Nancy Drew:
Ransom of the Seven Ships
Girls around the world have looked up to Nancy Drew for generations. Her intellect and courage are timeless, and she's been depicted in novels, comic books, movies and TV shows. It would be a mistake to dismiss her as belonging to the realm of tween girls, because without her, we might never have met Buffy Summers, Dana Scully, or Veronica Mars, just to name a few.
Her Interactive has been cranking out Nancy Drew games since 1996, and Ransom of the Seven Ships is their 20th point-and-click adventure. We've featured Lights, Camera, Curses! from their Nancy Drew Dossier series, but their hallmark is, and continues to be, the complex large file mysteries.
A bit of background may be in order for those who may be unfamiliar with this girl detective. Nancy Drew has been solving cases and nabbing criminals in book form since 1930. She started out as a plucky blonde running errands for her father, lawyer Carson Drew, in her blue roadster. During her exploration of River Heights, she'd usually stumble upon a band of smugglers or counterfeiters and save the day with her quick thinking and seemingly inexhaustible personal talents. She could scuba dive, tap dance (in Morse Code!), ride horses and sail boats, just for starters.
Along the way, Nancy's tresses changed from blonde to titian, she aged from 16 to 18, went to college, fell in and out of love with Ned Nickerson, focused less on her social life and fashion, and developed into a modern young woman. Still as plucky as ever, today's books feature a Nancy that drives a hybrid, owns a cell phone, and solves cases at music festivals and on reality show sets.
The Her Interactive games portray Nancy as resourceful and intelligent as she ever was. She's in great demand all over the world as a teenage sleuth, having closed cases in France, Italy, Canada and Ireland, as well as across the United States. Her circle of friends includes cousins Bess Marvin and George Fayne (a girl, despite the masculine name).
In Ransom of the Seven Ships, Nancy, George and Bess have won a free vacation at a tropical resort on Dread Isle, a small island east of the Bahamas. Nancy arrives a day after her friends and is shocked to find that Bess has been kidnapped, the resort owners are nowhere to be found, and she and George are cut off from communication to the outside world. A ransom note demands that, in order to save Bess, Nancy must find the treasure of El Toro, a Spanish captain whose fleet of seven galleons went down near the island almost 300 years ago.
Dread Isle is much too large to explore on foot, so one of Nancy's first tasks is to fix the resort's golf cart. Of course, before playing mechanic, she needs to find the key to open the shed where the cart's battery is kept. After replacing the battery, she puts her math skills to good use by determining how to fill each of the battery's cells with an equal amount of water. This mix of logic and object collecting is the backbone of the game's increasingly complex and intelligent puzzles.
Analysis: Ransom of the Seven Ships is a puzzler's dream come true. Cryptograms, slider puzzles, matchstick manipulation, a Blokus variant, and the hardest game of underwater Sudoku you'll ever encounter are just a few of the many challenges you and Nancy must overcome. Even better? Every single one of these obstacles is seamlessly integrated into the intricate plot. With each solution you're one step closer to outwitting both the kidnappers and El Toro.
The mouse interface is incredibly intuitive, and gameplay is a piece of cake. The cursor changes from an arrow to a magnifying glass to a hand, depending on the options within the scene, and will glow red when you mouse over an object that can be examined more closely. An optional in-game tutorial will have you up and running in no time.
Dread Isle is a tropical paradise, and the graphics and soundtrack reflect the Caribbean influence perfectly. Steel drums abound, native birds sing in the trees, and even Nancy's footsteps in the sand sound authentic. The voice acting is fabulous, although there's no option to skip the sometimes longwinded discussions. And can we just talk about the exquisite graphics for a minute? The colors pop, the sea sparkles, and each location is lovingly rendered with a careful eye for texture and detail.
Unfortunately, the game's weakest point is the animation. The static first person scenes are absolutely perfect, but when you need to control Nancy from the third person perspective, the quality takes a step down. Speaking of that third person perspective, driving the golf cart, exploring in a sailboat and rock climbing are a treat the first few times, but grow tiresome fairly early on. Some sort of warp feature would be greatly appreciated.
A staple of this series is the incorporation of historical facts and educational puzzles. Players will need to decipher a code using maritime signal flags, identify different types of bats, and learn how to plot longitude and latitude. Every single bit of information needed is in the game itself, so there's no need to consult external sources.
