@crice: I don't like wailing away before a game is even released, but I felt a little tingle of fear when I read that write-up. They seem to be trying to make a futuristic Bioshock instead of a proper Deus Ex.

That personal marksmanship thing smells really bad. I really liked the fact that your aim became steadier as your skills with a particular weapon type increased. It seems at this point that the new developers understanding of what made Deus Ex awesome is rather superficial :/

Ah well, I've long ago given up on the old favorites coming back with properly thought out upgrades.

Fishballs

I cannot wait for this game, I loved Dues Ex the original. And I have high hopes for this game.

Kocrachon

@Burguois, Teabagger of Olde:
Best. Comment. Ever.

AUAnonymous

@Jogfrog:

No one said it was a screenshot.

"For more info and the first screenshots see the full ten-page preview in the 200th issue of PC Zone, out October 9 (and in subscribers' hands now). Happy 200th issue, by the way."

Wait for the 200th issue of PC Zone for them.

eyeshield

Deus Ex 3's vision of the future sees holographic screens flicker atop ferries moving back and forth in front of the Shanghai skyline, now split into two layers with the rich on the top and the poor in perpetual twilight below

Boy, that sounds like highly origin political intrigue, the...

:shrug:

I like Dues Ex not because of any one game mechanic, but simply because the game as a whole came together well and covered every option I could think of (and many I couldn't). The gameplay was secondary, and in many cases plain atrocious.

You can't cover that in a preview.

gattsuru

Q: How many PC gamers does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: What was wrong with the old one? We should use good old fashioned round ones instead of these fancy new bendy ones. Where are the lightbulbs of our youth? It's consoleization gone mad!

Burguois, Teabagger of Olde

If it goes to its roots, I am interested ... if it is more like the second ... I will overlook it.

EnigmaNemesis

I loved Deus Ex, and really should play it again since it's been such a long time since I finished it. If Deus Ex 3 is anything like the original I'll be all over it.

*crosses fingers

homernoy

@crice:

MARKSmanship, sorry.

crice

1) Auto-regen?
2) Personal markmanship?!
3) COVER SYSTEM?!?!?!

This isn't freaking Gears of War. Ugh, I fear the worst.

Deus Ex 1 was all about upgrading your skills (a la Fallout). It also forced you to ration your health packs (also a la Fallout) or to augment yourself for healing. It was really an RPG from a first person perspective.

If this preview is accurate, they're making DE3 just another shooter.

crice

Mistakes won't be repeated? Pretty much the whole second game was a mistake. Too many developers think that "first-person perspective" means "first-person shooter." Deus Ex is supposed to be a lot more like Thief than like Halo.

I'd like to see a true sequel to Deus Ex. But color me skeptical.

alaren

That's not a screenshot, it's concept art that was released in april

Jogfrog

My first thought was: "there's no way that's realtime"
Then I clicked the link back to the original article and zoomed in on the "screenshot," and.... it's concept art. You can clearly tell it's a painting.

Jeff Paine

Old mistakes won't be repeated, but new one will appear (auto-regeneration, anyone?).

DarkDraken

This sounds terrible.

SG_Mahonay

@Nik in NOLA:

It's sad too. I liked the way DE1 did the damage system.

crice

Cover system is good. Making stealth reliant on that but not taking shadows (or sound) into account is bad. More games need to take into account cover systems, but to make stealth reliant only on that seems stupid. "Oh look. I'm standing in the middle of a warehouse with floodlights centered on me! But nobody can hear me or see me because I'm behind a box!"

Autohealing is something that I'll probably not like, but its a function that keeps 90% of the rest of the world playing the game. If you did damage like in Deus Ex 1, people would scream "WTF IS THIS SHIT" and quit.

Prequel is kind of dumb imo. They should have either reboot the original or pretended like Invisible War never happened.

Nik in NOLA

Why is evreyone reading "cover system" and thinking Gears? "stealth will now rely on a cover system" STEALTH.. as in you will need to be behind something for them not to see you.. and not just stick in some dark spot.

Right.. now that i got that off my chest. Auto-Heal, pro-active augmentations.. guns'a'blazing. In DE1 most of the augs were purely passive ones that increased your abilities as a character... not stuff that made you grow limbs and spider-walk across ceilings. And that was the fun of it.. it was a careful blend of augs and skills, and that free-world-in-a-box feeling that really made it what it was. I wont comment on DE2, but tbh, from what i've read there... i doubt they'll be sticking to the formula of the original.

Cosmitzian

Please be as good as Deus Ex 1...PLEASE

excel_excel

@tsathoggua: Personal marksmanship takes it out of the rpg category, since it relies entirely on the player's skill rather than the role he is playing.

