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Shadowrun Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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In the first half. Then it goes to complete shit. Dragonfall sustains a pretty cool germanic-anarchic feel throughout, even if it never reaches the coolness of DMS' start.

I'm actually kind of missing the germanic-anarchic feel in DC. I loved the gratuitous German, and I appreciate underused linguistic and culutral refferences (Germany really gets the shaft in this regard compared to various other cultures). Eiger is one of the coolest takes on "brawn Hilda" valkyre stereotype (she's a SMART brawn hilda sniper with a deadpan snarker attide and is a Prussian militarist rather than a germanic barbarian, also skinny for a Troll, which makes her a very interesting militarist), Glory is actually a fine hansel & grethel / childern of the ZOO station emigrant and gloomy sickly germanic depressive type and Deitrich is an industrial punk Shaman (and deffinitelly the coolest German character in games ever, and one of the cooler ones in any media). I kinda feel like they downlpayed Germany in DC and it lessens the exoticness. i'm not even German, but it was really a high time Berlin showed up in one form or another in a videogame.

I disagree completely :)

The reason Dragonfall works so well is that they don't overplay the German themes so they become camp. The cultural characteristics of Berlin are pretty grounded considering the fantastical nature of the game.
 

Lujo

Augur
Joined
Mar 3, 2014
Messages
242
In the first half. Then it goes to complete shit. Dragonfall sustains a pretty cool germanic-anarchic feel throughout, even if it never reaches the coolness of DMS' start.

I'm actually kind of missing the germanic-anarchic feel in DC. I loved the gratuitous German, and I appreciate underused linguistic and culutral refferences (Germany really gets the shaft in this regard compared to various other cultures). Eiger is one of the coolest takes on "brawn Hilda" valkyre stereotype (she's a SMART brawn hilda sniper with a deadpan snarker attide and is a Prussian militarist rather than a germanic barbarian, also skinny for a Troll, which makes her a very interesting militarist), Glory is actually a fine hansel & grethel / childern of the ZOO station emigrant and gloomy sickly germanic depressive type and Deitrich is an industrial punk Shaman (and deffinitelly the coolest German character in games ever, and one of the cooler ones in any media). I kinda feel like they downlpayed Germany in DC and it lessens the exoticness. i'm not even German, but it was really a high time Berlin showed up in one form or another in a videogame.

I disagree completely :)

The reason Dragonfall works so well is that they don't overplay the German themes so they become camp. The cultural characteristics of Berlin are pretty grounded considering the fantastical nature of the game.

I ment the DC content - lack of berlin/germany flavor in missions besides the Glory one (at least somewhat)contribute to those bits feeling more generic than the other parts, and then the understated flavoring in other parts tends to dissipate precisely because it's nicely understated. It kind of breaks immersion a bit TBH. Lack of germany/berlin/F-state specific flavor often means lack of connectedness to the immediate surroundings and overhead setting plotlines/backdrop, and if you don't have enough (and most of the DC missions really don't) it doesn't feel right.

There's allready a bit of a problem with the structure leaving you with a largeish pause between figuring out you need alice to find out what's going on for you and really getting involved with the main quest line again with all the different jobs and stuff, having the whole midgame also have parts so divorced from the setting is actually quite bad.

Compare the gunari mission, the sewers mission, the humanis mission, heck even the aztechnology mission with azzies as scary aliens - they're all grounded and dependent on accepting the setting (and the APEX mission also has a fair bit of playing with germany), while the new missions could kinda be happening anywehre - which not only clashes and missplays the setting it also makes the characters involved feel more generic.

I'm not saying someone shoulda slapped Bavaria in there and have beer and sausages and Okroberfest, but the way DC missions were flavoured works against the game.
 
Last edited:

GarfunkeL

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Insert clever insult here
It is. It's fucking crazy and it's been like that since DMS. The spell that goes in your weapon slot is actually a ranged weapon not a spell.

Hmmm that sucks. I wonder if the decker's plain attack inside the matrix works the same way.
I'm pretty sure that's incorrect. According to the item file, powerbolt should be governed by willpower/spellcasting, not ranged combat:

Code:
id: "Berlin_Spell Powerbolt 4"
type: ItemType_AttackSpell
uirep {
  icon: "icon_powerbolt4"
  name: "Powerbolt IV"
  description: "The most basic spell every mage knows and always has ready."
}
anim_type: AnimType_Spell
coreAttribute: Attribute_Willpower
coreSkill: Skill_Spellcasting
...
vs
Code:
id: "Pi 3 Ruger Super Warhawk"
type: ItemType_Pistol
uirep {
  icon: "icon_gun_rugersuperwarhawk"
  name: "Ruger Super Warhawk"
  description: "A modern revolver that gives increased damage but less combat options."
}
equipPrefabName: "RevolverPistol"
anim_type: AnimType_Pistol
coreAttribute: Attribute_Quickness
coreSkill: Skill_RangedCombat
coreSpecialization: Specialization_RC_Pistol
...

The matrix attack uses a special function to calculate tohit/damage; I think it's related to int, decking, and the type of deck you're using. I definitely noticed it hitting harder when I upgraded to an excalibur from a virtuax.
Hmmm, now I wonder if they changed it for Dragonfall because I clearly remember from DMS that I had trouble with the graveyard mission and my powerbolt wasn't hitting anyone, then I raised quickness and my THC got slightly better. Perhaps I'm misremembering the whole thing.
 
