The ERA RPG Club Plays Shadowrun: Dragonfall

[Deleted member 419]

About the Era RPG Club

This "book club" for RPGs is a way for us to play some of the less familiar important/classic RPGs, and also to broaden our RPG experience with games that we might not have tried otherwise. The club began in the RPG Community thread, which can be found here. Swing by if you have any interest in the genre!

There's no obligation to play or finish the game, of course - but if we're playing through something that you're interested in, it's definitely a good time to give it a shot.

About Shadowrun: Dragonfall

*Available on both Steam and GOG for $14.99.*

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut is a standalone release of Harebrained Schemes' critically-acclaimed Dragonfall campaign, which first premiered as a major expansion for Shadowrun Returns. The Director's Cut adds a host of new content and enhancements to the original game: 5 all-new missions, alternate endings, new music, a redesigned interface, team customization options, a revamped combat system, and more - making it the definitive version of this one-of-a-kind cyberpunk RPG experience.

In 2012, magic returned to our world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Among them was the Great Dragon Feuerschwinge, who emerged without warning from the mountains of Germany, unleashing fire, death, and untold destruction across the countryside. It took German forces nearly four months to finally shoot her down - and when they did, their victory became known as The Dragonfall.

It's 42 years later - 2054 - and the world has changed. Unchecked advances in technology have blurred the line between man and machine. Elves and trolls walk among us, ruthless corporations bleed the world dry, and Feuerschwinge's reign of terror is just a distant memory. Germany is splintered - a stable anarchy known as the "Flux State" controls the city of Berlin. It's a place where power is ephemeral, almost anything goes, and the right connections can be the difference between success and starvation. For you and your team of battle-scarred shadowrunners, there's no better place to earn a quick payday.

Now, a new threat is rising, one that could mean untold chaos and devastation. One that soon has you and your team caught on the wrong side of a deadly conspiracy. The only clue: whispers of the Dragonfall. Rumors that the Great Dragon Feuerschwinge may still be alive, waiting for the right moment to return…

Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut Features:

A Classic, Story-Driven cRPG: See why PC Gamer hailed Dragonfall as "one of the most memorable and complex RPG stories of the decade." Dragonfall hearkens back to the golden age of computer RPG's with a novel-like branching narrative full of sharp prose and deep character development. Immerse yourself in a smart, 20+ hour campaign with a diverse cast of all-too-human characters.

A One-of-a-Kind Cyberpunk Setting: Experience the unique "Tech meets Magic" dystopian future of Shadowrun, a fan-favorite game setting now celebrating it's 25th anniversary. Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut is the perfect entry point to the setting for those with no prior Shadowrun experience, while providing plenty of classic Shadowrun characters and tech for veteran players to sink their teeth into.

Command Your Team: Lead a small team of shadowrunners - each with their own outlook, motivations, and backstory. The members of your team are designed to play contrasting roles during missions, and each has a distinct set of skills, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. But it's not all about the mission - each team member also has challenges to face in their own lives, which you can choose to brush aside or play an important part in.

Gripping, Turn-Based Tactical Combat: When you're running the shadows, every turn matters. Choose your actions wisely - move to better cover, charge into melee, or lob a fireball into a crowd of enemies. With over 200 weapons and spells at your disposal, every turn is filled with meaningful choices.

Skill-Based Character Progression: Choose a starting character archetype and build from there! Street Samurai and Physical Adepts use advanced combat skills to dominate the battlefield, Shamans and Mages summon powerful allies and cast deadly spells, while Riggers and Deckers provide critical technological support, projecting their consciousness directly into drones and computer systems. Shadowrun: Dragonfall's classless skill system allows you to grow your character in any direction you choose.

And now, some screenshots for your viewing pleasure:

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These threads are intended for general discussion of the game and are essentially communal LTTP threads, but they also work well as a motivator to track your progress in the game and try to finish it as opposed to letting it languish on the backburner. For that reason, it's often beneficial to post your current progress, your overall thoughts on the game so far, and any questions you might have about it. Feel free to use this template if you'd like:

Current Progress: [In this section, say how far you've gotten in the game, either in terms of current events in the game or in terms of total hourly playtime (or, ideally, both).]

Thoughts on this part of the game: [In this section, say what you think of the content in the game that you're currently going through, such as the last town/dungeon/area of the game, and whether or not you particularly liked that part of the game.]

Thoughts on the game as a whole: [In this section, say what you think of the game as a whole so far. Is it getting progressively better or worse? Do you think it's building on its gameplay mechanics in an engaging way, or is it starting to feel repetitive? Are there any other RPGs that it reminds you of, or that you think it's an interesting comparison to?

Questions: [In this section, ask any questions you may have about the game, including things like gameplay mechanics, plot points, or even just general tips about character/party builds moving forward.]

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Thanks to Luminaire for the awesome banner!

If you want to discuss the game more (or just hang out with a lot of us from the general RPG thread) check out the RPG discord here:

You need to reply to this thread in order to see this content.

 

[Anno]

Great choice!

