I should probably pick it up one of these years. I don't get around to getting these new games very often and when I turn around it turns out they've become old "retro" games in the meantime. I guess it's because kids grow up so fast when you're older, but it seems like a long time when you're young. Cheers.
I'm 33 and this game helped me get through 4 years of high school and inspired me to go to university and major in biotechnology! Thank you for everything
Deus Ex is a masterpiece. It's a little bit clunky, but if you give it some time and allow yourself to get lost in it's world, it's truly an unforgettable experience.
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 there are few mods improves textures, rendering and ai. GMDX keeps the original design and improves graphics. Deus Ex Revision makes some tweaks to level design and AI to make the game feel more modern. Personally i'll go with GMDX for my for first playthrough. Games like Deus Ex never age besides textures and resolution in my opinion tho
I've played Deus Ex through 11 times. When the gameplay possibilities ended, like don't kill anyone or don't get seen were exhausted, I just made my own rules. - Be as robot-like as you can. No emotions in dialogue, and jacked up with upgrades. Also try the opposite - Don't talk to anyone, unless you have to. - Don't let anyone see OR hear you. - Kill every single killable entity in the game - etc. Deus Ex allow you to do it all. I remember climbing on top of a roof that was not supposed to be accessed by any means, through glitches and painstakingly accurate jumps. On top of that roof I found an ammo box. It was much more than an ammo box though. It was a message from the devs saying "congratulations, you're not supposed to be here, but you made it".
I climbed a strange city place and then noticed a guy was running after me and he fell because of my weird position. I'll never know if he was friend or foe. He could've been my long lost brother... oh, wait; that's Deus Ex 2 that has the twins...?
We've played this game so many times over the past 20 years. Having to go through all of the dialogue in the game, it was amazing to see how much we'd never heard before. Different character responses based on doing things we didn't even know was possible. Even if it's just the game acknowledging the unique way you solved a problem, it's a cool reward for player creativity. It encourages further experimentation, which happens to be Deus Ex's strength. What a legend of a game.
i really want to replay this game again, but i want to try it through your mod. thank you for loving this game enough to add such a unique way for me to replay this game for the 10000 time
My dad (no longer with us) drove me to an independent PC gaming store (no longer around) to buy this game after I showed him PC Zone's (magazine no longer around) review. Deus Ex is still my favourite game. Nostalgia overload watching this. Merry Christmas to Warren and all the guys at Ion Storm who worked on this.
"If only 30% of players are going to sneak, why are you spending any time on stealth?" "That's the whole point of the game." And that is where Godking Warren and his magnificent team understand the fundamentals of what makes a video game worthwhile. Not just fun, colorful, and addicting, but a quality that meets each player with respect and dignity for their intellect. Deus Ex is ultimately my favorite game for this reason. It's also the reason I'm a grumpy elitist. What a shame.
lol him saying "thats the whole point of the game and im not going to change it" gave me some Ridley Scott vibes. kinda like "its raining because i say so!"
Meanwhile, Todd Howard be like "Well, I wanna know what skills are superfluous that we should fold to something else, to make a choice of what your character more meaningful." >best sold "rpg" all time >re-re-re-re-re-re released game >massive community size :|
I can't remember what famous designer said something like this on the topic of putting time into developing stuff that most players never see: "It's not that all players will see these things. But each of these things will be seen by someone. And for that player this will be the special thing that makes them fall in love with your game."
Honestly - 30 % is a pretty big part of anything. Imagine 30 % of women to find you attractive. Or your liver to work a 30 % less than normal. Or to get 30 % more money to your salary.
By far my favourite part of DX was the ability to run away from Gunther (the Arnold type Boss and agent, who is your ally at the start of the game) every time he tries to fight you. Giving players the ability to control when and how they confront key story elements is something I wish more games would implement. The fact that DX was a linear game, but had design choices like this that aren't even found in open world games (what a shame), says something about how ahead of its time it was.
Man I had no idea that was possible! 😄 I did reload my quicksave about a hundred times just to see if it was possible to save the other guy before he's going to get killed. What was his friends name? Paul I think. Just would shoot rockets at the agents until one time the splash damage didn't kill everything in the room and he lived! New story branch and everything.🤠
@@athenian221 Same goes with Anna Navarre in the airfield. She comes running to the "terrorist" leader you are supposed to capture and kills him after some dialogue and if you start shooting her, she eventually explodes from damage and kills the target. But with pre-knowledge of the situation, you can place LAMs in the corridor before the room so when you trigger the event that she is supposed to run into the room, she will instead run past the LAMs, detonate them and die without blowing up the next room with her. And the target lives.
@@HenkkaArtGames If I remember correctly you can actually kill Anna Navarro pretty early in the game (way before you should) and the game adapts to it. I might have fabricated this memory but I strongly want to remember that this was the case. Because of one of the favorite aspects of the game was how you could do "unpredicted" things and the game would adapt.
I remember we all played Deus Ex in college, we'd all come in each morning and talk about how we did each part in the game, i remember being amazed when I stayed and saved Paul and all my mates in college left him then being rewarded for it later in the game when he showed up, to this day is my most proud gaming moment. Deus Ex was light years ahead of its time.
I'm currently playing through Deus Ex and enjoying it a lot. It's not a massive sandbox of tools and tricks that you get to play with, but the options that are there work well. I played Mankind Divided a few years back and in that game I experienced my all time favorite moment of emergent gameplay. I was investigating some kind of cult in a sewer, and there was a brainwashing signal in their chamber that prevented me from being able to use my weapons or abilities. I couldn't find a way to progress for the life of me, but I found a locked door that was guarded by a gun turret security camera. So to break inside, I lifted up a barrel and used it as a shield from the gun turret. Then I strafed from side to side in front of the door, letting the turret miss me and hit the door until it had dealt enough damage to blow the door open. The cult leader was inside, so I threw the barrel at him and knocked him out. CASE CLOSED. Turns out there were posters in the chamber with the address of a storefront that I could go to for more information, a path that would have eventually gotten me face to face with the cult leader. But did the game punish me for brute forcing my way around that? No!
The best thing about that is that you weren't punished for completing the quest that way. Now there is a reason to go back and play the game, find other ways to play.
