Deus Ex is Probably the Greatest Game Ever Made
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
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NTH REVIEW #10! Nick goes back in time to his days as a youth for this very special 10th edition of The Nth Review to play cyberpunk fantasy first-person RPG shooter Deus Ex. He leaves few stones left un-turned in this epic critique of Warren Spector and Ion Storm's 2000 production.
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0:00 Intro
0:40 I. Machina (Preamble)
6:20 II. Iron and Copper (History and Tech)
20:12 III. Sniper Rifles, GEP Guns and Minicrossbows (Gameplay)
36:43 IV. 50 Billion Dollars Down the Drain (Story)
1:15:09 V. A Human Revolution (Legacy)
1:19:26 VI. Conclusion
#deusex #DeusExReview #DeusExgameplay - Ігри
Ladies and gentlemen, the only man who ever picked ginger JC
It was the closest looking one to me when I had hair! Hahaha
@@NthReview haha yeah we need a bald JC for full representation. I currently have a very similar hairline to him - for now!
I picked him because you have to in order to create "Fabian". Strategy guide owners will understand.
I always pick ginger one. It just look the best
I've played them all. I have a hard time choosing between Ginger and Latino actually. They all look cool. But Latino looks the most badass 😎. And for some reason I just like Ginger.
A headshot with a tranquilizer dart is an instantaneous knockout at certain skill levels.
Well, next time around I'll do a non-lethal run.
@@NthReview Also, in Revision mod there are extra XP points assigned for lethal shots. So, playing deadly pays off.
Well, that was the mod I wanted to play with next, soooo...
@@NthReview Cool. Also consider the mod called "GMDX", if you find Revision interesting. It's a different take on the Deus Ex experience, with fewer changes to the map, and many more to the skills system.
@@shangtsung2450 GMDX is part of the other mod I used to update the game to work with my modern PC. I didn't turn it on because I wanted to review the original version in a vanilla form as much as possible.
I love the dialogue acting actually. Especially JC's. It brings some levity to a pretty serious game, in a story with pretty serious stakes.
And JC's a G
JC is a hella G.
You could say he's the bomb
MISSTAH JC DENTON. IN DA FRESH
You mean "Mee-stah JC Den-ton een da f-wesh" 🤣.
“I’m looking for Tracer Tong. It Is Urgent That I Find Him.” - speaking to a Hong Konger.
You're so right. I am a designer who just watched Warren Spector's War Stories interview on Ars Technica for about the 5th time, and your intro really is accurate and says it all. "Deus Ex isn't *your* game, it's *my* game." Which is exactly how I felt in 7th grade playing it for the first time, and exactly how I feel now. A uniquely personal experience, which, while on narrative rails, became each of our own stylized narratives and action sequences. Which, is exactly how Warren Spector described wanting it to be for us, even all those years ago.
Thanks for getting it. This is a really important piece of media and I think it might be years before people at large really get what this was for those of us fortunate enough to have experienced it.
20 years and still waiting for someone to write the real (full) novel of "Jacob's Shadow". I can't be the only one who would actually pay to buy a copy!
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
Hey fam, I have loose guidelines on self-promotion, but one reply is enough.
@@NthReview NEVER !!!
DEUS EX, MAN !!!! DUDE !!!
AND IM A WHITE HETRO BRIT OLE BIRD NOW !!!!
Hey, De la Poer, how 'bout some Rats in the Walls?
@@contemporaryconundrums93 Ugh that story gets mentioned every damn time.... De La Poer actually is my family name; and yes we actually do hail from the UK and really are nobility, but _minor_ nobility. And unfortunately I don't own "Exham Priory" (pro tip: it doesn't exist). At least you have good taste in writers. Lovecraft is good enough that even I can't resent him for associating my name with ancient evil, or the inevitable comments I get from the fans.
But that being said, sometimes I don't know if the overall declining intelligence and abysmal literacy rates in America is such a bad thing...
A friend of mine gifted me the game a year or so after release. I played through the first level and quit, because I was expecting a classic shooter...
Then a year later I was bored and didn't know what to play. I found the CD and decided to give it another try.
And man... I still remember the feelings that game gave me back then. It was so unbelieveable good that I didn't got enough sleep the next few nights.
Funny thing is: the EXACT same thing happend to me about 2 years after that with System Shock 2 ;)
Great video m8
That is an awesome memory! It took me a few years to get into SS2, but I still haven't finished it...
@@NthReview It was awesome. Maybee that's why these two games will forever have a special place in my heart... or maybee they are just great 😄
Why didn't you finished it?
@@cliffallistermclane6034 I genuinely can't remember. I remember it was over the summer of 2003, I think I just stopped.
For the longest time no other game matched the feeling that my first playthrough of Deus Ex gave me. The wonder of so many possibilities with an incredibly designed sandbox and the perfect set of tools to play in it. BUT THEN... I played Prey for the first time and holy hell that game is underrated for what a near perfect masterpiece it is...
whats a
CD ? 🤣🤣🤣
The algorithm finally is showing me people I want to watch!
You deserve so much more attention then you are getting, thank you for all the hard work you do!
Thank you so much!
Sorry I keep adding comments but, headshots with the minicrossbow are one-hit non lethal. Definitely the most satisfying way to play, in my opinion. And the only way I played my first play through back in 2000.
