Hitman 2 (2018)

[Dweller_Benthos]

Nice, I take it all those achievements can't be done at the same time? Takes a couple playthroughs to get them all?

[Art Blade]

half-half. That's what I described earlier as "stacking" achievements/unlocked stuff and no, as described earlier, you don't need several playthroughs if you reload savegames to achieve mutually exclusive goals during one playthrough. Sometimes a new start is recommendable or indeed necessary, though. I never finished any playthrough of that map until recording that vid, and that's why they all unlocked for me at once on finishing the first time.

On an aside, the stuff I unlocked became available immediately even though I hadn't finished the map/mission yet. I know because before finishing, I exited to the menu to do something different and I noticed new weapons and other stuff to choose from. Only the "official notification" was shown on finishing the map for the first time.

[Art Blade]

maybe I should add: normally you'd have to play through multiple times but you can avoid that by using savegames. Still, you are most likely going to play through several times anyway, both for fun and to unlock achievements.

One example for this map: I need to kill two targets with one shot from a sniper rifle but I haven't yet unlocked any sniper rifle with piercing rounds so I will have to come back once I've got such a rifle.

[PZ]

Nice! 

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah I thought as much, at least they let you use a save game and don't require you to complete the entire mission for each set of achievements that conflict.

[Art Blade]

I just finished playing through the whole story of HM2 now and it was a blast. I really enjoyed it so much that I dare say THIS has been the best game I've ever played.

And it's FAR from over: there are still so many things to do in HM2 alone that I can't even begin to describe how happy I am, thanks to the "GOTY legacy pack" and other stuff from the Gold Edition, that there is still the entire HM1 game plus then-DLC stuff inside this game waiting for me. Tons of stuff to unlock in both the legacy (HM1) and HM2 and the whole XP and unlock stuff is available in both parts, interchangeable, like HM1<>HM2.

I think it's easier to describe it like this: compare the games HM1 and HM2 with a book the story of which was released as a first half called Volume 1 and about two years later the second half called Volume 2. For me and my Gold Edition, they released the story in just one book as a whole plus something like a prologue and epilogue in only one big fat juicy gilded collector's edition.

I can indeed play it from start to end and also jump around in it whichever way I want and can access everything, including DLCs and bonus stuff from both HM1 GOTY and HM2 Gold Edition. It is MASSIVE

[PZ]

Am I reading correctly that the HM1 game and other stuff is within this game?

[Art Blade]

essentially that's what they did, yes I thought you had already figured it out when you posted this:

What a great idea to build in the older game missions into the new game with the new mechanics

So, from what I gathered, the way it is now, they wanted to build it like that from the start. They started HM1 by releasing the base game and one mission/map only, Paris, and then new missions were released "episodically" meaning every other month or so. Along the way their publisher, Square Enix, must have made a decision to ditch the whole game because it wasn't as lucrative as other titles. The episodical approach was new and failed in a way. I didn't like it, either, which is why I didn't buy HM1 when it was new. I only bought it when everything went into one big pack called GOTY Edition, the way it should have been, everything at once, literally and figuratively a "whole" game like all the predecessors. IO Interactive (IOI) and Square Enix split up and IOI found a new partner, Warner Brothers Games, and I reckon they said, "no more episodes." IOI developed for about two years and released HM2 which seamlessly continues the story where they had left off in HM1. If you buy HM2 as a normal game, it will simply be "part 2" without anything HM1 in it.

So indeed you guessed right that in my case it was not part 1 (HM1) and part 2 (HM2) but one big game. That, however, only worked like that if you had a) the GOTY Edition of HM1 and b) the GOTY legacy pack for HM2. It should be mentioned that there is also just a "legacy pack" without "GOTY" for players who did not own the GOTY edition of HM1 but you could and still can upgrade HM1 to GOTY status but of course you need to pay for that and then you could and still can buy the GOTY legacy pack which is more expensive than the normal legacy pack.

