Yes. It is occuring much more frequently now. It used to be only when a character appeared from off-screen but now it does it randomly during combat, digging around menus, pretty much whenever it feels like it. Starting to drive me crazy.
Mostly because it's staining that beautiful soundtrack.
I love the retro feel. Brings me back to the good ol days when we had to use our imagination to fill in the blanks in the presentation.
If there's one small quibble I have is that the dialogue box opens on the extreme right edge of the screen. I have to look away from the scene to read what's going on.
Just played the first 20 minutes and I loved what I've seen. Too bad I've to put it on hold for a week or so, but so far it has been pretty great. Especially the atmosphere.
Started off as an Elf Decker and got decently far into the game before deciding I hated decker. Just isn't all that fun to play for me. Restarted as a troll custom class focused on melee. It has been rocking pretty hard when I got tons of cyberware that increased strength. I am built like a tank with tons of armor and hp and just go around cleaving things to death.
In what way does drones help you out as a decker?
I'm going for a pistol wielding Decker but I haven't played very far so I can still restart if that's terrible.
Also for whoever was worried about the small text, I'm playing on my 42" HD Plasma TV (1920*1080) and are having no problems so far.
Started off as an Elf Decker and got decently far into the game before deciding I hated decker. Just isn't all that fun to play for me. Restarted as a troll custom class focused on melee. It has been rocking pretty hard when I got tons of cyberware that increased strength. I am built like a tank with tons of armor and hp and just go around cleaving things to death.
Decker's feeling a little underutilized thusfar. We do have a whole second world all to ourselves but base combat doesn't seem as fun for my character as it does for the other runners.
I just finished the OC as a mage, but I don't really understand why RPS said magic felt inferior to guns. Magic was a really quick way to give everyone 99% accuracy rates and it has a metric crapload of aoe DoTs near the end if you like that kind of thing. I didn't bother with it and just went spamming chain CCs anyway
(I've only found one enemy in the entire game that CC didn't work on).
The strange thing is that there aren't many practical differences between Blind and Mind Wipe and CC doesn't break on taking damage, and since the accuracy of CC spells after aim is 99%...
1) Petrify is useless, has a 3 AP cost and 4 turn recast when blind/mind wipe can do essentially the same thing for 2 and 3.
2) Confuse is powerful and fun, but can cause enemies to run away.
3) I have no idea what you're supposed to do if people start using enemy teams that spam CC spells on you other than hope and pray that you took dispel, because you can't do anything about chain CC otherwise.
4) You can perma incapacitate any single organic enemy in the game
bar one
with just 2 cc spells.
For added fun, just throw all your remaining points in dodge and quickness (and a bit of body) after you cap out magic, and you can facetank everything for your party since high willpower makes magic very unlikely to hit you.
Best spells IMO were all the CCs, Aim, Any fire spell, the Mana burn AoE (but mana bolt is terrible) and heal. Lightning didn't really do much endgame. Why aren't there any ice spells?
Also, shaman seemed pretty yugh since it turns into a money sink for summons (which have a bad habit of breaking eventually and then you have to waste turns killing them). Almost all the aspects seem underwhelming compared to bear and eventually all I really wanted from shaman was bear and haste slave.
In what way does drones help you out as a decker?
I'm going for a pistol wielding Decker but I haven't played very far so I can still restart if that's terrible.
Also for whoever was worried about the small text, I'm playing on my 42" HD Plasma TV (1920*1080) and are having no problems so far.
Related skills. Intelligence affects drone combat and control as well as decking and ESP. I went as a rifle-wielding decker. Getting close to the end game.
Instead of having two weapons and a deck or a weapon and two drones, you can slot a weapon, deck, and a drone.
Yeah, it's there. Been discussed in this thread I believe.
Really liking the game so far. Not overly bothered by the save system yet. Normal really does seem too easy though. I'll probably stick with it but roll another char for higher difficulties for a second playthrough.
Man the only thing bumming me is the fact you can't do a quickie because of the moronic checkpoint system, might have to double dip for the tablet ver. =/
What i find completely amusing is that, yesterday, i got this game and Heavy Rain (i got a ps3 recently having never owned one), and i played them for a couple hours, back to back. I think it was a match made in heaven, it really shows the power and flexibility of pure text over graphic-driven narrative in games.
