Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club - Halo 2 (Nov)

@KilloWertz No, that's not what I said at all. You wrote a post contemplating whether or not to play it and you seemed unmotivated by the fact that you were going to get the bad ending. Therefore, I tried to encourage you by saying that it would be interesting if you kept playing it regardless if you were going to get the bad ending because it would be interesting to find out what happens when you get it.

Hi all, this month's game is Dishonored! It's available on Game Pass.

The tag list of champions:

@Tothington91 @MAC26 @XBontendo @Justifier @LtSarge @Tjuz @nessisonett @crippyd @Krzzystuff @sib @Ryu_Niiyama @John117 @Kefka2589 @Kaori-chan @LeanerFasterStronger @cracked_seal @Mr-Fuggles777 @Mundaney @KilloWertz @Beagle

Please ask me to remove you from the tag list if you no longer want to receive notifications. Please ask me to add you to the tag list if you want to receive notifications!

Next month (June) we will be playing ReCore and going back to the voting system for July.

Dishonored is awesome game, hope you guys enjoy it. I may hop in June, because I always wanted to play ReCore.

@LtSarge I was messing with you. I tried to make it obvious by putting the smiley face. Oh well... lol

It wasn't because of the bad ending. I just really want to play Gears 5 since I've put it off well passed when I should have played it, but I may still decide on Dishonored since I'm already a decent way through it if I remember correctly.

@KilloWertz My apologies then. It's pretty tough to read feelings through text, lol. I thought you were making it sound like I was forcing you to drop everything and play through Dishonored. And the reason why you added the smiley was because you weren't going to do that.

@LtSarge Yeah, it is hard to know exactly what people mean on the internet at times.

The joke was that you were forcing me to drop everything, but it was a joke. No big deal in the end.

So I played Dishonored for another hour and I can definitely see now why so many people lose interest so quickly. The first two levels are pretty fun but then the pacing comes to a halt in the third level where you establish your base. When I was exploring this level, I kept thinking to myself "Am I playing a video game or reading a book?" because there are literally excerpts from books to read everywhere. So much so that I started to skip them because it ruined the pacing so much.

The next "issue" is when you head out on your first real mission. The level is much more open than the previous ones and it's kinda overwhelming. Not to mention how many different mechanics the game throws at you all at once. I kept getting detected and/or killed because I couldn't switch to the right equipment in time since you literally have so many things you can switch between. And the thing is that there are still so many more things that you can unlock, it's crazy.

Then sometimes I would get discovered for no reason. I was crouched behind a box and a guard didn't see me but for some reason still ran towards my direction and then discovered me. I have no idea at all what triggered that. Moreover, the crossbow feels useless since it's supposed to be a silenced weapon compared to the pistol but enemies will still hear you firing it for some reason. Then sometimes I try to get behind an enemy and subdue him but the button prompt doesn't show up and I get discovered. Further, the game tells me to go through the lower levels of the area in order to progress and when I do so I can't even find a way to the next section. I looked everywhere and after a long time I just returned to the starting area where there were much easier ways to progress. Another issue I'm finding is the fact that enemies bloody have flamethrowers. Like this is the first level and you're taught to block with your sword and shoot enemies with the crossbow/pistol. Then all of a sudden they have freaking flamethrowers. What do I do against that?! I mean, it genuinely seems like if you want to be stealthy in this game, you can't engage in combat of any form whatsoever. But I want to use my equipment since the game gives you so many to use. I feel like the punishment for using weapons is way too severe. I mean, if you're discovered, there will be situations were 5-6 enemies with flamethrowers, swords, etc. will run after you. It's insane!

Like I get it when I'm doing something wrong, but when the game doesn't even work a lot of the times, or when the enemies are relentlessly aggressive in the first freaking level, you'll be continuously pulled out of the immersion. And it's not fun. I just have to hope that it gets better the more I play and the more used to the mechanics that I get.

Alright so I finished the first "real" level and I think the best advice I can give to anyone who's struggling with this game like I was is to just drop the completionist mentality and just go through the levels as fast as you can without being distracted. This game has a problem with giving you so much to do on the side but also expecting you to be stealthy and not alert the enemies, which is practically impossible while trying to explore the areas and finding secrets. So after a while I stopped caring for finding the secrets and I avoided all enemies and just went to the objective mark and as a result, I enjoyed the game more. Granted you can miss out on money to use for upgrading your equipment and other perks, but the trade-off of being able to enjoy the game more should be obvious to pick. So yeah, I'm definitely enjoying it more now that I've stopped looking for secrets. The game just has way too many and it ruins the pacing if you try and go for all of them. Not to mention how much there is to bloody read in this game, lol. This is something I hope they've remedied in future installments.

