"What should we do with this master assassin, infamous for taking out heavily guarded opposition throughout Dunwall during the rat plague and likely to blame for the Crown Murders?"
"Eh, throw him in an old office. Those windows are shut pretty tight."
You're clearly supposed to play as Emily.
It makes sense as Emily. They don't know that she's been trained by Corvo, and they underestimate her in general. They may need to wheel her out at some point for a show trial, so keep her alive. Why not? She's just some broad. You prove them wrong, but it's obvious why they think that.
With Corvo they would put a bolt in his head the second he was incapacitated. He's a known badass with a penchant for creative vengeance and rumored arcane sorcery. Shoot him. Shoot the guy. Shoot him. Delilah isn't stupid.
I admire the decision to have all the important characters in this be women, but it's unfortunate that aside from Delilah they pretty much suck. Like
Billie gets almost zero characterisation other than "Look at this! isn't she cool! She's got one arm and one eye and she's black! Fucking badass design, right????"
. Some genius of a character artist passed her off to the writing team, confident they would do something with her and noooooooope.
Same with Delilah's henchlady and Dr Hypatia. They're there! That's cool! They have no real character traits. No one is as memorable as Pendleton, Havelock or Samuel. I'd argue even the Lady Boyle's got more character development and they don't even have faces.
For this post I'm going to assume that those are the characters from the first game because I really can't remember a single thing about that story. I thought all those dudes were just the blandest most unimaginative characters they could have made. I won't really go to bat for THIS game's story or characters either, but I at least liked them more than that buncha losers
Specifically Hypatia, but I'm also a total sucker for
jekyl and Hyde stories
I also enjoyed the reveal around Meagan, and she DOES have a really wonderful design so I put her head and shoulders above anyone from the first game anyway
Like cast some dude as the boatkeeper because who gives a shit, and make Jindosh the Rosario Dawson character. The Duke has great lines! Give some of those type of lines to Brianna Ashworth. Maybe that actress is great! Who knows? She gets nothing to do. The gender ratio in terms of simple counts is fixed in this game, but there's only two characters that are fun to be around and they're both men.
For this post I'm going to assume that those are the characters from the first game because I really can't remember a single thing about that story. I thought all those dudes were just the blandest most unimaginative characters they could have made. I won't really go to bat for THIS game's story or characters either, but I at least liked them more than that buncha losers
Specifically Hypatia, but I'm also a total sucker for
jekyl and Hyde stories
I also enjoyed the reveal around Meagan, and she DOES have a really wonderful design so I put her head and shoulders above anyone from the first game anyway
Honestly, you're right that the characters from that game weren't that good. All the great characters like Billie Lurk, Daud and Delilah are primarily in the DLC. I consider them elevated simply in comparison to this one, because the targets have some kind of personality traits. If you do the "what traits does this character have that aren't related to their appearance?" in the original you can kind of get
Havelock: He's proud and noble but flawed. He thinks that the world would be better if he were able to run it, but believes himself different to his opponents who think the same. He's essentially a hypocrite, but can be made to realise that fact.
Pendleton: A craven and a snake, who feels inferior to his brothers and secretly wishes vengeance upon them. He's ostensibly congenial but secretly an ambitious plotter.
etc etc. If I try it for Meagan
and don't cheat by saying things I already know about Billie
Meagan: She has things in her past that she regrets. She owns a boat. She likes Sokolov.
Hypatia: She's nice. She's
secretly a moop
Brianna: She really likes Delilah and can do magic.
To your point: I finished this game last night and had already forgotten about Brianna's whole level today
Which is a bummer because while I really enjoyed the improvements that came with playing this game, in the end I'm mostly just left with the same feeling as the first. Blink/whatever Emily's is called is REALLY COOL and the team behind these games has a really solid grasp on how to build these dense sandbox stealth levels that I love. And as an added bonus the core idea behind the universe is at least interesting
But despite liking all those things I come out the other side with no real strong positive feelings because the plot, characters, and overall writing are either bad or so totally unremarkable and boring. It's a shame! They're so close to something legit great
0
augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
edited December 2016
I'd say that Dishonored is probably my favorite big game series right now because of some of the characters and the world and because it's the spiritual successor to Thief. But I'd describe the writing as uneven. Some of its great, some of it's garbage. It feels like this is kinda the epitome of games writing where they have to write justifications for the events of the plot on top of the game and level design that's already underway. Also both of these games are great at setting up subplots and themes that seem like they're gonna be amazing and super important and then go absolutely nowhere.
august on
+2
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
I accidentally killed someone. That was super cool fight but I had to load a save afterward.
