No One Lives Forever GOTY - Stealth Question

Satan915 on 13/7/2014 at 09:11

Quote Posted by Cardjoe

This is a bit out-of-the-blue, but thought you might be interested in this short article about content that was cut from NOLF's original release

(http://joemartinwords.com/2014/05/13/the-deleted-scenes-of-no-one-lives-forever/) http://joemartinwords.com/2014/05/13/the-deleted-scenes-of-no-one-lives-forever/

That 10 year necro! But that is interesting, and true. The stealth mechanics are really weird in this game actually. Guards nearly always know where you are once they hear a shot go off, even if you're out of their line of sight and vice versa. Another thing is how a silenced gun is mostly silent if you take a guard out in one shot, but if he lives through it or you shoot his dead corpse then it seems like other guards are more likely to hear it. Interestingly enough they can't actually hear each other just "crying out", meaning that if they actually "see" him, they'll react, but if he's not in their line of sight, they'll be totally oblivious until a gun is fired. But take advantage of that silent one shot kill "exploit?" before he fires his non silenced gun at you and there's a good chance they won't even hear that (they might notice the dead body, even if it's behind them, but that doesn't reveal your position to them and in fact just makes them a sitting duck).

To the guy who asked, I do think that accuracy bonuses have an effect. I think it increases the "auto correct" range on head shots. Notice how you sometimes should have slightly missed a shot to the head but the game still centers the shot and counts it anyway? That's the auto correct I'm talking about. More accuracy bonuses give you more leeway. It's just like in the sequel, Nolf 2, if you upgraded the "accuracy" stat. Ammo bonuses increase the amount of ammo you can carry for most of your stuff. Health and armor bonuses each increase your max health or armor by 10 respectfully. But as said in that article, reputation bonuses are an unfinished concept so they don't do anything (outside of you getting an intelligence item for picking the right choices in conversations). I haven't noticed any effect from stealth bonuses either though (guards always seem to notice you at the same times, distance, and noise levels regardless). The medals and awards are just achievements for each mission, they don't unlock anything.

Satan915 on 20/7/2016 at 09:21

Quote Posted by stevo

I found NOLF's stealth approach to be designed based on the "sneak to kill" mantra rather than "sneak to sneak past". There are too many areas where you simply cannot ghost and you must kill to progress.

So since I still occasionally play this game, especially more recently, I decided to try a minimum kill run on easy where I tried to get the absolute least amount of kills possible in the game. I'm posting the results and what I discovered here. Be warned that this whole post potentially has spoilers that I'm not going to tag because 1. the forum rules don't say anything about them being required, and 2. it'd be very inconvenient for people reading through all of this. So if you haven't beaten this game yet and don't want to be spoiled, this is your warning.

Additional rules/clarifications I used:
-You can use your weapons or hand for purposes such as destroying locks or barriers, or getting enemies' attention, but you cannot hit or splash an enemy with them.
-If enemies kill themselves or each other such as by their own splash damage or by walking or running into environmental hazards, then it's fair game. Note that enemies will not kill each other through friendly fire without splash damage aside from one exception in particular, so don't bother trying that.
-Cutscenes where you kill someone obviously don't count.
-You cannot change your gear to start with a weapon or gadget that you wouldn't have by that point in the game.
-Weapons or gadgets that don't kill such as Sleep and Stun Gas are allowed to be used on enemies.
-Try to avoid glitches or exploits (this game is buggy and you can do many things that probably weren't intended, but try not to).

The experience wasn't that pretty:

-Misfortune in Morocco: You have to kill all the assassins in Scene 1, and in Scene 2 after you reach Bruno you have to kill all the thugs that try to attack civilians, if not all of them (even if you can get them to chase after you rather than the civilians). Scene 3 is possible, but enemies near the start are scripted to already know where you are and this level is intended to be a shootout. Scene 4 is nothing special, but after finishing a conversation, one guard actually shoots and kills the other one since he threatened to report him (this is the exception to the enemy friendly fire mechanic I mentioned). If you come across these two guards then you might want to consider waiting it out.

