• Shadowrun Hong Kong Build

Total number of base spell slots available are essence halved and rounded down (Datajack, etc results in 5 essence not 5.5).Each point of essence lost adds +1 to a Spells cooldown, casting a spell again while it is on cooldown inflicts drain damage on the caster. It impacts Spellcasting, Chi Casting and Conjuring.It does not have an effect on Spirit Summoning, Totems or Spirit Control (none. The Shadowrun: Hong Kong Level Editor will bring about some new tools for all UGC creators. Previous Versions edit edit source. While older Content Packs may be able to be opened and worked on in the Hong Kong editor we cannot guarantee their initial stability. This will be a very similar process to the process taken for porting content to Dragonfall: Director's Cut from Shadowrun Returns.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong is a turn-basedtactical role-playingvideo game set in the Shadowrun universe. It was developed and published by Harebrained Schemes, who previously developed Shadowrun Returns and its standalone expansion, Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut. It includes a new single-player campaign and also shipped with a level editor that lets players create their own Shadowrun campaigns and share them with other players.^[2]

In January 2015, Harebrained Schemes launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to fund additional features and content they wanted to add to the game, but determined would not have been possible with their current budget.^[3] The initial funding goal of US$100,000 was met in only a few hours.^[4] The campaign ended the following month, receiving over $1.2 million.^[5]

The game was developed with an improved version of the engine used with Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall. Harebrained Schemes decided to develop the game only for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux, so that they did not have to factor in the hardware limitations of tablets, as they did with their previous Shadowrun games.^[6] The game was released worldwide in August 2015.^[7] An extended edition, featuring a new campaign, a developer commentary, and bug fixes for the original game, was released in February 2016. The update was released for free for everybody who owned the original game.^[8][9]

• 1Gameplay

Gameplay[edit]

The game features isometric graphics, with 3D models for characters.

Combat[edit]

Combat is turn based, with the player controlling the actions of their team followed by the enemies taking their actions. All characters can act based on their action point (AP). Characters start with a base of 2 AP per turn but can temporarily gain or lose AP based on abilities, spells or items used on them. AP is used on such actions as moving, attacking an enemy, reloading a firearm, or using a spell or item. Any AP that is not used by the end of the player's turn is forfeited.

Plot[edit]

The game is set in 2056, within the Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone, a city which is effectively controlled directly by the corporations. Unlike the previous games, the player has a backstory tied to other characters. The player was once an orphan on the streets of Seattle, along with their foster brother Duncan, when they were adopted by a man known as Raymond Black. However, the player became estranged from Raymond and Duncan after getting arrested and sent to a corporate prison eight years before the events of the game. After being released, the player gets a message from Raymond requesting that they and Duncan meet him in Hong Kong.

The player travels to Hong Kong and meets up with Duncan, who had joined a private police organization known as the Lone Star, and his superior officer Carter. The three agree to investigate Raymond's mysterious message, and, noting that he has not come to the rendezvous, traverse through the docks looking for him before encountering a team of Shadowrunners. They learn that the runners were hired by Raymond to escort them, but Carter and two of the runners are killed in an ambush by the Hong Kong Police Force. The four survivors manage to escape to Heoi, a small boat village on the outskirts of the Walled City: an overcrowded, nightmarish slum built on the ruins of the old one. In Heoi, they go to meet the runners' fixer, the Yellow Lotus Triad crime boss Kindly Cheng, who grants Duncan and the player her protection in exchange for their services as Shadowrunners. Since it becomes clear that the HKPF is acting on behalf of someone else, Cheng agrees to investigate who has been trying to kill them and what happened to Raymond.

As the game progresses, Cheng and the team finds out that Raymond was captured by Josephine Tsang, the CEO of Tsang Mechanical Services and member of Hong Kong's ruling Executive Council. It is then revealed that Raymond is actually Josephine's son, Edward Tsang, and that he had worked with her to construct the new Walled city in the 2010s. During this time the nightmares the player suffers become increasingly disturbing, implying that something terrible is coming.

