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KickStarter Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders - PnC Incline

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
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Played through the tutorial, it's promising so far.

There's intrigue afoot.

Same. My only two bits of criticism so far are:

1. The way the characters speak feels a little bit too modern-ish, but I can live with it.
2. The deduction board should have been called "diduction board" :rpgcodex:
 

Zombra

An iron rock in the river of blood and evil
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Make the Codex Great Again! RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Codex+ Now Streaming! Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Yeah, if the prologue is anything to go by, this is going to be a real treat. The author has the cadence of good detective stories down to an art. Even the first short case has a nice buildup of clues, some misdirection and a shocking twist. This is how it's done, friends.
 

HoboForEternity

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Screenshot_2019-05-03-11-33-53.jpg
 

Tigranes

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Played just a bit, and first impressions are great. Good vibe, great on-point writing though indeed with some unnecessary modernisms, and a classic but intriguing setup for the opening mystery. Bonus points that opening scenes and music, etc. don't need to lay on THIS IS CHINA thickly like Jade Empire, and first indications are that it even gets the Korean ambassador side of the story pretty spot on.

I thought it was handing a few hints out a bit easy, e.g. just in dialogue instead of figuring it out yourself, but I want to finish this case here to see how it pans out difficulty/plausibility/etc wise.

minhta no plans for a switch version? There've been numerous cases where indie games get better visibility on that store, the pricing expectation is higher (less big fat 75%+ sales, harder piracy, etc), and some games have really taken off sales & players-wise on the platform. Seems like the art style would arguably work even better there, too.
 

HoboForEternity

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
finished the first case. that was pretty fun. intriguing, political setting with a twist. a bit easy on the side and like tigrane said, the first case pretty much solve itself you just need to collect stuff and exhaust dialogue, but i expect the other case will be more complex (since most detective games i played so far have super easy fisrt case for tutorial from phoenix wright, danganronpa even the recent lamplight city)

but yea, great atmosphere, novel setting (murder mystery in ancient china, dude how cool is that? ) and the mystery is great.
 

HanoverF

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MCA Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Codex USB, 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
It's the complete game, a bit short and on the easy side, but a decent story and puzzles.
:4/5: (3 + one troll awarded for the novel setting)
 

Darth Roxor

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halp

I'm supposed to get the book about ancient scripts from the amnesiac woman at the market, but I can't see how. She says visual cues help her remember things, so I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to show her the scribbles by Lt Ma or the pink cloth with the symbol I found in the perp's house, but Dumbfuck Di says "I have no reason to show this to her" all the time. What exactly am I missing here? Honestly this almost looks like a bug.
 

Crooked Bee

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Codex 2013 Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire MCA Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Darth Roxor The pink cloth worked for me, so that does sound like a bug. EDIT: Unless

you haven't shown her the plaque from the library yet, which the game wants you to do first -- so the woman can remember the library & the book -- so you can then ask her about the script. This kind of rigid order doesn't make much sense but this game can be like that.

Also, while I really like this game's style, I can't help but feel disappointed by how linear and casual it is. No real detective work to be done by the player, it's just a matter of exhausting all relevant dialogue and interaction options. The few real puzzles were also way too easy (sometimes to the point where I was overthinking things but the solution turned out to be very simplistic, like in the go puzzle). Still worth playing for the setting, though.
 
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Darth Roxor

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Yeah, I haven't shown her that other thing, because it totally makes sense to take it in the first place. Thanks :neveraskedforthis:

And yep, I strongly agree with all the rest, especially the bit about no detective work. Di just arrives to all conclusions on his own. The deduction board is largely a pointless progress tracker. It's only the case reenactment that you have to do by yourself, and it's not like it gets the noggin joggin' particularly much.
 

Darth Roxor

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Aaaaand finished. Positive points for style etc. and puzzles that felt ok, though only one had me stumped for a longer while (the two words riddle). Negative points for linearity/railroading because frankly it's pretty ridiculous for a "detective" game to never let the player actually do any real detective work and instead have the player character do all that stuff more or less automatically.

Also I felt one thing was very dumb:

The fact nobody figures out the roses were silk. "Umg I never noticed cuz I was holding them by the stalk" - like seriously? This is an ultra-lame and hardly even believable copout, especially for Di who has a number of perceptive observations throughout the game. It was my #1 thought that they are not real roses already at the first one, the moment someone remarked it's weird how they never wilt FFS.

Also a bit disappointed that the corrupt ex-magistrate never had any real significance.

But on the whole it was fun, I suppose.
 

Tigranes

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Played through a bit, solved couple chapters. I think the consensus is clear. Lovely setting and charm that sticks around throughout, some of the lines are done really well, but the gameplay element of it veers too much towards "read and click things and you know exactly what happened immediately". To exaggerate a bit it's too close to a reading test than a sense of murder mystery.

I think the key factor is that whenever there's a suggestive piece of evidence that helps the player move onto the next stage of hypotheses, the detective blurts out exactly the correct interpretation straight away. And sometimes he even tells you literally what you're supposed to say at the case reenactment!

