Thankfully everyone here and other general discussions haven’t gone too much into things beyond first couple hours experience, but I am wondering (now only in the evening of Day One)
Is there a set number of days the game takes place in, like certain inevitable progressions regardless of what you may/may not have accomplished? Or can you generally draw things out and move along with “Chapters” on your own terms? That part hasn’t been clear to me and is the only place I’d rather have some foreknowledge.
Starting with the part you probably know already: time only advances through interactions; walking around doesn’t advance the clock. Different kinds of interactions may have different impacts on the passage of time, though: conversations only move the clock a little but, but some methods of investigation may cause large chunks of time to go by. This is mostly predictable. You can also kill time on a park bench if Kim isn’t with you, and after 22:00 sleeping in a bed will permit you to advance to the following day.
The game starts on Monday. Some events transpire on specific days: a maintenance crew removes the damaged sign obstructing the water-lock Wednesday morning, for example. Similarly, there are a few events tied to a particular time of day–the Whirling-in-Rags kitchen is initially closed, but I think it opens by 3pm. Quests with a time-critical element have a clock icon next to them.
While the game has suggested that certain things need to happen sooner rather than later and that people “won’t wait around forever” for certain events to transpire, I haven’t yet seen any instances in which delaying such a task actually prevented me from being able to complete it–but I also haven’t tried very hard to become the Out-of-Time Cop. So far (early Wednesday evening), the schedule feels very generous.
Yeah I could see gamewise you’re free to roam and eventually stumble through a day or make priorities, and noticed how the clock ticks over the course of your actions or conversations then figured there’d have to be some time-critical objectives, but it’s too early for me to have come across any. Cool, seems like there’s not that much pressure in the overarching scheme of things (to start).
the first time i saw this exactly articulated in an interview with another person i caught a disturbed/relieved shiver that it is indeed a shared phenomena among people involved in creative work and not some uniquely singular curse
If it is a true sequel to D2, there needs to be a loud DC laser moving sound right before you encounter each toe to alert you that the toe is approaching.
Failing the karaoke skill check and getting an honestly moving version of the song.
Getting that sinking feeling after muscle memory took over by the telephone.
Ruining some poor old men’s game of boule by confusing it with a game of shot put.
Failing to pass a very simple motorics check while catching keys flying at me, starting yelling about my face getting damaged and getting 25 real so that I shut up and stop whining.
Failing a rhetorics check to convince Ruby she doesn’t need to commit suicide, trying to come up with a relatable line and yelling “I know how you feel, I’ve been let down by women too”. The last thing she did before pulling the trigger was giving me an “are you fucking serious” look.
Calling my station to let them know what a failure I am only for my life to turn into a sitcom (the only way Espirit de Corps was ever useful to me was getting random follow-up scenes about this).
Realizing my brain has not been completely broken by the internet and yes, I recognized Klaasje’s voice correctly.
Oh and the entire ending with the phasmid encounter being honestly the most transcendent, moving videogame scene I’ve seen in years. An Elephant Sitting Still vibes.
P.S. Dear Felix, I appreciate you, I really do, but since a game that’s Numenera but actually good came out, please consider changing my tag.
I loved whenever another bit of the Detective’s wake of destruction would resurface–realizing the gun is missing during the report to the precinct, learning you pawned it, figuring out the identity of the daredevil after waiting for the tide to recede so you can check out the car, etc. I particularly enjoyed trying to defend the stench in the ending by blaming it on on the phasmid pheremone. I also loved how thoroughly they undercut the whole “ex” situation after the drama of the Dream on the islet.
Kim’s subtle incredulity whenever things worked out was also great. Also: “teleporting” up to the top of the Feld building.
I had some loose ends on my playthrough. While I made things TOO HARD CORE at the church, I never quite understood what the Pale really is. I also failed to recover my gun because I ran out of things to do Thursday evening and didn’t feel like repeating hundreds of conversations to slowly walk the clock forward to my appointment with the Pigs. Still plenty to look forward to on a replay, I think.