For an educational title aimed at young adults, this is a surprisingly difficult game. Make no mistake about it, these puzzles are hard. Thankfully, you can choose to play as a Junior or Senior Detective. The Junior level is highly recommended if you're unfamiliar with the series. Junior Detectives get the "task list" feature, a helpful tool when determining what to do next, and the overall difficulty level is lowered as well.
With hours and hours of casual gameplay, a solid plot, tons of educational content, gorgeous graphics, and a bevy of challenging puzzles, Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships is no mere child's game.
Windows:
Large file, no demo available
Get the full version
Mac OS X:
Not available.
Try Boot Camp or Parallels or CrossOver Games.
Note: Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Seas is a large-file adventure game and, as such, no demo is available.
Walkthrough Guide
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Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships Walkthrough
General Strategies and Tips
You can play in either Junior or Senior Detective mode. The primary difference is that you will have access to a hint system (CouCou the parrot) in Junior mode. In addition, the puzzles in Junior mode are a bit easier.
Save your game often! You can die in this game and will have to restart from a save point.
You can refer to any of the informational displays in the resort lobby by using the walkie talkie to talk to George.
Sometimes talking to a character in the game will trigger the next series of events - if you feel stuck, revisit a character.
You can refill your oxygen tank at any time while on land by taking it to the diving closet at the resort. You should always have a full tank when diving to minimize the risk of running out of air.
Note: The puzzle solutions may vary from game to game, thus the solutions in this walkthrough may not be the same for your game.
Arriving at Resort
Click the Case File for your current assignment. Then click the plane ticket to leave for the Bahamas.
Bess has been kidnapped! After cut scene, talk to George to get the Kidnapper's Note with a set of directions.
Go left and notice the diving supplies closet. Click the panel to the right of the door for a puzzle. Your objective is to turn off all the lights.
Solution:
Number buttons 1 - 25 from the top left to the bottom right. Click in the following order: 21, 22, 25, 15, 10, 7 (for Junior) or 9, 8, 4, 14, 5, 20 (for Senior)
In diving closet, pick up the walkie talkie in the top left corner. You can use this to talk to George and access the informational displays in the lobby at any time. Also pick up scuba gear.
Notice the monkey display on the table and listen to the monkey noises. Pick up the monkey research notes on the table.
Look at the Bat Seeker display. Open the glass case to the right and take the Bat Device. Open to assemble the device. Your objective is to fit all parts on the device without overlap. Solution:
Screenshot
In the middle of the room is a wood table with a placard - examine the Book Exchange basket. Contains book called "In Search of the 7 Virtues Fleet". Notice it specifies that an explorer would require scuba gear, a metal detector, and a shovel.
Notice you can talk to Coucou the parrot in the corner. It wants fruit.
Take the exit with curtains to the dock. It leads to a sailboat that needs a sail.
Return to the resort and take the other exit. Outside is a locked shed. Return to the lobby and talk to George until you can talk about the key and get it from her.
Return to shed and use the key from the inventory to open. Read the note in the center describing the instructions for the golf cart battery.
Take the water dispenser and the shovel, located on the inside of the right door. Also notice the Sail Bin.
Now turn around to the golf cart. Open the seat to access the batteries. Use the water dispenser on the batteries. Your objective is to fill each tank to 100 units by evenly distributing a 60 unit dispenser 5 times. Solution:
Junior:
X X
O O
O O
X X
O O
X O
X X
O O
X O
X X
X O
X O
X X
O X
X X
Senior:
X O
O O
O O
O X
O X
X O
O X
X O
O O
X X
X X
X X
X O
O X
X X
Explore the Island
Click the steering wheel to drive. Follow the southern path to Sangre Beach. You'll see the other golf cart there. Take the left path into the jungle.
Pick up the sandal. This will trigger a cutscene with Johnny Rolle, who tells you his story, mentions the monkeys on the island, and tells you that he has heard other men around.
Return to the resort and talk to George. There is now fruit on the table; click on the fruit and take a guava for the parrot.
Follow the map to Blue Hole. Examine the rock and notice there is a pulley missing. A footprint reveals that an extra-toed creature was there.
Follow the map to Dread Isle. There are monkeys there, but you cannot talk to them.
Follow the map to Bat Steep. Be careful scaling the cliff, as there are monkeys throwing rocks at you from the top. Notice that there is more than one cave on the side of the cliff.
At the top of the cliff you will encounter monkeys, but you cannot communicate with them and they are blocking your path.
