User comment history
< Newer [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ] Older >
| News Comments > DX: Invisible War Interviews |
 |
| 48. |
Choices |
Nov 16, 2003, 14:17 |
Ratty |
|
|
Here's a scenario to think about. Let's say I was playing the first Deus Ex and I was in a situation where clearly the safest course of action was to snipe someone off. But I've never put any skill points into Sniping and I don't have any to spend so it's out of the question. I am FORCED to do something else. Now with Deus Ex 2 that changes. I am always great with a sniper rifle. So the choice is always MINE, the players. I can snipe if I want. I can sneak if I want. I'm not limited by whatever skills I chose. See what I mean ?
No. This is so wrong. By your logic, why do we have to choose biomods? Why not give us all the biomods right up front. Why should I be forced to play a certain way because I didn't choose the right biomod?
The answer is choices. The trend with Deus Ex 2 seems to be to remove a lot of choices we had to make in the original game. I'm not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. Like everybody else I can only bullshit until Dec. 2.
Forcing the player to make choices in games is good. It gives the player the feeling they are more in control, that their choices have actual consequences, that they have a hand in their destiny. In Deus Ex 2 we can no longer choose:
When to use a tool to open a drawer, crate, box, etc.
Which skill to assign newly earned points to
When to use useful ammo against an enemy, and when to conserve it
Whether to use up inventory space to carry a powerful weapon
I think it's going to be okay because, first, I believe they are making these particular choices because they truly think it improves the game, not to cater to the XBox hordes. But more importantly it sounds like they're going to be giving us a lot of new, deeper choices to make up for them. So the amount of choices hopefully will balance out. We can choose with whom to ally ourselves. We can choose which missions to accept. Those are deep choices. We had very few of those in the first game. The expanded biomod system sounds like it will offer a LOT of exciting new choices. I, like most people, only ever used 2 of the mods I had in the original game. The rest were worthless.
All these comments have been great. Aside from the usual "shut the fuck up, whiners" posts, people have been really reasoned and thoughtful. Having read what you have all said, and composing my own posts on the subject, I'm talking myself into being a lot less worried about the game. Not that there was any doubt I wouldn't love it, I'm just anxious that it live up to its full potential and be as great as it can be.
Riker, that was great story. I think anybody would be lucky to get to spend a week doing something so decadently worthless, wasteful, and damn fun.
Okay, I'm still not happy about the interface and all the load points, but the other aspects of the game sound like they just might work. We'll see Dec. 2.
This comment was edited on Nov 16, 14:17. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > DX: Invisible War Interviews |
|
| 13. |
I'm keeping an open mind about: |
Nov 15, 2003, 17:11 |
Ratty |
|
|
Unified Ammo: How bizarre is that? I've never heard of such a thing in an FPS. But that alone doesn't make it a bad idea. My main concern is that some types of ammo acted as real rewards: you'd find a secret area, or complete some arduous task, and you'd find some of the coveted ammo as a reward. For me it was sniper ammo. Everytime I found that I got a little excited. The reason I'm keeping an open mind about it was because Harvey specifically mentioned "cookies" in an interview (those items found in the game that acted as little rewards). So I fully expect Deus Ex 2 to be suitably cookie-full. But another point about differentiated ammo was that sometimes it forced you to consider alternative methods so you didn't waste ammo. I tended to use the nanosword a lot more against MJ12, greasels and karkians for example, far more dangerous than using a sniper rifle, but far more rewarding. Well I guess Deus Ex 2 is about not forcing the player to do anything (though there's something to be said for forcing the player to make choices, like choosing when to use ammo and when to conserve it). In any case, I don't see how this was done because of retarded console gamers, it seems to be truly grounded in better gameplay so I expect it'll turn out okay.
Transparent containers: Knowing exactly what's in a crate before breaking it open to get at the goodies seems weird too. But really, in Deus Ex, if I wasted a lockpick or multitool opening something only to find more crap I didn't need, I reloaded a savegame. That's bad. No question about it. As weird as it is, I welcome this improvement and laud the developers for taking this unconventional approach.
The horrible obtrusive interface that you have to lean way over to the right while you play to see past: Yeah, okay, I kid. I'm 99% sure it will be annoying as hell and that it was put there solely for the benefit of XBox idiots. But okay, there's 1% of me open to the possibility that one can get used to it and it won't be all that bad. I sincerely doubt it but I'll give it a try.
