Patches and difficulty levels

[fragger]

I've been playing through a totally unpatched version 1.00 of FC2 on Infamous, and I'm wondering if one of the things the patch addresses is just how difficult the difficulty is. I've done a number of 'thrus on Infamous in the past (all after the game had been patched) yet never had so much trouble with the following mission before: I just went to Bowa and did the barge mission, which was tough enough, but getting out of the house in Port Selao after visiting Dr. Obua was just impossible! Trying to go out the front way was like instant suicide, and in any event I've always gone out the back door, but on this occasion I no sooner step outside the back door than every merc and his dog comes running around to the back of the house and starts blasting me. I tried repeatedly to get away but the farthest I could get was just past the end of the footpath along the side of the house and out on to the street a little ways. Usually I like to then turn left and duck around the corner to make for the swamp boat moored just north of town but I couldn't even get to the corner this time. In the past I would encounter two or three mercs near the side of the house and then maybe one or two out on the street, but this time around I must have been seeing at least ten in total (while getting hit from all sides), most of them in a bunch near the corner with all of them shooting at me and apparently at nobody else. I'd also count no less than four rocket impacts and sometimes more, a couple of which appeared to have come from the roof of the old newspaper building. In the end I had to switch to Easy mode until I could get out of town, and even then it took a few deaths and reloads before I got out.

Getting out of Obua's place on Infamous was never easy, but I was able to do it in the past. This time, forget it. I'm only playing v1.00 to be able to hear the Jackal tapes that come after the "boots" one, then I'm going to patch the game up and try the Port Selao escape on Infamous again and see if there's a difference.

[Art Blade]

If you get out through the front door, the rocket launcher is on the roof at the end of the road to the right. He will still be there after the patches. :)

[TheStranger]

Hmm sounds hard, but I always found the escape (and the barge) one of the hardest missions in the game. As I remember I died also many times when I tried to escape to hospital, but in the end I always made it.

[Art Blade]

same

[PZ]

Sounds brutal - I wouldn't be surprised if a patch changed the way the mercs behaved.  It might be interesting to play with the weapons balanced mod one of these days to see how that would change your escape from Mosate Selao.

[Binnatics]

Hmm sounds hard, but I always found the escape (and the barge) one of the hardest missions in the game....

Same here. I tried to escape by moving left (when leaving the house) so you have a hiding spot halfway (in a corner with some chicken caches and more rubbish) but playing on infamous I just had to try my luck and rush through until I could reach the closest car to the east of the house. Was a pain in the a$$, but not like you describe, Fragger. I guess it might have been changed in a patch. Quantity of spawning enemies or something, who knows

[fragger]

If you get out through the front door, the rocket launcher is on the roof at the end of the road to the right. He will still be there after the patches. :)

I knew about him, but there were definitely some rockets coming from the left, above and ahead of me as I faced out onto the street from the side of the house, which I don't think I've ever seen in the patched game. I'm sure they were coming from the newspaper building (whichever faction HQ that is).

Hmm sounds hard, but I always found the escape (and the barge) one of the hardest missions in the game. As I remember I died also many times when I tried to escape to hospital, but in the end I always made it.

On Infamous though? On this occasion I had to drop down to Easy and I still died a few times. I've done it on Infamous with the patched game on about half a dozen occasions and took a beating but still managed to get out in one go on almost all 'thrus. The mercs seemed to get around the back of the house a lot quicker this time as well, sometimes they were there before I could even get down the steps outside the back door.

I do agree though that no matter what difficulty level, patched game or no, the "get out of Port Selao unscathed" mission is one of the hardest ones in the game :-()

I read somewhere that you can just hole up in the house and wait and eventually things will die down, i.e. the battle will abruptly end and the mercs will get on with their usual hanging around-type behaviour. Has anyone else heard of that? Dunno how long you'd have to wait if it's true.

[mandru]

You guys keep mentioning things I need to check out.  ???

The merc to the West on the rooftop with the rocket launcher plus there's another rocket launcher for the opposing faction on top of a building to the S.E., hmm...

I'm wondering if they are up there before entering the hospital to warn the Doc and if you can take them out with a dart rifle (possibly from that central rooftop that has the long ladder) without bringing the entire town down on you.  I don't have a current save point that would allow me to check it easily so if I can remember I'll want to check it out on my next pass through the game.  :-X

[Binnatics]

Is there a way to 'downgrade' to a non-patched game if your original retail version is already patched from scratch?

[Art Blade]

I experimented a lot in Port Selao before entering the clinic. As far as I remember, it is basically peaceful until you talk to the doc.. who gets interrupted by the outbreak of a civil war outside the hospital and that is when all those mercs spawn you never saw before.

As to downgrading.. I don't think so.

[TheStranger]

@fragger

I played version 1.02 and 1.03 on infamous, but never an unpatched game - I forgot to add that. Maybe you are right and the game is really harder if it is unpatched. But I am also interested in the "civil war calm down"

[PZ]

I read somewhere that you can just hole up in the house and wait and eventually things will die down, i.e. the battle will abruptly end and the mercs will get on with their usual hanging around-type behaviour. Has anyone else heard of that? Dunno how long you'd have to wait if it's true.

Interesting thought - I might try it out, but I am still using the patched game on the PC