[adventurergr]

I have completed this wonderful game (I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars), after some days of excessive gaming and I would like to discuss with other players who also completed it, its plot and the possibilities there are or aren't for doing something different, in order to see if I should replay it or if I got most parts of the game in the first place.

I am not talking of course about missing some dialogs, but about ending the game having missed whole parts of the plot which, as I have read, is possible.

As you suspect, in order to discuss such things, this whole chat will be nothing more but a huge spoiler. So if you are one of the players that haven't finished the game yet and you are planning to do so (I can't find any reason why you shouldn't finish it anyway) and you came in here despite the Spoiler Warning in the thread title, I suggest you close this tab immediately, without reading a line further. You have been warned.

So, let's hear your opinion and talk about how you experienced this game, guys and girls.

As I said above, I completed this game and got a score of 94 (hurrah!!!), which I must say caught me by a little surprise, considering, the many times I got scolded by the anorgasmic - I have a stick up my .... - chief to whom I reported from time to time.

I got the side story, went to the Land of the Renovators and back, but finally got no explanation about who those people were and what they did. I believe they are responsible for saving the earth from the upcoming destruction, but the game didn't reveal, at least not to me, if that is correct or not. Is it supposed to be part of the sequel's side story? There are enough hints at the end suggesting there will be a part two, don't you agree?

Also, what was the meaning of sending the reports to the chief through the office computer? I sent one almost every day, but I don't know what would have happened if I hadn't. Maybe a final grade fall? Who knows?

Other things that were left answered (not that this is a bad thing in general):

1) What was the thing with that 1500-year-old lunatic Julious? Was he a renovator? Was he maybe Grandmaster Magnus in disguise?

2) Did you get any feedback from the e-diary you gave to the chief? Because I didn't. So much trouble finding it and not a single word about what was inside it?

3) At the end of the game, the metro tunnel location is visitable, but I couldn't find anything to do there (the elevator didn't work now). That's something that doesn't follow the rest of the game's logic, where, when you were allowed to visit a place, there was something to do there. The only locations that didn't comply with this rule were the metro stations. Maybe the metro tunnel was one of them exceptions then? Or was there something to do after all?

4) Was all the secondary activity necessary? Took part in the plot, raised your score or was it of no use after all?

I am talking about visiting the gym mostly, but there were a few other things too that could be done at particular times, like having that make over once, twice, or even for a third time too? (I got it twice), dancing at the club, having a shower, which I couldn't convince her to do as many times as I have tried ( 25 days without a single bath...? Was there a selfcleaning technology or something, because if not, that explains why she felt so lonely... ) and watching TV. There were probably other things too that I either forget atm, or I didn't find them at all.

With the TV in particular, I was almost sure that if you watched an episode of that court show everyday, at the end you would be asked to vote as a juror. That's what I think our heroine said when commenting on that picture she had over her bed, but I got tired of putting her in front of the TV each and every day, so I never found out if that would finally happen or not.

5) What was the purpose of Phoenix's friend, Sandra? I believe it was mostly a way to review your progress up to that moment. And where is that concert ticket she promised? I don't suppose any of you went to that concert, or did you?

Finally, I read there are two endings of this game. A good one and a bad one. If that's true I got the good ending. Could someone describe what happens in the bad ending?

That's about it. Sorry for the long post, but I really liked this game and I would really like to find out about other players' experiences with it. I don't usually replay games I have finished, especially adventure games. But this one, I think, is gonna stay in my hd for some time. Who knows what might come up (or not) finally?

Thank you.

[misslilo]

First off, I got a score 92!
I only reported to chief through computer once, so don't think they meant that much.
Also, the chief several times told me my reports were uninteresting - so much I thought I had failed, lol.
That is something I will go for next time I play it.

