Slot Off, Frag-Face! Let's Play Sega's Shadowrun

I was just guessing, really. For all I know it might be saying "Chips n' Salsa".

I didn't manage to find the answer on youtube but I did discover: Holy crap there was a Shadowrun for Sega CD! Only in Japan though. Apparently it was the last Mega CD game ever released, and it looks like it plays more like an Ace Attorney or a dating sim than a gritty cyberpunk noir epic. They certainly managed to anime it up, and Shadowrun was pretty anime already. I bet it's not as good as Snatcher.

Shadowrun was actually somewhat popular in Japan, getting localised and getting the manga treatment in its rules; although the translator/licensee took some liberties with the setting especially in regards to Japan within the setting. I'll have to re-dig up information and post it to the other thread.

A few groups have looked at the CD game a couple of times for translation purposes, but nothing has happened as far as I know.

Okie doke, back into Seattle again. Last time, we were stymied at every turn. Hopefully this time we'll actually see some forward progress! (Current Vegas odds: 4-1)

As an aside, I have to give a tip of the hat to the music. Sure, the Genesis doesn't have a dedicated sound chip, but they still did the best they could with the music. As a bit of an advantage, Shadowrun's tech-heavy setting means that bleeps and bloops are actually fairly in character for music around here. I'd considered recording and uploading the music, but then I found that it had already been done for me. Whoo!

Track: Redmond Barrens

So now that my laziness has paid off for once, let's start. Now where were we?



Ah, right. How could I forget the early game?

Well, I'm tired of working. Let's hit the bar a little early today.

Track: Booze And/Or Bullets



Ooh, inviting. And completely different from the Jump House next door! Though, oddly, this has a walled in booth in the back as well. Let's see if there's another Dr. J in the area.



Well. Huh. Wait a sec, is that someone there at the bar?



Well, helllll-ooooo sailor. What's a guy like you doing in a place like this?



(That's what all the ladies say.)



Damn. He just wants to talk shop. Ah well - another target runner around can come in handy...




Here Ricky lays down the straight dope between magic users. It's a lot like the debate about which religion is the best - in that supporters of both chat me up for thirty minutes straight the second I enter the room which makes me want to drop cars on them.

You know, I haven't really been apartment hunting yet...and I could probably get a job at the Nuke Plant and have a really short commute...need a roomie?



Though instead of asking to be roommates, I should really warm up by asking if he wants to join a fellow runner.



The price is right for Ricky right now, even though we pretty much have to start over on the whole "Mike's Stuff" fundraiser. For one thing, he's another body between me and the waking up at Little Chiba screen. For another, he has a few magic spells up his sleeve...



For starters, he has the combination of Stink and Invisibility, making him the ultimate Silent-But-Deadly specialist.



But what we're really here for is Flame Bolt. Notice the abysmal success rate - this essentially translates to very low power.



See? It even came up with a new word for it. So it'll only really hit people with no armor - which kinda makes sense, as exposed skin takes burns far worse than covered skin. But since everyone in the Redmond Barrens is going around starkers...look at that damage output! Good lord!

So we have our first primary magic user here. Go fig, huh? Of course, once I finally find a magic shop (spoiler: check somewhere that isn't Redmond) I'll get to follow suit.



Moseying around the rest of his inventory, we find that it's good that Ricky learned magic because here's the heat he's packing. Really? It's somehow even worse than our gun. Such a feat should not be possible.



And this is to be expected, really. Good thing we got the exposition back at the bar, huh? I like to think that I've really just got a Florida State University postcard with "Gator Totem" written on the back.

Track: Check Your Mouth

Unfortunately, since we procured Ricky's services, we get to deal with these wonderful people again. And again and again. In the early game, you're really wishing for something to break the monotony...



AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH



No! I'm down! Well, once Ricky goes down I'll have to restart and hire him all over aga...



Wh...huh? I'm alive? I'm alive! And my enemies are piles of ash! Ricky...you...do you have another dingy block of wood I can use?

Finally, FINALLY, the difficulty starts to ease up once you have enough cash to hire other runners. For one, you don't fail runs when one character goes down anymore. For the other - A PILE OF ASH! DID YOU NOT SEE THAT?!!

Also, I should mention that Marvin Halfpipe springing back to life there didn't require any special items - you can just use a slap patch (if they're mentally dead) or trauma patch (if they're physically dead) or medkit (which covers both) on them and they'll pop right back up. No need for a special item like a Phoenix Down or resurrection spell. You can even use one from the dead guy's stuff!

