Prototype

2009-06-15 09:44:08 am

I used to be athiest until I realized I was God.

I have been playing this game a bit. I haven't progressed too far through the story, but it looks like it offers some interesting play, especially regarding the speed of getting around the city, and which upgrades to buy.

An interesting note is that during battle when switching targets and selecting powers, time slows down, so it's actually undesirable to do these things if they can be avoided!

The only noteable trick I use is when jumping off a building, if you do glide -> airdash -> glide, the second glide will rise you up a bit, letting you jump from rooftop to rooftop much easier. If you get a second airdash you can do three glides per jump.

Thread title:

Signus

Edit history:

Signus: 2009-06-15 10:56:49 am

2009-06-15 10:41:35 am

Quote from Siyko:

The only noteable trick I use is when jumping off a building, if you do glide -> airdash -> glide, the second glide will rise you up a bit, letting you jump from rooftop to rooftop much easier. If you get a second airdash you can do three glides per jump.

That's also the only real "trick" I know. Skip hammerfist and use claws until you get whipfist, as HF isn't really worth it until later. Remember that prices go up depending on what (maybe how many?) upgrades you buy, so planning it out would be very important for a speed-run.

Also, stealth consume is absolutely essential. You can get by without it but it takes much longer, so pick that up as soon as you can. I got it for 3000, I think.

Siyko

2009-06-15 11:09:25 am

I used to be athiest until I realized I was God.

Quote from Signus:

Quote from Siyko:

The only noteable trick I use is when jumping off a building, if you do glide -> airdash -> glide, the second glide will rise you up a bit, letting you jump from rooftop to rooftop much easier. If you get a second airdash you can do three glides per jump.

That's also the only real "trick" I know. Skip hammerfist and use claws until you get whipfist, as HF isn't really worth it until later. Remember that prices go up depending on what (maybe how many?) upgrades you buy, so planning it out would be very important for a speed-run.

Also, stealth consume is absolutely essential. You can get by without it but it takes much longer, so pick that up as soon as you can. I got it for 3000, I think.

Stealth consume is neccesary for one of the missions, so that's going to get bought no matter what.

I didn't know the price of upgrades goes up, that's interesting.

I have gotten SO much use out of Whipfist, both for taking down helicopters (although i don't know how useful this would be in a speedrun) and the street sweeper when clearing out a military base.

Also, the tank's destructive power is really impressive.

[quote="Signus"]
[quote="Siyko"]
The only noteable trick I use is when jumping off a building, if you do glide -> airdash -> glide, the second glide will rise you up a bit, letting you jump from rooftop to rooftop much easier. If you get a second airdash you can do three glides per jump. 
[/quote]

That's also the only real "trick" I know. Skip hammerfist and use claws until you get whipfist, as HF isn't really worth it until later. Remember that prices go up depending on what (maybe how many?) upgrades you buy, so planning it out would be very important for a speed-run.

Also, stealth consume is absolutely essential. You can get by without it but it takes much longer, so pick that up as soon as you can. I got it for 3000, I think.
[/quote]

Stealth consume is neccesary for one of the missions, so that's going to get bought no matter what.

I didn't know the price of upgrades goes up, that's interesting.

I have gotten SO much use out of Whipfist, both for taking down helicopters (although i don't know how useful this would be in a speedrun) and the street sweeper when clearing out a military base.

Also, the tank's destructive power is really impressive.

Signus

2009-06-15 11:20:26 am

Getting in a tank saves a lot of time on certain missions. The UAV patrol one comes to mind.

RaneofSOTN

2009-06-15 03:38:03 pm

I want off the ride....

Hammerfist sucks for anything besides taking out a tank (pre blade)
Muscle mass sucks for anything but taking on Super Soldiers without worrying about time delays between hits. And also to actually throw something at them so you can DAMAGE them.

Whipfist = awesome
Blade = the more damaging alternative.

Devastators + Consumes are a must. Health is purely optional.

Proper use of everything is a must.. If your going to do this game, probably plan out which extra things will be done to pick up the EP you need to successfully complete the game, though I figure not much would need to be picked up. Of course this could most likely be skipped with heavy collection of Landmarks / Hints as their rewards go up really fast. Especially if you plan your movement to cover the orbs pretty well. I know a good few that are in the path....

Overall anything other than whipfist and blade just seem half asked. Muscle mass throws aren't really worth it on anything but a super soldier (they take nothing from everything else and can't be grabbed so Whipfist doesn't work awesomely, nor does blade. But muscle mass allows your quick base combo to come out and preform. get you into a "counter" situation where the real damage is. If they are too far you can at least throw for SOME damage).

Game fails to interest me after having beaten it... Its rather lack luster and is missing some polish... The movement system made me have to RELEARN how to walk :\

Hammerfist sucks for anything besides taking out a tank (pre blade)
Muscle mass sucks for anything but taking on Super Soldiers without worrying about time delays between hits. And also to actually throw something at them so you can DAMAGE them.

Whipfist = awesome
Blade = the more damaging alternative.

Devastators + Consumes are a must. Health is purely optional.

Proper use of everything is a must.. If your going to do this game, probably plan out which extra things will be done to pick up the EP you need to successfully complete the game, though I figure not much would need to be picked up. Of course this could most likely be skipped with heavy collection of Landmarks / Hints as their rewards go up really fast. Especially if you plan your movement to cover the orbs pretty well. I know a good few that are in the path....

Overall anything other than whipfist and blade just seem half asked. Muscle mass throws aren't really worth it on anything but a super soldier (they take nothing from everything else and can't be grabbed so Whipfist doesn't work awesomely, nor does blade. But muscle mass allows your quick base combo to come out and preform. get you into a "counter" situation where the real damage is. If they are too far you can at least throw for SOME damage).

Game fails to interest me after having beaten it... Its rather lack luster and is missing some polish... The movement system made me have to RELEARN how to walk :\

MMAN

2009-06-16 04:14:31 am

At least on the PC version you can "store" charged jumps between glides, boosts and even other short jumps in some situations; the key is that the charge holds a second or two after you've let go of the jump key, so as long as you only let go for very short periods you can pretty much hold a charge indefinitely. This can let you climb buildings really fast and, combined with the height gain a boost gives during a jump, gets you some really big airtime.

ehkinoh

2009-06-16 05:01:48 am

I'm really interested in seeing a Prototype run.

I would think that the movement upgrades would be most important for the speedrun. Also, I'm fairly sure (though not possitive) that helicopters are faster than alex's jump, airdash, glide, airdash, glide, repeat. So after you get the ability to hijack helicopters it may be worth it to do so whenever possible.

I doubt you would need to do any of the Events for a speedrun. I found farming the infected towers on top of the buildings (the ones circled constantly by birds) for EPs extremely effective, so destroying some of these while you travel would probably be a better bet than any events. IF for some reason events are necessary, I would suggest the Gliding events, as they are ALL very easy to gold, and very quick.

I've been taking my time with the game... put about 20 hours in so far, getting gold in all he events along the way, and still have a few story missions left, So I'm not sure how quick a speedrun would be, but I would assume it could go fairly quickly. I've heard some people beating the game in around 6 hours their first time through, while just going straight through the story missions, and not trying to speed run.

Lastly, I've heard of some people experiencing some beneficial bugs/glitches while playing... the most interesting of these being a claim of invincibility, though I don't believe they know why/how it happened. Needless to say, invincibility would be extremely useful for a speedrun, and could mean infinite devastator attacks.

I'm really interested in seeing a Prototype run.

I would think that the movement upgrades would be most important for the speedrun.  Also, I'm fairly sure (though not possitive) that helicopters are faster than alex's jump, airdash, glide, airdash, glide, repeat.  So after you get the ability to hijack helicopters it may be worth it to do so whenever possible.

I doubt you would need to do any of the Events for a speedrun.  I found farming the infected towers on top of the buildings (the ones circled constantly by birds) for EPs extremely effective, so destroying some of these while you travel would probably be a better bet than any events.  IF for some reason events are necessary, I would suggest the Gliding events, as they are ALL very easy to gold, and very quick.

