Gov/Employee Database trivializes the game

[Sid]

Am i the only one struggling with this ?

I feel like most of the time, the answer to a case is found in the databases with very little physical work to be done.

Got a first letter of their name ? Database. Phone number ? Call, maybe trace, then Database. Killer was roaming the building ? Probably a neighboor, Database. Absolutely no clue, only a fingerprint ? Database for every single co-workers/neighboors

Wouldn't it be better for those databases to only return profiles if you manually input a name, which then tries to match to an entry's first/last name ? Just a thought.

[Isabelle]

I don't use gov database under any circumstances; makes the game much more fun. literally never have once used it

[Thorstorm]

I don't use it, devs should remove it or make it really hard to access.
Simply don't use it or it makes the game too easy.

[TheRealTenman]

I had a mission to take a photo of a Phone number that was paid 24800 for working as bar staff.

How do you search by phone number? the Directory only gives addresses when you have name.
The Gov database only gives a few bits of information. Not even a full record. Name, photo, phone number and address, right?

But I reckon it needs a tweak because what ever its purpose, I don't think its fit for it. Its an obvious hint system when you have a name. It doesn't work for anything else other than the name. Oh you have a pistol and a fingerprint? So? Input name please.
Ah you have a phone book with 20 people in it? How narrow a search, im *sure* that won't take ages to look through each person while only getting 4 bits of information from the database.

My suggestion is you swap it for a fingerprint identifier that costs money to use.
If your crime scene has 6 fingerprints in it, its not that useful anyways but its still a massive crutch for people getting annoyed. (Assuming that is its purpose)

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by TheRealTenman:

I had a mission to take a photo of a Phone number that was paid 24800 for working as bar staff.

How do you search by phone number? the Directory only gives addresses when you have name.
The Gov database only gives a few bits of information. Not even a full record. Name, photo, phone number and address, right?

But I reckon it needs a tweak because what ever its purpose, I don't think its fit for it. Its an obvious hint system when you have a name. It doesn't work for anything else other than the name. Oh you have a pistol and a fingerprint? So? Input name please.
Ah you have a phone book with 20 people in it? How narrow a search, im *sure* that won't take ages to look through each person while only getting 4 bits of information from the database.

My suggestion is you swap it for a fingerprint identifier that costs money to use.
If your crime scene has 6 fingerprints in it, its not that useful anyways but its still a massive crutch for people getting annoyed. (Assuming that is its purpose)

If you have a phone number you can call and trace it. no database required

i cannot stress enough that the game is already easy without it; using it is really just shooting yourself in the foot, lessening the amount of detective work you have to do in a detective game.

[Patpat]

Totally agree, I would be happy with a gov database that only contains first and last name so we can search based on names or initials and know certain names do exist then, and not a single info. Actually what you would do if the print function did not exist in fact...

[TheRealTenman]

Originally posted by Isabelle:

If you have a phone number you can call and trace it. no database required

I must have missed that in the tutorial. how?

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by TheRealTenman:

Originally posted by Isabelle:

If you have a phone number you can call and trace it. no database required

I must have missed that in the tutorial. how?

When you make a call, that call is logged in the call box in the basement of whichever apartment you call from.

If it's a diner, I don't think those have call logs.

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by Sid:

Originally posted by TheRealTenman:

I must have missed that in the tutorial. how?

There are phone routers in nearby buildings, you can trace calls with them, find the location ( it's usually vague ), go to that location's phone router ( usually in the basement of appartment buildings ) and re-trace the call to an exact location

not sure where those call routers spawn exactly. they seem absent from most businesses but i always see one in the basement

[Sid]

Originally posted by CR4cK.HEDI:

not everyone wants that

Not everybody wants the Gov. database in the current state either, clearly.

There's 0 possible way that the only proof you have is a single fingerprint, you missed something, all cases have a minimum of 3 hints, additionally, if it's a sidejob there can also be an adress, and if it's a murder there's fingerprints.

Check surveillance, trashcans, last caller, neighbors, newspaper, emails, graffiti, shoe prints, etc... If you're going off a single random fingerprint and randomly printing NPC ids through the database until you find the one that matches, or checking 17 floors of apartments randomly, you're not actually playing the game.

You'll also notice that i didn't say get rid of the Gov. database, i just suggested that having all the NPCs info available at will makes stuff way too easy. If you have a name, you should be able to look up that name, as i mentionned in the post.

[Isabelle]

Originally posted by CR4cK.HEDI:

Nah, the govt database is a good tool.. I am playing the game on ''Easy'' in hopes to have a casual experience and still get cases where there is barely any evidence or even no relation to the victim at all..

I do not find it fun to have to resort to checking 17 floors of apartments or run around town breaking into bussinesses when i have nothing besides a print tryharding for a matching fingerprint to one that was at the crime.

If you already have a persons name there should NOT be such a hassle to find other information like their fingerprint if you are a detective with police resorces like a govt database.. If its so horrible for you then dont use it and give yourself your own challange by handicapping yourself if you want but not everyone wants that

difficulty ONLY affects combat damage.

[Settings]

I can solve any crime in like 15 minutes using hte Gov database. It woudn't be so bad if every map I generated didnt have a super easily accessible government computer.

[Maya-Neko]

I definitely don't have a problem with it, as i simply don't use it so often, unless i've no other lead anymore or to connect the person with their fingerprint, if i somehow aren't able to take it from their body, because it bugs out.

[Zerx44]

tbh i only recently started using the data base recently (im like 6 cased deep) and yeah the data base feels more like a last resort if you are having a really hard time. did you know the newspapers refresh each day and will give you some info about the murder case like the writing on the wall (in case its blocked by some thing) the person who called in the murder and so on

[Dønkel Nada]

The enforcer offices should have more security is what I'm thinking. On my current gen I can go to the second floor of the city hall and there's a usually empty office with a single computer, guarded only by a camera that I can disable right outside the office from the breaker box. Anytime I need to use to gov database it's as simple as flicking the breaker switch and then I can waltz into the office and take as much time as I need looking up the names that I have. I think the gov databases are a good feature but it should not be that easy to access them.

[A_Rude_Gesture]

First off: A single letter of a name doesn't get you anything in the database.
Secondly: If you dislike the database so much, then why do you keep on using it?
If you think it makes things too easy for you, then just don't use it. Problem solved!
There's no need to remove it or change it since some people do use it as a last resort when they're stuck (I myself only used it once when I had a serial killer murder 4 victims outside on the streets when it was raining, thus leaving little to no evidence behind.), when the solution is as simple as you practicing some self-restraint and just not using it.