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Fat Samurai posted:Ugh, I understand it's difficult to create outfits that are visually distinctive and appropriate to the setting, but most of the stuff that isn't outright "Matrix" is pretty bad.
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Aug 28, 2017 13:54
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Isn't there one that's a business suit or something? I love that one, gives only 4 armour IIRC though.
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Aug 28, 2017 15:15
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Kanfy posted:Have no fear, she'll be back in her usual look in the next update. I hope for the later games they do something about how hats and hoods completely remove the character's hair.
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Aug 28, 2017 18:57
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Fat Samurai posted:Ugh, I understand it's difficult to create outfits that are visually distinctive and appropriate to the setting, but most of the stuff that isn't outright "Matrix" is pretty bad. Yeah, the Returns outfits are ... yeah. They got better at it in future titles, at least. CommissarMega posted:Isn't there one that's a business suit or something? I love that one, gives only 4 armour IIRC though. That's in Hong Kong. I don't know if it's in Dragonfall. Psion fucked around with this message at 19:23 on Aug 28, 2017 |
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Aug 28, 2017 19:20
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In Dragonfall's Director's Cut, you can acquire the business suit if you buy it from a store in Luca Duerr's little audition. Granted, there are some very good reasons not to go on that mission in the first place, especially if you want to RP as a savvy runner. It's a decent suit for that point in the game. Good armor, and the +2 Charisma can save you some karma, in the short term, if you're the sort that likes to talk his way out of trouble, but aren't a shaman.
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Aug 28, 2017 20:30
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mauman posted:You should read up on a certain church/religion that begins with an S and ends with a Y. Anyone interested in doing so, check out Going Clear, either the documentary or the book. The book is probably one of my all time favorite non fiction books. The story of said group is quite fascinating and horrifying. I should warn you though: side effects may include never being able to enjoy a Tom Cruise movie again. AceOfFlames fucked around with this message at 16:20 on Aug 29, 2017 |
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Aug 29, 2017 16:16
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Part 23 - A Look Under the Hood As a kid I had a recurring nightmare where I was riding an elevator, but instead of stopping when it reached the top or bottom, the doors would remain shut and it'd just keep going without letting me out. I... wasn't really going anywhere with that, except I guess that kid me would've made for a terrible teammate for this job. .jpg) (Slightly spooky new ambient theme!)  And so our brave explorers reach the super duper deep secret basement. Amazon has ditched her disguise since it smelled kind of weird. In front of us is a door and behind it, the secrets of the Brotherhood laid bare right before our eyes!  Nah actually it's just a normal dining room. Maybe these guys aren't up to anything particular shady after all. Let's try this next door.  Okay, there's a dead body leaking some kind of green goo in the middle of the hallway. That's at least +15 to Shadiness, so maybe we're on the right track after all.  Welp, guess we're not gonna be getting anything out of Shane. What the hell happened to him anyway, I don't think getting shot leaves a corpse like that. And why leave him lying in the middle of some random hallway, have some respect.  Might as well bring his card with us. Cherry Bomb might want to know about his fate once we're back at the Union, and she isn't going to believe us unless we bring her his membership card. Or something. Anyhow, only one way to go here, so we head through the door at the end of the hallway.  Looks like an office, probably Father Willy's since it was his card that took us here. Love the pile of skulls next to the desk, really keeps anyone looking for a raise on their toes.   Nobody promised to pay us for this job, so we might as well take matters into our own hands. Onwards!  Oh hello uh is this not the counseling center  Wow, they really did go all out on this dark cult thing. Purple robes and a creepy altar and everything. They've even got burning skulls!  What they also have is some lady in a holding cell. Since these guys don't look like policemen, I think this is about as far as diplomacy's gonna take us.  Luckily the cultists' fancy robes don't give them any mystical powers, they're just ordinary and incredibly outgunned 40 HP scrubs.  