I'm 30 and I am just playing through Deus Ex for the first time in my life. I deeply enjoy every moment of it. I also watch every piece of trivia and every review I can find, just trying to avoid spoilers for parts I have not experienced yet myself. I could listen to Warren talk about this project for hours on end, I can never get enough of that. I am glad John Romero has created this opportunity and that Warren took it and creater this fantastic, enrichening experience for us all to enjoy. Deus Ex forever!
It might be worth trying ultima underworld (an older warren spector/looking glass game) and maybe also system shock if you're interested in the history of immersive sims. It was so bizarrely ahead of its time that it's like finding rabbit fossils in precambrian rock.
Easily one of the best games ever made, and I've played a disgusting amount of games. Concept, gameplay, story, music, atmosphere - everything just came together. A great moment in gaming history. Thx Ars for this video.
This man is the reason the “immersive sim” is a force to be reckoned with- a true genius & a visionary who helped give us SO many of the tools we utilize in modern gaming today- he created the “real world mindset” in gaming today & asked the question “well, why can’t I? It’ll work” and made it a reality!!! On behalf of the gaming world- Thank you Warren Spector: Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!
Although I’ve worked with “bigger” titles (Tomb Raider, Hitman, etc) this is the title that I’m most proud to be associated with. It defined a completely new way of open-ended possibilities even within linear paths and indeed, was a nightmare to QA because of it… however, ever member of my team to this day will say it was one title that we truly enjoyed testing. A true masterpiece!
I remember my first playthrough and the first level being tough as hell for me. You had to picklock a front door in time to avoid a drone and hide from the cameras and then somehow work your way inside. So I run to the back of the statue and pile up a few boxes, skipping all that. Thinking I cheated only to find out there were numerous ways to get past. That's when I realised this game was special.
In the beginning when they ask you what weapon you want, just pick the bazooka, and that drone can f**k right off :D If a problem can’t be solved with guns, you need bigger guns!
Even though ion storm was kind of a disaster, I still love John Romero for this. I also love this man for creating Deus Ex. I never managed to finish the game but I played it with my grandmother and it was one of her favorite games. God I miss her, she passed in 2009 from breast cancer but she loved computer games and this game specifically.
Nice story that. (Not sarcasm btw, my intentions are good ;-) ) Get an old game box and complete it in her honour. Lots of walkthroughs these days if you get a bit stuck. It's worth the hassle for the multiple endings, the sense of achievement if nothing else you can join a cool club and get very outdated bragging rights!
I had not long read William Gibson's 'Neuromancer' when I picked up Deus Ex. My heart sang as I played this game as it was the closest thing to a cyberpunk RPG/FPS I thought would ever be made. It was the first game to give he player options, it was the first game I replayed with the intention of beating it differently, a minimum kills run, a rambo run, minimum augs run, mostly augs run etc. This game holds a very special place in my heart.
OMG WARREN SPECTOR!! :) Deus Ex was (and is still) my all-time favorite game. I even did my own suit up + vocal work of "J.C. Denton" (shout outs to the original V.O. artist) which is still on this channel. Everything in the game is done fantastically, with only slight exceptions to some of the 'extra' V.O. work. But hey... nobody's perfect, and that hardly affected the overall gameplay. WHAT A MASTERPIECE!! Not only of gameplay and design, but of STORYTELLING!!
I wish there were more games like Deus Ex but these days the vast majority are more concerned with flashy visuals and generic gameplay loops over an interactive world
I was around 14 when this came out... Me, my brother and our friend were massively into games and Half Life was the game that seemed to spark a new era of gaming... but then we discovered Deus Ex and we finished it within about 3/4 days. We'd wake up, play it until night, go to sleep, wake up and repeat! It was the best game we ever played - so innovative with the majority of the games story being in YOUR control. Amazing!
Warren Spector is a legend that deserves endless accolades, but he hasn't made another immersive sim since Deus Exi. So, it's a bit strange that this interview makes no mention of Harvey Smith. Smith was the Lead Designer for Deus Ex, who went on to also design/direct Dishonored, DIshonored 2, and Prey since then - which are the games that came the closest to matching the brilliant gameplay from Deus Ex.
Deus Ex's soundtrack is just amazing. Some tracks sound a bit like Unreal, some stuff is just surreal. Versalife has to be my favourite. Im glad for Deus's sake that it got 2 really good sequels. I dont compare the sequels to the first due to the huge age gap, and i mean the first one is a classic but im just glad the sequels turned out well as they did and stand on their own.
@Erikcleric That's because the guys who did the soundtrack (Alexander Brandon, Michiel van den Bos, and Dan Gardopée) also composed tracks for Unreal and UT. Versalife is probably my favorite track too!
I still remember playing this game, the atmosphere was amazing. The only other game that sucked me into the world so much was the original Mass Effect.
He combined stealth and shooter and create most interesting game genre which gives player decide himself how play in game, playing with GEP gun or play on stealth and explore locations, and also in immersive sim games one of the best and great level disign. For this i respect Warren Spector
I have played through this game so many times I have the entire soundboard still stuck in my head. Thank you for another amazing war story and thank you Warren Spector for all the amazing memories.
@@SzatanistaDzezowy Morrowind is somewhat similar, Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to be Deus Ex-inspired but they changed the game from RPG to "action-adventure". There's an indie game called "Shadows of Doubt" that is straight up an ode to Deus Ex. You might want to keep an eye on that one.
i come back to this game over and over again, and i started playing it like a few years ago. i love human revolution but this one hits different. this game is inspiring my own game im currently making
I wish it had changed "Shooters" forever. Back then Deus Ex, with the beginning of immersive sim, represented every thing I hoped FPS would strive for. Now we're lucky if there's one immersive sim every other year and generic FPSs are still aplenty. Then again, that's just as much impact as MGS/Thief had so I guess it could have been worse.
@@thewhitewolf58 One of the key aspects of making a proper stealth game is that being stealthy and avoiding enemies (not just hiding from them but not even killing them silently) should be as rewarding as going guns blazing. In the case of Ubisoft's open world games, the stealth is hardly ever really worth it since the encounters are most of the time more fun or just easier when you start shooting. And the rewards for stealth are negligible at best because the narrative of those games is so linear and there's hardly any "faction simulation" that would encourage being stealthy. WIldlands and Breakpoint have isolated missions whose happenings have no bearing on the next mission or the behavior of the enemy troops. The only change comes from the pre-scripted events when you conquer/liberate an area and the enemy forces disappear. Or you do mission A instead of mission B and the game initiates a new world state - that has nothing to do with your actions in the moment-to-moment gameplay but instead only has to do which mission you completed so the new rules could become active. A mission has you destroy a vehicle depot and the result is a changed world state where there are less enemy vehicle patrols. But in reality there are no more or less enemy vehicles in the world, it's just pure scripting that the game spawns less vehicle patrols on the roads after the progression checkpoint has been checked.
most shooters are designed around the multiplayer though so putting all this effort into something that a lot of the players wont play is pointless. You cant expect every shooter to be like this because it's just a totally different genre to something like Battlefield.
