I think the difference is that the ridiculousness isn’t played for laughs. If it was a combined with a cartoonish falling sound, it would be more silly. It doesn’t feel like a punchline to the end of a joke. It’s ridiculous, it’s fun. Because it’s absurd.
Where I feel the newer games really wants to highlight “it”, it’s feels less subtle. See how funny and creative we can be. I get it, I don’t need to be forced fed with the joke to appreciate it. This might all come down to what I find funny. I don’t like things that try to hard.
unpopular opinion: for a new totally unique formula, they should make it open world where 47 gets missions from the HQ of his brand new agency with Diana and goes around the single huge map completing them (Driving included)
I can see why some don’t like the ducks. It’s a deadly tool disguised as something mundane and harmless, as well as legal to carry. We also have Demolition C4 blocks reskinned as packages, and impact grenades reskinned as baseballs. And a very integral part of the gameplay is to appear as something or someone else that isn’t, well, illegal. As in appearing as someone that is allowed in places another person isn’t. But if we were to have our list of items to take on a mission all looking like illegal or deadly/dangerous items… Then having the choice of dressing them up as a legal item… It makes you wonder why everything doesn’t have this feature. So instead we have a few ducks. Legal to carry, but also attractive to targets. That’s their draw, that’s what sets them apart from an item that a (non guard) target is going to report and avoid. Also, when an illegal item is picked up by a guard - it’s usually deactivated… I’m not 100% sure about that though, or if it’s only certain items.
If anything, ducks should emit a poisonous gas when an NPC squeezes them to hear them squeak. That would seem more realistic. But I suppose that them exploding after being squeezed would be just as good. Though I highly doubt mocap animations would ever be added for such a thing.
So I guess the question now is what other item that attracts NPCs (that works the same way the ducks do) would they prefer? Like a cupcake for food? A wad of bills? I didn’t think of the phones until now. So there are those. But those work a different way. Remote devices explode when the player chooses. Phones will eventually explode after the target answers them (not immediate).
That’s not getting into the fact that anyone killed by an explosive that is found voids SA. But that doesn’t mean all explosives are completely useless.
How about one life size rubber Agent Smith concussive decoy bomb? It can draw the attention and reaction of guards then explode in a red, white and blue smoke cloud upon remote activation.
I also like the humor of the Trilogy. Alot of the game mechanics show they are kinda gamey. Like NPCs doing very predictable routines, don’t mind some dude in waiter clothes popping a frog’s head off over their coffee or going for a smoke next to containers with inflammable content.
All this makes much sense gameplay wise and enables us to get crazy with our ideas. But if the game was dry-serious in a non-ironical way, it would all not fit together and be unbelievable. So the humor that was added to the game makes it all fit together.
Story wise I guess everything is more safe and serious as portrayed in the between-missions-cutscenes.
Also, user contracts can easily pick up this humor and integrate it into their vision if they want.
But yeah, I think we reached a point where this concept is exhausted. I really hope we still will have fun with user contracts in future games as these were my main dish, but the game should also be fresh and new.
EDIT: Ah yes, farming likes with popular opinions in the unpopular opinions thread.
I do believe that such missions were a thing in WoA as well. Whittleton-Ambrose-Sgail assassinations were all about setting up Constant’s kidnapping and NY-Haven DLC was all about tracking down the Partners, with targets from all of those being basically collateral that just so happened to conveniently deserve it too.
Though I agree the feeling of connection is mostly gone. I guess it’s ironically the more ambitious scope, making each mission stand more on its own and taking place in a distinct isolated location, which makes everything less connected.
I for one like how WoA is split into completely separate chunks. Usually when I replay the story, it’s a single mission that I feel like completing in a very specific way and this structure fits well with that playstyle.
I think they’re referring to multiple missions in the same area, leading up to a particular target. WoA had several missions leading up to the capture of the Constant and learning the identities of the Partners, but those missions were all over the world and had their own specific targets, who needed to be taken out for their own reasons, rather than purely in conjunction with the main target being pursued. The Triad missions in C47 leading up to Lee Hong, the Japan and Malaysia missions in H2SA, leading up to Hayamoto and Sidjan, respectively. Some of these had their own targets, and some didn’t, but it was all about getting to the main ones, in the same area. WoA doesn’t have missions like those.
The final mission in the WOA trilogy being a short level is perfect. After all the sandbox levels in the trilogy I appreciate a smaller atmospheric level to finish things
The thread really isn’t intended for extended discussions over specific features etc.
That’s the majority of the rest of the forum is for. Though as a side note, as someone who has been watching the discourse for twenty years this is all extremely funny.
As for my unpopular opinion: It’s a shame that the games after Blood Money didn’t include more opportunities for 47 to show off his dance moves.
Nah, obviously they were refering to the story part. Everybody knows the story got a lot better in Absolution compared to Blood Money and the rest of the franchise.
But those work a different way. Remote devices explode when the player chooses. Phones will eventually explode after the target answers them (not immediate).
