Deus Ex, collectors

August 23, 2011

Great deal on this, cause I preordered through Amazon. 40 dollars, for the full collector's version. About to play it tonight and then I think at some point during the next month or two it will take me to finish, I'll drop a review.

Yeah, my review-time has gone down (up? It's gotten longer) because I'm incredibly busy these days. I know I've always said that, but now I've added a live-in (and living) girlfriend to the mix, as well as a second job. Also, our film has taken off (even though it's not out yet) and it looks like at some point in the next year I'll be filming in Romania, for a project budgeted at 5 million (and a paycheck over 100k for myself). Not confirmed on all that, yet, but work has begun nonetheless, adding to the ever growing list of responsibilities.

Still, I'd love to get back to reviewing. I miss you guys. I'll drop a line tonight and give you first impressions on Deus Ex.

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honestgamer - August 23, 2011 (09:14 PM)
Glad to hear about the exciting developments in your life. I hope they continue for you!

Genj - August 23, 2011 (09:34 PM)
I didn't even realize I had gotten promotional credit from Amazon for Deus Ex 3 until I read this thread.

Suskie - August 23, 2011 (09:38 PM)
I elected not to run out and buy Human Revolution on day one, which was silly of me, because Invisible War was so great, right??????

honestgamer - August 23, 2011 (09:44 PM)
I understand why you would have waited, but it does really sound like Eidos pulled an unexpected move and fashioned a great sequel. From what I gather, it's pretty much the follow-up that The Invisible War should've been.

Suskie - August 23, 2011 (09:51 PM)
I absolutely want to get it if that's what it is. But I'm waiting for the actual fans (i.e. not the press, who loved IW) to get some serious playtime in and report.

zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (12:04 AM)
I went into Deus Ex: Human Revolution well aware that it has a huge legacy to live up to (not in the second game, but in the first Deus Ex) and very aware of how easily it could (to be blunt) fuck things up... or at least not manage to match the legend. Maybe be a pale shadow of it.

I have not played far tonight, but already I feel like I'm back in the 90's playing the first Deus Ex for the first time. I'm getting that same sense of awe that, yes, the game developers thought the player might want to go through that vent instead of taking on the full room of guys and, yes, they are letting you do that.

It's actually more important in this iteration than ever before; taking on a room full of guys is extremely difficult. But christ it's great when you pull it off.

For example, I had come to a room tonight where five guys were on the floor below me. I was sneaking around on the balconies above them. I got spotted, and made a run for a set of stairs. I found myself, at the top of the stairs at a dead end... an empty room where hostages had been killed...

ooop, slight tangent here: they were dead only because I had taken too long to talk to my boss about what mission he was going to give me... I was exploring the offices of the building- my girlfriend claims I was mostly staring at plants but I was actually getting sidetracked by rumours of theft in the building and playing detective with emails to track down everyone's office codes- and I got a call from my boss that because I'd fucked around for so long (his words) the situation "had gotten worse."

Anyway, I was in this room with dead hostages, looking for a way out, and I found a vent shaft. I went in, went over the room... dropped a flash grenade below me so I wouldn't get shot up- my girlfriend likes to point out that I flashbanged myself, but hell I made it across anyway... through some tunnels, and popped back out of the vents on the bottom floor again.

The guys didn't know where I was and so I headshot one, popped back in the vents and long story short, led them on a constant back and forth chase until I'd whittled down their numbers. The last guy I snuck up on and took out with an elbow bash to the face... followed by a bullet to the face.

The point of that story is that I had to think about how to approach that fight. After the battle, I looked around the room and came up with about five other strategies I could have used to avoid fighting- especially if I'd taken the stealth crossbow at the start of the game, instead of the automatic rifle... sounding familiar?

The game really does mirror the Deus Ex experience, both in design and in the seriousness of the story (at least, so far, the script has pleased me and the atmosphere has been incredible). This time, things have actually stepped up a notch. Deus Ex was all about choice but going back to play the game now, a lot of those choices were really illusion. Here, everything REALLY IS ABOUT CHOICE. There are consequences, this time, to your actions (see the hostages, above) and even little decisions, like turning left down a hallway instead of right, result in a different "demand of approach" in which you have to change your tactical approach to progressing.

