Korax

DISHONORED 2: MISS HONORED

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9 hours ago, Nappi said:

In case anyone else was having problems with the spatial sound, the new patch that is currently in beta in Steam seems to fix at least some of the problems. The patch notes specifically mention fixes to the footstep sound volume. Hard to say if all problems have been fixed because my issues varied a lot between different environments, and I may also have adjusted to the weirdness a bit.

 

The level design and game feel are pretty great. I just hope the enemies don't get progressively harder to deal with. I just finished The Clockwork Mansion (which was really fun), but towards the end I got worried that it might be witches and clockwork soldiers from here on out.

 

 

 

Fixing the sound is actually the most exciting development! Looking forward to whenever I get back into Dishonored 2.

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I'm playing through this now. I'm just about to go into the Clockwork Mansion which I'm jazzed about as everyone says it's the highlight of the game. I'm playing on PS4 and I believe I have the latest patch but I have to say the sound is still pretty terrible. I constantly think someone is right next to me but it turns out to be noise from the floor above. It took me a lot of time to get used to not knowing where guards were, there is a rune upgrade which helps this and lets you see them through walls if they're close though. But generally I expect to die a few times before I figure out where everyone is.

 

I've just been getting back into gaming after a long period of only playing the odd indie game or mario kart at a friend's. So I didn't come into this with all the weird knowledge that the game / genre assumes and it was really frustrating. Now I'm playing it with tons of instant saves and restarts, I know the guard won't know I'm there if I'm slightly above him or even if I'm touching his bum as long as I'm crouched down. You can kill flies with a sword! There are lot's of subtle rules to get used to :)

 

I'm enjoying it though and the architecture / city design is just great. There is a lot to uncover in each level and a nice variety in the layouts and setups for each section. You are forced to use different approaches and really consider how you are going to tackle each group of guards. I recently found out you can rob the shops, which is great!

 

Of course I'm playing high chaos :) I've got no idea how you people manage to not kill people.

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Finally started this yesterday having had it since launch and it made a really bad first impression. What's with all that fucking UI shit all over the screen? Bananas. And a permanent 'X to Skip' in the lower left corner for the duration of all cut scenes. Are you fucking kidding me?! These are all design problem that were solved a decade ago. 

 

Press a button during a cut scene to reveal the skip button. Two stage skippage.

 

press and hold button to reveal destination maker in case you get lost. Having that shit on the screen AT ALL FUCKING TIMES makes me want to take a poop on the game disc and send it back. 

 

Are they insane? Has some insane person crept into the studio at night and changed all the design documents?

 

I found a helpful article today detailing all the options to switch off the to make the game tolerable. But honestly I have no real desire to start it up again. I'll just spend an hour going through all the cupboard in my own house instead.

 

video games were a mistake.

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I just started this as well; I've only just arrived at addermire station so I might just be adjusting to the mechanics still, but I'm having a lot of trouble getting into this game.  I quite enjoyed dishonored 1, but I feel like this game sacrificed a lot of readability for it's world design, which necessitates things like the always on screen UI indicators.  So far none of the areas feel very memorable, and the encounters feel like they have too many enemies or participants in them such that they tend to result in complete chaos if the initial stealth is failed.  Is this just indicative of the early part of the game?  What I most enjoyed about Dishonored 1 was the tension it was able to create when stealthing around, this just feels too all or nothing at the moment-- I never have that sense of barely escaping without being seen or outwitting a guard as they're about to find me.

 

Also, this is bit of a nit pick but I find the the lean mechanic infuriating.  The extra visibility is nice, but it feels like this lean should also allow me to adjust the aiming center of my abilities, which doesn't appear to be the case.

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The first two missions were quite rough for me as well. While I can see what they were going for, I didn't think it was a good idea to make you play through the first mission without any powers. That combined with the unfamiliarity with the mechanics made it the most difficult missions for me so far. The second mission wasn't particularly great either, and I remember having troubles understanding how civilians react to my presence in different situations.

