Arkane's Dishonored

Most wrote:

Interestingly, the only guy I had spared was the Daud, the actual killer of the Empress. In this world of intrigue and back-stabbing he seemed the only honest character.

Yeah, I let him live too. Slackjaw as well.

Spoiler:

If you think about it, Daud isn't that different from you. He killed as part of someone else's grand plan, which is pretty much what you had been doing all game up to that point. Notice that Daud is the first "target" that you don't have to kill or otherwise dispose of; he's the first one you have the choice of simply letting go. You're now executing Corvo's plan, not someone else's.

As for Slackjaw, he's one of the few people you encounter who doesn't betray you. Hell, I betrayed him by only giving him the combination of the safe after cleaning it out myself. And I didn't do Granny Rags mission against him to poison his elixir. There's a conversation or note somewhere that says that some of the guards have been having to buy Slackjaw's illegal elixir and that it does seem to work, so he is actually helping people who otherwise would be susceptible to the plague by making it. Granny Rags is more interested in the rats. (Maybe she should be called Granny Rats?)

And I killed her and freed Slackjaw. Sorry Granny, there's enough going down in this city, you don't get to boil someone alive.

So, this is super random... but are any UK Goojers thinking of picking this up on Steam? Seeing as Steam wont allow me to buy any games with my not Japanese credit card (and this keyboard wont allow me to use apostrophes), I imported a copy from the UK... only to be told I cant activate it. Customer hostile, much?

Anyway, Im now searching for someone who might be willing to gift a copy in exchange for a key (Ill give you the key first, naturally). I held off playing this until upgrading to a new PC, spent 2 hours getting Windows 8 running in English... and now this. I almost want to cry -_-

Edit: and never mind. I sank to buying a UK VPN for one month, although Im still fuming that it came to this...

Most wrote:

Most of all I was shocked by the

Spoiler:

Samuel kicking me out of the boat and shooting the flare in the final mission. It underlined the only connection Corvo has left - Emily and him and damn the rest of the scheming, plotting world.

Interestingly, the only guy I had spared was the Daud, the actual killer of the Empress. In this world of intrigue and back-stabbing he seemed the only honest character.

I played the game in high chaos as well, only letting certain people that I didn't feel needed to die (like Slackjaw). When I got to that part at the end

Spoiler:

when Samuel said he was going to warn the others I was coming, I turned around and shot him in the face. I didn't know he shoots a flare in the sky. I guess the game made me cold.

kazar wrote:
Most wrote:

Most of all I was shocked by the

Spoiler:

Samuel kicking me out of the boat and shooting the flare in the final mission. It underlined the only connection Corvo has left - Emily and him and damn the rest of the scheming, plotting world.

Interestingly, the only guy I had spared was the Daud, the actual killer of the Empress. In this world of intrigue and back-stabbing he seemed the only honest character.

I played the game in high chaos as well, only letting certain people that I didn't feel needed to die (like Slackjaw). When I got to that part at the end

Spoiler:

when Samuel said he was going to warn the others I was coming, I turned around and shot him in the face. I didn't know he shoots a flare in the sky. I guess the game made me cold.

Guess I missed that earlier in the thread, but I liked that part. I think it's one of the very few times I can remember of NPCs reacting to a player and making their own decisions, pre-written of course, but it made that character seem much more alive.

kazar wrote:

I guess the game made me cold.

Yeh, I noticed that with my High Chaos path as well, the lives didnt matter that much anymore, I was killing casually. My first two playthrough, death was reserved only for the targets and characters that disgusted me, did disgusting stuff or their talk with others disgusted. (There were some sick puppies time to time).
With my Seething Rage Corvo, every guard was expedient. Except for one of the guards in the first mission who tells the other he hates me because he actually liked the Empress. That guy woke up amidst heap of corpses with a terrible headache).

Back home after some days out of town, and I have a chance to play some more Dishonored! Perhaps I'll finish it off tonight; not sure how much I have left to go. I think I'm well over the 30 hour mark by now, winding my way through the Flooded District.