Also, quite ironically, i stopped playing HR when a detective suddenly started examining a crime scene with magical powers, while my street ninja troll seems to, you know, collect crime scene details in a very mundane way...
Decker's feeling a little underutilized thusfar. We do have a whole second world all to ourselves but base combat doesn't seem as fun for my character as it does for the other runners.
Related skills. Intelligence affects drone combat and control as well as decking and ESP. I went as a rifle-wielding decker. Getting close to the end game.
Instead of having two weapons and a deck or a weapon and two drones, you can slot a weapon, deck, and a drone.
Only a cple of hours in, but normal has been really easy so far.
To the guys discussing drones above, how are drones? My char so far is a boring elf rifle-spec street samurai, was considering minoring in drones to spice things up a bit.
And I did catch the post bringing up that maybe it's because it's easier to not always store the state of the world, but couldn't you safely reset that if you depended on dedicated save points at least? Always loading up at one spot, less worries about funny business going on.
It's not really player state that's troublesome; Save at point, run off, kill enemy, come back, save. You need to save *something* to represent that that enemy is dead. That's what I suspect they've avoided. Alternatively, consider the situation where to open the door to the next map, you need to talk to person A, then talk to person B. If you save after talking to person A, the fact that you've spoken to them needs to be recorded. I've developed a scripting system for a game (the original Sniper Elite), and in doing so I managed to create a ton of niggly bugs about state saving within the scripts.
That's not really excusing it - I do think they should have made the extra effort to save those states. However, I can understand how difficult that can be, and with limited funds anyway I can see how it would perhaps be circumvented as a cost-saving measure. Part of whether it's fixable depends on some internal factors which may not be user-exploitable, and of course, *all* this is dependent on whether my perception of the reasons for this are correct!
The game is quite linear both in level design and in the way you generally progress, and I don't think that ends up changing much. There's a clear pattern and it's visible from early on. You're generally funneled down levels, and while you occasionally have different ways to complete objectives, it tends to roughly amount to the same thing. If you've got Decker points you'll hack computers; points in STR you'll threaten your way through; points into Charisma or certain etiquettes you'll talk your way through; and if not you just find some other fairly straightforward way to get to the next section (like bribes).
That sort of style of progression is fairly common in many other RPGs but here it's probably simpler and more obvious due to the small, demarcated levels and relatively small number of NPCs (though they are pretty much all distinctive and well-drawn).
There's never any backtracking, as once you enter a new area, you've essentially entered a new chapter of the game. That will generally involve talking to whomever has a marker above their heads, clicking on whatever icons and objective markers you see, usually moving on to some combat, and then entering the next area and repeating the process.
I'd call these things downsides, certainly, but expected ones. The development time was short, and the budget relatively small. I think it's ultimately a fun, charming, well-written game, and given what they had to work with, they did a very solid job. You just have to set the proper expectations.
One thing I was musing on when the Kickstarter started - and it does seem to be borne out now - is that they seem to have deliberately aimed for quite a strong pen-and-paper feel; the GM has a fairly linear story they want to guide the players through, but offers quite a bit of freedom in each scene within that story.
That's... not actually something that's particularly well-represented in the field of CRPGs, off the top of my head. And as such, it does feel kinda fresh as a result.
One thing I was musing on when the Kickstarter started - and it does seem to be borne out now - is that they seem to have deliberately aimed for quite a strong pen-and-paper feel; the GM has a fairly linear story they want to guide the players through, but offers quite a bit of freedom in each scene within that story.
That's... not actually something that's particularly well-represented in the field of CRPGs, off the top of my head. And as such, it does feel kinda fresh as a result.
Definitely what I was trying to get across to some friends of mine. If you've got the kinda wild and fun imagination that carries you through PNP rpgs, you'll be enjoying this. I've been geeking out everytime I play.
Are you supposed to kill the mental patients in the hospital?
I'm trying to just ignore them and make my way through but there are so fucking many of them now and they hit hard ,I'm starting to think I'm supposed to just kill them?
(left them alive thinking it would be like the BTL guys for karma)
Now I run into a giant patient with a gun...
Also how far am I into the game at this point? And how long is the game.
Are you supposed to kill the mental patients in the hospital?
I'm trying to just ignore them and make my way through but there are so fucking many of them now and they hit hard ,I'm starting to think I'm supposed to just kill them?
(left them alive thinking it would be like the BTL guys for karma)
Now I run into a giant patient with a gun...
