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Deus ex Machina is the Latin version of a Greek phrase meaning "God of the Machine" (or possibly "The Machine of God"). It refers to a practice in Greek theater where a play would be resolved at the end by divine intervention. The god (or gift from a god, in one case) would be lowered in from above to signify its divinity, but the crane doing the lowering was obvious to the audience, hence being a god by right of a machine. The practice was criticized even by contemporaries. In his Poetics, Aristotle determined that, even if divine intervention were necessary, it should either be established earlier in the play or else foreshadowed, thereby becoming a part of the play rather than a poor excuse for ending it. I imagine making the God of the Machine the protagonist is a pretty effective way of integrating him into the plot.  In 1996, a crazy level designer named John Romero founded Ion Storm in Dallas on a lot of promises and very little follow-through. His flagship game, Daikatana, became an industry standard for overhype, vaporware, and eventually disappointment, and while his buddy Tom Hall's game, Anachronox, was pretty good, it took forever to get going and ended at what should've been the halfway point. However, one good thing Romero did was find Warren Spector and tell him to start a second team in Austin and make his dream game. That game would be Deus Ex, which was and still is a landmark of integrated storytelling, freedom of choice, and setting immersion. I'd say more, but I'll be getting to that in the video. As for the developer, Ion Storm Austin would go on to create two more games, Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3, but both games were disappointments thanks to a pretty lovely game engine and tightening budgets. Both halves of Ion Storm went defunct by 2005. As for Deus Ex itself, it lives on thanks to a surprisingly forward-compatible Unreal engine whose source code got released a few years later. I've applied both the 1.5 (final) New Vision mod, which upgrades the environment textures significantly, and Kentie's mod (which is packaged with New Vision), which allows the Unreal engine to take advantage of the numerous advances in DirectX 10. There's also Project HDTP, but that's still in development so I'm skipping that for now. I'm also aware of Shifter, but I'm not using it. For me, the gameplay of Deus Ex is like putting on a comfortable old shoe: the new model may be improved, but it certainly won't be the same. Spoiler policy: Go hog wild! I don't want to see a single black line because I don't want you to think it's necessary. Studies have proven that an informed audience is better able to appreciate a work's story. Besides, it's been over a decade and Deus Ex is currently available on Steam and GOG, so anyone who isn't familiar with the story has no room to complain. One last thing: Deus Ex touches on a number of conspiracy theories, politics, and philosophies, all of which I know folks have opinions regarding, myself absolutely included. While I wouldn't mind seeing some debate in the thread regarding these topics, I will not tolerate personal attacks (against those present or not) and if I think the spirited discussion is descending into lovely arguments, I will not hesitate to close the thread. Thank you for your forbearance, and enjoy the show.
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Jan 6, 2014 17:55
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| # ? Oct 16, 2024 00:00 |
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"For your training, we will be blowing up actual robots that probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce."
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Jan 6, 2014 18:19
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This is going to be fun. Maybe it's just me, but could you change the HUD colour to a brighter one? The dark blue is a little hard to read with the dark levels in the game.
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Jan 6, 2014 18:23
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Well crap, your break wasn't even enough to make it through half the alpha protocol playlist! Truly, life is hell  Seriously though, this sounds promising and thanks for pointing out the mods. Unfair broke the Deus Ex LP curse a while ago, so i'm happy to see more people giving the game its due and causing dozens of readers to reinstall! 
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Jan 6, 2014 18:31
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That mod looks great- I managed to grab Deus Ex off a steam sale somewhere along the line, but have never gotten around to playing it, in part due to the weirdness of textures on videos that I've seen. I'll be looking forward to giving it a spin alongside the thread (Which I fully understand contains unmarked spoilers).