Also, even though the game gives you so many different equipment for taking out enemies, I think the best approach is to just avoid them and only use sleeping darts when you have to get past them, or the pistol if they've discovered you. Which is too bad since I think the sword fighting is fun but whenever that happens, there is always way too many enemies. It's not like in Assassin's Creed where you take turns fighting the enemies, they will all attack you at the same time. So it's not really worth using the sword in this game.

If I remember correctly, if you get decent at blocking attacks, you can still use the sword.

Can't argue with it being too easy to be detected though. Thinking back on the game reminds me of Assassin's Creed Valhalla at times, but at least the stealth aspect is mostly only by choice in that one.

@KilloWertz The thing is that even if you get good at blocking attacks with the sword, there will be two situations where stealth is preferable to engaging in sword combat. The first is when you fight thugs that use flamethrowers. You can't block the fire and it eats up your health very quickly,. The second is when there are way too many enemies. I was going to take out all the enemies in one area and I got detected and literally 10 enemies showed up! Four dogs and six guards and I tried to fight them with my sword but it didn't work well at all. They attacked me all at once and I died instantly.

Yeah I think the biggest flaw with Dishonored is that you don't really have a choice in the way you approach things. Trying to kill all enemies will in most cases be way more difficult than just moving past them stealthily. So you are forced most of the times to be stealthy, which is not fun since like I said, you have so many different weapons at your disposal and you're barely using any of them because the game punishes you for engaging in combat.

Looks like Alan Wake is leaving Game Pass, good job we snuck it in there before the end!

@ralphdibny Wow, I did not think that Alan Wake would actually leave. I mean, I guess Microsoft doesn't technically own the IP but still. Great that we managed to have it on Game Club right before it leaves. Hopefully you'll be able to finish it in time as well!

@LtSarge it's been a while since playing the first game so can't remember the levels but there are 2 distinct playstyles in Dishonored (Stealth and Combat) and you need to tailor your powers and upgrades to suit which way you are tackling the game. The first play through is more like a tutorial to the mechanics and then subsequent playthroughs become faster and more fun.

If you are going stealth then you need Dark Vison and Blink (shadow kill is also handy if your not going for the no kill achievement).
Chaos then wind blast, possession, rat swarm and blood thirsty are things you want to focus on.

@Mr-Fuggles777 I can't imagine how anyone could play this with strictly combat style based on what I've written above. But yeah I'm definitely going to play with stealth style as it's easier and it's also more fun to teleport around with the Blink ability. Have to look into the other abilities later on, I'm just trying so hard to learn the fundamental stuff first, lol.

I recall hearing that you can go through the whole game without killing anyone? Maybe that was Dishonoured 2?

@LtSarge I've never just used the weapons as the powers make combat easier. You can possess guards and put them against each other and call in rats too help.
I think there's an achievement for a no power playthrough which I might go for this time.

@Krzzystuff there's an achievement in both for a no kill completion.

@Beagle I don't think Death of the Outsider is on Game Pass, sadly.

I just finished the second mission in the game and I think I'm starting to get a hang of the gameplay. I managed to get through the level more stealthily by both putting enemies to sleep as well as getting past them undetected. It's actually very fun now that I'm figuring out how I want to play instead of just taking out all the enemies like I tend to do in a stealth game. I'm also loving all the different things you can do before a mission but also when choosing how to approach your objective. The level of freedom is refreshing for a stealth game, especially one from 2012. I'm definitely enjoying it more today than I did yesterday and I can't wait to play more soon!

@Beagle heya and welcome! Do you want to be added to the tag list?

Don't do it. It's not worth it. They force you into playing games you don't even want to play....

Yes, Sarge, I'm kidding.... lol

Played a bit of this over the weekend; finished the prologue/tutorial (prison) level and I think I'm nearly done the first proper mission.

The combat isn't doing it for me so going with the stealth option. I've done most of the side missions on the first level I think so it's taking a bit longer that it probably could've as I tend to take my time looking for enemy patterns etc and taking the indirect route round the light walls. Dark vision and Blink abilities are getting heavy use at the moment too; feels a little like the stealth sections in the Batman Arkham games actually (a good thing IMO).

Enjoying it so far and another game I'd probably not have played if it wasn't for Game Pass.