Glory works best as a flanker/blitz IMHO; haste and addrenaline pump mean she can blow past most enemies and get to those crunchy summoners and mages. Also, spreading her bleeds around can be a good way to make your other shooty characters work better (a guy who normally takes 4 shots to kill gets edged down to 3). Her medic skills are just gravy.
If I had to pick a weak link in the team though, I'd have to go with Blitz. His guns are mostly just noisemakers and his drones are... not very impressive. If it wasn't for the need to have a hacker running around he'd have a permanent spot on my bench while I was playing a shotgun toting Sammy.
My Eiger was a goddamn beast. The trick was to put her way back or get stuck in the thick of it, since she's a sniper toting, shotgun blastin machine.
if she fought in the middle ground, it was asking for trouble.
I guess I'm weird with my PC choices because I usually play a combat decker with a couple etiquettes. And I pick SMGs to boot.
Is it just me or do SMGs need some more skills? I mean, its functional and many times I score double hits which means a heal spell wont recover everything,
but compared to Eiger's pretty much guaranteed killshots, it feels a tad underwhelming.
SMG is supposed to be the easy-to-use option where you don't need/want to put a lot of points into it but still get a fair amount of bang out of it.
Pistols on the other hand are the expert choice, like melee you really need to put a lot of points into pistols for it to pay off compared to rifles&shotguns.
SMGs: Get to 3. Anything more is your choice.
Shotgun: 5 is good, 3 is all you really need though.
Rifle: 7 is good for a sniperrifle, but 5 is OK if you're using an automatic.
Pistol: Get to 7 or get out of town. Absolutely nothing less than 6. 9 is recommended.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Yeah, the team is very well equipped to quickly snuff out soft targets. Eiger does her best work at extreme or short ranges, Glory can quickly close the distance, and Dietrich can give anyone that needs accuracy a shot in the arm. It's bread-and-butter midrange assault where they kind of run into trouble. Oddly enough I found Blitz the most useful here, at least in the early to midgame, with him and his drone just keeping the enemy busy while everyone else did their thing.
Maybe for the DC run I'll try one of the more exotic flavors of magery or combat, but I'm too used to playing Hacky McDiploSniper from basically every game with a character build that allows it.
Who knows if they'd want to revisit that story with new maps/characters/etc - particularly as it would take a lot more work to get up to Dragonfall's standard storywise - but I wonder if they could port the new graphics, weapons, UI, combat AI etc back into DMS.
--
In general, it seems like SRR's biggest issues (the UI, savegames, and to some extent the linearity) have been a result of its original mandate to be developed for tablets and the moblle market. That was a sensible-seeming development path a few years ago but the tablet game market just seems like a crowded freemium shithole now, and I wonder if the Dragonfall DC represents HBS abandoning that development fork to refocus on PC.
So I went to try out this new directors cut but couldn't see any difference in the game. Turns out if you already own Dragonfall there will be a new version of the game in your library. I thought it was a patch but that's not the case.
Yeah, the Director's Cut is its own standalone game. Now people can buy Dragonfall without also having to shell out for Dead Man's Switch.
Anyway, I played through the first run and I can already tell this new Flanking system is going to take some getting used to. I don't have a good eye for positioning.
I've only being half following this. Does anyone have a big list of changes the DC makes?
The steam page summary is a pretty good one.
Five All-New Missions: The Director’s Cut features five all-new original missions, including three related directly to the personal stories of your team members. These missions take you to previously-unseen locales - both within the Flux State and beyond - where you’ll have to face challenging enemies and make tough choices in order to help your team members prevail.
Revamped Combat System: The Dragonfall combat system has received a major overhaul. An all-new armor system adds another tactical layer to the experience, while refined cover and damage mechanics emphasize the importance of battlefield positioning. Complementing these improvements is an upgraded AI system which reacts more intelligently and accurately to your actions.
Redesigned Interface: The Dragonfall in-game interface has also been rebuilt. Spells, items and abilities are now much easier to access, while improved combat feedback allows you to fully understand the tactical situation in any given encounter.
