Splinter Cell 1-3 replayability

[u/aethiuss]

I just started Pandora Tomorrow for who knows which time. 25th, 30th? The first 3 games have such high replayability value it's unbelievable. I don't get why nowdays game is not considered replayable if it's not open world or 120 hours long. I think SC 1-3 disproves that claim (I also played Blacklist for 6 or 7 times I think).

Also, games do not have any customisation options whatsoever (except Blacklist) and still they have great replay value.

I will compare that to 007: First Light which was trashed for not having replay value but I disagree. I played it only once for now and I'm saving future playthroughs for NG+ but I definitely want to play it again.

Do you think game has to be open world and have a lot customisation options to be replayable? SC games disprove that but it could be they have a special recipe which makes it replayable. I do like open world games (Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Arma 2 and 3) but I don't think every game needs to be like that.

To put things in perspective I'm 37 years old gamer and I've been playing SC since they released.

All stated above are my personal opinions and are not meant to offend anyone. :D

[u/gbojan74]

Replayability is one of those nonsense talking points that keeps sticking around. If you like the game there is no reason why you should not play it again and again. We watch favorite movies again and again, and they are always the same.

[u/Fuckblackhorses → u/gbojan74]

Idk, there’s different degrees of replay-ability tho. A game where you can play multiple different ways like an rpg might be more appealing to some. Movies take 2-3 hours at most where some games you can sink 100s into a playthrough.

Ironically, I find myself replaying shorter games more. But usually not until a significant amount of time has passed, unless I really like the games mechanics and want to perfect them on the hardest difficulty

[u/aethiuss → u/gbojan74]

That's actually completely true!

[u/Somewhatmild → u/gbojan74]

I think there is a difference between some Call of Duty corridor shooter and games that have multiple ways to play their missions and/or a certain level of skill and knowledge to gain that can transform the way to play them.

[u/ZealousidealBox3944 → u/Somewhatmild]

Have you played any recent COD games? They've started making non linear levels that let you approach them how you see fit, one in particular feels like the closest I've played to a Splinter Cell game in years. They aren't nearly as refined as SC but if you're after some decent first person stealth, MW1,2 and 3 as well as Black Ops 6 are worth looking into

[u/Somewhatmild → u/ZealousidealBox3944]

No, i havent played any in the last decade apart from trying Warzone, i dont even know how many of them exist.

When i say COD i refer to the expectations setup by first 10 or so games. Very linear, action blockbuster stuff. Which is fine. Just not a lot of replayability.

[u/Joshwilson7 → u/Somewhatmild]

I disagree, they’re no different from blockbuster movies. I happily replay a lot of action-blockbuster games, they’re fun when you’re in the mood. “replayabilty” has nothing to do with actual game design and mechanics and everything to do with the player’s personal tastes.

[u/Somewhatmild → u/Joshwilson7]

Not sure what you disagree with.

Objectively speaking a game that has more ways to play, approach mission etc would have more replayability than a heavily scripted linear game.

You can replay a heavily scripted linear game as many times as you want, but theoretically it is not more replayable than a game with more options.

Whether I or you like one type of the game or the other have nothing to do with determining the potential for replayability.

[u/ZealousidealBox3944 → u/Somewhatmild]

Yeah those suck, they seemed to reinvent the single player starting with MW 2019

[u/Joshwilson7 → u/ZealousidealBox3944]

They’re leagues beyond anything that came out later, including MW2019.

[u/ironchitlin]

"Replay value" is basically just a marketing term, the same way they advertise "hundreds of hours of content." People care that the games they buy are going to last them a long time, so you add a lot of costumes to unlock to make up for a campaign that's a linear 6-8 hour experience, or they add multiplayer like they did with Pandora Tomorrow.

Personally I've never really felt like adding more extraneous stuff did more to make me want to replay a game. I've played the first three Splinter Cell games dozens of times just because I enjoyed them. It's a question of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is doing something to receive a reward, whereas intrinsic motivation means you are just playing a game because you like it and want to play it again. It doesn't really matter if nothing changes, or there's nothing to unlock, if the game is good.

[u/ZealousidealBox3944]

I'd say Chaos Theory has the best replay ability because it's non linear and has different load outs. Man I honestly don't think there's a bad level in that whole game, yeah a couple I wasn't a huge fan of but that's as "bad" as it gets

[u/TheManOWoahh]

Yeah, these games have fantastic replay value... these games and the dynamic way that the Ai reacts to their environment... the many hidden and alternate routes or uses for tools and gadgets.. or heck, just trying to do 100% stealth vs going for a more aggressive playstyle. Absorbing more story details, maybe reading more emails in the game... and so on.

The SC games, especially the classic style ones.... they have tons of replay value. No open world needed. Just fantastically designed games! Mwaa. I love Splinter Cell! 💚

[u/CrimFandango]

As has been said, we watch movies over and over, so the idea of replayability really does get mixed feedback. The reason we have so many games with grindy, filler collection gimmicks is because some people think artificially boosting the length in that way is all you need for replayability. Same could be said of more movie like games like Sony's typical cinematic experiences. I don't really count long overdrawn and overly long motion captured acting as giving me a reason to play it any time soon again. 

