THE HACKING IS OK DAMN IT.

[ProtocolX]

I EMPed the Rome bombs. I usually carry around 12 or so EMPs per mission (later in game) so that is not an issue for me.

[Thorton_AP]

Hehe nice.

 

The hardest one I have found so far was a "bonus" computer in CIA. I seem to do a good job of finding the code in the letters. I imagine there's some usability issues. People with minor vision problems will probably struggle mightily with that minigame.

[Darkeus]

With my first post I am gonna have to jump in here and say that the hacking minigame, or any minigame for that fact, is not hard at all. I have never had a problem with it, Hell I have a fastest hack time hovering around five seconds flat. I guess I can understand if you are bad at pattern recognition or all those moving numbers bother you. I have found the minigames pretty easy.

[Deraldin]

With my first post I am gonna have to jump in here and say that the hacking minigame, or any minigame for that fact, is not hard at all. I have never had a problem with it, Hell I have a fastest hack time hovering around five seconds flat. I guess I can understand if you are bad at pattern recognition or all those moving numbers bother you. I have found the minigames pretty easy.

 

The concept of the minigames are pretty easy to get my head around, but I'm going to disagree with your statement that none of them are hard. There seems to be a fairly large split on the issue in this thread. I'd be curious to know just what the division is in terms of console/PC users.

 

A fastest hack time of 5 seconds tells me nothing though. My current fastest hack is nearly 3 seconds. I just managed to get extremely lucky in code placement. Both codes were in the top three rows and didn't require crossing the grid.

 

EDIT: Thorton: Oddly enough, I had no problem hacking all those systems in the CIA safehouse. I bought the intel to help with that and the reset timer was pretty quick, but I think I still had at least 6 letter combos so it wasn't nearly as bad as the 4 letter bomb combos.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Deraldin

[vault_overseer]

I love all of the minigames. They don't feel detached from the gameplay and feel great on 360's controller(especially lockpicking)

[zkylon]

You're my new personal Jesus. :hail:

Ha, it makes a lot more sense to buy Tech Spec armor so you can pack more EMP nades, etc, after knowing this. I mainly use EMPs for alarms that go up to 11-12 levels or 4 character hacks. Some lockpicks can be a tad difficult too, but i'm gonna test if the breaking and entering skill makes a difference. Anywho, glad it could help

[Calax]

Honestly, the PC controls need to be adjusted. The big thing that doesn't translate is that basically when you hit the WSAD you're moving the control stick on the 360 controller (invisible!) in the direction of whatever button. The mouse however moves the way it's moving and can often be inexact. I've had several hacks where I failed because at the last second my mouse would move one right, then up then finally I'd get it centered back on the thing just as time ran out.

 

The security bypass in taipei tho was INSANE

[Darkeus]

With my first post I am gonna have to jump in here and say that the hacking minigame, or any minigame for that fact, is not hard at all. I have never had a problem with it, Hell I have a fastest hack time hovering around five seconds flat. I guess I can understand if you are bad at pattern recognition or all those moving numbers bother you. I have found the minigames pretty easy.

 

The concept of the minigames are pretty easy to get my head around, but I'm going to disagree with your statement that none of them are hard. There seems to be a fairly large split on the issue in this thread. I'd be curious to know just what the division is in terms of console/PC users.

 

A fastest hack time of 5 seconds tells me nothing though. My current fastest hack is nearly 3 seconds. I just managed to get extremely lucky in code placement. Both codes were in the top three rows and didn't require crossing the grid.

 

EDIT: Thorton: Oddly enough, I had no problem hacking all those systems in the CIA safehouse. I bought the intel to help with that and the reset timer was pretty quick, but I think I still had at least 6 letter combos so it wasn't nearly as bad as the 4 letter bomb combos.

 

I mean that is fine. I just don't find them difficult. I have never really failed at them and I have never failed lockpicking. '

 

I don't know, my personal experience is that I have found them pretty easy.

 

Yeah, five seconds does say nothing. I think it is pretty fast for a hack that the sequences were not at the top of the box....

[Sid Nitzerglobin]

Just to revisit after spending some more time w/ the game, computer hacking seems ~10 times easier after getting the second rank in Sabotage and buying the printed circuit armor mod (bypass and lockpicking as well, these two are pretty much too easy now). I wound up hacking several of the computers in the

CIA listening post and Marburg's villa

before the first timer was up.