-Berlin By Night: It's tough to sneak by all the guards in Scene 1 and it's probably intended for you to get caught eventually, but it shouldn't be too hard to run through it if you're not far from the end. Scene 2 on the other hand is still possible but very problematic. It's a large level but has narrow areas, and you have to activate 3 explosives, photograph 2 documents and meet with a contact. Of course, it's hard to sneak by the enemies in several places and if you're found, you'll be continually chased and other nearby guards will quickly join in. The biggest problem comes when you have to talk to your contact, there are enemies that patrol or are constantly near him. They can shoot you during the cutscene that you talk to him, and apparently 1 shot will kill you in a cutscene. If they happen to kill your contact then you will fail the mission as well. You can skip the cutscene, but regardless, I kept encountering an ugly glitch or two. Every time I got shot once after the cut scene, the game would think I got killed regardless of how much health I still had, as if it still thought I was in the cut scene or something. Also, if any enemies were still in the area during the time I was in the cutscene, the game would think I got killed even if they never shot me. I had to lure them away from the area while not getting caught or a least losing them. The beginning of Scene 3 is tough to sneak by, so I just ran until I got to the elevator to take me to the second part of the level. It's then pretty easy to sneak the rest of the way to Dr. Schenker, but you are required to kill 4 guards that attempt to ambush you before you can get Dr. Schenker to follow you. The rest of the level is intended to be a shootout, and if Dr. Schenker hears enemies gunshots he will freeze and you have to go get him again, but there are some advantages that you have. The guards don't react to seeing Dr. Schenker at all, so you don't have to worry about sneaking him by as well. Two of the guards that spawn are kind of bugged and don't really do anything until they hear gunshots. As long as you never get seen once you get Dr. Schenker, you can sneak through the rest of the level by carefully luring guards away and sneaking by them.

-Unexpected Turbulence: You can't really sneak by anyone in this chapter, so for Scene 1 you have to run by everyone. There comes a problem when climbing up the ladder to the cockpit though, as there is a guard right at the top who is blocking the way and wont move. Since wouldn't have Sleep Gas yet at this point in the game, you can't use it so you have to kill him. Scene 2 you can run by everyone as well, but once you escape the plane and start free falling is another problem. Guards are continually sent out of the enemy plane to kill you, and there isn't exactly anywhere you can go. I found out though that with a bit of luck, you can actually survive the whole time needed to catch up to the guy below you and take his parachute, at least on the easy difficulty. It turns out the enemies will eventually fly away if you haven't killed them after awhile.

-Rendezvous in Hamburg: You unlock Sleep Gas starting with this mission. Scene 1 has no problems since there are no enemies. Scene 2 however is meant to be a shootout. Fortunately you can pick up the Sleep Gas near the start if you need it. While you can run by enemies, in the show room you're supposed to kill all the enemies before a cutscene plays where Goodman will unlock the backstage door for you to proceed. There is however an easy glitch where you can try to jump on top of the door handle and trigger the cutscene. Other than that you'd have to kill the enemies. You can just run through the rest of the level.

-A Tenuous Lead: It may be hard to sneak by some guards in Scene 1 since it's narrow level, but you can take advantage of the leaky steam pipes to get some killed or use some of your Sleep Gas. Scene 2 has several narrow parts as well, and you have to back track back to the start of the level. You'll probably have to do a lot of guard luring or use some of your Sleep Gas. Scene 3 seems impossible to not get caught, since after you exit the first building, you're in a narrow part that guards above are bound to see you, and you can't get close enough to use Sleep Gas before then. I ended up running through the level, jumping on a huge pile of trailers near the end to lose them, and then quickly making my way up to the crane and riding it to the ship, with some guards trying to shoot me who had spotted me again from below. Scene 4 had some narrow parts but they were short. Fortunately you don't have to actually photograph any chemical containers as your objectives suggest. You may as well use up any remaining Sleep Gas in this scene, since you lose your gear in the next scene. Scene 5 only has one enemy, and even though you have to run by him it's no big deal.