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Jan 6, 2014 18:41
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During the tutorial you mentioned the choice between cloak and/or radar transparancy, well... Spoilers regarding mechanics/potentially an exploit(?). I also name 2 locations but kept it vague. Per the thread rule it is not blacked out. **spoilers** There is a way to get both cloak and radar transparancy. See: augs are grouped by the "slot" you install them on, and after those slots are used up, you cannot change them. For instance there are two implants for the legs, but only 1 slot. The cloak and radar transparancy augs are grouped in the two subdermal slots, which is also where you install ballistic protection or the EMP shield. If you follow the normal game progression, you'll come across a canister that makes you choose between EMP shield or ballistic protection, thereby consuming one of your slots. Instead, ignore that augmentation upgrade, and you'll find 2 canisters later in the game that give you the choice between cloak and radar transparancy. The locations are Hong Kong and Brooklyn. **end spoilers**
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Jan 6, 2014 18:56
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double nine posted:This is going to be fun. Maybe it's just me, but could you change the HUD colour to a brighter one? The dark blue is a little hard to read with the dark levels in the game. That's probably a good idea. I like the blue, but I've been having trouble reading the text even before compression.
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Jan 6, 2014 18:56
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:That's probably a good idea. I like the blue, but I've been having trouble reading the text even before compression. On the upside the game has preconfigured HUD setups in the settings menu. I really like the HUD in Deus Ex - especially that you can edit all the notes you get during a playthrough - and add your own! It's basically a fully functional notepad. I don't think there has been a game in the last 10 years that allowed you to write ingame(outside of scribblenauts and typing of the dead, obviously, but that's for a different goal) double nine fucked around with this message at 19:07 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 19:04
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kalonZombie posted:"For your training, we will be blowing up actual robots that probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce." Yeah but it cost like billions of dollars to make this one guy so it evens out.  How hard would it be to make one of those robots in real life? It actually looks a bit simpler than some of the functional real life robots I've seen, just a big pair of legs and a gun strapped to the crotch.
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Jan 6, 2014 19:42
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MechanicalTomPetty posted:Yeah but it cost like billions of dollars to make this one guy so it evens out. As, usual, it's not the mechanical parts themselves that are the obstacle (although price would be an issue), it's the stuff that controls them. Having a robot not flip over when it walks is hard work, actually. And a real-time target recognition algorithm that could work reliably in real life conditions, only target foes, coordinate movement in a tactical situation, and aim a gun quickly and accurately would give a rich army a massive gunboner.
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Jan 6, 2014 19:51
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Hey, neat. The original DX is one of those games that I've bought like 4 times (including the PS2 port...), and love the idea of... but the act of actually playing is a bit too clunky and punishing for me to fully enjoy, so an LP by someone passionate and skilled like Bobbin is great. And based on the post-gameplay lecture segment... I presume we're incorporating elements revealed outside this game? At least from Human Revolution, anyway?
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Jan 6, 2014 20:09
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All the info presented in the post gameplay part came from the DX Bible, as can be found here. It's part of the design doc and some interviews with the original designers. The diagram of the moonbase is from DX:HR, iirc.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:24
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Oh wow, someone who finally knows what the hell they're doing LPing Deus Ex. You know, as opposed to, say, me. :P Looking forward to this, given how thorough you are. I might even see something new.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:46
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Ok here's a weird fact: In that area after you have to stack the metal crates, Theres a candybar hidden in the pipe. You have to move around a bit at the opening of the pipe to reach it but its there, I have no idea why they put that in.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:50
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I enjoyed hearing about the backstory. Conspiracy Corner is a great idea to enhance what would already be an interesting LP.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:52
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I'd be quite prepared to argue that (for its time) Deus Ex is a perfect game.Tombot posted:Ok here's a weird fact: In that area after you have to stack the metal crates, Theres a candybar hidden in the pipe. You have to move around a bit at the opening of the pipe to reach it but its there, I have no idea why they put that in. Same reason they had the ammo hidden underneath the ramp where you then get it confiscated and the datacube hidden beneath barrels in the bridge section; to show you they're hiding stuff all over the place so you should search everything in the game.
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Jan 6, 2014 20:55
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Tombot posted:Ok here's a weird fact: In that area after you have to stack the metal crates, Theres a candybar hidden in the pipe. You have to move around a bit at the opening of the pipe to reach it but its there, I have no idea why they put that in. Let me have a candy bar
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Jan 6, 2014 21:00
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Oh gently caress you Bobbin. Now I have to reinstall DX for like the hundredth time. (seriously though, I'll be watching)
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Jan 6, 2014 21:41
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I do love your sense of timing with just letting the theme music run for a while before talking. Also I kinda liked Thief 3.  (Shalebridge cradle in particular.)