I've been taking my time with the game... put about 20 hours in so far, getting gold in all he events along the way, and still have a few story missions left, So I'm not sure how quick a speedrun would be, but I would assume it could go fairly quickly.  I've heard some people beating the game in around 6 hours their first time through, while just going straight through the story missions, and not trying to speed run.

Lastly, I've heard of some people experiencing some beneficial bugs/glitches while playing... the most interesting of these being a claim of invincibility, though I don't believe they know why/how it happened.  Needless to say, invincibility would be extremely useful for a speedrun, and could mean infinite devastator attacks.

MMAN

2009-06-16 09:58:30 am

Yeah, infected towers and gliding events seem to be the way to go for fast grinding.

Signus

2009-06-19 01:03:48 pm

Another thing that is probably common knowledge at this point, you can save warp across the city if the mission icon changes places (Such as, from Dana's Safe House to the Hospital). A quick timesaver.

The biggest problem in the run would probably be fighting the specialist, especially on Normal or Hard. I haven't found a good way to kill him quickly yet.

MAS8705

2009-06-19 10:52:01 pm

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

((I apologize in advance for the big post))

A speed run in Prototype is very possible... I have just played through the game and finished it and I saw plenty of parts where someone can breeze through it if properly planned...

On terms of weapons, the claws are a good weapon to have at the start of the game, it helps with taking out the simple enemies and soldiers... The Groundspike move is effective too if you can get the attack to work... Hammerfist is just as what Signus said, they seem to be a good weapon, being able to hit hard, but the attacks are very slow, power ups aren't interesting or very effective and you are bound to take lots of hits if you use it (even the game describes the hammerfist as "Effective against enemy armor. Be wary using against faster opponents... although the hammertoss move does help move you pretty fast... try it sometime, you can see how quick you can move down a street, although the helicopters are still the fastest way of travel...)

I'm not going to bother talking about Whipfist for everyone is already in agreement that whipfist is the "Crowd Control" Weapon and have alot of uses, such as a good combo follower after a flying kick and being able to hijack the helicopters easier than trying to jump for it... I also checked with hit fighting hunters, and it seems to work pretty good, although tanks are a different story... overall, once the player gets the whipfist, that would be a good overall weapon...

Musclemass is a coinflip... at times, it seems to help when you have to do hit and runs and normally throwing a car is the best way to go when it comes taking out a base or a hive if you got no tanks... Of course, Musclemass's advantage is also its disadvantage, for all it does it help make your unarmed attack stronger and help throw things further and harder... For one, why fight unarmed when you got other better weapons to use? and 2nd, unless if you invest in the ability of being able to grab on the go and throw on the go (and maybe throw harder, but then by that time, what's the point?) you are brought to a halt so that you can pick up a throwable item and a bit of a delay before you can throw it... In a game like prototype, you are almost always on the move, and if you stop, chances are that you are going to get shot, slashed, and other violent unbecomings onto you...

As for the last powerup, it is a personal favorite... the giant blade on the right arm... this weapon has been the best when it comes to one on one fights, the only problem with this weapon is that the cost is just downright terrible, though worthwhile if you can buy it... the air Y/triangle is the perfect move to perform when you want to take out a single target while on the ground the same move makes for a perfect charge move when running though enemies and comboing foes, though this move still doesn't make you immune to explosions...

Again, taking what Signus said, Prototype is all about stealth... The best way of going along the run is to almost always be using a military disguise to get to and from locations, even if you are moving to the next mission... In most situations, I have seen that arriving at a location with your disguise on makes things much easier since in most situations you are bound to get shot if you show up like Alex... Simple logic, but of course, to say it anyway... However, when it comes to stealth kills, that's hard to say, for at the start of the game, stealth makes things easier, whereas later in the game, it is a big waste of time for by the time you get in a base or a location to perform a stealth kill, either A) you will be discovered or B) you will be shot down faster than it took for you go through the trouble to get the stealth kill... really as you get near the end of the game, its better to grab your target and run into an alley before you get shoot up too much... It isn't that hard to evade the army, though dodging the strike team is a different issue and also hard to do near the end since there is a soldier around every block...

Tanks do help take care of things faster when it comes to clearing out enemies or objectives, though I would advise to use the tanks if you are stuck in small areas, otherwise if you have to travel to different blocks, it is better to either take out all the enemies and the tanks with it or to use the tank and then ditch it when you go to another area...

As for "What power ups to use" is a bit hard to say when performing a speed run, considering that you don't get many points if you don't do events, and while events probably won't be necessary, a good amount of EP will be devoted to the movements for faster running, higher jumping gliding and air dashes... so unless if you manage to get enough points to get what you need, you better be ready to fight a half strength or fight at a disadvantage... I suppose if you can memorize how to get from point A to Point B, you could collect orbs to give you more points but again, a bit of a stretch...

The only other thing I can think of about a speed run in this game is the boss fights near the end... I always saw myself running into problems in the fights for until the army arrives with the tanks you are either doing hit and runs or finding yourself getting turned into a punching bag if you decide to fight them... whipfist helps to keep order, but against bosses, it barely counts as a hit at times... The idea of health not being a factor couldn't be any further from the truth, you will see that when you get hit by a boss, you stay hit... even the hunters can damage you quite a bit if you allow them... coming up with strategics for the bosses are going to be interesting for I know that the fight with Greene took a nightmarish eternity since she kept spitting rocks, shooting green orbs, having hunters attack me and that hail mary attack that forces you to retreat or it is almost an instant kill...

On the other hand, this game does allow for a New game+ that allows the player to carry over any unlocked abilities, even abilities that aren't seen till the end of the game... If performing a speed run on a regular file out of the question, I can imagine that a new game + is very possible (I was able to finish the first 11 missions in a period of an hour, hour 1/2 so this wouldn't be too hard if you consider doing it, though a new game needs to be proven first before a new game +...)

((I apologize in advance for the big post))

A speed run in Prototype is very possible... I have just played through the game and finished it and I saw plenty of parts where someone can breeze through it if properly planned...

On terms of weapons, the claws are a good weapon to have at the start of the game, it helps with taking out the simple enemies and soldiers... The Groundspike move is effective too if you can get the attack to work... Hammerfist is just as what Signus said, they seem to be a good weapon, being able to hit hard, but the attacks are very slow, power ups aren't interesting or very effective and you are bound to take lots of hits if you use it (even the game describes the hammerfist as "Effective against enemy armor. Be wary using against faster opponents... although the hammertoss move does help move you pretty fast... try it sometime, you can see how quick you can move down a street, although the helicopters are still the fastest way of travel...)

I'm not going to bother talking about Whipfist for everyone is already in agreement that whipfist is the "Crowd Control" Weapon and have alot of uses, such as a good combo follower after a flying kick and being able to hijack the helicopters easier than trying to jump for it... I also checked with hit fighting hunters, and it seems to work pretty good, although tanks are a different story... overall, once the player gets the whipfist, that would be a good overall weapon...

Musclemass is a coinflip... at times, it seems to help when you have to do hit and runs and normally throwing a car is the best way to go when it comes taking out a base or a hive if you got no tanks... Of course, Musclemass's advantage is also its disadvantage, for all it does it help make your unarmed attack stronger and help throw things further and harder... For one, why fight unarmed when you got other better weapons to use? and 2nd, unless if you invest in the ability of being able to grab on the go and throw on the go (and maybe throw harder, but then by that time, what's the point?) you are brought to a halt so that you can pick up a throwable item and a bit of a delay before you can throw it...  In a game like prototype, you are almost always on the move, and if you stop, chances are that you are going to get shot, slashed, and other violent unbecomings onto you...

As for the last powerup, it is a personal favorite... the giant blade on the right arm... this weapon has been the best when it comes to one on one fights, the only problem with this weapon is that the cost is just downright terrible, though worthwhile if you can buy it... the air Y/triangle is the perfect move to perform when you want to take out a single target while on the ground the same move makes for a perfect charge move when running though enemies and comboing foes, though this move still doesn't make you immune to explosions...

