Dishonored DLC | Three Lightning Bolts (The Brigmore Witches | Knife of Dunwall)

[@tylerstaples81]

It is a shit UI and terrible way to tell you if you're detected. But I mean you showed us a screen of 4 bodies being discovered and you wonder why you got detected ? Hide the bodies so they can't be found. That counts as being detected

[@StratEdgyProductions]

Found bodies don't mean detection. I've gotten ghost even when unconscious bodies are found. You can't kill people. If that were the case, then all the shit people were complaining about with the sleep dart rant would've been right, because if you sleep dart someone in front of someone, that counts as a body found. Right? Right? That's why I had four bodies found, because I was sleep darting people.

[@grimjudgment6527]

@@StratEdgyProductions Channel your inner trickster when sleep darting multiple enemies. Throwing a glass will distract people long enough to sequentially dart enemies. You can also throw a whale oil tank or grenade further away to force the guards to alert, thus disorganizing them and causing them to easily be taken out one by one form a distance. (Small tip, you can throw grenades at rat swarms to kill a bunch of them and lure guards to them, which the guards will easily kill the weakened rat swam.) Dishonored is definitely a based immersive sim.

[@jamesbiggs2745]

@@StratEdgyProductions I think what he means is that it adopts the mindset of oldschool sims in the way of arguably poorly incorporated mechanics to fulfil a mentality. The mentality in this case of having a body found being such a threat raiser and general issue if you were to actually be in this line of work a found body means gtfo but you continue because it's a game. What mechanic can you create besides raised detection or scripting them to run to an alarm like you would have to irl. Both of which have drawbacks. Loved the videos lately brother, keep it up. I'm glad despite your fluxuating health, you continue to produce bangers every single time. (I totally agree about the the detection meter being poorly visualized and implemented though.)

[@gh05tnoh24]

That does not count as detection and doesn’t negate the Ghost achievement either.

[@SayMy_User_Name]

Bodies found most definitely does not count as being detected, like ar all .. he clearly had some type of glitch because he should’ve had the ghost achievement in that level because it literally showed 0 detections lol

[@sokumotanaka9271]

They say in the tutorial of the game that three bolts dont mean full detection, it's them turning red along with a different audio stinger. I agree with the menu, however they show a picture of detection as well. XD

[@ThePsychoRenegade]

If it's in the tutorial I can't feel bad for the guy. Beginning of the video comes off pretty stupid if this is true.

[@Jay-qu2bc]

@@ThePsychoRenegade I love strategy, but I think the dude just wasn’t paying attention there. I thought it was pretty simple to grasp that you aren’t detected until you hear that sharp piano noise.

[@bruhvenant]

@@ThePsychoRenegade yep, real disappointing to hear that deflecting "I fucked up but its actually the games fault" garbage. Sometimes you just gotta take the L and move on

[@557deadpool]

doesn't excuse shitty game design, which is the actual problem

[@557deadpool]

@@bruhvenant he did, but the game is still fucking garbage

[@emberd-l795]

You probably got detected by a prisoner. Some of the prisoners in Coleridge prison aren’t on your side and if they see you they’re detect you and call for help.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Yeah, there is ONE and he's quite vocal as well. As long as you aren't going for a no savescum run you can just sleepdart and chill

[@quinnmarchese6313]

you can accidentally kill an enemy by leaving them on the ground in an indiscriminate distance from rat swarms, the rats will eat the unconscious guy. you can also accidentally do it by dropping the body too far, i think somewhere around the 11 minute mark you drop a whaler down a shaft that is juuuust deep enough to kill him. thats probably how you got two kills

[@StratEdgyProductions]

I actually reloaded because I dropped down there with him and saw that he died, but yeah, I get your point.

[@quinnmarchese6313]

@@StratEdgyProductions i killed sokolov in both D1 and D2 a lot from just accidentally dropping his unconscious body in the wrong spot

[@sokumotanaka9271]

The guards and civiis are weirdly fragile cause I've put someone to sleep; and they'd fall against a table and hit glass or something destructible and then be dead when I walk up to grab them. Some people will fall short distances that I can easily jump but will kill them like falling off you bed that's already...on the ground and dying violently from that.

[@StratEdgyProductions]

@no or maybe yes He landed on the sword? That's fucking amazing! God damn it, I love Arkane. They are singlehandedly keeping imm sims alive.

[@ExistentialPineapple]

@@StratEdgyProductions speaking of immersive sims, have you played the system shock demo on GOG yet? Its completely free and its an almost 100% faithful recreation of the first hour or so from the original.

[@emberd-l795]

1:02 they fixed that in Dishonored 2. I thought they had it in Dishonored 1 as well but I just checked and you were right, it wasn’t there. But in Dishonored 2 you can check the stats menu to see how many times you’ve been detected both globally and on the mission you’re on.

