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 NO SPOILERS. Credit to forums user Edmond Dantes for the rad header!  HITMAN™ is the sixth entry in IO Interactive's Hitman franchise, a Stealth/Action series that puts players in the shoes of Agent 47, the world's best hitman. The games are beloved for being open sandboxes that offer a lot of freedom for accomplishing goals - should you kill a man by poisoning his spaghetti? Or maybe it'd be better to push him off a cliff? Why not let him take a swing at an explosive golf ball? Or better yet, why not throw the explosive golf ball at him? The possibilities are endless! The series has been a bit uneven in quality through its history; the first game was extremely rough, but the next three iterations improved on the formula tremendously. The fifth game, Absolution, opted to drop the sandbox stealth gameplay for linear stealth more akin to Metal Gear or Splinter Cell, which made it a very divisive title and almost killed the franchise. Thankfully, IOI learned from their mistakes and this game brought the series back to what it's best known for. While this game is fantastic, it launched to some controversy because the publisher, Square Enix, decided to make this game an episodic title and release the game's levels piecemeal as DLC - players would buy the base game, which came with the prologue and the first level for a meager $15, and then they were free to buy the rest of the 5 levels as DLC as they came out for $10 a pop. People who didn't want to bother with that model could just buy the whole thing up front for $60 and get all the levels as they came out. A lot of people accused Square Enix of trying to milk their consumers and release unfinished content, but I think that's the wrong way of looking at it. The game was incomplete as the DLC was being released, sure, but there's not a whole lot of continuity between this game's levels, so it's not like breaking up the experience really hurts it all that much. Additionally, IOI can get live feedback about their released levels and use that to polish upcoming ones to make them even better, and because each level is separate DLC, players can skip levels that they don't want. The episodic model doesn't work for every title, but turning this game into a budget title was an incredibly smart move with a lot of pros.  This will be an informative LP where I try to cover as much of the game as is reasonable. I'm joined by my usual co-commentary buddy Jobbo_Fett. The base game has so much content before we even get into things like Escalations and Contracts mode, so I'm going to stick to the main episodes. I'll try to keep to releasing episodes once a week, but that is subject to change depending on how busy I get. Each episode will be broken up into at least two parts; the first video will show a simple way of completing the level, while the rest of the videos for each episode will be devoted to showing off more advanced kill opportunities and other easter eggs. I'll do my best to cover Elusive Targets, which are unique targets that are only available for a week or so on a specific level that allow players only one chance to take them out, but because of the nature of how they work, some ET videos may come out long before we've even gotten to the level they're on. I could wait until we start the episode that each ET is on, but I also want to demo each one as they go live for the people playing along. HITMAN™ is not a very story heavy game, so it'd be a bit silly to have a spoiler policy in place for that, but I will ask that you refrain from discussing episodes that have not yet been covered, so don't talk about how rad the final map is when we're only on the first one, for example. Once we've started an episode, feel free to discuss anything from it, though if I haven't shown something off, like easter eggs or kill opportunities, then tag your spoilers.  00 - Prologue     01 - Paris The Showstopper     Bonus  Elusive Targets  My Run  My Run Jobbo_Fett's Run  My Run  My Run  My Run 02 - Sapienza The World of Tomorrow      Elusive Targets  My Run  My Run  My Run  My Run  My Run...............Intel Run 03 - Marrakesh A Gilded Cage     Elusive Targets  My Run  My Run 04 - Bangkok Club 27     05 - Colorado Freedom Fighters     Elusive Targets  06 - Hokkaido Situs Invertus     Console Catch Up Streams 8/13 - Paris and Sapienza  Supplementary Material Discendo Vox goes into detail about how bad the pooch was screwed with Absolution. He then followed it up with an incredibly misguided promotional app for Absolution.  Discendo Vox gives us a fantastic write-up about the history of the franchise up until this game. Dinictus writes about how the marketing for HITMAN™ was so, sooo much better than Absolution's with a cool collaboration with Realm Pictures! ChaosArgate fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Apr 4, 2018 |
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Mar 8, 2017 22:22
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Such a fun game. Can't wait to watch this get broken 
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Mar 8, 2017 22:26
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Reserved
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Mar 8, 2017 22:35
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I'm in. I want to watch someone competent at the game enjoy it, as opposed to my fumbling.
