Raithe

So, already the plans for the next Hitman are in motion.. RockPaperShotgun - Square Enix Montreal to make Next Hitman

Sounds like someone is stuck at home behind some defences.. Perfect for the zombie apocalypse? The important question is.. Do you have supplies of food, alcohol, and secured internet access?

To be fair, there are some really nice bits to it as well. It's just those couple of niggly game mechanics seriously push the annoyance factor.

Whilst there are some quite nice points to Hitman Absolution.. I really am coming to loathe the checkpoint system and Disguise/Intuition thing. I mean literally there are moments when folks in the same costume I'm in disguise in, will go from "hey" to "You're an imposter!" before I can take a finger off the W key and try to hit the S... That is how damn fast suspicion hits. Which when combined with the checkpoint system they have.. you can spend an hour or more replaying the same damn 10 minutes of gameplay... And then of course, any guards you have previously taken care of before that checkpoint are resoawned due to checkpoint reload...

Managed a little more Hitman Absolution time this morning. The levels do seem split between short linear maps to "sneak" through and some semi-wide open maps with lots of ways to assassinate a target. But I have to admit, the Intuition thing is seriously pissing me off now. You have enough to spend about 2 seconds walking past someone if you're disguised as that "type" of person. Ie; dressed as a cop and a cop walks past you. Which in a map full of a dozen cops makes it really freaking awkward. That and it takes them about a second and a half to go from "oh, I'm seeing a cop" to "this is some faker wearing a costume". So when you take a step around a corner and have 5 cops looking at you, it gets a bit awkward,. The other annoying bit is there is no save game. Just several "check points" scattered around the map that you can use once.. and they don't actually save the game per se, as if you reload one.. every single guard/enemy on the map will be respawned as they were at the very beginning when that level was first loaded. So if you're relying on having dealt with certain guards before hand.. boom. You're out of luck and might as well just reload from the start of the level. On the plus side, so far I've had plenty of options and methods to figure out to get by various sections of the maps / guards and deal with my targets. But it does seem awkward at times the way it bounces between those sections and straight linear ones.

Had a little play on Hitman Absolution this evening in some quiet time.. The first mission is incredibly linear, but then it's basically the tutorial. The 2nd mission is one space with a whole multitude of options.. although I think some of them are really only viable on certain difficulty settings. Or after you've played chunks of the game to unlock Abilities/Improvements. I've got to say, the way they've changed Disguise is a bit.. offputting. A disguise works perfectly against people not of the disguise type, but you have to use Insight against that type. So if you're wearing a Bodyguard disguise, it works against everybody but Bodyguards , who you have to use Insight as you walk by them or they notice you.... Which is a pain in the tucas if it's a level thats full of them.. Also, if you're trying to sneak, its a bitch to regain Insight on the Professional difficulty....

So my mother is heading into hospital once more today... Some of her usual troubles have flared up along with an eye infection thats been leaving her half-blind the last few days. And which she hadn't bothered mentioning because she thought it would settle down. It finally came up and appointment with the GP turned into a "you need to go to the Hospital to get this checked" which turned into a "you're being admitted and anti-baterial IV and assorted other shenanigans are to be conducted". S So now it's a back and forth day and dealing with the dogs who are rather perturbed by her absence while clothes and such for her stay at hospital are sorted.

The important questions get answered... http://youtu.be/9ysyZF-DZFY

If the movie industry was willing to make the attempt at compressing the entire Shogun mini-series into a 2 1/2 hour film.. they're willing to do it with anything regardless of how incomprehensible it becomes...

Hm, weird. I had managed to scrape some loose change to make a pledge on kickstarter for this.. and I've just received the message from Amazon that the payment to Cloud Imperium Games has failed.. but they don't say why. <grumble> Now i'll have to dig into this to find out whats going on.

"Lincoln - Doing well in theatres, despire what history might say."

