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Splinter Cell: Blacklist |OT| Warning: May Contain Trace Amounts Of Stealth

PusherT

Junior Member
It's hard for there to be that much outrage when not that many people have a Wii U/ are familiar with the problems. Does it seem to be more Ubi or Nintendo's fault?
This is Ubisoft fuck up they only now said they will look at it. The Splinter Cell Miiverse is about to turn toxic and this will be dead online. I just wish this was a bigger concern on Neogaf but alas this forum has been very pro Sony. And Wiiu is hated here as well no wonder Ubisoft thinks they can sweep this under the rug.
 

Bamihap

Good at being the bigger man
Played SvsM Classic a bit more (4+ hours). I like it. They tried to merge the old with the new to create a mode where the pacing is in between CT & DA. It's way better than DA imo. But I like the more cerebral way you play CT more.

Some things they made better:
- In CT you had to hack the terminals while standing in front of them. This caused the spies to ambush the mercs all the time. This also forced teamplay to extremes, which caused a lot of frustration. This time around the game is more enjoyable when playing with a random teammate.

- The lack of gadgets for the mercs makes it more easier for the spies to move around. The only thing you have to worry about is mines. However I did love the way mercs could play with gadgets and create a web of laser mines to force spies to think around the obstacles.

Some problems:
- It's super hard to find spies that are hacking. Because they can now simply more around you have to search the area multiple times. This makes it more frustrating for mercs and less exciting for spies. Back in the days spies would stop hacking, hide/distract the mercs and continue hacking. Thats not the case anymore.

- Because of the lack of vision modes for spies (and mercs) mercs are dependent on their flashlight. Which also causes spies to easily detect mercs. So using your flashlight will most likely get you killed. Which is not what it is supposed to do.
 

danielcw

Member
Played SvsM Classic a bit more (4+ hours).
[...]
Some problems: [...]
- Because of the lack of vision modes for spies (and mercs) mercs are dependent on their flashlight. Which also causes spies to easily detect mercs. So using your flashlight will most likely get you killed. Which is not what it is supposed to do.

When I am a merc, and in the area of a hack-attempt I use the flashlight very situational.
The spies can be seen at many of the typical spy hiding spots, imho.
 

pelican

Member
This is Ubisoft fuck up they only now said they will look at it. The Splinter Cell Miiverse is about to turn toxic and this will be dead online. I just wish this was a bigger concern on Neogaf but alas this forum has been very pro Sony. And Wiiu is hated here as well no wonder Ubisoft thinks they can sweep this under the rug.

I don't think it is anything to do with being pro-sony. It really just boils down to the majority of GAF buying Splinter on alternative formats.

As a Wii U owner I would never buy a 3rd party game with an online component. I would always pick up either the PS3 or PC version.
 
Guys I haven't followed this game so closely as I'm not big on stealth games. But I've read that you can take guns blazing approach as well and I wonder how "advisable" is it to do it that way? I mean would game "punish" me in some way with lack of cash/exp/skill points whatever.

Just wanna experience the story and I hate tedious waiting on patrols
 

Manmedaz

Member
Guys I haven't followed this game so closely as I'm not big on stealth games. But I've read that you can take guns blazing approach as well and I wonder how "advisable" is it to do it that way? I mean would game "punish" me in some way with lack of cash/exp/skill points whatever.

Just wanna experience the story and I hate tedious waiting on patrols

You get like 50 point for killing someone with a not silenced gun/ grenade/ etc, VS 150 points for sneaking and not being seen. You'd then get a lot less money, so it'd be more difficult to buy stuff I guess. But you could totally do a playthrough that way (in fact, the game encourages you to use every playstyle).
 

Alpende

Member
You get like 50 point for killing someone with a not silenced gun/ grenade/ etc, VS 150 points for sneaking and not being seen. You'd then get a lot less money, so it'd be more difficult to buy stuff I guess. But you could totally do a playthrough that way (in fact, the game encourages you to use every playstyle).

