Harebrained Schemes General Discussion Thread

[Rean]

It's a Jewish-run company, what do you expect? Buy their games to legally listen to the soundtrack, goy.

Good answer. You're right, I don't know what I expected. To enjoy some music, perhaps.

 

[razvedchiki]

its a good idea to do a quick run of the campaign in BEX, you are quaranteed to get a SLDF Highlander/Atlas plus + versions or equipment which otherwise are super rare.

 

[wishbonetail]

Shadowrun seems good on paper, but these games need more mechanical depth. I found combat to be dull. They need more abilities and interactions. I enjoyed a whole of 2 battles in SR:R--the graveyard and the executive suite fight. I had hoped for better with Dragonfall because of the reviews, but ended up uninstalling after about 5 hours because nothing about it hooked me. I want to like Shadowrun. The potential is obvious. Not trying to be an edgelord, but I liked Satellite Reign far more.

These are the shortcomings of tablet platform, theres no way around it unless they forgo that mobile crap altogether. Overall it felt like comic book with tb battles.

 

[Jason Liang]

its a good idea to do a quick run of the campaign in BEX, you are quaranteed to get a SLDF Highlander/Atlas plus + versions or equipment which otherwise are super rare.

I tried to get down there but the Helm/ Grey Death Legion flashpoint popped up so I had to turn around and head to Marikspace before it expired.
Not sure if I care for a SLDF Highlander when I'm already 2/5 of the way to a NIGHTSTAR. Anyway I'm just still having a good time terrorizing Steiner and Liao with my Orion/ Crusader lance.

 

[Darth Canoli]

A few years back I played Hong Kong and made a human Physical Adept/Monk or whatever it was thinking it'd fit the setting, but I didn't like the combat with that character so I dropped the game and never went back. I did finish the original game and Dragonfall (Assault Rifle Street Samurai in both if I remember correctly) and enjoyed them for what they were. What's the general opinion, is Hong Kong on par with Dragonfall? Better? Worse?

Why go for a human adept when you can go with an orc or a Troll?

I don't like what harebrained did with the IP at all.
Still, I find Honk Kong way better than the first two, DF being the most boring of the 3 but Returns (critters) being the most autistic.
HK spiced up companions character dev, it's still way below Shadowrun 3E P&P but it's better than DF and Returns.
Combat is better but the cyberspace is worse, not that I ever liked it.

 

[wishbonetail]

Hong Kong has terrible pacing issues. Once, in the evening, i decided to play a game for a couple of hours. When i came to my senses, i was surprised by the fact that i was reading NPCs monologues for 2 hours. Some gaming that was.

 

[Nano]

When i came to my senses, i was surprised by the fact that i was reading NPCs monologues for 2 hours. Some gaming that was.

Isn't that a good thing. You found the writing engrossing enough that you didn't notice how much time had passed.

 

[Viata]

I think he means that instead of playing a game, he spent 2 hours reading.

 

[Harthwain]

I think he means that instead of playing a game, he spent 2 hours reading.

The problem wasn't that he spent 2 hours reading. He spent 2 hours reading NPCs' monologues. I have to agree that monologues are incredibly boring - if you make someone read then at least ensure text to be snappy and turn monologues into dialogues or make it interactable.

 

[agris]

"help I keep picking optional dialogue tree paths that give me text to read"

 

[wishbonetail]

"help I keep picking optional dialogue tree paths that give me text to read"

I kept pickin optional dialogue, because it was good in Dragonfall. No pacing issues there, just normal dialogues. HonkKong reminded me of comic books on Shadowrun i used to draw, when i was around 14 .When I managed to squeeze entire lore in the couple of dialogue bubbles on first few pages.

 

[Rahdulan]

"help I keep picking optional dialogue tree paths that give me text to read"

From what I remember the problem is you really need to chat up the magic store shopkeeper to find out some info you need for the good ending. Or something like that, I forget.

 

[Roguey]

From what I remember the problem is you really need to chat up the magic store shopkeeper to find out some info you need for the good ending. Or something like that, I forget.

It's perfectly fine to get an ending that doesn't give you 100% of what you want.

 

[almondblight]

"help I keep picking optional dialogue tree paths that give me text to read"

Bad content is bad content. Having to curate someone's game to be able to get something out of it is annoying.

