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Shadowrun: Hong Kong |OT| Little Trouble in Big China

HK-47

Oh, bitch bitch bitch.
Hmmm.... I'm at the point where Auntie Cheng has located the masked man and I've been warned to finish up my outstanding jobs before proceeding. I've cleared the side missions for Is0bel, Gobbet, and Gaichu. I got the achievements for Gaichu and Gobbet. I don't have the achievement for Is0bel, and when I ask her further about the Walled City the dialogue tree is empty. Racter also has no more dialogue options, but he hasn't given me his side mission yet. I still have like 3 outstanding jobs on my computer. Gonna do one of those next. I hope there isn't some scripting bug I ran into...

Well I got locked out of is0bel's mission so it can happen. Ill just do it when the mini campaign comes out I guess.
 

Fjordson

Member
Holy shit, the serial killer mission was incredible. I love all the non-combat solutions in this, feels like there are even more than in Dragonfall. Also, Racter is proving to be an awesome character. His input during missions has been great.

Also (serial killer mission spoilers)
I managed to expose the Whampoan elders and recruit Gaichu. His whole reveal and setup was dope
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Holy shit, the serial killer mission was incredible. I love all the non-combat solutions in this, feels like there are even more than in Dragonfall. Also, Racter is proving to be an awesome character. His input during missions has been great.

Also (serial killer mission spoilers)
I managed to expose the Whampoan elders and recruit Gaichu. His whole reveal and setup was dope

Can you remember all the
evidence you found? I could bring enough of a case against the elders and had to dispose of them.
 

Fjordson

Member
Can you remember all the
evidence you found? I could bring enough of a case against the elders and had to dispose of them.

major serial killer mission spoilers
-I had Gobbet analyze the astral plane or whatever at one of the murder scenes which showed that the Elder wasn't scared when he died. He died quick, without fear or torture. Showing that the horrific crime scenes were just for show to send a message.
-Magpie's missing equipment in her store
-Magpie's necklace in the storm drain
-Dried blood in Magpie's bathtub
-Bad blood between Magpie and the other Elders before she disappeared. Think I mostly got that from the conversations with Zippy

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Also picked up the info about how the Whampoan Elders let the police in to try and kill off Gaichu when they usually turn the police away. Think I got that from talking to the gang in the parking garage

I did the first half of the mission Thursday night, so hopefully I'm not forgetting anything
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Thanks, i couldn't
get into her store.
 

duckroll

Member
major serial killer mission spoilers
-I had Gobbet analyze the astral plane or whatever at one of the murder scenes which showed that the Elder wasn't scared when he died. He died quick, without fear or torture. Showing that the horrific crime scenes were just for show to send a message.
-Magpie's missing equipment in her store
-Magpie's necklace in the storm drain
-Dried blood in Magpie's bathtub
-Bad blood between Magpie and the other Elders before she disappeared. Think I mostly got that from the conversations with Zippy

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Also picked up the info about how the Whampoan Elders let the police in to try and kill off Gaichu when they usually turn the police away. Think I got that from talking to the gang in the parking garage

I did the first half of the mission Thursday night, so hopefully I'm not forgetting anything

Hmmmm.... I think I got all of that but...

In the end the guy said that Gaichu might have a case, but he's still a murderer so he has to die. Seemed like I didn't have enough evidence to completely convince him, so I still ended up having to kill all the elders and him. :/

The only location I remember not having full access to investigate was the gang parking lot. I didn't want to engage in a fight with them, so I just let it be. I also didn't return to the sewer gang after checking out her store to verify if they were the ones who stole the goods. Not sure if I can even do that, but it seemed like a possibility...
 

pahamrick

Member
Hmmmm.... I think I got all of that but...

In the end the guy said that Gaichu might have a case, but he's still a murderer so he has to die. Seemed like I didn't have enough evidence to completely convince him, so I still ended up having to kill all the elders and him. :/

The only location I remember not having full access to investigate was the gang parking lot. I didn't want to engage in a fight with them, so I just let it be. I also didn't return to the sewer gang after checking out her store to verify if they were the ones who stole the goods. Not sure if I can even do that, but it seemed like a possibility...

RE: Gang

I passed a speech check with the leader of the Gang and they let me explore the garage, which leads you to finding a piece of Gaichu's armor that was shot off during the fight with the police, it's a key piece of evidence.
 

