Alright boyz, here we go: Shadowrun Returns

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

So how do I end combat? I keep having fights but then after I win the combat never ends, even after repeatedly pushing the end button - very annoying.

This was a bug that should have been fixed in 1.1, otherwise there are enemies in the area you haven't found most likely.

[Groundhog]

Just finished, took me 17 hours with an Orc Samurai. On the whole I didn't have too many issues with difficulty until the last couple of runs, but had a lot of fun. As others have said here, the writing is excellent, and I thought I'd be disappointed that it wasn't an open-world game but that was not the case at all.

[chinaski]

I think ive hit the wall, im stuck. Ive played this mission 3 times now, almost an hour each time, and every freaking time I die to the last Black IC in the matrix, 3 straight times...ugh. I really dont want to try this again.

Spoiler

Its the missions where you have to break into the corporation and steal the Aegis, while surviving the waves of security guards

[SackAttack]

Have you tried

Spoiler

using an assassin program or something to give you some extra attack power in the Matrix? I used that to help get through the Matrix faster while doubling up on people who could cast healing spells to keep the decker alive

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by chinaski

I think ive hit the wall, im stuck. Ive played this mission 3 times now, almost an hour each time, and every freaking time I die to the last Black IC in the matrix, 3 straight times...ugh. I really dont want to try this again.

Spoiler

Its the missions where you have to break into the corporation and steal the Aegis, while surviving the waves of security guards

That was the only mission I had to replay more than twice - I think it was about 5 attempts because of that very part...

Spoiler

I was lucky the time I did finish... I was killed in the matrix just before getting to the elevator control because my stress level was max. Then when I jumped back in I was being chased by a Black IC and 2 other defense systems, but the elevator was unlocked... I just bolted the entire way and made it just before they caught me.

My only advice would be to keep your shield alive and behind you, concentrating on just defending you rather than using it to attack.

[Izulde]

I'm on one of the last ones (I think). Died twice last night so decided to table it for now. Might need to rewind, but I hate doing that so I'll wait another day or so.

[SackAttack]

Just finished the included campaign thanks to a tip from SirFozzie about

Spoiler

the "Overwatch" ability which I didn't know existed. I was getting reamed on probably the third or fourth from last room before using that ability. After figuring out how to use it, I didn't die again.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Have you tried

Spoiler

using an assassin program or something to give you some extra attack power in the Matrix? I used that to help get through the Matrix faster while doubling up on people who could cast healing spells to keep the decker alive

Yeah, I have a nice deck with two program slots, I usually bring a shield and assassin. Once they die, im pretty much screwed. I like Groundhogs idea about keeping them behind me, didnt dawn on me to do that.

[chinaski]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

That was the only mission I had to replay more than twice - I think it was about 5 attempts because of that very part...

Spoiler

I was lucky the time I did finish... I was killed in the matrix just before getting to the elevator control because my stress level was max. Then when I jumped back in I was being chased by a Black IC and 2 other defense systems, but the elevator was unlocked... I just bolted the entire way and made it just before they caught me.

My only advice would be to keep your shield alive and behind you, concentrating on just defending you rather than using it to attack.

Great idea on keeping my shield behind my decker, I bet that will help a lot.

[Peregrine]

I am getting slaughtered in the same one others have mentioned - just had my decker killed for the fourth time, maybe fifth. I can handle the other guys but the black ice and corp security guys murder me, even with a shield.

[Groundhog]

Keeping your 'alarm state' (I believe that's the correct term - working from memory) below critical is important for that level - that's what generates the other Black IC with his two friends to give you a hard time. You really have to race through that level, which is tough if you are using your shield defensively. It's a plus that the enemy defenses target your avatar over your shield/attacker, so I generally use 1 AP moving my attacker drone closer to the enemy, then 1 AP to fire, as they tend to have lousy aim from afar, then the shield you cast protect on my avatar and fire some long distance hail-mary shots.

I think luck played a big part in my success though - when the Black IC caught up to me right before I reached the elevator controls, both it and the other 2 drones missed me.

[SackAttack]

Yeah, that's what I did. Keeping the alarm low was critical. I didn't die on that mission.

