Hey guys ^^

Meaning, I'm really really REALLY bad at shooting. So bad I stopped playing Uncharted once the riddle-adventure part was over and Drake had to shoot enemies. I just never hit anyone (lol) and generally don't like shooters. After reading about HR and watching a few gameplay videos I still have some questions I need answered to determine if I'll get this game, so I ask for your help ^^

- Is it hard to play this game on the pacifist route, using stealth and conversations instead of combat? Or does this game encourage direct combat?

- There is a switch between first/third person perspective. Can the player choose at any time which perspective they want or is this pre-determined by the game?

- How much of an actual RPG game is this? I read you can upgrade Jensons augmentions, but is that it? Is there anything else you can "level up"? Do these upgrades only affect combat-related actions or can you get advantages regarding stealth/speech too?

So... that's pretty much it for now. Would be really nice if anyone could answer my questions! :)

EDIT:

I've eventually decided to buy the game due to your provided information, and I'm really enjoying it so far :)

I still have issues with the first-person perspective, but I cover a lot, so I'll get used to it I guess.

I'm glad I bought it, because Adam Jensen became one of my new favourite characters, and playing him is an experience I wouldn't want to miss. Well, I just might have a crush on him, lol.

Anyways, thanks a lot for all your assistance! ♥

Hey guys ^^

I'm really interested in this game, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to play it... ^^;

Meaning, I'm really really REALLY bad at shooting. So bad I stopped playing Uncharted once the riddle-adventure part was over and Drake had to shoot enemies. I just never hit anyone (lol) and generally don't like shooters. After reading about HR and watching a few gameplay videos I still have some questions I need answered to determine if I'll get this game, so I ask for your help ^^

- Is it hard to play this game on the pacifist route, using stealth and conversations instead of combat? Or does this game encourage direct combat?

- There is a switch between first/third person perspective. Can the player choose at any time which perspective they want or is this pre-determined by the game?

- How much of an actual RPG game is this? I read you can upgrade Jensons augmentions, but is that it? Is there anything else you can "level up"? Do these upgrades only affect combat-related actions or can you get advantages regarding stealth/speech too?

So... that's pretty much it for now. Would be really nice if anyone could answer my questions! :)

@The_Laughing_Man said:

From what Ive heard it rewards using stealth. No. You are First person unless you are in cover. Some upgrades effect hacking/talking, Most are for combat (or avoiding combat. There is like stealth ones. Ones that make you move silently. Others that let you see though walls)

Hmmm ok thank you. I hate first person perspective tho ._.

I got through the entire game without killing anyone and without firing a gun (save for the couple boss fights). It wasn't difficult, either.

1. Playing stealth gets harder as you go throughout the game simply because of enemy patrol routes and the number of enemies, but there are different ways to finish every mission, so if you are really determined to avoid combat, it is entirely possible to do so. The only time you are required to fight is during the game's four boss battles. If you play on easy, they really shouldn't be a problem no matter how you decide to play.

2. Third-person only occurs when you go into cover, climb ladders, or do melee takedowns.

3. There are augmentations for combat, stealth, hacking, and speech, allowing you to customize Jensen to however you want to play. But as far as player customization, that's as far as it goes (besides a few weapon upgrades), but there are plenty of options there.

@Rolyatkcinmai said:

I got through the entire game without killing anyone and without firing a gun (save for the couple boss fights). It wasn't difficult, either.

I also did this. It's a lot easier to play this game without actually shooting anybody as the gunplay is poor.

I'd be willing to bet that you'll have some real issues with the boss fights, which are pretty cheap and game-y. You need to use older FPS tactics (think Quake, only shit) on them to really be effective.

There is an achievement/trophy for completing the game without killing anyone and another for doing it without raising alarms, so out-and-out shooting a la Call of Duty isn't necessary and it is in fact often discouraged by design. However, this doesn't mean that you won't be shooting tranquilizer darts and other non-lethal weaponry at guys, and these arguably require more aiming finesse than any big traditional FPS firefight.