Cadence demonstrates assault rifles' hilarious Full Auto Fire ability which hits for five times for 2 AP. Sure it uses 10 bullets, the shots can't crit and they suffer a 15% accuracy penalty but the sheer damage potential of it is a big part of why rifles are so good and effective at practically any range.  We grab the holding cell key from the ventilated man's pocket and use it to free the mystery damsel in distress.    Relax, you're safe now. What's your name? And what kind of noises?[She sighs. Coming down off the adrenaline rush.]  Marie... Marie-Louise. And first it was chanting. Priests and acolytes have been going down that hole since they locked me up. But then it changed to screaming. And something else, something... foul. We've got to get out of here! What did they want with you? The aunt she's talking about is Jessica by the way, she says as much if you pick a different dialogue choice. She doesn't mention who her father is though. Okay, time to go.But then, almost like on cue..   Nice getup. I like to think Jessica's holding up a flashlight from below for spookier lighting. What does it look like?[There is a hungry glint in Jessica's eyes.]  No! You're needed here! I'll bet. I won't be your sacrificial lamb, Jessica. Sure. It isn't eternal life, but it'll do.Credit where credit is due, our only death so far was to that ambush. It was a solid effort. [She composes herself.] So you say. But I'm glad you're here. Truly, I am. You've helped me more than you can know. Further opened my already wide eyes. Oh no, it's looking a lot like she's caught Obvious Villainy from Silas. Self-destruction. It was Sam's path, and it is humanity's path, if we don't make a change, if we don't embrace a new way of thinking. We must put each other first. And this is the basis of my new family. And does your new family know how you treated your old one? Sam and my mother were anchors, dragging me down with them into the gutter of human existence. But that part of my life ended at the burial. I am free now. Free to be uplifted by my new family.Yeah, we sure got a real paragon of caring and selflessness talking here.  Okay okay we get the picture Lady, you're nuts. Just plain nuts. Visionaries are seldom understood in their own time. But someday you will all join me in transcendence. I hate getting involved in other people's family meetings.   What in the everloving gently caress  Ho-ly crap. Don't be afraid, darling girl. No one will hurt you. You are our Queen!Man, all we wanted was to solve one silly murder and get paid. What is even happening anymore?  I can do it, just stay behind us. Look, I went to the best school in the country for Matrix engineering. I KNOW what I'm doing! They locked the nodes down when they caught me but I slipped in some code before they did, so it has to be me that jacks in. Just hold them off and let me fix it! What about intrusion countermeasures? I write IC as a hobby, okay? Just trust me. And keep those... things away from me! Her confidence isn't entirely baseless, in fact her decking skills are downright demonic. Also for some reason she has two etiquettes selected. I'm afraid the protagonist spot has already been taken lady, maybe try your luck in Dragonfall instead.  She's also dressed like a school girl, and not necessarily the kind that goes to school.   .jpg) (BTL Burn is probably my favorite combat theme in the game, maybe aside from the final boss theme. The 70-second buildup is only present in the soundtrack version but I decided to leave the whole thing in because it's great.)  I'm still not entirely sure how things turned out this way, but we're now facing a pair of human-insect hybrid monsters alongside a couple of Brotherhood members with swords who just entered from the now-locked door to the south. The latter continue to be nothing special, but the former, one a "True Form Worker" and the other "True Form Venom" have 80 and 70 HP respectively making them quite durable. They also spit nasty acid which deals pretty heavy damage and reduces AP to boot.  Coyote is in her element in these close quarters and thus she's the lucky recipient of Falk's Haste buff.  Since he has an AP to spare, we might as well demonstrate Lightning Barrier. You first pick 5 connecting and unoccupied tiles on the floor like so...  ...and voilà, cover-on-demand. What form it takes depends on the type of barrier you cast, obviously.  Blam, blam, Coyote's burning anger came down upon their heads  Blam, blam, Coyote's burning anger made sure that they were dead  Whatever these things are, they seem to bleed just like anything else which is always a good sign.  80 is quite a lot of HP but with a little teamwork we bring the first one down on the first turn. Jessica sure talked them up a lot, but in the end they do seem to be just oversized bugs. With human parts. Also you can see the lightning barrier animation more clearly there. It's pretty nea- hm?  