Elusive Target Arcade

With the Freelancer Mode coming (eventually) I’m starting to make sure I leave in my suit. For the (guy in Colorado) I make my way to the Elite Soldier disguise in the truck. But leaving with my suit? I did it the 1st time. But the 2nd time? I got spotted, and eventually gunned down.

The Pharmacist… I’m glad she’s back! For her, I’ve been rushing to get the blue waiter disguise, then get the remote explosive (RE) in the attic. When she comes up the stairs I toss the RE towards the chandelier winch, then detonate it. I killed one of her bodyguards too. But I can’t see any faster way to get her.

On a previous playthrough, I put the RE in a briefcase. This let me get her with another chandelier winch in the room by that Delgado chick Andrea Martinez.

Some of these make me want to retry them, then figure out a different way the next time I play it. :grin:

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That was not your fault, puddle created by that sink appears to be much smaller that it is. I got killed by it too. I already reported it, so I hope this get fixed so people don’t die to it like to that stove in kitchen.

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I mean, I just really need to stop throwing car batteries around.

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I was originally afraid I would struggle with Pharmacist, and no loadout restriction, but later found 3 different ways how to eliminate her:

  1. Get yourself a coin, and a pistol. Disguie as Auction Staff, and wait until she has he conversation with Dalia. After she sits on chair, place 1 or 2 coins in front of Dalia’s desk. Run outside on balcony, and while she is collecting them, shoot chandolier in Dalia’s office.
  2. Try to get rid of Dalia’s assistant and her lover, preferably using dongle. After meeting with Dalia, Nina should at some point go to balcony. Distract one of her bodyguards, and while he is gone, pacify second and push her from it. Make sure you also pacify second ASAP.
  3. This one is very risky, and not sure if it works. Send her into lockdown, and she will run to balcony, where she should be alone. However, she will not be facing the railings, so I guess you can pacify her or make try to turn her around.
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Does everyone on here (at least in this thread :joy:) agree that Elusive Targets are not canon?

I would actually agree, but Diana and Tamara have an interesting conversation about past contracts where they mention Mark Faba and Richard Ekwensi.
4:03, 2:33

(bonus mention of 2:52)

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A lot of them don’t line up, especially ALL the H3 Elusive targets for Berlin, Chongqing and Mendoza.

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I’m pretty sure those are just playful nods to the player, like saying the whole Blake Dexter this was a “parallel universe.” If anything, it’s the Elusive Targets that are parallel universes. While some of the ETs could have been canon if killed on different days during different events, most of them can’t really be canon due to the main story’s events.

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I enjoyed the No Loadout restriction. It forced me to think what is on the map and how to setup the kills.

I don’t think I would use that approach for regular ET, but it was interesting relying on map knowledge than what do I have in my inventory.

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I think they’re canon as far as they’re real people who exist in the universe due to there being references to them outside of their ET missions (The Censor on the news in Whittleton Creek, the speedboat in Paris referred to as Baron Larin’s Speedboat, unlocking Nne Obara’s Machete in Bangkok). I also believe that the ETs who don’t have any references exist within the world of assassination as well. However, I don’t think any of them were actually killed by 47, unless we’re supposed to believe that at the Paris Fashion Show 47 not only killed Novikov and Margolis but also 9 other people who happened to be there on the same day.

There’s nothing really to support this, but my headcanon is 47 hears about someone else assassinating the Elusive Target and fantasizes about how he would have done it if he was killing the targets himself, which is what we play in the ET missions. He doesn’t have any memory of the locations besides the story missions, so he places the target along with the normal events going on when he actually visited that place. That’s why the ETs show up at very time limited events where it doesn’t make sense (the annual gathering of the Ark Society, an angry mob protesting Strandburg in Marrakesh, Don Yates’ retirement party, etc…)

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The thing is, it’s highly likely that Novikov and Margolis have held multiple fashion shows over the years, and so a lot of the ETs in Paris are there for criminal activity due to Dalia’s auctions and 47 killed them then. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be interpreted. But I still think most are non-canon.

