Deus Ex: MD - Reconquering FPS/RPG

Aubrielle

Aubrielle

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In "Reconquering the FPS/RPG Genre", GamingBolt discusses the evolution of the Deus Ex series and how it stands as a misfit among shooter titles.

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Deus Ex has never had an easy time fitting into the gaming world. It’s ironic, considering the game’s themes centre around augmentation, diversity in humanity and the divides created when science goes too far. Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will be the latest edition in the series and it’s arguably the “big budget” iteration. While Deus Ex 1 and 2 had more humble origins, Human Revolution saw the series step up on the previous generation of consoles, offering a more action-oriented experience combined with a deeper cinematic story-telling. Sure it was more a testament to what was possible with today’s technology but Deus Ex: Human Revolution still stood out as an odd-ball in today’s era of third person and first person shooters.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided doesn’t seem all that different, oddly enough. It’s visually more pleasing, yes, but it’s also incorporating a grittier, messier atmosphere befitting Deus Ex. The third person cover system will be balanced by a more fluid first person perspective that allows for more frequent usage of powers. The action is all there and multiple storyline decisions, branching missions and customizable abilities are all present and accounted for. We won’t debate about whether this is really Deus Ex or not as we know it.

But is it Deus Ex as we knew it long before? The first game’s release seems like ages ago, born from a concept by ION Storm’s Warren Spector that featured a heavy emphasis on conspiracies and authoritarian future not unlike Blade Runner. The vibe was further reinforced by the absolute freedom that players could exhibit when building their character, much like System Shock 1 and 2. At the time, FPS/RPG hybrids weren’t very common. Everyone was still trying to be the next Half-Life when they weren’t concerned about emulating the success of Counter-Strike or Unreal Tournament. It’s crazy that we’ve come to a point where those mechanics are expressed in a wholly different fashion than before but is it really?
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I want to play this game so badly, but Square Enix & Eidos Montreal delayed it.:pout:
 
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Couchpotato said:
I want to play this game so badly, but Square Enix & Eidos Montreal delayed it.:pout:
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Considering Squarenix latest games (that aren't remakes) state, probably a very, very good thing.
 
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Couchpotato said:
I want to play this game so badly, but Square Enix & Eidos Montreal delayed it.:pout:
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And I kinda love delays recently. Unplished gem or perfect turd was a simple choice, but polished gem and unpolished anything is even simpler.
 
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Delay it for another year if it means we get an awesomer game.
 
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Falksi said:
Delay it for another year if it means we get an awesomer game.
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I wonder if it means that though. I'd love to see some stats documented on how less buggy delayed games are vs one that release on time.

My unreliable memory doesn't think there's a significant difference.

Not saying it should be released before it's ready obviously. I'm just curious.
 
sakichop said:
I wonder if it means that though. I'd love to see some stats documented on how less buggy delayed games are vs one that release on time.

My unreliable memory doesn't think there's a significant difference.

Not saying it should be released before it's ready obviously. I'm just curious.
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Yeah fair shout. Although I would say there's definitely been evidence of rushed games in the past (the abomination that is Dragon Age 2 springs to mind).
I know a lot of things equate to a good game, but I hope that there's more of a culture of taking time getting it right developing now. As opposed to the "hype it up and release and old shite" one which we've seen in recent years.
 
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Falksi said:
I know a lot of things equate to a good game, but I hope that there's more of a culture of taking time getting it right developing now. As opposed to the "hype it up and release and old shite" one which we've seen in recent years.
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Well this game already has three years of development time already. Someone linked to an article about the real reason being due to terrorism attack in-game on Paris City.

Basically they have to redo chunk of the game. Now I don't know if that's true as Eidos released a post about technical bugs, but I wouldn't deny it due to recent news.

Also to answer you no I don't want longer development times as 3-4 years is enough.
 
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Couchpotato said:
Well this game already has three years of development time already. Someone linked to an article about the real reason being due to terrorism attack in-game on Paris City.

Basically they have to redo chunk of the game. Now I don't know if that's true as Eidos released a post about technical bugs, but I wouldn't deny it due to recent news.

Also to answer you no I don't want longer development times as 3-4 years is enough.
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It can take 10 years for me if it's a classic. To use the Dragon Age example again, the original was an utter classic after something like 6 years development, the sequel utter rushed dross.

I'll never get the craving to have a game now. I'm happy to have it when it's ready. However long it takes, and for whatever reason. So long as the finished product is bang on then s'all good.
 
