Caltrops - Article Submissions - Re: mandatory stealth

Forum Overview :: Article Submissions

by Forensic 06/13/2003, 7:19pm PDT

FoK wrote:

FABIO wrote:

curst wrote:

laudablepuss wrote:

Jhoh Creexul wrote:

Randomly pasted. :( HAPHAZARDLY

- The overuse of fake scripted sequences are the worst ever seen in a game.

- Stealth = hitting the "quick load" key 30 times from being caught constantly

This combination killed the first SOF game for me. What's the point of being quiet when you just trigger scripted ambushes anyway?

In SoF1, you didn't *HAVE* to play stealthily. If a mafucka got in yo face, you streit JACKED his ass, nahmean? In SoF1, all an ambush meant was more limbs for the severing.

In SoF2, early on you have to navigate a good part of a level without so much as being seen, or FUCK YOU GAME OVER.

Why on fucking Earth does SoF, a game founded on mindless, bloody carnage, have to gay it up by throwing in stealth aspects? Ever since Thief, it's been the hot gay trend to cram this crap into your game, whether it fits or not, because all the other popular games are doing it. Problem: NO GAME SINCE THIEF HAS GOTTEN IT RIGHT. Shit, it was even kind of dodgy in the Thief games once you discovered you could just go nuts with the sword and beat the level in one-fourth of the time. Stealth = slow, tedious, and boring. I'm surprised they didnt put it into Enter the Matrix; it already has out of place driving and sniping sequences. Every shooter game MUST contain a sniper rifle! Put the slow, meticulous craft of sniping into a fast paced action game, thanks guys. Less lining up the shot and more kung fu please.

I'm currently stuck on the NOLF2 level where you have to sneak around the palace without being seen. It's probably not even hard, but at this point I'm thinking FUCK YOU GUYS THIS ISN'T FUN ANYMORE.

The problem with mandatory stealth in games is that you don't get peripheral vision. It's kind of interesting from an immersion standpoint, since the stealth aspect draws you in to a point, but then the fact that you can't see in a 180-degree field rockets you back into reality. I'm getting pretty fucking tired of getting caught be people that are sneaking up on me from my right and left.

Eventually it seems like all stealth games become an exercise in figuring out the mostly arbitrary rules of what gets you caught. For instance, I spent like twenty minutes hiding at the beginning of Deus Ex before figuring out that the enemies had a ten-foot field of vision in front of them and nothing on the perephery.

So now I'm playing through Splinter Cell. Like Thief, it uses a little darkness meter to tell you how hidden you are. Unlike Thief, it's third person, so you're always acutely aware of just how obviously visible you are no matter what the meter says. Here I am in a brightly lit balcony in the CIA building with a programmer in a chokehold. The guard sees me, and he goes to investigate. I move into a corner of the room where it is pitch dark in the square inch of floor directly beneath, but me and my unwilling companion are lit up like a Christmas tree. The guard stands two feet away, looks directly at me for a good ten seconds, and then walks off mumbling about seeing things. How anyone with a lifetime's experience of using eyeballs supposed to intuitively know how to play this thing?

The same goes for the sound. According to the manual, non-fatal takedowns are silent, while killing shots with your silenced pistols are not. This despite the tendency of enemies to go "NYERK! GYAH!" when you grab them and "NYUUUUUHH-ARGH!" when you clock them with the butt of your pistol. So it comes down to trial and error. Opening the door to a tiny room doesn't alert the two people in it. Neither does grabbing one from behind. "Nyerk, Bob? Might want to get that cough looked at, hah hah!" Oops, punching him in the head alerted the other guy, try that again. Ok, dragging him outside first works. Sneaking in again and loudly clacking at the keyboard doesn't set anything off...

Next game I get is going to be brightly colored and sunny, no more of this sneaking around in grey boxes.