I've never been too fond of this game, but to be honest I think I've only played it once. People keep saying it's great so I thought of giving it a second chance, this time around playing vanilla for better performance and to avoid the slog that is The Missing Link in the middle of the game. I was liking it at the beginning but now the flaws are all too apparent again. Some things that greatly annoy me:
-The XP system is still utterly retarded and the complete opposite of the original. Having every single little action rewarding you XP makes the game a bore because you're chasing every little nugget of experience you can get. I don't know why bother giving passwords when you simply are going to hack everything for XP and goodies. It rewards also pointless exploration (like doors that go nowhere) and gimps you if you don't want to play a saint (I try to vary my approach just to avoid playstyle burnout, even if it grants you less experience).
-The artstyle is good, but completely at odds with OG DX. I'm never feeling I'm playing Deus Ex, just a competent immersive sim.
-Hubs are way too big, which results in side quests being a chore. You get sick of traversing the whole city for fedex quests (A asks you to do B in the other side of the city, you do B but that only opens C, complete C and now have to inform A back). There aren't too many of these but it burns you out because you have to backtrack over and over in massive hubs, all that while limiting sprint to a few seconds (what a terrible decision).
-The level design has moments of brilliance, but also many lackluster ones. Besides the obvious vents to bypass the whole level and achieve an easy ghost rating, you rarely have a real reason to engage with the enemy. The excessive number of covers, the lack of visibility mechanic (out-of-sight is the only thing that matters), enemies not bothering to guard the outskirts of the map… all that makes stealth feel unrewarding, feeling more like a rhythm game of jumping from cover to cover whenever you're not using awesome vents. The original DX was a game of instinct, much more akin to Thief.
-Half of the augs are simply worthless, there are only there to provide a help to casual gamers. Also, I don't think the system succeeds in providing a decent roleplaying experience, not enough "builds" you can think of that could give some needed spice.
-Game also feels too long for its type of game, even without The Missing Link. I'm in Montreal now and feeling some burnout, and knowing I'm just barely at the middle of the game doesn't fill me with joy. I've unlocked already most of my desired augs for my intended playstyle and I'm not looking forward to unlock many more… still have 5 praxis points that I haven't spent. Game railroads into being a jack of all trades.
-The world, despite being full of detail, feels less alive than Deus Ex. NPCs say nothing of interest, it's less interactive.
Basically, I don't think I'm gonna change my view on this game. Don't get me wrong, it's decent and better than the modern popamole, but I still don't get why many say it's almost as good as the original. And I don't have nostalgia googles for DX, as I played it for the first time in my 20s, many more years later after its release. I don't think I'm going to finish this playthrough to be honest.