No more skills: Dumbing down? Probably. You had to make decisions during the game, sometimes agonizing ones, about where to put your skill points. This elicited emotion, and uncertainty, and influenced gameplay. You had to make painful decisions just like real life. It enhanced immersion and gave you a reason to pause and take stock of things. To relax from the action and think a little from time to time. Seems like a good thing but the fact is it's not what made the first game so great. And there will be this entire expanded role for the biomods that maybe will take it's place. It's possible the skill system will be extraneous, just another detail. It gave more color to the Deus Ex experience and was one more interesting thing to do, but I'm betting there will be enough color to keep me from missing it.
Inventory slots: I liked inventory management in Deus Ex. It was fun rearranging things and worrying about when I could take a GEP gun with me and when I had to leave it behind. Again, it was a matter of forcing the player to make tough choices. I guess this is more of the freeing the player to do the game their way thing. If I want to use a GEP gun then the inventory shouldn't prevent me from doing it. I don't buy that but ultimately I've loved many a game that didn't have inventory management so I don't see a reason why that should ruin Deus Ex. I'm sorry to see it go (but I'm the type of person that likes to organize things), but it won't ruin the game.
Shorter game: Boy, was I pissed when I heard Deus Ex 2 would be deliberately shorter. And then I heard Warren say it was because most gamers don't finish games and he wanted people to finish Deus Ex. Talk about dumbing things down for the lowest common denominator (*cough*XBox*cough*). And this was at a time when there was a general rage over the ridiculous length of some games like Max Payne and ST Elite Force. But Deus Ex was a looong game. I loved every minute of it, but sure, I can think of chaf they could have separated out. Deus Ex 2 will still be a long game and with tighter, more focussed story and much greater depth I think it will turn out just fine.
I understand the point about depth vs complexity, but I didn't look at the stuff they're getting rid of as unnecessary complexity, I looked at it as color. All those little details and extra things to do just made the game more colorful and interesting. Still, if the overall conservation of color is retained, I have no reason to complain.
Also I hope they realize the difference between letting people play the game their own way, not forcing the player to do things a certain way, and making the player make tough choices. A lot of their changes they may perhaps justify with the former but I see it as the latter. Freeform gameplay is good but having to make choices is good too.
Still no excuse for tiny levels and more load points. That's console contamination all the way.
This comment was edited on Nov 15, 17:51. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > DX: Invisible War Interviews |
|
| 10. |
Re: IM a bit worried... |
Nov 15, 2003, 16:32 |
Ratty |
|
|
I Loved Liberty Island but I coundt stand paris. It was so much nothing. Hong Kong could have been less clustered...but then thats Hong Kong.
The thing I liked about Hong Kong was going from the busy market area (though there were only a handful of people, the constant backdrop of voice and chatter plus the more animated music made it seem busy and lively) to one of the quieter areas, like to Maggie Chow's where it was quiet with the sound of gently sloshing water and mysterious music. It just dripped atmosphere and really sucked me in, like I was there. They might have improved Hong Kong by requiring less back and forth, not making you go through the same areas many times. That's probably a good idea for any large levels.
I was least thrilled with Area 51, I don't know why. Maybe because it was all indoors with no windows and just seemed essentially the same after awhile. Or maybe it was because I'd developed all my skills, found all the biomods and upgrades I needed by that point, and so that extra motivation just wasn't there anymore. Every time I replay Deus Ex I usually stop when I reach that part.
I'm ambivalent about Paris. Yeah, I definitely see your point. There wasn't much interesting to do there. You had to talk to a lot of people, you didn't have much in the way of goals. But I loved the beginning of the mission, when you emerge from the sewers. It was the best place to use your scrambler grenades to get the big combat bots to obliterate everybody. Those first moments, timing your grenades just right so you get them to kill as many bad guys as possible, are some of my favorite ones in the game and I often start up Deus Ex just to do that part again.
