Dishonored 11: The Boringest Guy Ever

By Shamus Posted Wednesday Apr 3, 2013

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 103 comments

We waste a bunch of time looking up a safe combination in this episode. It’s not bad, unless you know ahead of time that the code is 4-7-3. If you knew that, then it would be really frustrating to watch. My advice? It’s probably best to not know that the code is 4-7-3 when you watch it.


Link (YouTube)

I looked. I couldn’t find the bridge dive video Chris mentioned.

EDIT: Here’s one!

 


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103 thoughts on “Dishonored 11: The Boringest Guy Ever

  1. meyerkev says:

    I CAN confirm that there is such a thing as decorative plates. My aunt has them all along the wall.

    1. Bryan says:

      Oh absolutely. My grandmother had a bunch of them too.

      1. Artur CalDazar says:

        decorative plates does seem like an old person thing.

        1. Thomas says:

          It hearkens back to the whole parlour room style of ornamentation to me

    2. False Prophet says:

      There was a brief period when my (at the time) middle-aged mother was into decorative plates by a semi-famous local artist. But my mother seems to like a lot of kitschy things.

    3. ehlijen says:

      I’ve only ever seen them in the computer game Airfix Dogfigters. And now here I guess.

    4. I have two on my wall. In my defense, they’re Chinese (white with figures on them) and my room is an attempt at Firefly-style decoration. Also, they were free.

      Decorative plates make me think Victorian kitsch, generally, so they make sense in this game.

    5. MetalSeagull says:

      How did they get to be a thing, I wonder? I imagine some impoverished street urchin who grows up eating off of slices of bread, wooden planks, and her own flattened palms. She heard about plates, that rich people have them, and vows that one day, she too, will have a plate. And she’ll hang it on her wall so everyone can see.

      1. Thomas says:

        =D Thats a lovely image. It’s probably not so dramatic though. We’ve had decorated china and pots and urns since well China. And Greek times.

        1. Jeff says:

          I think it’s probably accurate though.

          The actual rich likely used the fancy plates, while the poor would be more inclined to display the same plates used by the Emperor, saving them for “special occasions” that only come about once or twice a lifetime.

  2. Oleyo says:

    I have been thinking the exact same thing as you throughout this series… Josh is an absolute ninja with that Blink. I never used it like that myself.

    1. rrgg says:

      I knew about jump-blinking and used it occasionally, I just sucked at it. In my defense the camera bobbed way too much.

      1. X2-Eliah says:

        You can turn the bob amount down though.

        1. rrgg says:

          Not the walking animation bobbing. I mean every time you stopped, changed direction, jumped, landed, etc. the camera would bounce all over the place like it was attached to a slinky or something (wait, maybe that’s the explanation for what happens every time you die while on stairs).

          1. X2-Eliah says:

            Huh. I don’t quite remember anything like you describe. Certainly no slinkies.

          2. Karthik says:

            That was supposed to be Corvo bending at the waist like a hinge to cushion his jumps (and falls). Maybe it was supposed to add a sense of verisimilitude to his movement–but without full body awareness like in Mirror’s Edge, all that bobbing just got in the way without providing anything to make up for it.

            1. Artur CalDazar says:

              I liked it, gave me a real sense of movement, like I was an object with inertia.

      2. newdarkcloud says:

        I thought I was pretty good at jump-blinking, but the way Josh uses it trumps me. Particularly that drop-blink onto the lower balcony is something I never thought of.

        I’m also observing this for my own use when I (try to) play this game as a complete ghost w/o leaving any evidence behind.

        1. rrgg says:

          You can blink an extremely long distance downwards so it works really well for avoiding fall damage. The way I originally got down from the tower was just blinking down into the water.

          Well, specifically I managed to blink directly over that one tiny footbridge and break every bone in my body in front of a very surprised guard.

