Played through it low-chaos. Only kills I made were on weepers, until I realized those bitches count as hostiles.

I feel like my way wasn't that impressive though...just choking every single mother fucker out and dragging them into a closet/possessing someone and walking them into a closet before choking them out seemed lame. On Mission 7 I ended up sprinting around the empty tower looking for runes while 45 guards and maids had a reacharound fest in a bathroom. Although my fun with that was hampered by bodies randomly disappearing.

I thought the most fun I had was freeze time+sleep darts on groups of enemies. Having to freeze time, run around a corner, then get 4 shots off before being detected was the best time I had.

I want to attempt a true ghost playthrough with no killing, no detections, and no choking out. Just shadow to possession to shadow.

Also, my face when I found out Susan Sarandon did the VA for Granny Rags...


What this game has gotten me thinking about is a Fable/Dishonored story now, since I really didn't like the outsider. Replace the outsider with Theresa, combine the spells from the fable-verse with these, and make Dunwall a part of an industrialized Albion. Also in part due to playing it right after reading TWT's update to Rise.

 

Spoiler

What's with The Heart? I mean, that was the Empress right? Some of her dialogue and The Outsider's comment clearly indicates her life has been trapped and kept alive as some weird semi-omniscient being in a not so pleasant way ("What have they done to me?"), but it's not dealt with at any point and the ending basically destroys any chance of a sequel, at least for Corvo.

So is it meant to destroy some of the whole revenge thing from a player perspective? That the woman you're sort-of avenging is kept in a perpetual half-existence by the very person enabling you to perform vengeance? I can't figure out why else it's an ignored plot thread. I honestly felt by the end that I had more beef with the Outsider than Daud, that's for sure.

Or maybe I'm completely off the mark and it's some random person who just sounds similar. They didn't say who voiced the Heart in the credits (that I could see) so I can't say for sure.

 

Both are voiced by April Stewart and FUCKFUCKFUCK I DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER THAT!

That adds a whole new dimension to the story. Like...damn.

This is pretty much confirmed through the story. There's quite a few lines that, when put together, point it out. And I can't believe I missed this.

 

It seems pretty clear that the Outsider isn't really good or evil so much as bored. He gave Corvo the ability to take revenge just to see what he'd do. The fact that it may have come with the entrapt soul of the woman he probably loved didn't matter to him.

It reminds me a bit about 40k, in that there is a reason everybody is no holds bard harsh on any trace of the unnatural, or Dresden Files. There is a reason the seven laws carry harsh sentences.

That said the Abby REALLY needs to tone down the Nazi symbolism, it's probably not winning them any fans...

 

I never said I was surprised that he would do it, just it was odd that it was a throwaway plot thread that was and never will be addressed or resolved. The only conclusion I can come to is that it was simply to make the player feel shitty, but that's fairly at odds with the 'and everyone was happy forever' ending you get if you don't go on a crazy slaughter fest. The world isn't crapsack or grimdark, with all the lore and the ending indicating the world (barring the unexplored continent) is pretty nice and only Dunwall during the plague was so terrible.

It just feels out of place for me after playing. Like the ending was all about "yay you got revenge and fixed everything" but it was being told to me by the guy that was the very reason that was basically complete bullshit. I guess it was to firmly establish the Outsider as a negative force for a possible sequel set in the same world (especially with all the clues that the spells can be achieved without using the Outsider's power), but Granny Rags and Daud did that without invalidating a lot of the investment in Corvo's revenge.

I dunno, I haven't completed my High Chaos playthrough yet and maybe the ending to that is supposed to be canon. If it is Corvo is apparently a complete psycho given how many ordinary guards you have to murder to achieve that.

 

Spoiler for high chaos playthroughs

Spoiler

The question would be, which High Chaos ending? If it's the one where you don't save Emily, there's plenty of sequel potential, but it paints Corvo as a sociopath who doesn't care about how many people he kills. Alternatively, as a guilt-ridden soul because of his failure at the lighthouse.