Also how far am I into the game at this point? And how long is the game.
You put points into the weapon of your choice. Personally, I use guns and in particular a rifle for my basic combat. Quickness is also very useful if you go that ranged route..
You put points into the weapon of your choice. Personally, I use guns and in particular a rifle for my basic combat. Quickness is also very useful if you go that ranged route..
Heh, luckily that's not the case. And to clarify quickness is the base skill for all ranged abilities, it's not just useful but essential to use later skills in it's branching paths.
I wondered this as well. I'm curious if it means spells specifically or anything with a cooldown? As a physical adept, cyberware seems useless in that regard. I would love and 'ware though.
I'm unsure about what difficulty I am playing the campaign at. Is the difficulty locked when you start a game or does it change with whatever setting you have in the Options menu?
Hmmm, how to incease my Action Pool? I can buy new spells, but some cost 3 AP to cast, while I have only 2. So I can't really buy those, because I can't use them.
Hmmm, how to incease my Action Pool? I can buy new spells, but some cost 3 AP to cast, while I have only 2. So I can't really buy those, because I can't use them.
Yeah, they need to fix saves and get berlin out. The I can see this being fun for a long time with the community support. I am sure there will be some cool campaigns coming.
The game is quite linear both in level design and in the way you generally progress, and I don't think that ends up changing much. There's a clear pattern and it's visible from early on. You're generally funneled down levels, and while you occasionally have different ways to complete objectives, it tends to roughly amount to the same thing. If you've got Decker points you'll hack computers; points in STR you'll threaten your way through; points into Charisma or certain etiquettes you'll talk your way through; and if not you just find some other fairly straightforward way to get to the next section (like bribes).
That sort of style of progression is fairly common in many other RPGs but here it's probably simpler and more obvious due to the small, demarcated levels and relatively small number of NPCs (though they are pretty much all distinctive and well-drawn).
There's never any backtracking, as once you enter a new area, you've essentially entered a new chapter of the game. That will generally involve talking to whomever has a marker above their heads, clicking on whatever icons and objective markers you see, usually moving on to some combat, and then entering the next area and repeating the process.
I'd call these things downsides, certainly, but expected ones. The development time was short, and the budget relatively small. I think it's ultimately a fun, charming, well-written game, and given what they had to work with, they did a very solid job. You just have to set the proper expectations.
Under what conditions can you equip stuff from your stash? I've only gotten the popup after buying something so far, but I certainly hope I don't have to buy something just to be able to equip something I already own.
Very satisfied by this game so far. On very hard there's certainly challenge to the game which makes utilizing all of your resources paramount; also understanding who to take out first is important.
Save complaints feel shallow to me. Checkpoints are generous, it prevents save scumming (already common in tactics rpgs) which fits in with the hard choices they give you and perma npc death. The more I play, the more it feels like a design decision as well as an efficiency decision.
Really excited to see the user generated content and really dive into the editor. Can't wait till people dig under the hood of the engine; we need archery and bioware for sure.
I hope harebrained supports the product heavily with more campaigns as dlc after Berlin that also serve as tileset/game system updates for the editor. Could easily become a game with significant longevity if they're on point.
Under what conditions can you equip stuff from your stash? I've only gotten the popup after buying something so far, but I certainly hope I don't have to buy something just to be able to equip something I already own.
At any time you're not in combat. In the character screen you can select the inventory tab and drag items/spells between stash and character. There's also a larger storage stash as the safehouse you work from. There might be an inventory hotkey too but it wasn't intuitive and I didn't go searching.
At any time you're not in combat. In the character screen you can select the inventory tab and drag items/spells between stash and character. There's also a larger storage stash as the safehouse you work from. There might be an inventory hotkey too but it wasn't intuitive and I didn't go searching.
What kind of character you using...? Default difficulty?
So long as you heal, make use of your skills, use cover, it's pretty easy.
SMT4 random encounter. LULZ. I'm telling ya; Nocturne and DDS gave me more chances to draw fights out and usually eliminates that wipe team in shit random encounter situation.
Yeah, they need to fix saves and get berlin out. The I can see this being fun for a long time with the community support. I am sure there will be some cool campaigns coming.
yeah I wonder how much stuff they can do besides campaigns.
besides save-anywhere, I'd like to be able to zoom in further, and maybe some changes to the menu uis. it just feels cramped and meant for a tablet, I don't like it at all.