I remember the first time I noticed the effect Warren is describing here: It was more than 20 years ago so the details are hazy, but I had to get onto a warehouse to get something from an empty office on the top floor (a key maybe?). I had no health left and the warehouse was heavily guarded so I kept on dying when I went in the front way. After dozens of increasingly frustrating attenpts at fighting my way through, I eventually looked around the back and noticed an open upstairs window. There were lots and lots of crates lying around the place too. So. I set about building a staircase by moving the crates around and piling then up, forging a path to the window where I could simply jump in, grab the item and leave again without anyone ever knowing I was there. The point was, I was pretty sure that hadn't been planned by the developers, but unlike exploits in other games, it didn't feel like cheating. It was just creative problem solving. It felt like something new. Two decades later and moments like that are still rare in gaming.
People nowadays worship movie director wannabe guys like Neil Druckman and Kojima. There is no one in the gaming industry right now that is on the same level as those legends.
Still my favorite game of all time. I can't even count how many playthroughs I did since the game came out, vanilla and modded. Deus Ex forever changed the way I look at and play games. After playing Deus Ex, for a while I had a really hard time getting and immersing myself into "simpler" games. :)
This is the greatest game of all time. So amazing hearing the creator talk about it. Other than FF7 n FF8 no other game pulled me into their world as much as this game.
not all of the games made by WS were successful but he never stopped trying to put original ideas into practice. Bless people like him, they are a treasure for this business
I love the original Deus Ex, but I also really love the two reboot games. They have what I believe is the best videogame music ever featured in a game.
Watch Warren's GDC talk on this game, it's incredible. I played this game for the first time this year and it was a 10/10, top 5 of all-time! Play with the New Vision 2.0a mod, trust me!
Oh man... I fell in love with this game the moment I played the the Statue of Liberty demo that came with the magazine I bought. I must have played that level at least 8 times until I had enough money to buy the full game. So many great memories 😊😊😊😊
I still have my physical copy of Deus Ex here on disc, with the original fold out case. I still remember getting a demo of it on some PC demo disc from a magazine back in the day, before it came out, and I was like "I HAVE to get this!" just from playing the first level. Such a good game, and still holds up even today all these years later if you give it a chance.
I had the very lucky timing of Deus Ex being the first game I ever played on PC. I fell in love with it then, and still love it now. It absolutely blew my mind as a child, the options I was given, the different ways to complete objectives, was all groundbreaking stuff. Still to this day, its my favorite game of all time. I replay it every other year or so, and it still brings me back to those many, many hours I spent as a kid. Thank you, Mr. Spector.
Spector is a legend. I always enjoy hearing him talk about his craft. Hopefully we see another game from him. Also, why is the b-roll for this video recorded at 640x480? lol
I think the best benchmark for if a game is a great experience is when 2 people are having a conversation about their experience with the game and one of them remarks "woah, you can do that?!" There's so many games with only one way of playing them, which makes the games where you forge your own path, make your own solutions, where the developers give you the opportunities, openness, and tools to come up with those solutions; those games, are really special. Those games, never die. Deus Ex is one of those games, and I can count on (maybe) one hand other games that really manage to hit that "you can do that?!" benchmark and surpass it.
This might be the best interview in the playlist. I'm trying to complete my 4th game right now but have been kind of regretting it because it's not 3D or anything cool looking but what he said at the end gives me hope I can improve it and make it unique.
This is my best videgame I have ever played. 9Augs Multiplayer was my most favourite mode. I still remember some nice players like EdH Hasharin, Lord Lamenace, Scarface, El Gab, Fullmoon, Leinad, Matt, Fabio. Why this kind of multiplayer mode wasn't updated. There is no multiplayer like this one nowadays.
I loved this game so much. It allowed me to play a sneak game or jump in and blast like crazy. It was the first game I found (yes I am over 50) that I found where I could do that.
I loved playing Deus Ex as a child. In a time when all games had similar stories, no surprises, and forced the player to take one route; Deus Ex was exceptional. Players finally had a freedom to get lost in the world and search to find their way (sometimes purely by chance). Also, Deus Ex's story was captivating me, I could really see in a near future the same challenges/perversions of nanotechnologies to enhance human bodies. Thank you A LOT for this great experience :)
I love Deus Ex and do a playthrough every other year. This interview was awesome. Although these "signal interference" motion graphic effects for each transition between games footage and Spector talking, quickly became annoying and a bit too much.
Still my favorite game. It’s not the best at many categories, but it’s so smart & rewards your intellect. Warren and Harvey are people I respect so much. I was lucky to meet them both when doing a preview for DX2: Invisible War.
Warren keeps emphasizing how you can choose to either sneak up on enemies, or run around and shoot, but the latter makes as little sense as a stealth approach would do in Quake. Nobody plays Deus Ex like that! It would mean a terrible waste of ammo and health, not to mention attracting a load of nearby enemies. Stealth is just superior in every single scenario. Its like he never understood his game in this aspect. Anyway, LOVE to hear him talk Deus Ex. He is my hero and Ive probably played it through an awkward 40 times by now, testing (and finding!) new details every single time. Both GMDX and Revision were two lovely enhancements that kept it fresh and interesting in the later years, if you ask me.
A magnificent game. I played it a few years after the release and I was still way too young to be playing it but I enjoyed it so much. So many little details, unique characters and atmospheric locations. So much to discover. Also the soundtrack goes perfectly with the brooding, cold and futuristic setting.
I wish everybody in the gaming industry shared this man's vision. I completely agree with his opinion that every game must have something unique, and I also share his profound passion of immersive simultation games, which gives each players a unique experience
this game will always forever be in my top 5 games of all time, the music, the world building, the story, you actually cared about this game. modern games imo have no longevity but this game makes you wanna play it over and over again, a true masterpiece.
