Jashin on 8/10/2006 at 22:09
I think that even though Deus Ex has this "multiple approach" philosophy to project design, I'm particularly taken to a sequence of bio-augs, weapons+mods, and play style.
In my case: I prefer the sniper rifle to any other weapons in the game for its ideal range and stopping power. In every playthrough I'd put most, if not all the weapon mods into the sniper rifle (recoil suppression, laser sight, expanded clip, accelerated reload). My sniper rifle would typically have a 12-round clip (12 is a nice number ;) ) with everything enhanced, and a pair binoculars handy. Though a bit of overkill, sometimes I'd even install the targetting aug.
As for play style, I'm a combination of stealth, stealth by knock-out and lethal force, with stealth being the preferance. I sneak, but dispise being a sitting duck when detected. I'd much rather have the speed aug so I could run away (with style I'd add) rather than the run silent aug and take dirt naps for it. My non-lethal weapons would typically be on the left end of the tool bar, and my binocular+sniper rifle on the right end for easy access :thumb:
In the most recent playthrough, I kept the buckshot for its anti-armor sabot. I think that's the only deviation from my usual. I also saved all the zyme for a big payoff in Paris with the intention of killing the dealer after that :cheeky:
HamburgerBoy on 9/10/2006 at 00:40
Mine isn't nearly as complex. I just give the sniper and the pistol a 50/50 split on upgrades until the I get the Dragon's Tooth Sword. Then it's mostly melee combat with the help of L4 Speed Enhancement, L4 Regeneration, and L1< Ballistic Protection to let me clear out squads in seconds.
ZylonBane on 9/10/2006 at 01:03
Quote Posted by Jashin
In my case: I prefer the sniper rifle to any other weapons in the game for its ideal range and stopping power. In every playthrough I'd put most, if not all the weapon mods into the sniper rifle
That's a waste. If you dump all your upgrades into the pistol, you end up with basically a sniper pistol that has a heck of a lot more ammo available.
Jashin on 9/10/2006 at 02:28
Quote Posted by HamburgerBoy
Mine isn't nearly as complex. I just give the sniper and the pistol a 50/50 split on upgrades until the I get the Dragon's Tooth Sword. Then it's mostly melee combat with the help of L4 Speed Enhancement, L4 Regeneration, and L1< Ballistic Protection to let me clear out squads in seconds.
The reason I sneak is that I think it's cleaner, an overall "better orchestrated" performance, and it's cuts down on the hassle. Dragontooth is my panic weapon though, if I'm ever discovered and the enemy charges around the corner to get me :p
It's quite special really, to be having this convo because so many other games are precluded from this level of conversation after 6, going 7 years.
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
That's a waste. If you dump all your upgrades into the pistol, you end up with basically a sniper pistol that has a heck of a lot more ammo available.
True, although the sniper rifle has 10x the range, and the snipe sequences through out the game, though brief, are very fun.
There's the classic vandenberg snipe sequence right after being dropped off; in Paris I'd super jump onto the butresses of the cathedral and take shots from there; and don't forget the hell's kitchen rooftops; tonochi road in Hong Kong has rifles on the outcropping of highrise structures.
Snipe kills is different from ordinary bloodbaths, it's psychological rather than visceral :cool:
Qaladar on 9/10/2006 at 05:59
I carry a lot of weapons
Crossbow for non-lethal and underwater work
Pistol for breaking things (I like to shoot windows and boxes and whatnot)
Assault Rifle
Assault Shotgun these 2 for close up work
Sniper Rifle for reaching out and touching people
Gep Gun for bots and locked things
Dragon Tooth Sword looks cool... I never actually kill anything with it but its fun to wave around
I always master rifle, advanced heavy, and never go past trained in pistol.
Ultraviolet on 9/10/2006 at 08:09
Response to OP: Agreed on speed aug instead of stealth aug -- just crouchwalk with the speed aug turned on and you'll still be dead silent and a lot faster. I also find that being able to jump really high helps me get to interesting places to snipe.
I never thought of using the targetting aug on the sniper rifle. It's too bad the vision enhancements for it don't really provide any actual illumination (and making the image one color can actually make things harder to see sometimes), but does the targetting aug stabilize the sniper rifle while in scope mode?
