Dishonored by Arkane

[Mozg]

Alright, I see the appeal of the big levels, although I think I'm not quite in the mood for it.

I get the feeling they were kinda torn between feeling like they had to have a standard plot and making sure they shoved you along to a real level within like 30 minutes of booting it up.

 

[DraQ]

Mozg
Dishonored is a bit schizophrenic in it's approach to playstyle.
On one hand full stealth + nonlethal is just terminally dull because the AI is grossly inadequate, on the other you need to keep chaos low to get the 'best' ending.

You can try mixing approaches to get the best of both worlds or, for example, try a demi-ironman approach where you don't reload mid-mission saves.

On a related note, unlimited nonlethal takedowns in stealth games and DX-likes seem to be a design mistake, even though no one has admitted it yet.

 

[Multidirectional]

Silent and fast killling is my favorite approach in this game. You can be very brutal with shit like summoning rats and still enjoy remaining unseen. Non-lethal is just fucking boring.

 

[Infinitron]

Hah: http://www.pcgamer.com/how-to-beat-dishonored-by-stopping-the-empress-assassination-in-the-intro/

https://www.twitch.tv/gamesdonequick/v/76157943?t=16h42m38s

 

[Mozg]

I find it really weird that I kind of want to get back to this on a gameplay level but I dislike the writing and characters so much that I recoil and immediately want to turn the game off when I run into them. I don't think I've ever disliked a basically sound game entirely on the writing before.

 

[Mozg]

Soldiered on and now I see the problem. At first I thought I was just recoiling from the incredibly broad, dumb opening and setup and a really insulting Victorian pastiche. That's there - although the setting itself does get far better in general, mostly through game texts.

What was driving me to actually hate the game was my bete noir - Bethesdafied voiceacting. I'd assumed Bethesda was a pure publisher on this, but no, they handle VA, just like in New Vegas. And they are completely incompetent at it. It's criminal how badly they must have directed Brad Dourif and Susan Sarandon to make them sound like they've never acted before, for example. I think it was a classic "Here's 20 pages of lines, read them one after another without any context, not even an understanding what the character this is a response to just said" Bethjob.

 

[Infinitron]

Soldiered on and now I see the problem. At first I thought I was just recoiling from the incredibly broad, dumb opening and setup and a really insulting Victorian pastiche. That's there - although the setting itself does get far better in general, mostly through game texts.

What was driving me to actually hate the game was my bete noir - Bethesdafied voiceacting. I'd assumed Bethesda was a pure publisher on this, but no, they handle VA, just like in New Vegas. And they are completely incompetent at it. It's criminal how badly they must have directed Brad Dourif and Susan Sarandon to make them sound like they've never acted before, for example. I think it was a classic "Here's 20 pages of lines, read them one after another without any context, not even an understanding what the character this is a response to just said" Bethjob.

Yep, there's a very recognizable Bethesda-style voice direction. I think I mentioned it earlier ITT. It somehow combines with the way dialogue sequences focus head-on on people's faces to become even more derpy.

 

[Vibalist]

I've always wondered what it was that made this game's story so boring and its characters so flat, but this explanation makes sense. Of course it's Bethesda.

 

[A horse of course]

Finally got around to playing Knife of Dunwall/Brigmore Witches DLC. Same story as vanilla - ghosting sucks and feels unrewarding to actually pull off, but playing as a brutal killer (as Daud is supposed to be) means being punished in both story and mechanics. And you didn't even perform the most famous assassination yourself ffs. Worst level was almost certainly the flooded district finale in Knife of Dunwall, due to linearity and the fact that vertical environmental layouts work very poorly with the game's stealth system. The legal district was closer to the better vanilla maps, albeit very simplistic. As Inshillitron said, there were a couple of "gotcha" parts which could be quite frustrating for a stealth run and caused me to resort to savescumming. Definitely reinforced my intention to wait for a big sale on the sequel.

Also Michael Madsen as Daud was a complete fucking waste of money, as with many of the "Hollywood" VAs in the base game.

edit: also Sexbad is fat and dumb

 

[Vibalist]

Madsen was the only voice actor in this game who did a decent job.

 

[Elwro]

Great review!

So guys, I finally had time to play this. Finished on Low Chaos and frankly I'm quite impressed with the game. I played on on a PS3 and want to try the DLCs. However, they don't seem to be available in the PStore. Is that the case?

 

[Cynicus]

Elwro Not sure, but they show up here: https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-pl/games/dishonored/cid=EP1003-NPEB01111_00-DISHONOREDDIGITL

No pricing for Void Walker's Arsenal, but that's just bundled pre-order junk. You could also pick up the GOTY edition if nothing else. Could probably find it for cheap now.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Great review!

Great post move, mods.