If you're playing at higher difficulties you get more points of course. I think it's 75 for an assault kill on normal. You get like 225 when taking people down stealthily on the highest difficulty.

I'm only playing assault for the achievement though. I love me some ghosting.
 

Pooya

Member
Guys I haven't followed this game so closely as I'm not big on stealth games. But I've read that you can take guns blazing approach as well and I wonder how "advisable" is it to do it that way? I mean would game "punish" me in some way with lack of cash/exp/skill points whatever.

Just wanna experience the story and I hate tedious waiting on patrols

you gets points for takedowns/kills and other actions like this per guard and depending on the difficulty

ghost or not disturbing enemies at all > panther or stealth/quiet kills > combat kill

beside you die really fast on realistic, so playing this as a shooter is not exactly easier or anything like. I think it's harder. Enemies are quite grenade happy and can sprint across the levels quite fast, you can be easily overwhelmed. I find panther style the most satisfying and balanced but any of the play styles are viable. The money comes in so easily that you won't be punished in any way. just work on the side missions/dead drops/HVTs etc.
 
I don't think it is anything to do with being pro-sony. It really just boils down to the majority of GAF buying Splinter on alternative formats.

As a Wii U owner I would never buy a 3rd party game with an online component. I would always pick up either the PS3 or PC version.

i bought it for wiiu for off tv play. its a very good port from what i can tell as i had no technical issues with it. Im probably going to enjoy it as a single player game only though as i never really play online games outside of assorted RTS or dungeon crawlers on pc.
 
you gets points for takedowns/kills and other actions like this per guard and depending on the difficulty

ghost or not disturbing enemies at all > panther or stealth/quiet kills > combat kill

beside you die really fast on realistic, so playing this as a shooter is not exactly easier or anything like. I think it's harder. Enemies are quite grenade happy and can sprint across the levels quite fast, you can be easily overwhelmed. I find panther style the most satisfying and balanced but any of the play styles are viable. The money comes in so easily that you won't be punished in any way. just work on the side missions/dead drops/HVTs etc.
i usually take the rambo approach in MGS games but with this game i have been all ghost.

you just die in an instant once you are facing more than 2 enemies and with the ghost approach you oftentimes dont need to fight at all (unless its a take them all out mission)
 

hao chi

Member
Some problems:
- It's super hard to find spies that are hacking. Because they can now simply more around you have to search the area multiple times. This makes it more frustrating for mercs and less exciting for spies. Back in the days spies would stop hacking, hide/distract the mercs and continue hacking. Thats not the case anymore.

Coordinating your sweeps with your partner helps a ton. If you go down a hallway towards each other, you limit the options any spies potentially hiding there would have, or on Silo you would each check one side of the same train car at the same time. You'll also figure out the places spies tend to go over time, and that makes hunting them down much easier (C terminal on Cartel is especially easy against noobs :lol).

One other thing that helps a ton is placing mines where spies might try to run to after starting a hack, but try to keep them far enough away from the terminal so they won't be destroyed if the spies throw an EMP at the terminal to check for mines.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Nah, put them near the terminal and a hallway or a drop point for the ducts. After they get mined once, don't put it there again but they generally won't EMP the first time and be caught off guard unless they're high level spies.
 

hao chi

Member
Nah, put them near the terminal and a hallway or a drop point for the ducts. After they get mined once, don't put it there again but they generally won't EMP the first time and be caught off guard unless they're high level spies.

Yeah, next to the terminals is usually good for now. Though some low levels will already EMP them the first time.

I love placing mines at the end of air ducts, but those don't get people very often for me. I don't think enough people use the air ducts yet, but placing mines near doorways gets me so many kills.

I kind of love when the spies get an early hack, because then I'll just pick one of the two remaining terminals and go to town with mines. Just place two, drop my resupply pack, and repeat until mines are everywhere.
 

EasyMode

Member
Is this worth getting if I don't like daylight missions in my Splinter Cell? Percentage-wise, how much of the single player campaign takes place during the day?
 

legacyzero

Banned
I'm still worried that Ubisoft isn't gonna do shit to support this game's multiplayer....