Also, it jumps from first to third person all of the time. If this sounds disorienting at all to you, then you might not want to play it.

On a final note, the game is far more action than RPG. In other words, your abilities have more impact than your stats do on how well you can perform in the game.

@OneKillWonder_ said:

1. Playing stealth gets harder as you go throughout the game simply because of enemy patrol routes and the number of enemies, but there are different ways to finish every mission, so if you are really determined to avoid combat, it is entirely possible to do so. The only time you are required to fight is during the game's four boss battles. If you play on easy, they really shouldn't be a problem no matter how you decide to play.

2. Third-person only occurs when you go into cover, climb ladders, or do melee takedowns.

3. There are augmentations for combat, stealth, hacking, and speech, allowing you to customize Jensen to however you want to play. But as far as player customization, that's as far as it goes (besides a few weapon upgrades), but there are plenty of options there.

Ok I see, thanks a lot for your explanations. The gameplay elements sound really interesting and I'm digging Jensen as a character, but the perspective thing is a real drawback for me. I tried getting into first-person perspective before when playing Fallout 3 and NV as well as Skyrim, but I just don't like it... :(

@believer258 said:

However, this doesn't mean that you won't be shooting tranquilizer darts and other non-lethal weaponry at guys, and these arguably require more aiming finesse than any big traditional FPS firefight.

Ooook, but it should be possible to shoot those from a cover? Meaning, can you cover and aim at an enemy while being undetected?

Another question, if you fail at a shooting situation, how are your chances using melee combat?

@Morrow: I beat the whole thing without killing anyone....even got an achievement for it :)

@Vinny_Says said:

@Morrow: I beat the whole thing without killing anyone....even got an achievement for it :)

Yeah, the pacifist trophy ^^ That's why I wondered how hard the no-killing-route is, and if it is encouraged or if the trophy rewards an outstanding playstyle ^^

@Vinny_Says said:

@Morrow: I beat the whole thing without killing anyone....even got an achievement for it :)

Yeah, the pacifist trophy ^^ That's why I wondered how hard the no-killing-route is, and if it is encouraged or if the trophy rewards an outstanding playstyle ^^

@Morrow said:

@Vinny_Says said:

@Morrow: I beat the whole thing without killing anyone....even got an achievement for it :)

Yeah, the pacifist trophy ^^ That's why I wondered how hard the no-killing-route is, and if it is encouraged or if the trophy rewards an outstanding playstyle ^^

Honestly I wasn't really trying, I just enjoyed sneaking by dudes (got all the cool stealth augmentations) and at the end got a great surprise by getting the achievement; it's not hard at all except in maybe 1 or 2 spots.

One thing to look out for is the bosses, but there's a very easy way to kill all 3; one can even be killed without firing a bullet. I recommend you look up some youtube videos ahead of time so that you don't find yourself in a pickle.

One more thing: there's an upgrade that lets your bullets curve and shoot something even if you're not aiming at it :)

Set it to easy, and remember that you can save pretty much anywhere, so if you mess up, you can reload to when you hadn't messed up.

Going all stealth and pacifist is a great/challenging way to play the game. I did it.

There are boss battles where you have to fight. But again, on easy, it should be a lot easier, but I haven't played on easy.

@Vinny_Says said:

One more thing: there's an upgrade that lets your bullets curve and shoot something even if you're not aiming at it :)

Woo! Now that sounds nice :) Perfect for someone who sucks at shooting like me :D

Hmm... I had already written the game off. Now seemingly the only thing I have to get over is the first person perspective... I think I'll try some Skyrim and Fallout first personing to try to get into it...

Thanks a lot for your input ^^

@MooseyMcMan

Yeah I read that you have to fight the bosses, which is kinda logical I think :D

But if there are only 3 or 4 actual fights in the whole game it should be possible... even for me :D

@Morrow said:

@believer258 said:

However, this doesn't mean that you won't be shooting tranquilizer darts and other non-lethal weaponry at guys, and these arguably require more aiming finesse than any big traditional FPS firefight.