The First Treasure
Go back to Shark Cove. Follow the directions on the Kidnapper's Note to find where the "other" treasure is buried. Start under the trees that make a W, and take three steps south. From that point, look at the object you are standing next to, and plan to take paces in the opposite direction. You will determine the number of paces by multiplying the number indicated on the kidnapper's note for that step times the number indicated by the object you are standing next to. For example, a tree with 4 palms will be four paces times the number on the map. When you finish the instructions, dig directly in front of you. You must right-click to use the shovel. Screenshot Right click to dig.
You will uncover El Toro's journal, which needs to be decoded.
Solutions: Screenshot 1 Screenshot 2 Screenshot 3 The missing letter in these images is "v".
Go back to Sangre Beach and talk to Johnny again. Discover that he has a metal detector and talk about what he has found. He has the battery you need, which he will give you if you find the beacon that he has lost. He describes the beacon as being between two rocks NW of the island.
Go back to the resort and open the shed, where there is a locked box that contains a sail. Find the correct combination for the lock by referring to the display case inside that shows the numbers corresponding to the flags on the lock. The correct combination is:
7 9 2 0 4
Walk to the dock and use the sail from your inventory to repair the boat. Then get in the boat and sail NW until you find two gray rocks near each other with a red flag between them. Take the flag, sail back to the dock, then take the flag to Johnny. When you tell him you retrieved his beacon, he will give you the battery. Place the battery in the Bat Seeker to repair it.
Find the Caridad
Talk to Johnny about the metal detector. He is willing to lend you his metal detector if you retrieve his compass, which the monkeys at Dread Isle have taken from him.
Go to Dread Isle and click on the left monkey by the coconuts. Tell him you want to play a game. Make sure that you refer to the research notes about the monkeys so that you know the values corresponding to the images (aim for the highest value items, especially coconuts). Play this game until you are offered the compass as a prize for winning.
Also play the games with the other monkeys and select the colored dial as your prize.
Go back to Sangre Beach and give the compass to Johnny, who will now lend you his metal detector.
Now that you have the metal detector, the scuba suit, and the shovel, you can explore the area where the ship sunk.
Pick up any bottle pieces you find along the way - if you complete the message from the bottles you will get a trophy at the end of the game.
El Toro's journal indicates that a ship sank a little SE of the island. When you get to the ring of rocks there, save the game and dive in.
Now you can use the metal detector to find the sunken treasure a little to the right of the ship. Screenshot
To open the treasure, you'll be presented with a colors sudoku puzzle. Solution: Screenshot (Senior)
Junior solution:
1= Yellow, 2 = light green... etc.
1 2 3 9 4 7 6 8 5
4 5 6 8 2 1 7 9 3
7 8 9 5 3 6 4 1 2
9 6 2 4 7 5 8 3 1
8 1 4 3 9 2 5 6 7
3 7 5 1 6 8 9 2 4
2 9 1 6 5 4 3 7 8
6 4 8 7 1 3 2 5 9
5 3 7 2 8 9 1 4 6
Inside the chest is as colored dial and an astrolabe.
Also try to grab a piece of coral while diving before returning to the ship.
Return to the monkey research facility and play the game again with the middle monkey to receive a pulley.
Go to the Blue Hole and use your new pulley on the bottom screw where the pulleys are located. You will now have access to this pulley puzzle.
Solution:
If the pulleys are lettered:
A D
C B
Then use the pulleys in the following order: B C D B A D.
You will receive another colored dial upon completion of the pulley puzzle.
Get Astrolabe Stand
Go up the cliff at the Blue Hole and give the monkeys the coral to get past them. You will find a small hole in the ground.
Return to the resort and check in with George. Go to the dock entrance to find the threatening note on the Post.
With the astrolabe, you can decode the rest of the journal. For these pages, a symbol can represent multiple letter combinations.
Solutions:
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3
Screenshot 4
Screenshot 5
Once you have decoded the final pages, turn to the page with the round object on a stand and Nancy will observe that it looks like the parrot's perch at the resort.
Talk to the parrot, and make sure you have some fruit. (You can win fruit by playing games with the monkeys if you need it.) The parrot wants a driftwood perch if you are taking his.
The parrot has very particular requirements for his perch. Driftwood pieces are at the two beaches and the Blue Hole. Bring him one at a time until he likes one. Solution:
Senior: 4 branches, 2 leaves, and no bark
Junior: 3 branches, 2 leaves, bark
After you bring him the correct piece, watch the cutscene.
