Dispatch - Superhero Dispatch game by former Telltale Devs

[Serbian Peacekeepers]

I really enjoyed this little game, even if it felt like a fraction of what the devs wanted to do. The voice cast was pretty good for being composed of at least 2 youtubers, with Critikal and JackSepticEye both doing pretty well in their roles, though Jack was better than Critikal. Aaron Paul was treated like a actual voice actor and not just screaming Breaking Bad man, was worried he'd have the same issue he did in Invincible.
The game felt like it needed a extra 4 Chapters so the ending wasn't rushed. That final fight was neat, but you see Shroud's face for the first time in Episode 7 or 8, and then he's destroying half the city and fighting you with a big spider mech. He's been a background character since the first episode, until stealing the pulse from Invisigal, and then suddenly it seems the writers remembered that oh shit, he's the big bad of the game!

I hope the game get's a second season, or at least a directors cut. It sounds like they cut out a good bit of content to make it to release, and it would be a shame for all of that to go to waste.

 

[Tinnitus]

One thing I did dislike was I felt the villain wasn't fleshed out enough, his motive was a bit lacking, but then again this is a super hero romance VN so you can't expect too much.

The comic #5 & #6 involve him and show why Roberttwo beat him like a bitch.

TL : DR "He didn't have it (heroism) in him"

 

[When will it begin?]

Only really big complaint I have is that mechaman fucking sucks. His W/L ratio is in tatters and hes treading fraud territory.

They should've had the team members get overwhelmed and Mechaman go and save them. Then come back and get his ass beat by Shroud.

The comic #5 & #6 involve him and show why Roberttwo beat him like a bitch.

Does it also explain why he needed the astral pulse? For a while I thought it might be impossible to make another one but in the final fight he had a red one.

 

[Tinnitus]

They should've had the team members get overwhelmed and Mechaman go and save them. Then come back and get his ass beat by Shroud.

Dispatch game with Mechaman joining in, not just fighting off Coupe or Moistcritikal but Toxic, Shroud and shit.

Does it also explain why he needed the astral pulse? For a while I thought it might be impossible to make another one but in the final fight he had a red one.

Astral Pulse = knowing everything
It wasn't explained as to why he couldn't make another one but it's probably because Mechaman I to III had access to resources needed to make it.

Shroud's a literal who in comparison to Mechaman, it's likely the latter aquired the parts needed for making it.

 

[strumpets exeunt]

They should've had the team members get overwhelmed and Mechaman go and save them. Then come back and get his ass beat by Shroud.

Swap out that Blonde Blazer bullshit save mechanic in the Dispatch sequence for Mecha Man. I still don’t remember exactly what she did. It just turned a one-time fail into a win for me then gave her an icon that buffed others? Could’ve easily swapped that with Robert and him calling commands from the field. They had already dropped the return to base plot beat at that point anyways.

 

[Melight]

Dispatch game with Mechaman joining in, not just fighting off Coupe or Moistcritikal but Toxic, Shroud and shit.

Astral Pulse = knowing everything
It wasn't explained as to why he couldn't make another one but it's probably because Mechaman I to III had access to resources needed to make it.

Shroud's a literal who in comparison to Mechaman, it's likely the latter aquired the parts needed for making it.

the entirety of episodes 7/8 just felt very mid. shroud is probably one of the most undercooked final villains in fiction

 

[Local FloRida-man]

Dispatch game with Mechaman joining in, not just fighting off Coupe or Moistcritikal but Toxic, Shroud and shit.

I genuinely thought they were going to have the big reveal be that the upgrades to the suit let robert control it remotely. That way he can deploy "mechaman" as a hero too. Even have the empty suit be the one to blindside Shroud instead of trackstar.

Also, Shroud's end speech about knowing he'd fall for IG/BB was less cool, and more the same level as something the reverse flash would do: "It was ME Robert! I used nanomachines to stimulate your prostate when you held hands so it'd look like you came from just a woman's touch! Your cum was all according my evil plan Robert!"

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

Shroud's predictions bring up questions, did he predict the entire battle, including losing the Spider-mech? if so why bring it and just start with the Beef exchange?
If not, where did his predictions veer? Chase showing up?

Defeating a Predictor is always a big problem for writers, and this one comes down to "how did Shroud not predict Robert would give him both" if he could predict even dialogue and quips to the second?