 

[ForteanMan]

Sweet! Just installed this the other day based on the initial straw-poll. Can't wait to dive in (jack in?)!

 

[Kvik]

A superb game, this will be a mere milk run. :-P

The story, as everyone said, is phenomenal. I never played the classic Shadowrun but I love Dragonfall immensely. The characters are well-written, especially Glory. The gameplay is a lot more forgiving than other SRPGs. It's definitely a lot easier compared to XCOM2, for example. I'm partial to Deckers build myself but Shamans also incredibly powerful when utilising leylines accordingly.

Hopefully this will entice people to play Hong Kong as well, which is also a great game in its own right.

 

[bishoptl]

...I just finished this last week. Holler when you want to do Hong Kong, I guess.

 

[MaintenanceDivision]

I remember buying this on iPad. I never got to play it before compatibility broke and they never updated it. :(

 

[Igniz12]

Such a great game. Took me a few tries to finally get into it but when I did oh boy was it an amazing experience. The writing was engaging and hooked me more so than the gameplay which was also really well done.

 

[texhnolyze]

Installing the game now. Gonna player later this evening.

 

[StoveOven]

Nice. I started this a few weeks ago and really enjoyed the seven or so hours that I played. I'll share some more in-depth thoughts once I get back into it/other people start playing it, but this will be a great excuse to pick the game back up.

 

[Fairy Godmother]

One of the best!

 

[OuijaLuigi]

I started this yesterday and I can safely say I'm hooked. Even made me sacrifice some sleep time because I just couldn't stop playing in the middle of a mission.

I finished the intro and the next main mission in the hotel. The combat is pretty simple yet engaging, you take turns with the enemy and get action points that determine what you can do. Like moving to a close spot takes one, moving even farther another and your attacks and specials may take one or two ap's. You have two per turn. The combat can also get challenging, you definitely need to think a bit even on normal difficulty. The writing is also top notch. The characters feel alive and you get a feel for their personalities right from the get go.

All in all, it seems like this'll be the best rpg club for me so far. If the quality stays consistently good, it'll probably be one of the best games I'll play all year!

I can't believe I've not played these before.:D

 

[Deleted member 419]

Hopefully this will entice people to play Hong Kong as well, which is also a great game in its own right.

Click to shrink...

...I just finished this last week. Holler when you want to do Hong Kong, I guess.

Click to shrink...

I still have yet to play Hong Kong. I feel like Dragonfall dominates a lot of the conversation about the series to an extent where HK has pretty much become a hidden gem.

I bought it a while back so...maybe after Dragon Quest 11 haha.

 

[Kvik]

I feel like Dragonfall dominates a lot of the conversation about the series to an extent where HK has pretty much become a hidden gem.

Click to shrink...

I feel the same way. The character writing shines in HK (Who doesn't love Gobbet, really.) as well as Dragonfall, in my opinion. HBS has an excellent writer (Andrew McIntosh). However, I'm a bit disappointed with Battletech because the narrative wasn't as tightly designed as Shadowrun. The SRPG part of it is really fun, and the central narrative is great, but the quest design in the non-central narrative isn't. But I digress.

Back to Dragonfall, one of the things I really love was that it feels like a noir/detective story. There's something about doing a "milk run" which later snowballs into potentially mankind-ending dark future really appeals to me.

 

[Deleted member 41271]

Great choice. It's a superb game. I liked all three Shadowruns, but Dragonfall is my favorite. Play it!

 

[Apenheul]

I recently purchased this game but only played a small part of the intro to see what it was like. Any advice for newcomers?

 

[Kalor]

I only got a few hours in before it got lost in the shuffle of other games so I'm looking forward to going back to it later. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the game early on.

 

[Snormy]

I actually voted for Hong Kong as well as Mankind Divided in the poll. I've played this game a number of times now and while I enjoy it each time with different characters I am enjoying more for the writing than actual gameplay itself. I think Hong Kong is a little bit better on the gameplay front but the plot and characters aren't as captivating for me personally even if I do really like Gobbet, Izzy and Rachter very much. I also haven't done the bonus HK campaign.

HK is definitely worth checking out if you enjoyed SR Dragonfall.

I recently purchased this game but only played a small part of the intro to see what it was like. Any advice for newcomers?

Click to shrink...

Is there something in particular you wanted to know?

Your crew will have access to these classes
Soldier
Medic (with a side of melee)
Shaman
(Optional) Hacker/Decker

You can hire some other shadowrunners but they don't have the same dialogue and responses in missions. There isn't much reason to use them unless you really need a certain job.

In this game you are often given dialogue choices for flavour and additional information. A lot of it can be skipped but it also might offer clues to alternative solutions than strictly fighting. The fighting is x-com lite and while serviceable it isn't particularly great and certainly not the strength of the game in my opinion. None of the choices causes great change in gameplay but might make minor changes such as giving you a password, removing a few guards, turning off turrets etc. There isn't much in the way of stealth. Most of the time you get by with charisma and etiquettes.

Some of the smaller optional side missions doesn't count towards pushing time forward for party member progression but it might add items to the shop or something like that.

