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Episode 2: Feedback and Thoughts

Started by KatieHal, January 30, 2013, 11:49:27 AM

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KatieHal

[spoiler]She's talking about what she's seeing the vision of what happened there months earlier, in the immediate aftermath of Kelsey's death. Joey obviously cleaned it up, or the original crime would've been reported. [/spoiler]

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

snabbott

Ah. I must have been confused about the timing. I was thinking it was before the vision.

Steve Abbott | Beta Tester | The Silver Lining

Jack Stryker

My thought on episode 2, to quote one Dr. Gallagher: "This is an interesting one."

Such a well-designed plot with some clever twists and an awesome new feature to go with Erica's powers.  ...Regrettably, that's all I can think of to say, without going into spoilers.  So...

[spoiler]There was also a bit of a twist for me, in regards to my feelings for the people involved in the crime.  In episode 1, I initially felt bad for the man who was hanged, until I found out the reason for his murder.  Then my pity turned into hatred.  In Kelsey's case, it was the other way around.  I felt hatred for her when I saw what was done to the victims, until I learned that she didn't kill them and was in fact, the first victim.  Not to mention the things she was going through up until then.

One scene in the game that I particularly enjoyed was Erica grilling the dean about his involvement in the crime.  Now there's something I never got to do in Police Quest!  (though I never did play more than the first two in that series)  And boy, was she good at it!  I was literally cheering her on before she finished with him.  It's just too bad we didn't get to actually see the Cops take him away in the end.

I actually kinda liked Melissa too.  In fact, she almost seemed like the kind of woman that I wouldn't mind dating in real life.  Although I do agree with Erica that her singing skill... could use some work.  (meaning no offense to the actress who played her)

There's just one little thing I don't get though.  Between rescuing Tess and looking up information on the case, when did Erica find time to have her tires fixed?
[/spoiler]

KatieHal

Thank you Jack! No worries, Melissa's singing was supposed to not be very good :)

Yeah, I love twisty stories where nothing's really what it seems. I'm glad people are enjoying the story of Episode 2 and how it unfolds!

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

Mr_Nabby

One thing that bothered me a little after a while now is how useless the Cellphone is. I started to think this after I tried to look at the texts that "Oracle" sent. And then I realised- I couldn't. There's no Inbox.

"Well, bummer" I thought. But then I remembered that the phone has a lot of stuff you can't use. Sure, there's "Hint" and "Note" that are quite useful, but there is a lack of things to play around with.

- "Web Search" has some categories that can't find anything. (Would have been nice with some content)
- "Calendar" was used for a puzzle in Episode 1, but now I can't even open it in order to see which year or month Cognition is supposed to take place in.
- "Music" was used to set the ringtone in a puzzle. What if you still could do that, and when Erica got a phonecall, your selected ringtone played.

And then my original point. An Inbox so you could see the texts "Oracle" sent. And hey, why not put some old texts in there to. Like from Scott! We knew next to nothing about him. This could be a way to get a feel of his character.

It's mostly nitpicky and useless stuff. Just throwing it out there!
There's so many movies/games/books/comics that I don't know where to start!

Well, better start with the classics and work my way forward...

Guyra

#45
I played through Episode 2 a couple of days ago, and wow! I loved the first episode, but this was quite the step up!

I wish the polish in this episode would also be in Episode 1 - and I hope you'll actually go back to polish it after all episodes are out, and release a nice, so that the first episode will be on par with the later ones. Eye movements, animations, etc. were really great, and I thought the story was superb!

[spoiler]I also loved seeing Erica in action with the Dean. I felt that played a really important part, as it really reassured me that she was an FBI agent: She's got authority, and she will use it when necessary. Very important! I think many games(and other story telling mediums as well) forget about this. FBI(and similar agencies) agents are authoritative figures, and they will use their authority if they deem it necessary. I don't really think "pushovers" would ever have the chance of becoming field agents like this, so it was really nice to be reassured of Erica's position, as well as seeing a somewhat new side of her.[/spoiler]

... I guess I also could've just written, "this girl ain't gonna take no s*** from nobody!" ;D

There's not much critique to give on this episode, I think. There were a couple of smaller things, like when Erica walks up the stairs to Joey's place, it looks a bit unnatural. She looks a bit stiff, and the angle she's walking at makes it look like her balance would be off a bit, so I was almost waiting for her to fall down the stairs every time. :P

[spoiler]Other than that, I also noticed that she could use the SD card on her phone this time, yet last time she couldn't. I remember Sully mentioning the memory card reader being an uncommon model or something, but the memory looks like it is the same. Or am I mistaken?

