Dishonored, I coulda sworn there was a topic for this already... Options

[Tanegar]

I'm on the third mission (counting the prisonbreak as the first). So far, so good. Fun gameplay, good atmosphere. Yahtzee's right about the pacing, though: having to go back to the rebel hideout between missions kills it. Dishonored would have benefited enormously by ripping off the Arkham City model wholesale.

[nezumi]

I've also enjoyed it. The low-chaos (or no-kill) playthrough feels TOTALLY different from the kill everything playthrough, which gives it some nice replayability. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Bioshock.

[StealthSigma]

I've also enjoyed it. The low-chaos (or no-kill) playthrough feels TOTALLY different from the kill everything playthrough, which gives it some nice replayability. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Bioshock.

I just read the requirements for the no-kill playthrough. There's some annoying stuff in it. If an NPC you knock out dies, it ruins it. So rat swam, accidently hit them with a weapon, drop them in water. There goes your no kill. The one thing I did notice is that a lot of the rune and bone charm bonuses are pretty much useless in the no-kill scenario.

At least wolfhounds and rats can be killed.

[_Pax._]

I just read the requirements for the no-kill playthrough. There's some annoying stuff in it. If an NPC you knock out dies, it ruins it. So rat swam, accidently hit them with a weapon, drop them in water. There goes your no kill.

It's worse than that. Sleep-dart a guy at the top of a flight of stairs, and he falls badly? Dead.

The one thing I did notice is that a lot of the rune and bone charm bonuses are pretty much useless in the no-kill scenario.

Hmmm, many, but I would disagree with "a lot".

At least wolfhounds and rats can be killed.

And river krusts.

But not Weepers.

[Seriously Mike]

The chaos meter is broken. I totally plowed through the first two missions, then played another three carefully (although throwing unconscious Lady Boyle to the rats failed to elicit any reaction from them), then I totally plowed through the Flooded District, then I noticed that depending on how I played the penultimate mission the last one was either low chaos or high chaos.

[StealthSigma]

It's worse than that. Sleep-dart a guy at the top of a flight of stairs, and he falls badly? Dead.

Essentially, since all NPCs start out conscious, any NPC that is unconscious that is killed dings against your no-kill.

I've had to go back in save time because of stupid deaths that I didn't realize were going to happen. I had a dude stashed in an alley. No rats or anything. I later come back and find a dismembered corpse. Great! Not to mention, I've seen some unconscious bodies disappear after I've stashed them. How can I reasonably be expected to pilfer the shit out of a level if guys are disappearing and rat swarms are popping out of no where to eat unconscious bodies?

[nezumi]

Rat swarms are based on chaos, or location-specific. Playing through on no-kill, I didn't lose anyone to rat swarms, and never had to worry about it. It was only when I was playing high-chaos that random-spawning rat swarms became an issue. In fact, I never even saw a rat swarm attack a person except the scripted event towards the beginning.

The bodies do disappear after a bit (whether conscious or not). That scared the bejeebus out of me until I realized they don't count against you.

Dropping people such that they die is an issue, and yes, so is shooting people while they're leaning over ledges.

The charms isn't really an issue either. There's like twenty charms, and you can only use six. I was never wanting for charms. I was more upset about how useless powers and weapons are (which is why I played through again).

One issue I hit was changing your weapon quickslots. They don't give you any instructions on this, but I ended up with only deadly weapons available and no sleep darts. Hold down the middle mouse button and you get a wheel with all the weapons, where you can assign slot numbers to them.

One final issue for no-kill ...

[ Spoiler ]

Don't do ANY missions for Granny Rags. In late-game when you encounter her again, not killing counts as killing. That alone cost me the achievement.

[_Pax._]

Rat swarms are based on chaos, or location-specific. Playing through on no-kill, I didn't lose anyone to rat swarms, and never had to worry about it. It was only when I was playing high-chaos that random-spawning rat swarms became an issue. In fact, I never even saw a rat swarm attack a person except the scripted event towards the beginning.

There are some other scripted rat swarms that you may simply not have encountered. For one example: while infiltrating the Boyles' estate, theres an (abandoned) building where a rat swarm spawns as you go up the stairs. If you manage to avoid them, they go all the way to the first floor - and if you've left unconscious bodies there, out of sight but on the floor? Dead, dead, dead.

Also, you might (on your first time through the game) accidentally release the rat swarm in the pantry of that Doctor's house, the one Slackjaw sends you into. That .... ends messily. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The bodies do disappear after a bit (whether conscious or not). That scared the bejeebus out of me until I realized they don't count against you.

Yeah, once the computer figures they're in no possible danger, it'll despawn them to free up memory/processing/etc.

[nezumi]

I think the other part of my problem may be how slowly I move, scouting out how to knock each person out and so on. That results in enough time for the bodies to disappear. My kids hate watching me play in low-chaos because it's so boring for them (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[_Pax._]

HA.

Then, when it comes time for you to play the DLC, The Knife of Dunwall ...? They'll be in tears. Because those maps, are brutally challenging, whether you go High chaos or Low. ESPECIALLY if you try and ghost the level, while being thorough about Runes and Charms. Damn, it was hard upping my game to match the new challenge.