-The Dive: Oh boy, this chapter is all about shootouts. Fortunately you can still sneak past many areas in Scene 1, sometimes having to lure enemies away or use Sleep Gas, but still. There is a part where you have to kill a guard that spawns near the room with the maid it in so that she unlocks the door (Sleep Gas will not work). While on the roof, you're likely to take a beating by some snipers, so you may have to reload to make sure you don't lose too much health. For Scene 2 you'll probably have to just run through most of it and maybe use Sleep Gas. At the end you have to kill four guards on a balcony above you so that a civilian will unlock the exit doors you need to go through. Scene 3 is where things get tricky. All you have is a Speargun which you pretty much can't use. You have to go through a room with 3 sharks in the beginning which is kind of hard without killing any since one bite will kill you. But that is nothing compared to after you pick up the Captain's Log and get ambushed by enemy divers. The hallways and doorways in this sunken ship are so narrow that most of the time you simply can't squeeze by the divers. So you have to lure them into bigger rooms, circle around them and go back out into the hallway, all while they are shooting at you. The only body armor you can pick up is near the end of the level.

-A Man of Influence: You get Stun Gas starting in this mission. Although there are some downsides to it compared to Sleep Gas. While Sleep Gas lets you walk over enemies who fall asleep on the floor, they will not fall down with Stun Gas, so you can't use it to get by them if they're blocking the way. Another downside is that after the effects wear off, they still know where you are and will try to chase after you if you aren't that far away, rather than just getting suspicious after waking up from Sleep Gas. Anyway This chapter shouldn't be too hard since it is intended to be a stealth mission anyway, especially for Scene 1 where you're not allowed to kill anyone anyway. Just use the normal methods you'd use for this scene. Scene 2 does permit and probably expects you to kill enemies though, but you still can't set off an alarm. So it's a good time to use your Sleep and Stun Gas if you're having trouble sneaking by them. There are no enemies in Scene 3.

-Safecracker: Although Scene 1 is a wide open level, you may get spotted near the beginning. You should be able to mostly just run through this level though, collecting body armor when you need it of course. Scene 2 is a boss fight that involves a boss and many regular enemies. This may seem problematic, but was surprisingly manageable for me. The boss herself is not very threatening since she moves slowly and her only weapon is a sword. Enemies wont move while the boss is singing horribly and will instead cover their ears. While the boss sings at seemingly random intervals, she will start singing if you are in an area where she can't walk through or to, like between a window frame or on a crate. There are two body armor suites for if your armor gets low. Since beating this boss involves taking advantage of an environmental hazard that she can walk into on her own, you're technically not even the one killing her. Scene 3 is a multi-leveled sky scrapper under construction that will likely involve some parts where you get spotted by enemies, but it shouldn't be anything unmanageable. Scenes 4, 5 and 6 are pretty typical levels, aside from the actual safe cracking.

-Rescue Attempt: I ended up using all my Sleep Gas in Scene 1 because you're on a narrow train that you have to backtrack on (no pun intended). But I saved my Stun Gas. Scene 2 is a wide open level that you don't want to get spotted in. Once you get to the motorcycle part be careful not to run over anyone. You'll have to drive through a sort of toll gate with a few guards. You should be able to jump the gate by holding down the space bar while going over a little wooden ramp on the right side.It is possible to drive around the rest of the guards if you hug the edge of the level. You have to be careful near the end though where there's a guard with a grenade launcher and a helicopter. The guard with the grenade launcher will likely kill himself and the other guard near him while when you reach the top of the ladder of the lookout. Make a run for it while the helicopter is not shooting at you. Scene 3 is very tricky. There are several areas where it's tough to sneak by the guards, and there are times where you have to backtrack a bit. I had to use my Stun Gas sparingly. Unlike in Berlin By Night, the guards will attack Dr. Schenker if they see him and if he dies, you'll fail the mission. I stunned the guards on my tail when I first reached Dr. Schenker, but they came after me again shortly. Fortunately you go through an atmospheric conditioning room where lighting is generated at fixed intervals, which I got to kill the pursuing guards while making sure that Dr. Schenker didn't get zapped. In the last part of the level it'd be very difficulty if not impossible to sneak by the enemies, so I used the rest of my Stun Gas so that I could get Dr. Schenker to follow me to the end without freezing in place due to enemy gunfire.

