Arkane's Dishonored

It is very, very similar to the original Deus Ex. There are shades of Thief, but I think that speaks to Arkane's interest in Warren Spector's games rather than an intentional cribbing of content.

TheHipGamer wrote:

It is very, very similar to the original Deus Ex. There are shades of Thief, but I think that speaks to Arkane's interest in Warren Spector's games rather than an intentional cribbing of content.

Yeah, in regards to all the games I mentioned too, it feels like influences, not rip offs. It feels distinct and it's own unique thing, but with an integration of goods ideas.

Also, I like how the game doesn't always hold your hand. Sure it walks you through the basics and the powers, but discovering the world is completely open and you can easily miss stuff. An early example and a minor spoiler:

Spoiler:

early on i was going into a guy's house to get to his lab, i think it was a side mission, and there was a safe that need a combination. It wasn't necessary to get into the safe to finish the objectives. Most games would put the combination in the room or make it apparent. I went through my notes and saw the guy was supposed to go to a party on a certain date and the date was the combination. If I never read the note that was in a totally separate part of the house, I wouldn't have had the combination.

Incidentally, I would strongly, strongly agree that you should disable most if not all of the user interface -- the RPS article linked to above is spot-on. While you can certainly play Dishonored as a first-person-stabber or first-person-shooter, it is at its finest when you are attempting to avoid detection, planning and then executing perfect moves, and winding your way through the world as a shadow. Crank that difficulty up to at least Hard, disable the waypoint arrows, and lose yourself in the game world. (I also suggest letting the chips fall where they may, and engaging in combat if you screw up. Consequences, especially those which you were trying to avoid, make this kind of a game more fun!)

What will be polarizing about Dishonored is that it is at odds with itself: one the one hand, it clearly wants to be appeal to gamers who loved Thief, Deus Ex, and System Shock. However, it also has gameplay and UI systems that "current gamers expect": arrows pointing you to the obvious goals, enemy monitors telling you where and how hard every NPC is to kill, and so on. The argument about whether older games were inferior for not having those modern conveniences can be tabled here; what matters is that for Dishonored, the core game is allegedly too short, bland, and easy when it is rushed through. This is a game that rewards a slower pace, allowing the player to explore the nooks and crannies and ferret out bits of lore. It was also ill served by the trailers that hawked it as an action game, and is undermined by the features that turn it into one.

If you buy the argument that Dishonored picks up the mantle of Spector's titles, then it should be with the understanding that there was a reason why Garrett sucked at melee combat, and that changing it would not have made Thief a more enjoyable experience.

ranalin wrote:
Gumbie wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

For a botched pre-order, I'm having no problems. The game is in my hands, ready to play, with no drama.

Same here mine just finished downloading on stream. *insert smug digital download face*

Another smug face added... i dont see how this can be considered botched in any shape or form when compared to actual games who have botched their release.

I must not have been clear... I meant the distribution/publishing was botched, not the game itself. For those of us that avoid steam when we can (last night being a perfect example as to why), it was not clear that all versions required steam as Gumbie noted above. Go check the amazon page for yourself. So why were there vendor specific bonuses if every version is steam anyway? I didn't even bother opening my copy and returned it on the way to work this morning.

ibdoomed wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Gumbie wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

For a botched pre-order, I'm having no problems. The game is in my hands, ready to play, with no drama.

Same here mine just finished downloading on stream. *insert smug digital download face*

Another smug face added... i dont see how this can be considered botched in any shape or form when compared to actual games who have botched their release.

I must not have been clear... I meant the distribution/publishing was botched, not the game itself. For those of us that avoid steam when we can (last night being a perfect example as to why), it was not clear that all versions required steam as Gumbie noted above. Go check the amazon page for yourself. So why were there vendor specific bonuses if every version is steam anyway? I didn't even bother opening my copy and returned it on the way to work this morning.

IMAGE(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/Gumbie84/conansj4n.gif)

Spoiler:

Where do I get the key for the distillery, searched all over the distillery, but can't find the key needed to get into the room where you dump stuff in the elixir, or do I need to talk to granny rags after get the rat viscera?

Also, I'm not very good at stealthy and my chaos level is very high....

Gumbie wrote:
ibdoomed wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Gumbie wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

For a botched pre-order, I'm having no problems. The game is in my hands, ready to play, with no drama.

Same here mine just finished downloading on stream. *insert smug digital download face*

Another smug face added... i dont see how this can be considered botched in any shape or form when compared to actual games who have botched their release.

I must not have been clear... I meant the distribution/publishing was botched, not the game itself. For those of us that avoid steam when we can (last night being a perfect example as to why), it was not clear that all versions required steam as Gumbie noted above. Go check the amazon page for yourself. So why were there vendor specific bonuses if every version is steam anyway? I didn't even bother opening my copy and returned it on the way to work this morning.

