Shadowrun Returns - Review Roundup #4

Right, that's exactly the comparison I would make. XCOM has higher production values, sure. But other than that? XCOM took me about 20hrs to finish, this one took me 12. And the superior editor of SRR makes up for that shortcoming. XCOM's battle are cool, but only for a while. XCOM cost me three times as much and probably had what, 20x the budget or more? Yet to me it is the inferior game of the two, I enjoyed SRR far more. And the possibilities of SRR are huge when people start making mods, making me believe the hours spent on that game will rise with time. XCOM? Standing on the shelf collecting dust (actually the virtual shelf of uninstalled Steam games, but that didn't sound quite as good.).

Yeah I do see some positives and think they could turn SRR into something pretty decent. But it looks like a lot more work to me and I'm not sure they are going to do it. If they had the same approach as Paradox and Stardock do with their games, then what we have now would be a reasonable, if minimal, start for something cooler down the line.
 
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I can't believe they paid $600k up front for the licence, particularly considering that the original Kickstarter goal was $400k. And what kind of game would we have got for that, if they can't even implement save games, inventory or a decent length non linear campaign with $2m?

The $600k number I heard implied they own the rights to SR from this point forward, but that makes me wonder about the licensing requiring Steam (Microsoft didn't get all 600k upfront? Getting some from sales?). Again, I don't know if this 600k figure is even fact, just something I've seen a few times in forums elsewhere.
 
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Concerning the 30 person team being under-achievers... Nope. Bioware has said that the NWN toolset creation was a massive effort that ended up taking up so much dev time that they were under serious time/budget constraints to generate an official campaign to go along with it. I think that's what we're looking at here... and as a modder, I couldn't be happier. I like the game engine (sans strange save system), I like the Shadowrun world/ethos. I like the toolset. For me: 20 dollars VERY well spent and a successful KS.
 
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Concerning the 30 person team being under-achievers… Nope. Bioware has said that the NWN toolset creation was a massive effort that ended up taking up so much dev time that they were under serious time/budget constraints to generate an official campaign to go along with it. I think that's what we're looking at here… and as a modder, I couldn't be happier. I like the game engine (sans strange save system), I like the Shadowrun world/ethos. I like the toolset. For me: 20 dollars VERY well spent and a successful KS.

Not underacheivers, but young and perhaps less experienced - meaning more time spent getting everyone familiar with the process and tools? Maybe.
 
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Not underacheivers, but young and perhaps less experienced - meaning more time spent getting everyone familiar with the process and tools? Maybe.

That's possible... not being on the inside, hard to tell. But, I'm happy with the results, especially for what I kicked in, so a non-issue to me.
 
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Turned out a very good game in the end. Good story, so-so saving system and the 3D characters don't look as frighteningly cartoonish as they did on the concept arts.

Good combat, nice effects and animations. I hope they will have great financial success and we will get a much more interactive SR2 in the future!
 
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Clearly we can see who played the game to the end and who just dabbled in the first maps.

I sincerely hope you're referring to the critics there. What would you rate it?

Also, there seems to be a degree of overreacting from some people in this thread. I don't see any of this "hate" being mentioned, just valid criticisms.
 
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We should have our own rating system on the Watch, I rate peoples opinions on this forum way above most reviewers...
 
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Main campaign is about a 3.5 out of 5 ...now with what I think I know about the modding tools the game could easily be in the 4 to 4.6 range...so overall, depending on life of the modding community it should be around a 4 overall out of 5....
 
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This is a 5 $ game that was payed by the KS community for about 50 $ on average.
Excellent news for the developers, bad news for everyone else.:roll:
 
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This is a 5 $ game that was payed by the KS community for about 50 $ on average.
Excellent news for the developers, bad news for everyone else.:roll:

A 5 dollar game? Please, enlighten us with that wisdom you use there.

I payed 15 dollars on kickstarter. To back the development of the game where I got a copy. Many people don't understand that kickstarter is not a preorder system(which it really looks like escaped you).

What it is is a way for people to put as much money as they want to it, in the way getting a few extras. But, if they really just wanted the game and didn't have the extra to put towards it then 15 was the cost of entry.

Please try harder next time.
 
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This is a 5 $ game that was payed by the KS community for about 50 $ on average.
Totally agreed. That is, if you were talking of some AAA games. Value is a relative concept and I feel 15$ is a rip-off for this game. In any case, I'm happy with the game, which is most important - well, for me at least. This leads to the initial news: Rating by numbers feel pretty irrelevant considering the subjectivity and the growing diversity of the game market. Nice to see Kickstarter actually works in satisfying the different needs. Good news for everyone who knows what they actually want. :)
 
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I don't know if I could easily attach a dollar value to it - because it is obvious that there are aspects of the game that have a lot work done to it and have a polished feel.

The lack of a solid campaign (because I bought it for the game, not the editor!), troublesome UI that appears suspiciously designed for tablets and the whole autosave thing that doesn't even have save slots are all valid concerns from my perspective.

At the end of the day, I suspect I'm like most people, I wanted a Shadowrun game designed for PC. I don't care about the editor - I don't know why it was a critical item for release, when the developers campaign is what will determine its fate. Perhaps it could have been released as part of an expansion, after the game got accolades and gained popularity.
 
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I'm not sure why anyone would not care about an editor...do you not understand what that can do for the game?
 
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Some people would rather have a robust game to play now rather than waiting on UGC of varying quality to be out later. I for one am impressed with the editor, but I know not everyone is overly interested in it.
 
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At the end of the day, I suspect I'm like most people, I wanted a Shadowrun game designed for PC. I don't care about the editor - I don't know why it was a critical item for release, when the developers campaign is what will determine its fate. Perhaps it could have been released as part of an expansion, after the game got accolades and gained popularity.
If I have to choose between games made with tablet and console in mind, I don't hesitate to take the former. Also, I think tablet users are more likely to be accustomed to read or, at least, less likely to complain of the presentation though texts than their console counterparts (and probably some of PC users, too). I'd like to see key-mapping option but I can live with tablet crowds rather than console ones. Maybe, I was more prepared for what I should expect, though (just by glancing the interface and the supported platforms).
 
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So basically... don't buy it now.. but maybe later when fan-made content is out ?
 
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