I loved the SeaLab missions. I don't know why you would dislike them. Lots of excellent stealth moments there.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > DX: Invisible War Interviews |
|
| 6. |
Re: IM a bit worried... |
Nov 15, 2003, 15:32 |
Ratty |
|
|
Yeah, me too. I'm not saying XBox ruined the PC version, but I'm convinced the PC version won't be as good as if a console weren't involved:
PC players will probably notice that levels tend to be a bit smaller. There are quite a few more load points than I remember from the first game, which I'm guessing was done to make sure the Xbox version worked well.
But, hey! Let's think positive like Warren Specter does! Yay! The levels are smaller! I mean, who wants to spend all that time running around looking at things in HUGE levels? Everybody knows gamers hate huge levels. But load points ... well everybody LOVES load points, they're just like chapters in a good book, and we all like chapters, am I right? Sure, the levels had to be smaller because of the XBox, but that had nothing to do with it. Honest! You can trust me, I have a beard!
This is also a chance to become familiar with the new interface, which has been changed dramatically from the first game. Some of the changes were directed at streamlining the game, but it also works out that the interface will work much better on the console versions of the game as well.
Sure, the huge obtrusive interface works better on a low resolution television screen, and yes, coincidently it's easier to manipulate with a joystick, but the real reason it was put in was because PC gamers will love it too! Now we don't have to keep things like hot keys and which weapons we have available in our tiny, attention-deficient minds. That stuff will always be there, right in the way so we never have to go looking for it! Yay!
Instead of having a certain amount of space in your inventory depending on size of items, it's now based on slots. So a pistol and a shotgun will take up the same amount of space.
The old way was ever so complicated and moving that stuff around in your inventory was too hard with a joystick ... oops, er, I mean, I got repetitive stress disorder in my wrist from always moving that stuff around with my mouse.
Those of you that played Deus Ex will notice that the skill system has been scrapped this time around. It's just assumed that you've been trained in all weapons types.
And weren't those old skills just distracting anyway? I mean, when I would plop my butt down in front of the TV ... oops, er, I mean the clunky obsolete old PC of course ... for 10 quick minutes of mindless action, I just didn't want to deal with all that intellekshual skill shit. Just give me some bad guys to kill, Har Har har Haaw!
Flame on, fanboys! Whee!
This comment was edited on Nov 15, 17:56. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > DX: Invisible War Demo Plans |
|
| 18. |
Re: Requirements (Waah!) |
Nov 12, 2003, 18:17 |
Ratty |
|
|
For the first time my system doesn't measure up. My 1 GHz Pentium III was top of the line when I bought it. Top Of The Line.
Oh well, maybe my Ti4600 will make up for it. I hope I hope I hope.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > DX: Invisible War Demo Plans |
|
| 6. |
The first demo |
Nov 12, 2003, 16:27 |
Ratty |
|
|
Well, obviously I won't be bothering with the demo for this one. No way in hell I'd miss this game.
Remember the demo for the first Deus Ex? It was so generous. The entire first Liberty Island map, a good hour and a half of gameplay if you took your time. Then a couple months later they go and make ANOTHER, bigger demo including the Hell's Kitchen level. Several more hours of gameplay.
Before the demo I wasn't sure I was interested in Deus Ex, but after playing it I was FRANTIC to get my hands on the full game.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Deus Ex 3 Plans |
|
| 17. |
SS3 == Doom3 |
Nov 10, 2003, 16:04 |
Ratty |
|
|
The more I hear about Doom3 the more it sounds like System Shock 3. I admit I was really skeptical about whether id could turn out anything interesting in an SP game, but I'm looking forward to it now. I've never really been scared in a game. As much as I loved System Shock (I've played through it at least 10 times), it never actually scared me like a lot of gamers said it did. But Doom3 sounds scary, and I think even I will pee my pants when I play it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > The Joy of Techs |
|
| 4. |
World's fastest transistor |
Nov 7, 2003, 13:30 |
Ratty |
|
|
"The steady rise in the speed of bipolar transistors has relied largely on the vertical scaling of the epitaxial layer structure to reduce the carrier transit time," said Milton Feng But how fast will it play Doom 3?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Morning Screenshots |
|
| 6. |
Re: Only for console? |
Nov 4, 2003, 13:39 |
Ratty |
|
|
I think the auto aim is only for the x-box version Pah! It figures.
