Quote Originally Posted by Zarniwoop View Post
Ouch. That's not what I wanted to hear.

Here's what I loved most about DX1 and you can tell me if I'm gonna love it =P

1. The fact that you could explore. There was no linear path to anything and you could just wander around. Also the stealth paths weren't blatantly obvious.
There is a ton of exploration and it is very rewarding. The first hub area of the game isn't massive, but it is a good introduction to the game to get used to the freedom you have.
The second hub is, however, quite large.

There's highlighting, which highlights interactive items in the environment (like air ducts) but it's optional and you can turn it off. There's plenty of freedom in how you want to approach a level like in DX1.

2. The ambiance and the back story. I love a good story, I just don't like it to be nothing BUT story like Bioware games.
3. The fact that I always felt like I was entirely in control of my character. By that I mean that I never got the controls sucked out of my hands except for benign cutscenes. I chose what happened.
This is, for the most part, as true as it was in DX1. The story is better than in the original.

4. There were no timed fail scenarios or boss fights.
Regrettably boss fights are where you lose control. You have to take them down lethally. But I've been playing for about fifteen hours now and there's only been one boss fight like this. There was a box guard that people complained about the difficulty of, and how you couldn't stealth past it, but I easily stealthed past it.

5. The character development path you chose REALLY made an enormous difference.
You are referring to the stat system in DX1 which I think had D2 syndrome of lack of options, some being necessary. You go melee and pick the sword = instant win in DX1.
There's no melee in DXHR besides the takedowns and they consume precious energy, so melee is balanced now. This pissed a lot of people off, but these are likely people who exploited melee in DX.
You can pick your augmentations now, there's no stats, but they're permanent and if you mess up it's harsh. These points are few and sparse, particularly depending on your playstyle. Each point has much more meaning than a point ever did in DX.