shadowrun – Page 2

Totenkopf

September 9, 2015 by Thalen

I hope everyone had a good weekend. I had grand plans of a four day weekend to get some things done and relax; instead I spent most of that time sick. Frustrating, but what can you do? It meant I got some reading done, and once I felt semi-decent I was able to do some gaming.

Firstly, I joined the Shadowrun game that Tamrielo has been running for a while now. It had been mentioned to me that the party was perhaps lacking in information gathering capability, so I put together a character loosely based on the Occult Investigator example in the book. I focused primarily on spellcasting and conjuring with a specialization in detection spells. I feel like I can still be useful in combat though, tossing fireballs and summoning spirits. My first run with the team went pretty well; we'll see if the rest of the long night goes as smoothly.

Second, I played through Wolfenstein: The New Order. Twice. Okay, not two full playthroughs. I picked up where I had left off when I started playing a couple months ago and got distracted; I had made it up to the train depot and was getting murdered by SuperSoldaten. Pro tip: once you can ignore the two SuperSoldaten that jump out of crates near the end of the level and just run to the train and GTFO.

In any case, I finished up that first playthrough and decided that I wanted to see the other timeline and pick up the collectibles I missed the first time through. It is amazing how much of a difference having most of the perks makes in that game. The first time through there were a few places that gave me a lot of trouble, particularly near the end. Second time through, I pretty much breezed on by. Having all the secondary fire options and laser upgrades was hugely helpful too. Once I realized using the scope made the laser fire a massive shot that could take down nearly anything my life got a lot easier.

These jerks were much less of an issue the second time around.

I was a little disappointed that the two timelines were mostly identical. I had hoped that the game might branch at some point or have some alternate levels for certain chapters, but apart from some shortcuts that are only available in one timeline or the other it's pretty much the same. Even the ending is entirely identical either way. The difference is pretty much entirely in the cutscenes in the middle of the game and which of two resistance members is present. On the whole, I think I preferred the Wyatt timeline; Fergus' snark started to wear on me after a while and I preferred J to Tekla. I definitely thought his final stand against the Nazis was cooler.

Gosh, I can't imagine what 'J' could be short for.

On High-Value Targets

August 28, 2015 by Ashgar

Blaugust Post #24

Shadowrun is certainly going interestingly. Our group has managed to make a name of sorts for ourselves in Boston, getting us closer to some of the objectives we got there for (and a brand new one that pays really well). The problem is that completing some of these jobs is likely to bring a ton of heat onto us in very short order, probably to the level that will force us to leave Boston.

We’re nothing if not ambitious, however.

Instead of picking and choosing, we’re trying to get several of the jobs done within a time span of about 48 hours. During this period, we’ll have to erase police records, protect a series of shipments (with a large side order of gang violence), break into a well-guarded mansion, and potentially recover a magical item of unknown origin (currently held by a shadowrunner team with different goals). On top of all of this, another opposing team is probably keeping track of us and may have to be dealt with.

As the team’s decker, I get to study up on the disabling aspects of matrix use. I’m far from the most gifted character in combat, and it looks like we might be doing a lot of it. On the other hand, forcing things quickly means that subtlety is not as much of a concern. This is good for me, because my ability to be loud and break things is better than my ability to sneak, both electronically and in meatspace.

At this point, what could possibly go wrong?

On Running, Continued

August 21, 2015 by Ashgar

Blaugust Post #19

Shadowrun: Hong Kong came out yesterday. It’s the third Shadowrun game to come out of Harebrained Schemes since the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter. For those who are not familiar, Shadowrun Returns was one of the first games to actually release from the big Kickstarter blitz in 2012. The Kickstarter promised 2 campaigns, and the game released in 2013 with the first one, Dead Man’s Switch. The second, Dragonfall, released as an expansion in early 2014. It got a standalone Director’s Cut release later in the year, with an updated engine. We played Dragonfall for Aggrochat Game Club.

Dragonfall seemed to be a product of having about the same amount of time to make a story+art as they had to make a story+art+engine for Dead Man’s Switch. More effort is devoted to characterization, you have a standard team, and it’s quite a bit longer. Generally speaking we seemed to like it, although if you’re going to play it for yourself, listen to the podcast afterwards, it’s full of spoilers.

Once More, With Feeling

Shadowrun: Hong Kong had its own Kickstarter, and I guess experience pays off. It released exactly when planned, which is nearly unheard of for Kickstarter games so far. I haven’t yet played it, but even starting it reveals that production values are quite a bit higher this time around. The character models are much higher resolution, the UI is cleaner, and it even starts with a voice acted cutscene. (Although I didn’t find any options for subtitles. Baby steps…) I’m currently in the middle of another RPG so I probably won’t get to this immediately, but I’m really looking forward to giving this a shot. Maybe I won’t play a troll adept who cuts things in half with a sword this time?

AggroChat #60 – Second Chances

May 21, 2019June 7, 2015 by AggroChat

Tonight on AggroChat we have Belghast, Tamrielo, Thalen and Grace. This week Kodra is off playing a rather convincing Fred from Scrooby Doo at Origins, and Ashgar disappeared mysteriously moments before the recording… and we are hoping everything is okay. The rest of us talked about some recent experiences giving games a second glance. The first game on that list is Wildstar and both Belghast and Grace have spent a significant amount of time back in the game. It has been amazing just what an embattled and often times struggling team has managed to accomplish. Similarly Tamrielo and Thalen have been checking out ArcheAge to find that community is much improved. Tam talks at length about what he likes about the design of the game, and how it manages to do a better job at being Rift.

Since Ashgar was missing we felt the need to give a huge plug to the Four Job Fiesta program and talk at length about how exactly it works. For Ashgar the “fiesta” is like a religion, and each June we know that sooner or later we are going to be hit up to join it again. This year he has pledged $10 for each AggroChat host that manages to beat the game and $5 for each AggroChat listener that beats the game and includes @AggroChat twitter handle on their victory shot. We talk about a number of other games including Lego Worlds, World of Warcraft, Shadowrun Returns and of course our getting prepared for the launch of the Heavensward expansion in Final Fantasy XIV. It is a big show chock full of lots of interesting discussions that we hope you will enjoy. “Please look forward to it.”

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