Octopus Overlords

I three starred the second mission, Occupied Residence, although it took a while longer than anticipated. I really hate stealth maps . I also missed the SMG work bench. I figured out where it was, but even after save scumming I just couldn't get close enough to use it before all help broke loose.

My big issue is that I can't aim worth a darn, due to a lifelong physical condition. I'm using the controller and it works better than the mouse for me, but I just can't keep a steady aim at a vital spot. I'm using the .22 caliber mod for the M1911 pistol and thankfully I also have the 18 round magazine because I usually have to use a dozen rounds to polish off a bad guy

As can be seen below, I was actually somewhat stealthy on this map.

I went into the options and changed the accessibility settings to make aiming a bit easier. It works too, I went back to the Occupied Residence mission using my last save and went through the map and found the SMG Work Bench. So I'll try sticking with these new options. Kudos to Rebellion for including these settings!

Having a lot of fun but hoping they have a patch ready to drop pretty soon. I just finished the first mission and discovered that there's a bug where sometimes the special target doesn't spawn so I had to settle for a two star completion I rationalized it as bad intel. There's also a gamepass specific bug I ran into that required me to make a desktop shortcut so I could launch as administrator. Got stuck on the terrain once and had to reload. AI is still pretty dumb but I don't mind that so much as I'm not always that bright either. Managed to get some of them stuck in a loop where they kept discovering the same body over and over and going into investigation mode. This also served to rack up the 'bodies found' stat pretty high in my final mission report.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 6:01 pm

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 5:58 pm Apparently I have to work on my stealth skills

But hey you are making me feel better about mine! I think I got a screenshot, but not at my gaming PC right now.

I'm having a good time with it, having never played any of the previous entries. I like the huge maps and how the objectives just kind of chain together in a realistic fashion to form one giant mission.

It's super easy so far, but I doubt I'll bump the difficulty. With my limited gaming time these days, easy is good.

I do wish they'd have worked on the terrain a bit more. I'm not fond of being able to vault a small wall...but then get blockaded by an ankle high fallen tree. And while it is a giant map, they kind of go "half open world" by funneling you from area to area with entire sections of impassible shrubs and other things.

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 9:02 am I do wish they've have worked on the terrain a bit more. I'm not fond of being able to vault a small wall...but then get blockaded by an ankle high fallen tree. And while it is a giant map, they kind of go "half open world" by funneling you from area to area with entire sections of impassible shrubs and other things.

YES! I was going to post something similar to this. Just finished the Atlantic Wall mission and even though I understood how difficult it was to cross bocage in France I saw quite a few areas where there was enough of a gap for a human to crawl through but not Karl "Fatty" Fairburne. Also running into a mission boundary which forces you to go through an area where two trucks of Germans unloaded was pretty frustrating. A bit jarring after playing Far Cry 6, Cyberpunk 2077, Horizon Forbidden West, etc. But I knew what I was in for and it's a perfectly good Nazi killing game.

Invite Code: QTM 9FR ZA6

So one thing I REALLY like about this one is that you can gain more “quests” by finding intel. At first I was like, “this map is large, too bad I’ve only got a few things to do”. Then I started finding more intel and suddenly I had half a dozen new targets. I’m at 4 hours on the first map now and I think I’m just about done with it finally.

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 8:56 pm So one thing I REALLY like about this one is that you can gain more “quests” by finding intel. At first I was like, “this map is large, too bad I’ve only got a few things to do”. Then I started finding more intel and suddenly I had half a dozen new targets. I’m at 4 hours on the first map now and I think I’m just about done with it finally.

I like this too. It motivates me to explore the whole map instead of drop in, do the job and then run. Right now I'm on the third mission, Spy Academy, and I'm having fun creeping around the place exploring. Sometime I'll get around to actually doing the objectives

I just like sitting in tall grass, whistling like a loon and then killing people who probably should be using a seeing eye dog.

I’ve given up on the concept of non-lethal. I’m playing a game called Sniper Elite 5 for Christ’s sake. Not Vegan Dance Party 3.

