Shadowrun Shadowrun: Hong Kong Pre-Release Discussion [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Karwelas]

Is there anything about more interaction with objects and characters in game? And any formation thing BEFORE fight? It can be annoying when your team jest random run behind you into room even IF you know about enemy inside.

 

[SniperHF]

You aren't going to have formations but they have said you can enter turn based mode manually so you can position beforehand.

 

[veevoir]

>>>Chris Avellone for a mini-campaign
Chris is a really nice guy and we love his work but no "stunt" writers for us. We'll stick with McIntosh.

Fuck yes. HBS is pretty good when it comes to writing. Engine they are using is mediocre (gets the job done), but when it comes to writing - they have their own share of great folks (starting with Weisman, a man who single handed made the whole SR setting). MCA is not a food conservant, you don't need to add it everywhere.

Anyone know what the lisence situation is like for Shadowrun and Harebrained? Can they keep pumping out these campaigns as they develop them? Or is their license holder gonna revoke it or their contract run out at some point?

M$ owns it and is very stingy about it, even if the only time they used it was to create the abortion known as Shadowrun FPS.

HBS get licensed for a very specific use of the IP.

 

[SwiftCrack]

I agree, not every game needs MCA to be good.

 

[vorvek]

And any formation thing BEFORE fight? It can be annoying when your team jest random run behind you into room even IF you know about enemy inside.

$100,000 - Enhanced Player Controls! In addition to all the new Tech, Magic, Weapons, Consumables, Creatures, and Enemies we're already planning, if we reach our initial funding goal, we’ll add a bunch of interface upgrades. These include the ability to decide which team member picks up an item in free-move mode, item swapping between party members, a player-initiated turn-mode toggle so you can position your team before you enter combat, and a spread-range indicator for shotguns and sweeping melee attacks.

 

[Darth Roxor]

3.5k till foci

 

[Sykar]

3.5k till foci

I want astral space god dammit! Meta planes and initiation would be awesome sauce as well.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

The thing about 'saving the world' plots is, that it unfortunately seems to be the shit that most people want. Which relatively recent RPG did not have a plot where you kill the big baddie to save the world? The only one I can think of from the top of my head is actually Dragon Age 2 - I though it was one of the best aspects of that game. Players seemed to dislike that though ('muh no epic storyline!') - at least that is one of the things Bioware took away from the criticism of that game - and wrote another big epic save the world story for Inquisition. Reviews of Inquisition indeed frequently mention the 'large scale epic story' as a plus. Most people just want to be a hero and save the world, I guess.

I don't know how it is with most of those recent Kickstarter projects as I still have not played many of them, they probably have more freedom to try out new shit. Shadowruns setting really hands itself for a different kind of approach to plot and indeed arguably did so already. Even though both plots devolved into 'save the world' in late game, DMS started like a detective story with the motivation of vengenace/greed, DF was quite similar - vengenace and the need to save your own ass. The Shadowrun setting also prevents a kind of 'chosen one'/'special snoflake' narrative. I hope they come up with something good with Hong Kong.

 

[Akratus]

Because it's a shortcut for writing to make the player care. The more mundane the final resolution of the story, the harder you have to work at making the player invest in the story. Most videogame writers don't have the chops to do anything like 12 angry men in game form, for instance. And the extreme proliferation of clichéd stories means people are reluctant to accept new stories in terms of millions of sales, no matter how well written or critically jerked off.

 

[Sykar]

The thing about 'saving the world' plots is, that it unfortunately seems to be the shit that most people want. Which relatively recent RPG did not have a plot where you kill the big baddie to save the world? The only one I can think of from the top of my head is actually Dragon Age 2 - I though it was one of the best aspects of that game. Players seemed to dislike that though ('muh no epic storyline!') - at least that is one of the things Bioware took away from the criticism of that game - and wrote another big epic save the world story for Inquisition. Reviews of Inquisition indeed frequently mention the 'large scale epic story' as a plus. Most people just want to be a hero and save the world, I guess.

I don't know how it is with most of those recent Kickstarter projects as I still have not played many of them, they probably have more freedom to try out new shit. Shadowruns setting really hands itself for a different kind of approach to plot and indeed arguably did so already. Even though both plots devolved into 'save the world' in late game, DMS started like a detective story with the motivation of vengenace/greed, DF was quite similar - vengenace and the need to save your own ass. The Shadowrun setting also prevents a kind of 'chosen one'/'special snoflake' narrative. I hope they come up with something good with Hong Kong.

Other than that I can only remember PS:T not having a story line revolving around saving the world. It's quite frustrating that they have such limited imagination.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Because it's a shortcut for writing to make the player care. The more mundane the final resolution of the story, the harder you have to work at making the player invest in the story.