And I thought Sully's ear and the blood was lying there for a bit too long, while Erica had no trouble walking about, working at her desk, etc. You'd think that they'd get that ear in with some ice straight away, so that they might be able to get it put back on later. And I thought it was really weird having Erica just doing her job, seemingly unaffected by the blood splatter and body part of her missing love interest and colleague half a meter away from where she sits.[/spoiler]

And last of all, I thought the dialogue between the two policemen at the end felt a bit too unnatural. A bit forced, kind of.

But that's all, and half of it's nitpicking. ;)

I loved the last puzzle, by the way! It really made sense, plot wise, and I felt it was quite intense as well as perfectly gruesome! [spoiler]Someone's really watching her, and checking up on how well she's developing her powers.[/spoiler] And that makes me really interested in knowing what comes next!

Great work! :D


Edit: I did miss her biting her lip, though. She did that a lot in episode 1. I found it to be a nice quirk. xD

dpolsrod

Just finished episode 2 myself and I really agree with Guyra on this.
Everything looks better, yet some animation still looks weird, like the stairs outside Joey's place and the animation when Erica exits Davies' office.
That's just my personal opinion, though.

I really enjoyed the last puzzle, although I must admit:
[spoiler]At first I didn't think of to use the Synergy power during the first questions of the quiz, so I just took some wild guesses which actually turned out to be correct! :P[/spoiler]

I also encountered a bug:

[spoiler]This made it impossible for me to answer the final question:
During the quiz I am able to save and load the game as normal, and when I load a save I made during the quiz, the quiz starts from the beginning. I'm assuming this is normal. However, when I get to the final question, none of the alternatives nor the "Enter" text activate the cursor. I can click on basically everything else, but not "Enter" or any of the alternatives. Luckily, I had saved just outside Joey's apartment so I didn't have to go far back at all.[/spoiler]

All in all, this was a great episode and it was fun seeing this new side to Erica.
I'm really looking forward to the next one. :D

Guyra

Quote from: dpolsrod on February 15, 2013, 12:08:24 AMand the animation when Erica exits Davies' office.
Oh yes, that one ertainly caught my attention, as well.

MikPal

Quote from: Guyra on February 14, 2013, 12:06:06 PM
And last of all, I thought the dialogue between the two policemen at the end felt a bit too unnatural. A bit forced, kind of.

You can only imagine what was suggested at one point. NE-E-E-E-E-E-EEIGH!

KatieHal

Guyra: your new avatar is AMAZING.

dpolsrod: Thank you! Yeah, that glitch during the quiz is one that snuck past us. Saving is supposed to be disabled for the entire quiz section, but after release and a number of people reporting this issue, we found that it becomes re-enabled if you look at the Wise Monkey folder, and then that problem with the final question occurs. Glad you didn't have to go too far back!

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

Guyra


stika


Guyra

Haha, I'm glad! xD

This is now my avatar on all forums I'm on. :P

stika

Quote from: Guyra on February 21, 2013, 03:24:02 AM
Haha, I'm glad! xD

This is now my avatar on all forums I'm on. :P

so I'm guessing that means no has any idea just what that avatar is about? :P

Guyra

Well, over at AdventureGamers they probably know, but otherwise, not so much. :P

CriticalDamage

I have a thing against pointy objects aiming to eyes (that should be enough explanation ha ha) but it turned it into a really intense and unexpected puzzle for me!    9/10

McAdams...he is, of course, unsmokable! (as we say in my country). At the same time, he reminds me of my boss. The only difference is that if he sees someone laying on the floor, he would just say "get up and bring me some coffee". So, for realism    8.5/10      I really want to see more of him in the next episodes. I think it has potential to make it 10/10!    Besides, if there is an option to push him down a stairwell it becomes a 11/10  :P

The pace never slowed down! even when there were moments we could calm down and think things through, it felt like you were wasting time..(Melissa..shut up.. :rofl:)    9/10

It felt strange without a partner. John has been out of everything through most of the game so far..I really want to see more of him..but I know that he is going to step up sooner rather than latter so I'm not troubled by that

Can't wait for the next episode!

stika

thank you for your awesome support :D

CriticalDamage

You are all more than welcomed and besides, you all deserve it.

KatieHal

Thanks so much!! :D

Hehe. I liked making McAdams unlikeable but still having good points to make to Erica. :)

Katie Hallahan
~Designer, PR Director~

"Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." Christina Baldwin

I have a blog!

CriticalDamage

Totally! is the kind of relationship where everything goes back and forth. It creates consistency within the story and in terms of character progression. It already did to some extent! after all..he is the first one there if you drink the coffee (I really need to try that with my boss now that I think about it..). McAdams = the grinch  ;D