It's really interesting to hear all this and to be reminded of a time where games didn't have multiple elements to them. Stealth games were just that: stealth or gtfo. How interesting how times have changed.
@Ars Technica I definetely NEED the extended version of all this War Stories interview, not just the 7 you already uploaded (which I still grateful for), PLEASE make that happen! Also it would be absolutely AMAZING if you could do this kind of interviews about the sequels as well: Deus Ex 2: Invisible War is overly (and largely unjustly) criticized, it would be awesome to hear Warren Spector talk about that game as well, and speaking of sequels I could listen to Rand Miller talking about the making of each Myst sequels for hours, the almost 2 hours extended interview with him that you uploaded 2 years ago was one of my favourite video game interview of all time, but it felt like it was only the beginning, there needs to be an at least equally long video for every single sequel they made. :)
This game was an absolute masterpiece and I remember being absolutely enthralled with it when I first played it as a high schooler. It was fun hearing Warren talk about his frustration with other games, very similar to my own.
As someone who LOVES nonlinearity and being able to figure out "the limits" of 'what you can do', even though I harbored no animosity toward him, I always wondered, nonetheless, "Is there a way you can kill Tracer Tong?", just out of curiosity though it would, perhaps, present serious challenges to the story
Sir Warren Spector, bless you for providing players with options in your game. The more options you provide the player, the better the game experience for them! It gives the game itself extra replay value! I can't tell you how many times I went back to play Deus Ex because every time I play it, I go a different route or level different skills to play a different way.
Deus Ex is one of the best games ever. Not only has it great Gameplay but it also teaches you that there is no real thruth and that nothing is as simple as is look.
Love this series; love this interview. But I am very distracted by the little chirp SFX during the short glitchy transition. It really stands out. It interrupts the interview, does not match the tone or pace, and takes away from a fascinating interview full of smart and relevant cuts to game footage.
I remember going around and shoveling snow all by myself when I was 15 so I could make enough money to buy a new video card for my computer to be able to play this game.... It was worth every second. If anyone is interested, it was an ATI Rage 128. Not the best card at the time, but it did what it needed to.
How has this game not been remade? Like we need this... I am aware of the newer deus ex instalments. I am talking about a shot for shot (or mostly) remake of the game.
My all time favorite game. The incredible music alone is worth mentioning. This is the game I´d love to see Re-mastered..Re-make or what not. Even as it is, it beats the hell out of 99 % of today´s so called AAA games. After release of Deus Ex, "Soulborne" are the only games that have impressed me as much as this. Thank you Warren Spector.
This remains my favorite game of all time. I still regularly play vanilla, and even after two decades I find stuff I haven't seen yet. Rough in a lot of ways, but absolutely brilliant.
Deus Ex invisible War had a profound impact on my understanding of things like secret society's, power structures, cults, illuminati. All from a game. Gotta give props to the creator.
Thank you for this game, Mr. Spector! This is one of two games I ever played where I played all night into the morning, and showed up to work feeling as fresh as if I had a good night's sleep.
I am 63 and Deus Ex is still one of my top five games I have ever played. Thank you, Sir.
Here's to your good health sir .
I should probably pick it up one of these years. I don't get around to getting these new games very often and when I turn around it turns out they've become old "retro" games in the meantime. I guess it's because kids grow up so fast when you're older, but it seems like a long time when you're young. Cheers.
Wow
60 year old dude who likes Spawn and Dues Ex?! An OG nerd before being a nerd was cool!
@@Clos93 Well, he was 42 at the time of its release.
I'm 33 and this game helped me get through 4 years of high school and inspired me to go to university and major in biotechnology! Thank you for everything
Versalife. We make tomorrow look like yesterday
Deus Ex is a masterpiece. It's a little bit clunky, but if you give it some time and allow yourself to get lost in it's world, it's truly an unforgettable experience.
It’s also a message exposing corporations.
Are there enough mods to modernize this game while keeping its original vibe?
@@chiarosuburekeni9325 there are few mods improves textures, rendering and ai. GMDX keeps the original design and improves graphics. Deus Ex Revision makes some tweaks to level design and AI to make the game feel more modern. Personally i'll go with GMDX for my for first playthrough. Games like Deus Ex never age besides textures and resolution in my opinion tho
It's a 20 year old game. Of course it would be clunky, it was the first of its kind.
Tu trueoeiy
I've played Deus Ex through 11 times. When the gameplay possibilities ended, like don't kill anyone or don't get seen were exhausted, I just made my own rules.
- Be as robot-like as you can. No emotions in dialogue, and jacked up with upgrades. Also try the opposite
- Don't talk to anyone, unless you have to.
- Don't let anyone see OR hear you.
- Kill every single killable entity in the game
- etc.
Deus Ex allow you to do it all. I remember climbing on top of a roof that was not supposed to be accessed by any means, through glitches and painstakingly accurate jumps. On top of that roof I found an ammo box. It was much more than an ammo box though. It was a message from the devs saying "congratulations, you're not supposed to be here, but you made it".
That's so effin cool
There are a few of those around the game, hella badass...
mods/gameplay tweaks like GMDX and rVSD help spice it up a little and make it more challenging after so many playthroughs 🧩🔑
I climbed a strange city place and then noticed a guy was running after me and he fell because of my weird position. I'll never know if he was friend or foe. He could've been my long lost brother... oh, wait; that's Deus Ex 2 that has the twins...?
Really happy these are back. I love these game developers so much. They created so many of our childhoods.
You don't know what "childhood" means.
@@Zodroo_Tint Neither do you m0ron.
We've played this game so many times over the past 20 years. Having to go through all of the dialogue in the game, it was amazing to see how much we'd never heard before. Different character responses based on doing things we didn't even know was possible. Even if it's just the game acknowledging the unique way you solved a problem, it's a cool reward for player creativity. It encourages further experimentation, which happens to be Deus Ex's strength.
What a legend of a game.
i really want to replay this game again, but i want to try it through your mod. thank you for loving this game enough to add such a unique way for me to replay this game for the 10000 time
Your mod is pretty amazing
@@蟹爪兰 +1
I replayed Deus Ex about two weeks ago with your mod, it was fantastic. Everyone involved should be very proud at what they've accomplished.
We?
My dad (no longer with us) drove me to an independent PC gaming store (no longer around) to buy this game after I showed him PC Zone's (magazine no longer around) review. Deus Ex is still my favourite game. Nostalgia overload watching this. Merry Christmas to Warren and all the guys at Ion Storm who worked on this.