WolfmanWalt

I swear, its like developers TRY to screw up a franchise. First off, this game is a PREQUEL, something that NOBODY likes, but for some reason people in the entertainment industry love to use in movies/games..etc. Secondly, it sounds like its going to be another dumbed down invisible war. Whenever I hear a developer say they are opening a franchise like deus ex to new players or its being made for casual players I pretty much drop all expectations of it and figure its going to be a generic FPS. It might have the ghost of some of the elements that made the first one, but it will be nothing like the originals. As someone in another forum said, those who were fans of the original deus ex now know how fans of the original fallout feel about their franchise being bastardized for cheap profits..

Azriel77

I've got the magazine if anyone wants more info :)

Arnold Rimmer's Garden Strimmer

The say they "get it", and are working to avoid all the problems from IW... and yet everything in this article points to them absolutely not getting it at all. It's like a cheating spouse saying they'll never be unfaithful again, and then saying "oh, by the way I just joined a swingers club.". Then they proudly reveal an itemized list of fps and prequel cliches, and the fact that it's nolonger a stat based fp-rpg as proof of their integrity. With direction like this there's hardly room for confusion as to why Eidos has been hemmoraging failures for the last couple of years.

mikhailian

@crice: Just because a game is an RPG doesn't mean it has to have a terrible, clunky combat system. Wasn't there an article about that idea a few days ago?
You can still have a role-playing game without having to rely on ancient combat mechanics, y'know.
Even with personal marksmanship, weapon skill could affect the damage a weapon does, or rate of fire, or really anything, and STILL reward the player for his/her personal marksmanship.
Cover systems would make firefights, when they happen, a lot less annoying. It could also make stealth easier.
Seriously, change isn't bad.

Auto-regen, though, I'm not sure about. If it's slow enough, Id don't think it's an issue. (Sadly, it probably won't be) Beats maxing out candy bars, pop cans, soy food, and hunting down water fountains :P

tsathoggua

gotta play the first one again. Although i have a feeling it hasn't aged well. Now that i think about I'd actually prefer a remake of deus ex 1 rather than a proper sequel

gercorr

@eyeshield: Um...

The writeup also features the first screenshots of the game, which CVG scanned and uploaded (above).

Jeff Paine

"Eidos also said it's mindful of reaction to the second game in the series and promises that its mistakes won't be repeated."
HOLY SHIT. A COMPANY LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS?
I mean, really, most of the time it just seems like they say, "Fuck you, we're making this game how we want and you're going to LIKE it. Now bend over, we need to insert the DRM probe."
...or is that just EA?

Sheogorath

looks like theyll have to rework the prequel plot date because that's inevitably when this game will come out

raunchytoilet

@Burguois, Teabagger of Olde: I second. Greatest comment ever.

gipmah

@Azriel77: I've never heard that before, but that notion is very apt. Between me and my best friend, we have a hardcore Fallout fan, and a hardcore Dues Ex fan. Both of us at least like the other guys game. I think I see an interesting conversation forming on this over a couple of pints...

mikhailian

LanciePants ad-lib pointers on avoiding Deus Ex 2's mistakes.

1. Ignore anything said by Harvey Smith, tell him to STFU and get back to imploding studios foolish enough to higher him.

2. Listen to whatever Warren Spector tells you.

3. A return of skills/skill points to the game

4. Dodge the "The players make choices which affect the world...but all paths lead to the same conclusions".

5. Ignore Harvey Smith

6. Prequel huh? I can has Gunther Hermann?

7. Because I think cyborgs are cool let me play as a Cyborg. And what I think, should be the utmost importance to everyone concerning everything. Especially game.

8. Gas LAMs, Explosive LAMs, EMP LAMs, gimme LAMS LAMS LAMS!

LanciePants

@WolfmanWalt: Not really. In that case, personally moving around using the keyboard takes it out of the RPG category, since it relies on the player's skill at walking, not the role's.
Oh, and saving? Your role can't save! If you want it to be an RPG, no save for you!

Seriously, no. It's still an RPG. Like I said, stat-based skill improvement could be implemented by making shots do more damage with more skill, or by increasing the possible rate of fire.

Clinging to terrible antiquated gameplay ideas is NOT a good idea, no matter what half-baked justification you have ><

tsathoggua

@DarkDraken: I will never understand why developers don't just put OPTIONS in their games. Like you could have regular mode and pussy mode.

ac2334

I think we have to give these folks the benefit of the doubt because they are making a sequel to a highly acclaimed game. We should, yes, make sure they understand we won't accept the goofs that were in DX2 but we shouldn't tell them to limit themselves to DX1's system. If they can innovate and add to the system with a better combat system and keep the same basic story/universe intact they'll definitely do well.

