Am I playing it wrong?

[Dirty&Hairy]

I like the game so far, however I expected a Deus Ex/Dishonored playstyle with a lot of freedom how to approach a mission.

Is my character simply to weak at the start of the game, or are missions extremely linear and you basicaly have only one way to achive the objective?

I have not played the main story much and mostly the "Gigs".

Do I have the wrong exspections?

[Silverbane7]

Depends.
There are a few 'ways to play' and some of them only become really viable past act1 (after you finish the heist mission)

Stealth can be an option. Quickhacking too. All in, guns blazing or swords/fists can work too, depending on your skill irl/difficulty level.

Some players sped thru the start to get to act2 where things 'open up' then find they are kinda lacking since they didn't get extra points in attributes or perks from leveling up.

I usually clear the whole of Watson of the gigs and ncpd points myself before doing the heist. Gets me around lvl 8 to 10 before I go finish the main story of the heist.
By then, I can specialise a bit.
Put points into one style such as int for quickhacking V or body for a physical build.
Reflex for guns ect.

There is only a 'wrong' way to play, if you are a min-maxer type person and have to be the best possible build.

[Dirty&Hairy]

OK, I do this already. But talking about gigs, it seems mostly very linear like: there is only one entry and no option to climb through a window for example.

Some quests seem to have slight variations, though. Like the one where you can blackmail a bartender to give an item instead of stealing it. However the evidence to blackmail is practically next to the item.

Also I had a mission, where I had to free a monk, who did not talk to me until I eliminated all enemies in the area, even through he sits directly next to the exit and the path was clear.

Some mission are strang, I am having fun, though.

[[=]Josiah]

As mentioned by Silverbane7, they become less linear further into the game -part of that is also because your capabilities (Body, Tech, Intelligence, etc...) improve and you can do things like pick locks, double jump, and pry open doors.

The super-linear gigs are usually meant to either teach you a game mechanic or get you a specific weapon (in the kidnapped-Monk's case: both).

[Dirty&Hairy]

Aright, thanks! Looking forward to it.

[Death Approaches]

even then, take that monk, there's not 1 but 3 entrances, depending on your skill set and perks and chrome... and yes you can definitely go through windows, go through rooms, out to fire escapes, go up or down that way, etc. think vertically, too. if you see there's an interaction icon to it, open it. you might need a more powerful jump than stock to reach some of them, which you'll find as you go, again, not 1 but 3 options, double-jump, charged-up jump, hovering with rocket boots... (you have your hours hidden I don't know if you're high enough level or rich enough yet to go chrome shopping)

he won't talk to you but once if you went in hard, and he doesn't leave but stays there. you were supposed to meet another monk over by the little shopping center on the pier to send you to rescue him, who would have told you killing is against our beliefs, you must take out everyone in stealth with no alerts (even if you choke someone out unconscious and not break their neck, it counts as murderous violence if you were spotted) Not that it matters, in the end, you can do what you want, he's still rescued even if he doesn't approve of your methods... just less flavour dialogue.

there's almost always more than one way, unless it's for a reason, because each class is played differently. if a door requires a certain tech level to hack it, there's likely another door you can brute force with body on the other side, or a sneaky convoluted way to get in that doesn't require any specific skill but puts you face-to-face with an enemy, etc.

[Silverbane7]

aye. as Death Approaches says, there are multiple ways, depending on your build.

with windows....it can take some time and usually, the double jump legs (or, if you were a stubborn arse like me back in 1.61 XD a car parked close enough to jump on) so you can parkour around.

i have taken out Jotaro (Monster Hunt gig for Regina) in many ways.

as a netrunner, i went up the nearby fire escape behind the rusty gate. all the way up to the roof with some jumping. sneaked onto the rooftop and peered down into his room, then fried his arse. left quietly and he was the only casualty.

my Mox girl (RPd as one) just went in there with her pink baseball bat and one Bonk!ing spree later, carried him out unconsious over one shoulder and dumped him into the back of a car...headed back to her sisters so he could taste a little Mox..hospitality *evil grin*

while my bats#*t insane katana girl Veronica just suited up in her 'Red Ravager' super hero gear and treated them all to a Highlander special (there can be only one *shwing*)

Victor Masters (my fully evil corpo dude) is a pure netrunner. so he just finds a camera and quickhacks into that. uses the network to find and fry everyone. like those 'lore accurate' vids where V sits outside in their car, hacks the turrets/guns/camera and clears the zone lol.

if you say... do every ncpd point on the map before doing any of the gigs, you might be able to get your cred and cash high enough to get the best of the optical camo cyberwear, and just sneak thru with maxed out gear+cyberwear that buffs your sneak.
(or, once you have tried the game vanilla...grab a mod called Stealthrunner that benefits and enhances stealth gameplay. it has some unique cyberwear for those who like to do sneaky, unseen, pacifist or ghost runs)

i've gone in with a pistol and basic sneak (many many times lol, on my main V who is a sneak+pistol+throwing knives build) and knocked out most of them. shot most of them. snapped their necks once or twice.

yeah, i have a lot of time in the early game XD and Monster Hunt is a gig i always do, because i use a mod that makes all the easter eggs (missing persons: fixers hidden gems) as mini gofer (go for this) missions from the basegame fixers. but i have to do this mission for Regina for it to unlock lol
that's why i know many ways to down a Jotaro XD

[Tokenn]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Dirty&Hairy:

I like the game so far, however I expected a Deus Ex/Dishonored playstyle with a lot of freedom how to approach a mission.

Is my character simply to weak at the start of the game, or are missions extremely linear and you basicaly have only one way to achive the objective?

Dunno how far you are into the game, but if you look for different ways to approach a gig or side, they are there to be found. Some are more complex than others, depending on the circumstances, of course,

[Dirty&Hairy]

Thank you for all the input. I am almost 30h in now and only recently made it out of Watson. Rich as fck, though...
(Planning only 30 min to start and finish "The Heist" before going to bed was a stupid idea, however)

You were all correct, I got the doublejump legs and in general much more freedom to do things. It's great! I also learned you can just punch in some windows to enter.

My struggle in the beginning was caused, because in the first hours it feels like you are on a very short leash and the game spoonfeeds mechanics to you. I missed the "now your on your own" message a bit. For example "Crafting" is never mentioned, I just started doing it.

But no matter, its now absolutely as expected besides my desire to do a real no kill/no detection run does not really fit the setting, it seems. Thats fine, though.

With respect to the Monk mission:
I got it from the escaped Monk and he explicitly asked to be non-violent.
Actualy that one misson was (at the start) a rare occasion were I could climb some containers and enter through a window. I came in directly above of two goons and dispatched them silently and non leathal. Also the one guarding the entrance.
So the exit was 3 meters away from the monk with no obstacle - and he ignored me. The mission log said, I have to dispatch all guards (on the other end of the warehouse completely unaware of anything). That did not make any sense, but when I did it, the monk thanked me, that I did not hurt anyone and followed outside.
It felt very weird and very scripted, so I worried about the rest of the game.

It's still not SUPER versatile how to approach missions (compared to Dishonored), but much better in Act 2 (and also the later gigs from Regina).

Thanks again!

[[=]Josiah]

Glad you’re getting into the groove!

FWIW: Crafting isn’t explained well at all because it’s not the original system when the game released. I had the same head scratcher as you (bought the game post-2.0) and only figured out how to craft after beating the final boss the first time (his “reward” is an iconic crafting spec).

Re: the Monk gig, please tell me you noticed (and picked-up) Fenrir!