Vasari Posted August 20, 2015 A new Shadowrun Returns campaign came out today! These games always seem to get passed over, and that seems like a shame because I really love them. They're solid RPGs with a great setting, well-told stories and interesting character progression. I had a fantastic time with the base campaign and Dragonfall was even better, so I'm really looking forward to getting into Hong Kong tonight. If you haven't played it before then Dragonfall is generally considered better than the original, but I enjoyed them both and they're separate stories that can be played in any order. Just be sure to avoid Shadowrun Chronicles; it's a weird repackaging of a failed attempt to make a Shadowrun MMO and it's run by a different developer than Shadowrun Returns. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aoanla Posted August 20, 2015 This reminds me that I should really pick up my playthrough of Dragonfall again. I wasn't that far into it, it was just unlucky that I had a busy period and never picked it up again when I had more free time again... (That said, Shadowrun Returns is one of those games that itches at the Spade in me - all those options which are sometimes only available if you have Skill X, or Background Y make me simultaneously want to play it enough times to get to see all of them, and despair of not being able to see all of them in a single playthrough.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vulpes Absurda Posted August 20, 2015 Super excited to start on Hong Kong but first I have to overcome the biggest challenge of any CRPG. Picking a character portrait I like enough to want to play as for 20-ish hours. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sucks2Bme Posted August 20, 2015 I might pick it up, have both shadowrun and dragonfall, but I have to replay dragonfall now with the new(ish) edition just to get the achievements. But i feel the main reason I would be getting Hon Kong is for the assets to use in the editor, for that campaign i always start, never finish, scrap, rinse, repeat. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ninety-Three Posted August 20, 2015 How is Hong Kong, is it pretty much more of the same? I'm interested in all the things it's trying to be, but Returns and Dragonfall were both pretty disappointing to me on all axes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Azniac Posted August 20, 2015 I downloaded Hong Kong earlier today (while it was still technically on it's pre-order sale), I had no idea it was launching already. I'm excited to play it, Dead Man's Switch lost me about 50% of the way through, but Dragonfall was a delight. I have no idea what class I'll play though, I went with a decker/rigger build through Dead Man's Switch and then a mage when I played through Dragonfall. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juv3nal Posted August 21, 2015 How is Hong Kong, is it pretty much more of the same? I'm interested in all the things it's trying to be, but Returns and Dragonfall were both pretty disappointing to me on all axes. Alec Meer at RPS thinks it's more of the same edit: should mention, for me, that's not a knock on it. I liked the others and am a backer for this one, so. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dewar Posted August 21, 2015 Anybody who's interested in the Hare-Brained Shadowrun games and hasn't tried them before should check the multiplayer forum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ninety-Three Posted August 21, 2015 Anybody who's interested in the Hare-Brained Shadowrun games and hasn't tried them before should check the multiplayer forum. Why on Earth are they there? Do these games have a multiplayer component I didn't know about? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juv3nal Posted August 22, 2015 No there's no MP component but there is a game codes giveaway thread Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vasari Posted August 22, 2015 The one thing that annoys me about these campaigns is that ever since Dead Man's Switch, they've given you a Decker as one of the main characters, and I always play a Decker. I can't see any reason to have two on a run, so it means I always have to leave behind a character. I didn't mind not taking the guy in Dragonfall, but Is0bel is an awesome character and it sucks that I don't have her with me on missions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Korax Posted August 22, 2015 Dead Man's Switch and Dragonfall barely had any reasons to have one decker on your team. Hong Kong's been better about that so far. I appreciate the effort put into fleshing out the matrix, but the character controls are way too clunky to support the stealth stuff it's trying to do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vasari Posted August 22, 2015 I've only been in the Matrix once so far in Hong Kong, and I'm not sure how to feel about it yet. I appreciate giving it more depth but the weird stealth stuff doesn't seem like the right direction. Personally I didn't have a problem with how it worked before, I had fun with missions where I was jacked in trying to reach an objective and the rest of my team was fighting on the outside. It's such a hard thing to design for since it's so binary, no other class can fill that role but that's the only thing that deckers do. Either they implement decking into every encounter and make non-deckers feel like they're missing out, or they make it optional and make deckers feel useless. I don't know how they'd solve that. e: I will say though, that I love all the companions as much as Is0bel. I can't decide who my favourite is. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ninety-Three Posted August 23, 2015 I've only been in the Matrix once so far in Hong Kong, and I'm not sure how to feel about it yet. I appreciate giving it more depth but the weird stealth stuff doesn't seem like the right direction. Personally I didn't have a problem with how it worked before, I had fun with missions where I was jacked in trying to reach an objective and the rest of my team was fighting on the outside. It's such a hard thing to design for since it's so binary, no other class can fill that role but that's the only thing that deckers do. Either they implement decking into every encounter and make non-deckers feel like they're missing out, or they make it optional and make deckers feel useless. I don't know how they'd solve that. Easy solution: Make it optional, but optional in a way that advances the main mission, rather than optional in the sense of "Here's a side dungeon for you to loot if you brought a decker". To give a specific example, remember the mission in Dragonfall where you had to infiltrate a corp lab, and eventually your cover would be blown and you'd have to fight through all the remaining security checkpoints while on a timer? They could put in something where if you had a decker, you could hack your way around one of the checkpoints: if your cover wasn't blown yet, you'd avoid the risk at that checkpoint, and if it was, you save time by bypassing it. If I remember the mission correctly, there was a decker segment, but it didn't have the kind of optional "works with or without" feeling I'm describing. Now that I think about that mission, I think a lot of what disappointed me about Returns and Dragonfall was how most of the missions amounted to simple dungeon crawls without a lot going on. If every mission had been like that infiltration, or like the one where you have to defend the AI core against waves of enemies, I'd've enjoyed the game a lot more. So that gives me a better question than "Is Hong Kong more of the same": What are the missions like? More simple dungeon crawls, or do they all have a neat hook? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prettyunsmart Posted August 24, 2015 Here's a question for people playing Hong Kong. How does the mission structure work? Does the order you take runs matter? I wrapped up my first mission last night (the murder mystery) and returned to find a message from Kindly saying "come see me right away." I'm guessing that going to see her will advance the main story, so I can go ahead and finish the other three side missions I have available first. Then again, I could also see there being consequences for not coming when Kindly says so. My completionist tendencies are conflicting with what my character would do in the moment. Help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted August 24, 2015 My completionist tendencies are conflicting with what my character would do in the moment. Help! Me, too! I am doing what my character would do in the moment. After replaying Dragonfall in its Director's Cut form, I realize I had even fewer missions than during my first playthrough, so I am sure there is definitely a danger of missing out on missions in Hong Kong, too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vasari Posted August 24, 2015 So far I've just been accepting every mission as soon as its available. I'm hoping they don't disappear if I take too long to get to them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Korax Posted August 24, 2015 Finished this over the weekend, and enjoyed it, for the most part. Here's a question for people playing Hong Kong. How does the mission structure work? Does the order you take runs matter? I wrapped up my first mission last night (the murder mystery) and returned to find a message from Kindly saying "come see me right away." I'm guessing that going to see her will advance the main story, so I can go ahead and finish the other three side missions I have available first. Then again, I could also see there being consequences for not coming when Kindly says so. My completionist tendencies are conflicting with what my character would do in the moment. Help! I think that it's possible to miss missions by just not taking them (I'm pretty sure there was a possible mission from a character that I just didn't talk to until I was already in the endgame), but nothing that I actively accepted from the mission computer disappeared. You get to a very definite point of no return, with Kindly telling you to take care of unfinished business, so it's obvious when story is about to happen. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
prettyunsmart Posted August 24, 2015 Finished this over the weekend, and enjoyed it, for the most part. I think that it's possible to miss missions by just not taking them (I'm pretty sure there was a possible mission from a character that I just didn't talk to until I was already in the endgame), but nothing that I actively accepted from the mission computer disappeared. You get to a very definite point of no return, with Kindly telling you to take care of unfinished business, so it's obvious when story is about to happen. Sounds good. So, there's no system in place where Kindly gets mad if you do a side mission before you go see her again, right? For some reason I have a fair amount of real-world anxiety about angering a fictional character. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Korax Posted August 24, 2015 Sounds good. So, there's no system in place where Kindly gets mad if you do a side mission before you go see her again, right? For some reason I have a fair amount of real-world anxiety about angering a fictional character. Not that was obvious to me. I always went to talk to her right away, but then the thing she gives you to do just sits alongside any other mission options you have when you go to leave the area. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juv3nal Posted August 24, 2015 What are the missions like? More simple dungeon crawls, or do they all have a neat hook? I'm not super far in but so far there's been two missions which could be completed without even entering combat. I dunno if those are necessarily neat hooks, but they're definitely not dungeon crawls? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
juv3nal Posted September 7, 2015 Having completed it, I like it a lot. It felt like there were more situations (compared to dragonfall) in which combat could be avoided entirely given the right mix of stats/skills/etiquettes. I'm not a huge fan of the changes they made to decking, but I managed to muddle my way through...on the one hand, decking shouldn't just be a reskin of combat in neon, but adding realtime dodging patrols plus weird memorization games was not the right way to go. I think turn based stealth like invisible inc. might have been good, but yeah this was not that. Also I like your crew from HK more than Dragonfall, both in terms of the backstories/how they are portrayed etc. but also their special abilities and usefulness in a mechanical sense. Replaying Dragonfall again right now, and as my main character is a decker of course I'm going to drop Blitz and take Dietrich along, but for the love of god Dietrich needs a gun, those throwing knives do NOTHING. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dewar Posted October 2, 2015 Hairbrained Studios BattleTech Kickstarter is up! It's already blown through the goal. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/battletech Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
osmosisch Posted December 25, 2015 Just finished the Hong Kong chapter of this series. Very, very good. These guys are clearly learning a lot as they make these games, it's the best one yet (or so I think anyway). Excellent writing, a gorgeous setting and an interesting plot. Not to mention my favourite NPCs in the series so far, and some genuine headscratchers as far as moral/plot choices go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sucks2Bme Posted January 21, 2016 nice to hear that. Looking to pick it up when I get a chance. I keep going into the editor to make something cool, but then nothing ever happens. haven't looked into the mod scene in a wile for that game, is it alive and kicking? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