Such as immediately exclaiming how the General must now be innocent, or how the women are all united by their recent return - which is bloody obvious anyway, but it's silly for the detective to say it explicitly, and then for the player to be tested on more or less the exact same wording 5 minutes later.

Otherwise, though, it's still very fun. For the price I'd recommend on the style and charm alone.
 

Tigranes

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Finished.

And verdict stands. Very charming game, certainly worth $10, but not much of a detective game at all.

Which is a real disappointment, because it could have been really good with stronger gameplay. I'm awful at adventure game logic and I get stuck almost every other puzzle in the old ones, but every single puzzle or piece of the story in this game is telegraphed like a Times Square neon sign. I never felt like I didn't know what was going on, or that there are big mysteries behind the scenes, or that there's two or three different ways to interpret the course of events.

Sometimes, you want some experience of searching or thinking to make the sequence feel realistic. At the end:

You finally track down Han Sidong and the Tomb where it's all going to go down. The bodyguard's conversation hypes you up for a dramatic finale in which the bad guy has gotten away bloodied, and you must Indiana Jones the locked door and rescue the Empress. Except you literally press one button and Han Sidong is right there, and the moment he dies he opens his hand to show you the key, and then when you read the lanterns they tell you the freaking passcode in a way a four year old could figure out. It's basically only one degree removed from Han Sidong coming out of the bushes and opening the door for you himself.

So I don't think we can really call it a 'detective game' - but it's a nice, charming, linear, short, no-frills adventure game well worth $10 for its style alone.
 

HoboForEternity

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
https://steamcommunity.com/id/hoboForEternity/recommended/792040

great game. story is better than i expected. really well written, well thought and well paced. nothing feels dragging nor rushed. the pacing and everything that happen makes sense, and no filler at all. really likeable characters, even in the short time we meet them. i wish they would make a sequel to revisit this setting and casts. puzzles and detective gameplay leave alot to be desired, but it is a great little game.
 

Nope

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Feb 22, 2011
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Decent game, ease of puzzles aside, though it was a little bit dissapointing how it went from an opening that hinted very well at a setting of "ancient China that never was" to becoming more of a thriller set in "modern Canada with Pagodas" by the time you're moving around Chang'an.
 

V_K

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Played it, have basically the same impression as everyone else here - not a detective game, but decent, if easy, traditional adventure. Got a little stumped twice because of pixel hunting - you would assume in a game that makes everything so big that'd be a non-issue :? The art style is the best thing about it.
 

Alpan

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Definitely a cool little adventure, though I echo the general sentiment regarding the game not featuring any actual detective work. For some reason -- probably because I wasn't expecting it -- I also enjoyed the complete lack of voice acting. I felt that, combined with the sparse art style, it left a lot more to the imagination and was more engaging as a result.

It was definitely a reminder of just how much I enjoy adventure games with even the pretense of being a detective, though. I might just play that Sherlock Holmes game (Crimes and Punishments) I keep hearing about.
 

HoboForEternity

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Detective Di Celebrates 2-Year Anniversary... What's Next?
We're making a very special announcement to mark Detective Di's 2-Year Anniversary.

It is with great pride, humility, and gratitude that we mark the 2-year anniversary of the release of Detective Di: The Silk Rose Murders. To celebrate, the game will be on sale at 60% off until the end of this month.

We want to thank each person who has given our little indie game a chance. It is your continued support and encouragement that has allowed our game to carve out a tiny corner of the vast gaming universe. The fact that you continue to wishlist, buy, and share your thoughts on our game is enough to fill our hearts with even greater hopes and dreams.

Of course, as a creator, it can be scary to talk about those hopes and dreams. To put yourself and your ideas out into the world is an intimidating endeavor. But, making indie games is nothing if not bold!

So, having said that, I give you this little nugget (think marathon, not sprint):

6405e4e4b4eeb0b114309aaa5cfc3ea49913d453.png
 

JarlFrank

I like Thief THIS much
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Picked the game up in a bundle some time ago, it was enjoyable and atmospheric, but often felt limited and easy in its gameplay (you never get more than 3 or 4 locations to visit at a time, so even if you get stuck on a puzzle it's relatively easy to bruteforce it).

Looking forward to what the devs do with the sequel, let's hope they improve the puzzles a bit.
 

Erebus

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Jul 12, 2008
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4,763
Just finished the game. It's a bit too easy and it's also true that you seldom do any real detective stuff. The atmosphere, the setting, the characters, the plot and the music are good enough to make the whole thing enjoyable, but I wish the game was a bit longer. It barely took me five hours and a half to complete it, and I really didn't rush things.

As far as puzzles are concerned, I had a really hard time with the letter you have to decipher before you can get to the boat. I immediately started looking for complicated solutions (when the real one is actually quite simple) and managed to spin quite a few wild theories about the hidden message before I finally reached the truth.
 

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