Well, the honeymoon is over . In mission 3, Spy Academy, I've been doing occasional manual saves. When I decided to load a manual save the game crashed. When I tried to load an autosave the game crashes. It crashes on all my saves. I can start the mission over, so the save games are somehow corrupted. And if I do start the mission over I lose about 100 minutes of playing time . I did a report on the Steam SE5 support forum, but the game also automatically asks if it can do an upload of the crash dump file, so they now have several of those. So for the time being I'm off this game

There was a small update today

We've just rolled out a small update to address a variety of priority bugs, including a crash some players were experiencing with the Machine Gun Crew:
• Fixed a crash when shooting the Machine Gun team loader before the gunner
• Fixed an occasional crash when shooting into the water
• Fixed players not receiving weapon attachments when visiting workbenches in Wolf Mountain DLC
• Fixed Achievements/Trophies not always unlocking: Covert Elimination + Reich To The Point in the Wolf Mountain DLC
• Player no longer gets stuck in reload animation
• Fixed missing explosion sounds (for example, on the satchel charge)
• Client no longer gets kicked after the first cutscene of some missions in co-op games.

Still no fix for my issue, which seems to be corrupted save games. I submitted a trouble ticket, but they are out of the office till Monday, so I may end up having to replay Mission 3 . At least I have two new starting points for the map.

I invaded a couple folks, easy kills. I turned on invasions in a mission. It took him a while to track me down but he killed me pretty easy once he did. I may leave it on to see how it goes. It lets reload last save or reload at start of invasion after you are taken down, so not terribly disruptive.

I'm still figuring things out and had thought staying on Medium was going to be too easy...until I made it a bit further inland on the first map. My policy of ventilating every single Nazi (those are the rules) might be to blame, but after a wandering patrol caught me hiding evidence I wasn't expecting to get fixed and flanked by soldiers that heard all the gunfire and came to investigate. It's my own fault for not doing enough recon - I need to get back into the right mentality for these games. I'm enjoying it, regardless.

man the first level is huge! Game is fun, AI needs work though.

I just reupped for a bit of Game Pass, so I think I'll give this a whirl. I really enjoyed 3 and liked 4, so I'm looking forward to it.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 6:42 pm I invaded a couple folks, easy kills. I turned on invasions in a mission. It took him a while to track me down but he killed me pretty easy once he did. I may leave it on to see how it goes. It lets reload last save or reload at start of invasion after you are taken down, so not terribly disruptive.

Does it warn you when it starts?

Yes. You see when they join and if they leave. You can still quick save (F5) as you progress.

I had one invasion last night that eventually gave up, as we never got within engagement range. The one today, I managed to shoot. As the main player, you can always hold the focus and get a ping as to the general direction as to your hunter. Once they're close enough, the whole ring lights up. This is definitely an advantage for the Sniper, as it's not time-restricted like the phones.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 7:41 pm

General Eisenhower wishes to talk to you about your lack of commitment in killing Nazis

Apparently you get more XP for leaving unconscious ones behind when you leave the map.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 8:16 pm Apparently you get more XP for leaving unconscious ones behind when you leave the map.

I thought I noticed that, but it seems odd. Is it a big amount?

Dunno.

Pretty cool how they're all so different. That first level is huge. If that's what they're all like, this is going to be a really long game.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 8:16 pm Apparently you get more XP for leaving unconscious ones behind when you leave the map.

I hate when stealth games do that - and a lot do. It's one thing when you're playing something like Deus Ex, where you're going up against civilians and killing them is bad. But a sniper going up against Nazis? You get rewarded for leaving more enemy troops alive than you kill? Uh, no. They're Nazis. They won't see me coming, and they won't be waking up for another round of evil after I'm gone.

The game is getting a little easy even on Hard. I think I may try Authentic. The issue is that there's just so much tall grass and ample amounts of subsonic ammo for my rifle that I'm just able to move to an area, kill everyone via melee while hidden in the grass (or "edge kills" from around corners when in a building), or just use subsonic ammo for somewhat quiet kills (and if they go searching, I'll just set up a few teller mines and then thin them out via melee from hiding.

Also, when holding your breath, the aiming reticle essentially tells you that you're going to kill someone by turning red when you hover over them in the right spot. I know that's been a constant in the series from the beginning, but it also makes sniping too easy, in my opinion. I think Authentic turns that off though.

Still enjoying it. Although they could use a fix for guards that go into "investigating" and then "all clear" loops. I had one poor schmuck that was stuck in that loop clear across the map on the first mission, and I kept updates on this and seeing his question mark when I was nowhere near him. I imagine him dying of old age and on his death bed, he struggles to pull himself up on one elbow and tells his family, "investigating....all clear" and then dies.

Oh, and I wish it were easier to select things from a pile of other stuff. I have to stand up and then fiddle with my controller until the option to pick something up happens...and it takes a while sometimes. It's like candles in The Witcher 3 before they fixed them.

