I like it the way it is, being an escalation. This is how escalations should be.
But yes, i agree with the fact that IO should forget about escalations.
3 Likes
Who? I donât recognize that 
anymore. Iâm now a retired speedrunna and am moving into contract design 
It took me what? 38+ minutes to do level one? 22 minutes on level 3? I boofed a fatty and walked around staring at all the pretty flowers for a whileâŚFuggeddabout itâŚ
Iâm ready to go on Lust⌠I hope to thrill you all!!!
4 Likes
Anyone know if there is a way to âinspireâ Manon Beaulieu?
I thought I was on to something when I heard Lucy Phillips call the plants in the Greenhouse inspiring. I grabbed the emetic flowers there and served her poisoned drinks as she passed by the ice cream stand, but she just went to the water to throw up endlessly.
When Cornelia Stuyvesant stops in Manonâs exhibit, she comments that Manon isnât there. This might be a long shot, but maybe there is a way to âinspireâ Manon back to her exhibit to be rewarded as winner by Cornelia? Or at the very least some dialog between the two.
4 Likes
I am not convinced that this is a good map for contracts.
I hope I am dead wrong in the future.
6 Likes
This is the best content they released since launch. Way better than deluxe & 7DS escalations. That being said, I still feel it couldâve been better. Canât quite put my finger on it, but I feel itâs missing something. I like what they did with the map & the atmosphere is definitely something different. But the targets are boring and have no character. All in all I give it 5.9/10. Wouldâve loved if they spent more time working on it and released after the 7 deadly escalations are done.
14 Likes
I love how they changed the map and how populated it is now. It feels so much more alive and upbeat. I do wish it was a bonus mission instead
8 Likes
Will anyone commit suicide in this activity? How did that happen?
For those who want to see whatâs up the ladder, here ya go
- PC: 1-28-8481307-04
There was a bug that prevented console versions from getting Five Stars, itâs now been recreated:
New IDs:
- PS: 2-28-3353326-12
- XBOX: 3-28-9647851-37
19 Likes
Very nice event
Garden show 7.5/10
Death of the family 5/10
The house mansion very boring. Now they used with the garden very good for this event the location got life.
2 Likes
Iâve replayed this more just today than all the sins combined (though I do really enjoy Lust and Sloth). Itâs a different side of Dartmoor and quite fun just to relax and smell the flowers, as it were.
It does feel lacking/empty in places though and too many NPCs are static and quiet; the background conversations add a lot to even the weaker levels and movement brings the world to even more life.
Honestly, while a true bonus mission or two somewhere down the line would be nice, I think this level works well as is. It would be cool for this specifically to get some updates to really elevate it but that seems unlikely. Hopefully, if IO keeps focusing down this mission/escalation hybrid format, they take the time necessary to really bring the next one to life and help it reach its fullest potential.
8 Likes
Fun contract. Really wish that the shortcut was open in the mission by default for more shenanigans.
It does seem a bit odd that thereâs now a shortcut in the game that can never be opened⌠
2 Likes
Oh it works on ps too? How did you open it?
2 Likes
No itâs not. Itâs an escalation to split up the target kills into more manageable pieces, and I do not find that to be a hinderance on the level or its quality. All the escalation targets have decently good routines, they make sense to be near their own gardens. The way theyâve designed it is pretty clever, if very poorly explained. In default, itâs the same targets and judges. but in deterministic mode, killing any target has a ripple effect on who gets killed next; and this ultimately culminates in different judge assassinations. Thatâs a very clever idea for an escalation, and iâm not sad this wasnât a bonus mission because the gimmick is pretty cool.
It already is better than special assignments, in part because those travesties of level design were too confined to a single space to be effective contracts. The garden show not only reuses assets effectively to create something new and original, but it plays really well. I donât find it to be limiting in the same way SAâs were. Trying to turn everything into a bonus episode doesnât work when said thing wasnât designed to be one to begin with. Special Assignmentâs are the worst part about the Gold/ expansion pass, and this escalation doesnât even come close to being that bad.
What I got from that was âescalations are bad because effort is wasted if you do themâ. I donât think thatâs true. While I canât speak for 7DS, I canât find many people who outright hate the concepts of more complex escalations with a bigger budget and complex ideas. Sure, some people might not like the gameplay, and thatâs fair enough. But thatâs a far cry from hating escalations because they waste potential.
