Dishonored by Arkane

[sea]

The difference between Infinite and Dishonored is that Dishonored has actual gameplay, even if it is easy, instead of being 85% shooting galleries and 15% interactive cutscenes.

 

[DalekFlay]

First expansion is out, "The Knife of Dunwall." Put about an hour into it, seems like more Dishonored so far, nothing more and nothing less. Nice big open level though, new books and some new weapons and items. Same chaos system, no-kill achievement, etc.

Blink now pauses time, which is amusing since it was already overpowered.

 

[RK47]

Wow. Good design. Make shit easier.

 

[Blaine]

I'm waiting for this game to be $20 with all DLC. $1 per hour of gameplay is my absolute max for made-for-console popamole titles.

As much as I love Arkane for developing Arx Fatalis, Dishonored is clearly not Arx Fatalis.

 

[DalekFlay]

Like Deus Ex: HR it keeps the console roots pretty well-hidden. Large areas, good controls and menus, hotbar, ability to turn off the entire HUD piece by piece, FOV slider, etc.

I know you mean gameplay as part of that, but just thought I would note the "port" is top-quality.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I've actually dumped about 5 more hours into Dishonored just because of the Dunwall city trials DLC. Unlike the campaign, some of the achievements for that are pretty difficult. Been poking at the "Get 100% accuracy with all headshots during the assassin's run" achievement and missed by one headshot on my best go, and the "Reach wave 13 in the horde mode and kill all enemies yourself" achievement sounds nuts. As easy as Dishonored's combat is it's not as easy when they're constantly throwing shit at you and you're scrounging upgrades between waves.

Fun though. Makes me hope the Daud DLC is good if they did such a respectable job on a cheapy score attack DLC.

 

[sea]

Time to download the DLC I guess. Will play and review it within the next few days.

EDIT: Anyone notice the typo on the DLC? "Dunwall", not "Dunwal" guys.

 

[Multidirectional]

Watching some Hitman Absolution trailers and looks like a more interesting game overall with more interesting stealth, if easy as dicks.

I've found Hitman Absolution to be the most frustrating Hitman game I played (didn't play only first one), at least when trying to play it "properly".

 

[Morgoth]

Oh yeah, I bought the Knife of Dunwall DLC too. Wanna support the developer.

But first I'm replaying the main game, and it reminds me immediately how much better Dishonored is than this overrated railshooter everybody keeps raving around. Fuck you Ken.

 

[JudasIscariot]

How nice... region blocked just as I went to purchase the damn thing after getting home from work

 

[LESS T_T]

Yeah, Infinite made me realize again Dishonored is a pretty good game among the AAAAAA metroliners...

While I replayed the main game with no superpowers (except several points that required Blink) and enjoyed it, I recalled that Harvey Smith saying they considered superpowers to drain Health not Mana. But they dropped it because it's too hardcore. I wish they implement it in later updates...

 

[DeepOcean]

I was disapointed with Dishonored for a serie of reasons (mostly because it easy as fuck), but boy , it is a masterpiece in comparison with Infinite. It almost feel that Dishonored is the game that Irrational tried to make, gave up and just made a CoD clone.

 

[DraQ]

Yeah, Infinite made me realize again Dishonored is a pretty good game among the AAAAAA metroliners...

While I replayed the main game with no superpowers (except several points that required Blink) and enjoyed it, I recalled that Harvey Smith saying they considered superpowers to drain Health not Mana.

But they dropped it because it's too hardcore.

 

[circ]

Would have given a reason to actually eat that food that's everywhere.

 

[DalekFlay]

Okay blink only pauses time if you stand still while using it, which seems to include not leaning. Little better. It's funny because I keep pulling out blink while a guard is moving like I used to, waiting for them to turn or something, and then time pauses and I'm like "shit."

 

[JudasIscariot]

Finally got it...yeah, I hate buying DLC but if it helps Arkane make a better game, then why not? Can't wait to see how Daud plays compared to Corvo.

