Caltrops - Invisible Inc. - Re: Final verdict: still negative

Forum Overview :: Invisible Inc.

by Mischief Maker 12/24/2016, 10:36am PST

fabio wrote:

I gave this game a third chance based on Mischief claiming I wasn't playing it right, and the need to fill the disappointment hole that Darkest Dungeon left.

You don't like FTL, you don't like Darkest Dungeon, you don't like Invisible Inc. I think we can safely conclude that you don't like the roguelite subgenre. Don't buy any more.

You don't get the rush of theft and cashing it out to buy cool loot. There's a black market guy you can talk to between missions, but he almost never has a single item to sell. He offers you can average of two items for the entire campaign. No, you must go on special missions where the sole purpose is breaking into a corporate headquarters so you can use their item vending machine. I'm not joking. You jump through hoops to earn money, and you have to jump through additional hoops to spend it. They should have just had the black market guy sell you everything at the end of each mission.

The top priority for money is boosting attributes, especially speed. Almost every mission has either an item vending machine or a program vending machine. The vending machine missions have a machine that has a much larger selection of guaranteed high-level items. Also the vending objective missions should obviously be bottom priority, especially when there are "get a high-level item for free" missions. The black market guy has one item between every mission but he's supposed to be the lesser option to spending valuable time and hacking points on a vending machine mid-mission.

But even then, most of the items and upgrades suck. 50% of them are the same stuff you started with, but with lower cooldown and higher armor piercing. 45% is items and implants that all combo off each other (reduced alert increase for killing a guard, +5 action points when you kill, +3 movement when you kill, etc) which is stupid because you'll never random number generate into collecting a full set. The remaining 5% is the cloak, which is the only really useful item you want. It's a free get out of any situation card and it's absolutely broken.

The EMP is insanely useful. It allows you to knock out hostile drones and rip out valuable tech, kill cameras and bust open vaults without spending crucial hacking points, and so on. You can also pick up guns, boobytraps, and other devices that add new mechanics to your toolbelt.

The game punishes you for every choice you make. Wait an extra turn for a guard to pass by? That's +1 alert for the turn. Knock him out so you don't waste a turn waiting? That's +1 alert anyway.

An easy way to get a guard out of your way is to have a character run within earshot so the guard will leave their spot to investigate the (clearly marked) position of the last sound they heard while your other stealthier guy waits on the opposite edge of the door as the guard passes them by then slips through the inaccessible room.

Almost every single time you fuck up, it doesn't feel like it was your fault. It's either from the random number generator screwing you with level layout and guard placement, or the poor feedback and visual layout of how sight works.

Well I don't know what to say, I've got the complete opposite impression. Guard sight is clearly marked in red and every fuckup I could blame on myself. Maybe you're being too cautious?

One of my favorite moments playing this game was a mission where I completely screwed the pooch and I ended up having two of my guys getting chased in circles by all the guards for several rounds like a cyberpunk Benny Hill while my third dude finished the mission objective then everyone hauled ass to the elevator with an army of angry keystone kops in pursuit.