I don't have anything to offer on the actual game, as the series has never interested me, but George Weidman, aka Super Bunnyhop, reviewed and really liked it, despite a few misgivings:
What the hell? Why did nobody tell me the new Hitman game was really good?
- Thread starter Zhukov
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Are people being slightly irrational after they fixed a bunch of things after release? Yeah, most likely. HOWEVER, this is what happens when you make dick moves like this. You remove the customer's trust in you as a company and that's hard to get back. Sometimes very hard. Oh, and Square Enix doesn't exactly have the best track record here with the fucking microtransactions in Mankind Divided. The poor developers of that game had that shit randomly thrust onto them too at the end of development.B-Cell said:
I'll buy it when it's done, and not a moment before.Saelune said:
And given that the game is supposed to be coming out in "seasons", I'm probably gonna be waiting a long while. I'm not paying for a TV show, I'm trying to buy a game. I don't care that I'm missing content by waiting; if anything, that just makes me not want to buy it even more.
Not to mention the whole "always online" bullshit.
I was one of the few who thought splitting the game into episodes actually made sense at the time it was announced, yet I still haven't purchased it, despite being a long time Hitman fan.
Now that the game is complete, and pretty much all the reviews I've seen are overwhelmingly positive, I'll be looking to grab it come Christmas time when I may actually have some time to play it.
Have been a little hesitant to pay full price for it, but from the sounds of it, it may actually be worth it.
Now that the game is complete, and pretty much all the reviews I've seen are overwhelmingly positive, I'll be looking to grab it come Christmas time when I may actually have some time to play it.
Have been a little hesitant to pay full price for it, but from the sounds of it, it may actually be worth it.
Maybe this type of game isn't for me, but I'm having a hard time getting into it. For the record, it's the first Hitman game I've ever played. I get that it works on the concept of "practice makes perfect" repetition, but I'm having a hell of a time just trying to beat the Paris mission. I don't know how I'm supposed to kill my targets with bodyguards dogging their every step.
A typical Hitman session for me consists of an hour-long attempt where I painstakingly try to observe my surroundings and take advantage of opportunities. Then I accidentally blow my cover somewhere along the line, resulting in a protracted shootout with an infinite conga line of guards that eventually kill me. I usually forget about the save feature, meaning I have to start all over. At this point I shut the game off in frustration. A week or so passes and I decide to try again, usually with the same outcome. Rinse and repeat.
A typical Hitman session for me consists of an hour-long attempt where I painstakingly try to observe my surroundings and take advantage of opportunities. Then I accidentally blow my cover somewhere along the line, resulting in a protracted shootout with an infinite conga line of guards that eventually kill me. I usually forget about the save feature, meaning I have to start all over. At this point I shut the game off in frustration. A week or so passes and I decide to try again, usually with the same outcome. Rinse and repeat.
When I first played Blood Money, I hated it. It was hard, I did not know what I was doing, and it sucked. Eventually, I just run and gunned everything on easy. But being an achievement whore, I eventually looked up guides for Silent Assassin ratings, and once I understood how to actually play the game, I really got into it.Neverhoodian said:
But by then I beat everything with a guide... (Another reason I keep wanting a Blood Money style Hitman game to play).
Long story short, maybe try some guides to get a better idea on how to play the game well, and see if that helps maybe?
SlumlordThanatos said:
Hitman November Patch Notes:
General Improvements
Offline Profile
All unlockable items that are earned when connected to the game's servers, are now also saved to an 'offline profile', meaning that they can be used when in Offline Mode.
Items include all mastery items; including weapons, gear, starting/pickup locations as well as Elusive Target suit rewards and Challenge Pack unlocks.
Note: You must be connected to the game servers in order to acquire new unlocks.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/major-hitman-update-arrives-heres-what-it-does/1100-6445762/
It shouldn't have taken this long for sure, but at least offline content isn't gimped anymore.
I love the Hitman games, it's one of my favourite series, but I refuse to buy it with its BS episodic format, always online crap, and Denuvo. The game might be great, but all the attendant nonsense attached to it makes it a no go for me.
Sadly, that's not the case. It's still very much gimped. Because of this bit:hanselthecaretaker said:
That includes all the challenges and every bit of progression. You can play levels with whatever you already have unlocked but the game ignores any progress you make.
For the sake of comparison, imagine a RPG where if you played offline you didn't earn XP, couldn't complete quests, couldn't pick up loot and couldn't spend skill points. But you can still enjoy the combat!
I'm loving the game but I'm not going to defend the always-online bullshit for a single second.
The game has different save files for offline and online(which are now interchangeable to a degree) but this also makes sense b/c you need online to access user generated content and time specific events(now a moot point I guess). I believe the developers also implemented the online profiles to receive feedback from how people play the game(something they can use for the second season).Zhukov said:
You can play through the story offline you just can't use this progress in your online profile(and vice versa) and you are obviously locked out of certain online modes and events.
