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Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 3:41 pm
by Silverware
Heh I agree Flat, the progression was all aimed at murder.

But then I have played through without character upgrades, without murdering anyone, and without being seen. In one playthrough.
That was one of the most interesting playthroughs I have ever done in a game.
Avoiding murdering people without having more than blink 1 at your disposal is not a simple task.

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 3:51 pm
by Dinosawer
Isn't that kind of in a lot of games, though?
I'm currently playing Human Revolution as a pacifist, and I literally never use a weapon, so all the shiny toys I find are useless.
Upgrades are there, yes, but there mostly "be invisible" and "be silent", so I'm pouring points in hacking instead.

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 9:29 am
by Flatfingers
Dinosawer wrote:Isn't that kind of in a lot of games, though?
I'm currently playing Human Revolution as a pacifist, and I literally never use a weapon, so all the shiny toys I find are useless.
Upgrades are there, yes, but there mostly "be invisible" and "be silent", so I'm pouring points in hacking instead.
Hm. My most recent playthrough of DX:HR was a while back, but my recollection is that there weren't as many augs that were useless for a non-lethal run as there were tools and abilities in Dishonored. The only aug I remember for sure never using was the one that shoots ball bearings out of Adam's chest -- I can't even remember the name of it because I've never considered using it.

But while I'd say DX:HR did a substantially better job of encouraging non-lethal play by the verbs it offered (even if masochists like Silver won't use them ;) ), I tend to agree with your larger point, Dino. I also think most games do subtly -- or overtly -- encourage high-Chaos play through their progression rewards.

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2016 5:53 pm
by Silverware
I think the developers do this, to enable high-chaos players to use many options to succeed.
Whereas the non-lethal route by definition has little you can add to it, but increased stealth capabilities (which eventually make the stealth too easy), or increased subjugation capabilities, again same issue.

While the lethal route, all your possible actions are there to offset large pools of enemy grunts who only have to do a little damage each before you are overwhelmed.

The stealthy-lethal route then tends to be the easiest option in all of these games. Because you can take advantage of the largest range of possibilities.
While the non-lethal route is the hardest, as you have the minority of options and possibilities.



Any should the game not push users to try the harder, but more rewarding "good" playthrough where they kill the fewest individuals possible?

Dishonored 2 says yes, and has updated the heart, so that guards that are murderers or rapists, now cause less chaos when you murder them.
Making it even more difficult to take the moral high ground, as sometimes murders might be more "good" than just stealthing past the bastards.
I think this is going to encourage even more stealthy-murder gameplays, and I am entirely okay with that.
Because who doesn't want to be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner of morally bankrupt characters in a video game? :V

...
Wonder if Arkane could get rights to make Judge Dredd... That would be a damn fine game.

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:02 pm
by Cornflakes_91
Dinosawer wrote:Isn't that kind of in a lot of games, though?
I'm currently playing Human Revolution as a pacifist, and I literally never use a weapon, so all the shiny toys I find are useless.
Upgrades are there, yes, but there mostly "be invisible" and "be silent", so I'm pouring points in hacking instead.
The taser and the tranq rifle are shiny and useful :V

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:25 pm
by Dinosawer
I know the tranq rifle is supposed to but it doesn't work for me. Doesn't work fast enough for other people not to notice I shot somebody, and single targets I might just as well just knock out myself.
And I haven't been able to find a taser yet :problem:

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:29 pm
by Silverware
Dinosawer wrote:I know the tranq rifle is supposed to but it doesn't work for me. Doesn't work fast enough for other people not to notice I shot somebody, and single targets I might just as well just knock out myself.
And I haven't been able to find a taser yet :problem:
You can pick a taser right from the first mission. :V
Choose short range non-lethal instead of long range non-lethal.

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:36 pm
by Dinosawer
I know that :P I mean after - don't quite feel like restarting the entire game because I don't like the starting weapon :ghost:

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 2:56 pm
by Silverware
Dinosawer wrote:I know that :P I mean after - don't quite feel like restarting the entire game because I don't like the starting weapon :ghost:
You can pick several up in detroit, and one or two after that.
Ammo for it is literally everywhere :D

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:55 pm
by Flatfingers
You still have to be careful with the tranq rifle if you're trying to go the non-lethal route, though. A head shot kills.

...which is a bit off the subject of Dishonored 2. Oh, hey, it's a Deus Ex: Mankind Divided thread! ;)

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 9:09 pm
by Silverware
In which case.

BLINK! Best power, yay or nay? :V

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 5:33 am
by Mistycica
Silverware wrote:In which case.

BLINK! Best power, yay or nay? :V
Absolutely, so much fun to use, a great feature all around. Though the sound effect could use a rework :D

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 10:59 am
by Flatfingers
Silverware wrote:BLINK! Best power, yay or nay? :V
Well, yea, of course. :)

Blink was such a broadly usable problem-solving tool that it had to be tightly constrained.

Which makes it interesting that D2 will apparently feature even more verticality....

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2016 2:31 pm
by Silverware
Yeah, I think Arkane have realized the best thing to do is make the player OP as all fuck, and then make the enemies also OP as all fuck. :D

Re: Dishonored 2

Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 10:51 pm
by Flatfingers
I've been playing Dishonored 2 this past week, and... I am really enjoying it.

For one thing, Arkane has changed the visual look somewhat. The original was pretty highly stylized. D2 is somewhere in between that and a realistic look -- it still has the unique look of the Dishonored world, but rendering it in a slightly more realistic way doesn't pull me out of immersion as D1 did. It's a very nice change.

Gameplay-wise, this is the closest thing I've played in years to another Thief game. (That is meant to be extremely high praise.) I'm playing in a non-lethal/ghost mode, and the old Thief pattern of waiting for guards to be in just the right position, stealthily running up behind them and knocking them out, then hiding the bodies as quickly as possible... Dishonored 2 absolutely scratches that Thief itch in a way that nothing else has for a long time.

It probably does not hurt that Stephen Russell -- Garrett in the original Thief games -- is one of the voices in Dishonored 2. :D

In this sequel, Arkane addressed the one serious complaint I had about the original Dishonored, which was that most of the skill and gear enhancements were specific to a high-chaos playstyle. You could still succeed with the few enhancements supporting low-chaos play; I just wished I could have had as much fun as the high-chaos players in tweaking my enhancement choices.

Well, that's been sorted. :lol: There are a metric buttload of enhancements in D2, including plenty of powers, bonecharms, and gear upgrades for all interests.

I'm pretty close to the ending of my first playthrough (no spoilers, please!), and this has been some of the best gaming money I've spent in a long time. If there's anyone who enjoyed the Thief games, or who thinks playing a "first-person sneaker" game sounds like fun, I can recommend Dishonored 2 with great enthusiasm.