Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong!

[WarpedAcorn]

The 3rd game from Hairbrained Schemes' Shadowrun series comes out today. I was a big fan of their first project, though I definitely had my fair share of complaints...and as if they had a direct line into my brain, their second release (Dragonfall) addressed every one of them! And after that they updated Dragonfall with a Director's Cut that had even more features and missions to help round out the experience. For me, Shadowrun: Dragonfall was my RPG of the year.

So of course I am stoked for the latest installment to come out. Already the squad looks really interesting...



As for the type of character to make...usually I go for Mages first, but I was leaning more towards a melee build. The only wrinkle in that plan is that Gaichu is a melee focus with unique skills and animations, plus being a Ghoul means he will probably be super interesting to run around with.


Anyone else totally looking forward to this game?

[unfilteredJW]

Yes.

And I'm always a decker. But I usually only get one play through of games.

[USA TOO STRONK]

Is the new Shadowrun anything like the original?

[Valeron]

Is the new Shadowrun anything like the original?

like the table top RPG?

no video game can replicate table top games. But it is a good iteration of the IP for a video game

[Cakka]

Lauch trailer!



Time to make an assault rifle wielding decker again me thinks.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I think I'll go Samuari mode this time and try to imitate Lucky Strike's style - namely Leeroying into enemy fire and slicing punks up with my 3AP of sword dancing! Also, MOAR SHADOWRUN!!!

[WarpedAcorn]

Yes.

And I'm always a decker. But I usually only get one play through of games.

The last time I played through Dragonfall I was a Decker with an Assault Rifle. I was shocked...SHOCKED to discover that the Assault Rifle made me more of an offensive monster than all of my Mage's spells, and having the ability to jack into the Matrix on my own opened up a lot more fun flavor options. It also let me drop Blitz, who was my least favorite of the Dragonfall cast.

[Fencers]

I greatly enjoyed every iteration of the reinvented franchise. Coincidentally I was just contemplating restarting a Dragonfall campaign last night. Half this thread is blocked by my company's firewall. When does the new campaign come out? I could stand to wait.

[Cakka]

The last time I played through Dragonfall I was a Decker with an Assault Rifle. I was shocked...SHOCKED to discover that the Assault Rifle made me more of an offensive monster than all of my Mage's spells, and having the ability to jack into the Matrix on my own opened up a lot more fun flavor options. It also let me drop Blitz, who was my least favorite of the Dragonfall cast.

It's definitely a powerful character. That's why I'm going to play the game on hard not to make it too easy. For 2nd playthrough I'm going to something completely different though. Maybe try to make a character making most of the new cyberware in HK...

- - - Updated - - -

I greatly enjoyed every iteration of the reinvented franchise. Coincidentally I was just contemplating restarting a Dragonfall campaign last night. Half this thread is blocked by my company's firewall. When does the new campaign come out? I could stand to wait.

It's out now.

[WarpedAcorn]

It's definitely a powerful character. That's why I'm going to play the game on hard not to make it too easy. For 2nd playthrough I'm going to something completely different though. Maybe try to make a character making most of the new cyberware in HK...

I heard they had some interesting new Cybernetics...now I'm thinking of an Adept / Cybernetic Swordsman that is basically Darth Vader. I've never used the Adept stuff, it requires Essence doesn't it? =/

[Nirawen]

Loved Returns and thought Dragonfall was nothing but an improvement so I've been very eagerly awaiting Hong Kong. Not sure which class I'll roll as, played Shaman in the previous two so may try out a Decker or make something akin to Eiger from Dragonfall.

[XDurionX]

I liked the first part and have just started the second one.

[Altrec]

Can't wait for this. Hairbrained Schemes has been doing fantastic work so I am really excited for Hong Kong. They also have announced a new turn based Battletech game which also has me really excited.

[WarpedAcorn]

Well I should have known...after I got it installed and fired up I ended up playing much longer than I intended. The game sets an awesome mood and tone that makes it incredibly easy for me to immerse myself in and just get lost.

As per usual, I started off making a Mage, but just before I confirmed character creation I went back and redid the character to focus on Charisma (of course), Assault Rifles, Melee Weapons, and Cyber Weapons. I did not discover until later that Cyber Weapons can pretty much replace Melee Weapons (but they still require Close Combat skills). The Cybernetics are very interesting, and the Cyber Weapons are incredibly appealing. Right now I'm infatuated with the Microfilament Whip, but since you only get 1 Cyber Weapon Slot I don't want to lose my Cyber Spur. I also picked up the Magnetic Arm that can repell grenades, but I haven't had an opportunity to see it work (sounds awesome though).

The story doesn't start off quite as strong as Dragonfall, but it does get you into the world of Shadowrunners pretty quick. After that, I mainly just did the side missions that seemed to be there to kill time while you investigate the main crisis on the side. Again, I liked it a bit more in Dragonfall where you NEEDED to take these jobs in order to hire the Super-Decker, but the missions themselves are very fun and creative. I also noticed that there seemed to be a lot less combat in the missions so far. This might be due to more options to circumvent combat via Dialogue or Puzzles.

The crew is also extremely good this time around. The hardest part is choosing my team because I really don't want to leave anyone behind. Racter has quickly become my standout favorite, while Gaichu is probably the most interesting (although redundant with my build). Unfortunately since I'm not a Decker or Mage, Is0bel and Gobbet permanently take up 2 slots in my team roster. The are both cool characters, but that means I have to rotate Racter in order to get Duncan or Gaichu in the mix. It feels like I *should* have Duncan with me at all times though, given our past.

Anyways, I'm having a blast with this game and look forward to cracking out over the weekend with it...whether I have the time or not. ^_^

[Valeron]

Even though it has a fantastic atmosphere and setting, I still miss voice acting.

With that said, I am enjoying it quite a bit (like I did with the previous games).

[Nirawen]

Love the changes to the matrix system, doesn't just feel like regular combat with a different skin now.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

http://www.pcgamer.com/shadowrun-hong-kong-review/

The best Shadowrun to date, but the series is starting to go grey.

TLR of the review; if you loved 'Returns or Dragonfall, absolutely get it. PCgamer is worried though that the franchise is starting to become stale again once you start looking at modernized CRPGs such as Pillars of Eternity.

[Razael]

Absolutely adored Dragonfall. I did play the first but found it a bit short, but it was good enough to interest me in buying Dragonfall which i thought superior in every way to the original. I'll get around to play this at some point but too busy atm.

[Deleted]

I've tried Shadowrun but the combat feels so clunky and there is little to no explanation on how to develop your char.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

there is little to no explanation on how to develop your char.

True, you're never explicitly informed how to develop him, but once you open the skills pane it becomes rather self-explanatory; just click the '+' button on the skills you want to invest in and click 'accept'. The part that isn't obvious is that you need as many points to invest as the level of your skill is; IE if your decking skill in 6, you need 6 skill points to make it 7, which in turn takes 7 more skill points to level up to 8.