Can it be really true? It's coming out THIS month? (I just peed a few drops with excitement) I think the last game I bought this year was Bloodmoon. In fact that was the only game I bought this year. I am so damn picky nowdays that getting any new game for me is a life-changing event.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Morning Screenshots |
|
| 1. |
Autoaim? |
Nov 4, 2003, 11:54 |
Ratty |
|
|
This is the first I've heard of this. What do they mean by autoaim? It seems to be pretty important to their weapon model. As far as I know, there was nothing like that in DX1.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > No DX: Invisible War SDK |
|
| 26. |
No big deal for Deus Ex 2 |
Oct 27, 2003, 15:47 |
Ratty |
|
|
Like someone said earlier, there were only a tiny handful of mods for Deus Ex the first and most of them weren't any good anyway.
BUT if this will be the case with Thief 3 there will be blood in the streets. That game has a HUGE SP mod community and not releasing an SDK will be a betrayal of the worst kind. Hell, if Looking Glass released Dromed and ShockEd, neither of which can be considered stable by any stretch of the imagination, I'm sure modders would find a way to work with the Thief 3. In fact they only released ShockEd a little while ago and they said something liek "Here it is. It's not useable but if you can make it work it's yours." And guess what? That's just what they did!
On edit: Can't pass this opportunity to comment again on just who their target audience seems to be once more. Who is it that can't play mods again? Which platforms? Somebody remind me.
This comment was edited on Oct 27, 15:49. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Deus Ex: Invisible War Updates |
|
| 45. |
Yeah Morrowind |
Oct 25, 2003, 11:35 |
Ratty |
|
|
It was lifeless and dull.
I enjoyed it for about two weeks, so I definitely got my money's worth. It came noweher near capturing the spirit of Daggerfall and Arena though. Outside areas were spectacular, but there just wasn't anything interesting to do. The dungeons were tiny, you'd go in, spend 30 seconds to a minute killing everything for some worthless treasure and then you left to go to the next one. The capital city, Vivec, was an incredible letdown when I finally got there.
At some point I simply lost interest in playing and never went back. There are thousands of mods out there but I've never had any desire to play any of them.
This comment was edited on Oct 25, 11:38. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Deus Ex: Invisible War Updates |
|
| 16. |
I can see that |
Oct 24, 2003, 17:29 |
Ratty |
|
|
Thief and Deus Ex were my first and second favorite games ever, but I can see people not liking them. Deus Ex was heavily favored for stealth gameplay and I can understand people not having the patience for that sort of thing. You do a lot of slow creeping, a lot of waiting and peeking around corners to get a feel for what the guards are doing. It just seems more rewarding to find stealthy and nonlethal ways to progress in the game, but this can be too slow and calm for many gamers who enjoy a faster, more visceral experience.
Sure, you could barrel your way through Deus Ex blasting everything in sight but that path was too easy. Not challenging enough and there were never any consequences. Perhaps they managed to balance the sequel better in favor of the violent, bloody approach to appeal to more gamers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > More BREED Delays |
|
| 8. |
Re: No subject |
Oct 23, 2003, 14:41 |
Ratty |
|
|
Wow pretty much every fps except Deus ex 2 has been delayed till 2004 Yeah, exactly! Ion Storm is gonna CLEAN UP this season. They're gonna make a shitload of bucks and good for them!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Gold |
|
| 13. |
Re: Myst was my first PC game |
Oct 15, 2003, 18:22 |
Ratty |
|
|
Yeah, I never understood why people despise Myst so much. How is it any different than any other puzzle game? After Myst came games like Zork: Nemesis, The Journeyman Project (I loved those games!), etc. They all had absolutely stunning graphics, some were slideshow-style games, you figured out puzzles, manipulated things in the environment, were quite especially lacking in violence or combat, just like Myst. Okay, so some people don't like puzzle games. That's fine. I don't care for sports games myself, but live and let live. What do I care what other people play?
I can't really understand why some people think it's not really a "game," or whatever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Uru: Ages Beyond Myst Gold |
|
| 10. |
Myst was my first PC game |
Oct 15, 2003, 17:44 |
Ratty |
|
|
Myst was what got me into PC gaming in the first place. I'd played Adventure and Rogue on mainframes before that of course, but everyone was talking about how great Myst was so I bought a copy and I was blown away.