[moose rambling]
[Wayne's World-esque hand effects]

The announcement of the first DLC filled me with gamer-entitlement-rage (meaning, of course, not *real rage*, but sort of a cute, unimportant version of it), as I can't imagine they could have announced a DLC less tailored to my interests. "These trials include an arena battle against waves of enemy AI. There are new achievements and trophies and a global online leaderboard." - I can't imagine a way to make it something I would less like to spend my money on. I want more journals, more stories, more characters, more insight into this fascinating world!

My first DLC announcement would have been:

Dishonored: Lyceum of the Leviathans

Approached by a purportedly learned mariner-turned-scientist, Corvo will investigate the rumors that the Great Beasts of the ocean are more intelligent (or, possibly, even more dangerous) than previously imagined. With the help of the little-recognized Sokolov's Compressed Underwater Breathing Apparatus, the player will explore a new coastal area, and be called to explore a huge, collapsing underwater structure whose origins are unknown. Will Corvo find the answers he seeks in the multitude of curiously waterproof tomes found in a sprawling, partially submerged library? Will he unravel the mystery of this lost, decaying storehouse of knowledge, or will he fall victim to previously unknown denizens of the deep?

[/Wayne's World effects]
[/rambleoff]

Ahh, it's earlier than I thought! Let's see if I can get in another hour or so of Dishonored tonight.

Heh this game makes being violent really tempting. Normally I play really pacifist, but after see what the people you fight are doing, saying, and thinking. Well a chaos run gets very tempting....
Not to mention there are a few nonviolent approaches that seem worse then death.

Oh and I spared Daud and Slackjaw too. In a city short of honest and decent men, I'll settle just for honest.

Got this for my birthday! It's fantastic. I've been non-violent up til now, but I've got the Heart now, so no doubt I will encounter someone utterly vile that will tempt me towards a little knife action.

Not that I didn't see that coming, but, wow. Nicely done, well played Arkane. Also, my Corvo has become a monster, as reflected by Emily. A little hard to take actually. Kind of interested in a low chaos run to see how I get back to this point.

Just finished. Wow. One of my favorite games in quite some time. I did a low chaos run but things organically changed at the end.

Spoiler:

After I was betrayed I went from non-lethal to "no more mister nice assassin".

I did the same thing. The only "target" I actually killed was...

Spoiler:

Admiral Havlock. With an incendiary bolt.

Also, Granny Rags is voiced by Susan Sarandon? And "Alternate Street Voice" is Carrie Fisher?

tanstaafl wrote:

I did the same thing. The only "target" I actually killed was...

Spoiler:

Admiral Havlock. With an incendiary bolt.

Also, Granny Rags is voiced by Susan Sarandon? And "Alternate Street Voice" is Carrie Fisher?

Heh.

Spoiler:

Havelock was the only character in my first go-around who I whipped my pistol out for. Given all I had done for him and the Loyalists, his betrayal was felt that much deeper, and for some reason this was beyond my crossbow or even sword: I needed something with more oomph than the crossbow, but more personal than a grenade.

And woot for DLC!

I find the assassins the most difficult enemy to deal with generally. I stabbed more than a few while searching for Duod.

JohnKillo wrote:

I find the assassins the most difficult enemy to deal with generally. I stabbed more than a few while searching for Duod.

The first time I ran into them they freaked me out; I must have always been looking the wrong way, because I kept getting hit and I couldn't see what was doing it. I ended up standing still in a field of spring razor traps, and the mystery assailants were revealed (and legless).

Finished my third playthrough, and earned the Shadow, Clean Hands, and Mostly Flesh and Steel achievements. No kills, no alerts, and no powers except for Blink. I skipped most of the exploration and side-quests (except ones needed for non-lethal kills), since I didn't need runes or money for weapon upgrades. I didn't even bother reclaiming my gear in the flooded district since the only time I used a weapon was to shoot a couple sleep darts at weepers. One interesting side effect of this playthrough was

Spoiler:

there was no Granny/Slackjaw event in the sewers, presumably because I never helped Granny. The sewer gate was just unlocked.

The hardest bit was probably the prison escape at the very beginning. It took a lot of tries to blow up the door and escape without alerting any guards or accidentally killing them with the blast.

