I'm surprised. I thought you were a level design junkie, and that's basically this series main appeal; the actual gameplay never really surpasses "good for what it is" status".
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Arkane Dishonored 2 - Emily and Corvo's Serkonan Vacation
- Thread starter prodigydancer
- Start date
I'm surprised. I thought you were a level design junkie, and that's basically this series main appeal; the actual gameplay never really surpasses "good for what it is" status".
Like <3sRichardSimmons I'm surprised. It has great atmosphere, lore and level design which I would think you'd really enjoy. I disagree the gameplay is mediocre, I think it's pretty good if you like first-persons stealth and exploration. It does have the same core problem the first one did which is a lack of challenge, though Dishonored 2 on the hardest mode enemies see you a lot faster, so ghost runs can be difficult at times (especially if you want to collect everything).
Did you play/finish the first game?
I did finish Dishonored. I even liked it enough to start (but not finish) a second playthrough some time later. I guess I liked the first game more because it was a straight up assassin story, at least for most of it. Crack the fortress, kill the target is a solid premise. I don't even remember what I was supposed to be doing in the second one. Go find some guy who can tell you about the thing to clear your name, blah blah blah, all just an excuse to show more of the same setting I saw last time. It doesn't help that I don't especially like or care about the world they built. It's powered by whale oil! I get it! I don't remember being wowed by the design of any early levels, really it felt a lot more open than the first game - I much prefer a tighter design and focused objectives to explore this boring world and see all these fascinating side stores about people you have no reason to care about. Also if I remember right the Outsider is a huge deal in 2, and again I don't really care about their amazing magic system, don't need to spend 6 hours flying through space hearing about how mystical he is.
I don't know, I could be misremembering everything, but it just seemed like a drag. Maybe I should give it another try and resolve to ignore almost everything and hit only the main objectives and anything actually interesting.
I don't know, I could be misremembering everything, but it just seemed like a drag. Maybe I should give it another try and resolve to ignore almost everything and hit only the main objectives and anything actually interesting.
kangaxx
Arbiter
D2 was definitely much harder to finish than D1, but still worth finishing if you like that kind of game (which I do). The levels are well designed and there are a couple of very neat ones, but it really feels like "Dishonored 2: Corvo Goes on Holiday For the Sake of it".
They shoehorned Corvo into D2 fairly late because Bethesda got anxious about having a female-only protagonist in the game. Alas, this also bungled up the story.
Beowulf
Arcane
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 2,026
Dishonored was advertised to me as a Thief spiritual successor, but despite it being an action game I liked it enough to finish it along with the DLC's.
But somehow I also lost interest and stopped playing D2 after a couple of missions. Can't really put a finger on what the game lacks, but it felt flat for me.
But somehow I also lost interest and stopped playing D2 after a couple of missions. Can't really put a finger on what the game lacks, but it felt flat for me.
kangaxx
Arbiter
It's massively flat compared to the first one. Firstly, in D1 you start off as a lowly fucked-over mortal escaping from prison (mysteriously broken out) and have no magic powers. Then you find yourself in a conspiracy to overthrow these evil fuckers and save the true heir against the odds. There's an obvious hook.
In D2 you've already been there and done it, obtained near godlike status via the Outsider, but the new evil wench drains you of all your powers in the opening sequence! How inconvenient. Guess we'll need to find hundreds of runes again then, as for some reason the Outsider doesn't give us our full powers back - just the ability to rebuild them.
Basically it's all obviously there to enable more Dishonored assault courses, not to make a serious attempt at advancing the saga. It's ok if you look at it in that context IMO.
Oh and it also doesn't help that they changed the Outsider... now he comes across as an emo band frontman. Why did they do this?
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As said above, you're supposed to play as Emily. The Corvo route was added as an afterthought, no point in trying to make sense of it.
kangaxx
Arbiter
I missed that post - that explains that then. I'm wondering if I'd have cared more if I were playing Emily though... probably not. It would still have felt contrived.
Yeah, playing as Corvo completely breaks the narrative.
I played as Emily, enjoyed it, then tried playing as Corvo and thought it was terrible (narrative wise). So worth a shot.
Zombra the "wandering around" section you're discussing is the city section I'm guessing. There are city hubs and then mission areas, kinda like Deus Ex I guess only the missions are much larger and there's fewer of them. Anyway, there are definitely more directed areas that are "wide linear" outside of the city hubs, like an asylum, a bunch of mansions with neat gimmicks and a museum. Though I will say, if you have little interest in exploring the areas then you probably won't like the game? I dunno, it's a big appeal for me.
Latelistener
Arcane
- Joined
- May 25, 2016
- Messages
- 2,624
I always wanted the second game to take a different name, different characters and atmosphere and to be set in Tyvia.