I can't comment on how this will all play out, but so far I've been pleased and the game is a lot of fun. Easy to control in that it's very easy to make awesome things happen (whether it's quick headshots or melee take downs), has one of the better cover systems I've seen in a game (makes it hard to go back and play Uncharted 2), the graphics seamlessly match what you're trying to do so that the flow between gameplay and cinematic appeal is never broken, and someone's done their homework on Transhumanism because in the first hour of the game it's already set up the major arguments for and against the movement.

Now I'm just keeping my eyes open for Jacob's Shadow.

zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (12:06 AM)
The other thing I really haven't done justice to above (it's late and I have to work in the morning, so I'm banging this out quick) is that the setting really does blow you away. It's at the level of a valve game, easily, with tons of little details in the environment that make you feel like there are characters who live and move around in this world. It's not just a game setting. It's a world setting and you feel like there are stories to each environment that you'll never know. There's history behind this setting and you can tell someone, somewhere, thought it out. It's quite impressive.

zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (12:08 AM)
Last word: keep in mind this is a first impression. I'll continue to update throughout the week as I play more. Hopefully this isn't a case of "demo syndrome," where the first level is the best of the game. Judging by the complexity they've set up with the amount of augmentations (hey, and the inventory system is back, guys!) I'm assuming that demo syndrome won't be coming into play.

fleinn - August 24, 2011 (03:37 AM)
:) nice. If anyone still isn't convinced.. 1up's review was unusually good. They have a discussion between the reviewers, more or less.

Anyway, Zipp - really happy to hear they've actually put in some reasonably intelligent writing, and tried to make it part of the game-world. That's the one thing I was worried about. That they'd make some kick-ass cutscenes, and then the rest would "feel" like Deus Ex, or some terror-plot like that..

And.. cyberpunk is alive again? :)

Genj - August 24, 2011 (06:52 AM)
I just beat the first boss (it kinda sucked unless throwing barrels around sounds cool to you) so I think I'm nearly finished with Detroit. So far I've enjoyed it, but the game can be pretty frustrating. I'm finding it difficult so far, but I think it's mostly because I don't have a ton of Augmentations yet. For example, I didn't have the Augmentation to control turrets yet, so instead I had to either sneak by a giant room of soldiers or go through a long firefight with them (I opted for the fire fight with a couple of well-placed EMP & frag grenades). I'm noticing you can't soak up a lot of damage but maybe that's because I haven't upgraded up my shielding yet. Too many of these upgrades sound awesome, I need more XP fast. I'm kinda surprised how reliant the direct combat approach is on the cover system so far though.

So far it is better than LA Noire.

zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (07:22 AM)
I enjoy the lack of damage soak, myself; one of my problems with the old Deus Ex was that there was rarely a reason not to firefight. Fighting took care of annoying guards and sneaking was so hard in the first game.

Sneaking here I find much more easier, if still very tactically demanding; and getting into a fight is always a difficult decision because of the ease of dying.

That said, I've set up some incredible death traps for guards and even gotten through firefights with five or six guards without getting hit once, by using cover and popping out to get instant-kill headshots, then taking out the last two guys with instant melee takedowns.

fleinn - August 24, 2011 (12:46 PM)
PCGamerUK review is up.

Good review. But with the usual overly eager reverence for the freedom in the original. Francis has a way of doing things like that. If you read between the lines, it seems we're looking at an impossible feat going on here. A Deus Ex game that looks and plays like a "modern" and polished game. But which still will reward intelligent and clever solutions to problems..

zippdementia - August 31, 2011 (12:15 AM)
A week of gaming later and two things concern me as to the potential for success of this game.

One, the enemy AI is really stupid.

Two, while I'm not a huge Mass Effect fan, I don't believe the combat in this game can live up to its mass effect rival.

Genj - August 31, 2011 (05:37 PM)
I think I'm pretty far in the game but I hit a complete wall thanks to the fact that the current hub area will not load on my most recent saves (left it running for like 10 mins one time, just keeps loading). Since the games tends to save random shit like whether you leave doors open, locations of barrels, etc I'm guessing I did something the game didn't like and now it can't load the area. Thankfully I've got multiple saves so I'll have to redo the boss of the last story mission and just drag my feet through two side quests again. This little hiccup is a shame because it's been a very fun game and I've been glued to it all afternoon, but it looks like Super Mario Galaxy will end up devouring my attention tonight in lieu of replaying stuff I already did.

