Harebrained Schemes General Discussion Thread

[almondblight]

It is one or the other. A game cannot be at the same time "fantastic" and have "mediocre gameplay". It's like a "great singer" who can't sing well. He might be great for some reason - but a great singer he is not.

Dragonfall gameplay was pretty good, though. Better combat and more C&C than most of the games that make up the list of top Codex games. Combat was even difficult enough that most Codexers wouldn't play it at the highest level (wasn't that difficult, but most Codexers aren't great at RPGs).

 

[Vorark]

Dragonfall was a case of being more than the sum of its parts.

I used to lament that there would be no more HBS Shadowrun games but after Hong Kong and that mecha game, it was probably for the better. It was a good run.

 

[Lambach]

Dragonfall gameplay was pretty good, though. Better combat and more C&C than most of the games that make up the list of top Codex games. Combat was even difficult enough that most Codexers wouldn't play it at the highest level (wasn't that difficult, but most Codexers aren't great at RPGs).

If you think Dragonfall's combat was cake, I recommend installing that mod which alters enemy AI and allows them to attack multiple times per turn, as long as they have sufficient AP. Now that shit is brutal, specially early in the game when you don't have many options to reliably apply CC to enemies.

 

[ind33d]

It's really funny that everyone thought Shadowrun Returns was mediocre but games have gotten so much worse since then that it's improved retroactively

 

[Alienman]

Many such cases.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

It's really funny that everyone thought Shadowrun Returns was mediocre but games have gotten so much worse since then that it's improved retroactively

Dead Man's Switch was mediocre (and still is), but that was due to it being a testing ground for the game concept with the campaign being only latched onto that as something needed for the game to function and nothing more. DF on the other hand was quite good and I recall it receiving a pretty positive reception on release and that sort of perception endures today.

(HK was also good, but it screwed the gameplay loop with too much exposition in the central hub between missions. Otherwise, for those that were able to look past that, it was also well received and considered to be more or less on par with DF.)

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Small teaser

do you know what this is referring to? WoD stuff?

LuftWaffe!

 

[roshan]

that said a man can dream, dragonfall was fantastic

Problem being that Dragonfall was 9 years ago and any game in 2023 made by an American developer and released by a Swedish publisher is 99% guaranteed to be woke garbage.

Hong Kong already had boring emo writing and "dialogue grind" gameplay.

 

[Roguey]

The lead designers of their two unannounced projects are Campbell Tran and Patrick Lipo.

From the latest Lamplighters dev diary:

Time for the second Developer’s Diary for The Lamplighters League! You’ve got two of us today: I’m Patrick Lipo, Lead Designer and with me is Campbell Tran, Senior Designer responsible for a whole bunch of the combat and upgrades in the game.

Welp. I guess the horror game got cancelled/paused indefinitely so they could go all-in on this? That would be on-brand for the World of Darkness, cursed IP.

 

[hello friend]

It's really funny that everyone thought Shadowrun Returns was mediocre but games have gotten so much worse since then that it's improved retroactively

Dead Man's Switch was mediocre (and still is), but that was due to it being a testing ground for the game concept with the campaign being only latched onto that as something needed for the game to function and nothing more. DF on the other hand was quite good and I recall it receiving a pretty positive reception on release and that sort of perception endures today.

(HK was also good, but it screwed the gameplay loop with too much exposition in the central hub between missions. Otherwise, for those that were able to look past that, it was also well received and considered to be more or less on par with DF.)

I thought the same for a long time but DMS grew on me over time. It's worse than the sequels but there's something to be said for the story being small and unassuming for most of the game. Kind of. The final villains are a major threat but at the end of the day you're just taking out the trash. It feels like an alright fan module more than a published game, but all in all it's OK. Encounter design is worse but there's also fewer gratingly annoying npcs. Weirdly, I think the best time to play DMS is after Dragonfall and Hong Kong, when you want to play more missions but feel like you'll have to strangle someone if you see any more nuclear cringe npcs whining about their life story. Man I hate those guys so much.

 

[Nikanuur]

Any new Shadowrun games on the horizon?
Btw, why are there so few Shadowrun games? It's one of the most generous settings.

 

[Lacrymas]

Any new Shadowrun games on the horizon?
Btw, why are there so few Shadowrun games? It's one of the most generous settings.

