Support NeoGAF

[Interfectum]

New Tore Blystad interview at Gamescom... some notable quotes:

“One of the things that was difficult with the old games was that there was a lot of freedom, but you really had to dig it out, it wasn’t really presented to you at all. So you could start a level and there was ten doors open to you and was like, ‘well, where the hell am I supposed to go? I don’t know, I’ll just have to try the first door, oh I got killed, now I’ll try the second one.’

Disappointing that he sees the original Hitman games like this. I always loved being dropped in a Hitman sandbox and I have to figure out what to do next. This sounds like they are going towards a more directed experience.

we also have so many segments of fans that we could listen to one group say, the game has to be more difficult than any other Hitman.’ Well, that’s going to be hard for us to pull off if you make a game of this magnitude.”

If that's what he's taken from the complaints so far, he's way off the mark. I don't think many people are asking for it to be the "dur hardest hitman evar dur," I believe most want Hitman to retain the sandbox gameplay that makes the series unique. We don't want another Conviction scenario.

Dynamic audio depending on if you want to play the game like Conviction or Kane and Lynch 3:

“Another one is sound design. We’ve built a very dynamic sound and music design system to follow this AI. So if you pull in the game in the action direction, everything you do will get kind of get more action feeling within the music.

“But if you let the game pull back and let it go back into a more stealthy direction, the music will dynamically follow. And every single action you do will be supported by the music. It’s something thats been very difficult for us to achieve, but now we believe its come very far.”

DLC confirmation:

“It’s a perfect game for DLC. You’re a hitman, you do hits. How hard can it be?”

Older quotes from the lead developer:

"You never really learn how to play them... you’re never taught how to do things, and you’re just dropped into this world. Someone playing it will think ‘shit, what have I got to do, my target is over there and I have no idea how to get there’ and they just get killed a million times."

"We have paced the game a little bit more than previous games. In Blood Money, we felt it was one huge mission, then another huge mission, then another huge mission… and you always start outside and probe your way in. It got a little repetitive at the end."

We do a lot of user research where we bring in hardcore Hitman fans and people who play third-person games and even SingStar fans to see how people react to the game. We can see that everybody who knows the franchise, the moment they’re exposed to anything, they hit reload. It’s inherent in them! And we’re like no, no, you don’t have to reload anymore! It might be a bit messy but you’re not doomed if you clean up after yourself and continue.

Former IO employee "Voodooman":

"At the next Hitman game coming, they tried a person in charge with passion and balls to rethink (Nor me), but alas he was removed and K & L management has taken over. It does not bode well for IO and Hitman future"

Boxart:

Pre-order Items:

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2011/08/18/47-is-back-ios-blystad-on-bringing-back-hitman-with-absolution/

 

[Auto_aim1]

Good. Another game I don't have to buy.

 

[Data West]

Uhh.. where does he say what you say in the thread title? Because that's some seriously condemning paraphrasing.

 

[Lostconfused]

That's the Deus Ex devs stance on the issue. But it would be a shame if the game turns out to be trash.

 

[Carbonox]

I was going to respond in a serious manner but once I saw the pictures, especially the last, all train of thought went out of the window.

I applaud you. I'm in absolute hysterics.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

You know, for people who like to talk big about loving really smart games, Hitman fans sure seem to love acting like children.

 

[Ponti]

You know there is no hope for this game if even it's director is saying crap like that.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Commendable

 

[The Faceless Master]

cringeworthy quotes

 

[Revolutionary]

Oh it's still cool to hate on the game we've seen five seconds of footage of?

 

[Corky]

I choked on my water reading the thread title, laughing my ass off right now. I hope the review outlets shreds your pathetic game to pieces so the otherwise oblivious buyers will steer clear from this abortion.

Oh it's still cool to hate on the game we've seen five seconds of footage of?

" Mark Rein here, I'm pleased to announce that the next unreal tournament is going to be a football manager esque facebook title"

Come on dude, don't hate on a game you haven't even SEEN!

 

[Deleted member 81567]

Never saw the pre-order bonuses poster.

 

[Snaku]

And we won't be forced to buy your shit.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Uhh.. where does he say what you say in the thread title? Because that's some seriously condemning paraphrasing.

in the article?

it's there twice... once in a paragraph and once in a huge font opposite the paragraph it's in...

 

[Cartman86]

Dictated to by the mass market in ant attempt to get some Call of Duty audience money is totally fine though.

 

[Data West]

in the article?

it's there twice... once in a paragraph and once in a huge font opposite the paragraph it's in...

I also like how the 'well listen to them' part prefacing it was completely removed to villainize the guy. Very mature for people wanting a mature game.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Hi Guys

We won't be dictated to by the fans

We will be dictated to by focus groups though and be lead by the ideals of publishers too

We will also copy other developers if we want, even though we had something unique going ourselves

FUCK YOU GUYS,
We are awesome.