Now hold on a minute there.  An insect spirit, huh? Guess it was to be expected for them to have some trick up their sleeve. Cute, but it's only 40 HP and this isn't exactly the first spirit we've faced so it doesn't seem like much of a problem. No sense in taking risks though, so let's deliver a demonstration on how we exorcise pesky spirits... in full auto.  Okay I take it back, this now officially seems like a problem.  I don't know what this is, but it isn't right.You can't just turn Godmode on like that in the middle of a match, have you no morals? This is the future of Man. This is how our species will achieve everlasting life. Are you blind, woman? These things are giant bugs. Open your mind, Amazon. They are so much more than you think. All right, I've had just about enough of this.Despite her earlier claim of wanting to see us die Jessica runs off, baselessly confident that she doesn't need to confirm our demise this time either.  So here's the bad news: Jessica is completely right, these things are effectively unkillable. Every time you bring one down, they turn into an invincible spirit at the end of that turn. And after spending one turn as a spirit, the physical form revives with 50% HP at the start of their next turn.  Here's the good news: In spirit form their attacks only deal 1 HP and AP damage as opposed to the physical form attacks which burn like hell. This means we're also effectively unkillable, provided we can keep the physical forms down and thus prevent them from hitting us with the bad stuff. The spirit form always gets a free attack after it spawns, but fortunately the physical form does not.  Of course given enough time we will eventually die before the unkillable bug monsters, especially with the occasional miss and the need to reload, so the only thing we can do is to keep bringing them down while Marie-Louise makes her way to the door systems in the Matrix so we can escape.  It is possible to use another decker to go and assist her as there are multiple jackpoints in the room, but between her high skills and the Attacker ESP she comes with, she doesn't really need the help against basic ICs. Amazon's drones are more useful in keeping the chittering menace at bay anyway.  In the real world our party slowly makes their way towards the doors to the northwest while keeping the bed bugs from biting.  The second Matrix area which holds the door controls features a couple of White Sparkies, but as before they take so long to charge up that they die before getting an attack off.  When Marie-Louise eventually makes her way to the node, she encounters... a man in a top hat? Yeah okay sure, par for the course at this point really.  Harkeem? Is that you? Call me Samedi, please! We're in an unsecured node. Hang on - I'm running a decoy operation with a mirrors utility to mask you so the rest of the Brotherhood's grid doesn't swarm you with ice.What, you get to call other people by their real name but everyone else has to use your Rad Online Nick? How did you find me? You leave a very distinctive trail, ML. You need to work on that. Now what the hell is going on here? There's no time! The "next level" the Universal Brotherhood is always talking about - I think they transform into bugs! I had heard some rumors on Shadowland but this is worse than I thought. I warned you about these people. You've got to get out of there!Shadowland as in the Shadowland BBS. BBS as in Bulletin Board System. Look it up if you're too young to know what that is. Way ahead of you. This node controls the doors. We're free. Now we just need to get out of here. I'll see you soon... I hope.  With her chat and job both finished, Marie-Louise cyberhoofs it back to the cyberexit...  ...and from there to the actual exit, now opened up, while the rest of the team covers her escape. The door you can just see at the bottom is also unlocked until you free Marie-Louise, but there's nothing in the room behind it.  Being the reliable team leader she is, Amazon waits until everyone else is out and then quickly flees the scene herself.  And we're out! Our basement trip ended up being shorter than expected, but somehow it still feels like we spent an eternity in that building. Presumably the door we escaped through led to another elevator, seeing how we're now on ground level.  Hold on - What WAS that back there? [She's glassy-eyed. Maybe in shock.] That was... I don't know. That was bad. Really bad. I'm out of here. Sorry... Well bye then I guess, hope you had nothing you were supposed to tell us. Can't really blame her for being a bit of a mess after what happened I suppose.  