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[Jackie Blue]

OK, so I got the GOTY edition of Deus Ex today, since apparently it was made by Jesus himself and I'd be an idiot to miss the nonstop orgasm that this game gives you.

Here's what I don't understand.  It has bugs.  Sometimes I can't unequip my weapon without dropping it on the ground.  Ammo won't stack unless I drop the weapons on the ground and pick them back up.  I restarted the beginning and somehow didn't get the map.

I've looked around and I definitely have the most recently patched version.  It's not a pirated copy, I actually bought it from Direct2Drive.  I can't find any information on how to fix these incredibly annoying bugs.  Or do you just have to deal with them?

[ackblom12]

It might just be D2D. I rebought mine on Steam when it became available and I have never had a problem with it.

Note, the game obviously wasn't made by Jesus. The FSM may have had his noodly appendages involved however. It is much more likely since after all, his noodliness actually existed.

[Storm Rider]

I played Deus Ex a year or two ago and didn't really get what all the fuss was about. Maybe when I get a new AC charger so I can actually use my laptop again I'll download it off Steam and try again.

[KvP]

Don't play Deus Ex on a laptop. The speed gets all out of whack and you have to fiddle with the config file every time you want to boot it up.

In fact, Deus Ex has on an old enough engine (seriously, look at it) that you might get those kinds of glitches with a fairly recent computer.

Deus Ex is revered because it has the best real-time non-poindexter "Action-RPG" system ever implemented and it presents multiple distinct ways of solving problems and playing the game better than any other game of its type and most games in general, whether it be playing as a tech-oriented character, a stealth character or a lethal force-averse character.  And the plot branching is really extensive. If a character dies in Deus Ex and they didn't attack you, it's because you didn't take the steps necessary to save the character.

[ackblom12]

http://www.offtopicproductions.com/hdtp/

Also, that is a mod too keep an eye on. Assuming it ever gets finished, the game will be much less of an eye sore.

My complaints about Dues Ex aren't numerous, but the ones I do have I think affect the gameplay experience. Like the fact it seems odd that you suck so very badly with weapons at the beginning of the game despite being a highly trained secret agent.





*SPOILERS*

Also the fact that you have all 3 ending choices no matter what you did throughout the rest of the game. You're actions had great effect on the game, and in the end they made no difference whatsoever in what happens. That bugged the shit out of me.

*END SPOILERS*

[Jackie Blue]

I started completely over again and strangely enough none of those bugs are happening anymore.  It is a mystery.

Having finished the first mission and messed around a little with the second, all I can say is that the best hope for Fallout 3 is that it's basically like this.  I despise and loathe and piss on the Elder Scrolls games, especially since they SHOULD be great but somehow manage to be incredibly boring and overly complex while AT THE SAME TIME being stupidly simple.

[KvP]

I think that can be attributable to, if not the fact that Bethesda doesn't have very good writers, the fact that the ES universe seems to be designed for "family friendliness". There's no edge to the setting at all, and most of the "characters" have the desires and personalities of 7-year olds. Fallout 3 is being designed primarily by the guy who created the Dark Brotherhood questline from Oblivion, which was far and away the best thing about Oblivion, though that ain't saying much. Fallout 3 being akin to Deus Ex is certainly a welcome idea.

[Jackie Blue]

Plus the fact that they seem to have put more effort into making a realistic furniture-throwing simulator than an interesting story.  "Please, save my castle!"  "Please, free my people!"

Not to mention the sheer generic nature of the world.  They should have just called Oblivion "14th Century: The Simulator".

[Johnny C]

So I'm guessing you like Deus Ex then, Zerodrone?

I don't have a problem with the three choices at the end, honestly. Rigging up a bunch of different endings which are contingent on my actions isn't wholly necessary in order for me to feel like my decisions had an impact; instead, what's necessary is for me to feel that my actions have genuine consequences in the world, which Deus Ex completely and utterly conveys. Everyone moans about the three endings in Bioshock not being really emergent gameplay, but since when was the end of the game supposed to be emergent? If the designers give you the freedom to do what you want in the game world, isn't that what's really important?

[Inlander]

My problem with Deus Ex, and the thing that stops it being a great game for me, is the fact that the protagonist is so utterly, unrelentingly, ball-numbingly humourless. I mean, game designers: you've invited me to a party, and you've told me it's going to be the most epic party ever, and how there's gonna be so much cool stuff going on, and then you've told me that I have to spend the entire evening hanging out with the designated driver?* What the fuck!








*Questionable Content Forum supports the designated driver program.

[Johnny C]

His voice never rises above a monotone rumble, yeah.

[Jackie Blue]

I kind of like JC's voice acting.  He reminds me of a private eye in a 50s film noir flick.

"Paris.  I'll always remember Paris.  The streets were filled with dead roses, reminders of her.  Yeah, her.  Never got her name.  The drugs helped, but when they wore off there she was again.  Like a ghost in the back of my mind.  Haunting me from before the grave.  I should have shot her when I had the chance.  Love makes people do stupid things."

I'm going to go play it some more now.