Ooook, but it should be possible to shoot those from a cover? Meaning, can you cover and aim at an enemy while being undetected?

Another question, if you fail at a shooting situation, how are your chances using melee combat?

It is most definitely possible to shoot guys from cover. You can pop up, adjust your aim, and fire. If you for some reason have to pop back into cover before you line up your shot, your crosshair will be exactly where it was when you pop back up.

If you fuck up and guys notice you, and you find yourself in an all-out firefight (which can and does easily happen), then melee isn't really going to do you much good. It has been a while since I beat it, but I don't think you can even melee guys if they've noticed you. Again, I might be wrong there. I'm certain that melee is not going to help you much in an honest firefight due to two reasons. The first is that you don't have much health at all, and it takes a long time to refill. Even after all of the upgrades, you can't take much damage. The second is that each melee attack enters into a very quick cutscene and each one takes up one entire battery bar, out of a possible total of four (I think, may be more but not many). To sum up this overly long paragraph, melee isn't going to help you much, whether you're sneaking around or using a small army's worth of ammo.

The problem with Uncharted 3 was it encouraged stealth in some moments, but it was damn near impossible to do so without being caught after taking out 1-2 guys.

Deus Ex does it a lot better. I'm not that great at stealth, but the game did a good job of making me feel like a badass. I never got the achievement, but I was able to take out 95% of the enemies without them knowing.

@Morrow said:

Another question, if you fail at a shooting situation, how are your chances using melee combat?

If you can manage to perform a double take-down before they fill you with lead, it's a viable option (As long as you can safely escape if there are more than two enemies trying to kill you). Hiding (Cloak can be of great assistance here) and waiting until they lose track of you is also a solution when you don't want to get into a gunfight.

What I'm trying to say here is, that going Pacifist isn't the only way to be stealthy and avoid shooting.

@believer258:

I see... thanks a lot for your explanation. I just saw some videos of Jensen punching people in the face, so I thought melee might be an option if you're close but have no ammo or something. The gameplay does sound interesting tho :)

@will_leisure:

Yeah after reading ppls posts I realized this game encourages stealth a lot. Good for me :D

@valrog:

I see, thanks for the explanation ^^

Good to hear the game really grants you some freedom on how to take on the different situations.

- Is it hard to play this game on the pacifist route, using stealth and conversations instead of combat? Or does this game encourage direct combat?

- There is a switch between first/third person perspective. Can the player choose at any time which perspective they want or is this pre-determined by the game?

- How much of an actual RPG game is this? I read you can upgrade Jensons augmentions, but is that it? Is there anything else you can "level up"? Do these upgrades only affect combat-related actions or can you get advantages regarding stealth/speech too?

- No. The game even encourages stealthy playthroughs. You can only get into a hard spot during the three boss fights, but they are manageable if you know the tricks behind them.

- No, you only go third person if you go into cover.

- If you judge "RPG" by putting points into stats, no, it's not really. Augmentations are not just combat-based, there's also stuff for your speech, stealth and traversal.

And it's Jensen, goddammit.

@Ghostiet said:

- No. The game even encourages stealthy playthroughs. You can only get into a hard spot during the three boss fights, but they are manageable if you know the tricks behind them.

- No, you only go third person if you go into cover.

- If you judge "RPG" by putting points into stats, no, it's not really. Augmentations are not just combat-based, there's also stuff for your speech, stealth and traversal.

Short and to-the-point, thanks for your explanations ^^ Still put off by the first person perspective, but chances are pretty good now I'll be getting this :)

@Ghostiet said:

And it's Jensen, goddammit.

As a female gamer I can totally back up this point :D

@Morrow said:

Hey guys ^^

I'm really interested in this game, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to play it... ^^;

Meaning, I'm really really REALLY bad at shooting. So bad I stopped playing Uncharted once the riddle-adventure part was over and Drake had to shoot enemies. I just never hit anyone (lol) and generally don't like shooters. After reading about HR and watching a few gameplay videos I still have some questions I need answered to determine if I'll get this game, so I ask for your help ^^

- Is it hard to play this game on the pacifist route, using stealth and conversations instead of combat? Or does this game encourage direct combat?