I too got to experience the Land of Renovators, but think it ended quite too abrubt. Was actually a little disappointed when the Grand Master said I wasn't ready to go on the quest!! Yes, I was! lol

Funny little thing about the tunnels... I read my own language - danish - on one of the walls, where we met the little boy.
Took me quite by surprise...!
And oh, I loved how we had to play "Wargames" with that single computer to get lights on in the tunnel. Cool.

Remember the graveyard? Why couldn't we go there again?
I tried several times to exit HQ through the doors, hoping that would allow me to walk those paths again... or does my memory fail me?

As for Julius - 1500 years of age! Hmm, either he surely is a nutcase OR some magician, that we might encounter in the sequel.

One last thing from me.
Remember those "posters/screens" on the wall in HQ, that tells the story of world events?
As I recall, this game takes place around 2047 or so... right?
But I do believe I read/heard of world events, that took place long after that.. or?

[Keregioz]

I'm afraid that there's not supposed to be any further explanation about the renovators whatever action you take... I really hope I'm wrong about this.
It was a really disappointing ending ... too bad. However I still consider this game to be one of the best I've ever played... it has been quite a while since an adventure game got me stuck in front of the computer monitor for so long.


P.S. I got a 95 score

[Mikekelly]

Best adventure in quite a while - Adventure Game of the Year easy.

The End....well, it did set up a 2nd game - which i now want to play very badly.

Hope adventure games of this quality become the norm and we see many more of them.

A simply wonderful gaming experience!

[Lucifiel]

I've played quite a bit so far but... hmmm... if the ending is really disappointing, then I won't proceed any further. After all, if it's something crappy, then it'd be really disappointing to spend so much time reloading and playing.

Though quite a bit has been fun so far, I felt the game sorta penalised you a bit too much: for example, when you're discussing with the chief or another character, often you're forced to reload 'cos many times, you end up missing out on various pieces of important information which you didn't even know were critical until much later. Perhaps that could be considered a challenge in, say, a text game but in a graphical game, it is kinda frustrating 'cos there's just so many choices. Besides, all that made out the main character to have a null learning curve. If she'd some sorta reaction prompt, at least that would've made things easier.

Finally, I felt that the cast could've been reduced 'cos I felt totally frustrated with running from one person to another. After all, if Phoenix had leading analytical skills, surely she could just narrow down the list and focus on a few leads.

[Keregioz]

Originally Posted by Lucifiel

I've played quite a bit so far but... hmmm... if the ending is really disappointing, then I won't proceed any further. After all, if it's something crappy, then it'd be really disappointing to spend so much time reloading and playing.

Though quite a bit has been fun so far, I felt the game sorta penalised you a bit too much: for example, when you're discussing with the chief or another character, often you're forced to reload 'cos many times, you end up missing out on various pieces of important information which you didn't even know were critical until much later. Perhaps that could be considered a challenge in, say, a text game but in a graphical game, it is kinda frustrating 'cos there's just so many choices. Besides, all that made out the main character to have a null learning curve. If she'd some sorta reaction prompt, at least that would've made things easier.

Finally, I felt that the cast could've been reduced 'cos I felt totally frustrated with running from one person to another. After all, if Phoenix had leading analytical skills, surely she could just narrow down the list and focus on a few leads.

In my opinion not playing the game because the ending might not be satisfying is a huge mistake... this game is so much better than most adventures that come up the last years.
Obviously it's not possible to choose all dialog options all the time but I don't think that you can miss out on important information since you can interview these persons every day and the game won't progress further if you don't have this information.

[Lucifiel]

Originally Posted by Keregioz

In my opinion not playing the game because the ending might not be satisfying is a huge mistake... this game is so much better than most adventures that come up the last years.
Obviously it's not possible to choose all dialog options all the time but I don't think that you can miss out on important information since you can interview these persons every day and the game won't progress further if you don't have this information.

I see. Well, I tend to live for the story and the ending is kinda crucial towards this, too as my time is always short. Yeah, it's definitely quite interesting.

