Violation date

[okh]

Hi,

First, please excuse me for my language. English is not my primary one.

So i played this game for some hours, the game is well thought and you can tell there has been a fair amount of work behind the mechanics. There's something which really bug me off, though. When trying to report a violation (or blackmail), there are some details to specify, like the violator, the appartement he lives in, the directive violated and a date.

I played first in french (my primary language), and in front of the date selector, the word translated in french was "de" which means a lot of things in french (it can means "from (somewhere)" but also "since" and also "of".) It wasn't very clear to me so I switched to english. The word in english is "from", but it's not much clearer that way for me.

The first date which I thought about was the date when I found the violation, but it doesn't add up: I can't choose the current date. When I find a violation, I go to my desk and I simply cannot choose the day i'm in. Should I wait for the day after to report? Plus if I find something incriminating and it's illegal only some days later, I'm supposed to remember the date?

But even then, it doesn't make any sense. When I try to blackmail someone and I have the wrong date, the blackmailing is just ignored. How can the violator can ignore my blackmail based on me filling the wrong date?!? He can't possibly know how I found out about it, and even if he could, he shouldn't just ignore that I have proof! Worse than that, the government know I have the wrong date!?! And because of that, my report is just ignored all the same. We're in a state in which delation is encouraged, and even enforced, but they can't do anything if i'm wrong on a date they can't possibly know about?

So I tried to think about other dates, like the date from which I suspect the violator to have broke the rules, even if i didn't found it on the moment and just remembered later, or if it has just been declared illegal.

I even thought of filling with the date of the directive, but what would be the point? That date is at the same place as the directive number...


So, am I wrong? Should it be an other date I didn't thought about?
If I was right, why can't I fill with the current date? Am I supposed to let it void when it's the same day?
What does that date add to the game? I find it very unclear and totally out of reality. No one should ignore a blackmail because the act happened the day before (even more when it's an illegal book and it's still there the next day...). And how can the government can fine me because of a wrong date? How can they know?

[Kinder]

I have the exact same problem. There's is an issue with the violation date in the report I agree, or I dont get it right
The 1st report you do is Jacob and it works everytime, even if you report day 2
When I want to report for Schimmers or even Sarah the doctor's wife, after getting info from the governement, the report is rejected because of the date but I dont know why...

[Chaphogriff]

You have to fill the report with the date when the directive was created.

[Белый Кот]

It's the date of the directive. So if you want to report for apples, it will be always 6040 from 01.09 (I guess it's 6040 on each walkthough). It does not matter when you found the apple or when you wrote blackmail/report.

[okh]

Really? What's the point in this? You already have to fill the directive number, the date is on the same page as the number...

Well, that explains why the first mission worked at least.

But for the record, I find that kind of useless and unclear. And like I said, in french, it's even worse. The translation cannot even mean that...

Thanks for the answer, both of you.

[Белый Кот]

Maybe to show how crazy the paperwork in the country works!
And if you blackmain without right date, the man just thinks "Ha, he cannot even write the date right, if he post a report like that, he'll just get the fine, so I'm not in trouble!"

[okh]

Well, that was my point too.

You live in a country where authorities can beat you up and expel you (at least) for owning apples or a book. I can understand why someone could ignore blackmail, but you have at least to destroy evidences or hiding them somewhere else. Actually, he just ignore the whole thing happened and you can catch him again 10 minutes later...

Same thing for the authorities. They make me pay a fine? Ok, but why don't they expel the violator at the same time, they have the proof, the book is even in the guy's appartment...

It's not that the game is broken or anything, but when you have a story like that one, that kind of details make you get out of the narrative. (Imagine just a second, you hide illegal items on your closet, someone is threatening to report you, but at the last moment, you take time to check the date of a random directive - with one per day, it can be hard to follow - and when you realize the date is wrong, you go back to bed and sleep well? :p)

[Белый Кот]

It's actually worse!
You can make stuff like this:

1) You get blackmail letter, that states you have apples. But you never bought one! Still you go and pay (somehow you feel, that there is one now). You don't desroy or hide that apple, somebody left in your flat. Tomorrow the apple dissapears.
2) Then you get another blackmail letter, that states you have forbidden book. Still you go and pay (somehow you feel, that there is one now). You don't desroy or hide that book, somebody left in your flat. Tomorrow the book dissapears.

If you found somebody in your flat between 1) and 2), you don't think it's a big deal. He is not connected for stuff appearing and disappearing or blackmail.

[Kinder]

Originally posted by Chaphogriffon:

You have to fill the report with the date when the directive was created.

Oh my... that is too dumb to be found lol... Or translation problem

[Chaka (FR)]

Same problem. Succeeded the first times, now i get constantly wrong date fail...
This is maybe a bad translation problem...