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Jan 6, 2014 21:43
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Pierzak posted:Oh gently caress you Bobbin. Now I have to reinstall DX for like the hundredth time. I don't know why you'd possibly be angry to be reinstalling Deus Ex. Deus Ex was actually my first FPS! I'll always remember it for me rushing into the first couple situations and getting shot in the head until I discovered sneaking and melee.
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Jan 6, 2014 21:47
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I've never really been able to get into this game, by which I mean somehow I was confused on what to do after the tutorial was over, so I'll be looking forward to seeing why I'm dumb.
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Jan 6, 2014 21:48
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Letting Warren Spector keep the team in Austin was arguably the only good decision John Romero made as CEO of Ion Storm. There's been some speculation that the troubled development of Ultima 9 was what finally pushed Uncle Warren out of Origin, but I always expected there was more to it than that. Looking forward to this one.
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Jan 6, 2014 22:04
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I'll definately be watching the LP, but I probably won't be reading the thread because of the spoiler policy. I've never played any deus ex game other than human revolution, which I didn't think was very good other than the game's aesthetics. Anyhow, looking forward for more updates.
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Jan 6, 2014 22:07
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Let's all sing along! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j8jMn2Kcgs
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Jan 6, 2014 22:14
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Wait, did you make that Paul Denton images in Eve Online? 
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Jan 6, 2014 22:19
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namesake posted:Same reason they had the ammo hidden underneath the ramp where you then get it confiscated and the datacube hidden beneath barrels in the bridge section; to show you they're hiding stuff all over the place so you should search everything in the game. Not to mention the secret brick in the final area. Cooked Auto posted:I do love your sense of timing with just letting the theme music run for a while before talking. Hey, now, no need to defend Thief 3 against me, but you have to admit it was a step down from 2, especially because of how tiny the levels were. Cooked Auto posted:Wait, did you make that Paul Denton images in Eve Online? I didn't, but someone did. Maybe it was in Poser? Hell if I know.
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Jan 6, 2014 22:26
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Bobbin Threadbare posted:Hey, now, no need to defend Thief 3 against me, but you have to admit it was a step down from 2, especially because of how tiny the levels were. I admittedly haven't played Thief 2 but yes the levels were ridiculously tiny. Even I realized as much while playing. Bobbin Threadbare posted:I didn't, but someone did. Maybe it was in Poser? Hell if I know. Ah, could be that as I guess, I just thought it looked a lot like the Eve Online avatar creator.
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Jan 6, 2014 22:28
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Oh hey, I liked Deus Ex quite a lot when it came out, but I felt it did have some issues, such as the fact that it loved to bug out on me after beating it once for some weird reason, or the fact that some of the locations felt more like set pieces rather than parts of a game world due to the limitations of the engine. Still, it's really interesting that it seems to become clear only in retrospect how good the game really was. I remember it catching a bit of flak for looking fairly bland even when it came out. People are probably going to kill me for this but - has anyone ever played the PS2 version? I hear there were quite a number of changes made to it, starting from the interface to the level layout. I'd really like a decent video showing off the differences. Also, looking forward to your future "lectures", now where's my trusty tinfoil hat? J.theYellow posted:Actually, Warren Spector didn't "work" on Thief The Dark Project, he just got "Special Thanks." System Shock 1, which used the same engine as Thief:TDP, was published through Origin. Warren's job at Origin was producing externally-developed projects. fixelbrumpf fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 22:29
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Actually, Warren Spector didn't "work" on Thief The Dark Project, he just got "Special Thanks." System Shock 1, which used the same engine as Thief:TDP, was published through Origin. Warren's job at Origin was producing externally-developed projects.fixelbrumpf posted:I believe you mean System Shock 2, which also used the "Dark Engine". System Shock 1 used a souped-up version of the Ultima Underworld engine. Yeah.
J.theYellow fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 22:32
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I don't remember the game being so dark. Is that a result from the mod or did I just play it with unreasonably high gamma back in the day?
