mingoran

Some achievements are dumb while others are well made and help the player to know what to expect from the game. An achievement for a player who finishes the game without killing or knocking out more than N npcs would be cool and tells everyone they can play like this, unlike other games who promise lot's of cool things but when you play the the game you realize it's only for a quest or two.

It's only an issue of the girl moving her butt and the weapons and ammo not moving along with it. It should be easy to fix.

I don't care how it looks. I care how it plays and how it is balanced. I know many features that look pretty and popular but in the end it plays very badly.

Nice blog. It shows promise to the stealth. I really enjoy killing npcs with a remote control and watch them from a safe distance being dismembered to small pieces and those who survive fleeing in panic.

I'm OK with a few fights but it would be awesome if this game could be played like Thief all the way in the shadows without ever being spotted or killing dudes from a safe distance provoking accidents or making traps. So this brings the question, if there are fights we will have to take, what's the minimum skill my stealth character has to put in a combat skill to pass those fights and what's the minimum of combat skills he has to take?

If you are the best stealth/hacker dude, there is always a way to avoid combat. One or two guys who need to be disabled shouldn't be an issue, but my mind will always wonder if it wouldn't be possible to give the player a clever puzzle to avoid going into combat, for the ultimate XBOX achievement.

I already know that.

I hope the no-kill path plays more like a thief game instead of being just another way to play a shooter character.

If a class is a pre-made character that can be tweaked this would be a good idea. That way players who are going to play for the first time can be sure they will not have any balance issues playing with those classes.

The game doesn't know how you want to play so it would be very hard to balance it properly if you were allowed to maximize all skills or mess with your starting xp. A better way could be with an option to select the way in which you expect to play the game. At char gen you would get an input box where you could select: stealth, soldier, engineer, diplomacy, master. If you choose master you would have to maximize all skills to beat the game. If you choose another profile you would get limited xp and the skills compatible with that profile would be easier to upgrade while the other skills less compatible would be harder to upgrade.

Ah role-playing, how do you role-play in a game that is mission and story driven? Obviously role-playing is not letting the player do everything he wants or providing an infinite amount of choices and consequences. There must be a balance somewhere. For me role-playing AP is how you play stealth, mixed and combat chars and the consequences of character dialogs (without changing the story in a radical way). Choosing a path during dialog shouldn't just give a reaction and stop there. There as to be some advantage or side effect you can play later in the game. Also skills have to mater. There must be an upper limit for the player to finish quests using either stealth, combat or a mixed approach but every mission should be doable with one of these characters as along as he has enough skill. If the player won't be able to play through the entire game as a stealth character that uses non-lethal force in some occasions if there are bosses or missions that force him to play out of character, in this case i think the story and mission design should adapt itself to the gameplay.

Maybe not optional quests but events we can play a small role and change. It's those small details we find everywhere in DeusEx that give so much life to the game. The hooker that is about to get beaten and killed by a pimp in the corner of a city and will be if the player let's it happen. The journalist in the bar who is actually a spy. The beggar who wants money to buy food/drugs and as seen some guys using a secret passage on the wall. The spoiled girl in chinatown who is looking for a dancing club and got lost in the sewer area. The weapons dealer in paris who got pissed off because MJ12 has occupied the city and can't do business any more. And a lot more i can't remember right now. This is what makes DeusEx to be a rpg, besides having multiple approaches with different skills. The maps/world aren't just there for a combat/explore scenario but to make everything look as credible with other npcs that make their lives in those areas and go about their own interests.

Thanks Llyranor. No answer from a dev and only the info that there will optional mission/levels. I suspect this will be more Mass Effect than DeusEx.

Hi, can we find optional quests in AP? Are maps big enough and varied enough like in DeusEx to support this? One example, when we enter DeusEx hotel map there's an optional quest involving the hotel owner, his daughter and some pimp that goes over several map helicopter flights. There are a few bums being harassed by tugs which will reward the player with info on how to enter a weapons store. There's a spy that tries to get info from the player and can be exposed. What i'm asking is that if AP maps are strictly formal and mission based or if there are extras in those maps that provide optional quests and things just for the sake of exploration and mood.

Does AI have different modes to deal with stealth players? Say for example relaxed and patrolling normally or taking a break. Alarmed and inspecting it's surroundings looking for clues. Dealing with clues like finding a dead body and going to alert his companions or hit the alarm button. Alarmed, knowing the player is in the area and modifying their routines.

I find map design more important than combat realism or challenging tactics in a game like this which is more about exploring your options than great combat. The AI does bother me a little. Close range fire fights look weird and there's a situation where the player is shooting against two enemies and one is just standing there just watching the player, like he is taking his turn to fire and this also looks very weird. There's an easy solution for this. If the player get's too close enemies start running backwards looking for cover and shooting at the player. Enemies that are doing nothing pretend to be doing something useful like reloading his gun or unjamming it or why not run around and look for cover. If he already has cover then he crouches down and waits some time before firing. There's an interview somewhere on the net (don't recall where) from the guy who designed HL boot AI that explains these tricks.

Didn't they say that locations are going to be big?

D) It's an action-rpg and not an action shooter. Exploration, chance and character development are much more important than making a good shooter.

The music is very similar to DeusExs music.

Great show. I have seen enough things to make me want to try this game. Enjoyed lots of weapons, skills and ways to interact with the environment. I'm a bit skeptical about the dialog but still curious enough to want to give it a try. The few dialogs look well written. Don't enjoy mini-games and would be more conformable with a button that makes an auto-attempt.

Is that a lockpicking mini-game in the video? It looks similar to Oblivion.

Thanks everyone for the replies. @GeneralLee Can you say if this game will have bosses in unavoidable places that will force you to fight or can we play this game like a techno thief without using any weapons? DeusEx had this. It was very cool and an harder challenge to replay the game and discover hidden stuff.

Hey, i haven't decided if i want to get AP when it is released and have a few questions. Is DeusEx an inspiration for AP? Can we finish this game without using weapons techno Thief style (stealth + hacking) maybe as a challenge and reward for those who explore every corner and secret of the game world? Are there any bosses that cannot be avoided? Are hub maps as big as DeusEx maps (not DeusEx2) with side-quests and freedom to explore? Can we use gas, explosive, emp and incendiary grenades are grenades rare and limited resources like in DeusEx or an abundant resource? Is there any climbing skill or climbing gloves tool like the one in Thief 3? If dialog can be used as a skill how frequently can we use dialog to motivate characters and influence their behavior? Dialog is like ME caveman talk with with one or two word lines or do we see completely formed sentences of what we are going to say? Does AP uses ME dialog wheel (something i heard)?