Hitman Absolution -- The Living Breathing World

[Frag_Maniac]

"Center" has been said by many on the shooting range targets, but that is a bit misleading. You get the most points for centered head shots specifically.

Maybe if you were to temporarily relocate your savegame, which would basically result in showing that challenge uncompleted, you could find whether it's still doable under the current patch. Personally I wouldn't do that though, as the game is already questionable as far as recognizing unlocks, so it's a risk.

Part of what you said there makes no sense. Nothing in the prima guide for the game or even Eidos' verification of the necessary criteria on their official forum indicates anything about having to get Silent Assassin rating, which isn't even possible anyway via killing so many non target NPCs.

As far as the civvies, look at that AoD thread and you will see people claiming they've done it via saving them, via letting them get killed, via being spotted by them or staying hidden from them. That tells me the civvies have no bearing on challenge success whatsoever.

Anyways, I don't really give a crap about the game at this point because Eidos really dropped the ball. I used to bemoan them handing Batman over to Warner Bros, but at this point WB is looking a LOT better to me than Eidos. DE: HR wasn't nearly the game it could have been either.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

"Center" has been said by many on the shooting range targets, but that is a bit misleading. You get the most points for centered head shots specifically.

Yeah, forgot there was chest. I never aim at the chest so easy for me to forget.

Maybe if you were to temporarily relocate your savegame, which would basically result in showing that challenge uncompleted, you could find whether it's still doable under the current patch. Personally I wouldn't do that though, as the game is already questionable as far as recognizing unlocks, so it's a risk.

I've had zero problems except for the game occassionally locks up when uploading a created contract. I just have to use Task Manager to kill the game and restart it. The contract shows up under Created Contracts so nothing is lost. That might have more to do with my sketchy internet than anything else though.

Part of what you said there makes no sense. Nothing in the prima guide for the game or even Eidos' verification of the necessary criteria on their official forum indicates anything about having to get Silent Assassin rating, which isn't even possible anyway via killing so many non target NPCs.

Yes, it is. If there is a target and it is killed and spotted is equal to zero, you'll get the Silent Assassin bonus. You can't get Silent Assassin if you are spotted and you can't get Silent Assassin if there is no target marked for assassination (e.g. "evade the police" missions after Terminus).

As far as the civvies, look at that AoD thread and you will see people claiming they've done it via saving them, via letting them get killed, via being spotted by them or staying hidden from them. That tells me the civvies have no bearing on challenge success whatsoever.

Why risk it? All you got to do is let the conversation finish and the merc to open fire for it to be a non-issue. You're a hitman, not Superman. You gain nothing from saving them except for the corrosponding challenges being unlocked. Once they are unlocked, there's absolutely no reason to save them.

DE: HR wasn't nearly the game it could have been either.

I respond "bull" to that too. It's one of the best games made in recent history. I beat it at least three times and would have no quarrel about beating it again. In fact, I'd rather replay DXHR than Arkham Asylum or Arkham City.


Well, for some reason the score estimate dropped from 3.1 million to 2.8 million when I continued the plot. Now I got past the hospital/orphanage (6/20) and it's up to about 3.6 million. I have no idea where it will end up but "double that" is obviously overly optimistic.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Nada, you don't get SA for 50+ non target kills. You can subdue and get the points to zero out by hiding the bodies, but unnecessary kills really ruin the score. Countdown is an example where you can't just kill and hide as much as you want and expect a good score, and that theme is present throughout the game. Pretty much everyone that does the AoD challenge knows it's going to destroy their score.

Risk it? You don't seem to understand that there's simply no proof either way that killing civvies, letting them be killed, or saving them makes any difference, as evidenced by quite a variety of ways the challenge has said to be completed regarding them. Civvies shouldn't even be part of the discussion IMO.

I find it bizarre that you have all these players so overjoyed with having beaten this challenge that they write what they think is a guide on it, only to not even be able to tell anyone for sure what the secrets are for it. This whole debacle was caused my Eidos's sheer vagueness in making this game. From the scoring system down to the disguises and detection, it waffles back and forth into silliness.

