Interview On Game Design and Deus Ex: Human Revolution

[Miew]

You ARE arguing that an OPTIONAL inventory item (albeit overpowered) is the same as a banal-shit-boring game system.

Rather he's assuming that everyone will get the health regeneration powerup.

I think regeneration is harmful to gameplay because it removes a limited resource from the game.
The most common limited ressources in action games are health and ammunition. Recent pop-a-mole shooters not only removed the former but also greatly reduced impact of the latter, by making all enemies drop a lot of ammo/guns.
I think health regeneration would be acceptable if there were other limited resources that you'd have to keep track of. If you had a time limit and ammunition was scarce, a game could be fun even with regeneration.
The reason most shooters are so boring nowadays is because they all allow you to wear down any enemy with your near limitless ressources. It's something that you can always fall back on if anything else fails.
Imagine a game where the enemy was smarter and more aggressive, and you'd actually have to struggle to get some room to breathe and regenerate instead of just crouching behind cover. That way, regeneration could be implemented as a fun mechanic.

What I want to say is: It's not only regenerating health that makes games boring, it's really a number of factors, any of which could be present in DE3 or maybe not.

 

[CrimHead]

You ARE arguing that an OPTIONAL inventory item (albeit overpowered) is the same as a banal-shit-boring game system.

Rather he's assuming that everyone will get the health regeneration powerup.

Because the alternative is Energy Shield. And that shit is fucking worthless.

P. much everyone is going to pick regeneration. If you don't you're a subhuman scum worthy of execution /Draq.

 

[waywardOne]

Because the alternative is Energy Shield. And that shit is fucking worthless.

P. much everyone is going to pick regeneration. If you don't you're a subhuman scum worthy of execution /Draq.

not trying to be a snob, but even on Realistic i just wasn't getting shot enough in firefights to need regen, especially with medpacks all over the place.

plus, with max'd energy shield you can kill simons with the knife in the underwater lab. way more fun.

 

[Irxy]

Yes. It's actually one of the best ps2 ports out there. AI, textures, models, facial expressions, and cutscenes have all been improved. The only bad thing is the longer and increased loading times. Besides that, however, it's basically the same game.

Not really. PS2 version has simplified health (simple health bar instead of zone damage) and inventory (list instead of tetris slots, more stacking of everything, limit to 4 firearms etc.) systems. Most maps are redesigned and cropped into smaller parts with loading when moving between them - which reduces the effectiveness of a sniper rifle. Seems all that shit we have in Invisible War was originally implemented for ps2 port.

Improved graphics is debatable, since slight changes to models and textures are barely visible (I couldn't see them at all), and pc version looks better anyway due to higher resolutions. Heard nothing of the improved ai. Also, even with changed interface gamepad isn't a best option for fps games.

I'd say the only objective improvement over pc version is the inclusion of intro/ending cinematics, which is a nice, but minor thing.

 

[SoupNazi]

not trying to be a snob, but even on Realistic i just wasn't getting shot enough in firefights to need regen, especially with medpacks all over the place.

plus, with max'd energy shield you can kill simons with the knife in the underwater lab. way more fun.

What's even more fun is never killing Simmons at all.

 

[Black Cat]

I think regeneration is harmful to gameplay because it removes a limited resource from the game.

I'm not defending health regeneration but as far as I remember the resource wasn't really that limited to begin with if you don't force yourself not to abuse the game. You just need to locate a recharger bot in the level, and most levels, or at least group of levels, kind of have one hidden somewhere, and you become practically immortal as long as you go, clear a room, go back to recharge, go to clear another room, go back to recharge, etc.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Yeah but that's a gay way to play the game. Really gay.

Regarding regen in Deus Ex 3, they've said that it will be slow. How slow, exactly, is yet to be determined. Perhaps like the Witcher? If it's like that, it wouldn't be too bad. But it definitely won't be a matter of seconds based on what they've said.

I agree, though, if it's automatic it's still not the same thing as regen in DE1 no matter how you look at it.

 

[Irxy]

I'm not defending health regeneration but as far as I remember the resource wasn't really that limited to begin with if you don't force yourself not to abuse the game. You just need to locate a recharger bot in the level, and most levels, or at least group of levels, kind of have one hidden somewhere, and you become practically immortal as long as you go, clear a room, go back to recharge, go to clear another room, go back to recharge, etc.

Games with static content can only be really challenging on the 1st walkthrough. Of course, once you already mastered it and know map layouts, locations of all hidden items, game systems and best tactics, it seems much easier - that's what harder difficulties should be for, to preserve challenge on replays. Anyway, carefully managing resources was a nice factor during the 1st run of Deus Ex, at least for me.

 

[Roguey]

You just need to locate a recharger bot in the level, and most levels, or at least group of levels, kind of have one hidden somewhere, and you become practically immortal as long as you go, clear a room, go back to recharge, go to clear another room, go back to recharge, etc.

