Mission eleven: the Lee Hong Assassination. The war with the Blue Lotus is now in full swing and Lee Hong has retreated into his heavily guarded restaurant and attached mansion. Guarded by a diligent sumo wrestler body-guard, Hong seems all but untouchable until 47 pays a visit. Two captives will be freed in exchange for Hong's life and jade trinket.
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Notes
I tried a different tactic with my narration of this mission and sketched out some notes that I wanted to cover and had it open next to me while talking it through; this has the positive benefit of making the narration a lot better and a lot more focused, however it also highlights just how much I can't say in the time given which is why (like in Mission 10) I realise at the end that I'm running out of time and have to wrap things up. I make a minor few mistakes here and there, the most noteworthy being when I talk about one of the guards and mention that I can't "underestimate" walking that room, I actually mean "overstate" (under versus over). In retrospect I also seem to use the word "mission" a lot at the beginning but when listening, the usage doesn't seem so bad.
Details
Play time: 8:09
Rating: Silent Assassin
Difficulty: Professional
Shots fired: 0
Alerts: 0
I made a promise when doing this mission that whatever safe location the CIA agent relinquished I would attempt to do it; thankfully he gave me one of the three safe locations that I know how to do. I mention in the narration but it's worth mentioning that I've never been able to retrieve the Jade figurine when it's located in Lee Hong's office safe, I have either tried and been shot (a lot) or just restarted. The weapons depot safe is the closes, then the brothel's, then the guard quarters; the brothel involves using the balconies to get into a room which has a locked inner door but an open outer door.
One thing I did want to mention but didn't get the chance is about the prostitute's path-finding during the "escape". While you can more or less forget about her, sometimes she has the bright idea of using the door to her left when 47 is jumping from balcony to balcony; this is a good thing as it means there's no chance of her falling and escaping with the code however I'm unsure as to the criteria which causes her to do this as it only happened a couple of times during my practice runthroughs. The route I take around the balconies is the only way to let her escape as if you take the shorter route (turning right outside the door versus left) then when trying to cross the bridge one of the guards will spot you.
I hide behind some boxes for the wandering Red Dragon guard, however sometimes the timing will be tricky and it is possible to hide near the steps near the outer door, or even just stand still. Like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, he doesn't seem to see you if you stay put although this may only be when he exits during the cut-scene.
It is possible to omit rescuing the prostitute and simply get the safe combination from Lee Hong once you've killed him. In that vein, it is also possible to not free the CIA agent and to take a guess as to where the correct safe is; if playing on easy or normal then saving before opening a safe may be in order. The safe location is chose upon entrance to the level (rather than when you speak to the agent) so saving before speaking to the agent will not choose a different safe location. When running for the kitchen, I take a wrong turn and almost run face first into some Red Dragon guards, but thankfully my reflexes aren't completely dead yet.
When killing Hong, 47 seems to miss with his first fibre wire attempt which is why you see me ineffectually doing a second one, it seemed to be an animation glitch and Lee Hong was in fact dead, he just didn't know it (Fist of the North Star style). I drag the body of Hong around the table which isn't strictly necessary, but I don't like there to be any nasty surprises as I'm sure you're aware of by now. I do mention it but it's worth repeating: Zun takes a shed-load of ammo to kill if you decide to shoot him, even with the M60 it will take a good three or four head shots to take him down.