Shadowrun Returns : Anticipation Station

ThatNickGuy · Jul 28, 2013

I just checked the Can You Run it site and my notebook can't run it.

I thought it would've had smaller requirements, but oh well.

Shawn · Jul 28, 2013

I want to get this. But sadly I don't get the chance to play on my computer much.

Draxo · Jul 30, 2013

Really enjoying this game thus far. The immersion, writing and characters are top notch.

Only niggling annoyances are the saving system and the spell equipping system. I just don't know why I have to visit a shop/locker to equip spells I know.

Was playing an elven pistol shaman.. but I just had to reinstall my OS to fix an error on my system. Not sure what i'll play when I start my game again. I'm very fond of shaman's so i'll probably make another. Haste, slow and healing are incredibly useful. the summons are less so.. even with incredibly high willpower/charisma/spirit control i'm losing control of my spirits WAY too often. Even the shoddy rank 1 ones.

Dave · Jul 30, 2013

I started a new guy last night and went full magic. It's nearly impossible to start out like that. In the first fight (in which you can't die) you have NO ABILITY to hit the enemy as you don't have any weapon skills and have no spells. Once you hit the real world you do get 1 spell right at the beginning, but it's worse than even the pistol. My guy started with a 4 INT/Spellcasting and I was doing 6 damage. Had I put those points into a weapon skill, I'd have done more. At least you have a bit of time to get spells, but not until you get a little ways along. And by then I had to waste 2 karma points to get pistol 1 skill so I could fight at least a little. And healing?!? Don't get me started. Let me heal X amount, not up to X amount from the last attack. If I can't reach them soon then I can't do anything about the damage.

So while the game is not perfect, it is fun. I can't wait for there to be more user-generated content or runs. You spend hardly any time in the matrix and when you do it's alone.

Draxo · Jul 30, 2013

Yeah my first character was pure magic. Really rough going. Thankfully Jake is more than able to pick up the slack in the beginning part.

Probably best to always start with a weapon skill even if you are a spellcaster, due to the spell-less start (at least for shaman).

Anyhow, made myself a troll shaman this time. Named him Bull. Going with a combat shaman route: shaman spells, melee and heavy pistol.

ThatNickGuy · Jul 31, 2013

So it turns out my notebook CAN play it. It can play it just fine, in fact. A friend of mine had a Steam code for an extra copy of the game and gave it to me. I've played through the first couple of missions so far and I'm enjoying it enough. I'm not all that engaged with the story so far, but it's good, I guess. I don't imagine this is a game that'll get a lot of play from me, but I'm digging it enough.

Dave · Jul 31, 2013

Replayability is almost nil right now. Or at least until there are more missions available.

I started a new guy yesterday because magic only is frickin hard! This guy is a total rifle/quickness/decker. Right now I've got 8 Quickness, +2 Quickness from cybernetics, +1 Quickness from my armor. Brawlers absolutely HATE me as I dodge all of their attacks. Me? I have a 99% to hit on almost every shot. Half way across the board cowering behind a desk? 90% chance to hit with a 23% crit rate. How far along am I? I just started going after the bug spray.

Magic = hard. Guns = easy sauce.

Draxo · Jul 31, 2013

Magic does have a few things going for it: Manabolt / Manaball target willpower, so essentially bypasses all most enemies defences.

Also tip for starting: grab 4 strength and when you get to the market to save the shopkeepers right at the start use intimidate with the 4str option. Tell them to drop it and tell them you don't want their scraps. gets you =1AP.

Fighting them off gets you nothing.. but my troll essentially started the game with 3ap that way.

Dave · Jul 31, 2013

Whoa! That's huge. So about half way through you get 4 AP?

Draxo · Aug 1, 2013

I tried it again and didn't get the AP.

AP gain must be based off your total karma spent and I messed with my game to give myself the points back in the skills I had before my reformat. Sorry for giving false information.

Frank · Aug 2, 2013

So, I've played through most of it now and it's a solid 7/10. It's good, but it really is held back by how limited the game engine itself is. It's a much, much simpler Fallout Tactics.

SpecialKO · Aug 2, 2013

Frank said:
So, I've played through most of it now and it's a solid 7/10. It's good, but it really is held back by how limited the game engine itself is. It's a much, much simpler Fallout Tactics.

I'm inclined to agree, though I think if the community campaigns really start pushing out, it will push up another point or two.

Dave · Aug 2, 2013

The part I really hate?

Giant fucking bugs. When you kill one it comes back as a spirit and if you have the Aegis weapons you have only 1 round to kill it or it comes back. And since each Aegis weapon can only shoot twice before you have to take an action and reload, it's a real pain in the ass unless you get the two people who can use them together. I know I've won the game twice, but if your character can't shoot a gun you can't win!!

Frank · Aug 2, 2013

So, just finished it (and spent 10 minutes finding my name in the credits because I'm vain, fast forward is too slow) and I'm glad it's as short as it is. The combat is so simplistic that it was getting very dull by the end.

Draxo · Aug 3, 2013

Dave said:
The part I really hate?

Giant fucking bugs. When you kill one it comes back as a spirit and if you have the Aegis weapons you have only 1 round to kill it or it comes back. And since each Aegis weapon can only shoot twice before you have to take an action and reload, it's a real pain in the ass unless you get the two people who can use them together. I know I've won the game twice, but if your character can't shoot a gun you can't win!!

Yeah the ending mission was a sticker for me too, but I enjoyed the ending otherwise.

Here's a tip:

Line up your 3 guys with the guns beside the bug after it dies (you did bring the ghost dude right? I know despite his skills he seems like a failure but..) and set overwatch on the spot, its possible to kill it once it comes back immediately, and otherwise have the next round to kill it after a round of fire. In theory this should be more than enough with the 70-80% accuracy I got with those guns.. in practice 70-80% ni this game feels more like 30-40%..)

But yeah: magic SHOULD hurt them. It does in the books I think and melee weapons ALSO hurt them in the books. In fact I remember in one book a squad of soldiers grabbed kitchen knives to combat bugs after their guns were shown useless.. I might be misremembering though, that might have been just the physical ones. Either way the idea was 'a melee attack carries part of your will with it, you can defeat a spirit with your will alone' or something to that effect.)

Anyway, letting magic and melee hurt them would have made this game much better. Even if you had to be told how to like.. focus your will/magic on your weapon/spells afterward so the plot worked.. that way 2/3 of playstyles wouldn't have been rendered useless.

Otherwise, with the foundry for player generated content this is an 8/10 in my book. Loved the game.