[Peregrine]

How do I keep my alarm low? I know there is the suppression program that lowers it but that is usually only castable once or twice a mission.

[SackAttack]

Nah, it has a cooldown of a few turns, but that particular mission is long enough that you'll make use of it several times.

[Izulde]

Ah y'all are back on that mission. I died the first time, but then I dropped the decker I hired for more firepower and beat it the second time easily.

[SackAttack]

I had a backup decker on that mission, and didn't die. Basically, I just parked dudes by the two entrances to take on people coming in, had a mage to heal folks, and had a decker running the hack so that if he died, my decker PC could jump in.

[SirFozzie]

yeah, if you knew about overwatch, that mission's easier to handle in the meatworld

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm a male human mage so far. I'm loving it. Great early story that has me immediately hooked and I like the style of combat.

Finally started today and I feel the same way.. has an x-com vibe to it too.

[SirFozzie]

Release 1.0.2

New Features, Improvements
- SMG: Aimed Shot now uses 4 bullets, down from 6.
- SMG: Spray and Pray now uses 6 bullets, down from 8.
- SMG: the Beretta, Uzi, Colt, and HK are slightly more accurate.
- Shotgun: Kneecap now has a HP DMG penalty of -6, up from -3. It now has a -5% accuracy penalty, and a cooldown of 3.
- Shotgun: All shotguns have had their accuracy falloff increased slightly, lowering hit chance at long ranges.
- Rifle: Full Auto's accuracy penalty was not being applied properly at high skill levels. It should now always be 15% lower than a single shot's percentage to hit.
- Rifle: Smartlinked rifles were less accurate at very long ranges instead of more accurate. This has been resolved.
- Rifle: The FN HAR and HK G12 were very similar in every aspect except price. The FN HAR is now more accurate and holds more ammunition than the HK G12.
- Rifle: Ammo capacity of the HK G12, Colt M23, and Ares Alpha have been reduced to 32, 34, and 38 respectively.
- Rifle: The Colt M23's damage is now 15, down from 16. The Ares Alpha's damage is now 16, down from 18.
- Grenades: Reduced store prices of all grenades.
- Grenades: HE Phosphorus grenades were not showing up in the store. They should now be purchasable along with the other Tier 3 weapons.
- Cyberware purchase screen is now more user friendly.
- Vendors will now sell more things in various places throughout DMS campaign (such as more med-kits).
- Visual improvements to the summoning grid.
- General UI Improvements.
- Added additional debugging for finding walkable tiles in debug mode.
- Added messaging to alert user when last auto-save occurred.
- Black IC is now less lethal.
- Added an explanation of how Leylines work in the world of SR:R.
- Added a definition of SIN in glossary.

Bug Fixes
- Player can no longer sell a currently equipped outfit.
- Swapping outfits will now correctly give the correct enhancements.
- Player can now equip an outfit if they do not currently have one equipped.
- Drones will now retain their Rigging bonus between levels.
- Wired reflexes no longer dodge friendly effects.
- Spirit death from overwatch no longer causes occasional hardlock
- Reduced load times when loading new assets after version update.
- First time OSX play will start in windowed mode to work around a crash issue for some users.
- Move marker will now be visible over walls.
- Fixed a crash that could occur when transitioning characters one-by-one out of the scene and into the next.
- Fixed issue with equip screen item filtering.
- Fixed issue with installing upgraded cyberware on individual locations of a pair.
- Fixed issue with hiring screen adding incorrect selected runner.
- Fixed a slew of typos.
- Fixed cases in conversation where attribute or skill checks were applied incorrectly.
- Fixed character preview not showing 3D Character in some cases.
- Fixed bug where user could enter missions that require a decker without having any runners with a Cyberdeck.
- Fixed various issues with hiring Coyote.
- Work around some Steam Workshop upload timeout issues
- Editor: Changes to scene or story variables will refresh that variable in the scratchpad.

Known Issues
- We are investigating reports that some users are encountering problems downloading subscribed stories from Steam Workshop.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I just finished this last night. It took me about 11 hours in total.

