That podcast has a much higher opinion of Mendoza than I do.
I spent the evening in Sapienza, finishing off challenges for 2016 bonus mission The Icon. Catapulting a tantrum-throwing wannabe auteur into the whirring death-maw of his own giant robot is a pretty great kill, even for Hitman, though I was surprised how many of the mission stories rely on having the same specific outfit.
Another Elusive Target appears today in Hawke's Bay (new to me, but some of you might have played this one in Hitman 2). As always, stories of comedy hijinks, noble failures etc always welcome.
I was very close to silent assassin on this in Hitman 2, so hopefully I'll manage it this time. I remember her being quite easy to identify, but the size of the Hawke's Bay map means it's hard to isolate anyone, and it's a looooong jog to the exit.
Well, that was easy. I reloaded after familiarising myself with the setup, but one bullet and a casual stroll back to the boat and I'm done.
Spoilers, obviously:
I would have been slightly faster if I'd been confident enough to use lethal poison instead of emetic, but happy enough with a Silent rating at all.
Well, that was easy. I reloaded after familiarising myself with the setup, but one bullet and a casual stroll back to the boat and I'm done.
Spoilers, obviously:
I'm stealing that.
Actually, do you even need the sniper rifle? I haven't even tried it yet, will do in a bit, so it might be a restricted load out thing…
Did it with the silenced pistol, same method. Only issue was going back to the boat, as there were two guys with guns out that just wouldn't go away. Really messed with my time. Oh well.
If you can get into the house, there are car keys on the table that let you use one of the vans right next to the house, but you'd probably never get them without a disguise.
My method was to systematically lure people into the garage with dropped coins and guns, taking them out until I had a suited bodyguard who could get into the kitchen to poison the nuts on the counter; I could grab the car keys while I was there for a relatively straightforward exfil.
Fairly simple but didn’t get Silent Assassin. Got spotted on the way in, figured it was just a recon run so didn’t restart but then ended up taking out the target and made a run for it. Still happy with that though.
Time for a Hitman levels ranking post then.
For me - from best to worst:
Hitman 3
Berlin
Dartmoor
Mendoza
Dubai
Chongqing
Carpathian MountainsHitman 2
Miami
New York
Santa Fortuna
Whittleton Creek
Mumbai
Haven Island
Isle of Sgail
Hawke's BayHitman 1
Hokkaido
Paris
Sapienza
Bangkok
MarrakeshHaven't included Colorado there but FWIW I've never seen any list that doesn't put it bang last for H1.
Need to think more on an overall ranking for the series as a whole, that's a lot tougher.
I mean, it is seeming less and less likely you genuinely didn't have the free time to wait for the Xbox One to do OS updates at this stage.
Slowly chipping away at challenges in the older levels, and I'd forgotten how many there are that require you to play Contracts - killing 5 different targets in accidents while disguised as the fortune teller in Marrakesh, killing a target by throwing them down the well or crushing them with the church bell on Sapienza, etc. I'm sure contacts for these already exist, but I might just have to do my own…
Outside of being silver rather than gold, the Pride suit looks like the Greed one. So… meh?
Another truly ludicrous suit and, depending on its perks, my new favourite sniper rifle.
DAMMIT ANIKI
Outside of being silver rather than gold, the Pride suit looks like the Greed one.
This one has much larger sequins than I remember Greed having, and to me seems to be going for a peacock motif to match the spooky animal in charge.
Have they said what form the mission takes in this one? Another escalation?
Another truly ludicrous suit and, depending on its perks, my new favourite sniper rifle.
As someone whose most ostentatious suit in regular rotation is Summer Suave, this is another one that doesn't really appeal visually. And I disagree about the rifle, I think that's hideous.
I'm all for more Hitman, but still happy to wait for an eventual sale while I tinker with all the stuff I already have.
Outside of being silver rather than gold, the Pride suit looks like the Greed one.
This one has much larger sequins than I remember Greed having, and to me seems to be going for a peacock motif to match the spooky animal in charge.
Yeah, the Rapacious Suit is actually, somehow, subtler than the Narcissus Suit:
New patch on Monday - here are the patch notes:
https://www.ioi.dk/hitman-3-may-patch-3-30/
Lots of fixes but nothing that really jumps out - that's probably a good thing.
Yeah, nothing earth-shattering, though I notice that not all of the bugged challenges are in the fix list. I'll have to wait a little longer to try re-electrocuting Marco Abiatti.
Roadmap
Fingers crossed the escalation makes some use out off all that empty space in Mendoza, but given how she's dressed, I'm gonna guess she's hanging around the party with everyone else…
Is the Pride escalation fucked for anybody else? I get an error every time I try to open it, and then I get punted offline.
IOI have responded on Twitter to someone having exactly the same problem:
"If you're having issues playing the new Pride DLC, make sure you've manually downloaded the new content and then fully restart the game to get playing."
Yeah, that sorted it. Oddly, I hadn't downloaded the Greed DLC either, but it worked fine regardless. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The first two levels of this Pride escalation were complete cake walks, but the third is a f–king nightmare.