        2. Sleeping Dragon says:

          I used jump blinking a few times to get to places that were higher than I could blink off ground but I was generally much slower inching my way through the levels, trying to find hiding places where I was completely safe and that were within reach of a single blink and letting my mana regenerate (I am conservative to the point of stupidity with all kinds or resources in games).

          I don’t think I ever did this kind of “wait for the guard to turn around, run behind him, jump, blink, jump again, shoot the guard who spotted you, jump from the building and blink down into the the new hiding spot” sequences but even just watching they look extremely cool when they work.

  3. Astrolounge says:

    I believe you can also possess someone at the end of a long fall to avoid taking damage. Which I guess is slightly less silly?

  4. impassiveimperfect says:

    ‘Aggressively boring.’ Ha.

    I shall also endeavor to use the term sadmaking as often as is warranted.

  5. tzeneth says:

    Here Shamus. Here are 2 vids that show big drops from the top of Kaldwin’s bridge.

    Link 1
    Link 2

    1. Jakale says:

      If you just want it short and sweet, this one works.

      1. SweetAbsinthe says:

        This one has the added bonus of luring a guard out for a safe landing.

        1. sofawall says:

          $100 says that even if this wasn’t the one Chris was thinking of, it’s close enough.

          Also, is there a particular reason Shamus and Rutskarn tend to call him Chris while Josh tends to call him Campster?

          1. Thomas says:

            I’m not sure which one he wants to be called at the moment. I think when he posts comments it’s as Campster but used to be as Chris?

            EDIT: Nope, it’s Chris on comments

            1. …but once the sun goes down, it’s Campster time!

          2. Syal says:

            Because Josh is a troll.

  6. Daemian Lucifer says:

    So this week Rutskarn is the outsider.

    Im pretty sure I had guards on this bridge comment when I took out power to some of their toys.In fact I think one of the comments Ive heard is “the whale oil ran out,go and replace it”.I dont know if theyd actually replace it if I left them standing though.

    Also there is a distinct lack of murder in this episode.Josh,stop playing a thief,you are not a thief.Because thieves are mercenaries,and you are not one.

    1. Gruhunchously says:

      Just because Cuftbert isn’t a mercenary doesn’t mean that he can’t become a mercenary if he wants to.

      And then murder his employers and takes all their stuff.

    2. X2-Eliah says:

      I haven’t seen guards interacting with whale oil canisters at all, except for one scripted sequence in Flooded District, where you have to deal with tallboys and a certain group of survivors. This feels like something that was planned, but either didn’t have enough time to get implemented, or was cut out due to playtesting feedbacks…

    3. rrgg says:

      Yeah, I think they do occasionally say something like “it must be broken” or “whale oil must be out again.”

      Speaking of which did anyone know that whale oil actually does run out? Arc pylons and walls of light are only able to kill around a dozen guys or so before they run out of juice, you can even see their tanks draining with each zap.

      1. X2-Eliah says:

        Can you drain the wall-of-light by shooting crossbow bolts at it from afar? That might be a stealthy way of taking the wall down..

        1. StashAugustine says:

          Supposedly guards will drain it with rocks if you rewrite it. Never tried myself.

        2. IFS says:

          I dunno about bolts, but throw enough corpses through it and it runs out of power.

    4. Entropy says:

      Also, how are thieves mercenaries?

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Garrett is a thief.Garrett was employed to do a few errands,thus making him a mercenary.Thus thieves are mercenaries.

        1. Jakale says:

          This seems like the “squares are all rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares” thing, only with the added confusing bonus of the shapes being allowed to change their sizes to fit the requirements of the other’s definition.
          Thieves can be mercenaries, mercenaries can be thieves, neither are automatically either one.

          On a game related note, I don’t think we’re getting paid by the Loyalist party for all these missions, so yeah, not a mercenary. Might be for the side stuff, though.

          1. Daemian Lucifer says:

            Um,that was the point.Maybe I should start including smiley faces when I am not being serial.

    5. newdarkcloud says:

      Actually, if you make the Outsider blond and put on glasses, he does look a lot like Rutzkarn.

