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[Let's Play] Deus Ex: Human Revolution (S1) - Alright. Bye.
Ninja Snarl P
My helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
My helmet is my burden.Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
Let's Play: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
You didn't ask for this... but it's happening anyway!
Set 1: Alright. Bye.
Yup, it's time for Let's Play: Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Pretty much everybody who is a human being should know about the Deus Ex franchise. For those ignorant non-humans out there, Human Revolution is a prequel to the original Deus Ex, taking place more than two decades earlier in the timeline. This means there's a sort of disparity between how everything in the prequel looks more advanced than the original, but hey, a decade of advancing real-world technology does that. I tend to be somebody who enjoys challenge and, as I will be able to use the magic of editing to help preserve the flow of the game for the viewers, I'll be running the game at the "Give me Deus Ex!" difficulty. Having done a little video testing at this setting, I can already tell you that it is... unforgiving. Oh, and I also snagged the Missing Link DLC thanks to a Steam sale, which I have not played before and will, obviously, be putting in with the rest of the LP.
Human Revolution's background is this: in the year 2027, Detroit has been revived as a center of cutting-edge technology through Sarif Industries. This new industry is one of human augmentation which, though such technology has improved the lives of many thousands of people, does not come without controversy. Along with unrest caused by people who believe human augmentation is unethical, there is the ongoing issue of augmented individuals requiring constant doses of expensive anti-rejection drugs. In other words, cyberpunk heaven, more or less. All sorts of people are augmented, from lowly street thugs to world leaders; there's also a heaping helping of near-future tech, conspiracy, power struggles, megacorporations, and all the right and proper things to have in this setting. Oh, that includes full-length trenchcoats and sunglasses at night (it's okay, his vision is augmented).
Gameplay-wise, Human Revolution is one of those games which is something of an odd duck, but in a good way. You could, if you were boring, play Human Revolution as essentially a first-person shooter. However, you can also play as "gravelly-voiced vent-dweller" or "taser guy who reads every email on every computer in his path" or "that sneaky jerk with a clinical addiction to knife-arm stabbings". Or you can do all of that mixed together. There's a fair amount of RPG in here, albeit via augmentations instead of "leveling". Even the weapons can be "leveled", giving you things like revolvers that can fire explosive rounds or simpler things like rifles with better accuracy. There also tends to be multiple ways to a given objective or objectives, depending on what augmentations you've picked up, what information you've uncovered, and how big of a box you can lift.
I've played Human Revolution once before (right when it was released), but that was almost a year ago so many, many of the details have been more or less forgotten. When I played originally, my judgement of the game was harsh in some regards, even unfair. Some of that was due to comparing certain aspects to the original, but a few things are problematic simply from the perspective of quality design. However, I'll address those specific, and few, issues later on when they're in the proper context. More importantly, enough time has elapsed so I can give the game the fair shake it deserves as well as know how to skip the (rare) lousy bits, meaning I should be able to properly enjoy the game as well as produce a more enjoyable viewing experience.
So sit back and enjoy!
You didn't ask for this... but it's happening anyway!
Set 1: Alright. Bye.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hVuRfdXH7IYup, it's time for Let's Play: Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Pretty much everybody who is a human being should know about the Deus Ex franchise. For those ignorant non-humans out there, Human Revolution is a prequel to the original Deus Ex, taking place more than two decades earlier in the timeline. This means there's a sort of disparity between how everything in the prequel looks more advanced than the original, but hey, a decade of advancing real-world technology does that. I tend to be somebody who enjoys challenge and, as I will be able to use the magic of editing to help preserve the flow of the game for the viewers, I'll be running the game at the "Give me Deus Ex!" difficulty. Having done a little video testing at this setting, I can already tell you that it is... unforgiving. Oh, and I also snagged the Missing Link DLC thanks to a Steam sale, which I have not played before and will, obviously, be putting in with the rest of the LP.
Human Revolution's background is this: in the year 2027, Detroit has been revived as a center of cutting-edge technology through Sarif Industries. This new industry is one of human augmentation which, though such technology has improved the lives of many thousands of people, does not come without controversy. Along with unrest caused by people who believe human augmentation is unethical, there is the ongoing issue of augmented individuals requiring constant doses of expensive anti-rejection drugs. In other words, cyberpunk heaven, more or less. All sorts of people are augmented, from lowly street thugs to world leaders; there's also a heaping helping of near-future tech, conspiracy, power struggles, megacorporations, and all the right and proper things to have in this setting. Oh, that includes full-length trenchcoats and sunglasses at night (it's okay, his vision is augmented).