I'm on my 2nd playthrough in the Institute and keep having dudes seemingly randomly burst into flames, it's weird.
First two were the guys drinking together in the Dining Hall next to the rune. I'm just creeping around upstairs and I just hear a "whoosh" and all the guards downstairs go on alert. Reloaded several times, happened every time.
Second pair may have been my fault. It was the two guys playing dice on the landing of the staircase that goes around the elevator. I domino them and sleep dart one and as the first dude fell down he caught fire. There is a lantern there so maybe he fell on it? Still super weird.
+1
KwoaruConfident SmirkFlawless Golden PecsRegistered Userregular
People accidentally dying from what should have been a non-lethal domino is always funny to me
Its like why couldn't you just flop over nice like your buddy why did you pitch yourself over a railing
+1
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I was having fun sitting atop a hacked watchtower
Just BOOM BOOM BOOM until it ran out of whale oil
I forgot they could do that
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I'm on my 2nd playthrough in the Institute and keep having dudes seemingly randomly burst into flames, it's weird.
First two were the guys drinking together in the Dining Hall next to the rune. I'm just creeping around upstairs and I just hear a "whoosh" and all the guards downstairs go on alert. Reloaded several times, happened every time.
Second pair may have been my fault. It was the two guys playing dice on the landing of the staircase that goes around the elevator. I domino them and sleep dart one and as the first dude fell down he caught fire. There is a lantern there so maybe he fell on it? Still super weird.
Also on this level I discovered if there's a guy standing next to a railing and you Far Reach right next to him, you will totally knock him over the railing to his death. I think he may have knocked over another guard when he hit too, since when I looked down at the mess I'd made, there was another guard lying motionless a few feet away in a T-pose. No idea what was going on there.
Dishonored's writing always seems like it's going for some sort of poetic minimalism, and it seems to miss just as much as it hits
I mean, i thought that Megan was a good, well characterised character, but there are quite a few other characters who fell flat.
I agree that Megan did a lot with a little but Conservatory lady's only real trait was "Delilah groupie."
+3
augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
edited December 2016
Well I mean
there's the whole thing where Ashworth was a bored socialite destined to commit suicide after being forced into an unfulfilling life and marriage until she got hardcore into witchcraft and punk rock. Which is better than nothing.
Megan on the other hand is a great idea - she's ferrying you around while trying to build up the courage to tell you that she helped murder Jessamine - but her writing and performance only had one tone and that was grim as fuck 24/7.
there's the whole thing where Ashworth was a bored socialite destined to commit suicide after being forced into an unfulfilling life and marriage until she got hardcore into witchcraft and punk rock. Which is better than nothing.
Megan on the other hand is a great idea - she's ferrying you around while trying to build up the courage to tell you that she helped murder Jessamine - but her writing and performance only had one tone and that was grim as fuck 24/7.
I agree that Ashworthe has a kinda neat background, but it feels like none of that shines through in the character herself.
I feel like Jindosh is super memorable because he's an absolute fucker and his personality shines through in all the design of his mansion and his soldiers.
You also really get a long time to hear what the duke is like through all his announcements, and what's going on in his palace.
The crown killer
kinda feels a bit weird, because she just seems to be a murder machine who's personality is Just Super Evil. Like when she's at the seance she's just standing about and growling and feels out of place.
The whole dual persobality thing is fine, but as an evil conspirator it doesn't quite work.
augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
The Duke in his PA announcements and the one you see in person almost seem like two different characters. In the announents he sounds like a terrifying madman who can and will do anything to anyone. In person he seems like a weird goofball of a villain with a silly voice. Seriously what is up with that accent/affectation.
