Dishonored by Arkane

[Crooked Bee]

Is Incognita any good in its current state, by the way?

 

[Grunker]

Oh no, Mark of the Ninja is an exception. But it's just that, exception.

I guess you're right.

 

[Vibalist]

I think Blacklist is a decent enough stealther too, if you choose to play it like one. That being said, I never completed it. Fucking checkpoint systems suck dick.

 

[Silva]

I think Blacklist is a decent enough stealther too, if you choose to play it like one. That being said, I never completed it. Fucking checkpoint systems suck dick.

Yup. Even with the simplified stealth mechanics its worth it (if you can grok the lame campaign, that is).

Also, the stealth co-op missions are among the best ever in the series - truly open-ended multiple approaches/gadgets sandboxes. Its Chaos Theory Panama Bank-quality stuff.

 

[Grunker]

I haven't played it but that pixel art 2D game where you play a spy or something is supposed to be awesome as well.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I haven't played it but that pixel art 2D game where you play a spy or something is supposed to be awesome as well.

Gunpoint

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

+1 for gunpoint.

Incognita is playable. You can see it's WIP, but I got some fun out of it. My Steam stats is wrong on it though, it says I played it only 8 minutes, but I did clock at least 3 hrs. Haven't played the latest build though.

 

[DalekFlay]

Dark is the best modern stealth game 'cause it's got vampires and purple.

Losers.

 

[Silva]

By the way, Death to Spies 3 is still a possibility (their crowdfunding had failed the last time I checked, but I understand they will go forward with development anyway).

And Im playing Signal Ops at this very moment and having tons of fun.

I think its a good times for stealth fans.

 

[DalekFlay]

By the way, Death to Spies 3 is still a possibility (their crowdfunding had failed the last time I checked, but I understand they will go forward with development anyway).

Whoa, I didn't know they attempted crowd funding. Would have been all over that. DtS2 is an amazing game.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

Heh, I wasn't aware Chloe Moretz did some voice acting for this game. Guess I'll... guess I'll have to replay it sometime then.

 

[Toffeli]

Heh, I wasn't aware Chloe Moretz did some voice acting for this game. Guess I'll... guess I'll have to masturbate to it sometime then.

fixd

I really didn't notice any the voice actors while playing. I knew John Slattery (watched a couple of seasons of Mad Men) and Chlöe were in it but still didn't recognise them. And had no idea Lena Headey, Susan Sarandon, Carrie Fisher, Brad Dourif, Michael Madsen all were in it.

 

[Infinitron]

Finally played and finished this. Good game, I liked it (even) more than DX:HR.

Pros: Very strong core gameplay mechanics that just feel right (movement, jumping, climbing, picking up items, using weapons and powers, etc.). The designers knew exactly what sort of experience they wanted to create and they did it very well.

On highest difficulty, sword fighting seems like a logical evolution of what Thief was trying to do. Guards are nimble, they lunge at you flexibly rather than being stiff and awkward, they dodge, block, etc, quite well. I wasn't really able to do Thief-style cheesy circle-strafing in Dishonored. The "block exactly on time for a burst of slow motion" mechanic is clever and rewards you for excelling at a "fencer" playstyle if you choose to engage in it.

I loved the contrast between the fast and silent stealth killing and the slow and risky choking out. (Compare with DX:HR's strange design choice that made killing worse than knocking unconscious in every way). I also liked that you could stealth-kill from the front if you were quick enough - that throat slitting animation was awesome.

Even the mechanics of carrying bodies around were well-designed - I appreciated that carrying a body didn't seriously cripple your mobility or your ability to do things, and that they made the unconscious bodies "snore" so that you could instantly recognize that they weren't corpses. Unrealistic, but so handy.

Finally, no degenerate XP grinding nonsense! Finding powerups in the environment is the way these types of games should be.

Cons: The game is obviously a loving homage to Thief - I loved the part when the Thief tutorial level was quoted verbatim. But it lacks:

1) The Thief setting's sense of mystery. Compared to the purposely understated City, you simply get to know a lot about Dunwall over the course of the game, and so there just aren't many "Holy shit what the hell am I gonna find here?" moments.
2) Thief's diversity of levels. Welcome to yet another ruined quarter of Dunwall, same as the previous one! Blame consoles + AAA production values for this, perhaps.

The result of both of these things is a game that can sometimes feel repetitive, especially if you're pursuing a specific playstyle as opposed to mixing it up.

And yes, Corvo's powers are OP and tend to deprive you of those "how the hell am I gonna cross this area" moments from Thief. (They also tend to run you into invisible walls a bit too often.) But, they're a lot of fun to use and are fundamental to the game's premise, so I'm not complaining too much about this. People have said that the DLCs are harder; it'll be interesting to see how.

 

[Rahdulan]

I liked the small logical touches like immediately transitioning from choking to carrying a body without the need for it to drop to the ground first. What I didn't like was the absence of lower body when you look down, especially annoying when you know developer had done it right in their previous games. Also, it could've used more written material because I was reading through the same books two levels into the game. DLCs are much tighter story-wise and benefit from having a talkative protagonist unlike Gordon Freeman Corvo.

In conclusion, Arkane knows what they are doing.

 

[funky_koval]

In conclusion, Arkane knows what they are doing.

Yep, a very decent game especially compared to what Thi4f is shaping up to be. Agreed about the DLC's being better than the main campaign(Daud is a more interesting character than the mute Corvo).