This review from RPS is what sold me on the game originally. While it reads a little old and is comparing it to the original Shadowrun Returns release, the overall enthusiasm I felt from the author drew my interest and some of the praise given to the game couldn't be ignored really.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/27/shadowrun-returns-dragonfall-review/

The rest of your team are a great case in point, and evoke Bioware companions at their best, even if they are realised in far more limited and ultimately brief way...

You've got to allow yourself to live in the text, otherwise I fear you may well bounce off Dragonfall, for all its improvements. At its heart it's a game about click-click-clicking through a lot of dialogue, but the big difference here is that there's a much stronger sense you're affecting that dialogue rather than merely being subjected to it.

Click to shrink...

Playing blind is what I would recommend. Go in, immerse yourself. Ask questions here if you get some and be prepared to read a bit.

 

[Deleted member 419]

Long day out and about today but I've decided that I'll play through the game again, about to start it now. Haven't played it since launch, and it's pretty short/fun anyway so I'm down.

I started this yesterday and I can safely say I'm hooked. Even made me sacrifice some sleep time because I just couldn't stop playing in the middle of a mission.

I finished the intro and the next main mission in the hotel. The combat is pretty simple yet engaging, you take turns with the enemy and get action points that determine what you can do. Like moving to a close spot takes one, moving even farther another and your attacks and specials may take one or two ap's. You have two per turn. The combat can also get challenging, you definitely need to think a bit even on normal difficulty. The writing is also top notch. The characters feel alive and you get a feel for their personalities right from the get go.

All in all, it seems like this'll be the best rpg club for me so far. If the quality stays consistently good, it'll probably be one of the best games I'll play all year!

I can't believe I've not played these before.:D

Click to shrink...

I think a lot of people have this reaction when they finally get around to playing Dragonfall. It's a full-blown classic in the genre but it doesn't seem to get quite as much press as D:OS or Pillars. That's a shame too because it really serves a unique niche (shorter length, accessible gameplay, sci-fi setting) compared to its peers. The writing is great too as mentioned above.

However, I'm a bit disappointed with Battletech because the narrative wasn't as tightly designed as Shadowrun. The SRPG part of it is really fun, and the central narrative is great, but the quest design in the non-central narrative isn't. But I digress.

Click to shrink...

Ah that's unfortunate about Battletech. I was very excited for the game but ended up missing the launch window and ultimately didn't even buy it yet. I really need to get around to that regardless of some of the criticisms I've heard, I can stomach those issues if it means playing a game in the Battletech universe.

 

[Apenheul]

Is there something in particular you wanted to know?

Your crew will have access to these classes
Soldier
Medic (with a side of melee)
Shaman
(Optional) Hacker/Decker

You can hire some other shadowrunners but they don't have the same dialogue and responses in missions. There isn't much reason to use them unless you really need a certain job.

In this game you are often given dialogue choices for flavour and additional information. A lot of it can be skipped but it also might offer clues to alternative solutions than strictly fighting. The fighting is x-com lite and while serviceable it isn't particularly great and certainly not the strength of the game in my opinion. None of the choices causes great change in gameplay but might make minor changes such as giving you a password, removing a few guards, turning off turrets etc. There isn't much in the way of stealth. Most of the time you get by with charisma and etiquettes.

Some of the smaller optional side missions doesn't count towards pushing time forward for party member progression but it might add items to the shop or something like that.

This review from RPS is what sold me on the game originally. While it reads a little old and is comparing it to the original Shadowrun Returns release, the overall enthusiasm I felt from the author drew my interest and some of the praise given to the game couldn't be ignored really.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/02/27/shadowrun-returns-dragonfall-review/


Playing blind is what I would recommend. Go in, immerse yourself. Ask questions here if you get some and be prepared to read a bit.

Click to shrink...

I should've been more specific but this is basically what I needed, with games such as this one there's always the risk that I approach the game from the wrong angle, that it doesn't click with me as a result and that I stop playing. So a bit of advice allows me to more quickly find the hook of the game.

 

[OuijaLuigi]

I should've been more specific but this is basically what I needed, with games such as this one there's always the risk that I approach the game from the wrong angle, that it doesn't click with me as a result and that I stop playing. So a bit of advice allows me to more quickly find the hook of the game.

Click to shrink...

I'd say, with my very short experience with the game so far, that the main hook is definitely in the writing. So if you find it engaging enough to keep playing the game then you'll probably in it for the long haul. Gameplay wise, it's nothing new or that deep. Combat is serviceable and actually pretty fun with a light tactical element to it, but the game really shines in the writing. I especially like the characters, each of the "main" group of runners you meet at the very beginning of the game have more personality than a lot of other contemporary RPG characters tend to have. So read everything, play your character, and you'll probably get hooked.:)

 

[Roto64]

Hey guys, just played for the first time. Man, this game is tough. Although, that could be because it's my first CRPG. Plus I'm not much of a PC gamer so I'm not that used to mouse & keyboard. I made it to the end of the 1st mission but got destroyed right after the door opened. It was pretty tense.