[@bongibot1104]

The lighting bolt is also more obvious, when its full it immediately goes red too.

[@StratEdgyProductions]

@@bongibot1104 It also hangs out on the screen a little longer too, if I remember correctly.

[@bongibot1104]

@@StratEdgyProductions yes. Played some dishonored 2 after your review lol, got the itch to play.

[@codbug]

I wasn't confused by the lightning bolts because I was lucky enough to have triggered them on a guard near an alarm, and noticed they didn't activate it. I intuited it was just their level of alertness (or their tolerance meter for going into investigate mode) and not guaranteed detection.

[@michaelsmith8028]

The reason you didn't get ghost in coldridge is, because the prisoners react to you and shout out to the guards.

[@StratEdgyProductions]

Now that is an angle I didn't think of, but I don't remember hearing anyone shout. Might need to go back through and check, but I don't think there were any prisoners on the first floor where lizzie is. I think the only prisoner on that floor is one that is asleep, if I remember correctly.

[@20gamesboard]

@@StratEdgyProductions There's one shouting guy in the cells, but it is a story bit. In the armory guards discuss his behavior as showing off. He just screams to get attention and so nobody listens to him. He also doesn't trigger a detection, as in the original game. I can't say what triggered the detection, but I did it the way you did - just reloading every time someone got 3 bolts.

[@crazyrabbits]

@@StratEdgyProductions - I had one of the prisoners (second level of B-Wing, I think) start yelling for the guards to come over and see what's happening when I knocked out a guard near his cell, forcing me to grab the body and flee to the rafters. I don't think he triggers an alert, though. I also gave up on the execution in the prison courtyard and just let them take out the prisoners -- the game didn't do a good job of immediately communicating that one of the guards was of importance; I could barely hear the speaker's voice and just closed the door on the area (thinking I could come back later and tackle it from another angle) when I saw the situation.

[@WoundedGamerAlchemy]

1. The lightning bolts thing was actually beyond me. Didn't know that for anything. 2. Play Prey next, like you wanted to. It has stealth mechanics but it's not a stealth game, so don't go in there thinking it's another Thief clone. It's more like Bioshock but in space than anything.

[@jayofelony86]

He hasn't played 'Prey' yet? oh boy

[@TheOneBearded]

@@jayofelony86 Our boy is in for a good time.

[@joeschmo5403]

I never knew and ghosted the game without triggering any lightning bolts

[@ethhics]

Legend

[@aver155]

Same here a few years ago, ghost and pacifist. First time I heard about it was from the comments on the last video... again, really love Arkane's games, but this means something about the design doesn't work that well. Regardless, game's still great and still had a lot of fun.

[@phoenix-qr3ln]

same

[@AverageLeagueGamer]

The only reason that I knew three bolts didn't mean full detection was because A. even at three, guards didn't straight up attack me until the bolts broke (they would just sprint to where they thought I was will full aggression), and B. the fact that the bolts would even break in the first place indicated to me that it was a 4-strike rule instead of 3.

[@Cdaddyhudsoc]

knife of dunwall is a great dlc. The stop time addition to blink was such a change to how I played. I love the bolt kill assassination animation. It's really a quality dlc. And I knew about the 3 bolt ghost rating, but I have 200 hours in this game from playing it so much. and on my first playthroughs i had no idea so, I wasn't butthurt when he said that 3 bolts wasn't perfect ghost

[@whitewampa2910]

I was not confused by the lightning bolts, but I approach games such that at the beginning I experiment with all the systems and whenever another system is introduced I experiment with it.

[@aX0n777]

That's how you do it!

[@vacuous1676]

I was confused

[@alifadila3364]

I usually save and just experiment as much as I like, Strat said he didn't experiment, I like the guy, but tbh he could have simply saved at any point in the game and experimented with whatever mechanic was confusing him.

[@Deioth]

And this is how my brain works... "Three Bolts will thrill him, three bolts will thrill him, you should feed him **bell toll** THREE BOOOOOOLTS"

[@ryansteward6569]

I was one of the guys who pointed out the lightning bolts to you, and I've gotta say I really appreciate you owning it, admitting you messed up, and moving on. The world would be a better place if we could all do that. ALSO, I completely agree that the game doesn't communicate what the stealth indicators mean very well at all. So glad to see you doing the DLC. Can't wait for the Dishonored 2 video (please?)

[@StratEdgyProductions]

Dishonored 2 is coming after the Prey video because I really want to talk about it, but I also want to beat Dishonored 2 :( Decisions.

[@ryansteward6569]

@@StratEdgyProductions You could make an entire video on JUST the Clockwork Mansion for Dishonored 2. Take your time finishing the game. Your video will be better for it.

