An Invisible Protagonist
Yahtzee wonders what it'd be like to be invisible in a game all the time.
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Yahtzee wonders what it'd be like to be invisible in a game all the time.
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Extra Punctuation: An Invisible Protagonist
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
One thing I always wanted Hitman to include was more freedom to make it look like an accident or even a suicide or something.
Like the first mission in Blood Money, The target sits upstairs playing his Cello, on him he has a revolver, could you not sneak in, press the gun to his head and kill him then leave it in his hand? then before his guards rush in get out the window.
the idea of being completely undetectable is something I would really like to see in a stealth game.
imagine how much more tense Kane and Lynch 2 would have been if it was about escaping undetected from Shanghai rather than gunning down half its population in increasingly stupid scenarios. ESPECIALLY if you had to babysit Lynch!
Like the first mission in Blood Money, The target sits upstairs playing his Cello, on him he has a revolver, could you not sneak in, press the gun to his head and kill him then leave it in his hand? then before his guards rush in get out the window.
the idea of being completely undetectable is something I would really like to see in a stealth game.
imagine how much more tense Kane and Lynch 2 would have been if it was about escaping undetected from Shanghai rather than gunning down half its population in increasingly stupid scenarios. ESPECIALLY if you had to babysit Lynch!
I had a spell in Oblivion that, coupled with my maxed out Willpower, Illusion rank and high magic capacity meant I could cast in enough succession to benefit from successively. I spent a lot of the game invisible from there on, not even just on missions - running around and screwing around with NPCs and such. Sadly, the general puppet-like AI made it far less satisfying than it could have been. (It was a super camoulfage spell BTW, so it didn't disable when I attacked or stole something)
Blood Money comes closest to this pipe dream - and I agree with TemplateResponse, I too was very disappointed that there was no mission where every murder can look like an accident (closest is that wedding level, where you can poison the cake and drop a chandalier on the other guy).
There's a bit of a triple-A gaming original idea drought, who votes they should employ Yahtzee?
There's a bit of a triple-A gaming original idea drought, who votes they should employ Yahtzee?
While it's not exactly what you're looking for, there's a Hal-Life 2 mod called the Hidden where one character is permanently invisible, and everyone else has to hunt him down, while he silently takes them out. It's fun and genuinely unnerving to be playing visible.
Check it out, maybe.
Edit: Oh, there's a ninja.
Check it out, maybe.
Edit: Oh, there's a ninja.
I did the same; was wicked fun.Cronox said:
OT: I'd be interested in seeing a game like this made, as tends to be the case with Yahtzee's hypothetical productions. I'm a fan of stealth gameplay, so I'd buy it.
I see what you mean about the best writing in stealh games sometimes being heard by listening in on idiotic guards. Like in Arkham Asylum, I remember thinking up to one point "man this is a good game, it's just a shame teh dialogue is a little lifeless, especially when Batman's around". That stopped around the time I resisted th temptation to jump into the fray for 10 seconds to hear a very amusing little anecdote from some of the guardsmen about what it's like to work with the Joker - their amusing antics formed a far more palpable shield against the Bat than any gun could have. One of my favourites was listening into them talking about how teh joker wanted a dude to kill his sister - which i got a real chuckle out of. On a side note, a VERY welcome feature of Arkham Asylum was how good teh AI was for the stealth sections - none of the famous MGS bullshit of patrolling even with a shot off kneecap, theyactually grouped together and varied tactics, moving with some sense of realism that made it all the more palable to beak off their pairings to corner each one individually and take them out before they got off a single shot.
Rainbow Six had a mission like this. You had to sneek in and copy a file from a computer and get out. Killing a guard, knocking a guard out, or being seen was an instant failure.
That's a great concept that could be improved even further in several ways, for example having missions where you have to drive someone insane by essentially mimicking the actions of a poltergeist, but be subtle about it so they can't really tell if the shuffling noise they heard or that book that seems to have moved somewhere else actually did happen. You are invisible, the people who made you that way have an agenda, and you are a slightly sadistic tosser about the way you use your powers. It could support a great story and fun gameplay.
I'm running into the same feeling with Crisis that Yahtzee talked about in his review. I too am big on stealth and I have a great fondness for sitting in some bushes, invisible to my enemies, picking them off from a distance one by one. He seems to go for the stealth kills more whereas I tend to pick people off with well aimed shots at long range but the issue remains the same. I'm playing on the hardest difficulty and the game is piss easy because of my pansy tactics.
I sit really far away cloaked with my silenced assault rifle. I can fire about 3 or so shots with it, retire to some cover for a second, and recharge my energy bar incredibly quickly. Rinse, repeat until everyone is dead, then move towards the objective, cloaked of course. Not knowing where I am the enemies are content to either search for me slowly or stand perfectly still. Even with my assault rifle, not sniper rifle, getting the well aimed one hit kill headshot is not especially difficult, and even when I royally fuck up and my cover gets totally blown relocating myself while cloaked and waiting for a moment will return them to their slowly walking behavior pattern.
