New game: "The Crimson Diamond" playthrough

New game!

I've started playing The Crimson Diamond and I'm 1 hour into it!

I'm Nancy Maple, a mineralogist student sent to the town of Crimson to investigate the discovery of a large diamond in the belly of a fish. When I arrive by train, my luggage has been stolen and it turns out the inn I was supposed to stay at isn't an inn anymore. Its owner, one Evan Richards, is so kind to allow me to stay the night, but he will send me back on the first train in the morning.

Apparently they're a girl's best friend or something?

It's a text parser game, which means you have to type in what you want Nancy to do instead of clicking on hotspots. It's heavily influenced by the first Laura Bow game, The Colonel's Bequest. You also find yourself in a huge mansion with lots of people whom you can eavesdrop on. But next to being text parser, it also uses the old EGA graphics style with a limited, 16-color palette. You can move Nancy with the directional keys but it's also possible to click with the mouse where you want her to walk.

Lots of snooping in the game; love it!

There are several people staying at the lodge. There's the owner, Evan Richards, and his best friend Nathan Cardinal. Evan's sister Nessa Crabbe showed up with her lawyer Corvus Shaw; they're looking to contest the inheritance from Evan's and Nessa's father. There's Jack, the, well, jack of all trades in the household. Albert Respa is another expert who has come to investigate the diamond. And he's from Antwerp, yay! (Thank you, Julia Minamata, for adding a Belgian character to this game, even if he's a bit of a douche!) And lastly there's Kimi Kishiro, whom Nancy met on the train and apparently came to Crimson to observe the cormorants.

Ooh, a missing will, excellent!

In my first hour of playing, I talked to everyone, and even eavesdropped on a couple of them. Only Albert refused to talk to me. Thinking himself the big man, being from Antwerp and all. Big git is what he is. Anyways, dinner is served now, so I'm sure the plot will thicken soon!