With the nature of randomization it is difficult to account for every possible conflicting objective. To fix this would limit the objectives that can generate, which might be ideal for some but I think goes against what seems to be the idea behind Freelancer.
Missions are going to be messy, with as much improvisation as there will picking loadouts. I feel the lack of typical SA tracking highlights this.
Sometimes you wont be able to complete every objective. Sometimes things might devolve into running and gunning tactics. Maybe once in a while it just ends up being a cakewalk.
The very nature of this mode means it probably wont be for everyone, and for it being a free experimental thing at the end of a trilogyâs worth of standard Hitman gameplay, I think thatâs great.
They donât actually look like a typical NPC, have some kind of uniqueness but that is far away from how Elusive Targets looks like. They look quite generic. But itâs not surprising because they are randomly generated.
Exacly. Thatâs because of random nature of Freelancer - Silent Assassin rank somethimes is just imposible to do. Maybe there will be some player who say âhold my beerâ, but overalll - it will just frustrating for reest of players.
And people who complain about why Silent Assassin isnât the main goal of this mode. Try understand this as a different experience and stop moaning You can always try gain SA and having fun, but that would be just too restrictive for whole gamemode idea.
Fans complain Hitman is getting old > they experiment > fans bitch and moan > IO go back to doing just plain Hitman > Fans complain Hitman is getting old
It is a problem because it it makes the regular objectives inferior.
A prestige objective always pays out better than the game-assigned objectives.
Consequently, choosing, say⌠Silent Assassin, will give you a higher payout even if it results in failing a regular game-assigned objective.
Now letâs tie this into the fact that there is an achievement for completing a maximum payout mission (3x 15 merces in regular objectives + 1x 30 merces prestige objective) and it becomes readily apparent that having mutually exclusive objectives is quite irritating.
The issue for this part of the discussion isnât regarding SA ranking, but rather why shooting additional NPCs as part of a contract objective doesnât count toward that, and more importantly, the need for objectives to not conflict with each other so that the goal can be, rather than getting SA, earning the total payout from completing all objectives. Conflicting objectives making a full payout no longer possible is irritating. If weâre gonna be defying the way the game has been played all these years for this new mode, it should at least be made so that getting the full payout is at least a possibility every time, without contradictory objectives keeping that from you.
Question is - is this the intended design? Looks like a bug some sort, I agree. But Prestige Objectives maybe should be a replacement one of chosen main objectives.
Going through the files, in non showdown contracts there are about 50 potential targets, with 20 being brand new NPCs (However these 20 NPCs do not spawn at the same time, only the ones that are picked targets spawn). Colorado however does not add any new potential targets for some reason.
Or player should have chance to change prestigue objectives - before he start the mission. Personaly I donât understand that option - when you choose once, itâs done. That will lead many players to poor decision when they choose a campaign afterwards.
So before you start mission - you can choose which one what ever you like.
It just requires a bit of brain power, and you have to know to weigh your options between possible campaigns/missions, objectives and your gear, and the prestige objectives (which you are free to check out before you choose).
Iâve seen people criticizing how some of these objectives can be impossible due to current lack of gear or objectives that are incompatible.
But that is very much intended and itâs exactly what allows for an actual planning phase⌠one of the best parts of the mode imo. There are vast options to put together and plan your own path forward.
It only plays into the role playing/immersion part of the game to have some actual planning to do in the Safehouse.
No, itâs just bad UX design. Choosing a Prestige objective before or after donât make any diffrence at all. There isnât here any strategy and reward behind this - it just make people confuse and frustrated. Allowing player to choose a Prestige Objective at any point before starting a mission wonât change anything beside it will be a better User Experience solution.
Imagine a case like a this - you go to Online Shop and click âPay nowâ, but you forgot to change delivery or payment method because you clicked button before you notice that options. And there is no way around or âgo backâ button - you need to pay!
Needing to forfeit some of the payout because of the objectives placed on you that you can only earn money from, should not be a choice. You can make choices that cost you the money for failing, but having to choose which options youâll follow, knowing that one of them is going to cost you money either way is a very poor design. The option should always be present to get the full pay out, and you just have to plan for it and figure it out and earn it. No problem with that. But some of the contradicting objectives make that impossible. That shouldnât be a thing.
