From the creator of Shadowrun... Shadowrun

[Phildo]

The game never crashed on me.  I loved this game.  It was awesome.  10/10

[HaemishM]

I think I had 1 crash in the 12 hours I played the original. I didn't see the bugginess and have recommended it numerous times.

[Morat20]

I beat it and Dragonfall. No bugs. Would buy again.

Shaman's not as fun as I'd like, though. I kinda wanted more out of it, I guess. It wasn't bad, and it was awfully fun to run a Spirit around a corner and deliberately lose control to keep enemies busy, but especially the original campaign I didn't even spot the summoning points until after the fight.

Dragonfall was a serious improvement. If they make another expansion of that quality, I'll be first in line.

[Zetor]

RISE!

I'm not sure if anyone else has followed along, but HBS has been posting updates on a "GOTY version" re-release on Dragonfall, called Dragonfall - Director's Cut. It will be a standalone title that doesn't have any dependencies on the original SRR (finally giving Dragonfall the full-game status it deserves instead of DLC) and - better yet - it will be given to everyone who backed SRR or bought Dragonfall free of charge! I thought this was an unusual move, as most of these kinds of re-releases usually try to milk existing customers for a second round. Steam page here, release date is Sep 18.

They've been posting dev diaries every week for the past month on KS, and the things they've been saying about the re-release are pretty impressive. TLDR version:

• new content (and quite a bit of it -- one mission for each teammates and two additional shadowruns) and more endings
• improved team customization (equip your teammates and select their advancement paths depending on how you want to use them)
• new graphics and 10 new audio tracks
• updated combat mechanics (armor and cover improvements, better AI)
• improved editor (including a custom AI scripting system)
• new interface and animations (including messy kill animations)
• better Steam integration (achievements and cards)... most important thing ever, right?!

The re-release also has a new trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyUktyFHrb4

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this very much... especially since it's free! It'll probably spur me into finally finishing that mod I started ages ago, too (of course it'll have to be rejiggered to use the Director's Cut as a base, which may or may not be a PITA... we'll see)

[HaemishM]

I guess that means I'll delay playing Dragonfall until this releases. What a nice free bonus.

[Quinton]

I had just started playing Dragonfall when I saw this and put my playthrough on hold for the super-extra-fancy version.  Looking forward to it.

[Zetor]

As the official necromancer of all things SRR: RISE! RISE AGAIN, THREAD!

So, the third campaign (Shadowrun: Hong Kong) is coming this year... and even though it's already budgeted, the devs decided to launch a KS to get some more $ to add more content / game+engine improvements / etc*. In an hour and a half, it's already two-thirds of the way to the goal

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong

Notable goals / objectives of the KS:

Shadowrun: Hong Kong is being developed for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems only. We have elected to focus all our efforts on PC in order to deliver the best game we can without the current processing and memory limitations of tablets. This focus allows us to have higher-fidelity visuals, larger map sizes, and more stuff on screen.

Being freed from the shackles of tablet game design should help! Most of the stretch goals are about more/shinier content, with the exception of...

$100,000 - Enhanced Player Controls! In addition to all the new Tech, Magic, Weapons, Consumables, Creatures, and Enemies we're already planning, if we reach our initial funding goal, we’ll add a bunch of interface upgrades. These include the ability to decide which team member picks up an item in free-move mode, item swapping between party members, a player-initiated turn-mode toggle so you can position your team before you enter combat, and a spread-range indicator for shotguns and sweeping melee attacks.

I'm pretty sure they have already coded and tested this stuff, but they had to add in something to get some eyeballs. Anyway, they've significantly improved the game with Dragonfall and the free Director's Cut, so this maneuver has my seal of approval for now.


* "Yo dawg, I heard you like kickstarters..."

[tmp]

Looks like they already met the main Kickstarter goal, so at this point all that remains is to sit back and yell "gimme gimme" while they keep working on it

[WayAbvPar]

Maybe they can throw in some Star Citizen wallpaper or something. That should be good for a cool $10m.

[HaemishM]

Less than 300 keys left of the original game on Gog.com for $2.99. GET IT NOW!!!!

[Shannow]

Bought Dragonfall Directors Cut for $3.00 on Steam (paid half of with CS:GO proceeds, not sure if that makes me a winner or a loser.:P). Enjoying it so far, only had a passing knowledge of Shadowrun but the game is easy to understand, UI fairly friendly. Giving me a XCOM/BG vibe with a little syndicate nostalgia thrown in.

[Ginaz]

Release date for Hong Kong is set for 20 Aug. 15.  Pretty impressive turnaround for a game that only initiated it's Kickstarter about 7 months ago back in Jan.  Can't wait.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong/posts/1303417

[Morat20]

I'm looking forward to it. I got my money's worth out of their first two games (more so with Dragonfall, which I played several times).

[tmp]

Aww yiss. Between next ep. of Life is Strange in two days, Bounty Train early access in ~3 weeks and right afterwards this, it's like early Xmas or smth.

[Threash]

I keep buying this games, i keep playing them for about two hours then putting them away because every fight is the same.

[Zetor]

Dragonfall (especially the Director's Cut version) has some decent encounter design... but overall the battles can get pretty samey if you're using the "right" tactics.

The games are at their best when they force the player to go on the offensive via time limits and whatnot.

[Ginaz]

FYI, if you backed Hong Kong on KS you should be getting your keys tonight.  I just got mine literally 5 mins ago.  Can't wait to get home to start playing.  Fuck shift work!

