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Villiers also really fucks up the lives of his close underlings in incredibly vicious ways, so another match for Steve Jobs. Does he become the idol and persona to copy for a healthcare technology scammer who will burn billions of nuyen? I don't know, I haven't really followed six ed since it's a bit of a mess, as a pejorative, unlike the rest of shadowrun which is a bit of a mess, but endearing.
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Mar 30, 2024 14:30
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SIGSEGV posted:Villiers also really fucks up the lives of his close underlings in incredibly vicious ways, so another match for Steve Jobs. His ex wife was also heavily involved in Novatech and then NeoNET before the latter got the corporate death penalty in 6th; Samantha Villers ran their Asia operations IIRC.
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Mar 31, 2024 06:48
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So that breaks the Steve Jobs analogy, I don't think Steve would have ever tolerated any family members being as successful as he was.
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Mar 31, 2024 06:55
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By popular demand posted:So that breaks the Steve Jobs analogy, I don't think Steve would have ever tolerated any family members being as successful as he was. Look people would complain about unrealistic levels of evil if they actually did a 1 to 1 match.
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Mar 31, 2024 07:18
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I like how you can imagine some unspeakable abomination coming back to the sixth world and complaining to its next meal about just how vile the corporate elites are. "Sure I am about to devour your soul and wear your skin but I would never even consider keeping you and your community in debt slavery on a polluted world! You got to have moral values."
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Mar 31, 2024 07:29
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FoolyCharged posted:I have to love the way you can just enthusiastically tell everyone at the convention that you punched that guy. Taz is just so proud of herself.
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Mar 31, 2024 18:04
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This being shadowrun, there's a good chance to see some more CEO's to be compared to our real-world CEO's. Rogue AI Goddess posted:More RPGs need [body count] dialogue checks. I think the age of decadence (there's a screenshot LP on LP archive, I heavily recommend it), has a few to outline how bloodthirsty you can get. Apart from that though, none comes to mind.
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Apr 1, 2024 10:37
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Mindopali posted:This being shadowrun, there's a good chance to see some more CEO's to be compared to our real-world CEO's. The same studios follow up, Colony Ship (highly recommended), also has a combat proficiency stat based on how many fights you've won. You can pass dialog checks by invoking how high it is. Fun detail, at low and mid levels the stat is described by how skilled you are at combat (inept, skilled, dangerous). However, at high levels which can only be reached by taking nearly every fight and picking fights with people who don't want them, it starts describing personality (bloodthirsty, psychotic).
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Apr 1, 2024 12:48
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Mindopali posted:This being shadowrun, there's a good chance to see some more CEO's to be compared to our real-world CEO's. ah, I can sing the praises of now-available-in-stores-again alpha protocol! AP tracks a lot and how you approach missions (including whether or not you enjoy murderin') has effects in quite a few places
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Apr 1, 2024 18:49
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I remember Alpha Protocol tracked your chosen method of violence in a couple different ways, too. Non-lethal methods would rack up a hospital bill tally, whereas killing had an "orphans created" counter instead. These would go up differently depending on what country you were in and the nationality of the victim (so dealing with, say, a CIA agent would only make 1 or 2 orphans if killed while making a crazy hospital bill if KO'd). I don't think anything in the game actually checked these particular statistics, though.
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Apr 1, 2024 18:56
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It didn't explicitly respond to those numbers but there were multiple points where lethal approach vs nonlethal got checked, and characters responded accordingly to how you handled the situation.
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Apr 1, 2024 19:26
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I dont know posted:The same studios follow up, Colony Ship (highly recommended), also has a combat proficiency stat based on how many fights you've won. You can pass dialog checks by invoking how high it is. Fun detail, at low and mid levels the stat is described by how skilled you are at combat (inept, skilled, dangerous). However, at high levels which can only be reached by taking nearly every fight and picking fights with people who don't want them, it starts describing personality (bloodthirsty, psychotic). Oh, I didn't know the AoD guys put out a new game. Thought they were still mucking around with Dungeon Rats Even though AoD had [body check] going the talky route seemed like a better option given how unfun combat could be at times
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Apr 1, 2024 23:08
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:Oh, I didn't know the AoD guys put out a new game. Thought they were still mucking around with Dungeon Rats By unfun, you mean stroke inducing rage sort of unfun, right? I like how cutthroat the game can be, even dialogue can get you killed in a moment if you're not careful. But the combat felt more difficult due to clunky mechanics than voluntary philosophy.