If it's the one where you save Emily there's no sequel potential, but at least it proves that he wasn't a psycho, just a man hellbent on saving his ward(/daughter?)

 

The ending scenes don´t mean that there will be no sequel with Corvo.. just say that it was supposed to happen but something changed the fate/destiny etc.. In a world with magic and beings like the Outsider such things are easily explained.

High Chaos Ending:

It isn´t that bad.. just realistic with a trace of tragic in it. But it would probably really be the easiest way to expand. Drunken, forgotten and memory haunted Corvo in a another city would also be easy to believe.

 

Just snagged this and so far I am enjoying the fuck out of this, I personally feel like the story is lacking in a few places here and there but the stealth is so ridiculously fun and well implemented for me that it completely makes up for it. Normally I consider it acceptable in games like this if they only give you a stealth path to accomplish an objective and a combat approach but I fucking love the fact that are just a mountain of ways to get where you need to be and get what you need done. I just finished the mission at the Golden Cat and it took me at least ten minutes just to decide on what direction sounded like the most fun way to get in out of the pile I saw. I finally settled on going out towards the water choking out a couple hookers and a City Watch guard, hiding the bodies and then diving into the water and possessing a fish and swimming through the pipes until I came out into the hooker showers. When I got there I found out about the art dealer getting his kink on from fifty thousand volts to the face and I just electrocuted the weedy bastard to death for giggles and started dumping all of the unconscious people in the room with him before I was done there were just stacks of people in there and it looked like His Royal Douchebag the Fourth presiding over a damned weird mass orgy from a very ugly throne. I couldn't stop laughing.

 

Damn, I didn't realise that the heart

Spoiler

was the heart of the empress - that's fucked up.

I was a bit disappointed in the chaos ending where you save Emily - there are a few hints along the way that she'd make others fear her etc., but while the good ending mentioned her becoming known as Emily the Wise, the chaos ending didn't mention anything about her reign of terror.

All in all, a very enjoyable game, but I'd have preferred a more "steampunk-ish" approach. It was all very nice, but I'd have liked a bit more world-building.

The kill-everything approach was definitely easier, and way more cathartic - I heard the recommendation to play two concurrent playthroughs, a clean one and a 'dirty' one.

As for additional material, an evil/dirty Corvo in other parts of the world would be awesome.

Oh yeah, and I kiled

Spoiler

Samuel the fucker for announcing my arrival in the last mission. Fucker.

 

Spoiler

Do the loyalist betray you even on low chaos?

 

Spoiler

Yes they do, except Samuel is a really cool guy and doesn't try to screw you over in the end. That and the situation in the light tower is a bit different.

 

Spoiler

Yep, they betray you no matter what your Chaos rating is. Your Chaos rating simply changes how things go when you go to confront them.
As an example with Samuel

Low Chaos: He drops you off quietly, gives you a pep talk and buys you drinks once everything is said and done.

Moderate Chaos: He still drops you off quietly but basically tells you that your a brutal lunatic and no matter what happens to never contact him again after the mission.

High Chaos: He agrees to give you a ride but fires a flare gun as soon as you get there letting every last damn person on the island know you've arrived and puts them on high alert. It is extremely annoying and makes things far more difficult than they would have been but on the other hand once he does that you can finally slit his throat which is extremely satisfying.

 

So, I just played the second DLC for Dishonored- Knife of Dunwall. You play as Daud parallel to the game. It's 3 missions about the same length as the missions in the actual game, and Daud's powers are awesome. He has better tools for non-lethal playthroughs as well.

I wish Corvo's blink was as awesome as Daud's. Time freezes when you aim it, so you can do some badass stuff.

Looking forward to the next dlc which supposedly continue's Daud's storyline.

 

Also Man vs Game is doing a stream of him playing the game, if you wanted to see how the game plays. He's doing a ghost-no kill run.

http://www.twitch.tv/manvsgame