Fortunately Mysterious Facepaint Man figured she might forget about his request and opts to contact us directly. Who are you, and how did you get this commlink code? Forgive me... I am the Baron Samedi. Perhaps you have heard of Samedi? He is a decker of unique gifts. Some have gone so far as to call him a technomancer. We two, we have a common knowledge now, and we share a common purpose.Both this guy's name and looks (or rather the name and looks he's chosen for his avatar) are based on the "actual" Baron Samedi, one of the Haitian voodoo spirits who likes his vices and primarily handles things related to death and passage into the next world. Also technomancers who are able to interact with computers using their minds eventually did become a real thing in Shadowrun, but that's a couple of decades from here and in Samedi's case it's just a fancy title. I'm listening... And what's your stake in this business? The one you are after poses a grave threat to many. But that is for later. We must hurry now! Guess we have a goal again, albeit a pretty vague one.   Today sure was a rollercoaster. Jessica turned out to be even more unhinged than she seemed, and now we've got some kinda immortal ghost... bug... things... walking around. And our only lead to what the hell any of it means is some weirdo acting like a voodoo spirit in cyberspace. Life used to be so simple, once. Hopefully the Union is still standing at least, some familiarity and sanity would be a welcome change right about now. Extra You may recall that there were two ways to enter the underground portion of the Brotherhood, the secret route and the main route. Let's take a quick look at what the main route would've entailed.  First of all, bringing the party to the main entrance has us understandably stopped by security.  New members that Grandmother Jessica requested to see. [He seems satisfied.] I see. Well, until you deliver them to Grandmother Jessica you're responsible for them, so don't let them go wandering off. We start from the main hallway which was unaccessible from the other path. The second door to the west connects to the dining room, but it can't be opened from either side.  The first door to the west leads to a small resting area and... Shane? That's right, where you find Shane's corpse depends on which way you entered. This phenomenon is known as Schrödinger's Shane.  There's also a Basic Medkit in one of the lockers and a data pad located on one of the desks, only readable on this path. Data Pad posted:
 Moving on in the main hallway, we eventually reach a security checkpoint and another door to the side.  Behind this particular door is a storage room containing an Advanced Medkit.  Even more doors plus a second cultist are visible past the checkpoint. Obviously we can't just walk over there though.  Sorry, that's as far as you go. Don't worry... all the Brotherhood's mysteries will be revealed in time. Now please step away. I have learned so much! I can't stop now. Stand aside my friend, our enlightenment awaits. Yeah, there's no way to avoid this fight no matter what you say.   As has been established they're not particularly dangerous opponents however.  The western door leads to an armoury and contains a pair of Cavalier Frag Grenades.  Finally, the door at the end of the hallway leads to the altar room and everything proceeds as before from there. Also since the door to the office isn't locked and thus nothing's stopping us from going in there and picking up the pay data from this side, in an unusual twist the main path is pretty much strictly superior to the secret one due to the loot and the tiny bit of lore in the data pad. You do have to fight one extra battle against the checkpoint duo, but that's a minor speed bump at worst. Kanfy fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Dec 6, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 11:10
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Wasn't expecting a Beatles reference, but it works. Anyway, this WTF moment conspired with a bug that caused combad to never end (so I had to slowly move party members one by one) slightly afterwards to kill any interest to finish the game. Let's see how this ends. EDIT: Also, the way to deal with the bugs (the enemies, not the software) is dumb. 
Fat Samurai fucked around with this message at 12:18 on Aug 30, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 11:55
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If you could edit out your edit then that'd be cool, let's try to avoid major story stuff even behind spoiler tags. As far as the issues are concerned, it's like it says in the OP Kanfy posted:Some particularly hard-to-deal-with bugs were also a fairly common complaint.  But yeah, the Brotherhood bit especially feels a bit lacking in polish. Marie-Louise also often becomes unable to move after she returns from the Matrix, though fortunately that one is fixed by a simple save+reload. Kanfy fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Aug 30, 2017 |
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Aug 30, 2017 12:09
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Kanfy posted:If you could edit out your edit then that'd be cool, let's try to avoid major story stuff even behind spoiler tags. Done, sorry. Opinion still stands.