I'm kind of pissed I didn't bring along a candy bar to give to the hungry kid.  Inventory management is a major bitch when you pick the rocket launcher at the beginning.  But seriously, "You can have this little crossbow, a sniper rifle, or a FUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER."  That's a no-brainer.

[Inlander]

His voice never rises above a monotone rumble, yeah.

A painfully earnest monotone rumble.

[Narr]

I'm kind of pissed I didn't bring along a candy bar to give to the hungry kid.  Inventory management is a major bitch when you pick the rocket launcher at the beginning.  But seriously, "You can have this little crossbow, a sniper rifle, or a FUCKING ROCKET LAUNCHER."  That's a no-brainer.

Not only that, they fail to mention that there's a sniper milling around behind the statue with a 30.06 rifle and all sorts of guys in the first area have crossbows equipped.

Anyway, I also recently got the game through Steam simply because of the discussion about it in the other thread.  I'm enjoying myself.  Personally, I think the fact that JC Denton is completely and totally humorless is awesome.  He's either super-cop or a remorseless killing machine.  The only complaint I have is the nonsensical default control scheme.  I remember back when it was released how I had to change just about every single button in order to make it playable.  Zoom in with a scope = one of the bracket buttons while you're supposed to be driving yourself with WASD?  "right."

[Jackie Blue]

Remapping "zoom" was one of the first things I did.

I'm in the third mission now.  The way combat is handled reminds me more of the first two Syphon Filter games than any FPS.  I really don't like FPS games and I'm actually glad that it's basically impossible to just run up to five guys and start blasting away without being utterly destroyed.

Unless they're all standing close together, in which case, ROCKET LAUNCHER.

[Narr]

http://www.it-he.org/deus.htm

I figured you guys that have played Deus Ex would get a kick out of this, and even if you've never heard of the game you'll likely laugh your ass off at some parts.  This is truly the way to play.

[KvP]

If you're not opposed to playing a modded game Shifter is pretty good, and adds a few things that wouldn't have been unwelcome in the initial release (xp for kills, better xp for incapacitation, useful biomod alterations, etc.) as well as the HDTP mod that was posted in the other thread.

[Jackie Blue]

Shifter sounds interesing, I'll try it after I finish my first playthrough maybe.

One thing that bothered me is the total lack of choice in a certain part.

See, at the end of that one mission, you can choose to assassinate your target, assassinate your partner, or do neither.  This implied choice.

THE VERY NEXT MISSION, you're forced to automatically believe everything Paul tells you and do what he wants you to, with not really any evidence other than "HE IS NOT HEAVY, HE IS MY BROTHER".

[KvP]

Deus Ex isn't a game in which you're allowed to side with the bad guys, at least through the meat of the game. By the time you go to Hell's Kitchen for the second time (provided you did certain things, like drop in on Walton Simons' interrogations at UNATCO) you should have figured out that UNATCO and FEMA are not what they appear to be. At the point at which Manderley tells you that they're assassinating Paul via remote and that he'll do the same to you should you step out of line, you should have an imperative feeling to save Paul and yourself.

And as far as Lebedev goes, there is a choice there, and it affects things in a small way. If you kill Anna (who's not really your "partner" and is obviously a loose cannon preparing to kill an unarmed prisoner) you won't have to kill her down the road, and you get Lebedev to fill you in on some things. If you did Smuggler's mission in the NYC sewers, things will start to make a modicum of sense, and you'll be further motivated to break away from UNATCO. If you kill Lebedev, Paul will be pissed but Manderley will be overjoyed and give you a bonus, which should also tip you off to UNATCO being corrupt. If you don't do anything, Anna offs Lebedev and nothing special happens.

And as far as believing what Paul tells you, at this point in the game you should be questioning everything and Paul looks to be the only character that seems forthright.

 - Sort of spoilers follow -

The plot of this game is based around an amalgam of conspiracy theories, in a setting in which they are all true. There are a number of organizations that come up that you could google and learn about all the crazy shit people actually think is true. Much of it is anti-semitic, although that element's been removed in the game.

[Jackie Blue]

Oh, I know all about the conspiracy theories in the game, it's one of the reasons I'm enjoying it.

And yeah, I know there was reason to believe UNATCO was corrupt, but it seemed like you were being given the option of being a cold-blooded killing machine and not really giving a fuck.  I tried to shoot Paul in the back after he ran up to me in the hangar.

I feel like the game is being really cruel.  Granted, I'm not great at FPS games in general, but you get so few good weapons (and you can't carry them all because of the damn inventory management) and are so seriously outgunned that some sections are just annoying.  Like pretty much the entire Majestic 12 lab, which would suck completely if there weren't Medbots all over the place.

Speaking of which, I wish they'd make a sequel to Majestic.  That was pretty much the only ARG I've played that was actually good.  All the homebrew ARGs seem to rely too much on "puzzles" instead of doing research and logically figuring out a plot.  The first time I got a phonecall from the Majestic game, my girlfriend answered it and it scared the hell out of her.

[KvP]

Did you keep the Dragon's Tooth? That thing is nigh-unstoppable.

