Now that the GoTY edition came out with some new missions, got back into the game. Hadn't done Colorado/Hokkaido more than once or twice on release (put like 75 hours into the first 4 stages doing mostly everything) because I was playing other stuff at the time and was kinda burnt out on Hitman, so I started with Hokkaido and played it for like 8 hours straight, got to lvl.20 and almost all the assassination challenges and escalations. Really like the map now that I know how all the underground connects.
The only thing that's kinda bullshit is in the GoTY edition they changed one of the NPCs in Hokkaido if you use the
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Bandaged man opporunity to get alone with a doctor, it used to be a surgeon and now it's a normal doctor. This only really matters for 1 assassination challenge where you need to make the chief surgeon kill the guy by uploading the kill list in the surgery room. But it went from a 15-20 min "how do I do this" to like 90 mins until I gave up and waited until I unlocked "START AS SURGEON" and then it's like 10 min thing.
After I finished up Hokkaido, gave one more run on Colorado mostly doing the opportunities (first run or two just killed the bosses with whatever). Took forever and even worse on the Sean Rose watch thing I some how got compromised with a Militia Elite outfit which is the only outfit allowed in that building. So I could either trespass with another outfit or have everyone shooting at me. Was pretty much an impossible situation but after spending like 90 mins killing all the targets I didn't want to start over. So I spent an hour trying to get through the house with every enemy on a map with 100s of enemies trying to kill me. Ended up finding a room and doing a shoutout WITH EVERY ENEMY ON THE MAP -_- That took a while, then I made the mask and left.
Yeah, after getting Hokkaido down I really don't like Colorado. It's just too big, too many enemies, and too many targets. Feels like a pain in the ass to run and doesn't seem like something I'll want to replay much because of how long it is (instead of like speedrunning 2 targets in 5-10 mins in Hokkaido when you have it down). Probably just save/reload and get as many challenges I can get in on my next run and try to get to lvl.20 mastery (at lvl.12 now) and move on.
I never did the three bonus stages and now have the 4 new stages from the GoTY edition, so I got a lot to catch up on. From the original maps I think I liked them Sapienza > Hokkaido = Paris > Bangkok > Marrakesh >> Colorado. Maybe after I watch some speedruns and learn some Colorado tricks I'll like it more.
Started Mumbai, really cool looking city.
Also had hilarious thing happen:
I see an actor in a crow outfit throwing up and I push him in a river. An NPC walking by over the bridge
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Sees me so I shoot him and then it goes 47 you have just killed the maelstrom
lol
Out of all the hundreds of random NPCs on the map, the first on I randomly kill is him.
Sad part is now I miss the whole mechanics to figure out who he is (I'll still go through them to check them out) because now I know who he is and his route. I even tried it again to see if the mission randomly assigns him to a different NPC each run, but nope killed the same npc over the bridge and it was him again. Oh well, kinda amazing and kinda sad.
If the mechanic behind his identity was randomized somewhat it would've been cool in a Westwood Blade Runner way.
Got my Master mode SA in Mumbai, I'm sure I could shave time off but I haven't even done half the opportunities so I just went for an SA once I found a couple I thought would work.
Some frustrating bits on Master, I feel like that mode is still a bit buggy and a single save just makes it worse. I had a bunch of restarts because of some random AI behavior where I'd do the same thing over and over but sometimes a guard would get alerted or someone would see behind them. I think most of it comes down to Master mode's sound effects being a much bigger deal. But even then sometimes I'd drop a body a few feet and the guard nearby wouldn't notice and every once and a while on a run they would. Just some odd stuff. They even hear necks cracking which cost me like 10-15 mins of a retry :(
The route I did for Mumbai SA is:
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Follow crow guy into alley way, KO him when guard is turned and dump body under bridge, take outfit
KO guard and dump body under bridge
Go grab the cerulean cloth because time to kill
Head back to the alley where the bodies are dumped and distract main pirate target guy
Wait for holy man to walk by (this doesn't seem to work well on Master mode, was kinda a mess separating them)
KO pirate target in alley, break neck and dump body under the bridge (had one time where the holy man all the way across the bridge somehow looked back??? and saw me KO this guy wtf)
That's was the tough part because a lot of randomness in NPC behaviors there on master, on professional seemed more consistent.