Should be and should be. I think itâs a 100% intentional, still. But no, maybe theyâre just lazy or they just didnât notice. That seems very plausible.
Iâm try to think from global perspective of many users - not just mine perspective, itâs what I do because iâm a UX/UI Designer and Iâll explain why I think this is badly executed Idea.
Current UX of Prestigue Objective it made people confuse, because for example - you need first read all current mission base objectives and remember them, then look at prestigue objectives then look on your weapon and tools case to be sure you have a proper tools for the job. But there might be a situation when user pick up a Prestigue Objective and wonât be aware it that it does not align with the baseline objectives. Or maybe he pick up a "kill with XX Epic Katana, but forgot he got a Katana - but didnt notice itâs not a epic one or he donât know map well enough to make a proper decision.
In all these cases you need to run around four points of safe house - tools, weapons, prestugue objectives and campaign objectives. Did you found this a fun or better game experience? Especially you will be doing that a tons of times?
There is a plenty of cases where user can be confused especjaly that most of Prestigue Objectives isnât explained well. Of course after you choose one - you can read expanded description but when youâll found out itâs something different than you though - there is no going back.
I also think that idea behind it is great! But itâs badly executed. Player shouldnât be penalized for decision at Safehouse, but after when he start mission. And you telling me this is a âstrategyâ? No, itâs not because behind this there isnât any profit of doing that. Itâs just make people confuse and be frustrated. But at this point UX of that funcionality itâs just bad.
Explain me why - allow players to have posibility to change a choosen Prestige Objective before start the mission will be a bad idea?
Alright, I appreciate that. I had a course on UX as well, so I do know about that world.
Hmm in practice, many of them are simple enough to understand from just trying them once or checking them in the menu once. I mean, itâs SA, SA/SO, Hide every 2 mins, 1 collateral accident kill, etc. Youâll learn quick enough. If someone confused by this for long, Iâm not sure Hitman is for them. But yeah, there could be an automatic info box opening when picking a Prestige Objective or something, to avoid having to go into the menus. Not a big deal to me though.
I think the main thing is that this mode is designed to be a bit hardcore, consequence-driven, rogue-like⌠So Iâm not sure UX design philosophies are entirely applicable here. Itâs just not what theyâre going for. Theyâre going for more consequence than ease, and it actually does get all the right dopamine centers going, at least for me. I like having to think a bit when Iâm in the Safehouse.
Yes, I actually do enjoy walking around the safehouse and thinking about options. Having to do micro-decisions. Let me try to demonstrate with a made up, inner monologue:
âOh I have this item, but that makes this impossible, so if I choose this, then I can put this together: That does negate this minor objective, but weighing my options, going for these specific objectives is a good compromiseâ.
Like, of course most of this thinking will be sub-conscious, but that does come with some satisfaction for me. And Iâm more of role-playing type, so I think it feels cool that there are actual decisions for me to make spend my time on there.
I do think IO deliberately chose to make the Prestige Objects disappear once you chose. Itâs definitely not an oversight. Itâs to enforce the idea of consequence and to make the Prestige Objects feel like theyâre subconsciously significant and serious. But yeah, it doesnât really mean much to me to be honest, they could give you the choice to change back
I get the idea what you want to explain and Iâm fully agree, but at end of the day you still need to take this responsibility and push âStart missionâ button and therefor youâll be punished if you choosen a bad plan. But why give a penalty for user at moment when he try to decide what strategy he should take?
Even Iâm a veteran hardcore fan of Hitman with +2k hours in WoA - I found some of these objectives confusing.
For me itâs just a bad UX and nothing else. If you allow user to change a chosen Prestige Objectives before starting a mission, it still required it to think and make a plan afterall.
Yeah, I think you have a point about that. Iâm just trying to guess at what they were thinking when doing them like that, and I think itâs to make them feel subconsciously weightier. But yeah, it wouldnât matter much to me either way.
Itâs just that I watched Atrioc playing the mode on YouTube and calling some of this unfinished design, when really it was just that he was just kind of rushing through the planning stage, picking objectives for the memes, and then saying âitâs only in Beta, thatâs why there are incompatible objectivesâ. But no, most of itâs deliberate, to make you think and plan a little.
(I like Atrioc btw, not a dig at him)
You can always try gain SA and having fun, but that would be just too restrictive for whole gamemode idea.