❓Tips for the first playthrough❓

[ɆxⱣɍømɨ]

Recommend how to get more content and less "loading".
I just started and I already don't like that my choices are influenced by randomness.
I started the game from character creation 5 times because my character died 5 times when I was trying to get the tie off the fan, I watched the same dialogues 5 times.

I want to avoid this

[Zolf]

Every check in the game will include randomness, and there's not really a way to avoid that. Here's some basic tips if you're struggling:

- I'd recommend putting more points into the "Endurance" skill at character creation, as this directly translates to your physical health. "Volition" is the same for your mental health bar, which will also kill you if it reaches zero. You can also increase every skill later in the game, by leveling up after completing tasks.

- You can find healing items for both health bars across the map, and certain dialogue options can also heal you.

- Don't worry about failing a skill check, even an un-repeatable one. Failure can lead to different outcomes later on, and some checks can be retried.

- If an NPC offers you money, take it. Make sure you have enough money to pay for your room on day 2. After that, you don't need to worry about it that much.

- Save your game often. Some game-overs occur based on story choices rather than your health.

Hope some of these help!

[Du-Vu]

If you think an option might kill you, don’t take it. Come back later with higher stats or healing items. Save often and in different slots. Use quick saves. In general as ^ says, don’t worry too much about failing, but the game is dangerous when your health and volition are low and you don’t have many healing items — act accordingly, play a bit cautiously. It won’t always be that way, but the light is a lesson. It’s basically a low level mob in a game without actual combat.

Press Tab to highlight interactable items. Once you find the yellow bag you can pick up cans and bottles and exchange them at the convenience store, which, like many places, closes down at night (around 2hrs after dark, iirc). Make sure you have at least 20R saved up by the second night, don’t make any unnecessary purchases and you should be fine.

[ɆxⱣɍømɨ]

Originally posted by Du-Vu:

If you think an option might kill you, don’t take it. Come back later with higher stats or healing items. Save often and in different slots. Use quick saves. In general as ^ says, don’t worry too much about failing, but the game is dangerous when your health and volition are low and you don’t have many healing items — act accordingly, play a bit cautiously. It won’t always be that way, but the light is a lesson. It’s basically a low level mob in a game without actual combat.

Press Tab to highlight interactable items. Once you find the yellow bag you can pick up cans and bottles and exchange them at the convenience store, which, like many places, closes down at night (around 2hrs after dark, iirc). Make sure you have at least 20R saved up by the second night, don’t make any unnecessary purchases and you should be fine.

without 20 coins by the second night will I lose or what?

I don't know what options can kill me.
I reached for my tie, how smart do you have to be to assume that "Reaching for a tie" can mean death

[ɆxⱣɍømɨ]

Originally posted by Zolf:

Every check in the game will include randomness, and there's not really a way to avoid that. Here's some basic tips if you're struggling:

- I'd recommend putting more points into the "Endurance" skill at character creation, as this directly translates to your physical health. "Volition" is the same for your mental health bar, which will also kill you if it reaches zero. You can also increase every skill later in the game, by leveling up after completing tasks.

- You can find healing items for both health bars across the map, and certain dialogue options can also heal you.

- Don't worry about failing a skill check, even an un-repeatable one. Failure can lead to different outcomes later on, and some checks can be retried.

- If an NPC offers you money, take it. Make sure you have enough money to pay for your room on day 2. After that, you don't need to worry about it that much.

- Save your game often. Some game-overs occur based on story choices rather than your health.

Hope some of these help!

I have 15 side quests after I left the first house.

What do I need to do to not fail the side quests?
So I'm ready to fail the side quest if I choose, but I'm not ready if he has some time.
I saw a clock icon next to one quest

[Du-Vu]

If you can’t pay for the second night it eventually leads to a game over, yes. The game warns you about this many times, and money isn’t actually hard to find, you just can’t afford to spend it all too quickly during the first two days. There’s an achievement for the second-night game over, but make a hard save before you blow all your money.

Also, for once you get your first few healing items: when you lose your last point of health/morale you get a few seconds’ grace period to click on the heal button and save yourself. You generally have to be pretty reckless to die. The early game hell is there to get across how much of a pit the PC is in when the game starts.

The clock means it needs time before you can complete it, the information should be in the quest description. Either you can’t do it until a specific time of day, or you need to wait until another day.

What options can kill you are mostly obvious based on context, but you have to read the dialogue/descriptions. The game warns you that turning on the light is going to feel *bad*. The whole thing is being played for comedy, but the point is you’re in such bad shape as a habitual alcoholic going back years that you’re practically dead, so you need to be careful.

Or take some painkillers, or increase your Endurance, or make sure you don’t try to do too much before you rest. It all makes sense in-story.

[Zolf]

Originally posted by ɆxⱣɍømɨ:

I have 15 side quests after I left the first house.

What do I need to do to not fail the side quests?
So I'm ready to fail the side quest if I choose, but I'm not ready if he has some time.
I saw a clock icon next to one quest

A lot of the tasks are pretty easy to complete. Try examining the body, and just talk to everybody you see. Time only progresses when you talk to somebody or read a book, and there's no actual time limit to complete the game - take as long as you need.

[kez]

Don’t do drugs, alchohol, exercise regularly.