Silver_Back

And to think I used to wonder why people looked at Kotaku commenters as people who did nothing but bitch and moan for no other reason than to bitch and moan. The game's early in production and there's barely any real info on it available publicly, and yet you people are immediately roasting the thing as digital feces. I mean, really. What does it take to please you people? Better yet, if you really know what it takes to make a great game, get off of you asses, get a job in the game industry and make one. I'm sure you'd be making MILLIONS...

I for one am a bit curious to see where they take this game and whether or not they can pull it off. They may fail miserably, but I'm not going to write them off before giving them a chance to prove themselves.

cxmnky

@tsathoggua: The combat mechanics in DE1 aren't ancient. They're still very relevant today. In DE1, you still had location based damage, and your accuracy was based on the general vicinity and steadiness of your crosshair. DE1 simply gave you the option of whether you wanted to master certain weapons, so the game rewarded you for specialization. You put your skill points into what weapon category you liked, and off you went. There was really nothing wrong with the original combat system.

In DE3, it seems like the suits told the developers to make the game more accessible for the masses.

crice

If i'm not mistaken that is looks suspisiously like part of the lab from Deus Ex, where all the mutant bird things are kept.

Then again i've had a few drinks so its just as likely not.

Jambolia

"A little controversial"?

Why do game journalists stretch the word "controversial" to all the things they should call plain SUCKY. There's no reason to cover the ignorant's side by using the word "controversial" 3 times where "bad" would have been more accurate. "Controversial" is used as an empty PR euphemism, and they're falling for it. There's no controversy about the fact that Invisible War was one disaster of a game.

Have an opinion, FFS. So I can at least see whether a gaming site covers games in a way I can relate to or not. I could as well read that info on DX3's official PR site.

Imagine Spielberg said something like "With the new Indiana Jones we are doing our utmost to please newcomers as well as existing fans". Any movie critic would have been LAUGHED at for calling this "controversial" instead of plain impudent. Nobody gave the latest Indiana Jones high ratings for being a commercial success or easy to understand for impatient douchebags.

Why do I feel like their covering is close to the way Kane & Lynch was covered over at Gamespot.

lumpi

I tried to play Deus Ex a while back, as I had Gametap for the Sam and Max episodes. I found it far too clunky, and confusing to get into. Maybe it's one of those games that had to be played back in the day to really enjoy it.

dead_red_eyes

I believe the original Deus Ex is one of the finest video games ever made. I recommend that anyone making a new one play it over and over and over until they understand why.

rateoforange

I haven't seen a game yet where a cover system didn't negatively impact the flow of movement. It's often 3rd person, to deal with animation issues or at least occupies a button on the already stuffed control layout of a FPS game. All that without significantly adding to gameplay.

Developers want to simplify their games. Why not use the simplest possible way of stealth coverage: If you're standing in a dark shadow, you're hidden!

This sounds very gimmicky to me.

lumpi

Plenty of eyegasm. As long as we get a spiritual JC denton, I am willing to forget the war was not so invincible.

PsycheE

@Fishballs: Much as I am very nervous about a lot of the changes they are making for this prequel, it always irritated me that at the start of Deus Ex it felt like JC Denton was a Parkinsons sufferer whenever he picked up a sniper rifle. All those years of training really paid off...

Meldy

@Nik in NOLA:

yeah, have to agree on stealth and autohealing being somewhat dumb and insulting, i.e cover/crouching = hidden is something that has been abusive to common sense for a while. taking cover does suck the fun out of a game, but only in opposition to the 'ninja-assasin-robots with body armour, psi-throw and flamethrowers' that invariably show up while you're having fun.

as for the shields/autoheal on passive trick from halo, its somewhat more honest than random medpacks or ammo drops scattered around in crates, or random medical facilites in top secret labs, rundown factories, in underground caves, subway stations, alien planets, etc.

as for DX2 and the shameful xbox/ps2 spinoff "project snowblind" it could be worse. i suppose Deus ex 3 is really a mix of three things to me: nanotech, stealth and conspiracy theories that approach the fantastic level of a jRPG or a bad japanime. does DX3 have that yet? who knows.

it never fit the original DX1 to have all that 'glorious' nanotech without the auto-healing that you'd kinda assume would have to be there from an augmented biomechanical body. as for DX2 ammo packs being universal across weapon types, or i don't know, auto-generating electrical taser-fields and floating poison clouds, ehh. it's lampshade territory in the extreme.

