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Hitman: Absolution |OT| Police do not suspect Blood Money is involved.

derFeef

Member
I remember people trying to assuage my fears on this game months ago by telling me to just play without it. Now as I feared the game was too designed around it to make that 100% feasible.

Well yeah, but as we know by PLAYING it, we know instinct is used in more ways than just seeing through walls, which was the major complaint back then for a long time.
 

Derrick01

Banned
Well yeah, but as we know by PLAYING it, we know instinct is used in more ways than just seeing through walls, which was the major complaint back then for a long time.

That just makes it worse. Choosing to use and even make a horrible idea mandatory in many ways doesn't help the game's case any.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
47 scratching is head is infinitely times a better compromise than slamming his face into the nearest wall which was the MO to avoid suspicion in Blood Money.

You STILL have to fucking face slam in this game. Why do you keep saying this? Why does face slamming into walls when there was no cover system represent some totally inferior system to sneaking around in hostile zones and hearing people say stuff like, "You know dogs shit on the floor, right?" as you hide behind thin boards and chest high walls?

Not showing your face to people is how you hide your identify from them. Scratching your head is not. Instinct is pure artifice. It is the most gamey of any mechanics ever in a gamey game series. It makes zero sense that you would be so sneaky in zones where there should be no sneaking and yet you can't get too close to people wearing the same disguise. Suspend your disbelief, I don't care. But how is that not face slamming?
 

vidcons

Banned
Dexter Labs is awesome. Wonder if there is a reference to the cartoon show hidden away.

Had a blast on that level. I wonder how feasible it would be to alter the checkpoint system. I was seriously getting pissed that every time I reloaded the checkpoint the target had to walk all the way down stairs just to get to the possible first of many SA kills. That was infuriating.

I'm cool with waiting for guards to finish talking or turn around on their patrol route, but god damn that sucked. I think that's the only checkpoint so far that I've legitimately been mad about resetting the world.
 

derFeef

Member
That just makes it worse. Choosing to use and even make a horrible idea mandatory in many ways doesn't help the game's case any.

It's not mandatory at all. It's just mandatory for a specific playstyle. Sadly for you and me it's the classic Hitman playstyle. I have my issues with the disguise system, it's far too touchy and the range of detection is crazy, but the fundamental idea is great.
 

RevDM

Banned
Zey30.jpg

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Blood Money Easter Eggs
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
I don't think I agree with your definition of extreme realism. It's more like a logical thing most people would assume when they first play. If I put on an outfit thats the same as everyone else's I wouldn't expect to be able to walk around at will in situations like this even in a videogame.

Except in this game even if you have something that has a hat or mask included as part of the suit either 47 foolishly doesn't put it on or it makes no difference any other way. The SWAT uniform in Run For Your Life, for example, has a mask that gets put on. The only defining feature you can see to tell it is 47 is the open eyes. Yet going near any cop, be it swat or regular, would instantly catch you and render the disguise useless.

There is something called internal logic and it has nothing to do with the aesthetics or themes of the game, which are external to the gameplay systems themselves.

This is incorrect, and goes along with my response to the next quote.

47 scratching is head is infinitely times a better compromise than slamming his face into the nearest wall which was the MO to avoid suspicion in Blood Money.

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This, to me, is hundreds of times more dysfunctional than blood money's system. You still have to face slam, in this case it's even moreso than Blood Money depending on how you wish to play.
 

Derrick01

Banned
It's not mandatory at all. It's just mandatory for a specific playstyle. Sadly for you and me it's the classic Hitman playstyle. I have my issues with the disguise system, it's far too touchy and the range of detection is crazy, but the fundamental idea is great.

That's basically what I mean. There's only 1 acceptable play style in these games for me so that makes it mandatory.
 

Jintor

Member
Well yeah, but as we know by PLAYING it, we know instinct is used in more ways than just seeing through walls, which was the major complaint back then for a long time.

I turned off all my shit so I pretty much only use it for chain headshots (which are badass) and walking past guards.