Again, taking what Signus said, Prototype is all about stealth... The best way of going along the run is to almost always be using a military disguise to get to and from locations, even if you are moving to the next mission... In most situations, I have seen that arriving at a location with your disguise on makes things much easier since in most situations you are bound to get shot if you show up like Alex... Simple logic, but of course, to say it anyway...  However, when it comes to stealth kills, that's hard to say, for at the start of the game, stealth makes things easier, whereas later in the game, it is a big waste of time for by the time you get in a base or a location to perform a stealth kill, either A) you will be discovered or B) you will be shot down faster than it took for you go through the trouble to get the stealth kill... really as you get near the end of the game, its better to grab your target and run into an alley before you get shoot up too much... It isn't that hard to evade the army, though dodging the strike team is a different issue and also hard to do near the end since there is a soldier around every block...

Tanks do help take care of things faster when it comes to clearing out enemies or objectives, though I would advise to use the tanks if you are stuck in small areas, otherwise if you have to travel to different blocks, it is better to either take out all the enemies and the tanks with it or to use the tank and then ditch it when you go to another area...

As for "What power ups to use" is a bit hard to say when performing a speed run, considering that you don't get many points if you don't do events, and while events probably won't be necessary, a good amount of EP will be devoted to the movements for faster running, higher jumping gliding and air dashes... so unless if you manage to get enough points to get what you need, you better be ready to fight a half strength or fight at a disadvantage... I suppose if you can memorize how to get from point A to Point B, you could collect orbs to give you more points but again, a bit of a stretch...

The only other thing I can think of about a speed run in this game is the boss fights near the end... I always saw myself running into problems in the fights for until the army arrives with the tanks you are either doing hit and runs or finding yourself getting turned into a punching bag if you decide to fight them... whipfist helps to keep order, but against bosses, it barely counts as a hit at times... The idea of health not being a factor couldn't be any further from the truth, you will see that when you get hit by a boss, you stay hit... even the hunters can damage you quite a bit if you allow them... coming up with strategics for the bosses are going to be interesting for I know that the fight with Greene took a nightmarish eternity since she kept spitting rocks, shooting green orbs, having hunters attack me and that hail mary attack that forces you to retreat or it is almost an instant kill...

On the other hand, this game does allow for a New game+ that allows the player to carry over any unlocked abilities, even abilities that aren't seen till the end of the game... If performing a speed run on a regular file out of the question, I can imagine that a new game + is very possible (I was able to finish the first 11 missions in a period of an hour, hour 1/2 so this wouldn't be too hard if you consider doing it, though a new game needs to be proven first before a new game +...)

Signus

2009-06-20 06:18:03 pm

To answer something above.

My strategy for Greene was to get to Critical Mass and use Air Groundspike Graveyard to damage all her supports at once. Once she fell, use Critical Pain to do tons of damage. Stay in Armor the whole time and use Blade to damage Hunters so you can consume them for health. It may be pretty difficult do to on a New Game run, as EP would be fairly scarce, but it's fast and effective. New Game+ would be able to do it much more easily, for obvious reason. Just try to keep your health up and she should go down fairly quickly.

Reaver

2009-06-22 08:44:11 am

I'd prefer to see a run without game+ as it will be more challenging and you'll have to plan out what upgrades to get throughout.

For areas such as when you have to eliminate the patrols before they locate the safe house and Dana, you can avoid the mobile viral detectors and the hijack scene if you get up high and jump directly on top of the tank and press the hijack button as quickly as possilbe. The viral detectors do detect you and will pick you up if you take too long but if you do it spot on you can enter the tank before they completely detect you allowing an easier time destroying the patrol and cutting out the hijack action.

Whipfist will be most beneficial for taking down the largest number of enemies in the shortest time and will gain you more EP as you take out more enemies. Especially when you have the upgrades. I'm sure you won't need to go around doing extra missions to gain EP. You should gain plenty on most missions to get the necessary speed, airdash, glide and jump upgrades. Luckily enough when starting out along your route from building to building you'll pass landmark EP points so you can pick some up there without loss of time.

I recommend you get the running grab upgrade. Sometimes you can't get a stealth consume as there are too many people around the target. You can rush in grab him and consume him later at a distance.

The specialist guy should be easy once you have whipfist you can attack him at long range to prevent him using that electric rod thing and you can get him with a power shot whilst he's reloading.

Elizabeth Greene will be the most time consuming. The Maximum Critical mass upgrade would be effective here as you can use it on her 2-3 times (If lucky enough) before having to recharge.

The last Supreme Hunter I could trap him with blade by charging with the secondary attack which'll slice him 3x. Avoid him then charge again. If you get the timing right he doesn't really do that much damage to you and your attacks prevent him from doing moves. I could've just been really lucky in this fight of course. The only real danger is if he uses the tendril attack which you know will come after you've stunned him. You can just run away and get around the attack to counter him.

Managed to get to the first supreme hunter in 2hrs 45mins without save warping and that can definately be improved on. Didn't think this game would be that long. I must've been taking it easy.

I'd prefer to see a run without game+ as it will be more challenging and you'll have to plan out what upgrades to get throughout.

For areas such as when you have to eliminate the patrols before they locate the safe house and Dana, you can avoid the mobile viral detectors and the hijack scene if you get up high and jump directly on top of the tank and press the hijack button as quickly as possilbe. The viral detectors do detect you and will pick you up if you take too long but if you do it spot on you can enter the tank before they completely detect you allowing an easier time destroying the patrol and cutting out the hijack action.

Whipfist will be most beneficial for taking down the largest number of enemies in the shortest time and will gain you more EP as you take out more enemies. Especially when you have the upgrades. I'm sure you won't need to go around doing extra missions to gain EP. You should gain plenty on most missions to get the necessary speed, airdash, glide and jump upgrades. Luckily enough when starting out along your route from building to building you'll pass landmark EP points so you can pick some up there without loss of time.

I recommend you get the running grab upgrade. Sometimes you can't get a stealth consume as there are too many people around the target. You can rush in grab him and consume him later at a distance.

The specialist guy should be easy once you have whipfist you can attack him at long range to prevent him using that electric rod thing and you can get him with a power shot whilst he's reloading.

Elizabeth Greene will be the most time consuming. The Maximum Critical mass upgrade would be effective here as you can use it on her 2-3 times (If lucky enough) before having to recharge.

The last Supreme Hunter I could trap him with blade by charging with the secondary attack which'll slice him 3x. Avoid him then charge again. If you get the timing right he doesn't really do that much damage to you and your attacks prevent him from doing moves. I could've just been really lucky in this fight of course. The only real danger is if he uses the tendril attack which you know will come after you've stunned him. You can just run away and get around the attack to counter him.

Managed to get to the first supreme hunter in 2hrs 45mins without save warping and that can definately be improved on. Didn't think this game would be that long. I must've been taking it easy.

MAS8705

2009-06-22 11:37:22 am

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

I only suggested a new game + as a simple suggestion... Of course if someone can manage a speed run in a new game, that would be something worth watching to see how they manage their EP to get the best skills needed...

I also did do a bit of research (also got the player's guide for Prototype), and I found out that the cost of upgrades do not go up as the game progresses, rather it is already set at that high mark whether or not that you buy upgrades... If you manage to not buy anything, you will still see that the cost for the blade skills is still set near the million mark...

Another thing I found out is that the difficulty that you set the game at can effect how much EP you recieve... That's right, the higher the difficulty, the more EP you recieve... I'm sure that this alone can make a few people think twice about which difficulty to choose for if you are playing the game the same way on easy and normal, you will probably see that you have more to work with on normal than easy, although the gameplay will be a bit harder if that's the case...

Finally, I found something interesting when it comes to collecting EP, or rather... The Web... It turns out that instead of your targets appearing at random, they can turn up at specific locations... of course for you to attack them, they must be seen on your web so that you can consume them and for some military personel, you may need to go to the military bases to find a few... Point here is that consuming targets on the web also net in a good sum of EP as well and along side with that, one other skill to point out that could very well come in handy is the "call in air strike" skill... it has a bit of a cooldown, but from what I heard, the air strike attack does do a very good sum of damage too, so that could also be beneficial when it comes to boss fights outside...