add to that, the nano angle is never as fleshed out as it could be, what with tiny mechanical devices just 'lying about' able to reconstruct guns, ammo, stealth devices etc. from almost anything, you could certainly take advantage of that RPG potential i.e. stat-stacking items and forging trade items, just adding in blueprint chips, etc. etc. after all it's just the classic jRPG territory, you can now make your ammo from collecting esoteric BS around the environment, i.e. recycling yakisoba and ramen noodle packets, making kevlar and nuclear bombs from candy bars, crowbars, used shopping carts, etc. etc.

as for the story in DX1 compared to 2 or 3 (or 4), yes it's old hat, pseudo-conspiracy 'central hegemony banks fund terrorists and new agencies to ensure new wars to control population' i.e. that kind of conspiracy trope. perhaps #3 will spin the wheel in a new direction, but if it's the same wheel as before, i'm not buying it.

a stealth game shouldn't have you trying to find brightly illuminated hitzones on NPC's to get headshots or kill tanks and helicoptors by firing at them with handguns, etc. but the other way, i.e loading 40 rounds into some guy's back before he turns around to shoot you, or backhands you across the room, is just as mutilating to realism.

toliman

The original Deus Ex is still the best rpg i've ever played... if they fuck it up as bad as Deus Ex 2 I will forever lose complete faith in developers understanding what made some of the older games better than most of whats on the market today .

Nexus6

@cxmnky:

BOO Skeptical Gamers!
HOORAY SMART PEOPLE
CSMNKY, IT'S A SMART PERSON!

ChunkOFunk

@crice: Very well put.

Nexus6

I don't understand why people wouldn't like to see a cover system in this game. Would you not take cover in real life if you were being shot at? In my opinion it is a proper game mechanic that should be implemented in all shooters.

cZEAL

@tsathoggua: Wrong, the player isn't doing the actual walking. The character is. Still a role. You're playing a role by deciding what to do, but your personal skill at doing stuff takes it to something else besides roleplaying, since it should be your characters skill which is the deciding factor to how well you execute.

As for your argument of saving - that has nothing to do with actual roleplaying mechanics in the least as much as just being able to save the game.

WolfmanWalt

@dead_red_eyes: Heart-breaking to hear.

Still, DX1 was difficult to get to run back in its days. It had horrible graphics, even for it's time. Some of the game mechanics were less than polished.

It took me three tries to really get into the game, but once I did, it was the best gaming experience I ever had. Something between an 800-page novel and an action-movie.

You haven't played DX until you reached the Hong Kong levels.

lumpi

Did you hear anyone bitch about, say, L4D... or Portal? Did you hear anyone talking trash about LBP or Braid?

No, because those games looked fresh and innovative from the first previews on.

Not everyone who criticizes a PR release is a terrorist, FFS. People have no problems with posting 100 pages of "this looks fantastic!!!". If I look at other gaming sites these days, if there's any problem, than it is people not being able to look beyond the shameless self-adulation of game publishers anymore.

lumpi

Invisible War really wasn't that bad...

belo

I meant to say it was fun*cowering in corner waiting to be smacked around like a redheaded stepchild(no offense to any real redheads who are someones stepchild[im sure you were very much loved])*

Greenman

I gotta agree with belo, I found invisible war. Definitely not on par with the first game but as I had not played the first one in like 5 years and kept it out of my rose colored glasses it was still pretty good. I do hope though that Invisible War becomes to the Deus Ex series what Temple of Doom was to Indiana Jones(and yes there are and will only ever be 3 Indiana Jones movies, it's a trilogy dammit!), good compared to other stuff, but not on par with the series' own quality.

Greenman

Deus Ex 2: Invisible War was so bad that I cancelled my pre-order and gave the free T-Shirt to charity. I was so looking forward to that game and just the demo itself was enough to incense fans of the original.

amygdala

Huge fan of Deus Ex 1. I can't decide between Dues Ex and Ocarina of Time which are the best games of all time. And really, I don't want to choose because I play through each game once per year.

First off, the whole idea of a prequel I'm not opposed to. I'm a little concerned with the augs not meshing with Gunter and Navara's capabilities, but who is to say what failed prototype predated Paul Denton and the fall of the Illuminiatia nd the raise of Bob Page. So I have hopes there.

Second, game mechanics. Correct my if I'm wrong, but isn't the saying usually something like, "If its not broke, don't fix it"? I mean, it seems logical, but Dues Ex 2 proved the fans wrong. So here comes Eidos to tell us whats so great about the original and how the Dues Ex IW went wrong. Oh, but by the way, we need to "fix" it this way to make it more mainstream.

I'm all for making a game more mainstream, but if you want to make Deus Ex 1 more mainstream, you start with releasing a game with graphics that are on par with games for the day, and a good AI system. I loved Dues Ex 1, but I'll admit even from the beginning the graphics were a bit dated, and the AI wasn't exactly smart. But what made the game great was the story, atmosphere, and game play mechanics. Removing the RPG from Deus Ex really ruins the game. Just because a game is part first person shooter doesn't mean it can't have stats. The RPG elements of Deus Ex 1 made it so great, and I'm sure most people here would agree to that. It was a real work of genius, how do you express character stat development in a FPS? Answer, you influence the characters ability to use their weapons, and it worked terrifically in Deus Ex.

