Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong releases 8/20

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong releases 8/20

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Magni posted:

Two days until release and as a Kickstarter backer, I'd say let's celebrate with a little lottery!

Hooray for generosity! I'd love a shot at one of the HK codes.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2015 06:34

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 22:42

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Spaseman posted:

The release at at 10 AM PST tomorrow.

I really have no idea why they wouldn't just release at midnight like most games, unless they plan to have people on standby if any critical bugs are discovered right at launch.

10AM PST is the normal Steam release time.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2015 07:06

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Furism posted:

I would be somewhat surprised that Steam locks release time at 10AM PST for every game instead of allowing the publisher/developer to decide. I'm not saying what you're saying is wrong, but it sounds like a really stupid thing for Valve to do.

Oh, don't get me wrong, it's by no means universal. There are plenty of exceptions -- especially with bigger name games, which often have pre-loading available and a midnight release. Morning PST is just the standard time most games seem to release at, presumably because Valve is based in Washington. I have no idea what a developer/publisher needs to do in order to have a specific release time -- maybe it's something they can set freely but just choose not to, or maybe there's a cost associated?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2015 09:36

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Emong posted:

More importantly, does chi onslaught work with them?

It's Qi Onslaught now!

# ¿ Aug 20, 2015 18:37

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Skippy McPants posted:

You can use them for nuking, but they're never going to match a buffed Street Sam going hog wild with an assault rifle. Slot maybe one raw damage spell, and use everything else for buffs and control.

I went the other way in Dragonfall, with two buffs (aim and haste) and the rest damage spells, and my mage put out as much single target damage and way more AOE damage than any of my gun users ever did, while also doing serious AP damage. I never found much of a use for the pure control spells when the DPS/Control hybrid spells were so good.

Also, a significant advantage of Mages is that they ended up with a ton of points to spend freely because they only need to prioritize two trees for combat effectiveness, and the moderate INT requirement on their higher level spells didn't really change that..

# ¿ Aug 21, 2015 04:30

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

ProfessorCirno posted:

Some basic good investments I've found:

Spellcasting 2 (Cost: 3 karma) both opens up a wide array of conversation options as you can look at auras, and lets you buy a charm that sits in your item slot and grants a passive +1 Will.
Conjuring 1 (Cost: 1 karma!) Just like above, but the charm gives +1 charisma. Hard to beat unless you really need those items lots!
Cyberware 3 (Cost: 6 karma) it's a bit expensive at 6, but it gives you a full ESS point. Magic is capped at 6, so this is a free point of 'ware for any mages or adepts!

Spirit Summoning 3 (6 Karma) gives you a totem which grants a bonus ability, and there's a new line of totems which each provide a passive buff -- +1dmg/5% accuracy, +15 HP, +10% dodge, and +1armor/+1move. The last one is really nice for melee characters.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2015 14:06

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Rascyc posted:

Why do people care about a datajack on a mage? Without a deck or programs it seems pointless.

Because Decker and Mage are extremely complementary from a karma standpoint. Mage is the cheapest combat path and needs to invest points in INT anyway. The only major downside to Decker/Mage is the essence loss from installing a Datajack, but now you can make that go away for the low price six karma.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2015 17:36

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Hakkesshu posted:

It makes little sense to have cyberware spread across multiple weapon types though. Any other game would treat a whip as a melee weapon and it's frankly loving retarded that they pull a bait and switch like that and don't tell you about it beforehand. I really wanted to use the whip too.

It could be communicated better in character creation, but how does having a ranged cyberweapon not makes sense? There are already three different melee options to choose from, and you can only have one installed at a time. If anything, the problem is that there isn't an earlier ranged option.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2015 19:26

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

There's a new patch that fixes a bunch of stuff. You can sell the simsense chip now! All money problems solved.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 18:43

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Captain Oblivious posted:

It's pretty solid but you can basically do the same thing but better for as much or less Karma by going Cyberware Warrior.

In terms of general effectiveness, sure, but chi casting is tailored to melee characters and has more to offer them than cyberware does. In contrast, cyberware has a lot more to offer a ranged character than it does a melee one.

The strongest possible melee character is probably a cyber adept, though. You can do a lot with that essence buffer.

A mystic adept is also theoretically really powerful and quite economical, but I imagine the limited number of spell slots is really frustrating.

Sio fucked around with this message at 22:11 on Aug 26, 2015

# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 22:08

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Psion posted:

Part of the reason Glory in DF was so drat good was the adrenal pump. That thing was critical for smoothing over the early melee character blues. And you don't have one!

Throw three karma into Conjuring and you can self Haste, which is an excellent boost throughout most of the game. You'll even start with the spell if you do it at character creation.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2015 23:54

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Sniping effectively can be hard in DF because the encounters tend not to be very long range, but Eiger has a ton of HP and can afford to charge in close with her shotgun to start kneecapping people.

She's only really ineffective when she's sitting in mid-range, but you can fix that by loaning her an AR until she can pick up the custom one from her personal mission.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2015 12:52

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

sassassin posted:

Eiger was a poo poo version of my poorly-made rifle runner. 20% less accuracy and a bad attitude. No thanks.