      But Rutz can’t be the outsider because he’s at least vaguely interesting!

    6. WJS says:

      I am beginning to wonder if complaining about something untrue every episode is some kind of in-joke I’m not getting. I mean, nobody expects them to never make a mistake, but it seems to be happening all the time.

  7. X2-Eliah says:

    That safe-combo-searching wasn’t bad at all – in fact, it’s a nice showcase of how safe combos are located in Dishonored (well, an example at least). And it didn’t really take you guys long to get the true combo either.

    Hm. I’m surprised to hear that Shamus didn’t go through a lot of the rooftop/bridgetop areas – whilst playing I sort of felt that the ‘overhead’ paths – rooftops, streetlamp-posts, etc – were the more obvious routes and the ground/underground ways were the trickier ones. Shamus, did you have any specific inclination of path-making (such as ‘mostly sneak behind covers to get around stuff’)? (Also, not criticising – in fact, this just goes to show how varied the possible paths are in Dish’s levels)

    Oh, also, I’d really want just a biiiig big game, in dishonored’s engine/world/mechanics/lore that just has you stealing stuff as the ultimate goal. Objectives, subobjectives related to finding out safe combinations, locations and such, avoiding guards entirely to keep chaos *high* (If you magically steal stuff without any mark left, nobody knows what the hell s going on, only thatt their stuff-s disappearing – so lots of guesses and unknowns, aka chaos. If you instead tangle with guards and leave clues that you are a common thief that steals stuff – that then is noticed and everyone knows it is you – low chaos, but increased guard presences and such).. Could be safes guarded by mini-lightwalls, traps of all sorts.. So, yeah, I just plain want a version of Thief done by this team in this game engine and world.

    1. Eruanno says:

      An open-world Dishonored doing those things you just described would be AMAZING and I would buy the shit out of that. Hell, I would buy it twice.

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        Didn’t the third Thief game have a semi-open City you could explore between missions?

        1. Cupcaeks says:

          It did, though memory limitations made the City feel disappointingly small. Still, robbing houses at will for no other reason than because you wanted to was good fun.

    2. newdarkcloud says:

      I would note that while I’ve pretty thoroughly explored every area in the game, Josh has actually been teaching me as well.

      For example, I did not know that the path passed the gated fence on the right of the bridge (where the guards are rushed by thugs) was completely unguarded and could be used to slip past the guards near the Pylon.

  8. Brandon says:

    I’m just gonna mention that you can actually slide pretty far if you have a good enough running start. If you are wearing blue jeans it will probably hurt, but there are some things you can wear that are better.. I have no idea what Corvo is wearing though, but I doubt it’s jeans.

    Baseball players slide like that all the time (not on cement, but it’s basically gravel.. arguably worse.)

    1. Humanoid says:

      He might start with jeans, but at the end of the slide he would no longer have any jeans.

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Actually gravel is better for sliding than pavement,because its loose.The top layer will slide with you,thus effectively lovering friction:therell be more small frictions between layers,so you will go further.On a hard surface,therell be just one big friction between you and it.

    3. MrGuy says:

      You have obviously never played baseball if you think
      A.) that baseball players slide on their knees or
      B.) that baseball infields are “basically gravel”.

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        Yeah. I’ve never played baseball, but don’t those slides mostly impact the thigh, not the knees. I think baseball players practice those slides in order to avoid injury when it counts.

        1. Syal says:

          Also, sliding on the knees would make it impossible to lead with the cleats and is therefore vastly inferior.

        2. Klay F. says:

          You can also slide on your chest/belly. I used to play baseball and I can tell you from experience that headfirst sliding is a great way to get dirt in your pants, as the belt buckle acts like a scoop of sorts. Thats why if you ever watch someone make a headfirst slide in a game, the first thing they do upon standing is to try to non-nonchalantly get the collected dirt out of their pants.

          This concludes today’s “Baseball Sliding Facts.” :)

      2. WJS says:

        Um, where did he mention knees?