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Apr 2, 2024 20:42
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:Oh, I didn't know the AoD guys put out a new game. Thought they were still mucking around with Dungeon Rats Their follow up game makes things even more rage inducing with a mechanic where skills increase based on how often you use them. So if talk yourself out of too many combats you’ll suddenly find yourself woefully underlevelled when one of the unavoidable fights rocks up! (Unlike the poster above, I *really* do not recommend Colony Ship - it is a terrible game for a whole host of reasons)
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Apr 3, 2024 05:43
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DoctorTristan posted:Their follow up game makes things even more rage inducing with a mechanic where skills increase based on how often you use them. So if talk yourself out of too many combats you’ll suddenly find yourself woefully underlevelled when one of the unavoidable fights rocks up! Ouch. Yeah, I can get why that can be bad. In other games it could be okay, but in such a hardcore game? I understand it makes more sense from a leveling perspective, like elder scrolls where you get better by using your skills. But if the game doesn't give you enough alternatives to help during unavoidable fights... Yeah, no wonder people can have struggle with colony ship. That said, both this game and age of decadence stand at very positive on steam. These are games with a specific niche but won't go mainstream for obvious reasons.
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Apr 4, 2024 12:00
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DoctorTristan posted:Their follow up game makes things even more rage inducing with a mechanic where skills increase based on how often you use them. So if talk yourself out of too many combats you’ll suddenly find yourself woefully underlevelled when one of the unavoidable fights rocks up! Do they at least have random encounters/grinding areas? Because if they do that can at least work, even if grinding is annoying? If not then that's really stupid.
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Apr 4, 2024 12:55
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Servetus posted:Do they at least have random encounters/grinding areas? You get one guess.
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Apr 4, 2024 14:11
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Judging from what I recall of my brief attempt to play Age of Decadence... absolutely no grinding. And if you could it would be liable to murder you arbitrarily.
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Apr 4, 2024 14:14
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As someone who's beaten Colony Ship on hard mode with a hybrid talky/fighty guy...it has some very strange and bad mechanics and fights.
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Apr 4, 2024 18:10
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DoctorTristan posted:You get one guess. There is limited grinding in optional areas and fights such as the I maintain this isn't a full derail since the game clearly draws some inspiration from Shadowrun and even has a couple of possible references sprinkled around. I dont know fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Apr 4, 2024 |
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Apr 4, 2024 20:12
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A quick PSA: For the sake of this LP getting finished before we all actually shuffle off these mortal coils either invidividually over time or all together in some grand conflagration, expect shorter updates from here to reduce instances of them getting stuck in the LP limbo. That is all, resume normal operations after this update.
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Apr 5, 2024 19:37
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Part 38 - A Tense Way Down  The initial plan to find and catch Rhombus was foiled by an unplanned appearance of some guards in the server room, and while we did manage to assist Is0bel in safely navigating her way through that particular spot of danger, it does mean she is now forced to help us get through the door to the VIP area the old-fashioned way: in the flesh. Which is clearly not her preferred way by a long shot.  The first thing of interest she comes across when exploring the nearby rooms is fortunately not more unpredictable meat beings, but a much more chill computer terminal. [Is0bel takes a quick glance at the terminal.]  I'll be damned. It's logged into an admin inbox, and somebody left it unlocked. I can't open the door for you from here, but we can read the messages if you want. Do it.  These subject fields alone kinda seem to be telling a story of their own... Open the first message, Is0bel.quote:>>From: *Ho-Pang, Nancy* [Is0bel blinks, nonplussed.] Huh. I don't know what I was expecting this message to be, but that wasn't it. You want me to keep going...?A vending machine that produces free noodles out of nothing? Gobbet would probably try to get legally married to that thing. Open the second message.quote:>>From: (ADMIN) Wing, Tzi ...All right. You want me to open another message? Open the third message.quote:>>From: *Ho-Pang, Nancy* Um. What do you want me to do, Taz? Open up the last message.quote:>>From: *(ADMIN) Wing, Tzi* I don't even know what to say about this. What do you want me to do...?Suddenly makes you glad we decided to stick to pocket clams on this trip, who knows what kind of dark noodle curse you'd contract by eating the produce of that machine. Hell, maybe it's not actually just tradition that compels all those regulars to line up each year. Better we wrap up our business here before we end up catching its attention too. I've seen enough. Get down here and get us through this door. Okay. I'm on it. With that horror story behind us, Is0bel continues her explorations through the nearby rooms. The next one contains some much more down-to-earth information, but nothing that seems immediately relevant to us.  