Eiger is incredibly effective, it seems like you just didn't like her because she was mean to you on your first mission.

That or you don't bother casting Aim.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2015 13:21

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Cape Cod Crab Chip posted:

I'm not even sure I get the point of Pain Editor.

Trading a point of INT for a point of WIL can make sense for mages and adepts, since the point of WIL will be worth more karma than the point of INT.

The Pain Editor also allows a non-Dwarf Adept to get access to Qi Casting 10 and Martial Defense II, although only when combined with 6 cyber affinity, so that's very much an edge case.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2015 18:38

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

CharlieFoxtrot posted:

I don't know if I missed a tooltip somewhere, but say I'm at 5.5 essence. Is my spellcasting ability already affected? Can I get another .5 cyberware without affecting my spellcasting?

Yes to both questions. Your spellcasting is already affected because you are below 6 essence, but 5.5 essence and 5 essence functionally the same thing, so you are free to grab another .5 essence worth of cyberware.

Note that the .3 essence cyberware all seem to actually cost .25 essence, so you could fit two of those on your character without any additional decrease to your magic ability.

Depending on your build and how important your spells are to your character, you might want to throw points in cyber affinity to get your essence back to 6 or allow for additional cyberware.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2015 22:14

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Papercut posted:

Does essence affect Chi Casting/Willpower, or is it just mage spells?

It affects all magic equally. For every point of essence you drop below six, you lose a spell slot and gain an increased turn of cooldown on spells.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2015 00:06

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Khizan posted:

If you want to do a melee run, my advice is not to skimp on Quickness/Dodge during character creation; I just got absolutely wrecked until I decided to just start with a high dodge.

I would strongly advise against doing this as a melee adept, whether pure or cybered -- they don't have a lot of points to spare and Qi Casting already provides excellent defensive spells that make them more than durable enough to breeze through Hard.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 06:28

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Nasgate posted:

Sorry to interrupt bug chat, but I just finished Dragonfall.

And man, while the individual missions and gameplay aspects were more fun, DF is way less good than DMS in terms of main story imo.

There's no reason whatsoever for your MC to stick around after the intro mission. Your acquaintance that invited you on a milk run is dead and you didn't get paid. That crew either sucks or is in over it's head, so why would I want to run with them more?

I mean, yeah, if you choose the most distant options possible, it's going to be hard to find a motive to stick with any crew when things go bad, but that doesn't make for a very interesting story.

The game gives you ample opportunity to find a personal motive, though -- Monika implores you to lead the team if anything happens to her, and the very first conversation with Dietrich after your first run gives you the opportunity to establish that Monika and you were really close friends or even lovers.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 12:03

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Nasgate posted:

Good game writing is forcing you to go on a revenge vendetta because some dumb girl died? Oh wait now that she's dead you have history!

No my friend, that is bad writing. It would've been passable if Dietrich and you had the chat before that first mission, or if you went on an actual milk run before the botched job (which also be a better intro and tutorial)

You're not forced to go on a 'revenge vendetta' in Dragonfall. That's just one of several possible motivations for your character. Your ideas for extending the intro would needlessly complicate and derail what I found to be a pretty effective opening -- the game provided a lot of leeway for the player to fill in their past with Monika, and that worked really well for me precisely because she had such limited screen time.

If you haven't played HK yet, you might prefer the writing in it, since it gives you a pre-defined childhood, relationships with two of the game's major characters, and even basic character traits. Personally, I much preferred the writing in Dragonfall in that regard, where I felt like my character was much more my own creation than in HK.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2015 23:52

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Pingcode posted:

That was something I really appreciated about Shadowrun Hong Kong. You're not some blank slate replacement, you're Seattle. In your actions and responses to questions, you explore who Seattle is, and why they do what they do. If you weren't around, the story wouldn't work, because the story requires Seattle, and you are Seattle. Gunshow couldn't do your job. Nor can Gobbet or Is0bel. You're an important part of the story, not a bystander.

Conversely, this is something that really annoyed me about the HK story -- I really didn't want to play as Seattle in a game set in Hong Kong. gently caress Seattle! Seattle is boring. Where Dragonfall was perfectly willing to accommodate my desire to play a native German character, in HK I was forced back into the tired role of foreigner.

# ¿ Sep 3, 2015 02:10

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# ¿ May 3, 2024 22:42

Sio: Jan 20, 2007; better red than dead

Psion posted:

The way essence works when swapping cyberware is you don't lose it but you can't ever get it back.

Say you start with 6, and put in two 1 essence arms. You're down to 4.

Swap out those arms for 0.5 essence bioware. You're still at 4, not "back up" to 5 - but it remembers this even though you've only "used" one essence with your current cyber. That second point of essence is just sort of waiting in limbo - if you put in another 1 essence piece of cyberware, you stay at 4, you don't go down to 3.

the exception is the cyber affinity bonuses you can get, that actually straight up adds an essence point. Aside from that it still functions the same.

This doesn't seem to be true anymore as of HK. Lost essence will be restored if you switch to cheaper parts -- swapping 2 essence worth of Cyberarms out for 0.5 essence worth of Skillwires resulted in my essence rising from 1.5 to 3.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2015 11:25

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