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Arkane Dishonored 2 - Emily and Corvo's Serkonan Vacation

Wirdschowerdn

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All Bethesda studios keep hiring and investing; there won't be a shut down. At worst, there will be a buyout by Microsoft or Sony. Can't let all that talent go to waste.
 

DalekFlay

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both games had abysmal start (due to technical issues and Bethesda's stupid review policy). Later they bounced back, but it doesn't matter since they had 66% and 75% discounts.

Yep. Their second Wolfenstein was a disappointment as well, I believe. There's only so many times you can put stuff out to poor numbers and then keep going at it. We'll see how Doom Eternal sells, but it wouldn't surprise me if Bethesda goes even more online focused in the future, after so many singleplayer focused failures in a row.

As for Dishonored, Death of the Outsider really feels like an ending to the series and was designed to be I believe. Not that a Dishonored 3 is impossible, just that it would be a very different thing. I'd guess taking place in the same world but long before or long after the existing games.
 

Wirdschowerdn

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both games had abysmal start (due to technical issues and Bethesda's stupid review policy). Later they bounced back, but it doesn't matter since they had 66% and 75% discounts.

Yep. Their second Wolfenstein was a disappointment as well, I believe. There's only so many times you can put stuff out to poor numbers and then keep going at it. We'll see how Doom Eternal sells, but it wouldn't surprise me if Bethesda goes even more online focused in the future, after so many singleplayer focused failures in a row.

As for Dishonored, Death of the Outsider really feels like an ending to the series and was designed to be I believe. Not that a Dishonored 3 is impossible, just that it would be a very different thing. I'd guess taking place in the same world but long before or long after the existing games.

Harvey Smith already said he's done with the Kaldwin saga and the entire series. It will be up to Lyon to carry forth the franchise, with new characters and possibly a new time era. If DOTO is anything to go by though, they better hire a bunch of good writers 'cuz DOTO was atrocious in that departament.
 

DalekFlay

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Harvey Smith already said he's done with the Kaldwin saga and the entire series. It will be up to Lyon to carry forth the franchise, with new characters and possibly a new time era.

Yes, I was referring to the same interview in my head. If there's a Dishonored 3 I feel like it will have the same themes and style but be very different in general. I kind of doubt it's ever made though, but... we'll see. I firmly expect the murder island thing they announced to be a co-op game.
 

udm

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While I like Dishonored 1 and 2, this just seems like plonking the 2d20 system on the Dishonored setting (which was very meh and the weakest thing about the games). In fact, there's already a pretty good Dishonored/Thief RPG out there.
 

udm

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To clarify, I think the lore is pretty expansive but falls short in depth, so that in the end it feels like a mish-mash of elements that are sometimes inconsistent. I like where they were coming from with the Outsider, steampunk tech, factions and whale oil as fuel concepts. It's the fact that they didn't explore these much or made certain reveals forgettable (eg the Outsider) that led to squandered opportunities to make the whole thing more intriguing. As it is, you have a Victorian-era setting with magic and whale oil, that has only five to six major groups per city, four of which are reskins in the second game (working class, nobles, guards, thugs), and that's it.
 

DalekFlay

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To clarify, I think the lore is pretty expansive but falls short in depth, so that in the end it feels like a mish-mash of elements that are sometimes inconsistent. I like where they were coming from with the Outsider, steampunk tech, factions and whale oil as fuel concepts. It's the fact that they didn't explore these much or made certain reveals forgettable (eg the Outsider) that led to squandered opportunities to make the whole thing more intriguing. As it is, you have a Victorian-era setting with magic and whale oil, that has only five to six major groups per city, four of which are reskins in the second game (working class, nobles, guards, thugs), and that's it.

It doesn't have as much depth as Thief's world in some respects, but it's very well developed in areas Thief was not like politics and the plight of the worker. Also there's way more to setting than just lore, it has amazing visuals, world ideas, street music, letters, etc.
 

toro

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I don't know what changed between 2016 and 2020 but I cannot into Death of the Outsider.