The final room she can access on this floor is just used for storage, but she does find an Advanced Medkit on one of the shelves which she preferably won't end up having to use.  With nothing else interesting or accessible here, she heads for the admin elevator with some particularly cheesy elevator music audible in the background.  Heads up, Is0bel. We're getting a lot of interference here.  Great, we got the type that for some reason feels compelled to start chatting to strangers in the elevator. Guess we now gotta help her face down the demon of small talk, let's see... Say: "Yeah, it's tough all right. I wish that I could just drop everything and explore!" Is0bel? What's wrong?[Her eyes remain locked on the man's badge.] Kein Ding, huh? That's an... interesting street name. Been decking under it long? A couple of years now.[He smiles.] Longer than anyone else to use the handle. Just smile and nod, Is0bel. You're trying to go unnoticed, remember?[If she heard you, she doesn't acknowledge it.] I know who you are. You're the one who shut down the Kowloon City power grid six months ago.[He clears his throat.] Yeah, that was me. Let's just keep that between ourselves, though, all right? That little stunt screwed over a lot of local deckers.[Her voice is soft, but you can detect a definite undertone of hostility.] A couple of 'em soaked up nasty hits of dumpshock because of it. You wrecked the grid while they were jacked into their home machines. My team was in a bind. They needed a power outage right then and there, or they were cooked. So I gave them one. It was the best solution to a bad situation. Let's leave it at that. ...There was this decker. She lived out in Heoi, called herself "Spinster." She was a good person. Now she's in the ground. She never came back out of the coma that your stunt put her into. Oh for the love of... of all the people in all the elevators in Hong Kong, and there are a lot of elevators in Hong Kong, why did this exact one end up carrying the target of some old personal grudge? Also why is the only part she suddenly gets all comfortably chatty the one that endangers the whole run?! Snap out of it, Izz. We aren't here for this guy, and we can't afford to start shooting yet. [He stares down at Is0bel. The smile has vanished from his face.] Yeah. Sure you're not. You've come to get me, haven't you? To take revenge for your friend. Did her people put out a contract on me? Is that it? Man, and now he's on edge too. We gotta defuse this situation and fast, because right now both of the two people in that drat elevator seem all too willing to make a mess of this whole thing. Say: "I'm not a decker, honest. I'm just a caterer who spends way too much time lurking on the Shadowland BBS." I'm not a decker. I'm just a caterer who spends way too much ti-- Really? Starting to feel like we should just take the hint and head back home, clearly some runs just aren't meant to be. Please, Is0bel, don't be doing anything stupid right now.  [Is0bel starts to respond. The anger is clear in her tone.] I would NOT have-- IS0BEL! STOP. Listen to me.[She stops short.] *What?!* You're crazy. An insane person. And when I get out of this elevator, I'm going to the hotel security office. Alright, hate to use our bosses' name in vain and all, but it just might be the best way to convince this guy that telling on us would be a terrible career move for a runner in this neighborhood. The hell with it. Tell him that if he does, he's a dead man. Tell him you're with the Yellow Lotus. You don't want to turn me in. My boss would be very unhappy. I work for Kindly Cheng.[The color drains from his face. He begins to stammer.] Oh, no no no... no, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-- This is getting old. Remember what we discussed. You keep your cool, and this turns out well for the both of us. We live and let live. Understood? Yes. I didn't want any trouble from you in the first place. I'm just glad that it was all a misunderstanding. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I'll be happy if this is the last that I ever see of you. Now get a move on, Is0bel. Who knew how quickly something at worst mildly uncomfortable like a stranger starting a conversation in an elevator could be escalated into a full-blown crisis situation if you really put your mind to it. Here's hoping she's going to get here fast and without any further chatty arrivals, because sooner or later every social interaction seemingly turning into a time bomb for us to disarm is going to end up with one of them blowing up in our face.  Making the wrong choice in the elevator conversation is the first opportunity to cause the run to go loud, which in practice cuts off all remaining exploration and dialogue along the way to Rhombus' location and has you fight your way through a squad of four security guards instead. In that case you gain entry simply by breaking through the door next to the kiosk since it triggering the alarm doesn't really matter at that point anymore. A variety of dialogue choices were shown in the update, but in actuality there's only one choice that can lead to the failure outcome here: Tell him to chill out. "Get a grip, pal. You're losing your cool over nothing." Calm down. Get a grip. You're losing your--  Hrm. Unfortunate.  What the hell?! He got more upset and took a swing at me. I shot him. Yeah, I can see that. What happened to the "play this quietly" plan? What happens to most plans. It gave way to improvisation. Now, do you think that I can maybe get a hand here, Taz? I give them about five seconds before-- Yeah, I'm on it.
