What happens when two of the best known names in the room escape business team up? You get a charming little piece like First Love, is what. Created by Bianco-Bianco (Dr. Ichie, Mystery House in Japan) and Robamimi (Who Am I? Remake, The Wedding Anniversary) First Love is not your ordinary escape. Call it a holiday gift to you.
To begin with, you are not attempting to escape anything. You are, in fact, attempting a walk down memory lane, to a decade ago when you and your first love parted. The action takes place in a lovely little chapel, the last place you two met, and your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find the picture you both drew on that fateful day. Will you find the picture? Will your first love meet you as promised? You'll have to play to find out.
Navigation through the space can be a little tricky at first. Turning left and right is simple, bars will appear at the sides of the screen. However, you are walking through a narrow chapel, so in order to see some things to your right or left, you will first have to move forward. Luckily, pixel hunting will be at a minimum thanks to the nice changing cursor, which indicates areas that can be clicked. There's no construction or combining of objects to be had here, just puzzles and mind games. And memories...
The backgrounds are of the beautiful quality you would expect from Bianco-Bianco and Robamimi. From the charming little chapel all done up for Christmas, to the warm glow of the basement everything is a treat for the eyes. Accompanying your quest is a peaceful little tune, which can be handily muted if it becomes annoying. There's even a save button if you wish to stop and come back later.
Analysis: First Love is a nice combination of Robamimi's sentiment and Bianco-Bianco's quirkiness. This is not a tense nail-biter, nor a pure cold logic puzzle. Instead, it is a warm and fuzzy nostalgia trip that is perfect for a short break from the holiday madness.
No, it's not the hardest room escape out there. Nor the cutest, nor the quirkiest. First Love has its own quiet charm, it's calm and soothing, and it has just enough difficulty to make it a challenge. The only quarrel you might have is that one of the main puzzles is color-based, making it rather inaccessible for those with color-blindness.
Now that the holiday is finally here, and you've stuffed yourself silly and are tired of family fighting and football, take a 15 minute break from the day and enjoy some casual gameplay. Remember, it's sometimes fun not to escape from something, but to escape to something. Enjoy the trip down memory lane.
Walkthrough Guide
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First Love Walkthrough:
Don't forget to click "English" beforehand!
Standing at the very back of the church (near the door and facing the cross), you see two rows of eight pews. Under the pew closest to the door on the right, find a BLUE STAR.
The wreath second from the door on the left (if you're facing the big cross) has a RED STAR in it.
Under the pew second-closest to the big cross on the left (if you're facing the cross) find a YELLOW STAR.
Look in the podium with the cross on it (to the right of the big cross). Find a BOX. Notice that you need to enter a three-letter code (and those letters must be D, E, V, I, or L). If you've already found the blue, red, and yellow stars, clicking the Hint button will tell you how to open the box.
"The day before Xmas." Which means the code for the box is
"EVE"
You now have a BLACK STAR.
Look under the shelf where you got the box. Find a STAR KEY.
Open up the book under the big cross. No scriptures here, just a story about a dragon. A colorful story. Remember those colors for later, and also make note of the diagrams. At the back of the book, there is a different diagram, this one with a big cross (look familiar?), some rectangles, and a star. The rectangles are windows, and the cross is the big cross in the church.
Go to the window indicated by the diagram in the back of the book. There's a keyhole. Use the star key on it, and get the GREEN STAR.
Go up to the big cross again, and turn left. There's a panel in the floor with a star on it, and places to put the stars you've collected so far. But what order do you put them in?
Go back to the book and read Chapter 1. There are two colors mentioned in this chapter (blue and yellow). There is also a triangle with a white star at the top. This is a hint about the floor panel. The next chapter has a hint for the other half of the floor panel puzzle. It mentions the colors red and green, and has a triangle with a black star at the bottom.
Go to the floor panel with the stars on it. Using the information you got from the book, put the stars where they belong. The order they go in is:
Clockwise from the white star at the top: white, red, blue, black, yellow, green.
Flip the switch at the bottom of the puzzle and the panel opens up to reveal a ladder leading down.
Go down the ladder and forward once. On the right wall of the hallway is a picture with four brooms and some numbers. You can click on the brooms, and they change to an empty candle holder, a bit of string, or a candle holder with a candle. Remember this for later.
Go into the basement room. In front of you is a table with a golden box on it. On this box you see some rectangles, and a green star. You've seen this before, right? But what are those numbers for? You can change them for some reason.
If you turn right from the table, you see a plaque on the wall with four symbols on it, one of which is a green star (hey, didn't you just see a green star on that box on the table?). Against the wall the plaque is on there's another gold box. This one has the same symbols as the plaque, only the green star is missing. Turning right, you see a bookshelf with a locked blue box on it.
Look more closely at the room. There are a lot more items in there, including brooms, empty candle holders, candle holders with candles, and bits of string. Hey! Let's count them. (With the bits of string in the corner, count the circles. Each end of string is circled, with two ends per string. Meaning the number of strings is half the number of circles.)
Brooms: 4, Empty Candle Holders: 7, Candle Holders w/Candles: 2, Strings: 3.
Put those numbers into the picture in the hallway. It tells you the steamer is on.
Go back upstairs and take a look at the windows. They've been steamed up, and now you can see numbers on them. Write down the numbers in the order they appear on the windows (notice that the window you got the green star from has no number).
Go downstairs again to the golden box with the numbers on it. Input the numbers from the windows. It sould look like this:
18
2*
03
71
Now take the GREEN STAR TILE.
Put the green star tile in the other golden box. Open the box and take the GOLD KEY.
Use the gold key to open the blue box on the bookshelf. Take the CARD with the snowman on it.
On the back of the snowman card you see yet another diagram. Go back upstairs to the pew indicated. See the message, then click back.
The end! Merry Christmas, everyone!
Posted by: nerdypants
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December 25, 2009 5:24 PM