Did he play it with you?
@@besnick No. The only game he played through was Medal of Honour: Allied Assault.
What a lovely memory of your old man.
@@immersim311 Yeah man, little things.
"If only 30% of players are going to sneak, why are you spending any time on stealth?"
"That's the whole point of the game."
And that is where Godking Warren and his magnificent team understand the fundamentals of what makes a video game worthwhile. Not just fun, colorful, and addicting, but a quality that meets each player with respect and dignity for their intellect. Deus Ex is ultimately my favorite game for this reason. It's also the reason I'm a grumpy elitist. What a shame.
lol him saying "thats the whole point of the game and im not going to change it" gave me some Ridley Scott vibes. kinda like "its raining because i say so!"
What did you think of deus ex human revolution? I loved that game.. It was was my introduction to deus ex series.
Meanwhile, Todd Howard be like "Well, I wanna know what skills are superfluous that we should fold to something else, to make a choice of what your character more meaningful."
>best sold "rpg" all time
>re-re-re-re-re-re released game
>massive community size
:|
I can't remember what famous designer said something like this on the topic of putting time into developing stuff that most players never see: "It's not that all players will see these things. But each of these things will be seen by someone. And for that player this will be the special thing that makes them fall in love with your game."
Honestly - 30 % is a pretty big part of anything. Imagine 30 % of women to find you attractive. Or your liver to work a 30 % less than normal. Or to get 30 % more money to your salary.
By far my favourite part of DX was the ability to run away from Gunther (the Arnold type Boss and agent, who is your ally at the start of the game) every time he tries to fight you. Giving players the ability to control when and how they confront key story elements is something I wish more games would implement. The fact that DX was a linear game, but had design choices like this that aren't even found in open world games (what a shame), says something about how ahead of its time it was.
Man I had no idea that was possible! 😄
I did reload my quicksave about a hundred times just to see if it was possible to save the other guy before he's going to get killed. What was his friends name? Paul I think. Just would shoot rockets at the agents until one time the splash damage didn't kill everything in the room and he lived! New story branch and everything.🤠
@@athenian221 Same goes with Anna Navarre in the airfield. She comes running to the "terrorist" leader you are supposed to capture and kills him after some dialogue and if you start shooting her, she eventually explodes from damage and kills the target. But with pre-knowledge of the situation, you can place LAMs in the corridor before the room so when you trigger the event that she is supposed to run into the room, she will instead run past the LAMs, detonate them and die without blowing up the next room with her. And the target lives.
@@HenkkaArtGames ahhhhhh cool 🤔
@@HenkkaArtGames If I remember correctly you can actually kill Anna Navarro pretty early in the game (way before you should) and the game adapts to it. I might have fabricated this memory but I strongly want to remember that this was the case. Because of one of the favorite aspects of the game was how you could do "unpredicted" things and the game would adapt.
@@flammungous3068 What you describe sounds very much plausible.
I remember we all played Deus Ex in college, we'd all come in each morning and talk about how we did each part in the game, i remember being amazed when I stayed and saved Paul and all my mates in college left him then being rewarded for it later in the game when he showed up, to this day is my most proud gaming moment. Deus Ex was light years ahead of its time.
I'm currently playing through Deus Ex and enjoying it a lot. It's not a massive sandbox of tools and tricks that you get to play with, but the options that are there work well.
I played Mankind Divided a few years back and in that game I experienced my all time favorite moment of emergent gameplay. I was investigating some kind of cult in a sewer, and there was a brainwashing signal in their chamber that prevented me from being able to use my weapons or abilities. I couldn't find a way to progress for the life of me, but I found a locked door that was guarded by a gun turret security camera. So to break inside, I lifted up a barrel and used it as a shield from the gun turret. Then I strafed from side to side in front of the door, letting the turret miss me and hit the door until it had dealt enough damage to blow the door open. The cult leader was inside, so I threw the barrel at him and knocked him out. CASE CLOSED.
Turns out there were posters in the chamber with the address of a storefront that I could go to for more information, a path that would have eventually gotten me face to face with the cult leader. But did the game punish me for brute forcing my way around that? No!
The best thing about that is that you weren't punished for completing the quest that way. Now there is a reason to go back and play the game, find other ways to play.
Yeah Mankind Divided has great side quests!
I'm 30 and I am just playing through Deus Ex for the first time in my life. I deeply enjoy every moment of it. I also watch every piece of trivia and every review I can find, just trying to avoid spoilers for parts I have not experienced yet myself. I could listen to Warren talk about this project for hours on end, I can never get enough of that.
I am glad John Romero has created this opportunity and that Warren took it and creater this fantastic, enrichening experience for us all to enjoy.
Deus Ex forever!
It might be worth trying ultima underworld (an older warren spector/looking glass game) and maybe also system shock if you're interested in the history of immersive sims. It was so bizarrely ahead of its time that it's like finding rabbit fossils in precambrian rock.
Keep supporting the current thing!
Shout out to John Romero for giving Warren and his team the environment to create this masterpiece in the first place
His own works after Doom were lackluster but his vision on design is law is still the golden rules today.
Easily one of the best games ever made, and I've played a disgusting amount of games. Concept, gameplay, story, music, atmosphere - everything just came together. A great moment in gaming history. Thx Ars for this video.
This man is the reason the “immersive sim” is a force to be reckoned with- a true genius & a visionary who helped give us SO many of the tools we utilize in modern gaming today- he created the “real world mindset” in gaming today & asked the question “well, why can’t I? It’ll work” and made it a reality!!! On behalf of the gaming world- Thank you Warren Spector:
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!!
Deus Ex was the best experience of game playing. Frankly speaking, any game I played ever never came near Deus Ex. All thanks to this man's vision.
Although I’ve worked with “bigger” titles (Tomb Raider, Hitman, etc) this is the title that I’m most proud to be associated with.
It defined a completely new way of open-ended possibilities even within linear paths and indeed, was a nightmare to QA because of it… however, ever member of my team to this day will say it was one title that we truly enjoyed testing.
A true masterpiece!
Are you saying that you helped to make this?
@@dannytoots6635 You must be working for a pretty high level agency with such incredible detective skills.
@@Phoenix-ry9iz His perception is augmented
ooh did you guys find out about the mine ladder in QA or did that slip past
@@dannytoots6635 He is the game.
