My First Playthru

[Ricamundo]

Okay, ive installed and configured as best as i can understand the controls, but i have some questions, so i hope someone who's experienced can offer a few tips, please!! First, can i not always run? Walking is ponderously slow, and awkward to have to hold the run key and the forward arrow. How do i jump? Is there no crouch walk? Next, i have no weapons, not even a knife or pistol, so here's my first stumbling block. Ive arrived at an old amusment park, and im supposed to ditstract 2 guards, presumably by throwing a coin, which ive tried numerous times, but they always see me and chase me into the theatre. I start getting shot, and i have no obvious way of defending myself, so what to do? :-[

[Art Blade]

Hey Ric, good to have you on board  :)

Sounds like you haven't actually felt like paying attention to the tutorial and the (!) symbol on top of the screen which shows there is a new hint, there you can read what to do or what to do next. It's worth a shot  ;)

You can run by keeping pressed the run key (default: shift, see the key mapping options of the game)

You can crouch (and by that stay out of sight) by pressing the crouch key.

You can only jump say from one balcony to another, but not jump around like a bunny.

Throw the coins out of the open window (throw them outside) to the right so the guards will want to check it out. They won't check forever so when they are being distracted, leave the room through the door next to the other window, sneak up from behind and either use the piano cord to strangle the first guy or just plainly knock him out, by that either disarming him and grabbing his pistol or if he drops it, pick it up, then shoot the other guy who will be attacking by now. Grab his pistol, too. :)

I just started a new game and did it myself just for you and to see what it was like, haven't played it in a while :) I might as well continue a new playthrough now  :-()

[mmosu]

Looking forward to your adventures in the seedy underbelly of professional contract killing Ric  :-X

Since you're playing the PC version of the game, I'm going to have to defer to Art on a lot of issues.  The only thing I will add at this point is that you're going to find that a lot of the actions you can perform are context sensitive (like jumping between balconies), so make sure you play around with the "interact" button in different situations - some of the options you'll be presented with will be quite surprising  :-()

[Art Blade]

 :-D

Some of the results of your fiddling-around with stuff will be quite surprising, too :-()

[Ricamundo]

I should preferace this thread by saying i dont take well to new games. Out of the gate, im not familiar with the controls, and what im supposed to do is unclear sometimes. I guess that comes with age. ^+-+

I know its a 6 year old game, but im sure that FC1 and the original FEAR from 2005, had better graphics, not to mention easier to use controls. These just feel clunky, maybe its showing its console roots more than other games? There's apparently no quick save/load? I had to save and quit during the TUT mish(the amusement park) and when i came back, i had to start over, even tho i did save my game. ???? There's only 3 save slots, then you have to overwrite. Thats a little annoying.

Im constanly having to pause the game to check the contols, an i just cant remember what buttons do what, and i still dont get dragging and throwing bodies, or jumping as sometimes, it reverts to 3rd person and i watch myself doing the task, ( did i say that i hate 3rd person?  :D ) or nothing happens despite me hitting the use key or whatever key im supposed to use. :D

I did finally notice that the side window had no glass, so i threw the coin out, and after several tries where the 2 morons outside simply stood there, they finally went over to inverstigate, and i got in the theatre, and continued. Yay! After getting some weapons, i had to resort to killing all the incredibly annoying NPC's, not just the tartgets, as their constant screaming was driving me nuts! >:D I dont think i'll be getting any silent assasin awards in this game. ;D Ive saved just at the start of the first mish, so i hope the save works! About the inventory, how many weapons can i actually carry? I was trying to pick up an assault rifle, sniper and a shotty, but at least one kept being dropped. What are the hypos in my inventory for? Are they health for me, or a quiet knock out for a baddie? Can i drop stuff lin my inverntory and carry more guns? I like guns. ;D Can i move about faster, as the run key is a press n hold thing and holding down 2 keys is a pain. Sorry for the whinge fest, but so far i m not sure im impressed. :(

[mmosu]

Sounds like maybe the game is something different from what you were expecting.  It really requires you to be a keen observer of your surroundings and of the behavior of NPCs, like when you needed to notice the glass missing in the one window.  It admittedly takes some getting used to, but in most situations it is expecting you to take a direct and common sense approach, even though the possibilities are pretty much endless.
As far as weapons go, think about it this way - how can you conceal both a shotgun and an assault rifle in your jacket? You can't.  This wasn't a problem in earlier installments of the series - they would let you carry 8 handguns and an AR - but in Blood Money they took a little more of a realistic approach.  Now when you get access to the briefcase, all of that will change.  You'll be able to carry much more substantial weaponry without all the hassle of inducing panic.  The quicksave will start to w%&k during the actual missions also, I'm pretty sure it doesn't w%&k during the tutorial.  Just keep working with it and give it a fair chance - it will start picking up soon  :-X

