Episode 3: Feedback and Thoughts

[KatieHal]

Episode 3: The Oracle is out and it's a doozy. Packed with twists and revelations and a hell of an ending. We want to hear your thoughts on the episode! What did you like, what didn't work so well, what you saw coming and what totally shocked you, we want it all!

Warning! This will be a spoiler-filled thread!

[Cathenah19]

I truly thought it was impossible to top the tension at the end of Episode 2, but I was wrong.

Thank you Phoenix Online Studios for putting out such an awesome game.

The way I felt at the end of Episode 3:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! You did not just end the episode there! It was too short.

Now, I can't wait to chase down the Cain Killer.

The only problem is waiting impatiently for the last episode to come out and see

Spoiler (mouse over to reveal):

the Cain Killer's lair

(as mentioned in the post-credits Episode 4 preview).

(And I'm still jealous of Erica for having Episode 5 of "The Silver Lining" ahead of the official release. )

On a side note, maybe it was my computer, but after Cordelia took the documents from the dining room table, the game started to repeat the dialog for taking those papers over and over. I had to use the cognition sphere to break the endlessly repeating cycle and get control back of the game.

Athena

[JadesFire]

Apart from a nasty bug that stopped my game (i was able to take the necklace before using my powers on the jewelry and thus couldn't get the journal  ) this episode was awesome.
i really liked the idea of seeing the past through Cordelias eyes. hope to see more of her and Erica working together in the future.
Who the Cain Killer is was a bit predictable imo but the finale was gripping nonetheless, thanks to the tight atmosphere you built.
And the background art was really gorgeous. Especially the painting in Cordelias bedroom and the one with the phoenix. No wonder that Skorobeus stares at them for hours^^

Thanks for making a game with focus on storytelling and atmosphere. I really love it.

Greetings from Germany
Jade

[KatieHal]

Thank you so much Athena & Jade, and welcome to the forums as well! So glad you liked the episode! And sorry to hear about those bugs, but I'm glad they didn't break the game for you.

The artists really did a great job on making the Towers look fantastic, I agree. Those paintings are really stunning!

[stika]

hopefully I have time to play ep 3 today, then I an read all the dpoilerrific info 

[Göran]

Ok, finished the episode and wanted to give some feedback!

+ The second part of the episode is brilliant, great conclusion and cliffhanger!
+ The Enthon Towers = Lots of fresh content! Many episodic games reuse old locations to death. You worked your asses off here and it shows!
+ Liked the puzzles where the Oracle and Erica have to work together. And I also liked the safe puzzle.

- It was hard to buy the setup of this episode. No press or other people found out that a guy has been thrown off the roof? Police can get away with removing everything from the crime scene? McAdams just tells Erica to stay out but cant give a good reason why (the Wise Monkey case was hers after all). Terence sends Erica some football scores out of the blue? So much strange stuff happened that it felt more like a dream. Maybe that was the point but its hard to swallow right in the beginning.
- Weird animations at times.
- Inital crime scene deviation puzzle was silly.
- Glitches found, though nothing game breaking.

Overall I liked it, especially the second part. It was great to get some answers but I think the Wise Monkey is still my favourite episode so far!

[stika]

Glad you liked it Goran

I still have to play ep 3, I'll probably do it on the weekend

[KatieHal]

Thanks Goran!

The opening part is meant to be that way--something is clearly off and Erica's not about to buy anyone's excuses.

Although the lack of people is more about (a) the time it happens (all during the evening/night) and (b) Erica is in one apartment for the majority of her time there, and the person who lives there is very much not home right now.

[ReldonBrimstone]

Just finished episode 3. Amazing job again with the tension and suspense rising to yet another high point.

I only encountered a few minor graphical glitches, such as cordelia walking over the trash can to the east side of the room once, instead of around it. Also, when I wanted to put the tracking pen on the countertop, I had to exit the memory and re-enter it, because cordelia was stuck in place and wouldn't move.

I had a quick laugh at the magically shrinking (and regrowing) orrery model.

Other than these minor little picky points, I really enjoyed it. Wish it would have lasted longer, but that's just because I love the story and the games, never want them to end 

[Jack Stryker]

I just beat it and enjoyed it overall as well.  Particularly the whole thing with Erica and Cordelia working together.  But I did see a few little glitches, like McAdams' notepad flying around while talking to him.  And Cordelia's subtitle saying "I'll just take this.", while her voice clearly said "I'll just take these."

Spoiler (mouse over to reveal):

And speaking of Cordelia... using cognition requires the person to touch an item, right?  So how was Cordelia able to use it on the keypad and camera, while her arms were restrained?  Did she slip her shoe off and touch them with her foot or something?

And man... that John... I'm not sure whether to hate him or feel bad for him, but I know I'll never look at him the same again.  Same thing for Cordelia.

[KatieHal]

Thanks Jack!

While Erica's power requires touch, Cordelia's isn't restricted in the same way. Here can be used by simply focusing on an item or person.

[CriticalDamage]

Well, there were really big glitches but moving on..

I've just finished it....and it's just feels like one of those days haha why did I had to play this on a saturday?! 

It was a really bittersweet episode! just when you think everything is cool you can sense a ****storm coming that trows everything you thought away and leaves you in complete solitude and sitting in dark thinking things through like a certain character... WHICH IS A GOOD THING! (but, again...why a saturday!? xd).
I dare to say that Cordelia is such a profund and well done character that (in the MUSTDO second season) is going to be the ambiguous ally..the one that you don't know if you can really trust but it's there now and then in her own way (despite the whole thing with Sully). If I have to be honest..I can't be mad at her, at least not completely..again, a bittersweet thing (on a Saturday)..that I was expecting in some way, but you guys have outdone yourselves with how you've done it. Amazing.