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Aug 30, 2017 12:18
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Kanfy posted:But yeah, the Brotherhood bit especially feels a bit lacking in polish. Marie-Louise also often becomes unable to move after she returns from the Matrix, though fortunately that one is fixed by a simple save+reload.
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Aug 30, 2017 15:50
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goddamn bugs whacked us johnny
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Aug 30, 2017 16:17
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I remember being unable to jack-it alongside Marie-Louise. And yes, I'm fairly sure I tried to use a different Matrix terminal.
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Aug 30, 2017 17:19
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Xander77 posted:I remember being unable to jack-it alongside Marie-Louise. And yes, I'm fairly sure I tried to use a different Matrix terminal. It definitely seemed to work when I tried it. I don't know if Samedi has a different reaction if the player character is in there with her, but I doubt it.
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Aug 30, 2017 19:59
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Xander77 posted:I remember being unable to jack-it alongside Marie-Louise. Not everyone is open to try things like that with someone they just met.
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Aug 30, 2017 21:10
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Necroskowitz posted:Not everyone is open to try things like that with someone they just met. I don't see why, she looks like she'd be down with it 
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Aug 30, 2017 22:28
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Wow, creepy. And cheating too. But we're the rpg protagonist, you know. We'll crush your bugs and everything along with it... eventually. Later. You know, like end game.
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Aug 31, 2017 00:19
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Actually it sounds like a really good moment to go on the Shadowland BBS and post a few threads about "HELP BUG SPIRITS EVERYWHERE HELP ME" in the Seattle section and see a bit of long term thinking and / or gloryhound prime talent show up.
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Aug 31, 2017 00:47
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doing so at this point in the setting will be met by a bunch of people saying nothing more than "what the gently caress are you talking about, and can I have some of whatever you're injecting"
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Aug 31, 2017 00:51
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I thought bug spirits were already known as existing and dangerous if not explicitly known to sometimes be related to the UB?
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Aug 31, 2017 00:56
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SIGSEGV posted:I thought bug spirits were already known as existing and dangerous if not explicitly known to sometimes be related to the UB? Bug spirits were only known about by a very few chosen at this point. This takes place before the Chicago Clusterfuck.
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Aug 31, 2017 02:03
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Ze Pollack posted:goddamn bugs whacked us johnny Beat me to it. SIGSEGV posted:I thought bug spirits were already known as existing and dangerous if not explicitly known to sometimes be related to the UB? This is pre-Bug City. Chicago isn't for another couple of years. E: gently caress, beaten again
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Aug 31, 2017 02:07
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mauman posted:Bug spirits were only known about by a very few chosen at this point. Didn't stop me from freaking right the gently caress out I tell you what.'
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Aug 31, 2017 02:25
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And this is where this game's plot goes completely to poo poo. The whole tone they've built up so far is abandoned and it transforms into a completely different and much worse story.
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Aug 31, 2017 05:39
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Tiggum posted:And this is where this game's plot goes completely to poo poo. The whole tone they've built up so far is abandoned and it transforms into a completely different and much worse story. Nah, this is a pretty standard shadowrun twist: "holy poo poo you have stumbled onto something HUGE, time to gather allies and figure out how to handle it" They handle it better in the subsequent games- for example, in Dragonfall all the story beats of Dead Man's Switch up to this point are covered by the tutorial mission, leaving the subsequent bit as the vast majority of the game- but I'd argue at least through Amazon getting to add janitorial experience to her resume they at least keep the arc intact.
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Aug 31, 2017 05:57
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mauman posted:Bug spirits were only known about by a very few chosen at this point. And if you post something like that after Chicago you're likely to end up up to your eyeballs in Ares kill-teams.