I really liked Bioshock, but in reality it wasn't really a "mainstream" game in my opinion. It tried different mechanics that put difficulty back in the FPS. But because they presented the game in such an enjoyable fashing that was customizable, people learned the system and enjoyed the game when the really wasn't a game in recent memory to compare it to. People will learn new game mechanics, as long as its enjoyable and presented in a quality game.

I just hope they pay attention to Deus Ex and work on the RPG, story, and AI. ANd keep in mind Bioshock was wildly successful and got console players to try something new.

BergeGuy

If the regeneration is an augmentation, that would be acceptable.

If the develeopers of the game know ANYTHING about Deus Ex, the augmentations should be mechanical (like Anna Navarre and Gunther), NOT nano-augmentation.

It would be cool if the player had to make a sacrifice to use the augmentations (ie. have own limbs removed)... but I don't think these developers are creative enough to implement such a feature.

g8or8de

@Burguois, Teabagger of Olde: Third.

EtherFreak

Did they learn NOTHING from the Fallout 3 saga?
If you're going to tinker with a franchise with a built-in fan base, you need to think carefully how to proceed: either pay attention to the fans, or say screw it, we know better than you.
Either approach is better than this half-assed attempt: they say they're paying attention to the mistakes from IW; but then they give an example of 'bungee jump' tentacles that shoot from your back and anchor to a wall when you jump off a building.

steve

Wheres the screenshot?

ei8th

@lumpi:

I'll probably give it another shot here in the near future, as I've heard from most people that you need to get into it a bit to start to really enjoy it.

dead_red_eyes

@crice: Yes, correct. Sorry, I was more thinking about different mechanics than the aiming one when I said 'ancient' - mainly the lack of a cover system and no auto-regen whatsoever. So it was my mistake to word it like that, I think I got carried away :P

There's more than one way to reward the player for putting skill points into weapon specializations. Like I've said twice now, you can make higher skill == more damage without ever punishing the player's aim. Or, you could increase the possible rate of fire.

Forcing terrible aim onto players annoys me. Is it antiquated? I guess not. But it still sucks. It feels like the game is taking away control, not enhancing the role-playing experience.

Thus, I like this change -- and I played DE1 like a month ago, so I remember the aiming system very clearly. Not a fan, not at all.

There's really nothing wrong with making games more accessible.

@WolfmanWalt: But, the player is not doing the actual aiming either. They are moving the mouse to control the character's arms. So, it's still a role, regardless of what accuracy is applied.

Pressing keys to walk controls the character's legs, yes? Whether or not we factor in skill-augmented accuracy, a role is being played.
It's not like accuracy factored into everything in D.E. - you didn't have to upgrade your skills to use a mouse better. Why does aiming have to be different? Certainly not because this is a "role playing game" and that title incurs certain odd rules with even odder exceptions.
Personal skill should factor, and and always has factored, into role playing games. Where it factors in is up to the developer, but to say the EVERYTHING must be chalked up to your role's skill is ridiculous. Role-playing is more of a story thing to me, anyway. What I want to be able to do, and what even DE didn't let me do, was completely choose what to do. So, I'm not too upset over the developers giving me more freedom over aim.

As for saving, the player IS doing the saving, not the character... but the ability to save makes the game a lot more fun. So does personal marksmanship. That would be the (admittedly very fragile) analogy I was trying to draw there :P

tsathoggua

@tsathoggua: We approach the aiming situtation with two different mentalities. I am firmly for the RPG-esque type of aiming system in DE1, where the player gets better aim and weapon bonuses as the player upgrades his skills. You approach this with the FPS point of view, where you feel like aiming shouldn't be hampered at all. For example, (god forbid) Daikatana's skill system to similar to what you're suggesting.

But really, at heart, DE1 was an RPG. I'm one of those purists who doesn't want to fix something that's not broken. Invisible War already let me down once...

crice

Damn. I was really expecting them to learn from their mistakes, but it looks like this is just gonna be Deus FPS.

Dread1021

@lumpi:

The difference here is that there have been previous deus ex games that people are going to base their opinions off. All those games you've listed are fresh and new ideas that you can't really criticize because you dont really have anything to base their design decisions off.