And I just realized someone else already commented this, haha.
Ahhhh! It blows my mind every time someone trashes the crossbow. I can absolutely see why but the countless hours I've spent with that weapon.. omg..
I found non-lethal to be a chore in this game but I absolutely enjoyed it on HR and MD.
I love the original Deus Ex.
It's timeless.
mankind divided never existed!!!!
@@Math667 why?
deus ex was never a stupid shooter and awful multiplayer@@ashkanfattahi1945
I played this game for the first time in 2018 and it is still one of the best games to me almost ever. It's emergent gameplay thru all those well defined systems makes it feel like you are a ninja and actually infiltrating effectively.
This game was perfect for its time and opened my mind up to the sheer posibilities of gaming in the future and yet nothing has topped this game.
No man, this is MY game
Randomly bought promotional titles on a Friday, when I was getting ready for a weekend away from home and my friends, in 2002
I spent the whole weekend with DeusEx and weed, I slept very little and it was amazing! one of my best gaming memories
ty for this video bro
a french guy
You're very welcome!
That sounds fun
Hahahha! That sounds like a vacation lol
Wow, this review was insanely comprehensive. You covered so much and yet there is a lot more you could have discussed, just goes to show how dense the Deus Ex experience is. Anyway, this review was fantastic and your love for the game really shines throughout. Great Video!
Thank you so much! I know I could've gone on for even longer, but geez I think this'll be good for now.
Deus ex doesn't have good AI but in my opinion that actually helped the game, especially when it comes to stealth.
Like thief, in deus ex metal floor makes more noise than other surfaces and different level of darkness hides the player differently depending on the distance between the enemy and the player. It's not so good as thief though. I am a stealth player and I have completed deus ex fully stealthy with no KO and without using any invisibility augs or equipment, fully using immergent gameplay and it was a very challenging and fun run for me. The AI is good enough to give a very good challenge but dumb enough that I used some crazy but very tricky tactics to sneak by enemies most of which are impossible in other games. I didn't think it was possible especially not the late game but I was surprised that I was even able to sneak by everyone without invisibility even in area 51. Only 1 section I had to use a thermoptic camo because the AI got bugged somehow.
As for crossbow, that's the best weapon in the game in my opinion. Not for KO guards but to distract them.
The best thing is as you can see how much of a different the experience can be for 2 different persons. For you crossbow was not that useful but for me it's extremely useful. To you AI isn't that good but for me that's exactly what deus ex needed (except for the bugs). That's the magic if deus ex in my opinion.
I was doing a ghostish/non lethal run on my 1st playthrough but halfway through the game I just felt like any MJ12 affiliates needed to get acquainted with the business end of my stealth pistol
Wow, all of a sudden everyone makes a Deus Ex Review, not gonna complain though. Nice work mate, this is the first video I watched from you.
To be fair, I had started working on this in May and released it nearly a month ago, but I've been making videos for nearly six years so it was nice to (finally) see some love from the algorithm. Glad you enjoyed it!
Keep em' coming, I will watch every last of them if I already don't get around to doing one myself.
Yeah makes me think there is a new game coming out??
The more you like and comment and sub and tell your friends, the more often these videos get recommended. If you got at least an extra dollar a month, you can pitch it toward my Patreon (right now I'm kinda scraping by with only a PC to play on at the moment.)
I want to maintain my weekly schedule as long as I can and cover as many games as possible for my reviewers! Thank you!
If only....
26:00 you can destroy cameras, turrets and alarm panels with a sniper rifle on master skill. Same with the dragon tooth sword with the combat aug. Also thermoptic lets you walk through laser grids.
Yeah, I don't think I maxed out a weapon skill until nearly the end.
If you have the shotgun bullets that are specifically for bots it'll also destroy them. The pistol destroys them too...just takes a long time.
@@JoeDouglas yeah the sabot rounds, but i think it takes a lot of sabot rounds to destroy a camera whereas 1 sniper round will do it... better hope that shotty is silenced... Mind you in some locations a handily placed box of TNT can do the trick just as well :D
and obviously - a universal solution to the most problems of Deus Ex also applies here - GEP gun...
And those fierce hounds can be taken down with tranquilizer darts!
The SECOND time I've watched this entire video, and it's just as good as the first. Thanks for the tremendous amount of work and effort that made this critique possible - it too will live forever...
Thank you! I hope you were able to catch the new System Shock Series review...
Found your reviews the other day. Genuinely enjoying them. Everyone’s moved away from long form content and it’s so good to see someone’s keeping it alive. Sub and likes unlocked.
These reviews will always be as long as they need to be :)
Bought DX at release and still have it installed in 2020. Can't say I replay it every time I see it mentioned (rather once every couple years or so) but I have a great time every time I do. It was revolutionary and incredible at the time, and still holds up as fun and involving even now, which is more than can be said for the vast majority of games of any era. Also I find it's so-called "hardness" in the sense of it's lack of active guidance, one of it's best features. Maybe it's just me, but I intensely dislike the modern trend of games assuming I'm a literal moron and thinking they need to hold my hand the entire time. The endless tutorials, tips and nudges popping up for every action, and impossible-get-lost mapping and direction cues endemic to gaming now are all cancerous and awful. The whole I guess "freedom to get lost/fail" games like this gave us was awesome. I'd sooner spend half an hour wandering a level trying to find the man I'm supposed to meet (as with Deus Ex, having to *gasp* actually look at pictures and read actual maps and form a plan of entry etc) than having a giant glowing arrow pointing my way, counting down the distance to go, and direction tips popping up every time I take a 'wrong' turn or reminding me which button to press. Just ugh. Go away. It's awful design for kids with 5-second attention spans and needs to stop.