Deus Ex (the original) is quite simply THE best game I've ever played. It completely opened my mind to what games could and should be.
I remember my first playthrough and the first level being tough as hell for me. You had to picklock a front door in time to avoid a drone and hide from the cameras and then somehow work your way inside. So I run to the back of the statue and pile up a few boxes, skipping all that. Thinking I cheated only to find out there were numerous ways to get past. That's when I realised this game was special.
In the beginning when they ask you what weapon you want, just pick the bazooka, and that drone can f**k right off :D If a problem can’t be solved with guns, you need bigger guns!
Even though ion storm was kind of a disaster, I still love John Romero for this.
I also love this man for creating Deus Ex. I never managed to finish the game but I played it with my grandmother and it was one of her favorite games.
God I miss her, she passed in 2009 from breast cancer but she loved computer games and this game specifically.
Nice story that. (Not sarcasm btw, my intentions are good ;-) ) Get an old game box and complete it in her honour. Lots of walkthroughs these days if you get a bit stuck. It's worth the hassle for the multiple endings, the sense of achievement if nothing else you can join a cool club and get very outdated bragging rights!
The endings for this game are phenomenal - it is absolutely worth playing this through if you get the chance.
I had not long read William Gibson's 'Neuromancer' when I picked up Deus Ex. My heart sang as I played this game as it was the closest thing to a cyberpunk RPG/FPS I thought would ever be made. It was the first game to give he player options, it was the first game I replayed with the intention of beating it differently, a minimum kills run, a rambo run, minimum augs run, mostly augs run etc. This game holds a very special place in my heart.
OMG WARREN SPECTOR!! :) Deus Ex was (and is still) my all-time favorite game. I even did my own suit up + vocal work of "J.C. Denton" (shout outs to the original V.O. artist) which is still on this channel.
Everything in the game is done fantastically, with only slight exceptions to some of the 'extra' V.O. work. But hey... nobody's perfect, and that hardly affected the overall gameplay. WHAT A MASTERPIECE!! Not only of gameplay and design, but of STORYTELLING!!
I wish there were more games like Deus Ex but these days the vast majority are more concerned with flashy visuals and generic gameplay loops over an interactive world
I'm really thankful for companies like Spiderweb and Larian for keeping games deep and diverse ...thank god.
@@salehmg7650 I know Larian because of their excellent RPGs but I'm not sure I know about Spiderweb but I'll check them out. Thanks 🙂
@OK sad thing is even cod vangard and cold war with its 200gb still looks just ok
There are more games like Deus Ex. There's an entire tiny genre. The "immersive sim" genre has at least a dozen games in it, right?
@@delphicdescant any recommendations my fellow gamer.
I was around 14 when this came out... Me, my brother and our friend were massively into games and Half Life was the game that seemed to spark a new era of gaming... but then we discovered Deus Ex and we finished it within about 3/4 days. We'd wake up, play it until night, go to sleep, wake up and repeat! It was the best game we ever played - so innovative with the majority of the games story being in YOUR control. Amazing!
Oh damn !!!! I hope an uncut version of this is coming soon ! Those are the best videos ever !!
Warren Spector is a legend that deserves endless accolades, but he hasn't made another immersive sim since Deus Exi. So, it's a bit strange that this interview makes no mention of Harvey Smith. Smith was the Lead Designer for Deus Ex, who went on to also design/direct Dishonored, DIshonored 2, and Prey since then - which are the games that came the closest to matching the brilliant gameplay from Deus Ex.
Are the new Deus Ex worth playing tho?
Deus Ex's soundtrack is just amazing. Some tracks sound a bit like Unreal, some stuff is just surreal.
Versalife has to be my favourite.
Im glad for Deus's sake that it got 2 really good sequels. I dont compare the sequels to the first due to the huge age gap, and i mean the first one is a classic but im just glad the sequels turned out well as they did and stand on their own.
They were made with the same Unreal engine 1 and used the same in built mod tracker to generate the music.
@@Snarfles_ It had some songs by Reeves Gabrels, who played guitar for Bowie's Tin Machine among others.
@Erikcleric That's because the guys who did the soundtrack (Alexander Brandon, Michiel van den Bos, and Dan Gardopée) also composed tracks for Unreal and UT. Versalife is probably my favorite track too!
@@ilJuicescribeRolo Yes! I know, i grew up with these exact games. :)
I love "Wanchai Market" and the UNATCO theme. There are some great piano covers of the latter, like this one: th-cam.com/video/wv-LsJ5sBoo/w-d-xo.html
I still remember playing this game, the atmosphere was amazing. The only other game that sucked me into the world so much was the original Mass Effect.
He combined stealth and shooter and create most interesting game genre which gives player decide himself how play in game, playing with GEP gun or play on stealth and explore locations, and also in immersive sim games one of the best and great level disign. For this i respect Warren Spector
I have played through this game so many times I have the entire soundboard still stuck in my head. Thank you for another amazing war story and thank you Warren Spector for all the amazing memories.
Greatest game of all time.The atmosphere in this game is unmatched. This is the metric by which I measure all other games. Few come close.
Which ones do you think are these few? Just curios.
@@SzatanistaDzezowy Morrowind is somewhat similar, Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to be Deus Ex-inspired but they changed the game from RPG to "action-adventure".
There's an indie game called "Shadows of Doubt" that is straight up an ode to Deus Ex. You might want to keep an eye on that one.
Same here. Deus Ex is the best and greatest game of all time and no game can surpass this masterpiece.
i come back to this game over and over again, and i started playing it like a few years ago. i love human revolution but this one hits different. this game is inspiring my own game im currently making
I wish it had changed "Shooters" forever. Back then Deus Ex, with the beginning of immersive sim, represented every thing I hoped FPS would strive for.
Now we're lucky if there's one immersive sim every other year and generic FPSs are still aplenty.
Then again, that's just as much impact as MGS/Thief had so I guess it could have been worse.
Most we get of stealth shooters are ubisoft games where you can kill the gaurds sneakily or rambo.
@@thewhitewolf58 One of the key aspects of making a proper stealth game is that being stealthy and avoiding enemies (not just hiding from them but not even killing them silently) should be as rewarding as going guns blazing. In the case of Ubisoft's open world games, the stealth is hardly ever really worth it since the encounters are most of the time more fun or just easier when you start shooting. And the rewards for stealth are negligible at best because the narrative of those games is so linear and there's hardly any "faction simulation" that would encourage being stealthy. WIldlands and Breakpoint have isolated missions whose happenings have no bearing on the next mission or the behavior of the enemy troops.
