Zodi Plays: Dishonored (Stealth Dad Simulator)

[LaZodiac]

Oh man, more Disonored. Who would have thought such a thing could happen.

Zodi Plays: Dishonored [18] Dunwall Bridge Is Falling Down

Video Length: 19:11

Surprise, bit of a short one today. Partly due to me being a little strapped for time lately due to life catching up with me (in a good way!) and partly due to... well, you'll see. Let's just say that the Arc Pylons are not my friend, and I was wrong about us being able to rub up against something to register as their friend. Which seems stupid as heck to me, given the guards can do that! And that they had a conversation mentioning that was a thing they do! It feels weird for there to just be a... a red herring conversation like that. Though I suppose it makes a little sense, they don't want to make this too easy now.

At any rate, we warp our way past the first arc pylon, learn with the second pylon that they can't be destroyed (another thing that's kinda lame about them, truthfully) and... potentially learn that enemies can wake their friends up from unconsciousness now? It is unclear, it feels like they can but they might not be able to and it's just a lie/them trying and failing? Regardless, we test the limits of how an enemy can react to and see you today, and it's a little weird and a little nonsense but otherwise kinda interesting. It's an interesting place to sneak around, which helps.

But yeah, that'll be it for today. Hope you all enjoyed (and apologies to DataNinja. You'll know why when you watch it.) I'll see you all next time!

[DataNinja]

...explosions raining from the heavens.

Second verse, hopefully a little better tuned than the first.

...so, are you going to want to not count all the takedowns that didn't "actually occur". (So, in this case, you'd have 4 non-lethals, instead of 7 non-lethals and a lethal for the bridge section.) Or do you want them totalled (which is what I'm currently doing)?

Spoiler: Takedowns

Show

Episode	Non-Lethal	Lethal	Total
1	0	4	4
2	4	8	12
3	0	0	0
4	0	0	0
5	6	2	8
6	9	7	16
7	2	3	5
8	3	0	3
9	7	0	7
10	16	1	17
11	2	0	2
12	3	0	3
13	13	0	13
14	11	0	11
15	9	0	9
16	2	0	2
17	7	1	8
18	13	0	13
Total	107	26	133

Also, I feel like the conversation was just to explain why they weren't affected in the universe of the world.

[HalfTangible]

Let's just say that the Arc Pylons are not my friend, and I was wrong about us being able to rub up against something to register as their friend. Which seems stupid as heck to me, given the guards can do that! And that they had a conversation mentioning that was a thing they do! It feels weird for there to just be a... a red herring conversation like that.

It's there to explain why they'll hit you but not the guards.

That's also not something they're just gonna have out in the open where anyone can get them.

[LaZodiac]

...explosions raining from the heavens.

Second verse, hopefully a little better tuned than the first.

...so, are you going to want to not count all the takedowns that didn't "actually occur". (So, in this case, you'd have 4 non-lethals, instead of 7 non-lethals and a lethal for the bridge section.) Or do you want them totalled (which is what I'm currently doing)?

Spoiler: Takedowns

Show

Episode	Non-Lethal	Lethal	Total
1	0	4	4
2	4	8	12
3	0	0	0
4	0	0	0
5	6	2	8
6	9	7	16
7	2	3	5
8	3	0	3
9	7	0	7
10	16	1	17
11	2	0	2
12	3	0	3
13	13	0	13
14	11	0	11
15	9	0	9
16	2	0	2
17	7	1	8
18	16	1	17
Total	110	27	137

Also, I feel like the conversation was just to explain why they weren't affected in the universe of the world.

If it's not canon, don't count it. That's my rules on it. So for this I've only got 4 nonlethal take down.

I'm aware it's just to explain as to Why, but it still feels weird to me since like... if you're going to tell me about a touch orb that stops the tesla coil from killing you, please let me touch the touch orb. Imagine Corvo with his hair trying to stand on it's end through his mask because he touched the touch orb! That'd be great!

[DataNinja]

If it's not canon, don't count it. That's my rules on it. So for this I've only got 4 nonlethal take down.

...alrighty, fixed. I see why you were apologizing now.
(Note that you don't need to apologize in advance, though. I don't read the stuff below the video link until after the video. )

[LaZodiac]

Okay, let's continue with some Dishonored.