There is even a character mentioned in the first game called Bluehand Jane who can potentially be a protagonist. She's a thief, who managed to escape on route to a prison camp. As you probably know, escaping from a prison camp itself in Tyvia is impossible (you can leave, but you won't survive the trip).
Instead, Bethesda with its marketing strategy came in. Let's call it Dishonored 2, let's put familiar characters in. Why? Judging by the sales, it didn't help at all. No one asked for this. Dishonored just didn't need a direct sequel. Same with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, as it didn't need a direct sequel as well and also flopped.
There is even a character mentioned in the first game called Bluehand Jane who can potentially be a protagonist. She's a thief, who managed to escape on route to a prison camp. As you probably know, escaping from a prison camp itself in Tyvia is impossible (you can leave, but you won't survive the trip).
Instead, Bethesda with its marketing strategy came in. Let's call it Dishonored 2, let's put familiar characters in. Why? Judging by the sales, it didn't help at all. No one asked for this. Dishonored just didn't need a direct sequel. Same with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, as it didn't need a direct sequel as well and also flopped.
kangaxx
Arbiter
I think most people above agree, including myself. D2 is an enjoyable enough game if you just ignore the story.
I think a good way to go would have been "tales of people given power by the Outsider." Different stories and settings, connected via his mark. They seem to be going the opposite way though, with Death of the Outsider ending the series as we know it supposedly.
As I understand it, they were also largely developed by different studios as well. Arkane Austin (TX) was the primary developer for Dishonored while Arkane Lyon (France) did D2 by themselves.
vibehunter
Learned
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- Feb 1, 2021
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- 264
I love Dishonored mostly for the worldbuilding. The gameplay can be lackluster at times. It feels like it's trying to be both Thief and Dark Messiah, but not particularly as good as either.
Xelocix
Learned
Because everything about Dishonored rides on the back of its story and world building. The first game wouldn't be half as good as it is without the atmosphere and constant motivation to get revenge.
The fact that Dishonored 2 had you play as Corvo and Emily in the first place is decline. They should've created a fresh new story with new characters for Dishonored 2 instead of giving us an uninspired boring clone of Dishonored 1 with shiny graphics and a handful of new powers that get boring after an hour.
Well, as has been stated before, Arkane's original intent was to have Emily be the sole PC, which makes a lot more narrative sense.
And the level design in Dishonored 2 is pretty strictly superior to that found in the first.
(Also, congratulations on being the first person I have ever seen praising Dishonered 1 for its story)
Xelocix
Learned
Yes I know what their intent was and it was retarded. Emily and Corvo's story was told and concluded in the first game, making a sequel featuring either of them was a lazy idea from the get-go.
No it's not.
That's probably just because you never leave Codex.
Grampy_Bone
Arcane
I played D2 as Corvo because of my bro Stephen Russell. Won't pass up the chance to play as Garret again, even if it's only ersatz.
What changes in the story? I figured it was just narration and barks.
What changes in the story? I figured it was just narration and barks.
Not that much, it just narratively puts Delilah in a corner where she is a pants-on-head moron for eliminating the naive empress instead of the known super-spy/master-assassin/possible-archwizard.
They also have different powers, but otherwise yeah it's mostly flavor.
Ghulgothas
Arcane
Not much other than the voice set that’s used to jog through the story and the look of your crossbow. Though Emily’s suite of powers is more fun to use and experiment with.
Grampy_Bone
Arcane
Yeah, Emily's power set seems superior, and she really does make more sense as the protagonist.
The issue with Dishonored is the constant tension, that underlying feeling that you're going to miss something important or screw up the mission. Which is part of the fun of the game but you have to admit it gets fatiguing after a while. It's a playstyle games in general are moving away from so I'm not surprised the sequel tanked. Most of the people I know who bought Dishonored were expecting a very different game than what they got and were pretty miffed about it, whereas I as an old Thief fan enjoyed it for what it was.
Maybe I'll do the high chaos run as Emily sometime.
The issue with Dishonored is the constant tension, that underlying feeling that you're going to miss something important or screw up the mission. Which is part of the fun of the game but you have to admit it gets fatiguing after a while. It's a playstyle games in general are moving away from so I'm not surprised the sequel tanked. Most of the people I know who bought Dishonored were expecting a very different game than what they got and were pretty miffed about it, whereas I as an old Thief fan enjoyed it for what it was.
Maybe I'll do the high chaos run as Emily sometime.
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For what it's worth, I think Dishonored has a better story than Dishonored 2, but I wouldn't call it any better than adequate. I don't need much story in this type of game, and the environment design that creates the sense of a coherent and believable world is more important than a specific narrative. The random conversations that you overhear in Thief are typically more engaging than the story of the Dishonored games.
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