After rescuing him from Tsang's headquarters, Raymond reveals that many years ago, he had learned to create devices that could manipulate qi; the force of magic and luck, noting that places predominant with positive qi would become prosperous with good fortune. During a refugee crisis in Hong Kong, Raymond and Josephine came up with an idea to recreate the Walled City around an enormous qi machine dubbed 'Prosperity', which malfunctioned. Despite Raymond's pleas, Josephine claimed that the device was too expensive to salvage, and the device was abandoned, and with the qi becoming even worse than it was, the Walled city devolved into a nightmarish slum. Edward eventually ran to Seattle, and lived his life under the name Raymond Black, before suffering nightmares related to the Walled City. Realizing that whatever entity that had broken the machine was now attempting to enter reality, Raymond had decided to return to shut it down himself.

After arriving in Heoi, it becomes clear that the astral entity is demonic Yama King Qian Ya: The Queen of a Thousand Teeth, and that she is the source of the nightmares caused as she breaks into reality to become ruler of the Walled City. The player's team enters the Walled City to confront Qian Ya, at which point the player may choose from three endings: Allowing Raymond to sacrifice himself to Qian Ya to destroy Prosperity, betraying Raymond to Qian Ya to allow her to take over the Walled City, or forcing Qian Ya to return to her realm under threat of releasing the other Yama Kings, who would destroy her.

In the game's epilogue, it is revealed that the madness that gripped the Walled City was written off as the events of a drug lab accident causing mass hallucinations. With the machine destroyed, Josephine can no longer siphon the qi, and her company is eventually bought out. If the player had found evidence of her misdeeds in her headquarters, then she is arrested and sent to jail, where she later hangs herself. It is also mentioned that the player continues to operate out of Heoi as a shadowrunner without an APB on their head, now undisturbed by dreams.

Reception[edit]

It received 'generally positive reviews', according to review aggregatorMetacritic.^[10] Gamer Headlines awarded it 8 out of 10, saying 'The combat, the dialogue, the music, everything that we have come to expect from a Shadowrun video game is in Shadowrun: Hong Kong.'^[11]PC World awarded it four out of five stars, saying 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong isn't the best RPG Harebrained Schemes has put out, but it's still a great game in its own right.'^[12]PC Gamer awarded it 70%, saying 'Regardless, Shadowrun: Hong Kong is a spectacular story of deceit and poisonous evil that will lure you through the most indulgent settings yet seen in the cRPG renaissance. For the price, the scale is giddying, but Shadowrun is starting to cry out for innovation—these are new (quite excellent) assets and a fresh script retrofitted to a two-year-old game.'^[13]IGN stated that 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong doesn't sport many new elements, but it delivers an enjoyable tactical RPG experience nonetheless'.^[14] The game's soundtrack, composed by Jon Everist, was also praised for its individuality and versatility, which combined an effective mix of traditional Chinese instruments with modern western orchestral and electronic elements. The soundtrack was nominated for the 'Best Original Score of 2015' by Video Game Music Online.^[15]

References[edit]

