In this thread, we post Shadowrun Returns screens

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Can we call them "screenies"? I'd like to call them "screenies."

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Love the way the streets look in this.



I feel slightly manipulated by the girl elf, but I don't care.

[pinback]

You also managed to capture the best line of writing in the entire game, in Cherry Bomb's description.

[RealNC]

Is the game any good? Never played the original.

[pinback]

It's a trifling little diversion, so far. And by "so far" I mean I'm like, what, five hours into it? And the art is very good, and none of the writing is overtly terrible, it's just...

1. Click here.
2. Read a bunch of stuff.
3. Click here.
4. Read a bunch of more stuff.
5. Uh oh, tactical combat which is virtually impossible to lose at on "normal" difficulty even if you just click randomly around the screen!
6. Click here, read more stuff.

But the art is very good. Look. Look at the screenshots.

It is hilarious to me that this, THIS is the game the Caltrops ogres have decided to love. Maybe because since it's nothing but clicking and reading and baby-level combat, they've finally found something they're able to accomplish other than smug hatred.

I'm continuing to play it only because I've read that it's pretty short, so this shouldn't last too much longer, and because I'm hoping beyond hope it manages to break through the paper-thin layer of depth it's shown so far.

But yes, it's very pretty. Look at the "screenies".

Fuck Caltrops.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

You also managed to capture the best line of writing in the entire game, in Cherry Bomb's description.

Yeah, when I read that I thought, well, this is good. I wish the rest of the game was at that level. Ah well.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

5. Uh oh, tactical combat which is virtually impossible to lose at on "normal" difficulty even if you just click randomly around the screen!

On one hand, I want to up the difficulty.

On the other, without save anywhere, well... I will lose my shit if I have to start an entire mission over because I died.

Lack of quicksave, once again has ruined a game. Luckily, there is other stuff to recommend about it.

That said, have you tried the shaman and deck stuff? It looks like you can use computer programs as spells in this game. Which sort of torqued me when I first saw it, because I was gonna do that with Cyberganked. Then I saw that the programs have nothing about them that screams "program." They seem to literally look like spells.

I haven't cast a single spell yet.

But yeah, I guess I will up the difficulty on it. (If I can do that mid-game.)

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

It is hilarious to me that this, THIS is the game the Caltrops ogres have decided to love. Maybe because since it's nothing but clicking and reading and baby-level combat, they've finally found something they're able to accomplish other than smug hatred.

So when we hate a game, it's Fuck Caltrops, and when we like a game, it's Fuck Caltrops Harder.

I think I am beginning to figure it out!

My take is that this is the least pretentious game ever made. I didn't see a single logo when I started it up. I didn't see the thing try to sell me a new video card or make me do the thing where I see how many times I can hit "escape" before the logos stop.

The user interface, for the most part, makes sense. It makes a lot more sense than most games these days.

Oh, and I love that they didn't try to awkwardly bolt on voice acting for this. How much better is this game without voice acting? It's pretty great to not have it.

I do have questions, but that is for another post.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Shadowrun Returns QUESTIONS:

1) Are you guys annoyed by the fact that you don't seem to be able to create your own crew/gang/party? So far, I just have guys from the game itself. NPC types.

2) Can any character class cast spells?

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Is the game any good? Never played the original.

It's good. I have never played any sort of Shadowrun game before.

I know/knew it was supposed to be D&D + cyberpunk. The D&D portions of the game seem very unnecessary.

[RealNC]

Lack of quicksave, once again has ruined a game.

You can't save the game whenever you want? Wow. I can't imagine what they were thinking. An RPG where I can't save isn't my idea of fun.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

There was a comment from one of the devs on Shacknews about it. They admitted that not having it because of money was lame. They also said that keeping track of AI behavior mid-combat would be prone to bugs. (Sure, I can see that.)

There are ways around that, though.

If I couldn't save in the middle of combat that would be fine.

I will say that this is the first game that managed to put auto-saves in bite-sized chunks correctly. I think what anti-quicksave idiots never seem to get is that if a game auto-saved every five minutes or whatever then that would be a good compromise. But every single fucking game except Shadowrun Returns will have these 20-25 min stretches (with no indication when you're done with a scene) that are cut-scene heavy without a save.

