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Post by armyofkittens on Jun 21, 2011 19:30:37 GMT -5
So I've finally had a chance to play the leaked alpha (beta?) from January this year. While obviously it's a little buggy and performance is slightly inconsistent -- being from almost a year pre-release -- I was blown away.
It's fucking amazing. I loved the original Deus Ex and finished it three times to see all the endings. HR plays exactly how I remember the original playing; which, given how rose-tinted and nostalgia-fuelled that memory is means it's far better than that implies. Hacking is sort of interesting without being as obnoxiously dumb as, say, the Mass Effect hacking. Combat is satisfyingly dangerous (if you play it on the highest difficulty setting, called simply "Give me Deus Ex"). Stealth feels like it's learned from the best bits of games like Metal Gear Solid 4, with a bunch of augs available to upgrade into to give you sightlines and other tools: you can definitely turn yourself into a combat-lite, stealthy hacker and barely actually face off against any enemies.
Simply put, it's damn great. My anticipation for its release later in the year is at fever pitch.
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artw
Junior Member
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Post by artw on Jun 21, 2011 19:37:25 GMT -5
How do the cutscenes/finishing moves work out in terms of intrusiveness?
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Post by armyofkittens on Jun 22, 2011 3:09:27 GMT -5
I've played the intro section and the first proper mission, so I'm still early enough that little tutorial prompts still occasionally appear.
The cut scenes so far have been pretty minimal. With the first mission you get one for arriving there and one for leaving, and one in the middle of the mission for a (probably) plot-critical moment. Only the mid-mission one felt jarring in any way, mostly because of its placement; it was short and after it was over I couldn't think of any benefit to having the section be interactive.
The end "boss" of the section had no cut scenes from beginning to end.
The finishing moves have so far only been for stealth take-downs. You sneak up behind someone and if you've successfully got behind them unnoticed you can tap X for a totally silent, non-lethal take-down, or hold it for a kill, which makes a little more noise. Whatever you choose, you get a short third-person animation and then you're back in first-person. They're less jarring than I expect since you also go third-person to use the cover system while stealthing, and while on ladders, and presumably at other times I haven't yet discovered, so I didn't find they hurt immersiveness at all.
edit: oh, and the other thing I loved: you can upgrade into an aug that gives you "social abilities", which I think means a way to predict how someone will react to different conversation paths. But if you want to do without it (I haven't bought it yet) you can approximate it by watching body language and facial expressions to see how what you're currently saying is going down, to help you choose what to say next.
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Post by griphus on Jun 22, 2011 20:58:22 GMT -5
I haven't played it yet, but I just had to share this:  |
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artw
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by artw on Jun 22, 2011 21:08:54 GMT -5
Dammit, now I'm excited about this thing.
/retracts hexacarbon monoblade, turns offhyperdrenalin gland.
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Post by armyofkittens on Jun 23, 2011 7:54:24 GMT -5
I haven't played it yet, but I just had to share this: That'd be even better if it was advertising Final Fantasy XXVII-2. Artw, I think there's a video going around of one of the designers talking through two approaches to entering a building. Having played it I can confirm it comes right after the intro bit and it's basically the start of the training mission, so it's not spoilery -- it'd give you a better idea of how it plays. |
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Post by griphus on Jun 25, 2011 14:51:56 GMT -5
I think one of my favorite moments in the original game was realizing that I needed to escape a building and rather than going back, guns blazing, the way I came in, I just threw myself out of a window and crawled to the extraction point.
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Post by armyofkittens on Jun 29, 2011 7:38:03 GMT -5
I've finished the whole "demo" now, and I think the earlier estimates I'd seen thrown around that it represents about 1/3 of the game are shooting way too high. Yes, you get to explore the first hub (and there are apparently three) but I've visited every area in Hub 1 and haven't seen all of the locations advertised to be in it. I've done two proper story missions and the plot has just barely gotten started. So I guess it could be the first 10 hours of a 30 hour game but I'd be surprised if the final tally wasn't 40 hours plus, assuming you take your time like I did, hack terminals, stealth about, read everyone's email and rummage through their laundry.
Oh, and how excited I was for it before? Even more so now. It just kept getting better.
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artw
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by artw on Jul 5, 2011 12:42:45 GMT -5
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artw
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by artw on Jul 5, 2011 12:43:42 GMT -5
(And, of course, avoid Deus Ex: Invisible War like the plague. It'll only make you upset.)
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artw
Junior Member
Posts: 79
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Post by artw on Jul 6, 2011 16:15:02 GMT -5
12 minutes of in-game footage with commentary. www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/07/06/12-minutes-in-deus-ex-human-revolution/It's very slick. And looks very Deus-Exy. And the bit that would be q big change - the switch to 3rd person for cover and stealth, at least looks like it would work well, far better than purist 1st person would anyway. On the other hand I'm having trouble getting over the idiot-glow overlaid over anything you can manipulate, the console style rotary inventory (Invisble War flashbacks) and yes, the takedown animation looks like it would be quite jarring. |
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emmtee
New Member
Let's go, Trenya.
Posts: 22 
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Post by emmtee on Jul 7, 2011 6:13:23 GMT -5
You can turn off the Ready Brek glow around interactable stuff - I was slightly annoyed at first because I thought it was locked to difficulty setting and therefore auto-on on medium and auto-off on hard, but you can change it independently. The leak has trouble saving that you've changed it over loading screens, which kind of drove me insane by degrees, but I doubt that'll be a problem when it releases.
Oh, the rotary inventory only shows up when you're playing with a pad, as well - switch to keyboard and mouse and it gets replaced by a numbered bar a lot like the original.
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Post by armyofkittens on Jul 9, 2011 5:16:06 GMT -5
Going to mention just how cool the UI switching is: pick up a pad and the whole UI instantly turns to pad mode with circular quick-select pop-up and pad-button prompts (B to exit, and the like); so much as touch the mouse and the numbered classic-Deus Ex hotbar slides back in and all the button prompts change to key prompts. It's fucking slick. I may have to FRAPS it.
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