 

The locations can feel a bit labyrinthine and confusing, at least the city areas, but using the heart to locate the runes and bonecharms also helps you to discover the key locations. In my opinion, for the most parts, Dishonored 2 level design is pretty great and I find many areas are more interesting than those in the first game. Missions 1 and 2 are not representative of the whole game.

 

As for the stealth, I have to admit that I usually load a save when I get noticed, so I don't know how Dishonored 2 compares to the first game in terms of dealing with the situation when stealth fails. They do give you some really nice tools to deal with the enemies, though. If you are playing with Emily and willing to incapacitate enemies, I recommend you to invest in Domino early on. It lets you link the enemies so that when you deal with one of them, the rest will suffer the same fate.

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For what it's worth, I had no trouble with the game with all the indicators except item glow turned off. But my playstyle is to meander about and explore every nook and cranny so I don't tend to miss much anyway.

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I meant to do this ages ago, like I did for the Deus Ex: MD thread:

 

Alex Wiltshire's The Mechanic column on Rock, Paper, Shotgun takes a look at the Jindosh lock in the Dust District mission of Dishonored 2

 

When I first did this mission I wandered straight past the room with the lock and rambled around the rest of the area. I solved the conflict between the gang and the Overseers, and then had to go find the lock itself. I love that just by building this area in such a way as to allow for a variety of different paths is such a strength of these kinds of games. Some people found the lock and hammered on it with logic until they broke through, people like me who bumble through a first playthrough get to have a more stealth/combat approach. I have some issues with the area behind the lock, but again, I was happy with what I did on my first playthrough (I won't write about it because there will be spoilers).


- Over at Waypoint, Campo Santo's ombudsman Duncan Fyfe compares Emily Kaldwin to D*n*ld Tr*mp

 

It's a bit grim. Fyfe finds that Emily/Corvo fighting for the throne to which they are entitled, even though as a player you don't care about what happens next, is also an apt description of the life of Tr*mp. However, you can choose to play more compassionately (as much as the world of Dishonored allows), and that changes the context of the ending. I think that highlights one of the things about Dishonored that is more true of it than a lot of other games: it is the journey that matters, not the destination. I'd argue that the journey is mostly nonsense, but the moment-to-moment is fantastic.

 

- Gareth Damian Martin at KillScreen writes about Karnaca, the mongrel city

 

There are a few quotes from art director Sebastien Mitton about the city in Dishonored 2. Karnaca is a mix of Cape Town, Gibraltar, Havana, Barcelona, probably a lot more. But wandering through its streets, you never get the sense that places are pulled directly from the real world; instead, they are part of Karnaca, and nowhere else. There are very few other cities in games that feel like they exist without you. Bonus: some pretty pictures of Dunwall from Dishonored 1.

 

Double bonus: a gallery of handsome Dishonored screenshots (?) by Dead End Thrills.

 

- Claire Hosking examines how Dishonored 2 treats murder compared to other games over at Polygon

 

The combat mechanics of Dishonored are really good, leading you to want to kill people. But the world reacts in a negative way, through excessive gore and the city turning to ruin. It's a strange tension, but one that suits: Emily/Corvo could kill their way to get back to the throne. It would be quickest! That leaves you as a ruler, born to a pampered life, killing the lower classes. It makes your decision to use stealth an explicitly political action (and I think that is very cool (also, of course it's political because games are political, but you know what I mean)).

 

- Ian Birnbaum at Motherboard notices the depths of history seen in Dishonored

 

It's worth a read for a few choice quotes, like "History is everywhere in a way that Americans sometimes fail to understand" when chatting to game designer Harvey Smith and lead narrative designer Sachka Duval. I would love to see or be able to notice these cultural differences in games more often. Yes, Karnaca and Dunwall are mashups of a handful of different real world places, but there is a history ingrained in their geographies.

 

- Tom Francis found a... disturbing way of landing safely from a great height:

 

 

- Glixel did an amazing profile of/interview with Harvey Smith, the creative director of Dishonored 2

 

Smith has had a tough life. He seems like a lovely and intelligent man. :sad:

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