Koki on 7/6/2011 at 09:50

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And I didn't even see half of it. I got distracted by an optional quest from a seemingly random hooker which involved doing three different things in three different places.

On a side note, one of these things was convincing a certain guy you're someone he wants. At the end of the warehouse part there's also some convincing going on, and one of the ways into the police station is talking to an old buddy. All in all the "dialogue battles" seem to be integral part of the gameplay which is nice. I sure wished I had that aug which lets you see which dialogue options people want to hear.

Koki on 7/6/2011 at 14:17

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Don't remember any infolink update about her. She did call out to me on the street, that's all.

G_ManX on 7/6/2011 at 19:27

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I'm finding the lack of a regular melee option frustrating, but the rest of the game is very enjoyable.

They've found a good balance between staying true to the first game without too many console concessions (unlike Deus Exbox Invisible War). I think the 'cover' dynamic works really well - very like that in Metal Gear.

Design-wise, it's a treat and I can't wait to see the final polished product. I really like the stylised 'Final Fantasy' take on the characters... and the soundtrack is perfect.

A couple of interesting facts: You can hear some music from the first Deus Ex on some i-pod docks scattered through the environment, and in the Detroit streets there's a woman's scream taken from early in System Shock 2 - when you see (through a window) a woman running from a rumbler.

mothra on 8/6/2011 at 08:37

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no xp for npcs.

killing nets the same xp as silent since you get marksmen if you shoot them in the face. so 30xp for kill or sneak-stun. using explosives/typhoon nets least xp (man down). I like the hub as well, has a very bloodlines feel.
what I don't like is everything 3rd person, it is really jarring and rips you out of the game and the game forces you to use it because of how the AI works. watching the rather mediocre takedown animations gets old quick and it takes away from the tension since the NPCs just ignore you during those sequences. the landing system looks bad as well, especially when you get pushed away by fireescapes/staircases during the fall. Hacking although you already know the keycode gets you more xp than finding the info by exploring. while the game somehow WANTS you to sneak around and be silent (especially the tips during loading screens) their last bossfight encounter throws everything it taught you out of the roof for a really bad, boring: pump everything you have into that guy - arena fight. that destroyed much good will that built up for the game during the first quests.

And Adam Jensen is an unsympathetic self-righteous asshole. Dialogues are bad, especially some of the elaborate ones with megan's mum or haas in the police station. Although I like what they tried to
do with interrogations it does not work out (the social aug is rather bad). the Zeke fight for example gives you another fixed cutscene and then 3 outcomes: kill zeke, let him go, save the hostage (or not).I opted to tranq him right from the start and could not interrogate him later (he was not dead) and missed out on the rather unimportant info he would give you when you talk him out of it.

the 2nd most annoying thing is hacking. Maybe I would play that as its own game for 3 euros in a steam sale but not in here. I think it's rather dull. They could have introduced cyberspace like SystemShock/Dystopia, that would have been interesting but that is just another waterpipe game that gets old very quick.

XP for doing trivial stuff is bad imo. they come across like annoying achievement popups that constantly remind me I am in a game and the dev wanted me to do stuff that way. like "traveller" for using a vent ? YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME

and is it for you as well: that game has so low contrast, everything is hard to recognize for me unless you stand before it. the quickbar icons are really hard to see and the baked lightning is nice but all that orange/gold is just another grey-brown military shooter filter in my eyes. all is so ... milky and fuzzy. soundlevel is low as well. well, beta I guess.

don't get me wrong, I liked that preview build, it is a long time since a "big release" fps-like title gave me that much freedom to do my own thing but there are too many things in there going wrong to give me a complete deus experience. a little like alpha protcol in its failures to "genre-blend" but missing its innovative quest/dialogue structure and quality. AP wins in that regard.

but they found a buyer with that leak. but still, it is not looking good for thief. I can't see any of the brilliance I hoped the studio would display here before tackling thief. the soundtrack is rather dull for example.

PS: biggest amount of crates in a game since ... quake 1 ?

mothra on 8/6/2011 at 10:42

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social aug is just a hud with a meter and some pheromones you can release (they have to match the type of person you are talking too), sounds complicated but it is not.

I did not like xp for just traversing the map in DX1 either. you should get xp for using keycodes as well, rewards during hacking are ok since they are minimal.

You can kill OR stun zeke AND save the hostage when you choose to exit the conversation the very first time. just draw and shoot. one second delay and the hostage dies. or you can talk him out of it, letting him go and leave the hostage or you fail and he runs away and makes it but the hostage dies in the process.

PS: OK, now I pumped 3 emps, 5 concussion, 20 tranqs and 10 shocks into that boss guy and I STILL KILL HIM IN THE CUTSCENE - WTF