Hidden_7 on 17/11/2007 at 22:12
Quote Posted by Gambit
To those who played the game:
How the social sneaking vs acrobatics is balanced ?
Can you kill a target without getting caught by anyone else ? Only using disguises and avoiding suspicion ?
Can you kill the target by running like crazy during the entire level ?
The stealth is really minor, I found. The social stealth breaks down to not standing out and doing stupid stuff near alerted guards. I don't really know what to say for the social stealth vs. acrobatics balance. It's not really a either or like action vs stealth in other games. I guess it's up to you whether you want to walk along the streets or run along the rooftops. I suppose you could say that using social stealth is slower to get from place to place, and using acrobatics is faster, but more dangerous, as you expose yourself to guards going after you more often.
There are no disguises in the game, you can kill minor targets, like for sidequests, or just your own enjoyment without being caught, and this is where the social stealth shines. You can walk up to someone and stealthily stab them with your hidden blade, it's a really cool animation, you're basically shanking them, and the person kinda stands there for a second in shock before falling down, giving you time to walk away from the body. So in situations like this, you stab a guy, then blend into a crowd, the guy falls, suddenly the crowd is interested, goes over to look, a guard comes by, sees this, asks the crowd who did it, then scans the crowd. If you're doing something to stand out at this point he'll notice you, so be blended into the crowd or sitting a bench at this point.
You can't kill your main assassination targets by just booking it like crazy, you're not allowed to enter the area they are in if your alert is higher than anonymous (nobody is after you). Once you get there and watch the cutscene where the target reveals themselves you can go nuts if you want though, draw your sword and just rush him, fight your way through all his guards. I find it way more fun to get into a cool vantage point and leap at him with my hidden blade, but it's up to you. However, once you kill a main assassination target the city goes on alert, everyone there sees you, you can't off him stealthily the same way you can do with minor people.
Malf on 18/11/2007 at 00:28
Quote Posted by Hidden_7
...you can't off him stealthily the same way you can do with minor people.
I've had at least one major target stealthy kill; that doctor bloke.
After the cutscene, I attached myself to a group of monks and waited for the right moment. It came when he got back round to the guy with the broken legs. There were no guards in my vicinity and the target had his back to me, so I detached from the monks, let them move on, then hit blend.
I walked right up behind him, shanked him, got the cutscene, then as soon as it ended, blended again. Then I just got back in the group of monks and got out of there.For that I got the "Blade in the Crowd" achievement.
I reckon that quite a few of them are possible to do stealthily to be honest.
Hidden_7 on 18/11/2007 at 03:00
Really, the whole town doesn't go on alert like that? Huh, I'll have to replay a couple of them. I thought the blade in a crowd achievment (though I am on the PS3) you only needed to do the low profile hidden blade kill, having people not on your case right after was just gravy?
Unrelated note, anyone here try doing combat with the hidden blade? That's like a goddamn clinic in countering, since you can't do a regular attack, or block. Just counter, and I suppose dodge, but why dodge when you can counter?
june gloom on 18/11/2007 at 04:36
Fuck you guys. I want this game now. :(
Malf on 18/11/2007 at 08:00
Quote Posted by Hidden_7
Really, the whole town doesn't go on alert like that? Huh, I'll have to replay a couple of them. I thought the blade in a crowd achievment (though I am on the PS3) you only needed to do the low profile hidden blade kill, having people not on your case right after was just gravy?
Unrelated note, anyone here try doing combat with the hidden blade? That's like a goddamn clinic in countering, since you can't do a regular attack, or block. Just counter, and I suppose dodge, but why dodge when you can counter?
Well, the whole town DOES go on alert, but that doesn't mean to say you immediately switch to high profile.
As long as you use "social stealth" (ie, blend) immediately after the kill, sure, all the guards panic and run around like chickens with their heads cut off, but they don't pay you any more mind than they usually do when you're blending.
And yeah, I quite often switch to the hidden blade during combat, mainly because as well as having some of the most frikking cool counters out of the lot, it's a guaranteed kill, unlike with the sword or short blade where occasionally you'll just knock 'em down.
Hidden_7 on 18/11/2007 at 21:13
There's nothing more annoying than being sorrounded by a bunch of guards and having all your counters just kinda kick the guy in the gut. It's like, dude, get violent :)
My favourite counters have gotta be the one where Altair will kinda knock them around and just leave them in a vulnerable position, and then if you press attack again he finishes it. Adds that extra touch of interactivity to make it feel like YOU'RE the bad ass.
Another nice things I've noticed about the hidden blade is that, like you said every counter is fatal, and I've noticed that if you string together a bunch of fatal counters, it seems to demoralize the guards more than anything else you could do. Three fatal counters in a row seems to cause the guards to run away far more than killing six guys in a row, but doing so after lots of back and forth. But this might just be my imagination.
Malf on 18/11/2007 at 22:01
I was trying to figure out for ages why they said that the short blade was good for fighting groups, and then it kicked in a couple of times:
If you finish an enemy off and all of the other enemies are out of sword reach, Altair chucks daggers until they get close, meaning potentially LOTS of instant kills very quickly.
Hidden_7 on 19/11/2007 at 00:21
It's just the more aggressive weapon, while the sword is more defensive. There's more fatal counters, I find with short blade than the sword, and it's pretty vicious when you go on the offensive, you can jump between different enemies quickly, and yeah, add to the fact that you can throw daggers at guys, it's pretty good for taking out lots of lesser enemies quickly. Not so hot against templars, I've found, usually resort to the sword for those guys, since it seems like it's harder for an enemy to break your block, and the timing of the counters seems easier, even if they aren't fatal as often.
HybridVision on 19/11/2007 at 15:55
Getting back to the Jade issue, doesn't anyone else think that attributing a game's success/ failure on the shoulders of one person (typically the producer) is odd?
If gaming history has tought me anything, it's that great games are made largely by unknowns, and that any time someone says "Mr Smith makes great games", Mr Smiths next project is a steaming turd.
It's all about the team, right? But then I'm biased against management; I think people who's job it is purely to manage, and not provide any content/ service apart from management, are largely there because they can't do anything more useful ;)
DX-455 on 19/11/2007 at 16:24
AMERICAN MCGEE is the worst offender of this. He's been patting himself on the back since Alice...make him stop already!
