Sup Curio.
I think Crimes 1.0 was very grindy. Once you did your merits you kinda just did arsons and nothing else. I didn't see many crimes after 12 nerve, so why did they exist? Also - what was the difference between a 1-nerve crime and an 11-nerve crime? The cash payout and the risk-reward. That was it. 2.0 in comparison is a billion times different.
Crimes 2.0 (I hate to say it) is pretty good and well-designed. Sure it probably could be better in ways and some of the crimes are still gritty, but there is an element where you have to 'think' applied to each crime.
I'm flying so gonna struggle off the top of my head but here are some examples.
Pickpocketing - You can pickpocket a variety of characters within the city. Each character has a different difficulty and different rewards. Additionally, each character also has different 'stances', so maybe they are idle, maybe they are jogging, or maybe they are distracted on their phone. All the people are on timers so after 10-60 seconds they vanish and new people come after a little while.
So? Instead of mindlessly just spamming pickpocketing, you can kinda pick and choose who you want to pickpocket.
Cracking - Kinda hacking, kinda not. You use your PC (if you want) to help your cracking skills and crack more letters at once. If you get enough letters, you can guess the other characters but you only have a limited number of guesses. By upgrading your PCs (max of 3) you can unlock more letters at once, and at a later level, more encryption levels at once. So it is kinda like a Hangman mini-game without the ability to lose (unless you fail).
So? Again - allows you to just grind if you want, waste all your E - or you can take time and try and work out what the password is to save yourself some Nerve for other crimes.
Disposal - As someone made me realize recently - you get a limited number of disposal crimes per day so it's nearly impossible to just grind this. Each 'item' you are asked to dispose of has several different ways it can be disposed of - each with its own nerve count and rewards. For example, taking it to a dump, burning it, burying it, and dissolving it in acid.
So? Once you have finished doing whatever crimes you were focusing on - you have other crimes to go back to. It has now become relatively nice to focus on multiple crimes at once. Shoplifting when the cameras are down, pickpocketing when a certain person is there, disposing of the items you want to dispose of.
Finally - You also have uniques that appear at certain points throughout each crime. Each unique provides you with a pretty nice reward for the nerve value. An erotic DVD, some drugs, a box of grenades - OR an item that helps you complete other crimes like a shovel or a metal detector. Pretty cool!
The merits, change of pace, and how well planned out the crimes have been so far - it's kind of worth switching from 1.0 to 2.0.
Is 2.0 perfect? Absolutely not.
Is it significantly better than 1.0 for a range of reasons? Absolutely.
How it will fit into CE and future OC's I don't know. But if OC's end up anything like 2.0 I look forward to it.
I hope this helps a friend.
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