Deus Ex: Invisible War Demo is Out

HI Neutrality,

there's a nice thread with ISA people explaining some of their design decisions somewhere in the ISA forums, but I can't find it any longer. So take replies regarding "configuration" and "full game" at face-value, they are only the way I remember them.

> Interface : Dumbed down.

The interface is somewhat configurable; unfortunately you'll have to hack the .ini for the demo to do so.

> Inventory : Dumbed down

Yup. I hate the fact that a pack of cigarettes is as "heavy" as a rocket launcher. I am told Warren hates the inventory system himself, but was overruled by the staff who didn't want another "jigsaw puzzle" inventory. Apparently, they have a pretty democratic approach to game design. I don't know whether this is a good thing.

> Ammo : Dumbed down

This is my biggest gripe, actually. I understand the design decision behind unified ammonition, but IMO it kills the combat aspect of the game. Ran out of Sniper bullets? Well, tough luck--you just ran out of ANY ammo and need to fall back to the cattle prod. Nice. Not.

> Skills : Just removed, but still thats Dumbed down in my book.

Skills were merged with biomods.

> Localised damage : Gone. Dumbed down.

That's for the demo; the full game features localised damage, especially for the head area. No need for 5-8 head shots until somebody keels over from the weight in lead.

> Controls : Way too awkward and counterintuitive. Dumbed down.

Those are configurable.

> Hacking : Dumbed down(due to hacking skill being removed)

See above: hacking was merged with the biomod system.

> Lockpicking : Dumbed down(see hacking).

See above: lock picking was merged with the biomod system.


I personally am not too sure about the new biomod system. I liked the skills in DX1, especially because you could combine them with biomods. But I'll hold my final verdict until the full game ships; hopefully, that "design decision" really makes sense in the overall game experience and isn't just a nod to console-like controls requirements ...

93,
-Sascha.rb

 

Funny everyone was lauding them for getting it done on time, when it just feels like it is released on time, but bothering to polish it was beyond the scope of their effort.

I did play thru some of it, but it did not support more than 3 mouse buttons w/o me installing mouse software, which to me is a major gripe. The gui in the middle of the screen is really annoying as well, shoot if you have a high res you could just put it on the sides and not have the nifty curve that makes it take up more space.

 

anyone else get really aggrevated with the mouse movements in this game also? It feels like it has a mouse "smoothing" effect on but I cant turn it off anywhere! drives me freakin nutz! Their seems to be a delay once you stop moving the mouse it keeps moving for a few miliseconds... maybe I am just hyper sensitive.

 

nuke tripple buffering and any render ahead stuff

 

nggalai,

That skills have been changed into biomods doesnt change the fact that it has made the game more "simple" and not in a good way. They removed a layer of complexity that made the game just a little more challenging and fun to play.

The interface might be somewhat configurable but even if you hack the .ini you are still left with an interface that overall isnt intuitive at all. The way the control of the interface has been handled in this game just blows. Big time. Theres is nothign that works even remotely like you would expect in a PC game. Everything in the interface feels like it has been designed around the Xbox. The few changes possible just doesnt change that feeling.

Im glad that localised damage made it into the full game. But it still wont mean much to me when I take all the other flaws of the game into consideration.

Cant really remember the last time that I have been so disappointed in a game like I am with this.


-Neutrality-

 

from my knowledge ati drivers don't even allow tripple buffering in dx unless they added it in the 3.9's and I didn't know about it. I heard it only worked for openGL games.

 

I agree. A lot of the inventory just feels like they assigned X-box buttons to keyboard buttons. And what's up with the default WASD scheme forcing your hand over to the Enter button to select an item in your inventory?

 

Some of the simplification is about eliminating redundant stuff... Character customization was through skills, inventory and biomods, now skills are removed to simplify. Player decisions were restricted with limited resources of energy, money, health, multitools, different kinds of ammo, now only one kind of ammo remains. Jigsaw inventory was truly a game in the game

Much of the first game's features remain. Emergent complexity, character customization, multiple solutions are still there and only affected a bit by the simplification. Not to mention story, setting and characters which feel like DX 1 But you will spend less time with character stat and inventory management... if you liked it in the first game, well, though luck. But if you liked the game then it might even turn out to be better this way.

 

The reasoning behind the change doesn't make it any less lame.

I was really looking forward to dx2 being an 'improved' version of dx. So sad. Funny thing is, i probably would have bought dx2 without thinking about it if they had not released a demo.

 

Perhaps you mean this one. Some samples:

IMO, whoever came up with the inventory system deserves to be fired. Try dropping something and tell me that's intuitive. Or try unlocking a door - you automatically switch from your current weapon to a multitool, but you don't switch back when you're done. And since when has the ESC key been used to signify "Save changes and exit"? Don't get me started on the context-sensitive meaning of the Tab key.

 

Did they address the bloody 5 pistol shots to the head to take down a bad guy bit?

I want to like this game so bad I can taste it...but they ain't making it easy. :?

 

Don't let the dev's hear you .

 

the answer's nearer the top of this page

 

Why do you think so many games get demos well after their retail releases?

 

Does Deus Ex 2 allow you to use triple buffering? It uses the Unreal Engine right? Then it should allow you to (probably through the game's .ini file). And triple buffering should work.

The driver control panel is, uh, "force ware", to use a pun -- you use it to force triple buffering if an app doesn't directly support triple buffering.

 

http://www.petitiononline.com/DXIWDemo/petition.html

If you're as disappointed as I am, please sign this petition. It won't change the game, but at least it will let them know how many people are disappointed in it, which is something that simply refusing to buy it won't do.

 

I already know this revrend I was just saying that I cant turn a feature off that I have not enabled and can not enable in any easy manor! This was all related to the mouse delay issues I have had on every computer I have run this game on. Drives me completly insane!

 

[quote="vrecan]
I already know this revrend I was just saying that I cant turn a feature off that I have not enabled and can not enable in any easy manor! This was all related to the mouse delay issues I have had on every computer I have run this game on. Drives me completly insane![/quote]

Check through the .ini files. Mouse smoothing defaults to being on in the demo and I don't think the game settings let you turn it off. It seems this demo was largely left set to more Xbox suited configuration choices. A little irritating but easily fixable by editing the files or going to planetdeusex and downloading a tweaking tool from there.

 

thanks banksie, I had a feeling that was what was going on but I couldn't find anything for it in the ini I must of missed it somewhere. Guess I might reinstall it to see if its a little less annoying with mouse smoothing off.