Closing cases

[Gness Erquint]

The game never really explained anything about closing the cases. That one email just made it more confusing.

- Why close cases?
- Can I keep all cases open? What's the drawback?
- What does closing a case allow me to do or disable me from doing?

[niteflights]

I don't think closing a case progresses the story at all but some achievements are locked behind closing cases and you get some hypnocoin from closing a case, depending on how many violations for the case you have

[Gness Erquint]

But can I still report content pertaining to those cases after they have been closed?

[niteflights]

Yes, but you won't get as much hypnocoin

[Gness Erquint]

Thank you.

[Yamagyeto]

Originally posted by Gness Erquint:

- Why close cases?

Closing cases nets you an extra HypnoCoin (HC) payout with each subsequent violation found.

Originally posted by Gness Erquint:

- Can I keep all cases open? What's the drawback?

Keeping cases open allows you to potentially find any transgressions within the time frame for additional HC bonuses. (Cases can be held open indefinitely, though violations only count toward that case if its timely. If this makes no sense to you, keep playing.)
The only drawback is not getting the HC payout for Closing a case.

Originally posted by Gness Erquint:

- What does closing a case allow me to do or disable me from doing?

Closing a case gives you HC, which can allow you to use more HC for whatever you want (stickers, pets, albums, donations). Once you close the case, you lose out on some extra HC should you find any additional offenders.
(example: the Gooper case only requires 3 violations to Close. but you can find a lot more than 3 violations, and be able to earn more HC.)

It's the game's way of telling you to use your sleuthing skills fully before considering a case dealt with, and rewarding you for being thorough. That said, you can ignore it for the most part and Close cases whenever you think you've found enough and need the extra HC right now.

[Gness Erquint]

Thank you for the detailed answer.
I have finished the game (HAP 100%) since then and have mostly found out how all that works the hard way.
By only closing all the cases right before the point of no return.
In my experience, just reporting violations is enough on its own to afford everything needed to progress and trick out your desktop with useless stickers and whatnot.

So, basically, the game progression is in no way whatsoever related to closing the cases.
It's purely a monetary mechanic. This gameplay detail should have been addressed more explicitly by the game IMO.
I don't think it would be a spoiler for anyone finding this thread to say that the game is divided into chapters and you don't get to append violations to cases from the previous chapter even if they fit the description, since the game creates new cases for repeated violations regardless of whether you closed the previous one, (but I hid it anyway just in case).

What's a tad more spoilery is that you stop relying on cases to get coin pretty soon into the game so my advice would be to close the old cases whenever you need extra coin.

My desktop: https://i.imgur.com/tWUzTa3.png (VERY SPOILER MUCH A LOT)