Kazem

@crice:
DE1 was an RPG, yes, but I feel that (especially since technology has evolved) FPS elements are not mutually exclusive with those of an RPG. Both genres have their high points; why not mix them? Especially the cover system - there is no good reason NOT to have one :P It makes sense.
Anyway, I'd be okay with a middle ground here, where it would be possible to start the game and not be terrible at aiming - like mentioned above, JC started the game much like a Parkinson's victim - it seems like a high level of accuracy would come as a perk of augmentations, if we're going with the 'you only get the skills of your role' design - which does make sense in the RPG context. Clearly enhanced augmentations would provide more benefits - maybe something like auto-aim - but you would start off as a highly-trained agent.
But to require so many skill points for basic competency is, I believe, broken. Thus, I'm okay with this new element for now. I really do not think that it will 'make-or-break' the Deus Ex experience, if we can call it that :P What remains to be seen is if the game is as open-ended as DE1 was - that's really what mattered to me.

tsathoggua

Ugh... this isn't sounding good. They may say that they're learning from the mistakes of the second game, but they're really not. They're still making the same general mistake of not paying attention to why so many people liked the first game. So instead of seeing the same BS from DX:IW, we're going to see a whole new batch of BS.

Anyone else want to bet that DX3 is being developed primarily for the 360? Until they decide to focus on making a PC game again, the series is never going to regain its form.

Mezodon

@BergeGuy:

The devs never said this WASN'T an RPG. For gods sake

[ve3d.ign.com]

Theres your proof of a XP and SKILLS system.

And please people, if you honestly thought the combat in deus ex *FELT* great... you're just wrong. I am a huge deus ex fan and even I can admit that although it was nice how stats influenced combat, it was just clunky as hell. You pretty much cant use any weapon effectively early on in the game because it takes literally 5-10 seconds to steadily aim a pistol. And here I was thinking I was billion dollar worth government project killing-machine.

Not just the majority of kotaku commenters, but the entire internet seems to be crying over nothing. Give the game some bloody time.

Kazem

at least from the looks of the concept art and that trailer from last year they've got the art direction going pretty well. Might turn out to be a decent FPS with a solid story, even if its not a true sequel (prequel) to deus ex that we all want.

Spenze

"Deus Ex 3's vision of the future sees holographic screens flicker atop ferries moving back and forth in front of the Shanghai skyline, now split into two layers with the rich on the top and the poor in perpetual twilight below," says PC Zone.

Sounds a lot like Midgar from FFVII, amirite?

Ginnsberg

@belo:
If the game was named "Illuminati, Cogs of the Shadow Lords" of something like that, you'd be right. But considering the massive shoes it was trying to fill, no it was a stinker. A big heart breaking stinker.

LanciePants

Personally, I'm sick of reading Deus Ex fans bitch endlessly about Invisible War - if they had bothered to give it a chance, they would have found a very deep, involving game with a great story. I've played them both, and far prefer Invisible War - I think I've played through it 4 times now with dramatically different results. It's great and far less involved with endlessly-inventory-tweaking and micromanaging than the first.

LongDarkBlues

@ac2334:

You mean like Easy, Heavy, Very Heavy? Ôo

fELIXADER

Hey. Guys. Girls.

The game isn't out yet. You don't know how the system will work.

Come back and comment about how bad it is when the game is out, hey?

interim

Some exclusive details on the plot:

* Leads up to the creation and widespread distribution of the Grey Death. Player might inadvertently have a hand in creating it.
* Terrorist organization plans to destroy the government. Led by a mysterious Mr. Hermann
* Details of AI creation in the Deus Ex world. Artificial intelligence is a misnomer. "Emulated Intelligence" is more key, AI is based on the brain patterns of prominent thinkers, locked in a virtual paradigm to not be self-aware and obey orders unquestionably. How this is done is expanded on in-game, and rogue AIs are believed to be the result of a broken paradigm where they are suddenly aware of what they are.
* It is believed that augmentations were designed to fight crime but very directly. There's links between the augmentation process and the systematic brainwashing and rehabilitation of known criminals.
* Main villain is 21st Century Oscar Wilde equivalent. Grey Death was possibly created to facilitate the love that dares not speak its name. Player can now die due to a number of STDs or possibly just rampant homosexuality.
* Widespread explosive devices all over the city.
* Still only lemon-lime. Market research deemed other flavours non-profitable. Blame consoles for this.

Burguois, Teabagger of Olde

That Image reminded me of the LHC at CERN, when I first saw it. It's very nice concept Art. But will it hold up? If this game looks THIS good. Color me impressed.

tylerstyle

I died a little inside when I read punching through walls.

I think this is best put as a case of one step forward, two steps backwards.

Chalice

@Cosmitzian: Not to mention that this is a prequel and augmentation technology seems to be much better than in the future. The Star Wars Syndrome, shall we call it?

