A couple of months ago, Anthony and I decided to exchange letters about playing Half-Life 2 for the first time. While I’ve been a bum and neglected to play through our last assigned level (but no worries, I’m resuming this weekend), others have been more active.
Our original inspiration for the feature happened to be a series of Final Fantasy 7 Letters exchanged between (my favorite games writer) Kirk Hamilton and cohort Leigh Alexander. They’ve decided to see if lightning can strike twice, and have tackled the task of writing out their experiences as they play through the original Deus Ex.
As someone that’s never played this celebrated game, it was definitely cool to read the experiences of two gamers, one who has played it and one who hasn’t, to get some perspective on just what it was about this game that was so special. In truth, the feature (coupled with many Sushi-ans devotion to it) makes me a bit curious to try it out.
Anyway, since so many of you love Deus Ex, I certainly thought you’d be interested in this series. Thoughts on the letters? And what was it about the original Deus Ex that has such a strong hold on you guys?
Source – Kotaku
I love the first Deus Ex. I’ve played it more times then I can count, and I still think I haven’t done it in every other way possible. That’s what I loved most about it. I’d find myself playing in different paths all the time, regardless of if I know what my last path was or not.
I’d love to see what someone who only has the given word to go by what it’s like, mainly to see what someone could think about it without even trying it. I’m surprised there are still people who haven’t tried it by now.
Or maybe I’m not.
Still hands down the best game I’ve ever played, and it really is because of the story and the options. What an incredible game. Loved the first round of letters, hopefully she will be swayed. It’s hard to go back to old games and appreciate them sans nostalgia, but if any game can do it, it’s Deus Ex.
$10? Buy it 6 times.
Should I read the letters before playing the game? Or wait till after I’ve played it though? Cause I have it sitting on my Steam list waiting for me, just haven’t found the time to jump in yet.
Never played it and I have a copy of it. Reckon I should give it a go?
I may go read those. I just have to find the time to go finish it off (I was so close, but I just stopped for some reason). Choice within the story and the sandbox gameplay were the biggest pull factors to me as I’d NEVER played anything like it. Bioshock was probably the closest, but still WAY off, due to its sandbox with your own playstyle gameplay but it lacked choices beyond “Adam now? Or Adam later?”. I loved interacting with characters in Deus Ex.
*Mini Spoiler but I can’t remember anyone’s names so it shouldn’t really count as a Spoiler* There’s one incident in China (or wherever it was) where you speak with an informant to get info on the shadowy organisation you’re fighting against. At first glance, she’s on your side but after I snooped around her appartment I found a secret lab belonging to said shadowy organisation *GASP*! I neither expected that nor know if she would have revealed the fact later (I killed her and the guys in the lab). Also you can choose whether or not to save your brother. The first time I played the game I assumed you HAD to leave like he tells you. After I started again (fuck you corrupted data) I stayed with him so we could fight our way out!
That’s it, I’m now getting cravings for that game. I’m going to go dig through my old games.
One of my biggest regrets as far as not sticking with a game – pretty sure I got distracted by coursework or my future wife or something else “important”. My 360 finally succumbed to the dreaded crimson ring (upon choosing my party to tackle the Collectors’ base, of course), so maybe I’ll dig this one out while I work up the courage to mess around with console innards. And unlike the intrepid Kotaku duo, I’m not above tarting up my retro experience – downloading hi-res texture mod now.