Dishonored 2

[Ian]

I'm sure we had a thread for this but never mind.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNFtACeifcU

Gameplay video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXYPPntj-A

Now I've not watched it all, or even much of it, because I know I'm going to buy it on release and don't want to spoil stuff.

However, I've skipped through to have a look at this time-jump level/gizmo thing I saw RPS talking about. If you want to see it, go to 15:20, it's really nifty.

[CJay]

I tried to play Dishonored, but the problem for me was only being able to play once a week at most. This meant I had forgotten the story / lore / specific bits of info I had learned if I quit mid-mission, as I often had to do because I took so long nook-and-crannying.

2 looks cool, of course. Although the trailer gives me a very similar feel to the original.

[Patje]

That time-jump thingy is awesome.

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrBJom2VZis

Presumably there'll be some pretty swish combos of powers that people come up with once the game's out.

[Shindig]

Even without The Last Guardian, the next couple of months are daft for releases. Rez Infinite is ALMOST OUT.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/09/30/dishonored-2-clockwork-mansion/

That clockwork mansion thing sounds brilliant. I like that your two playable characters aren't just reskins of each other.

[Raoul Duke]

Yeah, the Giant Bomb preview looked cool. Definitely interested in this.

[Ian]

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/11/10/dishonored-2-review-preorder/

This'll be stealing my weekend.

[Ian]

Early reviews/impressions for this seem to be very positive but on PC it's having performance issues. Which Bethesda have at least acknowledged and Arkane are getting a patch on the go, but still worth noting.

However I'm in a vile mood so I think getting into it can wait for the morning. Well keen to get in about it though.

[Ian]

Four hours in (only just about to start the third chapter) and I'm very much enjoying this so far.

Non-spoilery thoughts:
- I get some framerate wobbles but generally speaking the game is very pretty. (Pretty water! (http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/155766537329897959/1ACE4C70679CBC936519FD3423C0B03EC9B3EBC8/) Pretty, er, brutality! (and a bottle of whale oil I somehow didn't spot at the time) (http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/155766537332933793/7220B48E45CBCC88C2A63CEBB3E5800639485A99/) Sea views! (and an early mission objective in the top right...) (http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/155766537332933984/058EB6D0435D70C6E9D5951282A98CBA6C17A53B/)

-- Karnaca is absolutely splendid. So I've done the opening prologue-y bit and the first chunk of time in Karnaca and it's just great. Spent ages searching through it and apparently still didn't find everything in terms of money and collectibles.

- It's hard to say yet whether the bloodflies are just Dishonored's rats but with wings. I mean the role they inhabit in the game is much the same and their behaviours are broadly similar but there are some differences. Not that it would have bothered me too much if they had just been the rats but with wings.

- The Outsider is still a gimp. Voiced by the Penguin from Gotham, so I suppose that makes sense.

- Much like the first game you could absolutely smash through this in a fraction of the time I am.

And more spoilery stuff:
- Bit grim that Emily's also using the Heart from the first game, what with it being her dead mum's and all that. Does make for some good dialogue from the Heart though.

- Hold the fuck on, was I choosing which protagonist to play the entire game as back at the start? I mean, I'd have still chosen Emily (and without having seen what happens if you choose Corvo, whether it's a straight role-reversal at the start, I think it makes more sense) but does the game tell you that? I'd just assumed you'd switch about as the game progressed.

- Emily's powers are cool. I'm not convinced there are that many toys for the ghost-y / stealthy playthrough, which was my main criticism of the first game even though I loved it, and a number of them are obviously just re-skins or minor tweaks of some of Corvo's. At least in the early stages. There are some changes, like her version of Blink, Far Reach, allows you to grab stuff and pull it towards you.

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL1kSaqzeDI

I mean, it's not Arkham trilogy levels of laughable "non-lethal" but it's a bit harsh all the same. The one where you drop on then and pin them on their back before smacking their head into the ground looks even rougher.

[Ian]

No idea if anybody else here is even playing this yet but the Clockwork Mansion is an all-time classic game level. I love that it "works", the game doesn't freeze you while the house changes state. It shifts between states in real time, you can slip between the cracks during the transitions to get behind the walls and see some of the machinery that makes the mansion work. It would've been so easy to for them to cheat when the building layout switches by having you stop in place and not actually let you see the thing in motion. So quite aside from having to plan the shifting layout in the first place they've taken it upon themselves to work out (at least on a basic level) how it all actually works. It's not magic, it's engineering. It's an incredible piece of design.

[neo_hippy]

I've just finished Dunwall. Me and the missus had our first baby 3 weeks ago and I'm down to about an hour of gaming a week right now.

[Ian]

I've now played the two missions I talked about further up. The level I mention in the very first post in the thread isn't at the standard of the amazing Clockwork Mansion but the time-travel aspect of it and the gizmo that lets you do it is pretty swish all the same. And another excellent bit of design because like the Clockwork mansion it all works in real time. It's basically running two different versions of the same level at exactly the same time, at least to some extent.

[Ian]

Nearly two weeks without playing it for one reason or another but back into this and on the home straight, I think. The most recent level was a touch disappointing after some of the earlier highs but it had it's own nice touches.

Back to Dunwall now. :cool:

[Ian]

Finished it. It peaks with those two levels and because the story is unremarkable there isn't that satisfying punch to finish on. I sound like I'm on a bit of a downer about it but I'm not, it's a superb game.

[Mike]

I got the first one for Christmas via the rllmuk secret santa. How is it?

[Ian]

Fuckin' A.

[Mike]

Played the opening and it's pretty neat. Like the openness

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQuHpdUbq6U

:drool:

[Ian]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsQiKKfKxug

This is really good.

Arkane probably spending more than they need to on famous voice actors isn't new information to me however I learned through that that Carrie Fisher has a small role in Dishonored that you only encounter if you play a mission a certain way. That's madness.