[@jafaral-z1090]

He didn’t own up to it tho, he just deflected and blamed the ui like a bitch, what an utter lack of integrity

[@nuklearboysymbiote]

@@StratEdgyProductions you'll be pleased to know that dishonored 2 has a stats page in the pause menu and a more intuitive detection meter :) also mooooore ways to do non-lethal

[@amrabdelazeem9689]

@@ryansteward6569 I mean, game maker's tool kit already did an entire 23 minute video on just the clockwork mansion in collaboration with Dishonored Devs...so

[@kareliask]

I definitely took the three bolts to be three levels of merely suspicious, although I'm not sure if I was just lucky or something about the game taught me that.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Their comments when they look for you are a bit beyond “suspicious“, more like “ok there is DEFINITELY somebody hiding here i swear“, and broken detection is “IT'S RAPING TIME!“

[@thelitmango6333]

I love how human ego shows a lot in this video, I like strat but he goes on and on about the UI and spent 2 seconds saying he's a dumbass lmao

[@kareliask]

@no or maybe yes That is what I was forgetting, thanks. The audio cue definitely felt artificial enough to inform me that the alertness state had changed into being hunted properly

[@yewtewbstew547]

@no or maybe yes It's a bit more convoluted than that, which is probably the reason for all the confusion. In Dishonored 1 three white bolts can also indicate that the guard _knows_ you're there, but hasn't seen you yet. For example if you sprint past a guard within their hearing range, all three bolts will immediately fill white, you'll hear the piano slap stinger, and the guard will draw his sword and run to investigate. Their dialogue will also be aggressive, as if they know you're there and are coming to kill you. Despite all of that, this will _not_ count as a detection in your stats and will not void your ghost run. I'm guessing that kind of scenario is to blame for the confusion here. Because if you aren't paying attention to or are unable to clearly see the lightning bolt indicators then there is no immediate visible or audible difference between what I describe above and an actual detection. The only difference is that in a real detection, where the guard actually sees you, the lightning bolts will turn red and break. And obviously they'll be more persistent in their pursuit of you, rather than just investigating your last known position.

[@markervine1855]

I assume people didn't call you out cause I'll use myself as an example. We just assumed this was your personal experience and what you felt. There's plenty of reviews out there where someone says "this is broken" or something and people just treat it as. "Well that's personal preference." I personally never had an issue with it the first time I played. I do hate how enemies in the DLC can see you through whale carcasses tho.

[@agbrenv]

17:29 you forgot, that you can also put Abigail into the electric chair for info

[@alexsm3882]

Ghosting with Daud's blink + time stop makes this game into a joke btw. Especially because you can hold down blink and stop time whithin the stopped time and still pick collectibles up.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Yeah, time stop felt like a cheat so i didn't took it in my third run and the game became much harder immediately

[@unregisteredassaultbutterk1185]

They also make it an upgrade in the sequel for Corvo's blink

[@Wo0zy23]

I feel you on those lightning bolts. Respect from one super-hard ghost survivor to another.

[@ethhics]

I never had much problems with the three lightning bolts while doing a ghost nokill run for my first playthrough. Just wait until you get to Dishonored 2, it's even more confusing there, hehehe.

[@quinnmarchese6313]

the one thing i wish D1 had is the combat non-lethal option. I love how D2 has four distinct playstyles in its wrap up screen, divided between non-lethal and lethal, and loud vs quiet. I really liked how i could do a no kill run, but still actively involve myself in IMO a great combat system

[@wiiu42]

Really? Huh, I've just played through both 1 (with DLCs) and I'm about halfway through 2. Being able to actually check if something had broken my stealth made it actually possible to ghost through Dishonored 2. It'd be a lot better if, like in the Hitman World of Assassination Trilogy, there was the option to add a ghost/silent assassin indicator to the main screen, but I didn't even try to ghost through Dishonored 1 without the ability to check.

[@quinnmarchese6313]

@@wiiu42 theres a commenter who linked to a mod that tells you mission stats in the first game, but i wholeheartedly think that kinda thing should've just been in from the start.

[@jacobbradshaw995]

@@wiiu42 Yeah. I like D2's UI way better. Sorry ethics, but its suspicion seems clear enough to me.

[@DarkZ19]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the reason you weren't able to get Ghost during the prison level is because the other prisoners break your stealth, I guess you could get past this by either opening every cell that has a prisoner in it, letting them fight with the guards and continuing on your way after things have calmed down, or using the stop time ability

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Weird, i got ghost easily. Bridgemore witches was super easy actually compared to the whale oil factory and the pain in the ass finale of knife of dunwall. Seriously whoever made a no kill ghost run in KoD deserves a medal (a low chaos ghost run with shadowkill however...)

