mothra on 19/9/2011 at 17:34
I would have liked to play "without" cover but the game forces you to use it if you want to be successful. the maps are just designed that way. what I did not like about the takedown is that I do not have any influence on the action. I do not know which animation will play (kicking, punching, subduing) and I have no influence over where the body will land. if I approach a guard from behind in DX1 and use strength+baton I know excatly how long it will take, where the body will land and how much noise it makes.
And I already listed my positives immediately after I played thru it once, now all those negatives just pile up and prevent me from enjoying more replays. It becomes more and more clear how many of their design choices just flat out work against using different playstyles, how much of the augs are useless, not to speak of the takedown-favoring XP system. And that is just sad since other aspects of the game (detailed hubs, multiple routes) they directly lifted from DX1 translated so well.
Everything else like the ridiculous technology far ahead of DX1, the gold filter, the blatant copying of GITS and Akira, all of that is not that important for me. Maybe next game they can find their own voice instead of just aping others. But they did ape good.
june gloom on 19/9/2011 at 19:06
Regarding the tech far in advance of DX1...
Keep in mind that the endings basically point to a slowing down of technology, largely brought on by a brutal economic crash alluded to in DX1. Hence why fewer people have mech augs in DX1, hence why it took 25 years for nanotech to progress to where it is in DX1.
Keep also in mind that- and Warren Spector himself said this, when an EM dev asked him about it- most of the original game took place in slums and run down areas so it wouldn't be that implausible for all the advanced, existing tech to be largely in the background.
DDL on 19/9/2011 at 19:44
Quote Posted by dethtoll
someone please quote this for mothra's benefit
Regarding the tech far in advance of DX1...
Keep in mind that the endings basically point to a slowing down of technology, largely brought on by a brutal economic crash alluded to in DX1. Hence why fewer people have mech augs in DX1, hence why it took 25 years for nanotech to progress to where it is in DX1.
Keep also in mind that- and Warren Spector himself said this, when an EM dev asked him about it- most of the original game took place in slums and run down areas so it wouldn't be that implausible for all the advanced, existing tech to be largely in the background.
There are still quite a few problems with that, tho: for instance AIs that are substantially in advance of those we see 25 years later, despite the fact that we know that Bob and Morgan (and MJ12 and the illuminati) spend a whole lot of the intervening time developing AI technology...hell, Helios needed Denton because it didn't really understand people, yet 25 years previously we have an AI that not only has a HAWT HOLO IMAGE but understands people well enough to be a fucking news host.
Plus there's no real reason why even in an economic downturn you'd actually get retrograde technology adoption, you'd expect to still have the same (or marginally better) tech 25 years later no matter how fucked the economy was. I mean, shit: we're in a recession now, but in that time we've been through like..4 iterations of the iPad alone. Or possibly the iPhone? Fuck, I can barely keep track.
Anyway, I kinda get around it by just covering my ears and ignoring it. Or..well, treating it as quite cleverly done, well thought out, but not entirely consistent fanfic. It has all the right
stylistic conspiracy elements, even if they don't really make sense in context. Plus hell, at least they tried (which early indications did not necessarily suggest). The dippy neo-renaissance styling was fairly subtle in the end, at least.
june gloom on 19/9/2011 at 21:55
You could always argue that poor people are less likely to carry cell phones.
Can't really say much for the AI, but someone probably could.
Jason Moyer on 19/9/2011 at 23:17
An AI talking head doesn't seem like a stretch to me. I'm sure someone could create one of those right now with current tech if there were any reason to.
The AI showing self-awareness is a bit odd, though. Of course, that could be something the Illuminati don't know about.
june gloom on 19/9/2011 at 23:48
I strongly doubt the Illuminati had any idea; nobody was expecting Helios to turn on Page, for example.
Dia on 21/9/2011 at 00:09
My impressions at the end of all things it all: in general, I loved it. Absolutely HATED the end-level bosses, but really loved the ability to use stealth (which worked most times - not all) and having the option to choose between non-lethal or lethal force. As much as I loved looking at Adam (face it; his character is eye-candy) I felt that there were waaayyy too many cutscenes and because of that, missed opportunities to allow the player to actually play thru those situations which were shown only in the cutscenes. Kinda felt a little robbed on that score. Some of the dialogue during interaction with other characters was pretty lame, as well. Graphics were great; turned out I didn't mind the yellow-gold cast to the game as much as I thought I would when I saw the first previews, but the whole highlighting thing was too in-your-face (just like in TDS). I thought the gameplay was good, until I got to the bosses. Then the whole game sucked for me. I almost quit for good after about the 8th time I tried defeating Namir, but persevered (and am really glad I did).
One thing: I experienced all three endings, but didn't get the achievement for same unlocked. Glitch?
Oh well; now I've got the urge to go back & play DX1. Go figure.
Or maybe I'll just restart DX:HR and disable all the bells & whistles this time. ;)
june gloom on 21/9/2011 at 01:28
There's 4 endings.
Regarding the highlighting, I think it's probably for the best. One thing this game has that the original didn't was large amounts of clutter, and finding useful stuff amidst all the stacks of books and papers and gears and whatnot can be a bit of a pain. Old games were very blocky and so we could reasonably expect stuff to just kinda be sitting out there in the open; the detail of games since then has achieved a level of granularity that we sometimes need help finding what we need.
Weasel on 21/9/2011 at 02:16
Quote Posted by dethtoll
There's 4 endings.
Regarding the highlighting, I think it's probably for the best. One thing this game has that the original didn't was large amounts of clutter, and finding useful stuff amidst all the stacks of books and papers and gears and whatnot can be a bit of a pain. Old games were very blocky and so we could reasonably expect stuff to just kinda be sitting out there in the open; the detail of games since then has achieved a level of granularity that we sometimes need help finding what we need.
I turned the highlighting off pretty early in the game and enjoyed things a lot more after doing that. I actually had to search for things!
Dia on 21/9/2011 at 03:29
Four endings? At the end of the game I noticed there were three consoles, each with a button. There was another button down the hallway - the self-destruct button. However only the left-hand and middle consoles were offered as options; the right-hand console ('communications') had the button that didn't light up & wasn't offered as an option. What'd I do wrong to get only three ending-options?
You're right about the clutter in the game obscuring any useful items with the highlighting turned off, dethy; but it still kind of got on my nerves. I was going to turn off the highlighting (I was too chicken - afraid I'd miss something important) and distance markers, etc., but they actually helped, since I can't follow maps for shit (I'm seriously right/left dyslexic). It sounds as though Weasel enjoyed the no-highlighting challenge and I just might give that a try next time around.
After I get these endings straightened out. :weird:
But I really did like the game. A lot.