IMAGE(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/Gumbie84/conansj4n.gif)

That's a pity. You're missing a great game. *shrug*

Rainsmercy wrote:
Spoiler:

Where do I get the key for the distillery, searched all over the distillery, but can't find the key needed to get into the room where you dump stuff in the elixir, or do I need to talk to granny rags after get the rat viscera?

Also, I'm not very good at stealthy and my chaos level is very high....

Spoiler:

I believe there is a short gap next to the door and i just blinked under it to get inside

ibdoomed wrote:

? I didn't even bother opening my copy and returned it on the way to work this morning.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! So far Dishonored has lived up to my hopes, and those were high. Out of the thousands of games released over the last 13 years or so, many of us keep going back to Deus Ex, Thief, and BioShock. To be ranked up there with the cream of the crop really says something about how good this game is.

IUMogg wrote:
Rainsmercy wrote:
Spoiler:

Where do I get the key for the distillery, searched all over the distillery, but can't find the key needed to get into the room where you dump stuff in the elixir, or do I need to talk to granny rags after get the rat viscera?

Spoiler:

I believe there is a short gap next to the door and i just blinked under it to get inside

IMAGE(http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t22/Gumbie84/conansj4n.gif)

Spoiler:

Now you're thinking with Portals!

Another smug face added... i dont see how this can be considered botched in any shape or form when compared to actual games who have botched their release.

Amazon said they'd have it here Tuesday; they didn't even ship it until Tuesday. They botched it for me, at least.

Not the end of the world, but it's that old line.... "you had one job. just one...."

Fortunately, I'm enjoying X-COM, but it'd be nice to be able to swap back and forth.

Haha, that's an awesome gif.

HipGamer - what exactly can/should you turn off? I love playing everything without UI, but a lot of sandbox/exploration games are so much built around their UI elements, that turning them off basically breaks the game. (My favourite example is trying to play Assassin's Creed without minimap - it can be done and it adds a lot to immersion, but it makes it almost unplayable.)

For all the upsides of steam, it's good to see someone looking at the downsides of it, and deciding for themselves that those risks aren't for them, and acting accordingly.

More generally than just applying to steam, DRM in general, online or offline is something that's very hit and miss about how it's labelled and retailers informing buyers about what's involved in the usage of something. I can appreciate it's not something anyone wants to deal with, and someone trying to sell something doesn't want to put a load of "Wait, before you buy this, take a look over this big long list of things you should know about" in front of that selling, but it's where we are.

A minor gripe about amazon while we're here, why is it the company with what could be the largest database of product information doesn't let you filter it to any fine degree? Not just applying to games where you could just exclude anything tagged with steam if you wanted, but if I have a certain set of requirements for headphones I can go down so far in categories, but that leaves me with several pages to trawl through of which maybe one or two per page is remotely interesting to me. /rant

Does anyone think a GTX 285 will work with this game or should I just wait until I upgrade my GPU (and it goes on sale)? I think the PC specs are BS and a simple copy/paste job but I don't have any gauge as to what would really be required to run the game. I'm good on on the other requirements.

Nevin73 wrote:

Does anyone think a GTX 285 will work with this game or should I just wait until I upgrade my GPU (and it goes on sale)? I think the PC specs are BS and a simple copy/paste job but I don't have any gauge as to what would really be required to run the game. I'm good on on the other requirements.

I'll sell you my old GTX580 for $200 shipped. It's this one specifically: http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeFor...

Malor wrote:
Another smug face added... i dont see how this can be considered botched in any shape or form when compared to actual games who have botched their release.

Amazon said they'd have it here Tuesday; they didn't even ship it until Tuesday. They botched it for me, at least.

Not the end of the world, but it's that old line.... "you had one job. just one...."

Fortunately, I'm enjoying X-COM, but it'd be nice to be able to swap back and forth.

If you paid for release day shipping (via prime or otherwise), lodge a complaint. You will likely be issued a $5 / $10 credit for the inconvenience.

UCRC wrote:

Haha, that's an awesome gif.

HipGamer - what exactly can/should you turn off? I love playing everything without UI, but a lot of sandbox/exploration games are so much built around their UI elements, that turning them off basically breaks the game. (My favourite example is trying to play Assassin's Creed without minimap - it can be done and it adds a lot to immersion, but it makes it almost unplayable.)

I disabled everything except for (1) "Show Interactions", which lets you see the name of people you're talking to, and the name of objects you pick up, and (2) the crosshair. It's entirely playable (and really, really immersive) as such.

