Solving Mysteries - General Hints / Tips / Strategy

[zeru57]

My least favorite case to deal with is shock to the system. The deadlines can be unexpectedly harsh, and you never know if you're dealing with a poetry club or bombs strapped to the bottom of desks. I've had quite a few -17 karma, -15 reputation on these.

[Franka]

I've changed my mind. I hate cell phones. I've even had cell phones where all girls had been neutralized and then it failed.

[hanako]

Make sure you actually manage to see what they're forwarding rather than just yelling at them to knock it off, or you may lose the thread of evidence.

[Franka]

I wrote a somewhat loose achievement guide, but I'm thinking it's too soon to share it. Besides, there are still a couple of achievements missing from it.

Meanwhile, I've updated the case guide a couple of times.

[skydragonwings]

On Missing Items, if you find the item in one of the admirer's rooms, is there a way to tell whether the admirer stole it or the owner planted it there without harassing/detaining one of them and potentially losing karma?

[hanako]

Try stalking the owner of the item.

[skydragonwings]

Ah, that's the one I'm always forgetting I can do.

[Franka]

Alternately, if you Search the owner's room, you'll know if it was planted.

[skydragonwings]

What's the best way to handle a goth who hates everyone? Persuading and harassing don't usually seem to work for me.

[zeru57]

What's the best way to handle a goth who hates everyone? Persuading and harassing don't usually seem to work for me.

First talk to one of the accusers so you can search the goth's room. Sometimes you will find a diary with a motive. If it's against one girl, you need to get that girl to stop harassing her. If it's against the whole school, then Franka here has indicated you might need to expel the goth. Sometimes the suspected goth will tell you who's bothering her if you just ask.

Now, if you find something suspicious in her room without an associated motive, you might be able to get away with an easy hand. Sometimes I'll stalk the goth - she'll usually go someplace, and sometimes searching there will turn up something - either someone bothering her, or nothing at all.

As I continue to play, it seems like more and more these get resolved by harassing the girls to keep from bothering the goth, or I get a message that says the goth started rumors herself.

[Franka]

I withdraw my Expel order, I've gone beyond that, I think.

Sometimes it's not the Goth you need to deal with, but the Gossips. If you Stalk one of them and find them going to a new location, they're out to drive your Goth insane, and you need to make them back off. For maximum points, there's a lot of Stalking and Searching to do, but you can jump straight to Harassing the Gossips if you like.

[skydragonwings]

The specific circumstance I'm wondering about is:

When you search the goth's room and find a diary entry saying she hates everyone and wants them to die. At that point, harassing the gossips usually just leads to them saying "stop bothering me, she's the creepy one," and persuading, harassing, and detaining the goth don't help (I think she usually just says "now you're picking on me too" or something similar). Is expelling her the only solution? Would I find out anything else by stalking someone?

[hanako]

With a genuine bad seed the best thing to do is to get them out before things get worse.

[skydragonwings]

Got it! I realized after I posted that it was probably something like that - thanks! I'd be in favor of you posting that achievement guide, by the way.

[Darksilverhawk]

So, for the explosion variant of Shock to the System, if you successfully guard the location on the specified date and nothing happens, then what are you supposed to do? Just keep guarding until they give up? No matter what I do I don't seem to get the option to punish the organizer, and if I stop guarding they carry out the plan.