Blackjack on 24/11/2003 at 11:34
I know there's a (
http://www.petitiononline.com/DXIWDemo/petition.html) petition, but it'd be interesting to know the relative proportions of opinions of the DX:IW demo.
I'm still playing it, and I'll play it a few times before voting, but I'm not happy thus far.
Z on 24/11/2003 at 14:15
I'm not happy, but as I have said previously, I think this demo suffers most from bad QA and a lack of optimisation. It is my belief that had the demo been released with better controls, fixed movement speed, tweaked damaged values, more stable graphics etc. it would have been better received, although still controversial.
And of the dumbed down elements of the game, only two - lack of leaning and the computer/electronics interface - really bother me. I hated the Skill system and was glad to see it go, and the unified ammo and lack of reloading do not seem to affect me at all. *shrug*
My ideal situation now would be for them to release the XBox version (which I won't be playing, and which will probably sell better anyway) but delay the PC version for a month or so to fix the interface and control problems, improve the efficiency and performance of the engine, and suchlike.
Z
Amorpheus on 24/11/2003 at 14:45
Average. I like it and think the game should be very good, but there are issues with it - they have apparently not spent enough time setting up the demo for PC. Then there are some gameplay things that can be taken care of rather easily. Most importantly, though, the demo gives no idea of story, actual scope of the areas, and especially character customization. Releasing the very start of the game as demo would probably have been better, and even make sense since they gave us the actual intro as well.
aville on 24/11/2003 at 19:38
Ditto me. Average because i've been trying to play as Alex Thief and can't even lean for example. Not to mention the AI. IMO it just doesn't give away the air of supremacy, of difference that the first game did.
Uncia on 24/11/2003 at 19:47
Hm? What's wrong with the AI?
With Amorpheus on the demo placement; we're thrown in the middle of something we don't understand, which makes the first play through it iffy. Also, that Chinese woman annoyed me to no ends; like Tracer Tong wasn't bad enough. :p
TheDorkProject on 24/11/2003 at 20:19
I went with "average"
It's quite clear that the XBox has seriously tainted the Deus Ex series, and will no doubt be doing the same to Thief to some degree (hopefully a lesser degree)
This is what I had feared long ago, and it's rather sad to see it actualized. Perhaps not to as heinous a degree as I had feared at times, but nonetheless it's still pretty lame.
There are good things about it, like the main menu music. I actually kind of like the interface to some degree, but I would greatly prefer one like the first game had. I really only like the current interface in that it is "snazzy" in appearance. But it's too limiting!
Ion Storm set about the task of pulling the wool over our eyes quite some time ago, trying to retroactively convince us that we hated all these things about the first game, which we never did hate at all. Some of which, we loved. Others, we took for granted because they were standard to all games.
They even tried to make larger maps sound like a bad thing! Riiiight.
Deus Ex 1 was awesome, through and through. Was it perfect? 'course not, but DX:IW does not seem to shape up as an improvement, in any realm other than graphics (and in some ways even those is less impressive than the first game)
Yes, Deus Ex as a series has clearly caught a bad case of XBox-itis. A true shame indeed.
See, if they'd made it for PC first and foremost like they should have, they wouldn't have done all this stupid crap. They could've then PORTED it to XBOX and whatever other consoles of the moment they felt inclined to, and dumbed down stuff as needed.
Unfortunately this dual/symeltaneous development philosophy appears to have resulted in the PC product being dragged down to the level of the console product, and I have little hope that it will ever claw it's way back up to the standard of the first game.
What I would like to know is, how many copies has Deus Ex 1 sold on PC? and how many on PS2? And which set of sales justified making a sequel at all? Or did the first game's sales NOT justify a sequel? And that is why there has been such drastic change, in platform and mechanics?
Ion Storm could take some good lessons from Bethesda. They did things properly with Morrowind. They kept the focus on the PC version, because that's the platform the series ****ing started on, guys. Yet, they also managed to keep a good degree of focus on the XBox version, and release it very near in time to the PC version. Both versions were well received, sold well... and got great reviews.
Maybe it's inevitable that one platform's version will suffer whenever you do two, maybe if they'd kept the focus primarily on the PC version the XBox version would've suffered. Maybe the XBox version of Morrowind kind of suffered.
Well, if one version must suffer... shouldn't it be the one for a transitory console that will be forgotten all too soon? And not the version for the eternal PC, the very platform the series started on?
Yet, the PC version is clearly the one that has suffered here. That is messed up.
JonahFalcon on 24/11/2003 at 20:24
"Seriously tainted"?
How much you want to bet that 10 hours in, you'll adore the interface?
I'm far more used to the new interface than the old one - a lot less headaches, too -- especially since
"V" - inventory
"B" - biomods
"N" - notes, images, etc
is very easy to learn.
You still have the 6 quick slots, and you can now, if you desire, have a GEP gun AND a flamethrower, etc without sacrificing items like health packs.
TheDorkProject on 24/11/2003 at 20:29
Quote:
How much you want to bet that 10 hours in, you'll adore the interface?
How much
you want to bet that 10 seconds from now, my fist will enter your face? :cheeky:
I really don't know what was wrong with the interface from the first game, I never had any problem with it. Was it complex? Yea... so was the one in System Shock 2, which was an even better game than Deus Ex in many, many ways.
Complex, but not confusing... I didn't think. Complexity is a necessity for depth of experience. It's quite clear that the motivating factor in the interface's drastic change, was making it accessible for console-ites with their little controllers. Not any legitimate problem with the interface from the first Deus Ex.
Morte on 24/11/2003 at 21:13
Quote:
Complexity is a necessity for depth of experience.
Rubbish. Slamming a couple of extra interace screens and fiddly bits in there doesn't make the experience any 'deeper'.
jay pettitt on 24/11/2003 at 22:01
there are tried and trusted conventions regarding how we use the mouse and keyboard and regarding consistency in UI design. Dx:IW breaks the rules because Xbox users don't use keyboards or mice. The result is the confusing mess for PC gamers that everybody has been complaining about. The budget must have been really tight If the couldn't stretch to a slight UI redesign for the PC version. Whats that? The budget was million$ you say? oh.
Some things to like in the demo.
Some things to loathe in the demo.
Lots of things to not be sure about in the demo.
