Shadowrun Returns Game:

[frigidmagi]

This is mostly to save a spot for the video game itself. Which I am downloading right now having just gotten home.

[Josh]

Oh god damn it.

Good thing I have extra business coming in tomorrow so I can justify buying this. I had no idea that we were this close to release.

LOAD! LOAD FASTER!

[Hotfoot]

I was right! I WAS RIGHT! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD YOU ALL!!!

Sorry, just had to get that out of my system.

For people curious, I'm referring to the story of how Shadowrun was created and why there was magic in it. Confirmed by the creator in his own game. The short version was R.Tal beat FASA out of the gate with Cyberpunk, and so FASA added magic to Shadowrun to differentiate it and not just be another cyberpunk game.

[Josh]

So can you confirm next that Renegade Legion was originally a Star Wars tactical game and TOG in the mockups originally stood for 'The Other Guys'?

Supposedly when the SW license fell through they decided to slap a Roman theme on it because FASA loved the shit out of Rome.

(Havoc was probably interning there.)

[White Haven]

(Havoc was probably interning there.)

Aaaand that right there is when I dissolved into a laughter-based fluid.

[Josh]

This will probably be my last post for a week.

I loved you all.

Even Allen.

[LadyTevar]

Martin has already downloaded the game, and been playing for a day or so. He got it free as one of the Kickstart supporters.

Chummer's riggin' a Doberman, takin' out Halloweeners like a pro.

[B4UTRUST]

A day or so? It just released for the backers like 8 hours ago.

At any rate, been playing for a few hours and absolutely LOVING the game. Definitely a throw back to the SNES/Genesis games and that is a good thing.

My only complaint so far is the lack of save feature. It has autosave when you cross regions but you can't just save while you're wandering the streets and you decide to call it quits for the night. I've been told that HBS is trying to patch that particular issue at some point but who knows when exactly it'll be. Can't wait for the Berlin campaign to drop.

[Soontir948]

Played for a few hours. Skill system is pretty simple, and the story and dialogue are keeping me interested.

I usually bog myself down with getting the best right off the bat, but there is probably no walkthrough published on-line yet.

[Josh]

Got to agree with B4 on the lack of save. Lack of save point is so nineties. Or eighties, really.

Everything else, pretty cool. Combat's lower-grade X-Com, but for twenty bucks on a Kickstarter-funded game I certainly wasn't expecting high-end code. Story is good so far, I'm liking the feel and characterization.

[frigidmagi]

Good solid story so far. I've been playing... Wow. It's late/early. Good thing I took a nap. Well! I of course built Tobin and went in to rock and roll and I have been a real rock and roller. Biz is banging Omae. The combat is good and fast, easy to grasp. Skills are a bit simple but workable. I've been concentrating on spells, pistols and charisma.

I've been doing any side mission that came my way and as a result a number of drug dealers and gangsters are dead. They were stupid anyways. Running into things like the Universal Brotherhood and what I suspect to be a ghoul are chilling. Lastly I'm thinking I know what all the victums had in common but I ain't gonna drop spoilers.

Remember keep it professional and no deals with dragons.

Also: BE DAMNED IF I BELIEVE ANY OF YOUR GHOST STORIES CAMERON!

[SirNitram]

Kathy is wrong. I played it about three hours. But ventilating 'weeners is null sweat with my trusting Doberman.

[Josh]

I'm running with a decker, my usual default choice. When I get to the office today and install it there I'll probably go with a Physad.

Still haven't gotten into the matrix yet, but the adventure is still young. Already upgraded my deck in anticipation.

[B4UTRUST]

Started off with human decker(go figure). May run through it again with a mage or physad.

I think the real beauty of this game is going to come out in a month or so when we start getting all the player-created content really flowing with all the remakes of classic missions and well made new ones.

[Hotfoot]

[youtube][/youtube]

[Josh]

Oh yeah, I love that you can have your decker cutting ICE while the rest of the team is dicking around doing whatever it is the knuckledraggers do while the decker does all the real work.

[Josh]

(Havoc was probably interning there.)

Aaaand that right there is when I dissolved into a laughter-based fluid.

And on this, I envision the scene as typically being something along these lines:

FASA design team at meeting: "I don't know, this game needs something... more."

Havoc, pouring them cups of coffee: "More... Rome?"

FASA design team, as one: "MORE ROME!"

Back to the game, I never actually got to play with riggers on a team before. Remarkably useful, though this doofy mortar drone sucks nuts. It'd be a little more useful if, you know, it actually lobbed an AOE projectile.

But go on and tank the close combat monsters for us, K9. K9 is a good doggie.

Anyway, hold the line and all that chummers, I'm off to get the paydata. Brew me a cup of tea while I'm out, please.

[rhoenix]

I have Shadowrun Returns now, and I'll give it a spin tonight when work calms down and the suits have all gone home. I've been patiently waiting for this game, and I want to make sure I can devote my full attention to it.

[Josh]

Rolling with my elven physad in my office game, street handle inspired by White Haven- "Liquid Ears".

Yeah, I don't know either. It just sort of autowrote itself.

Anyway, still loving it.

ETA: Be better if clients didn't show up an expect me to work on them while I'm playing, though. People are so selfish.

[Batman]

Well technically, you ARE at work, Master*whack*
Should've locked that frying pan away more securely, Alfred old buddy.
And I remember the feeling, even if it was a long time ago. 'Look, I know you think this takes precedence with you having no LAN and your work allegedly being important for the company and all, but can't you see I'm showing people how to play BG/FO2 which is obviously far more important?'
And while I never played a Shadowrun CRPG in my life (were there ever any past the SNES one?) the setting seriously looked interesting.
Assuming I ever manage to finish the games I'm currently playing, this looks worth looking into.

[Josh]

I never played the SNES version, but the Sega version was fucking awesome and miles ahead of its time.

And I'm not just saying it because the protagonist's name was hardcoded as 'Joshua', though it did make a lot of the dialogue kind of eerily direct.

Seriously though that game rocked the fuck out. The only real beef was how it made AoE magic kind of ridiculously painful and hard to use (and very, very easy to fuck up and geek yourself.)

The matrix scenes were so awesome. I forget which company I used to milk for gazillions of nuyen just farming their black datastores. Mitsuhama, I think. All I had to do was do a run on their systems, then keep hitting them over and over. It was soooooo sweet.

I guess the other issue it had was whether you started as a decker or a street samurai, it ended up the same way- a cybered-up death machine with pretty much the exact same gear, down to the top-line deck. Gator shaman did offer variety, though.

[Josh]

Oh yeah, the other great feature was the ability to prank call the Yakuza boss of Seattle whenever you were bored.

[frigidmagi]

And I have finished the dead man's switch. Sam Watts is avenged. Man, I hope the other campaigns let me import Tobin. He's maxed out in terms of spellcasting ability and pretty good at pistol slinging. Still some areas I want to beef him a little but... Well that's a reason to let me import him. As anyone will tell you, a good character is almost never done.

So there's some new stories up already, I'm downloading Little Lost Lamb, which I hear is good.

[General Havoc]

This thread is getting dangerously close to insulting my Dignitas.

[B4UTRUST]

This thread is getting dangerously close to insulting my Dignitas.

Then obviously we haven't tried hard enough