Interview Deus Ex: Human Revolution Interview @ Gamasutra

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While it's true you were a little bit central to the plot, that doesn't necessarily mean the story in Deus Ex was better. It just had different focus.

I fully disagree here. To my minds the plot in original was pretty poorly explained - in the sense that it was explained but in pretty meh way. The intro cutscene comes to my mind. A lot of things were very direct... which is pretty fucking bad for a game where you play an agent of sort that deals with conspiracies.

HR was a little bit subtle with everything. I especially enjoyed how important were all the themes that appeared, how crucial were the issues that had been raised by the narrative, how the world you perceived - albeit small, and limited - truly seemed to live and react to the current news. I did follow the news in the TV, read emails, newspapers and books - which I simply don't bother in most other quasi-RPGs. It all fell together neatly.

There are, however, some gripes I have with character motivations... in both games.

I do like the games that have art direction. As a story-fag I pay attention to everything - costumes, weapons, architecture, character models. That was pretty win in my book. And "piss filter"? Suffice it to say it didn't bother me at all. I really don't see a reason why should it bother anyone.

You are right about interaction - I inserted it there just for show. However, while there is some truth in your opinion about non-critical NPCs I feel that the critical ones were better in HR.

I'll be honest with you. I haven't played Deus Ex 1 in maybe 7 years so perhaps I am biased having fresh memory of HR in my mind. Regardless, I think that DR: HR is a very good game - surprisingly good, as I've been warned by some other Codexers it's shit. It's far from that, and despite many shortcomings I enjoyed every bit of it (except for the bossfights). It may not be worthy to be a proper prequel to Deus Ex... but on its own it stands pretty strong.

Yeah I went with the vision thing eventually as I had 5 or 6 upgrade points farmed for such occasions but the typhoon thing didn't seem to have any effect. It was annoying as in my pacifist playthrough I found no use for it. I did try it occasionally for laughs amongst a crowd. Hilarious stuff, but never 'officially' used.

This brings me to the age old problem with pacifist runs in such games(DX series, Splinter Cell, Hitman(these last within reason; obviously you cannot be fully pacifist)and to a lesser extent Thief) in that there are many ways to slaughter people in all kinds of creative ways but a pacifist tends to have but one or two methods only which gets pretty schematic and dull at times. Occasionally it can increase the 'fuck yeah' factor like with the Malik ambush that I mentioned, in that the pacifist approach is far more satisfying to pull off; but regular encounters tend to degenerate into doing the same thing over and over. DXHR at least rewards ghosting which adds an extra layer rather than just having it a matter of personal honor like in most Thief levels so that's pretty cool.

Why try and force your opinion or desperately try to convince others that HR is shit? Just keep replaying DX. No one is forcing you to get on the 'new shit is great' train. Why be bitter towards HR? What's the point? I could understand rage at IW considering it was made by the same people that made DX only 3 years later but to rage at a game made by an unrelated group of people 11 years later and not even containing the same characters is a bit over the top. I mean what were you expecting really?

I'm curious if you raged like this at Project Snowblind.

I guess its like i said with FO 1&2 vs FO3.

1) I don't know what Project snowblind is
2) I don't rage. Just askin' why Codex is so forgiving. As I said various posts above: I'll respect opinions that differ.
But I still explain what seems off to me. And no, I won't replay DX, Fallout 1, or any other old title to death.

I'll live and let live, dude, just discussin'.

I don't understand all of these comments about the Typhoon being useless against the bosses. It specifically exists in the game as a way for any character to cheat their way out of a normal combat encounter at the cost of a few aug points and a very very small inventory commitment.

You can one-shot kill even heavy mechs with it.

When combined with a few painkillers it is essentially a cheat code against the bosses. You just need to have it upgraded fully and use it a 2-3 times at close range.

Another thing, complaining that a few times in the game you met a character who was able to nullify some of your strengths and leave you feeling weak is stupid. The extreme empowerment the game normally offers only reaches the highs it does in contrast the the lows of when it is stripped away. The boss fight made you re-evaluate your tactics? Good! It was difficult? Good!

DE3 was okayish.Eidos Montreal is a promising new AAA studio,the only 1 I know about.The game was better than anything Bioware was able to caugh up since DA:O.It would be my fav. game in 2011 if Skyrim wouldnt exist.The game suffers from consolitis but the UI works,thats more than I can say about the usual console shits.Combat was a lot better than ME1-3 combat(happened that I needed a reload or 8,cant say the same about MEs....usually I play on hardest difficulty which is the equivalent of normal nowadays).The writers are surprisingly good,the AI sucks ass,talent system could be better,the atmosphere was ok,the dialogue system worked but could use a few improvements,the lack of choices started to bother me in the end but I was already determined to finish the game at that point,the boss fights didnt bother me and I killed them all without the Typhoon(upgraded it as last) I found them lot more interesting than the usual fucking big pool of HP pump damage into me until your fingers hurt RPG bosses,at least using your brain didnt hurt in a game boo fukin hoo QQ moar about it retards,dunno what else I can say.

Oh yeah and it was definately a + that Jensen was so vulnerable,I find it ridiculous when my character can eat 6 rockets for breakfast and still wants more.

The problem is not that they exist at all, but that there are several of them and they are a total departure from the gameplay in the rest of the game.
In a game that allegedly is all about choice, taking away that choice at several arbitrary points is bad design, imho.

Not because it represents a challenge (this has been handled much better e.g. when you could try to save Malik), but because that kind of challenge simply didn't fit the game.

A deus Ex fanatic that doesn't know what Project Snowblind is? My dear fellow it was a 'spiritual successor' to Deus Ex, set in the same universe and originally meant to be a proper DX game until they changed the title (was originally called Deus Ex: Clan Wars) in light of the poor reception of IW. You think DXHR and IW rape DX, you should see this game then.

This, plus one more thing. You see, all RPGs (and RPG-hybrids) should follow one basic rule - "don't break the rules". Basically this means that the rules that apply to me should also apply to my enemies and vice-versa. Everything, everyone other is susceptible to (e.g. bullets) - I should be vulenrable to as well. Naturally, because my character is a cyborg he gets some extra abilities whereas mooks just aren't so lucky - but hey, he has a lot more challenges to face, and besides the setting and narrative account for his superiority - in the same way dragons are superior to humans in other games.

The problem starts when you start breaking the bloody ruleset with semi-human enemies that can e.g. withstand a shot from a rocket-launcher to the face like it was nothing, while you - a guy who ought to be at least on their level - fall down after getting hit by 4 bullets. If it was some tank, mech, robot or something, you could buy that... Hell, if it was that you could actually have some different gameplay styles mixed - e.g. stealth to disable parts of the machine. But no! You have cheap-arse faggots that can take fucking military armoury to the chest and still fuck you in the arse, just because.

It literally feels as if from playing a proper RPG you are taken to some SHMUP to confront random console-arcade boss you must outshoot and who will keep reiterating attacks until its health-bar is empty. Oh, joy.

Dude, whence the word "DX fanatic"?
Seriously, I said I just think DX is better than HR.

Plus, I said it, I played HR before DX. Doesn't that disqualify me automatically from the fan status?

Heh ok, you're not a fanatic. At first though with your vehemence I thought you were. Cool man, no probs. I've sufferered the barbs of being a Two Worlds fan, an Alpha Protocol fan, a Twitcher fan...so I can take being a HR fan..

We cool, man.