[Ricamundo]

Appreciate the understanding, but ive just tried doing the first mish called a Vintage year. First off, i did eventually get to my save, but it takes a while and several loading screens to find it and get playing. I read a little window saying where to find my hidden weapon, but i cant remember where it said it was and i cant find that info, just the annoying female voice explaning the mish. I still cant get my head round the idea that i have to walk at a snail's pace everywhere, unless i hold down the run key, in which case i cant really direct myself with the mouse. At one point i followed a bunch of tourists who were following presumably a guide, down some stairs into the cellars. Ok cool, thats where i want to go anyways i thought, so halfway down the stairs, and i get stopped by a guy who looks like one of my targets(the son, i think). He started speaking in Spanish so i had no idea what he was saying, so i started following him and tried to strangle him with the wire thingy. I somehow ended up with a gun in my hand (his?) and killed him. This, of course, alerted everyone and their brother to my location and i died. Surprise! :-[

One other comment about the graphics, then i'll stop, i promise. When the mish started, and i was standing in front of the winery, i am always in 3rd person. Ok, no probs, i just have to hit the F1 key, but i noticed that the graphics go from nice and colourful in 3rd, to somewhat washed out in first person. Ive also noticed this happening inside, depending on whether im holding a weapon or not. I know Eidos was pimping nVidia for the best results, but a good ATI card should do just as well. Kinda puzzling imho. :-\

[JRD]

Ric... the game requires a smooth investigation of your surroundings, as mmosu said, but also a smooth way of executing your plan. You can accomplish the missions in so many different ways that it is impossible to guide you through, but here are a few tips.

- You can usually kill a guy (security guy, butler, driver, worker etc...) and get his clothes which grants you entrance to otherwise restricted areas: just make sure no one sees you killing him and hide the body  ;)

- Observe the target before doing your move, there are always an appropriate moment to execute him and a tight time window to do so, regardless the approach (unless you decide to go Rambo, of course  ;D )

- Sometimes you can kill someone from a distance by placing explosives where you know your target passes or using a silenced sniper rifle from afar. I once killed a guy by detonating a chandelier from the ceiling, causing it to fall on top of the target... I watched it from a balcony in great seats  >:D

The savegames are quite restricted, depending on your difficulty level you can have as many as only three and limited overwrites are allowed. One thing though, no matter the difficulty level, if you leave the game you loose the savegames on that particular level. It means that once you start playing a level, you have to finish it before quitting the game or you`ll have to start over the next time  :-(

As for the always run issue, try to map that key to spacebar or other key you feel comfortable holding on so you can run and "steer" agent 47... I use left shift (default in many games) and hold it with my little left hand finger.

Now the graphics, well I never play HM in 1st person so I don`t remember how it looks like, but the graphics are not great anyway, so focus on the nice gameplay ahead of you  ;)

Oh, one more thing... the ingame map shows you everything, including where the briedcase is located, just learn the icons and use the map a lot... it`s quite clumsy in the beginning but you get the hang of it eventually

[Art Blade]

Hehe, our gaming community is awake  ;D

The 1st person view indeed sometimes is bugged, depending on the weapon you're carrying (the one you're about to draw). I reckon the camera view is kind of inside the weapon's scope if there is any and then it gets all milky but weapons without scope seem to w%&k just fine.

The game mechanics focus on a "realistic" environment which means everyone around you will panic if you draw a weapon or if they see a body lying on the floor. Or, if you're constantly running around in an else quiet and peaceful surrounding, people will start to look at you because you're attracting attention. All that said, try to avoid starting panic and instead blend in unobtrusively. Any violence should happen without eyewitnesses or they'll either cause the police/security to show or later result in some sort of bounty on your head (depending on the difficulty level, the summary of your latest mission will be printed in the newspapers for everyone to read, witnesses will cause a description and even a drawn portrait of you, the more obvious you were, the more detailed the news about your person).

The highest achievement indeed is that of a silent assassin  rather than of a psychopathic mass murderer. All missions (perhaps excluding the very last one) allow for that achievement. It is up to you to figure out how to do it but of course you have the freedom to kill the entire population of a level if you see fit  :-()

The limited save game option is (an annoying) tribute to "realistic" game play, but at least on easy you may override those three slots. I keep one with major achievements and the following two for experimenting so I don't have to fall back to the very beginning. After a mission the game will remember which one you completed but you can't save and quit and restart from the save game -- it will be gone, no matter what, so you will have to finish one mission during one gaming session.

Fortunately, unlocking weapons and weapon upgrades will improve your performance and, this is the good part, you are allowed to replay previous (perhaps screwed-up) missions with your new toys and do better.  :-()

You'll most certainly start to enjoy the game the more you progress as the missions will take place in different locations each and unlocking new stuff (see mmosu's comment about the weapon case) will be adding to your experience and fun.

