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May-24-2006 19:15

This has been rattling around in my head a while, and sorry if it's been brought up before. I dont remember seeing it, but that doesnt mean anything. One thing that is, IMO, very unrealistic about this game is when you do a favor for the barber (for example, and assuming that the barber is not your contact) and the barber clams on you. In this game, the person you are doing the favor for, the townie, cant be guilty, so wouldnt they want the case solved? and wouldnt they do whatever they could in order to see it solved? Just seems odd to me. IMO, whoever you are doing the favor for should answer all of your questions....any thoughts?

May-24-2006 20:23

It's been up before, I'm sure recently in Newbs. I agree though. Somebody said, I think, it would make the favour too easy. But that would be completely random wouldn't it? Sometimes it might work out in your favour, and sometimes it might not - like getting four threads and your contact is the Tailor, just luck. As you say Autumn, if you are doing the person a favour,and they do 'want' your help, so why shouldn't he/she be co-operative with you instead of being an ungrateful sod!

A bit like [without wanting to hi-jack this for my own means] why doesn't your PE Tailor just tell you who the thread belongs to as soon as you ask, rather than making you go through the list of suspects ordeal. [Providing the owner of the thread has been interviewd of course].

It's not trying to make the game easier imo [and i hope that stands for 'in my opinion' and not something else I haven't cottoned on to], but rather making your relationships with the townsfolk more realistic.

May-24-2006 21:07

That is very true Autumn...It would make sense for them to answer all of your questions for that one case, kinda-like a one time contact or something since they want your help afterall.

Another thing about the game I've always wondered (and I hope this makes sense), is why if say three people were with the waitress and she tells you that Person A was there, but then clams up before you can ask about the other two...Why can't you then have the option to ask Person A, about B and C since he/she was there and could validate the alibi.

Both issues probably have a lot to do with the random nature of the game and computer programming limitations that are far beyond my comprehension, but they are still interesting to ponder :)

May-24-2006 21:07

*applauds paranoid android* yes! exactly! (and yes imo = in my opinion)

May-24-2006 21:11

oohhhh i like that serena!! very good point...the farthest my mind ever got in that direction was wondering what two (or more) suspects were all doing at the hotel or the priest at the same time......

May-24-2006 21:53

Serena, your makes perfect sense for a Featured Mystery where it is all scripted out. I would be surprised if that has not already been done in one of them, it just makes sense (I have not done any FM yet, was waiting till the trilogy was finsihed before doing the grand tour).

I think (based on my programing and game design experience) that the extra complication of keeping track of who each suspect was with (along with all the attendent questions of if they are known yet, has the townie clammed, etc) would make for a quadrupling of the size of the logic nodes.

It is just a limitation of the random mystery format, just as the original question. Does it make perfect logical sense? no, but it does make for a reasonable and enjoyable game experience still.

May-25-2006 01:36

Totally agree, Autumn, thanks for raising it as it seems to have been rattling more heads than yours, lol!

This has irritated me to no end. I'd settle for if the person you are doing the favor for was guaranteed to answer some minimum fixed number of questions, like 3 or something, but logically yeah, they should prostrate themselves to your sleuthy services and sing like a drunken Aretha Franklin at a bad office party.

(as anstett points out however, this presumes human logic, not programming logic)

May-25-2006 09:25

true. but as a mere player, i dont have to deal with the headache of all the programming and such.....(thank God!) i leave that to the sleuth gods...

May-25-2006 10:54

Maybe it would seem more realistic if it said something like "Someone must have gotten to (f.ex.) Thaddeus because he was clearly nervous and didn't want to answer any more questions"? Maybe, perhaps, I don't know :)

May-26-2006 05:30

I think it would be cool, if you were lucky enough to get the Fortune Teller as a contact, if she'd tell your fortune for free :D

May-31-2006 09:44

I also think you should be able to kill a townie you need a favour from when they don't give it too you and then steal the treasure or at least find out who they gave it too.
*mutters something about a damn barber*