I hope it's not Open World... I wouldn't be surprised if it is though. Trying to get that MGSV audience. Although I would argue that most MGS fans prefer the MGS GZ kind of sandbox missions. The reason I am not for Open World is that I just can't imagine Ubisoft offering deep gameplay elements in combination with it. In fact I suspect it would have less substance than SCC offers. How would it be able to differentiate itself from the other games? They have several Open World titles which lend more or less gameplay features from the stealth genre. Most titles having a lot of potential, but mostly keeping it safe, simple and shallow.
I wouldn't be suprised if they haven't got any subtitle for the new Splinter Cell yet, if it is supposed to release Fall 2019. Although I would suggest to release it early 2020 then.Originally Posted by royaldj Go to original post
I'd take 20 huge unique well designed individual sandbox mission locations with verticality and actual multiple objectives with depth rather than 200+ shallow missions in an open world full of busy work and half the time travelling.
Speaking of MGS, i thought all the missions in TTP would be like GZ.
I think Ghost Recon is a good candidate for open world. There is a lot that should be improved from WildLands, I'd have preferred it to be more narrative driven. Just a little more purpose than "hey, go pick fights wherever you want".
I just don't see it with Splinter Cell though. Like everybody else, Hitman and Ground Zeros are the right approach for something to model.
Even with only 10 sandbox missions, I would be happier.Originally Posted by H0EY Go to original post
Hitman has only six missions (without tutorial) and I had a lot of fun playing them, I spent almost 50 hours. There's no need to have 20 missions to have a good replayability.
So I'd rather have 5 to 10 epic missions with an awesome level design and content than 20 missions which are good but look the same.
I don't like narrative interfering with the gameplay mid-game, but I do like the old structure of narrative between assignments giving context and purpose to the missions. I don't like the "do the missions in your order", it makes everything to casual. Besides, we've always been able to play the missions we want when we want from the loadout screen. Removing the loadout screen, or the main menu, didn't seem to do anything but water down the urgency of Sam's mission.
Empty Quiver seems like a great set up for Splinter Cell. Missing nuclear weapon, it's urgent, it works. I would hate for it to turn into "okay Sam, what do you want to do? I don't know, maybe I'll hop over Russia, do a five minute hacking assignment, then call up a friend for co-op, then take a break and go on a Charlie, assignment, you basically find an ADD approach of casually just kind of shooting my way around purposelessly until I've cleared enough of the map that suddenly some ending credits roll". The old format of "here's where you are going next, and here's why" was more engaging for me.
True 10 epic missions would be good but the reason Hitman can get away with only 6 is because you have an incredible amount of ways to take out the targets.
I don't know if SC can offer that much replayability with the types of objectives we normally get, the replayability would come from multiple insertion and extraction points and allowing objectives to be completed in any order. In reality it would probably be 12 to 15 missions.
I agree. The most important would be to create enough paths to the objectives, with each one having its own challenge and random (but credible) patterns for NPCs.Originally Posted by H0EY Go to original post
But I would love to see something new and not only a copy of what we know or already see from other games.
For me having an open map would not only be about the mission area but also about everything around it. The last Hitman game would be a great inspiration for that but I would love another kind of interactivity in the Splinter Cell's sandbox maps. Let's take for example a secured building that Sam needs to infiltrate. Well the player would not start the mission directly from the building, or its roof, or its courtyard like in most of the previous games. So the player would start in a street, from one of the infiltration points all around the building. He'll have first to progress through the streets, mostly filled by civilians. The second step of the mission would be to find a way into the building, the player would have some information given by Grim about the different possibilities and he would have to judge each one and make his choice. The third step start in the building and the player would fulfill the mission's objectives. And the last step would be to exfiltrate the building, go back to the streets until reaching the extraction point.
So in that kind of configuration we could imagine a lot of new things. Because in Hitman our character can walk freely in a large part of the map, there are only some buildings or a part of the map hostile to 47 and forcing the player to look for a disguise. In Splinter Cell all the map is hostile or a danger to Sam, even civilians. So the "civilian area" around the secured building would be a great way to develop some gameplay mechanics or create new ones.
For example we could have an opportunity objective where the player is listening to a conversation between two guards and one of them says to the other one that their manager lives in the neighborhood and only him has an access to a specific area of the building (like a badge). Then Grim would give to the player the address of this manager and the player will go infiltrate his house and hack the badge.
We could also imagine some "unexpected events" in this civilian area. For example there is a big party going on in some part of that area with a lot of lightings and NPCs. The player would have two options through gameplay: either he ruins the party by cutting power (or by another mean), either he makes a big detour and avoid the party. If the player decides to ruin the party, it will free this road but all NPCs who were gathered at this party would disperse pretty much everywhere in the other areas of the map, which will make all other roads more difficult to go across. Especially if a new primary or secondary objective appears there during the following of the mission.
Another example: the player sees an altercation between two NPCs in a street. One of them has a gun and points it towards the other guy. The player would still have two choices through gameplay: either he doesn't intervene, either he intervenes and neutralizes the NPC with the gun. But if he doesn't intervene or if he fails to neutralize him, the NPC may shoot gunshots. And if that happens, the neighborhood would totally be invaded by cops looking to the shooter. So that would complicate the player's progression for the whole rest of the mission. And those "unexpected events" could have a random aspect in order to offer more replayability.
I don't know if I clearly explained my thoughts and hopes, some may found those weird or inappropriate in a stealth game. But I would love to see those kind of things in games, and especially Splinter Cell because it would bring some life and realism during the missions.
To listen to conversations to gain access to new objectives, to make choices through gameplay which can complicate our infiltration, create new ways to play, encourage the player to explore the map, numerous paths, having a lot of diversity for the objectives, with NPCs having each one their own life and pattern,...
It would be like an immersive-sim game but in the stealth way and without the social aspects. That's why I think those large open sandbox maps have a great potential. And for this potential to be exploited, we can't only fill those maps like we were filling the old linear levels. Developers need to create new things and news ways to interact with the game so the player can fully enjoy the maps and notice that we're finally in a new generation of games taking advantage of the powerful machines we have nowadays.
PS: sorry for the potential mistakes, my english is (still) not perfect![]()
That idea could slot nicely into this map, the staff area here could easily be staff accommodation where the key card is.
https://forums.ubi.com/showthread.ph...1#post10916026
The only thing i'm not hot on is the 2 guys with the gun scenario.
The party could be like Shanghai in DA where you are scaling the exterior of the building trying to sneak in.
Taking the MGSGZ route could be perfect, most of the other mission types in GZ were great. I especially liked Eliminate The Enemy Threat. Multiple ways to complete that.
Pretty nice ideas.Originally Posted by H0EY Go to original post
About the 2 guys with the gun scenario, I would love the game to have more involvement with civilians. I think that can be a complementary aspect to the other side of Sam's tasks, which are military/espionage.
I dream about a new mission at Jerusalem with lot of civilians in the streets. And we wouldn't just have to avoid them, there would be some dynamic gameplay where the player's actions can change a part of the map or make his progression easier or more difficult.