I picked up Dishonored on the recent Steam sales, (as well as a bunch of other junk), and wanted to give my first thoughts, as I havent blogged in far too long and the comments section below most of my blogs gives me the illusion that people actually read these things (though we know its all an elaborate ploy by the central Gamespot mainframe to make us think there are dozens and dozens of users when in fact there are only two.)
Im going to try my best not to spoil anything, for those of you who havent played Dishonored and want to go in fresh.
Theres a bit of exposition and once youre in the game, you start off in a prison. This is a pretty common occurrence in gaming, (especially in the Elder Scrolls games), where you start off a lowly prisoner and eventually become a hero or savior or whatever. I get the whole humble beginnings thing, coupled with an epic journey+self discovery, etc, but as a fan of the Elder Scrolls series, Im a little worn out of the prisoner beginnings. (Though to be fair, in Dishonored, youre a person of some importance, flung down into the dregs, but still, I thought it needed mentioning.)
So Im slowly making my way through the game and I notice that stealth is HARD. Not hard in that Demons Souls kind of way, but hard in that, its much easier to slice and dice your way through the game. I mentioned this to a few people, that I dont think stealth seems as well handled as games like MGS or even Deus Ex: HR, the enemies seem like theyre stuck on hyper vigilant mode. This could also be just me and my piss poor stealth skills. (Like most games, I play on Easy, naturally.)
The atmosphere is excellent. I dont remember feeling a game had this much atmosphere since my last journey through Rapture. Little touches about the game world are everywhere, from the readable novels and graffiti on the walls, to the foreboding music. Just playing the introductory levels made me want to see more.
Well I did a normal run through of the introductory levels, and then I went back and (yes, still on Easy, im just that hardcore,) tried to go through it again, using only stealth and non lethal means. (You can holster your weapons, and just choke enemies from behind.) This playthrough was a lot slower paced, and I even noticed items I hadnt before, though I missed playing an audio machine because I didnt want to alert a guard and even though I swear I didnt kill anyone, it said I still had one kill at the end of the mission. I dont want to do it a third time. Oh well. >.>
All in all, it definitely seems quite promising. Ill have to give updated thoughts when I get a little farther in. The story isnt terribly original or exciting, so far, but it is interesting.
Small tip, hide whichever people you knock out safely, especially in the first level. If they die due to something caused by your actions, like falling into a lake while unconscious, or being hit by an explosion or ripped to shreds or something like that, then it still counts as you killing them.
Lol, prisons. I'm playing Dark Souls, and sure enough, you start off in a prison. I've heard a lot of good things about this game. In another year, I'll probably buy it.
@faceless-mask @Palantas I am playing Dark Souls on my Xbox. I play pretty much everything on Xbox, except for strategy titles that are not produced for consoles (Total War, Europa Universalis, Crusader Kings).
The game in general was an okay experience, enjoy it. The best part about the game is the endings, hands down.
At least you have the patience to play stealthy. I did from time-to-time, but I mostly just killed everyone. I couldn't help myself. The combat was entertaining and using Whirlwind made it that much better. lol
Save a lot! Don't kill anyone, even if your seen, just pause and reload your save... don't kill the weepers either, they count. Don't throw bodies when you knock them out and don't throw them in water as I think that will count as a kill lol
Look on youtube, their are a few guides that will help whenever your stuck... once you know how to get around, the stealth is actually quite easy and a lot of fun. Just make sure you go up high and are always crouching.
I don't like stealth games much but I had a lot of fun with this game.
I do love Deus Ex and MGS, but I figured this would be a little different. Good to hear your thoughts on it!
@GeekyDad That's a definite possibility. If I'm having trouble on Easy, I cant imagine the game on Very Hard.
I've been debating on getting this myself, at moment it is fairly cheap on Amazon and as I have gift vouchers for Amazon I may just use some of them to get this game. I may just wait until I have finished ACIII for the first time however lol.
easy and some times normal these days, my reflexes just are not what they once were.
I agree that stealth is hard, in most games it is tempting to just hack and slash and get it over with.
I also picked up quite a few games in the last couple of Steam sales but Dishonored was not among them.
so many games and not enough time to play those I already have yet I can not resist buying more.
I still have Skyrim in my queue and many other games that look really interesting.
@iowastate Skyrim is great. I have over 100 hours clocked in so far, and transferred my save from the 360 to the pc where everything looks so much nicer.
I have the game, played it for about 5 hrs I think, then for some reason really lost interest in it. I had no desire to learn the story, or get connected to the characters. Maybe I will go back to it soon. I think (for me) it felt like it could not decide on what type of game it wanted to be. Is that even possible?
@Gen_Warbuff Some games do struggle with finding their own identity, yes. I think the story is probably one of the strongest parts of the game so far, the world just seems interesting, even if its not terribly original.
Stealth is really hard until you get your abilities, it's not just you. Also make sure to use your super power of enemies don't see me when I lean. I really liked the game, I think it doesn't cater quite enough to stealth playthroughs, there's not a huge number of options if that's the route you're going for. But overall I really enjoyed my time with the game.
@lim_ak some parts definitely don't seem stealth friendly, I agree. It's nice that you have the option though.
Haven't picked it up yet. I was in a party when a friend was playing it and it seemed frustrating for him, but I think he was trying to do a completely stealthy playthrough. I will pick up eventually as the premise of the game interested me a great deal.
@wavey_gravey It's definitely an interesting game so far, not that I'm terribly far in it, of course.
This game, which is one of my games in my current backlog, really looked interesting to me. I have yet to even start it... but after reading this very nice non spoiler review... I simply need to go and load it up. It sounds like it is alot of fun... and I too, like you will be hard core and play it on easy as well.
I enjoyed it immensely, not least because the game is so accommodating of differing play styles.
@s_h_a_d_o I'm a little farther in and can definitely see options where stealth could have bypassed by ever growing body count. It's quite nice that the game gives you choices in that regard.
