Arkane's Dishonored

Nicholaas wrote:

Has anyone tried the Dunwall City Trials DLC? I'm really curious to see if a challenge mode works for this game.

I didn't realize this was out! Thanks for the heads-up!

I started at ME2 on PS3. I shouldn't have started that until I was done here.

Ghostship wrote:

I started at ME2 on PS3. I shouldn't have started that until I was done here.

One is now on the PSN for $15 bucks so you can do the whole trilogy on the system and have everything carry over.

Well, finished my Clean Hands/Ghost playthrough last night. Tips for anyone who is thinking about going for it...

Spoiler:

Blink 2, Time Stop, and Dark Vision with the sleep darts are ridiculously overpowered for this. Blink 2 opens up a lot of fun teleport options to go from hidden spot to hidden spot (like the bookcase in front of Daud to the desk behind him with leaning out) or skipping entire sections of troublesome guards or security (blinked past the arc pylon to get to the broadcasting tower in Dunwall Tower.

I've started a second playthrough, high chaos run this time. It feels easier so far as it's a lot easier to take a high spot, zoom in and snipe guys with a crossbow from afar. I'm wondering if the increase in Weepers later will balance it out? I had a lot of fun knocking people out, but this is just "easier".

Though I did listen to the Maid and Guard talking in that doctor's mansion in High Overseer Campbell, and after the guard said "Is this going to be what it's like after we're married?" I just didn't have it in me to kill him.

ccesarano wrote:

I've started a second playthrough, high chaos run this time. It feels easier so far as it's a lot easier to take a high spot, zoom in and snipe guys with a crossbow from afar. I'm wondering if the increase in Weepers later will balance it out? I had a lot of fun knocking people out, but this is just "easier".

Though I did listen to the Maid and Guard talking in that doctor's mansion in High Overseer Campbell, and after the guard said "Is this going to be what it's like after we're married?" I just didn't have it in me to kill him.

I knocked them both out and put them on the couch together. Hopefully they'll just think they had make-up fun times and it was so intense they fell asleep and forgot what it was like... and got dressed before that, I suppose.

Has anyone tried the DLC yet?

complexmath wrote:

Has anyone tried the DLC yet?

Just got it today, I'm hoping to fire it up this weekend.

Now that the semster is over, I've taken the game out of it's shrinkwrap and started playing.

I've intentionally skipped the last hundred posts or so, so I'm mostly sort-of non-spoiled.

I'm playing with the attitude of trying to be stealthy but if I'm cornered and have no choice fighting in self defense. Which meant that five guards in the prison ended up dead, since there are much fewer places to run to in there. I just started the first real mission and haven't reached my target yet. No one dead so far, but we'll see how long my resolution lasts.

Still haven't read the thread, but have gotten to the bridge mission.

I had a slight reaction the the second assassination:

Spoiler:

The whole having someone else do it? Lame. The biggest problem with the non-lethal paths is that they are less interesting. I should at least have to knock the two out and carry the bodies to a drop-off spot. If I do a high-chaos run next time, combat looks interesting.

I think I'm going to give up even pretending to ghost through these things and roll with it a bit more if I get found. Of course, I also now have the power to stop time, so individual guards just got a lot easier.

Gremlin wrote:
Spoiler:

The whole having someone else do it? Lame. The biggest problem with the non-lethal paths is that they are less interesting. I should at least have to knock the two out and carry the bodies to a drop-off spot

Spoiler:

I'm not so sure I agree. I just finished High Over Seer Campbell on High Chaos, but the first time I played I simply killed him. This time I branded him, which seems like a much more interesting solution than killing the man. While the second mission may seem "less interesting" since you never interact with the victims, I find their fate to be a lot more cruel. In truth, the Low Chaos results are all much more cruel than simply offing someone.

ccesarano wrote:
Gremlin wrote:
Spoiler:

The whole having someone else do it? Lame. The biggest problem with the non-lethal paths is that they are less interesting. I should at least have to knock the two out and carry the bodies to a drop-off spot

Spoiler:

I'm not so sure I agree. I just finished High Over Seer Campbell on High Chaos, but the first time I played I simply killed him. This time I branded him, which seems like a much more interesting solution than killing the man. While the second mission may seem "less interesting" since you never interact with the victims, I find their fate to be a lot more cruel. In truth, the Low Chaos results are all much more cruel than simply offing someone.

About the first mission

Spoiler:

If you brand the High Overseer you get to see his ultimate fate later in the game. Yeah, it's a lot worse than just killing him.

And speaking of that

Spoiler:

The Lady Boyle quest? Killing her would be a much better outcome for her.

tanstaafl wrote:

And speaking of that

Spoiler:

The Lady Boyle quest? Killing her would be a much better outcome for her.

Spoiler:

You don't know that! I thought he seemed a perfect gentleman.

I just want to say thank you for your consideration and for still using spoiler tags:) I am super excited for this game, but haven't fired it up yet.

It's got plenty of room for criticism, SallyNasty, but going into it cold, with no expectations, I was pretty much blown away. I think the flaws may be more visible if you start out thinking that it must be phenomenal.

Don't expect much out of the voice acting; they have lots of famous people, but whoever does their voice direction isn't too great. It's not laughably terrible like it used to be in prior Arkane games, but it's no great shakes.

Well, except for one NPC that you work with a lot. That voice is outstanding. You'll probably know what I'm referring to once you're far enough in the game.

I pretty much like every game, so I am pretty sure I will love this one:)

I finally finished this over the weekend, going mostly stealth but taking out people when I had no other choice. I found myself not really responding to the world or story. The atmosphere and effort into creating a fully fleshed out world were all impressive, but it was all pretty dreary and the art direction made it so that I never really looked forward to seeing what was next. It was one of the few games where the gameplay encouraged me to continue rather than the setting (in Deus Ex it was the opposite for me). So I enjoyed it but wasn't blown away by it.