The Duke in his PA announcements and the one you see in person almost seem like two different characters. In the announents he sounds like a terrifying madman who can and will do anything to anyone. In person he seems like a weird goofball of a villain with a silly voice. Seriously what is up with that accent/affectation.
The voice director took Vincent D'Onofrio aside and said "Vinny, my dude, what we need from you is a HAM SANDWICH." And by God, if he didn't give them exactly that.
The duke sounds great as someone who doesn't have an ounce of charisma or leadership ability trying to sound noble and respectable.
It's a pity that that's just how he sounds all the time as it would have been great if he'd cracked in some of the key scenes. I feel like D'Onofrio could have done some great things if the script gave him a chance to.
The Duke in his PA announcements and the one you see in person almost seem like two different characters. In the announents he sounds like a terrifying madman who can and will do anything to anyone. In person he seems like a weird goofball of a villain with a silly voice. Seriously what is up with that accent/affectation.
augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
It would have been good if the Duke's
body double had significantly different voice when not in character, but that didn't really seem to be a thing.
0
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Still playing through this. Just finished the Clockwork Mansion which took me forever due to my trying not to kill anyone on my first run. Succeed but missed two blueprints somewhere.
body double had significantly different voice when not in character, but that didn't really seem to be a thing.
It's kind of a full time job
+3
KwoaruConfident SmirkFlawless Golden PecsRegistered Userregular
Thought I'd jump into mission 7 real quick and just get it started
Oh mission 7 is the one with the two timelines thing I saw in one of the trailers
I'm gonna have to hold off until I can do this one all in one sitting I think
0
augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
edited December 2016
Anyone else consistently misread the S&J Health Elixers as "SSJ Health Elixer?"
Beat the game with Crovo. With Corvo's upgraded blink there's basically no bad situation you can't teleport yourself out of.
august on
+2
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Mission 6 made me feel smart.
When going to knock out the gang leader I found his shrine and remembered a note from earlier so I used one of these stun mines I'd never used before as I mostly just knock people out or shoot them with a sleep dart. Go down and hit him with a dart, he respawns next to the stun mine and nicely goes to sleep for me to pick up his body.
When going to knock out the gang leader I found his shrine and remembered a note from earlier so I used one of these stun mines I'd never used before as I mostly just knock people out or shoot them with a sleep dart. Go down and hit him with a dart, he respawns next to the stun mine and nicely goes to sleep for me to pick up his body.
I did the same exact thing.
Except replace the sleep dart with stabbing and the stun mine with a razor mine.
+1
knitdanIn ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered Userregular
I spent around 20 minutes in Stilton's mansion just trying to
collapse the balcony before I finally noticed the bright red "shoot here with crossbow" cable things
“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
+1
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
When going to knock out the gang leader I found his shrine and remembered a note from earlier so I used one of these stun mines I'd never used before as I mostly just knock people out or shoot them with a sleep dart. Go down and hit him with a dart, he respawns next to the stun mine and nicely goes to sleep for me to pick up his body.
I did the same exact thing.
Except replace the sleep dart with stabbing and the stun mine with a razor mine.
Yes but then I could
Take him AND the unconscious priest dude and stick them into crate to ship them to the mine which will also free two innocent guys.
When going to knock out the gang leader I found his shrine and remembered a note from earlier so I used one of these stun mines I'd never used before as I mostly just knock people out or shoot them with a sleep dart. Go down and hit him with a dart, he respawns next to the stun mine and nicely goes to sleep for me to pick up his body.
I did the same exact thing.
Except replace the sleep dart with stabbing and the stun mine with a razor mine.
Yes but then I could
Take him AND the unconscious priest dude and stick them into crate to ship them to the mine which will also free two innocent guys.
I totally missed the crate thing and ended up killing both of them
"What should we do with this master assassin, infamous for taking out heavily guarded opposition throughout Dunwall during the rat plague and likely to blame for the Crown Murders?"
