Adventure Gamers - Forums

diego - 01 February 2016 08:27 AM

I
I expected a bit of a GK2 easter egg here, but nothing.

I think that was the easter egg!
And you’ll probably like the third Cognition power even more

Kurufinwe - 31 January 2016 04:55 PM

I expected episode 4 to pick up where episode 3 left off, but instead I got a flashback with nothing particularly relevant in it, then another flashback that wasn’t all that interesting either, then some vision that made absolutely no sense, and now Rose is telling me her life story.

What is going on??? Did I play the episodes out of order???

I only played the prologue from Chapter 4 but that’s about right, to make the first flashback even worse it introduced a kind of trial-and-error relationship mechanic that made no sense. The second flashback made added some story but the puzzle… ugh (and that part was extremely buggy for me).

And I’m done—with almost one day to spare.

Well, that was an underwhelming finale… It feels like they had no idea what to do before the big confrontation with the Cain killer, so they just put some lifeless filler to stall for time. Rose’s origin story was the most baffling of all*, but even the big puzzle at the lake house was disappointing, with no real sense of dread or urgency or anything. Everything until the confrontation felt like going through the motions. Well, at least the people complaining that the game should have spent more time introducing characters will be happy that it eventually happened—at the end!

* The kiss between Erica and Cordelia notwithstanding. What the hell was up with that???

Maybe they had to rejigger the plot because people figured out that Cordelia was the killer immediately, and ended up putting most of what should have been episode 4 into episode 3? Or maybe they were just too busy working on Moebius to give this episode the attention it deserved. Either way, the game deserved a better final act than this.

One thing that particularly irked me: the way the episode kept being cute about what had happened to John—just so they could pull a cheesy twist at the end. Ugh.

If I had to rank the episodes from best to worst, it’d definitely be: 2 > 3 >> 1 >> 4.

Anyway, even with a disappointing fourth act, Cognition is a good game overall. (And infinitely better than Moebius—so much for the “incompetent Phoenix Online ruined Jane’s masterpiece” narrative.) I’m glad this challenge gave me the impetus to finally play it, and I’ve enjoyed discussing it with all of you (well, all two of you). I’ll be looking forward to Phoenix Online’s next project. (Does anyone know what that is?)

(I might make another post tomorrow after I’ve had some time to think about the big picture.)

Also finished the game. Challenge completed!

Episode 4 was indeed very weak, I suspect lack of funds/time played a part, Ep3 was also a bit noticeable but they get around it with the cool mechanic of past Cordelia.
In here, there are no twists and stuff just ends… I did like the lake house puzzle, using the past/future powers at same time felt like a good ending puzzle.. But after that the game just went downhill fast and the whole ending felt incredibly rushed (2 agents go into the serial killers lair and get owned instantly…?!? really?) topping with that terrible fighting scene….
Even thought the 4th episode was kind of anti-climax I did like the story. It starts very slow but it gets interesting by the end of the first episode. The serial killer motivations to kill brothers and the dark secrets of the familywere well thought out. Erica and Cordelia characters were also good and Cordelia did have some cool developments. It did have some plot points I didn’t like, namely:
- John and the plot hole that Kurufinwe mentioned in the last chapter was never explained or was John already dead at the basement??? I think that makes even less sense
- McAdams and Jetta (or whatever the name) came out of nowhere what the hell was that?
- Rose could read minds (or whatever) and never told anyone Cordelia was a psycho?!? Also Bao Tahn…
- Most Erica’s father scenes

Also enjoyed the game a lot more than I thought I would, Steam says I played it for 17h?!? Didn’t feel so much.

Kurufinwe - 01 February 2016 05:28 PM

And I’m done—with almost one day to spare.

* The kiss between Erica and Cordelia notwithstanding. What the hell was up with that???

I thought at the time it would be a possible ending or something. Speaking of it, are there different endings? McAdams died in my game but I guess it would be possible to save him

wilco - 01 February 2016 08:46 PM

- Most Erica’s father scenes

I feel like they changed their mind about him at some point, and had originally intended for him to play a bigger role. In episode 1, there’s the mystery of why he chose to have Scott buried in the cemetery where he got killed rather than with the rest of the family, and then he’s featured in the previews for episode 2. But he never actually play any significant role until his non-scenes in ep. 4…

Speaking of it, are there different endings? McAdams died in my game but I guess it would be possible to save him

I saved him by using Erica’s super-power of telling people what they want to hear. He says a few unimportant words at the end.

tomimt - 02 February 2016 04:18 AM

As for their future games, from the looks of it POS more of a publisher these days than a developer. I doubt they have an internal team at the moment, as I doubt none of their self developed games has done well enough for them to keep a team.

Hopefully they’ll find a way to get enough money to make something at some point.

.

All right, a few final thoughts on the game. One thing that struck me is how tonally inconsistent the episodes are. The story keeps going, but the atmosphere is different:
Episode 1 is a procedural cop show.
Episode 2 is a pulpy thriller.
Episode 3 is a psychological drama.
Episode 4 is—well, a nonsensical train wreck.

I liked the game most when it was a thriller. I understand the aspiration to add human drama and flesh out characters, but I’m not sure the writing was really up to the task, nor was some of the acting (the actors playing Keith and Cordelia have to carry the big dramatic scenes in ep. 3 and 4, and I don’t think they did great); the weak character animations didn’t help either.

A while ago, I wrote the following about Prisoner of Ice:

“This tension is the game’s most striking quality and, caught in a blur, it is likely you will not have time to dwell on the plot holes and clichés – and even if you do, you will probably be inclined to forget about them and just enjoy the ride.”

I feel like this perfectly describes Cognition when it’s at its best.

Anyway, it’s a been a fun playthrough. I feel like I would never have made time to play the game without the challenge, and I’m definitely glad I did.

A few words about the future:

Fantasysci5, diego: Do you feel you can finish the game in the next few days? In theory, the challenge ends in less than 12 hours, but I don’t think anyone will mind if we wait a little bit before starting the next one.

As for the next game, I have several ideas, but my first choice is Inkle’s 80 Days. My reasons:

1. It’s a great game that celebrates adventure, exploration and imagination. It got lots of awards.
2. After 3 games all about investigating gruesome murders, maybe something a bit more light-hearted would be nice.
3. Each playthrough is pretty short, but the game thrives on replayability (two distinct playthroughs can literally be 95%-different). So that may allow people without a lot of time to do just one playthrough, while others can do more.
4. It’s available on pretty much every platform you can think of, and it’s dirt-cheap.

Any takers? (Otherwise I’ll think of something else.)

i intended to play 80 days when it first came out, but waited for the android version.. and then forgot about it
So i could likely be in for that. Though now i see it has a steam release as well.. do the versions have notable differences??

80 days or other game I never player I’ll probably join but I am curious about all the praising the game got. Will probably play the mobile version if it’s the same as PC