Shadowrun Shadowrun modules

[JohnTheRevelator]

I tried Nightmare Harvest and so far my impressions are exactly the same. So far it looks like we have to wait till they fix their save system before any truly good modules show up.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Jaesun]

 

[RK47]

Was wondering if there's any user made campaign recommended? I finished Dragonfall and did not really feel like replaying it.

 

[Nevill]

Have the same problem. Did some research, came up with this post.

So far I tried "From the Shadows" and was pretty disappointed with it. No tactical fights, the writing is a bit on a bad side, a few bugs and typos here and there, I guess the best thing about it was that it was pretty short. Took me about 3 hours to finish it, and I am a slow reader.

The only memorable moment was a fight on the bridge when your group of 5 NPCs and some fresh militia recruits were pitted against 20 to 30 enemy soldiers arriving in waves.

It does not bode well that it is one of the better (or at least most talked about) modules.

Still, I have high hopes for "A Stitch in Time" and "Antumbra Saga". The latter even got a re-release for DF: DC. We'll see how it turns out.

 

[Morkar Left]

Yeah, A Stitch in Time is my favourite.

 

[Sykar]

Ever imagined being forced to participated in Dragon Turd: Inquitardation in a BTL session?

 

[Tytus]

I hope that they will stay with this franchise for years as both previous games were great. Plus some fine mods and we have fun with some nice runs for a loong time.

About that. Are there any great mods for it yet? Or is still too little time for the modding community?

 

[Zetor]

I've heard good things about Antumbra, Stitch in Time, Nightmare Harvest. If you want to relive the Genesis 'open world' experience, Shadowrun Unlimited is great.

 

[Ulminati]

I played the start of Antumbra. It was pretty enh, but maybe it gets better later on. Shadowrun Unlimited is pretty 'k, but area design is so-so. I liked the ideas they had for the matrix and non-combat skills. I rather liked From the Shadows: Run. But the early parts seem to be bugged in Dragonfall. (Some hostile NPCs being neutral and unattackable while they wail on you). Part 3 is for Dragonfall, but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[eXalted]

I was recommending Antumbra because I heard some good things about it but now that I've played it... eerm

I'm on Act III and it seems promising but the first two acts were super boring for me.

-> Nightmare Harvest on the other side!

 

[Gord]

So I played a good part of Antumbra now.
One thing first: it definitely gets better later, but still, it's certainly nothing great.

Chapter 1 in particular is pretty basic - small, very linear levels, nothing much in terms of quests.
Best thing there is that you have some C&C (some simple multi-path approaches to one or two quests; you can choose whether to follow Mr Johnson's orders or change your allegiance) and that the end-fight has a small gimmick.

Chapter 2 looks as if he's getting more experienced with the editor, and levels get much bigger. Pointlessly big actually. Unfortunately they are also still linear and basically consist of a (too large, imo) number of simple fights lined up one after another. It also introduces the author's favourite cliché: The invincible villain that always manages to get away in the last second.
Honestly, it happens almost on every fucking map.
Some of the maps are aesthetically quite decent, at least.

Chapter 3 now at least is much meatier. It borrows from the classical hub design: You get tasked with building up a militia and have several smaller missions to complete in order to acquire some resources. As you do so, your hub gets increasingly more clutter to reflect this. More optional quests here, too. Game is still very combat focused, however, and levels stay linear, but a bit less so now.
Also, no reason not to do the optional missions, except maybe boredom.

Edit:
Chapter 3 has also well-done little puzzle in one mission.
The final mission has some interesting ideas, but gets a bit tedious. Very last part was the only one where I managed to get killed because I missed an important hint on what to do. After I got it the 2nd time, it turned out straight-forward.

Some general impressions:
While it's not much more than flavour dialogue, the mod recognises some of your choices in the earlier chapters.
Difficulty is much too easy. Certainly feels easier than DF.
Dunno if Kali, one of the major NPCs is canon, an old character of the authors PnP days, or simply made up for the mod, but anyway she could be introduced better.
You can become a rock star if you want. Earns you some additional bucks.
Writing is so-so. It's ok for the most part, but the author's penchant for letting villains slip away gets boring quickly.
Too many trash-mobs.
On the upside, the boss fights are more interesting, offering some unusual options or tactics.
Experience hand-out is ok, but a bit on the high side considering the length of the mod.
You really see the progress he made with the editor and his modding skills over the course of Antumbra.

I'm currently at the end of chapter 3. Don't know if there will be another one afterwards.