Aside from the sniper rifle, I didn't think the rifle weapons are useful at all. Shotguns aren't as powerful as they should be, and assault rifles are weak and require at least 2 or 3 recoil mods to function properly. It's perfectly adequate to go with a heavily modded pistol throughout the bulk of the game. The sequel was actually a lot worse in this respect, due to the universal ammo system.

[KharBevNor]

I disagree. Both the assault rifle and combat shotgun are very handy for the aggressive player, especially with the alternative ammunition. By the end of Hong Kong I normally have a load-out of weapons something like this:

Prod. Baton. Dart Crossbow (Scope). Assault Rifle (Silenced). Sniper Rifle (Silenced). Dragons Tooth. Stealth Pistol.

Also a rotating back-up arsenal of ps20's, LAMs, gas and EMP grenades, and pepper spray. I really find the pepper spray useful earlier in the game. You'd think sometimes, with the scarcity of prod and crossbow ammo, that the game almost wants you to kill...but when going for a pacifist run (probably the 'purest' way of playing Deus Ex) pepper spray and the baton work wonders. One thing I only discovered after a few plays is that if you have the strength augs activated the baton can take down even quite significant foes with only one hit. That said, what I normally do is show mercy to NSF and Unatco personnel, and blast the everliving shit out of anything with an MJ12 logo or sunglasses. This is mainly because I have never managed to get past the prison level without killing anyone on any difficulty except easy, and even on easy I have only ever made it to the second Versalife level (though I did of course kill Anna Nevarre. There is actually a way of cheating your way round killing her by LAM climbing over the balcony in the Unatco HQ, thus avoiding trigger areas, and making her panic and run away through the door by throwing a LAM at her. The door is then open without killing her. Seriously though, way too much effort.) I wouldn't put this down to a lack of skill on my part so much as the fact that I find sneak-em-up play immensely tedious. Plus, of course, if you take the pacifist route, you don't get to use the dragons tooth, which is nigh unthinkable.

[Narr]

Oh man, you guys don't abuse Boom, do you?

Deus Ex isn't a particularly difficult game, once you realize there are LOTS of explosive boxes and barrels strewn about the game for no particular reason other than for you to use to blow up doors or better yet, people.  Seriously, go read that it-he article I linked to earlier.  I'm doing that style playthrough right now and it's a riot.

I also don't have any problem with any of the weapons.  After you get around 90% accuracy with any weapon whether it be from skill in the gun type to mods you've put on it, headshots work.  End of story.  A regular 10mm pistol with an attachable scope and silencer is PROBABLY the best weapon possible, in my opinion, due to the copious amounts of ammunition you get for it and it's ability to let you kill unseen, unheard, and quickly.  I will agree that shotguns in general are kind of half-assed, but that never really bothered me.

As for Deus Ex 2, I don't think the game is BAD, per se, it's just not a sequel to Deus Ex in anything other than plot.  If you look at it from the perspective of it just being a first person shooter, I actually enjoy it.  The guy that runs Playithardcore.com made a series of videos where he killed literally everyone in the entire game you can get away with killing, it starts with this one right here and you can find the rest of them if you click the user and go towards the earlier videos posted (there are 8 in total).  There are some hilarious moments when he abuses poison barrels and explosive boxes later on.  I personally couldn't stop laughing when he killed the gay guys inside the bar by taking a shotgun to their face.

[Jackie Blue]

Oh no, I've been abusing the Hell out of the rocket launcher.  Probably 75% of all my kills have been with a silenced sniper rifle or rocket launcher.  And now that I have the Dragon Tooth, well, things have become noticably less difficult.  The only annoying things are exploding MIB's and guys with plasma rifles.

I was sorely disappointed when I hired the prostitute in Lucky Money and didn't get to see JC bust a move on the dancefloor with her.  Instead she just followed me around EVERYWHERE and kept saying "Time's up!" and "No customer two times!"

I eventually shot her in the face.

[Inlander]

You can also use your mods as an offensive weapon, making some fights significantly easier. In particular I'm thinking of the early warning system thingummy: max it out, turn it on, then go and stand in front of the super-augmented rocket-and-machine-gun guys. You know, the ones that look like they've got big fluffy wings instead of arms. If they're far enough away from you they'll start firing rockets at you, but your early warning system thingummy will detonate the rockets almost the instant they're fired. So you can kill all of those guys with their own rockets, which is good because they can take a fuckload of damage if you're trying to shoot them to death (as I recall).

[KvP]

That's a smart idea. I usually just turn on my Class IV Legs and pull out the Dragon's Tooth (with low-tech weapons set to "advanced") and clean out a room in less than 10 seconds.

I'm playing through with Shifter and am finding out new and delightful things as I go along. You get a big xp bonus every time you manage to kill something by walking on it. 10 xp for cats, 45 xp for the little cleaning robots. It also makes the mods a lot more useful. For example, instead of having to choose between greater lifting strength and greater melee damage with the arm mod, which isn't much of a choice at all, lifting and melee strength are combined and the second choice adds EMP damage to melee attacks (so you can disable robots and electronics with your low-tech weapons) So you have two useful options instead of just one.