[Thorton_AP]

Yeah it doesn't take much to make it more palatable IMO. But I think for some the hacking game is just intrinsically more difficult due to the nature of it.

 

It might have something to do with the individual and how their brain is interpreting what they are seeing, and we're probably all slightly unique in that regard.

[zkylon]

Yeah it doesn't take much to make it more palatable IMO. But I think for some the hacking game is just intrinsically more difficult due to the nature of it.

 

It might have something to do with the individual and how their brain is interpreting what they are seeing, and we're probably all slightly unique in that regard.

It kind annoys me sometimes how random seems the difficulty of the hacks. You'd think huge databases would be harder to hack than some laptop but you never know. I think the hacking is difficult with the mouse, but it's possible, specially since you can abort and try again.

[BEES]

Honestly, the PC controls need to be adjusted. The big thing that doesn't translate is that basically when you hit the WSAD you're moving the control stick on the 360 controller (invisible!) in the direction of whatever button. The mouse however moves the way it's moving and can often be inexact. I've had several hacks where I failed because at the last second my mouse would move one right, then up then finally I'd get it centered back on the thing just as time ran out.

 

The security bypass in taipei tho was INSANE

 

This. As mentioned, the mini-games are pretty easy but the controls for the PC (especially the mouse) can make them incredibly frustrating. It's clear that they were designed with a controller in mind and I've noticed as the hacks become more difficult, I'm failing more because of the reduced margin of error and time that would allow me to adjust for these delayed 'text shifts'.

 

Also, lockpicking is getting stupid with how sluggish it responds to the mouse.

 

Had the controls been optimized, however, the mini-games would be fine.

[Thorton_AP]

Hmmmm, I never noticed lockpicking becoming sluggish. They're trivially easy though.

[Hassat Hunter]

Huh... I actually prefer the mouse hack segment above the keyboard hack segment. So much easier and fluent to move around.

 

If only both could be moved with the mouse... (can they?)

[SanadapridE26]

What really annoys me about this game is that the hacking system.

[BEES]

Hmmmm, I never noticed lockpicking becoming sluggish. They're trivially easy though.

 

I didn't notice it either, but in Taipei, I had a couple of locks back to back that just wouldn't respond to the mouse. Until then the lockpicking had been a breeze so I'm not sure what was going on.

[Nosmirc]

I personally thought the minigames were some of the best ones to date. They made sense logically (as logical as a ficitional representation of hacking and rewiring gets anyways) And I love how time doesn't pause when you do them (unlike, say, Fallout 3..."Wait guys, I need to pick this real quick, then tap at the turret control for a sec, kay?")

 

Don't get how locks have alarms on them and EMPs effect them (Come on, they're not even electronic locks...and it's a crappy wooden door for crying out loud!), but that's a bit of a minor thing.

 

 

The best part is that they're largely optional. There's only so many that you need to bypass to continue the plot, so you could just emp those, and leave all the safes and computers.

[BEES]

The best part is that they're largely optional. There's only so many that you need to bypass to continue the plot, so you could just emp those, and leave all the safes and computers.

 

Agreed, and if I'm not mistaken the ones necessary for plot advancement are usually pretty easy to hack.

[burner087]

I can't even get through the tutorial hack. I've tried probably 30 times now. I can barely see them. Then even when I do find the stupid numbers, the PC controls are so lame, that I can't get them lined up in time. Horrible mini-game. It needs to go. I'm about ready to toss the game.

[unskilled-]

I loved the hacking. Its pretty ingenious and "realistic" at the same time. It took me awhile to get used to it, and I get stumped every now and then, but its not overly taxing or something that requires an EMP nade every time. Only when the h4x0ring needs to be done fast does an EMP nade suffice.

 

The only problem as people have said is the controls are a bit wonky for the mouse. Its not coupled with the mouse sensitivity option so it makes it annoying to jog your mouse 20 times to get it to the otherside of the screen. I think for the PC a simple drag and drop would eliminate the problems, and really wouldn't change a thing since only the most seasoned players (and skilled) can manipulate both keys at once at the same time.

 

That being said, I lucked out once with both keys near the top! Finished in about 3 seconds

 

If you really need practice then run the stealth course a bunch of times. I ran it several times before I got the no-detection and all guards eliminated bonus. Also, running the course and hacking the beginning terminal to get in counts towards your overall hack count, so 10 runs nets you an additional

100

xp and perk!!!!!