Jojo had the best way to defeat a predictor, Diavolo could only predict 10 seconds in the future, and when it was absolutely in his favor, he lost because he failed to get the arrow and Giorno gained a powerup that nullfies predictions.

 

[strumpets exeunt]

Shroud's predictions bring up questions, did he predict the entire battle, including losing the Spider-mech? if so why bring it and just start with the Beef exchange?
If not, where did his predictions veer? Chase showing up?

Defeating a Predictor is always a big problem for writers, and this one comes down to "how did Shroud not predict Robert would give him both" if he could predict even dialogue and quips to the second?

Jojo had the best way to defeat a predictor, Diavolo could only predict 10 seconds in the future, and when it was absolutely in his favor, he lost because he failed to get the arrow and Giorno gained a powerup that nullfies predictions.

I think the problem is that Shroud isn't fucking magic. He's just got tech that lets him run the numbers. Probably everything has a percentage change of happening, but some things are more likely than others. The more variables you add, the more crazy shit gets. And he's probably canny enough to see what actions will lead to other actions if the tells are obvious enough. Basically, it's Batman's prep time bullshit but used for evil.

 

[Evil Peter Griffin]

Shroud's predictions bring up questions, did he predict the entire battle, including losing the Spider-mech? if so why bring it and just start with the Beef exchange?
If not, where did his predictions veer? Chase showing up?

Defeating a Predictor is always a big problem for writers, and this one comes down to "how did Shroud not predict Robert would give him both" if he could predict even dialogue and quips to the second?

Jojo had the best way to defeat a predictor, Diavolo could only predict 10 seconds in the future, and when it was absolutely in his favor, he lost because he failed to get the arrow and Giorno gained a powerup that nullfies predictions.

I think the weakness to his predictions are the outcomes are always binary. He can't predict a third option. That's why you fuck him over when you give him the fake and real pulse.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

I think the problem is that Shroud isn't fucking magic. He's just got tech that lets him run the numbers. Probably everything has a percentage change of happening, but some things are more likely than others. The more variables you add, the more crazy shit gets. And he's probably canny enough to see what actions will lead to other actions if the tells are obvious enough. Basically, it's Batman's prep time bullshit but used for evil.

the problem is if its tech, it really beggars belief, I can imagine super tech could predict the next say, 15 seconds of events if it knows everything about everything, all the people, all the circumstances.. but the one thing it shouldn't be able to also predict, is the fact you've seen the prediction, and all the premutations of that compounding, if so it should be limited.

the fact he can predict what people are going to say, and likely had before the battle began is outstanding, I get its just super hero slop but it would mean he could have just stolen the target device before it was put in the mech by having someone come in and get it at a precise moment, or many other easier ways of acheiving this goal that doesn't come down to a seemingly pointless battle and prisoner exchange.

 

[SpergPatrol]

This game is just Life is Strange for men.
The choices ultimately mean nothing, it has forced romances that are as deep and emotional as a puddle, tries to make things look cool that just aren't, tries to make you cry over someone dying that you barely knew, etc.

I am calling this now because the writing is so bad.
The twist is Shroud is Blonde Blazer and the only choice that will matter is joining them, or telling them to shove it.

The writing; somehow, was worse than I gave it credit for.
That would have be more interesting than what we got.

Shroud in one choice is given two capsules and decides to put one in his head despite being a tech "genius."

He made the fucking thing but can't tell which is which despite having a fucking tracker for it.

He then puts in this random capsule in his head and starts vomiting in a scene that is supposed to be tense.

This really was Life Is Strange for men because the choice that impacted this at all was kicking invisgal off the team or not.

She either comes and tries to save you by standing in fornt of you like an idiot; or she just kills him herself and fucks off.

She does this regradless of any other choice you do in the game. She will do this based off of that one choice.

The team member you kick off you can just reinvite in after the fight like nothing happened.

Everyone is a moron and nothing mattered.

 

[dustnight]

I really enjoyed this little game, even if it felt like a fraction of what the devs wanted to do. The voice cast was pretty good for being composed of at least 2 youtubers, with Critikal and JackSepticEye both doing pretty well in their roles, though Jack was better than Critikal. Aaron Paul was treated like a actual voice actor and not just screaming Breaking Bad man, was worried he'd have the same issue he did in Invincible.
The game felt like it needed a extra 4 Chapters so the ending wasn't rushed. That final fight was neat, but you see Shroud's face for the first time in Episode 7 or 8, and then he's destroying half the city and fighting you with a big spider mech. He's been a background character since the first episode, until stealing the pulse from Invisigal, and then suddenly it seems the writers remembered that oh shit, he's the big bad of the game!