  9. AJax says:

    Watching you guys play through this level makes me wanna go re-install Dishonored again. Just to climb the bridge and observe Dunwall. What a gorgeous looking game.

    I like how this game, despite being made in UE3, avoids the grimy and dull grey, brown color palette associated with a lot of the games made in the same engine.

    1. X2-Eliah says:

      Aye, the colour palette is interesting – bright colours and the painterly blotching.. It’s not even a particularly high-res texturework in most places, it’s just a well-planned one. I do wish that the distant-land models (in this case, the city of Dunwall as seen from the bridge) was a bit higher-definition; as-is it looked noticeably basic when you focus on it (I mean, just look at it specifically, not zooming). Still, it at least looks large enough to work as a capital city, rather than a tiny town (which most game cities seem to be sizewise).

      Also: This is unreal engine 3? The same engine that basically powers Mass Effect/Bioshocks/Gears? Wow. … How did they manage such good movement controls in this game, compared to the barely-there movement of, say, ME1?

      1. AJax says:

        Ummm… it’s made by competent developers. :P

        Actually, Dark Messiah, Arkane’s previous game also shared the same style of smooth first person movement. It’s swordplay is also incredibly similar to Dishonored’s but more fun due to the addition of a kicking mechanic. A very underrated game but with a hilariously awful story and voice acting.

        1. Tuck says:

          Dark Messiah used the Source engine, but yes, the movement and combat were a lot of fun!

          And the spiders were terrifying.

        2. Karthik says:

          You mean its kickplay was more fun due to the addition of swords.

      2. Deadfast says:

        Also: This is unreal engine 3? The same engine that basically powers Mass Effect/Bioshocks/Gears? Wow. … How did they manage such good movement controls in this game, compared to the barely-there movement of, say, ME1?

        Funnily enough, even Mirror’s Edge runs on Unreal Engine 3.

          1. X2-Eliah says:

            Obligatory ‘alpha protocol sucks’ reply from me. ;)

    2. Wes1180 says:

      Dungeon defenders was also made with the unreal engine 3 and that has a large amount of colour, granted it isn’t exactly a “triple a” release though.

  10. Hiding a combination to a safe in some artwork? That’s quite a system for shocking the player two— er, to poke around, isn’t it?

  11. RTBones says:

    Wow. I can honestly say – Josh did that WAY differently than I did. Admittedly, my current “play alongside at home” play through is more of a stealth run that Josh’s traditional style – but I stayed well above almost everything for that sequence.

  12. Grudgeal says:

    Speaking of Dishonored, I assume you’ve all seen the latest developer’s commentary on the game on youtube?

    The Molydeux is strong in these ones.

    1. Thomas says:

      ‘I did a window playthrough of the game but I found the gameplay too transparent.’

      Probably one of the best youtube comments I’ve ever read

      1. False Prophet says:

        A strong rival in this one though:

        “I played as a wall for the ultimate challenge, but I became bored and got plastered.”

    2. anaphysik says:

      That was actually quite funny. Well done, Bethesda. You still suck, though.

  13. So, I haven’t played Dishonored, but I just love the idea that you can play through a game multiple times and still have things which you can find.

    I am currently on my third playthrough of Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines,
    as Nosferatu (Previous playthroughs have been Toreador and Malkavian) and I am still finding new things and different routes through the locations.

  14. kenup says:

    So, I haven’t noticed much of the story and I haven’t played the game but, why did Josh not kill that guy with the painting puzzle again? Isn’t he going full ‘chaotic’ anyway?

    1. Lovecrafter says:

      I’m assuming he was left alone because he’s a Terry Pratchett expy.

  15. As I watch Josh playing I’m sadly reminded of my own experience with any and all games that ask you to choose stealth vs combat. Try stealth, get bored halfway through the game, murder everyone in the the last half. Got all the way to the granny rags fight before I started the murder fest in Dishonored.