 

But yeah, if your getting your ass kicked by the hacking then just equip yourself with a engineer style suit that holds more items, and maybe an armor upgrade that gives you more item capacity so you can hold more emps. Buying the additional EMP capacity upgrades also gives you more room. And really, you'll at most need 10-12 EMP nades for any given mission (thats a high estimate tho). I don't even think you lose any XP for EMPing a machine (make sure you get the friendly EMP perk!).

[Libertarian]

I love all the hacking with the 360 controller. I find it fun. Then again, I leveled up those skills early on so that it wasn't too difficult.

[cesko]

I had only level 1 for hacking, but I liked how the controller responds on hacking and now on the 360 without the framerate drops it's really easy!

Edited June 5, 2010 by cesko

[Vahkn]

I think the developer deserves a pat on the back for the minigames in AP. They SHOULD be nearly impossible if your character isn't specialized in that area. Even then, they should be challenging. How hard do you think it would be to hack a computer or pick locks in real life with no training or experience??

 

1. they fit in the context of the game

2. it's an rpg and sure enough, investing in character skills makes them easier

3. you can just spend cash (emp grenades) to bypass them

4. they're largely optional/avoidable

 

I found them very hard, due partly to the sluggish pc controls, but you know what? It added to the realism imo. If you're running through a building being shot at then stopping to hack a computer or pick a lock should be a rare thing. Just because you could doesn't mean you would want to etc.

 

From a dev standpoint I'm sure it would be much easier to just slap in an easy minigame that anyone could beat with their eyes closed. People whining are the reason that games generally are getting more and more dumbed down. If the devs listen to one whiner then they listen to all of them, and the difficulty gets set to the lowest common denominator.

[Kileyan]

I think the developer deserves a pat on the back for the minigames in AP. They SHOULD be nearly impossible if your character isn't specialized in that area. Even then, they should be challenging. How hard do you think it would be to hack a computer or pick locks in real life with no training or experience??

 

1. they fit in the context of the game

2. it's an rpg and sure enough, investing in character skills makes them easier

3. you can just spend cash (emp grenades) to bypass them

4. they're largely optional/avoidable

 

I found them very hard, due partly to the sluggish pc controls, but you know what? It added to the realism imo. If you're running through a building being shot at then stopping to hack a computer or pick a lock should be a rare thing. Just because you could doesn't mean you would want to etc.

 

From a dev standpoint I'm sure it would be much easier to just slap in an easy minigame that anyone could beat with their eyes closed. People whining are the reason that games generally are getting more and more dumbed down. If the devs listen to one whiner then they listen to all of them, and the difficulty gets set to the lowest common denominator.

 

I'm sorry I have to very much disagree.

 

The devs need to fire someone for the mini game implementation. Now don't get me wrong, I don't want someone fired for petty reasons like I am really angry I couldn't do the mini games. To be fair, I hated the mini games on pc, the controls weren't just sluggish, but the controls were obviously not even tested or tuned for PC.

 

Still that isn't why someone should be fired. This game got some rightfully horrible reviews, and deserved ones. They didn't get bad reviews because the reviewer just sucked at the lock picking game. It got bad reviews because the reviewer had to move his mouse, pick it up, move it again, pick it up, move in agian, just to pick the first long lock pick out of 4 tumblers of the mini game. No one should be fired because I am bad at mini games, they should be fired because they were implemented so badly that reviews on concentrating on them, and sinking what I think is a great game.

 

Then he hacked his first computer. One set of numbers moved really slow with the keyboard, the other set of numbers jumped around the screen with the actual target number being divorced from the mouse pointer by 8 inches.

 

Mini games should be fun and challenging or not included at all. Mini games should never be made challenging by making the controls unresponsive and crappy. Saying that the horrible controls make an easy mini game more of a challenge is not good game design.

 

Anyway I'll end by saying I love the game, but every friend I have hates this game with a passion because the mini games just plain suck. They were a bad idea, made 100x's worse by no thought or attention to detail in the game controls

 

Don't Fugging tell me to use an xbox controller on my PC game. If I wanted to do that, I'd have bought a fugging xbox game version.

 

good day

Edited June 10, 2010 by Kileyan

[Thorton_AP]

It got bad reviews because the reviewer had to move his mouse, pick it up, move it again, pick it up, move in agian, just to pick the first long lock pick out of 4 tumblers of the mini game.

 

I am surprised by this. You shouldn't have to pick up your mouse at all!