After playing the Thief games, I can say what Deus Ex does is straddle the line between hand-holding and obtuseness. There are portions of The Dark Project in particular where I have no idea how anyone was supposed to figure these things out on their own when Deus Ex provided ample evidence for whatever narrative nugget they were cooking up. It also helps that Deus Ex avoids labyrinthine map layouts and outright puzzles.
@@NthReview Exactly so; forgive my lack of elaboration that I forgot about in my ranting. I'm absolutely not advocating the sort of games that dump you in expecting you to be psychic either. There's a way to do it, DX being an excellent example, where you're given all the tools and info you need combined with intuitive and "realistic" map design and logical objectives set up in a logical way (at least within the established 'rules' and logic of the DX game-world, if that makes sense). A bit of thought and actual gameplay will get you through every time, and in a logical way consistent with the game's world and mission. The fact they accomplish this without hand-holding - or least the little they do is so integrated as to feel natural and all but invisible - is very impressive.
DX proves it's possible to tell a complex, mature story and have a damn fun time doing it in a semi-open, early-pseudo-sandbox world without having the player be all but on rails or constantly barraged by hints and pointers. I absolutely agree on TDP by the way. Lots of older games were it seems hard for the sake of hardness, obtuse just as a "screw you, see if you can beat *this*!"; as if they went out of their way to punish the player (though I've come to believe that style of play is just laziness and inferior design, whether due to lack of time or incompetent devs or whatever other reason), and that's no good either. I'm old enough to remember, as no doubt you are, when most games just tossed you in blind to labyrinthine maps full of illogical puzzles and arbitrary objectives. It just seems now the pendulum's gone too far in the other direction; that now every gamer's assumed to have a 10-second attention span and needs a reminder on what the objectives or even the controls are every few minutes. "Press X to..." is not something I ever want to see more than once and only during a tutorial, put it that way. All that being said, it can be a delicate balance and the more ambitious and complex a game is, the harder it is to walk that razor-thin line. It's a major part of what makes DX the masterpiece it is.
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
The only thing that i hated in DX was the darkness, some spots where simply black. Anyway, play cyberpunk, imho is a good DX successor.
You would absolutely love Kingdom Come Deliverance, (an fps rpg) if you are into medieval things. That game doesn't hold your hand either, and the world building and characters are top notch.
Great video champ. Always happy to sub for big ole game videos to help me get through my shifts. Thank you.
You're welcome!
Thanks for the review dude. I was 17 when this showed up and I got it. Half life had just blown me away a couple of years earlier.
When I played Deus Ex (on tnt2 m64 card) it was some next level ish. Forever becoming the most influential game in my entire life till this day.
Thank you so much for walking me through these memories. Excellent review and awesome analysis. Keep it up.
You are very welcome!
Dam ur old as hell
Awesome analysis!
I’ve borrowed a disc from my classmate back in early 2001, GOTY edition. I was 13, and it was one of the first games on my first PC, along with NFS Porsche Unleashed and PC port of MGS), didn’t even read any game magazines or internet back then. Just dumb luck. I was so amazed and completely lost myself in that game that I’ve saved some lunch money and “leased” that disc eventually buying it off that guy)) Completed it at least once a year till 2010. And I fell in love with Hong Kong levels so much that I went to Chinese language group when got to a better school (dropped it after 2 years though). Was experimenting with the map editor as well, trying to add details to Hell’s Kitchen and Hong Kong section - like creating my fantasy apartment next to Jock’s one, across the street from Maggie Chow’s penthouse. Got into 3D graphics that way, actually, which became a hobby for half my life after that. There were awesome mods as well - yeah, The Nameless Mod is the most famous one, but Hotel Corona was cool as hell as well, with completely different story and locations, including a huge multistory... hotel))
Oh, and the disc was a pirate version. Talking about early 2000’s in Russia - even if one had money for a licensed disc, there were no stores selling them. But I still keep it as a piece of fond childhood memories that definitely contributed to who grew up to be. Of course, later bought licenses digital version just out of respect for dev’s and never pirated anything since 2007. If I some day have a spare $50mil or so - will def try to persuade Square Enix to finance a remake out of my pocket.
Memories!
Does anyone else watch these hour long retrospectives and never played the game and probably never will?
Sometimes it's great to watch videos like these and enjoy them (or not) vicariously through the reviewer.
@@NthReview yes exactly.. Have a great day!
Mhm, hello... ✌🏻👴🏻
That was a really well done and comprehensive review! This video deserves way more views.
Thank you so much! If you do all the UA-cam standard stuff (like, subscribe, notify!), that tells UA-cam to recommend it more often and then more people get to enjoy it!
@@NthReview Already did, and went back to a couple of your older videos. You do good work
Oi why are you calling my trusty as crap crossbow the worst weapon. That thing carried me through this game.
