Witness System revamp [Red herrings/False leads, Lies, More info, etc.] (includes example)

[wild heath]

There has to be more than 1 shifty person in the city at any given point right? Maybe they did see someone acting weird down the street- but that person was robbing an apartment and isn't the murderer.Tracking and clearing suspects should be a more integral part of the overall gameplay.

Also- if the witness knows the suspicious person's name they should be able to tell you it, or have the option to withhold information (good friend/spouse/boss/whatever situation.)

If they got a good look at them (ex- was near the person for an extended period of time)- could tell you more than 1 feature, ideally something like pulling 1 or 2 out of a "height, hair color, rough age, action, etc" pool of potential traits of their suspicious person, allowing for multiple witnesses to tell you differing facts about the same person- or about 2 separate suspects, you will have to check when and where the suspicious person was seen.

If we end up having the ability to make a "blank suspect profile" in the future, you could start filling that out, and ask other potential witnesses if they've seen a "heavyset bald dude" and if they have, see if they may happen to know them.
Sort of like the current "Unknown Citizen" evidence that pops up for side jobs.

Potential example-*** Hypothetical murderer*** ||is a brown haired, tall man who shot a person in the middle of X street at 5:00||

Dead body found on X street, shot once in the head. Estimated time of death is from 3-6.

Witness 1-

Have you seen anything suspicious?
"Yes, I saw a person with brown hair shoot someone at around 5:00 on X street!"

**Witness 2- **

Have you seen anything suspicious?
"Yes, i was watching a shifty muscular woman at Y apartments at 3:50"
"Did they also have these features? (insert mostly blank suspect profile)"
"No they didn't"

Witness 3-

Have you seen anything suspicious?
"Yes- I saw an angry tall man waving around a pistol (you can insert any murder weapon here.) at Z Heights at 5:10."
Did they also have these features?
"Yes they did"

"Did they also have these features? (insert partially filled suspect profile)"
Have you seen anything suspicious?
"Yes, My neighbor Bob Bobinson threatened me with a gun on X street."
"Did they also have these features? (Insert updated suspect profile)"
"No, they didn't"

From these statements- it seems like the murderer- who you have concluded likely has ||brown hair, is male, and is tall. went to Z Heights after the murder- and you may find more witnesses/ the suspect there.||

This would feel much more like you are actually doing investigative work out in the field with witnesses in the moment, having to take down notes, and weed out who is even talking about the same person. (or maybe buying a voice transponder sync disk to go through past conversations and save statements with a button press)

Witness System revamp [Red herrings/False leads, Lies, More info, etc.] (includes example)

[tall panther]

Could not agree more! Particularly if they are present for the crime or discover the body, they need to give more contextual information. All too often do I have several people present at the scene, but all they say about one another is, that they were in a rush, rather than giving any clues to the event. Also if they know the victim, they need to comment on the tragedy and give some gossip on who could've had a motive. It's super weird when people discover a dead coworker and all they tell me about the deceased is "Oh yes, I work with them."