Personally I skipped all the hub dialog playing Hong Kong (never skipped any in Dragonfall, it was enjoyable), and the amount of poorly written text dumps in the game was still too much.

 

[agris]

"help I keep picking optional dialogue tree paths that give me text to read"

Bad content is bad content. Having to curate someone's game to be able to get something out of it is annoying.

Personally I skipped all the hub dialog playing Hong Kong (never skipped any in Dragonfall, it was enjoyable), and the amount of poorly written text dumps in the game was still too much.

The issue is the nature of the complaint, ie miserable hours spent reading dialogue. If you begin to play a game and dislike the dialogue writing, why would you engage with it in an entirely optional manner that necessitates many more hours of laborious exposure to the offending writing? It’s like complaining about the writing of Pillars but being determined to get the “Umberto Eco” achievement for extracting every last optional dialogue node morsel out of NPCs.

I’m not excusing HBS, but rather pointing out player pathology and it’s ridiculous role in this line of criticism.

 

[Sykar]

HBS was never incline.

 

[wishbonetail]

The issue is the nature of the complaint, ie miserable hours spent reading dialogue. If you begin to play a game and dislike the dialogue writing, why would you engage with it in an entirely optional manner that necessitates many more hours of laborious exposure to the offending writing? It’s like complaining about the writing of Pillars but being determined to get the “Umberto Eco” achievement for extracting every last optional dialogue node morsel out of NPCs.

I’m not excusing HBS, but rather pointing out player pathology and it’s ridiculous role in this line of criticism.

These games dont offer much in terms of gameplay, so textual information is essential to worldbuilding and immersion.
Also, You cannot know if it is optional or not until you read it.
Also, Dragonfall's descriptions and dialogue were spot on, so i expected the same quality here.
Also, you may ask yourself, if you start skipping parts of the book, or a movie, or a game, is it really worth it to carry on? Especially, if the game is linear and story-driven?

 

[Roguey]

Also, You cannot know if it is optional or not until you read it.

*sees random NPC in a hub*

"How do I know I can't just ignore this person and stick to missions?"

 

[wishbonetail]

Also, You cannot know if it is optional or not until you read it.

*sees random NPC in a hub*

"How do I know I can't just ignore this person and stick to missions?"

You know about sidequests, right. There used to be such things in this kind of games.
Moreover, most NPCs have story arks, which uravel as you continue on the main quest.

 

[Roguey]

You know about sidequests, right. There used to be such things in this kind of games.

Sidequests are optional, hence the name. Also, since you've played Dragonfall, one would think you'd know that these games don't use the "picking up sidequests from random npcs" structure.

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

From what I remember the problem is you really need to chat up the magic store shopkeeper to find out some info you need for the good ending. Or something like that, I forget.

Do not worry anon it is okay anon because she is cute based MATING PRESS happy ending meow wife anon! She is! You are a good anon!

 

[Nano]

I think he means that instead of playing a game, he spent 2 hours reading.

I think he means he's an extreme storyfag in denial.

 

[Sykar]

From what I remember the problem is you really need to chat up the magic store shopkeeper to find out some info you need for the good ending. Or something like that, I forget.

Do not worry anon it is okay anon because she is cute based MATING PRESS happy ending meow wife anon! She is! You are a good anon!

Waifus do cute tongue twisters!


And then make a remix out of it!

 

[Anonymous Wife Scholar]

Waifus do cute tongue twisters!
And then make a remix out of it!

Thank you Sykar anon! Good strong friend anon! Here anon I do give you this cute princess professor younger sister not wife tongue twister kino anon! I do! She is cute younger sister anon! She is! She is not wife! Is not!

 

[wishbonetail]

Sidequests are optional, hence the name. Also, since you've played Dragonfall, one would think you'd know that these games don't use the "picking up sidequests from random npcs" structure.

If you've played Dragonfall you should know that there are quests. They just dont reward you with anything aside from learning a little bit more about character and, perhaps, changing his life in some way. And you got sidequests from companions. I always liked these interactions, so ive been combing the hub after each main quest for something new. It felt good in DF, but in HK they just overdid it with infodumps. Interactions with Richter were the most painful, as someone squeezed tightly half of Shadowrun wiki into his monologue.
Rushing the main quest is not my kind of gaming and i dont remember what the fuck it was about in HK. But i still remember Reliable Mathew with his pills or Troll family or Law, who gets killed or not depending if you sell info to him.