Deus Ex: Invisible War

So, here I am playing this ultimate "disappointing sequel" of all sequels ever done. And finding myself actually enjoying it, just like I enjoyed it the first time I played it. This thread, however, is not about my impression with the game. It's about a question.

Is Invisble War, in fact the first game ever to feature full dynamic lighting and self shadowing? It appears so. Doom 3, Far Cry and Chronicles Of Riddick, all arrived in 2004.

You're quite the freak =P

The other day I had some sort of epiphany, and I realized that IW is incredibly similar to Halo (the first one, anyway). I know there are a bunch of differences between them, and I couldn't say exactly how and where, but somehow they just felt terribly similar when I played them. Anyway, now I hate IW more than ever >=(

They were both developed for XBOX and you unreasonably hate them both? How about that for a similarity?

For me, IW is like a significantly watered down version of original Dues Ex. The core elements that made DX so great are still there, but all of them are just shadows of their former selves. Levels are smaller, RPG elements are fewer, ammo is just one, lockpicking is gone.

But concentrating on what is left and actually trying to enjoy and.. uh, "play along" with it helps to enjoy it to a certain degree. There aren't that many RPG/FPS hybrids anyway, to be that picky.

No, it's something else... It's a feeling... A FEELING!!!!!111 =P

Seriously, play, say Halo, Half-Life 2 and IW in a row, and you can't deny there's something that puts HL2 miles away from the other two. Like they were developed using the same engine or something. Change HL2 for any other shooter that was out by then, and the feeling persists. Even the first Deus Ex.

Oh, I get it now, you obnoxious HL2 fanboy.

But I have to agree. HL2 is miles better than either Halo or Dues Ex: Invisible War. The original Dues Ex beats it fair and square, though.

YOU JUST CAN'T DENY IT!!!

Can't be. The original Neverwinter Nights (or not-so-original, depends how "Pseudo-Iggy" you are) in 2002 had dynamic lighting. I distinctly remember it, because I just played it. Or are dynamic lighting and dynamic shadows two different things? Can't have shadows without lighting I think. Just checking youtube videos on both and I can't see the difference in actual outcome, even if the actual technical procedures are different. So to my eyes, NWN 1 by Bioware in 2002 had dynamic lighting, beating your Invisible War by a year and 6 months.

Great adjective.




Dynamic lighting was usually meant to describe the capability of light sources moving around the level and being of different colours. Or at least it was so in the early days of 3Dfx.




Perhaps. I was actually amazed with lighting techniques back when NWN was released. Though only half of lights are fully dynamic -- the lightmaps are still there. Do smaller items cast shadows? And I don't believe there is any self-shadowing, that is your nose or your hands casting shadows on your body.

Hah! Metal Gear Solid 2 had it already in ancient 2001 (if only in a small section of the game), beating DX2 by two years and NWN by half a year. Take that, PC gamers!

Hmm, will be interesting to see which year this thread will end up in...

Can you show that sequence in question?




DX2 was primarily developed for XBOX, and MGS2 saw the day of its release on PCs as well.

But, if you insist.

PC rox, console sux. ;-)

Jedi Knight had dynamic lighting. It's from 1997... I'm quite sure it wasn't the first title to feature dynamic lighting either. most Likely Quake II had it as well. It didn't have dynamic shadows though. I remember Heavy Metal FAKK, as the first game I played where the player's shadow was more than a a blob. But I don't know if they were real dynamic shadows, or some imitation trick.

Dynamic lighting is just a lightsource that can move, or fade in/out over time. Dynamic shadows, as I see it are real, stencil-cut shadows that are rendered real time and mimic the shape of an object exactly and also correspond with the lighting.

Yes, that is correct.

I am clearly talking of dynamic lights casting dynamic shadows, e.i. no lightmaps involved.

"Can you show that seqence in question"

A quick search on Youtube lead to no satisfactory results, but it's irrelevant anyway, since I now see you meant dynamic lighting and shadowing at the same time. MGS2 has both, but never simultaneously, as far as I can tell.

So, yeah, I guess DX2 might be it.