Something you complained about a bit - big weapons so you can't carry them all, not high enough weapons skill until the game was almost over - this game really feels like it was designed around the ethos "jack of all trades, master of none" and expects you to specialize in just a few things, maybe different things in each playthrough. I maxed out my pistol skill early and it made a less lethal playthrough totally viable and a lot of fun.
Right, the game doesn't really want you to specialize into an archetype, it wants you to play the field. That's fine though, that's how I typically play these games and it apparently got me into a lot of trouble in DXMD
You deserve way more views. Just found your channel today and binged 4 hours of content. I do video editing myself and always wanted to make a gaming channel but never have. If I were to ever make that leap I would DEFINITELY use your work as inspiration. Awesome channel man.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm experiencing such a weird algorithm bump right now and I've shot up almost 60 subscribers in the past day and a half and I'm getting to see so many new faces enjoy The Nth Review. I saw you subscribed already but every last person who likes, subscribes, gets notified about new videos and pitches toward the Patreon lets me do more Nth Review as this is very much a hardcore hobby at the moment.
Thanks again so much! As you get your channel going, be sure to link me so I can watch it.
Great video, man! Insightful the whole way through
Thank you!
I'll never forget the time I went to Paris and found the door that leads to the catacombs. It looked exactly like it did in the game. I wanted to put on a trenchcoat and sunglasses and go down there, but it was closed.
That's easily the most interesting Deus Ex review I've seen (and there's been a lot of them lately). Keep up the good work.
Thank you!
If only it could have been 7 hours... Thank you for this work!
Hahaha, I get enough feedback about it being 5! Thank you!
I have never seen any of your content before this, feels like I've been watching you forever just with this one video
Really good stuff man
Thanks!
the section on technology and history was amazing, I only started pc gaming on a nearly non functional laptop in 2013, so learning more about the PC and it's history was so cool
With the quality of these reviews, I'm genuinely baffled that you don't have at least 100x more subs. Apparently you've been doing long-form, in-depth reviews since long before it became trendy.
Good news is, the fact that I finally stumbled across your channel is a good sign that the algorithm is catching on. Best of luck!
Thank you!
That is the sad part about the Abundance of great UA-camrs, a lot of Them just stand Still even though they deserve More. I also subscribed, awesome content and i look forward to seeing More.
dude...this video is SO GOOD. damn i thought u had 50k or 100k subscribers, but...below 1k?? that's a crime man, ur videos are one of the best deus ex reviews in the youtube, aside from Ross Scott vid. Hope you'll have 1k subscribers by the end of this month man
Thank you! Hopefully soon!
I have been watching all your deus ex reviews this week, and I really assumed you had millions of subs, such high quality content! Please keep going! :)
Thank you! That's the plan!
Omg, FINALLY someone has explained the whole plot to me!!!
Thank you very much, man (and i chose red JC as well)
You are very welcome!
26:20 you can, just use the gep gun, any explosive, the cranial spy drone EMP to disable them, or a mastered sniper rifle, which has just enough damage to destroy any camera except in the end of the game where they are reinforced
Well, good to know!
also the dragons tooth sword with the master skill + strength aug allows you to destroy them in one swipe.
Unless spy drone is max lvl 4, it'll only temporarily disable security objects mind you, but on max lvl it will permanently disable them, so it's very neat too
The tranq dart mini-xbow was almost always my main weapon. You could play about with a load of weird playstyles and gadgets due to the amount of inventory space and spare skill points you had. It also stopped those MJ12 nutbags from exploding, which was nice.
I remember not having too many issues with the exploding MJ12 jerks this time around. Maybe it's muscle memory.
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
_"Old men... are the future!"_
I know I've commented a few times here, but it's because I watched this in multiple sit downs. Just wanna say this is an amazing video. Dx is such a brilliant game, and so important to me personally, and I think you've done an amazing job of covering it here. It's easily the best DX video I've seen on YT, and I've watched a LOT. Great job man!
12:14 "In twenty years I've never scored a goal, or.... slammed a dunk; sports!"
WHAT?!?! You didn't get signed up for the Knicks? Oh man, you have to go back and replay the game, you are missing out my friend.
It knows I want to score, but won't let me!
@@NthReview Well I mean that's probably because the hoop is just a solid board with a transparent central section, but the game has a "horseshoes and hand grenades" approach to whether it thinks you're good enough to go pro. I say keep at it, you'll get results someday!
(And if you're reaaaaaaaally lucky, maybe Yevgeny will finally show up at the Lucky Money and play a round of pool with you.)
Stand under the hoop and throw the ball straight up through the bitch. Easy peasy.
I want to thank the grey de-.. I mean coronavirus for making me stay home and play this game for the first time. I can't believe i slept on it for so long, truly a classic.
It's never too late to enjoy this classic.
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
I replayed Deus Ex and both prequels during the pandemic and I gotta say...it didn't help my paranoia. One of the levels in Human Revolution is literally the WHO hahaha.
Same here. Pandemic gave me opportunity to experience this greatest game.
Dude, the exact same thing happened to me! I was meaning to play the game for so long but didn't play it until I got the covid, then I just self isolated in my room and finally bashed the game out
I'm really digging this new wave of video essay UA-camrs popping up everywhere. Great job, man! Subbed and waiting for you to blow up.
Thank you! I've actually been doing this for six years, way back when people were bitching about my first videos being long, way before even Joseph Anderson. But I screwed up by not making enough videos and I'm so happy you're able to enjoy my work now that I have a lot of it done! 500 subs here soon, 1000 hopefully not too far out!