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Mar 8, 2017 22:38
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This game is amazing.
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Mar 8, 2017 22:49
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"Mister" 47? That's Agent 47 to you, friend!  I love this game so much. I normally don't like games where your primary mode of interacting with the world is murder but this one makes it into less Shooty McShootmans and more a really cool puzzle game where the solution just happens to be murder. Its fascinating to me watching different people play this game and do each mission in wildly different ways. Also I love how lovely and fake everything looks in the training mission, its such a nice little touch.
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Mar 8, 2017 23:05
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Hitman is slightly less annoying on a controller since the analogue stick allows you to match pace with npc speed. It's a bit annoying since if you push the stick too far you'll be faster than the npc and if you are too timid you are too slow. Keyboard doesn't allow for that amount of granularity. Question argate: did you manage to reset the achievements/kill challenges and if so how?
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Mar 8, 2017 23:06
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Faerie Fortune posted:"Mister" 47? That's Agent 47 to you, friend! He's not an agent yet, he hasn't become part of the ICA. double nine posted:Hitman is slightly less annoying on a controller since the analogue stick allows you to match pace with npc speed. It's a bit annoying since if you push the stick too far you'll be faster than the npc and if you are too timid you are too slow. Keyboard doesn't allow for that amount of granularity. I did not, so I'll make mention of the challenges as we hit them. The one surefire way I can think of to start fresh is to start on a new profile, so you'd want to do a steam family share or w/e to reset progress.
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Mar 8, 2017 23:11
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Once Ritter *ahem* trails off trying to remember his password Norfolk will readily wallow in the awkward silence while you make your escape. You don't actually have to pop him to get away clean.
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Mar 8, 2017 23:30
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I know way, way too much about the Hitman series, especially its rich and engaging plotline. This most recent game actually, for a change, has generally very good writing, with a lot of subtle stuff thrown into it. If anyone has any plot questions, hit me up. For example, the devs confirmed speculation online that the secret ICA base that training occurs in is located in North Greenland. The ikea set instructions are on a table on the bottom deck of the ship, in pretty much the one location you didn't search. You can silently take out the Sparrow while his client is facing the window, then stash the body in the bedroom immediately behind him. Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Mar 9, 2017 |
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Mar 8, 2017 23:37
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I'm in, I'm actually curious about this game. I absolutely loved the series from the first game until Blood Money (even though Contracts is not as good as the other, sadly), but then Absolution was absolutely a letdown and I stopped playing it partway through, and I didn't touch this one. Looking forward to it.
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Mar 8, 2017 23:46
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Discendo Vox posted:I know way, way too much about the Hitman series, especially its rich and engaging plotline. This most recent game actually, for a change, has generally very good writing, with a lot of subtle stuff thrown into it. If anyone has any plot questions, hit me up. whut? I found Hitman 2016 to be mostly devoid of interesting meta-plot. The missions themselves were fine but the connecting dots were a bit ... dull, cliché.
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Mar 8, 2017 23:47
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double nine posted:whut? I found Hitman 2016 to be mostly devoid of interesting meta-plot. The missions themselves were fine but the connecting dots were a bit ... dull, cliché. There's a bunch of detail that's only in incidental conversations in the levels, not in the cutscenes. The main plotline has some cliches, it's true, but it's still miles better than the rampant bigotry of Absolution.
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Mar 9, 2017 00:06
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You might want to increase the cutscene audio when you arent commentating because I couldn't hear a thing what anyone said in them. I think you need to turn up the game audio in general actually. Cooked Auto fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Mar 9, 2017 |
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Mar 9, 2017 00:22
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I can't believe they showed us Diana's face, game already ruined. But seriously, I'm looking forward to this despite the lack of a crazy foreign legion cloning conspiracy or whatever the old games ended up being.
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Mar 9, 2017 01:07
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2016 was a really weird year for me in regards to sequels. Ones I expected to be good like Dishonored 2 were lacking IMO, while a bunch of ones that I was cautiously optimistic about at best like Watch Dogs 2 and Titanfall 2 were amazing. And this is the sequel that started it off. I'll join the crowd in saying that Hitman is absolutely fantastic and easily provided some of the best gaming moments I had last year (Although I was a bit late to the party, buying the season pass when it went on sale at Black Friday).