I agree but SR is a setting that would be perfect to try another approach and make it work.

As somebody already suggested, make it revolve around a big heist for example. Make all the other runs just around gathering information, help and resources for this one major awesome thing. Have a huge build up for it and then - PLOT TWIST - everything goes horribly wrong due to a betrayal. Second third of the game is damage control and trying to stay alive after everything has gone to shit. Final act is hunting down who betrayed you and kick his ass. Bonus: The one who betrayed you is a former team member. That makes it personal and dramatic. He can be the end boss. (Original idea, do not steal!)

 

[Akratus]

I'm not saying the big heroic premises are better or justified, in fact in some ways I despise them just like you. I'm just saying that game writers flee to it for lack of skill.

I agree but SR is a setting that would be perfect to try another approach and make it work.

I think this is part of the reason people railed, justly so, against the big bad bug plot of DMS that came out of left field.

 

[SausageInYourFace]

Other than that I can only remember PS:T not having a story line revolving around saving the world. It's quite frustrating that they have such limited imagination.

Yeah, but that is relatively far back in the day, thats why I said in recent years. If we go back far enough we could probably collect a few other titles.

 

[veevoir]

DMS certainly had the feels of "we wrote so much bombastic high-level fluff about the game universe it is a shame not to use it". But forcing overreaching arc of Very Important Stuff is bad and must go. Forever.

I want a story of Shadowrunners doing their thing, not "peasant stumbles upon Great Evil, collects +3 gear, vanquishes evil, gg".

On that note: DF: DC was way better on that - after all it is a story about getting revenge, though by accident you get to decide some important stuff. Felt much more natural.

 

[Abu Antar]

As expected, funding has slowed down but I think they will reach their next stretch goal today.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

I've already donated even though it looks like yet another "job leads to saving the world" scenario. I wish they'd make a Shadowrun game about just going for a huge heist with optional missions you can do that will affect the outcome, like the Aztechnology heist in DF but writ large. You could walk by the "evil plan to destroy the world" department, shrug, and go on to your actual objective.

This sounds fantastic. I'm on my second playthrough of Dragonfall at the moment, this time with the DC, and the idea of a heist, using each team member effectively, with prior choices taken into account, is my dream. The closest I've seen to this is Mass Effect 2's Suicide Mission.

 

[eXalted]

Okay, with one more stretch goal reached, I hope they reveal some of the next ones.

 

[Infinitron]

UPDATE: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong/posts/1110067

 

[SwiftCrack]

Bueno.

 

[vorvek]

Okay, with one more stretch goal reached, I hope they reveal some of the next ones.

At this rhythm they might just reach the revamped Matrix in ~10 days. I wouldn't expect anything too fancy afterwards, especially if they keep the stretch goals at 50k steps.

 

[agris]

maybe they'll introduce a real inventory stretch goal.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

maybe they'll introduce a real inventory stretch goal.

No thanks. I'd prefer emphasis on story and reactivity rather than looting shit.

 

[Bleed the Man]

No thanks. I'd prefer emphasis on story and reactivity rather than looting shit.

Although I agree with you that the focus should be in other things, I think a bit of an overhaul to the "inventory" would be nice. Nothing major, I don't think introducing in this campaing a full RPG inventory managament would be very beneficial, but improving the existent system would be pretty nice, as for now loot is largely irrelevant, and improving the items and the inventory a bit can make exploration a bit more relevant (among other things)

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Although I agree with you that the focus should be in other things, I think a bit of an overhaul to the "inventory" would be nice. Nothing major, I don't think introducing in this campaing a full RPG inventory managament would be very beneficial, but improving the existent system would be pretty nice, as for now loot is largely irrelevant, and improving the items and the inventory a bit can make exploration a bit more relevant (among other things)

Well I do think a little more micromanagement might actually be what the game needs, to make the core systems a little more complex. Maybe they can avoid loot syndrome by having it so you can do raids, heists, robberies etc and have to choose what to take. Yeah, I'm still going with this heist thing.

 

[agris]

For the pros and cons wrt to real inventory; I mean the ability to swap items amongst runners, the ability to chose armor and items for each runner, including the initial 100k stretch options. Crucially though, we need more gear options at a given power tier. Right now it's a simple matter of "pistol skill 7, no datajack" and you know which pistol to buy. There is a difference between smart/non-smart weapons but the itemization is shit and to me that speaks to the weakness of the inventory/loot system. They need multiple weapons that are competitive at a given power tier with different pros/cons, so that item choice is a part of gameplay. That's part of what I'm talking about when I say 'real inventory'.