Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Is it an RPG?

Dhruin

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GamePro has an article titled Is Deus Ex Human Revolution an RPG? They explore several different RPG element in what is ultimately a standard preview article. The result? A little from "column A", a little from "column B":
That doesn't mean that the stats aren't there, they're just hidden away. If an RPG is all about getting a peek underneath the hood of a game and seeing all the moving parts, then Deus Ex has sealed that hood up tight. Ultimately, it's true to the original game, and the augmentation does seem to have a big impact on character development. But as far as customization goes, RPG fans who aren't familiar with the series might want to temper their expectations.
As was discussed earlier, Deus Ex goes out of its way to discourage actual combat. One way it does this by making it possible to negotiate with the bad guys rather than put a bullet in their head. And that's exactly what happens at the end of one of the opening missions.
After working my way through a factory (I ended up killing everyone because I'm terrible at stealth), I met the leader of the terrorist group. The first he thing he did was grab a woman and put her a gun to her head, putting me in a delicate situation. I could rush in and try to fight him, or I could try and talk him down.
I mentioned earlier that stats are nowhere to be found, but they do have a role to play. You can see them working during the conversation, when the terrorist leader considers your words for a moment, then shakes his head and holds firm. Put a point into the "social" augmentation, and hostage negotiations are obviously much more likely to be successful.
Thanks also to Zohaib for a similar submission.
Whilst we're on DX:HR, here's a couple of other items around the net. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has 10 Things You'll Think Playing Deus Ex 3:
“This game isn’t just good, it’s fantastic.”
This is the obvious one. The art design is gorgeous, there’s loads to explore, and the whole package is so polished you can see your grinning face in it.
Better still, while the bugs you’d expect to find in code that hasn’t finished the full gauntlet of quality assurance were present, almost none of them affected how the game plays. No crashes to desktop, no guards being alerted while I was behind cover, no broken quests. Just the camera occasionally placing itself inside an NPC’s mouth, and the wrong text appearing underneath tutorial videos. Eidos Montreal could release this game tomorrow and it it’d still be in a better state than plenty of PC releases.
As for the game proper, after ten hours spent guiding protagonist Adam Jensen through dangerous conversations (his asbestos growl occasionally reveals a Detroit twang), as well as unforgiving infiltrations, a few firefights and an implausible number of air vents, I was left hungry. Both metaphorically – I was having an incredible time, and right on the cusp of fully removing the first layer of Human Revolution’s conspiracy – and literally.
I started playing Human Revolution on Saturday morning. I’d come home with a hangover, having eaten no breakfast. I didn’t stop to eat anything until late in the evening. It’s been a long time since a game’s managed to starve me like that.
...and Games On Net has a preview and IGN has Questing in Deus Ex: HR.
In true Deus Ex tradition, Human Revolution isn't just a first-person action game sprinkled with choices to make about which weapons to use. Role-playing game-style exploration appears to be a big part of the experience. The street section of Detroit is surprisingly large and filled with all sorts of hidden pathways, important locations and multiple side quests that are only picked up through interaction with the city's residents. There's even a basketball half-court with a ball you can pick up and shoot, which I'm assuming is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Invisible War, the second Deus Ex game.
More information.
 
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So an RPG is defined as 'does it have stats and inventory'? Sad.


Looks like a cool game though, like a more polished Alpha Protocol.
 
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"which I'm assuming is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Invisible War, the second Deus Ex game. "

This was also in the first game, and it would even make fun of you for missing a shot. "Sign him up for the Knicks!"

I do think it's funny he mentions "true Deus Ex tradition" but is so hesitant about referencing something from one of the previous games.
 
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Just what we need.. another thread debating what qualifies as an "RPG". :)

I really couldn't care less how it's labeled. I'm far more interested in whether or not it lives up to its name.
 
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By today's standards adding choices to dialog with consequences and add in some skill trees is an rpg, If that's true then every character driven game is a rpg then, Really I dont care though just let the game be good.

I will say regardless of what people think this game is not an rpg. Its an fps with choices that is all just like it predecessors. Really getting tired of debating as no one knows what an rpg is nowadays anyway. You can dress up a shooter game but its still an shooter the end of the day.
 
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What do you think adding a point into your social augmentation is anyways. It is pretty much the same as adding a point to charisma in other rpgs so it has stats and you should be able to check how many points you have in your augmentations.
 
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From what I heard up until now I actually think the RPS article is spot one. And I also know that I'll know more once it's released. :p
 
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What do you think adding a point into your social augmentation is anyways. It is pretty much the same as adding a point to charisma in other rpgs so it has stats and you should be able to check how many points you have in your augmentations.