Yeah, there are definitely weird spots. I think the AI might do a little better in open areas but as you can see here...mistakes were made.



I don't know how much of it is me playing on Medium vs a generally wonky AI, but I agree there were a few times I felt like I was exploiting things.

Went back and redid the Mission 3 Spy Academy since I'm thinking that the devs may never come up with a solution for my corrupted saves.

I completed the three main objectives and the optional objectives(s) . I only found one of the three work benches, perhaps partly because I used one of the alternate starting locations. Honestly I don't know how people manage to stealth the entire map, I just can't seem to avoid tripping over a bad guy around every corner. I died several times as well. However, I made the Nazis pay for it:

14 unconscious?

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 6:05 pm 14 unconscious?

Those shoe mines. I kept running out of Tellers

jztemple2 wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 5:57 pm Honestly I don't know how people manage to stealth the entire map, I just can't seem to avoid tripping over a bad guy around every corner.

Patience, patience and patience. Also, third person camera can see around corners, the game gives you a button to see through walls, and the soldiers talk all the damn time. My runs keep going to hell (well, loud anyway) when my son joins them. He lacks the patience. He is a better shooter player and prefers a faster pace. I can wait for sound cover, for someone to wander away, etc.

All of that. Get somewhere safe and watch. Try to never enter an area you haven't scouted first (preferably with binoculars.) When you're moving, always figure out your next cover before you leave the cover you're in. And if you're having to move down a road with nowhere to hide, book it. Inside, keep a suppressed weapon equipped and aimed as you move. You don't want to have to aim when you walk around a corner and see an enemy, you just want to be ready to fire. And always have a plan for a group. Know which order you'll take them down before you budge.

in truth, a stealth game like this is, first and foremost, a puzzle game. Each encounter is a puzzle with several moving parts that you have to solve. In one encounter it may be wait until #1 and #3 walk away, step up behind #2, take him down, grab the body, get around the corner and hide it, then come back. Wait until #1 goes toward the corner, choke out #3, then immediately turn and pistol shot #1 before he turns around. Puzzle.

The line between this and the Hitman series are starting to blur. Although the latter still relies far more on environment kills, both are still very similar in many ways. The focus ability, the way stealth is managed, unlocking multiple entry points for previous missions, etc..

coopasonic wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 7:32 am Patience, patience and patience.

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 9:33 am The line between this and the Hitman series are starting to blur. Although the latter still relies far more on environment kills, both are still very similar in many ways. The focus ability, the way stealth is managed, unlocking multiple entry points for previous missions, etc..

Hitman has better replayability and character immersion.

I think that's more subjective. There's a skill system in place in Sniper 5, which I don't believe Hitman has. The replayability is not something I find high in either games, to be honest. Once I kill someone and know the area, it all just feels like a letdown to play again.

But Hitman does have an enormous history in comparison to the Sniper series.

I picked this up on Friday, after watching a very fun Eurogamer video playthrough, and proceeded to play it way too much over the long weekend. Plowed through the campaign, a Survival map, and a few No Cross matches.

It's Sniper Elite, alright. I skipped 4, but this strongly reminds me of 3: a carefully planned, brilliantly executed long-range shot, followed by an extended stretch of utter chaos as the enemy hunts me down. It's a simple recipe that I enjoy.

The No Cross multiplayer mode is new to me. I generally dislike playing the sniper class in multiplayer shooters, but when everyone is playing the sniper, I love it. It's all about being patient, positioning, using cover, and watching your angles. Great for the middle-age gamer looking for a shooter that doesn't test their reflexes.

If you liked this, you'll like 4. They're almost identical in terms of gameplay.

AWS260 wrote: ↑Tue May 31, 2022 10:25 am It's Sniper Elite, alright. I skipped 4, but this strongly reminds me of 3: a carefully planned, brilliantly executed long-range shot, followed by an extended stretch of utter chaos as the enemy hunts me down. It's a simple recipe that I enjoy.

Just for the record, brilliantly executed long range shots aren't followed by enemies hunting you down because they never heard or saw a shot, they just saw a body with most of the skull missing.

I turned invasions on for a couple more missions this weekend and mostly came out on top. I'm guessing the invaders can't tell if they are invading a co-op mission. My son and I have taken advantage of that. I've also done a few invasions myself which is maybe a bit more tense, but because the invader has a lot less information, especially if the "host" avoids firefights. A feature I thought was a complete turn off is turning out to be a nice way to extend the replayability of the game.