It was revolutionary at the time, but I've sorta fallen out of the whole Myst thing. The sequel wasn't that great. If there's a demo for this one, I'll give it a go though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Morning Tech Bits |
|
| 5. |
Re: Forbes vs Linux |
Oct 14, 2003, 16:32 |
Ratty |
|
|
The obvious solution therefore is "don't use GPL code in your project" Well, yes. Of course. Yes it IS obvious. GPL isn't for everyone. It isn't for me, for that matter.
Forbes is just warning companies about the potential of using GPLed code Well, no. The article does far more than that. I wouldn't have an issue with it if they did what you just said they did. They managed to use tone and innuendo to paint GPL as evil and the people behind it as nefarious. Look at the last sentence in the article. Ha ha! They called me comrade! GPL == Communism! Get it?
You use a piece of software, you obey the license. Sometimes the license is too expensive or burdensome, so you use something else. I was shopping for some commercial code not too long ago to use in one of my own programs. One license allowed me to include the code in my program and distribute the program freely. The other let me use the code, except I had to buy a runtime license for everybody who would then use my program. The latter software was better but the conditions were unreasonable so I ultimately went with the former. What don't people get? Should I ignore the Microsoft license and distribute copies of MS Word with my application? Is MS evil for enforcing this? What difference does it make whether the software is packaged in a box, downloaded over the web, or available as source? If it has a license you're supposed to obey it. It is your reponsibility to understand the license. Period. Really!
GPL code is free. You don't have to pay a dime for it. Yes, it comes with a license.
I'm not even a GPL fan. But the obvious, inexplicable bias of the piece just rankles me. And people's bizarre flawed logic about what a license is and what software is simply astounds me.
This comment was edited on Oct 14, 16:49. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > More Romero & Hall & Midway |
|
| 28. |
For the record |
Oct 14, 2003, 13:27 |
Ratty |
|
|
Daikatana wasn't a bad game, after the patches which fixed the bugs and the HORRIBLE "save gem" atrocity. Your "buddies" were the worst part of the whole thing. Colossal mistake. But you could leave them behind and go back and fetch them later. Some of the levels were pretty fun. I guess I'm the only one that didn't see what all the fuss was over the frogs and insects in the first levels. They were fun.
Nice to see Romero back on his feet doing what he loves most.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| News Comments > Morning Tech Bits |
|
| 2. |
Forbes vs Linux |
Oct 14, 2003, 13:20 |
Ratty |
|
|
Wow, what does Forbes have against Linux? Do their advertisers or corporate board feel threatened by free software? That was quite a hit piece. I mean the point they bring up is valid but the whole article is slanted to make free software seem like a communist threat to the free world!
For months, in secret, the Free Software Foundation ... has been making threats
Oooh, in secret! Like the Illuminati or something
The dispute, which was leaked to an Internet message board, offers a rare peek into the dark side of the free software movement--a view that contrasts with the movement's usual public image of happy software proles linking arms and singing the "Internationale" while freely sharing the fruits of their code-writing labor.
Ah, the whole GPL is the free software movement's "dark side!" How very sinister.
In fact, the Free Software Foundation runs a lot of these "enforcement actions."
Just like the Secret Police! And done in secret apparently too!
Now he says he is cautious about working with GPL software.
Well, duh. What, you were just going to ignore it? Use something under GPL and you have to abide by its terms. That's sort of what a license is, moron.
Progress uses an open source database program distributed under the less onerous Berkeley Software Distribution license.
I like that, the GPL license is "onerous." Nobody's forcing you to use GPL software. Is a Microsoft license onerous?
But the Free Software Foundation doesn't want royalties--it wants you to burn down your house, or at the very least share it with cloners.
No comment. The article just gets worse and worse.
For those who don't know, there are several flavors of GPL:
"The GPL does not require you to release your modified version. You are free to make modifications and use them privately, without ever releasing them. But if you release the modified version to the public in some way, the GPL requires you to make the modified source code available to the program's users." There are several other versions that don't require you to release your source code, and there are often options that allow you to pay a fee rather than release your source.
I'm not a particularly bug believer of this GPL (it's the same one John Carmack releases old id engine source code with), but it's entirely voluntary. If the license is onerous then don't use the code.
This Forbes article was more like something I'd expect to find in the Natioanl Enquirer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
340 Comments. 17 pages. Viewing page 11.
< Newer [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 ] Older > |
|
Twitter 
