Shadowrun Returns Options

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

So Khajiit started playing Shadowrun Returns today. This one doesn’t care for the third person isometric perspective for an RPG but the game seems solid otherwise. Liking the skills and dialogue. Still have to get accustomed to the way things work (like for instance Khajiit’s character was fighting a “hellhound” alone and tried using a medthing to heal but this one couldn’t figure out how to make the character use it and she died).

[SubRosa]

I have played a lot more SR today. This game goes really fast, as it is almost completely linear. So far I have only come across one truly optional sidequest.

There is no manual, which makes trying to figure out how things work difficult. There is some in-game Help however. In the main hud there is a question mark you can click on, which will take you through a series of topics that explains most things at least somewhat.

I tried out a hired Rigger in one run. I did not like it much. Again, it took a lot for me to figure out how to use his drones. As it turns out a Rigger's drones appear in his list of weapons. You bring each one up, and click on a command to active them. That turns them on as characters. Otherwise they just follow the Rigger around. For each drone he has a active, a Rigger loses 1 Action Point. Action Points are scarce in this game, so it basically means a Rigger either uses their drones, or their meat body.

I also had a chance to run the matrix. You need a datajack and a deck to do so. The first time you have to, if your character does not have a jack and deck there is an NPC who can do the run, and bring you along as a spectator. But you still control his character as if it was you.

It was fun! That surprised me, as the matrix side of things never did anything for me in the pen and paper rpg. That was always something best left for NPCs, since it is so divorced from everything happening in the real world. When the decker is doing things, the rest of the players just sit there twiddling their thumbs. And when the rest of the players are getting into gunfights, the decker is there twiddling their thumbs.

But I liked it here. It works just like the regular combat in the game. The graphics are just a little different is all. As a decker you have a limited number of programs you can use, based on the quality of your deck. It is a lot like playing a mage, who has a limited number of spells they can have in their spellbook. They have to buy programs just like a mage has to buy spells too, btw. There are standard programs to attack and do damage with, healing, defense, and the like. There are also ESPs - Expert System Programs. They work exactly like summoned spirits, except they are AIs in the matrix. The decker summons them and controls them. They are a good touch, as otherwise you get outnumbered really fast. As in the pnp game, your opponents are various forms of IC. I also learned by accident that in addition to your programs, a decker in the matrix also has a standard attack they can always use that has no cooldown timer. You just click on your target, and you shoot out a ball of energy that does damage. Each time uses 1 Action Point. So if you have a Killer program (that does like 100 damage and costs 1 AP) but a one turn cooldown between uses, you can lead with the Killer, the spam the generic attack for the rest of your action points that turn.

Later in the game you start getting the good stuff that makes Shadowrun what it is supposed to be. But still cyberware is really pared down from what you see in the pen and paper game. A fully chromed razorboy in the pen and paper game is a titan striding the earth. Not here. It is really pretty optional.

I had some time to experiment with npc mages. I also took a lightning bolt spell for Jan. It works perfectly for her character idea of course. If you have spells there is a big button down at the lower right, next to your inventory button that has your grenades and medpacks. You click on that and it shows you your spells. There is no mana point cost. Most have a cooldown, so you cannot spam them again and again. Each has an action point cost to cast. So that limits how much you can cast. However, there is a Powerbolt spell (that really Jan ought to buy, now that I think of it). This does not work like a regular spell. Instead it shows up on your weapon bar, and you shoot it like a normal gun. Except it does not have any ammo and costs 1 AP each use.

Jan has some Physical Adept spells that she uses on a regular basis. One improves her running speed. This matters because she needs to get up to melee range, and there are usually some pretty big open spaces to cross to get there. Another gives her magical armor. I split her points between melee weapons and unarmed abilities to compare them. The melee weapons are definitely the way to go. Don't bother with an unarmed physical adept. It would probably be smarter for a phys ad to use a gun for a ranged weapon. That is because you only have on spellbook, and you have to put both your adept spells, and your regular spells in that. If you don't go with spells, you have all that slots for your chi magic (physical adept spells).

Back to the campaign. The story is good. It goes though nice twists and turns that has you meeting people and forming alliances. You go on some runs for them, and they later tag along on some of your runs. But most are only temporary at best. Only one - Coyote - seems to be around a lot. I really liked her. I wish you could have recruited all these npcs for every run, like you can with the companions in every other game. But instead when you do a run that requires more than just yourself, you have to hire a team of runners. There is a big pool of npcs to choose from. But they are the ones you got to know in all those quests. There also can be a steep learning curve in what they can do. You can look at their stats before you hire them. But since I don't know this game very well yet, I often don't know what I am looking at.

I have found it is best to have at least one mage, with a healing spell, a standard, single-target ranged attack, an AOE damage spell, and maybe a buff spell. There is a haste spell that gives a character more Action Points that is really useful. There are also Armor spells, and ones to give bonuses to hit. Plus there are summoning spells and foci. I have not really done much with the summoning. When the bad guys summon something, I just geek the mage, as it takes care of the spirit as well.

But back to recruiting generic shadowrunners for runs. You have to pay them up front with your own money. This becomes a massive sink in your resources. The game does not give you enough money to equip yourself, and continually hire runners for every job. The last one I did was with just one other person, because it was all I could afford. I found what looks like a money cheat, so I am going to try that before my next run.

I wish this game would let you do like Pillars of Eternity does, and allow you to create a custom team of Shadowrunners whom you could hire. That way you could always get exactly what you want each run. Sadly, you cannot change the loadouts of any of the npc runners you hare. At least not that I can tell. Although better would be some standard NPC companions who leveled up you, and whose inventories you controlled, like very other crpg on the planet.



Jan's first team of hired Shadowrunners

Jan's lightning bolt spell

An example of going into overwatch mode. With action points remaining, click on the arc symbol to the right of your gun and ammo type. You will shoot whatever moves into the yellow arc

Bugs

Here come the bug spirits

An example of the matrix, with two team deckers, and their ESPs in white, with the IC in red

These funky magic circles on the floor are ley lines. If your mage stands on them, you get bonuses to hit, damage, and so on.