Shadowrun Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition

[Dreaad]

Okay so I finally finished it. Don't have much time to play so it took me ages (I started it right when it came out). I finished pretty much everything except maybe 1-2 side quest (Raichu and the other dude ork quest).

I personally think it's the weakest of the three. My reasoning is thus :
- DF is the best overall experience for me, C&C (and there is not much in SR lets be honest), combat, etc. etc.
- The first one was weak, but it was a happy throwback, had nice ideas, was ''fresh'', etc. which SRHK doesn't have
- There is a lot of bad points regarding HK : new matrix, filler text, poor mapping, filler text, easy fights, filler text, weak mainquest sometimes, filler text, having to deal with Auntie instead of being a free shadowrunner, filler text, etc.

Overall it felt a damn chore to finish. Last time I had to ''chore'' the ending of a game, it was PoE. I didn't had that feeling with the first two ones.

One nice thing about filler text is that no one forces you to read it. Personally I enjoyed the over the top amount of text..... and please don't compare HK fairly subtle world building to PoEs information dump NPC's.

 

[Cadmus]

One nice thing about filler text is that no one forces you to read it.

That might be the most retarded thing I've read the whole week.
Damn, guess I should have known it was gonna be a filler shitpost and skipped it.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

I feel more like Cadmus : the problem with filler text is that they could have been non-filler text, i.e. interesting stuff. I could have use that info. I could have builded something from it. I could have... But I didn't. I guess if you enjoy reading it, then at least it's that much more fun for you (and I did enjoyed the story behind the Russian). That being said, I prefer my dialogue to have meaning either in the actual setting (more than just info-dump) or in the gameplay (being useable elsewhere, or giving me a different gaming experience depending on the choice, etc.).

And I'm not speaking of PoE, only of HK.

 

[Dreaad]

Fair enough. Personally I've 'played' through my fair share of visual novels, so reading for the sake of reading in a game doesn't bother me.

 

[Ivan]

Playing thru Dragonfall again (Director's Cut this time). Not as as good as I remembered. Hong Kong definitely has a slow start and some of the early runs are incredibly underwhelming (some feature only 1 combat encounter) but it features more exotic locations and has some good humor mixed in too:

Spoiler

:D

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Yeah some parts were good, like the restaurant. The only problem is that I thought the whole mission was a joke since it was so easy and so quick. That's one of the problem I have with all the series actually.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I personally think it's the weakest of the three. My reasoning is thus :
- DF is the best overall experience for me, C&C (and there is not much in SR lets be honest)

i like how you mention c&c as dergonfall's merit over ding dong when it's actually the latter that has any consequences whatsoever

but it's ok, you aren't the only one who uses that term as an imaginary meaningless buzzword

 

[Akratus]

To be fair, it's hard to judge c&c by one playthrough.

 

[Excidium II]

To be fair, it's hard to judge c&c by one playthrough.

Can just open the module in the editor and see it for good.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Just finished playing it and got the best ending:

The Good:
- I didn't know much about Hong Kong in Shadowrun, so this was a nice introduction to the lore in that section of the campaign world.
- Gobbet was pretty cool. I actually liked her sense of humor and background. She was also a useful hybrid character in combat.
- You do not get a whole lot of cash in game, so if you are playing a spellcaster or decker you really have to be careful about what you are going to purchase.
- I liked a certain vampire character that I met, and that I was able to bring her to my side.
- That said, there were a few missions where I was able to get through and succeed without firing a shot. This was most welcome.
- The pacing of the level increases is better than in DMS, so that mistake wasn't repeated.

The Bad:
- A lot of the other party members were annoying. Duncan was a constant whiner, Is0bel started ok but quickly became similar to Duncan in the whining and moaning department, Racter was just alright, and I can't speak about Gaichu since I popped a cap in his rear-end instead of taking a ghoul into my party.
- The main plot never really came together and too much seemed off to me. The triad members are talked about being ruthless and backstabbing, and Auntie seemed to be a master planner, but by the end of the game she doesn't seem all that intimidating and I got the sense my characters could have just packed up and walked away from her influence. I would have liked it more if she tried to entrap the party more and that I would have had options to try and get out of her thumb.
- I never had the connection to my new home like I felt when I played Dragonfall. In Dragonfall I felt responsible for the NPCs. Here, I found them to be mostly background noise.
- This is subjective, but I actually wished for more of the matrix. I figured an Asian scenario might be more about technology, and I really wanted to play an awesome decker in quests that allowed you to circumvent many challenges if you did well on matrix runs. Instead, decking is limited though very important to get through a small few sections of the game, though not important enough that you would want to play a decker as a main character. I started my first game as a decker, and felt useless for the first few missions before giving up and starting over with a mage. Is0bel is a fine enough decker to get through the game, and unlike the main character, she starts off with a grenade launcher that she is decent enough with.
- The dialogue maybe worse than DMS. Then again, I liked Harlequin in DMS and thought his end speech was a nice introduction to those uninitiated to what Shadowrun is all about.

