Serious Business - Is Dishonored better than Thief?

[existential_vacuum]

A lot of newer Hitman games shove the different ways to approach things in your face.

There are three main newer Hitman games: Absolution, 2016 and Hitman 2.

Absolution, while linear, never shoves how to approach things in small sandboxy levels.

I haven't played 2016 at launch so it might have been different. But played it earlier this year, and I don't get, what you are talking about. Opportunities, or whatever they are called, are optional, they can be turned off in the options. Moreover, if you play Hitman 2 on Master difficulty they are turned off by default (can't remember, whether there is difficulty setting in 2016). Moreover, difficulty affects placement of certain items.

That said, nuHitman handles both casual and "hardcore" players: play on the highest difficulty, explore and experiment or let the game tell you how to be awesome.

 

[DalekFlay]

In my opinion challenge in games is good and necessary because it makes you learn the systems and use strategies. I dislike the whole "grind this section for 20 deaths until you win and feel elated" thing. It doesn't do anything for me at all. However you need some challenge to force you to use buffs and debuffs, or experiment with all the powers and find uses for them, or learn enemy patterns, or whatever else. This is honestly what "normal" should be but instead it's usually way too easy, so I tend to start out on one above normal. When there's only three settings and hard mode is too annoying though, it's a real shame.

Dishonored is pretty easy even on the highest difficulty, and while Dishonored 2 is harder because enemies notice you much easier it's still not "hard" to complete unless you want a 100% stealth run. However both make you engage with the systems and watch enemy patterns if you want to get through without being seen, which is good enough for what I want from "challenge" personally.

 

[Child of Malkav]

I always play games on normal difficulty or whatever the equivalent of it is in a given game. Because I found out that devs understand difficulty by adding a bunch of 0s to everything, which I'm not a fan of, in the slightest.
I've always stated that the difficulty must come from the AI, rules being applied the same to the player and the AI, not having infinite resources on either side, not knowing (or knowing) the level layout (depending on the game), making sure the propagation of information is well implemented and makes sense, line of sight mechanics, reinforcement mechanics, limited number of entities, thought out placement of said entities and obstacles etc.
But no. Difficulty today means more HP for enemies while you also deal less damage. Fuck. That.
And in these cases, the word "strategies" means cheesing.

 

[DalekFlay]

I always play games on normal difficulty or whatever the equivalent of it is in a given game. Because I found out that devs understand difficulty by adding a bunch of 0s to everything, which I'm not a fan of, in the slightest.

I agree with the complaint, but it can still be effective sometimes to just change damage values if it results in forcing you to use potions or spec your character better, etc. That doesn't really apply to a game like Dishonored though. The higher difficulties in Dishonored (2 especially) result in enemies noticing you faster though, which I'd still is good for a stealth focused game.