1. ^Harebrained Schemes. 'Shadowrun Universe Forums'. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
2. ^Webster, Andrew (January 15, 2015). 'Cyberpunk classic Shadowrun is back with a new game set in Hong Kong'. The Verge. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
3. ^Kickstarter (January 13, 2015). 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong'. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
4. ^Dingman, Hayden (Jan 14, 2015). 'PC-exclusive Shadowrun sequel shatters Kickstarter goal in mere hours'. PC World. Retrieved Jan 17, 2015.
5. ^Harebrained Schemes (2015-02-06). 'Original e-novel author announced! And a peek behind the curtain at some crunchy bits...' Kickstarter. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
6. ^Matulef, Jeffrey (January 14, 2015). 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong launches Kickstarter, succeeds goal in two hours'. Eurogamer. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
7. ^Savage, Phil (July 24, 2015). 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong is out next month'. PC Gamer. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
8. ^Chalk, Andy. 'Free Shadowrun: Hong Kong expansion will add five hours of play'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
9. ^Daly, Stephen. 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong Extended Edition Launches on Steam'. Gamerax. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
10. ^'Shadowrun: Hong Kong for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
11. ^Patterson, Travis (2015-09-05). 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong Review'. Gamer Headlines. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
12. ^Dingman, Hayden (2015-08-20). 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong review: When life gives you chopsticks, stab someone'. PCWorld. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
13. ^Morrison, Angus (2015-08-28). 'Shadowrun: Hong Kong review'. PC Gamer. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
14. ^Johnson, Leif (2016-09-11). 'Shadowrun Hong Kong Review'. IGN. Retrieved 2016-08-17.
15. ^http://www.vgmonline.net/awards2015nominations/

External links[edit]

Shadowrun Hong Kong is an amazing indie game by Harebrained Schemes. The whole Shadowrun series is great. I’ve played through Dragonfall and Hong Kong both a number of times. I want to say… probably about five times each.

First, right of the bat, Shadowrun Hong Kong is an incredible game. It’s like XCOM, but cyberpunk fantasy. Highly recommend it. Actually, Dragonfall has a better story, but Hong Kong has better overall game mechanics, so it’s hard to go back and play Dragonfall after.

I wanted to talk about how to become the buffest, most broken, easymode runner (they’re called runners because… shadowrun, get it?) in all of Hong Kong.

The way the leveling system works in Shadowrun is that you get ‘karma’ points from doing missions, and you spend them in specific skill trees like “ranged combat” or “willpower” in order to flexibly build your character.

As I mentioned, I’ve been through this game multiple times. I played as a chi master, a mage, a rifle specialist, etc, etc. On my second playthrough I stumbled across the most gamebreaking way to build a character, and I wanted to share it with you.

First, like with every character, you’ve got to put a few points into Charisma and Spirit Summoning to unlock “etiquettes” that give special dialog options and a spirit totem that gives a passive benefit. Take the totem that gives passive damage and accuracy increase. If I remember right, it’s called cobra. Etiquettes wise, it’s best to take Security and Gang. You get the most mileage out of those. Academic is good too.

Alright, so here’s the trick. You want to max out the rigger lines, cyberware, ranged combat (or strength), and if you have points left, rifle. Here’s why this is broken as hell: in this game, you get 2 moves per round, or 3 after a certain point in the story. “Riggers” get drones, and each are essentially their own (decently powerful) character.

By the time you max out the line, you can have two drones. It takes away one of your moves to control each drone, so with both active, you only get one move per round. But each drone gets three moves. So you’ve given up 2 moves for 6 more, meaning everything else in combat moves 3 times, and your character moves 7. Add to that the cyberware you can load your character up with and support spells from your party and you can get your main character two more moves per round.

There’s a leg cyberware that gives you another action, and Gobbet, your friendly support party member, can cast haste, which gives another. That’s 9 moves per round. 3 rounds per round. Your main character, while not controlling the drones, can either use the monofilament whip, cyberware melee weapons (if you went strength), or if you were really smart with your point allocation and your cyberware picks, rifles, the best weapon in the game.

Like I said, I played through the game multiple times. Chi master was alright, has a move called Chi Onslaught that hits 3 times. Straight rifle build is pretty devastating. Mage was pretty fun. But objectively, this rigger build is the most ridiculous, strongest possible thing you can do in the game.

Just be sure to be economical with your money, because it’s scarce in Hong Kong. Buy just enough equipment at the start to get by, be weaker than you’d like for a while until the top of the line stuff appears in shops, and then blow your cash on that. You have to do that with every character, so that’s just general good advice for the game.

Best of luck and have fun.

Shadowrun Hong Kong Build

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