I’ve made multiple attempts to finish Deus Ex over the years after giving up each time due to aspects of the gameplay. I would normallynever give a game so many shots, but I love so many aspects of Deus Ex, I want to finish it, but I just can’t push myself to continue at certain points.
I think the biggest blockers for me is I love stealth games (thief 1 & 2 are all time favorites), and since Deus Ex does have a stealth system (though primitive), I tried to play it like a stealth game. a vanilla install means that tranq darts make enemies run around like headless chickens for a minute, and knocking people out with the baton people is unreliable. Combined, stealthing is both visually comical, and realistically very frustrating to play.
I could deal with that, and I’ve tried switching it up by going more guns blazing, but the gunplay of Deus Ex is just as clunky, with slow firing weapons that deal little damage on fairly bullet spongy enemies. Combat just doesn’t feel good.
I tried mods and overhauls to see if I could rectify either of those points, which do sorta work as a bandaid. GMDX makes stealth WAY more fun by making headshots with darts work instantly, and baton-ing more reliable. With it, I was able to get all the way to France without quitting, but I think due to GMDX, I hit a massive difficulty spike where my stealth build became much less viable, and it once again just became frustrating. Perhaps a gun-build with GMDX would’ve been the winning combo.
I think my best experience was with the Revision overhaul, but by then I had started the game over so many times over so many years, I just didn’t have the appetite to get all the way back to France.
It’s a truly spectacular game in terms of story and open-ended level design, but the mechanics really are a turn-off. I wish my first playthrough had been with the Revision overhaul (though I wish it didn’t radically change the level design so much), but even still, I think it would benefit from a Nightdive style remake.
Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I see. Yes, stealth is in a strange position where it’s difficult to use it full time. There are multiple missions/maps where you will eventually not be able to use stealth.
I can see what you mean regarding guns being clunky. They do get more effective as you level up and get better weapons. Early game gunplay is very iffy.
But I actually like the RPG approach to gunplay and how it forces you to try and avoid direct confrontation and use a mixture of stealth and combat.
That being said, these are all fair points.
I’ve actually never tried Revision. I only use GMDX. Should try it for next play through. i feel like I need to reinstall once I clear out a major deliverable for work. :)
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I didn’t mind the RPG elements of the gunplay either, it was how lame all the guns felt to use even with higher skill levels.
The shotguns take way too many rounds to down people, the smgs are pea shooters, and pistols can work ‘okay’ with headshots, but still just feel meh. I assume the sniper rifle is more effective, but I never used it much.
I wish they had made it to where low skill makes reloading and accuracy suffer greatly, but if you do manage to score a hit, it hits hard. That would make shotguns in the early game super valuable, but they could’ve still encouraged stealth and more thoughtful tactics by limiting ammo availability.
Basically the RPG and story elements combined with Tarkov style gunplay and thief-style stealth would be heaven for me.
Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I am a big user if sniper rifle + pistol combos. It works pretty well.
Will need to post a mini-review of Revision the next time I get to replay Deus Ex.