[V2_Bloodline]

Psychomorph, on 21 December 2012 - 10:34 PM, said:

Unfortunately I'm one of those who absolutely hate that game. I hate like almost everything about it. I don't remember the last time I was so bored, trying to force myself to play a game.

I don't think having a different opinion is 'unfortunate'. Just because you hate the game but everybody else seem to love it does not mean there's something wrong with you, or them, or anybody, right? Anyway...

You wanna explain a bit why and maybe give some anecdotes?

[Malleus]

DetCord, on 22 December 2012 - 10:16 PM, said:

Trust me, you're not the only one.

It was a bit surprising coming from Psychomorph though, because he's a Thief nut (or so it seemed), like me, and Dishonored gave off some very thiefy vibes for me, so I expected him to like it. But, we all have our quirks it seems.

[DetCord]

Malleus, on 23 December 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

It was a bit surprising coming from Psychomorph though, because he's a Thief nut (or so it seemed), like me, and Dishonored gave off some very thiefy vibes for me, so I expected him to like it. But, we all have our quirks it seems.

Thief? I didn't think it was much like like that game at all and I agree Psychomorph, as I found it a chore to play through. Never again will I trust the word of a video game journalist. It's quite obvious these guys are being paid for favorable reviews. My fault for ever believing them, I guess. Dishonored is a shallow, boring, tedious game. The stealth mechanic, so highly touted in previews and trailers, is utterly lacking in complexity and challenge. Find a guard, choke him to sleep, stash his body in a dumpster, rinse, repeat. That's the whole game right there. It gets old very quickly, as does the sword play and gunslinging.

Zero effort is put into characterization, especially with Corvo who is yet another dull, silent protagonist, and the game suffers for it. You don't care about the heroes, and you don't hate the villains. The big twist isn't shocking in the least, and the ending feels rushed and incomplete

[Malleus]

Well, the analogy I was reminded of is that in Thief you have shadows as some kind of safe zones, and you emerge from them to do things and retreating to them is a relief from the dangers - in Dishonored the safe zones are heights, and I found myself feeling the same thing dropping to street level when I left the shadows in Thief. In the end I'm not sure how I could rationalize me liking the game so much when you just thought it's simply boring and tedious. D's gameplay clicked with me in pretty much every way. As a stealth game mostly, but the abilities spiced it up a little (thought I did the no abilities achievement on my second playthrough) and the combat wasn't bad either (when I screwed up and had to fight myself out). Also I thought it had great level design (and great visual design too), that supported the gameplay just right.

I agree with you on the story and characters, they felt shallow, but I think they did a great job on the world buidling. I thought it was well thought out how the city works and how the recent events affect it, and how basically you're witnessing the downfall of it. There are post-apocalyptic games out there, but in Dishonored you see the apocalypse unfolding in front of your eyes in slow motion. Not to mention the Heart, having that thing in the game was a brilliant idea. It's a game with a dark atmosphere and it really worked for me, and added a lot to the experience.

Edited by Malleus, 23 December 2012 - 12:54 PM.

[Psychomorph]

I could try to explain, but DetCord basically did it.

As for stealth. The moment that broke that for me was where I could use only the stealth mode to do a half crouch. While it was great that you could climb under a table, but getting out of it and trying to sneak past a guard being concealed by the tables, I couldn't. I automatically stood up to the half crouch and was spotted. Stealth simply lacks necessary options. It's all about blink, or abuse heights. Sure, you could choose to play without both, but then we get back to the lack of options, such as a proper crouch.
Another thing I disliked was the quickness. When guards and thugs start to jump at you like monkeys, plus the silly animations, plus the somewhat annoying design style (big hands small heads). This was just painful to look at.
Also I'd like to add, that the powers felt more like gimmicks and not magic. Posses a guard, move him in front of his bullet, posses a rat put a charge on it, blow guards up while standing next to it (exiting the rat), big deal. Slowing down time or stopping it was quite good however.
Darn, the mission briefings were so boring and unexcited, I was about to fall asleep. In Thief the briefings were pure entertainment (besides being supreme art) in comparison.
To name few.

I could go on comparing it to Thief, but that would do no good. Need to see the game by its own merits and by its own merit Dishonored did not satisfy. I could see a lot of Looking Glass in it, which was great, but that didn't help. I deinstalled and reinstalled it a couple of times, trying to give it a chance, restarted the campaign (after the mistake to upgrade abilities, which made gameplay even much more worse) and had to quit each time. Hopeless case.

[DetCord]

https://www.youtube....h?v=krmPIA8peHg

Edited by DetCord, 05 January 2013 - 02:41 PM.

[Kirq]

I really loved the game, despite all it's flaws. It's best stealth game I've played since Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

[Malleus]

http://www.pcgamer.c...ere-dishonored/