Customize Your Team: Guide your team members as they progress in each of their unique roles, choosing between different focus options to grant them new items and abilities. In addition, if you don’t like a team member’s default spell, item or weapon loadout, you can now customize what they bring on each mission.
Ten New Pieces of Original Music: Fan-favorite composer Jon Everist brings ten new tracks of moody cyberpunk music to the Dragonfall experience, including compositions based on the stories of individual members of your team.
The Complete Dragonfall Soundtrack: As a free bonus, the Director’s Cut includes the entire soundtracks from both Dragonfall AND our previous title, Shadowrun Returns. This also includes the brand new tracks exclusive to the Director’s Cut. Featuring music from the composers of the classic Shadowrun SEGA and SNES games, this exciting cyberpunk soundtrack pays homage to the past with a modern sentiment.
And Much More:
Steam Achievements!
Steam Trading Cards - collect your favorite Dragonfall characters
All-new alternate endings to the main campaign
Enhanced visual effects including splatter and dismemberment, improved animations, and optional post-processing effects
New bioware augmentations provide an extra edge on the battlefield… if you’ve got the nuyen
A variety of new items, cyberware & spells
Additional player customization options
Expanded character development for several side characters
Writing and design tweaks and polish throughout!
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
They added a new underground bar map for Lucky Strike. She's not nearly as keen on Monika as the rest of the city was. Not sure how this is going to come into play if you take her on missions with you. Also noticed they've now added different types of datajacks based on which slot you want to install it in. It still defaulted to the head slot for my Decker but you can now have it implanted into your hand (arm slot) or even a cybereye. The hand slot makes sense if you just want a datajack for your Smartlinked weapons (it also costs 0.2 less essence for some reason) but the cybereye datajack seems like a weird choice.
On the down side you still can't select who gets to pick up loot when you interact with it. You're forced to either keep it in your inventory or send it back to your stash. That was disappointing, I don't see how magically sending it back to your stash is any better than just giving it to someone else on your team who happens to be standing right there with you. You can sorta work around this if you're in combat mode since any runner can interact with the items then but they still can't pick up gear, only consumables.
So far I've only noticed the new UI and slightly better graphics. Still the same ugly ass main menu.
the main menu is completely different. better, in fact. i like how the menu it goes through the companions and shows them in action in the background, much better than the original one.
the hud is better, the graphics have a nice bloom thing going on that gives a nicer look, spell effects look better, crits and combat is much more satisfying. hard actually feels like hard too. i'm digging everything about this. i think some of the dialogue has been changed slightly... not sure, some of it feels different. the matrix looks better and you can pick what stuff to take in now for npcs. same shitty matrix music though.
i've had a few bugs, escaping the vault didn't work, just stayed on the same blank screen while enemies took their turns to run around endlessly, reloaded and got out but then eiger was holding an invisible gun. shrug.
still, despite those bugs everything about the DC screams polish. achievements are a nice touch too if you're into that sort of thing. can't wait to check out the new missions and endings.
noticed some spell changes too but i'd have to double check, i had dietrich healing in the vault but then it looked like he passed out and i was unable to use him until he used the bio-tech revive thing on himself... i don't recall him getting hit or anything and made me wonder if healing now has some a limit on the caster.
glory can still wreck shit with haste+injection+claws though. aw yea!
Installing now...I'm assuming it will let me import my save games from the DLC version?
doubt it. don't see what the point would be either since you can't import characters and you'd be missing all the changes
The point would be finishing the campaign vs starting over.
yeah exactly, it's not a long game so starting over shouldn't be a big deal or anything. i'd rather start over so you can properly upgrade npcs and see the new content.
Playing Dragonfall for the first time now that the DC is out. The plot starts out kind of silly with talk of great dragons and whatnot, and the dialogue isn't great. Everyone raves about it so I'm assuming it gets better.
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AxenMy avatar is Excalibur.Yes, the sword.Registered Userregular
Oh man for a minute there I was a bit miff'd.
I was all, "WTF, why ain't my Shadowrun updating to the DC? I thought I was supposed to automatically get that?!"
