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1eyedking DX:HR's Lead Designer talks about level design philosophy

Unwanted

CyberP

Unwanted
Joined
Aug 2, 2013
Messages
1,711
The fact that the Ubisoft team researched the original game and tried to pick apart why it was enjoyable shows. Was what they made perfect? Of course not, but it is why DX:HR was such a clear choice for 2011 Game of the Year.

A "good for what it is" shortsighted attempt at a Deus Ex game? No.
Dark Souls, bitch.

The fact that they are talking about that research again suggests that they haven't become too full of themselves to keep improving their process

I hope you're right.

The biggest thing holding back DX:HR was the level size.

No, it was their overall design philosophy that held the game back. The Hubs in HR were bigger than any DX1 map.
 

DeepOcean

Arcane
Joined
Nov 8, 2012
Messages
7,394
Deus Ex stuff
Yeah... it had been some time since I played Deus Ex but I remember having "Oh fuck they saw me." more times on one level of Deus Ex than on the whole of Human revolution. The fact of you being able to keep track of the position of all the guards all the times, Adam Jensen having one hit knockout arsenal that didn't require any kind of skill or augmentation to use and the convenient vents that save your ass way too much times made the game too easy.

Anyway, I'm curious about their next game. Even if they keep the popamole, if they fix the "The architect union demanded all military bases made for wannabe fascists be made in such a way that you need to walk through all levels of the building before reaching your workstation because on the Murican Reich easy and convenient acess to all places inside the building is for pussies." and if they fix "Let's rescue cheating, ungrateful waifu and save the world before old Bill Gates release the last update to windows and make everybody cyberzombies." it could be a good game.
 

ZagorTeNej

Arcane
Joined
Dec 10, 2012
Messages
1,980
Yeah... it had been some time since I played Deus Ex but I remember having "Oh fuck they saw me." more times on one level of Deus Ex than on the whole of Human revolution.

That's because DX levels aren't designed around making stealth easy for Joe the casual gamer who normally isn't into stealth games but likes Cyberpunk theme and wants to feel like a spy. I mean there are clearly intended stealth paths in original DX as well but not in every freakin level (which is very important for the level design not to feel artificial) and are usually either well hidden and/or harder to navigate (they're dark or they branch out in multiple paths so it's easy to get lost).

The fact of you being able to keep track of the position of all the guards all the times, Adam Jensen having one hit knockout arsenal that didn't require any kind of skill or augmentation to use and the convenient vents that save your ass way too much times made the game too easy.

There's also a lot of conveniently placed cover (popamole syndrome) and guard have such patrol routes that they never go past it which annoyed me to no end and made me feel like Cloak aug isn't nearly as useful for stealth play as it should be.

Anyway, I'm curious about their next game. Even if they keep the popamole, if they fix the "The architect union demanded all military bases made for wannabe fascists be made in such a way that you need to walk through all levels of the building before reaching your workstation because on the Murican Reich easy and convenient acess to all places inside the building is for pussies." and if they fix "Let's rescue cheating, ungrateful waifu and save the world before old Bill Gates release the last update to windows and make everybody cyberzombies." it could be a good game.

Don't know if you played Missing Link but it addressed some flaws and overall felt more like original DX (the areas felt more connected, relative scarcity of praxis points forcing you to specialize your char, "boss" battle in the vein of original DX etc.) so there's some hope for the sequel. I really wish they'd ditch the cover/3d person perspective entirely though and just focus on first person gameplay but I don't see that happening for various reasons (popamole segment of their target audience, would need to overhaul the stealth system).

Regarding save the waifu plot, while I felt the ending was very rushed, underwhelming and illogical overall (butthurt Darrow, zombies, 4 buttons choice etc.) I gotta give the dev team the credit for making damsel in distress turn out to be a morally bankrupt cheating scientist and for that "follow the quest compass" biochip upgrade trolling, that took some guts given the state of today's gaming industry.
 

Alfons

Prophet
Joined
Jul 25, 2014
Messages
1,031
If I remember correctly Missing Link didn't have the penetrating mod which made all weapons except the pistol obsolete in the original campaign.
 

tuluse

Arcane
Joined
Jul 20, 2008
Messages
11,400
Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Shadorwun: Hong Kong
At no point after the first level did I find anything in DX1 remotely difficult. You guys.
 

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