This game needs a remake so badly. I'd love to see Warren take this game and expand everything into what he wanted to do originally but was held back by the technology of the time.
Hell, I'd even settled for a Source engine port/remake. The game just needs a little help in the action, physics, and enemy AI departments and it wouldn't feel 20 years old anymore.
I would love a "remaster", but tweak too much and it becomes exponentially more work and becomes a drastically different game. Something like Revision without its flaws would be great.
I personally still want to see the original game in VR before anything else, even if Warren insists on being a killjoy on this more than 20 years later.
no it doesn't
It was and still is amazing. The choices that are available are incredible. I can remember on my first playthrough and basically "testing" the game. I would do something that I felt surely the game would not allow me to do, only to find that it would!
How the hell do you only have 700 subscribers with such this kind of quality
Working on it! If everyone who liked this channel liked each video they saw and subscribed and told a friend, we'll be there in no time!
Underrated channel and I'm a new subscriber!
Currently playing Mankind Divided, which I'm loving, and re-re-re-playing this first chapter. Deus Ex was one of the most important games of my 33 years, it was a whole new level of thougtful entertaining. I can see myself replaying it when I'll be older.
Great great review btw!
Thank you!
20:25 "If you're used to shooters... just about any shooter, playing Deus Ex as a shooter feels... strange."
I mean this is true if by shooter you mean "Doom" or "Quake," and not "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (1998)." If that was your first shooter, Deus Ex is downright gleeful as a shooter.
Was the original Rainbow Six your first shooter? That's fucking hardcore right there.
@@NthReview Yup. Kind of soured me on the entire genre, because most of the mainstream FPS games were *profoundly* lacking by comparison. The realism, squad mechanics, prep phase, and attention to minute detail just gave my little engineering-wannabe brain mountains of content to feast on.
If we're willing to stretch the definition of the genre though, I'd probably have to say that my first shooter was Magic Carpet... even if it is technically like, a shooter/flight sim. But like, that was a game that came out the same time as Doom, but had full 3 degrees of freedom in movement, deformable terrain, a simple real time base/army building and resource management component (that you handled in situ from the first person person perspective,) like, a dozen or more attack spells along with that many utility spell mechanics, and on certain levels enemy AI that had *all* of the same abilities you did (and potentially more... though th, e game really shows off the most when you cheat and unlock all of the spells from the first level,) and was actively building its own army in opposition of yours.
Magic Carpet is seriously straight up impossible genius, in nearly 30 years there's been basically nothing that so effectively combines that insane degree of variety of gameplay into such an enjoyable package... Ark: Survival Evolved is maybe the only thing I've seen that comes anywhere near close, and but it isn't nearly as streamlined and leans heavily on the multiplayer component to deliver meaningful gameplay, whereas Magic Carpet packs it all into a fairly extensive range of rather large single player missions.) If you haven't played Magic Carpet, like, make that a life goal, it's this hallucinogenic glimmer into the kinds of games we could have been playing by now, but for some reason no one is really making (other than some very unfocused indie offerings that tend to be more sandbox than game... though Void Destroyer fills a lot of that itch for me, but if anything it's TOO ambitious, and has so much crammed into such a concise package that it's more a hardcore sci-fi military sim than a shooter/flight sim... which I guess follows given that I came from R6 and-)
And other than those two I was playing Mechwarrior 2 around the same time. Again with as much depth of gameplay and customization and variety of approach that I was getting out of the games I was playing as a like, nine or ten year-old, when presented with something like Doom, Quake, or even Half-Life I was kind of like, "so you just run in circles while holding LMB? Why is this a thing everyone thinks is amazing?"
I only had one playthrough of this game yet so many memories of it.
i still laugh when i think of the username for Gunther Herrman.
I laughed when I found the skulgun email in Invisible War.
@@NthReview hahaha and you'll read it in your head in his voice. I didn't even know what zeitgeist meant at the time but i felt like an internal bingo this is it! Definitely sounded like a word that a guy who is super German, double German, would use.
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
The level of in depth review on your part is other worldly.
(Age 25) I played this game, Liberty Island (first mission) as a demo on the Mac Addict magazine disc. I was hooked instantly and as soon as I could buy it, I played it for hours. Loved everything about it, the open world feel, the story lines encompassing the multi-layered conspiracy theories, the music, the sound FX, the level of graphics were WAY ahead of its time, and as you said, "overly designed."
I'll fire up the old Mac G4 again and play it if we get another snowstorm long weekend, totally worth the revisit.
Oh, did you try the code to apply the Matrix running code mod? It's wild!
I didn’t play with any mods, actually!
I have total nostalgia for Deus Ex's soundtrack, story, tone, and gameplay. One thing I really love about the first level, is how much the sandbox goals were achieved. There are tnt crates everywhere, and you can place these next to any vulnerable door or crate/chest with ease. You can also "taunt" enemies into the first dock to be mowed down by Paul and the first mech you see. Glad to see this very balanced review/retrospective of the game.
I was looking for this review. 2020 has been a weird year and I've been thinking about DX a lot recently. I've got my gf to play it right now with the revision mod enabled so that she can experience it as well. I get to sit down and watch her explore the world and discover it's secrets for the first time. The game is still pretty amazing both narratively and gameplay wise, even though it's many flaws.
