Arkane's Dishonored

Scratched wrote:
cyrax wrote:
vbl wrote:

I really hope Bethesda doesn't sh*t the bed with this like they did with Brink (which was overhyped and undercooked).

Bethesda/Zenimax is the publisher.

Same story for Brink, Splash Damage was the developer, and to a certain extent same story for Rage by id, and Bethesda's own Skyrim wasn't exactly bug free at launch. It doesn't take too long to form a pattern, and even if 2011 was 'bad luck', even if I'm intrigued by Dishonored/Arkane, it's enough to make me cautious about any games Bethesda/Zenimax touch.

This is mostly why I skipped Brink and Rage, and I didn't get Skyrim until a month and a half after its release (when it had been patched up).

If Dishonored ends up actually being good, I'll get it at some point, after the likely bugs are fixed.

I am so into this.

Me too. On a related note, I want a new Thief game so much.

This looks really interesting - I am excited to see where it goes.

vbl wrote:

I really hope Bethesda doesn't sh*t the bed with this like they did with Brink (which was overhyped and undercooked).

It's not just Bethesda as a publisher to worry about, but Arkane as a studio. Their hearts are in the right place, but after Dark Messiah, who knows how this might end up. Here's hoping they have the resources, time and publisher confidence to really pull this one off.

If nothing else, I'd be almost willing to bet that Dishonored will get a sequel but Bethesda will force it to be part of a previously existing franchise.

[size=8](Um, since Looking Glass née Blue Sky's original RPG Underworld was made to be an Ultima game for EA to publish it, hence Ultima Underworld; then ex-Looking Glass folks in Arkane wanted to make an Underworld sequel but without the rights to the name, created Arx Fatalis; then when it was time to develop Arx Fatalis 2, Ubisoft wanted it to be a Might & Magic game, and it was reworked as Dark Messiah of Might & Magic. So when it comes time to Dishonored 2, my money's on a second Elder Scrolls Adventures. )[/size]

Wow, impressive trailer. Of course all it shows is potential at this point, but it's much better than nothing.

but after Dark Messiah, who knows how this might end up.

Yeah, Dark Messiah was such a bizarre mix of relative talent levels -- their writers and voice director were so bad, but the level design was so good. I don't remember any other games that mixed such talent with such incompetence... at least not that I mostly liked.

Basically, you wince and cringe and shudder through the cutscenes, and then the levels are mostly bloody fantastic -- until someone starts to Deliver Dialogue, and then it's back to cringing.

IMAGE(http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/i-dont-always-have-money.jpeg)

So glad I put this on top of my "secret favorites of 2012" list a couple months ago. Here's to hoping they can finish and polish it before they have to release.

Nice trailer. And the slightly-post-Steampunk Victorian setting is compelling. Not a lot of good games set in that era. Fingers are crossed.

Gaming Boner

If this game even approaches what the trailer promises, it'll be my GOTY for sure. Love the setting, love the atmosphere, and love the story concept.

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Kotaku has a more in-depth look at the game and wow, does it sound good.

Here's one example

Imagine, say, you discover one Pendleton Twin in a room with a prostitute. You may walk in and shoot him or knife him or summon a pack of rats to eat him (and possess one of those rats while you're at it). But you also could have never entered the room and just locked it, turned up the steam in his room and boiled him alive. But why not just help out a local crime boss by breaking into the Bathhouse and finding the combination to a safe he wants access to. Give him the combo and he'll take care of the Pendletons by shaving their heads and sending them to work in the mines they ruthlessly run. You know, you don't have to give the crime boss the combo before you go open that safe yourself and take what's in it. This game is supposed to be open to any branch you can imagine taking. You're expected to experiment.
tanstaafl wrote:

Kotaku has a more in-depth look at the game and wow, does it sound good.

I want this game now.

RPS has a good preview too, where Meer walks through his two distinct plays through the brothel.

The other Pendleton, in conversation with another courtesan. She would see everything. Unless… high-level Possession. Taking control of Pendleton. ‘Hey, you don’t look so good. ‘ Walk him to the balcony. Exit him. Windblast over the railing before he realises you’re there. No witnesses. A terrible accident.

Also:

a parrying-heavy swordfight with another guard

The Kotaku preview says "There will be a block and counter system in Dishonored, but not one with Dark Messiah's depth", so I wonder how interesting it will be. More than Skyrim's? Hopefully! (I do like Skyrim's bash-and-slash, but something more involved and complex would be nice.)

