Yeah, the Sequence 8 chase is probably the single worst mission in the series in terms of scripting. I'll just describe it in non-spoiler terms:
- The game does not explain that the target must be kept alive. This goes into the "game doesn't explain this!" complaints that keep showing up in the thread (which is ridiculous, by the way; they changed so much of the controls and then became the only game in the series not to put you through a tutorial?) Anyway, if you by chance win the chase and stab him, game over.
An easy deterrent for this would be to force fists as the default action at the start of the chase. The mission scripters messed up here by setting you into a guard battle at the start of the race, which is a problem because you automatically draw your weapon (in turn meaning if you attempt to tackle the target you'll gut him instead).
- The target is tuned to run as fast as you (after 10 laps I should know; the only way to make up ground is to improve your line. It's basically Templar Turismo.) For anyone who remembers the awful AC1 race challenges, this is what it basically turns into.
- The target runs by several "trap" objects. Social traps are too be expected (coins, people in the way, guards, etc) and are a valid mechanic. Unfortunately the level designers in this case thought it would be smart to use magnet traps (hay bales, climbable walls, step drops) instead, which basically changes user impression from "I made a mistake" to "it's not my fault!"
There's really only two solutions for this one; either disable the problems (climbing is useless in this sequence, so I could see disabling that and removing the hay bale) or adjust the path to not follow these objects so closely. (Or slow down the target, I suppose. Falling for one trap is almost enough to lose the entire chase.)
- For some reason the target also does not behave typical "slow down when ahead" chase logic either. I noticed he seems to stop at about 44-48m away (the edge of distance) but only in certain situations. He never slows down and will just return to maximum speed if you get to within 40m. (If you fall back 30m you may as well fail it and start over.)
Also worth noting that if you try anything but a tackle (one time I got ahead of him, turned to face, punched...) he just goes right through you. Might have been a smarter idea to just end the chase when within a certain distance. (Or better yet, build your chase mechanics after Yakuza instead)
- The target passes by several guard points, passing by easily while they will attack you immediately. Considering how the cutscene prior makes it clear you are both suspicious this is a problem. At the very least the target should draw their attention.
- The real gutpunch is just the story events that follow. :lol Even if you do win the race, you'll probably go look for the door-punch thread after.
