Poll: A question only for long-time, hardcore Deus Ex fans...

[bigfatcarp93]

I know Human Revolution is pretty popular amongst the general gamer and critical consensus, but I was curious how it was generally considered amongst the classic DX fanbase.

So to anyone who's been a fan of Deus Ex since before Human Revolution came out, how did you feel about HR? How good was it, and how faithful to it's predecessor?

P.S. Not a longtime fan myself, but voting "other" just so I can see the poll results. Just remember that there is one less legit "other" vote then you can see.

 

[Doom972]

I love this game. It's not as good as the first, but still awesome and reminds enough of it. As you said it yourself: "A love letter to the original". I even have to admit that I like Adam Jensen more than JC Denton as a character, though I guess this is because JC is meant to be a blank slate.

I don't like what its creators have done with it since then however - first releasing the director's cut as a separate game instead of a patch, and later Deus Ex: The Fall (a mobile game with micro-transactions). This makes me think that the franchise isn't in the right hands at the moment.

I wonder if it's better for the Deus Ex franchise to be a prisoner instead of a corpse.

 

[shrekfan246]

I don't like what its creators have done with it since then however - first releasing the director's cut as a separate game instead of a patch, and later Deus Ex: The Fall (a mobile game with micro-transactions). This makes me think that the franchise isn't in the right hands at the moment.

I wonder if it's better for the Deus Ex franchise to be a prisoner instead of a corpse.

The rationale as I understand it is that the Director's Cut changes enough under the hood of the game that it would've had to be a full "expansion" anyway. It altered the engine on top of completely revamping the boss fights and integrating all of the DLC into the actual story (as The Missing Link was a completely separate campaign originally because of engine changes in itself).

Obviously you don't have to like it, but I don't think $5 was too much to ask, myself. And The Fall is coming to PC sans micro-transactions, for what it's worth.

OT: I guess I'm not really one of the people you're asking, since I had never played the first Deus Ex before Human Revolution, but would it be too crazy for me to suggest that it probably had the same reaction most games get? A lot of people liked it, some loved it, many thought it was an absolute travesty, and the rest thought it was just plain mediocre. At least, that's how I've seen it. If I had to point out any specific trend I've seen it's merely that most of them say "It's at least better than the-game-which-doesn't-exist."

 

[bigfatcarp93]

OT: I guess I'm not really one of the people you're asking, since I had never played the first Deus Ex before Human Revolution, but would it be too crazy for me to suggest that it probably had the same reaction most games get? A lot of people liked it, some loved it, many thought it was an absolute travesty, and the rest thought it was just plain mediocre. At least, that's how I've seen it. If I had to point out any specific trend I've seen it's merely that most of them say "It's at least better than the-game-which-doesn't-exist."

I figured on that. I'm really just trying to get my finger on the pulse of some kind of (however loose) consensus between DX fans.

 

[shrekfan246]

I figured on that. I'm really just trying to get my finger on the pulse of some kind of (however loose) consensus between DX fans.

Eh, from what I've seen it tends to split pretty nicely between people who loved it and people who were disappointed because it didn't quite live up to their expectations.

I'm not part of the proper demographic, but for what it's worth I loved Human Revolution. Outside of the boss fights from the original version of the game, it has some of the best level and area designs in modern gaming in my opinion.

 

[Weaver]

The game was okay, I liked it enough. The story was all conspiracy theory and Deus-Ex like. Even had a Hong Kong throwback. That said, the game had some serious mechanical problems IMO. I just got bored and couldn't finish it.

My main, huge gripe with the game is stealth & subterfuge are obviously the preferred way to play. Stealth (non lethal takedowns) rewards the player with more XP than just shooting them. The smooth operator bonus for not triggering alarms is pretty big as well as the Ghost bonus for never being seen.

In Human Revolution there were also really weird things you got XP for too. For example, I vividly remember at one point in the first hub world thing after your first mission, there is a fence with a locked door and you had to get to the building behind it. You didn't get XP for getting in the building, you got XP for getting around the fence.

This lead me, as a somewhat OCD, minmaxing, completionist to hunt for stupid XP bonuses everywhere. That fence in particular granted you XP for hacking the door open, and for stacking up boxes to just jump over it. And I do mean and. I literally unlocked the door, got XP. Went back out, stacked up some boxes and jumped over a fence with a wide open fucking door and got more XP. It was asinine and stupid and there were more than one instances of that, I just can't recall.

The original Deus Ex played a magnificent balancing act in that pretty much all play styles were rewarded equally. Further, you didn't get XP for killing a guy, or shooting them in the head, or using a "takedown" move or whatever. You didn't get XP from hacking random things, etc. You got XP for completing objectives or finding hidden areas.

In the first Deus Ex, you didn't have to be. Your playstyle was equally as valid if you wanted to use explosives to blow up most doors, or find passcodes on guards, etc. In Human Revolution, not only do you gain literally double XP for non lethal takedowns, you gain XP for successful hacks, and there's a lot of them.