So this may be the worst game of the three recent Shadowrun games. It's still a decent game, but some things just never came together. The threat never seemed all that intimidating, the triads lacked personality, and the party NPCs had plenty of personality but most of it fell on the side of annoying. On a plus side, it isn't a long game so it begins to wrap up around the point that it turns into a slog. I hope the Battletech game is better, though. Crossing my fingers.

 

[Ivan]

Racter felt like a lite-Torment character. Shame HK wasn't more ambitious with its companions.

As someone else said, Gaichu's story is badass but when you actually meet his team, the fight isn't that hard at all.

And I definitely dig how not all of the runs are combat gauntlets, Dragonfall seemed to force combat in most of its runs if I recall correctly.

 

[StaticSpine]

Racter>>>all other characters from all HBS SR games

 

[Starwars]

I can see how one might prefer Dragonfall to Hong Kong, but Dead Man's Switch? Come on...

 

[WhiteGuts]

I don't understand all this love for Racter. It feels like I've seen this character in countless games/movies/stuff. He's almost a stereotype of the mad scientist. I think Gaichu's story is far more interesting (his weakness is that he's actually very human, despite his affliction, I liked that).

- I never had the connection to my new home like I felt when I played Dragonfall. In Dragonfall I felt responsible for the NPCs. Here, I found them to be mostly background noise.

Yeah that's also very true. The Flux State felt more interesting too.

 

[Lord Andre]

I finally had some time to play the game and made it all the way to the end of the prosperity tower run. A few thoughts:

- The pacing seems really off to me, the start of the game is especially slow with all the exposition dumps.
- The missions you could finish without combat would've been better if there was more to do than just click-click-click your way to the end without any puzzles or challenges.
- The new matrix was not the improvement it was supposed to be, it wasn't fun to play, just something that got in the way.
- Missions in general seem less unique or original than Dragonfall's.

As NPCs go, Gaichu and Racter were well done, maybe even very well done. The others not so much.

 

[SwiftCrack]

I found Gaichu to be okay, but Racter was superb.

'Edgy', hell even psychopathic, but not in a lame way which is quite refreshing. Usually psychopath characters are written so one-dimensional that it makes Pong look 3D.

 

[StaticSpine]

I don't understand all this love for Racter

He's a Russkie!

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Really, though, the reason why Racter is being elevated is simply due to a fact that everything else is terribad.

 

[Dreaad]

I don't know I think there was a lot of improvements over DF. Armor doesn't grant you stats and so you aren't trapped looking like shit. Companion's skills are a lot more interesting. The stronghold 'feels' (yeah yeah I know) more lively. Some interesting missions that amount to more than just killing everyone. Less dramatic plot, no ruination of the world crap. Dialog seems less forced, more like you are just a shadowrunner not some superman holding together an entire chunk of a city. Drones, spells, implants and spirirts are far more interesting to use. More unique enemies. More unique items. Better XP pacing. Amazing art and atmosphere.

Plenty of strange problems too, like adding a action sequences into a turn based game. Only one or two really simple puzzles. Stronghold is a bit too large, requiring a lot of running around in circles after every mission. Still can't change companions gear. Easier than DMS and DF (mostly due to all the new skills). Same problem with etiquette skills, some are used a lot some aren't used at all. Is0bel is a pain in the ass.

Meh I was satisfied overall, still by far one of the better kickstarter projects.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I don't understand all this love for Racter. It feels like I've seen this character in countless games/movies/stuff. He's almost a stereotype of the mad scientist.

Yes and no. It's true that he's stereotypical to a degree, but I appreciated the fact that he's the "oldschool" stereotype of mad scientist the likes of Dr Frankenstein or Herbert West, and less like a chaotic stupid psycho Dr Mengele lookalike.

 

[V_K]

He didn't seem all that mad to me. Especially compared to, say, Aztechnology and their blood mages. Or even Vauclair.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

He also didn't strike me as a mad scientist, he's more of an oddjob with his own perception of reality and socipathic tendencies, there's little about what he does or says that would constitute labeling him as outright "mad"

 

[Darth Roxor]

that's cuz u fags are too used to popamole newfag definition of mad science

 

[Darth Roxor]

Or perhaps let me rephrase.

In another time, in another game, Racter would have probably become his own version of The Master from Fallout.

There, I said it.

 

[Mychkine]

Racter was a refreshing take on the mad scientist indeed. I like the comparaison to Frankenstein or Herbert Wert. The doctor Moreau could also fit the trope. Having such a character as a protagonist, with a sympathetic point of view is unusual. The classical sci-fi and fantasy litterature mad scientist is an underexploited archetype in video games. The fact that I liked the character design (writing, and gameplay-wise) is but the icing on the cake.