Deus Ex Universe

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Jaedar
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Deus Ex Universe

Post by Jaedar »

So now we know.

There's a nextgen deus ex title in development, and 'universe' is apparently just a codeword for 'we're gonna make some comics, books, smartphone games etc'.

There's also a directors cut of HR coming, no idea what that entails.

concept art
http://cdn.eidosinteractive.com/mtl/mar ... iverse.jpg
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by kdawg88 »

Wow, I'm really looking forward to seeing more sequels and spinoffs. Not.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by gamer0004 »

It again looks like the boring sci-fi where everything looks cool because, you know, it's cool, rather than meaningful. They're also still doing the "use a Greek letter instead of the letter which we want to use which isn't even close to that". Combine those two, and you probably get the same pretentious but painfully dumb game again. No thanks.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by kdawg88 »

gamer0004 wrote:They're also still doing the "use a Greek letter instead of the letter which we want to use which isn't even close to that".
Wait, so that's meant to be delta? It's upside down.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by Morpheus »

I basically lost interest in these after Invisible War (it wasn't a bad game to me, just universal ammo, keypads on doors, the way it became more like a FPS game, and a couple of other things I don't remember, I didn't like compared to how these originally were in DX1). The games are not bad, just will never live up to what the original was. I'll reserve judgement until we know more.

Maybe one reason that these new Deus Ex games are not so good today as the original was, is because there wasn't fast computers back then as there are now, and so major graphical looks were less as important and the story line, game play and feel were more of a priority. This is in no way to say you can't have both great graphics and looks and great gameplay with a great feel with a well thought out storyline, characters etc... Uncharted series and The Last of Us are two that come to mind, that had that.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by Jonas »

Man they're making a DXHR sequel for PC and consoles. I think it'll be great, and you guys are all party poopers ;)
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by DDL »

Well, one of the things that made the original great was that it looked like 1999 new york/paris/hong kong....so when you discovered TOP SECRET MJ12 INSTALLATION #2388 it really felt like an uber-science tech lab. Part of the whole "there's this massive underground conspiracy" vibe is about the idea that amazing technology exists but THEY won't let you know about it. DX nailed this very nicely.

IW was..less impressive in this respect, but still made some efforts: lower seattle looked suitably shitty and low tech, if not exactly "like modern day seattle" (coz seattle's quite nice), but it still had glaringly silly elements that didn't work, like "ZOMG LAZOR NANOTECH WINDOWZ installed in a crappy run-down apartment block full of drug dealers".

DX:HR went for an entirely new visual aesthetic, giving us some sort of weird renaissance-themed high-tech....everything. Even fucking detroit looks like a CITY OF TOMORRRRROW showpiece set from a japanese tech expo.

So you lose that sense of wonder. Everything looks high-tech. Finding a high tech lab full of OMG GUBMINT SECRETS is mostly memorable simply because it's..cleaner.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by Jaedar »

Jonas wrote:Man they're making a DXHR sequel for PC and consoles. I think it'll be great, and you guys are all party poopers ;)
It will most likely be better than most of the stuff that gets released lately.

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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by nerdenstein »

Jaedar wrote:
Jonas wrote:Man they're making a DXHR sequel for PC and consoles. I think it'll be great, and you guys are all party poopers ;)
It will most likely be better than most of the stuff that gets released lately.

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I'm looking forward to see where else they go with the series.

Though I take the point about how Deus Ex looked 'present day' with 'Science Fictiony' bits and how HR looked ALL futuristic so it had a totally different vibe.

I figured it worked with what themes that HR was trying to present though; the idea that humanity was getting too close to the sun (the Icarus analogy, whatever) etc.

I am disappointed that Universe hasn't got a more run down look after the potential 'Collapse' (societal, economical etc) hinted at, at the end of HR.

This could explain why Deus Ex looked less high tech in 2052.

I want to play the Extended Cut of HR, so I'm hoping they release it as DLC and not as a full game for PC.

Whilst I wait, I'll play through TNM again. ;)
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by fantsu »

Don't want to be a party pooper, but after the horrendous HR I sadly cannot wait for new "Deus Ex" games anymore. The downhill has been too steep. Hopefully I'm wrong, but doesn't seem like it.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by Jonas »

DDL wrote:Well, one of the things that made the original great was that it looked like 1999 new york/paris/hong kong....so when you discovered TOP SECRET MJ12 INSTALLATION #2388 it really felt like an uber-science tech lab. Part of the whole "there's this massive underground conspiracy" vibe is about the idea that amazing technology exists but THEY won't let you know about it. DX nailed this very nicely.

DX:HR went for an entirely new visual aesthetic, giving us some sort of weird renaissance-themed high-tech....everything. Even fucking detroit looks like a CITY OF TOMORRRRROW showpiece set from a japanese tech expo.

So you lose that sense of wonder. Everything looks high-tech. Finding a high tech lab full of OMG GUBMINT SECRETS is mostly memorable simply because it's..cleaner.
Completely spot on.

ON THE OTHER HAND. It means everything in the game looks really neat. Which is nice.

Honestly DXHR is among my absolute favourite games, and holds a rare spot among the handful of games I've completed more than once. I was not impressed by The Fall, since the gameplay worked less than optimally on iPad, and the writing was slightly below mediocre compared to the generally stellar writing of Human Revolution, but assuming they're putting their A team on the "real" DXHR sequel, I have no reason to believe it won't be good.