I just think there's two major components to this goddamn disguise problem: dudes will bust you in an instant from a nonsensical range with no time to react, and levels are poorly designed to reflect the inability to use disguises near same-types (Death Factory being a noticeable exception, because there are two or three types with similar access levels and their positioning/patrol routes are clearly different). [Also, 47 refuses to wear masks, but that's neither here nor there]

I always liked the idea when they were talking about it, because it's true, there were so many ways to go Easy Mode in Blood Money. But the way it is now, disguises are actually more of a liability than anything else. Something is deathly wrong when a disguise means that I still have to tumble from pillar to pillar and crawl through vents. I don't mind burning instinct to get past doors or something or survive contact within a certain radius, but me turning a corner and then some asshole instantly going "WOAH WHAT THE FUCK" pisses me the fuck off.

Absolution sure does feel like more of a story game, but I don't particularly give a shit about that. They could sell me "Hitman Sandboxes" and that would be fine. The game was always about pushing against systems and testing where they led out - it has some of this in Hope, Chinatown, a bit in the bowels of Dexter Industries - but, I mean, the game is largely epitomised for me by things in Blood Money where you weren't trying to get into hugely secured spaces patrolled by guards; it was about huge, public areas where you were trying to silently take out targets without it being linked back to you. The Vineyard; New Orleans; hell, even the White House had a public area you could at least experiment with before restricted areas came into play (contrast this with Blackwater, which is terrrrrrrrrrrrrrible)

For me, the main problem with Absolution is that it discourages exploration, of testing the systems and seeing how they react against one another. Either you don't have access or you'll be spotted in seconds.
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
It's not mandatory at all. It's just mandatory for a specific playstyle. Sadly for you and me it's the classic Hitman playstyle. I have my issues with the disguise system, it's far too touchy and the range of detection is crazy, but the fundamental idea is great.

For the record, this is my stance on things. I like the idea of being detectable but it needs to be more properly implemented. Range needs to be toned down, and things like face obstructing parts for costumes should be taken into consideration as well.
 

justjim89

Member
I'd still much rather have this disguise and detection system with a few tweaks than Blood Money's. They had good intentions with the systems in this game and they make sense on a conceptual level. Move forward not backwards.
 

Zeliard

Member
I'm still early on in the game but I'm wondering if the disguise detection range isn't as crazy as it is because the devs thought it was just too easy otherwise. Basically a bandaid fix. Which also means that shortening it might not be as simple as it seems, if the game as a whole is built around those long detection ranges.
 

derFeef

Member
I'm still early on in the game but I'm wondering if the disguise detection range isn't as crazy as it is because the devs thought it was just too easy otherwise. Basically a bandaid fix. Which also means that shortening it might not be as simple as it seems, if the game as a whole is built around those long detection ranges.

They said they are looking into it, so it should be a tweaking thing.
 

Derrick01

Banned
Is Blood Money's that different from Contracts'? I can't really remember.

They do have a point there. I've been replaying BM lately and you can get anywhere in a disguise as long as you don't leave the area they're allowed to be in. Like in the Vintage level if you go inside dressed as the outer guards you'll be held up and told to leave, but outside you can move around completely unrestricted as long as you don't try anything suspicious.
 

RevDM

Banned
So it looks like in Contracts mode you can't upgrade the fuck out of your guns? Only 3 types of upgrades allowed at any give time? No fully-auto-laser-sighted-magnum-scoped-extended-mag-super-silencers silver ballers? :(
 

derFeef

Member
They do have a point there. I've been replaying BM lately and you can get anywhere in a disguise as long as you don't leave the area they're allowed to be in. Like in the Vintage level if you go inside dressed as the outer guards you'll be held up and told to leave, but outside you can move around completely unrestricted as long as you don't try anything suspicious.