Then went to the movie set, threw a coin outside the camera evidence room and ran in and deleted footage while guy went to investigate (gotta watch for 2nd guy that comes upstairs, got caught first time)
Then upstairs and do the whole movie shoot thing (not sure if there's a kill opportunity in there somewhere, will find out soon when I do the remaining opportunities)
Do the talk with director, go up to the the 5th floor
Lead director into the concealed corner behind the body guard nearest him and KO him from the back (here's where I lost 15 mins when I do a neck break and the guard turned around and saw me)
Throw a brick and knock out guard from behind, drag his body over in the concealed area.
Slide down the elevator shaft to get out, dodging guys looking out into the shaft.
Head to the tailor, go upstairs turns off the electricity and KO the tailor and hide the body and grab costume
Grab the note, some coins, head down when the upstairs guard is walking away from the lookout and trigger the talk and get frisked
Run forward and coin toss into the bushes the remaining enforcer guard and run past
Do the scripted cloth thing, get alone and kill target, knock out other person, hide both bodies
Head out through the back of the train station climbing the containers and exit
Pretty happy with that considering I've been playing with the opportunities off/master mode and figuring out all this stuff on my own. Going start doing the other scripted kill ways and see if there's quicker methods. Also gotta start figuring out some suit only ideas.
Did a sniper assassin run on Mumbai yesterday. Went pretty well though with the Waz I pretty much had to just take a cheap shot and hide in a closet lol. There's an achievement to snipe all three from the beach sniper tower. Not really sure how to do that outside the producer guy who steps onto the rafters giving a clear shot. I'm guessing you need to use an opportunity first to get train gal outside and Wazir somewhere that you know is 100% him.
Also since 90% of my sniper assassin run was me running around with a giant fucking sniper rifle on my back since ladders and stuff which briefcase can't go up, I went for a suit only SA run (on professional difficulty since still figuring things out). I got Wazir on a total fluke
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Did the tea setup with the old lover but didn't have any poison/rat poison because it was my first time doing this scripted part and didn't know where he'd go, but I walked by the door and he saw me and came inside to investigate so I led him upstairs with coins and took him out and hid his body in the closet.
and train gal was pretty easy with the wash area (hardest part is figuring out where to hide the body). But I spent like 20 mins trying to figure out how to SA suit only the producer and died a million times. I'm up on the 5th floor rafters where the hostage guy is trying to figure out a way to get the producer to "accidentally" fall without alerting any of the like 5 security guys around him, but I might try a different approach. Left the save at that point to pick up today.
Oh, and Mumbai is kinda interesting because with the Wazir Kale guy there's like a whole bunch of hidden opportunities to get to him, so a lot more than 7 in that stage. Really fantastic stage. I still need to figure out how to get him and train gal to meet. The sniper side story is hilarious and amazing.
For stuff like challenges/suit only/sniper kinda runs I like doing them while waiting in a lobby in an MP console game for people to join (like Monster Hunter Switch) since it can take like 20 mins and that's perfect to try to knock some of this stuff out. But can't do it on Master because it's a single save. I think if Master wasn't a single save I'd always play in Master 100% because I like some of the small changes like bloody kills ruining outfits, more security cams and more enforcers and fewer items around. But 1 save just makes it a pain in the butt a lot. Although the plus side is that it makes it more intense like an escalation/elusive since you gotta do the whole run near perfect so it's more exciting idk.
Still love this game. Will clear Mumbai eventually (no rush) and then on to Vermont. I'm guessing the 2 DLC locations are like 6 months+ away so plenty of time to finish out all the content and new escalations/elusives.
Oh, between runs on the new H2 maps I've been going back trying to do a SA run on each of the old maps (including bonus maps) to refresh the olds maps. Paris wasn't too bad because I'd played it so many times it's still pretty fresh in my head and it's a pretty straightforward map. Doing the original Sapienza story mission though...man I remember certain kills for both targets but I had totally forgotten the ways to take out the virus SA, so I just ended up going in there in a hazmat dropped a remote bomb (lol) distracting the 2 guards so I wouldn't kill them and then triggering the explosion and getting the fuck outta there. While I love Sapienza, I agree the virus part is the weak link on it. I'd say the escalations/bonus maps are better but the kills on the main 2 targets on World of Tomorrow are just so good (Plague Doctor, Observatory snipe, Golf lover, virus kills, etc...) that I still think the main mission is the best Hitman mission. Just the virus part is kinda eh. Landslide is definitely more pretty time of day and better music though!
