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[ZombieFred]

I just want to add that I really do love the Hitman universe. The humour to this game is so rich and the dialogue is glorious. "I hate being called dickless. It make me sounds like some kind of queer". :lol:

 

[Jintor]

It's sooooooooooooooooooooo fuckin' pretty too

It's kind of dumb... but I really want to see how they do with next-gen tech to FINALLY get back to the fucking sandboxes.

 

[Derrick01]

Even if Derrick bought the game he would crap on it no matter how good it really is because for people like this their opinion is already made before playing it. Kind of like how sometimes you can tell in some game reviews the author made up his mind on the game beforehand.

I know enough about the game now that you don't have to worry about me ever calling it a proper Hitman game. Any breakdown of the actual game that I would do would be me comparing it against the stealth genre as a whole and how its features and mechanics stack up to the lesser stealth series like MGS or even Deus Ex.

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I do agree that the disguise system in this with the social combat mechanics on the higher difficulties seem to be broken and BM had a far better concept on how it was executed, but there is some of the sandbox elements injected in the layers of this game, and this does have a very few sand box levels that remind me of Blood Money, but it is totally reminding me of Hitman 2:Silent Assassin more than anything. I have a feeling the whole checkpoint and some of the level/technical design for this game was hampered by aiming for the current generation console limitations (As the director as hinted).

I really do love the depth of the stealth in this system but do miss the grand sandbox mythos of Hitman. I can kind of forgive that though since the story and atmosphere has a different tone with 47 and this much more personal and isolated approach. If more than anything this title has made me much more excited for the future of this series since it can only get better from here with Montreal wanting to make some interesting changes and they wont be restrained from the hardware of today so they can can combine the best of this and bring back that rich sandbox level up further. The feedback and fan response, and the time and tools now on their side even further, the ultimate Hitman game can be put in the making for the next sequel. Have no doubt but I have such strong confidence for the future, even if this title is different and had some things removed, the soul is heavily there and it's still a Hitman game in many ways. It's also far, far the funniest Hitman game to date and I've not even finished it yet!

I just want to add that I really do love the Hitman universe. The humour to this game is so rich and the dialogue is glorious. "I hate being called dickless. It make me sounds like some kind of queer". :lol:

100% agree with all of this.

 

[DukeBobby]

It's sooooooooooooooooooooo fuckin' pretty too

Oh yes. I'm only able to play it on medium settings, but it still looks pretty damn fantastic.

 

[Zeliard]

It's sooooooooooooooooooooo fuckin' pretty too

It's kind of dumb... but I really want to see how they do with next-gen tech to FINALLY get back to the fucking sandboxes.

If trends in recent years are any indication, the next Hitman will be a middle-ground between this one and Blood Money.

 

[ZombieFred]

Looks like this guys' last sight was seeing stars The depth of field is damn nuts.

 

[Papercuts]

I just want to add that I really do love the Hitman universe. The humour to this game is so rich and the dialogue is glorious. "I hate being called dickless. It make me sounds like some kind of queer". :lol:

The sheer amount of dialog is crazy too. Adds a lot to the normally unnamed characters I'll toss axes at.

 

[Jintor]

The dude trying to do tech support on a modem on my way down Dexter Industries and the guy discussing cake recipies in the elevator are so cool. They really did some great scripted NPC conversations.

 

[Castor Krieg]

I love the fact that you constantly need to move in order to be stealthy, at least on Expert. You cannot just sit and wait for everyone to move away, because sooner or later they will come back and discover you in your position.

Increased the difficulty from Hard to Expert again, Hard was making me careless and not caring about what I did. Plus it's +50% vs. +100%.

 

[Y2Kev]

I feel kinda bad about using disguises. You are penalized from a points perspective...I feel like you shouldn't be touching anyone but who you need to.

 

[RedSwirl]

Just started a 360 rental copy. The audiovisual presentation is great. They even managed to fake something close to bokeh depth of field on current gen consoles.

 

[endlessflood]

Well, I guess stating your game is part of an established franchise with a collective of identifiable mechanics and design philosophies weights certain expectations on said game, especially since existing within a franchise is likely to lure in fans of said franchise.

I'm mostly enjoying it, but I'm very disappointed that it is, in my opinion, an extremely shitty Hitman game.

Well put. It actually applies even more to Resident Evil 4 (which didn't even go so far as to play lip service to the mechanics of the previous games), and indeed many people felt that exact same way about Resident Evil 4 and posted the same thing. It was also valid for that game.

