Finished "The Crimson Diamond" in a little over 7 hours!

Watch out, Luca Brecel!

I finished The Crimson Diamond in a little over 7 hours! But I wasn't too happy with the result! There are three "report cards" so to speak. The first two weren't so great, but still okay. But I got zero on the third one! What?! Where did I go wrong?!

I haven't scored this bad since high school...

Also, I redid the final showdown a couple of times to get a better ending. There are several steps you need to be perfect at, otherwise you'll trigger quite a long cutscene followed by the Q&A sessions that result in those report cards. So, I had to reload a couple of times, but then for the last step it turned out I didn't have the necessary inventory item with me.

Indiana Jones did, to get some guards drunk...

So yeah, I went back in, tried to find that item before that final showdown, and tried to find some answers to the questions I missed as well. Or at least the evidence supporting those answers, since the game really expects you to be thorough in your investigations. Knowing that, I still failed to PICK UP some items I found and had to turn in as evidence, so I had to reload an earlier chapter again a couple of times, but at least I found lots more and could answer more questions, with a grand total of 9,5 hours on the clock. There are still some conversations I missed because I didn't realize I should hide somewhere when they were supposed to take place, but those are from very early in the game and would require almost a complete restart, so I'm leaving them for now, especially since they're not essential to the outcome.

Such a beautiful scene! Kudos to the artist!

But just like I had to play The Colonel's Bequest a second time before I got anywhere near a decent result, The Crimson Diamond is a joy to play. In itself it isn't such a difficult game, you just need to be aware of some strategies you can employ in how you can find the necessary clues and evidence. The game is addictive; I had a hard time letting go of it, and I would have preferred to play it in one sitting. It's a great location, an interesting set of characters, a cool Agatha Christie style and gathering clues type of story. I had great fun with it and I hope Julia Minamata will make many more games like this!