[@alexsm3882]

@no or maybe yes if it's fully upgraded no

[@alexsm3882]

@no or maybe yes I remember that happening when I had slow time but not time stop, but maybe your game bugged out somehow

[@20gamesboard]

​@@PancakemonsterFO4 I recently finished a 100% run on the thing, which took me 3 runs of a basic game (no powers, nonlethal specter, brute force), 3 runs of Knife of Dunwall (nonlethal specter, bloody assasin and extra one), 2 runs of Brigmore Witches (berserk and pacifist stealth master) AND 3 stars on all City Trials (including the expert ones). I am not trying to show off, just sharing the expirience - but the most pain I got was in Trials. Those challenges can suck my sticky grenade. The amount of crunch on the Expert Burglar challenge is insane. The fact that in Points of Light you get no explanation of a "Trick Jump" makes me cry. Other DLC's are worth it, though. I liked them better than both of the original games. Masterfully crafted expirience of being Daud himself that expands the lore and mechanics quite a lot. I tell you, there is a lot of fun in butchering the Hatters gang with da summoned boys. They also tell you interesting information, just like the heart in the base game. The dialogue and choice details are something that lacks in a sequel (IMNHO). Seriously - the leader of the Rebellion says that it is too messy and hard to torture here... But you can do it anyway! And get the information! That's just good design when my ideas connect with Daud's thoughts. Just agreed and disagreed with some points in the video. Good luck and have fun!

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

@@20gamesboard funnily enough i 100% the game yesterday (without the trials because i don't want to spend money on them), it was fun cheesing the game by staying in a rat tunnel for 3 minutes, controlling partygoers into the wall of light like lemmings and shooting exposive rounds at a mountain of unconscious bodies. Replaying all the DLCs with no upgrades other then charm capacity for the money achievment was quite memorable as well, just like no power main game wich also gave me lights out since i had to disable everything to progress

[@Dragonfang1909]

I thought the same with the three bolts haha. Did ghost/clean hands too. Was on the xbone as well so those reloads were extra painful. Found shooting a bolt at a surface makes enemies reposition to investigate which super helpful at that first granny encounter. At least you can check your ghost status in the second game.

[@kennymolloy9817]

Man was playing dishonoured on the xbone

[@RaidsEpicly]

Have you thought about playing D2? It's UI is WAY more clear than dishonored 1 and the mechanics in general are a lot tighter. I had a blast playing D2 as "stealth until detected then fight/escape" the first time through, letting loose with powers sometimes but not always so I still scrapped the low chaos ending.

[@maxburrill6192]

Hitboxes are real wonky though.

[@ChampionofVardenfell]

Hey strat, glad you're still with us. Hope your health is improving! With that out of the way, I also found the 3 bolts almost confusing. I always assumed it meant I broke stealth.

[@hannibalcase1100]

I never realized that about the lightning bolts, but that's probably because I usually play as The Loudest Man in Dunwall.

[@kommentator1157]

I understood the 3 bolts, but expecting me to notice some guard hundreds of meters away is definitely too much.

[@Wingspand1]

It's been a long time since I played these games but I did read people mention the bolts in the last videos comments and glad you pointed it out, even saw you react to them telling you about it. So happy it was the first thing you pointed out here. Wished you covered the DLC's more but oh well, got me wanting to replay the games now

[@jaki2099]

I've always felt like dishonored would have benefitted from a detection meter you bring up very valid points as to why the games pretty much needs that UI element for clarification for the players sake and sanity, I'm surprised the devs never learned this going into dishonored 2 but oh well keep up the good content Strat.

[@jacobbradshaw995]

Wait... they did though. In Dishonored 2 it fills up with white and then with red and it blinks and fighting music starts up. It's super obvious when you break your stealth.

[@echodec]

do you mean besides the detection meters that already exist in the games? the bolts are a detection meter. In d2 they even added a page to see your detections

[@akanthony100]

I got confused as well but once I got detected and saw the red bolts I realised the white bolts are sort of like the traditional detection bar getting filled

[@adamriley9241]

Never gave the tutorials attention and only learned of the 3 Bolts signaling Ghost Broken. I knew that it ment hostile but always assumed 1 bar and that noise ment Ghost rating broke. Have ghosted the game with no kills though.

[@sindurwavesismaturf]

I distinctly remember a stats page on the pause menu that shows the amount of times you were detected in the current level. Also I think you can find a bonecharm that makes the pull ability stealthy

[@lunarshark5626]

I never knew about the lightning bolt thing and I've been a fan of the series ever sense the first game came out

[@alucaresalucares4935]

This game can be pretty frustrating it has got some small exceptions to some levels that throw you off. I remember going through the first level during a clean hands run and I kept getting kills. I later reliced that the guys I've knocked out and put in the dumpster by the big gate got killed by the timebomb. This is only one way the game punish you for not adhering to its adventure/puzzle game logic, its draining.

