They've almost caught up to the ambitions of their art team, but the tech is still not there for at least most of the characters. I do not particularly mind some character looking worse than others, but they all share some fairly awkward mannerisms and animations that don't really quite look right in the end. Still having a blast, and it is a huge step up from Human Revolution in every technical respect (and most gameplay and some story ones), I just hope they match the animation quality and general consistency of some of their competitors with the next game, as I fear that they will likely go head to head with Cyberpunk 2077 with the next game.
I may still prefer the next DX over Cyberpunk even if it continues to have some consistency /technical issues, but that is because I'm already invested in and a fan of the series. The next DX game must compete head to head with Cyberpunk to attract mainstream audiences, not people like us who'll probably buy and enjoy both, and most will only pick one, especially if the two games come out near each other as it seems they may. I hope for Eidos Montreal's sake that they manage a leap in tech from MD to the next DX that is close to the leap between HR to MD, which would IMO probably bring them up to 2019-2020 standards in tech nicely, and caught up completely with the AAA cutting edge of tech unlike HR and sort of MD.
Still, as you've said, it often looks beautiful. It just lacks consistency in mostly character models and animations to match up. And from what I've heard, the main story's writing could use a little more cooking near the end (I'm halfway, maybe more, not sure). The formula could probably also use a mixup so that stealth isn't as easy as it is, with hopefully a higher difficulty option or two, with "Iron Man" modes (having only one save and it is deleted upon death) being a difficulty modifier usable on any difficulty and not a difficulty of it's own. I guess while I'm asking, please bring back swimming and other skills too, Eidos
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Edit:
Bear in mind, I've probably already spent hours of my playtime starring at the really stuff, and I'm taking my sweet time soaking the entire game in and enjoying it all. I've just got some thoughts on it's technical presentation.