If I can, I'll try to post up pics... but for now I'll just post this...

http://www.msxbox-world.com/features/Prototype/index.php#top
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3093/prototypev.jpg

The first is an interactive map that shows all locations of landmark orbs, hint orbs and all minigames, the second is a static map that shows only the orbs... In the guide though, it actually shows what parts of the street you travel though so when you are going to a location, that would be the perfect time to collect any orbs along the way for the more orbs you get, the more EP you can receive and you also get bonuses where you can get even more EP if you collect a certain number or orbs...

I only suggested a new game + as a simple suggestion... Of course if someone can manage a speed run in a new game, that would be something worth watching to see how they manage their EP to get the best skills needed...

I also did do a bit of research (also got the player's guide for Prototype), and I found out that the cost of upgrades do not go up as the game progresses, rather it is already set at that high mark whether or not that you buy upgrades... If you manage to not buy anything, you will still see that the cost for the blade skills is still set near the million mark...

Another thing I found out is that the difficulty that you set the game at can effect how much EP you recieve... That's right, the higher the difficulty, the more EP you recieve... I'm sure that this alone can make a few people think twice about which difficulty to choose for if you are playing the game the same way on easy and normal, you will probably see that you have more to work with on normal than easy, although the gameplay will be a bit harder if that's the case...

Finally, I found something interesting when it comes to collecting EP, or rather... The Web... It turns out that instead of your targets appearing at random, they can turn up at specific locations... of course for you to attack them, they must be seen on your web so that you can consume them and for some military personel, you may need to go to the military bases to find a few... Point here is that consuming targets on the web also net in a good sum of EP as well and along side with that, one other skill to point out that could very well come in handy is the "call in air strike" skill... it has a bit of a cooldown, but from what I heard, the air strike attack does do a very good sum of damage too, so that could also be beneficial when it comes to boss fights outside...

If I can, I'll try to post up pics... but for now I'll just post this...

http://www.msxbox-world.com/features/Prototype/index.php#top
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3093/prototypev.jpg

The first is an interactive map that shows all locations of landmark orbs, hint orbs and all minigames, the second is a static map that shows only the orbs... In the guide though, it actually shows what parts of the street you travel though so when you are going to a location, that would be the perfect time to collect any orbs along the way for the more orbs you get, the more EP you can receive and you also get bonuses where you can get even more EP if you collect a certain number or orbs...

ehkinoh

2009-06-22 09:14:05 pm

I Just finished Prototype on Hard in 6.5 hours. I wasn't really trying to speed run, though I didn't waste time on any events, or spend any amount of time Farming EP.

If EP gained really does fluctuate, I'd suggest doing the Speedrun on Normal Mode. I've beaten the game on Easy, Normal, And Hard... and I have to say, Easy and Normal were very similar as far as difficulty, while Hard REALLY was difficult to complete in certain areas.

Playing on Hard helped me to get a grasp as to which upgrades REALLY are necessary, so here are my thoughts on the subject:

POWERS:

BLADE POWER: I only bothered to upgrade "Blade Air Slice". On hard it was definitely required when dealing with hunters, and on Normal, It will take them out in a single charged attack.

CLAWS POWER: I only Upgraded "Groundspike". As shown in the game, it IS a "Core" power, and is pretty much required to take out tanks in the beginning of the game.

DEFENSIVE POWERS: Both "Shield" and "Armor" powers are automatically acquired after completing specific missions. I'de suggest keeping shield up pretty much always and using Armor only when necessary (possibly certain boss fights) as it makes you MUCH slower.

HAMMERFIST POWER: I didn't bother upgrading my Hammerfists in anyway. The only one I could see worth getting would be the "Elbow Slam" for tanks, but I never found it necessary.

WHIPFIST POWER: I only upraded "Longshot Grab", which is definitely required. "Street Sweeper" is great for crowed control when guys are up close, but it's area of effect is relatively small. I'm on the fence on whether or not this power would be required for a speedrun.

MUSCLEMASS POWER: I only Upgraded the "Musclemass Throw" for the final boss fight with the Supreme Hunter. Throwing things with this power active is DEFINITELY the fastest way to take him down that I found.

---

MOVEMENT:

AIR UPGRADES: I got them all as fast as I could spare the EPs

SPRING UPGRADES: I got all as fast as I could spare the EPs.

JUMP UPGRADE: I only got Jump Upgrade 1, though if possible, I'd sugest getting more. Jumping really isn't THAT important in missions, as you never really need to climb tall buildings.

---

SURVIVABILITY:

First of all... I got ALL OF THEM, but that was only because I was playing on Hard. The only 2 that I think would be absolutely required for a speed run, would be "Critical Mass Ability" and "Adrenaline Surge"... though getting the "Critical Mass Boost"s would probably be worth it for multiple devastators.

---

COMBAT:

AIR: Only bothered with "Flying Kick Boost" It's a core, and VERY useful throughout the game.

AREA OF EFFECT: You only need "Knuckle Shockwave" and Tendril Barrage". Absolutely necessary for taking out HUGE groupes of enemies in a very short amount of time.

ATTACKS: I picked up both "Palm Slam" AND "Critical Pain Devastator" and they really helped me out a few times on Hard mode, but in a speed run through normal, I can't see them being required.

GRAB AND THROW UPGRADES: "Charged Throw" for the final battle and "Sprinting Grab". I highly recommend both.

---

DISGUISE:

CONSUME: "Stealth Consume" is a must... the only other thing I bothered to pick up in this entire section was "Consume Boost 1"... which would probably be useful in a speed run to help recharge your devastator attacks.

---

I didn't bother upgrading anything in Vehicle and Weaponry, as it would have taken time to infiltrate multiple bases in order to get them. I doubt any of the upgrades would be worth grabbing for a speed run through normal.

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---

Anyways, Those are my thoughts on the subject of Upgrading. I've also come up with some pretty good boss strategies as well, which I will post at another time.

-ehkinoh

I Just finished Prototype on Hard in 6.5 hours.  I wasn't really trying to speed run, though I didn't waste time on any events, or spend any amount of time Farming EP.

If EP gained really does fluctuate, I'd suggest doing the Speedrun on Normal Mode.  I've beaten the game on Easy, Normal, And Hard... and I have to say, Easy and Normal were very similar as far as difficulty, while Hard REALLY was difficult to complete in certain areas.

Playing on Hard helped me to get a grasp as to which upgrades REALLY are necessary, so here are my thoughts on the subject:

[u]POWERS[/u]:

BLADE POWER:  I only bothered to upgrade "Blade Air Slice".  On hard it was definitely required when dealing with hunters, and on Normal, It will take them out in a single charged attack.

CLAWS POWER:  I only Upgraded "Groundspike".  As shown in the game, it IS a "Core" power, and is pretty much required to take out tanks in the beginning of the game.

DEFENSIVE POWERS:  Both "Shield" and "Armor" powers are automatically acquired after completing specific missions.  I'de suggest keeping shield up pretty much always and using Armor only when necessary (possibly certain boss fights) as it makes you MUCH slower.

HAMMERFIST POWER:  I didn't bother upgrading my Hammerfists in anyway.  The only one I could see worth getting would be the "Elbow Slam" for tanks, but I never found it necessary.

WHIPFIST POWER:  I only upraded "Longshot Grab", which is definitely required.  "Street Sweeper" is great for crowed control when guys are up close, but it's area of effect is relatively small.  I'm on the fence on whether or not this power would be required for a speedrun.

MUSCLEMASS POWER:  I only Upgraded the "Musclemass Throw" for the final boss fight with the Supreme Hunter.  Throwing things with this power active is DEFINITELY the fastest way to take him down that I found.

---

[u]MOVEMENT[/u]:

AIR UPGRADES:  I got them all as fast as I could spare the EPs

SPRING UPGRADES: I got all as fast as I could spare the EPs.

JUMP UPGRADE: I only got Jump Upgrade 1, though if possible, I'd sugest getting more.  Jumping really isn't THAT important in missions, as you never really need to climb tall buildings.