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Aug 31, 2017 06:06
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Ze Pollack posted:Nah, this is a pretty standard shadowrun twist: "holy poo poo you have stumbled onto something HUGE, time to gather allies and figure out how to handle it" Just 'cause it's common doesn't mean it's good.
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Aug 31, 2017 07:16
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Ze Pollack posted:Nah, this is a pretty standard shadowrun twist: "holy poo poo you have stumbled onto something HUGE, time to gather allies and figure out how to handle it" I'd say this is where the game dips in quality though, if you move on to Dragonfall at this point you've got the best out of DMS.
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Aug 31, 2017 13:08
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Eh, we're close to the end anyway. No real reason to advocate jumping ship.
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Aug 31, 2017 13:22
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Oh yeah, you may want to dedicate some karma to buff ranged weapons though. For, er, reasons.
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Aug 31, 2017 16:52
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Glazius posted:Didn't stop me from freaking right the gently caress out I tell you what.' I actually knew what was going to happen the exact moment I heard "Universal Brotherhood". Big ol' "oh gently caress me" moment. I've actually played Shadowrun: Chicago. Fun times 
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Aug 31, 2017 22:20
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I think it's a little weird that bug spirits in this game work more or less the way all spirits worked in the tabletop.
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Aug 31, 2017 23:14
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A thing that has always bugged me in shadowrun is how every runner team has at least a mage of some sort along for the ride despite the awakened being supposedly pretty rare. I get that they get so much trouble for their nature that large numbers decide to just go and cause trouble instead of just having trouble dumped on them but it's still a bit much.
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Aug 31, 2017 23:24
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That's not unique to Shadowrun, though. Even if Elves are isolationists posh assholes that wouldn't dream of mixing with the common folk, magic is feared and pursued and humans make up 90% of the population in your fantasy world, the standard adventuring party is going to have a dwarf, an elf, a mage, a comic relief joke race thief and a half dragon/quarter ogre/quarter noble savage prestige class. They all met in a tavern.
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Aug 31, 2017 23:37
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mauman posted:I actually knew what was going to happen the exact moment I heard "Universal Brotherhood". Same, that was the metaplot thing I kept mentioning all thread, save for the part where I never played Bug City because I didn't get into the game until 3rd, when Chicago was old news. Yeah, the gameplay kinda takes a quality dip here if you haven't been focusing on shooting things, but I really had no problem with my Street Sam. I was more focused on clearing out a goddamn UB bug nest. GhostStalker fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Nov 12, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 23:46
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SIGSEGV posted:A thing that has always bugged me in shadowrun is how every runner team has at least a mage of some sort along for the ride despite the awakened being supposedly pretty rare. The player characters in Shadowrun are fundamentally very exceptional. If you compare a player-built and fairly optimized Street Sam with like, special forces, the Street Sam often comes out pretty comparable, so you guys are like, already the 1% of privatized deniable black ops services. In that case, it doesn't seem too odd that you have a disproportionate number of people who have exceptional talents in poo poo like 'wizarding' or 'punching someone so hard that their internal organs become external organs.' Anyone can be a Shadowrunner, but the PCs in Shadowrun are the ones who are good enough that they can do it more than once.
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Sep 1, 2017 01:57
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That's why I was saying that the group of guys fought at the plane hangar weren't "real" shadowrunners. Real shadowrunners are the guys you hire four of to blast their way through an Aztechnology facility, and they do it without casualties.
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Sep 1, 2017 02:23
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Or at least they're smart enough to decline the job.
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Sep 1, 2017 03:49
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I'd totally forgotten Class A and Class S drones become available simultaneously. RIP Steel Lynx and Sundowner, you never got a chance to be in the spotlight. On the other hand ahaha S Class drones yesss Also we officially have enough karma for 4 AP drones right here and now, but at the cost of an outfit change to Golden Boy (because The Mechanic is just too drat ugly). What do you think thread, is absolute power worth so high a price?
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Sep 1, 2017 12:47
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Do what you must, she'll be a tourist forever in our hearts while her drones murder everything in sight.
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Sep 1, 2017 13:05
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