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So, Saturday I went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was long, which I knew going in. It was generally fun and has nice tie-ins to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It felt a bit lighter than LotR most of the time - there wasn't the oppressive threat of Sauron and imminent war hanging over everything (just dark tidings of what's to come).
It's been a long time since I've read the book, but I'm pretty sure they added a few plot threads (such as the "Pale Orc" nemesis of Thorin's) and fluffed up others a lot (lots of exposition/backstory in the beginning and Rhadagast's omens from Green/Mirkwood). Even so, the movie ended just shy of Mirkwood - with Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees playing in my head yet - leaving me to wonder how inflated things will have to be to make two more full movies out of the remainder. I might also mention that the dwarves seemed more human-proportioned than I recall of Gimli in LotR and Gandalf does more obvious magic in this one movie than the couple moments in LotR.
I also played through Dishonored - an early Christmas present. Neat, atmospheric game, but that atmosphere is... very depressing. At first, I thought the story was playing up the whole "nobles are decadent and evil," but as the game went on I became more convinced that the setting of Dunwall was just corrupt from top to bottom. Strangely, that lent some weight to a morality system that otherwise felt pretty shallow.
The game keeps a running "chaos" level. It's raised by killing people, or certain actions that expand the plague or the like. This affects the ending/epilogue. In such games, I tend to go for a stealthy/non-lethal route - my Corvo took his role as royal protector very seriously, out to rescue and protect his charge. He was not an assassin, in spite of mask and powers. But there were times... moments of frustration at betrayal or desperation when it was difficult to go that route. I wanted to become an avatar of vengeance, slaughtering all in my way until I paused to think about it. I racked up about half a dozen kills over the course of the game, primarily accumulated at points where I didn't have access to powers and gear that would have made mercy easier. I didn't kill any of the primary targets. In some cases, that was an act of mercy, but in some it seemed like a greater payback to leave them alive. Daud was the most difficult choice. Still, while a high chaos level may change the state of the city some (supposedly more weepers and rats), I don't see that it would actually alter the way the story goes much.
The one thing that bugs me about the game is the Outsider. He's like some bored demigod, just hanging out and granting these fantastic magical powers to people he deems "interesting." There's no explanation of how or why he is, or why a whole cult of assassin-mooks would have garnered his attention. I wanted answers to questions about him, but I knew from the beginning that wasn't going to happen.
Overall, the game is a little on the short side, but the gameplay is pretty solid and I appreciate such games that offer multiple routes to a goal. So, to me, it was worth playing.
It's been a long time since I've read the book, but I'm pretty sure they added a few plot threads (such as the "Pale Orc" nemesis of Thorin's) and fluffed up others a lot (lots of exposition/backstory in the beginning and Rhadagast's omens from Green/Mirkwood). Even so, the movie ended just shy of Mirkwood - with Fifteen Birds in Five Fir Trees playing in my head yet - leaving me to wonder how inflated things will have to be to make two more full movies out of the remainder. I might also mention that the dwarves seemed more human-proportioned than I recall of Gimli in LotR and Gandalf does more obvious magic in this one movie than the couple moments in LotR.
I also played through Dishonored - an early Christmas present. Neat, atmospheric game, but that atmosphere is... very depressing. At first, I thought the story was playing up the whole "nobles are decadent and evil," but as the game went on I became more convinced that the setting of Dunwall was just corrupt from top to bottom. Strangely, that lent some weight to a morality system that otherwise felt pretty shallow.
The game keeps a running "chaos" level. It's raised by killing people, or certain actions that expand the plague or the like. This affects the ending/epilogue. In such games, I tend to go for a stealthy/non-lethal route - my Corvo took his role as royal protector very seriously, out to rescue and protect his charge. He was not an assassin, in spite of mask and powers. But there were times... moments of frustration at betrayal or desperation when it was difficult to go that route. I wanted to become an avatar of vengeance, slaughtering all in my way until I paused to think about it. I racked up about half a dozen kills over the course of the game, primarily accumulated at points where I didn't have access to powers and gear that would have made mercy easier. I didn't kill any of the primary targets. In some cases, that was an act of mercy, but in some it seemed like a greater payback to leave them alive. Daud was the most difficult choice. Still, while a high chaos level may change the state of the city some (supposedly more weepers and rats), I don't see that it would actually alter the way the story goes much.