I have to say that this is pretty much exactly the game I expected when I put down my $15 to back it. A fun, throw back to the older RPGs. Some decent writing, turn-based combat, Shadowrun goodness.

I am excited to see what the Berlin DLC will bring.

I didn't mind that it was very linear. I kind of expected it.

I did have a few issues.

I took a street samurai. My build was very simple. I had four stats that were very high and that's pretty much it: Body (for hit points and damage reduction), Quickness (for better accuracy), ranged combat and rifle. I had a few ranks in dodge, a few in throwing for gernades and a few in charisma.

I played around with various other types of Shadowrunners in my adventures: deckers, riggers, mages, shamans, other street samurai. Combat-wise, I didn't find any builds that really compared to mine. I am not sure if it was because my PC had more skills, but not attack ever really seemed as a effect as the assault rifle's full auto. I could kill most guys with one shot (2 aps) and then had a left over ap for re-loading or taking another shot.

Any time I took a rigger or mage/shaman, I just kept thinking how much more useful it would be to have another street samurai. I think it's good to have a mage/shaman as a support character.

It just seemed to be a lack of balance. Then again, it's just possible I didn't explore other options enough and just got caught in one, of many possible, effective ruts. I do feel like I could have put every point of karma I had into body, quickness, ranged combat and rifle and never be the worse for ware because of it.

My one regret was getting the cyber-eyes instead of the data jack thing. My other cyberware was the legs because they offered +1 quickness and 8 hit points, which I kind of felt like was almost giving you +1 body as well.

Some more spoiler-type stuff:

Spoiler

I was glad to see the Universal Brotherhood be the focus of the game. It was always my favorite Shadowrun story/plot. I loved that source book and ran the table top adventure some 20 years ago.

I feel like I negotiated 1 million nyuen for that job, but only received 100,000. I am pretty sure I said one million. I was robbed.

The only time I "died" during the game was when I was looking for that safe in the office building. It was pretty late and I was so used to just clicking on every icon on the screen, that I didn't even being to consider that it was some type of "puzzle." Everything had been so straightforward up to that point. I finally caught on right at the end at which point the pattern was very obvious.

[SirFozzie]

So, just to do an update:

So, I won the Shadowrun Returns Hackathon contest at GenCon, which means my module may be put up by HBS at some point (if not, I have the files so when I get home, I'll see about posting it up)

4 hours is NOT a ton of time to build a module from scratch (even with the rules we were given (a pre-made map,a selection pre-made runners, etcetera) so I went with a straight forward shoot em up/knock em down idea.. which apparently was the best strategy, as building nested triggers and conversations delayed a lot of the competitors)

The judges said that it felt like Shadowrun, taking on the baddies and mowing them down.

[Marmel]

Hey Foz, congrats. Would love to play it!

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I just finished this last night. It took me about 11 hours in total.

I have to say that this is pretty much exactly the game I expected when I put down my $15 to back it. A fun, throw back to the older RPGs. Some decent writing, turn-based combat, Shadowrun goodness.

I am excited to see what the Berlin DLC will bring.

I didn't mind that it was very linear. I kind of expected it.

I did have a few issues.

I took a street samurai. My build was very simple. I had four stats that were very high and that's pretty much it: Body (for hit points and damage reduction), Quickness (for better accuracy), ranged combat and rifle. I had a few ranks in dodge, a few in throwing for gernades and a few in charisma.

I played around with various other types of Shadowrunners in my adventures: deckers, riggers, mages, shamans, other street samurai. Combat-wise, I didn't find any builds that really compared to mine. I am not sure if it was because my PC had more skills, but not attack ever really seemed as a effect as the assault rifle's full auto. I could kill most guys with one shot (2 aps) and then had a left over ap for re-loading or taking another shot.

Any time I took a rigger or mage/shaman, I just kept thinking how much more useful it would be to have another street samurai. I think it's good to have a mage/shaman as a support character.

It just seemed to be a lack of balance. Then again, it's just possible I didn't explore other options enough and just got caught in one, of many possible, effective ruts. I do feel like I could have put every point of karma I had into body, quickness, ranged combat and rifle and never be the worse for ware because of it.