Fjordson

Member
Hmmmm.... I think I got all of that but...

In the end the guy said that Gaichu might have a case, but he's still a murderer so he has to die. Seemed like I didn't have enough evidence to completely convince him, so I still ended up having to kill all the elders and him. :/

The only location I remember not having full access to investigate was the gang parking lot. I didn't want to engage in a fight with them, so I just let it be. I also didn't return to the sewer gang after checking out her store to verify if they were the ones who stole the goods. Not sure if I can even do that, but it seemed like a possibility...
I actually didn't get past the gang in the garage either, but it somehow still let me do both at the end.

I'm probably missing some piece of evidence I got, but the above is all I can think of. I know Gobbet helped analyze the one crime scene showing that the Elder wasn't tortured when he died, also think Racter helped analyze one of the other crime scenes. But I can't quite remember what he found.
 

Linkark07

Banned
Finally finished the game. Really liked it, and I'm glad I backed it. Shame on the bugs though, some of them were annoying. Hopefully they will be fixed when the mini campaign goes live.

Like some have said, the soundtrack of this game is the best one so far. Can't wait for more Shadowrun.
 

Vaporak

Member
Just finished the campaign and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the average mission design is even better than DragonFall, and I liked the team this time just as much as in DragonFall. I'd say that the main story, especially pacing wise, is better in DragonFall though. Excellent game for such a quick development time though, I can't wait to see what's next for the team.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Man, unarmed sucks hot ass.

Anyone having luck being melee?
 

Corsick

Member
Man, unarmed sucks hot ass.

Anyone having luck being melee?

I tried as an Adept and I felt horribly mediocre and worst of all, constantly exposed to tons of damage. I just made another character after beating the game to try melee as a street samurai using cyberware and it's better but still taking way too much damage. I feel like I have to micromanage melee characters far too much. I'd rather just have another class/archetype to be quite honest. Melee is a liability imo. The team makes you work and not the other way around.
 

duckroll

Member
Man, unarmed sucks hot ass.

Anyone having luck being melee?

I'm playing an unarmed troll fighter. Doesn't suck ass at all. Put all my points into Body, Cyberware, Strength, and Close Combat. I got a few levels of Unarmed too, but I didn't really use it at all so I stopped putting anything into that field. Razors + tons of Body and Strength = Glory++++++

First thing you probably want to do if you're doing melee is make sure you have the best armor which Shen is selling at any given time. Having tons of armor helps when you're going to run up to enemies and take shit at point blank range. Also, if you see any mages who could potentially cast "break armor", kill them ASAP before they can do it!
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I'm doing raw unarmed, knuckles, no cyberware.
 

duckroll

Member
Pure unarmed sounds bad. I mean, it doesn't even sound like it's supposed to be viable. Are you planning on at least supporting it with other stuff? Like, magic on the side, adept skills, maybe summoning or whatever?
 

hoggert

Member
Raw unarmed kinda sucks. Go the buffed chi route if you don't want to do melee or cyber or, even thou it requires some AP before you can run in and really go ham.

The number of bugs I've run into so far (25 hours in) is insane. I don't think I'll be preordering another HBS game or buying at launch again. Some of the shit is so easily reproducible (try hacking with neutral characters around) and unavoidable it's maddening. I've missed a ton of dialogue with party members too, ugh.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Pure unarmed sounds bad. I mean, it doesn't even sound like it's supposed to be viable. Are you planning on at least supporting it with other stuff? Like, magic on the side, adept skills, maybe summoning or whatever?

Well it's Adept + Unarmed.

The problem with the Adept stuff is that the buffs eat a turn, and this is on top of having to move in, whereas Isobel is just raining death from afar with her grenade launcher. I don't get why I can't just go supersaiyan at the start of a fight.
 

hoggert

Member
Well it's Adept + Unarmed.

The problem with the Adept stuff is that the buffs eat a turn, and this is on top of having to move in, whereas Isobel is just raining death from afar with her grenade launcher. I don't get why I can't just go supersaiyan at the start of a fight.

Join the Chrome Future chummer
 
Man, unarmed sucks hot ass.

Anyone having luck being melee?

Cyberware Samurais are unbeatable. Lots of health and strength means they cut through enemies quickly, take minor damage overall, and can go through whole missions without needing medkits. With Gobbet buffing them they're quite formidable.