 

[sea]

This DLC is solid so far. I don't know how long it is but the first mission is nice - takes place in and around a big whaling factory. Large open area to start, with some surprisingly difficult patrol routes to deal with at times if you want to be stealthy. They have done a good job in reducing how exploitable vertical play is - they place a lot of high spots around as vantage points, but it's difficult to get into position to actually take out enemies without being spotted. Good change. Multiple entrances into an interior zone as well, which can be done in different ways (like helping some imprisoned workers or moving a freight hook to climb to an upper ledge).

The indoor area is still quite big and has some interesting level design, as it has about three or four floors and you can sneak around, but you can't just go through the entire building in one go - not all locations are accessible from the maintenance tunnels below or the girders on the ceiling. Once again there are a number of options to get the info you need for the mission, of varying moral shades but none of them "nice."

Atmosphere is very good too, lots of new books to read which are as long or longer than anything in the main campaign and cover some interesting topics. And being a whaling factory you can expect to see some fairly grisly stuff. It definitely keeps the bleakness of the setting but doesn't resort to yet more plague to do it.

The new powers are interesting so far. Time stop while blinking really doesn't make a difference as it's just to aid in targeting a location rather than giving you any real advantage. You can also summon in assassins to help you out, which I haven't really exploited yet as I'm not sure if it's more suited to stealthy or aggressive play. The other powers are taken from the main game but tweaked a little bit. Rune costs seem more expensive overall and I imagine you will have to choose your powers more carefully than in the original campaign. The new items are similar in that they seem to be mostly plays on old ideas. It's implied that the Arc Mines will have a non-lethal upgrade, which helps the problem of Dishonored desperately needing more meaningful non-lethal options.

One last thing I like is that at the start of missions you can pay money not just for equipment and upgrades, but for "favors" as well, like having someone disable an alarm or leaving the code to a safe in a hidden message. Nice touch, reminds me of something you'd see in a Thief game.

Overall seems like basically more of the same, which is good in my opinion. The story and characters are not that interesting so far but otherwise it's a nice set of improvements without changing too much. I just wish they had improved the AI a bit more and nerfed blink further.

 

[DalekFlay]

This DLC is solid so far.

Agreed. I also liked how the two safes required a little brain power to open, the code to the first being super hidden and the code to the second being a really obscure not reference.

Question about mission one:

Spoiler

Did you finish the Granny Rags mission? I got the whale's eye and put it in the pot but nothing happened. Turned on objective markers and nothing showed... missed a rune so obviously something was supposed to happen there.

 

[sea]

Question about mission one:

Spoiler

Find the weeper's corpse in the brightly-lit alley near the starting area and drop it near the pot.

 

[DalekFlay]

Second DLC mission is a pretty great section of streets with a large mansion at the end. Felt very Thief mission one to me. Some pretty good areas with lots of guards who patrol somewhat randomly. This DLC might have the best missions in the game in some ways.

 

[skacky]

Gah I must pick that up. Those missions sound awesome.

 

[sea]

I agree, second mission is even better. The open streets are large and have tons of ways to get around, but they aren't confusing either. Extremely pretty, in one of the few tasteful examples of bloom/light shafts you can find. Lots of little pieces of lore to find too, though perhaps a bit too topical (slaughterhouse has books about whaling, gangland has books about gangs, derp).

I decided to stop playing too stealthy and just have fun (also so I can get through it faster to review). Using the new toys like Stun Mines and Chokedust definitely opens up more options to you non-lethally, and the enemy patrols are pretty thick in places, I don't think it's possible to actually take everyone out non-lethally without being spotted. If you want to use pure stealth and ghost everything, you're going to have to avoid enemies and even some entire areas, rather than take them out and loot everything.

 

[circ]

Sounds like too little too late. Original should have had more toys for non-lethal.

 

[DalekFlay]

Sounds like too little too late. Original should have had more toys for non-lethal.

Given blink and the level design the best non-lethal tactic is usually avoidance. I don't think they planned around non-lethal engagement, right or wrong.

 

[sea]

Is it just me or do guards now notice missing patrols? I definitely heard them saying as much and they seemed to change their routes to investigate their missing buddies, however I can't remember if this happened in the original game. Still not much reaction from my assassination target as his personal bodyguards and servants disappeared into thin air one by one, though.