 

[Snormy]

Hey guys, just played for the first time. Man, this game is tough. Although, that could be because it's my first CRPG. Plus I'm not much of a PC gamer so I'm not that used to mouse & keyboard. I made it to the end of the 1st mission but got destroyed right after the door opened. It was pretty tense.

Click to shrink...

If you want an easier time I think one of the most reliable and strongest weapons are Rifles. Note that this doesn't mean the other weapons are bad but I would argue rifles are almost a little too good without much drawback. Grenades are also very handy, just as they are dangerous if you have all your allies grouped together.

Quite often fights can be tough if you take a direct approach. Eg. busting through the front door. If there are alternate paths or ways to shutdown some security it helps a lot if you can succeed in these optional tasks.

 

[Roto64]

If you want an easier time I think one of the most reliable and strongest weapons are Rifles. Note that this doesn't mean the other weapons are bad but I would argue rifles are almost a little too good without much drawback. Grenades are also very handy, just as they are dangerous if you have all your allies grouped together.

Quite often fights can be tough if you take a direct approach. Eg. busting through the front door. If there are alternate paths or ways to shutdown some security it helps a lot if you can succeed in these optional tasks.

Click to shrink...

I tried the hacking mini game but did not understand what I was supposed to do and there was nothing about it in the guide section. Those little robot things or whatever they are, had a lot more HP than I did.
I am using pistols since I had no idea what to go with when I started. I think being more methodical with my movements will help. It's my first time playing and I know I made a bunch of bad choices. Still, I am going to try again. It seems like a very cool game.

 

[MoonFrog]

Might try this this weekend. We'll see. I don't have access to my desktop for another week or so but my laptop might run it fine hmmm....2014 game might work.

 

[Sabretooth]

Crazy coincidence, I decided on playing this last week. I was in more of a Dishonored mood though, so I went with that. I'll be playing this next most likely, so I'll be late by two weeks or so!

 

[Kalor]

I've gotten further than I was when I first played the game and it's been nice making different decisions than I did last time and seeing what it changes. I didn't play enough of the first game to remember how they handled it but I like going back to the Kreuzbasar after each run and see what has changed with the various people there.

 

[PBalfredo]

What classes are recommended? When I played Shadowrun Returns I was a Decker/Rigger, but I eventually got bored with the hacking battles in that game. I tried the first mission of Dragonfall when Waypoint first announced this game would be part of their "book club" and I tried Shaman because its main stat is CHA and I like having options in dialog. However summoning seems like.... a suicidally bad idea? I summoned on that opening mission, it went berserk the first turn it could and proved to be a bigger threat than my actual opponents. So I'm probably going to restart for this with something different.

 

[Snormy]

What classes are recommended? When I played Shadowrun Returns I was a Decker/Rigger, but I eventually got bored with the hacking battles in that game. I tried the first mission of Dragonfall when Waypoint first announced this game would be part of their "book club" and I tried Shaman because its main stat is CHA and I like having options in dialog. However summoning seems like.... a suicidally bad idea? I summoned on that opening mission, it went berserk the first turn it could and proved to be a bigger threat than my actual opponents. So I'm probably going to restart for this with something different.

Click to shrink...

Classes are pretty fluid in that it is a starting point but you have enough karma to become quite proficient in a few areas. Some of course doesn't work very well together such as cybernetics and magics. In most cases you can sort of work it out at a glance and min/maxing stuff isn't at all needed.

Shamans can be quite strong and summons in particular are very powerful, all the more dangerous if you lose control and at the beginning when your characters are still pretty weak this can be particularly disastrous. It is probably better to save the summon for when you really need it. Summons always felt like a risk vs reward thing for me but that is why I liked them. If I wanted a dedicated extra ally, probably go Rigger.

If you want an easier time with combat, rifles are probably one of the stronger weapons compared to the rest. Leveling marksman is pretty easy and gives you quite a bit of karma to mess around with other stuff. Decking is also quite useful. It allows you extra dialogue quite often and almost every mission can have a bit of decking involved. That said, one of your companions is a pretty great decker. Ideally you want your character to have some means of combat competence since there are fights you cannot avoid and while your companions are good your character can be even better as you have access to more abilities and customisation. Also, save some grenades for nasty fights. They can turn the battle very quickly because of absurd AP damage which means enemies become unable to act.

 

[futurememory]

Phew, okay. First time participating in RPG Club, and my first CRPG, which overall, has been a really interesting (and so far, enjoyable!) experience. I probably would have posted sooner if my PC was in a room with air conditioning. Summer gaming...

I started playing as an Elf Physical Adept (is this a bad thing? someone please tell me). I was pretty surprised to be dropped into combat almost immediately, with little to no instruction, and I ended up wiping on the very first encounter. So little is explained to you, even in the in game "Help" area. I'm happy that I've played a few SRPGs (and seen videos of XCOM) because the tactical nature of the combat wasn't ENTIRELY foreign to me, but still. I'm still a fairly new PC gamer in general, and I had quite a bit of trouble grappling with the controls and what I was supposed to be doing.

