New Playstyle/Challenge
Im halfway through replaying AC1 again and I have gotten bored of just pure stealth. In all my games I always go for stealth, now im trying something that isnt bounded by my rules of perfection.
Now that I play without a HUD im interested in learning the maps really well. Something I learnt while making videos for AC2 is that if you keep replaying a challenge to get the video perfect, like my Informant Challanges and Contracts, you get to know the area really well. So this playstyle also helps you familiarise yourself with the map as you get to know more about the areas.
Anyway I guess I better tell you what it is right?
Basically your primary goal is still not to alert the city guards, thats still a primary restriction. But instead of just killing an archer and climbing a view point, the goal is to eliminate every scripted guard in the area before scaling the viewpoint and synching without being seen.
By a "scripted guard", I mean any guard that has a fixed patrol route, either stationary or moving. An example is an archer, a guard post ( guards with their arms crossed) or simply those guards you see standing below guard towers and around district boundaries. It also includes guards you see talking to each other who become part of a road block when exposed. Finally it also means the patrols, the guards walking around in groups have a fixed route. A non scripted guard would be any random guard that walks around and keeps respawning.
It is a very interesting challenge, its something I do in AC2 a lot but never thought to try it on AC1. You will also see each important landmark such as a viewpoint as a puzzle, you have to figure out which order to kill the guards in, how to climb the rooftops. You also have to note if there are beggars in the area or drunks/retards and which ladders will lead you to an archers blind spot. I like to sit on a bench while I figure this all out, because its surprising how often you stumble around a corner into a patrol routes trap.
TL:DR, eliminate all guards in each area without being seen.
I know its a huge post but I find it amazing how such a simple challenge or idea can change your perspective of the city and the game so much. I have a lot more to say on this subject, such as strategies for killing the patrol squads without being seen, but i first i wanna make sure people are interested
Silently assassinate a whole city of scripted guards? I'm somewhat interested. 
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen. 
Definitely interested. 
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen.
Definitely interested.
I thought this. Even the pairs of guards conversing with each other will be very challenging. Surely throwing knives will be cheating slightly (but then I suppose the whole playstyle may be impossible...?)
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen.
Definitely interested.I thought this. Even the pairs of guards conversing with each other will be very challenging. Surely throwing knives will be cheating slightly (but then I suppose the whole playstyle may be impossible...?)
Wait, I just thought of something: using dead body distractions to break up the patrol, then quickly taking out all of them.
Nice idea, TLS (I won't quote you because that'll just get ridiculous 
)
This idea seems to be getting off the ground already!
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen.
Definitely interested.I thought this. Even the pairs of guards conversing with each other will be very challenging. Surely throwing knives will be cheating slightly (but then I suppose the whole playstyle may be impossible...?)
Wait, I just thought of something: using dead body distractions to break up the patrol, then quickly taking out all of them.
Nice idea, TLS (I won't quote you because that'll just get ridiculous
This idea seems to be getting off the ground already!
Don't worry, I'll quote both of you. ^
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen.
Definitely interested.I thought this. Even the pairs of guards conversing with each other will be very challenging. Surely throwing knives will be cheating slightly (but then I suppose the whole playstyle may be impossible...?)
Wait, I just thought of something: using dead body distractions to break up the patrol, then quickly taking out all of them.
Nice idea, TLS (I won't quote you because that'll just get ridiculous
This idea seems to be getting off the ground already!
Don't worry, I'll quote both of you. ^
Thanks for that...
aurllcooljay wrote:
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen.
Definitely interested.I thought this. Even the pairs of guards conversing with each other will be very challenging. Surely throwing knives will be cheating slightly (but then I suppose the whole playstyle may be impossible...?)
Wait, I just thought of something: using dead body distractions to break up the patrol, then quickly taking out all of them.
Nice idea, TLS (I won't quote you because that'll just get ridiculous
This idea seems to be getting off the ground already!
Don't worry, I'll quote both of you. ^
Thanks for that...
It was all his idea --> 
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
aurllcooljay wrote:
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
PatrickDPS3 wrote:
ThreeLetterSyndrom wrote:
How the hell would you eliminate a complete patrol? You can pick off a few with throwing knives, but you're not going to eliminate a complete patrol without being seen.
Definitely interested.I thought this. Even the pairs of guards conversing with each other will be very challenging. Surely throwing knives will be cheating slightly (but then I suppose the whole playstyle may be impossible...?)
Wait, I just thought of something: using dead body distractions to break up the patrol, then quickly taking out all of them.
Nice idea, TLS (I won't quote you because that'll just get ridiculous
This idea seems to be getting off the ground already!
Don't worry, I'll quote both of you. ^
Thanks for that...
It was all his idea -->
Now you're just being silly.
Yes, Jack, I'm interested!
The interesting thing is that once you clear out a view point area and synch it, if you die the guards will be gone, so synching the view point after clearing out an area is kind of like a checkpoint. I wouldnt really go for a whole district, but I suppose if you set an hour or 2 aside and just do one a day its possible. It makes exploring districts and investigations more fun.
Anyway nothing springs to mind but I have come across some very challenging areas, if you guys happen to find a challanging area to clear out the guards let me know what city and district.
You have to master throwing knives to take out an entire patrol, if you do it from the rooftops you can quickly run out of sight before the knife even hits them.
