poroshin on 20/10/2012 at 03:11
Well this thread all of a sudden took a real sharp downturn.
Malleus on 20/10/2012 at 06:19
Quote Posted by driver
SS2's hunt-the-code-in-the-paintings
LOL, there was a mini version of that in Dishonored! I was just about the mention that the painting-code-puzzle
(in one of the houses on the Bridge mission) was kinda cool, but looks like it was a homage to SS2 ... or a coincidence. :)
Judith on 20/10/2012 at 11:10
I'm absolutely amazed how much freedom is given to the player here, and how much balls devs had to give us a world where you can miss so many things, if you're not perceptive enough or you just want to. Last time I saw that done to such extent was probably in Alpha Protocol. You can finish missions in mere minutes or spend hours exploring different routes, looking for side stories or valuables. You want to be a vengeful assassin? There you go. Murdering psychopath? Sure, why not. Or maybe you want to remember that you used to be the Lord Protector, and that applies to the whole state, not just the crown? Good for you. And, at any time you can say "fuck this, now I wanna be someone else". Same goes for tools and powers, you can use all of them, any or none, as you like and when. And the game won't rate you for that, presenting only the consequences of what you did. There is no big story here, because you are to write one. If you don't feel like it, or if you're only seeking best path because you always "play to win", you'll be confused and disappointed. Dishonored feels like an ultimate homage to player self-expression, bringing us the echoes of games like Thief, but with much broader audience in mind, and without contempt for anyone, regardless of style.
Oh, and one more thing. I always loved reading/watching those GDC and other keynotes/presentations, where devs talked about "systemic design", "emergent storytelling and gameplay", "immersive sims", ect. But it's actually so rare to see those ideas in action. In that regard, Dishonored is truly a level design wankfest. I'm glad to see all that put to work, even if it's costly and risky. And I really hope that's more of a recurring trend than a one-time thing. "Boldest measures are the safest" after all ;)
deathshadow on 20/10/2012 at 11:45
I have enjoyed the game -- but like anything else it failed to live up to the pre-release hype. In general I found myself shoehorned into single approaches, led around by having two fingers shoved up my nose, and having played it TWICE since it's release, it's very short in scope with postage stamp sized levels. When 'exploring' an area I like to be able to go more than 100 yards -- which is probably why they recycled one real play area twice (the largest area in the game) -- in addition to slowly growing the 'hub' around the Hound Pits.
Was really shocked by the low resolution (as in 2001 style) textures and low polycounts -- while I recognized some of it was for 'style', much of it just felt like a "oh well" -- like the detail textures on the boat with their obvious pixelation, and most anything that's supposed to be 'round' only being six sided. I don't really hold poor graphics against a game when the gameplay and story is decent, it was just a little surprising to see a game release that feels so... dated.
I found it much more fun once I went into the menu and disabled a bunch of play 'aids' -- and the whole 'magical' aspect of powers granted by the 'outsider'.. well, if you're a thief player you might as well have just locked the game into "god mode" given that even on the highest settings it's a cakewalk once you can see through walls. I found myself avoiding most all the abilities just so I could have a bit of a challenge.
I will say i was most pleased to see nothing remotely resembling a 'boss fight' -- I've hated that in every single game that has them, and it being absent was quite welcome. Never made any sense to me for there to be this endless horde of disposable PBI, but you hit their leader and you dump more damage into them than a main battle tank could survive and they laugh at you. Was one of the things that made me dislike DX3... and it's so common that when a game like this one leaves it out, you actually notice!
The ability to actually control the game was nice too -- after unplayable disasters like Assassin's Creed (seriously, how the hell do you even control those games?!?) it's refreshing to see a bit of back to basics and a wee bit less gimmicky input; though the 'hold for action' nonsense did reek slightly of consolitus, it wasn't overtly bad.
Was a good game, technically sound, stable, there just needed to be more of it (lasted me about as long as your average Call of Duty MW single player campaign), larger areas to explore (entire largest area didn't feel that much bigger than Baffords from T1), and a wee bit less dragging me around by the nose. Unless we start seeing fan levels for it, I don't see it having much replay value after having gone through ghost and psychopath.
It also gave me a number of good laughs, like when one of Daud's clowns says "Very good, I did not see you approach"
deathshadow on 20/10/2012 at 11:48
Quote Posted by driver
I was hoping that I'd get the chance to slap him silly when I returned
Yeah, and killing him ends the game prematurely.
Schwaa2 on 20/10/2012 at 19:31
Quote Posted by deathshadow
though the 'hold for action' nonsense did reek slightly of consolitus, it wasn't overtly bad.
"
I actually thought that was done really well. Unlike thief where you frob a wheel and it just turns it felt slightly more immersive, actually having to control it until it finished.
And I had the exact opposite opinion, it felt like they 'un-consolized' that action.
Console games would have you hit 'Q' repeatedly as fast as you possibly can (ie: GTA, The Walking Dead). I've always really hated that because I have some back/nerve issues and that fast tapping really makes my back get tense, in a lot of games like GTA it really made it hard to accomplish some of those tasks. That's just me but the fast tap thing can be a bit ridiculous in some games.
But I found it a nice changing for looting bodies also. A quick key press for loot, a slight key hold to pick up body, nice touch. One key, two easy actions.
Sulphur on 20/10/2012 at 20:51
He's probably coming at it from the angle where ports usually go with 'press A for action X', and 'hold A for action Y', because gamepads have less buttons than keyboards. This usually leads to ludicrous crap like in ME2/3 where the Use/Run/Snap to Cover actions are all mapped to the same button, but Dishonored managed to avoid that for the most part.
Avalon on 21/10/2012 at 15:55
Quote Posted by deathshadow
I found it much more fun once I went into the menu and disabled a bunch of play 'aids' -- and the whole 'magical' aspect of powers granted by the 'outsider'.. well, if you're a thief player you might as well have just locked the game into "god mode" given that even on the highest settings it's a cakewalk once you can see through walls. I found myself avoiding most all the abilities just so I could have a bit of a challenge.
, Dark Vision or whatever is the one ability that pretty much breaks the game. Imagine how easy Thief would be if you could not only see NPCs through walls, but also see their cones of vision. With no cooldown or meaningful cost at all. Once you get Dark Vision, the game turns into an interactive storybook because the challenge is utterly gone.
poroshin on 21/10/2012 at 16:15
Which is why I never once turned it on.
