Deus Ex 2: Invisible War

[Schadenfroh]

Purchased it on sale on STEAM recently. I know it is an old game, so it should be good to play on my laptop's slow Geforce 7900GS (I am currently visiting my parents for the Christmas break my P.I. granted me, so it is about 7 hours away).

Questions regarding mods:
1. Any massive overhauls (that improve things dramatically) that I should be aware of, like STALKER's Oblivion Lost?
2. Any UI mods? I recall the demo I played years ago having a horrible UI.
3. I found a texture replacement out on FileFront, so I assume that this is the primary graphics overhaul?
http://deusex2.filefront.com/file/DXIW_texture_pack;22988
4. Any bug fix mods?
5. Any cut content restoration mods?
6. Any major engine improvement (graphics, performance, etc.) mods like the first one had?

 

[Nik]

1) Nope
2) You don't need UI mods. It's got a very simple UI (not bloated which would need mods)
3)
4) Nope
5) There's no cut content, but there's one single hidden game ending with music and dancing
6) Nope

 

[Mike Gayner]

This game is an embarrassment to the Deus Ex title. You wasted your money.

 

[Schadenfroh]

This game is an embarrassment to the Deus Ex title. You wasted your money.

It is not worth $6.69 or the time playing it, eh? I really like FPShooter / RPG Hybrids like Deus Ex 1 and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.

 

[Nik]

It is not worth $6.69 or the time playing it, eh? I really like FPShooter / RPG Hybrids like Deus Ex 1 and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.

Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about.

DE2 is pretty good.

 

[marmasatt]

Yes, I agree with Nik. Really not much you can add to it to improve upon the release besides textures. It is not as good as the original and has all kinds of crazy faction stuff, but it's worth the play. Saying you wasted $6.99 is a bit harsh.

 

[Dorkenstein]

I thought it was OK. I never saw any huge overhaul mods for it, or even for the first game, at least any that were completed.

 

[Kyanzes]

I also bought it and I'm already about middle, I think. You'll need to tinker a bit to make it work at resolutions with 16:10 or 16:9 proportions. Robbed me of at least 15 mins.

Check out http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/

 

[Jinru]

It is not worth $6.69 or the time playing it, eh? I really like FPShooter / RPG Hybrids like Deus Ex 1 and Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.

You should check out Face of Mankind mmorpg, it's a rpg/shooter. No leveling system or curve in acquiring gear. Really enjoying it so far since I can just log on when ever I want and be on a even playing field with everyone else. It's a very political/RP game like EVE Online.

 

[CP5670]

Don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about.

DE2 is pretty good.

I agree with this. It pales in comparison to the first game but is still a good game in its own right. It had many nice ideas despite its glaring problems.

That texture pack you linked to is pretty much the only thing available for it, and it was never quite finished. The game was apparently not nearly as mod-friendly as the first one.

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Eh. It's acceptable until the final levels, and which point the unified ammo becomes a major hassle.

 

[v8envy]

DE II was the game which convinced me to NEVER buy a title blindly on release and instead to wait for trusted reviews, demos and other evaluation methods before forking over.

I tried very hard not to compare it to the original (a.k.a. "Best Game of All Time"), but even then. It was an epic story which just didn't work becuase it felt like it was took place in a closet. The levels were tiny, the solutions to them were trivial, the story was "meh" and overall the game was a very sub-par console shooter. All but your one final action are meaningless re: story and outcome. Oh, and NPC AI was non-existent.

IMO $7 is a waste on it.

 

[Schadenfroh]

You should check out Face of Mankind mmorpg, it's a rpg/shooter. No leveling system or curve in acquiring gear. Really enjoying it so far since I can just log on when ever I want and be on a even playing field with everyone else. It's a very political/RP game like EVE Online.

The premise of that game seems pretty cool. They have staff members running RP events and player created quests for military and economic objectives. But, it looks like the game has been shut down and resurrected several times...

 

[Jinru]

The premise of that game seems pretty cool. They have staff members running RP events and player created quests for military and economic objectives. But, it looks like the game has been shut down and resurrected several times...

It's just been in Closed Beta phase for a very VERY long time, lol. It currently just went Open Beta a few weeks ago and is soon to go retail, I started on the day of OB.

 

[BFG10K]

I enjoyed this game more than the original. John P’s content pack is a must because it really transforms the game visually.

 

[gszx1337]

There are graphics mods. Here's a High-Res texture pack.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Texture pack was applied before starting.

Well, I just finished Act II (

Spoiler

Cairo

). I must say that this is a good game, but very dumbed down compared to the original. They eliminated skills, biomods have been simplified and they only have one kind of ammo. Do they think that gamers get dumber every year? I think that the customization and gameplay of the first one was easy enough to handle.

The AI is also very poor and it seems upping the difficulty only makes the enemy have more health, drop less "unified ammo" and always hit. Their behavior / tactics still leave MUCH to be desired.

The levels are tiny and there is hardly any open ground. I am constantly hitting load screens moving between zones and it is slow to load, even on my Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDD, Q9450, 8gb of ram and GTX260. Not to mention the graphics seem to be worse than Unreal 2.... despite sharing the same engine.

Another odd thing, I seem to run into invisible things. There was something blocking my way that I could not see, so I instinctively started hacking it with my sword and blood appeared out of nowhere. I continued chopping, but "it" never died and it did not return fire.

All of the factions are rather heartless so far, the

Spoiler

WTO wanted me to destroy crops that were feeding the poor in Cairo

, the

Spoiler

Order wanted me to assassinate unarmed civilians that need not die

, finally

Spoiler

the Templars have suddenly become bio-modded child killers (or at least conspiring to do so).

