There is 4 proof in the game

[♪♩♬ℬlⓐℭᛕ ℂⓐt]

We had a radio, ghostly lights, ultraviolet, subzero temperatures

[steventirey]

That means, assuming you actually got all 4 of those, it is a mimic. Mimics will cause ghost orbs to appear as a sort of false evidence. So if you ever get more pieces of evidence that normally allowed, its a mimic.

[underscores222]

Mimics are tricky, especially for new players. Officially their three evidences are UV, Spirit box and Freezing temps, but their weakness (from the journal) is that they make ghost orbs appear as well. Depending on how you want to slice it, that means Mimics give 4 evidences. Personally, I'm not a fan of thinking of it that way, since mimics will always give orbs, even on 0 evidence settings.
Basically, whenever you see ghost orbs, just remember that mimics are tricky, sneaky jerks and you should check for UV, Spirit box and/or freezing temps, just to make sure.

[Stone]

Yup, congrats on getting a mimic. those orbs are fake. it's the only ghost that does this. so if you get orbs first and you don't get writing, emf 5, or dots, those orbs might be mimic orbs.

Edit: goodness gracious the argument that rose up out of this: When i say "fake orbs" i mean they don't count towards evidence, they're a fake evidence if you will. Unless you are doing a 0 evidence run, if you get orbs first, there is a chance those could be mimic orbs, but you won't know they're not actual evidence unless you get "Non-mimic" pieces of evidence. Look, I don't mind explaining it to people who get confused, but no need to get into an all out argument.

[Quineloe]

Originally posted by Stone:

Yup, congrats on getting a mimic. those orbs are fake. .

I really love this statement. What's fake about them, how are they different from other ghost orbs? Short of meta reasons as "orbs show up on 0 evidence"

[Maya-Neko]

The orbs aren't really fake, but pretty much exactely behave as you would assume they would. For the mimic the only difference is, that they derive from a passive ability and not from the evidence list of a ghost, thus you have 3 evidences and the orb ability on top of that.

[Banshee Target]

Identifying a Mimic isn't hard (in theory). In practice however what many players (even veterans) do wrong is not checking for that potential extra evidence because of laziness.

I sometimes make this mistake when I get the "Mare, Onryo, Yokai" combo because I'm tunnel-visioning on these three, like checking for Mare ability or doing the Onryo/Yokai test, meanwhile I completely forget the existence of our Good Ol' El Mimo.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Quineloe:

Originally posted by Stone:

Yup, congrats on getting a mimic. those orbs are fake. .

I really love this statement. What's fake about them, how are they different from other ghost orbs? Short of meta reasons as "orbs show up on 0 evidence"

I don't know why so many people are having a bug in their ass about this phrase, but saying "fake ghost orbs" is the same thing as saying "These ghost orbs are not real evidence". Right down to the definitions of the phrases too.

It's perfectly acceptable to call it "false evidence" since that's exactly what it is. A red herring that makes you think it's something it's not. It fit the Mimic to the T.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Jimmy Hunter:

I don't know why so many people are having a bug in their ass about this phrase, but saying "fake ghost orbs" is the same thing as saying "These ghost orbs are not real evidence". Right down to the definitions of the phrases too.

It's perfectly acceptable to call it "false evidence" since that's exactly what it is. A red herring that makes you think it's something it's not. It fit the Mimic to the T.

Feel free to use that word, but don't be surprised if people get confused about what you exactely mean. Most people will probably get it, but since "fake" is most commonly used in describing bug reports, there's also always the chance of people misinterpreting your shortened answer.

I've already seen enough people who thought, that the mimic can fake any evidence (because "fake orbs" doesn't exclude the existence of fake DOTS, EMF or other things) or that the orbs behave differently due to their "fake status" (for example following the ghost, which people believe to be cause by them being "different"), sometimes even not understanding, that it is an ability specifically used by the mimic and not something that can potentially be created by other ghost.

So feel free to just call it the way you want. If you feel the need to save 20 seconds by writing less words, then nobody will stop you.