That's how Absolution works too, but with the difference that your disguise can be seen through now by guys of the same "type" as you are disguised now. The concept is great, the exectuion is not.
 

justjim89

Member
They do have a point there. I've been replaying BM lately and you can get anywhere in a disguise as long as you don't leave the area they're allowed to be in. Like in the Vintage level if you go inside dressed as the outer guards you'll be held up and shot at, but outside you can move around completely unrestricted as long as you don't try anything suspicious.

Fixed that for ya, good buddy.
 

leng jai

Member
I'm not saying Absolution's method is perfect but it make a whole lot more sense than Blood Money's and would work well with a few tweaks.
 

Derrick01

Banned
Fixed that for ya, good buddy.

You only get shot at if you ignore their warnings. Otherwise they run up to you and hold their hand out and allow you to turn around and leave.

There may be an invisible time limit you have to leave the building/area but I'm not sure. Sometimes it feels like there is, but so far I haven't been shot at if I turned around and left. A lot of times they just follow me to the exit.
 

justjim89

Member
You only get shot at if you ignore their warnings. Otherwise they run up to you and hold their hand out and allow you to turn around and leave.

You know what, yeah. You're right on that. But there are sections where they just pull out their guns and start shooting entirely unwarranted. But yeah entering a restricted area they give you an adequate warning. My apologies.
 
You STILL have to fucking face slam in this game. Why do you keep saying this? Why does face slamming into walls when there was no cover system represent some totally inferior system to sneaking around in hostile zones and hearing people say stuff like, "You know dogs shit on the floor, right?" as you hide behind thin boards and chest high walls?

Not showing your face to people is how you hide your identify from them. Scratching your head is not. Instinct is pure artifice. It is the most gamey of any mechanics ever in a gamey game series. It makes zero sense that you would be so sneaky in zones where there should be no sneaking and yet you can't get too close to people wearing the same disguise. Suspend your disbelief, I don't care. But how is that not face slamming?

I don't care about "gaminess". Face grinding was dumb in Blood Money because it worked so well that it more or less broke the game, even on Pro. Absolution attempts to address it via Instinct and puts a risk/reward element to using a disguise. While I agree that there are problems in its execution, if tweaked it can provide another interesting wrinkle to the gameplay that wasn't present in previous games. I'm sure you'd agree that using a disguise should be a risk rather than a magic bullet win button. Absolution is on the opposite end of the spectrum from Blood Money but I think its intention is the better one.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
BM doesn't even care if you acted suspicious or not. You could run around, crouch around, and whip coins all over the place in plain sight as an FBI guard. They only care when you physically attack someone.
 

Derrick01

Banned
BM doesn't even care if you acted suspicious or not. You could run around, crouch around, and whip coins all over the place in plain sight as an FBI guard. They only care when you physically attack someone.

They're a little more complex than that. Like if they catch you climbing a pole in disguise they'll get suspicious too (maybe even alerted, I don't remember exactly). But yeah there's no risk of being discovered in plain sight just by moving around.
 

Floex

Member
I just can't get over how IO have mucked this up so bad. I could maybe forgive the more stealth like sections if they were less frequent but they're not. Evade cops, how many times do I have to do this, geez.

Someone on the last page got it bang on. There is little room for exploration because the disguise mechanic is so broken that you give up trying. Many a times I try to stealth only for the games own mechanics to fail. On expert there are times when you can't even move a guard from the exit so just end up getting as close as possible and running for exit with the only repercussions being some negative points.

I consider this a big niggle, take the train level I'm disguised as a cop, make it into the train, the cut scene shows me back in my suit. Where the hell did it come from?! It really took me out of the experience
 
BM doesn't even care if you acted suspicious or not. You could run around, crouch around, and whip coins all over the place in plain sight as an FBI guard. They only care when you physically attack someone.

Is this not true in Absolution? A cop saw me throw a bottle and all he did was berate me.

Edit: Also y'all are forgetting notoriety in Blood Money. Disguises won't mean shit if you fucked up two levels ago.
 

justjim89

Member
Is this not true in Absolution? A cop saw me throw a bottle and all he did was berate me.

