Ok, right. Sorta with you I think.
Ok, right. Sorta with you I think.
There's no manifesto. There's no formal plan.
Steam
Well obviously intellectual titans like you and I don't, but a lot of people do, yes.
I don't thing that aspect of the game has been particularily hyped, the writing and charachters are criticised in places like Yahtzee's ZP and the review in Edge magazine, and otherwise the press was right to praise the game since it's mostly ace.
The thing on my mind now is that Corvo works for a group called the Loyalists, e.g. proponents of the dynasty the Empress was part of. But apparently the monararch was the figurehead who gave legitimity to this entire system of opression we get to witness in the game. So perhaps Corvo is on the wrong side right of the bat. And princess Emily is just a child so the actual governement would be controlled by regents... like perhaps the inbred lord Pendleton? Also how the assasins in the beginning used the same kind of magic that the Outisider later gave to Corvo makes me think something still might not be as it seems.
I gotta stop reading this thread, I don't want you guys to spoil me :P
That worked for me in DXHR, I don't think Dishonoured did it anywhere near as well. Dishonoured may have better, more open level design, but both games follow a similar philosophy in letting you choose your character's behaviour and reactions to his circumstances.Originally Posted by RobF
Where DXHR succeeds is in building a story thats so strongly centred around the theme of your decisions as a player. It's hardly an amazing work of art, but it has more depth to it than most video game stories. It made me think about my motivations, made me want to justify myself to other characters, rather than trying to gloss over the conflict between hero and mass murderer that a lot of game stories suffer from. It connect the player story of what I did during the mission with the written plot of the game.
Dishonoured doesn't do that. The story all feels very hands-off, sequences to sit through and be faintly bored by while waiting for the next level. Because the story fails to engage me, fails to have any relation to me being a supernatural assassin, the story and the game feel like separate entities. While the last level does acknowledge your behaviour, it was more of an overblown caricature than a considered response.
Weird! That's how I felt with Deus Ex:HR. Pretty much to the tee. Which I guess says more about taste than it does either game.
There's no manifesto. There's no formal plan.
Steam
I'd of said the writing was mostly strong in DEHR, but plotting was weak.
I played with the markers off and fucks knows where a 'safe spot' was. I took him right next to the 'loading area' door and warped up to part of a roof and stuck him there. I still failed it but nevermind because the woman didn't seem to bothered about it.
Anyway I'm really struggling to play it. I'm on the 3rd or 4th mission and I haven't played for a week. Don't really like the superpowers bar the teleport. The x-ray vision makes that stupid noise every time you use it. I don't really feel for any of the story. Infact It would probably been more interesting at the start to get the messages from the other cities instead of delivering the thing.
Then its *Spoiler* Queen or Princess? dies, child snatched, framed, prison, superpower dream alert, rebel. *end spoiler* in a space of an hour? too much too soon. It takes me an hour to put my socks on in the morning.
And my biggest gripe? Please tell me there will be missions played in the dark? I'm supposed to be a sneaky stealth assassin. Board daylight? it really breaks my immersive experience.
I cant get myself to like Dishonored, the gameplay seem fun, and the graphics look good, but game is just shallow, A missed opportunity in some ways. It could have been so much more. And I know I sound like I have no basis in what I am saying, but its just a feeling I get from the game.
Again, as I've said before, this Penny Arcade comic summed up my feelings about the game's story:
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/10/10
It seems that the thing that immediately comes to mind in the face of this is Arcanum by the dearly departed Troika Games. From the game's pre-release story trailers they make a big deal out of this world powered by oil from whale fat, yet it has little bearing on the actual narrative and its effects on society aren't made totally clear ("Trans" may as well have been regular 'ol coal and steam power and narratively speaking nothing would have been lost), whereas with Arcanum, the proliferation of technology in that world brought about a whole bunch of events that have a massive impact on the narrative: The power of magic in the world waned, all but the most powerful dwarven and elven enclaves were displaced to make way for railways, and pollution plagues the metropolis.
I know the "it's too short" horse has been flogged, flayed and disembowelled but Dishonoured would really benefit from 5-6 more missions, most of them introductory. It would then be comparable in length to the first 2 Thief games and Deus Ex.
I'm aware of the arguments about playing it slowly on very hard with all the aids off (which is exactly what I did) but the game is still too short. What the op says could have remedied this.
Last edited by popej; 30-10-2012 at 07:16 AM.
I believe the powers of Assassins are suggested to be induced by the whale oil, but I agree completely. The setting drastically outgrows the game. Even the technological advancements weren't delivered; you see rails on some streets, but you see an actual train only once, and a car only once... and it's stationary. But most of the time it might just as well be victorian era London as far as visuals and setting goes.
I think the narrative story was serviceable, but it didn't really offer any major surprises. I thought the voice acting was decent overall, however I didn't really feel certain key characters came alive that much. Both Havelock and Callista were pretty bland, and they needed to make much more of the Prince Regent early on in my view. I never really identified him as my enemy (despite his portrait seemingly being everywhere). They really needed him to be on the radio broadcasting pontificating to the citizenry ala Breen, so you could develop a real contempt for the man as you worked your way ever closer two him. I think that absence was in itself a bit of a lost opportunity.
I'd also say in terms of setting the game suffered from a lack of granularity. Things like the golden cat poster being absolutely everywhere and often in the most inappropriate places (as well as the aforementioned 'painting of the regent' ) really began to grate after a while. I'd rather have near empty rooms, than walk into what's supposed to be someones house and find that apparently before dying they decided to plaster the walls with the same 6 advertising posters for the only goods that are seemingly available in the empire (oh and whores). Same disconnect of 'why is this here exactly?' that pulled me out of Bioshock tbh. On the positives I at least finished Dishonored, same can't be said for Bioshock.
Last edited by Kadayi; 30-10-2012 at 10:23 PM.
Why yes you're right I'm deliciously evil
Tradition is the tyranny of dead men
Steam:Kadayi Origin: Kadayi GFWL: Kadayi
Probable Replicant
*blush* I'm flattered by the attention boys, but please let's not make the thread about liddle old me
Even the mighty Yahtzee thinks there is something wrong with the narrative of Dishonoured
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/arti...ilds-Character
Why can't you tell Pendleton that his brothers are not actually dead, they just... changed their occupation? It's those kind of things...
@ Kadayi
Good point on the the Regent, it's cliche to compare game design and storytelling to Half life 2, but its cliche for a reason; Valve really know how to wrangle a story into the constraints of a game format.
Also, I thought Piero's VA was the worst. He was just... weirdly... slow. For no... reason. He also had no emotion in his voice at all. I'd say the only character I liked for acting was Granny Rags.
Still thought it was the best game of the year by miles though.
Yeah; have player stand and listen while NPCs spout out exposition for minutes at a time. That's some innovative storytelling right there.
What Valve game is that, precisely?
People do say some funny, funny things.
Dude it took me 22 hours to beat the game on normal. The game adapts perfectly fine to your playstyle, so if you Call of Duty it and just rush for that marker (which is the 1st thing I turned OFF because fuck that shit) then the game is gonna be very short.
Last edited by ado; 31-10-2012 at 11:19 AM.
steam
http://dailycelluloid.blogspot.com/- where I write about movies.
I don't see whats so funny about that. He either doesn't know what exposition is or has never played a Valve game. Poor guy :/
steam
http://dailycelluloid.blogspot.com/- where I write about movies.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