Exploring Bat Steep
Return to the Bat Steep. El Toro's journal describes a species of bat they befriended. Compare his description to the information on the bat display in the lobby.
Waterhouse's Leaf Notes
It will also tell you the frequency of their sounds.
16 KmHz
Now on the bat cliffs you can use the Bat Device to determine which cave contains the bats El Toro befriended by comparing the frequencies.
Once you find the correct cave, there will be a jade engraving. Push it to fall into a trap.
Use the elaborate mirror setup to escape. Solution (senior): Screenshot
You will receive a colored dial and a slate with a series of symbols translating scary words.
Now call George on the walkie talkie - she will come rescue you, and you will now control her character.
George must go back to the cliffs and find the cave with a skull and crossbones on the outside. Examine to start the camel puzzle.
Use permanent pieces to solve camel puzzle - it is in nine sections and is actually a slider puzzle. When you have correctly placed the pieces, Nancy and George will have a dialog about the puzzle and you can do the slider puzzle. Screenshot
After completing slider puzzle, cave will open and trigger cutscene with Nancy and George.
At the right side of the entrance is a pile of objects - examine to get the driver's license.
Return to Sangre Beach to confront Johnny about his identity.
Return to top of Bat Steep to the hole you found before.
Use rod from perch on hole in ground, then astrolabe on stand. Click on astrolabe to see someone moving in the jungle.
Look at the journal's image of the astrolabe - it gives set of instructions for Dove Isle and Moon Reef. (The arrows with degrees). These may be different every time.
Halfmoon Reef
Sail to Halfmoon Reef to the NE and look at the sundials. They spell ATOCHA.
Leave area - Nancy will automatically call George. George agrees to look at placard in shed that says Atocha to see date on it. You will now be in control of George's character.
Go to shed - monkeys have broken in. Turns out they have stolen the Atocha commemorative coin. Call Nancy on walkie talkie - she will instruct you to go play a game with the monkeys to win it back. Play the center game and win back the coin - you now know the date. 9/6/1622
You need the dials to match the date: a =9, t =6, o=1, c=6, h=2, a=2. However moving any dial effects other dials. To set the dials,
Senior: Set c to 6, h to 2, o to 1, a(first one) to 6, a(second one) to 2, and t to 9.
Junior: Set o to 1, a to 6, c to 6, h to 2, a to 2, t to 9.
You will hear a click. Click the structure to slide sundials plate off and reveal a sheet of rules, and a coin with an owl shape. Notice this owl is the same shape as one in the journal.
Now go to Halfmoon Reef at 40 NE.
Dive down and avoid the jellyfish. You'll notice the symbols along the cliffs that match those you found on the item in the bat cave. When you reach the bottom, go left and pick up a shell near the helmet on the ground. Swim back to the right to find a cave (with the "death" symbol - it is referenced in the journal) containing an octopus. When you try to enter, the octopus blocks you. Notice the shells around the cave - now place your shell on the rock furthest from the octopus. It will take the bait and leave you access to the cave.
This will open a puzzle. Use the notes from the journal to help solve. It says: two makes 3 squares, 3 makes 4, 4 makes 5. This refers to how many lines you move to create the indicated number of squares.
Solution:
Two to three - Take the loose one on the bottom and complete the square right above. Take the dangling one on the left and place between the two to the right.
Three to four - Take the dangling one on the left and use it to complete the square right next to it on the bottom row. The other two you need to move are on the very right. Take one and complete the top right square and the other to complete the bottom right square.
Four to five - Your final shape will be like a plus sign. Take two from the bottom left and two from the top right to complete the five squares in the center.
Take the colored dial and resurface. While resurfacing, watch the pressure meter under your air supply and care not to resurface too quickly.
Revisit Shark Cove & Favor for Johnny
Return to Shark Cove. With your metal detector, you can explore the area that contained El Toro's journal.
Explore area until you find Bess's bracelet, 3 animal coins, and a device with room for 6 animal coins. The you should have all the animal coins once you have thoroughly swept the beach. Then return and do the animal sliding puzzle. Your objective is to slide the animals over the center shape such that the shapes match.
Solution:
Move upper left coin to center. Move the cat on the bottom left until the head is upward, and move to center. Finally rotate bird in lower right clockwise three times and move to center.
Device opens giving you a colored dial!
Head to Blue Hole and try to scuba dive in the pool. Nancy says it is too dark to see.