Zodi Plays: Dishonored [19] Curved Surfaces

Video Length: 24:28

In this episode, we continue onward down the street to find Sokolov's fancy smancy apartment. We end up encountering some River Krusts, which are... decidedly unpleasant, but thankfully don't count for the kill count. If we DO kill them, we get their pearls which is a pretty decent amount of gold! Whether that's worth it for the trauma of fighting one of the dang things though, I can't be sure. And speaking of trauma, we end up finding a lady surrounded by rats! She's safe, for the most part, and maybe a bit too impatient when it comes to us saving her, but on the whole that's like, a negative number on our ledger! We SAVED someone's life! We do so again in the next area of the Kaldwin Bridge neighborhood, taking out some more guards and saving healthy civilians they would have sent to Sokolov for experimentation.

And truthfully, despite the fact that this episode is 24 minutes long, that's basically all that happens. Games are weird in that I had so much more to say about the shorter videos, but what can you do. Other than just sit back and enjoy the comedy as Zodi proves once and for all what her true arch-nemesis is in this game; curved surfaces.

At any rate, hope you all enjoyed! I'll see you all next time!

[DataNinja]

Note that you've spelled the video "Disohonored".

Yay. A bunch of kills I don't have to track. And that you can use up some of that lethal ammo on.

...slip sliding away.

Spoiler: Takedowns

Show

Episode	Non-Lethal	Lethal	Total
1	0	4	4
2	4	8	12
3	0	0	0
4	0	0	0
5	6	2	8
6	9	7	16
7	2	3	5
8	3	0	3
9	7	0	7
10	16	1	17
11	2	0	2
12	3	0	3
13	13	0	13
14	11	0	11
15	9	0	9
16	2	0	2
17	7	1	8
18	13	0	13
19	7	0	7
Total	114	26	140

[LaZodiac]

Note that you've spelled the video "Disohonored".

Yay. A bunch of kills I don't have to track. And that you can use up some of that lethal ammo on.

...slip sliding away.

Spoiler: Takedowns

Show

Episode	Non-Lethal	Lethal	Total
1	0	4	4
2	4	8	12
3	0	0	0
4	0	0	0
5	6	2	8
6	9	7	16
7	2	3	5
8	3	0	3
9	7	0	7
10	16	1	17
11	2	0	2
12	3	0	3
13	13	0	13
14	11	0	11
15	9	0	9
16	2	0	2
17	7	1	8
18	13	0	13
19	7	0	7
Total	114	26	140

I'll fix that at home. Ooops!

Tumbling down tumbling down tumbling down~

[HalfTangible]

The Overseer and the guard chit-chatting is indeed hilarious.

[LaZodiac]

The Overseer and the guard chit-chatting is indeed hilarious.

This exact phrasing feels like random chatter in game.

[HalfTangible]

This exact phrasing feels like random chatter in game.

Chances are very good.

[Destro_Yersul]

My favourite thing about the random chatter is the point in one of the DLCs where one guard congratulates another on getting his own squad.

[LaZodiac]

My favourite thing about the random chatter is the point in one of the DLCs where one guard congratulates another on getting his own squad.

I'm really glad that even as far as the DLC the people making Dishonored are self aware of themselves. That's so good.

[The Glyphstone]

It's a style of immersive world building you don't really see in modern games anymore. Deus Ex and Dishonored were the last of their breed.

[LaZodiac]

It's a style of immersive world building you don't really see in modern games anymore. Deus Ex and Dishonored were the last of their breed.

I mean I'd contest that. It's just a joke they did.

[HalfTangible]

It's a style of immersive world building you don't really see in modern games anymore. Deus Ex and Dishonored were the last of their breed.

I mean I'd contest that. It's just a joke they did.

While the immersive sim IS a bit of a dead genre (though other games have tried to bring it back and succeeded to some degree) this particular style of world-building was never exclusive to the genre in the first place.

[LaZodiac]

You're all talking like immersive sim is a dead genre and the most recent Prey game is just sitting there, asking you if you'd like to use a glue gun to sequence break a 60 hour video game into like ten minutes.

[HalfTangible]

You're all talking like immersive sim is a dead genre and the most recent Prey game is just sitting there, asking you if you'd like to use a glue gun to sequence break a 60 hour video game into like ten minutes.