---

[u]SURVIVABILITY[/u]:

First of all... I got ALL OF THEM, but that was only because I was playing on Hard.  The only 2 that I think would be absolutely required for a speed run, would be "Critical Mass Ability" and "Adrenaline Surge"... though getting the "Critical Mass Boost"s would probably be worth it for multiple devastators.

---

[u]COMBAT[/u]:

AIR:  Only bothered with "Flying Kick Boost" It's a core, and VERY useful throughout the game.

AREA OF EFFECT:  You only need "Knuckle Shockwave" and Tendril Barrage".  Absolutely necessary for taking out HUGE groupes of enemies in a very short amount of time.

ATTACKS:  I picked up both "Palm Slam" AND "Critical Pain Devastator" and they really helped me out a few times on Hard mode, but in a speed run through normal, I can't see them being required.

GRAB AND THROW UPGRADES:  "Charged Throw" for the final battle and "Sprinting Grab".  I highly recommend both.

---

[u]DISGUISE[/u]:

CONSUME:  "Stealth Consume" is a must... the only other thing I bothered to pick up in this entire section was "Consume Boost 1"... which would probably be useful in a speed run to help recharge your devastator attacks.

---

I didn't bother upgrading anything in Vehicle and Weaponry, as it would have taken time to infiltrate multiple bases in order to get them.  I doubt any of the upgrades would be worth grabbing for a speed run through normal.

---
---

Anyways, Those are my thoughts on the subject of Upgrading.  I've also come up with some pretty good boss strategies as well, which I will post at another time.

-ehkinoh

qaylIS

2009-06-24 09:55:44 am

There is no victory without combat

As far as I can tell, Hijacking a Heli is the fastest way to travel around Manhattan...if you count the time for Hijacking in of course. Its massive destructive powers are also a point, and can be very helpful in missions (I used it e.g. in that mission with the thermobaric tank, to defend it against the hunters at the end...just using rockets to blast them away, though you have to be carefull not to hit the tank). The Musclemass Power is really damaging, and I like it very much, but the use is limited, and expensive to get on a relatively powerful weapon...the unupgraded Blade is far more powerful then the unupgraded Muscle Power, so in a Speedrun I would not recommend it.

The Soldiers can also easily killed by the Assault Rifle (use it with shield, Alex holds it like a police riot shield) or the Machine Gun, which blast them even on high distance pretty quickly...and the autoaim will do this complete automatically, you dont have to rely on Manual Aim.

For the Last Supreme Hunter, I found a bug to kill it quickly (so it is not easy): When you damaged it enough, so that the timer starts running, you can kill it with pushing it into the ocean. It will not die in an instant, it will start trying jumping back on the carrier (just like you would). But if you can push him back (missiles -shot or thrown-, Cannonball, Flipkick...) it will die eventually after 4 or 5 times diving in the water. I didn't try to redo it by now, and it was pure luck the first time, but I try to finish the game on hard at the moment, so I keep you informed when I am at this point again.

To finish this post, I don't know if the Slowmotions in the game have any impact on the ingame timer, and I have problems to find it out, because the game doesn't run very smoothly on my computer, so I wouldn't know exactly if its the slow motion or my PC-Slowdown

As far as I can tell, Hijacking a Heli is the fastest way to travel around Manhattan...if you count the time for Hijacking in of course. Its massive destructive powers are also a point, and can be very helpful in missions (I used it e.g. in that mission with the thermobaric tank, to defend it against the hunters at the end...just using rockets to blast them away, though you have to be carefull not to hit the tank). The Musclemass Power is really damaging, and I like it very much, but the use is limited, and expensive to get on a relatively powerful weapon...the unupgraded Blade is far more powerful then the unupgraded Muscle Power, so in a Speedrun I would not recommend it.

The Soldiers can also easily killed by the Assault Rifle (use it with shield, Alex holds it like a police riot shield) or the Machine Gun, which blast them even on high distance pretty quickly...and the autoaim will do this complete automatically, you dont have to rely on Manual Aim.

For the Last Supreme Hunter, I found a bug to kill it quickly (so it is not easy): When you damaged it enough, so that the timer starts running, you can kill it with pushing it into the ocean. It will not die in an instant, it will start trying jumping back on the carrier (just like you would). But if you can push him back (missiles -shot or thrown-, Cannonball, Flipkick...) it will die eventually after 4 or 5 times diving in the water. I didn't try to redo it by now, and it was pure luck the first time, but I try to finish the game on hard at the moment, so I keep you informed when I am at this point again.

To finish this post, I don't know if the Slowmotions in the game have any impact on the ingame timer, and I have problems to find it out, because the game doesn't run very smoothly on my computer, so I wouldn't know exactly if its the slow motion or my PC-Slowdown

Lorellindil

2009-06-24 10:42:45 pm

Mew...?

By the way, just thought I'd throw this in here while the topic was going: I found a second 'trick'. If you get the double airdash and both boosts, this becomes the fastest way to cover a horizontal distance without the help of a vehicle. Simply do a small jump, wait until you're no longer rising/falling or shortly before, and dash (getting the full effect by holding down the button/key) then dash a second time the same way. Land, repeat. It's faster than the highest sprint upgrade, and available a lot earlier in the game than it as well. Now I'm not sure how it fairs against max sprint when the distance is uninhibited by random stuff (since the stuff slows you down), but I'm fairly certain that it's overall faster since you prolly won't even find such a distance over the course of the run.

Reaver

2009-06-25 04:24:52 am

On the PC version during cutscenes you can still move around although you cant actually see where you are going. Could be useful for parts like where you harvest material from inside the hive where you fight the specialist. Its especially useful in the helicopter mission where you have to pick up troops. You move off whilst the troops are supposed to board the helicopter saving you some time. Dont know if this works on the console versions though so someone should try it out. Does anyone know how the playtime thing works in the statisitics section? Got a time of 3 hours 46 mins on my second play through but I was sure I took a lot longer than that.

qaylIS

2009-06-26 05:28:31 pm

There is no victory without combat

Just battled Elizabeth Greene on Hard (PC Version), and I have a Strategy to add for a quick kill: The (Air) Groundspike Graveyard Devastator does MASSIVE damage to the bitch. Its pending, but sometimes it reduces the complete health of one of the 3 parts you have to destroy...but you really have to get close. But (if you have at least 1 Critical Mass Upgrades) you can circle and repeat it (beware the ugly green Plasma Orb thingies), especially easy with the Air Version of the Groundspike Graveyard Devastator. But to finish her off quickly after destroying her 3 parts is kinda difficult, I didn't replenish her total health not under 3 tries, though I think 2 tries are possible...just a hint, I used Muscle Mass Upgraded to the max, it didn't do the thing...

LordLocke

2009-06-27 03:33:48 am

Yes, it's a ninja riding an invisible jet

For Elizabeth Green, it seems the fastest thing you can have when she goes down is one of the rocket-secondary tanks. The only problem is that the ammo supply would be gone in only one cycle (requiring a new one) and, of course, keeping a tank alive during the fight is nigh-impossible since one angry shout or a couple rock volleys and bye-bye tank.

There seems to be no cheap, reliable quick way to get the shields down though. Air Devastators seem to be the fastest way that doesn't involve lots of luck, but even Graveyard isn't all THAT great. Blade Drops are safe in terms of how open you leave yourself but poor in actual ability to hurt her- she can hit you frequently with a weak attack if you start it too low, and getting high enough to be dropping before she can lock on you is time-consuming.

Maybe acquiring a chopper after the first phase is the way to go. It's pretty fast (faster then blade dropping, and unless you're sitting on three devastators and are the luckiest man alive about keeping health high enough to use them back-to-back, likely faster then consuming then devastating too.) and if you use cover to fire off the homing missiles first, pretty safe to at least get a lot of free damage on the shields before having to switch to swarm missiles.

For Elizabeth Green, it seems the fastest thing you can have when she goes down is one of the rocket-secondary tanks.  The only problem is that the ammo supply would be gone in only one cycle (requiring a new one) and, of course, keeping a tank alive during the fight is nigh-impossible since one angry shout or a couple rock volleys and bye-bye tank.