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by Quineloe:

Originally posted by Stone:

Yup, congrats on getting a mimic. those orbs are fake. .

I really love this statement. What's fake about them, how are they different from other ghost orbs? Short of meta reasons as "orbs show up on 0 evidence"

The mimic's weakness is literally
"Weakness: Several reports have noted ghost orb sightings near mimics."

That means you will see Ghost Orbs when a mimic is around; And these ghost orbs are not evidence for the ghost. You've got three 'Real' evidence, and one 'Fake' evidence

Ergo, The orbs are fake.

[Quineloe]

as I said, that's just a meta reason. You also see ghost orbs when other ghost orb ghosts are around. If anything, Mimic Orbs are even more evidence because the Apocalypse Mimic can't supress them.

[Trooper Bri]

Last I checked there was 7 proof in the game. Did Kinetic remove 3?

[GamingWithSilvertail]

Originally posted by Quineloe:

as I said, that's just a meta reason. You also see ghost orbs when other ghost orb ghosts are around. If anything, Mimic Orbs are even more evidence because the Apocalypse Mimic can't supress them.

There's no meta. If it gives ghost orb, thats just a feature.

The meta that revolves around mimic checkign is checking for mimics missing evidence (UV, Spiritbox, Freezing) (this accounts for any difficulty). You have 1 extra 'evidence' to tell if its a mimic.

[Jimmy Hunter]

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

Feel free to use that word, but don't be surprised if people get confused about what you exactely mean. Most people will probably get it, but since "fake" is most commonly used in describing bug reports, there's also always the chance of people misinterpreting your shortened answer.

We both know the kind of people coming to the forums here and whining about how they didn't play the tutorial or can't be asked to properly learn how their tools work aren't getting "fake" evidence.

Misinterpreting your tools and getting the wrong evidence is not remotely similar to concept, definition, or meaning of the saying. Besides, we shouldn't be changing how we word things because stupid people exist. We might as well just go back to Ooga Booga if we're just going to ignore the dictionary.

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Jimmy Hunter:

We both know the kind of people coming to the forums here and whining about how they didn't play the tutorial or can't be asked to properly learn how their tools work aren't getting "fake" evidence.

Misinterpreting your tools and getting the wrong evidence is not remotely similar to concept, definition, or meaning of the saying. Besides, we shouldn't be changing how we word things because stupid people exist. We might as well just go back to Ooga Booga if we're just going to ignore the dictionary.

As i've said already, feel free to phrase it how you want to and i phrase it the way i want to do it. I gave you my reasoning for doing so and if you don't feel like you want to adopt it, then simply don't. Also no need to get toxic over such simple phrasings

[Shurenai]

Originally posted by Quineloe:

as I said, that's just a meta reason. You also see ghost orbs when other ghost orb ghosts are around. If anything, Mimic Orbs are even more evidence because the Apocalypse Mimic can't supress them.

A 'meta' reason is something above and beyond what is known/stated/etc within the product/available to the player at the time.. To pose an example, We call it Meta-gaming when a player in D&D uses knowledge they know as a Player to do things in character; they have made use of knowledge there is NO WAY their character could have known to change the state of the game.

It is meta gaming in Phasmophobia when, for example, You as the player test for a mare by flicking a switch on and off- This is not expressed or stated ANYWHERE in the game; The only way the player could possibly know is to have learned this information from other players and applied it by meta-gaming. Even trial and error wouldn't teach you this fact about the Mare because it's completely random and even IF it happens it, hypothetically, could be any other ghost that just happened to interact with the switch at that moment. It's absolutely meta-gaming to do this test because there is no concievable way to have figured it out on your own.

But for the mimic orbs, The game tells you the ghost's three evidence; And then tells you that you'll also see ghost orbs due to it's weakness- And in essence, told you that those orbs are not actually evidence by giving you these two pieces of information together. The game has given you everything you need to know the orbs are fake- Whether you make that connection is on you... It isn't really meta gaming to conclude that the orbs are fake.