nicked on 13/1/2015 at 20:16
Hong Kong seems like a good setting and a good fit for Shadowrun. Shadowrun Returns was good, Dragonfall was better. Definitely on my radar.
EvaUnit02 on 13/1/2015 at 20:40
Only two hours into the campaign and they've been funded. Approaching the first stretch goal now.
Starker on 14/1/2015 at 04:31
Quote Posted by nicked
Hong Kong seems like a good setting and a good fit for Shadowrun. Shadowrun Returns was good, Dragonfall was better. Definitely on my radar.
Dragonfall was excellent. Shadowrun Returns was like a practice run in comparison. Hong Kong looks very promising indeed, if they can keep up the quality they achieved in Dragonfall.
henke on 14/1/2015 at 05:39
Dragonfall is that good, eh? I kinda liked Shadowrun Returns, but I couldn't bring myself to finish the campaign. The pacing was way off, the game just seemed to keep going and going past the point where it should've ended already. And also I wasn't super into it, and it seems like the kind of thing that you need to be super into to be able to finish, because if you take a too long between sessions you'll have forgotten half the characters and gameplay systems next time you start it up. So is Dragonfall worth trying out, even for a more casual fan like myself?
nicked on 14/1/2015 at 06:44
Yeah Dragonfall is head and shoulders above the initial campaign. More interesting plot, more interesting setting, more interesting characters, more variety of missions, better combat options, it's longer but better paced. Basically much better. :)
smallfry on 14/1/2015 at 06:48
I couldn't get into Dead Man's Switch or whatever the first Shadowrun game was called. I tried to play through it on two separate occasions but couldn't get more than a few hours into it. But, I took a risk and bought Dragonfall during the steam holiday sale and man was I relieved when it turned out to be a really good game! The story and characters are just SO much better. There are actual meaningful consequences to your actions. I still think the engine has a lot of issues but it's still the best RPG I've played in a while.
p.s. playing the game at a harder difficulty makes things a lot better too.
Starker on 14/1/2015 at 06:57
I thought Shadowrun Returns was merely okay. It was way too linear and the combat didn't have much depth. Plus there was no quicksave feature at the time, but I've heard they have patched one in meanwhile. It never felt like it dragged on, but it was also fairly short -- I think it took me 10 hours to beat it, while Dragonfall took at least twice as long. There's just more stuff to do in Dragonfall, even if some of it is optional.
For me, Dragonfall (and I played the standalone Director's Cut, btw) improved on the original in almost every way. The characters are more interesting and get missions associated with them, the combat is more interesting and strategic, the UI is more intuitive, and the game is less linear, making the world feel more open. The setting also felt more authentic and immersive, but your mileage might vary on that. There's a lot of neat little touches, like street signs written in German and whatnot.
I'd say it's definitely worth checking out, but keep in mind this is coming from a big cyberpunk fan, so I'm naturally biased.
icemann on 15/1/2015 at 08:42
Backed this kickstarter as soon as it launched. Absolutely love the Shadowrun universe :). Already several stretch goals met which is good.
As to earlier comments: The main campaign was in part a continuation (though only loosely) of the plot from the Super Nintendo Shadowrun game. Originally it was going to also have links to the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive game (completely different to the snes one), but didn't in the end.
There were several remixes of tunes from the SNES game in the main campaign as well + IIRC the original music guy from that game did the music for Shadowrun Returns.
The good and the bad of the main campaign (on release of it):
The good: combat is quite tactical (very similar to XCOM's), great music, story was good-ish. Excellent level editor + level editting scene (via steamworks). There was heaps of fan made content for this game out relatively quick after it's release.
The bad: The Matrix and astral planes look exactly the same as the real world (unlike in the SNES and Gensis games, or the pen and paper series for that matter), saving only occurred when you entered a new map which was a HORRIBLE design decision, not enough classes, almost no side quests at all, linear game, not enough skills to choose from, items can only be picked up by the main character and can't be switched/traded over to other party members and the lack of inventory management of party members.
Now as for Dragonfall, this was a HUGE improvement over the main campaign. Far more open-world (still not enough for my liking but it was WAY better), FAR more side quests. And you have a persistent party of characters to choose from. Story was excellent also. If you were only going to play 1 Shadowrun Returns campaign, play this one.
It also had with it, fixes for the games save system which now allows for saving anywhere, more weapons, spells, equipment etc, which was a welcome change. No new skills or classes however. Boo. On the level editting side of the scale things weren't that improved on sadly. Still a very linear style map system (though you can get around that once you knew how to). But atleast Harebrained studios were nice enough to put up a fair few level editor guides on their youtube channel to show to do various things.
So yeah, for those who didn't like the main campaign and stopped there: Skip that and give Dragonfall a try. It's WAYYYYYYY better. Also go download an emulator and play Shadowrun on the Super Nintendo as it makes for a GREAT entry point to the Shadowrun universe as a whole + is a great game (one of my favorite games of all time) in it's own right. Jake from the main campaign and why he likes to sleep in coffins will make much more sense also :).
PS: Apparently the directors cut version of Dragonfall is even better and has better party member options (you get to choose what abilities they get when they level up etc) and has a few extra side missions so be sure to play that version of it.
henke on 15/1/2015 at 14:26
Alrighty. Dragonfall: DC added to wishlist. I'll be sure to pick it up next time it goes on sale. :)