(https://i.imgur.com/5JbLb1Xl.jpg)
Alright, every challenge in Whittleton Creek down except the stupid shoot 25 pigeons one because the completionist in me is still debating whether it's worth wasting 20 mins using a guide just for 1 stupid challenge.
Got my Suit Only SA last and the funny thing is it was such an easy SOSA I figured there's no reason it shouldn't work exactly the same on Master difficulty and it did so I did one run on Master and got SOSA/SO/No Evidence and just need Sniper Assassin (Master) for the classics on Master.
It's the only level so far where the same tactics from Professional difficulty work on Master difficulty and I didn't have to devise new strategies. I basically just did
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For Cassidy the only kill I could think of for Suit Only is putting a flyer in his mailbox and breaking the light by the political tent and turning on the sprinkler for an accident kill and turning it off after. Like every other Cassidy kill feels like it requires outfits for?? Even getting him inside his house and putting everyone to sleep some dumbass guard always stumbles in and finds all the passed out bodies and you lose your SA. For the BBQ thing you have to use an outfit too.
Actually, nm just realized the realtor one you can have the realtor do it without you being the realtor. Hmmmm, probably takes some effort because you'll be trespassing and there's like 3 people in the basement that way.
Anyhow did the electricity one for Cassidy, accident kill so doesn't matter if the body sits out there, run and knock out Batty in his backyard, hide the body in the shed, grab the lawsuit docs (clue 1), grab his shovel in the shed and unearth the cigar box (clue 2) run to Janus' house, knock out the guard in the kitchen using the transformer in the garage and hide his body, poison the tea (accident kill, bring your own poison or grab it next door), head downstairs, knock out guard in basement and hide body, optionally turn off all cameras/delete footage if you've been seen, pick up the photo (clue 3), leave the way you came and you're done. Works on both Professional and Master difficulty. Pretty easy stuff.
After a little break playing other stuff will start the 15-20 hour journey of learning the final stage next. Also they finally put up an escalation in Miami. That's cool, I like Miami. Gonna wait until I finish up Sgail and then do the few escalations they've added recently.
*edit* meh, killed all the pigeons while trying to fill a lobby in MHGU and no one joining. All challenges on Whittleton done.
Ok, I did the Murder Mystery in Dartmoor.
After feeling like Dubai was kinda of just an okay Hitman 2016/2018 level, I think I'm now getting what Hitman 3 is going for and it's actually a lot cooler project than I thought and not just a dumbed down smaller/simplified Hitman 1/2.
From what I'm hearing of stuff past Berlin and what I've seen in the first 3 maps, it feels like Dubai was just a "one for old times sake" traditional sandbox Hitman 1/2 style map with some very small new additions (camera and slightly more narrative). But the real Hitman 3 starts after that and rather then just doing more of the same that Hitman 2 did (which is totally fine since the formula is amazing), Hitman 3 actually shakes up the formula and is an ambitious game that's trying new concepts with Hitman gameplay for each stage.
I actually think that's pretty awesome and respect that ambition. I really enjoyed Dartmoor's mystery story and clue hunting. It was a very different type of game experience within the Hitman engine/gameplay and it worked. (and I also like that it's an extremely heavy nod to Knives Out, and who knew we'd ever get Knives Out - The videogame. I hope Rian Johnson plays this map).
I do wish there was an alternate way to conclude the Dartmoor murder mystery map.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
After solving the mystery, and asking for the case file and getting it, I didn't want to kill the target. I wish you could've taken her offer up and killed Emma and maybe let her fake her death and walk away. It seemed like she was done with everything and wasn't really a threat anymore. Would've been a satisfying alternate conclusion to the map. Kinda like an rpg quest with multiple resolutions.
Also I think IOI should've changed one small thing on the mission story for the detective mystery
spoiler (click to show/hide)
When you get all the clues, your narrator shouldn't TELL YOU who did it. I mean it's clearly obvious once you've gotten all the clues but part of the satisfaction is presenting your conclusion without being 100% sure you are correct and hoping you are. Was pretty lame when before you could even tell the butler who you thought did it, the game tells you exactly who did it. I think the narrator should've said something like "now that you have all the clues it should be obvious who did it" or something like that instead of telling you Emma did it.