There seems to be no cheap, reliable quick way to get the shields down though.  Air Devastators seem to be the fastest way that doesn't involve lots of luck, but even Graveyard isn't all THAT great.  Blade Drops are safe in terms of how open you leave yourself but poor in actual ability to hurt her- she can hit you frequently with a weak attack if you start it too low, and getting high enough to be dropping before she can lock on you is time-consuming.

Maybe acquiring a chopper after the first phase is the way to go.  It's pretty fast (faster then blade dropping, and unless you're sitting on three devastators and are the luckiest man alive about keeping health high enough to use them back-to-back, likely faster then consuming then devastating too.) and if you use cover to fire off the homing missiles first, pretty safe to at least get a lot of free damage on the shields before having to switch to swarm missiles.

MAS8705

2009-06-27 11:47:06 am

SDA Apprentice -- (3-1)

Haven't found much so far on "speed through Green" videos... Most people seem to go with performing devastators rather than hijacking a tank or a copter... and I would suspect that for a few things...

1) the damage performed with the correct devastator move on green if positioned correctly can be very... err... devastating... and can bring the fight to a quicker close...
2) The time it takes for you to hijack either tank or copter is the same time green can tear it apart... (Copter fairs a bit better on survivaliblity since it can move faster than a tank, but still goes down pretty quick...)
3) With the correct power ups, consuming people to get health back to perform another devastator shouldn't be too bad, and also considering if you invest in getting the power ups that allow for more than one to be performed...

I have only found one very good example of this...

The part happens at around 20 seconds... The idea here is to get close and after she performs a close attack, you side step it and unleash your (graveyard?) devastator and, if done right, you can hit her weak spot for massive damage...

Haven't found much so far on "speed through Green" videos... Most people seem to go with performing devastators rather than hijacking a tank or a copter... and I would suspect that for a few things...

1) the damage performed with the correct devastator move on green if positioned correctly can be very... err... devastating... and can bring the fight to a quicker close...
2) The time it takes for you to hijack either tank or copter is the same time green can tear it apart... (Copter fairs a bit better on survivaliblity since it can move faster than a tank, but still goes down pretty quick...)
3) With the correct power ups, consuming people to get health back to perform another devastator shouldn't be too bad, and also considering if you invest in getting the power ups that allow for more than one to be performed...

I have only found one very good example of this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ETxpYN32GQ

The part happens at around 20 seconds... The idea here is to get close and after she performs a close attack, you side step it and unleash your (graveyard?) devastator and, if done right, you can hit her weak spot for massive damage...

RaneofSOTN

2009-06-27 12:13:45 pm

I want off the ride....

If you grab a tank and fire right you can take it out in the time it'd take someone to devastator -> regain life -> devastator (best case) ... actually its a lot faster...

its pretty easy. Cause once you use the tank your going to have life and be able to be close to her and rape her face. The tanks respawn so its no problem really.

Reaver

2009-06-27 01:14:39 pm

That link was the same strategy I used to beat her. Its more effective if you stand more central to her as you hit the left right and centre more evenly. Also if you have the Critical Mass upgrades you might be able to get another devestator attack on her bringing her down faster. Its difficult when she fires that green crap at you but when you are at max critical mass and she hits you, you should be able to retain enough to attack her again.

RaneofSOTN, I take it you lure the tank over to you at the side where she cant attack you? Because if you do it right in the centre where most of the tanks and helicopters are you might get one shot off before she destroys them.

ehkinoh

2009-06-27 04:46:00 pm

Before tanks arrive, the fastest (safest) way I found to beat Greene was to stay VERY close to her, lock on to one of the 3 targets, and use the whipfist's powerful attack over and over.

I would constantly circle her using air dashes, while having armor on to help with any random damage taken (though armor is probably not necessary if playing on normal). I would do the whipfist attack during the airdash, never leaving myself open by trying it while on the ground. It's pretty effective, and all you really have to watch out for is her random nuclear devastator move.

When the military finally shows up, I found the fastest way to take Greene out was to hop in a tank and charge in as close to her as I could get while spraying her constantly with both types of ammo, until the tank blows up. Then, quickly locate the next tank as fast as possible, and repeat. Make sure that you haven't been discovered by the military AND have on a military disguise while jacking these tanks, as it allows you to hop right in without receiving any damage from Greene OR the Military.

When Greene is stunned, I'm not sure what the fastest way to get her life down is... I used the Blade's charged air attack, but I'm guessing there is a better way of taking her life down quickly. (possibly musclemass throws?)

Before tanks arrive, the fastest (safest) way I found to beat Greene was to stay VERY close to her, lock on to one of the 3 targets, and use the whipfist's powerful attack over and over.

I would constantly circle her using air dashes, while having armor on to help with any random damage taken (though armor is probably not necessary if playing on normal).  I would do the whipfist attack during the airdash, never leaving myself open by trying it while on the ground.  It's pretty effective, and all you really have to watch out for is her random nuclear devastator move.

When the military finally shows up, I found the fastest way to take Greene out was to hop in a tank and charge in as close to her as I could get while spraying her constantly with both types of ammo, until the tank blows up.  Then, quickly locate the next tank as fast as possible, and repeat.  Make sure that you haven't been discovered by the military AND have on a military disguise while jacking these tanks, as it allows you to hop right in without receiving any damage from Greene OR the Military.

When Greene is stunned, I'm not sure what the fastest way to get her life down is... I used the Blade's charged air attack, but I'm guessing there is a better way of taking her life down quickly. (possibly musclemass throws?)

Cromarty

2009-07-18 11:15:19 pm

astral guard

I've been playing this a bunch lately, have a few ideas..

Notably, you don't need to farm ep at all - at the end of my latest play, I had 1mil left, not counting any spent on upgrades I didn't need. The stats said I'd collected around 6.5mil ep, so minus the 500k from the final mission you have 6mil or so to play with just from missions and anything murdered for mission objectives.
This is what I bought:

Powers
blade air slice
groundspike/shield - for the uav patrol mission. Hammerfist doesn't do the job as well, and none of these should be necessary because of the short hijack mentioned before.
muscle mass - makes charged cannonball a 1-hit kill against helicopters, which is great for "the last man", also useful against supreme hunter 2 when throwing.
muscle mass throw - for attacking the supreme hunter while he's using his devastator.
whipfist - for detector/bloodtox destruction, fighting Cross, also seems as effective or better than throwing vs supreme hunter 1 - no downtime picking up an object to throw, does similar damage with no charge.
longshot grab - thought I'd be using this to grab the supreme hunter in the rematch when he got stunned, and never did.

All movement and survivability upgrades - played most of the game without any health upgrades besides critical mass and adrenaline rush. Adrenaline rush's moment of invulnerability is nice, but using the devastator on a boss is asking him to time his attack to hit you exactly when the devastator ends and kill you. Could be good for a quick finish though - for example, tendril barrage will kill a leader hunter from half health, maybe more..

Combat
flying kick boost - might be the best way to destroy the fuel tanks in that early mission, also helps take out the required infected water towers and the one helicopter in the uav patrol, makes a good substitute for longshot grab with regard to stealing helicopters.
palm slam - required to buy cannonball, but it's also good for "the stolen body" when protecting Ragland.
cannonball - besides helicopters, is useful in "the stolen body".
groundshatter
knuckle shockwave
tendril barrage - couldn't afford to buy air groundspike graveyard at the mission that requires you to have a devastator attack, and got a bunch of use out of it anyway - Cross, leader hunters, groups of hunters marked as targets, the final wave inside the base in "men like gods"..
groundshatter drop
air groundspike graveyard - for Greene. Between this and tendril barrage, Greene takes more from this one. Also does a ton of damage to buildings, not that you can really stay in critical mass long enough to use it the two or three times it'll take to wreck a base.
charge throw - kills evolved infected at full charge, on throw and when hit by one of their buddies, used it in "the stolen body". Throwing scenery also does pretty good damage to hunters, which is good at least once.
sprinting grab - allows you to enter a tank while sprinting, too. Might be unnecessary, since most required consume targets are part of the web of intrigue - the consume animation is uninterruptible, so no need to run to safety.
long range throw - not completely sure on this one, since the abandoned base is pretty small, and for supreme hunter 2 there's muscle mass throw. Bought it anyway. >_>

Disguise
stealth consume

Time on that play came to 2:55.