-Trouble in the Tropics: For Scene 1 I used Sleep Gas near the beginning of this level and was able to sneak by the guards near the end. Scene 2 is another wide open level that I pretty much had to run through and took a lot of damage. Scene 3 only has enemies near the end of the level, but it has a lot in a narrow area. You can stay out of sight of the first few as they will run by to see what the noise upstairs was, but for the rest you'll probably have to resort to Sleep or Stun Gas. Scene 4 is a stealth level but it does expect you to kill enemies. The sneaking shouldn't be that bad though. I went the secret route to avoid 2 guards in a narrow hallway. The guard on the walkway above the secret route apparently doesn't see very well. Sneaking past the area where you have to listen to a conversation of two scientists could be a bit difficult, but I managed it. The last part of the level should be a bit easier.

-Low Earth Orbit: Scene 1 of this mission probably caused me the most or 2nd most trouble of any scene in the game, and I seriously thought I might not be able to do it. The enemies in this mission use laser guns that go right through your armor. Even on easy these laser guns don't take that many hits to kill you. I lured the first enemy away from the door he was guarding by getting in his sight just long enough for him to think he might have saw something, but not have spotted me (this is not even the hard part; it's actually a method I use a lot instead of a coin). Once I get up to the command module area is where things got ridiculous. There's a guard standing in one spot on the upper level, across from an elevator you need to ride to get up there, so he will most certainly see you. Once up there you have to go to both command modules and user your code breaker on both of the keypads in there, all while this guard is still trying to chase and shoot at you. Obviously you want to get out of there quickly, but even more so before the alarm starts going off and two more guards spawn near the entrance to this area. Once you go back down you are ambushed by several guards, which you just have to run by and hope they don't hit you much. Get to the elevator and go back down to the previous floor, where you will be ambushed again by more enemies. Run to the next elevator and go to yet another lower floor. Hopefully you haven't taken that much damage at this point. Once down there, you have to get by a big room with plants that yet more guards would try to ambush you in from the next hallway. But if you first jump through a window to an adjacent room on the right and then go through that door to the main room, the enemies wont rush you if you stay near the right, as the ambush trigger must be more to the left. Now you can lure these guards away so you can sneak by them, similar to how I lured away the first guard of this scene, although it may take some time and tries to get it right. The next area is a long walkway with a guard at the other end, so run across and pray that he doesn't take away your remaining health. Once you get to the last walkway at the end of the level, a guard will come through the door that spawned in the previous room and will be able to take 1 shot at you. If your health is at a critical low then he has to miss. Otherwise it doesn't matter, as he will then take cover as meteors break start to break through the glass. Scene 2 has no enemies and is child's play compared to Scene 1.

Alpine Intrigue: For Scene 1 I like to run ahead of the Baroness and jump over the gate at the end of the level before she gets there to open it. Whether you wait for her to leave the level or go ahead of her doesn't really matter. You can actually run by most of the enemies in this level without them even spotting you. Only at the end will the two guards be a bit of a problem, but you can just run by them. Scene 2 you'll probably want to use Sleep and Stun Gas, since you can't let an alarm go off in this mission and the areas are narrow. To make this relatively quick you could break the left side of the gate blocking the end of the level, but if that seems too much like an exploit to you then you can do it the traditionally way of unlocking it at the control booth with a code breaker. Scene 3 can pretty much just be run through. Scene 4 might present a challenge since it is perhaps the longest, most wide open level in the game in which you have to drive past most of the enemies. I said drive because you have a snowmobile for this mission, so be careful not to run over anyone. Once you near the first electric fence, shoot the explosive barrels to disable the electricity, if the nearby guard is far enough that he wont die. He wont react to the explosion either. Now drive up to the fence and make sure that either the guard hasn't spotted you or be sure to dodge his grenades. You can get off your Snowmobile and jump around the right side of it, stand somewhere near the power line post and the guard on the other side should shoot his grenade launcher towards the fence and kill himself. Then jump back over, use your welder to weld off the lock and get back on your snowmobile. Use stun or sleep gas on the guard in the tower, then drive to the shed near where the explosives were and pick up the armor. Keep driving through the rest of the level. Once you reach the next electric fence, jump over it using the pile of crates and sleep or stun the two guards. In the tunnel, there should be a truck that has body armor in the back. Run through the rest of the level, possibly sleeping or stunning any other guards along the way.

