For a second there I thought you typed "chungus"
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Shadowrun: Hong Kong |OT| Little Trouble in Big China
- Thread starter cj_iwakura
- Start date
Auntie Cheng would like a word with you, drek. Something about having Mr. Bao showing you a favourite collection of his.
Nah you know all you need to know about Kindly from your briefings with her.
I really don't think spending a lot more time reading than doing anything else is a pacing issue. That's just the type of game it is. So far (13 hours in) I still love it. Mission variety is great and the overall story remains intriguing.
I agree with this though. Having the text flush to the right doesn't really give you anything over the traditional central placing, and it makes it annoying to read on large monitors.
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/shadowrun_dragonfall_dc_storefront
Dragonfall is 70% off <$5
Dragonfall is 70% off <$5
Thanks for the heads up, might have to jump in at that price.
You guys think they'll be a Hong Kong directors cut somewhere down the line?
Not sure, but there is an expansion stretchgoal that was passed.
LurkerPrime
Member
I wouldn't count on it. Dragonfall was really well received and shackled to the mediocre Shadowrun Returns, which Harebrained probably figured was hamstringing peoples' interest in the series. So they used Dragonfall's critical acclaim as an excuse to remaster it into its own game, improving everything around it and improving the game's regard even further. Fortunately for them, it worked as intended.
By comparison, Hong Kong's reception has been a lot cooler. Their engine hasn't improved much, the story isn't as fulfilling, and, most critically, the minicamaign is waiting to resolve some dangling (minor) story threads, which gives it this constant feeling of "what could have been," even though the minicampaign probably won't change much at all. Dragonfall's popularity took some time to gain traction, but I don't see Hong Kong matching it--whenever someone thinks to mention Shadowrun games, Dragonfall will always be first on their mind.
Director's Cut or not, Harebrained has to overhaul the engine for the next game. Mercenary development is great, but they've really gotta aim higher now that RPGs (in general) are flowing good and free in the marketplace. Their writing talent alone won't be enough to stave off a lukewarm reception; I think Hong Kong is proof enough of this.
codswallop
Member
Well, after all the trouble I'd had earlier with the
, I restarted the mission, this time with is0bel. And I managed to
. Insanely easy when you have a novahot decker and not my wannabe character.
ASIST mission matrix section
disconnect Raymond in three turns
harriet the spy
Member
finished the game last night. I had so much trouble with the endgames of Returns and Dragonfall, I kept the game at normal difficulty. But between HK being quite a bit easier than returns and DF, and street samourai being horribly unbalanced, I don't think the last boss lasted more than two turns. And all its attacks missed, which means I literally suffered zero damage in that fight. Embarrassing 
I was reading the wiki for DF last night, and discovered there was an ending (and god what an ending!) for
. SR lore gets silly at times (when it tries to be too grandiose), but still, that's pretty fun writing for a CRPG
I was reading the wiki for DF last night, and discovered there was an ending (and god what an ending!) for
collaborating with Vauclair
I think the main problem with Hong Kong is that its story is undercooked. It feels like an expansion pack playing at being a sequel, and sort of failing at both. It's not bad. It simply needed way more time in the oven.
codswallop
Member
I think the whole game feels rushed, not just the story. The cinematics are too few and far between, and too short. There's a ton of typos and it bugs out way more than either of the other two (having my character load in their T-pose half the time is just embarrassing). And yeah, the story and sidequests I think need more polish.
Definitely pushed out to meet the deadline they advertised in the Kickstarter, for better and worse.
Definitely pushed out to meet the deadline they advertised in the Kickstarter, for better and worse.
cj_iwakura
Member
Look at it this way, even a flawed HBC game is still way above most RPGs.
hrm...
I'm not too phased.
Ill just finish my replay of the original, and I'm sure a few of these things will be ironed out before too long.
codswallop
Member
Aaaand finished. I still think it felt a little rushed, and I had a few minor troubles with it, but overall I enjoyed it. If I'd not played Dragonfall and gone straight from Returns to this, I'd have said it was killer. But, it just felt like another lap of Dragonfall, but not quite as polished. In isolation, I did enjoy the mission variety and missions themselves, and there were a few good characters (Gobbet was my favourite, I found Is0bel and Duncan a bit dull, Cheng was a more memorable fixer for me than the Dragonfall dude).
Probably unfair to compare a polished Director's Cut against an original release, but that's what I'm doing.
Dragonfall > Hong Kong > Returns.
Probably unfair to compare a polished Director's Cut against an original release, but that's what I'm doing.
Dragonfall > Hong Kong > Returns.
It's a good game. Personally I expected it to be better than Dragonfall, but only the matrix is better. Otherwise I preferred Dragonfall in plot and characters, outside of the russian rigger. He's extremely interesting.
Don't worry too much about it. There's plenty to love in Hong Kong, and some of the issues (e.g. scripting errors) have already been addressed through patches.
Shake Appeal
Member
I think there's a bug here where it only shows one portrait, or else it's just written/scripted wrong. There are three portraits, but I noticed once that it didn't cycle through them properly.
It's three very different portraits for me, so yeah, that was probably a bug.
drones are equipped in your weapon slotsJust started Dragonfall, remind me what stat dictates your skill slots again? I need more drones
I know that but how do you get more slots? I remember rolling with a little army in Returns
Not sure, I think maybe you have to put some points in guns?
edit: checked it, level 6 in drone control give you 2 drones,
In Hong Kong, Ranged Combat 3 gives you an additional weapon slot.
Wonder if it's the same in DF
I loaded an old DF save to check, and yes, it's the same, Ranged Combat 3 gives the additional weapon slot. You also need Drone Control 4 to use two drones.
