Shadowrun Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition

[Animal]

This is a bit of a disapointment then. I (and everyone ?) hoped for something at least as good as Dragonfall, certainly not "slightly less good" considering how much room for improvement there was in Dragonfall.

I blame the story and mission design. Story wasn't as epic and mission design was a bit weaker, imo. It does have some improvements in UI and the Matrix is much more interesting (except for the puzzle minigames).

 

[Grotesque]

I can't bring myself to play this game consistently. The game failed to suck me [in].

 

[Zarniwoop]

I can't bring myself to play this game consistently. The game failed to suck me [in].

Good thing it's SUPER short then. 18 hours my ass, it's more like 8.

 

[Jason Liang]

I had fun, but if I would agree if the game would be much better with half as much speech and twice as much runs.

I also thought the initial 3 runs (Serial Killer, The Dig and Wuxing) were really weak, and the best were the later runs (Ares, Tissue, Prosperity, ASSIST). Overall I enjoyed the Hong Kong NPC missions better than Dragonfall's. And I thought Hong Kong's final mission was better than either Dragonfall or DMS's final mission in terms of pacing.

Kindly Cheng was so enjoyable and well written that she reminded me of Deadwood's Al Swearengen.

Again, I think if it keeps getting patched, this game could be good in 8-12 months. A lot of the fights need to be rebalanced; the Grenade arm, while hilarious, needs to be nerfed; as well as some other things like the auto-loader+grenade launcher, Duncan's subdue, etc... Hopefully HBS will continue to make improvements, or if not hopefully it will be done within the community with the editor. This game is disappointing if this is the final product, but there's reason to hope that it will be significantly improved.

 

[Starwars]

I think the amount of text is fine. I loved reading it. What I'd mostly like to see is 1) a tweaked main narrative that unfolds a bit more smoothly over the course of doing the sideruns. It doesn't have the same nice build-up as Dragonfall and it really only feel like it gets going towards the end. And 2) epic runs. I think the length of the game is fine, it doesn't need to be longer in my opinion. But it lacks the truly memorable missions.

 

[V_K]

The museum run would be great if the actual dig part were a 3-level (at least) dungeon crawl. It has probably the most unique enemies in the game, and they are just criminally underused.
I loved Serial Killer, dunno why people hate it. Same with Prosperity tower.

 

[Jason Liang]

The museum run would be great if the actual dig part were a 3-level (at least) dungeon crawl. It has probably the most unique enemies in the game, and they are just criminally underused.
I loved Serial Killer, dunno why people hate it. Same with Prosperity tower.

For me, the problem is when you compare these missions to the Dragonfall missions. Not even the Dragonfall runs that everyone always brings up like APEX, Aztechnology, Cybertroll, etc... but take an average run in Dragonfall like Humanis Compound... that initial fight in Humanis Compound with the gangers is comparable to one of the best fights in Hong Kong (Tissue). And that isn't even the best part of the Humanis Compound mission!

Over half of the missions could be expanded and made much better.

Spoiler

Imagine a remade finale mission for Hong Kong. A hell on earth mission should be WAY crazier than the one here, it should be more like the Shadowrun version of StudioFOW's Kunoichi.

 

[dukeofwhales]

Just had an embarrassing moment in the ship mission: "what the hell are they trying to make me sneak through all these guards, this is impossible, why the fuck is this real time, why isn't it turn based ... ... oh"

 

[Ulminati]

Good thing it's SUPER short then. 18 hours my ass, it's more like 8.

Steam says it took me 20hrs to complete it. Had a couple of false starts and rerolls, so I guess the actual playthrough was ~17hrs

 

[Gord]

that initial fight in Humanis Compound with the gangers is comparable to one of the best fights in Hong Kong (Tissue). And that isn't even the best part of the Humanis Compound mission!

This is quite the exaggeration. I agree that DF on average had more interesting/better combat pieces, but it wasn't that much better.

 

[V_K]

For me, the problem is when you compare these missions to the Dragonfall missions. Not even the Dragonfall runs that everyone always brings up like APEX, Aztechnology, Cybertroll, etc... but take an average run in Dragonfall like Humanis Compound... that initial fight in Humanis Compound with the gangers is comparable to one of the best fights in Hong Kong (Tissue). And that isn't even the best part of the Humanis Compound mission!

Ah, I see. I agree, that combat setups in HK are much weaker. But for me the strength of HK missions are the various ways you can avoid combat, making for vastly different playthroughs.

 

[Copper]

I'm normally pretty forbearing on the level of dumb 'experts' the Codex attracts, but the Is0bel race thing is just staggeringly stupid.

Spoiler

The whole point is that she is (a) A black immigrant and (b) her well-educated, upper-middleclass family were forced to live in the shittiest, most dangerous part of the Walled City because they were black. She's the character who's most personally invested in how much wrong Chang did.

Personally, I found it refreshing to have a character who was recognizably East African, instead of genro-negro. As for the 'why are there blacks in Hong Kong' you might as well ask why there are poor migrants in any world city. Shadowrun's world is pretty shit, so any hope of stability or opportunity will draw people.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

So before I start with this, how is the difficulty compared to Dragonfall?

Are Etiquettes worth the investment/which ones come often?


Any useless skill build?

 

[Cyberarmy]

So before I start with this, how is the difficulty compared to Dragonfall?

