First Impressions

[HTNK]

I registered on this forum to have an opportunity to thank you all for doing this mod.
(already played it through once but i'm planning on replaying it for at least one time)
I'd say it's the best mod ever made not just for Deus Ex but for any game.

Great job!

[Jonas]

Thanks a lot.

Do me a favour and save your replay until we've released the first patch

[terthos]

So, Jonas, I'm a slow player. Just now getting to PDX and WorldCorp. Should I wait for the patch? The crashes play havoc with my computer when they happen, but I have not been deterred one bit. I've enjoyed every moment of it, though. This is a fantastic piece of work. Now wishing I had applied as a beta tester.

[Jonas]

If you've already started a playthrough and you're not too frustrated by the crashes, I'd say go on and keep playing, but of course it's up to you.

We're trying to get the patch done for the weekend, but it's not looking too good - those crashes are a bitch to track down, and we don't want to release a patch without fixing the crashes, as clearly they're the greatest problem.

[Duke Floss]

I've experienced the same amount of crashing I experienced with DX - very little (about 6 crashes - none of them repeatable except for the one at PDX HQ). I plan on finishing this play-through and then playing again when the patch comes out. So far it has been a very impressive experience.

[Jonas]

Thanks, I'm so happy to hear that.

For obvious reasons, most of the posts we get here are from people finding bugs and crashes

[Duke Floss]

I gotta say - I can't believe how much content is actually in this game. I just like walking around and listening to the conversations (some of which go on quite extensively). So I guess the obvious question at this point is - what are you planning on next... an expansion perhaps? - seriously though, you guys are going to stay in game development right?

[Jcelios]

[
- the Invisible Sandwich thing - I'm not quite sure what it's for, but it looks interesting

The what? I thought I had combed Downtown extensively but I don't remember that. Maybe a hint?

[AgentSmithereens]

The what? I thought I had combed Downtown extensively but I don't remember that. Maybe a hint?

Find the trash bag area / ammo cache guarded by the spider bot near the Firewall bloke who sends you on the Noobz mission (not the exact place, just the general area). Then walk on the edge of the wall to climb over the blocked tunnel behind the PDX military bot, turn left and get ready for your mind to warp,

[Jcelios]

Thank you, I just checked it out and...
I think TNM has now officially moved from good to amazing.
Every time I play it I seem to like it more and more.

[Sergeant Kelly]

Just tried this mod out, and I love it!
Great job guys!

I had to import some of the guns from Hejhujka's HardCore to give me a bit of an advantage against all the baddies. : P



A lot of the models seem to have been replaced by the HDTP vases, though. Seems kinda odd when they're labeled "Tape Deck".

[mattr]

Just registered to congratulate you guys on a really amazing achievement. I haven't finished TMN yet, but I'm several hours in and loving it. It really does feel like Deus Ex, though obviously with its own unique flavour.

The level design is excellent, especially some of the indoor areas -- the excitement and satisfaction of exploration is as intense as I remember it being in DX.

There have already been a number of brilliant 'moments' sprinkled through my playthrough, be they pieces of dialogue (some of the ai-ai conversations are reminiscent of NOLF) or sections where you guys went the extra mile to give our choices satisfying or hilarious consequences (I'm terrible with names, but being able to talk the little robot into killing the computer guy, then watch him crash through the shop window in a fiery heap, made my day).

The voice acting is really good too -- my only complaint would be that every now and then it becomes obvious that people have been reading their lines in isolation rather than in context, leading to some stress patterns that don't fit the meaning of what their character is meant to be saying; however, that's common even in commercial releases, and here it's rarely very jarring -- and although I'm sure that at times you regretted having committed to fully voiced dialogue, its (positive) impact on the overall experience is huge.

And of course the writing, both in terms of the broad design and details like dialogue, is top notch.

So yeah, thanks for the present, and well done! Hopefully a few of you will be rewarded with awesome jobs in the games industry, in case the satisfaction of having created something brilliant isn't enough.

Oh, and if it turns out that the game turns to shit in the second half, I take back all the praise (well, half of it)

edit: It looks great, too! Unless I'm remembering DX through the opposite of rose-tinted glasses, the graphics have received a major upgrade. (I do have the HDTP demo installed, but I'm pretty sure there is a lot in TNM that wasn't covered by that? There definitely seem to be some lovely high-res textures, anyway.)

[Jonas]

Thank you for all of that, and you're absolutely welcome

If anything, I think it gets better in the second half, but that may just be me.

[Magnas]

Just realized I never actually posted a review yet.

First off, I keep forgetting that the game is a mod and not an independent product. I'll see something like the Hitman posters, the various CDs, etc. and it'll take me a second to realize that you all can 'get away with it' because it's a mod and you're not limited to licensing like a professional product. The quality is so high that I forget it was crafted by unpaid amateurs, not by a legion of professional game designers, modelers, level artists, texture artists, and musicians.

I am consistently amazed by the improvements you all made to Deus Ex's core gameplay. I'm usually not a fan of Morrowind/Oblivion-esque worlds, but I think you managed to strike a balance between the open-world trends of today and the smaller, more detailed levels of Deus Ex. Bigger maps with a lot more than Deus Ex had, but it never feels disjointed or lacking in content. I was taken aback by the area where I found the EMP gloves. THAT was a pleasant surprise and has changed my view of the game. I've been keeping my eyes out for new areas like this. Particular props to ZeroPresence- much respect, as I could never quite grasp mapping. Something to work on.

The writing is great. There may be an occasional in-joke that goes in over my head, but that's so far and few in-between that I'm not left out of the loop. And the references that I do get (IE: Got Ghand) manage to remind me of my discovery and subsequent browsing of PDX back when I was in 7th/8th grade.

The dialogue is great, too. The long, witty conversations are awesome. Each character really shines through with their own personalities. Plus, the amalgam of accents adds a great variety to the world. The voice acting is great, especially considering the quality of most mods. They generally come out kind of tinny and distant, but these are fantastic.

Serious respect for you guys and can't wait to see what you all come up with. I haven't even started my second mission after talking to Kashue/Scara and I'm amazed by the content. I'm just building up some confidence before I decide to get my ass handed to me.

[Jcelios]

(I'm terrible with names, but being able to talk the little robot into killing the computer guy, then watch him crash through the shop window in a fiery heap, made my day)

Hmm I never got that option. In fact no matter what I do the conversation always ends with "It's time for you and your little robot to die" or whatever.
It's actually pretty annoying seeing as I don't want to kill them. But in order to avoid that I have to avoid talking to them altogether.