I almost feel bad playing the game, knowing that the developers put tons of crazy stuff in the game that I never get to use. I think I've killed two enemies with an object as two guys were standing right next to a car and I wanted to try the power kick. I've killed a decent number of enemies with the silent kill attack but that's still in the same realm as the headshots. I've never killed anyone by throwing something at them or using the neck breaking throw attack. The game was way more challenging before I found a silenced gun. Since then I've just been doing the same thing over and over. The cloak is too good. It's almost a game breaking mechanic. I know this and yet I never stop using it. I'm too tactically oriented to stop. The run and gun approach seems too reckless, and therefore I stick to my sneaky shenanigans. It's really just too powerful though.
I sit really far away cloaked with my silenced assault rifle. I can fire about 3 or so shots with it, retire to some cover for a second, and recharge my energy bar incredibly quickly. Rinse, repeat until everyone is dead, then move towards the objective, cloaked of course. Not knowing where I am the enemies are content to either search for me slowly or stand perfectly still. Even with my assault rifle, not sniper rifle, getting the well aimed one hit kill headshot is not especially difficult, and even when I royally fuck up and my cover gets totally blown relocating myself while cloaked and waiting for a moment will return them to their slowly walking behavior pattern.
I almost feel bad playing the game, knowing that the developers put tons of crazy stuff in the game that I never get to use. I think I've killed two enemies with an object as two guys were standing right next to a car and I wanted to try the power kick. I've killed a decent number of enemies with the silent kill attack but that's still in the same realm as the headshots. I've never killed anyone by throwing something at them or using the neck breaking throw attack. The game was way more challenging before I found a silenced gun. Since then I've just been doing the same thing over and over. The cloak is too good. It's almost a game breaking mechanic. I know this and yet I never stop using it. I'm too tactically oriented to stop. The run and gun approach seems too reckless, and therefore I stick to my sneaky shenanigans. It's really just too powerful though.
Main problem - stealth games are about manipulting your environment. Being invisible simply means you're left to avoiding certain parts - water patches etc. - while all others you can walk freely though. In terms of sound there isn't any new dimension there not already present.
Also, invisible by suit or by SCIENCE!(TM) and natural invisibility? If former, mechanics of suit come in to play - power source? Rips and tears from damage?
If invisible I... well, bait and tackle problems.
The best part about the stealth genre is to be unseen, as opposed to invisible. It's about standing right in the spot light but still be ignored.
To whit - Hitman.
Steal an entry card, submit myself to an asylum. Proceed to mess with gas valve, poison beer, rig explosive to cause a chandelier to fall on third victim. Four victim is killed by strangling him as he works out on the bench.
And I do it all in broad daylight, allowable because I adopt a disguise and a character for the situation.
Also, invisible by suit or by SCIENCE!(TM) and natural invisibility? If former, mechanics of suit come in to play - power source? Rips and tears from damage?
If invisible I... well, bait and tackle problems.
The best part about the stealth genre is to be unseen, as opposed to invisible. It's about standing right in the spot light but still be ignored.
To whit - Hitman.
Steal an entry card, submit myself to an asylum. Proceed to mess with gas valve, poison beer, rig explosive to cause a chandelier to fall on third victim. Four victim is killed by strangling him as he works out on the bench.
And I do it all in broad daylight, allowable because I adopt a disguise and a character for the situation.
I suppose it would be something interesting to try out, but no plan is flawless.
However, I'm way too lazy and/or stupid to think of anything.
So go ahead, someone. Make the game. I'll play it, and after I've finished it, I'll be whining. But still, it would be neat to try it out.
However, I'm way too lazy and/or stupid to think of anything.
So go ahead, someone. Make the game. I'll play it, and after I've finished it, I'll be whining. But still, it would be neat to try it out.
brilliant idea, I'd buy it, but I'm a social fool, any ideas on multiplayer (doesn't HAVE to but something like one person takes a turn at being invisible and you have to protect your flag from the invisible man) OR two people both against the same NPCs have to steal the vase, speed and skill counts for points)
EDIT Plus the game should be VERY flexible, more so than blood money
EDIT Plus the game should be VERY flexible, more so than blood money
Hooray for the Phantom Limb!
Anway OT, if you think stairs would be bad, lifts would be a no-go and imagine trying to squirm your way onto a bus. There would be immense satisfaction in pulling off missions in such a game.
Anway OT, if you think stairs would be bad, lifts would be a no-go and imagine trying to squirm your way onto a bus. There would be immense satisfaction in pulling off missions in such a game.