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Mar 9, 2017 01:16
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wiegieman posted:I can't believe they showed us Diana's face, game already ruined. They showed it (and, ugh, more) in Absolution.
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Mar 9, 2017 01:44
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I never really gave the Hitman series a chance...but now, one video in, I'm re-thinking my position. This looks amazing.
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Mar 9, 2017 01:47
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Discendo Vox posted:They showed it (and, ugh, more) in Absolution. You must be gripped by some bizarre fever dream, I don't know of any such Hitman game.
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Mar 9, 2017 01:52
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Discendo Vox posted:The ikea set instructions are on a table on the bottom deck of the ship, in pretty much the one location you didn't search. Holy poo poo thank you so much. 
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Mar 9, 2017 01:56
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I didn't realize how accurate that manual was until I started building a new bookcase. Took me a few tries, but I noticed that I didn't have my gun and fiber wire; built it no problem once I fixed that.
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Mar 9, 2017 02:01
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Jobbo_Fett posted:I didn't realize how accurate that manual was until I started building a new bookcase. Took me a few tries, but I noticed that I didn't have my gun and fiber wire; built it no problem once I fixed that. I too wish to one day own enough books that only a bookcase the size of a yacht can contain them all.
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Mar 9, 2017 08:15
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Definitely going to be following this. I've heard a lot of discussion about it, but aside from one stream I watched for 20 minutes and this first video, I've not seen anything of this in action. It looks pretty fun!
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Mar 9, 2017 08:29
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I know nothing of Hitman: Absolution- what made it so bad?
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Mar 9, 2017 17:38
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CommissarMega posted:I know nothing of Hitman: Absolution- what made it so bad? IO decided that instead of making a stealth game, they wanted an action adventure like Uncharted, with explosions and cool looking set pieces. Naturally the fans had a problem with that, because that was not what previous Hitman games were about. Also the story sucked.
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Mar 9, 2017 18:30
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To add on that, the game itself would've probably be better recieved if it weren't a Hitman game. It looks like plays alright, but it missed the mark on what people like about this series by a long shot, from what I understand.
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Mar 9, 2017 18:35
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A lot of what Hitman is about (especially after Blood Money) is social stealth. Knocking successive people out, stealing their clothes, blending in, and giving the target a fatal accident is kind of peak Hitman. Absolution didn't do that well.
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Mar 9, 2017 18:51
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Basically, Absolution wasn't necessarily a bad game, but it was a bad Hitman game. Luckily IO learned from their mistake because HITMAN™ is pretty drat good.
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Mar 9, 2017 19:03
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Absolution also had this weird, offputting system where it was constantly scoring you and even knocking innocents out non-lethally and unseen deducted points, making the whole thing give off a bad taste.
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Mar 9, 2017 21:21
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Lulti posted:knocking innocents out non-lethally and unseen deducted points, making the whole thing give off a bad taste. ...This is on top of needing to KO people to recharge your instinct meter? That's an incredibly weird and poor design decision and it makes me appreciate 2016's meter-free instinct mode even more.
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Mar 9, 2017 21:30
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I know absolutely nothing about the Hitman games other than that the main character is bald and named Agent 47. Because of this, I thought this was the first game. 
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Mar 9, 2017 23:58
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Miz Kriss posted:I know absolutely nothing about the Hitman games other than that the main character is bald and named Agent 47. Because of this, I thought this was the first game. It might as well be - other than a stinger at the end there's pretty much nothing linking Hitman to Codename 47 or any of the other games. Also don't play Codename 47. It has aged ... poorly.
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Mar 10, 2017 00:05
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Just a quick question: is discussing previous Hitman games' plot kosher, or does it fall under the no spoilers mandate?
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Mar 10, 2017 00:08
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Mikl posted:Just a quick question: is discussing previous Hitman games' plot kosher, or does it fall under the no spoilers mandate? Go for it. This series is incredibly light with plot anyway and the events of, say, Contracts, won't really say anything about this game. If you want to talk about how 47's the most successful of Dr. Ort-Meyer's assassin test tube babies, be my guest.