IO
xxx

PS: Kane and Lynch rocked, and Mini Ninjas was cool <3

 

[JambiBum]

I also like how the 'well listen to them' part prefacing it was completely removed to villainize the guy. Very mature for people wanting a mature game.

It's pretty much how every hitman thread goes now. They have become my favorite threads because of this reason.

 

[Speedymanic]

What the fuck is this noise?

“One of the things that was difficult with the old games was that there was a lot of freedom, but you really had to dig it out, it wasn’t really presented to you at all. So you could start a level and there was ten doors open to you and was like, ‘well, where the hell am I supposed to go? I don’t know, I’ll just have to try the first door, oh I got killed, now I’ll try the second one.’

That was one the greatest things about the game, the emergent gameplay that made the series standout against all others.

GAH!

:c

 

[Brobzoid]

Hi Guys

We won't be dictated to by the fans

We will be dictated to by focus groups though and be lead by the ideals of publishers too

We will also copy other developers if we want, even though we had something unique going ourselves

FUCK YOU GUYS,
We are awesome.

IO
xxx

PS: Kane and Lynch rocked, and Mini Ninjas was cool <3

mini ninjas was cool damn it

 

[StuBurns]

While people shouldn't take design advice from fans, they also shouldn't go on the record with quotes like that. Bad form.

 

[jbueno]

Fans: We won´t buy your crap on brand name alone.

 

[ElRenoRaven]

You know what. Fuck that asshole. I'm sorry the fans are the ones that buy your damn game. To throw out what made those games great and basically tell your fans tough shit shows you for the asshole you are. Looks like the first one I won't be playing. Course I doubt he cares.

 

[Speedymanic]

I also like how the 'well listen to them' part prefacing it was completely removed to villainize the guy. Very mature for people wanting a mature game.

Listening would mean the map making a return, listening would mean allowing the player freedom, listening would mean removing the checkpoint system, listening would mean removing the instinct mode.

Yeah, they won't be listening to anyone.

:/

 

[Derrick01]

Where does he get the idea that we want a super hard game? Blood Money was kind of easy on normal but it was the depth and freedom that made it great.

It's sad to see IO ruining what has been a pretty great generation for Eidos so far. They started off well with Blood Money but then the two shitty Kane and Lynch games and now this abomination.

and the media will probably give it a higher score than deus ex because it'll fit their bro taste better.

 

[DMczaf]

Listening would mean the map making a return, listening would mean allowing the player freedom, listening would mean removing the checkpoint system, listening would mean removing the instinct mode.

Yeah, they won't be listening to anyone.

:/

That's not listening, that's dictating.

 

[Pachimari]

I have an urge to print out a paper with a message from NeoGAF and tape it to their front door. They are located about 15 minutes away from me here in Copenhagen. ^_^

 

[Emitan]

You know, for people who like to talk big about loving really smart games, Hitman fans sure seem to love acting like children.

They obviously know how to design this game that they've never seen.

 

[Ithil]

Listening would mean the map making a return, listening would mean allowing the player freedom, listening would mean removing the checkpoint system, listening would mean removing the instinct mode.

Yeah, they won't be listening to anyone.

:/

No, that's doing exactly what you tell them to do. Dictating.

 

[Speedymanic]

That's not listening, that's dictating.

Not really...it's asking the devs who've said they'll listen to implement changes that would make the game as worthy successor instead of Conviction 2.0

 

[Evolved1]

I'm on the fence about whether or not devs should listen to the fans. Because sometimes fan outcry can ruin shit (see: early changes to KZ2) but then sometimes they ruin shit (see: turning Shadowrun into a FPS).

I don't know... I'll just have to make determinations based on each individual game. Quotes alone aren't enough to cause concern, or ire.

I haven't seen enough of this game to be worried yet. The little I did see looked like Hitman.

 

[Dabanton]

You've just got to love selective quoting here's the full quote.

“We’re catering for a large spectrum of players from the most-ultra hardcore to the people who play third-person games and they enjoy that and they just want a good experience.”

Some of those fans are also probably giving feedback on Absolution. The team at IO is very much up for that, but make no mistake: it isn’t going to be ruled by an iron fist from the community.

“There’s always people in the office checking up, especially on the Hitman forums. We want to probably know what they’re thinking, and we want to make a game that people like, not just a game we like and no-one else cares about,” said Blystad.

“We’ll listen to them, but we won’t be dictated to by the fans.”

“We’ll listen to them, but we won’t be dictated to by the fans because we also have so many segments of fans that we could listen to one group say, the game has to be more difficult than any other Hitman.’ Well, that’s going to be hard for us to pull off if you make a game of this magnitude.”

Now whats wrong with that?

 

[Superimposer]

The hype train has officially pulled up at my station. Goodbye

 

[Van Buren]

I've been relying on the Death to Spies games for my Hitman fix, and based on this interview, I'll be surprised if that changes in the future.

 

[SafeinSound]

What a dumb fucking thing to say. Fuck you.

