Deus Ex: Invisible War

Unfocused

Unfocused

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So I'm installing Deus Ex: IW atm, as it came with a computer mag so I thought I'd buy it and give it a shot and see for myself what all the fuss is about.

Before I do, though, I'd like to know why is it that the sequel to a great game sucks so much, according to you? What's so bad about it?

Will post impressions later.
 
Have you played the original? The sequel is simplified in every way. The original had adult and complicated dialog, intense great game play, RPG elements, adventure elements.

The sequel also has about 10 loading screen where the original had 1. IT was downgraded visually and technical because it was developed for the consoles 1st.

The original Deus Ex is to me by far the perfect game. They had everything in there and if done right with Deus Ex 3 it might beat out some of Valves stuff ;)
 
For some reason I actually preferred Deus Ex 2 more. I got bored with Deus Ex 1 early on and could never finish it.
I like the balance of the upgrades you can get, and they actually become quite powerful later on, but then you have to choose.
 
The original was just better. The combat was pretty awful, but everything else was spot on.
 
Unfocused said:
So I'm installing Deus Ex: IW atm, as it came with a computer mag so I thought I'd buy it and give it a shot and see for myself what all the fuss is about.

Before I do, though, I'd like to know why is it that the sequel to a great game sucks so much, according to you? What's so bad about it?

Will post impressions later.
Click to expand...

Make sure you look for unofficial patches. When I played it (ages ago) there was a high resolution-pack at least. It wasn't perfect but it improved a whole lot.

I loved it, but I agree that it pales in comparison to the original, which is true for virtually every game out there, even today.
 
Invisible War is a fine enough game, but it is certainly inferior IMO. Everything was oversimplified, skills went completely out the window, game areas/levels were often squashed down in size with less interesting shit...

The plot, while good enough, lacked the conspiracy mythos that enveloped the original. Instead it gets too bogged down in a tired commentary of racism. DX pretty much allowed you to view every option/ideology as hypothetically valid, but it's hard to accomplish the same when it seems like a third of the people you meet in the game are obviously evil bigots. I think the only part that really stimulated me was meeting JC Denton and having a chat with the man.

Characterization and acting weren't exactly the selling points of the first game IMO, but I could work with them enough to care about people and ramifications in the game. Some holdovers in IW have completely unexpected and needless changes in character. Others flat-out fail to prompt from me any sympathy for their cause or plight.

A less pressing issue nowadays, but... At the time it came out, it ran like dog shit unless you had a high-end machine for the most part. And it didn't even look that good! Every time you went to a different area you'd be greeted with a big, dumb, console-ish loading screen (which told a lot about the game's development).

In fact, I'd say the only thing it improved upon was combat, but it still came at the expense of more personalized gameplay. Pretty much everything else falls short of the bar Deus Ex set. It would probably still seem great if you were only just introduced to the series, but I never could shake the impression that I was playing a Fisher-Price sequel. If this sounds hateful, I have to restate that I did like the game. But it still remains a sore spot considering the expectations. I don't know how they thought it would be a good idea to remove or "streamline" so many of the things that the fans loved about the first game.
 
As everyone else says, it was really dumbed down, but even then I really enjoyed it a lot.
 
What about the part where he says that there's no point catering a game specifically for the tiny minority of hardcore fans?
 
Jimmeh said:
What about the part where he says that there's no point catering a game specifically for the tiny minority of hardcore fans?
Click to expand...

He said you shouldn't cater to a small sub-section of people when you're spending a ****load of someone else's money, not that there's no point. He actually described making small games for small groups of people as noble, you just shouldn't expect everyone else to like it.
 
Interesting interview, at least they'll admit they ****ed up unlike other developers who might fail.
 
I couldn't get past the awesome speech at the beginning. It would crash every time I tried to load the map.
 
I've never played the first one, but I enjoyed Invisible War (just finished it a while ago). I had no problem with the simplified aspects of the game, seeing as I hadn't played the first.
I actually thought the user interface and biomod system were pretty good.
I also liked little things like being able to grab ledges and climb onto/over them. It's so irritating when you're unable to jump over a waist high barrier in other games.
The great atmosphere, physics, and sound effects throughout the game helped make it more enjoyable too.

I didn't like the long and frequent loading screens, and the voice acting was irritating. Everyone spoke a mile a minute and I could barely keep up with the story. There were other little things that I didn't like about the game but I can't remember them all atm.

Overall it wasn't bad, wasn't great. I have to play the first now :O
 
Invisible War is an OK game, but if you compare it to Deus Ex it looks like utter crap.
 