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I kind of wish his was paired with more ETs in year two that were original. Too much to ask I know, but Hitman 1’s ET arcade levels have more variety because every new release can have new ETs made for it. Hitman 2&3 have already exhausted everything they can legally, but there’s a whole bunch of 2016 ETs still not there. I wouldve loved if we got ten new ETs for the new levels, five for Hitman 2’s (a new Miami, a Mumbai, a new Whittleton, a New York and a Haven) as well as five for Hitman 3’s (one more per each map). However this is unfeasible because theyre putting all their work into the new map and freelancer which I respect. Im sort of in the middle with how IOI operates, I think theres a group who will always love IO and will always hate IO and I generally like them now but think they have flaws with how they treat Hitman as a service but kinda dont at the same time. I just think it wouldve been neat but what theyre doing is plenty because theyre going to give us what makes ETs good - remixing maps and having higher stakes to prompt alt routes - but removing the impermanence that makes ETs frustrating. Hopefully Freelancer owns and Ambrose looks really cool im looking forward to that

It would be interesting to play a version of a mission filled with ETs, making 5 eliminations total. Creating a far more active location than they already are.

Like World of Tomorrow + The Deceivers + The Twin + The Prince
Or The Showstopper + The Blackmailer + The Black Hat + The Sensation

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There was a mod for that, pretty cool in Paris with how many ETs there are

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I think ‘The Sensation’ great ET
Paris look different and cool in that mission… wait for this, and for ‘The Chef’
too

Is it just me or where the new batches of arcade contracts actually pretty fun? it’s still not my preferred way of playing elusive targets but im starting to enjoy the mode now

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Agee 100%. I still would love a way to just pick the one I want to play with all of them as options and/or a mode where you sit down and either do them in a specific order (as they came out maybe?) or by some randomly assigned list that changes each time with a reward for going all the way through without a failure.

The mode does get better with each batch though.

I think it’s because they finally tackled what makes the idea of escalation-style elusive targets fun. Namely interesting restrictions like forcing us to have no loadout, locking out starting locations for ETs that’d be too easy, encouraging accidents for SA. Good restrictions and good changes. They also make good, reasonable changes to the existing contracts like removing chameleon’s kill restriction. I think good ideas for future restrictions would be a suit-only arcade contract, a fibre wire arcade contract, a contract that puts the maps into their master mode variants, a contract that maybe only gives you SA if youre from a far distance during the kill encouraging sniper or bomb kills. The escalation format is still overplayed, and there are frustrations I have with the mode having that format like for example you cant just replay a level before moving on you have to reset it and then play up to the point you want to tackle. However, I enjoy these because it’s got me tackling some ETs that way have been a little boring in a new way. The thing is, I don’t see the mode having much longevity on the Hitman 2&3 side if they keep the arcade contracts seperated per game. The other games just dont have enough ETs in my opinion. If there were five more per game for the latter two I think ET arcade could go on endlessly but I just dont see it. It seems like the first game’s arcades will always be better because you’ll never run out of combinations

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I think at some point it would be nice for IO to release an expansion pack for a price consisting of all Elusive Targets in mission format like the special missions in HITMAN 2 which from what I understand were intended to be elusive targets themselves. The Undying and The Undying Returns could be included for an additional fee. This would allow for us to continue playing Elusive Targets even after the servers are one day shutdown permanently.

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Finally passed one of the latest batch: the Faux Pas, and that meant finally getting the Procurers in the way I wanted, with Jack blown up from a gas leak at the oven, and Robert blown up from smoking near a gas-leaking lamp. It was annoying as hell to do while following the HPP, because I had no way to get the banana out of the locker, and had to make do with a rake from the cemetery, but ultimately, success; two tragic accidents and no one will ever know they were assassinated.

For the Entrepreneurs, I’ll also follow the HPP and finally get the Censor on my terms ( I’ve blown up the Politician and burned the Appraiser so many times now that it’s second nature and no problem), but with the Clichés, since following the HPP is flatly impossible because of the loadout restriction, I’m just gonna do whatever to beat them with SA and be done with it, and hope the Pharmacist and the Deceivers are released again soon with a more reasonable restriction.

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