Pointless energy system?

[Glistening]

This game has, by far, the worst energy system I have seen in a game. I thought I was missing something at first but it's clear; it's just bad. I can see they tried to make it sophisticated but it just becomes a burden and not at all worth it to maintain. You end up just working off one energy cell for most of the game, and if you're lucky enough to be able to replenish all of the cells then you'll easily deplete them by accidentally leaving on an augmentation too long, unless you monitor it veeeery deliberately in which case it's more effort than it's worth. And it makes hand-to-hand takedowns quite rare and pointless as well. I invested in the energy cells early on, thinking it'd pay off later, but now I wish I'd just left it at one or two energy cells.

For those who aren't familiar: In this game you have a number of energy cells which deplete when you use your augmentations. So if you have 3 energy cells and you have Stealth level 1, you can remain in stealth for 9 seconds with 3 seconds per energy cell. After that only the first energy cell will regenerate, the other two will not regenerate unless you use quite rare consumables. They will never regenerate on their own, even through cutscenes. The consumables are REALLY rare so you can never really think about them. Once you've used an energy cell, you've used it and aren't getting it back anytime soon.

[DrMoodyBlue]

I find it more challenging the way they have it, and that makes me try to think of different tactics. With those tactics (and a little patience), I have no trouble using takedowns liberally. This is a good thing (for me) because if it were too easy, I'd get bored of it fairly quickly. I tried the New Game +1 feature on the DC, but stopped playing because it just seemed effortless. I like the slow build of the augmentations.

[billy]

While it doesnt deter from a great game i agree with the OP , there used to be a lot of people saying this when the game first came out. Obviously its done for balance but it should have been balanced a different way. Also means carrying round little energy bars , there's plenty of them but it all seems a bit silly.

[Salamander]

those "rare consumables" can be bought from any limb clinic and many stores.

[Hawk Tuah]

Agreed with the OP. The devs even admit it they did on purpose becuz they felt it made the game less hard. Which fair enuff, but then dont make useless Praxis addons that dont do anything. Its stupid to say 'here invest in this skill which doesnt actually do anything.'

[matthew]

I also agree with the OP, completed the game a few days ago, the energy system is flawed, for a full stealth / none lethal approuch, is probably the hardest, as you have to wait to be able to use takedowns, sure you can eat stuff to boost your reserves, but still, this is one thing they did somewhat fix in the DC version, as the game recharges to two 2 cells instead of one,dont know if there is a way to change that in the none DC version? probably not, as that would make a lot of skills more viable, (cloak and multiple takedowns)

[Improper Use]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOeOgalT2Wg

[illgib]

Originally posted by Improper Use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOeOgalT2Wg

LOL!

[Laughing Crow]

I find that I usually hoard these consumables and never use them up. Since I prefer the stealth approach, I usually take the time to assess the surroundings while I wait for the recharge. I didn't buy the stealth cloak or battery enhancements until halfway into the game, where (especially in Hengsha part 2) it becomes really useful.

Even so, my inventory usually has plenty left-over energy bars, and I finished the game three times without running out of them.

*note*
When you play the Deus Ex HR Director's Cut, they've addressed this problem by allowing you to regain the first two bars (except on the highest difficulty) and you regain full energy after the Missing Link DLC. While you cannot activate this in the normal version, you can actually mod the game, and it's likely someone came up with a mod for this - like the debugger and the inventory alterations some people use.