*points to own post*

(though other games have tried to bring it back and succeeded to some degree)

[The Glyphstone]

Eh, I guess. The little bit of Prey I played was immersive and creepy (I was murdered by so many coffee cups), but it didn't give me the 'living world' feel I get from Dishonored. Like, that conversation between the overseer and guard? That's not related to the plot, or your actions, it's just something happening in the lives of NPCs that makes me imagine they actually have lives when you're not skulking around murder-strangling them.

[LaZodiac]

Eh, I guess. The little bit of Prey I played was immersive and creepy (I was murdered by so many coffee cups), but it didn't give me the 'living world' feel I get from Dishonored. Like, that conversation between the overseer and guard? That's not related to the plot, or your actions, it's just something happening in the lives of NPCs that makes me imagine they actually have lives when you're not skulking around murder-strangling them.

Yeah that's fair, a lot of immersive sims are now more concerned with being spooky so they've got a lack of people. I still hear incidental dialogue like that all the time in games though, so it's not dead just sleeping.

I do love games that do that though, as an aside. It's fantastic.

[Destro_Yersul]

Eh, I guess. The little bit of Prey I played was immersive and creepy (I was murdered by so many coffee cups), but it didn't give me the 'living world' feel I get from Dishonored. Like, that conversation between the overseer and guard? That's not related to the plot, or your actions, it's just something happening in the lives of NPCs that makes me imagine they actually have lives when you're not skulking around murder-strangling them.

It's possible you never got far enough to run into the handful of characters in Prey who are still alive. Or to get to the living areas. Prey is brilliant, and understands people in a way few other games do. Just look at Mr. Glooey McGlooface.

[The Glyphstone]

It's possible you never got far enough to run into the handful of characters in Prey who are still alive. Or to get to the living areas. Prey is brilliant, and understands people in a way few other games do. Just look at Mr. Glooey McGlooface.

IIRC, it was a free-weekend demo on Steam. The only other people I met were during the lab-test tutorial sequence, after that it was me and evil black blob monsters until I decided it wasn't fun enough to pay for.


Back on topic - got something for Zodi to listen to, linked previously but probably lost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlUAjtduiqg

There's a few snippets of footage in the video itself from future missions/cutscenes, so it's technically spoilery and should probably be watched in a minimized window to hear the song only. But I'm curious how well you think it suits the game so far - MoS's music and lyrics are always meant to try and evoke the themes of the story he's writing about.

[Iruka]

The extraction of Sokolov is one of my favourite missions. One reason is the great number of alternative routes and stuff to discover, the other the architecture of Sokolovs house. Just love that place.

I remember a frantic sprint up the bridge cables the first time I played this mission. Tried to be stealthy but got caught.

[Destro_Yersul]

IIRC, it was a free-weekend demo on Steam. The only other people I met were during the lab-test tutorial sequence, after that it was me and evil black blob monsters until I decided it wasn't fun enough to pay for.

I bought it after watching an LP and deciding it was exactly my jam. I'd heard a few negative things in reviews and stuff, and didn't buy it at launch, but man. It is so good.

Provided you don't accidentally hamstring yourself with your build.

On topic, MoS is awesome. I love most of his music.

[LaZodiac]

It's time to get back up on that roof, so to say.

Zodi Plays: Dishonored [20] Dr Sokolov, I Presume

Video Length: 26:50

In this episode, we clambour our way back up to where Sokolov is, and actually succeed pretty handily at kidnapping the guy. And while I could definitely wander around hunting for that painting of his I missed, I don't... really see a point. Like yeah it's a lot of money, but I'm PRETTY loaded (until I spend it all on a lot of upgrades at the end of this) and I don't really think there is going to be a lot of interesting loot in this area now that we've got all the charms and runes (minus the charm we missed at the start that I don't know how to get). So with a beardy nerd successfully knocked out, and all of his test subjects saved, we head back to Sam and make our way back home.