Weird thing when consuming the Blackwatch commander to get McMullen's location - a couple times I've consumed him with a disguise on and had the alarm cancelled on "checkpoint reached".

Also, if you quit to a checkpoint, a number of things get reset. If you're in a vehicle you get all of your ammo back; if you're defending a vehicle it'll be set to at least half health if it had less (might get full health if it had 50-100% before); if you've set off the alarm, it'll be ended.

Against the supreme hunter, I think the best idea is to use blade while you have him alone, and then spam whipfist specials at him when the crowd arrives.. that's the least stressful the fight's been for me, anyway. Not sure about how many times to hit him before grabbing when he's stunned, but he definitely threw me sooner when I beat him up a bit first.

I tried the tank approach to Elizabeth Greene and multiple times ended up getting blasted into a corner, taking massive damage from the tank's explosion, and then getting hit by something else I couldn't identify and dying. Other times the tank would get wrecked before I'd even gotten a shot off. Exactly one time, I kept a tank long enough to attack the main body, and it does great damage there. The problem is keeping it intact until then.. Maybe hopping in/out of the tank at the right times to make it invulnerable is the way to go, haha.
Anyway, lacking a reliable way to keep a tank in one piece, I did a lot better with the air groundspike graveyard approach, using blade's infinite for damage when Greene became vulnerable (after spending any excess health on groundspike graveyard).

For supreme hunter part two, I used blade again and then threw things at him when he used his devastator. I have this idea that throwing things from short range will do more damage, but I'm not sure of it.. I know I've done varying damage throwing the same objects at full charge.

Some stuff relating to individual missions:

"behind the glass" (rescue Elizabeth Greene)
You can get past Gentek security if you disguise as the guy you consume at the end of the previous mission, even though the disguise has the civilian icon.
In the back corner where you find the base commander, he's the only guy who can see you (except if the helicopter is nearby) until he goes past the first detector, so you can just grab him without setting off an alarm - assuming you stand in the corner where the detectors don't see you in order to start the process with an empty disguise bar.

"a new order" (collect genetic material)
Fighting off the military while collecting pickups from the hive isn't necessary on normal. Plus, since you're not fighting them, there isn't the additional "evade the military" objective at the end.

"under the knife" (locate patient zero)
At the part of the mission where you have to disable Specter tanks for Lim to show, the helicopters have a strange tendency to crash into the uav that appears from the side of the hive opposite the direction you arrive by. Anybody else have this happen before? It does make it really easy to steal and abandon the tanks rather than destroy them, since you only have to fire once to take out one uav and that won't raise the alarm.

"the stolen body"
On hard mode, I got to the last wave of guys and got them to all chase me around on the far side of the base while the timer ran down.. seems like the evolved infected will ignore Ragland completely if you hit them hard enough, such as with charged knuckle shockwave.

"the door in the wall" (rescue Dana)
Right when the leader hunter calls his buddies in, if you use tendril barrage immediately, you take out at least three of them. The others wandered off to bother the military last time I did this mission.. I imagine if you could get all the hunters after you, you could mop up the whole group at once, but it doesn't seem very likely they'll all feel like chasing you together.

"first and last things" (defeating the leader hunter)
The leader hunter is really slow to catch up if you jump on buildings, so for this one I just run directly north until I'm within a few blocks of the abandoned base.
Tendril barrage eats his health, so ideally, enter the battle in critical mass. I've been using blade for damage otherwise, but I'm not as sure about that as the devastator.

"the first monster" (find Dana again)
At the part of the mission where you have to consume infected carriers, there are two posted outside the base on either side, and there's an alley along the back between them - if you run directly to the base after consuming the first infected carrier in the abandoned base, stealth consuming these four guys will get you the whole connection.

"making the future" (rescue Dana from the core hive)
The end of the previous mission actually puts you closer to mission start here than reloading your file.

"men like gods" (infiltrate Blackwatch)
Blade air slice is pretty good for super soldiers, and in this case you only have to kill one with it anyway since you can wipe out the last wave entirely with one tendril barrage.

"a dream of armageddon" (halt the deployment of bloodtox)
I'm not sure a helicopter is the best solution here. You have to stop completely to fire with any accuracy, from a position that you can aim rockets at, and even before that you have to locate the helicopter, steal it, and shoot down any others that get near you.
On the other hand, there are plenty of guys armed with missile launchers on the rooftops, and those work pretty well on the bloodtox blowers.

"shock and awe" (destroy the bloodtox production facility)
Perfect place to play with checkpoints. Steal a tank, destroy filters, quit to checkpoint when you get one, suddenly the military has no idea that you were trashing their stuff a minute ago.

"two tickets" (consume Taggart)
Rather than just keep up with Taggart, you can get ahead of him and start on destroying the tanks that'll be targets when he gets there.

I've been playing this a bunch lately, have a few ideas..

Notably, you don't need to farm ep at all - at the end of my latest play, I had 1mil left, not counting any spent on upgrades I didn't need.  The stats said I'd collected around 6.5mil ep, so minus the 500k from the final mission you have 6mil or so to play with just from missions and anything murdered for mission objectives.
This is what I bought:
[spoiler]
[b]Powers[/b]
blade air slice
groundspike/shield - for the uav patrol mission.  Hammerfist doesn't do the job as well, and none of these should be necessary because of the short hijack mentioned before.
muscle mass - makes charged cannonball a 1-hit kill against helicopters, which is great for "the last man", also useful against supreme hunter 2 when throwing.
muscle mass throw - for attacking the supreme hunter while he's using his devastator.
whipfist - for detector/bloodtox destruction, fighting Cross, also seems as effective or better than throwing vs supreme hunter 1 - no downtime picking up an object to throw, does similar damage with no charge.
longshot grab - thought I'd be using this to grab the supreme hunter in the rematch when he got stunned, and never did.

All [b]movement[/b] and [b]survivability[/b] upgrades - played most of the game without any health upgrades besides critical mass and adrenaline rush.  Adrenaline rush's moment of invulnerability is nice, but using the devastator on a boss is asking him to time his attack to hit you exactly when the devastator ends and kill you.  Could be good for a quick finish though - for example, tendril barrage will kill a leader hunter from half health, maybe more..

[b]Combat[/b]
flying kick boost - might be the best way to destroy the fuel tanks in that early mission, also helps take out the required infected water towers and the one helicopter in the uav patrol, makes a good substitute for longshot grab with regard to stealing helicopters.
palm slam - required to buy cannonball, but it's also good for "the stolen body" when protecting Ragland.
cannonball - besides helicopters, is useful in "the stolen body".
groundshatter
knuckle shockwave
tendril barrage - couldn't afford to buy air groundspike graveyard at the mission that requires you to have a devastator attack, and got a bunch of use out of it anyway - Cross, leader hunters, groups of hunters marked as targets, the final wave inside the base in "men like gods"..
groundshatter drop
air groundspike graveyard - for Greene.  Between this and tendril barrage, Greene takes more from this one.  Also does a ton of damage to buildings, not that you can really stay in critical mass long enough to use it the two or three times it'll take to wreck a base.
charge throw - kills evolved infected at full charge, on throw and when hit by one of their buddies, used it in "the stolen body".  Throwing scenery also does pretty good damage to hunters, which is good at least once.
sprinting grab - allows you to enter a tank while sprinting, too.  Might be unnecessary, since most required consume targets are part of the web of intrigue - the consume animation is uninterruptible, so no need to run to safety.
long range throw - not completely sure on this one, since the abandoned base is pretty small, and for supreme hunter 2 there's muscle mass throw.  Bought it anyway. >_>

[b]Disguise[/b]
stealth consume
[/spoiler]
Time on that play came to 2:55.

Weird thing when consuming the Blackwatch commander to get McMullen's location - a couple times I've consumed him with a disguise on and had the alarm cancelled on "checkpoint reached".