I hope the game get's a second season, or at least a directors cut. It sounds like they cut out a good bit of content to make it to release, and it would be a shame for all of that to go to waste.

The game actually tells you from the first episode Shroud is Elliott Connors.

The team member you kick off you can just reinvite in after the fight like nothing happened.

You can only accept them back if you defeat them during the dispatch battle.

He made the fucking thing but can't tell which is which despite having a fucking tracker for it.
He then puts in this random capsule in his head and starts vomiting in a scene that is supposed to be tense.

There must be something that happens because in other versions he'll just toss it and demand the real one.

 

[Power Glove]

1- id buy this if big tittied demon was romanceable and wasnt voiced by alanah pearce

because her absolute trash VO work for Cyberpunk wasn't enough to ensure she never steps into a recording booth ever again?

 

[Tinnitus]

There must be something that happens because in other versions he'll just toss it and demand the real one.

His prediction jeetware probably doesn't work well with false positives, black people and ADHD.

 

[Deus Exica]

My assumption with the shroud prediction is that it is just hard number crunching that gives him a solid idea of what is most likely to happen. The more data, the more unpredictable the circumstances, the more things that are NOT factored in or the sheer amount of things he has to keep track of means the higher the chances he gets blindsided or the unlikely outcome happens. He is also limited by what I assume is relatively normal human reaction time and shit.

When the Z-team first arrives he gets a little overwhelmed, probably because it took some time for his tech to catch up with all the new variables. Once it does, though, they are fucked until another new variable pops up and ruins everything.

I also assume he cannot predict things with a perfect 50/50 chance of happening. When there is a distinct variable between two options, one is more likely than another, but when the options are purely identical, he is fucked. If he had a 6 shot revolver that was loaded with 3 bullets, he wouldnt be able to perfect predict if a bullet comes next.

At the end of the day, though, yeah, it is capeshit and Telltale slop besides. I was more pleasantly surprised there was even as much variation as there was anyway. Though, there really should have been a game over for Shroud getting The Pulse. The fact that Robert can still just bumrush him when he is all powered up and beat him to death is ridiculous.

 

[strumpets exeunt]

The fact that Robert can still just bumrush him when he is all powered up and beat him to death is ridiculous.

Show me the smartest computer in the world - one capable of tricking all the countries in the world into initiating WW3 - and I'll still show you a retard in a Buckee's t-shirt who can smash it with a hammer. Power is relative.

 

[Zenos Yae Viator]

Show me the smartest computer in the world - one capable of tricking all the countries in the world into initiating WW3 - and I'll still show you a retard in a Buckee's t-shirt who can smash it with a hammer. Power is relative.

The only 2 power I've ever seen in comics or manga that couldn't be overcome with any sort of direct confrontation are.
Gold Experience Requiem, from JoJo, as it causes all direct aggression to trigger it, and its ability is to erase all causality of the target.. forever, if you can never act, ever, how can you win?

And some weird ass power from some Random manga called "The End" that causes an ontological narrative ending for anyone the user chooses, no matter what, even if you have an ability that could harm the bitch who wields it, even if you have immortality, become God of the Universe, or craft a specific immunity to it, The End narratively ends the character, concept, or settings like a book being finished.

 

[Gay Sex Enjoyer]

but you see Shroud's face for the first time in Episode 7 or 8

Not to "erm achsually" too hard but we see Shroud's face when he's first introduced.

One of the main reasons so many people were predicting and theorizing on how Shroud would be some kind of twist villain reveal was because the game just straight up tells you exactly who he is from the start. People expected it to be a red herring.

 

[Tinnitus]

Not to "erm achsually" too hard but we see Shroud's face when he's first introduced.
View attachment 8180840
One of the main reasons so many people were predicting and theorizing on how Shroud would be some kind of twist villain reveal was because the game just straight up tells you exactly who he is from the start. People expected it to be a red herring.

The face isn't even accurate to his comic potrayal.

I guess the real twist was Shroud being a liar about how Mecha Man II died.