half rooms, and have confined Nancy to one location and one location only during the course of the whole game.

I want the 360 degree rooms back, chock full of clues and miscellaneous stuff for Nancy to root through! I want to travel around to different locations in a game, perhaps to talk to another character, or find a vital clue.

I don't want these locations to keep giving me a claustrophobic, rushed feel. Anyone else feel the same?

[Det.JA]

Ever since HeR released the news for Silent Spy, it got me thinking. We as fans have been asking for the wrong features.

Instead of looking for bigger environments, we should ask for a better mystery. We need to look at Nancy as not just the detective that solves the mystery, but also a character in her own world as well.

We've gotten so mixed up into the "Step into Nancy Drew's shoes and play detective" that we failed to think about how Nancy herself develops as a character during and after the case.

DED and GTH were a few steps up in writing quality for the Nancy Drew games, but compared to the story lines of huge games that are out today, it pales.

Once the plot and subplots and the grand story falls into place, we won't be thinking about how "small" the environment was anymore, but instead, how believable and truly alive the characters are. That's just my opinion, anyways.

[oceanxatlantic]

I've made threads concerning character dialogue, plot cohesiveness, etc. and I'm honestly at a loss because I keep perceiving a decline in quality of these features rather than improvement.

Yes, I agree with asking for better mysteries instead of bigger environments, but I think that may be too vague of a suggestion. Instead, because of my recent disappointment, I've been trying to find little things that would improve the overall game experience. I'm using my favorites as points of reference: what made them work, and what I would like to see in newer games to make them enjoyable. I understand not everyone shares this stance.

In my opinion, GTH and DED have been steps down in writing, especially dialogue and the very flow of it, but that's another matter to be discussed elsewhere.

I'm all for character development though, and the points you made about Nancy being a character rather than us stepping into her shoes are interesting. I wonder if HER will ever take the series in that direction. To me, Nancy has always seemed like she should maintain a somewhat stagnant character (as she is in the books) and the characters around her should develop/reveal their secrets as time goes on.

Thanks for the reply! It was interesting to read your views.

[Det.JA]

Now that I'm reading back at my original post, I do think that I could have elaborated more on your original point, which was bigger environments.

There are so many Nancy Drew games that I have played and thought of brilliant ideas to expand upon as far as the environments go.

Let's take WAV for instance. The school itself was way to small for a mystery. In my opinion, HeR should have taken the third person angled view from Legend of the Crystal skull, made Waverly Academy triple the size, and allow Nancy to walk through halls as if it were Hogwarts from Harry Potter. (Without seeing her, of course)

Which brings up another issue, environments that are people-less. Why can't get get animated people that Nancy can see but not interact with? We obviously know if they're a suspect or not!

I feel like environments will seem bigger if they feel less empty.

One last point that I have is the animations. A lot of the Nancy Drew games have very subtle animated places. Why not moving clouds outside, more weather effects, at least something!

As aforementioned, I apologize for not further going into your original thread's intent. That's my opinion on the places, anyways.

[missylea182]

Ever since HeR released the news for Silent Spy, it got me thinking. We as fans have been asking for the wrong features.

Instead of looking for bigger environments, we should ask for a better mystery. We need to look at Nancy as not just the detective that solves the mystery, but also a character in her own world as well.

We've gotten so mixed up into the "Step into Nancy Drew's shoes and play detective" that we failed to think about how Nancy herself develops as a detective during and after the case.

DED and GTH were a few steps up in writing quality for the Nancy Drew games, but compared to the story lines of huge games that are out today, it pales.

Once the plot and subplots and the grand story falls into place, we won't be thinking about how "small" the environment was anymore, but instead, how believable and truly alive the characters are. That's just my opinion, anyways.

Nice point! I never though about it that way.

[Vanilla Muffin]

Ever since HeR released the news for Silent Spy, it got me thinking. We as fans have been asking for the wrong features.

Instead of looking for bigger environments, we should ask for a better mystery. We need to look at Nancy as not just the detective that solves the mystery, but also a character in her own world as well.

We've gotten so mixed up into the "Step into Nancy Drew's shoes and play detective" that we failed to think about how Nancy herself develops as a detective during and after the case.

DED and GTH were a few steps up in writing quality for the Nancy Drew games, but compared to the story lines of huge games that are out today, it pales.

Once the plot and subplots and the grand story falls into place, we won't be thinking about how "small" the environment was anymore, but instead, how believable and truly alive the characters are. That's just my opinion, anyways.

Det JA's words of wisdom! i'm with you on this one.

[Songbird98]

This has recently been brought to my attention, as well. I have noticed that the environments have been getting smaller, and I would love to see a game (if not several) where you have more to explore. Great idea!

Ever since HeR released the news for Silent Spy, it got me thinking. We as fans have been asking for the wrong features.

Instead of looking for bigger environments, we should ask for a better mystery. We need to look at Nancy as not just the detective that solves the mystery, but also a character in her own world as well.

We've gotten so mixed up into the "Step into Nancy Drew's shoes and play detective" that we failed to think about how Nancy herself develops as a detective during and after the case.

DED and GTH were a few steps up in writing quality for the Nancy Drew games, but compared to the story lines of huge games that are out today, it pales.

Once the plot and subplots and the grand story falls into place, we won't be thinking about how "small" the environment was anymore, but instead, how believable and truly alive the characters are. That's just my opinion, anyways.

Good point(s).

[GetAClueGirlz]

Great idea, oceanxatlantic! I know, like Det.JA said, it's the mystery itself that needs to be fixed and from there everything else will fall into place; however, I think HeR is at a loss when we say we want "better mysteries." It's so vague that they probably wonder just what we mean. So by asking for bigger, more explorable environments, they'll understand something that we want them to do in order to create a better mystery game. :) Once the environments are larger there's more of an opportunity to explore, more of an opportunity to snoop, more of an opportunity for surprises, and more of an opportunity to come across a lot of the game aspects we've asked for to make the games better. So all and all, I think asking for individual things like bigger environments, better character development etc. is actually a great start to bettering new ND games.

I noticed the start of dull locations in HAU and then even more in Ransom of the Seven Ships. A few of the locations you'd be able to drive to seemed like you were staring at a pretty landscape picture. You saw, say, a beach, but couldn't interact with the environment in many ways at all. And I notice this with more and more of the games. Deadly Device did seem a bit cramped to me as well. Now, I don't think HeR needed to have made the building bigger from the start, but they just could've made one or two more doors have actual rooms behind them. And in regards to the 360 degree rotation- how I long for that! I remember it was the coolest thing in TRT when suddenly you could spin around in a circle and see nearly everything in a certain location. So, if in DED for example, the creators didn't want to make a couple new rooms to have behind the doors in the hallways, then they should've at least developed the rooms they had created a bit more. I won't get into any more detail since this is a spoiler-free board, but you know, it would've been great to have more to look at in certain rooms like the lab.

That's my two cents. Great thread; I really agree!
~Rachel♥