Well, from what I know: certain dialogue options tend to disappear for good once you've made a choice and thus, this means that you might have to reload to keep trying and see which one is the better choice. After all, this will affect the information you provide to the Chief and also the information you will receive about or from others. You don't always discover this fact until much later on. Furthermore, the wrong choice might dead end certain investigation leads and could even shut you off from certain crucial characters(or at least that's what I've seen after I decided to reload and try again).

Already, I'm considering restarting the game 'cos I seem to have missed out on a few crucial pieces of information and the Chief is warning me. I don't know if I will right now, though 'cos I already rolled back at least 3 times(about 8 hours of my time).

[Keregioz]

Originally Posted by Lucifiel

Well, from what I know: certain dialogue options tend to disappear for good once you've made a choice and thus, this means that you might have to reload to keep trying and see which one is the better choice. After all, this will affect the information you provide to the Chief and also the information you will receive about or from others. You don't always discover this fact until much later on. Furthermore, the wrong choice might dead end certain investigation leads and could even shut you off from certain crucial characters(or at least that's what I've seen after I decided to reload and try again).

Are you sure about this?... I don't know, I 've played the game only once and I missed asking the right question several times but I finished the game with a 95 score. Unless you keep asking irrelevant questions and complimenting their shoes, hair etc. you should be ok.
I did save/load to repeat a dialogue 2 or 3 times throughout the game but they were questions I could of asked the next day, I just did it for the score and to make the plot move a little faster.

I'd like to see other people opinions on this matter though, I could be wrong about this and maybe I just got lucky.

[Lucifiel]

Originally Posted by Keregioz

Are you sure about this?... I don't know, I 've played the game only once and I missed asking the right question several times but I finished the game with a 95 score. Unless you keep asking irrelevant questions and complimenting their shoes, hair etc. you should be ok.
I did save/load to repeat a dialogue 2 or 3 times throughout the game but they were questions I could of asked the next day, I just did it for the score and to make the plot move a little faster.

I'd like to see other people opinions on this matter though, I could be wrong about this and maybe I just got lucky.

I don't know. Perhaps, I simply fouled up my entire process. Also, I did try asking random questions 'cos sometimes, investigators stumble upon details which hold no special meaning to that individual but which could mean something crucial to the case.

I guess this game didn't follow that procedure, so I decided to restart the game and structure my questioning process in a certain manner and refrain from visiting any areas which would trigger a meeting with the Chief when I had insufficient concrete facts.

[Mikekelly]

I wonder when "Adventure Gamers" is going to give this game a review.

Can't find a flaw in it and it does seem to have replay value because many elements are non-linear in nature.

I do know that I will play the game again - and try for as much variety in the play as i can get.

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by Mikekelly

I wonder when "Adventure Gamers" is going to give this game a review.

It's coming.

[Sar]

Originally Posted by adventurergr

3) At the end of the game, the metro tunnel location is visitable, but I couldn't find anything to do there (the elevator didn't work now). That's something that doesn't follow the rest of the game's logic, where, when you were allowed to visit a place, there was something to do there. The only locations that didn't comply with this rule were the metro stations. Maybe the metro tunnel was one of them exceptions then? Or was there something to do after all?

The metro tunnel had several puzzles and rooms to visit. You had to go there at night accessing it via platform A not through the force field on the platform B side. Once you were able to use the navigation map on your PA you could not access that side of the metro at all.

Look at all the running around not having to use that train saved us. PPL constantly complain about running around and here they gave us the Star trek transporter. Bless them April Ryan could have used that PA.

An amazing game easily the game of the year, or perhaps decade.

[smulan]

Originally Posted by Lucifiel

Well, from what I know: certain dialogue options tend to disappear for good once you've made a choice and thus, this means that you might have to reload to keep trying and see which one is the better choice. After all, this will affect the information you provide to the Chief and also the information you will receive about or from others. You don't always discover this fact until much later on. Furthermore, the wrong choice might dead end certain investigation leads and could even shut you off from certain crucial characters(or at least that's what I've seen after I decided to reload and try again).