This leads to completely fucking stupid instances where I'll have the passcode for a terminal, but elect to hack it anyways because a level 5 device gives you 125 XP. There is literally no reason Adam Jensen would do this, but it's more beneficial to do it.

Finally, the HR boss fights. Everyone complained about them, and they were just friggin' weird and out of place. For a game that so heavy handedly forces you down the stealth route to then pretend it's an action game is just mind bogglingly weird.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well Deus Ex being one of my all time favourite games I got to say Human Revolution was pretty spiffy, far far better then what I would expect from modern gaming, and yet did a great many things worse then it's 11 year old counterpart.

I don't mind it being taken as an example of the Deus Ex series, but no one should ever forget there is still one that trumps it and if the series should continue (hopefully outside the horrors of mobile gaming) then hopefully the devs take a moment to re-examine some of the missed steps.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

I generally enjoyed the game. I certainly thought it was a better part of the franchise than Invisible War was, though that's admittedly setting the bar pretty low. But yeah, I liked it and am glad I played it.

The things that I didn't like about it...

1. The energy system. Usually when I play the first game I sneak around knocking people out with the baton or tazer. But with DX:HR there's no real melee option other than your energy-consuming melee attacks or ammunition-dependent tazer, and the energy resource is complete bullshit. It restores slowly (even when upgraded), and having extra bars doesn't matter since you still need to scarf down a Snickers bar every single time you want to refill those extra slots. I probably spent more time sitting around waiting for my energy to refill so that I could knock out a bad guy than I spent actually knocking out bad guys. Seriously.

2. The pacing is all sorts of wonky depending on your playstyle. People like me who prefer stealth can expect to level up their augmentations at a significantly faster rate than people who prefer to use firearms. Stealth bonuses grant far more XP in the long run, to the point where I had nothing worthwhile left to upgrade long before I got to the end of the game.

3. The boss fights. They were garbage, and completely missed the point of what it means to be a Deus Ex game. 'Nuff said.

4. Despite the game taking place many years before the original Deus Ex, somehow all of the technology and locations look significantly more advanced. This bugs the hell out of me with science fiction prequels, and DX:HR is no exception.

5. Adam Jensen. I dunno... just didn't like the guy. Someone had mentioned to me early on that his voice sounded like someone trying to imitate Christian Bale's Batman voice, and I couldn't stop myself from hearing it after that (sorry!).

6. Megan. I seriously stopped caring about this woman pretty much the moment she left the elevator at the end of the on-rails exposition dump at the beginning. Her relationship with Adam, and her character in general, are just very... meh.

 

[Do4600]

It felt really shallow without the RPG elements. I just don't remember there being many times in Human Revolution where I felt like a resourceful cyborg secret agent. I felt like there were always three very obvious paths and very little room to improvise. I have fun in Deus Ex because there are hundreds of unique ways to accomplish something and when I do them my own unique way and it works I actually feel like a resourceful secret agent.

Spoiler: Differences

I just prefer this: To this:

 

[Zhukov]

It was... alright?

I find myself liking it less each time I think about it though.

It got bogged down something awful with side quests sending you jogging back and forth across the hubs a dozen or so times and the story was dry as hell, but the gameplay was generally competent.

I found the attempts to pay homage to the original to be cloying and irritating. Hey look, the first keypad code you use is 0451. Did you notice that? 0451. Sound familiar? Eh? Eh? OH-FOUR-FIVE-ONE-************ DO YOU SEE WHAT WE DID THERE?! Hey, hey look, if you walk into the women's toilets a character will reprimand you for a bit later. Huh? Huh? Remember that? Do you? REMEMBER THAT FANS? DO YOU LOVE ME YET?!

It would have been better if it had the confidence to be its own thing rather than trying to ape a game from 2001.

 

[barbzilla]

I really enjoyed it, the one time I played it (HR that is). I don't think I can bring myself to continue playing it as I did with the original however. For one reason, I don't think that the boss fights felt right (and since they were outsourced, that is probably true for many people), and the inability to save/redeem/kill/ect on the bosses was a major loss as well. I know it was story heavy and that made it difficult to not push for coherence, but part of the deal with the original DE was the choices you got to make defining who you were in the journey through the story laid out ahead of you.

In the original game I could play as a terrifying gangster who's only objective was to get his body tweeked out the way he wanted and the blood and guts along the way were just a bonus, or I could be a pensive pencil pusher who has to take two hours before deciding not to pull the trigger on a man who is just trying to make ends meat for his wife and kids. It was all in the atmosphere and context to allow you to be what you wanted to be. Meanwhile in HR, you are Adam with a back story and crap going on in your life that you as the player has no clue about creating a disconnect.

The opposite point could also be argued however. That point being that the blank slate that was JC wasn't written well enough to pull the player into a sense of being, and if that is how you felt about the original game, fine by me. I will stick to making my own characters though thank you.

 

[Callate]

Deus Ex was definitely a game of a different time. It was brilliant, but it had some rough edges. Having some random passer-by start running and break a shop window and then having every cop in the area turn on me (because obviously if an act of agency like breaking a window took place, it had to be the PC who was responsible) sticks out in my mind.