As a Resident Evil fan since the first game, I understood that sentiment. I also rate RE4 as the best game in the series.

Obviously there will be people who can't stomach anything about Hitman Absolution, but for those of us who are playing it I suspect that we're guilty (I know I certainly am) of comparing our first playthrough of Absolution to our final playthrough of Blood Money, and that's a pretty significant thing, but understandable given that the game has only been out for a couple of days. Most of us haven't even had the chance to finish the game let alone replay the open levels until we know them like the back of our hand (as we now know the Blood Money levels). We haven't even got to Contracts mode yet...

Someone doesn't need to tell me that running into a wall hurts I figured that one out on my own too.

You've spent this entire thread – when you weren't banned – repeating "running into a wall hurts" to the rest of us, ad nauseum. We have the game, we're playing the game, we know how we feel about it, we figured that out on our own too. Your constant dogmatic statements in here without even playing the game make it hard to find the actual game discussion, which is what most of us visit NeoGAF for. You've shared your opinion of the trailers and youtube vids, we've read it, we're familiar with it, there's no need to keep repeating it on every page for the rest of this thread.

I know it's eating you up, but you need to take a deep breath, and let it go.

 

[Messofanego]

Can someone repost EatChildren's gif of summarising how borked the disguise system is (if playing on harder difficulties)? That's the one actual flaw I'll gladly agree on.

I'm loving the game other than that, but that shit needs to get patched on the distance levels. Even the developers have said that they should only spot you when you're close, not 30m away. It really does tone down the experimentation.

 

[DukeBobby]

Can someone repost EatChildren's gif of summarising how borked the disguise system is (if playing on harder difficulties)? That's the one actual flaw I'll gladly agree on.

I'm loving the game other than that, but that shit needs to get patched on the distance levels. Even the developers have said that they should only spot you when you're close, not 30m away. It really does tone down the experimentation.

IO are looking into it. (6th comment)

 

[jaundicejuice]

Looking at Absolution from a non-Hitman perspective, it's actually a pretty great pure stealth game (except when they decide to bottleneck you in a tiny room with one exit and six guards). Rolling from cover to cover, throwing (limited) things to distract attention (or in my case a single silenced pistol shot into a barrel, harming no-one but blowing up a car that distracted everybody's attention for long enough to get past), corner takedowns, hiding bodies; these are all the kind of things that work pretty great if this was a game about getting in and out unseen. But, it's just... that's not Hitman. There's so many other franchises I can go for if I want to play a stealthy git who doesn't get seen. But the daring of Hitman has always been social stealth, of being seen but not recognised or remembered. And the fact that I have to roll from cover to cover even if I blend in to the crowd perfectly is just stupid.

This is a pretty fair assessment, some facets of Absolution are better than it's predecessors but it's worse in ways that made Hitman a unique experience in the stealth genre. Absolution is a good stealth game but I don't think it's a particularly good Hitman game. You're no longer the wolf in sheep's clothing, the unseen predator hiding in plain sight, you're a bog standard sneak thief, trying to stealthily dart from cover-to-cover to avoid detection.

One thing that really bothers me in Absolution is 47's magic pockets. In the older games you had concealable weapons and larger weapons you could not hide directly on your person. They could be carried openly if you had the right disguise that permitted you to do so or had to be hidden in an object like a box of roses (Traditions of the Trade!) or a briefcase. One of the things I miss the most in Absolution was the sniper rifle brief case. If it's in the game, I haven't found it. I miss that bad ass moment where you find a good place to snipe from, 47 sets the briefcase down, cracks it open and assembles the sniper rifle. When you're done with it, he breaks the rifle down, you pick up the briefcase and walk off like a bad ass with no one being the wiser. So far I've only found like two sniper rifles, and those vanish into 47's magic pockets in Absolution.

 

[Papercuts]

Slight edits to toning down the rate of discovery, the radius, and making it even more effective on masked costumes would transcend this to godtier.

Just the distance would help, but the mask thing is personally my biggest issue. Pbviously they had to realize that when making those disguises.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

You've spent this entire thread – when you weren't banned – repeating "running into a wall hurts" to the rest of us, ad nauseum. We have the game, we're playing the game, we know how we feel about it, we figured that out on our own too. Your constant dogmatic statements in here without even playing the game make it hard to find the actual game discussion, which is what most of us visit NeoGAF for. You've shared your opinion of the trailers and youtube vids, we've read it, we're familiar with it, there's no need to keep repeating it on every page for the rest of this thread.