Bethesda started a podcast series for the game. God, they're saying all magic words. It's going to take an act of multiple God pooling their power in unison for this game to suck.

http://www.bethblog.com/podcast/

Hope you continue to post whether the podcast continues to be any good. If it is, I might be interested. I'm just not generally interested in a podcast designed around marketing (though there are some good examples of this).

Destructoid did a quick developer interview and in it, one of the devs described an interesting situation he saw during playtesting. Apparently the game has a stop or slow time mechanic, and after a NPC shot his gun at the player character, the player stopped/slowed time, took control of the NPC, moved him in the path of the bullet, then exited his body. So the NPC was killed by his own gunshot.

demonbox wrote:

Hope you continue to post whether the podcast continues to be any good. If it is, I might be interested. I'm just not generally interested in a podcast designed around marketing (though there are some good examples of this).

Yeah, I mean as much of an Elder Scrolls fanboy as I am, I didn't find the Skyrim podcasts Bethesda did to be all that interesting. It stoked my flames for the game, though (which I suppose may have been the whole point). That said, I'm totally down for Dishonored. I'm ready and willing to let this game rock my body.

MeatMan wrote:

Destructoid did a quick developer interview and in it, one of the devs described an interesting situation he saw during playtesting. Apparently the game has a stop or slow time mechanic, and after a NPC shot his gun at the player character, the player stopped/slowed time, took control of the NPC, moved him in the path of the bullet, then exited his body. So the NPC was killed by his own gunshot.

I find it difficult to explain how f*cking sweet I think that is.

demonbox wrote:

Hope you continue to post whether the podcast continues to be any good. If it is, I might be interested. I'm just not generally interested in a podcast designed around marketing (though there are some good examples of this).

I thought it was worth a listen. The gameplay design stuff they talk about is pretty specific. There wasn't any "this game is totally gonna rawxxxsor brah!" marketing speak. It's more like "we've discovered these really cool, unexpected things through playtesting the various systems we have in place."

I don't have patience for hype podcasts but this one didn't feel like hype. It was just a short bit about a cool aspect of gameplay. The box art is pretty nice, -at least the lower 90% of it is.
IMAGE(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17m79pmlh5pb6jpg/original.jpg)

tanstaafl wrote:

Release date set for October 9.

Just what I was about to post. Bioshock Infinite was delayed so that people could play Dishonored, it seems.

I haven't read much about it, just watched last month's trailer and decided I was intrigued. I don't know how much hype I can seriously take, though. Making an open-ended game about all these options of "choice" in modern budgets and constraints just seems pretty hard to swallow for me.

Though the above "slow-time, put man in front of his own bullet" thing DOES sound pretty sweet, and an idea I likely might not have thought of.

Running Man wrote:

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Klytus I'm booooored. What plaything can you offer me today?

I'm really hoping this game delivers. It went from "off the radar" to "can't wait" in, like, no time.

For me, this is one of those games that sounds good on paper, I should love it, but I need more convincing to truly by on-board. Perhaps it's the lack of a nice long demo (playable or video), perhaps it's Bethesda and their recent history publishing games lacking quality. There's also something I can't quite put my finger on between the marketing and the type of games Arkane/Smith make, it almost seems a bit too concise and precise

Scratched wrote:

For me, this is one of those games that sounds good on paper, I should love it, but I need more convincing to truly by on-board. Perhaps it's the lack of a nice long demo (playable or video), perhaps it's Bethesda and their recent history publishing games lacking quality. There's also something I can't quite put my finger on between the marketing and the type of games Arkane/Smith make, it almost seems a bit too concise and precise

See, I'm just the opposite. I love this style of game so much that even if it fails on multiple levels, I'm still almost guaranteed to love it. I still play Trespasser about once a year, if you catch my drift.

Sneaky Bastards preview is encouraging:

I cannot tell you enough how riveting seeing Dishonored’s stealth gameplay in action was. There are some intelligent advances here that look set to bring the entire stealth genre forward. That I was getting such a prominent Thief vibe from what is only one possible style of play shows how much consideration and love Arkane is putting into Dishonored’s stealth approach.

I told Smith and Colantonio that the stealth looks really good. But I think I undersold the impression I was left with. Dishonored looks set to be the most absorbing stealth game in years.

After seeing that "most absorbing stealth game" bit I felt an urge... Reinstalling Hitman Blood Money as I write those words.
Wow, it's almost a Pavlovian response.

The only thing that turns me off about this game is the fact that Bethesda name is on the front of the box as the publisher. Bethesda's published games are so hit and miss. Last year there was Brink, Rage, and Hunted: The Demons Forge. This is a keep an eye on it but wait for reviews game for me.