Squeenix/IO could have implemented the online a bit more elegantly(or atleast warn about the different profiles in advance) but now it's starting to sound a bit like people complaining they can't access the online multiplayer in offline mode.
Fucking what?stroopwafel said:
No, it really isn't. I'm sorry, but that's some pure crispy-fried bullshit you're trying to serve up there.
If you just couldn't download content updates and user content without a live internet connection then fair enough. Because duh. Those things require the internet to access anyway.
As it stands, going offline seals away all the progression elements. It's right there in the fucking patch notes [https://hitman.com/news/november-update-release-notes]: "You must be connected to the game servers in order to acquire new unlocks."
I checked before and I checked again before writing this post. Being offline completely locks you out of single-player progression content that has no practical reason to require a connection.
If they wanted to gather gameplay data for development purposes they could have just done what sensible devs do and had an option to send them your data. Hell, have it on by default.
Trying to say that their approach was somehow necessary is fucking laughable when damn near every other game on the market (including the previous Hitman game from the same fucking developer) manages to give me unrestricted access to single player content and progression and only requires an internet connection for the stuff that cannot function without one.
Like I said, the game keeps separate save files for on- and offline so any progress you make in online doesn't apply to your offline profile. However it's still perfectly possible to play through the story offline as long as you keep to your offline profile(though obviously you're locked out of it's online elements).Zhukov said:
This is what IO said when they released ep. 1: ''It is possible to enjoy the locations offline, but in order to ensure player-progress of the live content is correct and up to date, the save states for online and offline are kept separate.''
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/03/25/hitman-offline-online-saves-will-continue-to-be-incompatible-io-interactive-suggests/#DKvTsoQZhDqQrZw3.99
Not saying they couldn't have handled it better or that it isn't annoying but really people are blowing it way out of proportion. Compare it to a game like The Division that can't even be played offline in it's entirety.
Short version: Why?Zhukov said:
Is it a cobbled mess of weird mechanics, disjointed themes which shouldn't work but do, gameplay choices which kind of suck yet somehow adds up to something amazing?
Or is this a case of 'They're a big studio, making a franchised game, with a sale method I find dubious, and thus the game has no right to be good!'
I think my point here is that phrase bugs me. People rarely use it to in reference to something which makes no real sense but is great, and too often use it to describe something mainstream they wanted to dislike, and feel has no right to actually be good.
Neither.Elijin said:
Nothing I've seen from the developer suggested to me that they were capable of making something this good. I mean, this is the studio that made fucking Kayne and Lynch.
It's like having the developers of Assassin's Creed casually turn around and make The Last of Us.
Super Bunnyhop summed it up pretty well. An absolutely amazing game with atrocious business practices to go with it. Always online, and locking entire missions - every bit as complete as the other missions - behind a preorder wall.
I'm actually not that mad about it being episodic. As he also pointed out, the style of the game really isn't hampered by it, since most of the missions are separated by long trips to another location on the globe, kind of like Blood Money. Still, if I do buy it, then I'll buy a complete edition.
As for buying it at all, I haven't decided yet. I'm not really in a rush to get it. I've still got a library of untried Steam games to play. I'm considering it though.
I'm actually not that mad about it being episodic. As he also pointed out, the style of the game really isn't hampered by it, since most of the missions are separated by long trips to another location on the globe, kind of like Blood Money. Still, if I do buy it, then I'll buy a complete edition.
As for buying it at all, I haven't decided yet. I'm not really in a rush to get it. I've still got a library of untried Steam games to play. I'm considering it though.
Are you serious? That is one example of a shitty game. This is also the studio that made Hitman Silent Assassin, Contracts and Blood Money. All those games were superb with some genuine excellence in level design. I even enjoyed Hitman Absolution(a more derivative and sleeker stealth shooter) and Freedom Fighters on PS2 which was also a pretty good third person shooter back in the day.Zhukov said:
Still, IO always excelled in the 'traditional' Hitman formula so I think that is the reason why the newest game is so well received. It really is a return to form for them. A game that actually *gasp* respects the player's intelligence.
Elijin said:
Yes, you're exactly right if you ignore every word I wrote and substitute completely different ones. Well played.
I thought all the previous Hitman games were kinda shit.stroopwafel said:
(Really not looking to get into an debate about that. This-game-is-good-no-it's-bad-no-it's-good arguments bore the shit out of me. Right up there with arguing about the definition of a RPG.)
Anyway, like I said in the OP, the formula always had potential but each game was always hobbled by various failures. This latest game feels like what Hitman was always trying to be. Maybe it was a matter of technical limitations finally being overcome. Maybe they got some better talent or management into the studio. Maybe the episodic release schedule made for a better development cycle. I dunno, but something somewhere finally went right.