The only change comes from the pre-scripted events when you conquer/liberate an area and the enemy forces disappear. Or you do mission A instead of mission B and the game initiates a new world state - that has nothing to do with your actions in the moment-to-moment gameplay but instead only has to do which mission you completed so the new rules could become active. A mission has you destroy a vehicle depot and the result is a changed world state where there are less enemy vehicle patrols. But in reality there are no more or less enemy vehicles in the world, it's just pure scripting that the game spawns less vehicle patrols on the roads after the progression checkpoint has been checked.
"generic FPS" is far easier and less time/money consuming to create
most shooters are designed around the multiplayer though so putting all this effort into something that a lot of the players wont play is pointless. You cant expect every shooter to be like this because it's just a totally different genre to something like Battlefield.
If you look at indies, there's a bunch of Immersive Sims coming out every year.
I love the "War Stories" series. Please keep them coming!!
I love these War Stories docs so much, and I'm so happy you've been releasing the full versions of the interviews, too. Thank you.
I remember the first time I noticed the effect Warren is describing here:
It was more than 20 years ago so the details are hazy, but I had to get onto a warehouse to get something from an empty office on the top floor (a key maybe?). I had no health left and the warehouse was heavily guarded so I kept on dying when I went in the front way. After dozens of increasingly frustrating attenpts at fighting my way through, I eventually looked around the back and noticed an open upstairs window. There were lots and lots of crates lying around the place too.
So. I set about building a staircase by moving the crates around and piling then up, forging a path to the window where I could simply jump in, grab the item and leave again without anyone ever knowing I was there.
The point was, I was pretty sure that hadn't been planned by the developers, but unlike exploits in other games, it didn't feel like cheating. It was just creative problem solving. It felt like something new. Two decades later and moments like that are still rare in gaming.
We need more people like Romero, Spector, Carmack or even McGee these days, people with a creative ambitious vision.
People nowadays worship movie director wannabe guys like Neil Druckman and Kojima. There is no one in the gaming industry right now that is on the same level as those legends.
Absolutely....another one not talked about much is clint hocking....
@@daksans6764correct
Still my favorite game of all time. I can't even count how many playthroughs I did since the game came out, vanilla and modded. Deus Ex forever changed the way I look at and play games. After playing Deus Ex, for a while I had a really hard time getting and immersing myself into "simpler" games. :)
This is the greatest game of all time. So amazing hearing the creator talk about it. Other than FF7 n FF8 no other game pulled me into their world as much as this game.
I love War Stories, glad its back!
not all of the games made by WS were successful but he never stopped trying to put original ideas into practice. Bless people like him, they are a treasure for this business
I love the original Deus Ex, but I also really love the two reboot games. They have what I believe is the best videogame music ever featured in a game.
Watch Warren's GDC talk on this game, it's incredible. I played this game for the first time this year and it was a 10/10, top 5 of all-time! Play with the New Vision 2.0a mod, trust me!
I hope you're not mixing up New Vision with Revision, because New Vision is just a texture mod.
@@kasra8255 I'm not.
Ok
I have memories of how I felt when I first played the original when it came out: Free and immersed.
Im glad you are back with the interviews.
Oh man... I fell in love with this game the moment I played the the Statue of Liberty demo that came with the magazine I bought. I must have played that level at least 8 times until I had enough money to buy the full game. So many great memories 😊😊😊😊
Unbelievable artistry. Lessons that should all never be forgotten and used as a basis for jumping forward.
Legendary game, changed everything. Warren Spector is a king.
This man is a treasure and I'm taking this video as my early birthday present.
Absolutely love this series. It's so inspiring to hear from the creators who brought so much innovation to the video games we loved growing up.
Truly legendary. Listening to Mr. Spector talk about his passion is inspiring!
I still have my physical copy of Deus Ex here on disc, with the original fold out case. I still remember getting a demo of it on some PC demo disc from a magazine back in the day, before it came out, and I was like "I HAVE to get this!" just from playing the first level. Such a good game, and still holds up even today all these years later if you give it a chance.
Big respect for the creator of this fantastic masterpiece
I had the very lucky timing of Deus Ex being the first game I ever played on PC. I fell in love with it then, and still love it now. It absolutely blew my mind as a child, the options I was given, the different ways to complete objectives, was all groundbreaking stuff. Still to this day, its my favorite game of all time. I replay it every other year or so, and it still brings me back to those many, many hours I spent as a kid. Thank you, Mr. Spector.
Spector is a legend. I always enjoy hearing him talk about his craft. Hopefully we see another game from him.
Also, why is the b-roll for this video recorded at 640x480? lol
Well he should be busy producing System Shock 3 as of this moment. God i hope so anyway.
@@Erikcleric RIP
@@Erikcleric "Nah"
I think the best benchmark for if a game is a great experience is when 2 people are having a conversation about their experience with the game and one of them remarks "woah, you can do that?!"
There's so many games with only one way of playing them, which makes the games where you forge your own path, make your own solutions, where the developers give you the opportunities, openness, and tools to come up with those solutions; those games, are really special. Those games, never die.
Deus Ex is one of those games, and I can count on (maybe) one hand other games that really manage to hit that "you can do that?!" benchmark and surpass it.
This might be the best interview in the playlist. I'm trying to complete my 4th game right now but have been kind of regretting it because it's not 3D or anything cool looking but what he said at the end gives me hope I can improve it and make it unique.
I love listening to Warren talk about games. I hope there will be an extended interview from this
This is my best videgame I have ever played. 9Augs Multiplayer was my most favourite mode.
I still remember some nice players like EdH Hasharin, Lord Lamenace, Scarface, El Gab, Fullmoon, Leinad, Matt, Fabio.
Why this kind of multiplayer mode wasn't updated. There is no multiplayer like this one nowadays.
Made my day to see there’s a new Ars Technica video to see, and an episode of War Stories on top of that!!!
I loved this game so much. It allowed me to play a sneak game or jump in and blast like crazy. It was the first game I found (yes I am over 50) that I found where I could do that.
One of the best gaming experiences I ever had. The atmosphere was like no other. A remake to get rid of the jank would be nice.
