🚀 go-pugleaf

Replying to gbayl...@yahoo.com (gbayles) :

>> My impressions so far (I'm currently clearing out a hangar at the
NYC
>> Airport):
>[snip]
>> 2) Story? What story?
>
>You are hardly getting started at this point. What you've been
through
>so far is just a warmup.

If so, it sure is a long warmup. I've passed Hong Kong and am right
now in a superfreighter in NY. That's the seventh 'scene', perhaps 20
hours into the game, roughly half-way according to a game site I
visited, and the story hasn't picked up pace any.

Deus Ex is trailing Half Life in the story & atmosphere department by
about a mile, jockeying for position with relative light-weights such
as Unreal. I don't think I will complete it, I am already losing
interest.

>> 3) Depth? What depth?
>
>Comment again when you've finished the game a few times trying out
>different styles of play.

I've seen, what, three apparent choices in this game so far, e.g.
whether I should kill Lebedev myself or let Wotshername the evil UN
hitgirl kill him; or whether to go out the window from my bro's hotel
room or escort the rushing idiot through the waiting *hordes* of cops
and bots.

I've tested both options whenever practical (but dropped the ball with
brother - to keep him from rushing I went out the window and
eliminated the troops from the outside-in, but when I got back to the
room bro was already gone - presumably he disappeared the second I
left through the window - and I just didn't care enough to replay the
section again) and neither seems to have changed the story
significantly.

Or is 'depth' just deciding on whether to specialize in sniping or
jumping?

>> There's only been one minute plot twist so far, in that the UN
troops
>> have turned out to be evil occupants flying around in black
choppers
>> and releasing gene-tampered viruses on the unsuspecting public,
>
>That's incorrect - investigate some more.

Huh? I assume you mean that it's really Illuminati/MJ12 doing it, but
its the UN who's doing the actual spreading of the virus. In black
choppers. There's been no further plot twist since I switched sides.

Of course, my guess is that the UN will eventually throw out the
corrupt leaders and redeem itself, under the leadership of general
wotshisname, the munitions guy in the liberty island base.

>> The only thing missing now is a What Man Was Not Supposed To Meddle
>> With plot twist, and I can feel one coming on. Other plot items
>> looming overhead is a fight against Hermann the bio-engineered
german;
>> the tragic death of my lawful good brutha; and a fight against
version
>> 2.0 of Me, whose existence has been hinted at in some emails.
>
>It looks like you haven't read any of the strategy guides or
>walkthroughs. If so, good for you! Your speculations inadvertently
>support the premise that Deus Ex has depth in story.

Of the things I suspected were going to happen all but the fight
against v2.0 have now come to pass (although Hermann the German
survived our first encounter, and I avoided our second) - how do you
reckon that indicative of depth?

>> Maps are laid out so that there are always two routes to the goal:
one
>> big freeway lined with gun turrets and enemies, and one air duct
you
>> can crawl in to get through behind the enemies back. Whenever one
runs
>> into heavy resistance, you just have to start looking for that air
>> duct or secret passage.
>
>Deus Ex allows a huge variety in play styles - multiple ways to solve
>most any problem depending on _your_ style. Most reasonable
approaches
>will work. You can go in guns blazing like a Terminator - or ghost
>through maps unseen by your opponents. There's a depth that isn't
>obvious until you've played through a few times.

IMO as a veteran of thousands of deathmatches, there is only one way
of playing Deus Ex: sneaky.

There always exist a heavily guarded highway, but you *can't* go in
guns blazing - your weapons are too weak. Quake-style playing simply
isn't an option when every guard requires two point blank shotgun
blasts to the head to go down ('realistic' my ass!). Sneaking is not
only possible, but necessary and easy, even though it is not my
natural style of play.

Sneaking would be a lot quicker with a decent silenced weapon with a
lot of ammo, but only two of the 'normal' weapons, the sniper rifle
and the pistol, produce one shot kills (on bog-standard guards), and
the sniper rifle is perpetually low on ammo. And the enemies instantly
know where you are even when doing silenced distance kills.

Now, with the dragon tooth one can rush the enemy, but many of them
explode upon death, so killing with a melee weapon is often not a good
idea.

>> So far, ten or so hours into the game, it plays like a much
sneakier,
>> much darker (literally), somewhat prettier, and quite a bit less
>> interesting version of Half-Life, with rather unimpressive weapons
and
>> irritating micro-management of the inventory. 
>
>What do you find irritating? Personally, I think Deus Ex has the best
>inventory system around. Do you realize that _any_ item can be
>assigned to the 9 quick access slots?

Obviously, as the game does that automatically (yes, I know you can
reassign them).
What I mean is things such as that I couldn't pick up the LAW even
though I had nine empty slots in the inventory, and the LAW requires
only four.
Because the LAW requires four _consecutive horizontal_ slots, and
there's no way of knowing just by looking at it.

Every time I want to pick up some new weapon, I have to rearrange my
inventory: "hmm... If I move the crowbar THERE, and then the lam's
THERE, and the hazmat suit THERE, then I get three consecutive
horizontal slots... Hm, no go. Perhaps it requires two by two slots?
If I move...<etc>". That is inventory micro-management, it is no fun,
and is something the game should do automatically.

>> ... The rpg element, the character development, has so far been
purely
>> cosmetic.
>
>Perhaps it seems that way. But, as I said before, you are hardly
>getting started. The most important choices for character development
>are yet to come. You've probably already made a few - initial skills,
>that first augmentation - but haven't played enough to really
>understand how much they matter.

The augmentations haven't really mattered at all so far, not for the
central storyline action. The speed/jump augmentation has allowed me
to reach some 'hidden' extra goodies, the strenght aug has abled me to
lug explosive barrels around to blow up doors and bots, and the remote
probe is like a target seeking EMP grenade - but none of this has been
necessary for the story.

The biggest issue with this game is weapons balancing - many are
either ridiculously underpowered, e.g. the completely useless stealth
pistol, ridiculously overpowered, e.g. the dragon tooth and riot prod,
or ridiculously oversized, e.g. the flame thrower. The playtesters
deserve to be spanked.

Furthermore the sound effects, especially the weapons sound effects,
are deeply unsatisfying. The shotgun sounds like closing a book. And
all weapons except the pistol, the shotgun, and the (weak)
submachinegun suffer from shortage of ammo.
 
The nicest thing about this game, and the chief reason I keep playing,
remains the graphics. At 1280x1024x32 with FSAA it remains clean,
fast, and detailed. Some settings are also nice, frequently both
original and interesting - for instance I definitely get the
impression the designers knew Hong Kong well. And the voice acting
isn't too bad.

But, as I said, I doubt I'll ever finish it: right now it's only
bloody mindedness that keeps me going, 'cause the superfreighter is
BORING to clear out. The story doesn't grip me, and the action doesn't
give me my daily fix of adrenaline. I'll take Half Life or Medal of
Honor: Allied Assault over Deus Ex any day.