Path: ...!local-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-4.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:11:40 +0000 From: Spalls Hurgenson Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action Subject: Re: This is why we can't have nice things (Deus Ex) Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:11:38 -0400 Message-ID: References: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 68 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-BavJfuA7043v73jqsbP2dI25HuYosFFtG/qzxSA+xOlNSV3TNbfwjMgFZBMxKE6wizkZwgpcMg9ecbG!1wgRFGaKwQypTRHsV8QrijfeA9lpvh1zhzqkeXu5/ROCn0wJE3F/wLEu5fGL9TQcBhSRjArs X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.40 Bytes: 4440 On Fri, 04 Apr 2025 13:46:20 -0400, Mike S. wrote: >On Fri, 04 Apr 2025 13:20:49 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson > wrote: > >> >>Far be it for me to hope for a sequel rather than something new, but >>if we /must/ have sequels, better it be for something like "Deus Ex" >>rather than the 10,000th iteration of "Call of Duty", "FIFA" or >>"Assassins Creed". Except we're not getting the former because it's >>'too niche',* say multiple publishers who think the only way to >>profitability is to market their too-large games to the widest >>possible audience. > >I have mixed feelings about Deus Ex. I don't like conspiracy >storylines and I thought the original game looked ugly. But I know >this series is very well regarded and I should probably try them out. >I own several of them so I probably will at some point. > >As for sequels, I am fine with them. Some of my favorite games of all >time are sequels. The last time I played "Deus Ex" I made a comment that said something along the lines of, "It's a great game, but it doesn't really start being really fun until two thirds of the way of the game". I was rightly called out on this, and told that any game that makes you wait that long has some real issues. Nonetheless, I still hold to my opinion that "Deus Ex" is a good game, because: a) the parts before that point aren't bad, they're just pretty humdrum, and b) once everything starts coming together, not only is the rest of the game excellent, but you start reflecting on the earlier bits and appreciate what they were doing But you do have to have a lot of patience before you get to that point, and I can understand if a lot of people give up in frustration before that point. Especially now, given the visuals and 1999-era mechanics of the game. I honestly don't know if I'd recommend any but the most die-hard fans from playing it nowadays. It was an extremely influential game, but I'm not sure that it would be worth the effort to experience it anymore. "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" was undoubtedly a more accessible game. It was also a shallower title (there's a lot of hidden depths in the conspiracy mythos of the first game) and the ending was disappointing, but it's got the sort of smoothness and polish modern gamers expect. "Mankind Divided" was even better in that respect, except it felt too small and constrained compared to the world-spanning events of the earlier games, and its story ended prematurely. The whole thing seemed more an expansion pack than a stand-alone game. "Invisible War" had some good ideas in it (and a rather impressive ending) but the memory-constraints forced upon it by being designed for console hardware meant those ideas were narratively neutered, as was its mechanics and level design. You can see the bones of a great game buried beneath the mess, but it never gets close to realising its potential. But, like I said, I'm not big into endlessly extending franchises. "Deus Ex" had its day in the sun; it produced some excellent games (and some not-so-excellent ones), and I enjoyed many of them. But I don't see the need for more and more sequels. I'm much more of developers creating something new.