Your conclusion is wrong. There are no dead ends, you don't have to reload one single time to continue the investigation no matter what your decisions.

[Lucifiel]

Originally Posted by smulan

Your conclusion is wrong. There are no dead ends, you don't have to reload one single time to continue the investigation no matter what your decisions.

Oohkay, didn't know that. *shrugs*

Anyways, I just finished the game. It was pretty fun and interesting. Although, what was the deal about the Land of the Renovators? I wonder if there were more clues or info regarding that mysterious land.

Also, I suspect that Mr. Hamilton somehow found Mirage's skills extremely valuable and decided to employ her, instead, of deporting her. You know, like "having fun at the paid expense of an employer, instead of being on the run" could've been quite tempting to her. Though, I wonder why she came to the World Union.

Edit: Also, yet another thing I'm wondering about is the "butterfly" thing. Did it use stuff like "teleportation" or something? But "teleporting" sounds a little far-fetched unless their scientists figured out how to move objects into the future, across a certain place.

And finally, Roger Arnett! He strikes me as a rather ambitious man with plenty of business smarts. It was kinda fun too watching him provoke Phoenix whose manners and responses obviously led him to question her smarts. I also suspect he knew Adriannopolis would only last for so long and was out to fulfill his ambition and attain status and wealth before the good times ended.

Okay, and these are the things I felt could've been improved with the game:

- Julio
I wished that this character had a bigger role, instead. After all, Phoenix did the lion's share of work and although his "messages" were entertaining, he certainly contributed little. I'd have preferred that he be an ambitious but pleasant co-worker.

- Alessandra
Now, I've no idea why she was in the game except to showcase how obsessed she was about sex and how much she was against immigrants and for Phebe to gossip with.

- Story
I wished that the detour into the "Land of Renovators" stuff came with a bit more explanation. Ah well... and there were far too many loose ends. Darnit... I can't wait for the sequel! ><;;

[adventurergr]

I don't really know the technological powers of the butterfly, but I guess it fitted into the story as part of the chaos theory.

The Butterfly Effect.

@sar

I've been in the tunnels and finished all the puzzles. My question was about the part just before the end, where there were only a few open places to visit. One of them was the metro tunnels.

If you went there, she wouldn't go into any room other than the one with the elevator that sent you in the "Land of Renovators" the first time, but this time it didn't work and I couldn't find anything more to do there.

That's why I was wondering if there was something there to do or not, after all.

[Keregioz]

In the end credits says that the game was based in a novel by Alev Alatli... So if anyone reads this book feel free to enlighten us about what the hell is happening with the renovators, the butterfly etc....

[Cris Pandry]

Having now finished the game - with a less than impressive 86 score - I feel much less enamoured with the game than I first did. I think it was 'good', but definitely not worth the gushing A+ that JA gave it for example.

It seems to be a game full of inconsistencies.

I have to say at the outset that bar none, this is the most buggy adventure game I've ever encountered. Even compared to some of the early Leisure Suit Larry series crashes, Culpa Innata made even them look stable by comparison. I lost count of how many crashes there had been by the end of the game.

This is after using the debug game .exe sent to me by the tech support at Momentum, which was supposed to catch exceptions (of which there were LOTS), but still failed to prevent multiple freezes and other unhandled exceptions.

So, there's inconsistency number one; a great game idea spoilt by an inadequate game engine. Civilization 4 anyone? Still, perhaps a future patch will sort it out, although I doubt it.

How about inconsistency #2. You click on a direction arrow only to find yourself in another screen travelling in the opposite direction! Very disorienting.

Technicalities aside, how about inconsistencies with the plot and the characters?

There were way too many loose ends that didn't seem to tie up later, unless of course I missed them due to the so called non-linear plot? For example, the Mata Hari character. A lot was made of her, but she remained a mystery all the way through and her relevance to the case was...?