Definitely! Hope she enjoys playing!
Also Btw you mentioned that you cant rly destroy the security cams thats cuz they have enforced metal chasie you need to master mele skill and hit it with dragon tooth or max rifles and hit it with snipoer rifle or generaly any explosions possible takes them down too
That's interesting. Huh. Strange they wouldn't have a damage rating like the doors, then.
@@NthReview yeah cams have their own ratings you can blast thru doors with dragon tooth if you max it out but there is a material defined strenght to it for 90% of all doors made out of wood even when they had 75% i could one shot them as for metalic 50% sometimes but that had to be a little bit rusted off metal not the military grade that usualy is at some bases
12:15
for anyone that's curious, when you score a goal, dialogue shows in the top left box "Sign him up for the Knicks!"
This game and videos about it never cease to amaze me. I always play "Thief Ghost" even if I swear myself to play a rambo run; I've never encountered any of these; 27:00
I was introduced to DX on, of all things, prom night in the early 2000s. I was that awkward nerd who went to my best friend's house after prom, and he introduced me to the first real video game I'd played on PC since "Doom." Afterward he gave me the game, and I played it constantly until my mid twenties, when I moved and lost the CD.
It's not perfect by any means, but DX played a hand in shaping how I thought about the world. It's impossible to list off its influences without this comment growing into a read as long as this video, but even now I sort of compare games to what it was I felt on...prom...night? Yep, that sounded weird, even to me.
I may or may not still be that awkward nerd.
Love it when people talk about Deus Ex mods
I wish I could talk more, but that works been another bunch of hours of play :D
Greatly appreciate you, man! It's just astonishing you haven't blown up on YT yet, makes me wish I had moolah to spare on support...
I appreciate you regardless!
Wtf how do you have 1560 subscribers only? This is excellent quality!
Thanks! It's about getting videos out and about! Every post on subreddits like r/gaming and r/games pushes me along, every retweet helps, every sub like and comment helps! :D
@@NthReview Well I liked, subscribed, pushed the bell. You deserve it.
After being discharged from US Army Intel in 2011, my friend and I started living in a car in Pacific Grove outside DLIFLC and he played Deus Ex 1 on his laptop everyday while I played AoE2. I tried playing it, but just had no idea.
The NYC Streets theme imprinted itself into my mind, so years later after we split, I had to listen to it. Decided to play the game again, what a masterpiece. Can't wait to finish it.
Wish they'd remake this game with unreal engine! This was my fav childhood game!
Deus Ex IS an Unreal game, haha! They were one of the first developers to license it from Epic. It would definitely look a lot prettier these days, though.
They won’t do it because it’s too accurate with today’s situation... it would make people think and we don’t want that!
Think of what?
A friend of mine worked on TNM. He coded for it, but was also the voice of the tech guy when you do the bad guy run. That game was dope
AYOOOO TNM as in "The Nameless Mod"? Was your friend the voice of NPC called "That Guy", he was like best NPC on World Corp run!
He was indeed. Went to highschool together. We used to mod WC3 together
I was an underachieving ne'er do well, and he went on to do proper CS, so we don't talk too much these days
But still chat every once in a while@@danielsurvivor1372
Awww, you missed the original "Mess you up" line - I still use that today !😂😋
...." and I´m still finding...." Oh, if Warren Spector got only one Dollar for each time a DX-player mumbles these words to himself.
Isn't that right?
I liked the crossbow
Well, fine then.
The first game I reallly got in to. So much nostalgia and I love it as much as I did back then :)
I really appreciate your review. There are a lot of Deus Ex reviews, retrospectives, analyses and such on UA-cam but I think yours might be my favorite because of the balance you strike of humour, research and discussion.
I played through Deus Ex: Human Revolution and then Deus Ex again after finishing Cyberpunk 2077 back in early Jan. I was looking to revisit Deus Ex especially as the last time I'd played it would have been on Steam in the mid 2000s or so, and I think I didn't understand half of the dialogue or story. Deus Ex: Human Revolution did a number of things I found super annoying (that hacking minigame is so annoying to play every time you want to hack a computer, which is a lot, you keep finding passwords to things you've already hacked) and I found that the original still had the most freedom of choice and felt more immersive. I feel as though the sequels lack the emergent storytelling you get from finding yourself in hard situations.
A couple of things of note from the most recent playthrough of Deus Ex (2000) which you brought up but want to throw my voice in the ring:
One, the number of lockpicks and multitools you needs to open doors, locks, electrical boxes, etc, is sometimes really absurd. I know it's tied to skills which improve the amount of tools you need and the time it takes, but it leads to a situation where I always didn't want to hack any doors or lockpick at all because I didn't know if there would come a moment where progress was gated behind one specific door or keypad. Further, there are lots of lockers, storage cupboards and the like that are locked, which is realistic but you'd spend two lockpicks to open it up and find ammo for a gun you don't use and a soda. People talk about how decisions about how to use your resources lead to "moment to moment gameplay" and how they make choices for the player. I don't think they do, I think they lead to me quicksaving, opening the locker, realising it's got nothing in there and then reloading. I'd have to make an out of gameplay decision to play differently, a self imposed limitation.