Enough playing dead, though, we've got a job to d...



The hell?

Ah, here's something that I wish A LOT more games would steal - it's Shadowrun's other form of random encounter - where encounter is more than just a euphemism for "These guys are going to try and bash your skull in, 'K?" Here you have a choice as to how to proceed, and - get this - not every one will result in something trying to kill you!

In this case, let's help the good doctor.



Oh. Um...huh. Well...the fifty nuyen did put us over 250, so let's hit that hotel! Victory! Or at the very least, victoly congraturation.

Time to head back to Stoker's and trade the washer-dryer for the mystery box.



Ooh, perfumed! Sorry, Ricky, I think another potential roomie just popped up on the radar. It's only a one-bedroom, you say? I think we can make that work...



Deckers rejoice - we're now halfway to cyberspace.



Wha...! Mike had this the whole time?!! What the hell! He never should have died! Did these people intentionally not pick him up?!! I should sue those quacks for negligence and/or murder! He had this band on hi...his bed back at the hotel. Oh dear God. My brother got killed because he forgot to put on his wristwatch.



She's a real doctor.



Wow, Link's moved up in the world. Probably ghost-wrote some drek about saving Zelda and raked in millions...



Oh God Damn you Shadowrun. God Damn you. At least...at least I've had a moral victory. It's like an actual victory, except without the victory part. There is only one way I can quell this outrage.



I'm feeling slightly quelled already.



This is what I've had up 'till now. It kinda lacks in the killing department, but I think I'll keep it around in case my back itches and I can't reach it.



Hmmm...A gun is many things, but I think this is the first time I've seen it referred to as a fashion accessory. Pass.



Getting warmer...



Ooh, now this is nice. Definite potential. Shame about the ammo count, though.



Oh hell yes. For a small loss in power I get 250% of the ammo and a gun the size of my head. This is highly recommended. Seriously. Once you get this gun, the game becomes significantly easier, again. You can pick your teeth with the yahoos that were leaving us for dead mere minutes ago. That said, the rest of the game will get harder when we leave Redmond to compensate, but for now, let us bask in the glory of the almighty Predator.



So here we are, with two equalizers. But one big question remains - now what? We've got three leads to follow - the ex-runner, the doctor, and Mr. Worry Eliminator. What's our next move?

Frag that elf drekhead. Freakin' hate elfs. And "Tarislar"? Sounds like more elf. Chat up the good doctor.

I say go seek out your dead brother's girlfriend....I mean, former running partner. She may know something about the guys that fragged him.

Damn you must have done quite a bite of grinding to get that kind of money!

I'd say look into your brother's former partner she might need some consolation! (Don't forget to put your magnum in your wallet!)

A game play related question: How does XP work in this game? Do you get it for completing missions, killing guys, does it exist at all? Also are you looting those dead bodies? Or do defeated opponents not drop items?

Actually, not really. Remember the 500 large I got from Stoker? That, plus the money made by selling the 101t (I sold it because I can't find the backscratcher button) will just cover the Predator's cost. That said, the several times I died mid-run and had to restart do count as grinding - even though my stats never increased, I did grind my teeth quite a bit.

XP is a bit tricky, and I'll cover it in depth next update. In a nutshell, there's no real overall XP or levels, but you do collect points (karma) that can be allocated to your character's (or your runner's) traits. You get karma for advancing the plot, and killing guys, but you get the most karma by far from performing runs. (Yep, even rinky-dink runs from Gunderson - meaning my anguish wasn't completely in vain after all.)

Defiling the remains of the dead for petty profit is an RPG staple, and so is in this game. Dead people sometimes drop items or money, and running over it will automatically pick it up (unless you've already filled your inventory.) Unfortunately, this means that I haven't been able to show looting folks yet - since everyone so far has decided to run up and punch me instead of shooting me, I pick up whatever they drop instantly after they die.

But where'd you get you the large and a half to hire the Rat shaman with the actual useful spell?

Ah, there I forgot to mention that I exploited a bit of video game logic. I only hired Ricky for the short term, which means he'll leave after finishing one run. But here's the thing - for some reason the Genesis only counts a run as a run if you get paid by Mr. Johnson. Thus, courier and escort runs don't actually count as runs since the people pay you directly, so Ricky will still hang around. That said, those are the only types of runs where you don't get paid by Mr. J. Losing this advantage with ghoul bounties isn't a big deal (since those runs can go directly to hell), but once we start taking some serious runs that offer serious paychecks, this little trick won't be so useful.