ZB: Generally agreed on the useless next to sniper pistol thing, but as mentioned before there's the range advantage of the sniper rifle, plus it does more damage if you manage to aim too low on your first shot (not that you should need more than one), and the sniper rifle is silenceable, while the pistol is not. You could use the stealth pistol with a scope for sniping, but the range is still less, and the damage is low enough that you might need three headshots in some cases to get the job done.
The problem is that in the end, a lot of skill/aug/mod combinations become useless. If you master rifle skill, any accuracy mods for the sniper rifle no longer provide benefit -- so do you throw the few and far between accuracy mods at something that won't need it later (but you still invest in the skill points later because it helps you with your shotgun and AR usage) and feel bad about it, or squander the mods on something else that will be equally useless later and still feel bad about it? In the end, it always seems like the various approaches that can be taken through this game get merged together a lot.
I was thinking a bit about more ideal ways to carry out the game (no game comes out where we don't do this, heh). I think a rangefinder mod for any weapon would be great in addition to the laser mod. I don't remember what Shifter does exactly, if the laser mod provides a rangefinder for all weapons that have a laser, but I think the rangefinder should be a separate mod.
HOW THE HELL DO YOU PERMANENTLY GET RID OF THE AUGMENTATION HUM SOUND?
A thought on flashlights: Why do all video game flashlights suck? I've been playing AVP2 a lot lately, modding it where I think it needs it. I'm almost ALWAYS using my shoulder lamp, but even though I need it, it sucks. It's a DX8 limitation, most likely, but when you sweep it, it will lag and stick. If you shine it dead-center down a hallway, the light won't reach the end, but it will stick to the floor, ceiling, and walls, and in doing so not even illuminate those very well, but provide a very narrow band of illumination. It's the same with the Unreal engine flashlights so far (old Unreal SP). Now that we have a game where the illumination actually looks right and is smooth (Doom 3 I'm thinking), they make the beam narrow and make it exclude weapon usage while using the flashlight! (I'm aware there are mods, but id balanced the game to work with the flashlight as-is).
(Long jumpy post because I'm up late and bored.)
On non-lethal takedowns: The only difference is being scolded early on by Paul, really.
Pyrian on 9/10/2006 at 08:12
I've played through so many times in so many different ways I'm not sure... But the most fun I had playing was with the flamethrower and the gep gun. It didn't leave me much space, but I could basically sprint through most missions blowing the living snot out of anything that dared to stand in my way. If it wasn't flammable (or I ran out of the ever-rare napalm canisters) it ate a rocket... I kept the fully-upgraded "sniper pistol" as a low-inventory backup weapon. I didn't stealth at all that time...
Fragony on 9/10/2006 at 10:21
Crossbow and baton only, I have tried a sniper and a rambo character but I just can't bring myselve to killing human characters. Always run silent and always xray eyes, it's just too cool.
Ajare on 9/10/2006 at 12:27
I've tended towards ghosting the first part of the game in my more recent runs. Once I 'change sides', I'm less discriminate, and by the end I'm blasting away quite merrily.
I always carry DTS and prod, and usually the crossbow as well. As for 'proper' weapons, I try to choose a different combination each time. However, I just can't see the value in the plasma rifle, and I never use the crowbar either. I don't use laser mods, because that's cheatin'.
It's the same with augs: I try to mix things up, with a few exceptions: I always take power recirc over synthetic heart, and speed over run silent. Recently I've stopped using regen simply because it makes things too easy, and leads to bad playing habits.
Skills generally depend on what weapons I'm using, but I normally get high computer, and either lockpicking or electronics. It isn't really necessary to get more than advanced computer, but I sometimes upgrade to master as a luxury. I always get trained medicine, because the jump from 30 to 60 healing is worth the points, and trained swimming is useful, more if I've taken the environmental resistance aug. I don't think I've ever upgraded the demolition skill.
The armours are overrated. I never use ballistic armour, and while thermoptic camo can get you through some tough situations, it's not worth carrying around unless you know there's one coming up soon. It's only really effective if you pump skill points into it, and they can be spent better elsewhere.
ilweran on 9/10/2006 at 14:44
On PC I like the sniper rifle, tranq darts, baton and gep. I would usually have a shot-gun as well. I tend to go for stealthy augs- cloak, run silent and visual enhancement.
On PS2 I use the baton a lot more as the areas are much smaller, and would also go for speed over run silent. Though I've only played it once on PS2 and doubt I will again.