EloraHRanma

@EtherFreak: Well, I don't. Sorry. =)

EloraHRanma

@undefined: I have not found yet any game which removed auto-regeneration in its hard modes, if it were present in the others.

At least it looks like they have not fallen in the brown-filter love (Beyond Good & Evil 2, I'm looking at you).

EloraHRanma

@mikhailian: But nobody understands the pain suffered by fans of both Deus Ex and Fallout!

EloraHRanma

Auto regen health ala Call of Duty and Halo? Does every single FPS have to be lumbered with this shitty 11-year old-friendly invention? Also sounds like the only customisability and rpg elements is going to be in the weapons.

Is there anyone at Eidos that actually played the first Deus Ex and realises why it was so good? I hate to sound like an intolerant fanboy ala fallout but this really gives me no hope. Why do people always have to fuck with what is proven to already work? I'm not saying make DE1 again but why change things that are fairly fundimental to the game. Focus on the artwork and narrative, not making the game xbox friendly and like every other fps out there.

markhilol

Arent we at the point where a cover system in shooters is a must now? Practically every modern game has it now. That or leaning around corners seems standard for shooters nowadays.

Soho

no skills? then it's not Deus Ex.

An tentacle augmentations? WTF! Is this The Darkness?
Why hasn't had JC these kind of augmentations when it is a prequel? Yeah i guess the story will point this out.

Blablah PR bullshit.

It's obvious that they just want to make a game that is slightly inspired by Deus Ex and call it so, because they want hype for free. Which would be ok, but this pisses off fans and they won't get the positive hype they wanted.

MelvilleAbensen

The funny thing about most comments here is that everyone says "Wow, I loved Deux Ex" instead of "I loved Deux Ex, but hated Deux Ex 2, so I'm gonna definitely skip this one.

I mean, it's not like they did Deux Ex and then DX3.. there's a shitty game in between which is DX2.

Things change and time passes, that's true, but if they got DX 2 wrong, what will make me think that DX3 will be any better?

Masatomo

Big fan of the first Deus Ex here. In fact i just replayed it not long ago.

I'm hyped up for Deus Ex 3 but also very sceptical after reading the article. When i read about automatic healing i was close to puke! The health system in Deus Ex 1 was part of the fun. Change this and you destroy a fundamental part of the game! Its the kind of dumb downing that made Deus Ex 2 so bad.

I know that the designers of Deus Ex 3 will probably read these comments so here is my idea how to deal with it if you really want to stay true to the original:

Keep the health system like it was (med packs, robots, health augmentation). If you really want auto health ala cod then only make it available in the easy game mode or via augmentation (should take up some energy in the later case). For example this augmentation could be installed by default in the easy mode as a compromise.

Gambrinus

I liked Invisible War - Sure, it was streamlined, but to me its about nailing the same feel and atmosphere, not adhering to specific (and outdated) mechanics. Both a cover based stealth system and regenerative health are more realistic than medikits and shadows, and having 'under-the-hood' RPG mechanics often makes for a far more immersive experience.

Deus Ex could be recreated ad verbatim and people wouldn't be happy - the point is, you'll never be playing Deus Ex for the first time ever again, and its time to embrace change.

SanderCohen

...DX is a series worth saving (along with the Thief series!!!)

InvaderBotGir

An auto-hide system where you hide behind objects not to be seen, makes sense, there wasn't a hiding in shadows option in the first game, only a FOV where you were either standing where you could be seen or you weren't. Not sure how much I agree with the direction of being great with every weapon out of the box, but being able to augment the weapons if you wish to make them more powerful (Stalker'esque), thats fine. I loved the first DX...not the greatest fan of the second...hope third time can bring DX back to attention of gamers.

InvaderBotGir

@LongDarkBlues:
You mean you didn't like the Tetris mini-game?!?
That was awesome!

steve

@DarkDraken: Auto healing is like the mainstay of nanomachine enhancement in sci fi. To be honest I'm shocked neither of the previous games had it.
Sure there could be a way of speeding it up like using the healthpacks and food like in previous games.
This trend kinda annoys me where game makers give you this huge character build up, and you end up with one stinking feature. The Masterchief is supposed to be super fast and strong yet he jumps like a cow and runs like a sheep. The only thing he has is the regenrative shield.
That mofo should have had cloak, speed boosts and melee boosts as standard and then balanced it afterwards. Instead we have a Marine with regenerating shields, which once down make all the metal between him and the world seem like tin foil.

IconYu

They've barely announced info for it and it's already clear it's going to be another Deus Ex 2. Why must everything good be turned to suck?

Kral2

*sigh* I'm of a split opinion here.