Daud's abilities are pretty frelling awesome, though. Full timestop while holding a Blink .... oh GODS yes ...

[Critias]

I got several missions in (the core game, no DLC yet), then just kind of petered out. Mrs. Crit liked watching because the game was so cool and creepy and cinematic, and then when she wasn't around I didn't play, and...yeah. Just haven't dusted it off in a while. I need to get back to it, I was having a pretty good time.

[_Pax._]

I think my favorite part of Dishonored is .... it's very alinear. There's always at least THREE ways into, out of, or through any given area. Usually more. And the developers, when confronted with playtesters doing unusual things that bypassed the known routes ... didn't say "crap we gotta prevent that". Instead, they said "awesome - where else can we make that trick useful?"

[Tanegar]

The chaos meter is broken. I totally plowed through the first two missions, then played another three carefully (although throwing unconscious Lady Boyle to the rats failed to elicit any reaction from them), then I totally plowed through the Flooded District, then I noticed that depending on how I played the penultimate mission the last one was either low chaos or high chaos.

I don't think the chaos mechanic is broken so much as badly designed. Or maybe just poorly thought-through, to the extent that that differs from "poorly designed."

To begin with, its factors are too simplistic. Killing anyone increases the amount of chaos, which makes no sense. Killing City Watchmen and Overseers should increase it, but killing criminals, assassins, and Weepers should reduce the amount of chaos. Killing rat swarms should reduce the amount of chaos a little bit, as you reduce the plague vector.

I also think the effects of the chaos level should be expanded somewhat. There should be more than just two endings, there should be at least four or five along a sliding scale of desirableness. High chaos should make the game easier (logically, fewer guards and lax security would simplify an assassin's work), but lead toward a progressively darker ending. Now the player has a real choice: do you want the easy path here and now, at the cost of damning Dunwall, or will you take the harder road to a bright future? As it stands, the "choice" isn't really a choice. High chaos makes the game harder and gives you the bad ending; why take that path, except on a throwaway playthrough just to see how it goes?

[nezumi]

Chaos is more of a game-balancing mechanic. Playing high-chaos is easier, so the game reacts by adding more guards and giving you a lesser ending. It's a lot like essence; it makes no sense, but helps keep the game balanced.

Does Knife of Dunwall also have a high/low chaos?

[_Pax._]

Does Knife of Dunwall also have a high/low chaos?

Yes. Though, it's only three missions, so I don't know how much effect it has in a cumulative sense.

[Tanegar]

So I picked up all the DLC in Steam's summer sale. I'm not sure if I lost my mojo, or if The Knife of Dunwall is just that brutal. In spite of only (deliberately) killing one person in the first mission (Rothwild himself), my mission stats came up with six guards and two civilians killed. I think I know where the guards died, but I cannot, for the very life of me, place the two civilians. The only people outside the plant are Watch officers and butchers, and the only people inside are butchers, Bundry Rothwild and Amelia Ames.

[Remnar]

I picked up this one in the Steam summer sale, sadly I cannot download it until next month (stupid download limits, in this day and age). Guess SRR will just have to keep me occupied in the mean time (not to worried about that).

[CanRay]

I rented the game awhile back.

I write for a dystopic future where megacorporations rule the world and "Human Resources" are sometimes labeled as "Foodstuffs"... And not always by Dragons, either!

After this game, I felt like I wrote children's stories!

[Remnar]

I rented the game awhile back.

I write for a dystopic future where megacorporations rule the world and "Human Resources" are sometimes labeled as "Foodstuffs"... And not always by Dragons, either!

After this game, I felt like I wrote children's stories!

Sounds like I'm going to like the atmosphere then, I like gritty and grimdark (in my games, less so for other media).

[CanRay]

The game I rented after this? SpecOps: The Line.

Not a good mental place for me to be. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[X-Kalibur]

The game I rented after this? SpecOps: The Line.

Not a good mental place for me to be. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

But it was such an amazing game!

[Mach_Ten]

I rented the game awhile back.

I write for a dystopic future where megacorporations rule the world and "Human Resources" are sometimes labeled as "Foodstuffs"... And not always by Dragons, either!

After this game, I felt like I wrote children's stories!

Awwwww lookit the cute ickle dwagon is nomming his trolly-bear (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

anyhoo, just about 60% through Dishonored and after a ropey start (not enough fingers for all the controls, I'm an arrow key person not a WASD)
I came back to it after a break and must say, I Love this game! ..

the atmospheric "ministry of truth" style propaganda and PA announcements along with footsteps in a neighbouring corridor that go with the assertion that if I'm spotted I'll be overrun by guards, and the 'Music Box' men ... scary as all hell !

[CanRay]

Not to mention the creepy heart you carry around with you like a security blanket!

[X-Kalibur]

Not to mention the creepy heart you carry around with you like a security blanket!

I can't wait for whatever twist is in store for me with the heart. It knows too much...

[CanRay]

I guessed what the heart was right off. Well, after about four or five statements. It's a little TOO obvious.