Then I figured it out. :P
A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
Installing now...I'm assuming it will let me import my save games from the DLC version?
doubt it. don't see what the point would be either since you can't import characters and you'd be missing all the changes
The point would be finishing the campaign vs starting over.
yeah exactly, it's not a long game so starting over shouldn't be a big deal or anything. i'd rather start over so you can properly upgrade npcs and see the new content.
Yea, I was one mission away :P Why shouldn't I be able to finish it with the snazzy new UI at least.
Playing Dragonfall for the first time now that the DC is out. The plot starts out kind of silly with talk of great dragons and whatnot, and the dialogue isn't great. Everyone raves about it so I'm assuming it gets better.
Great Dragons are a staple of Shadowrun. This one was made up new for the story though.
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Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
The Dragons are political powerhouses, entrepreneurs, they pretty much got their fingers in everything.
Saying that a dragon doesn't have it's talons in something in shadowrun is like saying that gravity suddenly stopped working.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
The Dragons are political powerhouses, entrepreneurs, they pretty much got their fingers in everything.
Oh, so they're... not actual dragons? I know absolutely nothing about Shadowrun lore, I've only played DMS.
No, they are actual dragons. They're just really old, and really rich, and therefore (like all old, rich things) run companies and get entangled in politics.
The Dragons are political powerhouses, entrepreneurs, they pretty much got their fingers in everything.
Oh, so they're... not actual dragons? I know absolutely nothing about Shadowrun lore, I've only played DMS.
Oh. They're actual dragons.
They just stopped being medieval and started hoarding treasure the modern way, with the Power of Capitalism.
And when you're a hyperintelligent magical powerhouse with eons of experience and a personality that ranges between highly-functioning sociopath and controlling with sociopathic tendencies... Well, you tend to be pretty good at the whole "running a company" schtick.
P.S: And they're shapeshifters. So yeah, if they want to get their fingers in something they can. Even if their natural shape has talons.
Fiendishrabbit on
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
+1
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Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
I know snipers fall under rifle skills but was curious what stat grenade launchers fall under/derive from.
Initially had my eye on working my way up to a minigun (which fall under rifles apparently) but explosives are tempting.
I know snipers fall under rifle skills but was curious what stat grenade launchers fall under/derive from.
Initially had my eye on working my way up to a minigun (which fall under rifles apparently) but explosives are tempting.
I think grenade launchers fall under either general firearms or (less likely) shotgun.
That having been said: if you are looking to churn out huge damage the launcher isn't going to give you a huge stiffy. What it will do though, is wreak havoc on clustered enemies (which happens often enough for it to be good for dealing with them)
The other weapon to keep an eye on? Tazer. It's extremely effective at shutting down enemies you can't kill quickly (E.g. Mages, creatures, Ghouls, trolls...).
+1
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Dr. ChaosPost nuclear nuisanceRegistered Userregular
edited September 2014
I just like the visual of a murderous dwarf thats supposed to be quiet carrying a giant weapon around like The Terminator in the shadows.
Posts
If I had to pick a weak link in the team though, I'd have to go with Blitz. His guns are mostly just noisemakers and his drones are... not very impressive. If it wasn't for the need to have a hacker running around he'd have a permanent spot on my bench while I was playing a shotgun toting Sammy.
if she fought in the middle ground, it was asking for trouble.
I guess I'm weird with my PC choices because I usually play a combat decker with a couple etiquettes. And I pick SMGs to boot.
Is it just me or do SMGs need some more skills? I mean, its functional and many times I score double hits which means a heal spell wont recover everything,
but compared to Eiger's pretty much guaranteed killshots, it feels a tad underwhelming.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Pistols on the other hand are the expert choice, like melee you really need to put a lot of points into pistols for it to pay off compared to rifles&shotguns.
SMGs: Get to 3. Anything more is your choice.
Shotgun: 5 is good, 3 is all you really need though.
Rifle: 7 is good for a sniperrifle, but 5 is OK if you're using an automatic.
Pistol: Get to 7 or get out of town. Absolutely nothing less than 6. 9 is recommended.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Maybe for the DC run I'll try one of the more exotic flavors of magery or combat, but I'm too used to playing Hacky McDiploSniper from basically every game with a character build that allows it.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Who knows if they'd want to revisit that story with new maps/characters/etc - particularly as it would take a lot more work to get up to Dragonfall's standard storywise - but I wonder if they could port the new graphics, weapons, UI, combat AI etc back into DMS.
