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dkirschner's Dishonored (360)
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| [November 25, 2012 07:42:18 AM]
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Enjoyed Dishonored even though it just took a weekend to play through. I had read about how short it was, but really I thought the length was fine for it. I *thought* it was ending just before the big twist, and if it had ended then I would have felt let down. I didn't see the twist coming per se, but I felt that something was off just before. Things felt eerie. My feeling was right! Then there are like 2 more missions after that. And with all the different paths and ways to complete missions, there really is some good replay value. I'm borrowing it so I won't replay it, but I think my friend will when I give it back to him. There are various different endings depending on your 'chaos' level, whether you cause no chaos by being very stealthy and not killing enemies or being detected, versus causing high chaos by killing everyone. In my case, I tried to be reasonably restrained in my dealings, but I usually ended up blowing my cover and having to fight off waves of enemies who all alert one another. There was a loading screen tip that said "Not all fights have to end in a bloodbath!" implying you can zip away to cover, but my fights always ended up in bloodbaths, even if I didn't mean for them to.
Overall, I felt the game was more Bioshock than anything, other comparisons being Elder Scrolls games and Deus Ex. You upgrade your dark powers with runes that you search for throughout levels and enhance minor things (healing potions heal a little more, crossbow bolts don't break, etc.) with bone charms that you also find hidden. The abilities were pretty cool, and I tried all but two. The staple is blink, which is a short range teleport (upgradable to long range, which is super handy). The UI for blink was pretty annoying though. You're supposed to hold LT and then move this light orb cursor thing with LS to blink wherever it's hovering. You can either blink on top of a surface or to the ledge, and Corvo will climb up. It was a *pain in the ass* to try and get that stupid cursor positioned properly so I could blink to tougher places. Usually this problem was when I wanted to blink vertically. Your blink is also supposed to be enhanced with the enhanced jumping power. Jump, then blink, to get more distance, but it hardly works. The cursor just won't move over ledges. At first I thought it was just a distance issue, like it couldn't go that far, but sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. Very frustrating precisely because it's such a useful ability.
A couple others I used a lot were the x-ray vision or whatever that lets you see enemies and their sight cones through walls. This was really important, and would be especially if you're trying to be stealthy. The two that caught my attention immediately, and from previews, were possession and rat swarm. You can possess rats, dogs, and people. Possessing rats lets you crawl through ducts and reach hard-to-get-to places, sneak up on people, and so on. Spawning a rat swarm is *awesome.* Rats appear and just murder enemies. Then they devour the corpses. It's sick! And now I want to go watch Willard.
I think the best part of the game is the setting. The city of Dunwall is a cesspool of plague, rats, and terrible people. They did a good job writing and presenting the city's story, including several of the inhabitants, social structure, religious orders, businesses, and places of interest. It's all falling apart, and you spend the game wading through the mess assassinating people. There is no morality. Everything is just shades of gray, and all the villains plead for their lives. Everyone seems to make confessions, or to be able to tell right from wrong on some guilt-ridden level, but they all become corrupt and power-hungry. Corvo is no exception. Actually the only two people in the game I would call good are the little girl Emily and the boatsman, Samuel. Both their lives are ultimately in your hands. You make a lot of choices throughout the game that have outcomes both while playing and for the ending you get. I both saved and killed Emily, and I killed Samuel, who was being a jerk to me all of a sudden. No one had treated me negatively for killing a lot of people every level (I always spared bosses and people in extra objectives when I could though). Samuel especially was my #1 fan. Then as he dropped me off on my last mission, he yelled at me and said he never wanted to see me again! I have no idea why he turned on me, but I killed him for it, so he was dead in my ending.
The game's worth sinking some time into. It won't take forever, and it's crammed full of thoughtful opportunities for play.
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dkirschner's Dishonored (360)
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Current Status: Finished playing
GameLog started on: Friday 23 November, 2012
GameLog closed on: Sunday 25 November, 2012 |
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