And today, we finish what we started with our Elusive Target.

Finding the target in an Elusive Contract isn’t always easy. Because players don’t have the benefit of seeing the target with Instinct, they need to rely on the details given in the briefing in order to search for them. Or, if they’re like me, just kinda fumble around until they randomly stumble into them.

But once that’s done, players still need to figure out how to complete the assassination. This is where the creativity truly starts to set in. Unlike the story missions, that have a lot of canned, scripted methods of assassination already lined up for, the Elusive Targets are tend to be more systems-driven. There is some light scripting, but no where near as much as one might expect. And since the player has yet to perform the kill by this point, they can still technically restart if something goes wrong.

Though by far the most tense and exciting moments in these Elusive Targets in the escape. After all the objectives have been completed, knowing that restart is now impossible, players need to avoid setting off any alarms or alerting any of the guards. If they do, they risk a lethal shootout that would compromise their ability to get out.

The excitement of these missions cannot be overstated. It’s truly a marvel in design, and I look forward to the next one.

Welcome back to the main plot.

I know we’ve spoken about the big twist well before it came into play here, but I still think it’s a really great moment. The big reveal that Sora was *never* supposed to be the hero. His status as a keyblade bearer, and his numerous successes, can be attributed to a happy accident.

It’s the part of the story where the hero hits rock bottom, and everything is stolen from him. Fortunately, this sets up one of my favorite scenes in the game. After reflecting on his journey, Sora realizes that he can keep going without the keyblade. It’s a powerful scene, especially in the context of this story.

Sam makes a great point in that this especially highlights the dichotomy between Sora and Riku and how they see the world. Unlike Riku, Sora went out, saw the world, and met all kinds of people, so he learned the value of friendship. Despite leaving his island home, Riku remained isolated, and ultimately gave into the darkness. It’s not original, but it’s a plot that works.

Today, we give one of the Elusive Targets a shot.

On occasion, re-watching these videos in order to do the post-commentary is a lot like watching someone play Dark Souls. I can see all the mistakes being made with so much more clarity than I’d even have been able to in the moment. Things that look like they are possible in the moment can be seen, once your one level removed from the action, as the needlessly difficult/impossible tasks that they are.

That said, I really enjoy attempting these Elusive Targets. It’s true that even with save files and the potential to recover from failure, Hitman certainly has its moments of tension. However, that tension is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the player can always reload and save and try again, or restart the mission to give it another shot. There’s no real penalty for failure.

But that’s different with the Elusive Targets. Once objectives start being completed, the attempt is locked in. Players can no longer restart, so if they die or otherwise fail the mission, it’s over. That target is forever lost. It’s the sort of excitement that players can’t get from Hitman otherwise.

At first, I didn’t think I would like the idea of these one-time targets that players couldn’t retry if they failed. Having played them, my opinion has taken a complete 180. I am genuinely excited whenever a new one is announced, and the gears in my head start turning as I think of an initial game plan for them.

And now, back to plot!

Sora and Riku serve as very good foils for each other. Both are essentially after the same thing. All they want to do is rescue Kairi and go off on awesome adventurers with cool people.

It’s fairly typical for this type of story, but it works. Their voice actors deliver solid performances and the script is pretty well-written. Their characters each go through specific character arcs and aren’t the same Sora and Riku who started their journey.

Also, fun fact: In Middle School, I had a friend that called me “Big Ben”. It’s a long story, but fortunately the name never took.

At the end of this episode, we get back to the main plot, and get back to the real meat of this commentary.

Today, we arrive at the best world in the game:

Happy 27th birthday to Jordan Cross, may it be his last….

So the reason I opted not to use lethal poison in this episode is an interesting one. In order to get Silent Assassin, the following conditions need to be fulfilled:

• The targets need to be eliminate and all objectives complete.
• Only the targets, no guards or civilian can be killed
• No bodies must ever be discovered
• No one can become suspicious of the player
• None of the player’s kills can be witnessed
• If a camera spots the player, they must destroy the evidence tape.

This time, we go Under the Sea in Atlantica.

I don’t have much to say about this level, surprisingly enough.

There some interesting parallels between Ariel’s desire to explore other worlds and the same desire that started Sora, Riku, and Kairi’s original journey. Even better, the writers saw fit to highlight it and bring it into focus. So while nothing here directly advances the overall plot, it does tie into it on a thematic level.

Shame Kingdom Hearts 2 really pissed all that away…

Welcome to Bangkok,

Hotel missions have always had their place in the Hitman games. As far as I can remember, every single Hitman game has had a mission in a hotel. And it’s not hard to see why something so innocuous would become a bit of a staple in IO Interactive’s repertoire.

As levels, hotels tend to have most of the makings for plausible Hitman play. You have a ton of disguises for all of the staffers, from the cooks to the staff, and even security if the hotel is classy enough (and Hitman does usually have classy hotels, Absolution not-withstanding). Further, most of the people with disguises tend to be out and about, either moving through hallways filled with bystanders, or cleaning rooms with the doors locked behind them. This makes the act of getting a disguise an interesting puzzle to start out with.

Further, most hotels have keycard systems to prevent guests from entering the wrong room. Since odds are the target will be a fellow guest in his room, this gives them a “safe” zone, where it will be difficult for the player to get to them. Again, this inherently poses a challenge. As the Hitman, will you attempt to break into their room or obtain the keycard to just waltz in, and rob them of their safety and their life? Or, will you find another solution? Possibly wait for them to take advantage of some the hotel’s facilities like maybe a pool or a spa or the restaurant, and take advantage of some other opportunity.

On top of that, most luxury hotels tend to be very large buildings with comparatively simple layouts and assets than are very easy to plausibly re-use between rooms and floors. This makes it relatively straightforward to make a large play area quickly.

But most importantly, most people have an intrinsic understanding of all of these various components and how they work. Even if you, like me, have never been to a particularly luxurious hotel, you do know how hotels operate in the general sense. No doubt you’ve been to a few. Designers can use that knowledge, take advantage of that, to make the level a lot easier to understand at a glance.

This probably isn’t necessarily something that designers are necessarily thinking of, but it is something that they understand on a base level. And they know you do too.

Ready to enter the bowels and intestines of a giant whale….

…Yeah, me neither.

Sam and I make fun of Riku a lot, but I like his character a lot. As it goes on, he does progress and becomes one of the more interesting characters in the series. We’ll see it later on as we move into Chain of Memories and onward, he’ll be used to explore some of the more complex themes that Kingdom Hearts explores.

Even now, he does serve as a good example of how to write meaningful, and believable characters that grow over the course of a story. He’s not out to be a bad guy, but a number of critical flaws and some miscommunication have squared him against our hero and turned him to the path of darkness.

I joke that he’s like Sasuke, but in truth he’s a league above that Uchiha edgelord.

This time, we get down in dirty in the deserts of Agrabah.

Not much for me to add on top of what he say here. Agrabah is an important world because that’s where we learn about the princesses of heart, and of the villains’ ultimate goal of “opening the door.”

It also helps cement Riku’s character as the rival who turned evil.

But we’ll to those points in another episode.