Just give me a classic mode with 3v3.
 
Is this worth getting if I don't like daylight missions in my Splinter Cell? Percentage-wise, how much of the single player campaign takes place during the day?
There's only three out of 11-ish that are daytime. I say 11-ish because two only last 10 minutes (one's an intro, the other is a transitional thing later on [both night]).

Edit: That is, there are 11 full blown singleplayer missions with only 3 being daytime. If I included the other two I guess it's 13? I might be counting the total wrong, but barely any are daytime, and there's LOTS of night time. Satisfaction guaranteed in that regard.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Yeah, next to the terminals is usually good for now. Though some low levels will already EMP them the first time.

I love placing mines at the end of air ducts, but those don't get people very often for me. I don't think enough people use the air ducts yet, but placing mines near doorways gets me so many kills.

I kind of love when the spies get an early hack, because then I'll just pick one of the two remaining terminals and go to town with mines. Just place two, drop my resupply pack, and repeat until mines are everywhere.

You can only resupply once, can't you? I don't recall my ammo boxes refilling with the resupply.
 

hao chi

Member
You can only resupply once, can't you? I don't recall my ammo boxes refilling with the resupply.

Both you and your partner can use your supply pack three times after you drop it (total, not each), though it does disappear after a while even if you haven't died.
 

EasyMode

Member
There's only three out of 11-ish that are daytime. I say 11-ish because two only last 10 minutes (one's an intro, the other is a transitional thing later on [both night]).

Edit: That is, there are 11 full blown singleplayer missions with only 3 being daytime. If I included the other two I guess it's 13? I might be counting the total wrong, but barely any are daytime, and there's LOTS of night time. Satisfaction guaranteed in that regard.

That doesn't sound too bad. Thanks.
 
Yep Blacklist falls just short of Chaos Theory for me only because the ghost stealth design isn't as refined (not nearly as, in many cases). Chaos Theory didn't have the satisfaction of the Panther style of play though.

Still, amazing game.

Just to be cautions:
UPnP* is a small security issue

In a way that isn't even slightly worth worrying about.
 

eshwaaz

Member
Just beat it. Hell of a game. A few complaints, but for the most part it was just an incredibly rewarding experience. I've been with the franchise from the start, and this game was such a step up from the disappointing Conviction. Loved the diversity in locations and the level design was mostly excellent.

I wish the side missions weren't so co-op focused, but they're still fun. It's a shame Grim missions are insta-fail, as they're very well designed challenges but can be frustrating. As others have said, they remind me of the old games.

Overall - very happy with Blacklist. Kudos, Ubi!
 

cackhyena

Member
I'm still having crashes on my i5 3570k, with a gtx 670. It was happening more frequently on DX9 oddly enough, so I switched it to 11 and had fewer issues. Still, halfway through one of Charlie's side missions, it just locked up the whole comp on me. Couldn't alt tab out or nothing. Does anyone ave any answers by could throw. Way? Loving the game, but this is getting infuriating.
 
the game's not as good as it could've been because of the forced action sequences. they don't even let you explore and take the train sequence at your own pace like in Pandora Tomorrow. it's great but it doesn't have that methodical feel of the classic splinter cell games.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
the game's not as good as it could've been because of the forced action sequences. they don't even let you explore and take the train sequence at your own pace like in Pandora Tomorrow. it's great but it doesn't have that methodical feel of the classic splinter cell games.

That and they wall off some things that should be able to be clambered over. At least you're able to alt-route more, which isn't something Conviction can say.
 

mr stroke

Member
I'm still having crashes on my i5 3570k, with a gtx 670. It was happening more frequently on DX9 oddly enough, so I switched it to 11 and had fewer issues. Still, halfway through one of Charlie's side missions, it just locked up the whole comp on me. Couldn't alt tab out or nothing. Does anyone ave any answers by could throw. Way? Loving the game, but this is getting infuriating.

nope game crashing on me too(i52500k+GTX690) and Uplay always wants to auto update the game :/


Best thing to do is use Uplay in offline mode. Seems to solve the shit patching and crashing.
 

