GhostofAnakin

I try to do the non-lethal approach in Dishonored 2, but the game simply does not want me to. I shot a guy with a sleeping dart, but what does he do? His momentum as he's falling "unconscious" carries him over a table, to land face first in the lit fireplace. So naturally he goes up in a ball of flame and I get credited for a "kill". That was following another episode where I shot a guard with a sleep dart, and he just topples over a railing and happens to land in the *one* spot there isn't a ledge, falling to his death.

I think I've decided to donate. I'm just waiting on Paypal being an option (though I'd then have to remember my Paypal account details as I haven't used it in forever ...).

My problem is 360 degree awareness in first-person games. Seems like I'm always facing one way just as a guard or enemy walks up the other. Third-person games don't give me as much trouble since I can see "behind" my own character at all times. I can't even count the number of times I'll be looking one way and then get that "lightning" warning icon behind me.

It's impossible for me to "ghost" in Dishonored. Some random guard always seems to spot me. I've been able to get through a few levels without killing anyone, though. That's a positive step for me. Although it sucks that I have all these bullets and grenades and regular bolts in my inventory that never get used.

This sounds like you want Obsidian to remove pretty much any reason for people to even bother replaying the game. I, for one, hope they do the opposite of what you request.

Just started Chapter 7 in Dishonored. Not sure I like this "time jumping". Didn't help that I got stuck in that starting room for a long time because of the wonky mechanic (kept trying to go back and forth in time to find a key to unlock the door or some puzzle that unlocks it).

Maybe it's the Emily side of the game, but it seems like there's a lot less story and a lot less side content going on in Dishonored 2 than there was in the first game. Every map basically seems to be the main quest.

And wouldn't you know it, the only person that I "killed" on the entire level was that idiot who blew himself up. He was the one casualty that kept me from having a perfect (ie. entirely non-lethal) chapter. Ugh.

There's walking through infrastructure in walls and use of reconfiguration levers in that level which will allow you to get past most adversity unnoticed, but you have more tools than just sleep darts, don't you? First of all, when somebody notices you, just shoot him with the neurotixin thingy - he'll literally run off in fear and forget he ever saw you, without alerting others if you're fast enough. Then there's stun mines, which you could have upgraded by this point to the level where each takes down 3 opponents. And when all else fails, with some patience, you can choke most guards or do a perfect parry and punch them out in direct combat. As for Emily and her special powers, doesn't she get that weird distracting rift thingy? You can also use her chain ability to chain together up to 3 opponents in a crowded area and 1 who's tucked away somewhere, or even a civilian, who you then choke out. This'll easily knock the chained guards unconscious too. I don't have a fraction of the gadgets/powers you're describing. I probably haven't bothered to collect enough bone charms and runes on previous maps. Speaking of being unable to go through a level without killing someone, I just started the next map and already killed someone unintentionally. I tried opening a door, but found it was blocked. I tried to do the bash thing, but it didn't budge. But the guy on the other side heard it and, for some reason, threw a grenade at the door! He got caught in his own blast and got blown to bits. The only positive is now there is no door blocking my way.

You're using 'stealth' wrong if you want to use stealth gadgets in encounters with a truckload of bad guys :-P They're designed to take out a few opponents that happen to notice you, not as direct tools of confrontation - that's what the pistol is for. Seriously, stick to high ground and you most likely won't even get noticed, let alone have to take out guards. Alternatively, just drop the 'Low-chaos' pretense and mop the floor with everybody, if stealth is quite simply not your thing, there's no reason to torture yourself over an ending slide. Some of the maps simply don't have a lot of high ground or sneaking through spots. For instance, that dude's mansion/laboratory. There's a bunch of guards roaming the place, but as soon as one even notices you, those stupid robots come running out and all stealth goes out the window. I also don't get why there aren't spare sleep darts laying around. I get conservation and all that, so they don't want to drop you 5 darts each room you enter. But the entire mansion and there's not a single sleep dart? The loot drop doesn't exactly encourage you to go stealth, which is my issue. I know there's no rule that says you HAVE to go stealth, but it just feels like some of the maps go out of their way to punish you if you do attempt to.