- There is a switch between first/third person perspective. Can the player choose at any time which perspective they want or is this pre-determined by the game?

- How much of an actual RPG game is this? I read you can upgrade Jensons augmentions, but is that it? Is there anything else you can "level up"? Do these upgrades only affect combat-related actions or can you get advantages regarding stealth/speech too?

So... that's pretty much it for now. Would be really nice if anyone could answer my questions! :)

Dialogue options don't really get you out of combat, it just gives other types of benefits (shortcuts, more or less). The game certainly encourages stealth over direct combat, so goon encounters can generally be avoided. There are, however, unavoidable boss fights, but they're not really too difficult unless you're playing on the hardest difficulty.

Third person is only enable while in cover. Otherwise, it's first person all the way.

The game has RPG elements, but it isn't very stat-heavy. The upgrades you can choose from affect all aspects of the game, from stealth to dialogue, and there are direct combat benefits as well.

It's a great game, and I'd definitely suggest it. You don't need to be good at FPSs, just good at stealth games.

@AlecOfTheWest said:

It's a great game, and I'd definitely suggest it. You don't need to be good at FPSs, just good at stealth games.

...I never played one D:

I stealthed in Skyrim, but I dunno if that counts, the game isn't really hard...

I'm not a big fan of shooters either, but I found the shooting in this game quiet intuitive, it's one of the few games I didn't really have any problems with the gun play(the only exception was the first 5 minutes of the game, the start of this game really drove me nuts and I put off playing it a few months because of that), although Uncharted 2 didn't bother me that much either...

I seems to me that the last mission and the 2nd/3rd bosses would be extremely hard without getting used to the shooting in the game.

Great game nonetheless.

@AlecOfTheWest said:

It's a great game, and I'd definitely suggest it. You don't need to be good at FPSs, just good at stealth games.

...I never played one D:

I stealthed in Skyrim, but I dunno if that counts, the game isn't really hard...

There are more robust mechanics - enemy FOV, noise etc., but it's easy to get a hang of. And first person has barely a bearing on the game, since going stealth you'll only use the stun gun which is close range, a tranq sniper rifle and takedowns. The boss fights might be a bitch to go through, but if you know a few tricks they just become a bit tedious. If you're worried about not feeling your surroundings when in first person, you have cover to handle that matter.

Try the Thief series if you like DE, by the way.

@Morrow said:

@Ghostiet said:

And it's Jensen, goddammit.

As a female gamer I can totally back up this point :D

His coat... His coat.

@Morrow said:

@MooseyMcMan

Yeah I read that you have to fight the bosses, which is kinda logical I think :D

But if there are only 3 or 4 actual fights in the whole game it should be possible... even for me :D

Yeah, it's really not that difficult of a game if you approach each encounter slowly and carefully. Even the boss fights aren't that hard if you prepare (and I kinda recommend checking out a guide online, even if only to see what kind of weapons you need for the fight).

@MooseyMcMan said:

Yeah, it's really not that difficult of a game if you approach each encounter slowly and carefully. Even the boss fights aren't that hard if you prepare (and I kinda recommend checking out a guide online, even if only to see what kind of weapons you need for the fight).

Thanks for the advice ^^

I played it stealth and didn't kill anyone and didn't shoot a gun except for boss fights and didn't sound any alarms, and it was a lot of fun.

It's kind of lightly an RPG; you have everything you want by the end of the game, especially if you're thorough, so all you're really choosing is the order you get them.

Fantastic game that I recommend everybody play, but be warned the end of the game tries incredibly hard to ruin the phenomenal work preceding it.

Pretty, pretty.