 

[Infinitron]

I liked the small logical touches like immediately transitioning from choking to carrying a body without the need for it to drop to the ground first. What I didn't like was the absence of lower body when you look down, especially annoying when you know developer had done it right in their previous games. Also, it could've used more written material because I was reading through the same books two levels into the game. DLCs are much tighter story-wise and benefit from having a talkative protagonist unlike Gordon Freeman Corvo.

In conclusion, Arkane knows what they are doing.

Good point about the auto-carrying. That saved the lives of more than a few choked guardsmen in the final level, heh.

As for written material, I'm not sure if the game needed more material or less books. This ties into what I said about the game having too much exposition.

 

[MapMan]

I tried to like this game twice already, always gave up after finishing the first level. Main complaints:

• Too easy if you play stealth. AI is dumb, blind and purposely placed by designers so you can choke every single enemy with ease. I'd love a stealth game that sometimes forces you into some kind of an approach unless you try a different path or have a specific skill. You don't have to be clever and smart to remain stealthy. It actually makes the game easier (as opposed to full on derp with running and hacking everyone down).
  
• The skills and powers are centered around action/lethal play style. The stealth ones are absolutely unnecessary, you're OP as it is.
• The above points make the game boring.
• For some reason during my two playthroughs of the first mission I always ended up with some bodies being discovered. This must be a goddamn bug because I knocked everyone down and hid the bodies perfectly. What the hell?

 

[Infinitron]

Excerpt from the rules of the Codex drinking game:

• Every time somebody makes a categorical statement about a game after playing only its first level, take a sip.

 

[Siel]

I read the thread and I can feel the same good and negative points about the game.
It could have been better if it was PC only, that is what I believe.
But what makes it better than a lot of AAA games we got this generation is the world design.
The world is actually very coherent, it feels organic and visceral. You can tell that every 3D object they designed was never created because it looks good or shit but because it has a specific meaning in the world. ( For exemple if there is a corpse here, it's not to make the athmosphere gloomy and dark but because it has a reason to be here and it's often explained by a note ). Not sure if because Arkane has an history with Valve, but the way the world is designed and feels just really coherent and real makes me remember the way Half Life 2 was designed.
So despite its faults, Dishonored is a good "immersive sim" because the coherence of its world makes it immersive. And many devs today don't know how to (how are lazy) to design games this way.
Sorry for my shitty english.

Edit:
Also, Arkane might be the best at making first person mechanics. The way you move, climb, crouch, slide just feels perfect (despite the fact you cant see your feet)

 

[skacky]

Infinitron The last mission of the Brigmore Witches has a huge Thief vibe that I enjoyed a lot. And yeah the DLCs are indeed a bit more difficult, and Daud is a way more interesting character. The briefings also reminded me a lot of Thief's, though a lot less impressive.

 

[Raghar]

Finally played and finished this.

What took you so long?

 

[MapMan]

Not sure if because Arkane has an history with Valve, but the way the world is designed and feels just really coherent and real makes me remember the way Half Life 2 was designed.

Dishonored setting and style was designed by the dude who designed HL2's setting, city 17. http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Viktor_Antonov

Excerpt from the rules of the Codex drinking game:

• Every time somebody makes a categorical statement about a game after playing only its first level, take a sip.

Hit me up when you're done with your 7th playthrough. r00fles.

 

[LundB]

Excerpt from the rules of the Codex drinking game:

• Every time somebody makes a categorical statement about a game after playing only its first level, take a sip.

He's right though, it's a truly godawful stealth game, painfully easy and not much fun. A ton of the powers ARE centered around combat, and if you go stealth you're never really going to use them unless you genuinely suck at games and get detected more than a few times.

The combat, on the other hand, is actually pretty well-done, and fun to play around with, especially with various powers. When I decided 'fuck stealth', the game suddenly became a whole lot more challenging and fun. Hopefully they won't make stealth easy-mode next time, but who am I kidding, people love the popamole.

 

[MapMan]

snip

Ditto. You dont need 7 playthroughs™ to formulate such opinion. The first mission (which in a lot of ways is designed very well) is an extensive sample of the whole game. Dishonored bears the same flaws as DXHR, if you go stealth the game becomes too easy, boring and repetetive, due to many reasons, some of which I stated in my earlier post.

 

[Angthoron]

snip

Ditto. You dont need 7 playthroughs™ to formulate such opinion. The first mission (which in a lot of ways is designed very well) is an extensive sample of the whole game. Dishonored bears the same flaws as DXHR, if you go stealth the game becomes too easy, boring and repetetive, due to many reasons, some of which I stated in my earlier post.

However, unlike Deus Ex, where you just lost some achievement if you decided to go full violence mode (yeah, and XPs, but if you have a problem with XP loss, how about, I dunno, just memory edit a few extra PP and save yourself the tears?), Dishonored's fucking ending is either terribad, or terrigood just based on whether you stealthed everything through or, like, played the game in a FUN way. No, player, if you want the "good" ending, you can't have fun, here, jump some hoops! However, despite that, it's worth mentioning that FUN gameplay is there anyway, which's a lot to say to begin with.

Otherwise, it is indeed a very enjoyable game, taken as stealth-lite especially. Some missions felt a bit of a missed opportunity (the masquerade - man that could've been so much more fun if the player was given more non-combat toys to play with) or a tad repetitive (crumbling Dunwall! So grim), but overall, it was a fun game. The DLC (started playing Witches, nya) seems solid enough, and I do like Daud more than Corvo as well, at least by the fact that he's some kind of a character as opposed to a completely misplaced pure player avatar like Corvo.