Hearthly wrote:
(I'm sure I could have made more progress through the game for the time I've put into it, but I've been exploring everything, and doing a lot of F5/F9-ing to get what I consider to be 'perfect' engagements.)
Me too. I laugh in the face of the pre-release news that you can complete it in eight hours. I've spent 4-6 hours on each level, and when I leave they are picked clean.
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The story is a direct continuation from the original, and it's all very familiar in terms of art style, writing, UI, controls etc - I guess it's pretty much the same team who made the sequel as made the original. (Once again, this is A Good Thing.)
I broadly agree, and in particular the core loop of "scout the area, come up with a plan to take these goons down, then do it" is the same. But: there are some interesting new mechanics (you should investigate bone charm crafting, and in particular, the upgrade that lets you quadruple up any given bone charm ability.) And the level design is better. There are two levels in particular -- The Clockwork Mansion and A Crack In The Slab -- which are some of the best I've seen in any game, anywhere.
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I'm going to do a low chaos zero-kills playthrough as Emily first, and then I'll do a high-chaos playthrough, possibly as Corvo but it's conceivable I'll do a low and high as both. (The 'ghost' playthrough is a bit much to aim for though.)
I got the cheevos for ghost and no-kill runs of a single mission, but I'm not about to attempt the entire game. I'd rather do a murder run as the other character, and exploit the shit out of "people you kill turn to ash." And it's also more fun to sometimes roll with getting spotted and fight your way out and/or leg it and evade them than to constantly reload. Plus the start of the game was sufficiently dramatic that I did straight up slaughter most of the guards on the way out of Dunwall Tower. Fuck those civilian murdering mother fuckers. Springwire to the face, fuckers.
Incidentally, judging by my progress, you're only going to have runes for something like half the upgrade tree, maybe even less. Plan accordingly. As Emily, playing mostly stealth and mostly non-lethal, I've taken Far Reach (obv), fully upgraded Dark Vision (ditto), a couple of levels of Shadow Walk (very useful at times but I don't use it a lot), a fully upgraded Domino (tremendous fun, strongly recommend), Bone Charm Crafting, and Agility. I have eight runes stored up and am pondering either Mesmerise or upgrades to Far Reach and Shadow Walk next.
New Game Plus isn't in the shipping game but arrives via patch next week, apparently. (My wife is urgently awaiting this so she can do a high chaos pass as Corvo.)