It'd be nice if Dartmoor mysteries were randomized, too, that way replays could be a bit more interesting. Maybe have spoiler (click to show/hide)
your target be a killer as story canon. That would eliminate any doubt in her need to be eliminated.
Now spoiler question:
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I wonder if it's possible to kill everyone at the beginning of the Mendoza level, essentially saving Burnwood? I tried it like 15 times for yuks. Might need a bigger starter gun.
Ok, I did the Murder Mystery in Dartmoor.
After feeling like Dubai was kinda of just an okay Hitman 2016/2018 level, I think I'm now getting what Hitman 3 is going for and it's actually a lot cooler project than I thought and not just a dumbed down smaller/simplified Hitman 1/2.
From what I'm hearing of stuff past Berlin and what I've seen in the first 3 maps, it feels like Dubai was just a "one for old times sake" traditional sandbox Hitman 1/2 style map with some very small new additions (camera and slightly more narrative). But the real Hitman 3 starts after that and rather then just doing more of the same that Hitman 2 did (which is totally fine since the formula is amazing), Hitman 3 actually shakes up the formula and is an ambitious game that's trying new concepts with Hitman gameplay for each stage.
I actually think that's pretty awesome and respect that ambition. I really enjoyed Dartmoor's mystery story and clue hunting. It was a very different type of game experience within the Hitman engine/gameplay and it worked. (and I also like that it's an extremely heavy nod to Knives Out, and who knew we'd ever get Knives Out - The videogame. I hope Rian Johnson plays this map).
I do wish there was an alternate way to conclude the Dartmoor murder mystery map.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
After solving the mystery, and asking for the case file and getting it, I didn't want to kill the target. I wish you could've taken her offer up and killed Emma and maybe let her fake her death and walk away. It seemed like she was done with everything and wasn't really a threat anymore. Would've been a satisfying alternate conclusion to the map. Kinda like an rpg quest with multiple resolutions.
Also I think IOI should've changed one small thing on the mission story for the detective mystery
spoiler (click to show/hide)
When you get all the clues, your narrator shouldn't TELL YOU who did it. I mean it's clearly obvious once you've gotten all the clues but part of the satisfaction is presenting your conclusion without being 100% sure you are correct and hoping you are. Was pretty lame when before you could even tell the butler who you thought did it, the game tells you exactly who did it. I think the narrator should've said something like "now that you have all the clues it should be obvious who did it" or something like that instead of telling you Emma did it.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Huh, I didn’t even really get into the dartmoor story much when I played it because of the way I did it. I set up the photo kind of by accident, then when she came out I knocked everyone out with a concussion grenade thing, shot her in the head, and dressed up as a bodyguard to go find the stupid safe puzzle.
The bodyguard costume basically gives you a full run of the house, so it just seemed sort of basic.
Germany I sort of felt the same, you can get a spcecific costume that basically just lets you wander endlessly with almost zero suspicion even from the targets.
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As long as you do one of the storylines to get Alexi to address her family, if you do nothing she will die later on her own because after the meeting Emma will go out to the greenhouse and make poison and come back and poison her drink.
You can just like walk around and grab the file and walk to the exit and then she'll die. So good.
It even has multiple endings even if it doesn't give you the one I wanted. When finished up all the challenges I found out.
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If you frame the death on Zachary, which only takes a single item in the library 2f, Alexi gives you the case file AND kills herself letting you just walk out and instant win the map.
I did appreciate the fast forward starting points though I only used them for one challenge. All levels should have FF starting points to start midway through routings.
Got my SOSA in Mendoza, if you do it with the main mission story it's pretty satisfying.
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Have Yates kill the herald and then drink the poisoned wine, go save Diana, tell her Yates is dead and leave via tango
Got a handful of various kills/challenges left in Mendoza. Can probably clear them up in another night and be finished with this.
Got my SOSA in Mendoza, if you do it with the main mission story it's pretty satisfying.
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Have Yates kill the herald and then drink the poisoned wine, go save Diana, tell her Yates is dead and leave via tango
Got a handful of various kills/challenges left in Mendoza. Can probably clear them up in another night and be finished with this.
How do you poison spoiler (click to show/hide)
the wine? I have poison but couldn't figure out how to get it in the bottle. Some douchebag did pouring duties and I was just stuck there watching.
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(https://i.redd.it/7ym8eadoppea1.png)