Pet Peeve: Boss fights that force you to change the way you play - by Poetic thief
catbarf on 8/2/2013 at 04:21
Quote Posted by dethtoll
And Deus Ex 1 didn't do this?
For all of their cheesiness and flatness, I thought characters like Gunther and Navarre were a little more sympathetic than the generic evil mercenaries in HR. At the very least you kind of get to know the 'bosses' of the original DX long before you actually fight them, so there's a little more to each fight than oh look, it's that guy from the intro, cue battle music.
I think what really matters is how invested the player is in these characters, how much they care. If you kill Navarre to stop her from killing Lebedev, it's because you as a player want to stop her, not because the game won't let you leave the plane until she dies. By getting to know Gunther and Navarre, and at least having some contact with Simons, they're characterized enough for the fights to mean something, even if they are as generic as Terminator wannabe/Russian femme fatale/Agent Smith respectively. The bosses in HR were more like one-off special enemies with less impact on the story.
june gloom on 8/2/2013 at 04:58
Fair point. And the boss characters in DXHR really are flat.
While it doesn't really fix anything, they do get some major characterisation in the DXHR tie-in novel (which is not an adaptation of the game, thank fuck -- it's actually a side story, and decently-written to boot.)
gunsmoke on 8/2/2013 at 15:17
Quote Posted by henke
Actually the Missing Link DLC for DXHR pulled it off rather well too.
[video=youtube;P-S8eGG3qTI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-S8eGG3qTI[/video]
I have the DLC, but played all of 10 minutes of it. Didn't like the part on the ship and gave up.
Malf on 9/2/2013 at 10:06
You should pick it back up again gunny, it's actually really good and surprisingly long.
gunsmoke on 9/2/2013 at 15:03
I think my problem was that I already finished the game before the DLC came along and I was just burned out on DX. I would definitely play it when I get around to a replay.
CCCToad on 9/2/2013 at 16:27
Quote Posted by mgeorge
Yes of course it did, I admit that. But that game is almost 15 years old now so I think the cheesiness can be forgiven.
It did to some extent, but the game pulled a switch on you that made them have a bit of an impact. For example Navarre's "kill all the terrorists" mentality is one that a gamer isn't likely to give a second thought about, and one that became fairly common in real life after the game was made. Once the unexpected happens and it turns out she's working for the wrong side that mentality makes her impossible to reason with, or deal with in any manner other than violence.