Second, the augmentations operate in sometimes such a weird way and I agree with you, there should be some which are just passive always on upgrades. The Energy Recirculator for instance reduces the energy usage of all augmentations, but only if you turn it on. You'd have to remember, before an encounter or using the augment, to turn it on and I'd be running my hands all over the keyboard like a cool cyberpunk hacker. On top of that, some augments are so situational that I don't think I ever used them, like the advanced targeting or the one which detonates rockets ahead of you. I'm sure lots of people have stories of combining augs in great ways to make emergent story moments.
Thirdly, I found that my approach to combat and stealth changed drastically once I got the Dragon's Tooth Sword. Sure, I still used the heavily upgraded 10mm pistol for range, and headshots with it were still second to none, but I changed from popping off a few shots and hiding to waiting to get the drop on enemies and then leaping out with my sword. It's interesting that a single weapon can change your play style like that, if you let it.
Last, and this is more of a personal thing, but those damn spider bots that scurry around on the ground. Screw those things man, absolute hell on earth for whoever designed that thing.
Anyway, great review man! You've got another subscriber here, love your work!
Thank you so much, I appreciate it! Incredible reply and a lot of good points we agree with. And those damn spiders? Wait until you watch the Thief series review...
Non-lethal is the way to go
Indeed - it's one of my favourite qualities of the Deus Ex series.
No matter how many times I try to play it a different way, non-lethal always wins out.
Compared to this the sequels dont seem bad but they seem to have missed the forest for the trees. Style over substance when the original was never really about style anyway
Agreed! Deus Ex was about possibility and gameplay. What style it did have was incidental and minor.
Great analysis! You can shoot cameras with a sniper, and full rifles skill, i actually discovered this in my first playtrough, but did not realised i need full rifles skill untill much later in the third playtrough :)))) (very frustrating to navigate trough the game trying to shot cameras while i was sure it was working before :)) ). Amazing game, i am still discovering new things and paths after 12 playtroughs maybe? Human revolution was a nice refresh on the series, but largly forgetable, finished it 3 times and don't really think there is anything more to discover.
I love this review. Played it the first time right after it came out.
Thank you!
One of my favorite games of all time, but I wouldn't call it the best shooter. The shooting itself is sub-par.
Deus Ex is definitely a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" sort of game. The biggest single stand-out is the level design.
I'd like to think of it another way: it's the greatest shooter of all time despite its actual poor shooting mechanics. Your primary gameplay loop pretty much requires shooting, but the package as a whole as you point out, elevates the shooting to a whole other level, pun intended.
That's because it's a stealth game, mainly.
I wouldn't call the shooting poor. It's really designed as an RPG where you completely suck unless you invest points (and augs) into the shooting. You have to choose what you don't suck at, because you're sure gonna suck at the rest.
Literally says "30-06" on the screen where you refer to it as a .50 cal.
Other than that, spot-on review. 👍
Liked&subbed
I knew that and didn't. :(
I love how you said that world of Deus Ex is a playgound where you can do as you please even with items that are not mission stuff I felt that right in the feels since I did it like three times in my runs where I just run around UNATCO stealing all the books and chairs and plants and boxes decorations trophies from all rooms to decorate my own office no reason to do so but yes just beacuse you can I had hours of fun doing that
Loved this trip down to 2000 Memory Ln.
Thanks!
Best game ever!!! Human Revolution and mankind divided had a shit story and too much hand holding. This was just an amazing story and a game ahead of its time. We need more immersive sim/ stealth and mostly written by someone who can write a good story because if there's no decent story it's going to be a game you're not invested in. I was invested in JC, Paul, Alex, these characters were likable and relatable. This game just becomes that more of a gem the more the industry fails us all. There's every other game in the world but only 1 that captures this experience. Why oh why can't they just give us 1 more like this. Instead it's all cheap thrills, games a monkey could complete etc and so fourth. Original Deus Ex best game ever to date! I originally played as a kid not knowing about skills, so I didn't get hacking lol. That made it all the more realistic though. Having to find login credentials as opposed to that hack skill which is a bit of a cheat. Only critique would be the hacking part of the original now I know about it.
NEW 2-HOUR DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION REVIEW IS OUT NOW! Go check it out: ua-cam.com/video/Zr0uUO39vvU/v-deo.html
What's your favorite Deus Ex memory? Stay safe, guys!
Learning that GEP gun takedown is the silent takedown
Ha! What was that explosion? Probably nothing...
"You are a small, prowling mouse and dumb like a mouse!"
I was introduced to the game years ago by my father. He got it along with a half life 1 demo bundled with a sound card. Later on he sold the sound card to someone online, but informed him that he would keep the game as it was one of the best games he has ever played. The buyer thanked him for the tip. I like to think that the buyer picked up a copy of DX himself.
@@olivius8891 I can understanding wanting to hold onto Deus Ex! I wish I still had my copy... and the box :(
Damn good review man
LOL the crossbow was my favorite weapon of the game. It was basically my exclusive weapon until the late game when you needed to ramp up to explosives and plasma weapons to deal with the onslaught of assault mechs. Sneaking around and tagging folks w/ tranqs then watching them run around trying to figure out wtf just happened before collapsing was a treat.
Who tf "dislike'd" this??
This is like 15-20 hrs of blood, sweat, and editing.
I'd upvote twice if I could.