Also if the patrol isnt informed, you can use gentle push on one of the guys at the back. The patrol will walk away and you can pretty much hold the guy back, seperating him from the group. Once the group is far enough you can low profile assassinate him from behind. There are probably more ways of taking out a patrol that we havent thought of. Note the gentle push method only works until they find a body, then they are informed. Im thinking if you hold a guard back until they walk around a corner, they wont notice the guard you killed, so you can move on to get a second guy. Then use throwing knvies fromt he roof.
Something I never mentioned in the front post, the Kingdom is also a great place to try this, and note you can also pickpocket some people in the kingdom to get your knives back.
The reason why im also starting this challange is because im about to do the later, more complex informer challenge missions. However in order to high profile assassinate the targets I pretty much have to clear the area out first, so basically the video will be split into two parts. Part 1 will be the preparation of clearing out an area without being seen, and part 2 will be the stunt on the targets.
Im liking the way we have evolved this game. It used to be about just assassinating the main characters, now we have informant challenges, player made races, hidden blade challange and new superfast blitzes by aurel.
Im also going to start a stylish save citizen video series soon if anyone is interested. The first video will be the citizens in the Tamirs district. They are very similar to my Alternative Escape videos, I basically only kill the guards attacking the citizen and then flee if the other city guards joined in. I also will be using a wide range of strategies to take out all the guards, it will be very much like my Codex Page Video
Looking forward to the save citizen videos. 
It will be interesting to see style and stealth in those missions for example...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfD_ILLdOgk&feature=player_detailpage#t=290s
Man this challenge is pretty damn hard to do without being seen. It sounds really easy but I always screw up. Try it out in Sibrands district, there are a few churches there with patrols that are quite challenging to master without being seen. For an added challenge go for complete social stealth, I have yet to do it on my first try.
Yea, killing everyone without drawing attention is a rich and obvious mission, but I usually make an exception: it's often easier to kill an archer than to avoid being seen by them, so I leave them where they are, and count being seen by them as a mistake, even though I remain anonymous.
And there are different levels of discretion. Having citizens panicing and running around screaming is kind of a fail.
Although Altair says to Malik after Talal that an assassin makes sure that the masses notice their deeds. But maybe that's just his ego speaking.
In the save citizens mission for example it's obviously impossible to stay anonymous, but you can take the guards to the rooftops or a nearby allyway and kill them there without upsetting the citizens.
I like the idea of luring them to a rooftop.
Anyway this is simply another challenge, I find going for absolute social stealth a bit tiresome and ejoy knocking wasting some guards without being seen every now any then. im thinking of incorporating this into my MGS videos, as I used to just go through without being seen at all without killing or stunning anyone, now I might try do the same but wiping out every guard this time without being seen.
Although Altair says to Malik after Talal that an assassin makes sure that the masses notice their deeds. But maybe that's just his ego speaking.
In the save citizens mission for example it's obviously impossible to stay anonymous, but you can take the guards to the rooftops or a nearby allyway and kill them there without upsetting the citizens.
The real life assassins always made sure that their kills were very high profile.
jack, you play on ps3 right? i recall while filming "silent extermination" (~40 stealth kills) that after a large number of silent kills, the game sometimes can no longer run in real time. its like each stealth kill slow the computer down just a little. have you ever seen this effect?
Im on PS3 and I havent seen this effect, im definately going to try it now.
Is it a large number of kills on random guards or fixed guards? As in if I stealth kill loads of archers and other stationary guards it slows down, or if I simply kill loads of any guard type it will slow down?
I'm playing through the series "silent extermination" style right now (on AC2 atm) and I have to say I know exactly what you're talking about Jack. I absolutely love the satisfaction of clearing out some n00bs guards, knowing none of them saw me, then maybe finishing them off with an axe to the skull.
Just one question, if I may. How long does it usually take you guys to design a mission? Bernardo Baroncelli took me most of yesterday (1.5hrs) and today (2hrs). Love the result, but after a while of doing the same thing it tends to get a little frustrating, especially when you have to repeat something just to test out a strategy (in this case, the path I chose to get rid of the roaming guards in the middle, which I felt was the fastest).
How long does it usually take you guys to design a mission? Bernardo Baroncelli took me most of yesterday (1.5hrs) and today (2hrs).
That sounds about right. I usually plan on 4 hours to prepare for a video.
Love the result, but after a while of doing the same thing it tends to get a little frustrating
Patience: that's what separates THB videos from the fodder on YouTube.
Yeah my AC2 vids took ages for silent extermination, some of the pazzi conspirators were pretty hard, but it was satisfying once I did it. I rarely spend that much time editing, once I have the footage I need im usually too impatiant and just upload it instantly. I might carry on this challenge again since I just beat ACR 100% (no sage trophy though, gotta get the patch....)
I am extremely interested in your guard sweep/clear viewpoint challenge and will be taking it to heart, starting with AC:I and continuing with every game. Given that my Assassination Style is throwing knives/Daggers I think this will be a very entertaining challenge for me, not to mention the utilization of only ONE single weapon (sword, dagger, hidden blade) although I am classifying the dagger and throwing knives as one weapon considering they are very combat-specific. Good challenge Jack-Reacher, I hope to give you the solutions to difficult guard patrols, as well as good starting points for sweeping certain areas.
I'll keep that in mind, Stabguy. No Youtube Fodder