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Mar 10, 2017 00:13
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CommissarMega posted:I know nothing of Hitman: Absolution- what made it so bad? Hitman Absolution's direction and development teams did a few horrible things. 1. It's the most offensive and bigoted AAA game I've ever seen. Aside from outright white supremacism, which is largely absent(because almost all minorities in the game are ripoffs of hollywood actors), the range and bluntness of the hate in the game's writing is breathtaking, especially its misogyny. The bondage nuns trailer is the tip of a very large iceberg. One level is set up to get the player to drop the body of a murdered stripper on a police officer as a distraction. It looks a lot like the previous two stripper-themed levels were built entirely to set up that moment. There's even a little antisemitic stereotype included off in a corner of one level for no reason partway through! The devs said they were pursuing some sort of Tarantino-esque thing, but Tarantino's tame by comparison, and this is just undirected bile. 2. The directors seem to have squandered their time and money building out about a million prototypes for different new directions of gameplay and, especially, style. Watching the bonus stuff DVD on youtube was eye-opening. They would repeatedly build out entire levels or systems around an idea they had, to beta level playability, then scrap them entirely. It looks like the publisher bringing down the hammer was the only reason the game ever launched. I think the team had something like 16 writers- two of them, who worked on incidental dialogue, are still with IOI, and wrote Hitman 2016. 3. Most of the game designers had no idea what they were doing. It looks like two or three people in lower level positions (who I believe kept their jobs) were responsible for all the good ideas in the game, like the general conceit of instinct mode, refinements to the crowdgen and the contracts system. The finished product was, well, unfinished, with a bunch of bugs in scoring and systems that were never patched. Many levels were tiny corridors, glorified cutscenes, or stealth sections where every NPC is an identical ICA "soldier". I think more than half the levels in the game have no actual assassination targets. There are two proper sandboxy assassination levels, both of them reusing the same location. On all of this, the cut content was much worse than what we actually got. e.g. 47 was going to go through the game as an alcoholic suicidal homeless man who cuts himself. After Absolution launched, more than half the devteam were fired. It's really, really bad. edit: one level of Absolution takes place in an entirely unique, resource intensive deadlands desert environment. It consists entirely of one character, Lenny, a harmless NPC, who you brought there in the trunk of your car, and about 18 ways to kill him. Lenny is affiliated with the villains and is a jerkass. He's also implied to be mentally handicapped, has a speech impediment, and walks with a limp. All of the other NPCs in the game mock him. He offers you a reacharound if you spare him. If you just get in your car and drive off, you're treated to a ~30 second audio clip of the NPC realizing he's going to die of exposure. It's not a pleasant game. edit: Also, it had really weak easter eggs. Hitman series easter eggs are comedy gold. Discendo Vox fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Feb 6, 2018 |
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Mar 10, 2017 01:33
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Yikes. All I had ever heard about were the usual gameplay gripes, and very little about the massively repulsive parts.
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Mar 10, 2017 02:03
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I'll prep a less ragey Hitman Series Plotline Summary Effortpost when it becomes relevant to the LP, which is probably in about 3 videos.
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Mar 10, 2017 02:19
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Ye gods, what the hell? Who could've greenlit any of that?
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Mar 10, 2017 04:45
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CommissarMega posted:Ye gods, what the hell? It basically looks like Square Enix gave IO a ton of money and very little oversight for an extended period, then checked back in as deadlines started to near, recoiled in disgust/panic, and brought in fixers to get the game out as close to on time as possible. The released game's plot was rearranged and cut to shreds just to present a semi-coherent narrative and be nearly feature complete. oh, right, forgot to mention: quote:On 4 December 2012, IO Interactive faced heavy criticism for releasing a Hitman: Absolution Facebook app that allowed users to identify and threaten Facebook friends for assassination. Methods of identifying female friends included "her hairy legs", "her muffin top" and "her small tits". Methods of identifying male friends included "his ginger hair", "his poo poo hair" and "his tiny penis". Users could choose a reason to kill their friend, such as the fact that they "smell bad" or were cheating on their partner. Friends received a personalised video on their Facebook wall identifying them as a target. Signing up to watch the video presented recipients with a mixture of their own photos and Facebook details merged into a video of Hitman character Agent 47 shooting them. IO Interactive admitted the promotional app was in bad taste and removed it the same day.[68][69][70]
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Mar 10, 2017 05:18
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I had no idea how deep this rabbithole went!
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Mar 10, 2017 05:27
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