Deus Ex Remastered - Art Director reacts

[HiddenX]

FRVR talked with Deus Ex art director Jerry O’Flaherty - he doesn't really like the new remaster.

Thanks Couchpotato!





More information.

 

[Couchpotato]

Well he for sure ain't happy with the remaster.

 

[JDR13]

Of course he doesn't like it. I imagine most art directors don't care for it when a game they worked on gets remade/remastered and they're not involved.

 

[boobaloo]

I will play it if they improve the Keyboard/mouse/Ui in the remaster. The gfx are not as important but it seems they will mantain the mood so I won't mind. Next an Arx fatalis or Anachronox remaster.

 

[JDR13]

Next an Arx fatalis or Anachronox remaster.

I'd love an Arx Fatalis remaster. I don't see it ever happening though. It was too niche. We'd probably get remasters of the Dishonored games first.

 

[mercy]

Average Remastering Teams forget these legendary games were developed by Natural Born Geniuses, who operate entirely in a class of their own. There is just no comparison.
Why not remaster David by Michelangelo???

 

[DarkWunder]

... Next an ... Anachronox remaster.

I would be so up for that. I've tried to replay the game recently as I never finished it in the day. But the controls are just too clunky for me to stick with it.

 

[Drithius]

I'd love an Arx Fatalis remaster. I don't see it ever happening though. It was too niche. We'd probably get remasters of the Dishonored games first.

Was it though? I remember it having consistent shelf space at my Electronics Boutique for a good while, alongside Wizardry 8 and, later on, Icewind Dale 2 (God, early 2000s spoiled us for RPGs). Microsoft was really pushing it on XBox.

 

[JDR13]

Was it though? I remember it having consistent shelf space at my Electronics Boutique for a good while, alongside Wizardry 8 and, later on, Icewind Dale 2 (God, early 2000s spoiled us for RPGs). Microsoft was really pushing it on XBox.

Wikipedia claims it's considered a "commercial failure", though I didn't bother checking out the link provided for that statement. I don't think Wiz 8 sold very well either.

I miss Electronics Boutique. Those were the days...

 

[Redglyph]

Dishonored was a success, but Dishonored 2 sold less despite a higher budget, which is why Bethesda pulled the franchise. Apparently, it still contributed to saving Arkane Studios, according to a former dev.

The game was 4th in the charts the first week after release, but it went quickly down after that. I never read something definite about the reason, only that it could be due to a lot of big titles releasing in the same time window. Since it's a little more niche, it may have been enough to prevent good sales in the first two months. There were also reports of many bugs when it was released, though I can't imagine there could be more than in BG3, which sold very well (but it belongs to another level).

 

[JDR13]

I was referring to Arx Fatalis. I'd expect Dishonored to have sold better since it's a little more action-oriented with higher production values.

Still, Dishonored 1 & 2 and Prey should have sold more than they did. It's perplexing that games like Call of Duty and Halo sell a gazillion copies yet no one can make a successful immersive sim anymore.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

It's perplexing that games like Call of Duty and Halo sell a gazillion copies yet no one can make a successful immersive sim anymore.

I constantly keep hearing about a sizeable mass of players that only buy COD and Madden.
It sounds like a stream they can keep going to and keep milking it.

But I agree. It's a damn shame Arkane suffered the fate it did. Fuck mainstream audiences. For many reasons.

 

[Couchpotato]

Bethseda killed the studio over the usual didn't meet sale estimate excuse.

As we all know selling two million games isn't that profitable.

Now look at them three failed games, one closed studio, and massive loss of talent.

 

[JDR13]

I'm not worried about what Bethesda did since that has nothing to do with this. I'm just looking forward to replaying the original game since that's always been my favorite.

 

[Couchpotato]

Anyway back on topic it'll be interesting to see how the finished version compares to a modded original version. I just hope it's not unoptimized and introduces more bugs.

Though I will say I haven't been pleased with their pervious remasters.

 

[Redglyph]

I didn't play Arx Fatalis, unfortunately, so I can't comment on that. I just think that the genre isn't as niche as we tend to say; it's possible to sell very well if the studio has proved itself and if the release schedule is right.

Why shooter games sell so much in comparison is beyond me, but when I see who collects the most votes in my country and other countries, I just realize there are many people who like it simple and stupid. Not that I don't enjoy the occasional shooter, but if I had to choose, I'd take the other one.

Deus Ex felt a little different (from the Arkane games) to me because of the settings and the level design, so I don't know if they belong to the exact same niche. Maybe, at least it's stealth-friendly too. The first two titles didn't sell that much, but they were in the early 2000s, and the two last sold very well.

So it would have been interesting to see how well a good remaster or remake sold, but with what Aspyr have shown and the recent comment from the former art director, it's not looking good. It was to be expected, seeing the average success of Aspyr's Windows remasters. Maybe they were more comfortable with consoles?

 

[JDR13]

Arx Fatalis is a dungeon crawler not an immersive sim. As far as that genre goes, I don't know how niche it actually is, but I think it's obviously niche enough that most developers are afraid to take the chance.

As for the Deus Ex remake, I'm not seeing those things as reasons for negativity yet. The screens they've shown don't look bad to me, but I realize that's subjective. I couldn't care less what the former art director thinks. To me, he just sounds butthurt that they're doing a remaster at all.

 

[Redglyph]

Arx Fatalis is a dungeon crawler not an immersive sim. As far as that genre goes, I don't know how niche it actually is, but I think it's obviously niche enough that most developers are afraid to take the chance.

As for the Deus Ex remake, I'm not seeing those things as reasons for negativity yet. The screens they've shown don't look bad to me, but I realize that's subjective. I couldn't care less what the former art director thinks. To me, he just sounds butthurt that they're doing a remaster at all.

I thought Arx Fatalis already had the immersive sim approach, but I've only seen short video sequences. Maybe I should try it one day, though I wonder if it hasn't aged too much.

I don't care for the art director's comments either, but he wasn't the only one. But you're right: there's still time, so we'll see how the game looks when it's released.

 

[JDR13]

I thought Arx Fatalis already had the immersive sim approach, but I've only seen short video sequences. Maybe I should try it one day, though I wonder if it hasn't aged too much.

It does have immersive sim elements, but it's generally considered an RPG.

Great game imo and still very much playable. Graphics are a little dated of course, but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. There's a patch/mod that improves compatibility and features on modern OS.

It should have been a lot more popular than it was, but it was released around the same time as Morrowind and NWN, and I think a lot of gamers overlooked it.

 

[Redglyph]

It should have been a lot more popular than it was, but it was released around the same time as Morrowind and NWN, and I think a lot of gamers overlooked it.

That's likely why I completely overlooked it. I played a lot of Morrowind and NWN at the time.

They really were unlucky with their release schedule!