Review RPG Codex Review: Shadowrun: Hong Kong

[CWagner]

I fully agree. And I'll pledge for the next SR game they make anyway. Maybe if I'm throwing enough money at them, at some point they'll add a switch to let enemies shoot more than once and HBS/SR-hard becomes close to other games hard.

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

When will developers stop throwing bullshit twitch-minigames at us? I concur with your assessment: aside from the matrix sections, while not perfect, the game is fairly solid.

 

[Cadmus]

When will developers stop throwing bullshit twitch-minigames at us? I concur with your assessment: aside from the matrix sections, while not perfect, the game is fairly solid.

change your avatar you filthy degenerate
and stop with this retarded "twitch" meme
and just fuck off in general

 

[Aenra]

Would almost be scary worth it if he responded to you in weaboo

 

[Irenaeus II]

filthy degenerate
change avatar and stop retarded "twitch" meme
just fuck off

 

[Scroo]

filthy degenerate
change avatar and stop retarded "twitch" meme
just fuck off

 

[Irenaeus II]

http://writeahaiku.com/#filthy dege...d stop retarded / "twitch" meme just fuck off

If anyone wants to play.

 

[Tao]

I agree with the review (minus the Matrix section). Not even the atmosphere was right, the only high praise i can give is for some of the arts and characters like the Yama-lady form, Gaichu or Racter. Well the Fen Sui theme i suppose was a nice touch too.

So far i don't even know which one disapointed me more: DMS or HK. The first was a good interactive light novel at least.

Anyway, great review in general. Thanks for the reading Roxxor.

 

[Ludo Lense]

Spoiler

Personally, the pointless stories affected me more. Stuff like getting nothing for listening to the entire Ka Fei Family Club story while getting karma for giving Matt his sims is just grating.

 

[Akratus]

Even the very beginning of the game had me going

Because of how strong dragonfall began and this one didn't.

 

[Gremius]

The worst game in the series.

 

[Excidium II]

Good review as usual, half of it seems to be about how much the matrix sucks lolz. I played a rigger/decker to not have tumblr occupy a permanent spot on the team, and I'm glad the matrix content is so stupid easy because it's enough of a chore as it is. I reloaded when I tripped alarm because I can't be arsed to go through combat that plays exactly the same everytime: Sniffer/Shield -> Degrade -> Killer/Blaster/attack -> Medic or reposition if necessary -> repeat this ritual for as many IC there is on the room.

Pacing issues aside they finally handled the plot in a way that I can find satisfactory for the setting. You still heroically deal with an "epic level" threat but there's strong personal reasons to do so, and I enjoy that it's stressed how little difference your actions make in the grand scheme of things because everything is shit, as it should be.

All the tl;dr pisses me off, but I found some NPCs (Maximum Law, Crafty, Reliable Matthew, Ambrose) and all the companions (apart from tumblr) interesting enough to not mind it in their case. Gaichu and Racter specially I liked a lot.

 

[SCO]

'tumblr' is quite simply the most valuable combat member after Duncan (that magnet arm...) so she was on the team all the time. Grenade launcher so OP and she starts with it from day one.

Of course, i didn't need it because this game difficulty is shameful, even worse than DF.

What really triggered me about the game is that they took the already lackluster hub in Dragonfall and made it worse by pure bad design.

The ship - and your companion dialogs and mission computer - is allll the way over the other way in the map from the underground. In dragonfall it was in the same side. Inside the ship there are 3 zones you must go to speak to everyone, in dragonfall it was a flat spacious zone so you could just click. You are encouraged to go to all npcs to hear their sob stories and you get jack shit (except the obvious 'bestending' trigger, so you don't dare disregard them entirely). The game quite simply would be better with the hub cut.

Then there is the repetitive advancement structure. Sorry, the exact same steps every time to get quests do not cut it. Half the fun of a storyfag rpg is discovering hidden quests, cutting that out to 'go check your email' but keeping a 'storyfag-zone' like the hub is simply a travesty.

It also needs much more to do in the combat missions, and i mean that tactically and in encounter design. Some redesign of the matrix for a better combat model would be nice indeed (invisible inc. is much better is on the nose).