Scoot2005

Banned
Wii U patch is live. Some people are still reporting issues via Miiverse. Nobody knows if it's because of people not having the patch installed while others do.
 

D-e-f-

Banned
Wii U patch is live. Some people are still reporting issues via Miiverse. Nobody knows if it's because of people not having the patch installed while others do.



Wii U Patch Notes #2
wii_u_patch_fullsizeillsf3.jpg


11/09/2013 00:00:00

GENERAL

Fix timer and progress bar for Daily Challenges
Fix misc. issues with Gone Dark challenges
Fix misc. issues with guards shooting sticky camera and not engaging search behavior


SINGLE PLAYER

Fix Nouri not following Sam in rare conditions in Private Estate mission


CO-OP

Fix animation glitch when sliding down a ladder and immediately throwing a grenade
Fix mission preview image not updating when cycling through different missions in the settings


SPIES VS MERCS

Extraction: Fix Intel stuck on weapon when a client is dropping it twice in a row
Extraction: Fix potential exploit where an ammo box placed in front of the Intel drop crate would allow to skip the “securing the intel” animation
Fix not being able to invite more people to Private Match after playing a match in a mode where the maximum number of players is lower than the maximum number of players for the new mode
Fix Drone Hunter points not awarded when blowing up the drone with certain gadgets
Fix waypoint staying red when Pandora settings are ON and a hacker has been killed
Fix accessing an empty menu when trying to view the Customization Screen or match Settings right when the countdown reaches 0
Fix general host migration issues
Fix rare cases of Spies falling out of maps
Fix spawning with no weapon and unable to shoot when pushing the stick forward during the character selection screen until the match starts
 

Jharp

Member
Couple questions:

1. Did anyone else have their entire save deleted after the recent uPlay update on PC? I logged on an hour ago, and uPlay was updating. When I got into the game it asked me to choose my difficulty and started a new campaign. I don't mind this too much because I was only on the second mission, and this weekend I recently went back and pounded out the Conviction campaign to catch myself up on the most recent entry in the series while getting high at a cabin in the mountains with some friends. Good times. Anyways, I was planning on restarting anyhow because of recently finishing Conviction, so it actually worked out fine, BUT... I'll be pretty fucking pissed if it i happens again, and seeing as it happened once, I have no guarantee that it won't happen again.

2. How the shit do I beat missions with perfect ratings in the three categories? For example, I've gotten the first co-op mission (Hawkins Seafort) down to a goddamn science. I can finish the mission in fifteen minutes or less, nabbing all three objectives AND all three secondary objectives (data, laptop, and HVT), engage three or less hostiles, avoid any detection whatsoever, on perfectionist, AND... I get like 3000-4000 points in the Ghost department.

What am I doing wrong here?
 

suaveric

Member
Wii U Patch Notes #2
wii_u_patch_fullsizeillsf3.jpg


11/09/2013 00:00:00

GENERAL

Fix timer and progress bar for Daily Challenges
Fix misc. issues with Gone Dark challenges
Fix misc. issues with guards shooting sticky camera and not engaging search behavior


SINGLE PLAYER

Fix Nouri not following Sam in rare conditions in Private Estate mission


CO-OP

Fix animation glitch when sliding down a ladder and immediately throwing a grenade
Fix mission preview image not updating when cycling through different missions in the settings


SPIES VS MERCS

Extraction: Fix Intel stuck on weapon when a client is dropping it twice in a row
Extraction: Fix potential exploit where an ammo box placed in front of the Intel drop crate would allow to skip the “securing the intel” animation
Fix not being able to invite more people to Private Match after playing a match in a mode where the maximum number of players is lower than the maximum number of players for the new mode
Fix Drone Hunter points not awarded when blowing up the drone with certain gadgets
Fix waypoint staying red when Pandora settings are ON and a hacker has been killed
Fix accessing an empty menu when trying to view the Customization Screen or match Settings right when the countdown reaches 0
Fix general host migration issues
Fix rare cases of Spies falling out of maps
Fix spawning with no weapon and unable to shoot when pushing the stick forward during the character selection screen until the match starts

Installed the patch and now I'm stuck on the I initial load screen of the game. It doesn't even get to Press A to Start. Things are looking good :(
 
Is this worth getting if I don't like daylight missions in my Splinter Cell? Percentage-wise, how much of the single player campaign takes place during the day?