  16. qwksndmonster says:

    I love it when games have slide tackling buttons, and I don’t know why you were railing on them, Shamus. Bulletstorm in particular had a really broken slide tackle that could easily last ~30 yards in a slight slope. On long downward slopes you can just continually slide like a penguin. And in the giant plant boss it was glitched so you had infinite slide all around the boss stage. So you could just zip around and it was a blast.

    Point is. I really like slide tackling people. It felt way better in Bulletstorm than it does in Dish, though.

    1. Chris says:

      Man, Bulletstorm’s slide was boss. I loved using it; it was effectively a vanguard charge without the area of affect.

      I didn’t really slide much in Dishonored, though – I did very little running in general and relied more on Blink than anything else.

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        I just want to point out that I find humor in one of the most well spoken people I know, who uses fancy words like “anthropocentrism” and “ludonarrative dissonance” describing something with terms as pedestrian as “boss“.

        Nothing wrong with that, but I find it amusing. :D

        1. Ringwraith says:

          There’s a trope for that.
          Well, close enough at least.

        2. “Boss?” Did you just watch Stand By Me or some other Stephen King story set in the ancient era of the 1950’s? He’s the last human being I know of that uses the phrase.

    2. Yeah. I don’t slide often, but it’s fun and feels satisfying when you do it!

  17. RayP says:

    Some days you just can’t get rid of a flask of whale oil.

    The worst moment involving a combination safe I can recall took place in Call of Cthulhu: Dark corners of the Earth at the Innsmouth police station. The game will not let you open the wall safe in the police Captain’s office even if you use the correct combination until you have sprung the General Store manager from his cell and escaped with him to a nearby warehouse pursued by the alerted police. Whereupon, now the streets have armed coppers crawling along them, the manager demands that you return to the precinct house and open the safe which contains his beloved’s brooch. He could, of course, have asked you to do it before raising the hue and cry and fleeing the station but it wouldn’t have been funny.

    1. BeardedDork says:

      I certainly liked that game a lot better than some other folks around here, but I do remember the first time I played through that really hating Brian.

      1. RayP says:

        Yes, the fun never stops with Burnham. After escaping the police, he drives you to the cannery and leaves you to locate and rescue his girlfriend and fight a horde of fish-men. If you manage to save his girl (she stands, like a 1920s silent movie heroine in peril, atop a mezzanine, in the main warehouse, which collapses and kills her if you fail to reach her in time by walking along rafters) and escape with her down the backstairs and through a yard (filled with more fish-men) the pair of you jump into a getaway jalopy also driven by heroic boyfriend Brian who promptly floors the accelerator, rounds a corner at too high a speed and crashes, killing himself and his girl. Alternatively, if you fail to rescue his girl, he gives you a lot of abuse before expiring bloodily at the wheel of his badly driven vehicle.

        Do we get a drink for discussing another game in the comments? Well, I’m drinking at any rate. Cheers!

  18. Lame Duck says:

    I love that Josh ends the episode by climbing into a bin.

  19. Astor says:

    Not sure if it’s like that for every single safe (at the very least not the 451 one!), but at least some safes have variation in their codes. They have like 2 or three codes and each playthrough may get a different one of those. In this case I would believe the book gets randomized (not the paintings.)

    It’s like those details that get randomized between two or three presets (Lady Boyle’s color, etc) which we all find to be cool!

    A thing that annoyed me in this level is a sidequest where you free someone from prison and he promises to give you a reward. The thing is that if you don’t remove every single guard from his path beforehand, he’ll just run off to commit suicide by cop like an idiot.

    1. Deadfast says:

      A thing that annoyed me in this level is a sidequest where you free someone from prison and he promises to give you a reward. The thing is that if you don't remove every single guard from his path beforehand, he'll just run off to commit suicide by cop like an idiot.

      Well, given that if he survives he proceeds to commit suicide by Corvo I’d say it’s safe to say he is in fact an idiot.