This feels like an entirely different genre. Familiar, but extremely different than what I'm used to. It's far more text heavy than I thought it'd be (action taken between characters aren't actually animated), but it's well-written so far.

After booting the game up a second time, I really tried to dig in to understand the underlying systems. On this second try, I was able to clear the first mission of the game without too many problems. Like Roto64, I, too found the decking game to be pretty obtuse.

Is there any button where I can take back an action? I find myself accidentally moving my characters to places on the map that I don't mean to in combat. There have been a few times that I've moved one of my characters right in front of an enemy instead of attacking them. Whoops.

Overall, though, I'm enjoying everything so far. I feel like I might want to go back and play Shadowrun Returns after this is said and done.

 

[Snormy]

Is there any button where I can take back an action? I find myself accidentally moving my characters to places on the map that I don't mean to in combat. There have been a few times that I've moved one of my characters right in front of an enemy instead of attacking them. Whoops.

Click to shrink...

I've done this before too! There is no undo button however you can and maybe should use the quicksave and quickload buttons if you are afraid of making mistakes. I think most of this will sort itself out with familiarity. Off the top of my head I think the keys are F5 and F9. I'm not sure if they work mid combat.

I feel like I might want to go back and play Shadowrun Returns after this is said and done.

Click to shrink...

Returns is ok. Not a particularly good game but after the patches and fixes that came along with Dragonfall it is much better than it once was. Hong Kong however is as strong as Dragonfall but perhaps in different ways.

 

[Deleted member 419]

Tough timing with Dragon Quest XI and Spider-Man, but if anyone is interested in playing the game and hasn't picked it up, it's currently on sale on a very deep discount on Steam:



It's a steal at this price, no question. They have the whole modern Shadowrun series for 74% off too if you want to go that route.

 

[AuthenticM]

It's also on sale on GOG.

https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_dragonfall_directors_cut

 

[futurememory]

Made it through the hotel mission and back into town. I think I'm starting to get the rhythms of play. The menus are definitely very different from what I'm used to. Somehow, I completely missed the melee attack button, and have pretty much exclusively been using ranged weapons. Whoops.

I also find it strange that HP and MP of your party aren't super visible in combat. I'm so used to tracking these stats nervously.

When given the choice, I've always noticed that I tend to be the most "goody two shoes" character. I frequently find myself sticking up for the little guy, and not really engaging in nefarious activities.

 

[Dragon1893]

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this game, it's fantastic.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

Funny that I installed it two weeks ago and just now read this thread. Own it for a while but never got around to play it. But all this praise motivates me. I couldn't finish Returns, though; too simple and boring the combat, too linear the areas. Also, I'm super used to high quality voice acting -- the story has to be triple ace to make wanting seeing the game through the end.

But I definitely will give Dragonfall a try (I also own Hong Kong and Boston Lockdown).

 

[futurememory]

One thing I'm surprised about (this being my first CRPG) is how linear it feels. The areas feel distinctly separate from one another. The game's scope, at least up until where I am, almost feels small as a result.

Also, I'm wondering how much cash I should be conserving. I'm probably doing a pretty poor job of managing my resources at this time.

 

[Snormy]

One thing I'm surprised about (this being my first CRPG) is how linear it feels. The areas feel distinctly separate from one another. The game's scope, at least up until where I am, almost feels small as a result.

Also, I'm wondering how much cash I should be conserving. I'm probably doing a pretty poor job of managing my resources at this time.

Click to shrink...

I don't do upgrades in after every mission but I do save up and buy some expensive goodies. Some classes will be more costly because you need to buy more upgrades like cyber decks, cyber gear or spells. Sometimes if I have a lot of cash and don't know what to buy I'll grab a grenade or two since those are always handy, particularly the AP grenades that can turn groups of enemies into sitting ducks.

The linearity thing is a common complaint. This series doesn't seem to be the run of the mill explore various cities and world type adventure. Instead it focuses on rooting you into the city hub and having you work in and around its locations in other hub areas. Some see it as a negative but I quite like this change of pace from the typical sprawling worldly adventures. I also find having smaller zones like this removes some of the tedium of trekking back and forth a bit, there is already plenty of that inside the town. I don't really want to add much more to get to the town or out of it really.

 

[Cecil]

Is there some none-linearity to which missions that are available, or that choices from missions carry over to the hub and other missions? Or is there only replayability in this game in trying out the same missions with different character builds?

 

[Snormy]

At some point you can choose which order to do some missions but you need to complete enough of them to reach your goal in cash in order to progress the story. I seem to recall doing all of them since it adds a little extra to your bank for gearing and I'm paranoid I'll run into situations of not having enough.

The non-linearity isn't really much of a thing. It comes to how you handle each mission instead. In some cases certain NPCs you befriend or help might return a favour later but these are mostly flavour and relatively insignificant. Even the bigger decisions doesn't change the course of the game itself. You still have to do the run for example and there will always be some unavoidable combat scenarios though some of the optional objectives can greatly trivialize it.

