Dishonored Impressions

[Shilka]

Since the game is out i was wondering if anyone has already got it. I'd like to hear some frist impressions from a tard standpoint of view

 

[Kenadian]

I picked up Dishonored a few nights ago but only got to play it last night for the first time.

I've been interested in Dishonored for a very long time now because it just looks interesting I also like how much emphasis they put into rewarding for exploration as I love to explore.

There have been numerous reviews of excellent and up; some of which are actually calling Dishonored Game of the Year.

I've heard a bit of mixed reviews on the look of the game but I have to say that I actually like the way it looks and feels. I'm not far in but the one thing I get from the game so far is the feeling of being in a world with similar design queues to the Half Life Series. Some of the wall structures and cover are particularly similar to those in Half Life 2.

The only aesthetic complaint I have so far is that my character has no legs or feet. I find this annoying in games, do they not think you look down? It also would have been nice if turning valves and climbing actually made your hands animate but it's not a deal breaker either.

...oh vines look particularly bad as well and are completely flat textures. In fact, there the ugliest part of the game world I've seen so far. Again, a minor complaint but I thought it worth mentioning.

So far I've only escaped the Prison but the gameplay throughout was pretty good. I've heard the game is easy on Normal Difficulty Settings which is both true and untrue. If you're going for a melee or run 'n gun style of play then Normal is pretty easy (so far) but Stealth is impossible.

I literally waited minutes for the guards to shuffle off to their next waypoint, move in, and strangle one at a time but I almost always got spotted. It's easy to fight your way out of but I still couldn't get out of the Prison level without killing 10 guards.

Exploration in the Prison was limited of course but there was certainly some there; the addition of boobie traps made it interesting.

The one thing I flat out didn't like was the very repetitive nature of the guard movements and their lines. If you're taking your time to be Stealthy, the chances are you'll have to sit and wait a time or two and what you don't want to hear is the same lines being repeated over and over by different guards.

Controls are very fluid and all I had to adjust was my mouse sensitivity and reverse my mouse controls for primary and secondary weaponry.

Dishonored runs on the Unreal Engine as does Borderlands 2 but the one difference I noticed between the two titles is Dishonored has no texture pop in like Borderlands 2 suffers from. I really wish they would address that in Borderlands 2 because its so obvious especially when looting that it reminds me of Rage and it's plethora of texture issues that literally helped ruin the game.

I think I'll end here because I've played so little that the above is all I can come up with. I'll speak more toward gameplay and story later on when I've spent more time in the game.

 

[Shilka]

Sounds interesting so far. Shame stealth doesn't work out, in the beginning at least, but I understood you can develop your character towards the stealth way by taking the right perks?

I'm not getting the game right now since I have 3 other games in pre-order for the next 2 months (forza horizon, assassins creed III and far cry 3), but I'm still interested in this one. Looking forward to more impressions from you or anyone else

 

[Kenadian]

So I've managed to spend a few more hours in the game and may even publish a full review on the Blog because there really is that much to talk about.

First off, the Stealth part is very well flushed out and it's level of difficulty is extremely varied. I've managed to find myself in positions where a stealthy takedown was stupidly easy where other times I mistimed it slightly and was spotted. In one instance, I didn't finish chocking the guy out before I went to carry him away and he turned on me and just about killed me before I beheaded him.

More often than not, a botched stealth kill attempt ends in you taking lives, sometimes as many as 3, and it really affects that level the next time you have to play through it.

For example, one area I went through was rather easy the first time around but I still ended up with 9 kills under my belt. I just revisited this area last night and now the guards we doubled and their awareness distance increased significantly.

There was even a rotating turret tower added that you could only access via rooftops but getting behind it was certainly a challenge. I wasted all my sleep darts to get to it and then rewired it so it would ignore me and attack all my enemies; a really cool touch if you ask me.

I played through a Kennel Level and the dogs in this game really suck. When they find a body they don't just look around like the guards do, they sniff around as well so you MUST be above them or you'll likely be found.

The game mechanics in Dishonored are the best I've even seen in any game to date. The controls, movements, combat, stealth, etc., are fluid and superbly done and stand above everything else in this regard. I also find myself extremely invested in my character, his progress, the story and the characters within which makes it more than just a game, it feels like an investment in time and energy.

This is one of the few games in history I simply will not load unless I feel good about where my head is at. I know that sounds crazy but I don't want to screw up the experience by making a bad decision so mentally I try and make sure I'm ready to play when I want to play if that makes any sense.

There aren't too many weapons in the game but the ones included are amazing. I don't use the pistol much because it's just too damn noisy but rely on sleep darts a lot.

Another incredibly fun weapon is the spring razor. The spring razor is basically a proximity mine that explodes razors when an enemy gets close to it. It's implementation in the game is awesome as you are usually watching when your victim has their legs disintegrated by this thing. You can even upgrade it's effective range making it all that much more lethal.

Last night I started to level my Possession Skill and what a blast that is. Right now I can only possess rats but it's cool to run around as a rat and then physically spawn where you decide to terminate the rat possession. I haven't used it much but I can see it being particularly useful to getting behind enemies down the road.

...you just have to watch because Guards stomp on rats when they get the chance.

I'll end there for now but suffice to say that there is much more to talk about even this early into the game.

So far though I can safely say that I'm enjoying the game and if it keeps up in the manner it is currently, it will have my vote for Game of the Year by a land slide.