Also, Zipp is right about the AI - it's really dumb. Sometimes I just pick off guards with my silence handgun, wait for them to inspect the body, pick off another one, and repeat. Worked a lot in Splinter Cell: Conviction too.

WilltheGreat - September 01, 2011 (07:38 PM)
DUDE DUDE DUDE JENSEN HAS A ROOMBA IN HIS OFFICE!

Feedback
	honestgamer - August 23, 2011 (09:14 PM) Glad to hear about the exciting developments in your life. I hope they continue for you!
	Genj - August 23, 2011 (09:34 PM) I didn't even realize I had gotten promotional credit from Amazon for Deus Ex 3 until I read this thread.
	Suskie - August 23, 2011 (09:38 PM) I elected not to run out and buy Human Revolution on day one, which was silly of me, because Invisible War was so great, right??????
	honestgamer - August 23, 2011 (09:44 PM) I understand why you would have waited, but it does really sound like Eidos pulled an unexpected move and fashioned a great sequel. From what I gather, it's pretty much the follow-up that The Invisible War should've been.
	Suskie - August 23, 2011 (09:51 PM) I absolutely want to get it if that's what it is. But I'm waiting for the actual fans (i.e. not the press, who loved IW) to get some serious playtime in and report.
	zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (12:04 AM) I went into Deus Ex: Human Revolution well aware that it has a huge legacy to live up to (not in the second game, but in the first Deus Ex) and very aware of how easily it could (to be blunt) fuck things up... or at least not manage to match the legend. Maybe be a pale shadow of it. I have not played far tonight, but already I feel like I'm back in the 90's playing the first Deus Ex for the first time. I'm getting that same sense of awe that, yes, the game developers thought the player might want to go through that vent instead of taking on the full room of guys and, yes, they are letting you do that. It's actually more important in this iteration than ever before; taking on a room full of guys is extremely difficult. But christ it's great when you pull it off. For example, I had come to a room tonight where five guys were on the floor below me. I was sneaking around on the balconies above them. I got spotted, and made a run for a set of stairs. I found myself, at the top of the stairs at a dead end... an empty room where hostages had been killed... ooop, slight tangent here: they were dead only because I had taken too long to talk to my boss about what mission he was going to give me... I was exploring the offices of the building- my girlfriend claims I was mostly staring at plants but I was actually getting sidetracked by rumours of theft in the building and playing detective with emails to track down everyone's office codes- and I got a call from my boss that because I'd fucked around for so long (his words) the situation "had gotten worse." Anyway, I was in this room with dead hostages, looking for a way out, and I found a vent shaft. I went in, went over the room... dropped a flash grenade below me so I wouldn't get shot up- my girlfriend likes to point out that I flashbanged myself, but hell I made it across anyway... through some tunnels, and popped back out of the vents on the bottom floor again. The guys didn't know where I was and so I headshot one, popped back in the vents and long story short, led them on a constant back and forth chase until I'd whittled down their numbers. The last guy I snuck up on and took out with an elbow bash to the face... followed by a bullet to the face. The point of that story is that I had to think about how to approach that fight. After the battle, I looked around the room and came up with about five other strategies I could have used to avoid fighting- especially if I'd taken the stealth crossbow at the start of the game, instead of the automatic rifle... sounding familiar? The game really does mirror the Deus Ex experience, both in design and in the seriousness of the story (at least, so far, the script has pleased me and the atmosphere has been incredible). This time, things have actually stepped up a notch. Deus Ex was all about choice but going back to play the game now, a lot of those choices were really illusion. Here, everything REALLY IS ABOUT CHOICE. There are consequences, this time, to your actions (see the hostages, above) and even little decisions, like turning left down a hallway instead of right, result in a different "demand of approach" in which you have to change your tactical approach to progressing. I can't comment on how this will all play out, but so far I've been pleased and the game is a lot of fun. Easy to control in that it's very easy to make awesome things happen (whether it's quick headshots or melee take downs), has one of the better cover systems I've seen in a game (makes it hard to go back and play Uncharted 2), the graphics seamlessly match what you're trying to do so that the flow between gameplay and cinematic appeal is never broken, and someone's done their homework on Transhumanism because in the first hour of the game it's already set up the major arguments for and against the movement. Now I'm just keeping my eyes open for Jacob's Shadow.
	zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (12:06 AM) The other thing I really haven't done justice to above (it's late and I have to work in the morning, so I'm banging this out quick) is that the setting really does blow you away. It's at the level of a valve game, easily, with tons of little details in the environment that make you feel like there are characters who live and move around in this world. It's not just a game setting. It's a world setting and you feel like there are stories to each environment that you'll never know. There's history behind this setting and you can tell someone, somewhere, thought it out. It's quite impressive.
	zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (12:08 AM) Last word: keep in mind this is a first impression. I'll continue to update throughout the week as I play more. Hopefully this isn't a case of "demo syndrome," where the first level is the best of the game. Judging by the complexity they've set up with the amount of augmentations (hey, and the inventory system is back, guys!) I'm assuming that demo syndrome won't be coming into play.
	fleinn - August 24, 2011 (03:37 AM) :) nice. If anyone still isn't convinced.. 1up's review was unusually good. They have a discussion between the reviewers, more or less. Anyway, Zipp - really happy to hear they've actually put in some reasonably intelligent writing, and tried to make it part of the game-world. That's the one thing I was worried about. That they'd make some kick-ass cutscenes, and then the rest would "feel" like Deus Ex, or some terror-plot like that.. And.. cyberpunk is alive again? :)
	Genj - August 24, 2011 (06:52 AM) I just beat the first boss (it kinda sucked unless throwing barrels around sounds cool to you) so I think I'm nearly finished with Detroit. So far I've enjoyed it, but the game can be pretty frustrating. I'm finding it difficult so far, but I think it's mostly because I don't have a ton of Augmentations yet. For example, I didn't have the Augmentation to control turrets yet, so instead I had to either sneak by a giant room of soldiers or go through a long firefight with them (I opted for the fire fight with a couple of well-placed EMP & frag grenades). I'm noticing you can't soak up a lot of damage but maybe that's because I haven't upgraded up my shielding yet. Too many of these upgrades sound awesome, I need more XP fast. I'm kinda surprised how reliant the direct combat approach is on the cover system so far though. So far it is better than LA Noire.
	zippdementia - August 24, 2011 (07:22 AM) I enjoy the lack of damage soak, myself; one of my problems with the old Deus Ex was that there was rarely a reason not to firefight. Fighting took care of annoying guards and sneaking was so hard in the first game. Sneaking here I find much more easier, if still very tactically demanding; and getting into a fight is always a difficult decision because of the ease of dying. That said, I've set up some incredible death traps for guards and even gotten through firefights with five or six guards without getting hit once, by using cover and popping out to get instant-kill headshots, then taking out the last two guys with instant melee takedowns.
	fleinn - August 24, 2011 (12:46 PM) PCGamerUK review is up. Good review. But with the usual overly eager reverence for the freedom in the original. Francis has a way of doing things like that. If you read between the lines, it seems we're looking at an impossible feat going on here. A Deus Ex game that looks and plays like a "modern" and polished game. But which still will reward intelligent and clever solutions to problems..
	zippdementia - August 31, 2011 (12:15 AM) A week of gaming later and two things concern me as to the potential for success of this game. One, the enemy AI is really stupid. Two, while I'm not a huge Mass Effect fan, I don't believe the combat in this game can live up to its mass effect rival.
	Genj - August 31, 2011 (05:37 PM) I think I'm pretty far in the game but I hit a complete wall thanks to the fact that the current hub area will not load on my most recent saves (left it running for like 10 mins one time, just keeps loading). Since the games tends to save random shit like whether you leave doors open, locations of barrels, etc I'm guessing I did something the game didn't like and now it can't load the area. Thankfully I've got multiple saves so I'll have to redo the boss of the last story mission and just drag my feet through two side quests again. This little hiccup is a shame because it's been a very fun game and I've been glued to it all afternoon, but it looks like Super Mario Galaxy will end up devouring my attention tonight in lieu of replaying stuff I already did. Also, Zipp is right about the AI - it's really dumb. Sometimes I just pick off guards with my silence handgun, wait for them to inspect the body, pick off another one, and repeat. Worked a lot in Splinter Cell: Conviction too.
	WilltheGreat - September 01, 2011 (07:38 PM) DUDE DUDE DUDE JENSEN HAS A ROOMBA IN HIS OFFICE!

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