My one regret was getting the cyber-eyes instead of the data jack thing. My other cyberware was the legs because they offered +1 quickness and 8 hit points, which I kind of felt like was almost giving you +1 body as well.

Some more spoiler-type stuff:

Spoiler

I was glad to see the Universal Brotherhood be the focus of the game. It was always my favorite Shadowrun story/plot. I loved that source book and ran the table top adventure some 20 years ago.

I feel like I negotiated 1 million nyuen for that job, but only received 100,000. I am pretty sure I said one million. I was robbed.

The only time I "died" during the game was when I was looking for that safe in the office building. It was pretty late and I was so used to just clicking on every icon on the screen, that I didn't even being to consider that it was some type of "puzzle." Everything had been so straightforward up to that point. I finally caught on right at the end at which point the pattern was very obvious.

I echo your thoughts almost exactly.

I played a Decker, and ended up with a split of about 5 skills - Decking, Charisma (wanted more dialogue options), Body, Assault Rifles. I didn't max anything. Riggers seemed useless. Mages/Shaman seemed like they were only good if you could find the Ley Lines. I never got to check out an adept. And all of the other Deckers were garbage in the Matrix compared to my character. My augments ended up being the Eyes, the Armored body and one of the legs.

As for the story, I loved it. It was definitely too easy, but then again I wasn't playing it for difficulty. Thoughts on specifics:

Spoiler

I think they could have spent a little more time having Jessica go from concerned sister who no one could see as a problem (specifically thinking about Cherry Bomb's comments that there's no way she could be anything dangerous) to completely fucking psychotic bug shaman. The early pace of the game, story-telling-wise, felt great. Slowly leaking out information, building up what's happening...then suddenly you meet at the graveyard and everything's a haywire, helter-skelter sprint to the finish.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

So, just to do an update:

So, I won the Shadowrun Returns Hackathon contest at GenCon, which means my module may be put up by HBS at some point (if not, I have the files so when I get home, I'll see about posting it up)

4 hours is NOT a ton of time to build a module from scratch (even with the rules we were given (a pre-made map,a selection pre-made runners, etcetera) so I went with a straight forward shoot em up/knock em down idea.. which apparently was the best strategy, as building nested triggers and conversations delayed a lot of the competitors)

The judges said that it felt like Shadowrun, taking on the baddies and mowing them down.

Congrats, that is awesome! Can't wait to give it a shot.

[Izulde]

Yeah I may have to restart the campaign over again. Keep getting stuck on the end battles and I think it might be because shaman is too weak a PC class to have at the end-game.

[SirFozzie]

BTW.. The funny thing.. The trophy was officer McLusky on a wooden base. I promised to give it the treatment it deserved....:-)

[MacroGuru]

Just finished, it took right around 12 hours for me, It didn't feel like it.

Now it's time to play on some DLC...

[MikeVic]

Played this over the holidays and just beat it today. Never played the old version or read the books, etc... but this was a pretty awesome game. Nice story, fun combat. Looking forward to the DLC that's apparently coming out later this month!

[Groundhog]

I haven't touched it since I finished it, but I played it pretty much non-stop until I did. Also looking forward to the DLC.

[SirFozzie]

There was some mods that were decent, but things seem to have slowed down waiting for Dragonfall.

[Grover]

Just got into this last night. First couple of hours flew right by. Just got Coyote back, but early on I love the feel of the game.

[Dutch]

First trip with my Surface....and I've got FOF7 and Shadowrun...enjoying Shadowrun while suffering from near perpetual jetlag.

[Grover]

Really liking it. Got through the first major part, killing the ripper and finding out who is behind it all, heading to that building next. A shame work has to cut in.

Do any of you have favorite builds? Do you start with the presets? I went with a blank build, kind of doing my own thing.

[SirFozzie]

Shadowrun Returns Dragonfall is out.

Pretty nice, a bit more branching then DMS, and tougher then DMS too (I had to restart two missions several times, and I figured out a trick to deal with one of them.

I'll wait till later to talk about a bit of the story that is REALLY good and really has me wondering.