Just started this on Realistic and compared to the last game it's a horrorshow. I'm going for mostly ghost and armed with a stun gun but if they get even a slight whiff of you then you'd better run, you'd better take cover. My normal path is do 3/4 difficulty for first playthrough but this is a bitch. I am drunk but can't see it being much easier.
Anyone else finding it a step up in difficulty or should I just sleep it off? I'm trying not to kill anyone, either and I might knock that tripe on the head and dish out the lead if need be.

Drunkenness and stealth don't exactly go hand in hand.

This might explain the lack of Michael Ironside.

Rah! That's a boom.

Ok, I gave up for the night a while back but I still think it's going to be pretty hard on Realistic. I've finished games when I've been so drunk that I couldn't remember the end and have had to repeat the last sections the next day and thought whoah, that wasn't exactly a breeeze and that quick time event was a bit of a bitch. I'm well impressed I could do that hammered. The end of Far Cry 3 and Tomb Raider are the most recenty that I had to redo.

Playing through a game on 2/4 difficulty for the first playthrough is usually too easy and makes them go too fast. The only game I dropped the difficult back before was Bioshock Infinite because it seemed to be getting in the way of the story. I'm basically asking if anybody else is finding it rough on Realistic.

I bet somebody out there is thinking "Well don't play games and booze, idiot!" Wait til you're a man before thinking that again.

I just started on realistic and I'm constantly getting caught and it takes maybe 2 shots to go down. I like a challenge but I may need to bump it down a bit for this game. If I play again ill turn it up but ya I agree. As a currently sober person, I think realistic is definitely challenging

That's good to hear. I liked the last game, but it was almost hilariously easy. Splinter Cell games should be punishing.

It's still significantly easier than Chaos Theory which had virtually no checkpointing (and actually no checkpointing in co-op) and, unlike in Blacklist, you couldn't actually shoot your way out of a situation because your guns became completely inaccurate after the first shot. The AI back then was also far more suspicious about sound.

I messed around on co-op with a friend's copy earlier today and it seemed more like a punishing stealth game than the last few in the series have been. Which is good, since the only Splinter Cell I'm interested in is of the punishing stealth variety.

Yeah it demands a more measured approach than Conviction (on realistic here too) for sure. It's definitely more challenging too (and for the most part thus far it's been in good ways).

But yeah, you still have a far greater ability to recover from mistakes and take guys out in, say, the PT/Chaos Theory days, and it's still a good deal easier at equivalent difficulties. So far I've been finding it a nice balance between the more puzzly early games and the more stalkery-mobile style in Conviction, personally.

And I think I just love Splinter Cell all the time.

I'm finding a sort of disconnect between my mouse and keyboard, and the dude on the screen. I don't feel a tight response between my commands and his face, he's a little floaty and out of control, and his ass is always sticking out when he's crouching.

I dunno, my first impression is that there's either more to it than simple Conviction controls, in which case FUCK YES LET'S LEARN AND MASTER THIS SHIT, or that it's somehow broken or lame, in which case I feel sad.

I'm feeling the same thing. I honestly don't think the PC porting team did an overly brilliant job - but then, I guess I should really expect that when it comes to Ubisoft PC releases.

Great news, I don't like games that are too easy.

No, it can be pretty tough, especially if you are a perfectionist like me and always play stealth games without ever killing somebody. Game seems pretty good thus far, although the controls (PC) can be a bit weird, especially the "move from cover to cover" thing or trying to select specific actions. I think I have opened at least 10 doors when I actually wanted to close the one right next to it. Don't know how it is on consoles.

I'd imagine that harder difficulties are tuned more for a geared out Sam. Normal + Ghost has been pretty easy for me so far.

I did the first proper mission today sober and it was still really tricky. It's the bit after the zipline when there are about 10 guys outside. I think to make it fun I'll either knock it down a level or let myself kill people if I have to. I've just bought the crossbow and loads of gadgets so I'll play more before commiting.

Genuinely impressed that nobody went for my drunken trolling "Wait til you're a man" line. When I woke up I immediately remember it and groaned at my constant bellendishness.

All I know is after three minutes of stealthing my way back and forth between these dudes trying to find me on a tight roof just now, I hit E to non-lethally take down a guy standing RIGHT on a fucking doorway, Sam closed the door instead, and the dude started shooting on the other side.

I appreciate the fact that the developer utilized a big number of keyboard keys to make it easier for me to play, but "E" closing/opening as well as picking up bodies, guns and also taking down fools, is a shitty thing for a stealth game.

Now I'm gonna become twitchy about taking down dudes near doors or light switches because the same use button is set for all of them.

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This checkpoint shit is STUPID, why do I have to keep restarting the checkpoint just because of small technical mistakes like that? I'm getting bored of repeating the same actions, why can't I fucking quick save?

I never got this contempt developers have for quick save nowadays, it's like it's not cool enough to implement. Wankers.

@jouseldelka: Yeah I got caught multiple times because I would look under a door rather than open it or because I closed a window rather than climb through or because I switched on a light next to a door. I understand why they wanted to get rid of the little context menu but the solution isn't very good.

The solution my friend is called QUICK SAVE! Made a totally reasonable video gamey mistake that is, basically, our fault as a developer? Your last few minutes of perfect stealth ruined because one key does five different things? HERE, PRESS F5/F9 AND YOU'RE ALL SET!

But noooo.... you gotta repeat the entire checkpoint every time it happens, because fuck the game mechanic that worked wonderfully in the past.

Damn wankers.

@jouseldelka: Quicksaves allow you to trial and error your way through a game far too easily. Mess up? Great, doesn't matter as you can reload with all your previous progress intact. No consequences, no challenge. Now of course, you don't have to quicksave at every turn but players will exploit that system as much as their grubby little hands can. I'd rather play an easy game with no checkpointing than play a hard game with quicksaving enabled because it'll make me think twice about taking any risks. I certainly don't enjoy having to start at the beginning of a level, but those are the inherent risks you have to accept. End the savescumming.

If you think Realistic is hard, you should try Perfectionist. I've done a few missions that way and there was a few moments where I would want to rip my hair out. The guards has eyes like a hawk, but it's not Metal Gear Solid 4 Big Boss Difficulty ridiculous.

Playing on Perfectionist, the game is still pretty easy. Been going through without being caught or knocking anyone out. The only people I do, is for the Bag & Tag.

Ok, finished it on Realistic. Mastered ghost and panther through it. Panthering makes it really stupid easy if you've got the SC4000 or the SC sniper rifle. Ghost is also easy once you've got sleepy darts for the crossbow and full stealth - that's 18 bolts of snoozy juice per checkpoint plus whatever else you've got. I did start to make it harder by going for the full evasion until I knew I was definitely going to hit the score target for ghost.

Overall I didn't enjoy any of it because even though I hate achievements I still can't stop them having an effect on me. I liked all the original xbox games because I just did what I needed to do to finish the levels and had fun. I so damn hate cheevos.

OMG, you get more points for avoiding guards, than you do for knocking every single one out?

I have been going out of my way to take down every guard quietly on Realistic. Would be so easy to run past.

And yes there is far too much ammo for the crossbow etc.

But I have also found that the sticky camera is inconsistent at taking out multiple enemies at a time :/

I haven't played this game yet, but I love hair-pulling difficulty in games, so I'm definitely getting this game tomorrow. I'm taking a trip into town, so I might as well reward myself.

Thats called "Save Scumming" these days and the internet has made it so you should feel bad about it.