Stealth gaming,has it peaked?

[gromit]

heresy or truth?

Truth, for better or for worse.

 

[sullynathan]

Hmm okay Battery is kinda cool. But i cant remember hearing it anywhere, maybe because of how they did it ingame cause on wikipedia it says

"In-game music sequences are similar but not identical to the official soundtrack, as most of the in-game music is produced by layering different sequences together."

Thats how it felt in the game, kinda like a disjointed mess. It wouldve been better if it was like in Hitman, one long theme playing until combat starts. but they had to be French about it. I guess it fits the confusing narrative or something.

Once you beat each mission, you unlock soundtracks that you can play in the menu anytime you want.
The menu music is also randomly picked whenever you start the game.

 

[Multidirectional]

I heard that despite some popmole things, Splinter Cell: Blacklist is actually good. Is this true?

I can tell you this much, it's the best modern Ubisoft AAA game I've played. Goes into fun popamole section along stuff like first two Batman Arkham games. True stealth game it isn't but Panther or Ghost playstyles are genuinely enjoyable. My biggest issue with main story missions is the couple of short sections where they force you to control another character and are in FIRST PERSON. Side missions are fun to co-op, especially the ones that have zero checkpoints and are over as soon as you are seen by enemy.

Nothing trumps the music in Chaos Theory.

Well no shit, it's fucking Amon Tobin.

 

[Volrath]

Hitman: Blood Money and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory are the best stealth games I've played.

I haven't played the Thief games yet.

MGS 5 and Dishonored were decent attempts, but too easy. In MGS 5 you could just tranq and balloon everyone. In Dishonored, you could just blink everywhere.

 

[Mr. Pink]

one aspect of first person stealth that really bothers me is that unlike reality, your field of vision is extremely limited.


also, some actions can get a bit janky compared to third person games, like peeking over walls or moving under cover. No way to tell if the top of your head pokes out of cover in first person.

If I had to design a first person stealth game, I'd add the peripheral vision simulation that red orchestra 2 had. if something moved just outside your monitor edge, it would flash subtly. also, you can see your feet and body when you look down, so you can avoid dumb mistakes like peeking with half your body already out by noticing where your feet are.

Something that I haven't seen any innovation on acoustics. almost every game including has hold-ctrl-to-walk/sneak controls but I'd like to see more attention to acoustics. Thief did it well, but I think it could be pushed further. Not making sounds could be a puzzle in and of itself. In order to go upstairs quietly you would have to hug the edge of the steps because the middle makes more noise. avoiding puddles of liquid, metal platforms, creaky wooden floors and crunchy gravel should be in a stealth game. Unsheathing a knife would have you drag your mouse sideways, if you dragged too fast, you'd make a small noise, opening creaky doors could be a slow sideways drag, or do it really quickly to synchronize with another noise like hiding a fart by waiting for someone to scoot their chair.

 

[Jazz_]

The problem with stealth games is that the AI is always programmed to be blind as a bat.

 

[Carrion]

one aspect of first person stealth that really bothers me is that unlike reality, your field of vision is extremely limited.


also, some actions can get a bit janky compared to third person games, like peeking over walls or moving under cover. No way to tell if the top of your head pokes out of cover in first person.

I don't remember ever encountering that problem in a stealth game, and I always play in first person when possible. Any examples? In most first-person games your character doesn't even have a body, and if you can't see over a piece of cover, the enemies won't see you either.

The problem with third-person stealth is that it outright gives you superpowers like being able to see stuff your character has no way of seeing, and the only instances I'm willing to give it a pass are when a game features mechanics that require that extra bit of body awareness, like the acrobatics in Splinter Cell or the disguise system in Hitman.

 

[Gerrard]

Is there a game where the enemies are not retarded and will actually react to things like other guards going missing AND they are not blind as moles?

Then no.

Fucking Shadow Tactics I'm looking at you.

 

[Azrael the cat]

2002 answer: HELL NO, there's so much great stuff that can still be implemented.
2016 answer: yeah, it peaked back in 2002.

 

[Beastro]

2002 answer: HELL NO, there's so much great stuff that can still be implemented.
2016 answer: yeah, it peaked back in 2002.

Back in 2000 I thought graphics had improved enough that developers would start focusing more on AI....

 

[Master]

Goddamn Double Agent... The more i play the more i go back to Chaos Theory. I can tolerate how they removed the stealthometer and the cool "background sounds" mechanic but why did they have to fuck up the graphics. Where are those thick black shadows from CT, where? It just doesnt make any goddamn sense.


BTW if anyone wants to make CT more hardcore open up the CT3settings.ini file and put grabspeed and grabspeedFP to zero so you cant just grab people and drag them in some dark corner. Instead you have to interrogate on the spot and carry the bodies afterwards which i never used the first time... You can also mess with Sams speed and some other things.