The real magic of cyberware comes in late-game. It's strainght-up OP. You'll annihilate an enemy a turn and shrug off everything but crits due to your crazy HP, huge armour piercing damage, and sheer capacity to crit. There isn't a single enemy in the game that can survive three turns against one, and you'll never face enough sheer numbers to ever bother them either. (On hard)
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Sorry but that goes against my character's moral code of spiritual and physical purity.

(So I guess need to cyber...)
 

duckroll

Member
I haven't tried this myself, but if you're really going for no-cyber physical adept unarmed, maybe consider putting points into quickness/dodge as well? Might be spreading yourself thin on karma there though...
 
Wait, isn't Phys Adept magic-based? Cyberware would cripple them, then.

And yeah, if you're melee at least a token investment into dodge is necessary. It will do a lot to mitigate damage, especially early on. Or at least I think it does. Once your Body gets high enough the need to avoid attacks really fades, and it becomes more of a puzzle to go from cover to beside the enemy as quickly as possible. And by that point cover is unecessary for the rest of the battle.
 

Kenai

Member
Hmmmm.... I think I got all of that but...

In the end the guy said that Gaichu might have a case, but he's still a murderer so he has to die. Seemed like I didn't have enough evidence to completely convince him, so I still ended up having to kill all the elders and him. :/

The only location I remember not having full access to investigate was the gang parking lot. I didn't want to engage in a fight with them, so I just let it be. I also didn't return to the sewer gang after checking out her store to verify if they were the ones who stole the goods. Not sure if I can even do that, but it seemed like a possibility...

They are kind of annoying to kill if you can't pass the speech check but the evidence back there is crucial. His armor being knocked off there proves that the Elders let the cops know he was there and to suit up special rounds just for him. It also makes the cop guy realize that the Elders let the gang members stay there because they didn't want people snooping around afterwards

The main checks are:

-astral check in murder scene (use Gobbet if PC can't)

-necklace in sewer (talk to the gang + zippy should bring up the option to talk to Rainbow in the arcade for the key)

-Mock's shop sweep to confirm that certain things were stolen and the death was different (get the key from Elders after you confirm from Zippy that the necklace is hers)

-armor piece (talk past or kill the Reds gang in the garage (I think Socialite is the speech check))
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
All these throwing weapon related implants makes me want to make a weapon throw toon...
 

Mephala

Member
I had a pretty rough time with physical adept early on. It isn't unmanageable but I felt that some of the other options would have made things a lot easier. It gets a little better once you get the two 0 AP skills (one grants cover bonus and the other is an attack) as well as the ability which combines both Stride & Killing Hands. Just don't expect to be as capable as Gaichu in melee combat.

Edit. For the trial section I seem to remember that there was a line saying that it didn't make sense to let the
police in voluntarily. I think Gaichu tells you they were prepared and called in to ambushed him there while the Elders claimed that they went in there searching for someone themselves. I remember asking the elders about the police earlier but at the time it felt like a deadend.
 
I actually didn't get past the gang in the garage either, but it somehow still let me do both at the end.

I'm probably missing some piece of evidence I got, but the above is all I can think of. I know Gobbet helped analyze the one crime scene showing that the Elder wasn't tortured when he died, also think Racter helped analyze one of the other crime scenes. But I can't quite remember what he found.

Racter is able to analyze the crime scene and the cause of death on the corpse. Gaichu killed his victims with precise blows to the neck.
 

duckroll

Member
The Suprathyroid bioware gives +1 to all physical attributes.Which are those? All the main core stats? They really need to invest in better UI for these games...
 

Talyn

Member
The Suprathyroid bioware gives +1 to all physical attributes.Which are those? All the main core stats? They really need to invest in better UI for these games...
Body, Strength and Quickness are the physical stats. Int, Willpower and Charisma are mental. (Yes, I had the Suprathyroid bioware as well, those are the 3 stats it boosts.)
 

kiyoaki

Member
I finished the game yesterday at about 30 hours playtime. Some unsorted impressions below.

Hong Kong's character design and mission variety are its biggest strengths. The cast is overall a bit stronger than Dragonfall's - even the optional characters were designed with a lot of love and integrated into the mission design, with lots of custom dialog and skill checks. I ended up liking those characters best who, going into the game, looked the most boring. Especially Racter,
whose story turned out to be even darker than Gaichu's
, and Duncan. Is0bel's personal mission was the best. The NPCs were also more interesting than Dragonfall's.

