Deus Ex 3

[brkl]

Cold cocking people is definitely one of the most fun aspects of HR.

[Sno]

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/vive-la-revolution-a-look-at-deus-exs-unlikely-comeback/3696/

[ThunderPeel2001]

http://www.giantbomb.com/news/vive-la-revolution-a-look-at-deus-exs-unlikely-comeback/3696/

Ugh. Sorry to sound negative and not offer anything to the discussion, but I hated that article.

[toblix]

The most polished PC gaming experience I have ever had, from the moment I loaded up the game to I closed it for good just ten minutes ago. The way I can skip through the intro and jump straight into the game in under a minute, the way it alt-tabs without any issues, the way I can use my actual numpad to enter key codes, the way it keeps two autosaves, the way I can adjust the fov, scroll with the mouse-wheel, the flawless cover system, etc.

The boss fights.

The type of achievement that you can only know if you've "broken" by playing through the entire game.

The last part of the game, where I felt my whole way of playing being discarded as I

jumped from perch to perch trying to avoid the hordes of enemies suddenly flooding the entire map

.

All in all, just a huge amount of fun. Long, uninterrupted stretches of frustration-less sneaking around and hacking computers, exploring vents and knocking out dudes.

I was so close to the "get all the XP books" achievement (I feel it in my bones) and I'm pretty sure I missed the last one(s) rushing through the final level.

Summary:

Playability: 9,5/10

Fun: 10/10

Graphics: 9/10

Sound: 9/10

Music: 9/10

Multiplayer: 0/10

Ventilation ducts: 10/10

[ThunderPeel2001]

Awesome. As soon as it comes down in price, I will play it!

[brkl]

jumped from perch to perch trying to avoid the hordes of enemies suddenly flooding the entire map

.

But you played as a pacifist. Why didn't you just pacify them? Granted, I didn't play on the hardest difficulty, but they were a lot easier to tase or tranq than any other enemy in the game.

[Wubbles]

Do you lose the Pacifist achievement if you kill people in the tutorial mission?

[pabosher]

Do you lose the Pacifist achievement if you kill people in the tutorial mission?

Stupidly (as they only give you a machine gun) yes.

[Wubbles]

god damn it

[miffy495]

I know, right?

[Lu]

No pacifist achievement for me then...

[brkl]

Achievements...

If you are the head of security of a company like that, facing a team of commandos gunning your people down, and you decide the best option is to very slowly and methodically bonking each on the head (but not hard enough to kill them) while they are running around killing everyone... This isn't the time to play nice.

[Gwardinen]

Is it even possible to non-lethally take those guys out? I'm sure I tried a takedown on someone during the tutorial section and nothing happened.

[Erkki]

Achievements...

If you are the head of security of a company like that, facing a team of commandos gunning your people down, and you decide the best option is to very slowly and methodically bonking each on the head (but not hard enough to kill them) while they are running around killing everyone... This isn't the time to play nice.

Yeah, this kind of bothered me too. Felt stupid to sneak my way past them.

[Nachimir]

Finally playing this. Mostly non-lethal, because as someone put it to me, Jensen feels like a jumped up security guard. I'd rather be that than a jumped up, murdering security guard. Knockouts are really satisfying, especially two at a time with the reflex booster aug.

One situation so far has made me use real bullets:

Alice Garden pods. After watching them kill all of those civilians

, I felt completely justified within the fiction of the game to waste them with sneaky headshots from a silenced pistol. I think it was an odd combination of narrative justification, plus exercising such stealth and restraint up to that point, that made getting back out of there one of the most satisfying bouts of shooting I've ever had in a game

Only one flaw has stuck out to me: When Jensen sprints, his arms come up but the camera stays at exactly the same height, making it feel like he's just mincing really fast.

[Lu]

I finished this yesterday and it sure is a game. A very gamey game. I'm almost afraid to say it, but it was all a bit forgettable for me. In general, I enjoyed it, but in the end it was all starting to wear on me. I was glad when it ended.