The Indomitable Cate Archer: You may as well pick Sleep Gas and/or Stun Gas for this chapter, but it doesn't matter much as you will be lose your gear after the first scene. Scene 1 is a pretty easy mission to sneak by everyone. At the start of Scene 2 you'll have to fight a boss. Just beat him using the normal methods you'd use, and he doesn't even die anyway. Afterwards, pick up the coin on the ground of the hallway, go out the window on the left, avoid the searchlights and jump through another window to recover your gear in this room (it doesn't matter what you chose for this mission; the recovered gear is always the same). Run by the guards to the ladder or try to sneak by them by using the coin and such. Doesn't really matter since they can't follow you down the ladder. Once you go under the fence and are about to enter the next area, open the door and make sure the searchlight isn't nearby. Sneak by the two guards on the left by jumping up into the debris so that the searchlight and guard above wont see you. Approach the next door behind the two guards and try to get precisely behind the closest guard which should be facing the other way, and should block the other guard next to him from seeing you. It may be easier if you've gotten them suspicious so that you can go behind them when their heads are turned away from you, so you may want to throw the coin and wait for them to return to their original positions. Use the welder on the door from here, and run to the end of the level. Try to shut the door quickly on the way and avoid getting scene by the two guards. For Scene 3 I pretty much ran my way through the whole level. I went to the upper area of the room with the antidote in it, released it and then jumped down to try to lose the guards that were chasing me. Then I ran to where the end of the level was, shot off the lock to the underground door and went to the end. Scene 4 was another mission I pretty much ran through. Avoid unnecessary areas and swim past the shark as fast as you can. I had some trouble with the guards at the end of the level. I had to lure one all the way out of the baron's secret area to sneak by since the whole secret area is a narrow walkway. For the other guard I danced around the desk a bit while I was waiting for the code breaker to open the safe. I then picked up the list and made a run for the helicopter pad, where the level ends. I was low on health but the scene ended before the newly spawned guards could kill me.

A Very Large Explosion: Scene 1 was intended to be a big shootout, but with Sleep and Stun gas you can get through it pretty easily. You basically want to run by and sleep or stun enemies as needed. You definitely want to sleep or stun the elite guard women. Try to have full armor by the end of the scene, because for Scene 2 you'll have to wait in the gondola while avoiding the helicopter gunfire. They will eventually fly away. When you reach the bottom you'll have to fight a boss which you have to shoot. Fortunately he doesn't actually die after the encounter, even though the game first tries to get you to believe that.

Such is the Nature of Revenge: In Scene 1 you'll have a very short boss fight shootout which isn't even really a boss. Yet again you won't end up killing the boss. She was actually going to explode anyway, which is why you need to get all the civilians off the streets. Just run by the few enemies that try to shoot you, and stay under the balcony near the end of the level. Finally for Scene 2 you have yet another boss fight shootout, and once again you don't end up killing the boss, but rather someone else does. This is where the game normally ends.

Rest and Relaxation: But the GOTY edition includes this as a bonus mission. You cannot select your gear for this mission as it was intended to be a vacation for Cate. Scene 1 is pretty straightforward and easy. In Scene 2 there's a motorcycle so remember not to run over anyone. You should be able to mostly run and drive through these two scenes. Now if you remember, earlier I mentioned that Low Earth Orbit Scene 1 gave me the most or 2nd most trouble of any scene in the game. Well Scene 3 is the other contender here. You have to do a lot of sneaking as this level is long and narrow. Fortunately you do get coins, but even so you have to really know what you're doing with them as even then, the window for sneaking by some of these guards is very tight. The area where you have to open the garage door is what gave me the most trouble. There are several guards there, and several more behind the door. After much experimentation I was able to use the coin to sneak by all the guards, open the door and then close it behind me before any of the guards behind spotted me. I figured out that the guards can actually run right through this door, but they can't spot you through it if you aren't currently spotted. I was able to sneak by the guards in this area as well. Closer to the end I had to start running through the rest of the level, and I found out that the guards will follow you into the control room where you push the button to self destruct the base. I had to run around the pillar to avoid some gunshots while I waited for the scene to end. The difficulty of Scene 4 can depend on how much health you had left at the end of Scene 3. If you have a lot then it shouldn't be too hard. But if you're critically low then you might be in trouble. There are a few areas where it's tough to sneak by some guards, and closer to the end I just ran the rest of the way and was able to make it with barely any health left.

