Shadowrun Shadowrun Returns - Dead Man's Switch Original Campaign

[pocahaunted]

Ok, just finished this. Went with a conjuring focused Shaman+Pistol PC on hard. Only died once during the corp invasion (fucking decker was useless) when inside the matrix and later on when facing the bug lair, as I faced it with only 3 runners. Eagle aura plus high quickness makes short work of pretty much everything, there was barely anything that I couldn't hit. Compared with my PC, all the NPC runners were pretty much useless unless buffed and even then it wasn't very close.

Biggest gripe I have with this game has got to be the forever in combat bullshit, followed by the buggy quests. When you infiltrate the cult undercover, if you manage to get Father Willy's garments and ID, the security checkpoint asks you to get Father Willy if you want to go through, given a certain dialogue option. Some guy also asks you where your uniform is, despite the fact that you're wearing an uniform. The game will also not allow you to put on a male's uniform as a female PC, yet it allows you to take Father Willy's, which is obviously a male's uniform. Alas... consistency!

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Well, it's entertaining enough that I'm attempting to skip the spoiler thread and skim over any spoilery looking post. Not sure if that helps.

 

[NotTale]

I haven't noticed any real spoilers in the spoiler thread, just gameplay discussion. No plot discussion.

But now that I say that, someone's going to check and find a page I skipped over where they talk all about it. Or they're going to start now.

 

[pocahaunted]

There are a few plot references, but no downright spoilers that will hinder your enjoyment of the OC, afaik.

 

[aris]

Finished the game. Absolutely fantastic art direction realized with good graphics, stunning from beginning to end! Music served as good background music, but all of it was completely forgettable. The story was genuinely good, the dialogue was excellent and at times even funny, and served as a nice homage to the old SNES games, it felt very SNESY, though less simplistic and stupid.

I'm very disappointed with the tactical combat and the difficulty though; Not only is it piss easy even on "very hard", the combat is also way too simplistic and easy to break, making a combat that is already a walk in the park a prolonged snooze on the bench (to quote yazee). One thing that became very clear to me, is that all the hive-drones that immediately toted the combat as better than XCOM in order to gain recognition and KKK from their peers, are dead wrong.

XCOM as a turn based strategy game is superior to shadowrun in every possible way. Hell, the covers don't even matter much in shadowrun. In XCOM if you were left exposed with cover, it was fatal, especially if you got flanked, making positioning, planning of your movement and knowledge about the environment imperative. In shadowrun, it didn't even matter as far as I can see, and most of the time, I didn't even care about getting cover, or how I was entering a room and the positioning of my other team mates. Furthermore, XCOM if you gave yourself all the handicaps and played on the hardest difficulty, it was easily on of the hardest games ever made, in stark contrast to shadowrun.

Furthermore, while XCOM's AI wasn't the best ever seen, it far exceeds that of shadowruns, where they don't actually have any. You can win every fight by retreating into the nearest room, where the enemies will always, without exception clump together in the doorway, where you can spam them with grenades and AOE-spells until they are all dead. It will never occur to them, that it's not a good idea to stand in the open occupying the same 3x3 square.

XCOM also had much more interesting abilites, that allowed for much more strategic game.

In conclusion, it delivered on the story and the graphics, but on the tactical combat it fell flat on it's face.

I give it for its very low pricepoint as a backer, and the fact that I was entertained throughout, except for the very boring matrix fighting level, and the final level, and promises of more free content. I'm very much looking forward to see where this game is going.

 

[pocahaunted]

That fucking matrix... can't quite say it's worse than what we had in the SNES version, but damn, it just feels boring as hell.

Having said that, the way it was interwoven with outside the matrix combat was pretty interesting.

 

[JudasIscariot]

Speaking of Coyote, I already noticed one inconsistency in the game. She died a horrible death while trying to escape from those damned immortal bugs when rescuing Marie-Louise from the Universal Brotherhood...and now she's available as a Fixer contact. It's not just her face but the name and character description :D.

 

[Aeschylus]

Speaking of Coyote, I already noticed one inconsistency in the game. She died a horrible death while trying to escape from those damned immortal bugs when rescuing Marie-Louise from the Universal Brotherhood...and now she's available as a Fixer contact. It's not just her face but the name and character description :D.

Yeah, any runners who die will still be available for the next mission. Guess those Doc Wagons can get just about anywhere.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Oh are you serious? I noticed that for drones too...

 

[Rake]

STEAM n00b question No2: If i subscribe to steam, without downloading steam in my computer, can i download mods from steam workshop or they require steam running as well?

You'll need a running steam instance (and the game in question installed) to download the mods.
As for subscribing to the mods, you can probably do that from a second system which doesn't have steam installed.

If someone hasn't steam installed, how can download the mods? Are they anywhere else except steam workshop?

Just use steam for the mods. Steam Workshop is so easy. You just hit one button and they will begin to download and you have them. No moving files into folders and all that shit.

The thing is i don't have the steam version of the game, i backed it and chose the DRM-free one. Can the mods be played with that one if they require steam?
I remember HBS had said something about downloading the mods from Steam workshop manualy for the DRM free copies. How can that be done?