I have drone control 4 and am using 2 drones now instead of..well my rifle and a drone. I'm sure I used 3 in Returns tho, so I guess I need that ranged combat 3
AHA-Lambda
Member
Anyone tell me how many mainline quests there are?
I think there are around 5 or 6 but there is some wait time between them which you're forced to take some runs on the side. I'm not sure if they are specific runs though.
From memory:
Deliver message to
Bao
interrogate masked man after kidnapping him
Go infiltrate Tower to
rescue Raymond
Walled City
There is a noticeable gap between the first and second. It may have some specific side runs to trigger it but I suspect it is just the number of runs rather than specific ones. I might be wrong.
Phat Michael
Banned
Just started this and it seems fine. Chose a troll Street samurai with a focus on ranged weapons (shotgun and rifle).
Playing on easy as I don't want a challenge at all. I have had terrible experiences with harebrained schemes games and customer support so far so I just want to finish it before my saves eventually get wiped.
Playing on easy as I don't want a challenge at all. I have had terrible experiences with harebrained schemes games and customer support so far so I just want to finish it before my saves eventually get wiped.
The bugs are really creeping up on me as I finish out the game. Returns was also buggy as shit. Wasn't an issue with Dragonfall but I waited for the DC to play that, and kind regretting not doing the same here. Disappearing icons, had one NPC escape and my only options refer to them as having been killed, had one mission where there were a bunch of neutrals and they bugged out their turns, taking forever.
LurkerPrime
Member
Yeah.. polish-wise Hong Kong is closer to Returns than I feel comfortable with. The clunkiness of the engine and scripting glitches/typos are both real shames. I saw several typos and had one or two glitches that forced me to reload, as I recall.
Dragonfall was a much smoother experience, for the record. Pre-DC version.
Dragonfall was a much smoother experience, for the record. Pre-DC version.
Just finished the game. I played as a decker + rigger, otherwise I mostly put Karma into charisma. I really enjoyed that I could talk or hack my way out of many situations.
I didn't really like the new Matrix, though. The controls feel too rough to navigate stealthily. And then there's the hacking mini-game, the pattern recognition part is OK, but I could have done without the number sequence memorization part.
I somehow completely missed Is0bel's quest, she never really talked to me at all. Should I have brought or on some run, or did I say something wrong right at the start?
Overall, I really enjoyed the game.
I didn't really like the new Matrix, though. The controls feel too rough to navigate stealthily. And then there's the hacking mini-game, the pattern recognition part is OK, but I could have done without the number sequence memorization part.
I somehow completely missed Is0bel's quest, she never really talked to me at all. Should I have brought or on some run, or did I say something wrong right at the start?
Overall, I really enjoyed the game.
BinaryPork2737
Unconfirmed Member
I encountered about the same amount of glitches/bugs in both Dragonfall and Hong Kong. While it wasn't as bad as what you experienced, the glitches in the director's cut version of Dragonfall caused me to lose an hour or two of progress during the APEX Rising mission. That never really happened during my Hong Kong playthrough, fortunately. It's all down to luck, I guess.
no its necessary to
get the good but optional ending
Phat Michael
Banned
Should I upgrade the cyberware section? I'm a street warrior guy using rifles /shotguns/grenade launchers specialising in ranged combat.
Is it necessary for decent weapons/armour/upgrades?
Is it necessary for decent weapons/armour/upgrades?
Necessary, no, but there are some really good upgrades available there. If you can spare the Karma to get some Cyber affinity and get an additional essense point, you can boost even a magic class with a bioware upgrade or two.
For a basic ranged street samurai character, there are some really snazzy upgrades available. The early ones are a bit shit, but the ones that come available mid game and later include some really useful stuff.
Phat Michael
Banned
Do I need the karma upgrades to use these ones mid game? I've put no points in so far and I can still purchase a few things but it's basically armour +1 or body +1...
I don't use magic/decks or anything like that with my own character.
There's a new update on Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong/posts/1356490
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong/posts/1356490
ElectricThunder
Member
Not surprised to see the mini campaign slip a tad into early 2016---the more time they can wring out to get a greater number of polish and fix patches into the base game, so much the better.
I'm pretty sure its been early 2016 for awhile now.
It's been the plan all along. January-February 2016 was the original estimate.
ElectricThunder
Member
Ah, my mistake---somehow I though it was December at one earlier point. However much time they need, which may also have something to do with how Battletech shakes out soon enough here---their results are totally worth taking it.
New update with some concept art for the mini campaign (might be slightly spoilerish).
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong/posts/1367094
Took me a month but I finally finished it. Liked it, but I think the writing could use some trimming because everyone is a little too chatty. Liked Gobbet and Racter, Gaichu was alright, Isobel was meh - preferred Blitz. Duncan would've been more interesting if he was a bit more adversarial, but as it is the characterization is a bit too needy and subservient.
The NPCs outside of the Big Texas were pretty darn good, though. Interesting cast, though their liveblogging could have been paced better.
Combat also felt worse - sluggish and the AI seemed more prone to standing in the open than before. And that magnet arm trivializes like the only thing that was dangerous about the enemies.
Had fun building my character, though; ended up with a shotgun-toting ork with almost every part of his body cybered up.
The NPCs outside of the Big Texas were pretty darn good, though. Interesting cast, though their liveblogging could have been paced better.
Combat also felt worse - sluggish and the AI seemed more prone to standing in the open than before. And that magnet arm trivializes like the only thing that was dangerous about the enemies.
Had fun building my character, though; ended up with a shotgun-toting ork with almost every part of his body cybered up.