Loved Deus Ex 1, but no one's convincing me Eidos' version is anywhere near as good, esp the rabid zombie ending, atrocious really. Not sure comparing it to AA or AC has much credence either, since Eidos developed one and only published the other. That said, I'd take Rocksteady's work over that of Eidos lately easily, or even WB's publishing for that matter.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I got it and I did not save the civvies so I can't recommend saving them.

I know, for a fact, I killed everyone...
-without ever raising suspicion (them turning Orange/Red on the minimap; spotted = 0)
-using a guard disguise
-using predominently garrot wire and silverballers (only when the corpse wouldn't be seen/shots not heard).

Whether or not there is more to it than that, I don't know.


I just beat DX, DXIW, and DXHR. I thought DXHR was by far the best. They all use the same formula that works great but DXHR is the best executed (like the option to never be seen throughout the entire game--except bosses).

The "zombie ending" made sense. Using Hyron, they were trying to use people's augments to take control of everyone--killing those who are not augmented. Think of it as slave labor that never revolts/complains.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

One last word on both, don't care to drag this out.

There's video proof that civvies don't matter. I've seen people let them be killed or save them, not be seen by them or let them come up in their face and thank you. Either way it doesn't matter.

Secondly, almost everyone that's tried numerous times and ways have been as careful as possible not to draw attention, which includes using the radio to draw them to specific safe spots and not using the knife or pistols, because it leaves pools of blood that can be spotted.

Thirdly I've seen people do it with different disguises, that doesn't matter either. Whether or not there's more to it, or exactly WHAT there is to it, no one can really say for sure. No one's really proven the criteria needed for this challenge or the secrets involved, and meanwhile Eidos doesn't give any useful details. It's as if they've forgotten what the criteria were supposed to be and never play tested for it in the first place.

It's not so much the story of DXHR that is off putting to me (though it's clearly not as good as DX1's), but the cheesy way the game conveys it. Everything from graphics to how mind control is conveyed to the ridiculously easy end boss fight just reeks of value game. Missing Link was even worse. I got through it easily with just the pistol on the hardest mode. DXHR is game cobbled together with little gimicks here and there. It has nowhere near the substance of the original written by Warren Spector.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I had no problem at all at the shooting range. Use an accurate pistol, aim for the center, shoot. If you hit enough centers, it's very rare a multishoot will come up that you can't hit them all.

47 was an extremely silent type throughout all previous games. All the interactions, especially with Victoria, feels out of place. At the same time, I commend the game for having a plot that is easy to follow.

I just did it on Purist with a Swiss 3000 (straight across from the counter, back by the duck gallary). I got a score of 509 aiming mostly for the head.

Gun accuracy is the most important thing. You got to get lots of center-heads.

If you sneak around, there's a sniper in the trenches furthers away from the entrance. On normal, the easiest way to get there is to go through the vent in the duck gallary, then through the window, then roll across and follow the trench all the way around to the back. You have to go in/out of scope mode rapidly to get a high score. He switches to pistols doing point shooting but those are 100% accurate anyway.


Edit: Damn Attack of the Saints is hard on Purist! Up to this point, I really had no trouble.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I just finished Operation Sledgehammer and I'm just below 6.5 million. Your 8 million figure is close.

The only thing I didn't do that would improve my score is getting all the evidence. Otherwise I've been getting Specialist, Shadow, or Silent Assassin ranking on everything.

Edit: I finished it on Purist getting Slient Assassin everywhere possible, not a single "Spotted," nor a single "non-target casualty." Unfortunately, since I finished the requim too, it isn't showing me the socre I got.