Gameplay-wise, Human Revolution is one of those games which is something of an odd duck, but in a good way. You could, if you were boring, play Human Revolution as essentially a first-person shooter. However, you can also play as "gravelly-voiced vent-dweller" or "taser guy who reads every email on every computer in his path" or "that sneaky jerk with a clinical addiction to knife-arm stabbings". Or you can do all of that mixed together. There's a fair amount of RPG in here, albeit via augmentations instead of "leveling". Even the weapons can be "leveled", giving you things like revolvers that can fire explosive rounds or simpler things like rifles with better accuracy. There also tends to be multiple ways to a given objective or objectives, depending on what augmentations you've picked up, what information you've uncovered, and how big of a box you can lift.
I've played Human Revolution once before (right when it was released), but that was almost a year ago so many, many of the details have been more or less forgotten. When I played originally, my judgement of the game was harsh in some regards, even unfair. Some of that was due to comparing certain aspects to the original, but a few things are problematic simply from the perspective of quality design. However, I'll address those specific, and few, issues later on when they're in the proper context. More importantly, enough time has elapsed so I can give the game the fair shake it deserves as well as know how to skip the (rare) lousy bits, meaning I should be able to properly enjoy the game as well as produce a more enjoyable viewing experience.
So sit back and enjoy!
Ninja Snarl P on
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It's been a long while since my last LP, but I've learned a couple of things that will hopefully improve the overall experience.
Really looking forward to this; when I played the first time, my experience was a soured by a some issues. Now I can just enjoy the hell out this excellent game, especially since I can't remember hardly any of the specifics.
EDIT: Cripes, that top image is HUGE. Gotta fix that.
EDIT: Fixed.
That was my favorite thing to do in Deus Ex.
I played the first one when I was in high school, I think.
Never played Invisible War.
But Human Revolution is awesome.
Anyway, glad to see someone taking this on. Been lagging on LPs lately, but yours have been good fun to watch, so looking forward to this one :^:
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
We'll see how things run as the game progresses, but something that I find singularly amazing is how well Human Revolution runs. Though that's likely due to the need to get it to run on consoles, even the DirectX 11 component works remarkably well; in fact, the game runs much better with DirectX 11 running, unlike the vast majority of games out there. Weird.
And each time I come back, I have no idea what the hell is going on.
As much as I'd like to watch this, I think I'll wait until after my second runthrough in case I don't get spoiled by anything you do. . . of course, this being DX, I'll be bound to get spoiled by some kind of detail regardless. I'll probably catch the Missing Link part since I didn't pick that up.
Made the dumb mistake of leaving in my syncing bit; feel free to laugh at that. No hilarious punching in this bit since the game takes a little bit to get rolling. However, I do die, embarrassingly, several times in what amounts to the tutorial. Elite soldiers who can actually aim? When does that ever happen?
The game you were thinking of System Shock [and the second] which used 451 as the code for the first door[45100 for SS2]. It was even the code for their offices. Was an allusion to Fahrenheit 451
Yeah, that sounds about right. I remember the System Shock thing (read about it somewhere, but never played System Shock), but I didn't know it was related to Fahrenheit 451. Also thinking I'll definitely have to turn on crosshairs since you can't go to iron sights while using cover, which is kind of lame. Blindfire worked well, though.
I think the game has an AI system where enemies will fire towards the last place they saw you, which is why I got away with that. That's a good thing, though; I hate it when enemies just automatically know your position once they've seen you.
That's definitely how the AI reacts and I like it a lot. It's how AI has needed to react for such a long time.
but in general I thought the AI was pretty decent for searching guards
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
Well, they made one major improvement at least. Properly searching hiding spots will be the next major revolution in AI complexity. They "did it" in Metal Gear Solid, but that was more of "they throw a grenade in the vent with you and you have no chance of escaping it."
Still, Human Revolution's AI is way, way beyond the original and still better than most other games. The hive mind thing is gone, and it's great that enemies don't have Xray vision. And it's at least inpredictable enough to throw a wrench in things every once in a while; the section I was having trouble with also gave me trouble during test footage, except they attacked differently the second time around.
There's a lot in this game to compare to the MGS series as well, but in a good way. Along with the clean visuals and attention to detail, the MGS similarities become very apparent once you do more stealth stuff, particularly when you upgrade your radar. I'm not a fan of where the MGS series went, but at least Human Revolution uses some really good ideas from that series.