 

[Emitan]

I have an urge to print out a paper with a message from NeoGAF and tape it to their front door. They are located about 15 minutes away from me here in Copenhagen. ^_^

Tell them we want to shoot out the bottoms of more hot tubs.

 

[Persona7]

About damn time.

The fans can go to hell.

 

[Revolutionary]

" Mark Rein here, I'm pleased to announce that the next unreal tournament is going to be a football manager esque facebook title"

Come on dude, don't have on a game you haven't even SEEN!

Ugh, why did I post.... I'm going to get into this conversation all over again.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the core Hitman gameplay still seems to be there based on what I've seen/heard/read, and that all they are doing is making things easier to grasp for those who had a harder time getting into the game (which is understandable - I've tried to show the Hitman series to a bunch of people in my life and less than a handful got into it and became fans). The five seconds of footage we've seen seems fairly 'dudebro' (as some on GAF might put it) but Blood Money had some fairly 'dudebro' trailers as well, as I pointed out in the last thread about this game.
Yes, I'd rather the game be left essentially untouched because I personally never had any problems with Hitman controls or gameplay, but again, have you actually tried to show/teach the game to someone? You can't blame them for trying to get the game into more hands for more people to enjoy.

But anyway, I'm not defending the devs to the point where I'm implying that "everything they do is right, leave them alone!". I just think you guys are jumping down their throats way too early. The Instinct mode or whatever really is stupid, though. Can't deny that.

 

[Totobeni]

I lost hope long ago.



But it's funny seeing that yesterday MMaRsu posted a thread asking what will happen to Hitman abomination and he thought there is a chance to change or they might listen to the feedback, and we got this from the director today.

 

[Interfectum]

Added to the OP:

Older quotes from the lead developer:

"You never really learn how to play them... you’re never taught how to do things, and you’re just dropped into this world. Someone playing it will think ‘shit, what have I got to do, my target is over there and I have no idea how to get there’ and they just get killed a million times."

"We have paced the game a little bit more than previous games. In Blood Money, we felt it was one huge mission, then another huge mission, then another huge mission… and you always start outside and probe your way in. It got a little repetitive at the end."

We do a lot of user research where we bring in hardcore Hitman fans and people who play third-person games and even SingStar fans to see how people react to the game. We can see that everybody who knows the franchise, the moment they’re exposed to anything, they hit reload. It’s inherent in them! And we’re like no, no, you don’t have to reload anymore! It might be a bit messy but you’re not doomed if you clean up after yourself and continue.

Former IO employee "Voodooman":

"At the next Hitman game coming, they tried a person in charge with passion and balls to rethink (Nor me), but alas he was removed and K & L management has taken over. It does not bode well for IO and Hitman future"

 

[broham]

Mini ninjas was the last IO game I enjoyed and it doesn't sound like that will be changing anytime soon.

 

[UrbanRats]

"We won't be dictated to by the fans"

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

Honestly, I think it's a good thing when developers don't let fan input taint the game. It's about their vision, not ours.

But yeah, this game does look like shit.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Isn't this by a team that has none of the original Hitman staff on it anyways

 

[TheExecutive]

Uhhh... sounds like he is putting waypoints in the game. The fun thing about hitman was the ability to do missions like you want to.

 

[Snuggles]

“One of the things that was difficult with the old games was that there was a lot of freedom, but you really had to dig it out, it wasn’t really presented to you at all. So you could start a level and there was ten doors open to you and was like, ‘well, where the hell am I supposed to go? I don’t know, I’ll just have to try the first door, oh I got killed, now I’ll try the second one.’

...and with that, any remote chance of me buying the new Hitman was completely eliminated.

 

[diffusionx]

In most instances I would rather see the developers make the game they want.

That said this game looks like crap.

 

[Keyser Soze]

You've just got to love selective quoting here's the full quote.



Now whats wrong with that?

Nothing terrible, although lets not forget all the bad stuff from the last round of previews

- There is instinct mode, which works similair to the detective mode in Arkham Asylum. It will replace the map screens from previous Hitman games.
- With the instinct mode you monitor enemies trough walls, burning-red trails highlight the patrol route enemies are about to take, and the mode also highlight points of intrest (like climable ledges and vents). It can also be used to maximise your disguise.
- The instinct mode can only be used for a short time, it is powered by a bar that refills when you do silent, stealty takedowns.
- Enemy patrol paths will now take organic and shorter paths, this is done so the player can anticipate when the AI is going to do something and not getting randomly caught.
- Levels will now be divided into discrete checkpoints.
- More focus on smaller sandboxes, because they want to control the pacing better and bring more variety to the gameplay.
- Long-time series composer Jesper Kyd will not be returning. The duo Peter Peter and -Peter Kyed will be doing it.
- Longtime 47's voice actor David Bateson will not be returning.

 

[Phonomezer]

So in other words; STFU.

But they'll gladly eat out of the hands of their bullshit focus groups.

 

[snoopeasystreet]

Just remember folks, they can never take Blood Money away from us.