I have been tempted several times to rant a little more about Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but I’ve usually been able to let it go and move on. This last bit of news has provided a bit too much temptation though.

“We knew that it would be a weakness for the game, that we had to make a compromise to deliver it [on] two levels. First, the boss fights were forced, which is not the Deus Ex experience. Second, there is no mix [of] solutions to tackle the boss fights, which is not Deus Ex either.

“We knew that before the release of the game, but there had to be some compromise. It [was] our decision.”

If you know that a part of your game is not up to par. If it is a part of the game that’s not integral. Why not cut it? Especially when it becomes a road block to finishing the game. I understand not being able to take more time, that takes money which they probably didn’t have. But surely they could’ve designed around it. Replaced the boss fights with a cut-scene or quicktime event. It couldn’t possibly have caused them more grief than the boss fights have.

One side note, since I’m venting about this anyway. I’ve read a few reviews and comments that question why it’s such a big deal, since the boss fights were such a small part of the game. The problem with that reasoning is that the fights are unskippable. So if you’re like me and get frustrated on the very first one, then you’re done. For me, DX:HR was a five hour game. Plus, if the first fight is that irritating, why would I want to try and plow through it when I know that after getting deeper into the story there’s another roadblock waiting for me, and likely several more after that.

Deus Ex: I tried to let it go.
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12 thoughts on “Deus Ex: I tried to let it go.

  • November 4, 2011 at 12:53 pm
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    I understand your frustration with the boss fights, I was there too the first time I played through DXHR. But the rest of the game was just so great that I felt the need to play through it a couple of more times, so I made sure I was better prepared for the boss fights when they happened. Should it be that way? No it shouldn’t, but the boss fights are not that hard. Mines and grenades are your friends. In my uber stealth non-lethal playthrough I carried only one weapon that I used for the bosses along with grenades and mines. With that setup the bosses where a push over on the hardest difficulty. It helped too that I watched a few videos to see how others tackled the boss fights.

    • November 8, 2011 at 8:45 pm
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      All true. I could have backtracked or loaded an earlier save to try and prepare for the boss fight, but that just feels like bad game design to me. In my opinion is just comes down to the fact that the game was all about choice except for at specific choke points in the game. After I saw what the first one was like, it completely killed any interest in slogging past it to try and get more into the game since I knew I’d just hit the same type of speed bump again later.

  • November 4, 2011 at 3:57 pm
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    i didn’t like the boss fights either; but its a different kind of game; one that caters to stealth and makes it hard on those (like me) that wants to go guns blazing.

    • November 8, 2011 at 8:47 pm
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      My issue though is if you’re going to make a game about choice then you need to follow through. Surely they could’ve given stealthers and hackers alternative means of skipping or otherwise incapacitating the boss.

  • November 5, 2011 at 12:19 am
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    I’m glad Eidos Montreal fell on their sword over this. If only they could patch in a correction. Unfortunately, it sounds like there would be a tremendous amount of work necessary to bring the boss fights up to par.

    • November 5, 2011 at 12:23 am
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      Darn it, just recalled something. I remember a bunch of people giving apologia about the boss fights, about how sometimes you just can’t avoid a fight and you have to be flexible enough to overcome the challenge. Hilarious then and hilarious now.

      • November 8, 2011 at 8:47 pm
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        Especially ironic since the game itself was about flexible play-styles.

    • November 8, 2011 at 8:49 pm
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      You know, I’m not sure I’d bother picking the game back up even if they did patch out or bring the boss fights up to par. For me, the window to enjoy the game has passed and I rarely ever go back to a game once I’ve put it down (Arkham Asylum being the rare and recent exception).

  • November 7, 2011 at 7:13 pm
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    I doubt they could do much to alter the boss fights at this point. But how hard would it be to give players options for bypassing them altogether, I wonder?

    • November 8, 2011 at 8:50 pm
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      I would be nice, but at this point I think it would be wasted effort. I doubt I’d bother picking back up to play anyway. There’s just too many other games out now or out soon.

  • November 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm
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    They outsourced the boss fights, and I wonder if that has anything to do with not changing them. I know the company already got paid to do the work and ultimately it’s the DX’s folks’ call, but it’s still sort of a kick in the teeth if they let us skip the bosses and gloss over the effort. I don’t know, it was just a thought, I’m just talking out of my ass.

    • November 8, 2011 at 8:52 pm
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      I doubt the contracted company cares one way or the other. The part the really irritated me was Eidos Montreal admitting it was a mistake but saying they’d still do it that way if they had it to do over. Mistakes are okay as long as you learn from them.

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