I am, however, filled with worry and concern about Thief 4. But I'll give it a chance to prove itself, just like DXHR.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by kdawg88 »

DDL wrote:Well, one of the things that made the original great was that it looked like 1999 new york/paris/hong kong....so when you discovered TOP SECRET MJ12 INSTALLATION #2388 it really felt like an uber-science tech lab. Part of the whole "there's this massive underground conspiracy" vibe is about the idea that amazing technology exists but THEY won't let you know about it. DX nailed this very nicely.

IW was..less impressive in this respect, but still made some efforts: lower seattle looked suitably shitty and low tech, if not exactly "like modern day seattle" (coz seattle's quite nice), but it still had glaringly silly elements that didn't work, like "ZOMG LAZOR NANOTECH WINDOWZ installed in a crappy run-down apartment block full of drug dealers".

DX:HR went for an entirely new visual aesthetic, giving us some sort of weird renaissance-themed high-tech....everything. Even fucking detroit looks like a CITY OF TOMORRRRROW showpiece set from a japanese tech expo.

So you lose that sense of wonder. Everything looks high-tech. Finding a high tech lab full of OMG GUBMINT SECRETS is mostly memorable simply because it's..cleaner.
Harvey Smith describes this issue well here: http://youtu.be/don-oWbjq3E?t=1h28m25s

I feel this is less an issue of the aesthetic and atmosphere of the setting than it is of plot continuity. I am of course regurgitating what has been said many times before...Aside from the continuity issue I actually liked the idea of the second renaissance in HR - the burgeoning of amazing, shiny new technology versus the beatnik realities of those living under the plate, so to to speak (ff7 reference), a contrast which was actually portrayed pretty well if you compare the street levels with the installation/military base style levels. The real issue was that (A) there weren't people walking around the hub levels with augs in DX1 (or IW for that matter), and (B) the 'tech level' or whatever you want to call it was, at least in terms of appearance, higher in HR than it was in DX1, which does to a certain extent touch on the 'high tech vs. low tech / shiny vs. rough' we're discussing. HR doesn't fit in with the backstory in this regard, which is important if you want to call it a prequel. I guess it was important to attract the console kids with cool looking robots and such, which is tolerable by comparison when you consider the passing blatant tobacco product placement.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by DDL »

The massive overabundance of augs was also an issue, with the whole emphasis on "what it is to be a man when you're mostly machine" and so on becoming a bit silly: the protagonist is going through this whole "I never asked for this" soul-searching, whereas absolutely ever other fucker out there is all "waddup, bitches: check out mah augs yo!"-level absolutely fine with it. Jensen ends up being more of a freak not because he has giant doom arms, but rather because he's not necessarily happy with his giant doom arms.

If they'd played it less overtly, there would've been tons of mileage in having crowd reactions to your presence: "shit check out THAT guy...", stuff that could really make you feel like a man alone, thrust into unwanted freakish limelight. When even the dude selling magazines has bionic legs, though? Not so unique.

And again, this flies in the face of DX, as far as continuity goes: JC vs Jordan Shea: "that's some heavy augmentation"

....she's got two bionic arms and probably some cranial work, plus a bit of bodywork to (presumably) support the arms.

If HR is to believed, that sort of augmentation wouldn't be 'heavy': it'd barely qualify her for typing-pool work.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by Cybernetic pig »

Jonas wrote:generally stellar writing of Human Revolution
Huh? When it comes to writing I give your opinion more weight than my own, but seriously? Sure the writing is definitely in the higher spectrum of quality that games have to offer, but it also was seriously lacking in areas: ending, cutscenes, most of the minor/generic characters....and there was consistency issues, for example Sarif fitted Jensen with an absolute shit ton of experimental augs, most not necessary to save his life & Jensen is meant to be struggling with the fact but never actually confronts Sarif: "Uh, Boss, why the fuck did you embed google glass into my head, my eyes worked just fine".
When you return to work nobody, especially Jensen (who surely had a relationship with more than just Megan, Sarif & Pritchard), mentions all those co-workers who were slain in the intro either. Sure there is a mention of "the attack" from time to time, but nobody seems all that fussed over it, even if it was 6 months later iirc.
Then there is the lack of reactions to player actions (lack of simulation design more than writing, but I assume this was the lead writers responsibility to push here, even if it requires code & voice acting) and most people (barring main characters) having half the number of lines to speak overall than DX1, which was disappointing as all but the most generic NPC's in DX were interesting.

Overall though, for a video game the writing is still pretty damn good, but it has it's moments and isn't on DX1's level imo....Gwielo :P they definitely did better with the Chinese characters though, at the cost of the humour & charm that Hong Kong's characters had.

They definitely failed to understand DX1 fully, that's for sure, not that I blame them, took me a good few years to "understand" it.
But the game feels disrespectful sometimes, not giving much a shit about being consistent with DX1's lore, and the dumbed down gameplay and simulation design.
Wrong people for the job imo, but it still came out great...just not great enough. But Invisible War exists, so my dissatisfaction with the game doesn't have as much justification as it could.
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Re: Deus Ex Universe

Post by Marcelo »

Cybernetic pig wrote:
They definitely failed to understand DX1.



I bet they're more into MGS than DX1.
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