Just finished. Awesome game. I never thought I would encounter a world that makes Fallout's world feel like happy fun time.

I think I did medium chaos level. It was high chaos but not enough for Samuel to

Spoiler:

flare me.

But I wonder if Emily still ends up as a little sociopath in the low choas ending?

Now I'm going through and just killing everyone.

Nevin73 wrote:

But I wonder if Emily still ends up as a little sociopath in the low choas ending?

Spoiler:

Nope, she's a pretty normal kid if you go low chaos.

I managed to get through Dunwall Tower with only one kill and one body being found.

I had to use a sleep dart on a dog, though.

Still, I'm surprised at how well I did on that map. Maybe a Ghost run might be possible? ...nah. Next run through I'm gonna snipe the sh*t out of people.

EDIT:

Actually, quick question about that mission (or rather, an optional quest in there):

Spoiler:

The torturer.

1) Is there a non-violent way to finish that quest? He's the one fatality I had, and man that sucker can take a beating.

2) I used stop time and he was still moving around. Was this a glitch? Or are big important NPC's immune to it?

Or considering the Granny Rags note I found at his table, does the Torturer have some Outsider sh*t going down himself?

ccesarano wrote:

2) I used stop time and he was still moving around. Was this a glitch? Or are big important NPC's immune to it?

Or considering the Granny Rags note I found at his table, does her have some Outsider sh*t going down himself?

Considering there's Outsider shrine right next to him, it would seem a safe bet. There is another character that is immune to stop time and he also has a strong Outsider connection. So in these cases it's all tied into the game-lore.

Re: heart origins

Spoiler:

There is no doubt that the hart is Empress'. If you use it on Lord Regent, she'll say things like: "I can't believe I trusted him."

Re: the torturer

Spoiler:

I didn't have a heart to kill him (no pun intended). I knocked him out and left him sleeping on the ducting. My optional quest to eliminate him did not complete, but the mission writeup said I "dealt with the torturer". I did not find a way to take care of him otherwise.

--edit--
Re: the Stranger

It's interesting how the game tries to paint him as an evil, destructive force. Yet to you, he's almost gentle. Even if you're not pursuing evil and destructive path. I've come to see him more as a sh*tdisturber deity. A form of Loki. Without spoiling any endings, since I'm still in the flooded district, what are other people's takes on him?

MoonDragon wrote:

Re: heart origins

Spoiler:

There is no doubt that the hart is Empress'. If you use it on Lord Regent, she'll say things like: "I can't believe I trusted him."

Spoiler:

IMDB supports this

MoonDragon wrote:

It's interesting how the game tries to paint him as an evil, destructive force. Yet to you, he's almost gentle. Even if you're not pursuing evil and destructive path. I've come to see him more as a sh*tdisturber deity. A form of Loki. Without spoiling any endings, since I'm still in the flooded district, what are other people's takes on him?

I thought of the Outsider as a deity that just liked for things to be interesting and unpredictable. Chaos, basically, but not necessarily destructive. It seemed like most of the people who sought him out thought he was all about death and destruction but in his interactions with you (in a low chaos run) he basically says he's interested in you because he can't seem to predict how you're going to react to any given situation and you're not giving in to base emotions, etc. In a fine example of reading too much into a game, I thought of the Outsider as an example of people misunderstanding their god's motivations and doing things in "his name" that might have nothing to do with the god's true interests.

Is it just me or does this feel like one of those games that absolutely shouldn't have a sequel even though I desperately want to play more of it?

I'd love to see more of the world they have built, but agree that they should stay away from a direct sequel.

In a low-chaos run...

Spoiler:

...the ending narration basically says that Corvo guides and protects Emily and that when he dies she has him buried in her mother's tomb, which pretty much limits what they can do with a sequel.

OTOH, one of the announced DLCs says that you will be playing as Daud.

I don't think we will see a sequel with Corvo as the main character--the epilogue has a "and this is what happened for the rest of their lives" blurb--but the game world is so well developed and so full of potential that I'd be shocked to not see another game in the same world, provided sales of Dishonored are high enough.

DSGamer wrote:

Is it just me or does this feel like one of those games that absolutely shouldn't have a sequel even though I desperately want to play more of it?