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Apr 5, 2024 19:38
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the noodles are traditional. no further questions
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Apr 5, 2024 19:40
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So we've been noodling around at the convention? 
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Apr 5, 2024 19:48
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listen, some SCPs just want to be nice to people
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Apr 5, 2024 20:46
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I love the noodle machine.
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Apr 5, 2024 21:20
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I love how we can drop our mafia boss employer's name to get out of a messed-up situation. Heh. Headcanon- Kein felt sorry for what he did to Spinster every day of the rest of his life. He already was having issues sleeping at night and now they're justifiably worse.
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Apr 5, 2024 21:42
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I can't really fault Is0bel too much considering, but it is such a decker thing not to have any kind of preparation for if the power goes out. Also: WHERE ARE THE NOODLES COMING FROM?
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Apr 5, 2024 21:53
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Poil posted:I can't really fault Is0bel too much considering, but it is such a decker thing not to have any kind of preparation for if the power goes out. There's not really much prep you can do- if any part of the path you took to where you're currently in loses power, you're getting dumped, and probably hard. You can have power backups at home, sure, but that doesn't save you from interstitial nodes going down.
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Apr 5, 2024 22:26
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The noodle machine is probably some sort of Genius Loci. It exists because of the tradition and the tradition exists because of it in some sort of endless noodle feedback loop. It would probably only get violent if you tried to actually shut down the convention.
Obligatum VII fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Apr 6, 2024 |
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Apr 5, 2024 22:34
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Obligatum VII posted:The noodle machine is probably some sort of Genius Loci. It exists because of the tradition and the tradition exists because of it in some endless noodle feedback loop. It would probably only get violent if you tried to actually shut down the convention. It did not appreciate that guy trying to mess with the broth settings. (Presumably it's miscalibrated and recalibrating it would change the traditional deck-con taste)
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Apr 6, 2024 00:20
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we should borrow the noodle machine for our own use
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Apr 6, 2024 00:33
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Should have been able to eat some yummy noodles during the run
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Apr 6, 2024 01:40
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achtungnight posted:I love how we can drop our mafia boss employer's name to get out of a messed-up situation. Heh. Yes, and doing so is surely not going to create more-messed-up situations for us in the future.
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Apr 6, 2024 03:01
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We should have dropped Blitz's name.
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Apr 6, 2024 05:20
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Nissin Cup Nudist posted:we should borrow the noodle machine for our own use
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Apr 6, 2024 09:24
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I do like short updates like this - really shows off just how much characterisation there is even in the small snippets of incidental dialogue. Really amazes me every time just how rich they managed to make the characters in these games.
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Apr 6, 2024 12:58
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habeasdorkus posted:We should have dropped Blitz's name. Sounds like a good way to get shanked real fast.
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Apr 6, 2024 14:55
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You want to mess with me? I know this guy named Blitz. Yeah, the guy who single handedly stopped the apoc... God dammit. The elevator just broke down, and the ac went out? What are the odds?
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Apr 6, 2024 18:04
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Fighting Trousers posted:Sounds like a good way to get shanked real fast. Nah, there'll be folks who want to capture you first for some torture while asking out where your good buddy Blitz is at. e: After hitting post I realized that what I wrote is basically getting shanked with more steps.
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Apr 7, 2024 03:56
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