The one thing that bugs me about the game is the Outsider. He's like some bored demigod, just hanging out and granting these fantastic magical powers to people he deems "interesting." There's no explanation of how or why he is, or why a whole cult of assassin-mooks would have garnered his attention. I wanted answers to questions about him, but I knew from the beginning that wasn't going to happen.
Overall, the game is a little on the short side, but the gameplay is pretty solid and I appreciate such games that offer multiple routes to a goal. So, to me, it was worth playing.
I think you have to do a 100% non-lethal route or a "bathe the world in blood" attitude to actually see the differences in endings. That said, I found it very.. atmospheric is a good word, yes.. as well when I played a little bit of a friend's copy. I do not like or trust the Outsider one iota.
ReplyDeleteHeh. Of all the characters you could trust in the game, the Outsider is probably one of the better ones - which isn't saying much. He empowers Corvo. He empowers several other individuals who are... one might say agents of chaos in the world. But when you get down to it, he seems to just pick people who are interesting to him (even commenting at one point that someone seeking his power was not "interesting" enough to garner his attention), then sit back and watch. He expressed a little bit of admiration/fascination in regards to my good-Corvo at one point, but he really doesn't seem to give a flip whether those he grants power to kill one another or what they do with it. He doesn't seem to view them as "chosen" or anything. I'm not positive about the endings, but the epilogue is done in segments. So depending on whether you killed or spared a particular person, one of the brief scenes might be different. And the differences that I can see/guess at seem cut along low/high chaos rather than absolute no/total murder lines. My ending... was pretty rosy, considering. Positive future for Emily, Empire, and a cure for the plague. It seems to match what I've read of the "good" ending, but it's possible I missed something. As I said, I think half a dozen kills... One was in the first area, breaking out of prison. I really was just getting my feet wet with controls and got a little carried away/failed at stealth. Oops. Another was as part of a formal duel on someone else's behalf that I didn't realize I was getting into. Grrr. The other four... well, I was at a low point, having to get past assassins who were more of a genuine threat than most enemies in the game - and one of those was an accident (sleep dart + fall into water = drowning). There were other times I was tempted, either because I felt a desire to get back at someone or in cases of weepers (who seem to be irredeemable, mindless assailants, but still count). Otherwise, there was a LOT of choking people out and tossing bodies around. Ten sleep darts go fast out in the field, and a non-lethal approach means eschewing most of Corvo's arsenal (sword, both types of pistol bullets, two types of crossbow bolts, grenades, razor traps, rat summoning, kill-related powers, and rewiring of any defenses). Trying to be good was extremely limiting.
ReplyDeleteI watched my friend play a kill-less stealth run of the beginning jailbreak, and not knowing some of the pipes you can vault up to to avoid being seen certainly was eye-opening. However, the path of virtue is the hardest to do because it is assumed to be the most rewarding, as it is so difficult. Maybe not in your eyes. (I have the methods, why not utilize them?)
ReplyDeleteHow complex are the controls? Are they 'Batman: Arkham City' complex, or are they 'Assassin's Creed' complex? Cat's interested in the game, so I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how quickly do they dump you into the game, or can you spend the time learning the controls?
ReplyDeleteWell, I played on PC, so they're typical FPS controls. WASD to move, mouse-clicks and such... *shrugs* You get a prelude where you navigate and some introduction as you're introduced to new abilities. If I'd had a better grasp, I might not have killed that one guy early on, but that was more instinctive reaction upon failed stealth (while not yet having things like sleep darts) than anything.
ReplyDelete