I mean, according to how I play Freelancer, yes. 
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I’ve also made this point before. WOA leans heavily into immersive sim/adventure game territory, and for whatever the next iteration is, I really want IOI to go FULL IM SIM.
The way I see it, all those duplicate items are there to provide options for speedrunning (the same way there are multiple suit starting locations that, from a non-speedrunning perspective, all provide the same benefit). If there was a single item of any type in the level, routing would be set in stone and there would be a lot less alternative paths. It does sometimes happen (ie Hokkaido’s single propane flask) but it’s not the norm.
Reducing that to “because contracts” is ignoring a large part of the WOA’s level design. You can, for example, poison the food / drink of some people and follow them to the loo to KO them and take their disguise, which would help you get closer to the target. Those plates and glasses also there so that you wouldn’t know at first glance which is the thing you’d have to poison to kill the target, so yeah “putting on your detective hat” and investigating where the target eats or drinks is pretty much what IOI wants you to do. Marrakesh’s already a double fortress, take away all those interactions and you’re left with shooting your way to Zaydan I guess :x
These specific ones were coated in poison by the famous businessman Auroch Goldflinger as part of his plan to bring down key Providence people to make way for his own schemes. 47 has learned to identify that poison by its smell. It causes severe hallucinations, which are usually enough to KO and wipe the memory of the average person by themselves, hence they make good weapons. 47 is mostly immune to that poison, although the proximity to certain shoddy plastics (like the one used in the bank robbers’ mask) makes it more powerful when it’s present in large quantities, and he may see things that aren’t really there if he takes too many of the bars. The other gold bars are perfectly normal, and 47’s already loaded with money so he doesn’t really need them. Besides, he’d need to find a buyer for them if he wanted to cash them in, which could be traced back to him.
So every item is there for a very good reason. All that stuff is, of course, easy to find in the lore, so it’s curious you haven’t come across it 
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Disagree (I don’t think it would surprise anyone I disagree), they made this very half baked mode back for H2016 and didn’t change anything about it for years, what masses of content would have the inexistence of Contracts Mode bring?
I read your opinion, idk how tf it relates to contracts mode, I think IOI wanted to give as much freedom to the main mission too just so players could explore, for the example of the poisonable dishes you brought, these are just extra stuff for the average player to interact with (and I think it would be kinda boring if only necessary poisonable dishes would be in the missions).
I really don’t get what you say, you bring up complainable points but just blame them on contracts mode, pretty unrelateable.
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I reckon they could have made one single Mission Story for one single existing level within the WoA, and I’d cheerfully sacrifice Contracts mode for that. Fuck it, I’d throw Contracts mode under the bus with a smile on my face just to move the Trendy Tourist Suit from the Themed section of the Inventory to the Casual section. 
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While I understand what you say, I disagree (obviously), there’s not much to explain why I disagree because it’s just matters of opinions, but I do want to bring a theory as to why you hate Contracts Mode so badly, you can consider this opinion as popular or unpopular idc and any player that finds this post offensive, believe me that their contracts hurt me more:
The reason the player base hates Contracts Mode so badly is due to the Hitman 2 Featured Contracts
I don’t even think this thread needs to be full of points and stuff, really bad contracts, but I mean just really bad creations on top of bad creations, I am trying to SA every single featured contract available and I’m about to quit because of Fall Season Preview: 2020, and I think I played all the way from the first fcs of h2 up to that contract about 8 contracts that were geniunly great, out of like 100, and I think that 3 of those contract are Urben’s and 2 of those are KevinRudd’s so it just goes to show you how shit most of the creators are.
If you are interested in actually playing good FCs I can make you a list out of the H2 and H3 that are actually worth your time
PS: I wasn’t that active on HMF during the H2 days (I was mostly at Frote’s), and didn’t chatted with PEA at all, seems like a decent preson from what I heard but they made some god awful contracts, some of the absolute burning trash this game has to offer, seems like a nice person but damn their contracts are awful 
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Honestly H3 had its fair share of bad FCs as well (Media Blackout, Durian of Dorian Gray, Daily Exercice 47 Berlin Run and probably quite a few others I don’t remember as well as those). I can’t speak for H1 FCs because I didn’t play many of those but I’m sure there were a few bad apples in there too.
People who don’t like contracts probably just… don’t like to play contracts. After all they play very differently from the main game, there aren’t really any complex kills like mission stories can offer, they don’t really unlock any interesting stuff (in fact there’s been no unlocks tied to contracts since like the prehistory of H3), and obviously there’s no lore to them (although a lot of them have pretty interesting briefings!).
(I didn’t find Fall Season 2020 as bad as I expected it to be, although to be fair if I hadn’t tried to use the flash phone to lure Novikov I’d probably have ragequitted too.)