It was 25 hours to play the game, about 15-20 to write the 15,000 word script for it and then another 40 or so hours to edit it all
@Jonontoast I don't know, man... It does tarnish it a little.
"I was a jack of all trades"
"The weapons were really underwhelming by end game"
"The worst weapon was the minicrossbow"
Hoo boy. Protip: the tranq dart minicrossbow can 1shot enemies provided you've maxed out Pistols and you take them by surprise. Your silly idea to master absolutely nothing severely gimped your experience.
And yeah the sniper scope movement can be entirely eliminated. Provided you master the skill. I'm not that far into the review yet but I can already pre-empt some criticisms that are entirely your own fault.
Well I hope you watched the whole thing then :)
@@NthReview Yeah, I did.
You don't have to max out pistol to one shot with tranq darts, you just need to land a headshot, also those green rocket launchers 1 shots everything(including Walter Simons), no matter you're skills spent
Weird that I ended up watching this on June 25th lol
Happy Birthday tomorrow, Nth!
Thank you!
2 years later. My first video watching you. Happy birthday!
Thank you!
Very late response as I just found your video but the trick with the crossbow is that headshots with tranq darts are an instant non lethal takedown! It makes it much more fun to use in nonlethal runs
good video dud i play this game 15 years ago... and i till lov it .... master piece.....
I have such fond memories of this game. It was mind blowing at the time. About to start my first playthrough of Cyberpunk 2077 and it made me think of Deus Ex
Thanks for the review. It's really interesting one. And thank you for English subtiteles. As a non-native English speaker it's really comfortable and useful to watch and learn :)
My pleasure!
I actually used the mini crossbow a lot. Multiple trq darts speed up the knock out effect. It was usefull to gain the 'the unavoidable sacrifice' achievement for the Revision mod.
My problem with the tranq darts is that they *should* by all rights be a stealth weapon, but as soon as you hit someone with one they run around screaming and alert everyone else nearby.
i actually liked the mini crossbow. but you need to aim for the head to put the enemies to sleep instantly. upgrading it with the scope helps a lot
theres something to be said about the second, third, fourth, etc times you re-experience this game too. i first tried the original DX after Human Revolution stunned me with its world and gameplay, and my younger self couldnt appreciate it at all. it took me forever to find the fixes back then to get it to work right and i would always somewhere in the first level (without having saved of course) so i got fed up with it, i missed the instant takedowns and standard shooting mechanics. cut to every two or so years, i repeat the process, download on steam, apply the fix, die somewhere on Liberty Island having forgotten to quicksave, quit. i only just got past Liberty Island last year and the game is absolutely brilliant, and every time i go back to restart it, i literally find some new lore, more lockpicks and multitools, a terminal i didn't hack last time that has like a secret door tied to it, and so much more, like learning that there was just a better way to deal with certain situations. but at the same time, im never compelled to reload like so many other games of its type. i can never find myself truly going for a non-lethal playthrough or stealth only playthrough because half the fun comes from living with your mistakes and adapting to the new situations. Also, theres a huge difference in each level playing it again, as the first time around, DX is a thoroughly veiled experience, it never holds your hand and trusts you to find your way through. playing again is awesome because you can restart with the knowledge of how to do melee takedowns effectively, that LAMs can be used to open doors, or that you can get free skill points by downgrading your pistol skill at character creation (the game literally can't downgrade you back to untrained, but those points get added back to your total so you can get other skills or start with some stashed away.)
ALSO at the beginning ALWAYS choose the GEP gun. Otherwise it will be
a VERY long time b4 u r offered another one ! The other weapons offered by Paul can be found ANYWHERE, ay ALL times 😋
The opening lines of this review are so beautiful! This is MY game!
Yes it is!
Man i remember as a kid i couldn't get past the gameplay and the graphics (around 2006 i tried it for the first time), but now i can enjoy both - and instantly it became one of the best games i've ever played, absolutely brilliant. The definition of complete immersion in gameworld, plot and gameplay. And for me it has additional value because i was always fascinated by conspiracy theories - both ones that i read for the chuckle/just for fun, and the ones that i belive in and which helped me shape my world view, and deus ex plot builds itself around the latter.
I am amazed that very few people note how much attention to SOUND was applied. The fact that footsteps "from the left" or "further away" really come into play. Even more than "Doom", which obviously predated it. J.C.'s superior bio-augmented hearing was like--heh--the Bionic Man. I only wish that when J.C. overheard distant conversation, a little "speaker" animation would pop up, or a cutscene would trigger (which it sometimes did, but not always).
"Hearing" laser trip wires and other normally out-of-range sounds was awesome, though! 💪😎✌️
🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨
First time playing it and I’m obsessed.
It's amazing!
AWESOME REVIEW
Thank you!
I remember playing this game for the first time. It BARELY ran on my pc at the time and because of that I was never able to make it past the first level. However, even today I still have fond memories of even that first area. That just goes to show you the impact this game had even in small doses.
Incredible review
Thank you!
Great video, have played Human/Mankind but going through a retro PC phase having played system shock 2 and the half life games recently, will definitely check this out next. As a fan of Neuromancer I really like the box art too!
I'm going the other way and cutting together the Human Revolution review right now and there are so many parallels and contrasts between these games. I think System Shock is next though...
@@NthReview your route through these games makes more sense than my backwards approach!! I'll look forward to it, really enjoyed watching this video, great work