How about Piper (Thing Store) and Arnett and Vanderbilt saying how repulsive Bogdanov was, yet Fabian the bartender swore that he was one of the most personable people he'd met in all his years of experience? Very odd. Was that a result of Bogdanov using the 'device' or yet another inconsistency? Monica also apparently found him attractive, but Larissa suffered from his violent outbursts before his death.

Was the reason for Perez's plane crash ever explained? Or was that just a convenient device for moving the plot along so that Phoenix could discover the device/cigarette smuggling images?

The person with the highest IQ (154) - apart from tattoo head presumably - was the poof Roger Arnett. This shallow individual wore more lipstick than Phoenix and was an image consultant to the rich (neuvo riche in Bogdanov's case), who considered that his like 'pwned' society?! So, presumably HDI 'desirable' traits such as greed and selfishness equate to similarly high levels of 'intelligence' in this future society?

The sub plot with the butterflies and chaos theory merely seems to be there to point to a sequel along with the Land of the Renovators? What relevance did any of that have on the Bogdanov case at all along with the suspect photo obtained really early on in the game and Mirage the hacker? All this seems to be connected with tattoo head.

The esotericism hinted at by Arnett (Phoenix 'destroying lives') and the Grandmaster's comments all went straight over the poor Phoenix's character's head of course, as she's too brainwashed to see what she's doing...yet.

In essence and rather ironically, I think the meat of this game is actually a pre-cursor to Culpa Innata 2 with the bulk of the plot and characters having very little to do with what would have probably been a quite mundane murder investigation!

@adventurergr; I believe the 'bad' ending happens if you choose the wrong suspect to request a warrant for at the end. If you don't choose Mikhailov, then Julio interviews him instead of Phoenix, and you FAIL the HDI test instead of being assigned a score and the game ends.

[MikaelS]

Just finished my game and some thoughts about certain events and characters:

Mata Hari

Phoenix said she'd dig up her true identity through Las Vegas or something. At least in my game, she did not. Also why did Mata Hari give Phoenix that 'look' at Stardust and left? Also it was said she can be almost unnaturally persuadive.

Either she has to play role in sequel, or she just remained as an 'enigma' to us players as well. :/

Bogdanov's audio diary

What was up with that? I could never listen to it or anything. What if I would've not given it to chief, would there have been a way to listen to it later? I just failed to see the point of whole thing and there has to be more to it, as noone ever mentioned it later on game.


Questioning Warrants

Was it even possible to get questioning warrant for anybody else but Mikhailov?

Roger Arnett


There's so much about this guy made me think he was actually a Renovator or something, about his opinions et cetera. Also how he said he's interested in druids? I can't recall it all, but so many things he mentioned I thought he had bigger role in whole plot.

The whole dream sequence at Russia after Renovator sequence

I'm sure this place will be revisited in sequel...I hope.



Anyhow, this was a great game. I feel best AG in many years. I finished with the score of only 83 so there's probably plenty that I missed. I feel those meetings with chief had a lot to do with final score, because I often asken warrants etc even if I knew I'd be denied, just to see dialogues etc.

[smulan]

Originally Posted by Cris Pandry

I have to say at the outset that bar none, this is the most buggy adventure game I've ever encountered. Even compared to some of the early Leisure Suit Larry series crashes, Culpa Innata made even them look stable by comparison. I lost count of how many crashes there had been by the end of the game.

I didn't experience one single crash or any technical fault whatsoever.

Originally Posted by Cris Pandry

How about Piper (Thing Store) and Arnett and Vanderbilt saying how repulsive Bogdanov was, yet Fabian the bartender swore that he was one of the most personable people he'd met in all his years of experience? Very odd.

Is that odd? Different people having different opinions about an individual?

[Cris Pandry]

Well, I suppose myself, misslilo (30+ crashes) and annaluna (multiple freezes, PC resetting) and others must just be 'unlucky', then. Or you were fortunate rather.

In real life, differing opinions of people may be nearer the truth, but in game terms it was just another inconsistency which made the investigation more vague.