"Eh, throw him in an old office. Those windows are shut pretty tight."
You're clearly supposed to play as Emily.
It makes sense as Emily. They don't know that she's been trained by Corvo, and they underestimate her in general. They may need to wheel her out at some point for a show trial, so keep her alive. Why not? She's just some broad. You prove them wrong, but it's obvious why they think that.
With Corvo they would put a bolt in his head the second he was incapacitated. He's a known badass with a penchant for creative vengeance and rumored arcane sorcery. Shoot him. Shoot the guy. Shoot him. Delilah isn't stupid.
I assumed that picking Corvo would mean going through a different angle of the story.
But it's just he same story with Corvo instead? How silly.
Switch Friend Code: SW-6680-6709-4204
+1
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Stilton Manor
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Post Stilton
There is so much different! Still weird how there is no reference to Megan suddenly having a second arm and eye back.
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Post Stilton
There is so much different! Still weird how there is no reference to Megan suddenly having a second arm and eye back.
You're the only one who would notice because time travel.
+6
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Post Stilton
There is so much different! Still weird how there is no reference to Megan suddenly having a second arm and eye back.
You're the only one who would notice because time travel.
Emily could have just exclaimed, "Your arm! I..." Megan says "what?" Emily, "Oh nothing. Nevermind."
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Post Stilton
There is so much different! Still weird how there is no reference to Megan suddenly having a second arm and eye back.
You're the only one who would notice because time travel.
Emily could have just exclaimed, "Your arm! I..." Megan says "what?" Emily, "Oh nothing. Nevermind."
I half wonder if that stuff is supposed to have been discussed in all the days on the boat that aren't shown. Because they keep saying things like "oh it's been a few days since x"
but I kinda wish that it had come up during the game because that would have been a super interesting discussion
Get to the seance. OH MAN STILTON WENT MAD! Poor dude. Wierd how I can't seem to help hi.... Wait I wonder.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Post Stilton
There is so much different! Still weird how there is no reference to Megan suddenly having a second arm and eye back.
You're the only one who would notice because time travel.
Emily could have just exclaimed, "Your arm! I..." Megan says "what?" Emily, "Oh nothing. Nevermind."
I half wonder if that stuff is supposed to have been discussed in all the days on the boat that aren't shown. Because they keep saying things like "oh it's been a few days since x"
but I kinda wish that it had come up during the game because that would have been a super interesting discussion
Like, it wouldn't fit their whole "poetic minimalism" schtick, but I really wish there were just a whole lot of really long conversations about what had happened, and what they planned on doing
I really wish that you ended up getting even more of a sense of the boat being your home, and of being stuck with those people
it would have been a completely different game from the magical assassin bits, but there was enough of the characters there that I would have loved to have experienced more of them.
Posts
You're clearly supposed to play as Emily.
It makes sense as Emily. They don't know that she's been trained by Corvo, and they underestimate her in general. They may need to wheel her out at some point for a show trial, so keep her alive. Why not? She's just some broad. You prove them wrong, but it's obvious why they think that.
With Corvo they would put a bolt in his head the second he was incapacitated. He's a known badass with a penchant for creative vengeance and rumored arcane sorcery. Shoot him. Shoot the guy. Shoot him. Delilah isn't stupid.
The entire story no longer makes sense if you're Corvo, it's ABOUT Emily
Same with Delilah's henchlady and Dr Hypatia. They're there! That's cool! They have no real character traits. No one is as memorable as Pendleton, Havelock or Samuel. I'd argue even the Lady Boyle's got more character development and they don't even have faces.
Specifically Hypatia, but I'm also a total sucker for
I also enjoyed the reveal around Meagan, and she DOES have a really wonderful design so I put her head and shoulders above anyone from the first game anyway
Honestly, you're right that the characters from that game weren't that good. All the great characters like Billie Lurk, Daud and Delilah are primarily in the DLC. I consider them elevated simply in comparison to this one, because the targets have some kind of personality traits. If you do the "what traits does this character have that aren't related to their appearance?" in the original you can kind of get
Havelock: He's proud and noble but flawed. He thinks that the world would be better if he were able to run it, but believes himself different to his opponents who think the same. He's essentially a hypocrite, but can be made to realise that fact.