No and there aren't going to be any because the IP is stuck in copyright limbo.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Any new Shadowrun games on the horizon?
Btw, why are there so few Shadowrun games? It's one of the most generous settings.

No and there aren't going to be any because the IP is stuck in copyright limbo.

Doesn't Macrohard have the rights?

 

[Roguey]

inXile or Obsidian would have to be interested, so far they are not.

 

[OSK]

They could try making an RPG with a different IP instead of the not-RPGs they've been making.

 

[scytheavatar]

Any new Shadowrun games on the horizon?
Btw, why are there so few Shadowrun games? It's one of the most generous settings.

Shadowrun setting is amazing but rules of Shadowrun TTRPG is notorious for being dumpster fires. People who were interested in making a Shadowrun CRPG probably got mind broken reading the shit rulebooks.

 

[Nikanuur]

They could try making an RPG with a different IP instead of the not-RPGs they've been making.

Shadowrun setting is amazing but rules of Shadowrun TTRPG is notorious for being dumpster fires. People who were interested in making a Shadowrun CRPG probably got mind broken reading the shit rulebooks.

Awww, shuck. Back in the day, I played several sessions and it wasn't that horribly complex. Maybe it's changed with time? Anyway, it would be really nice. One can only dream.
Btw, I googled a bit more after reading the posts here. I am not 100% sure but it seems Macrohard has had the rights for a very long time and still, Harebrained were able to work under a licence or something. Maybe some other studio could do that too.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

We can only hope that InXile will soon begin work on Shadowrun and Mechwarrior CRPGs, as they really should have been doing following their return to the Codex's favor with Wasteland 3, Codex GotY 2020.

 

[Roguey]

Btw, I googled a bit more after reading the posts here. I am not 100% sure but it seems Macrohard has had the rights for a very long time and still, Harebrained were able to work under a licence or something. Maybe some other studio could do that too.

Microsoft owns the rights to Shadowrun. But given that they just spent a lot of money buying multiple RPG studios, it doesn't seem particularly likely they're going to license out a setting they own to a company they don't own so they can release a product that will compete with theirs.

Echoes of Obsidian trying to license Ultima from EA and EA replying with "Uh, we already have Bioware...?"

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Btw, I googled a bit more after reading the posts here. I am not 100% sure but it seems Macrohard has had the rights for a very long time and still, Harebrained were able to work under a licence or something. Maybe some other studio could do that too.

Microsoft owns the rights to Shadowrun. But given that they just spent a lot of money buying multiple RPG studios, it doesn't seem particularly likely they're going to license out a setting they own to a company they don't own so they can release a product that will compete with theirs.

Echoes of Obsidian trying to license Ultima from EA and EA replying with "Uh, we already have Bioware...?"

At least EA hasn't done that unholiest of unions yet.
May their marketing research never see enough projected profits to justify the abomination.

 

[0sacred]

Echoes of Obsidian trying to license Ultima from EA and EA replying with "Uh, we already have Bioware...?"

this happened? I'd rather not see Ultima get the KOTOR2 treatment

 

[Hellraiser]

Echoes of Obsidian trying to license Ultima from EA and EA replying with "Uh, we already have Bioware...?"

this happened? I'd rather not see Ultima get the KOTOR2 treatment

Still better than the TOW treatment it would get if Obsidian tried such a thing now rather than back then.

 

[Infinitron]

Echoes of Obsidian trying to license Ultima from EA and EA replying with "Uh, we already have Bioware...?"

At least EA hasn't done that unholiest of unions yet.
May their marketing research never see enough projected profits to justify the abomination.

EA did briefly rename the studio that was running Ultima Online, Mythic Entertainment, to "BioWare Mythic".

 

[Rahdulan]

Any new Shadowrun games on the horizon?
Btw, why are there so few Shadowrun games? It's one of the most generous settings.

Shadowrun setting is amazing but rules of Shadowrun TTRPG is notorious for being dumpster fires. People who were interested in making a Shadowrun CRPG probably got mind broken reading the shit rulebooks.

Shadowrun 6E is an example of abject fuckup. It almost killed Shadowrun, and errata was about ten pages or so years ago when I last checked it.

 

[JarlFrank]

So are there any worthwhile modules for the Shadowrun games? They come with a level editor after all. Someone has to have made something good with it.