[@angel__king]

The dishonored 1 dlc are some of the best in the series. Dishonored 2 looked better but it felt off compared to 1 for some reason and the death of the outsider was just bad. Edit: I think the deaths on the intro were either the owner of the refinery bec if you don’t choke out the girl he’s with she kills him even if you knock him out. It could also be the guys as soon as you enter the refinery bec 2 chainsaw guys kill an innocent worker. Any deaths even ones not caused by you count as kills. Lastly it could be one of the guys in the alley cornering billy lurk

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

The Spy only kills the Factory owner if you do what she asks and have him knocked out with her in the same room after opening the last valve. Thank god i wasn't spoiled that this happens if you side with her. Also if two enemy combattants kill each other without you pulling their aggro it doesn't count so no, this wasn't the reason for those two kills in the feed

[@angel__king]

@@PancakemonsterFO4 pretty sure the ones at the front gate do but whatever. We see like 6 or 7 minutes of footage so it was just a guess based on my playthroughs of the mission

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

@@angel__king mabe mistreatment of unconscious people?

[@LillyP-xs5qe]

yay, you alive! so happy to see you being active man, all the best wishes and good health mate!

[@atronachh]

I was 13 when I first played this and the "lightning bolt" detection system was obvious to me from the start. I think a tutourial message even explains it, but I'm not sure about it. But I'd be willing to bet that it does. And why would the 3 bolts remain over somebodys head if they detected you already? Did you think they're just there to communicate that they have detected you and then they dissapear after an arbitrary amount of time? And also combat music doesn't play until they truly detected you, and they don't scream out their combat lines

[@atronachh]

And the 3 bolts even briefly turn red when you get detected. Come on

[@quinnmarchese6313]

he did mention that the tutorial images didn't pop up in his original review, probably accidentally turned them off (or on purpose, its not a very hard game to understand). I am pretty sure theres a tutorial that tells you that the bolts breaking is a detection, but i cant remember for sure.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

Only a general one about detection but not how high the bolt system goes and how it influences the behavour of the guards

[@jakedill1304]

@@atronachh Funny cause if their were no icons and you just paid attention, wouldn't have needed any of them...

[@jakedill1304]

not confident in it's player base to be intelligent... common problem in aaa, also not wrong more often than it should about that.

[@suggestagoodnameformeplz1035]

I dont get all these people who struggled with the lighting bolt icons, its very clear and never was a problem for me, baring in mind I was playing this game when I was 9 idk how it's not easily understood.

[@aX0n777]

The 3 bolts thing really isn't that difficult to understand, i first played dishonoured when i was 13 and i got it immediately

[@TechniqueSan]

He'll rather criticize a simple, intuitive mechanic and double down on it than admit it was his fault.

[@aX0n777]

@@TechniqueSan I mean, i don't want to be toxic about this but yeah, he should've edited the og video or made a proper follow up

[@alifadila3364]

Well, I played the game when I was 14, and got it as well, but I used to read all the tutorials, now I read them much less frequently, also, the fact that a good percentage of people in the comments did the same mistake, does not negate that they are least partially responsible for not reading the provided tutorial, but it also means that people that designed that system are to blame as well, they could have made provided some other more clear indication of breaking stealth, like having a hud element that is constantly on screen, in addtion to the one above the enemy's head.

[@aX0n777]

@@alifadila3364 if game design was up to the players, gaming as a thing would've died within a few months, I absolutely hate to depend on hud elements that are constantly in my face, I'd rather be "in" the game as much as possible, not in the hud having an indicator that tells you about detection at all times is akin to having a mini map, both take you out of the immersion a pet peeve of mine is when I can't play a game with the hud off (even if I have tens of hours of experience) because there's an essential game element that can only be communicated through the hud, I pretty much want as minimal of a hud as possible but that's just me

[@arthuuur1320]

It is also explained like the first time you start getting detected, I feel like all of this could have been avoided if they had in mission stats like the second game tho

[@rudesoup7828]

I didn't know about the notice meter till I read it on the fan wiki. I've still save scummed on all my ghost runs regardless, because it just doesn't "feel right" to let someone "notice" me by getting even a single bolt above their head.

[@StratEdgyProductions]

I read a forum post that said having even one lightning bolt over a head will ruin the ghost run, and I think that led me down a dark path, lol

[@baconaterlover5399]

Outside of the whale oil refinery level, I found the dlcs to be quite enjoyable and fair when trying to do a ghost/clean hands playthrough. I’m fine with save scumming so it never bothered me much when I had to reload a save when bullshittery occurred.

