Topic: Pure Xbox Game Club Double Bill - Banjo-Kazooie / Solar Ash (Apr)

Finished High Overseer Campbell there. No kills but a couple of unconscious bodies were found so didn’t get Ghost. I at least managed to save Curnow, Griff and Elsa though!

@nessisonett you are best going for ghost with a high chaos run, you can turn guards to ash when killed to stop them being discovered - you can also pick them off at a distance with your crossbow.

Edit: ignore that, I've just checked and you can't kill or alert anyone

@Mr-Fuggles777 Ah well, I don’t mind seeing how hard it is! Shame, I managed it in The Golden Cat as well!

Finished another couple of levels today, The Royal Physician and Lady Boyle’s Last Party. I have thoughts but I’ll wait until more people get to the Lady Boyle level!

@nessisonett Did you have any difficulties getting through the party section of the Lady Boyle level? As I mentioned in an earlier post, I kept getting discovered even though I hadn't even done anything wrong yet. Apparently a lot of people have experienced issues with this particular level as well.

@LtSarge Honestly no, I must have missed that particular glitch although I was playing the original version on Steam if that makes any difference.

I also completed the game tonight. I swear I didn’t mean to do it so soon, I just kept playing and couldn’t stop! Glad that I’ve finally gotten into the game though and I’ll be playing the sequel sooner rather than later. Shame I don’t have any of the DLC on Steam but I think the Game Pass PC version has the DLC.

@nessisonett Maybe, I'm playing the PS4 version so maybe that one is not as good as the PC version.

To be fair, this game does feel rather short once you get past the first couple of missions since those take up a huge chunk of the campaign. I looked it up and apparently I was already halfway through the game, lol. That's why I've decided to take my time with the rest of it instead of finishing it up too quickly, even though there are two story DLCs for the game. But yeah, it is quite addicting to play!

@Beagle no problem!! Don't worry, we are all in and out a bit. I'm out this time, my hectic month just got more hectic! I'll get you added to the list soon!

So I've played a bit more today and I think I'm getting close to the end of the game. At this point though I'm getting kinda tired of playing too stealthily since I've been doing it the whole game. So I'm playing a bit more risky now and killing people more often since it's more satisfying. Especially in the case of high value targets. Like it doesn't feel satisfying at all when you defeat them in a nonlethal way, so I just went back and killed them anyway, lol. But yeah, this game is so much fun just killing everyone. I've been looking up playthroughs on YouTube and apparently high chaos runs is a common thing, which doesn't really surprise me. It's just way too slow and less fun to not kill anyone. So I'm not going to be reserved anymore for the rest of my playthrough.

@LtSarge how many hours would you say you've put into it?

I think I get a bit like that on games like MGS and Splinter Cell. I've played them all so many times now, stealth and non stealth, lethal and non lethal that I just do whatever now if I replay them. You kind of get to the point where you can execute stealth moves really quickly. A headshot while a second guard isn't looking for a split second followed by a second one for example.

@ralphdibny I think I've played for 7-8 hours so far. I still got a good two hours or so left of the main game. But the game still feels so short, probably because there aren't that many levels but you still spend a good amount of time in them depending on how much you choose to do in terms of the optional stuff (collectibles, side missions and so on).

You can unlock an ability to sneak kill enemies and when they die they just dissipate into the air so other guards rarely notice your presence. If you can combine the teleport ability with sneak kills that make the enemies dissolve then you're pretty much unstoppable. Teleporting is the coolest ability in the game btw, you're able to teleport anywhere, both horizontally and vertically, within a fairly long radius. The only time I shoot enemies is when I want to put them to sleep with sleep bolts, but now I think I'll just use my regular crossbow bolts and kill them instantly (which also makes them dissipate into the air).

@LtSarge oh right fair enough, quite a short game then! I thought it was going to be a long one for some reason 🤔.

That kind of unstoppable stealth machine is quite a good feeling in games. It's just slick instead of a messy shootout or a timid poking your head out around the corner

Just finished Dishonored. Excellent game! It took me some time to get used to the gameplay but towards the end of the story I was able to alternate between playing stealthily as well as violently. Moreover, I was quite delighted at how the characters grew on me even though you don't see or interact with them that much. Also, I was impressed by how much attention to detail there was in the game as well as how in-depth the mechanics were. This game has so much replay-value due to its open nature and because there are so many different ways to play. I highly enjoyed my time with it and I'm definitely looking forward to playing through the two story DLCs soon as well.

Another great experience thanks to Game Club!

@LtSarge nice one! 👍 Glad to hear you enjoyed it in the end!

@ralphdibny Thanks mate. Hopefully you'll be able to experience this wonderful gem yourself down the line. I think you'll find it to your liking based on your previous posts.

I haven't watched this as i haven't played the game yet and don't want spoilers but here's a documentary on making of Dishonored. I'll watch this once I'm done the game

Finished the Golden Cat level last night. Went for the non-lethal objective, even though getting there I was anything but non-lethal! Sneaking up behind folk and turning them to dust is just too much fun. Ended up doing all the side missions as well so took a bit longer than it should've.

Really enjoying this even though first person games are usually not my thing, there's something really satisfying about trying to get through undetected. I didn't quite manage it this level; one guy turned around and saw me just as I sneaked up behind him and a couple of assassins saw me as I was returning to the Distillery after a side mission - not sure if this counts as detection though as they basically came out of nowhere and attacked me?

@dmcc0 Oh yeah, I remember that part with the assassins. I don't think that part counts as detection since they are waiting for you and I also don't think they had those squiggly symbols around their heads that indicate how close to detection you are. But if it does count, then I find that kinda unfair.

I also did the non-lethal objective of the Golden Cat level. Out of curiosity, did you find it satisfying? I personally didn't due to the context. Slackjaw only tells you that he will put both of the brothers in the mine and immediately afterwards it says that you've eliminated the targets, even though it's only been a second, lol. I didn't find that outcome satisfying because I couldn't see the results of my actions firsthand. If the game showed a cut-scene of the brothers in the mine then that would've been better. But we actually don't know if Slackjaw follows through on his words or not. So as it stands, I think I'd rather have gone with the lethal approach instead.

@LtSarge Yeah, wasn't really much of a payoff doing the non-lethal, would've been much more satisfying just taking them out. I guessed that maybe Slackjaw doesn't follow through and they they'd turn up later in some plot twist, but from your response I guess that doesn't happen

@dmcc0 Well to be fair, the game would be outright lying to us if it said that we eliminated the targets and then the targets reappear in a later level. Because it's one thing if we heard it from Slackjaw, an in-game character, but if the actual game brings up portraits of the targets and shows that we've eliminated them, then it cannot deviate from that fact. If it does deviate then the legitimacy of the game mechanics would be questioned. Like if I eliminate another target, how can I actually be sure that I've done so? If that makes any sense, lol.