Deus Ex- does it stand the test of time?

[Exhuminator]

the old Thief games, the original Deus Ex, System Shock 2. The best of the best right there.

I've never seen truer words written on this forum.

[Xeogred]

the old Thief games, the original Deus Ex, System Shock 2. The best of the best right there.

I've never seen truer words written on this forum.

Does it ruin it if I put Unreal Gold closely behind them?

(I honestly put Unreal above Half-Life 1 by a fair bit myself)

[Exhuminator]

(I honestly put Unreal above Half-Life 1 by a fair bit myself)

Now that's just crazy talk.

[GSZX1337]

(I honestly put Unreal above Half-Life 1 by a fair bit myself)

Now that's just crazy talk.

I prefer Half-Life myself (I recently decided it's my favorite game), but I think Unreal is good company.

[Xeogred]

Haha.

Half-Life 1 I just feel has some long parts that overstay their welcome. The tram level comes to mind. Then there's stuff like Zen that just flat out sucks. But it's still not bad, I just can't remember the last time I've actually finished the game because I always get bored quickly into a replay.

Half-Life 2 is a completely different story and definitely topples Unreal in my book though. A supreme champion that ages so damn well.

But yes, Thief, Deus Ex, and System Shock 2. I think it'd be really hard to try and rank these. I feel that Thief might have the most dense world and atmosphere, System Shock 2 might have the best writing, but Deus Ex feels bigger with more characters and interaction which I really like, and the music. You can't go wrong with any of these though.

[Exhuminator]

The original Thief: The Dark Project is my most favorite game of all time. It's the most immersive game I've ever played.

[Xeogred]

The original Thief: The Dark Project is my most favorite game of all time. It's the most immersive game I've ever played.

It really is and is probably why I put it above 2, even though most seem to say otherwise. Although I didn't love the zombies and some of the temple/cave stages were insanely cryptic and I got stuck at times, the first game is just insanely weird in the greatest ways. It was very creepy and so out there with the fantasy, sci-fi, plot, history, etc, hugely dense world. Both SS2 and Deus Ex are really atmospheric, but I think Thief takes the cake by far when it comes to that. Garret was such a badass anti-hero too.

Thief 2 did have Karras though, who I almost want to say was just as awesome as SHODAN. Not to mention I think the same guy who voiced Garret did him which is crazy. But yeah, the first time I heard this guy and started to learn he was the main antagonist, I laughed hard. Like, are you serious? This is the villain? Then as the game progresses... I realized how much of a lunatic he was and how amazingly believable the performance was. He was batshit insane.

My only gripe with Thief 2 is the final level is an absolute monster. I seriously think it took me an entire week to finish, and I ended up resorting to looking things up. The final level was like a whole game within itself haha. Thief 2 was better for the loot and had incredibly well crafted level design, but yeah I really loved the zaniness to the first game and loved the handful of levels like the temples and such that didn't even have any combat at all. The game was a huge crazy adventure. I can recall a very cool fire cave/temple level, my favorite mansion was the one that warped with upside down ceilings and had organic/plants within it, and the level with the elemental towers was really cool. Then the final level felt like it was straight out of SS2's "The Many" segment.

[Exhuminator]

If I were to begin exalting the virtues of the first Thief I'd end up writing an essay. It's just an utterly brilliant experience (I even enjoyed the paranormal aspects). I'll just say the original crazy Eidos published T:TDP pyramid box still hangs on my gaming room's wall, while all others have been since taken down.

I played Thief 2 but only made it halfway through the game before I lost interest. Personally I found the loss of the creepy ghosts and monsters to be a detriment. The steampunk robots that took their place didn't scare me in the least. I'm not saying it's a bad game, it's one I plan to revisit eventually, but I just wasn't feeling Thief 2 at the time.

I did finish Thief 3 on PC, and it turned out to be a far better game than I expected. I actually enjoyed it more than Thief 2. The hub design of the town ended up being a brilliant idea and who can ever forget Shalebridge Cradle.

Anyway after playing Looking Glass' original Thief games, its easy to see their influence on the amazing Deus Ex.

[Xeogred]

I liked Thief 3 a lot myself, probably more than Invisible War. But I definitely wouldn't put it near Thief 2's level personally. The engine really brings it down for me, the hub was cool... but then after seeing the loading screens every 5 minutes it gets a little tiresome. I thought the story got pretty silly near the end too. The music was quite possibly the best in that one though. I wish it was in the original engine though, haha.

Definitely try to give Thief 2 another shot. I felt it got better as it went. The mechanist weren't doing too much for me at first, but there was one big moment where you overhear the process of someone being turned into one and it was creepy as hell. The more you uncover about the process and such made it a lot more disturbing and cool.

[GSZX1337]

Half-Life 1 I just feel has some long parts that overstay their welcome. The tram level comes to mind. Then there's stuff like Zen that just flat out sucks.

I've heard a few people say they don't like Xen, but I don't understand what it is they dislike about it.