Naudian said:
I've never played the first one, but I enjoyed Invisible War (just finished it a while ago). I had no problem with the simplified aspects of the game, seeing as I hadn't played the first.
I actually thought the user interface and biomod system were pretty good.
I also liked little things like being able to grab ledges and climb onto/over them. It's so irritating when you're unable to jump over a waist high barrier in other games.
The great atmosphere, physics, and sound effects throughout the game helped make it more enjoyable too.

I didn't like the long and frequent loading screens, and the voice acting was irritating. Everyone spoke a mile a minute and I could barely keep up with the story. There were other little things that I didn't like about the game but I can't remember them all atm.

Overall it wasn't bad, wasn't great. I have to play the first now :O
Click to expand...

I can name like 10 memorable moments in DX while in IW the only memorable thing I can think of is finding JC Denton. Deus Ex was much better. By the way I actually like IW. Well but anyway you should play DX because it's completely worth it.

One of the best thing that ever happened in DX was

Being captured, waking up in a cell with something called Daedalus talking to you, and when you manage to leave, you are in UNATCO :O. And vanderberg. Vanderberg rocks!
But there are many others.
 
Fighting alongside your brother in the 'Ton Hotel against MIB agents. Escaping the UNATCO headquarters now as an enemy. Stumbling upon Morpheus in Everett's mansion. The Versalife laboratories... There's so many good bits.
 
The Ton hotel was my favorite bit. The first time I played the game, I listened to Paul and left, because I thought I had to. Then the second time I decided to just wait around and see if the developers coded anything special to make the player leave, and then all of the sudden "BOOM" the door explodes and the MIB busts in and I just go out guns blazing and kill everyone. I thought I was just breaking the game, and that paul would just have been scripted to die, so I was amazed when he was all like "Thanks, I'll meet up with you later."

And when I saw him again, alive, later... I was just like "holy **** this game is awesome" :D


As for IW, it obviously didnt live up to the original, but if you compare it to other, non-Deus Ex games, its actually really good and has a decent story to it.
 
dekstar said:
For some reason I actually preferred Deus Ex 2 more. I got bored with Deus Ex 1 early on and could never finish it.
I like the balance of the upgrades you can get, and they actually become quite powerful later on, but then you have to choose.
Click to expand...

Me too. It probably had something to do with the fact that Deus Ex 2 had better graphics and I couldn't get over the shitty combat in the first sequence of Deus Ex 1.

All in all, I had DX 2 on my computer for about a day, and had DX 1 on my computer for less than an hour.

Both games suck tremendously.
 
Otherguy, I'd say you were totally wrong, but I'm the same way with Planescape Torment... people love that ****ing game but I can't play it for more than an hour without giving up so I guess I can understand.

I actually just got around to finally playing through a whole game of Deus Ex a couple/few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I had gotten -almost- the very end back when it was released but never finished it for some reason... I think I got too nervous. :P

I'll have to try Invisible War again here soon... I did finish that one, but I... don't really remember it... I remember the city was like a parking garage, the graphics were worse than the first one, and the physics made everything weigh roughly 1 ounce, but that's it really. :P

P.S.
From: GHermann//UNATCO.15431.76513
To: JManderley//UNATCO.00013.76490
Cc: ANavarre//UNATCO.9954.1131
Subject: Skul-gun

Might I sugest agin, a skul-gun for my head. Yesterday in Batery Park, some
scum we all know pushes smack for NSF gets jumpy and draws. I take 2 .22's,
1 in flesh, 1 in augs, befor I can get out that dam asalt gun.

If I could kil just by thought, it would be beter. Is it my job to be a
human target-practis backstop?

Gunther Hermann
Click to expand...
 
Didn't they actually manage to deliver a shipment of them when you go back to UNATCO HQ in IW?
 
I think so.

Also my fav bit of deus ex had to be

waking up in majestic XII base and seeing it was UNATCO :O
 
There are a few things in Deus Ex that made me laugh out loud.
  • Russian Sailor: "I SPILL my DRINK!"
  • Walking into the MJ12 base/lab in Hong Kong, finding a door leading to teh most secure area, seeing that it was locked and as a joke putting 1234 in as the combination and seeing the door opening. I loled.
  • There was something else but I can't think of it now :P
Was anyone else upset when Manderly attacked you? I went to have a talk with him but I never wanted to kill him. I was quite shocked when he tried to litterally shoot me in the back.

BTW, what happens if you don't tell your pilot (Jaque?) to check the chopperand then he finds a bomb? Does he die later on?
 
riomhaire said:
BTW, what happens if you don't tell your pilot (Jaque?) to check the chopperand then he finds a bomb? Does he die later on?
Click to expand...