Edit: Also y'all are forgetting notoriety in Blood Money. Disguises won't mean shit if you fucked up two levels ago.

But you always have enough money to eliminate notoriety in Blood Money. The system itself was a good idea, though.
 
Is this not true in Absolution? A cop saw me throw a bottle and all he did was berate me.

Edit: Also y'all are forgetting notoriety in Blood Money. Disguises won't mean shit if you fucked up two levels ago.

Notoriety system was the definition of half-baked, who didn't just restart or load a save if they fucked up in Blood Money?
 

Killzig

Member
So.. what's the DJ good for in Terminus? I did not find that out yet ...

His window
gives you access to a fire escape that leads to the next floor and your target. Be wary, the room that the fire escape leads to has two guards inside usually and a third that does a routine patrol through it.
 

Bad7667

Member
I remember people trying to assuage my fears on this game months ago by telling me to just play without it. Now as I feared the game was too designed around it to make that 100% feasible.
I can tell you that I went into the game with the mindset of turning off all those bullshit instinct powers. But playing on hard you NEED instinct to play the game like a hitman game. Otherwise without some instinct you can't use disguises as you once could, and it turns the game into more of a splinter cell game, using cover.

For some reason people of the same costumes can tell you're not one of them from impossible distances and within seconds. But you can roll across rooms (the jump to cover mechanic) in front of 10 guards, without anything happening.

And for people saying just use instinct, it's not the simple. On hard you can't just stand still and not use up your instinct. Anytime you use it it depletes. So I am now knocking people out for no other reason than to build up instinct, so I can use the magic ability of covering my face.

I hate that I can't play this game like a Hitman game. So disappointing.
 
Also, how many of you not liking the disguise system were/are playing on Hard or Expert for your first playthrough? After Terminus I dialed it back to Normal while turning off all the instinct powers aside from blend and it's still been a decent challenge. Upon returning to past levels I've already completed, I found Hard very manageable.
 

justjim89

Member
One thing that does frustrate me about instinct, that I'd love to see tweaked through a patch or something, is using instinct to see guards while standing still depletes your instinct. But after it drains, you can still use instinct to see guards while standing still. So why drain instinct when standing still in the first place?
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
They're a little more complex than that. Like if they catch you climbing a pole in disguise they'll get suspicious too (maybe even alerted, I don't remember exactly). But yeah there's no risk of being discovered in plain sight just by moving around.

Yeah, that's true. I think they got alerted immediately off that but I can't remember.

Is this not true in Absolution? A cop saw me throw a bottle and all he did was berate me.

Edit: Also y'all are forgetting notoriety in Blood Money. Disguises won't mean shit if you fucked up two levels ago.

I'm just talking in a disguise. In Absolution you'll blow it even faster by running or throwing something.

Also, how many of you not liking the disguise system were/are playing on Hard or Expert for your first playthrough? After Terminus I dialed it back to Normal while turning off all the instinct powers aside from blend and it's still been a decent challenge. Upon returning to past levels I've already completed, I found Hard very manageable.

I've been on Hard from the start and am okay with it but would like a distance tweak and a rate of increase massive decrease if you have something on your face.
 

Bad7667

Member
One thing that does frustrate me about instinct, that I'd love to see tweaked through a patch or something, is using instinct to see guards while standing still depletes your instinct. But after it drains, you can still use instinct to see guards while standing still. So why drain instinct when standing still in the first place?
Doesn't it do that on normal?
 

SJRB

Gold Member
His window
gives you access to a fire escape that leads to the next floor and your target. Be wary, the room that the fire escape leads to has two guards inside usually and a third that does a routine patrol through it.

The solution is super easy though:
Wait next to the window for the guard to come and glare out of it, jank him out so he falls to his death. Then just jump in, watch the minimap for the moment both guards are faced away and walk to the endpoint

Like many missions I feel like I'm missing huge parts of some areas by taking certain routes/shortcuts.

Many times I find myself thinking "it cannot be this simple, right?". But it is.
 
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