I loved playing Deus Ex as a child. In a time when all games had similar stories, no surprises, and forced the player to take one route; Deus Ex was exceptional. Players finally had a freedom to get lost in the world and search to find their way (sometimes purely by chance). Also, Deus Ex's story was captivating me, I could really see in a near future the same challenges/perversions of nanotechnologies to enhance human bodies. Thank you A LOT for this great experience :)
Deus Ex is and was a great part of my gaming life, still re-play it from time to time, a remake of the first one would be godsend.
I love Deus Ex and do a playthrough every other year. This interview was awesome. Although these "signal interference" motion graphic effects for each transition between games footage and Spector talking, quickly became annoying and a bit too much.
Yeah unfortunately this was a chore to watch / listen to due to that noise :/
This video is augmented
Still my favorite game.
It’s not the best at many categories, but it’s so smart & rewards your intellect.
Warren and Harvey are people I respect so much. I was lucky to meet them both when doing a preview for DX2: Invisible War.
Warren keeps emphasizing how you can choose to either sneak up on enemies, or run around and shoot, but the latter makes as little sense as a stealth approach would do in Quake. Nobody plays Deus Ex like that! It would mean a terrible waste of ammo and health, not to mention attracting a load of nearby enemies. Stealth is just superior in every single scenario. Its like he never understood his game in this aspect.
Anyway, LOVE to hear him talk Deus Ex. He is my hero and Ive probably played it through an awkward 40 times by now, testing (and finding!) new details every single time. Both GMDX and Revision were two lovely enhancements that kept it fresh and interesting in the later years, if you ask me.
A magnificent game. I played it a few years after the release and I was still way too young to be playing it but I enjoyed it so much. So many little details, unique characters and atmospheric locations. So much to discover. Also the soundtrack goes perfectly with the brooding, cold and futuristic setting.
I wish everybody in the gaming industry shared this man's vision. I completely agree with his opinion that every game must have something unique, and I also share his profound passion of immersive simultation games, which gives each players a unique experience
this game will always forever be in my top 5 games of all time, the music, the world building, the story, you actually cared about this game. modern games imo have no longevity but this game makes you wanna play it over and over again, a true masterpiece.
The original Deus Ex is still the best game I have ever played, period. You have done something right Mr. Spector!
Thanks for this game i spent so many hours totally immersed in this masterpiece.
It's really interesting to hear all this and to be reminded of a time where games didn't have multiple elements to them.
Stealth games were just that: stealth or gtfo.
How interesting how times have changed.
Stealth on its own offers 3 ways of playing: Lethal, non-lethal and ghosting. More variety than other "single element" games.
This is one of the best shows on youtube, thank you!
@Ars Technica I definetely NEED the extended version of all this War Stories interview, not just the 7 you already uploaded (which I still grateful for), PLEASE make that happen!
Also it would be absolutely AMAZING if you could do this kind of interviews about the sequels as well: Deus Ex 2: Invisible War is overly (and largely unjustly) criticized, it would be awesome to hear Warren Spector talk about that game as well, and speaking of sequels I could listen to Rand Miller talking about the making of each Myst sequels for hours, the almost 2 hours extended interview with him that you uploaded 2 years ago was one of my favourite video game interview of all time, but it felt like it was only the beginning, there needs to be an at least equally long video for every single sequel they made. :)
Great interview. Note to the editor, the glitch sounds effect is too frequent. Please use sparingly in the future.
This game was an absolute masterpiece and I remember being absolutely enthralled with it when I first played it as a high schooler. It was fun hearing Warren talk about his frustration with other games, very similar to my own.
Release the extended cut of the interview!
I second this!
I hope they release the full long-form interview, I could listen to Warren Spector talk all day
As someone who LOVES nonlinearity and being able to figure out "the limits" of 'what you can do', even though I harbored no animosity toward him, I always wondered, nonetheless, "Is there a way you can kill Tracer Tong?", just out of curiosity
though it would, perhaps, present serious challenges to the story
Sir Warren Spector, bless you for providing players with options in your game. The more options you provide the player, the better the game experience for them! It gives the game itself extra replay value! I can't tell you how many times I went back to play Deus Ex because every time I play it, I go a different route or level different skills to play a different way.
One of my favorite games ever. Absolutely incredible, a total masterpiece. May the legacy of this game be forever remembered
The greatest PC game of all time. As a game developer I'm star struck just watching him speak about it.
Deus Ex is one of the best games ever. Not only has it great Gameplay but it also teaches you that there is no real thruth and that nothing is as simple as is look.
Thank you for this.
Thank you for just letting this legend talk.
Love this series; love this interview. But I am very distracted by the little chirp SFX during the short glitchy transition. It really stands out. It interrupts the interview, does not match the tone or pace, and takes away from a fascinating interview full of smart and relevant cuts to game footage.
About time Warren got a video
I remember going around and shoveling snow all by myself when I was 15 so I could make enough money to buy a new video card for my computer to be able to play this game....
It was worth every second.
If anyone is interested, it was an ATI Rage 128. Not the best card at the time, but it did what it needed to.
So great to hear the man talking about my favorite game of that decade.
An unexpected surprise. Thank you!
Wish I could see the full, unedited version of this interview
my favorite game of all time. thank you, Warren
How has this game not been remade? Like we need this... I am aware of the newer deus ex instalments. I am talking about a shot for shot (or mostly) remake of the game.
I love these videos, they are so well shot and produced and always are very interesting. Hope to see more from you guys!
My all time favorite game. The incredible music alone is worth mentioning. This is the game I´d love to see Re-mastered..Re-make or what not.
Even as it is, it beats the hell out of 99 % of today´s so called AAA games. After release of Deus Ex, "Soulborne" are the only games that have impressed me as much as this. Thank you Warren Spector.
This remains my favorite game of all time. I still regularly play vanilla, and even after two decades I find stuff I haven't seen yet. Rough in a lot of ways, but absolutely brilliant.
I loved his games. So underrated and way better than fps.
Deus Ex invisible War had a profound impact on my understanding of things like secret society's, power structures, cults, illuminati. All from a game. Gotta give props to the creator.
Probably my all-time favorite game. If you can look past the dated visuals and sometimes clunky controls, it's still amazing today.
Thank you for this game, Mr. Spector! This is one of two games I ever played where I played all night into the morning, and showed up to work feeling as fresh as if I had a good night's sleep.