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Falksi said:
It can take 10 years for me if it's a classic. To use the Dragon Age example again, the original was an utter classic after something like 6 years development, the sequel utter rushed dross.

I'll never get the craving to have a game now. I'm happy to have it when it's ready. However long it takes, and for whatever reason. So long as the finished product is bang on then s'all good.
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If every developer took six to ten years just to make a game we would have nothing to play. As sakichop said above a longer development time does not make a better game.

Every announcement about a delay just makes me roll my eyes. As I lost count of how many games that got delayed over the years, and were not better for it.

Larger developers just need to slim down costs, and learn how to prioritize better. They should look at the smaller successful studios for better examples.
 
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Falksi said:
It can take 10 years for me if it's a classic. To use the Dragon Age example again, the original was an utter classic after something like 6 years development, the sequel utter rushed dross.
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There is quite a few leads (like Jame Olsen, Mike Laidlaw, David Gaider, Lukas Kristjanson, etc) who made Dragon Age Origins who worked on Jade Empire (2005) and KoTOR (2003) before the game. Hell, Mike Laidlaw worked on Mass Effect too (release in 2007). Dragon Age Origins didn't start production until after Jade Empire was done and released in late 2009 after a 6 month delays (to get the same PC/Xbox release). That's a normal 3 to 3.5 years development cycle.
 
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Meh. Would still sooner devs took their time making a better game than rushing it coz folk are just desperate to play it.

Every dev isn't gonna take 6 to 10 years, and even if they did then I'd spend time out with mates, girlfriends, in the pub, walking the dog etc. instead.


Better prioritizing and a smaller studio philosophy may be the best way to do that, and if it can be done in a short space of time then great.
I just have priority number 1 as game quality, everything else secondary. It doesn't piss me off when things get delayed, there's thousands of games to play and millions of things to do in life.
 
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azarhal said:
There is quite a few leads (like Jame Olsen, Mike Laidlaw, David Gaider, Lukas Kristjanson, etc) who made Dragon Age Origins who worked on Jade Empire (2005) and KoTOR (2003) before the game. Hell, Mike Laidlaw worked on Mass Effect too (release in 2007). Dragon Age Origins didn't start production until after Jade Empire was done and released in late 2009 after a 6 month delays (to get the same PC/Xbox release). That's a normal 3 to 3.5 years development cycle.
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Full production. Pre-production started in 2003, after KotOR, when Dragon Age was announced for the first time, including some screenshots using the odyssey engine. IIRC they just couldn't strike a publishing deal for it, because publishers thought it would not sell on consoles. So they had quite some time to think about the game.

On the other hand, I think Dragon Age 2 is superior to DAO when it comes to narrative and staging. I'm surely not a fan of level recycling, but at least it didn't bore me with lots of insubstantial text for generic side quests. DAO did to some point and those did not necessarily add to the lore of Thedas or background of the story. Last but not least, on consoles DA2 didn't have the technical flaws of its predecessor. Auto save in DAO always interrupted the game, in DA2 it didn't anymore. That's a huge improvement. So it wasn't the flop as some want us to believe.

I think for starting a new franchise, having more time to think about the game world can be a pro, because developing a consistent, authentic setting with lots of background needs some time. Just like MCA developed Van Buren by role-playing it in his sparetime with other designers. But for developing a specific computer game it doesn't necesarily add to its qualitiy.
 
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Avantenor said:
Full production. Pre-production started in 2003, after KotOR, when Dragon Age was announced for the first time, including some screenshots using the odyssey engine. IIRC they just couldn't strike a publishing deal for it, because publishers thought it would not sell on consoles. So they had quite some time to think about the game.
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Time between first announcing a game and releasing it doesn't correlated with the time a studio spent working on it/thinking about it. The pre-production concepts of Dragon Age shown in 2004 is not the Dragon Age Origins released in 2009. The 2009 version got its own pre-production cycle in 2005-2006.

Dragon Age Inquisition is BioWare longest pre-production among DAO, DA2, DAI and Mass Effect.

edit:
Look at Final Fantasy XV development for an example of what happens when you announce a game 10 years before releasing it...
 
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Who cares? DA2 was obviously rushed by comparison any way you look at it. All you have to do is play the game to see that.

If it wasn't rushed, they did an amazing job of making it feel like it was.
 
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Beautiful hand crafted game….. boys from Montreal show the fakers how its done once again :)
 
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