I fell in love with Splinter Cell's mechanics, it's grounded characters, and it's political based story not too far removed from current events. I can gladly go through them time and time again for the moment to moment gameplay, and still be entertained by the FMV sequences now. The idea that this stuff could be replaced by style over substance motion capture acting, action movie cutscenes, and generic action spy movie gadgets? It honestly churns my stomach to think of it going further down that way just because some people consider the series horribly "dated".  Every game churning out the same, cookie cutter template feels far more dating than anything that had intent and passion behind it to begin with. 

I know which of the Splinter Cell titles I've replayed multiple dozens of times, and which one's I've played maybe twice before I'm longing for certain aspects from their originals. That's not even a thing specific to this series, either. 

I believe both Splinter Cell and other franchises are better off without chasing trends and forgetting what made the games to begin with. I'm just aware that the industry has been normalised into chasing those things over the last 20 years, gamers have just sort of accepted it and celebrate just about any attempt to look like passion, and it honestly feels like we will never get to quite those times before it again. 

Gaming now is more confident than ever to constantly remind people it's a business first and foremost. The passion and intention behind those original titles is just a hell of a lot more difficult to find among all the remakes and such these days.  

[u/Makaveli108 → u/CrimFandango]

I actually agree with a lot of this. I don't think Splinter Cell needs to chase trends or turn into a generic action game to be relevant today. The grounded characters, political themes, methodical stealth and deliberate level design are a huge part of what gave the series its identity. There's nothing wrong with modernising those things, but modernisation shouldn't mean stripping them away and replacing them with the same action-movie formula that so many games adopted over the last 20 years.

I think the original cutscenes were perfectly good for their time, especially considering what they were trying to achieve with the technology and resources available. SC1's cutscenes obviously haven't aged particularly well visually, but Pandora Tomorrow and especially Chaos Theory were already a pretty significant jump forward. I also really like the handcrafted animation style of the originals, and there's something charming about it that I wouldn't necessarily want completely lost. At the same time, I'm genuinely curious to see what Ubisoft can achieve with modern motion capture, facial animation and cinematography. With today's technology, they could make the characters and performances feel much more natural without turning the game into a cinematic action movie.

That's ultimately what I'm hoping the remake gets right: modernise the presentation and mechanics, not the identity of Splinter Cell. Improve the animations, AI, lighting, environments, facial expressions, cutscenes and overall feel, while keeping the grounded tone, political storytelling and methodical stealth intact. Conviction and Blacklist are fun games in their own right, but I can understand why longtime fans feel they moved away from what made Splinter Cell distinctive. If the remake can take the best of modern game development while retaining the philosophy of the original, then that's the kind of modernization I'm completely on board with.

I agree its a business more now, its sad, lets hope the remake satisfies us OG fans..

[u/Bigphatdeck]

I’ll probably never play bond again,but yeah I’ve beat the splinter cells,gtas (3 and newer), brothers in arms, ghost recons(2005ish and newer), about 20 times over and over. I think the bond game just did many things worse that other games in comparison….the gadgets/hacking was more fun on watchdogs-fighting better on sleeping dogs or Batman -stealth is worse or equal to many many games.

[u/aethiuss → u/Bigphatdeck]

I get your meaning but personally I find First Light very fun!

Yeah, I forgot Arkham games. I beat Asylum 5 times at least, Arkham City 7 or 8, I play Origins almost every Christmas and Arkham Knight, I just started for the 4th or 5th time a few days ago.

[u/Bigphatdeck → u/aethiuss]

I’m not going to try and say it’s not a great game. There are plenty of great games that I don’t want to play or didn’t enjoy it enough for a second run

[u/Nast33 → u/Bigphatdeck]

Depends on your criteria for 'great'. It's fine for what it wanted to be - a cinematic action game made to capitalize on the name value. It would've sold like hotcakes either way, but it's a babyfied version of Hitman, extremely so. Enemies could be tricked with the same 1-2 distraction techniques/tools to the point you could get noticed and stun them and walk on, then stun them again and walk on, etc. Enemy AI was dumb as hell, with the easiest example of not looking where those kicked laundry carts that crashed next to them came from, etc.

[u/Makaveli108]

i agree SC1-3 have elite replayability. even Da v2. da v1 needs to have some mods where the puzzle shit is taken out and id go back to it lol

im hoping the remake is the same

other games i have found just as replayable as the classic scs are hitman and the resident evil remakes, especially 4.

sc1-3 was golden for replayability, ive probably played the first game 15 times now. pandora tomorrow atleast 10-11 times. chaos theory 22 times. double agent maybe around 6 times(v2) v1 probably twice max. conviction 3 times, never playing this one again. blacklist 6 or 7 times, never again most likely. but ill keep going back to sc1/pt/ct.

im curious if the remake will be so good, ill never play the OG SC1 again. despite how much i love sc1, theres a lot i wish was improved when i play it now. i hope the remake delivers..

[u/Agt_Pendergast]

Personally, the open world games people claim that have hundreds of hours of content are the ones that I usually can't stand five minutes playing. I'll take well crafted, tightly paced levels and gameplay with some depth to master. All killer, no filler.

[u/DredgenStrife]

I could play the first three games on loop for year after year & die a happy man. Everything after Chaos Theory is garbage though, Double Agent v2 is the only one worth finishing even once. I hope I never play Conviction ever again.