Youâre just suggesting âmake a bonus missionâ. That isnât what this is, and I donât think itâd make it any better.
A lot of the NPCâs are static because having a lot of them move about would make gameplay painful. The gardens are small, and the less NPCâs walking in on me taking Ken to the crate or dumping them in water, the better.
As for the levelsâ verticality, minus the sniper spot (which is clearly meant to be unlocked), I donât see a need for it. Not every map needs it, especially at a garden show. On a similar note, the manor doesnât need to be open because itâd have no benefit to the player. The outside part is a pretty small donut, so making them shortcut routes is pointless, the items youâd use to kill people are all outside, and itâd just distract from the garden show.
Again, I donât see the need. Most of the disguises are already quite useful, so iâm not sure adding more would do, asides from clutter up a pretty balanced design of a level.
It does not feel half-assed, and making it an escalation does not make it half-assed either. I donât see why effort canât be put into stuff like this.
For something like this, I get why people want saving support. You do have multiple targets, and saving allows for a fallback. Sod it, I do too. #addsavesupportothegardenshow.
See below quote.
Thatâs because they were also made at the start of 2016âs alpha, meaning they had infinitely more time and manpower to get right. This was clearly made after H3 was released, and it shows.
Hoe does this poison their work exactly? The fanbase knows they make good levels, the WOA trilogy is proof of that. I donât think escalations are the thing to poison their work. If anything is going to poison their work, then itâd be elusive targets, but those have been running for several years now, and IOIâs levels havenât suffered, and neither has public opinion on the ability to create levels.
10 Likes
Violin boost? I hate glitched contracts though. Open up the ladders IOI. FFS, itâs already a dense map.
1 Like
Changed the Location to Death In The Family
5 Likes
Iâd say all three are now either determinant Dead or none are since itâs still an Escalation.
2 Likes
The more accurate question would be:
How do you change the location to Death in the family?
2 Likes
I feel like this is by far the best re-use of a level since Patient Zero, but back in 2017 a lot of people were disappointed with Patient Zero for not changing enough soâŚ
I like what they did and I will come back to it. I feel like Iâd be more disappointed with it but H3âs post launch content has softened me to the point I really like this.
Also this is seriously one of the best suits in the game.
9 Likes
I havenât but have you tried serving her lemonade without poison? It might help.
Agree to disagree with most of what you said I guess, but you make some fair points. I just think it wouldâve been better to if Garden Show had been designed as a Bonus Mission from the get-go since most of the assets required to do so are in place anyway. I know making a bonus mission is a very long and complicated process, but making Garden Show as it is couldnât have been simple either. I think Iâm right in saying that a lot of people would have prefered to receive a bonus mission than an escalation.
I should also clarify that I donât think escalations are a waste of time and effort at all. I just see them as a pretty low on the bonus content tier-list. For me, itâs something like (lowest to highest):
Featured Contracts â Escalations â Elusive Targets â Bonus Missions
I think, as it sits, Garden Show is an excellent escalation and undoubtedly the best one weâve ever had. Iâd also say it marks a big step in the right direction for Hitman 3 post-launch content. But, I just think it would have been better realised as a bonus mission. Itâs been designed as an escalation (presumably) from the get-go, and I think it would have been better overall had it been envisioned as a bonus mission instead; though I understand that this would require more time and effort to produce. Honestly, just adding an option to save would have been a big improvement in my opinion.
To me, IOI seems to have an obsession with escalations. I understand that theyâre busy working on 007 and donât have all hands on deck for Hitman 3, and escalations allow them to produce content more easily with the manpower theyâve got. People have already argued about 7 Deadly Sinsâ escalation-based format and, while I canât say I like it, I understand why itâs necessary given the manpower and time constraints they have for releasing the content. DGS on the other hand was an opportuntity to move away from escalations. I feel like if theyâre going to make the effort to make a great level remix, they may as well go all in and make it a bonus mission. I know itâs not as simple as Iâm trying to make it sound, but I think if DGS had been envisioned as a bonus mission from the beginning, and given maybe a couple more months in development, we really couldâve had an excellent bonus mission.
Donât get me wrong. DGS show is excellent and a big improvement on the other content with received so far, I just canât help but think what could have been.
8 Likes