And I see the anti-quicksave crowd loving that slop because they are uneducated troglodytes who honestly need a cut-scene repeated to their oatmeal mush brains five or six times in order to "get it."

Couple the cut-scene repeating 5 or 6 times with the fact that most video game cut-scenes are laughably poorly written and performed and, well... you understand why we need quicksaves.

Shadowrun Returns gets around it by not having cut-scenes. Man, do I love a lot of things about this game.

[pinback]

Shadowrun Returns gets around it by not having cut-scenes. Man, do I love a lot of things about this game.

GOBBER SLOBBER NOBBER SLOFFERBOBBERGLOBBERGARRRFHGGHFGHH

This is so great. Everything is forgiven if a game has a cemetary and you can jack in.

What a goddamn embarrassment.

For the record, I am still enjoying the game, but just barely. That you've decided to forgive in this game all the stupid shit you would post TDR-sized rants about in a "triple-A" title is just... well, it's so terribly indie of you. When does your RPS stint start? Be sure to remember the strong women characters!

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

This is so great. Everything is forgiven if a game has a cemetary and you can jack in.

What a goddamn embarrassment.

I can't stress how great NO LOGOS are. God, I fucking despise fucking pre-game logos.

It immediately antagonizes me. From the get-go my attitude is, "Oh yeah? Gonna force this shit at me every time I start? FUCK. OFF." Some games have six or seven logos. Shadowrun Returns is the only game I've bought recently that knows what it is.

For the record, I am still enjoying the game, but just barely. That you've decided to forgive in this game all the stupid shit you would post TDR-sized rants about in a "triple-A" title is just... well, it's so terribly indie of you. When does your RPS stint start? Be sure to remember the strong women characters!

I mean, did you add spellcasters and "riggers" to your crew? I am finding more combat options. The "shaman" can summon an elemental, and you have to pick the number of action points for that elemental versus the chance it will leave your party. What a great gameplay decision.

Pinback, do you LIKE or NOT LIKE how the game does ammo? (Which is, it ignores it. You always have infinite ammo.)

[ChainGangGuy]

I mean, did you add spellcasters and "riggers" to your crew?

Shouldn't that default to r!33rs?

[lethargic]

I was planning on playing this. I bought Guild Wars 2 on sale instead. Not sure if it was the right decision.

[pinback]

Shadowrun is a piece of shit, unless you happen to get through the game without having to replay a combat mission.

Let's all LAAAUGH at pinback that he got through an hour-long combat mission just to die on literally the last turn because the game introduced a new mechanic all of a sudden!

But since you can't save, you-- look, I've told this story to Jonsey personally, and again on Caltrops, but if you're going to have an autosave system, and then have combat missions that consist of MULTIPLE FUCKING WAVES of enemies, you have--- you HAVE to save after each wave, at least.

There is no way I'm ever playing the game again, because there's no way I'm spending another hour defeating a bunch of idiots I already defeated, just because the game pulled a JAP PLAY on the final turn of the goddamn mission.

No sir.

THUMBS DOWN.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

I mean, did you add spellcasters and "riggers" to your crew?

Shouldn't that default to r!33rs?

You are the best poster of this BBS.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Let's all LAAAUGH at pinback that he got through an hour-long combat mission just to die on literally the last turn because the game introduced a new mechanic all of a sudden!

Well, you got farther than I did. However, the game (where I am) is pretty good about having nice chunks of maps for fights, and auto-saving after each new map.

Hey, you have a gift that we rarely talk about: developers e-mail you back.

Do you think you could use that power and write them and ask for a patch for an auto-save there? They can clearly initiate a save whenever they want. Why not there?

[pinback]

You can CLEARLY lick my GIANT FUCKING HAIRY ROD, assface.

"I'm not as far as you, but so far, these MISSIONS FOR BABIES seem pretty well paced."

I genuinely hope you feel this way all the way to the end. Perhaps I'm the asshole here, what with my "failing a mission once" scarlet fucking letter. This game is great as long as you never stumble even on the hardest and longest (like my DICK) of missions.

If you fell under such hilarious misfortune, though, you are going to be a TAD SOUR about having to replay hours of gameplay just to get back to clicking on icons and reading ripoffs of every Robb Sherwin text game ever written.