StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Anyone here have this game yet? I'm a huge fan of the first one but I've been hearing things from ppl that have it that it's been really dumbed down, that it sucks, that it's Deus Ex lite, etc. In your opinion, is it worth getting?

I would have it, save for my lack of appropriate video card.

I'm definately going to buy it when I get a new computer. I don't care if it isn't as good as I had hoped, I just need to play it.

I invite thee to read this thread.

Contains jems like this:

The demo is pretty indicative of what sort of game DX2 is, so you may wish to play that first. For the most part, everyone who likes the demo likes the game, while those that disliked the demo dislike the game. I fall more into the latter category, so might not be the best person to ask about the game, as I see the negatives more clearly than the positives. In any case, here's my breakdown.

Positives:
- Involving plot (though I saw the truth behind the WTO and Order the first time I saw "Her Holiness" in the Seattle slum church).
- Great lighting and physics. Ragdolls can be really fun.
- Fun, but shallow gameplay (all of the complexity has been "streamlined" out).

Negatives:
- Cramped, claustrophobic maps, especially in comparison to the first game.
- Related to the first: LOAD after LOAD after LOAD, each with an annoying "Do you REALLY want to go to area X?" prompt followed by a loading screen with inane "tips" on the game. NOLF2 and KOTOR's system worked much better (icon indicating area change approaching), or even the system from the original Deus Ex (load simply brings up a blue "loading" on the screen, after which the area you enter is identical to the one you left). Very long load times.
- Terrible inventory system with unintuitive controls (partially fixed in the 1.1 patch -- can't fix the inventory itself, but it can be navigated now).
- Crowded HUD which gives very little useful information compared to the first game. The Infolink now takes up your ENTIRE VIEW when it pops up, which is a liability in a fight. This can be rectified with INI edits, though.
- HUGE FONTS (though this was partially fixed in 1.1 -- there's still very little text per screen, but at least it's not gigantic).
- Limited control options (no leaning, augmentations and inventory buttons aren't remappable, and menus can't be toggled without some INI tweaking).
- Very low-resolution textures used on character meshes (especially compared with early screenshots).
- Poor performance on all but the latest hardware.
- No cheats -- I loved screwing with things like the "spawnmass itemname 120" cheat (create a horde of MJ-12 troops in the middle of a room, then toss in a LAM or WP round... fun for the whole family). Don't know if this is an issue for you.

All in all, the game screams "X-Box port" in your ear. It's a relatively fun experience, but with enough problems that it puts a real damper on things. I think it was on this board that I got criticized for expecting a "Deus Ex 1.5" when commenting in the demo thread -- my response again is that many of my issues with DX2 are problems that would affect any game of its type (the inventory, HUD, performance issues, and map size gripes lead these).

Vertigo1's thread on the demo is rather outdated -- the actual game is like the demo.

Datana wrote:Poor performance on all but the latest hardware.

I have an AMD Athlon 1.5 ghz with 512 megs of ram and an Nvidia GeForce 2. Do you think it would run all right with that?

Datana wrote:All in all, the game screams "X-Box port" in your ear.

I was afraid that that would happen.

Anyways, I'm d/ling the demo right now so I guess I'll see for myself soon enough.

I'm avoiding it, I loved Deus Ex, but after playing the SX2 Demo, and reading reviews, I very much doubt I'll get it. Everything about it said it had been dumbed down for the console market.

"Dumbed down" and "bad controls" doesn't mean that a die-hard fan of the series won't like it for plot and the like.

After all, there was a thread a while back about Fire Warrior - arguably the suckiest sucking game that ever sucked - and some Warhammer 40K people really liked it.

And, at that, I played, liked, and completed despite the worst control structure in human history, Army Of Darkness: Hail to the King.

Mlenk wrote:I have an AMD Athlon 1.5 ghz with 512 megs of ram and an Nvidia GeForce 2. Do you think it would run all right with that?

You won't be able to run the game, period, due to your video card. DX2 makes extensive use of Pixel Shader 1.1, which was only added as a feature starting with the GeForce3 series of cards. It's omitted from the GeForce4 MX series, which is also explicitly excluded from the system requirements.

I have troubles running the game at above 800x600 on my system, an Athlon 2100+ with GeForce4 Ti4600 (with the video card overclocked and the DX2 INI performance tweaks applied). Heck, I've seen people with a P4 3.2 GHz and a Radeon 9800 Pro have problems over on the Ion Storm boards. It's as though IS took no time at all to optimize for the PC, and instead simply did a straight port of the X-Box version. I'm holding out hope for Thief III recieving a better PC version, but it doesn't look good if it's following the same trends that DX2 is taking.

Its not that great.

This game has a good plot, and the ability to choose who you want to work for and what goals you want to complete is great, but this game falls short nearly everywhere else. It doesnt have the depth in gameplay as the original.

Weapons are weak, and you run out of ammo to quickly. Levels are way to small, making some items like the binoculars and sniper rifle useless. Levels take to long to load. Inventory is non-intuitive and cumbersome. And the game is way to short, only half the length of the original.

So, if you muist know what happens after the first game, then get it, but dont expect the same level of quality and detail as the original.

Datana wrote: You won't be able to run the game, period, due to your video card. DX2 makes extensive use of Pixel Shader 1.1, which was only added as a feature starting with the GeForce3 series of cards. It's omitted from the GeForce4 MX series, which is also explicitly excluded from the system requirements.

Yeah, I just found that out when I tried playing the demo a few minutes ago.