Then I thought I'd play the first level as a bloodthirsty murderer and holy crap am I enjoying it much more than I was previously. The powers, combat, and animations all combine to make me feel much more empowered than sneaking around did. Now instead of stressing about getting around unseen, I'm approaching a situation and deciding how I can take everyone out in the most fun, creative way possible. The game is pretty easy, even if you waltz in and take everyone head on. The most difficult enemies so far are the fire spewing thugs, surprisingly. I ended up playing the tutorial and Campbell mission this way, and I find myself looking forward to playing again in a way I never did during my stealth playthrough. I wasn't intending to do a second run through the game right away, but now I'm definitely going to slaughter my way to the end. Maybe after that I'll for the pure stealth/no kills run.

I played some of the DLC this weekend and liked it. It offers 10 maps, with a mix between weapons, stealth, movement, and puzzle.

I tried the "horde mode" weapons map, which became challenging after a while. I discovered that I'm no Hyetal when it comes to the slick kills. I played one of the stealth maps, which assigns a random target to assassinate. You find clues to discover the identity of your target, though you can take a chance and go for the kill if you think you know who it is. I replayed it a few times, trying to get a faster time and having fun in the map. I'm sure I'll start to want more stealth maps in the future once I wring these dry, but it's been good so far.

It seems like a good purchase for $5, since I'm probably going to sink a few more hours into the new content. But I got mine for free, so don't take my word for it.

Started playing this a few days ago, I was enjoying it, going along playing sort of stealthly but then mostly ending up killing loads of people. Then the game crossed over from enjoying to this is awesome in a few moments. I was in a bridge tower, had being rumbled after killing a guy and then 4 guys came running towards me, I stopped time, planted a proxity mine, restart time and boom, this got the attention of more guards, in they ran, I miss throw a grenade, it lands at the feet of the nearest guy, who is right in front of me, I quickly restork my mana, stop time again and leap out of the window into the river below as it goes off, killing all 4 guards. It was brilliant fun!

Demosthenes wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

I've started a second playthrough, high chaos run this time. It feels easier so far as it's a lot easier to take a high spot, zoom in and snipe guys with a crossbow from afar. I'm wondering if the increase in Weepers later will balance it out? I had a lot of fun knocking people out, but this is just "easier".

Though I did listen to the Maid and Guard talking in that doctor's mansion in High Overseer Campbell, and after the guard said "Is this going to be what it's like after we're married?" I just didn't have it in me to kill him.

I knocked them both out and put them on the couch together. Hopefully they'll just think they had make-up fun times and it was so intense they fell asleep and forgot what it was like... and got dressed before that, I suppose. :D

I chased them down and brutally killed them both, i think even decapitating the husband. Of course my view toward marriage is a bit jaded....and damn that maid can run fast, but cornering her wasn't too hard, and the blade is mightier than the unarmed

I browsed through here and didn't see any posts on this (if I had a case of tl;dr please let me know). This game isn't going to win game of the year, but it was sorely overlooked at launch date for being such a high quality experience. It's scored right up there with some of the best games of the year. It's got some rough edges, but I can see it it being a Darksiders type game, picking up steam later and hopefully getting a sequel. I described it to a friend as Metal Gear Solid with magic, I don't think that's too far off :).

It still hasn't come up in the RPS Christmas calendar, so I have a feeling it may become their GOTY. In all the pre- and reviews, it seemed to be right up their alley.

The evidence points to the opposite, Ladshrk83. People were going nuts over the game at release, just look at the first pages. Also, it sold so well for Bethesda that it's going to be one of their staple franchises. It's getting the respect it deserves.

Finished this today. Despite never killing anyone and having a zero kill count on the level stats screen, I didn't get the achievement for no kills. Oh well. Achievements were screwing up my play style anyway. Would reload almost immediately after being spotted even though I didn't get Ghost on the first level and the achievement lost. I miss the adrenaline rush of fleeing and hiding from guards. The couple of times I didn't ghost the level I don't remember anyone ever seeing me. Not sure what counts as being spotted. One alert symbol above a dude's head? 2? Or only all 3 and red?

I played on Hard because I wasn't sure if it would matter much like in Thief. But since I'll probably play it again, I'll bump it up to Very Hard and say dash it all to ghosting. Still no killing, though. But maybe go with the lethal route for main objectives this time.

I've made it to the party. Still skimming the thread, so I'm not sure of everything everyone's said.

Spoiler:

This may be the best rendition of gelatin I've ever seen in a game.

McChuck wrote:

Not sure what counts as being spotted. One alert symbol above a dude's head? 2? Or only all 3 and red?

All 3 and red. If they find a body, they'll get 3 symbols but stay white, meaning they're on high alert, but haven't actually spotted you yet.

You also hear a sound like a cat being dropped into an open piano when you are being spotted.

I figured it was the 3 red ones but even just one white one has the "sound like a cat being dropped into an open piano." So, a tad confusing. Maybe there was a hint in the Loading screens but loads were super fast so I rarely read them.

McChuck wrote:

I figured it was the 3 red ones but even just one white one has the "sound like a cat being dropped into an open piano." So, a tad confusing. Maybe there was a hint in the Loading screens but loads were super fast so I rarely read them.

There's a small cat being dropped when you get the 1-3 whites... it's a garfield being dropped when you get spotted with the red (which is what counts for the ghost achievement), and usually they'll start yelling and you'll hear swords being unsheathed, shots being taken at you, etc... music then ramps up a bit too.

On Idle Thumbs they mentioned that there's a bug in axis honored where guards will randomly give one of the "you've been discovered" barks. I dunno if that's been patched yet.