Why you don't like day missions?

They play exactly the same that night missions. Who cares about the color of the skybox?
 

EasyMode

Member
Why you don't like day missions?

They play exactly the same that night missions. Who cares about the color of the skybox?

It's about stealth and visibility not skyboxes. Double Agent(360) had plenty of missions in broad daylight which I found a chore to play as pure stealth. It's nice to have shadows to work with.

Then again, I'm not sure what changes have been made to the stealth mechanics in this game, maybe it's a non-issue. I'll be picking it up soon.
 

Malvingt2

Member
Wii U Patch Notes #2
wii_u_patch_fullsizeillsf3.jpg


11/09/2013 00:00:00

GENERAL

Fix timer and progress bar for Daily Challenges
Fix misc. issues with Gone Dark challenges
Fix misc. issues with guards shooting sticky camera and not engaging search behavior


SINGLE PLAYER

Fix Nouri not following Sam in rare conditions in Private Estate mission


CO-OP

Fix animation glitch when sliding down a ladder and immediately throwing a grenade
Fix mission preview image not updating when cycling through different missions in the settings


SPIES VS MERCS

Extraction: Fix Intel stuck on weapon when a client is dropping it twice in a row
Extraction: Fix potential exploit where an ammo box placed in front of the Intel drop crate would allow to skip the “securing the intel” animation
Fix not being able to invite more people to Private Match after playing a match in a mode where the maximum number of players is lower than the maximum number of players for the new mode
Fix Drone Hunter points not awarded when blowing up the drone with certain gadgets
Fix waypoint staying red when Pandora settings are ON and a hacker has been killed
Fix accessing an empty menu when trying to view the Customization Screen or match Settings right when the countdown reaches 0
Fix general host migration issues
Fix rare cases of Spies falling out of maps
Fix spawning with no weapon and unable to shoot when pushing the stick forward during the character selection screen until the match starts

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Dave1988

Member
Host has changed. Migrating match.

Host has changed. Migrating match.

Host has changed. Migrating match.

Host has changed. Migrating match.

Host has chang.....

AAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH/rage


Also, I'm still looking for people to play SvM with on PS3. Would be nice to play as a full squad at least once before GTAV hits and kills off the already dwindling multi population of this game.
 

kittoo

Cretinously credulous
I hate dogs in this game. They completely ruin my stealth approach. They somehow just sense (smell?) where you are and knocking them out is much harder (random actually).
 

Sober

Member
It's about stealth and visibility not skyboxes. Double Agent(360) had plenty of missions in broad daylight which I found a chore to play as pure stealth. It's nice to have shadows to work with.

Then again, I'm not sure what changes have been made to the stealth mechanics in this game, maybe it's a non-issue. I'll be picking it up soon.
First two full missions are in full day time. Mechanics are bit changed as things like AI being able to see you easier and more reliance on occlusion than standing in a shadow blob. But you do also spend a lot of time indoors where it's poorly lit.
 

danielcw

Member
I hate dogs in this game. They completely ruin my stealth approach. They somehow just sense (smell?) where you are and knocking them out is much harder (random actually).

From my understanding the smell you, so they don't need line of sight.
But they can be taken down as reliable as humans, only with less reaction time.


But I hate the game for having dogs too, because I don't like hurting them.
 

hao chi

Member
This game seems to have the Uncharted 3 approach to matchmaking. Play solo, and you'll face nothing but high level parties. Play in a party, and you find nothing but low level randoms.
 
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