Now playing: Deus Ex

[Tigranes]

Fair enough - looks like some of the augs work quite differently from what I imagined from the descriptions and limited experimentation.

 

I'm doing the endgame now and there's a certain satisfaction in abusing Master level stealth pistols. Not a fan of the crazy alien / mutated animal beings (kind of like Halo's Flood...), but ah well.

[Bos_hybrid]

Well, it's true for Deus Ex : Invisible War.

For Alpha Protocol, while I'm not sure if they could reach Deus Ex as far as level design goes, they certainly could do better, especially since the Unreal Engine already showed us bigger and more interactive environments.

There had to be some problems technically and internally with the engines (programmers struggling to get used to it etc.) because the levels are really crippled and not even that detailed.

 

I can't really think of any big interactive environments in the U3 engine.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I can't really think of any big interactive environments in the U3 engine.

 

On par on Deus Ex? No.

But better than Alpha Protocol? pretty much every UE3 game.

Just look at Batman : Arkham Asylum if you want an example.. and you can backtrack!

Seriously, the lack of backtracking for no reason whatsoever was really unnerving in Alpha Protocol.

[Purkake]

Bioshock uses Unreal Engine 2.5 and has quite a bit of environmental interaction.

 

I don't really see how backtracking is relevant here, though.

[Thorton_AP]

I remember when I first got a card that supported detailed textures for Deus Ex: Wow!!

 

At the time, I loved that the game had several points where I figured it would end... but didn't! Today it might be more of an issue as I'm at a point where long games have become a negative because I am finding it hard to motivate myself to replay a 60 hour game. I mean, I spent about 40ish hours on several playthroughs of Alpha Protocol, but only played through DA once.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I don't really see how backtracking is relevant here, though.

 

It was a comparison between Alpha Protocol level design (where the game decides for no reason whatsoever to close permanently doors behind you) and Deus Ex level design (really open, with a lot of secondary passages and routes, without artificial limitations).

[Purkake]

Duly noted. It was just in a post discussing the Unreal Engine.

[Thorton_AP]

I think the idea behind it was that they wanted your decisions (or lack of decision) to not be something you could easily go back on.

 

In some ways I didn't mind it. It could have been handled in more ingenious ways though IMO.

[Tigranes]

I absolutely love long games, when I was younger I had no problem with Final Fantasy and the scale of BG2 continues to be fantastic. As I keep saying, the issue with Deus Ex's length is that the gameplay doesn't evolve to keep up with the length, and becomes stretched.

 

Interesting point about other U3 games - it had to be technological reasons that ruled out bigger levels (whether engine-specific or project-specific), but it really hurts AP.

[Thorton_AP]

By today's standards though, Deus Ex is the game I have more recently played through in its entirety. Not a game like BG2 or Final Fantasy.

 

Deus Ex to me is near the apex of gaming enjoyment for me. The only thing I didn't really like about Area 51 when I first played it, was the realization that it would be ending soon.

[Luckmann]

[...]

 

Interesting point about other U3 games - it had to be technological reasons that ruled out bigger levels (whether engine-specific or project-specific), but it really hurts AP.

Afaik, the "small area plague" that has hit gaming is primarily a console concern, affecting the PC equivalents by proxy, due to the related "porting plague". Is it even possible to buy PCs with only 512 RAM these days? Edited July 6, 2010 by Luckmann

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Wasn't Borderlands based on UE3? Or Mirror's Edge? Those games had pretty massive levels.

[Nepenthe]

You think Spy Drone is useful?

 

Anyway, the limited level design is probably due to consoles. See DX:IW vs. DX for example.

 

The Spy Drone/Aggressive Defense System discussion has been going on since the game came out. Everybody agrees one of them is useless. They just disagree which one. I prefer ADS, I get to sneak around enough in real life.

[Nepenthe]

Wasn't Borderlands based on UE3? Or Mirror's Edge? Those games had pretty massive levels.

 

Shh, don't mess up a perfectly good lynching with facts!

 

(Oops, double post. My bad.)

Edited July 7, 2010 by Nepenthe

[Oner]

I fail to see how getting enemies to blow themselves up (including Simons to a degree) is useless, but whatever.

[Wrath of Dagon]

It's a lot easier to create huge levels when they consist entirely of long textureless walls.

[Purkake]

Don't diss Mirror's Edge's art style, at least it didn't have the gray-brown piss filter.

[Slowtrain]

Spy Drone is the best aug in the game for a stealth player.

 

Agressive Defense System in one of the best for a combat player.

 

Its a well balanced aug.

 

Spy Drone actually works well for any player