Decided to finally get around to a PS2 classic that I'd never played, Deus Ex: the Conspiracy. (I didn't even know it had a subtitle!) GAF loves this game, and I lvoed Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so I sent away for the original, and am finally experiencing it.
Some initial impressions:
* The game throws you right into combat with little time to acclimate yourself to the controls, so I'm glad there's a tutorial. I went through this before touching the story just so that I could reacclimate myself to moving around in first-person and handling a non-inverted camera. Very glad I did, because I still struggled through the first mission and frequently panned the reticule in the wrong direction.
* No assistance with pinpointing the reticule, even on easy mode. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool lefty and don't have the fine motor skills with my right thumb to naturally move that stick with pixel-perfect accuracy, and it's making the game tough. In DXHR, I think they automatically put the reticule in place if you came within a few pixels of your target. And don't get me started on ladders. I have died far more times than I care to admit just from falling off ladders! They must have implemented the infinitely more pleasant ladder-climbing prompt in DEHR after complaints from this game. A five-year-old child can climb a real ladder more reliably than JC Denton can.
* Wow, these graphics are old-school. I can look past them pretty quickly as I love going back to PS1 games from time to time, but still, it can be jarring.
* The vaunted Deus Ex freeform progress system is as good as advertised. People's dialogue changes based on what I've done, and I can do things that a more scripted game wouldn't let me do, and not only does the game allow it, but it even seems to encourage it. When the government agent came to Manderley's office and talked about interrogating some prisoners, I
So far, augmentations -- the main feature of Deus Ex, I had thought -- have hardly been touched on. In DEHR, from the very beginning, Adam is forced to deal with his, psychologically; people in the streets are mocking him and his kind; you can visit a LIMB cilnic -- but here they're unremarked-upon menu choices, at least so far.
Will there ever be any more non-combat exploration areas? I loved wandering around Detroit and talking to people, but here it's all combat/danger, all the time, except inside UNATCO. I also wanted to play as a Pacifist, like I did in DEHR, but couldn't, mostly because I'm incompetent but also beause there don't seem to ever be enough tranquilizer darts. I do like how people don't fall asleep instantly when you tranq them, though. Sometimes they can get to an alarm switch before collapsing.
Any advice on playing this game a little quicker? I'm enjoying it, but it's taking forever. I'm still in Hell's Kitchen (and I know that there are several more areas, such as Hong Kong) and I've probably been playing for over 20 hours. Not getting killed so often would probably help, of course, but is it OK to ignore some of the side missions? I've been doing every one I can find.
So far I've only gone off the script once (but in a big way:
Now to see what Manderley will do to me when I get back to base!
Some initial impressions:
* The game throws you right into combat with little time to acclimate yourself to the controls, so I'm glad there's a tutorial. I went through this before touching the story just so that I could reacclimate myself to moving around in first-person and handling a non-inverted camera. Very glad I did, because I still struggled through the first mission and frequently panned the reticule in the wrong direction.
* No assistance with pinpointing the reticule, even on easy mode. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool lefty and don't have the fine motor skills with my right thumb to naturally move that stick with pixel-perfect accuracy, and it's making the game tough. In DXHR, I think they automatically put the reticule in place if you came within a few pixels of your target. And don't get me started on ladders. I have died far more times than I care to admit just from falling off ladders! They must have implemented the infinitely more pleasant ladder-climbing prompt in DEHR after complaints from this game. A five-year-old child can climb a real ladder more reliably than JC Denton can.
* Wow, these graphics are old-school. I can look past them pretty quickly as I love going back to PS1 games from time to time, but still, it can be jarring.
* The vaunted Deus Ex freeform progress system is as good as advertised. People's dialogue changes based on what I've done, and I can do things that a more scripted game wouldn't let me do, and not only does the game allow it, but it even seems to encourage it. When the government agent came to Manderley's office and talked about interrogating some prisoners, I
followed him, Assassin's Creed-style, staying out of his sight, and went all the way downstairs and listened to him talk to the prisoners. He chastised me for following him, and he killed the prisoners. Then I reloaded the file and followed him without trying to hide myself. This time he didn't begin the interrogation, and just told me to go away.
So far, augmentations -- the main feature of Deus Ex, I had thought -- have hardly been touched on. In DEHR, from the very beginning, Adam is forced to deal with his, psychologically; people in the streets are mocking him and his kind; you can visit a LIMB cilnic -- but here they're unremarked-upon menu choices, at least so far.
Will there ever be any more non-combat exploration areas? I loved wandering around Detroit and talking to people, but here it's all combat/danger, all the time, except inside UNATCO. I also wanted to play as a Pacifist, like I did in DEHR, but couldn't, mostly because I'm incompetent but also beause there don't seem to ever be enough tranquilizer darts. I do like how people don't fall asleep instantly when you tranq them, though. Sometimes they can get to an alarm switch before collapsing.
Any advice on playing this game a little quicker? I'm enjoying it, but it's taking forever. I'm still in Hell's Kitchen (and I know that there are several more areas, such as Hong Kong) and I've probably been playing for over 20 hours. Not getting killed so often would probably help, of course, but is it OK to ignore some of the side missions? I've been doing every one I can find.
So far I've only gone off the script once (but in a big way:
I trusted my brother about UNATCO, and when I met Lebedev on his plane, I tried tranquilizing Anna so that I could keep talking with him. Anna, unfazed by the dart, shot me to death in seconds. So I put a LAM in the spot where she walks in. It blew her to pieces and a thankful Lebedev told me all kinds of things.