Still, even the scripted behaviors had interesting quirks. It's nice to see characters turn sideways or look behind them as they're patrolling, and do so more often if they've been alarmed. The effect kind of wears off once you realize they're doing those motions at the exact same points in their patrols, but in areas with overlapping guards it did make stealth somewhat trickier.
Now playing: Teardown and Baldur's Gate 3 (co-op)
Sunday Spotlight: Horror Tales: The Wine
It would be awesome to have a New Game+ option in this game and let you start with your abilities from the beginning to try different stuff. But oh well.
I'm kind of torn on this. Its super unrealistic for enemies to go back to the "unaware" state once you've been spotted, but then the stealth option becomes unworkable. Longer "warned/cautious" states usually just result in the stealth player to wait out an obnoxiously long cooldown timer and that results in a lot of just sitting around. Vents as a safe zone is a bit of a cliche at this point, but I think they just exist for the stealth player to be able to fail and then try again without having to reload.
My favorite quirk of the original was to be sneaking around some high-tech facility, emerging to murder a couple of guards and then disappearing into the vents only to hear a surviving guy say, "Probably just some homeless guy." Yes, a homeless guy. Murdering your coworkers in your top secret, highly guarded facility.
Though one would have to wonder just how often homeless guys sneak into super-secret bases and murder guards in order for the surviving guards to just go "oh, that problem again" and just walk away.
The answer is permanent "aware" state after you've been discovered, but the AI needs to be more dynamic in that state and the game needs to be designed to offer more paths and more tools on hand to deal with situations. If you make sneak attacks from one side of the room in particular, the AI should concentrate on that, but you should still have a means of getting to the other side or a different angle and taking them by surprise. It's a complex thing to solve though.
I don't think it would be that hard to have such a system if you designed levels well enough. So long as there are enough areas such that patrols cannot cover all of them at the same time and there are mechanics to create diversions; getting caught, even with a smart AI that communicates realistically and has a widening search pattern based on where you possibly could be, does not mean you couldn't sneak past the rest of the guards by giving them new and false information
Goumindong, I do like the idea of giving the player more tools to give false information. Thief had the noisemaker arrows, and the original Far Cry gave the player the ability to toss rocks to produce noise at a distant location. Distraction at a distance is the best way to deal with this problem, I think, but in a game like DX: HR, where the player is already able to cloak, move about silently, see enemies through walls, at some point they become overpowered as the designer continually gives them tools.
This is the best sentence I've read all day. Kudos, Ninja Snarl P!
Now hold on, video games are nowhere near the architectural level that reality is built on. How many inaccessible "rooms" are built into games (in that you go down a hall with doors but they're just set design and not functional doors)? And how many "complete exploration" games like the original Deus Ex have very arbitrary vent systems or underground tunnels whose only architecture is getting you from point a to point b with no design indicating there are paths away from your destination? The one most realistic vent I've seen in a video game ever - and still one that had an error in it - is the one in Metal Gear Solid that lets you get to the DARPA chief; it accessed multiple rooms, was built into the roof as it should have been, and the one error in it was the end you crawl into not continuing to run into the rest of the building somehow.
Games are design to provide paths, but they are far from being designed with any sense of realism as it stands. Multiple vent shafts and multiple rooms, even multiple circular / redundant paths, that's more realistic than you think.
As for guards, some of the stuff out about Dishonored sounds good, like guards noticing a gap in the patrols from a silenced guard and adjusting their routes to compensate while stepping up an awareness level. Obviously all these games have sounded good when talked up before release, but since AI isn't a steady improvement like graphics used to be any progress is good.
Ninja, are you going to slot Missing Link right into the part of the story where it fits, or save it for later?
Yeah, fair enough. But there has to be a balance between gameplay and realistic level design. Games like DX: HR and its ilk suffer when the world gets too game-y, in large part because they strive to create a cohesive world that operates under a believable set of parameters. I do agree that design should serve gameplay above realism, and that there basically aren't any games that have "realistic" level design (perhaps The Elder Scrolls series is a notable exception). I guess in my perfect world, this wouldn't be an either/or proposition.
Yeah, I'm super pumped about Dishonored. I'm not expecting a huge leap forward, but if I don't see some baby steps, I'll be extremely disappointed. But everything so far sounds great. I'm one of those types who tries to avoid conflict in games wherever possible, so I love games that give that option.
This set also teaches Jensen important things. Namely, pay attention to the code you already found when trying to hack and disarm a bomb. I won't say anything specific beyond that there was a bomb timer, oversights were made, and some deaths were involved. But at the end of the day, everyone living can agree that was entirely not my fault.
Which is great, since I was the only one who lived through that.