What makes good stealth?

[Deathkingo]

I have to agree with Yahtzee and say that great stealth comes with a variety of ways to carry out your objective.

 

[Pegghead]

I always enjoyed the hitman approach of being presented with an enormous environment that offered many possibilities. Inside that enormous environment should be lots of varied and mandatory sub-challenges or objectives that'll aid your progress, for instance there was a section in an old hitman game where you had to get your hands on a uniform, one way you could do it involved finding laxatives, sneaking into the kitchen, putting them in the soup, waiting in the bathroom, killing whoever stumbled in and taking their uniform. Oh yes and being able to dress in clothes that enable you to belnd in is a must.

 

[The Eggplant]

One thing that I don't think has been mentioned yet: the ability to screw up convincingly. Stealth should not be a one-off thing where one muck-up ruins the whole sneaky bit and forces into a bland run-and-gun (or run-and-hack, I'm not biased). A good stealth game will incorporate some way for you to efficiently bump off a guard who happens to catch you unawares without causing all his chums to home in on you like sharks to a menstruating swimmer.

 

[Jibblejab]

I always enjoyed the hitman approach of being presented with an enormous environment that offered many possibilities. Inside that enormous environment should be lots of varied and mandatory sub-challenges or objectives that'll aid your progress, for instance there was a section in an old hitman game where you had to get your hands on a uniform, one way you could do it involved finding laxatives, sneaking into the kitchen, putting them in the soup, waiting in the bathroom, killing whoever stumbled in and taking their uniform. Oh yes and being able to dress in clothes that enable you to belnd in is a must.

Reminds me of the part in Butchers Bay where you kill the guards in the showers and steal a uniform from lockers and wander around intel gathering

 

[AfroTree]

I'd like to say that stealth games need better AI, but if they had better AI we'd all be screwed. So, now, they're idiotic drones who very quickly get over the death of their colleagues and go back to walking ruts in carpet, but better AI would mean we could only rarely kill any of them.

"Jim? Jim? Hey, Dave, Jim's not in the west room and he won't answer his radio."
"Find that dumb-ass slacker, Bob"
...
"Bob? Hey, Bob, did you find Jim? Crap, everyone we may have an intruder. Jim and Bob over on the west side of the building have stopped responding."

See? Screwed.

Nope..you just suck at getting past, when you have already taken out a guard..that was on his own.

so blargh mobile!

also

essentially

i want to sneak!

Better AI would also leave you with far fewer places to hide, and if spotted at all the place would go on high alert and everyone would click on tac-lights to their guns or stay within torchlight or what-have-you for your game.

This is why i may not like the Splinter Cell series. But i always liked the fact you could climb up the pipes, or if you REALLY needed to, you had an offensive weapon you could use to some degree, while keeping some stealth

EDIT:

and this sutff is good too

Inside that enormous environment should be lots of varied and mandatory sub-challenges or objectives that'll aid your progress, for instance there was a section in an old hitman game where you had to get your hands on a uniform, one way you could do it involved finding laxatives, sneaking into the kitchen, putting them in the soup, waiting in the bathroom, killing whoever stumbled in and taking their uniform. Oh yes and being able to dress in clothes that enable you to belnd in is a must.

 

[The Madman]

I think it's the sense of suspense! Of knowing that one mistake could mean the difference between victory of defeat. Of having to pay attention to every last little sound and change in the lighting, completely immersing yourself in the games environments to better hide from your foes. Of having to plan out everything carefully and yet knowing all the while everything could change at the drop of a dime forcing you to improvise. Of freedom of choice, and having multiple options for every conceivable situation, never restricting you to just one foregone path.

And for those reasons the Thief series have always been my favorite stealth series. Hitman for example (And by extension Assassins Creed) is entertaining, and I love the series, but there's simply no sense of 'dread' towards being caught. No suspense, nothing forcing you to immerse yourself. Instead I've tended to treat it like a ridiculously cool puzzle game, where I figure out what lets me go where, which weapons are best suited for what situations, and how to best kill my foes without ever having let the (game) world know I was there. Entertaining? Hell yes!

But not suspenseful.

And for me that's what it's all about for stealth. Hiding in the shadows one hairs width away from certain disaster and getting away with it! And that's a feeling I've always felt the Thief series did best.

 

[Lucane]

Not needing to.

Beyond that? Having a variety of skills for getting rid of your opponents or distracting them or just evading them.

 

[Souplex]

Stealth is best when it's optional. I don't feel like I'm outdoing my enemy by hiding in the corner and either hoping they walk away or taking wussy potshots at them.
Stealth always feels like something that should be a last resort. By making it my only option you take out the fun.

 

[PTSpyder]

One thing, and one thing only can make for a good stealth game - swords, and no guns.

 

[Jibblejab]

One thing, and one thing only can make for a good stealth game - swords, and no guns.

They have guns. You dont. Thats quite fun.

 

[LordMoose]

Stealth Bonus.
You have a Cellphone, you know of a local take out place.

Order out.

*knock knock* "Pachinos Pizza!"
We didnt order any pi- you know what, hell, im starving, ho- *chak chak* *thud thud*

Thanks for getting the door open kid. *Opens the box and eats a slice of pizza* Gwaa Haff!