The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

What difficulty level is everyone playing on?

I started on Normal while getting the hang of the game and then bumped it up to Hard, where it's noticeably harder and certainly encourages stealthy play much more, as gun battles become exceedingly difficult. Has anyone tried Realistic difficulty yet? If so, is it damn near impossible to survive?

Figured I'd try to drum up some conversation here. I'm a side quest maven. I'm done with the Gang Hideouts, done with the hot spot check-ins, I believe done with the QR codes, and am 75% done with Fixer Contracts and almost done with the Criminal Convoys. There are a few of the ctOS hack boxes I need to do (having trouble with 2 or 3 of them) and then also need to do some of the other stuff like the Cash Run and what not to fully unlock. I basically have everything except "Max ATM" and about four "Combat" things unlocked on my skill tree, but I've only done like 6 missions in Act 1.

Seriously, my username is applicable for this game as well.

I beat the game on Normal, watched a playthrough on Realistic, and will replay it on Realistic.
My Progression (since three days after release actually) is stuck at 99.5%
I am missing the Pawnee Drinking Games. It's so brutally difficult, and I can't do it.

the drinking games really are a pain in the ass.

Do these get easier/harder as the difficulty you're playing on is toggled? If so, I have no qualms about doing them on the easiest difficulty level.

I'm on easy (I think) and they are a pain in the ass. So I hope not for everyone else's sake.

I want to talk about convoys for a second.

1st - I wish I had saved them for last such that I could make a savegame to keep redoing them, but I really wanted the skill points for my playthrough... maybe I'll make another profile, play through the game, maximize things, but not do any of the convoys, gang hideouts or fixer contracts for replay purposes.

Alright, I've found myself getting into a rut with one of two strategies for convoys.
1 - set a trap with lights/steam pipes/otherwise cause a traffic jam. then use IEDs and the grenade laucher to blow them away.
2 - get a heavy car delivered (cement truck, garbage truck, etc) before starting the mission, and just barrel into the targets with my near infinite health. (note: TheMethodicalAssassin turned me on to this one originally)

I was playing the No Rules convoy in Brandon Docks, and couldn't get either strategy to work very well. (also, this would be a fantastic Convoy for a variety pack of playthroughs on video. I can discuss my 3-5 ideas with someone later if they want to do it). So I decided to switch strategies. This is a "knock-down" convoy, not a "kill" convoy... and it's a train of about 6 limos with heavily armored dudes and high powered weapons... but here's the strategy I liked best for this convoy. Not a firefight, not IEDs placed perfectly, none of that... I found the high ground, and snipered them all. This is fantastic and I didn't think it would work, but you can kill people IN vehicles with the sniper rifle from a distance. This would work VERY well for the "kill target" convoys, as you can just find your grassy knoll, kill the target and escape... especially if you can get on a bridge above the target or some other double level terrain such that the body guards can't easily drive to/climb to you... single bullet, easy escape.

I'm very glad to have figured this out on my own, because this mission was the one that has given me the most trouble in the game so far. I think I'm going to have to use the sniper rifle more.

I'd like to hear some other peoples' thoughts on the convoys. There are so many mechanics and options in this game that I fear I would never discover all the possibilities without asking... so what are some of your strategies? Do you find yourself approaching them all the same? Do you try them at different times of day? Does that affect anything?

It's easiest for me to post a video of a guy that did it to describe how I tackled it.

http://youtu.be/xTxmrEcdht8

I actually set up shop just across the bridge from where this guy did (the side he approached it from, I didn't actually get to the bridge).

I threw an IED (not a Proximity one) to take out the lead car and took out my grenade launcher, then hid behind a wall on the right (as you approach the bridge, there's a nice section to hide). I believe I raised the bridge up after the third car got through, which I blew up with my grenade launcher after triggering the IED to take out the first car. That trapped any other vehicles from busting through. Then I used a blackout grenade and ran up, took down the target, and ran away.

This one did take me a few tries to perfect, though.

Damn, this one is awesome... Lee Harvey Oswalds him from a train and starts it back up for an easy escape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAenL3saYpM&t=30s

I hope you guys find this game as laughably bad as I do.

As a former resident of Chicago, I found the overall recreation to be thoroughly unimpressive. There were some great little accurate details that mirror the city well but the overall feel of the environment is remarkably unauthentic, which is surprising considering all the supposed "research" they did with respect to trying to recreate Chicago.

And that's not even getting into the whole "Ubisoft promised us x at E3 and instead we got y" issue.

Gameplay outside of the driving was at least somewhat redeeming. Tommy Wiseau could have written a better story.

My friend Kyle who lives in Chicago looked at screenshots I sent him of the game and he said, "What did they do to the Bean!?" I found that pretty hilarious. Watch_Dogs' gameplay could have been awesome if the driving were good, if there were less of it, if hacking during driving was more than a minigame, if you could Shoot while driving.

It was fun during Stealth sections, firefights were competent, and I really just wished they'd spent more time on allowing us to climb more buildings and stuff. The way Aiden climbs (and he can't even jump!) often felt very inconsistent to me, which lead to me trying to climb barely anything because it wasn't worth the frustration of, "Can I climb this or can I not?"

Thief had similar problems but Thief was still better in this regard, because at least what you could climb or not was (often!) clearly marked with scratches, or grates, or glowed blue in Focus Vision (which you didn't even need Mana to use).