I have to equally give credit, though: knowing that a particular plot trigger that activated on the roof was going to turn a multi-story building full of former friendlies into enemies and realizing I could avoid fighting my way back down by activating cyber legs and jumping off was one of those moments that make you fall in love.

DX:HR was a more modern game, sleeker in a lot of ways, narrower in others. And of course, the boss fights... 'nuff said. Still, it gave a convincing sense of place and character, and at least an illusion of freedom, whatever the reality. Even the flaws, though, mostly felt like mistakes in designer choice, not broken programming or mis-thought mechanics.

As a resurrection of that worthy franchise and a new direction for the series went, we could have done a hell of a lot worse than Human Revolution. I hope we get another non-portable title announcement, and soon.

And then there's Invisible War... Least said, soonest mended, perhaps.

 

[Terragent]

For me, I'd say it's a mix of option 2 and option 3; the game didn't really take anything but the most superficial gameplay elements from the original Deus Ex, it completely threw out the original game's aesthetic and future-history in favour of a brand new scenario, but at the same time it tried to pointlessly shoe-horn in a ridiculous number of characters and organisations from the original in a way that made it look completely stupid. (What was the point of having Manderley acting as some C-list stooge? Why is FEMA an Illuminati puppet organisation when the original game made it pretty fucking clear that there was no connection whatsoever until Walton Simons took over in the goddamn intro movie? Why do mech-augs in 2027 have ridiculous physics-defying transforming arms when the 2052 mechs in DX are far more subtle, restrained, and realistic in their designs?)

It's patently obvious that the DXHR team had their own ideas about the kind of game that they wanted to make, and those ideas had pretty much nothing in common with the ideas behind the original game. That's fine to a point, but I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if it hadn't had "Deus Ex" in the title. Because, frankly, it wasn't Deus Ex.

Gameplay I'm a bit more mixed on. The game, ultimately, played fine, but there were some pretty serious issues, most notably the ridiculous energy system and the "hack everything" gameplay, as pointed out previously. It was also far too narrow in its approach to letting the player progress. DX1's design document laid its philosophy out, briefly, as: "confront players with problems rather than puzzles", which basically meant that pretty much any situation in the game could be approached with pretty much any combination of skills, augs, equipment. HR was far more restrictive; while the boss fights were easily the worst example, the exploration and conversation mechanics were just as limited, with only a handful of options available to the player at any given moment.

For all that I complain, HR was still a fun and intelligently-designed game. I enjoyed the roughly 1.8 playthroughs I gave it, but I will probably never play it again. Deus Ex, on the other hand, gets played once every six months or so, because it really is all that and a bag of chips.

tl;dr version: Human Revolution is an aesthetic and storytelling trainwreck that will never be as good as the original Deus Ex, but for all that it's still a fun game that I'm glad to have bought and played.

 

[Stryc9]

I really, thoroughly enjoyed Human Revolution. It was the first game I installed on my new PC when I got it up and running. It has it's differences from the original but it does capture the feel and atmosphere quite well. I'll eventually get around to playing it again but I've got so many other games to catch up on right now it's not funny.

 

[stroopwafel]

I absolutely loved Human Revolution. Everything from the story to the characters to the gameplay. Easily one of my favorite games of last gen. The world in HR just felt so fully realized and thought provoking in a way. The story was intriguing and layered but never too labyrinthine or convoluted(like Metal Gear Solid). The gameplay was superb with all the different approaches you could take(while favoring stealth). The upgrade system was great and really allowed for different playstyles.

I played the original but could never really get into it b/c of its clunky design. HR however is one of those few games that is both incredibly well written and well designed. Even the boss fights(though an issue fixed in the Director's Cut) didn't really bother me considering it gave me an opportunity to finally put all the weapons and munition I gathered to use.

You can just tell the developers were really passionate about making this game. It's absolutely superb. Wish we got another proper Deus Ex game though. Crap for cellphones don't count.

 

[Elel]

I played first two games in the raging mod, and HR in stealth mode, so it's hard to evaluate how faithful it was to the original. I'm sure that by faithful people are talking about stealth. But I loved all three games equally. The second one was probably most shallow, but it gave me an option to choose gender, which scored a lot of points with me.

 

[Another]

I enjoyed it a lot, but not in comparison to the original. There's a lot of stuff design wise that ties the games together, but if you removed the Deus Ex name and just called it a spiritual successor, it wouldn't have made much difference to the game. Only the beginning and ending cutscene, and the presence Tracer Tong tie directly to the original, and aside from a few emails from characters in the latter games, there are no other ties really.

That being said, I'm not disappointed it bears the Deus Ex name, I just wish that the story ties were a bit stronger (in addition to just a stronger story overall, the narrative is alright but not great).

 

[DeadEyeDan]

I love Human Revolution, and am quite keen for The Fall on Steam (just cos more Deus Ex is always good).

I even love Invisible War, its obviously the weakest of the 3 but despite all its issues I still play it.