Maybe I should just embrace the fact that it's okay if I get spotted on this one, but getting Silent Assassin on the first two has gotten my compromise streak agitated.
Getting out of the silent assassin mindset on escalations was the key to me starting to actually enjoy them.
Anyone taken down the Iconoclast yet?
I forgot it was out already. I'll definitely give it a go tonight, if I get a chance.
I had a go over lunch, and managed to get it done with a Silent Assassin, though it wasn't the quickest.
Spoiler - click to showI started in the wine bar as a waiter. Found the target and followed her around for an entire loop, attempting to lethal-poison her using the Malbec (there's a bottle in the storeroom next to that starting position) at the bar near the fire pit, though for some reason I was only able to get the Serve prompt for her bodyguard so that had to be abandoned. I'd brought the Sieker emetic dart gun with me, so when she went back to the railings overlooking the vineyard I hid in a bush and poisoned the bodyguard to get rid of him, waited a couple minutes and shot the target. Followed her, snapped her neck next to a container in an out-of-the-way corridor, and stashed the corpse. Leisurely stroll to the exit.
I've never played this level. This should be interesting.
Also silent assassin, but a smidge more dramatic than aniki's run.
Spoiler - click to showStarted as the waiter, ten a quick sprint downstairs to the cinema to grab a propane flask; upstairs in time to catch the end of her cigarette break by the railings (to get the position right), then threw the flask, and distracted the guard with a coin in the bushes. Took him out and stole his clothes, then allowed her airing until she got back to the cigarette break, at which point the cracked flask blew her off the balcony. If I'd been more confident it would work, I'd have been at the exit waiting, but alas.
Did it.
Spoiler - click to showPoisoned her food, which wasn't that hard given there's poison right next to an item you need to exit. Sadly, someone found the waiter I subdued in the bushes (how?!) so no Silent Assassin for me. Booooooo.
Two challenges left on Club 27 (Bangkok), but I'm honestly not sue I can be bothered. Electrocuting Jordan is a colossal pain - the place is never empty - and the other one (kill 4 targets with an axe, never spotted, all bodies found) will require a contract, which means no save-scumming. Ugh.
The only problem is that the next level, then, is Colorado. Double ugh.
Done. I really enjoyed that, best Elusive Target so far I think for me. Huge route, lots of unique dialogue and it's nice to focus on a part of a level I haven't otherwise really enjoyed that much.
Spoiler - click to showI also spent ages trying to poison her with the Malbec, but could only take out her bodyguard. I also spent some time trying to clear people away from the balcony so I could push her off, but people miles away kept seeing what I was up to. In the end my approach was pretty straightforward - I poisoned the food tray she samples, after distracting the nearby waiter with a tossed coin.
ELUSIVE TARGET KLAXON
Shit! Thanks Mart, had completely forgotten about that.
Did it this morning.
I'd like to say it was hard, but Paris is literally the only location I've got Lv20 Mastery on and it's burnt into my brain. Considering that
Spoiler - click to showthe briefing makes it patently obvious where they are, so starting in the auction is the right choice
then the only challenge was
Spoiler - click to showworking out which annex of the attic they were in. There are a lot of guards and cameras, plus the locked door didn't help. But a bit of scouting got me there.
https://twitter.com/martTM2/status/1401795080135098369
Apologies for linking to this for my finish, I don't use an image upload depository. 
Oh.
https://twitter.com/IOInteractive/status/1401813131052126209?s=19
Maybe hold off on it for a bit then?
EDIT: They fixed it, but anyone who did the task already gets the outfit added once he's gone.
Apparently that's been fixed now. Anyone who completed this and didn't get the reward will have it added once the Elusive Target has finished. Anyone playing now will get the reward as normal.
I'm going to have to remember to do this this evening, I keep forgetting. Not that I don't already have the rewards, but I want to miss as few of these as possible this time round.
Yeah I haven't done it yet either.
It took me a few attempts to get into the room without being spotted, but managed to get a Silent Assassin - albeit with a less aggressive time than Mart's.
Aggressive is my middle name. Also Leigh.
Spoiler - click to show I literally just bludgeoned everyone in the way with a wrench.
That was fairly straightforward, and like others have said, it was pretty obvious where they were going to be from the beginning.
Spoiler - click to showSlightly annoyed because I made it all the way to the final room without being spotted, but then couldn't work out how to take everyone out without being spotted by at least one of the others in the process. So in the end I just offed all three of them and legged it. Got the job done.
You monster.
Are per usual, I was doing really well up until the end. No Silent Assassin for me. 
Spoiler - click to showI'd taken out all the guards leading into the room, but forgot I'd left the last one unconscious just outside; emetic poisoned Whitecap, or whatever, thinking he'd go to the bin in the corner, but instead he decided to find a toilet, and spotted the body a half-second after I knifed Protagonist. Managed to wipe security and get out unspotted, but still annoyed with myself for the oversight.
Yeah, didn't they nerf the bin/toilet balance for vomiting in one of the recent patches?
That's a sentence that I just wrote. What a time to be alive.
They did, and it is. 