[Kurremkarmerruk]

1. don't have just one category of stats high, spread points across many. sometimes voices will lie to you.
2. some stats are far more usefull than others. best are probably volition, logic, savoir faire, physical instrument. the most useless are shivers, espirit de corps
3. i advise to check efects of thoughts on the interenet, some are great, some usless

4.kinda SPOILERS
-dont touch tie/fan before you have high inland empire
-it will require many reloadings but easy way to make money is to talk with container in docs
-you can take boots from body (preferably when there is no kim around)
-saying kapitalist what socialist tell you is choice that will help socialist

5.very SPOILER
-rene will die so if you want to talk to him do it quick
-dont trust klasie
-no meter what will you do you will meet murderer at the very end of the game
-criptids are real

[ɆxⱣɍømɨ]

Originally posted by Zolf:

Originally posted by ɆxⱣɍømɨ:

I have 15 side quests after I left the first house.

What do I need to do to not fail the side quests?
So I'm ready to fail the side quest if I choose, but I'm not ready if he has some time.
I saw a clock icon next to one quest

A lot of the tasks are pretty easy to complete. Try examining the body, and just talk to everybody you see. Time only progresses when you talk to somebody or read a book, and there's no actual time limit to complete the game - take as long as you need.

Should I accept all side quests?
I am given a choice to accept or decline, but if I decline, I am given the option to accept the quest again.
I have a feeling that if I don't complete the quest, there will be no consequences, meaning I just lose the content and get nothing in return.

Should I pick up items when given a choice?
There is a photo in the guard booth, game offer to take it or leave it.

[Zolf]

Originally posted by ɆxⱣɍømɨ:

Should I accept all side quests?
I am given a choice to accept or decline, but if I decline, I am given the option to accept the quest again.
I have a feeling that if I don't complete the quest, there will be no consequences, meaning I just lose the content and get nothing in return.

Should I pick up items when given a choice?
There is a photo in the guard booth, game offer to take it or leave it.

Yeah, accept as many tasks as you can find. There are a few that are required to beat the game, which are related to the case and can't be missed, but it's not always easy to tell which ones. None of the Thoughts are required, though they can parts of the game easier.

Pick up whatever items you find, (off the top of my head) I can't think of any that have negative consequences for collecting them. A few NPCs might comment on your choice of clothing, but that's it.

Originally posted by Kurremkarmerruk:

1. don't have just one category of stats high, spread points across many. sometimes voices....l

Just to note, some of the info in this reply is innaccurate.

EDC and Shivers both (at different times) make the game much easier, for example, Passing a certain Shivers check can lead you to the Instigator early <- (also, when posting spoilers for a game, it's a good idea to the the "spoiler" tag around your text so it's hidden by default). EDC gives you more insight into the other cops, which can grant bonuses in some checks, and is useful if you want to know more about the detective's life/those characters.

[Hopper-King]

shivers also had all the coolest stuff, at least in my playthrough.
gives you insight and closure on some of the characters you don't get otherwise.

[ɆxⱣɍømɨ]

Originally posted by Hopper-King:

shivers also had all the coolest stuff, at least in my playthrough.
gives you insight and closure on some of the characters you don't get otherwise.

I play with the leveling "Inner world, logic, drama, attentiveness, empathy"

And I will go to the end, but tell me what is "shivers".
I play in Russian.

[ɆxⱣɍømɨ]

Originally posted by Zolf:

Originally posted by ɆxⱣɍømɨ:

Should I accept all side quests?
I am given a choice to accept or decline, but if I decline, I am given the option to accept the quest again.
I have a feeling that if I don't complete the quest, there will be no consequences, meaning I just lose the content and get nothing in return.

Should I pick up items when given a choice?
There is a photo in the guard booth, game offer to take it or leave it.

Yeah, accept as many tasks as you can find. There are a few that are required to beat the game, which are related to the case and can't be missed, but it's not always easy to tell which ones. None of the Thoughts are required, though they can parts of the game easier.

Pick up whatever items you find, (off the top of my head) I can't think of any that have negative consequences for collecting them. A few NPCs might comment on your choice of clothing, but that's it.

Originally posted by Kurremkarmerruk:

1. don't have just one category of stats high, spread points across many. sometimes voices....l

Just to note, some of the info in this reply is innaccurate.

EDC and Shivers both (at different times) make the game much easier, for example, Passing a certain Shivers check can lead you to the Instigator early <- (also, when posting spoilers for a game, it's a good idea to the the "spoiler" tag around your text so it's hidden by default). EDC gives you more insight into the other cops, which can grant bonuses in some checks, and is useful if you want to know more about the detective's life/those characters.

I play with the leveling "Inner world, logic, drama, attentiveness, empathy"

And I will go to the end, but tell me what is "EDC" and "Shivers" .
I play in Russian.

[Hopper-King]

Originally posted by ɆxⱣɍømɨ:

And I will go to the end, but tell me what is "shivers".
I play in Russian.

i don't remember what the in-game description was, but it presented itself as psychic insight or psychic visions of people outside the city (like the blonde woman fleeing the country, or kim in the hospital).
basically the one that let harry's mind pierce the veil.

[Du-Vu]

Esprit de Corps is your knowledge and intuition of your fellow cops, Shivers is your (possibly supra-natural) connection to the city. Both of them let you see/imagine visions of the city's past and present, beyond what you're actually present for. If they're imaginary, they're still highly accurate, based on years spent living and working as a cop in the city; whatever your stats are, the detective has a vivid imagination, hence all your skills talking to, and skills like Inland Empire, Esprit de Corps, and Shivers are maybe the most symptomatic of this almost hallucinatory inner life that others can't see. They're separate from Conceptualization and Empathy and so forth, but in some ways they're just more specialized forms of those skills. They kind of let you read the world the way some other skills let you read people.