Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Cosmic_Guru]

34 minutes ago, Captain LeChuck said:

Interesting - Prague for the third time very minor spoiler:

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On my first play, Chang all but accused me of being a mole for Janus. I figured it was because I was hacking into every TF29 computer I could find to get everyone's dirty little secrets. I was right. On this play I only hacked one machine - Vincent Black's, because you have to for his sidequest. When I talked to Chang at the same point just now, he still had suspicions about a mole, but said I was one of the only people he could trust. 

 

Stupid cunt.

 

 

Yeah, that sort of stuff is interesting - I had the former experience.  Getting an almost Alpha Protocol vibe about this at times, particularly the side quests when I look at the achievement list compared to my outcome...

 

Final mission time later today.

 

The non-lethal typhoon out of an invisible approach is my new favourite toy.

[Garibaldi]

1 hour ago, Mogster said:

 

Part of me would like to see more consequences to doing stuff like that, as there's really no mechanical reason not to be a thieving bastard all the time. At the same time it would be a shame to miss out on all that stuff.

 

I know what you mean. The random pilfering and breaking into people's places didn't really have any consequences in the original Deus Ex either, it was more of a 'it's on your conscience' situation just as it is in Mankind Divided; by that I mean reading e-mails and pocket secretaries and realising that you're robbing a poor couple or a widow driven to alcoholism through grief. Just depends how much you want to roleplay. 

 

That said, the patrolling drones are a new thing and did catch me out once or twice. They have a good nosey in upstairs windows for intruders, which must be nice when you're trying to relax on your day off.  

[Cosmic_Guru]

I need to get that particular aug for my next play through.

 

Also, does anyone know if the POI referring to a shoot-out next to the chicken place is leads to anything other than the Golden ticket side quest?  It just stays there on the map.

[b00dles]

The one thing that disappointed me most with this was magically appearing things in places I've already been. Worst of this was me breaking into everywhere in the bank vault to not find anything that interesting and immediately afterwards getting the mission that i had to break into the bank. Same thing happened a few other times with places i broke into but then had to go back to for a mission to find a key mission item to appear in a safe or whatever that I'd already left open without any real sign that the person had been or could have gone back to place it there.
I realise that's a problem with having everywhere "open " to a degree but it still was a shame. Really enjoyed it though and o do want to play mankind divided 0.5 but it will be a shame if the cut stuff (proper ending/ resolution) is released as MD 2 but it wouldn't surprise me if it was.

[BitterToad]

Any tips for picking up side quests for this? I've done quite a few (just got to the second location) but would like to make sure I'm not missing anything.

 

Absolutely loving it now by the way. Tried to think like a future super cop earlier, so when faced with a slightly too high up ladder what did I do? Use new augmentations? Find a vent to sneak my way in? No. I decided to pile bins up like any good Jensen would. Threw one up, it hit the wall, bounced off and hit a woman in the face. 

 

PANIC. 

 

COPS. 

 

JENSEN RUNS FOR IT!

 

I turned a corner and shot at a police officer with my combat rifle. IT WAS ON SINGLE FIRE! Shot him twice, didn't kill him, legged it into a hallway where there was a cop and an innocent bystander. Naturally hit R3 and took the innocent civilian down to the ground. No charge left so slowly shot the police officer, again failing to kill him before others caught up and started shooting, and jumped into a nearby vent. 

 

Hid in there, getting my breath back, and remembered that this had all kicked off because a police officer threw a bin at a ladder and it hit a woman in the head and laughed for about fifteen minutes. Brilliant(ly shit...) emergent gameplay at it's best (I hit a woman with a bin and nearly killed two officers of the law). 

 

I think this image sums everything up. The scene once everything died down and I returned to the scene of the crime;

 

 

You can see the remaining bins stacked on the left. 

 

 

[ryodi]

My preorder finally arrived from Zavvi on Thursday so I'm not that far into this. The recap of Human Revolution in the intro was nice although I wasn't paying as much attention to the story in that game as I thought I was because I didn't realise the Illuminati were in it. As other have said the prologue isn't great and just seemed like an excuse to show off the particle affects that are all over Rise of the Tomb Raider which I think runs off the same engine.

 

It's nice to be back as Jensen and I'm enjoying exploring Prague so far, it makes a nice change from the USA and Hong Kong.

[Tezcatlipoca]

On 25/08/2016 at 19:38, Tezcatlipoca said:

I have a code for the Xbox 360 version of Deux Ex: Human Revolution (supported on Xbox One via backward compatibility) thanks to pre-ordering Mankind Divided, and it seems from trying to redeem it that I actually already own it (GwG I guess).

 

So, anyone here want it?

 

(I assume it still works as I was unable to redeem it.)

 

First come, first served.

 

This is still available...

[Down by Law]

Visited Jensen's apartment when returning to Prague , there's an interactive cereal box on the kitchen side...

 

 

I won't spoil it but it looks like a certain person who may have died in your HR playthrough may have survived.

 

Spent about 3 hours on the Golum City mission earlier, this time with a lethal approach. The area is so well designed, I even found an Aug Gym I completely missed on my first playthrough. So many different paths, so many different things to find. I'd say it's my favorite level in anything I've played this year and probably my favourite stealth level of anything I've played full stop.

 

If Square Enix drop a bollock and I don't get a follow up to this I think I might burn their office down. 

[Down by Law]

I love Jensen's non-lethal approach. I'm sure these two guys will be just fine, especially sink bounce man.

 

 

[Hexx]

Dumb question but how do you access desperate measures? I've gone to golem... 

[Tezcatlipoca]

It has its own separate main menu entry under "Jensen's Stories" or something.