I know it's eating you up, but you need to take a deep breath, and let it go.

Well said, brotha.

 

[Castor Krieg]

Can someone repost EatChildren's gif of summarising how borked the disguise system is (if playing on harder difficulties)? That's the one actual flaw I'll gladly agree on.

I'm loving the game other than that, but that shit needs to get patched on the distance levels. Even the developers have said that they should only spot you when you're close, not 30m away. It really does tone down the experimentation.

Slight edits to toning down the rate of discovery, the radius, and making it even more effective on masked costumes would transcend this to godtier.

Just the distance would help, but the mask thing is personally my biggest issue. Pbviously they had to realize that when making those disguises.

Yup, I love playing on Expert for no checkpoints and max possible guards, but damn - that discovery radius. You have to break LoS constantly.

 

[RedSwirl]

Well put. It actually applies even more to Resident Evil 4 (which didn't even go so far as to play lip service to the mechanics of the previous games), and indeed many people felt that exact same way about Resident Evil 4 and posted the same thing. It was also valid for that game.

As a Resident Evil fan since the first game, I understood that sentiment. I also rate RE4 as the best game in the series.

Obviously there will be people who can't stomach anything about Hitman Absolution, but for those of us who are playing it I suspect that we're guilty (I know I certainly am) of comparing our first playthrough of Absolution to our final playthrough of Blood Money, and that's a pretty significant thing, but understandable given that the game has only been out for a couple of days. Most of us haven't even had the chance to finish the game let alone replay the open levels until we know them like the back of our hand (as we now know the Blood Money levels). We haven't even got to Contracts mode yet...

Thing is, Capcom openly billed RE4 as a huge switch-up for the franchise. The North American commercials started with the words "forget everything you know about Resident Evil." Mikami openly displayed his boredom with the old mechanics.

All the franchises that have been cut down and action-ified this gen however almost tried to cover up their changes. They may say they're trying to be more accessible or modern, but often some PR speak will try to toss longtime fans a bone. All these franchises seem more like they're just following all the trends instead of doing a deliberate mechanical reboot. Ironically, RE4 inspired a lot of the trends going on this gen.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

I feel kinda bad about using disguises. You are penalized from a points perspective...I feel like you shouldn't be touching anyone but who you need to.

But they are fun. It's nice to be able to walk around in open a bit instead of always in crouch sneak mode. When I get a disguise off a guy I always subdue them not kill to minimize point loss, then put in a dumpster.

 

[Messofanego]

IO are looking into it. (6th comment)

 

[D4Danger]

good, because it's broken and not fun.

 

[Guerrillas in the Mist]

If this happens within the next three weeks, ie. when I finally get my hands on it...

 

[Messofanego]

I might go back to Expert if that gets patched, I only went down to Hard for that. I never touch those checkpoints, the levels themselves being broken into parts are checkpoints themselves since they're not that long if you know what you're doing.

 

[njr]

I honestly don't know what to think if they are going to tweak the disguise system. So far most of the level design I've experienced is catered towards sneaking. It's also odd to me that pacification is frowned upon, I'm really having trouble trying to play this like a Hitman game.

 

[RedSwirl]

I'm about to start "King of Chinatown" on a rental copy but I definitely don't have enough time to finish the game. How far in would you guys say is a good point to make a decision on whether or not to eventually buy the game

Spoiler

(on PC)

?

The tutorial mission made it seem like a lot of the game is linear, but some parts are tiny sandboxes. Sounds like a Steam sale purchase from what I'm hearing.

 

[Y2Kev]

good, because it's broken and not fun.

But that's the thing: it's not broken. It works perfectly if you play the way they want you to, which is to abuse instinct whenever you get in trouble, on what I honestly believe they intended to be the default difficulty level. Which makes no sense at all. They must have realized that they made an AfT like six months ago and shoe horned the harder difficulty levels in, which is why nothing is balanced.

 

[I NEED SCISSORS]

I think if they can: make the disguises not suck, add being able to manually close doors, fix the checkpoint respawns, and allow us to pick and choose the HUD elements (including the option to disable that score indicator), they may yet redeem this game.

 

[Zeliard]

Can someone repost EatChildren's gif of summarising how borked the disguise system is (if playing on harder difficulties)? That's the one actual flaw I'll gladly agree on.