Are Etiquettes worth the investment/which ones come often?


Any useless skill build?

Easier than Dragonfall,
Academic, corparate and shadowrunner etiquettes some nice saves,
All builds are useful now, just somo of them are more useful than others.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

So before I start with this, how is the difficulty compared to Dragonfall?

Are Etiquettes worth the investment/which ones come often?


Any useless skill build?

Easier, encounter/battle and mission design is overall much easier to complet.

Etiquettes check are much better spread out now that it actually not much of a problem whether you pick one or another. There are many Academic check but it only make your PC seems smarter and cultured.

As always, spreading too thin is bad. Your party decker is actually fairly powerful on both meatspace and matrix so not rolling a decker is a good choice. Overall all build seemed viable, if only because the game is easier.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Steam says it took me 20hrs to complete it. Had a couple of false starts and rerolls, so I guess the actual playthrough was ~17hrs

Half of that was probably load time

Mine was super short. Couldn't say how much since I have the GOG version, but still, less than half as long as DF I'd say.

 

[Gord]

According to Steam I'm at 30h now?


Hadn't thought it would take that long, but I had it running in the background while doing other stuff a few times.

 

[GuiltyofBeingTrite]

Question about Prosperity Tower:

Spoiler

How do I disable the security matrix alarms? For the sales floor I get my decker into the system but can't seem to disable the alarm before reinforcements enter.

 

[Septaryeth]

Half of that was probably load time

Mine was super short. Couldn't say how much since I have the GOG version, but still, less than half as long as DF I'd say.

Mine is apparently 36 hrs and I marathoned it non-stop.
And yes, the loading time is atrocious. I don't understand how a simple game like this can stutter and black screened me for so long before it actually load.
There are more runs than DF though each run is significantly shorter. HBS is struggling to increase the variety in each run, but ended up making majority of them unimpressive and shallow.

But I would say some of the time lost is due to players finding diplomatic solutions.
I play a brute and I couldn't charm my way in on several occasions, hence the longer game time.

Okay, here is a challenge for you codex.
Is it possible to make a playable jacked up shaman decker, so I can make a bro team with Duncan, Racter and Gaichu?
I'm expecting high Charisma as well as Intelligence to maximize chance of successful stat/skill check.
Remember to include your wallet in your prediction, such as the amount of money you will spend on esps, summons and cyberware

 

[Septaryeth]

Question about Prosperity Tower:

Spoiler

How do I disable the security matrix alarms? For the sales floor I get my decker into the system but can't seem to disable the alarm before reinforcements enter.

Spoiler

Talk to receptionist about Mr. Johnson. Then you are free to roam around the floor.
Camp your characters outside security room, engage combat by attacking the guard right outside of it.
Get your deckers to run in, you should have full 3 rounds to disable security node.
If your decker can avoid all watcher ic and is decent enough in matrix it should be enough.

 

[Jason Liang]

So before I start with this, how is the difficulty compared to Dragonfall?

Are Etiquettes worth the investment/which ones come often?


Any useless skill build?

I completed the game on hard with just 1 etiquette (shadowrunner) and 3 charisma. I didn't really see the benefit of having any of the other etiquettes or increasing charisma further. There was only 1 mission where a different etiquette or higher charisma would have allowed for a nonviolent solution.

I don't recommend more than 2 Charisma for non-Shaman PCs, or 3 for a totem.

Spoiler

Prosperity Tower, where if I remember there were checks for Corporate Etiquette, and 6 charisma. There is an item to increase your Charisma so I think you don't need to invest in more than 5 to pass the 6 check, maybe 4 if that item is stackable.

 

[Jason Liang]

Question about Prosperity Tower:

Spoiler

How do I disable the security matrix alarms? For the sales floor I get my decker into the system but can't seem to disable the alarm before reinforcements enter.

Spoiler

Both the sales floor and the thaumaturgic research floor have 2 different jack points. To turn off the alarms you need to access the SECURITY jack point. The room has a sign and requires a security card to unlock, and both are in the far back, on the opposite side of the floor from the elevators. I couldn't get past the guard checkpoint on the thaumaturgic floor, so I had Gobbet haste Is0bel and she sprinted to the security room.

Actually what ended up happening was I also jacked the database section first, realized it was the wrong one, then found the security room, then did that one, and chose the wrong way to go both times. So Duncan and my PC had to hold off the security pouring in from the elevator, while Gobbet stood by Is0bel to Heal her every 3 turns. Duncan might be a whiny bitch but a good ork in a fight. That pig stick came in handy.

 

[Jaedar]

Is it possible to make a playable jacked up shaman decker, so I can make a bro team with Duncan, Racter and Gaichu?

Probably very reasonable, since you can make do with fairly low stats on both and still be useful. You'd probably have to skimp on weaponry though, especially early on.

You don't need to spend any money on ESPs. Just get some decent programs and the tier3 deck with 4 ap.

 

[Owlish]

Kindly Cheng was so enjoyable and well written that she reminded me of Deadwood's Al Swearengen.

 

[TheEntitledOne]

Your party decker is actually fairly powerful on both meatspace and matrix so not rolling a decker is a good choice.

I thought of doing a decker/gunner, but I guess i will do something else. Does your party miss any relevant role?

Otherwise i might try some close range chrome-murdermachine. Are cyber adepts viable?