Splinter Cell: Blacklist - Discussion Thread

^^DX 9. Never mind fixed it. Turned Ambient Occulsion = Field AO & HBAO+.
Moreover the solution is a bit weird.The game will stutter badly irrespective of your settings when it starts(Intro) in dx11. Then when you go to settings menu it automatically stabilizes after that! I am not sure if you have to do it every time when you start the game.
 
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^^DX 9. Never mind fixed it. Turned Ambient Occulsion = Field AO & HBAO+.
Moreover the solution is a bit weird.The game will stutter badly irrespective of your settings when it starts(Intro) in dx11. Then when you go to settings menu it automatically stabilizes after that! I am not sure if you have to do it every time when you start the game.

This is with or without the day-one patch?
 
Awrite, lots of delays. What with tumultuous work load at office and mood swings away from gaming... I'm finally starting it this evening.
 
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Two questions for the folks who are playing it:

1. The only way to sneak very slowly in crouch mode is to gently press down on the movement key on the KB? I for one find the movement key is super sensitive and it's kind of annoying to feather-touch it to sneak. I am ghosting it 100% so it's so important for me to get it dead right! The X360 controller however makes sneaking while crouched much easier but I want to use the KB and mouse combo for this game.

2. Which difficulty are you guys playing it on?
 
Started the game a couple of days back on Perfectionist difficulty. I'm trying my very best to bypass enemies entirely and ghost as far as possible knocing them out only when there is an absolute need to do so. Here are the stats for the first 2 missions that I completed:

Mission - Safehouse (Difficulty: Perfectionist)

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Mission - Insurgent Stronghold (Difficulty: Perfectionist)

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I have decided to use the X360 controller for this play-through of the campaign missions. The movement just doesn't feel right while sneaking in crouched mode with the mouse and KB combo. The AI on Perfectionist is as I expected, very sharp. There is practically no margin of error on this mode.

@Ethan_Hunt: Hope you get done with the two DLC's of Dishonored soon and can pick this game up!
 
That's fantastic result. I initially started with Ghost type too, but as you said and I agree the Keyboard control is kinda weird and doesn't account for ghost type, so I lost patience and went for more panther than Ghost. I will try to see how much money I earned on those first two missions and compare with yours to see what difference it makes between different game play style and difficulty.
 
@Ethan_Hunt: Hope you get done with the two DLC's of Dishonored soon and can pick this game up!

I installed it last night just to run a performance test. I'll begin as soon as Brigmore Witches DLC is done. I'm not up for higher difficulty though, so it would just be normal. How do you find Perfectionist compared to Absolution's Purist difficulty?
 
Can't say about Perfectionist, but on Realistic I found it easy, if not a lot, than Absolution on Expert, even on Hard I found it little hard sometimes. Maybe just me.
 
@Ethan_Hunt: Hitman Absolution on Purist had a few caveats which have to kept in mind while comparing it with this title. By caveats I'm mainly referring to suit only, absolutely no knockouts (because knockout's IMHO breaks the premise of a neat suit-only play-through), accident only and the use of cover to remain hidden first and foremost. The margin of being noticed and spotted on Purist difficulty was extremely, extremely narrow.

OTOH, in this game on the highest difficulty Perfectionist you can still knockout guards if the real need arises and also along with cover-spots use dark area's to keep hidden and away from enemy-sight as best as you can. Even though the margin of being noticed by an enemy and being spotted is narrow it's probably still a tad bit more than what is offered by HAB on Purist. I think the primary factor which would make HAB a harder game IMO is the no-knockout caveat on Purist.

With that being said, managed to completed a couple of more missions and here are the stats I got:

Mission - American Consumption (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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Mission - Hawkin's Seafort (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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Note: I was able to do 'The Hawkin's Seafort' mission solo without a single enemy knockout (KO) or kill with absolute Ghosting.

 
Again, awesome results. Complete ghosting is almost impossible for me, you need lot of patience for it ;)
Have you or anyone found a way to knock out those Hazmat suit guys? Evading or shooting in the head twice, are those the only valid options really? I am currently on the Chechnya side mission and at last point (C) that guy on the first floor is becoming a PITA.
 
@ithehappy : Many thanks for the appreciation mate! :)

I have managed to avoid those heavy soldiers up until the level 'American' Consumption' but the next level I played today I had to take care of one. I hid myself from him completely and when he passed me very quietly sneaked up on him and knocked him out. It worked like a charm.

Here are the stats I got:

Mission - Private Estate (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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This was perhaps the hardest level that I have played up until now in the game. The entire level was practically swarming with guards and also those pesky roving guard dogs scouring every inch of the map! The hardest part wasn't evading them (because I possibly couldn't evade them all as much as I would have loved to!) it was actually formulating a strategy to knock-out the guards all the while keeping Sam well hidden away in the dark spots. Sweet Jesus this mission was HARD on Perfectionist!

Note: In this particular level there was small sequence where I had to avoid 6-7 guards altogether without being spotted. The evading would have probably taken 5-10 minutes flat on Normal difficulty mode. It took me a whopping 40 minutes to get the entire sequence right and finally make it to the objective unseen. Just goes to show how crucial timing and the right rhythm of movement is in this game on Perfectionist.
 
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One more mission completed:

Mission - Abandoned Mill (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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Managed to get the Golden Ghost bar on this one! :)
 
Quick question folks: Does this game allow mutiple profiles to be created? Me and my brother both want to play this title, but I won't do it, unless it has 2 separate profiles to be created to track our individual progress.
 
A couple of more levels completed:

Mission - Special Missions HQ (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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Note: Wao! Just wao!! This mission was a grueling one to to very core. The more I progressed the more harder it got with guards, heavy armored soldiers and those pesky dogs scouring the map. The ending parts had me trying, re-trying and then trying some more to get it all right. The challenge of stealth games... gotta love it!

Mission - Transit Yards (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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Note: Huge map but once practiced and perfected (specially the last part!) the Gold Ghost rating came my way nice and smooth.
 
Another 2 more main missions completed:

Mission - Detention Facility (Difficulty: Perfectionist):

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Note: Unfortunately on this mission my Gold Ghost status was robbed of me! I do not know why this happened but I did face a bug on this level (that of the guards becoming suspicions of my presence due to no reason whatsoever!) and I think the game decided to play a bad trick. I will surely re-try this level again after completing the game in it's entirety to once check if I can achieve the coveted Gold Ghost status.

Mission - Airstrip (Difficulty - Perfectionist):

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Note: An OMG mission really! This was a knock-out gallore, no kill stealth run featuring some of the most gruelling hide and seek games with the enemy. A perfect happy hunting type mission.... only for me it was stealth KO's, nothing more. Gold Ghost status achieved!
 
So, safe to say Ubisoft have come the full circle with this game after the last few iterations ? Seems people are enjoying this
 
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