Edit: Finished now. Interesting tie-in with Shadowrun lore, someone with more knowledge about it than me will probably have seen it coming, though.
If he manages to continue improving the quality as he did over the course of the mod, next chapter and/or mod could be genuinely good.
As is, there's still a lot of room for improvements.

Final score:

 

[eXalted]

Yep, finished Act III and I'm with Gord

Act III is the strongest one apart from few annoying issues.

Playing a recently released (still unfinished) module right now - The Clean Fire.

Seems promising.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

So can I run A Stitch in Time in the DF-DC engine or will that cause problems?

 

[eXalted]

That's exactly what I'm playing right now. I play it in vanilla Shadowrun Returns. It's not recommended to play it in Dragonfall, because of differences in the scripting and battle system. If it runs without problems, the battle scenes may frustrate you as the cover system works different in the ttwo games so you can have some balance issues.

 

[almondblight]

That's exactly what I'm playing right now. I play it in vanilla Shadowrun Returns. It's not recommended to play it in Dragonfall, because of differences in the scripting and battle system. If it runs without problems, the battle scenes may frustrate you as the cover system works different in the ttwo games so you can have some balance issues.

Do the shop doors in act 2 open for you? They wouldn't for me when I tried it a few months ago.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Tried A Stitch in Time in SRR engine. At the beginning of the first mission Beefcake changes to beefcake_avatar and loses all his inventory as well as his abilities. Fucking mods man, I guess I'll just wait for Hong Kong.

 

[eXalted]

Do the shop doors in act 2 open for you? They wouldn't for me when I tried it a few months ago.

Hmm, I can't exactly remember this shop.

I am srill at the mission (the one with rhe bar at rhe rop left which counts the friendly casualities) where I have to defend that whore house. I guess I'm still not at Act II?

 

[SausageInYourFace]

So yeah, with the release of Hong Kong my Shadowrun needs grew restless but I wanted to wait with HK until the mini-campaign is released, so instead I tried A Stich in Time, which immediately ran into an annoying bug, which then led me to play Antumbra Saga - Dragonfall Version. I agree almost 100% with Gords impressions even though I come to a slightly different conclusion, so let me just add a few comments.

it definitely gets better later, but still, it's certainly nothing great.

certainly not. Actually, if this is really one of the best UGCs, it was probably my last.

Chapter 2 looks as if he's getting more experienced with the editor, and levels get much bigger. Pointlessly big actually. Unfortunately they are also still linear and basically consist of a (too large, imo) number of simple fights lined up one after another. (..) Too many trash-mobs. (..) On the upside, the boss fights are more interesting, offering some unusual options or tactics.

This. It seemed to annoy me much more than you though. Pointless fight after pointless fight after pointless fight. Its just trashmobs and largely empty battlefields and the combat often just goes on and on, really tiresome. Maybe my impression was worse cause I was playing on normal. Usually I'd play on hard but I didn't trust a UGC with that thing Sawyer was talking about the balance. The maps were less tedious in Chapter 3, however they brought a new element that annoyed me a great deal - enemy waves. Sometimes enemies would show up out of nowhere, often in unexpected places. If used right this can certainly make combat more interesting but in this case it made them just more annoying. Particularly because some of the battles just went on and on and on and then suddenly new enemies showed up out of nowhere and wrecked my puny little Rigger. Felt like turn-based Dragon Age 2 sometimes.

Also, I ran into more and more bugs as time went on and some of the battles were really prone to bug out on me during enemy and 'neutral' movement. Too much shit going on. The final battle bugged out on me during a scripted event. Since it went on for quite a while, I had to restart it (made me bite into my keyboard in anger). That being said, the final battle is very well designed (in theory, that is, if everything works) and probably one of the most interesting battles I have had in Shadowrun.

Chapter 3 now at least is much meatier. It borrows from the classical hub design: You get tasked with building up a militia and have several smaller missions to complete in order to acquire some resources. As you do so, your hub gets increasingly more clutter to reflect this. More optional quests here, too.

Yeah, chapter three is definitely the best part of the UGC and almost felt like a 'real game' instead of 'just' a UGC. Being able to pick those missions and chosing my team for the run gave me a nice Shadowrun vibe.

While it's not much more than flavour dialogue, the mod recognises some of your choices in the earlier chapters.
(..)
Writing is so-so. It's ok for the most part, but the author's penchant for letting villains slip away gets boring quickly.

