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Shadowrun Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition

Stormcrowfleet

Aeon & Star Interactive
Developer
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
1,020
I'm not finished yet, but can people tell me where I'm at in terms of % ? I just finished all the normal run I could do and I'm going to Dreamland.
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
Patron
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
18,651
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I'm not finished yet, but can people tell me where I'm at in terms of % ? I just finished all the normal run I could do and I'm going to Dreamland.
About 95% finished then. Just the super easy (again, compared to DF) boss fights left.

Edit wait, what's dreamland again? I could be wrong.
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
Patron
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
18,651
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
you will lament wanting a new engine because they'll make a cheap-ass 3D that'll look like Neverwinter nights and lose all the art style. The engine is fine, it only needs some fixes. It's the game that matters.
Inb4 Unity lel
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
About 95% finished then. Just the super easy (again, compared to DF) boss fights left.

Edit wait, what's dreamland again? I could be wrong.

Dreamland is when you visit Blitz's ex? girlfriend to get the stun gun, so more like 80% finished.

Still has Plastic-Face, Prosperity Tower, ASSIST and Fortune Engine
 

Jason Liang

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
8,337
Location
Crait
So did the writers give up on shadowrun lingo or is it because of the "we're actually speaking chinese" thing?

Not sure, but you are right, there is less use of standard Shadowrun neologisms like frag, geek, drek, chummer, jam, slot, etc... and instead the current English versions are used instead, particularly the verbs. Kindly Cheng for example swears in language more like Deadwood's Al Swearengen than SR2E's Sally Tsung.

So I guess you can kayfabe it to it being Cantonese. The shoot answer is probably that the game was rushed.
 
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Zetor

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
1,706
Location
Budapest, Hungary
Not sure, but you are right, there is less use of standard Shadowrun neologisms like frag, geek, drek, chummer, jam, slot, etc... and instead the current English versions are used instead, particularly the verbs. Kindly Cheng for example swears in language more like Deadwood's Al Swearengen than SR2E's Sally Tsung.

So I guess you can kayfabe it to it being Cantonese. The shoot answer is probably that the game was rushed.
It's due to the Cantonese thing. There is one conversation where it's specifically laid out: you talk to a guy from Seattle and he uses 'drek' and 'chummer' all the time.

No drek? Well, it's good to meet you, chummer.

{{GM}}The Seattle shadowslang sounds incredibly awkward when delivered in Cantonese, but he doesn't seem to notice.{{/GM}}
BTW, I'm fairly sure that shadowslang is mainly a Seattle thing... was it used much in Dragonfall?
 

Zarniwoop

TESTOSTERONIC As Fuck™
Patron
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Messages
18,651
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
It's due to the Cantonese thing. There is one conversation where it's specifically laid out: you talk to a guy from Seattle and he uses 'drek' and 'chummer' all the time.

BTW, I'm fairly sure that shadowslang is mainly a Seattle thing... was it used much in Dragonfall?

I seem to remember lots of drek and null sweat chummer and whatnot in Dragonfall. Not sure who said it though.
Dreamland is when you visit Blitz's ex? girlfriend to get the stun gun, so more like 80% finished.

Still has Plastic-Face, Prosperity Tower, ASSIST and Fortune Engine

Oh no if it's that it's more like 60% done.

Form Plastic Man it goes very quickly, but then so did the normal runs.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
Seems that beta patches have become a new trend:

Beta Release Notes 3.0.6

New Features, Improvements
  • Added trigger to check for Game difficulty
  • Added first time Jack into Matrix help popup
  • Added first time Hacking Blocker IC help popup
  • Updated Help slides to improve understanding of new Matrix Features
Core/Engine Bug Fixes
  • Rebalanced some Physical Adept spells
  • Resolved edge case issue that could cause save files from loading properly under specific conditions
  • Resolved issue that caused “last actor” triggers to lose reference upon save and load
  • Resolved issue that caused Drones to be loaned incorrectly
  • Resolved issue that caused Magnet Arm ability to activate incorrectly
  • Resolved issue that caused mission objective toasts to not appear if Karma screen was open
  • Resolved issue that caused some Cyberweapon abilities to have incorrect cooldown
  • Resolved issue that could lead to incorrect UI behaviour if Karma screen is opened with other UI active
  • Resolved issue that prevented Screen Labels from displaying in specific cases
Content Bug Fixes
  • Added Grenade Launchers to Heoi weapons shops
  • Rebalanced Prosperity Tower Matrix
  • Resolved issue that caused incorrect behavior after double crossing allies in the Whistleblower mission
  • Resolved issue that caused incorrect behavior in the Uninvited Guests mission
  • Resolved issue that caused incorrect hostile behavior in The Extraction mission
  • Resolved issue that caused merchant in the City of Death mission to sell you the clothes off his back
  • Resolved issue that caused Non-Lethal abilities to be counted as Lethal in Uninvited Guests mission
  • Resolved issue that caused Rat King’s body to disappear after death
  • Resolved issue that caused skill check to fail incorrectly in the City of Death mission
  • Resolved issue that could cause a mission objective in Assist mission to not complete under specific cases
  • Resolved issue that could cause incorrect camera behavior in the City of Death mission
  • Resolved issue that could cause incorrect endgame payout in some cases
  • Resolved issue that could cause players to be unable to summon an environmental spirit in the Bad Qi mission
  • Resolved issue that could cause some NPCs dialogue to not trigger
  • Resolved issue that could cause some NPCs to be staged incorrectly in Heoi in some cases
  • Resolved issue that could cause The Extraction mission to be starting in a bad state
  • Resolved issue that could lead to confusion in the Bad Qi mission
  • Resolved issue that could lead to incorrect behavior when loaning Drones to Racter
  • Resolved issue that could lead to incorrect hostile behavior in Prosperity Tower mission
  • Resolved issue that could prevent an NPC encounter in The Dig mission
  • Resolved issue that could trigger incorrect series of events in Deckcon 2056 mission
  • Resolved issue that prevented Is0bel’s grenade launcher from lighting people on fire if upgraded
  • Resolved issue that prevented Is0bel’s grenade launcher from stripping armor if upgraded
  • Resolved issue that prevented Optional Paydata from Deckcon 2056 from being sold
  • Resolved issue that prevented Pocket Clams from being used
  • Resolved minor animation issues
  • Minor grammar and typo fixes
  • Minor UI improvements and bug fixes