What I really missed in this game, especially in the HUB sections, was a sense of a bigger picture. It's all a bit too quiet, a bit too empty. I never felt like I was in this world and always that my actions and my actions alone kept the cogs in the machine going. The world doesn't spin until I start walking, basically. It made me feel very disconnected from it all.

I did like the effort they put into the skill system. Every time I got a Praxis, I spent a good amount of time trying to decide what I should spend it on. Through most of the game, there were always multiple choices that all felt meaningful. Not too much to become overwhelming and not few enough to become shallow. Very nice.

Anyway, there were bunch more things, but I already wrote a wall of text and most of the points were negative, so NEVERMIND.

P.S. Felt like a badass everytime I jumped off something high with the Icarus Landing System augment. So cool!

[Nachimir]

I think that's the next one I'm getting

Agreed on the hub worlds. They never feel busy, and the nightclub in Hengsha particularly underlines that. I don't know why game developers still try to put nightclubs in games. They're always so unconvincing without crowds in them, especially when written to be as supposedly cool as The Hive.

(Also, ridiculous AI moment in there:

After the barman demanded 5000 to leave the broker lady alone, I figured maybe I'd get away with jumping over the bar (so far so good), choking him and getting my money back. Bouncers alerted and shooting, I hid behind the bar. After a few minutes, they all turned passive again and didn't react when I reappeared.

)

I think that's a problem we'll have for a long time. We could do something that feels like a public place in a William Gibson novel and is as crowded as Stables Market,

but only by putting a really significant and obvious dent in the art quality. Kind of why Relic didn't put Tyranids in the first Dawn of War, there just weren't the system resources to bring the art quality up to the same standard as the other races and also have their swarming tactics in. Assassin's Creed went a long way toward it, but still not enough to do heaving crowds that feel overwhelmingly busy.

[brkl]

I haven't seen a proper crowd in a game since this:

74svhYZGURc

[Murdoc]

hehehe, brkl, that mission always stands out in my memory, mostly because it was an awesome crowd, awesome setting, but I hated trying to complete it.

To be fair though, the player could collide with the NPCs but the NPCS would walk right through each other, which is hard to spot in that video but was pretty noticeable when playing.

That said, its 2011 and aren't there drivers on pcs to have dedicate gpu time for all that crap?

Probably have to wait for the next run of consoles before developers start using that stuff, even if there is a PC release of it.

[Erkki]

I think that's a problem we'll have for a long time. We could do something that feels like a public place in a William Gibson novel and is as crowded as Stables Market,

but only by putting a really significant and obvious dent in the art quality. Kind of why Relic didn't put Tyranids in the first Dawn of War, there just weren't the system resources to bring the art quality up to the same standard as the other races and also have their swarming tactics in. Assassin's Creed went a long way toward it, but still not enough to do heaving crowds that feel overwhelmingly busy.

Have you played Hitman Blood Money (I think that was the one)? There's this level at a street carnival. It was really crowded. Way more than ass creed as I remember it. And didn't look bad.

[edit] Oops, I was beaten to it of course. Should have read down before replying.

[edit2] that video also somewhat illustrates how ridiculously much the Hitman games are about timing. I mean, timing very likely is essential to a hitman, but I wish they'd come up with other ways to pull off ghosting than repeated playthroughs with iteratively perfected timing.

[Nachimir]

Yeah, that looks really impressive despite the funky player collision

One day, we'll get that with NaturalMotion animation and Ubisoft crowd dynamics, and on that day I'll probably only be able to point at the screen and make incoherent noises.

[Nachimir]

I didn't see any shots of it online yet, but I really like the sculpture in Pritchard's office.

[Wubbles]

I never gave that thing a close look. In passing, I just assumed it was a wacky future device.

[elmuerte]

zomg... they're CRT monitors...

[brkl]

Never noticed that! I mean, I saw the arch, I just thought it was some device.