 

[NotTale]

The thing is i don't have the steam version of the game, i backed it and chose the DRM-free one. Can the mods be played with that one if they require steam?
I remember HBS had said something about downloading the mods from Steam workshop manualy for the DRM free copies. How can that be done?

You don't choose one or the other, you get both. I have the DRM-free saved on my external and the steam registered to my account.

I remember HBS saying the opposite, that only Steam will allow mods. But my memory is shit.

 

[Infinitron]

The thing is i don't have the steam version of the game, i backed it and chose the DRM-free one. Can the mods be played with that one if they require steam?
I remember HBS had said something about downloading the mods from Steam workshop manualy for the DRM free copies. How can that be done?

You don't choose one or the other, you get both. I have the DRM-free saved on my external and the steam registered to my account.

I remember HBS saying the opposite, that only Steam will allow mods. But my memory is shit.

Only Steam will officially support mods, but I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if you can't manually install them on top of a DRM-free version.

 

[NotTale]

Only Steam will officially support mods, but I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if you can't manually install them on top of a DRM-free version.

Yeah, I'll back away from "allow" to "officially support." I'd be surprised and disappointed the same.

 

[Rake]

The thing is i don't have the steam version of the game, i backed it and chose the DRM-free one. Can the mods be played with that one if they require steam?
I remember HBS had said something about downloading the mods from Steam workshop manualy for the DRM free copies. How can that be done?

You don't choose one or the other, you get both. I have the DRM-free saved on my external and the steam registered to my account.

I remember HBS saying the opposite, that only Steam will allow mods. But my memory is shit.

Only Steam will officially support mods, but I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if you can't manually install them on top of a DRM-free version.

But how? Until now the only mods are in steam workshop, and from what they tell me here, you must install steam in order to download them. Am i missing something?

 

[Infinitron]

But how? Until now the only mods are in steam workshop, and from what they tell me here, you must install steam in order to download them. Am i missing something?

It should be possible to manually package a mod and make it available for download outside of Steam. It might also be possible (again, I hope) to download a mod on Steam and then manually copy it into your DRM-free installation.

 

[Semper]

the presence of an editor does provide the game with a lot of potential

sadly they locked important content... or i did not find a way around. you can't create custom equipment, scripts*, and 3dmodels. it's basically just a level painter where you place simple triggers. at least you can get your own props into the game, but fighting the same few enemies with the same equipment for months will kill the modding community quickly.

* i know about the "scripting" event system but it's very simple and there's no way to hack into the enemy ai to teach them some tricks.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

so in redmond barrens there's this frightened shaman named vlad that talks about having seen a spirit. any way i can follow up on this or is it just random banter?

 

[CappenVarra]

My weekend so far: play SR for 8 hours (ouch, my head), sleep for 10 hours, play SR for 3 hours more, finish.

Had to feed my SMG obsession of course, was tearing through combat encounters like crazy:

Note to self: play on Very Hard next time. Or try to solo the game? Or solo the game on Very Hard? Hm...

 

[Rake]

But how? Until now the only mods are in steam workshop, and from what they tell me here, you must install steam in order to download them. Am i missing something?

It should be possible to manually package a mod and make it available for download outside of Steam. It might also be possible (again, I hope) to download a mod on Steam and then manually copy it into your DRM-free installation.

I hope so. I ask because i am in the last mission. I wanted to try a few mods after that, but i don't have steam installed to my PC at all.

 

[crawlkill]

The autosave-only feature has been my only real complaint, apart from some ridiculous bugs (menus appearing in the wrong place, dialogue options semi-frequently being blank). Having to redo a conversation because I fail the encounter that follows it is a notokay with me.

 

[1451]

I don't like the story

Spoiler

it starts relatively simply by asking you to extract revenge and doing some investigative work. Then it takes a horror turn by visiting the mental asylum(I won't lie, it reminded me of vampire the masquerade bloodlines) and it all comes down to a bunch of filthy rich people(elves, whatever) who have the means to save humanity and life on earth.
Seeing how horrible are the lives of the planet's denizens, I would prefer the assimilation with the alien bugs.

Friendly fire is a good addition, was there in dragon age until bioware removed it from normal difficulty in the sequel.

 

[Shadenuat]

so in redmond barrens there's this frightened shaman named vlad that talks about having seen a spirit. any way i can follow up on this or is it just random banter?

It's foreshadowing for things you'll see later.

 

[slackerwizrd]

The thing is i don't have the steam version of the game, i backed it and chose the DRM-free one. Can the mods be played with that one if they require steam?
I remember HBS had said something about downloading the mods from Steam workshop manualy for the DRM free copies. How can that be done?

If you backed the Kickstarter, you have both. Check your email for the Steam key, or login to their website to find your keys.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

So far, only issue has been the save system but being made on such a small budget, I can forgive them.

I'm 5 hours in, I have no idea how much longer the game will last but I hope there will be additional campaigns released.

 

[Infinitron]

So far, only issue has been the save system but being made on such a small budget, I can forgive them.

Don't. The save system is the one thing that shouldn't be forgiven.

I wonder if they're going to use all the money they're earning now to pay their programmers to finally get it working.