Edit:  For some reason I thought there was some sort of early access but there isn't.  Oh well, I'll have to wait until 20 Aug. I guess.

[Threash]

So far i like this way better than the first two.

[Fabricated]

Hong Kong seems really good so far.

[Threash]

Gameplay is very good, but it seems to be extremely buggy atm and i would wait a few patches before really digging in.

[CmdrSlack]

Biggest bug so far worked out in my favor --

[Threash]

Yeah it is mostly stuff like that, it doesn't make the game unplayable it just messes up the continuity of the story, which is very good and i rather not have it screwed up.

[Fabricated]

I talked to one of my party members after a run and they spoke about an alternate reality where I apparently did the exact opposite of what I actually did on the run.

[Miasma]

It's a good thing I like the writing because reading all of the npc dialogue after a run literally takes twice as long as some of the runs.

I started the other two games imagining doing multiple playthroughs, but never did, so this time I decided to just use console commands to give me enough karma to buy almost all the dialogue options.  I'm much happier this way.

[tmp]

I talked to one of my party members after a run and they spoke about an alternate reality where I apparently did the exact opposite of what I actually did on the run.

Mine spoke of something that just left me wondering what sort of drugs she was on, since it had zero connection with reality whatsoever.

[Zetor]

OTOH I haven't really encountered out-of-place debriefings elsewhere in the game (I finished it 2 days ago, completionist run)

[Ard]

I did not actually get the wrong text after the mission.  

[tmp]

[calapine]

Not very far into this. First impressions:

Minor: Loading times between scenes is slightly better. Despite SDD and decent PC this got somewhat annoying in Dragonfall.
The new real-time part of the Matrix game-play. It's basically dodging moving sentries, but bit iffy in a isometric game. Not a big deal if one is good at it, after all DF matrix was just meatspace combat re-skinned. Unfortunately I suck at it and it's basically trial & error by save & reload.
Less combat, more non-lethal ways to solve missions compared to Dragonfall (at least for the part I have done so far).
Lots of text and dialogue.
The writing is very good (for the most part). Especially Auntie. I am curious what people think about her  Very love-hate for me...

[Zetor]

The problem with the matrix minigame (or rather, set of minigames) is that it's really simplistic and samey -- no matter what the patrol routes look like, you get to play a low-budget Pacman clone as you follow one of the sentries around, occasionally dodging the vision cones of the other ICs. The engine also isn't responsive enough for this to work well. Then you're rewarded by a... Simon minigame? c'mon.

However (and this is the funnysad part), the entire matrix dodge-the-sentries thing works REALLY WELL in turn-based mode. It turns the annoying clunky realtime stuff into something resembling Invisible Inc, with planning out routes for the decker's persona across the room that don't intersect any of the IC as they move on their turn. If they just added a TB/RT switch to the matrix (like they did to meatspace, allowing the group to get the jump on enemies), I'd be OK with the entire setup. Well OK, except for that fucking Simon minigame.

[tmp]

The problem with the matrix minigame (or rather, set of minigames) is that it's really simplistic and samey -- no matter what the patrol routes look like, you get to play a low-budget Pacman clone as you follow one of the sentries around, occasionally dodging the vision cones of the other ICs. The engine also isn't responsive enough for this to work well. Then you're rewarded by a... Simon minigame? c'mon.

I confess following a sentry didn't really cross my mind -- I just noticed early the sentry routes are painted on the ground, so my approach so far is instead, find spots which never get covered by sensors and then jump from one to the other when the sentries are covering other parts of their route. Granted, this is mostly to minimize the skill required; makes me wonder though what approach they envisioned when they made it.

[Morat20]

Hmm. There's a lot more ways to sneak by or talk past people, but I think the fights are a bit harder. Then again, I'm playing an Adept and haven't done that before.

[Tebonas]

I am no fan the Matrix overhaul for the simple reason that it introduces Real Time sneaking into a system that obviously isn't made for it, but otherwise I'm loving this game.

[Fabricated]

Unless there's a bug preventing it from working I wish you could turn on turn-based mode in the matrix when you're sneaking since trying to do it with fiddly clicks in real time is frustrating. It would be a kinda fun puzzle if it was turn-based.

I'm actually kinda wondering if I'm doing myself a disservice- I keep doing the non-story runs instead of advancing the main story and I don't know if that's good or bad since it seems to advance time in the game anyway (the dreams and NPC conversations keep advancing, even though I haven't talked to Kindly yet after doing my first couple of runs).

[Zetor]

Unless there's a bug preventing it from working I wish you could turn on turn-based mode in the matrix when you're sneaking since trying to do it with fiddly clicks in real time is frustrating. It would be a kinda fun puzzle if it was turn-based.

I'm actually kinda wondering if I'm doing myself a disservice- I keep doing the non-story runs instead of advancing the main story and I don't know if that's good or bad since it seems to advance time in the game anyway (the dreams and NPC conversations keep advancing, even though I haven't talked to Kindly yet after doing my first couple of runs).

Unfortunately the matrix sequences were designed with realtime in mind; if it was possible to toggle turn-based mode, you could use Suppression (the -50 trace thing) infinitely to keep trace at zero, and - more importantly - time actually passes in matrix turn-based mode unlike real-time mode, meaning that all of the matrix scenes with time limits (shutting off vents in the Ares run, getting the pieces in the ASIST run) would need to be redesigned.