I'd love to see more stories in the world they've built, but not a direct sequel. If they make another game I think they should avoid Dunwall entirely and set it on one of the other islands.

Kehama wrote:
MoonDragon wrote:

It's interesting how the game tries to paint him as an evil, destructive force. Yet to you, he's almost gentle. Even if you're not pursuing evil and destructive path. I've come to see him more as a sh*tdisturber deity. A form of Loki. Without spoiling any endings, since I'm still in the flooded district, what are other people's takes on him?

I thought of the Outsider as a deity that just liked for things to be interesting and unpredictable. Chaos, basically, but not necessarily destructive. It seemed like most of the people who sought him out thought he was all about death and destruction but in his interactions with you (in a low chaos run) he basically says he's interested in you because he can't seem to predict how you're going to react to any given situation and you're not giving in to base emotions, etc. In a fine example of reading too much into a game, I thought of the Outsider as an example of people misunderstanding their god's motivations and doing things in "his name" that might have nothing to do with the god's true interests.

There's also some lore that seems to link the Outsider to the whales. There's a book called Spirit of the Deep in which this guy is walking along the beach and meets something that he expected to be a "vast leviathan" but instead appeared as a "young man with eyes as black as the Void". The whalebone runes and Granny's weird temple in the sewers hint at some sort of whale connection as well. I'd love to see some DLC or a sequel that focuses on the Outsider and the whales.

muttonchop wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Is it just me or does this feel like one of those games that absolutely shouldn't have a sequel even though I desperately want to play more of it?

I'd love to see more stories in the world they've built, but not a direct sequel. If they make another game I think they should avoid Dunwall entirely and set it on one of the other islands.

That's kind of what I'm getting at.

Spoiler:

The way the game ends they talk as if there is resolution to the world and life goes on. The dystopic world they created is part of the joy of this game. I would hate to see them lose that environment, but they would almost have to.

I guess any sequel will not be "and here's what all those characters did next", especially as so many of them can meet a grisly end. It would be another story in that world, with new characters and with those established gameplay rules.

What I'd prefer them to do is to explore Dishonored as much as they can through DLC, and then leave it, maybe not forever, but don't just become another series to be franchised out. The legal notices implies Zenimax owns the rights rather than Arkane, so who knows what'll happen to it. As much as it's a good game, I found more value in the well developed world than Bioshock/Thief/DeusEx gameplay, although that's because I've probably played every game of that type that there is on offer. It wouldn't surprise me to see another one though.

More thoughts on the Outsider...
I don't think that the game paints him as an evil entity, but the Overseers do. Most ordinary people in the world just seem to view him as a capricious and untrustworthy being, which is how the game portrays him.

The Abbey of the Everyman is the only organization that seems to directly oppose him and view him as evil, which I assume is mostly due to the unpredictable ways in which he meddles with human affairs. The Abbey is a very ordered, hierarchical organization, and the Outsider is more or less the antithesis of that. He grants otherworldly powers to people on a whim, without any notion of merit or fairness. Daud sought him out, and he and his followers were granted the power to become the empire's most fearsome assassins. Sokolov did the same, and was ignored because he was "boring". Granny Rags devoted her life to the Outsider and was granted power and near-immortality, but was also gradually reduced to an insane old woman who was hated and feared by everyone. Corvo had power thrust upon him without ever asking for it. It's hard to maintain order when some bored god is randomly handing out magic powers to people.

The Abbey is kind of a weird organization, since its a religion that doesn't really worship anything. Their only real article of faith is the Litany on the White Cliff, aside from that the organization is very humanist. They oppose the only known god, and fight his influence with machines and mathematically derived harmonies. If they weren't so corrupt they might actually be a pretty interesting religion.

Outsider is simply outside the good/evil categories. Good and evil are concepts created by people and have no pull in the Void. In a way, he is simply a fueling force - his gifts can be used both for good or evil as we can see with the choices that Corvo can make. So either those gifts are used for good or for bad reflects just and only on the recipients themselves, not the Outsider.
I think one of the game's loading tips even states that "Outsider is a mythical figure outside good or evil" or somesuch.