Firstly, there aren't really any stupid questions with respect to this game. :) I can't remember really having any bugs with Deus Ex (maybe I was lucky?), but this game is unfortunately still full of them, even with all the patches (both official and unofficial).

As for stuff re-appearing, like the healgreases and the guy who doesn't attack - yeah that happens. I'm sure it's a bug since I don't think these things are supposed to reappear, and it appears random when they do. I wouldn't worry about those though, as apart from giving you extra items they don't do much. There's one bit in front of the fruit n veg shop on Anachronox where a pair of thugs may attack even after you've already defeated them, but they're just as easy the Nth time around.

Which is why I'm a bit puzzled by your second encounter with the Routoubes enemies.

There IS some sort of auto-balancing, but that's typically applied to the player(s) - that is, if any of your characters are below a certain level, then the game automatically ups everyone to the minimum level you should be at at that point (which is good, so you don't have to manually get everyone levelled up).

What's even more puzzling is I've played this game through on the hardest level and it's still really easy.

BTW when you talk about Routoubes enemies are you talking about those tube-things that come alive? As I'm writing this I have a vague memory of them sometimes coming back, but I don't remember them being any harder. Then again I always played on hard, so wouldn't have noticed if they were set to hard...

If the game HAS changed to hard, consider it a good thing - you said yourself you were starting to find combat too easy right? The game's more fun on hard, although you'll still find it pretty easy eventually - and you'll get to use all those extra healgreases you picked up... ;)

Thanks for the answer dude!

The bugs encountered so far actually don't seem to affect the game's very functionality, yet make the game feel strange- maybe you know what I mean.
Judging from your explanation you didn't play the game lately did you?
'Cause put shortened I just need to know if these two enemy types- the 'devil-like' ones with horns and the 'tube-snakes' you were refering to- become altered in terms of health and strenght between visit one (first trip to Sender Station) and two (directly after the Hive quest).

If anyone can tell, please do :)

Btw: if you didn't meet any bugs in Deus Ex you can indeed consider yourself lucky :p Even the PS2 version has some in it.

You're right, it's been at least a year or so, but thinking of giving it another whirl. So far I've only seen one of the three possible mid-game episodes (dependent on character chosen for one mission).

Now that I think about it some more though, I'm now sure that you're right, and that they do indeed get more health. I also think that this keeps happening (extra health for them) for every trip you make, as long as they've respawned, but I'm not sure if it's dependent on time or where you're at in the plot. I think the same goes for the horned guys (I know what you mean now - they're referred to as smugglers or drug pushers right?). I probably just didn't pay it much attention, seeing as how by that stage you've got Mystech plus (possibly) more "bouge" moves.

I do remember one of them being pretty annoying in the later trips though - so yeah, might be a bug or a design oversight or something? It does feel weird, but considering I'd picked up 23 TACOs (there are only supposed to be 20!), I think I was just blase about bugs by that point... ;)

At any rate, I'm pretty sure this kind of health-levelling doesn't happen anywhere else - but that could be because the enemies either don't respawn or I've not had to revisit those areas...

If anyone can verify this, please do so - but I'm 90% sure what I've written here is true, just needed to jog my memory...

I'm playing this part of game right now, and it's same for me, second (story (*)) time the enemies are tougher. I don't think it's bug, I think it's by design.

(*) As far as I can tell, whenever you leave the area back to base area (sender station-tubes or the bricks-junkyard at anachronox too) and re-enter it, you will encounter the enemies again, but the same ones. Once you advance in the story, the enemies may be buffed up (and whole level may be slightly redefined with additional areas unlocked, this happens mostly at beginning in Anachronox, where the map unlocks by story).

While I have seen several visual glitches connected with story-variant levels (for example the night version of sender station: visit the starport, there are some new people to talk with, yet when you are leaving it, you can see the guy who's buying the ticket at counter in the distance... once you move ahead, and the night version of station is loaded, the guy is gone, and counters are closed), I think these are just minor glitches, which were either not spotted during development, or there was not enough time/budget to fix them. So far I haven't seen some game-blocking bug or seriously affecting gameplay bug.

What is interesting for me (as and ex-game dev) is how some state-changes from one variant of map are applied to other variants too (science museum lockpicked doors by Boots are unlocked in night PAL-only version of map too, now I wonder what would happen if I didn't lock-pick them before), and I wonder whether Anachronox map with areas added is new level defined each time, or the base definition is dynamic enough to switch the transformation paths on/off... anyway, from player's point of view so far I have seen some "not enough time to polish/fix this" glitches, but nothing serious.

And the new difficulty of those monsters is still too easy for experienced RPG player. If you are starting new game and reading this, and you are experienced RPG player, go for "hard" difficulty, in easy/normal it's basically just adventure game with some action mini games, and some "demo" of semi-turn based RPG battles where you can't die (unless you wait deliberately and don't fight).

Hmmm, are you talking about that side entrance that leads to the shaft that PAL goes in to, to the right of the main entrance? Haven't heard anything about anyone getting locked out, so either everyone always lock-picks it first or it's unlocked (or unlockable) later anyway (e.g. via PAL using a data port).

One thing that bugs me a little bit is Sender Station. Have you ever noticed that when you first enter, the Station appears to be rotation (as it should) - that is, you can see the stars move. However, next time you enter SS, or if you save, quit and then load the game at SS, the stars are stationary! It's really minor and doesn't affect gameplay at all, but it's still strange... My guess would be the code that controls the starfield (as it were) is only triggered when you first enter Sender Station. Actually even on hard it's pretty damn easy. At any rate you'll end up with way more Healgrease and Healgrease Plus than you'll know what to do with. That and I found that I hardly needed to use Mystech at all, but I'd try to use it anyway just to see the different effects. Often I just try out as many "new" things (Mystech, powers, etc.) as possible before the battle ended, just to see what they actually did. All too often the battle would be over before I'd tried out everything. Well with the exception of a few of the longer "boss" battles that is.

Just to add my two cents, I haven't played in a long time but I specifically remember when the Routube enemies got harder. I'm pretty sure that's supposed to happen after you pass a certain point in the story, so that the second trip to the Routubes is actually a challenge. So I don't think it's a bug, I think it's intended behavior. I doubt that your difficulty setting was actually changed.