Also, if you quit to a checkpoint, a number of things get reset.  If you're in a vehicle you get all of your ammo back; if you're defending a vehicle it'll be set to at least half health if it had less (might get full health if it had 50-100% before); if you've set off the alarm, it'll be ended.

Against the supreme hunter, I think the best idea is to use blade while you have him alone, and then spam whipfist specials at him when the crowd arrives.. that's the least stressful the fight's been for me, anyway.  Not sure about how many times to hit him before grabbing when he's stunned, but he definitely threw me sooner when I beat him up a bit first.

I tried the tank approach to Elizabeth Greene and multiple times ended up getting blasted into a corner, taking massive damage from the tank's explosion, and then getting hit by something else I couldn't identify and dying.  Other times the tank would get wrecked before I'd even gotten a shot off.  Exactly one time, I kept a tank long enough to attack the main body, and it does great damage there.  The problem is keeping it intact until then..  Maybe hopping in/out of the tank at the right times to make it invulnerable is the way to go, haha.
Anyway, lacking a reliable way to keep a tank in one piece, I did a lot better with the air groundspike graveyard approach, using blade's infinite for damage when Greene became vulnerable (after spending any excess health on groundspike graveyard).

For supreme hunter part two, I used blade again and then threw things at him when he used his devastator.  I have this idea that throwing things from short range will do more damage, but I'm not sure of it.. I know I've done varying damage throwing the same objects at full charge.

Some stuff relating to individual missions:
[spoiler]
"behind the glass" (rescue Elizabeth Greene)
You can get past Gentek security if you disguise as the guy you consume at the end of the previous mission, even though the disguise has the civilian icon.
In the back corner where you find the base commander, he's the only guy who can see you (except if the helicopter is nearby) until he goes past the first detector, so you can just grab him without setting off an alarm - assuming you stand in the corner where the detectors don't see you in order to start the process with an empty disguise bar.

"a new order" (collect genetic material)
Fighting off the military while collecting pickups from the hive isn't necessary on normal.  Plus, since you're not fighting them, there isn't the additional "evade the military" objective at the end.

"under the knife" (locate patient zero)
At the part of the mission where you have to disable Specter tanks for Lim to show, the helicopters have a strange tendency to crash into the uav that appears from the side of the hive opposite the direction you arrive by.  Anybody else have this happen before?  It does make it really easy to steal and abandon the tanks rather than destroy them, since you only have to fire once to take out one uav and that won't raise the alarm.

"the stolen body"
On hard mode, I got to the last wave of guys and got them to all chase me around on the far side of the base while the timer ran down.. seems like the evolved infected will ignore Ragland completely if you hit them hard enough, such as with charged knuckle shockwave.

"the door in the wall" (rescue Dana)
Right when the leader hunter calls his buddies in, if you use tendril barrage immediately, you take out at least three of them.  The others wandered off to bother the military last time I did this mission..  I imagine if you could get all the hunters after you, you could mop up the whole group at once, but it doesn't seem very likely they'll all feel like chasing you together.

"first and last things" (defeating the leader hunter)
The leader hunter is really slow to catch up if you jump on buildings, so for this one I just run directly north until I'm within a few blocks of the abandoned base.
Tendril barrage eats his health, so ideally, enter the battle in critical mass.  I've been using blade for damage otherwise, but I'm not as sure about that as the devastator.

"the first monster" (find Dana again)
At the part of the mission where you have to consume infected carriers, there are two posted outside the base on either side, and there's an alley along the back between them - if you run directly to the base after consuming the first infected carrier in the abandoned base, stealth consuming these four guys will get you the whole connection.

"making the future" (rescue Dana from the core hive)
The end of the previous mission actually puts you closer to mission start here than reloading your file.

"men like gods" (infiltrate Blackwatch)
Blade air slice is pretty good for super soldiers, and in this case you only have to kill one with it anyway since you can wipe out the last wave entirely with one tendril barrage.

"a dream of armageddon" (halt the deployment of bloodtox)
I'm not sure a helicopter is the best solution here.  You have to stop completely to fire with any accuracy, from a position that you can aim rockets at, and even before that you have to locate the helicopter, steal it, and shoot down any others that get near you.
On the other hand, there are plenty of guys armed with missile launchers on the rooftops, and those work pretty well on the bloodtox blowers.

"shock and awe" (destroy the bloodtox production facility)
Perfect place to play with checkpoints.  Steal a tank, destroy filters, quit to checkpoint when you get one, suddenly the military has no idea that you were trashing their stuff a minute ago.

"two tickets" (consume Taggart)
Rather than just keep up with Taggart, you can get ahead of him and start on destroying the tanks that'll be targets when he gets there.
[/spoiler]

Zurreco

2009-09-15 06:10:19 pm

Just call me the cynicism machine

No one seems to be talking about this anymore. Hmm...

Anyways, I just did a rough NG+ on easy and was very close to the 2:20 mark. I'm sure it could be chopped down a lot, but I didn't have any real objectives aside from 'no strike teams' and 'only stealth base infiltrations.' Almost everything Cromarty said applies, although there were a few tricks to add to that.

At the end of the mission where you chase down the agent that blew up your apartment, you get the 'call zone clear' function from one of the troopers. I encountered a glitch where this stuck with me through the next few missions. This meant that infiltrating Gentek was as easy as non-stealth consuming the base commander and calling off the search.

When leading the Leader Hunter to Ragland, sticking to the streets was the best option. I guess I had the perfect ratio of cars in the road to activate short hop -> 2x air dash movements speeds, since the hunter stuck on me the whole time.

The Elizabeth Greene fight was way easier than you guys are making it out to be. I was able to kill her first form in 30 seconds mixing up car throws, air blade slice, and devastator attacks. I never took the time to recharge health like the posted video did. In her second and third forms, I was able to grab a tank about a block away and fire on her non-stop. She never seemed to attack me at all, so the whole fight took about 2-3 minutes total.

The Taggart mission was easy once you realize where his tank squads are. Picking them off ahead of time cuts huge chunks out of the fight. The same concept can be used in the UAV patrols mission. While I was simply using air kick -> air slice to get rid of the patrols, my initial attempt at a speedy playthrough simply hijacked one tank in disguise and destroyed the rest of that patrol before abandoning it. It saves the cost of Hammerfist and Ground Spike.

I'd really like to see someone take the time to do a complete run of this. I would, since I have downtime until the D2 patch, but my laptop runs this very choppy on low settings.

No one seems to be talking about this anymore.  Hmm...

Anyways, I just did a rough NG+ on easy and was very close to the 2:20 mark.  I'm sure it could be chopped down a lot, but I didn't have any real objectives aside from 'no strike teams' and 'only stealth base infiltrations.'  Almost everything Cromarty said applies, although there were a few tricks to add to that.

At the end of the mission where you chase down the agent that blew up your apartment, you get the 'call zone clear' function from one of the troopers.  I encountered a glitch where this stuck with me through the next few missions.  This meant that infiltrating Gentek was as easy as non-stealth consuming the base commander and calling off the search.

When leading the Leader Hunter to Ragland, sticking to the streets was the best option.  I guess I had the perfect ratio of cars in the road to activate short hop -> 2x air dash movements speeds, since the hunter stuck on me the whole time.

The Elizabeth Greene fight was way easier than you guys are making it out to be.  I was able to kill her first form in 30 seconds mixing up car throws, air blade slice, and devastator attacks.  I never took the time to recharge health like the posted video did.  In her second and third forms, I was able to grab a tank about a block away and fire on her non-stop.  She never seemed to attack me at all, so the whole fight took about 2-3 minutes total.

The Taggart mission was easy once you realize where his tank squads are.  Picking them off ahead of time cuts huge chunks out of the fight.  The same concept can be used in the UAV patrols mission.  While I was simply using air kick -> air slice to get rid of the patrols, my initial attempt at a speedy playthrough simply hijacked one tank in disguise and destroyed the rest of that patrol before abandoning it.  It saves the cost of Hammerfist and Ground Spike.

I'd really like to see someone take the time to do a complete run of this.  I would, since I have downtime until the D2 patch, but my laptop runs this very choppy on low settings.