As someone to whom the core of an RPG is about dialogue, choices and conequences, plus the affect of your character progression on situation handling.
Human Revolution is an almost perfect RPG (bar the ending) that can stand alongside Witcher, BG2, VtMB.

This game is Rainbow Six: Vegas with RPG like character skill 'tree' which makes sense because I think alot of duders at Eidos Montreal has alot of people that worked on the RS:V games I...think? lol. Oh and the vibe is very blade runner esque

@Morrow said:

@MooseyMcMan

Yeah I read that you have to fight the bosses, which is kinda logical I think :D

But if there are only 3 or 4 actual fights in the whole game it should be possible... even for me :D

Those 3-4 fights are a major pain, but I don't think that should stop you from playing what could otherwise be a really fun game for you.

Minor spoiler related to the final boss and combat, if you care to read.

@Morrow: As someone who played the ever living hell out of Deus Ex: Human Revolution (3 to 4 months straight). The best advise I can give you if your having a hard time with the combat, is to take a look at the Typhoon augmentation. A fully upgraded Typhoon can kill all of the bosses in a just few shots. Don't worry about aiming either as its a close range weapon (everything around you will go boom), so all you have to do is get close. That also won't be a issue though as every boss in the game ( except the first and last bosses) pretty much run towards you.

Other than that, I would have to agree with everyone here.

@GTCknight:

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind :)

@Morrow: No problem. Just be sure that if you go for the Typhoon your gonna need the Dermal Armor augmention. It'll help keep you alive long enough to begin using the Typhoon. Once you begin the barrage (with the Typhoon) they'll usually get stunned, thus allowing you to do it again and again.

Oh, and don't forget to bring lots and lots energy recovering items. You'll need them no matter what path (note: if it involves augmentions) you chose.

@GTCknight:

I see... I take it recovery items are rare? And probably don't reappear if you leave/enter the area at a later point?

@Morrow: I believe its regenerating health. Although its been a few months since I've played. One other thing I don't know if anyone has noted to you is the inventory system is like old Resident Evil games as you have to kind of play Tetris with your inventory as you only have a specific amount of room to hold items. So you'll often have to make choices about what to carry and what to pass on.

@Demoskinos:

I see... that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Even in games like Skyrim I only have limited use of my inventory, I put interesting things in storage but to be honest never get back to them...

@Vinny_Says: I accidentally stabbed the first guy I saw in the chest, so that pretty much ruined my hopes of getting the achievement..... Rats

@Morrow: Yeah, also you will use one full battery if you do a melee attack. You can buy items to recover more at once. Like three batteries refilled by using one type of item. However, I wouldn't let that get you too down as the last battery will always regenerate on its own.

So yes, you can melee everyone but; it will take a little longer compared to other games.

My best advice for you. Is don't waste the battery recovery items unless you absolutely need them. For example, I beat the game 3 times and my battery bar (or whatever its called) was usually at 1 Battery. Which means it took me longer to get through an area but, I had far more of those items on me should I ever need them later.

@GTCknight: Well, I used Cloak a lot (It's really not useless as people say it is), so it was crucial for to have more than the basic battery, especially since I often performed a take-down while cloaked. And since Cloak drains batteries slowly, one battery is simply not enough for such a combo.

@valrog: That is true. It was something I realized when went got the cloak (I even maxed it out the very instant I picked it up) halfway through my first playthrough. Then again I had nothing else to get other than the cloak or the Social Enhancer left, and I never needed the latter so I went with the former.

Yes, I'm one of those crazy people who basically had 98% of every augmention in the game. Unless that's normal, at which point I must say. This entire planet has gone even further past hell.

DE:HR is actually biased against any playstyles except hacking and stealth. Biased as in it does not give you enough ammo ever... so you should be fine with this game.

@GTCknight: I didn't get cloak until later in the game, either. But when I did, I can't say I regret it. I think I got a lot of Augmentations as well. At least I didn't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

@valrog: The only augmentation I ever thought of as a must have was Smart Vision. I always knew what was behind every door or wall.

Thanks guys ♥