I'm beginning to have a love/hate relationship with Dishonored 2. I love the various ways you can go through a level, but I hate the fact that I never have enough "stealth gadgets" in encounters where there's a truckload of bad guys moving about, and there's no way to replenish them. At least leave some sleeping darts laying around, for heaven's sake.

When going for clean hands run, I found sneaking around the guards as opposed to taking them out more efficient anyway I try that when I can, but even then it seems like there are open spaces where no matter where you skulk/hide, a guard will see you if you make a move to a spot you need to get to. Or I might just suck at stealth. Either or. Part of the trick with Emily is to use the other abilities and gimmicks to distract guards and pull them out of their position, and then you can take them down. I struggle with that, too. For instance, throwing a bottle to distract a guard? Instead it seems to alert every guard on the map, so they all swarm to an area and start all searching right around there. It would be easy if I was playing a lethal play through, but non-lethal in big open spaces gets tricky for me.

When going for clean hands run, I found sneaking around the guards as opposed to taking them out more efficient anyway I try that when I can, but even then it seems like there are open spaces where no matter where you skulk/hide, a guard will see you if you make a move to a spot you need to get to. Or I might just suck at stealth. Either or.

More Dishonored 2. These bloodfly nests are annoying as all hell. Sure, you can use those immolation darts on them. But that gets expensive since there's usually 4 or 5 of them in one apartment you want to go into, and the payoff usually isn't worth it. I'm finding the Emily play through is geared toward lethal takedowns on a few of the open maps. Too many guards, too much open space to be able to take them out the non-lethal way and hide the bodies.

So far, Emily's been a butcher. But who can blame her? She got betrayed by these people, so naturally she's going to want to stick a knife in their heart rather than just knock them out.

That sucks for Obsidian. It was the one Obsidian game I had no interest in, but it sounded like a constant source of funds to allow them to keep doing other games that I was interested in.

Started Dishonored 2. I decided to play as Emily. No, there isn't some deeper meaning behind my choice.

Just saw that they're remaking FFXII. That's awesome news since it's one of my favorite FF games to play, but having to play it on my old PS2 (I believe that's the system) is a chore.

Finished Final Fantasy XV. It's a tale of two games. Chapters 1 to 9 were pretty good. Nice combination of story and open world. Chapters 10 to 15 were just one long "final end run", IMO, where basically any semblance of open world disappears, and the story goes from "Prince trying to meet up with his love, gets sidetracked because evil empire" into "Weird science story that was barely talked about for 80% of game, but now is your entire focus". If I had to score it, I'd give it a 8/10 for the first 9 chapters, then 3/10 for the final 5 chapters.

Just finished Chapter 13 in FFXV. Apparently they decided to reveal the bulk of the story in one chapter, mentioning stuff that barely even played a part in the first 12 chapters. Did the first development team get fired halfway through the project or something? The story, pacing, and game design literally feels like two different games between what's before Chapter 10 and what's after it. It's like two different teams worked on two different story ideas.

Okay, Chapter 13 in FFXV is really starting to piss me off. It's as if all of a sudden they decided to completely change the game and turn it into Resident Evil. And it just keeps going on and on and on.

Yeah, I'm sometimes leery of certain stretch goals that could end up compromising the rest of the more important features. I prefer to leave it to the Devs to add whatever they feel they can accomplish without sacrificing quality/features.

The pacing between "linear" and "open world" in FFXV is weird. Suddenly, it seems like Chapter after Chapter is going by with me doing nothing but fighting and taking a linear path to the next part of the story. The further I go in the story, the more I'm convinced FFXII is vastly superior. (I keep comparing the two because it's the last FF I played that had an "open world" aspect to it)

Up to Chapter 6 in FFXV. It's a decent grind, but I'm not really digging the story compared to some of the prior Final Fantasy games.

Do they even have the kind of financial ability they'd need to be a publisher? Isn't being a publisher a lot more demanding, in terms of up-front capital for projects?