Actually, the writing was probably what I enjoyed most about this UGC. Even though it was certainly amateurish, at least it gave me some memorable characters. Emperor Norton was super enjoyable and I enjoyed most of the runners too, particularly Orion. The other characters were mostly forgetable though. It was also fun that the runners would comment on the run, it made the runs feel a bit more dynamic and lively. The crew even engaged in party banter eventually, which was a nice surprise, even though the banter itself was weird sometimes (in the middle of a run, on the brink of death and bullets flying around your head, two of my crew started to discuss going shopping together to get some presents for their parents. wtf). Note however, that you could chose which runners to take on the missions, so there were probably different banter scripts depending on who you chose; neat. Nothing to complain really in the writing department, it wasn't exactly shakespearean but it was alright for a UGC.

You really see the progress he made with the editor and his modding skills over the course of Antumbra.
If he manages to continue improving the quality as he did over the course of the mod, next chapter and/or mod could be genuinely good.
As is, there's still a lot of room for improvements.

He definitely improved. I didn't expect much of a UGC, basically just wanted to indulge a bit in the SR setting and kill some time. Nonetheless, I expect a few basics, even from a UGC, and first and foremost that its playable. There were too many bugs here for my taste. Maybe I just was unlucky but I didn't have any of these problems with DF. Nothing gamebreaking, just shit that piles up and starts to annoy me eventually and maybe makes me see other stuff in a more negative light too. So as is it is, it was a pretty buggy experience with mostly tedious combat and mediocre writing. So..

Final score:

Personally, I am done with UGCs for a while, I appreciate the effort and some of the ideas but well intended sadly doesn't also mean well executed. Its just a bit too amateurish for my taste. For guys who are really suckers for SR and have nothing better to do I'd say go for it, maybe it'll be less buggy for you and plot and characters are alright enough for a SR session. Just make sure you quicksave often and have a cup of coffee ready for the longer fights.

 

[Gregz]

So as is it is, it was a pretty buggy experience ...



Personally, I am done with UGCs for a while, I appreciate the effort and some of the ideas but well intended sadly doesn't also mean well executed.

I gotta say I'm upset by this.

Not because of your reaction, but because of why it's happening. HBS are essentially selling mod packs at $20+ a pop. The reason we got Hong Kong so quickly is not because they are ace developers (they are) but because they have a fixed formula and it's well streamlined. Why would they give away their license to print money in the form of developer friendly mod tools? Answer: They wouldn't.

One of the original stretch goals was a modding suite, and I believe HBS delivered on that in name only. Everyone who has tried to use the mod tools say they are complete shit, hamstrung, and functionally unusable. In the mean-time HBS are making money hand-over-fist having monopolized building mods (not games) on their engine (which was paid for by the community, not them). They make Kickstarter money up front, as well as from steam purchases for their mods (not games) after completion.

There are some very very talented modders out there, but if they are hamstrung with intentionally obfuscated or underdeveloped mod tools then they are defeated before they can start.

This is a really shady Microsoft-esque business model, monopolizing their (our?) platform and keeping the keys in their pocket, but everyone around here thinks HBS can do no wrong, so no one is talking about it.

 

[Immortal]

I gotta say I'm upset by this.

Not because of your reaction, but because of why it's happening. HBS are essentially selling mod packs at $20+ a pop. The reason we got Hong Kong so quickly is not because they are ace developers (they are) but because they have a fixed formula and it's well streamlined. Why would they give away their license to print money in the form of developer friendly mod tools? Answer: They wouldn't.

One of the original stretch goals was a modding suite, and I believe HBS delivered on that in name only. Everyone who has tried to use the mod tools say they are complete shit, hamstrung, and functionally unusable. In the mean-time HBS are making money hand-over-fist having monopolized building mods (not games) on their engine (which was paid for by the community, not them). They make Kickstarter money up front, as well as from steam purchases for their mods (not games) after completion.

There are some very very talented modders out there, but if they are hamstrung with intentionally obfuscated or underdeveloped mod tools then they are defeated before they can start.

This is a really shady Microsoft-esque business model, monopolizing their (our?) platform and keeping the keys in their pocket, but everyone around here thinks HBS can do no wrong, so no one is talking about it.

I think this is getting a little deep into Tin Foil Hat Territory.. although your also dead on in some of your points. HBS is definitely making money hand over fist. Hong Kong is like 12 Missions long.. some of them are really short. Same Spells, Same Creatures.. Same Plot Devices.