[@richanddarksbane1439]

I never got confused in my stealth playthrough, basically you can see a guard physically react after the bar fills up and he'll only say what or something and say oh its rats if you don't go past 3 bars. Also glad people are still talking about this game! I remember playing when I was 13

[@andyscott1099]

I'm just glad that Dishonored 2 let's you check if you have been detected by checking the stats/pause menu. Great video btw!

[@WetWillis]

The guard isnt alerted to you until the bolts turn red, but if you're at 3 bolts you're essentially spotted unless youre a god or you're lucky

[@ringodooby]

This channel is like a lighthouse for dishonoured fans. I've never felt so validated.

[@davididiart5934]

PULL is actually really useful in a ghostrun of the Prison. Being able to move around and then haul your rescue back up to where you are with magic is dope.

[@maxmanly3122]

I just never even noticed anything with the lightning bolts. think there's such a thing as overthinking it. It something you'd have confirmed by just risking one ruined mission

[@wyattisenor5136]

More details on the three bolts: one bolt makes them look in the direction they thought they saw something. Two bolts means they will turn their body as well to face the source. Three means they will move or run towards it. As you know... now... when they break is an actual detection and they'll start attacking.

[@subhuman8945]

+1 for CONFUSED BY LIGHTNING Mainly for the first reason you mentioned: they almost always just go off in a fraction of a second anyway. I only realized when I went under a table at the last second, and the nearby Overseer stayed at 3 bolts for a bit as he began his search.

[@abikinebi6235]

im glad finally someone still makes content abt dishonored

[@echodec]

25:06 "killing the guy reading out names alerts the executioner i cant tell you why but it does" maybe it has something to do with the fact that the guy was reading out names? If the guy reading names suddenly stopped reading names it would be strange if the executioner wasnt alerted.

[@erickschusterdeoliveira2662]

the entire comment section was people going "dude everything you said was wrong" lol come on

[@papagalooleo559]

Yeah I agree that when a meter fills up in a UI my gamer brain immediately assumed the same thing you did.

[@whippedflame8484]

I luckily didn’t get confused by the lightning bolts, but I could see your point in the confusion . Hope there’s a Dishonored 2 video!

[@maroonstarsface]

Didn't know about the lightning bolts but never needed to wonder. I go non lethal but never worried about ghosting. Would much rather tranq guards than attempt to sneak past when I can't be sure if I'll have to go back through the area

[@KahavaveCAPIPI]

So, the way I always thought of it is that if the lightning bolts are full that means a guard is alerted and is going to look around. Like, its not a detection meter, just an alert meter. It could have been better presented. But I also think that part of it is that the devs expected most people to get through their first playthrough by trying to stealth, and then going into combat once they were detected so they would have figured it out.

[@theepgfiles661]

Glad to see you made it, last video had us scared.

[@josmith2087]

I didn’t know about the lightning bolts until when I watched a speed run after I ghost clean hands first time

[@themadtitan8379]

Tbh I never knew about the lightning bolt thing until I replayed the game last week after watching your video

[@asteroidalassassin6949]

Dude you do realize that you don't have to do a ghost run with savescumming, just be stealthy and not worry about getting an achievement.

[@misterkefir]

You were confused by that.

[@superdude-wh4by]

In dishonoured 2 you can see your stats in the pause menu so you know if you’ve lost ghost or not, and I think it has more clear cut indication of when you’re spotted. I know there’s an ability that slows time when you get spotted so if nothing else you could use that to be sure

[@b0gdyb0ta]

At the 8:49 mark: You don't look like the "Coming home for Christmas" type.

[@ihavenomouthandimusttype9729]

4:02 I can agree with his criticisms 100%. I too, found the lack of any way to check a ghost run, amount of gold found or clean hands (sometimes I was a bit rough with those sleeping guards). That said, I played this game for years and never once thought 3 bolts was breaking stealth. I’d experiment with shooting bolts or throwing bottles and watch the bolts light up while the guard follows the sound. I also often played without the UI because quest markers broke my immersion. So I learned that from the behaviour: sword drawn, moving fast, asking is anyone there - I was at high alert. The sound also gave away the alerted status. I don’t know: I’m used to Elder Scrolls and Assassins creed: where the breaking of stealth is literally entering combat. So it didn’t seem odd that full bolts meant alerted but not aware. In Assassins creed 1/2: the guards were especially visual: they’d place their hands on their hilts at half awareness and they’d draw their swords at full alert and begin searching. The guards in this followed a similar behaviour pattern so I picked up on it fast.

[@Pompadour_Pug]

A lot of people were confused by the lightning bolts back in the day. When I first played I checked a Games FAQs forum just to be certain, and then tested it for myself, but I can't say 3 lightning bolts stopped being an anxiety striking hell. That sound is so damn wonderfully horrific.

[@Grz349]

19:51 Pull first level can be used to steal from guards at a distance, so you can get things like keys easily.

