God Dishonored 2 really has the worst case of diagetic overexplanation. *Picks up a letter: "There's a ship in the harbor with someone who can help you."* *Diary hint appears: "Hey, you. Go to the ship."* *Player character, upon stepping outside: "A SHIP! MAYBE I SHOULD GO THERE!" - ThreadSky

thedextriarchy.bsky.social • 17 days ago

God Dishonored 2 really has the worst case of diagetic overexplanation. *Picks up a letter: "There's a ship in the harbor with someone who can help you."* *Diary hint appears: "Hey, you. Go to the ship."* *Player character, upon stepping outside: "A SHIP! MAYBE I SHOULD GO THERE!"

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evilalien.bsky.social•17 days ago

Is that an ADHD accessibility feature? I think that’d be helpful in the real world for scenarios like what did I get up to do just now and why did I walk into this room.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•16 days ago

There are already waypoints and other non-diagetic features that are always around, so while yeah the real-life version would be funny, I don't think there's any real accessibility gain in the game.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•17 days ago

I don't remember this bothering me so badly the first time, but I'm coming straight off Dishonored which is incredibly elegant by comparison, and I've played enough Thief recently that I'm just constantly thinking it sounds like Arkane told Stephen Russell to voice Corvo as "less fun Garrett"

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•16 days ago

Thief just keeps messing with my Dishonored 2 enjoyment, because on one hand the Clockwork Mansion is a clever homage to the Mechanists in The Metal Age, but on the other Kirin "mad inventor" Jindosh is not as enjoyable a villain as Father "I'm literally going to destroy nature" Karras.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•16 days ago

It's tough to beat the Mechanist/Pagan/Hammerite/Keeper factions for sheer distinctiveness in a steampunk-y setting; the lovecraft whales in Dishonored are great but just not as central to the gameplay.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•13 days ago

alright dishonored 2 how did you trick me into spending 2 hours solving a randomized logic puzzle and liking it

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•13 days ago

warring factions in the dust district nervously watch a large, skull-masked, heavily armed man approach the neighborhood but he just curls up in a corner and starts scribbling notes about snuffboxes and whiskey

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•13 days ago

i also enjoy that one of the dust district mission options is a classic dishonored "kidnap these guys and send them to a terrible fate" choice, except it solves no part of your primary problem and is just like, wanna do some weird karmic justice for old time's sake

goose174.bsky.social•17 days ago

Only mildly related, but Dishonored 2 was a similar case to Dragon Age 2 for me. I didn't like it the first time I played and dropped it, and when I tried it again it really grew on me and I loved it, though it still does not reach the bar set by the first game.
So yeah they're pretty good games.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•17 days ago

At some point I need to play DA2, since I finally worked my way through Origins a few months back. Unfortunately I somehow manage to turn every one of those games into a stressful love triangle simulator.

goose174.bsky.social•17 days ago

I feel your pain. I also need to play DAI, but my potato can't run it. Instead I'm currently working my way through Divinity: Original Sin, which is pretty similar to DAO in gameplay.

swheatley.bsky.social•17 days ago

Hahahahaha it’s been on my list to check out, I remember it being well liked

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•17 days ago

It still holds up quite well, especially if you play as Emily so you get a different set of powers from the first game. I think it's narratively less cohesive than Dishonored and a little busier than I'd like sometimes, but even the overexplanation dials down after the first level or two.

katiepayn.com•10 days ago

The fact that I never noticed this probably indicates I have attention problems lmao

xaiux.bsky.social•16 days ago

Dishonored 1 was one of my favorite games. I have 50 minutes or something in 2 and can't remember any of it

drunkenlobster.bsky.social•16 days ago

Thief 2 is a top 5 game for me, and my favorite of the Thief/Dishonored games, but I need to say Clockwork, Crack in Time, and Robbing the Cradle are so good that I will replay D2 and T3 just for those levels.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•16 days ago

I'll be excited to get to Crack in the Slab again because I remember it being my favorite D2 mission. Robbing the Cradle is almost untoppable; my fave slightly less widely praised level is prob the Cathedral in TDP.

sidraletitia.bsky.social•17 days ago

It's a consequence of not knowing what players will interact with, and players blatantly ignoring passive clues like letters and journal entries.

It's actually kind of funny, cause occasionally I'll look up issues some people have on games that I didn't have, and realize it's cause I explore NPCs.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•17 days ago

Oh definitely, but there are a cleaner ways to handle that. Dishonored attached notes to things players had to interact with, for instance.

thedextriarchy.bsky.social•17 days ago

It's also just weird clunky writing choices — there's a place a side character could easily repeat some advice by going "hey, don't forget x", and instead they've got your protagonist reminding *them* of the thing they reminded *you* about, which then feels awkward and artificial

sidraletitia.bsky.social•17 days ago

Agreed. But I'd honestly rather too much than not enough in some cases. People be oblivious.

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