I'm loving the game other than that, but that shit needs to get patched on the distance levels. Even the developers have said that they should only spot you when you're close, not 30m away. It really does tone down the experimentation.

It's also more logical from a common sense perspective that they shouldn't be able to easily see through your disguise at a distance. The whole point of wearing a disguise should be that people who are at a good distance just sort of glance at you and continue about their business (with the possible exception that they're something like cops and are on alert for someone fishy).

And it also makes perfect sense that if you do get in too close, the guy would think "who the hell is this?"

 

[Barack Lesnar]

add being able to manually close doors

This is a good one. No idea why it's not like that default.

 

[endlessflood]

Thing is, Capcom openly billed RE4 as a huge switch-up for the franchise. The North American commercials started with the words "forget everything you know about Resident Evil."

Fair point, although Hitman Absolution's first gameplay showing included the library, instinct, point shooting, and Run For Your Life, so IO were pretty upfront about the new elements. Obviously RE4 was a much bigger departure from the previous games in comparison to HA too.

 

[Carbonox]

So I think I'm on the final mission now. Game is short but oh soooooo fun. Definitely replaying this after and maybe even achievement hunting to flesh out my experience.

Side note - love the soundtrack.

 

[MormaPope]

To be fair I'm catching up on a few days I missed back when no one owned the game yet. Allow me some gloating for now since I couldn't do it when the embargo ended

People's problems with Absolution have nothing in common with your bickering in the past. I spent over an hour on the King of Chinatown mission fucking around with the AI and figuring out multiple ways to complete the mission. I asked in the past if you played past Hitman's, you dodged that question completely.

I've been a Hitman fan since Hitman 2 came out in 2002, this surpasses Hitman 2 and Contracts and most of Blood Money in the gameplay department completely, but hey, the only important entry in the Hitman series is the one and only Blood Money. You're a casual and part of the problem if you enjoy Absolution, scum of the Earth in your eyes.

Your agenda is irritating as all fuck because you assume there's a right way and wrong way to gaming. Your analysis on topics is always a statement that you believe is correct or the most valuable. It isn't. There's no such thing as being correct in the videogame taste department. That's why when you speak you need to back stuff up with intelligent discussion. What you do is make broad statements and if anything at all fits that statement, you act as if you have the most serene and level headed opinion.

I don't have issue with you not liking Absolution or any game, but the way you communicate your opinions is grating and irritating. Y2Kev and EatChildren said their piece on why they don't like some aspects of Absolution, notice how people didn't have qualms with what they said because they communicated and presented in a way that doesn't treat other posters like misguided, problem creating children.

I think you can discuss games in a really deep and interesting way, but the conflict seeking attitude you have is fucking lame.

 

[Papercuts]

I'm about to start "King of Chinatown" on a rental copy but I definitely don't have enough time to finish the game. How far in would you guys say is a good point to make a decision on whether or not to eventually buy the game

Spoiler

(on PC)

?

The tutorial mission made it seem like a lot of the game is linear, but some parts are tiny sandboxes. Sounds like a Steam sale purchase from what I'm hearing.

The game is constantly mixing it up so it depends if you like what you see. Personally I was in love by Hunter and Hunted which is...mission 4 or 5.

 

[Messofanego]

^^

 

[rvy]

Great news, good on IO.

 

[Y2Kev]

It's also more logical from a common sense perspective that they shouldn't be able to easily see through your disguise at a distance. The whole point of wearing a disguise should be that people who are at a good distance just sort of glance at you and continue about their business (with the possible exception that they're something like cops and are on alert for someone fishy).

And it also makes perfect sense that if you do get in too close, the guy would think "who the hell is this?"

The disguise is a keycard system in the game. It lets you get into new areas without everyone immediately losing their shit.

 

[Ikuu]

Not sure why so many people care what some random person thinks about the game.

 

[Derrick01]

People's problems with Absolution have nothing in common with your bickering in the past.

Really? So I didn't see a whole bunch of people saying this is a really poor Hitman game? I'm pretty sure if I saw something like that I would have made a note of it. I forget a lot of things in the short term but I feel like that's something I wouldn't forget.

Not sure why so many people care what some random person thinks about the game.

I think it's just because I was the most vocal critic for a long time, certainly the past few months at least, and a lot of people really were hoping they'd get to see egg on my face. I totally get that feeling by the way and have no problem with it.