Return to Johnny Rolle. Talk to him about an undercover glowstick. He will give you one if you program his GPS with waypoints.
Enter the waypoints using the map he gives you. One should be given to you: just enter it in the GPS. The others must be deduced using the map. Each line is three minutes.
Solution:
The waypoints are:
Half Moon Bay N23"57', W74"30'
Danger Reef N24"09', W74"18'
Kraken Whirlpool N23"54', W74"12'
Dread Isle: N24"00', W73"24'
Shipwreck Shoals N24"06', W74"00'
Gull Rock N23"51', W73"48'
USS Cyclops N24"09', W73"42'
Bermuda Triangle N24"18', W73"27'
Dread Isle N24"0', W73"24'
Return to Johnny and trade programmed GPS for lightstick.
Diving the Blue Hole
Make sure to refill your air tank at the resort if it's not full. Then go back to Blue Hole for another attempt at diving. You should have all six colored dials at this point in the game.
To navigate the system of doorways in the tunnels you'll need to refer to the part of the journal regarding the caves which reads: Danger! Heed this warning: Death awaits all who enter these caves unprepared. Poisonous guardians of the deep strike with no warning. Notice that many of these words are on the symbol translation sheet from bat cave.
You need to follow the symbols on the doors in the order they appear in the warning.
Solution:
Bottom right tunnel, bottom right tunnel, upper right tunnel, upper right tunnel. In the room that splits into three paths here, you can take the upper left tunnel to refill your air in an abandoned air tank. Otherwise (or afterwards) to right until the tunnel ends.
Here you must place the six colored dials you've found throughout the game. Notice each dial has an animal on it. Now examine the Code of Conduct document you found at Dove Cove. The names of all six animals appear in the document. Screenshot The order they appear is the order the dials must be placed.
Solution:
The order is bee, ant, donkey, owl, panther, camel.
Once they are in the proper positions, you must match the colors. Solution:
Red matches on the bee and ant, yellow on ant and owl, green on owl and panther, blue on panther and camel, green/white on camel and donkey.
Completing the puzzle will open a passageway to an hourglass puzzle. The journal refers to hourglasses once at the end, saying What a blessing it would be for the sands of time to run out for all at the exact same time.
Also notice the seven letters written in black in the journal: H G C P T C D. These letters correspond with the names on the hourglasses. This is the order they must be turned.
First grab the key on Humilidad. Then begin turning them in the following order so that they run out at approximately the same time: Humilidad, wait 2 seconds, Generosidad, wait 5 seconds, Castidad, wait 5 seconds, Paciencia, wait four seconds, Templanza, wait 5 seconds, Caridad, wait 4 seconds, Diligencia. The timing is tricky to get them to stop at the same time but play with them until you get a feel for their speed.
Once you've solved the puzzle and have the key, you can open the doors to receive the treasure map! Now head back out the tunnels the way you came. (Lower left, upper left, left, left). If you need air, go to the tunnel to the upper left in the room that is split three ways to access the air tank.
Go back to the resort and talk to George. Receive note instructing Nancy to deliver map to Johnny alone. Return to Johnny.
Finding Bess
After cutscene, meet Bess and find way out of hole. Use the key in your inventory from the hourglass puzzle on the small hole to the right of the door next to Bess.
In the next room, collect the key in the skeleton's hand.
There is an optional puzzle here to get El Toro's treasure. On the last page of the journal is an image of a key in front of a symbol. That symbol matches one of the ones in the box with the dozens of keyholes. Using the hourglass key in that keyhole will reveal a hidden safe behind the bull painting. Now notice that there are several images around the room: the bull, the sword, the shield, and the images in the two paintings. Each of these images appeared in the journal. The safe is locked with nine symbols: five are ON the these images in the room. You must hit the symbols in the order they were written about in the journal to open the safe.
Solution:
5 x x 4 1
x 2 3 x
Now that you have the briefcase, you must open it. Use both keys in the two keyholes. Hitting the buttons affects the other buttons.
Solution:
I, II, IV, V
Yay you got El Toro's treasure! Now to escape the room.
Return to the panel with all the keyholes. Their placement will change every time. Recall the clues on the last page of El Toro's notebook regarding this. This is a logic puzzle where you use those clues to determine which keyhole is correct.
Once you get the correct keyhole, you can escape. Congratulations!
Posted by: eileen
|
July 27, 2009 12:18 AM