There's one thing that left me hanging...In the visions the body of the shooter belongs to a guy everytime, so John was actually going to be the shooter or something happened? and where is Keith? He was almost done, no way he could beat McCoy and run away!...right?

In the end, and despite everything, i trust Cordelia above everyone else..

Thanks for the amazing experience!! 

[Göran]

There's one thing that left me hanging...In the visions the body of the shooter belongs to a guy everytime, so John was actually going to be the shooter or something happened? and where is Keith? He was almost done, no way he could beat McCoy and run away!...right?

Just wait until the next episode and find out! 

[Krymson]

Thoroughly enjoyed the episode!

My favorite puzzle was definitely cracking the safe combination. It's the first time I've had to "sleep on it" since some obtuse Space Quest puzzle. Kudos!

I'm a little fuzzy on what Erica or Cordelia was able to accomplish that changed Erica's vision of her own death into what occurred in the Ep3 ending, but I am excited to see how it all wraps up.

On the technical side of things, there seems to be a strange hitching after a scene loads each time Erica enters a room. The cursor and UI return to an "active" state for just a moment and then return to an "inactive" state where either a scripted event will occur or nothing at all will occur for just a moment - after which control is again returned. I'm assuming this is part of scripting system your designers are using, but regardless it takes me out of the game for a moment each time it happens.

[KatieHal]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, it's great you're enjoying it!

Hmm, let's see--well, what happened to change the end of the vision Erica had of herself dying will come up in Episode 4. So I'll have to just give you a  on that one, CriticalDamage & Krymson. I will point out that a lot of people assumed the Hat Killer/Oracle was male before her identity was revealed, though. What makes you sure the person in Erica's visions beforehand was definitely male?

And as for Keith...who knows? Maybe he was faking it. 

Krymson--yeah, that sounds like an engine-related thing happening.

[CriticalDamage]

I will point out that a lot of people assumed the Hat Killer/Oracle was male before her identity was revealed, though. What makes you sure the person in Erica's visions beforehand was definitely male?

And as for Keith...who knows? Maybe he was faking it. 

Well I was convinced that the oracle was Cordelia, but the figure in the visions had (or at least i think it had) a bigger body than hers. So i thought that the shooter was the Cain Killer and not the oracle..But after the the final scene I thought that because of the body size and clothes, the shooter in the vision could be McCoy after all...but why? And Keith....Keith....i don't know anything anymore  hahaha

[Jack Stryker]

I always thought that scene would be saved for episode 4 and that in order to prevent her death, you'd have to do something different.  Like throw the gun at the shooter to catch him off guard and then tackle him or something.

[KatieHal]

Well, she DID do something different--she shot first!

There will be some more discussion of that, what happened and why it was different than her vision in Ep 4, though, I can tell you that much.

[HitBattousai]

Positives....

Since Cordelia as the killer was pretty apparent since Episode 1, getting her perspective and actually playing as her for her backstory was a very good decision.  Learning about it secondhand would have made the reveal cheap and lessen the impact it has.

Again, the ending sequence in this episode was executed very well and was the highlight of the episode in my opinion.  It ratcheted up the intensity of the game nicely with the transitions between Cordelia and Erica.

The overall use of the Cognition powers was done the best so far in this episode.  Puzzles were probably the most balanced in terms of difficulty as well, nothing too easy or too frustrating.

The art style of the game continues to be a strong point, particularly in the cut scenes.

The music is excellent and the voice acting is getting better in general with Holmes as the standout....

Negatives...

...But while the voice acting is in general improving, there are some moments that could have used an extra take or two.  John's revelation sequence to Erica near the end is the biggest offender.  To some extent that might be unfair depending on his motivations, which are questionable at this point.  However, at this moment it wasn't very good.

It's also kind of hard to buy that Erica wouldn't have put together the identity of the Cain Killer immediately when she sees the bandaged and burned Keith, since she had just been talking and thinking about the subject a second before.

Waiting for the finale 

Thanks, was fun as always. 

[Allie]

I just assumed Erica shot first this time because she'd had the vision to warn her of what was to come. Knowing she was about to get shot caused her to not hesitate to shoot, which caused her to shoot John. John, however, was probably not who was originally in her vision. I think it was Cordelia due to Cordelia's journal saying "I need to make sure I'm gone when Erica gets here. If I'm not here then the events in the vision can't come to be." She's referring to a vision she's been having, but I think it was the same vision Erica had or something similar. Maybe she was seeing Erica shoot her in John's place. Hard to say, but I think it was probably related.

Watch Episode 4 come out and this be completely off base. 

I stayed up all night and played Episode 3 from beginning to end. I'm still reeling from everything that happened. I love that we are given confirmation of Cordelia being the Oracle at the beginning of the game (instead of the end) and playing as both Cordelia and Erica. It was very cool to see how their abilities worked together.

I had read a review that mentioned being confined to one building in this episode and wasn't sure how well that was going to work out. It definitely worked. The scenery, story, puzzles... I think Cognition as a whole is my new favorite adventure game of all time. Sorry fangirling a bit here. 

Anyway, the game continues to be amazing, and I thank you all for this experience. I hope this is somewhat coherent as I really need to sleep. 

Oh, I almost forgot. Forgive me if this is something covered in the next episode, but I was trying to figure out when Cordelia was being attacked by Keith. The timeline for that confused me. I'm thinking it had to be how he got her into the room before Max died? I just remembered Max saying something about how she needed to survive so that she could kill him. They must have known that it was Keith who put them there?

Alright, I'm going to bed!