I'll quote this because I think it is a good description of what to expect. It is from the RPS review I linked in an earlier post.

most challenges (which invariably means a locked door by any other name, to be honest) have a least of couple of possible solutions that you and your current team may or may not have the right abilities to pull off – e.g. getting your Decker to hack a terminal, getting your bruiser to shoulder open a secret door, using the right, Charisma-derived Etiquette to sweet-talk a corporate drone into letting you by. And if all else fails, there's always the Kill Everyone approach too.
...
Again, you are going to get past that door and onto the next plot nugget no matter what, but Dragonfall seems well aware that feeling like it was done in a way particular to your character makes all the difference.
...
...
All these choices I've mentioned involve simply picking one line of text over some others, usually with no animation pay-off – usually the result is simply described. Outside of combat, the lavish, detailed backdrops are really just that – scenery for a colourfully-written text adventure. You've got to allow yourself to live in the text, otherwise I fear you may well bounce off Dragonfall, for all its improvements. At its heart it's a game about click-click-clicking through a lot of dialogue, but the big difference here is that there's a much stronger sense you're affecting that dialogue rather than merely being subjected to it.

Click to shrink...

 

[futurememory]

Ugh, so I had a super, super frustrating thing happen on the Trial Run mission. A glitch. I had battled my way out of the building and was near the exit. The entire crew was low on health and I had no more revival kits. One enemy is left and... he glitches THROUGH a wall to shoot my main character at point blank range and kill her. I killed him on the very next turn, but I since I didn't have anything to revive my MC with, I wiped.

It was a pretty frustrating experience. I had been super careful, aggro-ing the enemies into open space and picking them off because my resources were so low.

I haven't touched the game since because I needed some space.

 

[OuijaLuigi]

So Spider-man just came out and that kind of threw me off of Dragonfall for a bit, but ysterday I managed to get the money for Alice and did some bits after that. I think I'm on the last stretch of the game right now and it's still going strong! Definitely one of the best games I've played all year and will rank high up on my favorite RPG's in general.

I thought I wouldn't be a fan of the hub & instanced missions but it actually works well in it's favor, mainly because of the superb writing. Having missions that are mostly disconnected from the main quest teaches so much about the world, as you get to tangle with some nefarious people and corporations. There were a few cases where I really had to think about the impact of my choices, not how it will affect the game later since it is pretty linear, but what will be the result of my actions to the game world (cleaning up the botched shadowrun, feuerstelle, bloodline etc.). Now that's good writing in a RPG game. The cast is great, feels like an actual team with people you care about, especially after doing their respective missions. Also, Eiger is bad ass. I'm actually kind of sad that I'm so close to the ending. :p

Ugh, so I had a super, super frustrating thing happen on the Trial Run mission. A glitch. I had battled my way out of the building and was near the exit. The entire crew was low on health and I had no more revival kits. One enemy is left and... he glitches THROUGH a wall to shoot my main character at point blank range and kill her. I killed him on the very next turn, but I since I didn't have anything to revive my MC with, I wiped.

It was a pretty frustrating experience. I had been super careful, aggro-ing the enemies into open space and picking them off because my resources were so low.

I haven't touched the game since because I needed some space.

Click to shrink...

I guess I'm lucky but I've never had bugs like this, but there is jank in the game so I can see this happening. There are a couple of annoying bugs that I've encountered though, like when you're decking and sometimes after you perform an action, you can't do anything for awhile, even if you have AP's left. It's like the game gets stuck on the last action performed. It usually clears itself in a bit and sometimes clicking menus on and off seems to clear it. Annoying but not too bad. The other one is if you have changed the default resolution and text size settings and click out of the game window before loading your game will result in a freeze if you try to load a game. Noticed this when I went to play some music from spotify before loading a game.

 

[Snormy]

Ugh, so I had a super, super frustrating thing happen on the Trial Run mission. A glitch. I had battled my way out of the building and was near the exit. The entire crew was low on health and I had no more revival kits. One enemy is left and... he glitches THROUGH a wall to shoot my main character at point blank range and kill her. I killed him on the very next turn, but I since I didn't have anything to revive my MC with, I wiped.

It was a pretty frustrating experience. I had been super careful, aggro-ing the enemies into open space and picking them off because my resources were so low.

I haven't touched the game since because I needed some space.

Click to shrink...

Ouch. That sounds awful. I think I did get hit once through a wall but it wasn't particularly concerning for me at the time, might have even been a miss. I hope you had a save mid mission at least.

So Spider-man just came out and that kind of threw me off of Dragonfall for a bit, but ysterday I managed to get the money for Alice and did some bits after that. I think I'm on the last stretch of the game right now and it's still going strong! Definitely one of the best games I've played all year and will rank high up on my favorite RPG's in general.