Part of me says "That's reasonable, taking away skills for weapons. I'm a trained agent, I should at least be able to handle a weapon reasonably well. The cover system could be nice given how crappy trying to hide in shadows was in the original."

The other part says "Auto-regen? Aw hell naw! Say it ain't so!" and "Wait, prequel? But, that screen shot looks like it comes after IW, not before the original... Is there some kind of technological meltdown?"

I guess in the end, I'm just going to have to see how it plays. If they at least trend back toward the original, I'll be happier. I found IW to be pretty much the "for dummies" version. One ammo type, fixed number of inventory slots, didn't even need to remember the freaking door codes. Plus the total mishmash of endings from the original, and all four endings completely sucking...

But anyone complaining that making the game rely on your personal marksmanship, and not a skill level... You could do that in the original. There's a video set out there called Reductio ad Vis. Deus Ex played using only combat skills. By the end, it's just another shooter.

Field Anony-mouse

@eyeshield: Actually, the name of the image after the jump is "Screenshot"

wild_world_girl

@Kral2:
Because you're assuming its going to suck?

Soho

@IconYu: Um... both the Deus Ex games I played had a regeneration nano-machine enhancement you could install... Yes, you had to activate it and it used power, but it was there.

DarkWolf7

Wow..thanks to casual gamers that Deus Ex 3 wont be like the first one. I havent really played the first one, but i KNOW it was a real FPS RPG, just like system shock 2. Whatever they mentioned in that article does not seem like a Deus Ex game, but just a new-age casual gaming shooter..

regen health? really? wow....just wow..
shooting games are definitely dying, thanks to halo-fans and casual gamers...

wahrugene

Now hopefully all you assholes making light of Fallout veterans' concerns can see what we're talking about.

raunchytoilet

about those complaints:

1) wasn't auto-regen an nanotech-upgrade even in DX1 already? if i recall right one was able to find a container and when using it was offered 2 options of what to upgrade it with. if i'm not dead wrong there was one that had the options of "regen" (obviously regenerates health) and of "particle shield" (less damage from projectiles)
... but it was centuries ago i last played it

2) an evolution of the old stealth system isn't that bad. originally one could be in a shadow and stand 10 centimeters next to the enemy for minutes and he wouldn't notice. serieously, decrease that shadow stealth a bit and add a hidden by object bonus
(in addition to the already existing [back then] primitive noise-system [yes, one had to sneak when aproaching an enemy from behind - even when hidden by sheadow])

3) the visuals in Dx1 weren't really dated back then.
sure, quake 2 was fresh out and several games used it's engine - and they had support for real round objects due to it (sadly with massive impact on performance). DX1 was based on the unreal engine (the first), but it was fkin amazing what they made out of it. it was the prime example how to customize an engine and make it more then 2 times more amazing. it even looked better than epics own UT(99) which already used a newer engine.

[note: me has been UE fan since v1.0 and always disliked QE... probably that's why i value what eidos did to UE that much]

Atachi

@Atachi:

4) regarding the "blast that wall"-complaint:
In DX1 one of the highlighted features were in the line of "play how you want".
For example you had 4 options to pass a door (riddle?):
- find a password in some log or conversation
- hack the terminal
- check if there is some alternative route
- blast the damn thing away with a rocket launcher

just blasting away a wall is nothing that wasn't already kinda possible already anyways. it's just, that the game engines back then didn't really allow for destructable maps.

Atachi

@Jogfrog:
Writes on Kotaku are epic fail sometimes.

biofreak

Admit it, you all knew this game was bound for Genericsville.

Momentarylogic

Well it looks like they're correcting some of the mistakes from Invisible War. Ie they're not dumbing down all the RPG elements this time. Sounds like there'll be a similar amount of augmentations to DX1 rather than the pitiful amount available in 2 and it seems skill points are returning. Can't say I'm sold on the idea of it being a prequel or the cover/autoregen system but I'll wait and see on those. Just as long as they retain the multiple paths through levels and the amount of different ways you can get past enemies then it'll be staying true. It'll just be a travesty if it turns into a run and gun.

Odin

AN: Are you sure you picked the right game?
GH: I do not make mistakes of that kind.
AN: Your hand might have slipped.
GH: No. I wanted Deus Ex. It gave me Call of Duty.
AN: The developers would not make a mistake...
GH: It's the console players. They know I like skill points.
AN: So you think the console industry has some kind of plot...
GH: Yes. They do it on purpose.

Spindrift

@Spindrift:
JO: Oh my God JC I'ts a Port!
JC: A Port!

MOP88

@wahrugene: These other guys' baseless complaints stem from their comparing a tiny bit of information to their memories of the game that they apparently love, but you're sitting here joining in on the bitch-fest and you haven't even PLAYED the original?

wow...just wow..

cxmnky