They added a few new models, a new matrix.. annnd... a new matrix and made a 17 hour campaign..? That costed over a million dollars?
I feel bad for shitting on Tim Cain for blowing through 200 000 dollars to make the Player Garrison. They have this KS thing down to a science and fans of Shadow Run are so hard up for content - we gobble it up gleefully.

~~~However

The tools are not as hamstrung as your saying (Well they are.. but I don't think it's a conspiracy). I don't think they are intentionally trying to keep the user base down by releasing crappy tools. I think the crappy editor is just programmer laziness / ineptitude..
I think the way objects are grouped and your clicking and dragging crap and rotating it piece by piece without trying to tear your hair out and the lack of real time rendering or lighting.. is actually how they do it.
That might explain why it takes a million dollars for 18 hours of content. Their level designers must be recruited from the local Buddhist temple because they have mastered a patience I can only dream of.

It's fucking weak..
And before anyone says "Why don't you do something better?"
Google "Nox Map Editor".. we didn't even have the source code and we made something easier to use.

 

[Gord]

I think this is getting a little deep into Tin Foil Hat Territory.. although your also dead on in some of your points. HBS is definitely making money hand over fist. Hong Kong is like 12 Missions long.. some of them are really short. Same Spells, Same Creatures.. Same Plot Devices.

They added a few new models, a new matrix.. annnd... a new matrix and made a 17 hour campaign..? That costed over a million dollars?
I feel bad for shitting on Tim Cain for blowing through 200 000 dollars to make the Player Garrison. They have this KS thing down to a science and fans of Shadow Run are so hard up for content - we gobble it up gleefully.

If you really want a deep and complex rpg, you'd be looking at a much longer development time and much higher costs, though.
Considering what they have delivered, the time and money they invested is absolutely reasonable.
And then consider that while kickstarter brought them some moneyz, it also means that a significant portion of your potential buyers might already own the game once its out - and payed less for it than someone D1P-ing it, so that money comes with some strings attached.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Well, it is of course always possible that I just had bad karma, after all, Gord and eXalted didn't seem to complain about any bugs, so I wonder what they are thinking?

To go into a little more detail, the bug I ran into most of the time (and thus was most rage inducing) was a situation in which I was basically unable to click on anything for longer periods of time. Sometimes after a while it would be possible again, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes it would let me click again after I ended the turn (which meant giving away a full turn just because of that issue). This happend way too often and really had a negatve impact on the gameplay-flow. Anyone else experiencing this? Not sure what exactly triggered the issue though. Other bugs were relatively minor (eg. a borked scripted event and neutral NPCs not triggering to act). Dunno whether other UGCs are bug ridden or not.

 

[Gord]

I definitely did encounter some bugs, but I don't remember too many specifics about them.

Party banter was somewhat wonky for me as well, they had a tendency to pop up at strange times and/or seemed to come from nowhere.
The hanging bug you are describing might have to do with something HBS introduced in one of the last patches to DF:DC. I think the author (or maybe the author of another UGC) commented on it in the forums somewhere.
Other than that I don't think I had too many issues with the mod.

 

[Immortal]

If you really want a deep and complex rpg, you'd be looking at a much longer development time and much higher costs, though.
Considering what they have delivered, the time and money they invested is absolutely reasonable.
And then consider that while kickstarter brought them some moneyz, it also means that a significant portion of your potential buyers might already own the game once its out - and payed less for it than one D1P-ing it, so that money comes with some strings attached.

For a million dollars I would expect more content.

#1,836,447 Was the final budget for SRR - to do what? Make an entire game from scratch Assets / Models / Animation an entire fucking engine, spells, and a 25ish hour campaign (albeit somewhat mediocre)

$1,204,726 Was the budget for Hong Kong. We get huge chunks of reused assets / character abilities / spells / animations. The Engine is already done.. The Campaign was shorter too..

You don't see something wrong here? Common Gord.. Your smart.. let go of the fanboyism and just compare these two kickstarters..

Where did all the money go? New Spirit Models? Voice Over?

Well, it is of course always possible that I just had bad karma, after all, Gord and eXalted didn't seem to complain about any bugs, so I wonder what they are thinking?

To go into a little more detail, the bug I ran into most of the time (and thus was most rage inducing) was a situation in which I was basically unable to click on anything for longer periods of time. Sometimes after a while it would be possible again, sometimes it wouldn't. Sometimes it would let me click again after I ended the turn (which meant giving away a full turn just because of that issue). This happend way too often and really had a negatve impact on the gameplay-flow. Anyone else experiencing this? Not sure what exactly triggered the issue though. Other bugs were relatively minor (eg. a borked scripted event and neutral NPCs not triggering to act). Dunno whether other UGCs are bug ridden or not.

I know you have me on ignore - but I had a game breaking bug in prosperity tower and couldn't continue without restarting the mission. (The doors weren't clickable from the lab)