 

[RionaaM]

I officially hate the new disguises system. In real life the chances of someone identifying you through a disguise by looking straight at you for 2 whole seconds across a room are close to zero, specially when said outfit has a hat that covers your head and you look like every other damn person of that profession. What's the point of being disguised, if I have to sneak anyway and avoid being seen at all costs?

And what's with 47

Spoiler

not being able to kill a simple bodyguard at the beginning of the Run for Your Life mission?

Last I heard he was a professional assassin, not a rookie security guard wannabe.

 

[MormaPope]

Not sure why so many people care what some random person thinks about the game.

I don't care if he enjoys the game, I'm tired of the same ole Derrick bullshit.

 

[EatChildren]

It's also more logical from a common sense perspective that they shouldn't be able to easily see through your disguise at a distance. The whole point of wearing a disguise should be that people who are at a good distance just sort of glance at you and continue about their business (with the possible exception that they're something like cops and are on alert for someone fishy).

And it also makes perfect sense that if you do get in too close, the guy would think "who the hell is this?"

And in the context of Absolution it has changed a fundamental design principle of the entire franchise, from cerebral level disguise puzzle solving to traditional hide-and-sneak stealth.

The logic behind a system in which people cant detect abnormalities with someone in disguise as one of their own is not under scrutiny. The implementation of such a system into Absolution and its conflation with series trademark mechanics is.

 

[D4Danger]

I will say this, I love the crowd blending system for hiding. I think it's amazing that you can stand there and not be seen while people are looking for you 10ft away. That shit is tense. It's what I wanted from the original Assassin's Creed.

 

[Papercuts]

The disguise is a keycard system in the game. It lets you get into new areas without everyone immediately losing their shit.

Pretry much, which is a big change from the walking ghille suit in blood money. The new system has a lot of potential knowing you need to avoid certain people, but specifically with guards you just don't have enough instinct to blend past them much. Logically it also makes little sense with some combos, but whatever.

And in the context of Absolution it has changed a fundamental design principle of the entire franchise, from cerebral level disguise puzzle solving to traditional hide-and-sneak stealth.

The logic behind a system in which people cant detect abnormalities with someone in disguise as one of their own is not under scrutiny. The implementation of such a system into Absolution and its conflation with series trademark mechanics is.

It would still have the puzzle like elemen to it if the detection range wasn't so far. I enjoyed the first floor of the terminus as a janitor knowing I had to avoid the other one, but you are right about the design of absolution not always designed with that type of scenario in mind. A lot of same suit guards are around which makes it very hard to walk around in some levels.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

I will say this, I love the crowd blending system for hiding. I think it's amazing that you can stand there and not be seen while people are looking for you 10ft away. That shit is tense. It's what I wanted from the original Assassin's Creed.

the disguise and hold instinct button? yeah it's cool but it runs out fast, guess it would be OP if it didn't tho.

 

[MormaPope]

Really? So I didn't see a whole bunch of people saying this is a really poor Hitman game? I'm pretty sure if I saw something like that I would have made a note of it. I forget a lot of things in the short term but I feel like that's something I wouldn't forget.



I think it's just because I was the most vocal critic for a long time, certainly the past few months at least, and a lot of people really were hoping they'd get to see egg on my face. I totally get that feeling by the way and have no problem with it.

So you won't acknowledge my assertion of you and then you make up intentions other people have? No one listens to a raving narcissist with sincerity in their minds or hearts.

I'm done with this discussion then. I'm not going to derail this thread any further.

 

[endlessflood]

Not sure why so many people care what some random person thinks about the game.

Personally it's not the person or the opinion, it's the spam. I don't like to block people because it's nice to be exposed to a range of opinions, even those of people who seem perennially negative about everything, but the spam factor is incredibly annoying.

 

[KAP151]

If Im wearing a full SWAT outfit, covering my face - how could another SWAT member or anyone else for that member see through my disguise?. It makes no sense and therefore negates the whole disguise system. Fine, if I was smacking people around or throwing bricks at people, sure... but simply walking past is enough to send alarm bells ringing?

And dont get me started on the whole blending in thing, its broken as hell. The end of the E3 run through video is nothing like the game.

IO needs to fix the detection system ASAP.

 

[Barack Lesnar]

[/B]
So you won't acknowledge my assertion of you and then you make up intentions other people have? No one listens to a raving narcissist with sincerity in their minds or hearts.

I'm done with this discussion then. I'm not going to derail this thread any further.

Slightly OT but I read your last two posts as if you were Walter White destroying one of his enemies verbally like he has so many times in the past, it was perfect.