I struggled with Blackwater Park entrance the most, by far. Just getting into the building took forever (ended up sticking to the right side, getting a security guard uniform off of a guard, waiting until the coast is clear, hide the body, then following the path around to the janitors, going through the vent into the hotel, instinct past the guard, wait until the no one is looking in the lobby, walk across, eat some doughnuts, go through the door on the right, wrap around to the left, knock out the guard that passes through the room, leave him there, knock out the guard in the hallway when the red bellhop isn't there, take out the bellhop, hide the two guards bodies, make sure the guard in the projector room isn't looking, move the bellhops body around the back of the lockers and hide it, take the bellhop uniform, proceed to lady, proceed to door). That took hours to figure out and lkely at least 20 tries. Luckily, the penthouse was the stupid-easy one (hide in chest, she tells guards to buzz off, whack her, knock out the lone elite guard, hide it, take the path out of the knocked out guard, hang a right, where the dino is, hang a left, proceed through secret door, answer phone).

 

[Frag_Maniac]

LOL, how many times have you played the game all the way through? You should know by now you have to make note of your total before starting the last chapter, then add that to the final chapter tally.

Sucks, but yeah, for some reason they don't show you your total at the end. I was pissed the first time I noticed that. It's just another example of how they didn't put enough effort into the scoring system in this game.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Here's what Level Select says...
A Personal Contract: 31,310
The King of Chinatown: 248,400
Terminus: 47,250
Run for your Life: 96,000
Hunter and Hunted: 731,401
Rosewood: 305,550
Welcome to Hope: 18,000
Birdie's Gift: 33,000
Shaving Lenny: 713,150
End of the Road
Dexter Industries: 131,200
Death Factory: 676,276
Fight Night: 249,600
Attack of the Saints: 935,040
Skurky's Law: 51,200
Operation Sledgehammer: 77,500
One of a Kind
Blackwater Park: 331,550
Countdown: 214,880
Absolution: 543,701

That adds up to 5,435,008...whatever that means.

LOL, how many times have you played the game all the way through? You should know by now you have to make note of your total before starting the last chapter, then add that to the final chapter tally.

Sucks, but yeah, for some reason they don't show you your total at the end. I was pissed the first time I noticed that. It's just another example of how they didn't put enough effort into the scoring system in this game.

This was my third. I did it on Normal twice, then Purist. I assume "last chapter" means Absolution?

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I assume "last chapter" means Absolution?

Yes it does, and btw I also thought the final part against the Praetorians was laughably easy.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

It was (only three targets, long paths, huge gaps in coverage, Professional didn't change anything, no civilians or other guards to spot you, etc.). I saw it as a throw-back to the last mission on Bloodmoney moreso than an important part of the game.


I could probably beat it on Purist again relatively quick because I know what works now. It's just a matter of repeating it. Not worth it though just to get a number. XD

 

[WhiteLotus]

Yes it does, and btw I also thought the final part against the Praetorians was laughably easy.

That was stupidly easy. I would have preferred some more guards, or at least the final boss being more than a cut scene.

 

[Peter1986C]

I just did it on Purist with a Swiss 3000 (straight across from the counter, back by the duck gallary). I got a score of 509 aiming mostly for the head.

Gun accuracy is the most important thing. You got to get lots of center-heads.

If you sneak around, there's a sniper in the trenches furthers away from the entrance. On normal, the easiest way to get there is to go through the vent in the duck gallary, then through the window, then roll across and follow the trench all the way around to the back. You have to go in/out of scope mode rapidly to get a high score. He switches to pistols doing point shooting but those are 100% accurate anyway.


Edit: Damn Attack of the Saints is hard on Purist! Up to this point, I really had no trouble.

I managed to win with a difference of three points in comparison to Lilly (at the normal shooting range), and got 47's Silverballer guns back. As you said, headshots did the trick. A vast majority of the hits were 10s and 20s, and only hitting each target once saved a lot of bullets (because I needed to reload less often, and apparently mnot each hit adds to the score). The gun I used was a pistol that is slightly similar to the swiss 3000, but I forgot its name. It was something with 22 in it.
A lower dpi setting helped as well.

I am now at the toasted Motel level; finding the Saints surprisingly unsophisticated for top ICA agents. And why does that ICA militiaman actually make promises to compensate the Motel owner if the saints' policy is "keep no witness alive"? The developers' decision to make over-the-top NPCs certainly backfires there.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Jagd P22G (what you used) is a good gun too.

