Vanilla? Madder AKA VMD or VMD Sim is a Deus Ex vanilla conversion focused heavily on RPG and roleplay elements, immersive sim gameplay, modernization/QOL, and more. Skill trees, hunger/stress/smell systems, in depth character customization, status effects from foods, and so much more are included. It also boasts the ability to run with almost any mod, and, in the future, will be able to be used as a near-universal starting point for any total conversion. Note: While not beta or demo, the project is in phase 1 of development. The project will reach its ultimate form at phase 4. Even at this relatively early point in its life, it is ready for quite a few hours of gameplay and boasts many fun features. Arguably, it is very much worth at least one try. Or not. You're allowed to dislike it, too.
The old difficulty screen is gone, dead, and buried.
Condemned is not a difficulty. Not really. Condemned is a beacon. It is a challenge. Give me your hearty, your confident, and your invincible, and I will deliver back to you the broken and the insane. I've played a lot of really brutal deus ex experiences over the years, mods included, and nothing has seemed so hopeless and unbeatable in the way that Condemned does. But that's because it's unfair by design. Not unfair in a way you won't expect, or that doesn't make sense from moment to moment. No. It's the perfect, chronic, tailored and systemic unfairness that lets you view victory as several miracles chained together, back to back, in some kind of galactic-scale lottery.
That being said, I'm going to be doing a run every day to see how it plays and how far I can personally get regardless. But even with my mastery of improved gallows and being the literal architect of VMD, after 3 days I've barely squeezed halfway through M03... And M01 is practically free, might I add.
Welp. Did at least a run every day for 12 days straight, and managed to beat Condemned as a near-complete pacifist run. There's a couple of nasty surprises in there for those trying to go pure pacifism or pure stealth, but overall it went well and was capable of being done. Now, if anyone manages to beat it going loud as the preferred, the furthest I ever made it was M04. I might be able to turn some of my knowledge around to play it loud. I dunno. Time will tell.
Update: Beat a Condemned MAX run now as well. Holy crap. 7 1/2 hours of pure smackdown, and a lot of close calls. Next time I run condemned I should start recording it for future proof.