Graphically and as regards the soundtrack, this is the best game in the series so far. The isometric backgrounds and the character portraits were just as beautiful in Dragonfall, but the Matrix looks a lot better in Hong Kong, and I personally find the scenario more interesting than Berlin. In Hong Kong, the city and how it shapes the characters
and the plot
is really at the heart of the game.

Hong Kong has a lot of text, which is where I feel the pacing issues stem from. I went into the game like Dragonfall and made the rounds after each mission, talking to every character and NPC, but it was just too much talking. So I limited myself to two characters and two NPCs in between runs, which felt just about right - the snippets of the main plot you are fed throughout the game (
Raymond, the Walled City and the Yama kings
), the characters' individual story arcs and the missions balanced out nicely. I even ended up not getting
Gobbet's individual mission - I talked only rarely to her and never took her on runs, because her skills overlapped so much with my mage's.
Something to look forward to for my second run.

The final stage and the ending (I got the
Good Fortune
one) felt satisfying, though less dramatic than Dragonfall's.

My biggest gripe is the lack of difficulty. They abolished Very Hard mode and made Hard about as tough as Dragonfall's Normal. I did a non-combat centric build and breezed through most of the game. Having high charisma and the right etiquettes helped a lot with that, but excepting one mission (
Whistleblower, where I blew my cover two steps onto the ship, LOL
) the fights were simply too easy and the AI too weak, so I never got close to having my team wiped out. There are so many fun combat tactics the game offers you, but too little incentive to really make use of them all. The final boss fight felt kind of anti-climactic because of this. I really hope the high-karma campaign gives us something meatier.

I was probably lucky in that I didn't run into many technical issues. I had no gamebreaking bugs and never got locked out of anything. Even so, it was pretty clear that the game could have used two more weeks of polishing. I hope they work all the kinks out until the audio commentary releases, which is when I will begin my second playthrough.

Overall, Hong Kong was one of the best, most fun games I've played this year. Not a huge step forward for the series, but a very welcome addition and a great, original story and setting in its own right. I hope HBS keeps at it, since there's still a lot of room for improvement, and so much of the Shadowrun universe left to explore.

Did anybody else save up
the mummy talisman for
the final boss fight? I did and even
put some points into summoning just so I could use it, LOL. Of course it ended up looking absolutely pathetic next to The Queen With A Thousand Teeth.
I really need to get over my item-hoarding habit.
 

Talyn

Member
Suprathyroid is a god-tier piece of cyberware, for the price and essence cost.
Most of the bioware is pretty good. I know I rocked dual muscle augmentation and enhanced articulation in Dragonfall for a total of +2 Strength, +4 Quickness, +2 Dodge. I would have done the same in HK had I had the Nuyen for it. One thing I do find frustrating about these games is the way they slowly dole out access to better gear. I get that they don't want you to just skip right to the best weapon/armour but with cyberware, I always hold off until the alphaware/bioware is released near the end of the game because there's just no reason to waste Nuyen/essence on inferior cyberware.
 

duckroll

Member
Bioware has been great ever since they introduced it in Dragonfall DC, but pretty expensive. Was less of a problem for Dragonfall because you started rolling in cash by late mid-game. Not so here. Lol.

I just finished the Plastic-face Man mission, and I wish there was a dialogue option for something I deliberately did.
I chose to ambush him when he was with his mistress, but i also specifically handled it such that I got her unconscious, and then had Duncan tie her up to subdue her from the fight in a non-lethal way, before I took out the security. While interrogating the guy later, he makes some comment about how I had no regard for metahuman lives. There should have been a flag for whether you killed her or not, for a response there. Maybe make him more helpful immediately if you tell him that you didn't kill her? Would have been nice. :p
 
In theory, any exotic offense build should be viable eventually---just a matter of how hard it makes you rely on team members. An unarmed, non-Adept would work at least as an All-In Custom Troll....same sort of deal probably with a Throwing specialist as an Elf.

I mean, neither of these are probably the savviest of moves for a first playthrough as you'd have to skip out on misc other things to make sure you reach the maximum level(or at least skill cap) for Unarmed/Throwing/etc ASAP while having just enough Body and the like to weather damage and/or actually hit targets.