Unfortunately, home was slightly infected with audio issues. My laptop's speakers has some weirdness here and there, and sometimes the sound just comes out like this. Not sure how to fix it, since I'm pretty sure it's just an artifact of my laptop being old and the game being pretty resource heavy since it IS a Bethesda game. Regardless, it doesn't interfer to much, and with everyone praising our success we can wander around freely, talking to folk and vacuuming loot up into our pockets. Of particular highlight is us being given the Abandoned Apartment key, which reveals a further locked door to "Old Dunwall" which is what we in the business call foreshadowing, and our good good Admiral Havelock friend having intrusive thoughts of "hey what if I was just the ruler of Dunwall that'd be cool right?". I suspect we are going to be traitored at some point. Maybe it'll only happen if we're bloodthirsty, we'll see.

But yeah, that'll be it for today! I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time.

[DataNinja]

...ah, good, I appear to have caught a case of the sicks. If my numbers are off at all, that'll be why.

Oh, okay, not bad numbers-wise. That's pretty easy.

Spoiler: Takedowns

Show

Episode	Non-Lethal	Lethal	Total
1	0	4	4
2	4	8	12
3	0	0	0
4	0	0	0
5	6	2	8
6	9	7	16
7	2	3	5
8	3	0	3
9	7	0	7
10	16	1	17
11	2	0	2
12	3	0	3
13	13	0	13
14	11	0	11
15	9	0	9
16	2	0	2
17	7	1	8
18	13	0	13
19	7	0	7
20	2	0	2
Total	116	26	142

[HalfTangible]

As I recall you can confront Sokolov directly by revealing yourself to him. He doesn't alert the guards; rather he tries to talk you out of the situation. I don't remember what specifically he offers, but I think he tells you that he has a cure for the plague? He starts begging for his life at the end of it.



"I did not need to hear Trevor's fanfiction"

Spoilers but we learn things about Lady Boyle later and

Spoiler

Show

I'm not entirely sure it's fanfiction... though that wouldn't surprise me

"You really are a <something>, aren't you [Piero]?"
A what?

"How did that happen?"
"PFFFTAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
No comment necessary.

"He paints for rich people as a scientist"
It's not unheard of for a great scientist to also be a great artist.

Emily is indeed adorable.

[LaZodiac]

As I recall you can confront Sokolov directly by revealing yourself to him. He doesn't alert the guards; rather he tries to talk you out of the situation. I don't remember what specifically he offers, but I think he tells you that he has a cure for the plague? He starts begging for his life at the end of it.

"You really are a <something>, aren't you [Piero]?"
A what?

"How did that happen?"
"PFFFTAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
No comment necessary.

"He paints for rich people as a scientist"
It's not unheard of for a great scientist to also be a great artist.

Emily is indeed adorable.

Neat! I had a feeling Sokolov would be smart enough not to fight us.

I called him a Huey, since he's definitely Huey Emmerich from Metal Gear Solid 5 and Peace Walker. A whiny, snobby smart-man who is never the one who did bad. It's always others, not him. And he creeps on women, especially those who have no interest in him.

He's also an idiot, as demonstrated

I feel like in a time of such depravity and chaos, a scientist would be busy doing science.

Emily is a very good daughter and makes me realize Dishonored came out like, way before Last of Us started a big trend of games where you're forced to reconcile your darkness with the protection of something soft and precious and innocent.

[HalfTangible]

I feel like in a time of such depravity and chaos, a scientist would be busy doing science.

... He is. You find him experimenting on a woman he intentionally infected with the plague.

Though I'll also note that Dunwall is a pretty crapsack place. As far as the nobility is concerned the plague is the commoner's problem, and they do not even pretend to care about the plight of the common people (another example of which is coming up soon). Even you - playing the ostensible hero of the story - are not trying to find a cure or clean up the city's rat problem; you're trying to put Emily on the throne.

And he creeps on women, especially those who have no interest in him.

Oh, you have no idea. It gets SO MUCH worse.

Emily is a very good daughter and makes me realize Dishonored came out like, way before Last of Us started a big trend of games where you're forced to reconcile your darkness with the protection of something soft and precious and innocent.

Something I've noticed about vidya is that few games that are the first to a trend really get credit for it. It's usually the second or third game to try that hits it big (which makes sense, they can see the errors the previous one made and build on its successes).

[The Glyphstone]

Oh, you have no idea. It gets SO MUCH worse.


.

If you are thinking of what I'm thinking of, it's Pietro who raises the Creep Meter. Sokolov is still a creep though.