      1. Astor says:

        hah, that’s a good point. I guess it was *specially* annoying to me because I had to reload a save from pretty much the *beginning* of the level after he decided to run STRAIGHTFORWARD INTO HIS CAPTORS.

    2. WJS says:

      It’s funny you mention the paintings probably being fixed, because I’m pretty sure the numbers weren’t 3,4 and 7 when I played it. I think there was a 1 in there. Of course, I might be remembering wrong; it’s not the kind of thing that stands out, after all.

  20. Wedge says:

    Hilariously enough, this is one of the safes that I just decided to brute-force because I didn’t feel like solving the riddle. Which isn’t that hard, since these safes act like NO REAL SAFE and just magically open when you input the right combination, instead of making you open the crank every time.

    1. Thomas says:

      Did you partially solve the riddle or does the game give you clues or did you really try 473 combinations?

      Incidentally that would be a cool thing to add to a game, a really (really) quiet little click if you move onto a correct number, and then never tell anyone about and leave it up to the fans to figure out (as an extra to riddles/finding where they’ve written the code down, of course)

      1. newdarkcloud says:

        In my playthrough, I got the 7 and the 3 and then brute forced the first number of the combination because I could find the 4 on the street painting.

      2. Wedge says:

        I did it backwards, so 374 combinations. Didn’t take me very long, though, maybe five minutes?

  21. oleyo says:

    By the way, your mention of John De Lancie as the outsider really bummed me out. Without exaggeration, this game would be 3X better with him in it. He strikes that perfect balance between insufferable and lovable (not to mention way more interesting).

    I mean, the outsider if written well would essentially *be* “Q”.

    1. Chris says:

      Eh, I don’t know. His performance in Quantum Conundrum lacked energy, and I get the feeling it’d be the same way here. I don’t know if it was a lack of direction or if he was just picking up a paycheck or what, but if “crazy pun-making mad scientist in love with a sense of absurd chaos” can’t get some campy fun rise out of you as an actor I don’t know what you can do with “generic 30-something white guy whale god with no meaningful motivation or characteristics.”

    2. krellen says:

      Everyone knows that he basically reprised the role of Q in My Little Pony, right?

  22. Jacob Albano says:

    Bend time does work to get you through walls of light if you upgrade it all the way (so it stops time, instead of just slowing it).

    Also, the fact that every episode features someone commenting about how they had no idea a certain place existed makes me simultaneously happy and sad. Happy that this game does exploration so very well, and sad that so few games do that any more.

    1. Jacob Albano says:

      I wonder how many people reading/watching have done the sidequest involving those thugs at the end? It’s kind of an interesting little diversion.

    2. newdarkcloud says:

      Really? I could’ve sworn that I had Stopped Time and then ran through a Wall of Light, dying in the process.

  23. rrgg says:

    Also, next time that happens you only really need 2 of the numbers to open safes in Dishonored. All you need to do is spin the last wheel and they open automatically.

  24. River Birch says:

    So I’m not the only one who’s deeply concerned with the new Thief game?
    I am quite…scared that it’ll turn into a “Kill them up” game, when it wasn’t even like that in the first place.

    Remember back in the way when you get caught in that game, and the guards hunt you down like a dog (with the exception of the…quite lovely…ignorant AI). Still…it takes a lot to even TRY to kill a guard in the Thief games.

  25. djshire says:

    So is the show going to only be once a week from now on, or…..?

  26. Otters34 says:

    Watching this episode, especially the bit where Josh went up to the top of the bridge, it made me realize a very good way for sequels to go:

    A lot of the series lore is based on maritime stuff, and the dependence Dunwall has on the sea and its creatures makes for a lot of really memorable flavor, but otherwise it’s just another big unhappy city.

    Why not set a future title in the world in an armada of ships, like whaling vessels or a fleet escorting royalty!

    That way you could cause a lot of game elements to make perfect sense(skyboxes, draw distance, etc…), and provide a really neat new way of getting around, sneaking into rooms through portholes, grappling down into smaller vessels from bigger ones, and so on.

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