I thought I wouldn't be a fan of the hub & instanced missions but it actually works well in it's favor, mainly because of the superb writing. Having missions that are mostly disconnected from the main quest teaches so much about the world, as you get to tangle with some nefarious people and corporations. There were a few cases where I really had to think about the impact of my choices, not how it will affect the game later since it is pretty linear, but what will be the result of my actions to the game world (cleaning up the botched shadowrun, feuerstelle, bloodline etc.). Now that's good writing in a RPG game. The cast is great, feels like an actual team with people you care about, especially after doing their respective missions. Also, Eiger is bad ass. I'm actually kind of sad that I'm so close to the ending. :p

Click to shrink...

In some ways, knowing the choices affects the world and your allies' opinions on you with little to no differences in rewards or divergences in gameplay/story makes me think about the choices much more sincerely than just trying to please X NPC or get Y reward etc. I also think it helps that your character is and will still be a Shadowrunner, a criminal in the eyes of society no matter if you do good or bad or both. This writing and the support from your allies is also pretty great. "I might have .... but I respect your decision" or "This is going to cause trouble later, you're an idiot, promoting you was a mistake" type responses adds a lot of flavour to not only your companions but your own character. The writing definitely is some of my the most enjoyable I've experienced in RPGs of the last decade.

I definitely agree with you that it is a little sad knowing it was about to end. All the subtle little hints that the gang will part ways and each having their own path and challenges really cements in that these individuals have a really rough life ahead even when they get out of their current situation. On the bright side, once you're done you can go on to Hong Kong which is also a very good game if you enjoyed Dragonfall. Hong Kong has my favourite companion in this franchise.

 

[OuijaLuigi]

In some ways, knowing the choices affects the world and your allies' opinions on you with little to no differences in rewards or divergences in gameplay/story makes me think about the choices much more sincerely than just trying to please X NPC or get Y reward etc. I also think it helps that your character is and will still be a Shadowrunner, a criminal in the eyes of society no matter if you do good or bad or both. This writing and the support from your allies is also pretty great. "I might have .... but I respect your decision" or "This is going to cause trouble later, you're an idiot, promoting you was a mistake" type responses adds a lot of flavour to not only your companions but your own character. The writing definitely is some of my the most enjoyable I've experienced in RPGs of the last decade.

I definitely agree with you that it is a little sad knowing it was about to end. All the subtle little hints that the gang will part ways and each having their own path and challenges really cements in that these individuals have a really rough life ahead even when they get out of their current situation. On the bright side, once you're done you can go on to Hong Kong which is also a very good game if you enjoyed Dragonfall. Hong Kong has my favourite companion in this franchise.

Click to shrink...

They've definitely nailed the moral grey area. Too often in RPG's you're supposed to be a rogue character but the good choices make you seem like a paragon of justice. Here, the best course of action might not be the moral one.

Spoiler: Put this bit under a spoiler tag just in case. This still won't spoil anything but I think going in completely blind into these missions is the way to go.

As was with the botched shadowrun cleanup mission. You think you know what the deal is, but it throws quite a curve ball towards the end. Probably my favorite mission so far, with Mark VI.

I fully intend to play Hong Kong as my next RPG. Right after I finish Spider-man, or I might just boot it up straight after Dragonfall.:D We'll see.

 

[futurememory]

I'm definitely loving the morally grey options here. The only other WRPGs I've played before are the Mass Effect series and Fable II. The choices in those games are ludicrously black and white (or blue and red).

I tend to play as a charismatic good person in games. In Mass Effect, for instance, I pretty much never picked a renegade option. But here... there is no good option. Everything is down and dirty and complicated.

For example, in the sewers

Spoiler

I really fought for the ghouls to keep their dignity and their work. Their way of living and society was super, super upsetting to me, and the way the doctor was exploiting them, horrifying. I wasn't able to negotiate well enough (you might not even be able to) and now the ghouls will have to do odd "bloody" jobs in order to continue to have a food supply. This was pretty heartbreaking for me. Their leader asked me never to return.

Stuff like the spoiled section really makes you think, and really makes you feel the weight of your actions.

I'm finding that I'm enjoying the game more and more as I go along.

 

[Snormy]

I'm definitely loving the morally grey options here. The only other WRPGs I've played before are the Mass Effect series and Fable II. The choices in those games are ludicrously black and white (or blue and red).

I tend to play as a charismatic good person in games. In Mass Effect, for instance, I pretty much never picked a renegade option

Click to shrink...

One of my biggest issues with ME was actually this paragon/renegade system. Too often it felt like an artificial choice of two extremes where one path is a more patient, problem solving and the other is reckless, violence and aggression. Having them painted clearly as paragon/renegade and binding character development + rewards to it makes my decision making process very much different than something I would make in a normal scenario. This ultimately takes away from the experience for me somewhat.

For example, in the sewers

Spoiler

I really fought for the ghouls to keep their dignity and their work. Their way of living and society was super, super upsetting to me, and the way the doctor was exploiting them, horrifying. I wasn't able to negotiate well enough (you might not even be able to) and now the ghouls will have to do odd "bloody" jobs in order to continue to have a food supply. This was pretty heartbreaking for me. Their leader asked me never to return.

Stuff like the spoiled section really makes you think, and really makes you feel the weight of your actions.