[@Forest_V19]

In Dishonored 2, you can check your stats to see if you’ve been detected or not. You can do this by simply pausing and going to “stats.” I wish Dishonored 1 had the same mechanic.

[@Dumplestiltzken]

I played through two and a half times and thought three lightning bolts meant they saw you

[@pootispencer9765]

Your bodies were found dude, it wasn't you who was found.

[@asmonok8186]

I personally was not confused by the lightning bolts. They flash red when you get detected. Red=Stop(reload)

[@AssasinZorro]

I had a problem understanding whether I broke stealth. I did understand the sound ques and three bolts, just like you did. But they _were_ too small. I did enjoy the Dishonored 2 that allowed me to check stats mid-mission to see if I broke stealth.

[@GamingYooler]

You seem a lot happier and more casual with your videos lately, I like it!

[@grimjudgment6527]

For the lightning bolt comment, I didn't bother mentioning it myself because someone else already beat me to it and they had a top comment. Honestly the situation where someone run through a whole level again to test it was something I personally did, but also I was pretty sure it was only a detection when it shattered because that's what the stealth tutorial messages implied, but I could only guess. So I used a trainer to give myself infinite runes and mana to then check out what mechanics worked and didn't. This is also how I found out that bodies will automatically cull themselves unless you tweak the ini and that when you drop a body and they land on their head, it genuinely can break their neck. you can also throw a couple bottles at an enemy's head to knock them the fuck out mid combat too. And last but not least, you can most definitely use possession to break your fall, but not blink HOWEVER you can edge blink to climb and break your momentum. Bonus fact, if you possess a rat and camp inside a space too small to fit, you die when it expires. Slow time doesn't save you from walls of light, but stop time does and if I remember correctly, if you rewire a wall of light and guards see you in combat and see another guard run through the wall and die, they will refuse to go through it but will still try to shoot you through it. Also, you can tweak the ini to be able to cut off limbs and not just the head, and tweak it so that you can cut off limbs of dead enemies still.

[@lissyvale629]

Yep, my husband and I had the exact same problem with the UI.. Even though we usually love stealth games we just couldn't seem to get into Dishonored, as much as we genuinely wanted to. Thanks for helping us finally understand why. :)

[@tachankathechub4727]

I wasn’t confused by three lightning bolts, there was a tutorial where it demonstrated the way it worked

[@glacialchill]

I had noticed that the bolts didn't automatically mean they were alert, but in my mind, alerted and detected were different things... so I assumed that even a single bolt meant I had been detected. Seems I did my ghost, flesh and steel alone run in an entirely necessary level of difficulty where not only was I never detected, there was never a single hint of my presence to anyone. At least I have bragging rights, I guess.

[@William_J]

I 100% had this problem. I’m glad to hear it wasn’t just me.

[@Arygo87]

Hey there Strat. I was also careful and methodical, about 90% of the time. Since i always tried to get the best stealth rating , most of the time i was never seen , but it's been a while i can't remember if i thought 3 bolts meant detection. There was one time i remember trying to panic a guard to get him to move from his post so that i can sneak where he was standing, but i remember it backfired and i found other ways around the levels. I think i took my que from the sound, it was a self-imposed rule where if i get 1 bolt i reload, at least my first playthrough. Sry i can't remember if i ever tried to get 3 bolts and escape. The first Dishonored was ok imo, but i think the second one was bad; curious about your thoughts on it.

[@roadsidepeekneek7259]

Man the first bit about the UI is just another reason I want you to do Arkane's Prey

[@skullhunterh2824]

I just want off that I was spotted when they yell directly at me

[@goast_cuard]

Honestly I just took the bolts as a suspicion meter. I would pretty regularly walk in front of people and blink behind them to choke them out, since I knew I had time to do it if the bolts didn't flash red. Plus sometimes I'd be pinned down with multiple people with 3 bolts wandering around and I'd have to wait until they passed by before I could do anything

[@housemastergg]

Played the game like 6 times throughout the years and at last during my last run I figured out how does the detection system work and that you can't trust it even though you understand it, so yeah, you're right. Anyway, thanks for the videos, now I wanna try playing Dishonored for the 7th time.