I clap for you.

 

[Black]

Where did Elwro's post go?
Must be the (((staff))).

 

[Darth Roxor]

Seriously, what the fuck was even the point of moving that. Are you people completely retarded?

 

[Elwro]

I'm not offended . I'm sorry for not finding the appropriate thread. I did read the whole review but thought debating it at that point was pointless.

 

[Morgoth]

A little history lesson about Arkane:

 

[Don Peste]

I think this is going to be the real Thief sequel.

People who expect another Thief game here are gonna be in for some disappointment.

Anybody who actually really thought Dishonored is closer akin to Thief than, say Dark Messiah, is a dumb fuck. But even then it's gonna be better than Thi4f.

There must be a misunderstanding going on. Are people thinking Dishonored is shit because it isn't like Thief (it never was promoted as such), or is it just the general "Console popamole from Bethesda" hate? I can understand the latter

Actually, yes. This is not Thief. There's no joy in searching endlessly the target. Different game. Jarl Frank is a dumbfuck.

I just needed to do this.

 

[Ivan]

good shit. the guy who led Arx is leading Prey 2

the better looking dude.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Such a great game overall, but what is wrong with this obsession about ''non-lethal'' shit now days? As a faithful ODC moron i went through till with one or two kills (one of them the torturer freak), but then Daud's mission happens. Yeah, i know i could ''posess-sneak kill'' every one of them (had the skill already), but when the final stages kicked in i felt like such a cheesy fuck for going out of my way to coddle with single one of those psycho killers. Could at least give nerve gas grenade like DX. Went all Tetragramaton-Matrix on their arses and felt so much better. Boldest measures are best indeed.

This is specially daunting, because it makes no sense in conjunction with chaos meter. Killing venomous zombies and cultist-asassins with superpowers makes your town safer and more ordered, not the other way around. Goddam SJW aspies prolly thought that hellish monsters and hired thugs also need to have rights. Fucking commies.

 

[Elwro]

I agree with your assessment. But that game is really something, even months after finishing it I keep recalling some moments and locations. It''s one of those flawed titles that have aspects which are just delightfully retarded. In a few years this'll be a classic

 

[DawnrazorDCLXVI]

I feel Super BunnyHops criticisms were warranted: https://youtu.be/QtsIEYyNfa8

 

[Darth Roxor]

This is specially daunting, because it makes no sense in conjunction with chaos meter. Killing venomous zombies and cultist-asassins with superpowers makes your town safer and more ordered, not the other way around. Goddam SJW aspies prolly thought that hellish monsters and hired thugs also need to have rights. Fucking commies.

P sure killing weepers doesn't add chaos, I killed every one I found and ended with low khayoss. Dunno about the whalers tho.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Went through that last ''oil rig-bacon'' thing totally ape shit insane and skipped a lot of content on the way probably. The game had overcame it's stay, at least as a stealth/silent assassin one.
Used that huge red-eye tower to kill everything living around. Then used it as sniping tower to fuck everyone else's shit up. Then went through some pretty unconventional hoops (i guess) by ignoring most of the content (is there any besides saving Emily?; why in fuck you still are given monetary loot at final levels anyway lol?). Used Agility and double-jumped-blinked right into the bacon, avoiding pylon and guards. Killed off that deuchebag Deflock or smth while he was murmuring something to me (funny that he called guards although there were none). Wonder if there was yet another non lethal option (fuck them).

In the end still got the low chaos happy end. Wonder what kind of heinous shit i needed to do through out the game to even get medium shit. Really slaughtered a lot of guards and especially those fucking tall-boys by the end. Wanted to do the same with creepers, but they are kinda meh. Probably will die off soon anyway. Never will understood why all those watch officers (officers at least) aren't fair game. They know what's happening and just sheeply following. Fuck them. They are no different to nazi officers, who where ''just doing their job'', right? Well ok, and i'm just doing mine. Did Germany succumbed to chaos after nazi officers were fucked? (OH WAI-).

Wonder why they didn't put river crusts on the red list too. I mean, diversitah!

Next time i play this (if ever), i kill everything that is killable and laugh like a madman.

 

[Gnidrologist]

This is specially daunting, because it makes no sense in conjunction with chaos meter. Killing venomous zombies and cultist-asassins with superpowers makes your town safer and more ordered, not the other way around. Goddam SJW aspies prolly thought that hellish monsters and hired thugs also need to have rights. Fucking commies.

P sure killing weepers doesn't add chaos, I killed every one I found and ended with low khayoss. Dunno about the whalers tho.

Guess the game just has really high threshold for above average chaos. I was written somewhere that mostly ''evil'' quest solutions does that. Can't say anything specific though. Would killing Lord Regent be more ''chaotic'' than making him into weeper?