Also, it's great to see people liking my first LP! I'll keep the polls open for another day to let everyone chime in on what I should do next.

No, YOU slot off, frag face!

(been wanting to say that since this thread started)

The company man likes your moxie! He tells you which floor you can go to to find the package Johnson sent you to steal, completely oblivious to the fact that you just broke in and shot the place up for a different package thirty minutes ago.

Looks like the "Aye's...want to make some time with the rebound girlfriend" have it, so off we go!



Right. Now that we've given Stoker the TNT, we can finally break out of the Shinra building and make our way into the Entrance Plaza. Or something like that, anyways.



This time the cabbie's happy to drive us to Puyallup, mainly because he can charge us a footlocker fee for the box of Mike's stuff.



That said, he's the only game in town for moving us across the city, so suck it up and pay the man.



And here we are in scenic Puyallup, and as luck would have it, we start out right next to...



...an abandoned building. Right, next time we'll look a little more carefully for labels.



Ah, here we are.



Doctors, like Dr. Bob here, provide two things - healing and cyberware. I should talk a bit about the health system here - in Shadowrun, you have physical and mental health. Physical health is represented by the red vertical bar next to each character, and is mainly drained by folks using weapons on you. Mental health is denoted by the blue horizontal bar and is mainly drained by people punching you, some enemy spells, and your own spells if you set the force and/or posture too high.

Now aside from using healing items (or healing spells), you can restore your mental health by sleeping in a hotel and your physical health from seeing a doctor.



...if you can cover the co-pay. Yeesh. We won't even bother looking at Cyberware for the moment. Even if we could afford it, though, using it on magicians is a bad idea.



Us magicians have no problems with props, though.

Damn. This is just like the time I tried to pick up a 20 piece chicken McNugget pack at that business park. Though admittedly I probably shouldn't have threw ketchup packets at that suited guy and then told him to get back to the deep fryer.



That's enough for one day. Time for a cold one!



Damnit! I left my low-cut miniskirt at home, too! Ah well. Enough messing around for now. Time to find that femme fatale.



Man, this just isn't our day, is it? Note that the encounters can step up a notch or two wherever you are - here, the guy hanging back is a mage. He'll stand a few feet back and try blasting us with spells. Luckily, since we're mages ourselves, we've got a bit of resistance against this tactic. That said, we should probably look into getting ourselves some armor so that we can downgrade situations like this from terrifying to annoying.

Anyway, into the Tarislar...



Well, at least this didn't end up in a fight against a platoon of rifleme...riflelves. Yeah - try not to confuse the Tarislar apartments with the Tarislar hotel. Even though it ends up being harmless, it's still a bit of a dick move.



Fortunately, our destination is right next door.

Bingo!



All right - I like them with more neuroses than a 9/11 truth convention. Keeps things interesting in the bedroom. Though I could do without the random attempts to stab me in my sleep.



Hmmm. Maybe it's a good thing that no one voted to go see Caleb last go round after all. Let's find out more about this Errascoe, though...



A greenhouse, you say? Huh. I believe that we've already met. Though I think our next words to him will be more than "Here's your crap, where's my money?"



Whoa, nunix was right! And after we blew up their ring for them and everything.

We should ask her to join up with us. Um...professionally. We'll need all the help we can get.



Great. Now we really need all the help we can get.



AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH



The dude in reeeeddddd.../is shooting at me..../(cheek to cheek)



Damnit! Well...at least we got some info from her.

Let's take a moment to jot down all the info in our trusty notebook.



Not to mention a couple more folks to hit up for some legitimate business.



Probably our best bet is to head down and see Boris at this point. Hopefully he's not gonna be eating a bull...



Wha...?

Let's get outta here...



A nice feature of this game is that Sega provided an out to an unwinnable situation - cabbies will still drive you around town even if you're flat broke. Thus, you won't end up in a part of town with no Mr.J's (and thus, no way to make money/continue the plot) permanently. Not only that, but it's hard to legitimately take advantage of - playing through the game without enough money to get a cab ride is insane!

Anyway, we head back to Redm...



Oh come ON! Well, that little scrape has left Ricky a bit knackered, so let's head down to the flophouse and sleep this off.




It's somewhat refreshing to know that hotels don't change in the future. Though Sega forgot to put in a minigame where you try to empty the minibar without being charged for it. Anyhoo, Ricky's feeling a lot better, so it's time to tune into the real reason for staying in hotels.