Regarding weapons that have been left in a safe place by the Agency, just check your map for a spot with a corresponding icon (see map legend). You can stash your own weapons there that you'd like to use again later in case you want or need to go places unarmed. Also, if you find new weapons, stash them there so they will be available in your armoury. That's the hideout level which is basically a museum of your entire loadouts and a shooting range to test these.

Don't give up.. it's a brilliant game :)

[mmosu]

You'll most certainly start to enjoy the game the more you progress as the missions will take place in different locations each and unlocking new stuff (see mmosu's comment about the weapon case) will be adding to your experience and fun.

Especially once you get the foil-lined case that allows you to carry weapons through metal detectors without setting them off!  >:D

[Ricamundo]

Thanks again for your patience guys, and yes i know its early on but im just not feeling the love from this game yet. The first time i played STALKER CoP i think i played 6 hours straight, and i know ive had similar experiences with FO and FC2. Hour after hour would fly by before i'd finally save and quit. This one is so far anyway, is more of a chore than anything else. So i cant save and quit mid level? wow, thats erm, unusual. ???

[Art Blade]

OK, then. Give up, already.. and miss the alligators that you can feed with wedding guests, the gay captain of a steam boat you can blow up with a tart, killing some bad guys disguised as Sesame Street's Bibo during a massive Mardi Grass parade, killing a dog with a poisoned sausage while attending an orgy at a porn producer's Christmas party (all those bunnies.. hmmm) Maybe I missed a couple of other fun things like killing the crown witness and frying his lover with a tuned BBQ grill.. maybe more.. :-()

[mmosu]

Ha! I had to do a quick google search to find out who "Bibo" was  ^+-+  Different names for different parts of the world I suppose  :-D

Oh, you forgot the "chance" elevator meeting and cell phone trap for the two jerks in the casino!  I'm afraid I don't remember the method you're describing with the riverboat guy . . .

[Art Blade]

What is Bibo called in the US? :)

Oh, the Casino! Wow, I love  that mission. Took quite some time to figure out how to solve it but after that you could do some freestyle game in repeated playthroughs of that mission which indeed is hilarious.  :) :-X

The Steamboat.. you can disguise yourself as a deck-hand first class (white socks) and serve the captain a white tart with an explosive that you had hidden inside or probably poison it (like the wedding tart) or just wreak havoc from the top floor down to the last mouse in the ship's hull.. so many people to pass away prematurely..  :-D

[Binnatics]

I remember the psychiatrical clinic... It had quite some humor in it. When I got up there the first time, I didn't yet got used to the sneeking and fooling techniques so I desided to perform a mass murder there ;)
And even that is a challenge. When they notice you and start looking for you it's damn hard to survive. But I managed to finally kill every damn fool or nurse available :)
There is as well a sense of humor in that institute ;)
The best mission I can remember is the one where you have to sneek in some sort of cuban stronghold. I don't remember what was to be done there exactly, appart from sneeking in and killing a surtain figure, but it was a lot of fun. Didn't pay attention to lame graphics at that time; I found it all great and realistic. Maybe if I look back at it now, I think different; game evolution goes so fast these days... I fired GTA SA again some weeks ago, and the bad graphics really annoyed me. I've been playing that game for ages without bothering about it once.

If you stick to it, Ricamundo, I'm sure you are going to like the sneeking and planning. It gives you a powerfull feeling if you look up a place before you enter and find your way in by killing some, fooling some and hiding any stand-in-the-way bodies  ;)

By the way, I've seen some adverticement for a new hitman to come out soon! That should be great!

[Art Blade]

yes, we have the next HM already on our radar :)

The mission you remember is the one Rica started to tell us about, it is the first mission after the tutorial, if I'm not mistaken. You are to kill father and son on their hacienda. To the observer there is a wine tasting session in progress and a guided tour through the wine cellar. Behind the scenes, there is a drug laboratory down in the basement and half a garrison of private soldiers on the other side of the court and inside the mansion. That's where I took a few of my screenshots :)

[smg id=2212 type=link align=center width=500]

Oh, the resort for mentally challenged people ( :-() ) or whatever that thing was, the asylum, man. That was heavy and always took a lot of time to get it over with. Very nice mission indeed.. and I remember I too killed everyone including security, patients, doctors, staff, oh and of course the targets  :-()

[Binnatics]

Damn creative killing there Art ;) Slab on the back for that one  :-X

[Art Blade]

thank you  :)

[mmosu]

I don't think I ever did that method on the riverboat.  I do remember where my favorite body disposal area was there - in the coal furnace down in the engine room  >:D

[Art Blade]

oh yes, I remember the shovel next to one of those, I whacked some guys with it before charring them  ;D