So there you have it. Beating Nolf with minimum kills. I will mention that this would be a lot harder to do, if not be outright impossible on higher difficulties without using glitches and exploits. I had a hell of a time just doing this on easy. To sum up the mandatory kills:

-Misfortune in Morocco
Scene 1: All the assassins, as even one will kill the ambassador and cause you to fail the mission.
Scene 2: After you reach Bruno, all the thugs that try to attack civilians, if not all of them for you to complete your objectives.

-Berlin by Night
Scene 2: Four guards that ambush you when you reach Dr. Schenker for you to complete your objectives.

-Unexpected Turbulence
Scene 1: The guard at the top of the ladder leading to the cockpit since he is blocking the way (without being able to use Sleep Gas).

-Rendezvous in Hamburg:
Scene 2: The four guards in the show room so that Goodman unlocks the backstage door.

-The Dive:
Scene 1: One guard that spawns near the room with the maid in it so that she unlocks the door.
Scene 2: Four guards on the balcony at the end of the level so that a civilian unlocks the exit doors.

Satan915 on 20/7/2016 at 10:01

Quote Posted by tomi1kenobi

Meh, you're right. Forgot all about it, even though I used the silencer for the first time when the goons raided the room after the sniping stuff in the beginning. Or more like attempted sniping: couldn't shoot straight for cracking up all the time for the ambassador's ranting :cheeky: Hmm, all this talk about NOLF...probably have to play it again and try harder with the barrette this time :)

I actually tried to beat the game on Superspy with mostly just the barrette and hand as my weapons against enemies. Made me feel like a real thief. I allowed running over enemies with motorcycles and snowmobiles as well, since it is still a melee attack and is critical for killing enemies before they can shoot you too much. I used sleep or stun gas if I felt the situation called for it, and I of course used coins. You do need a ranged weapon for some of the mandatory kills though. Good luck on Unexpected Turbulence Scene 2, The Dive Scene 3, Low Earth Orbit Scene 1, Alpine Intrigue Scene 4 and A Very Large Explosion Scene 2 if you try this. Those scenes do not necessarily require you to kill enemies with a ranged weapon (excluding the boss fight), but on Superspy it's virtually impossible otherwise. I actually managed to do so on the Dive Scene 3, but only because I was able to get a diver blocking the way to briefly go into a sidestepping animation where apparently he was still vulnerable to getting karate chopped (throughout this time another diver was in pursuit of me). It took many reloads to get the timing to work out though. I managed to do Low Earth Orbit Scene 1, but it took awhile for me to figure out how to sneak past the guard that was standing opposite the elevator in the command module, a lot of craftiness so I could hide from and lure other guards, and several reloads, including some just so some guards I couldn't sneak past would miss me enough. I did Alpine Intrigue Scene 4 but only after many, many reloads to manipulate my luck enough to get the enemies to miss more often. A Very Large Explosion Scene 2 actually didn't take too many reloads for most of the helicopter bullets to miss me. I still had plenty of armor for the boss fight. The rest of the game wasn't that hard. I discovered that you can beat Baroness Dumas by karate chopping her with your hand, so that's what I did. Doesn't work for Tom though. For some reason the Rest and Relaxation chapter's barrette doesn't have poison capsule functionality, so I had to do it with just my hand and the motorcycle, but it still wasn't that hard. The only thing that remains for me to do is Unexpected Turbulence Scene 2, specifically the sky diving part. I'd have to try making the guards miss me enough for me to survive the whole thing by reloading; by far the part of this run that would require the most amount of unrealistic luck on Superspy.