[@Malik-ig3ml]

Dude even if three bolts broke stealth, the way you use the sleep darts is dumb as hell. They're a long range, instantaneous choke. Their purpose isn't to knock out every guard in a given area with no regard for the consequences, you need to apply some sort of intelligence. Use them when the window of opportunity to choke a guard out is too narrow, or when a guard is in a perfectly concealed spot but they're too far away to effectively close the distance. Use them just before a guard enters a room full of bodies and save yourself a headache. If you do need to dart an entire room, here's a pro tip: make sure their buddies aren't looking. I just solved your grand issue with sleep darts and it only required one extra brain cell. As for your issues with blink, I've literally never experienced it. It could be that you're blinking far too close to the guards and so you're actually touching them. Try blinking a few inches away from them instead. Aside from that, you can combo your takedowns (lethal and nonlethal) with blink so the instant you come out from blink you've got a dude in a choke hold, giving them no time to react to you whether youve somehow bumped into them or not. I think you're being pretty pigheaded about this game. I get the feeling you did very little to experiment with the game's systems and discover how they work and a lot of that is probably due to your insistence on ghosting the game first and foremost. I know you've probably played Thief to death, but try putting yourself in the shoes of someone playing the game for the first time. They immediately play on expert difficulty, with all the strenuous objectives and a strict no kills rule. How much fun do you think they're going to have? They might not even fully realise all the game's functions thanks to the undue stress they've put themselves under. That's essentially what you've done with Dishonored, only even more unnecessary because rather than a dedicated difficulty, you've just decided you want to tick an extremely arbitrary box at the end of every mission.

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

...or if a guard is about to walk in on you in a room with no way to escape, then you better keep the bow ready as soon as the guard steps a foot in

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

“If a game isn't fun, why bother“ - Reggie from Nindangdong

[@DigitalVanquish]

I didn't have any confusion over the detection system. Each bolt showed a level of suspicion, and then the bolts turning red from white means you're detected.

[@dougdynamo9398]

I had to look up that "Ah fuck" video cause that had me rolling. I'm surprised more people don't use it. As far as gameplay goes, Dishonored can be lackluster at worst and satisfying at best. It's honestly the world building that elevates it to a top-tier game for me. Everything -- architecture, clothing, environment, weapons, and characters -- all have something to say about the world. It's one of the best in gaming in my opinion.

[@digiviceboy]

Honestly, I always thought lightning bolts appearing over any NPC's head meant you were detected, too. I've never done a Ghost run because I *tried* to do it, and I got tired of getting lightning bolts all over the place, so I just decided to forget doing the fun challenge and dropped it. I probably would've done it if I knew the bolts were not insta-ghost cancellation.

[@toakovika]

Dunwall Trials always felt to me like it should’ve been a part of the base game. But Daud’s story? That was a proper expansion!

[@gro2174]

Sleep bolts r kinda great cuz as long as you do it to a dude who isn't around too many ppl when all their backs r turned nobody will notice it and then you can sleep bolt the rest. You can also just bend time and then sleep bolt em all.

[@RorytheRomulan]

Doing great, glad for you to still be alive.

[@ArdannaL]

I've actually ghosted the prison, I have no idea what I did different then you do. I've never noticed the lightening bolt thing either.

[@thrawn235]

Did indeed had the same problens

[@ishiggidiggi]

I only played dishonored once and didn't even finish it, but even I could tell the difference between three white bolts and red.

[@C0wsmacker]

Glad your still alive given the issues you were having.

[@ArchonZach]

I went full blown murder hobo on like the second mission because I assumed I was breaking stealth from the three lightning bolts

[@cyrthurix]

The lightning bolts are very similar to the detection system in Far Cry 3 and upwards (can't speak for earlier - didn't play those) where the meter can be full but the AI only really detects you when that little sting plays. Which primed me to accept I'm only caught if I hear the sound that tells me so in some games, meters are only there for how suspicious I made the NPC. I'll usually play around with that in a stealth game. You've said this, but you've made the game so much harder for yourself. Kudos, but good lord.

[@MystaHector]

The thing about Dishonored I figured while preparing for my analysis. Dishonored is the best when you beat it twice in a specific way. The first go should be lethal, you can try to sneak at times, but go into open combat just to use and enjoy the lethal gadgets and skills. You'll have a better access to all the notes to deepen the lore and you'll make your acquaintance with the layouts of the levels. Then go the second time for the nonlethal stealth approach. You don't have to scavenge for notes and books now, and knowing all the passages and corridors you can plan out your way. It's less challenging this way but come on... you use autosave anyways, so this way you keep loading to a minimum. And that's the most enjoyable way of playing Dishonored and its DLC's. I tried out differents approaches when playing certain levels, but I enjoyed the game the most, when I was applying this rule. Thanks for reading and have fun with the game :D

[@sithisrants4154]

6:26 That score is literally unbeatable. 2,147,483,647 is the maximum 32-bit integer. Looks like that's the hard cap and was probably achieved through some sort of bug.

[@kaytwitchell6643]

Yup I thought 3 bolts you got caught. Got so frustrated I just ended up killing everyone

[@u140550]

It’s good that you played mythological, to me it’s the best way for non lethal or lethal stealth.

[@Samm815]

The only thing I know about the three lightning bolts is Red=Bad.

[@goulakh555]

Looking glassed channed is the only other one who talked about ui problem in this game