Gah. Dishonored is taking all my time away from Retro City Rampag, X-Com, and Walking Dead ep. 4. I feel like I went from an empty glass to a cup that runneth over in just a day!

Anyway, I think this game really, really delivers. I love the little polishy touches they've put in, like how your head locks above the water just perfectly when you're swimming, or how Corvo actually contorts a little when you duck under something particularly low.

Also, I don't really get the internet complaints about the writing. The plot is pretty standard fare, but the history of Dunwall and all the other writing you find lying about is just great.

ibdoomed wrote:
Nevin73 wrote:

Does anyone think a GTX 285 will work with this game or should I just wait until I upgrade my GPU (and it goes on sale)? I think the PC specs are BS and a simple copy/paste job but I don't have any gauge as to what would really be required to run the game. I'm good on on the other requirements.

I'll sell you my old GTX580 for $200 shipped. It's this one specifically: http://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeFor...

Thanks for the offer, but I'm intending to hold off upgrading for a little while. That's why I was wondering if it would work with what I have now.

Bought it. Planned a day off. Had to abort.

Can't wait to jump in. May wait until the weekend so I can get a few uninterrupted hours in a row. I really want to take my time and savor the environments.

I feel my resolve cracking. Can't really afford a new game now, but I wants this.

TheHipGamer wrote:
UCRC wrote:

Haha, that's an awesome gif.

HipGamer - what exactly can/should you turn off? I love playing everything without UI, but a lot of sandbox/exploration games are so much built around their UI elements, that turning them off basically breaks the game. (My favourite example is trying to play Assassin's Creed without minimap - it can be done and it adds a lot to immersion, but it makes it almost unplayable.)

I disabled everything except for (1) "Show Interactions", which lets you see the name of people you're talking to, and the name of objects you pick up, and (2) the crosshair. It's entirely playable (and really, really immersive) as such.

I suggest also leaving tutorials on, there are some very useful ones (like holding F after a choke hold to automatically start carrying the body).

Yeah I wouldn't have known how to slide like DiMaggio without leaving the tutorials on. There's no actual tutorial for it, but you do get a quick explanation in game of what to do.

Nevin73 wrote:

Does anyone think a GTX 285 will work with this game or should I just wait until I upgrade my GPU (and it goes on sale)? I think the PC specs are BS and a simple copy/paste job but I don't have any gauge as to what would really be required to run the game. I'm good on on the other requirements.

What kind of CPU are you running? I imagine that GPU would handle Dishonored; the 285 is close in performance to the 5850. On my 3.16 Core 2 Duo/4G RAM/1 GB 5850 setup I get 50-60 FPS at 1920x1080 with everything set to high.

I have a 2.66 Ghz i5 quad core with 4 GB of RAM and my GTX 285 has 1 GB of RAM.

Thanks for the input. I think I have been enabled to make a purchase this weekend.

This game isn't nearly as intensive as the minimum specs seem to imply. I'd imagine a 285 will do just fine. The whole game is very well optimized for PC.

Running Man wrote:

Yeah I wouldn't have known how to slide like DiMaggio without leaving the tutorials on. There's no actual tutorial for it, but you do get a quick explanation in game of what to do.

how do you slide?

IUMogg wrote:
Running Man wrote:

Yeah I wouldn't have known how to slide like DiMaggio without leaving the tutorials on. There's no actual tutorial for it, but you do get a quick explanation in game of what to do.

how do you slide?

Sprint then crouch.

had a lot of fun with the intro level, it must have taken me about 3 hours to get through it clean.

The problem is, like many other FP games, I get motion sick as hell after about 30 minutes. I'd tried increasing FOV but no dice, looks like I am going to have to drop back to the tiny window approach that got me through Portal2. kinda sucks the immersion factor out but it beats playing with nausea/headache.

ibdoomed wrote:
ranalin wrote:
Gumbie wrote:
TheHipGamer wrote:

For a botched pre-order, I'm having no problems. The game is in my hands, ready to play, with no drama.

Same here mine just finished downloading on stream. *insert smug digital download face*

Another smug face added... i dont see how this can be considered botched in any shape or form when compared to actual games who have botched their release.

I must not have been clear... I meant the distribution/publishing was botched, not the game itself. For those of us that avoid steam when we can (last night being a perfect example as to why), it was not clear that all versions required steam as Gumbie noted above. Go check the amazon page for yourself. So why were there vendor specific bonuses if every version is steam anyway? I didn't even bother opening my copy and returned it on the way to work this morning.

Why would someone want to avoid Steam? Why was last night a perfect example? I've been playing without a hitch off/on since 12:10am tues. They all require Steam because it's a Steamworks game.