Unlike most RPGs, Shadowrun doesn't really have XP or a leveling system. What it does have is Karma. Karma is built up from following the plot and killing people, but is built up far faster from performing Shadowruns. (Yep, even those small-time runs from Gunderson, which I grudgingly admit had a point.)

Karma allows you to upgrade your attributes and skills directly as opposed to grinding for XP and hoping that the RNG Gods will allow them to go up when you sacrifice the goat and/or Scimitar +1. In this system, you can allocate Karma to your attributes (your innate base) and your skills (how good you are at stuff.) A more contemporary example would be the Fallout series SPECIAL system, which has the 7 'SPECIAL' attributes (Strength, Perception, and so on) and many skills to improve manually.



Unlike Fallout, however, each character has their own attributes and skills, as well as Karma earned. (Press C to switch between characters.) This means that you can upgrade your runners just like you upgrade yourself. They earn karma whenever you earn Karma, as long as they're in your party at the time.



Two things that can't be upgraded, however, are Essence and the Magic Attribute. These start at 6/6.0, and can only go down (which they do whenever you instally cyberware.) You can give them a miss if you don't use magic and turn yourself into Robocop - but since we're playing with shamen we should give cyberware a wide berth for these characters.



The cost to upgrade Attributes is simple - it costs you your current attribute amount plus 1 to bring it to the next level. So it'll cost you 2 Karma to improve Milktoast Hamlet's strength, but 5 to improve his quickness. In the early game, you should probably concentrate on these. (If you're not playing a magic character, though, be aware that Cyberware can increase these attributes as well.)

We'll go ahead and increase Quickness, Intelligence, and Body for the moment. This should help us get through combat a bit better.



Ricky demonstrates upgrading Skills. To get better at a skill costs the current attribute doubled plus two. So upgrading Ricky's sorcery from 3 to 4 costs (3 * 2) +2 = 8 Karma. Bit steep, that. That said, it's probably best to upgrade skills on fellow runners as opposed to Attributes if you're not going to have them on your permanent or semi-permanent team.



Soykaf break's over - let's go find Boris.



Geez, what is this, Phantasy Star? Leave me alone!




Frag that drek! Yeah, a lot of conversations with Boris start like this. That said, let's find a way to get some dough fast...



While we got a bit beat up from that last fight, the gangers were nice enough to have a couple of first aid kits on their corpses. We'll go ahead and use up all but one dose on each one to bring us back to health...



...and sell the rest. Yeah! All right, time to figure out what this gardener knows.

About time! Let's figure out what my bro was up to.



Apparently he was attending a Dick Cheney fundraiser.



Well...that's comforting. I guess.



Damnit! Not again!



Damnit! Not for the first time!



Not...like...this...

Huh...guess...it really...worked...



I think I know why Nirvana was so melodramatic, now. Here we are at Seattle General, short one Ricky. (Fortunately, if your whole team gets wasted, your runners will survive and still have all their gear and karma. Unfortunately, you'll have to go back to where they were and hire them all over again.)

So now th...wait, Seattle General Hospital? Why does that sound familiar?



Ah! The real doctor!



Huh. I'd say that we should look for this Stark person, but odds are that he was one of those three in the opening credits. Great.



After taking a minute to update our notebook, here we are in front of Seattle General Hospital. We're broke, alone, and targeted by Renraku.



Damn it.

What the hell am I gonna do now?

New plan: since the plot armed gunmen kill everyone you talk to, let's visit the least appealing target next. Or see if you can trick them into staging a battle with the apartment guards.

chumchumchumchumchumchumchumchumchum

Go talk to Caleb. Surely there will be no arbitrary gating mechanic.

"Icarus Descending" sounds like a friendly place. With a name like that, it couldn't possibly be full of asshole elitist elves.
Oh who am I kidding, go track down that Mortimer guy instead. And get some real armor for frag's sake! This LP will take years if you keep getting killed every ten steps.

man, playing shadowrun with a pair of mages is missing the point entirely. find a cyber runner!

Scope the district we're in for a Johnson, do some runs, get enough money for a decker.

EDIT: or hit up Caleb, so we at least cover the initial clues; possibly also re-visit Boris and see if he survived.

To be fair, it's not exactly a *pair* of mages at the moment...

Also, Caleb is about three meters directly north, so... yeah.

*uses a slap patch to prevent Shadowrun withdrawals*