Deus Ex

[deepak]

Any other Deus Ex fans? Deus Ex 3 has been announced, so I think I'm going to play through one of my favorite FPS again

[spritzer]

Deus EX was one of the best games ever made IMO. I really need to play it again while I wait for no.3...

[ph0rk]

I recall preferring system shock 1 & 2 back in the day and never gave deus ex a fair shake. Maybe I should give it another whirl - it will run under vmware fusion.

[catscratch]

The first one was definitely one of the best single-player gaming experiences I've had thus far. Haven't played through 2 though. I've really had so little time for games, and whatever spare gaming time I've had WoW has taken up.

I love the idea of interactivity without the stupidity of a typical online community to ruin it. Companies like Bethesda definitely have the right vision for single-player games but unfortunately they never seem to have the writing and design talent to completely pull it off. Oblivion was largely a humorless game with a pathetic storyline, and once you've exhausted its sandbox playset capabilities there really isn't much to it.

Then on the other hand you have games like System Shock, Deus Ex, and Thief that have the panache and talent to create an immersive world and a good story but don't have the breadth of scope to really flesh out the illusion of freedom and total immersion.

So far Gothic (1 and 2, haven't played 3) has been the single best single-player experience I've had. Humor, an excellent story, solid writing and design, and plenty of scope for exploration and free-form gameplay. Too bad it was so buggy and unstable.

Prior to that there was Privateer 2. I was really amazed at the world design there - a sort of Terry Gilliam take on a SF space opera. I haven't really seen anything quite like it since. Too bad that other than Tachyon: The Fringe there hasn't been a single freeform space sim worth its salt after that (though I'll give Independence War 2 a whirl again, that looked like it had potential.)

Yay, another rant... \

[deepak]

I recall preferring system shock 1 & 2 back in the day and never gave deus ex a fair shake. Maybe I should give it another whirl - it will run under vmware fusion.

System Shock 1 and 2 were amazing as well.

The last time I tried to play Deus Ex on Windows XP it felt like I was in in perma-turbo mode and I wasn't able to fix it with the latest patch

The first one was definitely one of the best single-player gaming experiences I've had thus far. Haven't played through 2 though. I've really had so little time for games, and whatever spare gaming time I've had WoW has taken up.

Deus Ex Invisible War is terrible \

[Duggeh]

Deus Ex is the single greatest single player gaming experience ever created. It's like playing the lead character in the best science fiction thriller action spy film ever made and all 10 of its awesome sequels. Its absolutely vast, remarkably open ended and really, the plot is the best ever used in any game ever. They were working on a film adaptation for a time but it fell through, itd have been compelte rubbish anyway. The only way to make it work on film would be to get JMS to do a high budget TV series.

Invisible war is best left totally unmentioned. If they are going to do a Deus Ex 3, it should be a ground up remake of the first game, made even bigger, even more open ended and with a little more refinement in the RPG side of the game.

I have not played any game which holds a candle to Deus Ex, and I suspect I never will, its a damn shame that it has aged poorly compared to other games from the period, the graphics were a little aged even at release.

The HDTP project has been stuttering along for years, although there is a partial release available now. The speedrun of the game is done on realistic difficulty in about 40 minutes. Which is absolutely insane.

Now im going to go read about dx3.

[philodox]

Anyone who has played Deus Ex that has also played Planescape: Torment? That is my favourite RPG for story line. I've yet to play Deus Ex though.

[humanflyz]

Anyone who has played Deus Ex that has also played Planescape: Torment? That is my favourite RPG for story line. I've yet to play Deus Ex though.

Planescape Torment is possibly the greatest single-player RPG ever made IMO, so yeah, I like it, a lot

[ph0rk]

I never managed to play torment either, as I got sucked into BG expansions and the sequel, which felt like it took me a year to finish. Then, grad school.

it's a shame such awesome games happen so rarely though. The best rpg in recent memory was probably KOTOR (and kotor2 until the ending). We want story, dammit!

[ph0rk]

i once saw a picture of a guy who had the Lady of Pain's face tattooed on his back. geeky, but it was extremely cool.

Reminds me of the tattoo of the marathon symbol I saw once. Talk about geek-chic!

[philodox]

i once saw a picture of a guy who had the Lady of Pain's face tattooed on his back. geeky, but it was extremely cool.

I actually know that guy. We used to hang out and play pen & paper Planescape [AD&D], but he got all snobbish and weird. I still see him every once and a while as he is a cashier at the supermarket that I get groceries from.

Also, I agree, Morte was a great character.

[humanflyz]

Honestly, none of Bioware's more modern games (Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect) really hold up against the Baldur's Gate series.

[ph0rk]

Honestly, none of Bioware's more modern games (Neverwinter Nights, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect) really hold up against the Baldur's Gate series.

I'd agree with that - especially in terms of depth.

KOTOR dramatically exceeded my expectations, though. NWN was more humdrum I'm-playing-this-til-something-better-comes-along gaming.

I can say it isn't just nostalgia, too, as I didn't actually pick up BG until 2004.

[humanflyz]

I must have played the entire BG series like 5 or 6 times through, doing all the side quests/playing all the classes

[philodox]

weird.

Yeah, small world. He got the tattoo after we stopped hanging out, but that didn't stop him from showing it to me in the middle of the street when we bumped into eachother after he had gotten it. It is pretty cool, but kind of overly large for the amount of detail IMO. I like mine better.

[ojnihs]

could never get into deus ex personally, and i never got around to finishing either BG or Torment.

[ph0rk]

I must have played the entire BG series like 5 or 6 times through, doing all the side quests/playing all the classes

Kensai/wizard dual class woo woo

[philodox]

Wait, which BG game allows you to be a Kensai?

[ph0rk]

Wait, which BG game allows you to be a Kensai?

BG 2 - you have to make a fresh character and be human and can't multiclass (though you can dual class later).

if you specialized in katana and dual wield it was pretty disgusting (given you could cast high level wizard spells, too). the period where you waited for your wizard level to equal your kensai level sucked, though

[catscratch]

I hated Baldur's Gate (played 1 and 2). Far too much annoying and completely idiotic moralizing. They tried to make character interaction meaningful but if you do that, you'd better be able to write any kind of meaningful dialogue, otherwise you end up looking like a bunch of stuck-up buffoons.

I guess I'm just not a D&D type despite having played D&D quite a bit many years back. I hate the whole "good vs evil thing." If you're going to be morally pretentious, at least be realistic.

I have to say though, a few one-liners were absolutely hilarious. GO FOR THE EYES BOO!! GOO FOR THE EYES!!!

[ph0rk]

I hated Baldur's Gate (played 1 and 2). Far too much annoying and completely idiotic moralizing. They tried to make character interaction meaningful but if you do that, you'd better be able to write any kind of meaningful dialogue, otherwise you end up looking like a bunch of stuck-up buffoons.

what games that you have played have better dialog than BG1/2?

You didn't like the choice to be good evil or neutral?

[humanflyz]

Well, Planescape for one has way better dialogue/writing than BG

As for Bioware's recent games, yeah, they are all pretty enjoyable, but not up to their old standards.

[deepak]

Planescape: Torment is a rare game that managed to get me completely sucked into the world.

Fallout 1 and 2 are also brilliant.

I never played Baldur's Gate 1 or 2, but I hope to when I have some free time (free time )

[humanflyz]

You're gonna need a lot of time if you want to finish BG1+2 thoroughly (I'd estimately 150+ hours)

[deepak]

You're gonna need a lot of time if you want to finish BG1+2 thoroughly (I'd estimately 150+ hours)

I know \