They really do need to keep patching and polishing the UI though---especially with the mini-campaign due in some months. That said, if we don't get a new Shadowrun KS campaign in 2016---I'd totally be fine with a Hong Kong: International Cut just because.
 

JC Sera

Member
Bioware has been great ever since they introduced it in Dragonfall DC, but pretty expensive. Was less of a problem for Dragonfall because you started rolling in cash by late mid-game. Not so here. Lol.

I just finished the Plastic-face Man mission, and I wish there was a dialogue option for something I deliberately did.
I chose to ambush him when he was with his mistress, but i also specifically handled it such that I got her unconscious, and then had Duncan tie her up to subdue her from the fight in a non-lethal way, before I took out the security. While interrogating the guy later, he makes some comment about how I had no regard for metahuman lives. There should have been a flag for whether you killed her or not, for a response there. Maybe make him more helpful immediately if you tell him that you didn't kill her? Would have been nice. :p
same thing happened to me
also saved the
mummy
for the
2nd form
final boss

was a good meat shield for the troops to recuperate
 

duckroll

Member
Doing Prosperity Tower with a character who exclusively has points poured into Body, Cyberware, Strength, Close Combat, and Unarmed = ROFLMAO. :(
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Doing Prosperity Tower with a character who exclusively has points poured into Body, Cyberware, Strength, Close Combat, and Unarmed = ROFLMAO. :(

Isobel is a champ there. Always
blitzing the jackpoint to save Duncan, Racter and I.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Is Prosperity Tower
a shootout no matter what you do? How can you finish it peacefully? And what is the code to the containment room?
 

Mephala

Member
Is Prosperity Tower
a shootout no matter what you do? How can you finish it peacefully? And what is the code to the containment room?

I managed to do everything up to the final room without a major shootout and any alarms. I can't remember what the room code is but I got I think I got it from the marketing/finance floor's decking section. I answered
"Here to see Mr Johnson" to the receptionist.

Edit. Actually, I seem to remember the
talkative scientist
giving me the a code for the room.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
I found the code on the internet but
how the hell do you not trip the alarms? I was getting bumrushed every floor. Do you absolutely need a super high charisma?

70% chance to hit: Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss
84% chance to hit: Miss, Miss, Hit
99% chance to hit: Miss, Hit, Miss

Fuck unarmed. There's some hidden penalty here I know it.
 
There's probably something amiss with accuracy period---though I don't understand how that could even become a thing with this being campaign #3 now. Maybe it is the same fuzzy solution that plagues the new XCOM(unless you turn on Aiming Angles?)?
 

Mephala

Member
I found the code on the internet but
how the hell do you not trip the alarms? I was getting bumrushed every floor. Do you absolutely need a super high charisma?

70% chance to hit: Miss, Miss, Miss, Miss
84% chance to hit: Miss, Miss, Hit
99% chance to hit: Miss, Hit, Miss

Fuck unarmed. There's some hidden penalty here I know it.

I have decent charisma. I think I had 2 etiquette unlocked which helped. I think I had to spend money to bribe someone somewhere too. I spent ages in this mission, trying a lot of the different dialogue and choices. I reloaded often. The containment area was easily the toughest for me.

Those chances are about the same as my experience. I ended up with a couple of points in pistols - major regret as I did little damage and missed just as often. I was expecting to get rushed though so I stocked up on -AP grenades.
 
There's probably something amiss with accuracy period---though I don't understand how that could even become a thing with this being campaign #3 now. Maybe it is the same fuzzy solution that plagues the new XCOM(unless you turn on Aiming Angles?)?

XCOM RNG estimates are 100% accurate, as confirmed by so, SO many tests. Simple observation bias; you're more inclined to remember the handful of misses at 95 percent than you are all of the hits at 40% that balances it out.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
My Adept is the only one who ever takes any damage, lol. Everyone on my squad is just dumping their medkits onto her.
 

duckroll

Member
So many people died in the tower by my hand. By the end of it all, the final response team just shrugged and let me leave. Got an achievement for it! Loool.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Oh right, where is the
blackmail
in Prosperity Tower?

Finished the game. Blitzed through it and skipped half the missions because I wasn't feeling the adept, but I'm going to replay it on Hard and then get through everything I think.

Never finished Gobbet and Racter's side quests.
 
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