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Their universe is awful too, like all space operas with alien planets.
Far better than medieval fairy tales.
Disagree, because at least those fairy tales don't have a bunch of planets that have conveniently ascended into monocultures by the time they're able to interact with other planets.

That's what's happening on Earth though. In New York City you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6 and in Beijing you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
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That's what's happening on Earth though. In New York City you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6 and in Beijing you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6.
Sorry, this is cherry picking.
 

dryan

Arcane
Joined
Jan 14, 2014
Messages
1,443
t. The only thing that annoyed me was that from the five new missions, only on two you play with more than two runners, a full team always bring more combat options and those missions the combat felt simplistic because you couldn't have a full team.

No kidding, Blitz's mission was annoying as hell because of that.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Yeah, those missions provide story context and little else. Blitz' and Glory's missions are p. cool actually, but it sucks that they're not full team missions. also Eiger's mission sucks. Three rooms some combat and some really shallow dialogue.
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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In your face
Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
Why do you people insist on bringiing the same team on every run? I thought the runs I had so far (the first one for the Lodge, the small mission for the arms dealer and Bliitz' mission) were particularly interesting because I could not bring everybody and/or had to deal with a completely new team- and they made a really good job of emphasizing the dangers or working with strangers. In the Lodge run it might have been a little too obvious that it was supposed to backfire real hard (which is why I initially declined, but then went through with it anyway, cause I don't want to miss out on the content, even though it does not really make sense for my character, but what the hell). But in Blitz' mission I was on the edge throughout, it was really well done in giving you this sense of danger and that something is up and you are trying to figure it out before its too late. The last conversation was therefore pretty intense because I didn't want to do anything wrong.
 

WhiteGuts

Arcane
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May 3, 2013
Messages
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I second that. I'll also add that it's a welcome change of pace.

PS : I knew from the get-go that the Meat Grinder had sold me out. Being placed on the "shoot on sight" list just 20 minutes before my arrival is a dead giveaway.

Although I kinda doubted Blitz when he said the "accountant" wanted to kill me, thinking he only said that because he wanted the black box.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
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Nov 8, 2012
Messages
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Why do you people insist on bringiing the same team on every run?
Did the Blitz mission with my adept, lack of healing, haste and aim buff from Dietritch coupled with enemies focus firing on my character made the whole thing annoying while my rifle guy only hid behind cover and I left clicked on everyone to death, not exactly an interesting mission combat wise. Glory and Eiger missions are even worse on this regard being a complete boring cakewalk in terms of combat even if storywise they are interesting. I had lots of fun with the combat on the Loose Ends, MK IV and Bloodline mission and just wanted more of that on the new missions, something that didn't happen.

The Lodge mission was fun too because it wasn't only two characters, the mage and the dwarf while being weak are still useful as fuck. I see no reason why Morgan Freeman assassin on Blitz mission couldn't have a hireling or two to make a more complex combat situation. I'm not a fan of "You are restricted here for storyfag reasons and not even good storyfag reason." or "Let's make this fight tough by removing tactical options from you."
 
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PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Serpent in the Staglands Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
That's what's happening on Earth though. In New York City you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6 and in Beijing you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6.
Sorry, this is cherry picking.

Doesn't change the fact that there's a fast accelerating trend of everyone wearing the same clothes, consuming the same entertainments, having the same type of government, and increasingly, speaking the same languages.
 

dryan

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DalekFlay

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New Vegas
That's what's happening on Earth though. In New York City you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6 and in Beijing you have a mass of youth eagerly anticipating the launch of the Iphone 6.
Sorry, this is cherry picking.

Doesn't change the fact that there's a fast accelerating trend of everyone wearing the same clothes, consuming the same entertainments, having the same type of government, and increasingly, speaking the same languages.

Well get used to it, no turning back now even if people wanted to. Whole world is going to be a melting pot sooner or later, crazy war zones excluded.
 

tuluse

Arcane
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
bussinrounds

The cRPG is not based on any edition, but took what they thought were the best ideas from each (then made kind of crappier because of budget and time limitations).
 

bussinrounds

Augur
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
473
bussinrounds

The cRPG is not based on any edition, but took what they thought were the best ideas from each (then made kind of crappier because of budget and time limitations).
Ok...but the editions ? Was I correct about 2nd being regarded as the best, or is this just gonna spark a SR version of edition wars ?
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shadowrun_books

Which was the best ed. ? Wasn't it 2nd ? Which one is the new SR games based on ?

I like having some of the source books and looking shit up, when I'm playing a crpg set in that world.
I heard awful things about 4th edition and the best published adventures are for 3rd edition. Unfortuantely I don't have the luck of having a group to play and test out. Anyway, if you are interested on shadowrun, read Harlequin, Harlequin's back and Brainscanners adventures and cry how you never going to see so much awesome silliness and cyberpunk camp on a computer game form ever.:negative:
 

SuicideBunny

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Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Torment: Tides of Numenera
3rd one was ok, at least in german translation (for some reason sr books make a habit of being fucking messes and partially self-contradictory, which tends to get clarified and fixed by the translators).
 

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