I am a big fan so I got both the GOTY Edition of HM1 and other DLCs as well as the expensive Gold Edition of HM2 that includes the GOTY legacy pack plus HM1 DLCs and the Gold Edition itself adds even more exclusive stuff to the whole pack. Players like me get to play the whole story from the start of HM1 to the end of HM2 plus all bonus missions and DLC content for both HM1 and HM2. This is why I can use a "legacy" sniper rifle from HM1 within HM2 and the other way round, a different sniper rifle from HM2 when playing the "legacy" missions from HM1.

It definitely is one complete game that you can play seamlessly. Which is why in my case, it is the BEST game I've ever played.

[PZ]

Yeah, but you know how bad my memory is - I always need to confirm 

I sure wish they UBI*bleep* did similar with their games. I'd love to play some of the old Ezio AC games with the new graphics.

[Art Blade]

That memory issue, it reminds me of:

"how the hell should I know what I mean before I've heard what I say?"



And regarding UBI*bleep*.. I keep hearing/reading what UBI*bleep* should have done but they never do.

As opposed to IOI, regarding Hitman, who have done their best to stay true to the game's concept and have been improving it over time. Actually, the very first Hitman was essentially the first game with ragdoll physics. Their first publisher, Eidos Interactive, supported the unique game and gave IOI the freedom they needed. Their success drew the attention of Japanese Square Enix who bought Eidos Interactive and assimilated it—Square Enix Europe was born and responsible for Hitman:Absolution which caused the company, despite of a very positive reception from critics, the loss of their fans—I was one of them. The core gamers/fans didn't like that title because it was too far from the original game design. And too close to mainstream, which I suppose made it rather attractive for UBI*bleep*-fans.. They changed their approach, kind of like a U-turn, when creating Hitman (2016) which I keep referring to as HM1, back to what fans loved the most, Hitman:Blood Money, and improved on that title. So, away from mainstream, Square Enix didn't play along much longer and during development of Hitman 2 of 2018, which I keep referring to as HM2, IOI and Square Enix clashed. Now you can imagine how afraid we all (fans/core gamers) were of HM2 never to be finished let alone released. In the end, IOI bought themselves out of that company (so-called management buyout) and boy, did they return to their roots. They managed to finish and publish HM2 which even improved on HM1. They brought back the suitcase, I mentioned that before, an item we missed dearly particularly after Blood Money. Now we've got it back because IOI cares about their fans/core gamers.. and in the end, about me, too. And I love 'em for their turn-around and giving us HM2

Go eat your heart out, UBI*bleep*

[LowPolyOWG]

The only thing game publishers  (and any public traded corporation) care about, are their shareholders. Which often means publishers compromising their games to cash in with whatever tools they have. WB is responsible for a microtransaction infested Harry Potter mobile game/Shadow of Mordor: Lootbox edition and shitty Batman PC ports. Guess what? They removed loot boxes from Shadow of Mordor Lootbox after their game developers/WB acknowledged how it messed up the game. Funny, how corporate entities ruin our fun.

Then we have Zelnick and co who claims GTA V's day 1 revenue wasn't enough and how "we are undermonetizing our consumers on a per-user basis". Shockingly (probably not surprising at all), all those moneys go in tax havens rather than ensuring fair pay/benefits for developers and other 3rd parties (voice actors).

Anyway, we can say that for most corporations in the world, they are all greedy assholes.

Good to hear that HM1/HM2 items can be shared across them. Not something that's common in today's games, where you have to start from scratch every time.

[Art Blade]

a funny thing happened:

I was hiding in an open coffin playing dead when a priest came in, stopped in front of the coffin, thought a quick prayer and crossed himself, turned around and left the morgue.

That gave me an idea. I restarted the mission, ran to a location where I could grab a priest's outfit and disguised myself as a priest, ran to the coffin and played dead again. When the priest came to my coffin for his silent prayer, I got up.

The priest fainted instantly and fell to the ground unconscious 

[LowPolyOWG]

 

You should have found a zombie disguise aswell

[Dweller_Benthos]

Now, there should be an achievement for that, making people faint at funerals by playing dead in the coffin.

[Art Blade]

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