REPORTING BUGS
Before reporting a bug please read the known issues section of this post, if you are unable to find a bug listed that matches what you are experiencing then leave a comment in this thread. Include as many details about the bug including the steps you took to produce this bug.

Known Issues
  • Swapping Drones from one weapon slot to another while in freemove causes Drone to become unavailable
 

Mychkine

Educated
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
78
I've just finished the three Shadowrun games (last one was Dead Man's Switch, done in the Dragonfall SE engine).

While DMS is clearly inferior to both other games, I feel it more difficult to choose between the two latter games.

Dragonfall had a lot of good missions, including a few excellent ones, inculding the tense Astechnology run and excellent character missions. I've also liked the main quest narrative. The gameplay was also very effective, execpt some tedious matrix parts. All in one, I found in it one of the best RPG of 2014.

In constrast, Hong Kong feels weaker in all these aspects and should easily be coined as a step back from Dragonfall. However, I found that the writing (not the story itself, both were enjoyable) was a clear improvement from it. Especially, the games has two of my favorites evil NPC included in a RPG and the three others managed to capture my interest too.

The runs, while not extraordinary gameplay wise, are varied and are less streamlined than in Dragonfall too, with different way of dealing with the objectives and alternative outcomes.

So, while less polished than Dragonfall (dc) and with more glaring flaws, I think I will replay both games, testing different builds and different ways of dealing with the runs, and I hope HBS will make a fourth Shadowrun game, with the mission gameplay of Dragonfall, the writing of Hong Kong and some improvements to the non-mission parts, quite weak in both games.
 

Gord

Arcane
Joined
Feb 16, 2011
Messages
7,049
I'm not sure whether they mean that they added a general trigger for use in the editor, or whether they added one to the campaign, but esp. if it's the former that could be quite useful to do some more interesting stuff with difficulty levels than just changing accuracy.
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

I'm forever blowing
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
7,817
Well, so far I find Hong Kong to be quite boring and often lazily written (Duncan in particular feels phoned in and predictable). I really had higher hopes for a PC-only release, especially in terms of UI design and icon size. Still, I'm going to persevere because this is the only game short enough that I stand a chance of finishing it any time soon.
 

Ninjerk

Arcane
Joined
Jul 10, 2013
Messages
14,323
Well, so far I find Hong Kong to be quite boring and often lazily written (Duncan in particular feels phoned in and predictable). I really had higher hopes for a PC-only release, especially in terms of UI design and icon size. Still, I'm going to persevere because this is the only game short enough that I stand a chance of finishing it any time soon.
:greatjob:
 

StaticSpine

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
3,232
Location
Moscow
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Bros, can you remind me what's the difference between simple and smartlink weapons?

And also - will Gaichu appear on the ship?
 
Self-Ejected

Bubbles

I'm forever blowing
Joined
Aug 7, 2013
Messages
7,817
Just going through the very early "Serial Killer" mission is already giving me a headache. There's lines that are stylistically ugly like "The people on the streets may have seen or heard something [...] Please go see if they've seen or heard something!", and "Tong's body is a ruined mess. The destroyed ruin of his face...". There are also some phrases that just don't personally appeal to me, like describing a dead body as a "ruined carcass."

And then you have sentences like this one, and I'm quoting directly from the screen: "The abiding emotion the room is steeped in is one of perfunctory satisfaction, as if somebody had accomplished an important task." Style aside, that gives me the impression that they don't know what "perfunctory" means.

edit: And now there's "shoe-in" instead of "shoo-in". That's all just from 4 minutes' gameplay - these guys need an editor.
 