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Jan 6, 2014 22:42
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Nuramor posted:I don't remember the game being so dark. Is that a result from the mod or did I just play it with unreasonably high gamma back in the day? Wait until we get to the first mission to compare and contrast. I remember the tutorial level being quite dark, so wait for liberty island or Unatco HQ for a benchmark. That said the game is quite dark due to not having the best lighting engine.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:31
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double nine posted:On the upside the game has preconfigured HUD setups in the settings menu. I really like the HUD in Deus Ex - especially that you can edit all the notes you get during a playthrough - and add your own! It's basically a fully functional notepad. I don't think there has been a game in the last 10 years that allowed you to write ingame(outside of scribblenauts and typing of the dead, obviously, but that's for a different goal) This looks like the kind of Deus Ex LP I was waiting for. Game's really loving good yo. I'm a latecomer to its magic, but it definitely managed to catch me still.
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Jan 7, 2014 00:11
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I know it was meant to be taken seriously but I could not help but burst out laughing when it occurred to me what piece of music you were using during your "the world is dead/dying and is completely different" lecture 
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Jan 7, 2014 00:26
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fixelbrumpf posted:Oh hey, I liked Deus Ex quite a lot when it came out, but I felt it did have some issues, such as the fact that it loved to bug out on me after beating it once for some weird reason, or the fact that some of the locations felt more like set pieces rather than parts of a game world due to the limitations of the engine. Still, it's really interesting that it seems to become clear only in retrospect how good the game really was. I remember it catching a bit of flak for looking fairly bland even when it came out. As I noted, one of the times I purchased DX, it was the PS2 port. Having played the early segments of it and the PC version, the main difference is that the PS2 seemingly couldn't render the full areas in the same way as the PC. Liberty Island, for instances, is about 9 discrete 'zones' that all have loading screens between them. (Like 5 for the island and 3-4 for the statue.) I believe the actual layout is the same, though.
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Jan 7, 2014 00:33
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double nine posted:Wait until we get to the first mission to compare and contrast. I remember the tutorial level being quite dark, so wait for liberty island or Unatco HQ for a benchmark. That said the game is quite dark due to not having the best lighting engine. I've moved the brightness down a couple ticks, but only because kentie's DX10 mod adds HDR lighting which really seems to wash things out comparatively. With the brightness lowered, the overall lighting seems around the same as it used to be, except now there's much smoother transitions between light levels. Either way, the game is intentionally set at night and the lighting is supposed to be moody.
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Jan 7, 2014 00:37
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Every time this game shows up i always end up on Alexander Brandon's wikipedia page. Was about to say that more games need his soundtracks but apparently he was a composer for Dust:AET so he's still out there making good game tunes. 
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Jan 7, 2014 01:03
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This game is so awesome. I played it for the first time when my friend gave it to me while it was on sale for the game's 10th anniversary and I still love it to loving pieces. Sure it looks like poo poo even for the time it came out and has a very confused idea as to what people in Hong Kong sound like, but it's still great. And even once you've mastered every normal thing in the game, it's got enough jank to it that you can have fun with the nearly infinite ways that exist to break it.
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Jan 7, 2014 01:56
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Gaz-L posted:As I noted, one of the times I purchased DX, it was the PS2 port. Having played the early segments of it and the PC version, the main difference is that the PS2 seemingly couldn't render the full areas in the same way as the PC. Liberty Island, for instances, is about 9 discrete 'zones' that all have loading screens between them. (Like 5 for the island and 3-4 for the statue.) I believe the actual layout is the same, though. The PS2 version isn't that bad, it was my first exposure to the game and the version I first beat. But now with the original PC version going on sale for 2 bucks all the time on Steam and the like plus all the new mods there's little point in getting it anymore. Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 01:58
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| # ? Oct 16, 2024 00:00 |
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A little Latin note: "ex" has a few meanings, including "from", "out of", or even "due to". Those may be relevant to the story. Also, notice that the code to open the first door was 0012. Twelve is an important number in Deus Ex; expect to see it come up again. You'll also see that there are a couple of Men in Black in the room with Jaime through that first window. One of them is Walton Simons, director of FEMA, who we'll see more of later. I also wonder what Jesus Christ Denton's previous training exercises were like if this was supposed to be more interesting. Admittedly, irradiating your recruits in toxic slurry is a novel approach.
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Jan 7, 2014 02:26
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