Royal Conservatory Ghost/Clean Hands... uh-oh [RESOLVED]

[deborah]

So, I'm on a Ghost/Clean Hands run, and I just got to the Royal Conservatory. Last time I tried this, there was a bug or something causing at least one death even if everyone was knocked out and safely stowed. Did they fix this bug, or should I zoom straight for the primary goal first then work through the rest after?

Edit: Got through with no kills. Sounds like the bug was probably fixed in one of the patches. My deepest gratitude to chickadeedeedee, GM Pax, NReh, and Blue for providing emotional support and tips during this trying time.

[chickadeedeedee]

I don't know if it's fixed, but I know the most common death bug in that level is the witch ambush in the streets. If you k/o them, they can end up dying when you eliminate Ashworth. I've heard sleep-darting them can avert this, but I recommend avoiding them altogether.

[deborah]

Originally posted by chickadeedeedee:

I don't know if it's fixed, but I know the most common death bug in that level is the witch ambush in the streets. If you k/o them, they can end up dying when you eliminate Ashworth. I've heard sleep-darting them can avert this, but I recommend avoiding them altogether.

Thanks, I'll give that a try if I decide I need to take them off the board.

[GM Pax]

It would be very, very advisable to maintain a rolling series of saves - overwrite NOTHING, until you finish the mission and are sure no-one has died. :)

[deborah]

Originally posted by GM Pax:

It would be very, very advisable to maintain a rolling series of saves - overwrite NOTHING, until you finish the mission and are sure no-one has died. :)

Thanks. but that's not the problem - there's a bug that causes one or more deaths when the non-lethal primary mission goal is acheived (installing the faulty lenses in the oraculum)] no matter how carefully you've put everyone out and made sure their sleeping bodies are safe.

The only save that will likely save you is the one before you nab the first witch because basically you'll want to do the mission without touching them (or possibly any of the others). chickadeedee has one of the potentially correct work-arounds I've heard about. There were a few others folks were working out on their own, but far more painfully tedious than the one chickadeedee mentioned.

The last time I did a Ghost/Clean Hands, I ended up going back to the beginning of the mission and going speed-run style straight to the primary target which doesn't kill any of the witches even though they all get knocked out by putting the lense in the oraculum, then working my way around the map to collect runes, do side quests, etc. Not really satisfying,

[GM Pax]

Yes, I know that. But having some saves to go back to, and try again, without having to do the WHOLE mission over, can at least limit the damage if one of the wtches dies anyway.

[deborah]

@GM Pax - The last time I did this, there were a lot of theories but no solid answers about the bug and how to get around it, including hauling bodies back to the skiff, tracking down who died at the crucial moment, etc. I went back to the beginning of the mission then simply because it was easier than what everyone else was doing. I didn't touch a single person (including guards) until I achieved the goal. Not a great way to play the level. This time I'm taking out the guards and leaving the others... if that doesn't work, I'll do a repeat of the speed-run approach like before. I don't want to have to collect bodies, figure out who died, which save to go back to, sleep dart calculus, etc. I may just say "eff it, everyone dies from here on out."

[NRieh]

I can confirm that turning on the device in 1.3 kept my kill count at 0 ( had 'clean hands' on my mission summary screen too). From what I remember, on my first run it resulted with couple of kills. It's safe to assume that it has been fixed, I think.

[deborah]

Originally posted by NRieh:

I can confirm that turning on the device in 1.3 kept my kill count at 0 ( had 'clean hands' on my mission summary screen too). From what I remember, on my first run it resulted with couple of kills. It's safe to assume that it has been fixed, I think.

Thank you! I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope this ends well :-)

[NRieh]

Originally posted by deborah:

Originally posted by NRieh:

I can confirm that turning on the device in 1.3 kept my kill count at 0 ( had 'clean hands' on my mission summary screen too). From what I remember, on my first run it resulted with couple of kills. It's safe to assume that it has been fixed, I think.

Thank you! I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope this ends well :-)

You're welcome. Don't forget that there's a good chance of burning two witches in the basement (if you throw bottles or fire bolts into the bloodfly nests). It's a good idea to drag them away first. 8P

[Blue]

Didn't have this issue in my non-lethal so I suppose it's fixed? I was leaving unconscious bodies all over the place. Only death issue I had was NPCs running off ledges and falling to their deaths... but it was so funny I couldn't even be mad...

[deborah]

Got through by not touching witches, but it was a little tough. This is the first time Very Hard started to feel difficult because my usual hidey holes near the target were right at the edge of where I could be seen. Luckily, this is a powers run, so I just stopped time to deal with business.

Sounds like they must have fixed it. Next time, I won't worry about knocking some witches out before the end game.

Thank you everyone!

[deborah]

Originally posted by Blue:

Didn't have this issue in my non-lethal so I suppose it's fixed? I was leaving unconscious bodies all over the place. Only death issue I had was NPCs running off ledges and falling to their deaths... but it was so funny I couldn't even be mad...

I'm a peaceable sort of person... but there's something quite entertaining about watching video game characters die in funny and fantastic ways! I'll have to figure out how to get the NPCs to run off of edges.

I did manage to get the Heartbeat Reaper achievement taken care of. It took about 20 tries of luring six of the guards outside the conservatory to the same spot, then trying to grenade/whale oil explode them. Surprisingly, that didn't work, but it was occasionally fun watching bodies fly in all directions. Stopping time and spring razors did the trick, just not as fun or pretty.