In the second area of that level, they kill the motel owner. They're lying to try to get him to calm down and give them information about 47.

47 is the top ICA agent.

 

[Peter1986C]

I know that Agent 47 is the ICA top agent, but I assume that the agency would rather send a group of people that are a bit like him (they did that in "Silent Assasin", and they were only so easy to take out because of the AI of the game, lol).

 

[FordGT90Concept]

47 killed the last of the clones of his lineage in Contracts ("Mr. 48"). I think 47 killed the doctor and the destroyed the research in Codename 47. In Bloodmoney, they were creating the Preatoreans which had numerous flaws. Apparently they can still create them seeing as they appeared in Absolution too. Victoria was to be 47's superior but that plan was foiled too. The Saints were just girls taken from orphanages around the world and trained to kill. There is nothing genetically superior about the Saints (unlike the Pretoreans, 47, and Victoria).

The game is "easy" because if it wasn't, the only way to pass each level would be to open fire. They intentionally design means to get behind and take out virtually all enemies in order to keep the silent option open. The challenge is finding exactly how to do that.

Like I said, even on Purist, it is possible to get Silent Assassin or Specialist (where there's no targets) on every level. It just might take hours to find it.

FYI, I logged 88 hours in Absolution and 7 hours in Sniper Challenge.

 

[Peter1986C]

I do not remember the Praetorians (I only played SA,BM and now Absolution). I also never realised that only people who have been victim of "the doctors" are a match for Agent 47 or any of the other clones (up to Agent 48). I always imagined that as long as they worked in groups and were at least on par with 47 in terms of training, they would stand a chance. I might have been wrong though.

When I said "easy" I was talking about fighting the other clones in Silent Assasin, btw. Atleast, I remember them as being easy but then again, it has been years since I played SA the last time on the Gamecube. In order to replay it, I would have to buy it for the Windows platform.

BTW, are "Codename 47" and "Contracts" worth playing, despite their relative age and the fact that the game has kind of "evolved" over time in terms of gameplay?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Codename 47 is ridiculously hard. It shows its age. I'm on the fence about whether or not it is worth playing.

Contracts is excellent except that the story is fragmented (lots of flashbacks) so it is hard to follow. Contracts is very similar to Blood Money in gameplay. If you like Blood Money, Contracts is definitely worth playing.

I know there was 46s too. 48 was supposed to be the same as 47 without free will. Free will makes 47 the most lethal of his brothers.

I got all four games in one retail package. I don't know if you can get that in NL:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004D8QAAO/?tag=tec06d-20


Edit: You know the Opera House mission early on in Blood Money? Contracts takes place immediately after it.

 

[Peter1986C]

There is only one bundle I know that is available and it is on Steam, including CN47, SA and Bloodmoney for 20 euro. Then it might be better to just buy Contracts somewhere for cheap.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Contracts can't be sold digitally because of licensing problems with the Clutch song in it (plays in the biker bar).

Edit: Don't know if you can order from Amazon.co.uk but if you can...
http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B003368KMI/?tag=tec053-21
http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B002FL50UW/?tag=tec053-21
http://www.amazon.co_uk/dp/B004D8QAAO/?tag=tec053-21

 

[Peter1986C]

No, they do not do across-the-border shipments AFAIK, hence the existance of seperate US, UK, German etc. versions of the site (each on its own domain).
Free Record Shop (silly name, but before e-tailers became big they were my primary supplier for music and games) has got the Hitman collection (all 4 old-school games) for 12 EUR, but I bought Bloodmoney for like 5 euro years ago so that does not feel like a good deal (no need to pay for a game I already have (BM) and game I am on the fence for (CN 47), and I have played SA way too much to wish to repurchase it now). So I think I better just wait until I see Contracts somewhere for cheap.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I think the Hitman Collection is DRM free. At least mine was. That might add some incentive to repurchase.

It comes on two DVDs. I believe the Trilogy is on the first disk and Blood Money is on the second.