 

[Excidium II]

Also forgot to mention, the plastic face man showdown was really underwhelming. He seemed like such a big deal from the intro but the situation is resolved in 5 minutes (10 if you count getting the inhibitor).

 

[Crescent Hawk]

You cant make a decent crpg with this engine, thats what happened to them.

 

[Bigg Boss]

Damn this thread just bummed me out.

 

[thesheeep]

Wait, there are people playing this for the combat?

I mean, yeah, Roxor is right, it should be much better and the AI less hilariously stupid.
But really, these games have always been about the setting. Which they convey pretty much perfectly.

 

[Bubbles]

Wait, there are people playing this for the combat?

I mean, yeah, Roxor is right, it should be much better and the AI less hilariously stupid.
But really, these games have always been about the setting. Which they convey pretty much perfectly.

I look forward to seeing the same argument made in the Battletech threads.

 

[thesheeep]

Can't tell, really. I never was into Battletech.
I did love the Mechwarrior series primarily for the hilarious story and the "feeling" of being in an actual mech, though.

 

[Excidium II]

Wait, there are people playing this for the combat?

I mean, yeah, Roxor is right, it should be much better and the AI less hilariously stupid.
But really, these games have always been about the setting. Which they convey pretty much perfectly.

I play the game for what the game offers, and combat it has plenty since it's Shadowrun. It's a core element and it sucks and you come here like a cretin to wave your hands about it. The whole gameplay aspect is very shallow, there's no legwork, matrix and magic is a joke so the least they could do is have tactical combat.

As for setting they do a good a job in writing but visually it leaves to be desired. The old games did a better job.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

I look forward to seeing the same argument made in the Battletech Arcanum threads.

 

[crawlkill]

Too much writing, not enough care put into mission design, thats what i took out of SR:HK.

this is maybe a fair appraisal. there was just so much dialogue. I mean, it was uniformally GOOD dialogue. maybe never quite great, but I liked it all. but sometimes I did really just want to jump into my next run and not worry about talking to the zillion people with shit to say after every one.

I've never really felt like the scope of Shadowrun Returns really allowed the player to be meaningfully tactical about things, though. continuing in my tradition of making a maxed-out Charisma character then not investing in Charisma combat skills at all, I mostly saw the challenge of the game limping my talky protagonist through things. I think being a talky protagonist has become progressively more rewarding in, like, game satisfaction terms in each of the titles, but only occasionally does it really change the structure of a mission, which is what I'd really like to see.

I finished Hong Kong, and I never quite finished Dragonfall (that infiltration mission with the blood brothers in the Aztechnology basement proved too annoying for me to work out how to cheese, I did everything right but then still had to do combat because my talky PC didn't have high combat stats at the very end?). I think any of the party characters from either game could've fit into either game, but I also have distinct memories of each of them, which is the hallmark of good writing to me. I don't feel the need to compare them to one another much.

(also I liked the revamped matrix, just wish the spybots followed slightly simpler/more predictable paths. the little puzzle bits were simple enough that I never paused whatever I was listening to to focus on them and I don't think ever failed one, but the timer made them feel tense enough that I took em seriously. REALLY needed a better explanation, though, unless I clicked through something important.)

 

[Achiman]

Good review, surprisingly fair after some of your other ones.
I'd like a shadowrun game more like the SNES one in the future, where you are just one guy who is trying to figure out how to make the best of a bad situation. From memory that game used the "wake up in the morgue" scenario. Of course it doesn't have to be the amnesia route, but something where you are just a low level street operator feels more like shadowrun to me.
In this series of games, the corporations and access to resources just feels to dumbed down. It should be a struggle just to survive and more obstacles should be thrown up against the player. Such as desperate runners fucking you over the minute it looks like you are going to get paid/succeed. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the world didn't feel grimy and desperate enough. More like a neon sandbox too much of the time.
Anyway, overall you'd have to think they did a hell of a lot more for Shadowrun than the poo Micro$oft brought out (some online FPS?).

 

[naossano]

Regarding to the review >
This is China. The protagonist is forced to work for the triads, not the yakuzas.
As long as it isn't fixed, this review is on the verge of decline.

 

[Excidium II]

Regarding to the review >
This is China. The protagonist is forced to work for the triads, not the yakuzas.
As long as it isn't fixed, this review is on the verge of decline.

Someone fell for it. lmao