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Copper

Savant
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
Messages
469
Eh, still less stilted than the bulk of Eternity's descriptive text for my money.
 

gromit

Arcane
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
2,771
Location
Gentrification Station
And then you have sentences like this one, and I'm quoting directly from the screen: "The abiding emotion the room is steeped in is one of perfunctory satisfaction, as if somebody had accomplished an important task." Style aside, that gives me the impression that they don't know what "perfunctory" means.
Or abiding: one of those "possibly technically correct, but nobody would ever" uses.

Questionable prose is one thing... but for "writing fail" nothing will ever, ever top the opening of DMS, when the mad scientist shows up. He puts on a little show of being slightly more suspicious than Hitler carrying a giant Dollar-sign bag, and then shuffles off unmolested. I think there's a line or two about him being "slightly weird" after his borderline confession.
 

Zetor

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
1,706
Location
Budapest, Hungary
Hey, perfunctory satisfaction worked for Seneca!

Eh, still less stilted than the bulk of Eternity's descriptive text for my money.
Pretty much. They hired a lot of new writers for SRHK, and it shows... but I didn't particularly care, because the overall product was still very good compared to everything else on the market.

aside: Flowery/tryhard prose is a trap for bad game writers -- for an early example, try to make it through the dialogue of the Gorn King from Wiz7 without eye-rolling.
 
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DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
DeepOcean's Semi-review, there are no spoilers, I'm only using the spoiler tag for convenience:

Okay, did enough runs to get my first extra AP point. It is strange because I enjoy it and at same time don't enjoy it. From the runs I did so far, only Is0bel's personal mission I thought was entertaining and creative. I liked that most missions I played allow for a peaceful resolution, this is an improvement on design from Dragonfall where most missions would end on prolongued fights anyway, now you have the choice of go guns blazing or be discreet and avoid a plenty of fights, this option of allowing you to avoid fights on alot of missions is great but the problem is that I felt some missions are a bit bland storywise, Gobbet personal mission, for example, was a disappointment through and through because I like her character but her mission is pretty weak.

The missions started feeling alot similar with each other, without enough story behind them to keep them interesting and unique while an excessive amount of attention was given to the hub area, the backstory of the characters on Heoi are interesting but if they are mostly passive glorified vendors, those backstories are going to waste, no wonder most people feel the strong need of TL;DR, the game isn't going to do anything with those backstories, why waste time then? While there are excessive backstories on Heoi, some missions I can see... needed some more attention, whistleblower clunky stealth was a pain in the ass because sometimes I had no clue how enemies saw me and I kinda see four or so missions I did that are a kinda of a blur now and I'm still halfway through the game and having difficulties remember I did those missions that is how their stories were unremarkable, maybe the missions left are more interesting but if they follow the same pattern of the ones I did until now...

There is one major thing I think is holding HBS back and is the source of my frustration:
1)Their need to spell out things to you on maximum detail, this go from gameplay to story, they don't let you discover things, they have this need so bad of telling you things that they spoil their own story even before you can discover it for yourself.

Seriously, the story started strong, the setup was nice and things happened and you didn't have any fucking clue why but then their obcession with exposition go on overdrive and they just pretty much give you a ton of plot critical information on exposition dumps, this isn't the worst sin ever or a deal breaker but exposition dumps with plot critical information is a pretty weak way of telling a story. There was some information that a certain major character and your fixer gave you that should be material for a mission or two and not exposition dumps. The feeling I had is that I was really excited at the start then the story goes on exposition dump mode that associated with some missions with some generic shadowrun 101 plots, you aren't really doing anything interesting for hours.

This tell you EVERYTHING affects mission design too, you are never given open ended problems to solve, the solution is always given to you on a gold plate. I did say I liked the presense of non-combat solutions and I really do but if HBS did Fallout you would have something like: "(Optional) Show tape to the Master to convince him to blow up the cathedral.", the peaceful solutions were pretty obvious and it wasn't really hard to miss them.

About the characters, I like Isobel (mostly because of her silly mission), Gobbet and Gaichu, Racter and Duncan are really boring. Is0bel and Duncan were the ones that got the most of the "Bioware" treatment, Jesus Christ, when I learned Is0bel grown up on the Walled City, I was praying her mission wasn't her going inside and meet her family, if that was the case I would puke but fortunately her mission was fun, Duncan is the worst (only character that would fit on a Bioware game completely), Gobbet's dialog sometimes made me smile and Gaichu story is interesting, Racter is mostly TL;DR exposition that sometimes is interesting but can be excessive too. I really liked that, mechanicaly, there was a care into creating unique mechanics for each character, their special abilities make them unique not only on story but on combat too.

On the start of each run, the characters talk with each other about the mission they are going to do and depending of what character you bring, this dialog will be different and they will comment about things they see and you can ask their help alot of times, I kinda find amusing how Racter can use his autism on a CSI section on the serial killer mission for example.

Anyway, I'm enjoying my time mostly because I'm doing a melee cyberware monster and is fun to dismember fools with him and Gaichu. So far, there are things that inclined like the frequent non combat solutions and alot more of care was given to your companions with them interacting alot more but other things are the same or declined like the excessive exposition dumps and some missions that were a bit generic storywise to keep me interested. It is a somewhat meh experience so far, not fully entertained me but it's still entertaining enough to keep me playing but things could improve on the second half, I will see.
 

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