Isn't playing in such an excessively tedious manner one of the reasons they're using as justification for making health regenerate? Because going back and forth and waiting for the cooldown or hunting for healthpacks breaks up the pacing or whatever. Anyway, you could/should just be cautious and methodical and use one of the generously-provided health packs when applicable, no backtracking or hunting necessary.

 

[DraQ]

I don't know you biblically (yet) so I'll reserve judgement, but ITT your POSTS are full of magnificent dumbfuckery. You might as well be arguing that a game with difficulty settings is the same as a banal-shit-boring game with no challenge. Wait, no "might as well" necessary. You ARE arguing that an OPTIONAL inventory item (albeit overpowered) is the same as a banal-shit-boring game system.

I find your conflating of menu settings with in-game "IWIN" button disturbing.

 

[Miew]

You ARE arguing that an OPTIONAL inventory item (albeit overpowered) is the same as a banal-shit-boring game system.

Rather he's assuming that everyone will get the health regeneration powerup.

Because the alternative is Energy Shield. And that shit is fucking worthless.

P. much everyone is going to pick regeneration. If you don't you're a subhuman scum worthy of execution /Draq.

What you don't seem to understand is that some people like to deliberately leave the regeneration out to make the game a little bit more challenging.
Don't you ever do things like that on repeated playthroughs, just to keep things interesting? Maybe people will limit themselves to pistols only, or not distribute any experience points into skills because that adds new aspects or difficulties to a repeated playthrough.

The reason why everyone hates the automatic regeneration in DE3 as opposed to the augmentations of DE1 is because the former can't be turned off or left out, so no mixing up there.

A lot of the fun in games like Deus Ex comes from situations where you mess up a bit and instead of reloading the game, try to push on and see if you can somehow save yourself. There's this feeling of tension when you are low on ammo, low on health and sneaking around desperately looking for some resources while trying to avoid any enemies.
If you regenerate automatically, that just won't happen because within seonds you'll be combat ready again and you can go on to kick-ass.
I guess a lot of players like kicking ass, otherwise games wouldn't be laid out the way they are recently, but some people still appreciate a little bit of disempowerment.

See, Bruce Willis in Die Hard is cool because he doesn't regenerate his health (as other action heros do).

 

[Grunker]

I'm sure there'll be a mod that removes health regen from Human Revolution - so your point is basically that nr. 3 is worse because you have to install a mod.

 

[SoupNazi]

I don't think there will be any meaningful mods for Human Revolution. The most we can expect is a nude mod for the invisible Rihanna chick. And maybe a nude mod for Jensen.

 

[markec]

I'm sure there'll be a mod that removes health regen from Human Revolution - so your point is basically that nr. 3 is worse because you have to install a mod.

And I heard that Oblivion with bunch of mods is actually a decent game.

Main problem with regenerating health is that the developers build their game around it, so if you remove it youll probably make game impossible to finish.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I'm sure there'll be a mod that removes health regen from Human Revolution - so your point is basically that nr. 3 is worse because you have to install a mod.

That's shitty excuses and you know it. You could say that for any game. Oblivion: Nehrim makes the game like Gothic (I've heard). So when judging Oblivion, should we say it's the same as Gothic?

Every game should be judged vanilla.

 

[Grunker]

Hey, I'm not saying #3 will be any good, but the regenerating health is a small part of it. I abused regeneration pretty hard in #1 on my first runthrough.

 

[Archibald]

Every game should be judged vanilla.

Depends on when you`re judging it. For example to judge Vtmb without wesp(i think?) patches would be kinda retarded but it`s definetely retarded to say that mods will fix this when game hasn`t even bean released yet.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Bugfixes don't count.

 

[Mastermind]

not being able to even use a weapon if you lacked the right skill

Picking up a weapon and pulling the trigger is hard. So hard that it's perfectly reasonable for a game to ban you from doing it altogether.

 

[DraQ]

not being able to even use a weapon if you lacked the right skill

Picking up a weapon and pulling the trigger is hard. So hard that it's perfectly reasonable for a game to ban you from doing it altogether.

I'd love a mod changing hard stat limits for weapons/armour in SS2 into something less retarded.

 

[SCO]

I'm sure there'll be a mod that removes health regen from Human Revolution - so your point is basically that nr. 3 is worse because you have to install a mod.

And I heard that Oblivion with bunch of mods is actually a decent game.

Main problem with regenerating health is that the developers build their game around it, so if you remove it youll probably make game impossible to finish.

 

[SCO]

I'm not going to play the game anyway. Fuck cool animations in the ass.

 

[Tycn]

I'm sure there'll be a mod that removes health regen from Human Revolution - so your point is basically that nr. 3 is worse because you have to install a mod.

What reason do they have for providing for free what they can sell? Mods are so last-gen.