Well I gave a brief poke at what you need to do to get the HK-51 companion with the new TOR patch.. So, with one of my level 50 characters I made my way to that new "Section X" on Belsavis, found there's a Heroic (2+) you do to actually get the Companion mission, which ends with giving you a second Heroic (2+) to find schematics... Then that ends with giving you a shopping list of components you need. Now, it tells you roughly where they are, but thats 5 worlds you need to visit , and then, for the final two components you have to get one via one of the level 50 flashpoints, and the other by doing one of the Revan flashpoints in hard-mode (or at least, The Foundry for the Imperial side. I'm assuming since they talk of Revan having the component it'll be the similar one Republic side). So it's pretty much non-soloable once you reach for those final two....

I like the petition that's currently reading about "Let's abolish the current legal system and establish a Hall of Justice with bike riding police acting as judge, jury and executioner". Last time I checked it had 950 something signatures.. And they say Americans don't see the appeal of Judge Dredd as much as the English do...

Yeah, I got tired of trying to sneak through security and just went ballistic. Planting a bomb next to the car also worked. I treasure the first time I managed Silent Assassin on that level..

Oh the memories of when everything went **** up in the whitehouse when playing Blood Money.....

Just arrived home after the weekend camping stag do. Checking email as I drink a proper cup of tea and try to stir energy to go run a long bath.. Interestingly enough I was feeling fine while out in the November winter woodlands..then halfway through the journey home , hit by mixture of aches and exhaustion. Picked up some general knife handling, axe handling, tommahawk throwing and firestarting bushcraft skills.. Although clearing the stumps on the friday so we could pitch tents was a real pain. And on the saturday night, the grooms phone managed to work well enough that he got a message and picture from one of his fiancee's friends at the hen party as he was about to sleep. A picture of said fiancee in some brightly lit pub, riding some random male's back, whooping and throwing an arm back as if about to chuck a lariat.. She is so not going to live that down.

That and "punching the dolphin of choice out of the ocean" has to be my quote for the day...

Okay... how's that different from ME3? Because the Star Child and multi-coloured endings didn't exactly feel as coherent and as much a part of the story. And as Gorth suggested, with ME2 (apart from that sheer sillyness of Human-Reaper) because there was more of the story to come it left you wondering which were story hooks, which elements were red herrings and just how it was all going to tie together. It left that anticipation and hanging on the edge of the precipice feeling as you waited for ME3 to come along and show you how it all connected. And then.. Star Child and multi-colour endings. I will admit, with the Leviathan dlc, the ending makes more sense. I really wish they'd actually shipped the game with that already in it as part of the main storyline. Rather then leave you waiting 10 months before getting that background and depth to what was going on.

From the cheap seats, I would say elements of ME2 were better then ME1, and elements of ME3 were better then ME2... Unfortunately by the same token, there were also elements that were worse.. So each one gained half a dozen steps forward..then fell back. I'd say that the ending of ME2 didn't get so much flak because the Terminator Reaper was the major silly thing. Apart from that, the rest of the finale was quite coherent with all the story that had come before.

But I'm still going to keep my subscription going for awhile longer....

I have to admit, at the moment I'm very unconcerned about GTAV. I've tried several times but I just can't get myself to complete IV. There are aspects that are fun, but eh, the story just grinds me down and I find myself completely unconnected or unconcered with it. Which kills my enthusiasm for pushing through it and wrapping it up. Nothing I've seen so far on GTAV actually makes me want to rush out and get it when it releases. It just seems to be sliding into that "maybe, if I see it on sale, and I'm in the mood" section of my gaming awareness at the moment...

Where did you see it that cheap? I would also like to purchase it at that price Amazon UK actually...

Although seeing Kingdoms of Amalur at a price of around £7 I'm tempted to stretch my budget this month and pick it up on the cheap..

Thats what the knives are for! And the hatchet! If you can't make some satisfactory home made spear in the middle of wooded areas, you're doing something wrong..

Caught a bit of tv catchup, poked at some work related things, fussed the dogs, and went out and picked up a few things for this weekend. Notably, camping mess gear, some energy drinks, general snacky chocolate/nut/raisin bars for the sugar rush, and a bottle of port to take along to enjoy around the campfire.. Also, in preparation for the whole B-movie premise and general rugged manliness of the event, I've forgone shaving this week so I have added protection from the weather around my face..