The writer had to write an article so anything, even the most stretched conclusion, goes.

Appalling though. With one implying that at long as you dont was is happening behind the scene, knowing exactly the formulae to extract as much as possible, there can not be role play. Awesome. Reduction to the one dimension of powergaming.

Probably, the writer knows he depicted a role playing situation but had to fill his articles with lines. Instead on branching on how deep RP is in the game, how far it can go, as he might not have the data to assess that, well, he branched on munchkinism.
 
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On the RPC, the presenter said that - in this sense, not the exact wording - what defines every RPC is - looting.

So, the player (who was a developer, the presenter said) went to the next locker - and looted it.

"Oh, my", I thought, "who developed this definition ?"
I shook my head.
 
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On the RPC, the presenter said that - in this sense, not the exact wording - what defines every RPC is - looting.

So, the player (who was a developer, the presenter said) went to the next locker - and looted it.

"Oh, my", I thought, "who developed this definition ?"
I shook my head.

The definition isn't that stupid. Looting is one of the things you'll most likely find in 95% of RPGs (incl. MMOs, Action RPGs, etc) and in barley any other genres. And most of the games in genres other than RPGs that have looting have also RPG elements (e.g. Warcraft 3,).
 
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Looting is one feature that RP in fantasy settings often leads to. RPGs set in the porn industry would lead to define RPGs as games featuring lots of sex as sex is what is done very often in RPGs. Makes little to no sense.
 
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Even when taking these previews with a grain of sand, with some exceptions the game sounds more and more promising.
I especially like the sound of dialogue system, grid based inventory and big hubs.

However, this
Games On Net said:
I also can’t finish up this preview without mentioning that during my time playing Human Revolution, I spotted an advertisement for McDonald’s Chicken McBites plastered across an overpass in the future city of Detroit. It was the Australian advertisement and everything, with Shane Warne’s face hidden behind a packet of chickeny goods, and labelled with the Australian price. When I went back again to take a screenshot, it had changed to an advertisement for Adidas sports instead, indicating that whatever server was up and running delivering these ads was already working quite well. We’ve contact the Australian distributors, Namco Bandai, for further clarification on how these in-game ads will work, and will let you know once we receive a response.
sounds pretty bad.

Hopefully it´ll be simple to firewall these out, but I really dislike this "feature" regardless.
 
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That is probably not coming over the internet but rather a set of ads that are set to change at an interval. I don't think it is a problem since it is shown at a location you would expect there to be ads at.
 
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That is probably not coming over the internet but rather a set of ads that are set to change at an interval. I don't think it is a problem since it is shown at a location you would expect there to be ads at.
That would be kinda expected in a game like this, however it doesn´t seem like what the article mentions at all. To me it reads like the portion of in-game ads are real current localized ones provided dynamically via real server.
 
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I also can’t finish up this preview without mentioning that during my time playing Human Revolution, I spotted an advertisement for McDonald’s Chicken McBites plastered across an overpass in the future city of Detroit.

So you get to visit Detroit eh? I'm guessing that's one of the more hazardous areas of the game. ;)

As far as the in-game advertisements are concerned.. as long as they blend in realistically with the environment, I don't have an issue with them.
 
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Ah, ah, ah, that is one cause people want players to play online, being able to pour them with commercials. Price declines? Not really. Same prices and you'll get commercials for free. Generous.
 
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As far as the in-game advertisements are concerned.. as long as they blend in realistically with the environment, I don't have an issue with them.

True, but I don't think McDonalds really fits into the Deus Ex world. I hope we can avoid these ads somehow, either through a mod or simply by playing offline.
 
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True, but I don't think McDonalds really fits into the Deus Ex world. I hope we can avoid these ads somehow, either through a mod or simply by playing offline.

Well, let's not forget that "Blade Runner," a bit of source material the current game seems to obviously emulate, was rampant with product placement, including the likes of Coca-Cola, Atari, Polaroid, Stereophonics, and others… If the product placement is prominently featured as a "theme" (i.e., the commoditization of mankind) throughout the game, then it makes perfect sense. And, if they are going to use advertisements in a game to satisfy the needs of the game's theme, why not have them be real advertisements generating revenue for the publisher?

So long as it isn't overdone, I'm cool with it.
 
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Well, I checked Eidos forums if there´s any clarification on this (there isn´t really), but one guy with a preview copy mentioned his build has an ad for The Mechanic (film from 2011).
(source)

I do not like this.
 
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I remember articles in which was stated that in-game advertising is considered as a great thing by companies. Real Life, of course.
 
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