Click to shrink...

I like that a lot of the problems are simply too big for you to solve. Even solving immediate problems you realise often the root causes remains and the fix is not guarantee to peace. The world building is great. I really like that the people know the world is in chaos and are all just struggling to stay on top of it. You see some faring better than others and you see all these magical or technological marvels mixed in too. Then we have the all too familiar problems, greed, addiction, racism, brainwashing and all that thrown into the mix. It is easily one of my favourite settings in a RPG.

I think you would like the Witcher series too if you enjoy morally grey paths.

 

[Cecil]

This was pretty great to play on my Surface Pro. Touch controls was really good.

 

[OuijaLuigi]

Just finished Dragonfall and what can I say, I loved it.

I mean sure, technically it's not as impressive as some other modern crpg's but the world building is just incredible. I haven't been this immersed in a game in a long time. I actually think that telling about events and actions rather than showing it helps a lot, because I'd take a nicely written description over a shitty animation any day. They feel a lot more expressive I think. This has been easily the best RPG of the month so far and a tough one to beat.

Spoiler: ENDING RUINING SPOILERS

So my biggest choices regarding the ending were freeing Feuerscwhinge to head out to sleep, with APEX out and about and I followed Hans to do some work for another dragon. I loved the fact that in the end we didn't change a damn thing, as the little blurp of text before the credits say. I tried to be a good person and help as much as I can and even refused to kill a unique "lifeform" like APEX, fully knowing it would be a shit deal. Of course setting Feuerschwinge free has a huge impact in the grander scheme of things but there was no immediate change to metahuman life. It's kinda humbling where usually in RPG's you save everyone and you become a great hero, but not here. What an awesome game, and I think it warrants another playthrough just to try different choices. At least load up some of the later saves and check what happens.

Now, on to install Hong Kong.

 

[Chopchop]

Just finished Dragonfall and what can I say, I loved it.

I mean sure, technically it's not as impressive as some other modern crpg's but the world building is just incredible. I haven't been this immersed in a game in a long time. I actually think that telling about events and actions rather than showing it helps a lot, because I'd take a nicely written description over a shitty animation any day. They feel a lot more expressive I think. This has been easily the best RPG of the month so far and a tough one to beat.

Spoiler: ENDING RUINING SPOILERS

So my biggest choices regarding the ending were freeing Feuerscwhinge to head out to sleep, with APEX out and about and I followed Hans to do some work for another dragon. I loved the fact that in the end we didn't change a damn thing, as the little blurp of text before the credits say. I tried to be a good person and help as much as I can and even refused to kill a unique "lifeform" like APEX, fully knowing it would be a shit deal. Of course setting Feuerschwinge free has a huge impact in the grander scheme of things but there was no immediate change to metahuman life. It's kinda humbling where usually in RPG's you save everyone and you become a great hero, but not here. What an awesome game, and I think it warrants another playthrough just to try different choices. At least load up some of the later saves and check what happens.

Now, on to install Hong Kong.

Click to shrink...

The ending choices can be huge. One thing I really, really liked about Dragonfall that I hadn't seen before in any other RPG:

Spoiler: Dragonfall ending spoilers

You can *agree* with the villain in your last conversation with him, and turn on your friends to help him accomplish his goal. This leads to a fight where you kill all party members that are against your decision (which is nearly all of them), and then join the villain. This ending plays out in quite a lot of detail - you are given a time skip and big lore dump that shows what happened after you saw the villain's plan come to fruition. You see exactly what you helped bring about, and what it means. It's really interesting and chilling.

As for the normal endings:

Spoiler: More ending spoilers

I think you do have an impact on things, but the ultimate consequences of your choices are unclear because they are on a scale that is way, way larger than you, because Feuerschwinge's role in the world is much more important than yours. There's actually quite a lot of variety to the endings in Dragonfall. You can not just destroy or save Fuerschwinge, but your choice with APEX also affects things. You can even turn over Fuerschwinge to APEX's control, which obviously creates all sorts of fuckery down the line because you just made a goddamn dragon a slave to an AI.

Like you said, I liked how you aren't hailed as this hero, but your actions did still make a difference. It's just that most people won't know what you did, *you* barely know what you did, and you're just off to your next job because you have a life to live too.

 

[ThankDougie]

agh, wish I would have caught this sooner. been eyeing this for a little while, but have also been indecisive. sounds like this is a narrative-driven game all in all, but not necessarily one with a lot of freedom of choice? i dig the look and style of combat, and i'm always interested in a good story. are we talking Fallout or Baldur's Gate 2 levels of good here?

 

[Spacejaws]

Awesome missed this post I'm going to boot this up soon. I really enjoyed Shadowrun Returns but some elements kinda screamed kickstarted indie game, just a few edges that lack polish but in general I was so happy for a CRPG comeback and got stuck into it.

Originally I bought the Dragonfall DLC but held off when the Directors Cut was announced and eventually bought it with the discount (or was it free? I can't remember...) but never actually got round to trying it despite the rave reviews.