Pendleton: A craven and a snake, who feels inferior to his brothers and secretly wishes vengeance upon them. He's ostensibly congenial but secretly an ambitious plotter.
etc etc. If I try it for Meagan
Meagan: She has things in her past that she regrets. She owns a boat. She likes Sokolov.
Hypatia: She's nice. She's
Which is a bummer because while I really enjoyed the improvements that came with playing this game, in the end I'm mostly just left with the same feeling as the first. Blink/whatever Emily's is called is REALLY COOL and the team behind these games has a really solid grasp on how to build these dense sandbox stealth levels that I love. And as an added bonus the core idea behind the universe is at least interesting
But despite liking all those things I come out the other side with no real strong positive feelings because the plot, characters, and overall writing are either bad or so totally unremarkable and boring. It's a shame! They're so close to something legit great
Second pair may have been my fault. It was the two guys playing dice on the landing of the staircase that goes around the elevator. I domino them and sleep dart one and as the first dude fell down he caught fire. There is a lantern there so maybe he fell on it? Still super weird.
Its like why couldn't you just flop over nice like your buddy why did you pitch yourself over a railing
Just BOOM BOOM BOOM until it ran out of whale oil
I forgot they could do that
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I mean, i thought that Megan was a good, well characterised character, but there are quite a few other characters who fell flat.
Steam // Secret Satan
Also on this level I discovered if there's a guy standing next to a railing and you Far Reach right next to him, you will totally knock him over the railing to his death. I think he may have knocked over another guard when he hit too, since when I looked down at the mess I'd made, there was another guard lying motionless a few feet away in a T-pose. No idea what was going on there.
I agree that Megan did a lot with a little but Conservatory lady's only real trait was "Delilah groupie."
Megan on the other hand is a great idea - she's ferrying you around while trying to build up the courage to tell you that she helped murder Jessamine - but her writing and performance only had one tone and that was grim as fuck 24/7.
I agree that Ashworthe has a kinda neat background, but it feels like none of that shines through in the character herself.
I feel like Jindosh is super memorable because he's an absolute fucker and his personality shines through in all the design of his mansion and his soldiers.
You also really get a long time to hear what the duke is like through all his announcements, and what's going on in his palace.
The crown killer
The whole dual persobality thing is fine, but as an evil conspirator it doesn't quite work.
Steam // Secret Satan
The voice director took Vincent D'Onofrio aside and said "Vinny, my dude, what we need from you is a HAM SANDWICH." And by God, if he didn't give them exactly that.
It's a pity that that's just how he sounds all the time as it would have been great if he'd cracked in some of the key scenes. I feel like D'Onofrio could have done some great things if the script gave him a chance to.
Steam // Secret Satan
It's basically just his Wilson Fisk voice
It's kind of a full time job
I'm gonna have to hold off until I can do this one all in one sitting I think
Beat the game with Crovo. With Corvo's upgraded blink there's basically no bad situation you can't teleport yourself out of.
Except replace the sleep dart with stabbing and the stun mine with a razor mine.
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades
I assumed that picking Corvo would mean going through a different angle of the story.
But it's just he same story with Corvo instead? How silly.
*Loads Save
Knocks Stilton out.
Okay huh there was some dialog there I wonder what happens now when I
*Time Travel
OH FUCKING SHIT.
i still think this is an obtuse choice, but god damn is it satisfying doing it that second way after you see the consequences of not doing it
Steam // Secret Satan
I half wonder if that stuff is supposed to have been discussed in all the days on the boat that aren't shown. Because they keep saying things like "oh it's been a few days since x"
but I kinda wish that it had come up during the game because that would have been a super interesting discussion
Steam // Secret Satan
Like
I really wish that you ended up getting even more of a sense of the boat being your home, and of being stuck with those people
it would have been a completely different game from the magical assassin bits, but there was enough of the characters there that I would have loved to have experienced more of them.
Steam // Secret Satan