--
In general, it seems like SRR's biggest issues (the UI, savegames, and to some extent the linearity) have been a result of its original mandate to be developed for tablets and the moblle market. That was a sensible-seeming development path a few years ago but the tablet game market just seems like a crowded freemium shithole now, and I wonder if the Dragonfall DC represents HBS abandoning that development fork to refocus on PC.
I actually didn't fully complete the non directors cut, so hyped for this!
Time to do this thing!
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Anyway, I played through the first run and I can already tell this new Flanking system is going to take some getting used to. I don't have a good eye for positioning.
Everything is all laid out on the bottom of the screen, skills and items vs have to click to open up a selection.
And yeah, flanking is definitely going to cause problems for my Dwarf's "come and get me, you fraggin animals!" style of strategy.
The steam page summary is a pretty good one.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
On the down side you still can't select who gets to pick up loot when you interact with it. You're forced to either keep it in your inventory or send it back to your stash. That was disappointing, I don't see how magically sending it back to your stash is any better than just giving it to someone else on your team who happens to be standing right there with you. You can sorta work around this if you're in combat mode since any runner can interact with the items then but they still can't pick up gear, only consumables.
It did not go well.
So now I'm even more curious.
the main menu is completely different. better, in fact. i like how the menu it goes through the companions and shows them in action in the background, much better than the original one.
the hud is better, the graphics have a nice bloom thing going on that gives a nicer look, spell effects look better, crits and combat is much more satisfying. hard actually feels like hard too. i'm digging everything about this. i think some of the dialogue has been changed slightly... not sure, some of it feels different. the matrix looks better and you can pick what stuff to take in now for npcs. same shitty matrix music though.
i've had a few bugs, escaping the vault didn't work, just stayed on the same blank screen while enemies took their turns to run around endlessly, reloaded and got out but then eiger was holding an invisible gun. shrug.
still, despite those bugs everything about the DC screams polish. achievements are a nice touch too if you're into that sort of thing. can't wait to check out the new missions and endings.
glory can still wreck shit with haste+injection+claws though. aw yea!
doubt it. don't see what the point would be either since you can't import characters and you'd be missing all the changes
At least I got a snazzy business suit of it.
I mean, holy shit.
The point would be finishing the campaign vs starting over.
yeah exactly, it's not a long game so starting over shouldn't be a big deal or anything. i'd rather start over so you can properly upgrade npcs and see the new content.
I was all, "WTF, why ain't my Shadowrun updating to the DC? I thought I was supposed to automatically get that?!"
Then I figured it out. :P
Yea, I was one mission away :P Why shouldn't I be able to finish it with the snazzy new UI at least.
Great Dragons are a staple of Shadowrun. This one was made up new for the story though.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Oh, so they're... not actual dragons? I know absolutely nothing about Shadowrun lore, I've only played DMS.
No, they are actual dragons. They're just really old, and really rich, and therefore (like all old, rich things) run companies and get entangled in politics.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Oh. They're actual dragons.
They just stopped being medieval and started hoarding treasure the modern way, with the Power of Capitalism.
And when you're a hyperintelligent magical powerhouse with eons of experience and a personality that ranges between highly-functioning sociopath and controlling with sociopathic tendencies... Well, you tend to be pretty good at the whole "running a company" schtick.
P.S: And they're shapeshifters. So yeah, if they want to get their fingers in something they can. Even if their natural shape has talons.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Initially had my eye on working my way up to a minigun (which fall under rifles apparently) but explosives are tempting.
I think grenade launchers fall under either general firearms or (less likely) shotgun.
That having been said: if you are looking to churn out huge damage the launcher isn't going to give you a huge stiffy. What it will do though, is wreak havoc on clustered enemies (which happens often enough for it to be good for dealing with them)
The other weapon to keep an eye on? Tazer. It's extremely effective at shutting down enemies you can't kill quickly (E.g. Mages, creatures, Ghouls, trolls...).