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Still, not as close to the H2 FCs, and H3 had a bigger share of great contracts (excluding the corporate contracts, refering only to community made contracts) I can easily say that H3 had far more enjoyable contracts and that whoever didn’t liked h2 contracts should definitely give a try to the H3 ones.
Here’s a popular unpopular opinion (if that makes sense):
The next Hitman game should be a total package from launch, and needs more compact, smaller scale maps as opposed to Hitman WOA. I’d like 60% to be smaller scale maps, with 40% being ambitious larger sized maps. With these percentages, the next Hitman game could be as big as absolution in terms of level count, but with the classic Hitman sandbox formula. Additionally, its worth a shot to bring a few interconnected missions in the mix, much like the Lee Hong plotline in C47.
Big maps are only really relevant when the location is suited for it in the context of a mission. Theres a reason why A New Life is praised so much: simplicity, numorous ways of infiltration and execution, and its quite pretty. I guess when you focus solely on those elements, any size map will be a success. Some maps in the series just don’t need to be big for the sake of being big. (Looking at Bjarkhov Bomb and Chasing a Ghost). Its overwhelming and boring.
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Wholeheartedly agreed, moreover I want it to feel different. Evolve the gameplay and feel, just like C47 to SA, SA to Contracts, Contracts to BM, BM to Absolution and Absolution to H16. I don’t want the next title to feel like the latest games.
I want the game going for a different tone and tone down the more obvious humour. It felt a bit “Avengersy” with every thing being a punchline.
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If they pulled a remake that mixes C:47 and Contracts with modern design, I would love it.
Specially being a full game at launch.
Yeah, 47 and Diana can have a dry quip here and there, Smith can look like a bumbling fool, and some of the NPC chatter or rants from panicked targets can be humorous, but for the most part, the humor should mostly be derived from the karma of the complex assassination methods.
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I generally dislike when 47 becomes the “fun” one. A deadpan delivery of a comment is within his characterisation. Unlike 47’s playing the drum and other fun opportunities. And while we are on it, throw away that stupid duck.
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Fully agree with you here. And not just narrative interconnection, but gameplay ones too.
I think Jeff, in the Patient Zero campaign is the only present in the WoA. And it is great.
As for large map, I think IOI admitted themselves that Hitman 2 maps were too large. Or at least the least replayed, so a bad production decision. Hitman 3 hit a balance on the side.
But I wouldn’t say no to “setpiece” or “bottleneck/chicken come home to roost” maps. The same way Showdowns are in Freelancer are. Now imagine if they are not just the culmination of of a to do list of mission, but the culmination of narrative points. It would also allow for the return of non-assassination/setups missions.
I can see though how small small map, but purpose build, would be good for the game.
It’s not exactly the same, but I think the bonus missions (Landslide, Icon…) in H2016 are great example for how it works well. At least for me that would be a good size. Not too scaled down. The Bank is a good showcase too.
Overall the WoA formula is focused on independent levels, so no sense of interconnections, and no sense of pacing between them.
It’s not even for the forum-meme, but I honestly think a Codename 47 remake could be a good way to explore such formula. (but more akin to what Contracts did, integrated and expended, not a one to one, a one in a larger if you will, sorry Ochoa)
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The humor in Hitman mostly comes from the huge contrast of 47, the dead inside killer clone, putting himself in the goofiest positions to get his job done. (See: Corky the clown, the murder of crows, Miami mascot, Bangkok drummer). Since WoA it seems like some NPC’s need to speak brainlet dialogue in an attempt to crank the humor level up.
In those instances it annoys me, since this series is litterly about a man made human clone who was made to kill anyone for money in the most ice cold ways possible.
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I don’t see Murder of Crows as silly per se. The suit is silly, yes. But it’s not served as a joke. In the providence trilogy it’s played as if 47 is in on the joke. Many situations are played for laughs, it robs the serious narrative of pathos. Just like the MCU tries to undermine any dramatic scene with a SNL joke.
I enjoy the more subtle humour of past games. The premise of 47 and his creation is pulpy and silly.
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It seems an unpopular opinion (based not just on recent comments, but years of observation) is that the humor in WOA is just right. That’s how I feel, anyway.
Alsothenexthitmangameshouldbeafullonimmersivesimthankyouverymuchbye.
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No, I like the humour in WOA as well. But you are right, they should go full on Dishonoured for the next game even if that is overambitious.
It seems my unpopular opinion is that I like the WOA levels more than the classic ones (for the most part). They truly feel like expansive sandboxes where you can just fuck around in and each one being largely disconnected from each one makes you feel like the rootless assassin 47 is said to be.
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the whole situation is intentionally silly. it’s the juxtaposition of the dark seedy world of assassins against the brightly coloured cartoon aesthetic. 47 drops a piano on someone. straight out of looney toons.
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