The game feels clunky as fuck, the writing is shallow, the level design is bad ... am I missing something?
 

udm

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I don't know what changed between 2016 and 2020 but I cannot into Death of the Outsider.

The game feels clunky as fuck, the writing is shallow, the level design is bad ... am I missing something?

Nope, I felt the same way. The last two missions were good enough (especially with the Envisioned having godlike vision), but the first three missions were eh. I think the Bank Job was only good after you broke into the bank; the hub areas were bland and forgettable.

After finishing DOTO, the only thing that I wanted to do was to go back and play more The Dark Mod. My gripe with Dishonored still stands — it could have been something more had it developed better light-based stealth and sound propagation mechanics, as well as synergy across the powers. In this sense, Dishonored 1 did this with the most consistency since maps were smaller and forced you into more controlled spaces, and each has intriguing goals (sneak into a party, assassinate some dudes in a brothel, etc). That being said, I had a better time with Dishonored 2 as it has the most interesting map-based mechanics (Jindosh's and Stilton's mansions most notably), but that's a double-edged sword. The uniqueness of each of these maps is, well, unique to them, and don't carry that same synergy across levels in the same way that Thief did.

TLDR: Dishonored is a decent, even good, series of games, but you can only play around with height and powers so much. In contrast, Thief, despite having fewer tools for players, has height, sound and light, which made each encounter feel distinctly different.
 

DalekFlay

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I don't know what changed between 2016 and 2020 but I cannot into Death of the Outsider.

The game feels clunky as fuck, the writing is shallow, the level design is bad ... am I missing something?

I liked it a good bit less than Dishonored 2 as well. The hub areas and final level mostly focus on using the dumb disguise power,which isn't super fun, and the level design isn't as good. Story feels thrown together a bit. I still enjoyed it because I love the series, but it's definitely the worst of the 4 campaigns.
 

Parabalus

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I don't know what changed between 2016 and 2020 but I cannot into Death of the Outsider.

The game feels clunky as fuck, the writing is shallow, the level design is bad ... am I missing something?

I really enjoyed Dishonored 2 (and all of Arkane's games) but couldn't finish DotO, got bored a bit after halfway.

Kinda felt like they were just going through the motions.
 

JDR13

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I haven't tried DotO yet nor do I have much desire to.

The idea of playing as Billie Lurk doesn't appeal to me in the least, and I was pretty disappointed in Arkane's decision to make her the protagonist.
 

udm

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She's actually more likable after the 3rd mission. At first it's a case of "what the fuck am I even doing as Billie Lurk", but as her relationship with Daud is put into the spotlight more over the course of the 4th mission, the focus shifts from her as a black edgy lesbian and more on her as someone that is trying to right past wrongs, the same way Daud did.

(but I agree she's still the least empathesise-able of the four protagonists)
 

toro

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The Bank level was pretty cool, but the writing overall was atrocious. I've no idea how Deathloop with fare without Harvey Smith's input.

Like a cucumber against a wall.

Mooncrash got good reviews and they decided to go full retarded with the Groundhog Day concept.

I have zero expectations for the game.
 

DalekFlay

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She's actually more likable after the 3rd mission. At first it's a case of "what the fuck am I even doing as Billie Lurk", but as her relationship with Daud is put into the spotlight more over the course of the 4th mission, the focus shifts from her as a black edgy lesbian and more on her as someone that is trying to right past wrongs, the same way Daud did.

I was fine with her in concept, and Rosario Dawson is a good actress. It's just the writing and structure was a step down overall.
 

Nito

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The Bank level was pretty cool, but the writing overall was atrocious. I've no idea how Deathloop with fare without Harvey Smith's input.

It's the lack of Raphael Colantonio i'd be worried about; depending on how you feel about Dishonored 2.
 

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