Dishonored decided to innovate on stealth formula. Going in shadows does not give you 100% invisibility. If NPC is close enough you will become visible. What does it mean for NPC to be close enough? You never know. You have the ability(Darkvision) to see NPCs field of view but it does not give you precise information(I miss Metal Gear Solid's radar). For me it was trial and error. If they saw me I reload. Thank god that reloading time is non-existent. Basically it's the clash of realism and black magic(Darkvision is magic in this steampunk world) which is strange.
But you have to be careful with realism in games. Thief was not too realistic. You could stand one meter away from an enemy and think that you safe. Dishonored brakes this illusion. You're never safe anywhere. Even when you hide behind cover and npc sees the top of your head from far away - it means you will be detected in just a few seconds(to be fair I played it on hard). NPCs patroling narrow areas sometimes become impossible to evade without knocking them out or freezing time(another black magic ability). Sometimes you just want this feeling that you're safe and noone can see you.
Save anywhere system. I feel strange that they give you this opportunity to save anywhere you like and ability to quick save/reload. I missed content because of this and it breaks immersion! Because I wanted to get no kills and ghost rating I often ended up going somewhere, checking stuff and reloading if anyone sees me. I want this game to have iron man difficulty, when you have to replay mission if you die(one of the reasons dark souls is considered difficult is because of the custom save system). It is difficult to implement because Dishonored tries to emulate seamless world. It does not have strict linear mission structure. Sometimes missions are obvious. But in second part of the game mission structure is not obvious and more open-world. I think you can replace this saving system with special items(like monuments scattered across the world in different locations) which save your progress. This approach would be more brutal but would provide better immersion. You know that if you fail to hide you will have to fight and you will loose rating. You will be more cautious. And this game is about being cautious, leaning around the corner to see if someone is there.
Weapons are realistic but fighting is simplistic. You can kill anyone except few bosses with one shot. It becomes very easy to follow chaos path(kill most of NPCs on a mission), so easy that it's kind of boring and you understand that it's not the way to play this game. Sometimes sitting in the cover I thought: "What am I doing? I can kill them momentarily. Would an assassin do this if he knew that he could rush and kill everyone in a few seconds?". Actually the game supports this playstyle. There is even ability for it - shadow kill.
Dishonored kind of judges you. I feel like killing people is not a playstyle choice but a failure on my part to evade them. Because at the beginning(the scene where empress is murdered) you get the feeling that you're good, loving father-like person. It's interesting how this game appears to be in this dark anti-utopian setting and tells you that you can be different in this kind of world.
But you have to be careful with realism in games. Thief was not too realistic. You could stand one meter away from an enemy and think that you safe. Dishonored brakes this illusion. You're never safe anywhere. Even when you hide behind cover and npc sees the top of your head from far away - it means you will be detected in just a few seconds(to be fair I played it on hard). NPCs patroling narrow areas sometimes become impossible to evade without knocking them out or freezing time(another black magic ability). Sometimes you just want this feeling that you're safe and noone can see you.
Save anywhere system. I feel strange that they give you this opportunity to save anywhere you like and ability to quick save/reload. I missed content because of this and it breaks immersion! Because I wanted to get no kills and ghost rating I often ended up going somewhere, checking stuff and reloading if anyone sees me. I want this game to have iron man difficulty, when you have to replay mission if you die(one of the reasons dark souls is considered difficult is because of the custom save system). It is difficult to implement because Dishonored tries to emulate seamless world. It does not have strict linear mission structure. Sometimes missions are obvious. But in second part of the game mission structure is not obvious and more open-world. I think you can replace this saving system with special items(like monuments scattered across the world in different locations) which save your progress. This approach would be more brutal but would provide better immersion. You know that if you fail to hide you will have to fight and you will loose rating. You will be more cautious. And this game is about being cautious, leaning around the corner to see if someone is there.
Weapons are realistic but fighting is simplistic. You can kill anyone except few bosses with one shot. It becomes very easy to follow chaos path(kill most of NPCs on a mission), so easy that it's kind of boring and you understand that it's not the way to play this game. Sometimes sitting in the cover I thought: "What am I doing? I can kill them momentarily. Would an assassin do this if he knew that he could rush and kill everyone in a few seconds?". Actually the game supports this playstyle. There is even ability for it - shadow kill.
Dishonored kind of judges you. I feel like killing people is not a playstyle choice but a failure on my part to evade them. Because at the beginning(the scene where empress is murdered) you get the feeling that you're good, loving father-like person. It's interesting how this game appears to be in this dark anti-utopian setting and tells you that you can be different in this kind of world.
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