Jock dies later in the game if you don't find the bomb. Amazing little touch.
 
OH MY GOD! THERE'S A WAY TO SAVE JOCK?! :eek:

Anyway, the moment when I knew Deus Ex was going to be unforgettable was when I had reached the captured NSF facility and was beaming a signal to Silhouette. Suddenly Simmons was threatening me, UNATCO was firing at me and I was like :O
 
All of Hell's Kitchen was pretty much bliss, your mission to infilitrate and knock out an NSF power plant was one of my all-time favorites.
 
I played Deux Ex: IW for a bit and I'd have to agree with what most of you say here. A good game but inferior to the first Deus Ex.

Dumbed-down with no RPG elements and painfully small locations. Thanks consoles, I guess. I'm enjoying it, but it does not give me satisfaction - actually I feel a bit overpowered (even though I'm a quicksave whore and often repeat a shootout a few times to achieve a better outcome). Weapons don't feel right. I'll probably use the pistol throughout the whole game as I did in Deus Ex, but there I at least invested some points to become Master of pistols (or whatever the highest level was). Pistol kills in two shots two the head - OK, let it be that way, but why does a shotgun blast to the head at point-blank not kill instantly?

Augmentat-... biomods offer generally nothing I'd look forward to using. I used 2 biomods on the 'perk' which allows you two run faster and jump higher and one blackmarket biomod for hacking computers. I've got two normal and a blackmarket one left and figured I'd see what will come in useful in the future.

Also, damn this game is dark. I often walk with my pistol drawn (even in 'safe' areas) only to use the flashlight. Maybe I should raise the gamma even more.
 
riomhaire said:
Was anyone else upset when Manderly attacked you? I went to have a talk with him but I never wanted to kill him. I was quite shocked when he tried to litterally shoot me in the back.
[/spoiler]
Click to expand...

Wait what? That never happened for me.
 
Manderley didn't attack me I just shot him in the face
 
That youtube of the developer-interview was really interesting. I'd love to hear more of it.

Anyway, Deus Ex was severely watered down and made too smilar to other games. I also hated the level design, which felt as cramped and disproportionate as Thief 3.
 
Krynn72 said:
Wait what? That never happened for me.
Click to expand...
When you're escaping UNATCO drop into his office and have a chat. When you're walking out the door he'll shoot you in the back. It really took me by suprise.

Does anyone know about any good Deus Ex mods? Is there any mini-mod out there to improve the gunplay? It's by far the weakest part of the game.
 
I think Deus Ex had the most OMG moments of all time. Iv played that game from start to finish about 6+ times and EACH time i find something new. From the amount of choice and random detail its just mind boggling how they pulled it off. Oh and btw i actually like the gun play a lot. It wasn't like EVERY other game out there. I really hope someone makes a game close to this in the future. Lets hope that the developers of Deus Ex 3 are as big of fans as we are.
 
Started playing Deus Ex again (had the CD lying around, but never installed it again) and it's pretty good now I've gotten into it a bit more and payed more attention to the story.
 
They screwed up big time. First, the console-minded development (the gigantic interfaces, dumbed down gameplay elements like universal ammo), the story was nowhere near the first game's quality. Remember the twist in the first game (I won't spoil it in case some people still haven't played) about 25-30% into the game? No one saw that coming the first time around. Invisible War had big shoes to fill following the first game, and they just didn't focus on the right things. They sold out to the console crowd, dumbed down the gameplay for them, the levels were tiny (with long loading times of course), and in general they just screwed up bad. It's a shame because DX1 was really one of the best, and I still play it to this day.
 
The main bone of contention I have with DX:IW is that by lumbering themselves with an un-optimised engine they significantly reduced the scope of the game levels. I don't mean so much in terms of size, but in terms of population complexity. I never ever felt I was in a City at any point (like I'm supposed to be), more a series of scarcely populated corridors and a few connecting side rooms. The original game actually made more of an effort to address this.

If your interested in the whole Harvey Smith /Warren Spector thing as well as some further interviews he carries out you can get a (legal)torrent for them here:-

http://www.gameupdates.org/details.php?id=2265

It's from a course Warren taught at U of T. Worth getting as you learn a lot about the man himself and his views on gaming.
 
I know what you mean Kadayi Polokov, for a city it was surprisingly empty except for some angry coffee shop owners and a handful of omar.

That's another thing. the stupid coffee side missions something tells me that is supposed to appeal to the console demographic but it was just stupid. I know DX 1 had side missions but nothing as ridiculous as a conspiracy between rival coffee franchises :dozey:
 
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