Oh yeah and the equivalent of a StarBucks shop owner wanted me to

Spoiler

toss a hand-grenade into a competitor's store.

Despite these (mostly technical) flaws, I am enjoying it a good deal.

 

[SuPrEIVIE]

Spoiler ahead!!!( how do you guys black out your text? i dont see any tools in the post page)















Im curious of what faction you guys decided to join at the end when i played this years back I took the Dentons side because the other two just felt like exploitative and they would just repeat the same mess of a story again. Although the ubiquitous AI ending seemed ominous i thought it would give a brighter future than the other twol lol. I hope deus ex 3 implies it as the canonical one. Hmm for the first deux ex i forgot what ending i favored but definately wasnt AI taking over, that leaves two others, must of been the underground guys.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Spoiler ahead!!!( how do you guys black out your text? i dont see any tools in the post page)

UserCP Options:

Enable Full Editor, use >>>

<<< for spoiler:

 

[CP5670]

Well, I just finished Act II (Cairo). I must say that this is a good game, but very dumbed down compared to the original. They eliminated skills, biomods have been simplified and they only have one kind of ammo. Do they think that gamers get dumber every year? I think that the customization and gameplay of the first one was easy enough to handle.

The AI is also very poor and it seems upping the difficulty only makes the enemy have more health, drop less "unified ammo" and always hit. Their behavior / tactics still leave MUCH to be desired.

The levels are tiny and there is hardly any open ground. I am constantly hitting load screens moving between zones and it is slow to load, even on my Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDD, Q9450, 8gb of ram and GTX260. Not to mention the graphics seem to be worse than Unreal 2.... despite sharing the same engine.

Another odd thing, I seem to run into invisible things. There was something blocking my way that I could not see, so I instinctively started hacking it with my sword and blood appeared out of nowhere. I continued chopping, but "it" never died and it did not return fire.

Yes, DX2 was a particularly bad example of dumbing down for the casual gamer.

The map loading times are indeed quite long considering how tiny the maps are.

The physics in this game is messed up in general. You will run into a lot of glitches with it. It uses an early version of Havok that had a lot of issues, and can produce some of the most outrageous ragdoll effects I've seen in any game.

Im curious of what faction you guys decided to join at the end when i played this years back I took the Dentons side because the other two just felt like exploitative and they would just repeat the same mess of a story again. Although the ubiquitous AI ending seemed ominous i thought it would give a brighter future than the other twol lol. I hope deus ex 3 implies it as the canonical one. Hmm for the first deux ex i forgot what ending i favored but definately wasnt AI taking over, that leaves two others, must of been the underground guys.

I think I did the JC/Helios ending the first time. I like how there wasn't a single, obvious "good" ending in either of the DX games. The Templar ending in DX2 was a "bad" one, but it wasn't so clear between the JC and Illuminati ones. Even the Omar ending wasn't entirely bad.

DX3 is supposed to be a prequel that takes place before the first game.

 

[Firsttime]

I just found my DX IW disc from some video card I bought years ago, never actually installed it, I may have to give it a shot.

 

[SpacemanSpiffVT]

ah the Omar were cool. interesting idea.

I thought DX 2 was worse than the original but was still worth playing.

 

[BFG10K]

I liked the Illuminati ending, like I did in the first game.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I liked the Illuminati ending, like I did in the first game.

(spoilers below)



If I was around in Deus Ex times, the NSF would definitely have my support. Shame that they did not appear (so far) in the 2nd one. Although, I suspect that the new Templars might be the descendants of the NSF detachment sent to secure the gold in France in the first game since they have so much money.

The agenda of the new Templars is drastically different from the original Templars and the NSF. I do not think the NSF ever wanted to control the world. I hated that the Templars destroyed Chicago. But, Helios and his mouthpiece JC Denton is a massive threat to humanity, even more so than the Omar. The Omar are scary as hell.... with their involuntary assimilation practices on the homeless. I would have to agree with the Templars in regards to destroying that faction.


I do think that the motives of some of the ApostleCorp members are good, but they are misguided to place an AI construct in charge of humanity and assimilate the human race.The sacrifice of Chicago to prevent Helios from assimilating the human race might have been necessary. I do like how the Templars managed to purge nanites from humans without harming the host instead of just resorting to genocide. They Templars have a psychopath as a leader, but they are probably the lesser evil (the attack on Chicago makes this debatable).

I need to finish this, hopefully I can slay the Illuminati leadership. Not sure if Helios can ever fully be destroyed, but I can slay his host. Releasing the counter-nanites would be a good start to prevent the human race from being assimilated (by the Omar or Helios).

 

[CP5670]

Although, I suspect that the new Templars might be the descendants of the NSF detachment sent to secure the gold in France in the first game since they have so much money.

The NSF had no involvement with the gold in the first game. You fight MJ12 troops at that cathedral, who had apparently killed the Templars there (a faction that you never see in the first game) before you came.

I rather like the Omar ending in DX2 myself. Without giving anything away, the game suggests that it's the only ending in which humans continue to evolve and technologically advance. I think the other endings have a stagnant feel to them, at least the way the game presents them. Note that you don't have to commit to any faction right up until the end of the game. You can make a savegame and see all four endings in one playthrough (or five, including the easter egg one).

On a side note, one fun thing to do in DX2 is to annoy the various NPCs. There are three "levels" of how angry they can get, and each level has three dialogue lines associated to it. You can toss objects on them or try to pick up stuff in front of them while holding something else, which makes them mad for some reason.