[Pob]

I spent a while painstakingly stealthing through the upper floors of Golem. I got to a tricky bottleneck just before bedtime so, after making a hard save, I took the silencer off my fully-levelled handgun and decided to blow off some steam.

 

Wow - cutting through all the guards with a barrage of bullets and slicing them up with lethal melees was unbelievably fun after spending ages crouched down in vents. I'm playing on 'Give me Deus Ex' so I couldn't get caught out in the open or I'd die, so I still had to make use of cover and distractions to survive. But man it felt so good just to go Full Jensen.

 

Of course, when I return to it tonight I'll reload my save and spend ages crawling around gently tasering anyone who gets too close, but now I can't wait to get to a level filled with goons who deserve a proper pasting.

[Hexx]

11 hours ago, Tezcatlipoca said:

It has its own separate main menu entry under "Jensen's Stories" or something.

 

Ah thank you - I'd been looking for it in the game

[Cosmic_Guru]

I finished my non-lethal run although I was aware from the XBO game hub someone had died from an accident some time back (I never had lethal ammo equipped so it wasn't deliberate, but I'm satisfied with my ending in that all the main players stayed alive.  The end mission is pretty lengthy though and the goons are all heavily augmented which also seems to give them better hearing etc.  Never mind, the invisible crouching run segue to typhoon (which they of course recognise as such) worked well in several places to take out groups.  Also, remote hacking where have you been????

 

I took the bonus scene to refer to a potential future game rather than DLC for this.

 

I don't see how anyone can complain about the core game i.e the  main or side quests in this - the former give loads of opportunities to mess about with different routes and toys to use, the latter are decently written and constructed and can have very different outcomes.

 

Personally I'm with Jim though in not being interested in Breach. 

 

Does anyone know if not completing the optional guard take-downs in the final mission has any impact on subsequent events?  

 

I want to go back and take the other path, complete some side quests more satisfactorily and possibly also play around with lethal options from a protected save.

 

I saw the Portal reference but not the Sonic one, never mind any golden penguin (as referred to in one of the achievements).  But then there are loads of rooms it is so easy to miss - there was one in the final mission for example set up like a lecture room to demonstrate the benefits of the new resort to investors.

 

It's weird and almost creepy returning to a (relatively) bright and breezy Prague in NG+, with all the apartments in immaculate condition......  

 

 

[Hexx]

Sorry how do you check if anyone's died or is the Bone only?

[God Is A Girl]

Regardless of how you've augmented your Jensen, there can't be many among us who didn't take the bait when first letting Adam off the leash - which is to say given a bespoke apartment building with locks on every door (bar Adam's), then why wouldn't you try it on at first blush?

 

Which I did, and it's fair to say that after 43 hours I finally cracked Daria Myska's laptop - but only because I didn't save wisely and left one chance remaining when I wasn't the able-bodied hacktivist. Having stumbled upon the murder in the alley, I didn't realise the plot would thicken until I was finally introduced to the crazy cat lady from Apt. #31. I tried approaching Detective Montag, but he gave nothing away until I'd first spoken to Daria. The objectives piled up fast, and this quest in particular (The Harvester) soon dovetailed into the BEST in the game - and possibly best in class (The Last Harvest).

 

 

Unless you meticulously follow the clues (note: it's advisable to seek out Dr Cipra before confronting Daria), then it's easy to get blindsided by another boss battle. Having said that, I can't really say that I've encountered a single boss battle that couldn't be bested by negotiation. In the case of Daria, I'd presciently saved before the confrontation and having received the killswitch from Dr Cipra I could then proceed with gusto.

It's at this point of the 'Deus Ex Universe' that you really must tip your hat to Mankind Divided's pool of narrative designers and game writers (some sixteen, according to the credits). The Computer Assisted Social Intelligence Enhancer (CASIE) is a mighty tool indeed, and leaves Adam's other augmentations in the shade (or leastwise in his pants).

 

After 43 hours I can't rightly say that combat's been a bother, but those "social debates" have seen the writing team come out swinging! And Daria Myska, one of the first non-entities in Adam's world has evolved into something truly intelligent - nay, a true adversary. And it's all in the eyes. As her countenance graces the screen, Adam spouts lines like "Svobotka was a serial killer acting out on impulses that he tried to couch in spiritual rhetoric", and you can see the cogs whirring away as her eyes dart back and forth; crunching the numbers, evaluating a response. There's a fantastic quote from Mary DeMarle, the game's narrative director, in Edge #297's review post script:

 

"In Human Revolution we had a random component: we didn't know what 'attack' the NPC was going to throw out. He had three things he could say, and we didn't know which one would be coming. We took a little bit of that out [of Mankind Divided] to try and make it so we could control the flow a bit. We tested it with the team - we had this internal document so you could actually play it in text form - and then we would get feedback and tweak. Out of everything in the game, they're some of the things that get the most rewriting."

 

It shows. In fact, it emboldens the writing and adds that classic Deus Ex depth that we've been craving for so long. And it reminds me of another classic quote, when the Predator is finally unmasked and Arnie retorts: "you're one ugly motherfucker". In the strange case of Daria Myska, [she's] "one uber (Ubi-?) smart creation". Give me Deus Ex or give me nothing!

[Cosmic_Guru]

I really don't know why I ignored CASIE in this first run since I always invest skill points into charm, co-erce etc in RPGs. You certainly don't need it to "win" the conversations with Botkoveli and Rucker; common sense suffices with those.  It's clearly key for the best outcome in Harvester (which is still pretty interesting, but without it the detective remains an absolute chump - look here's the evidence you IDIOT, I'm not making all this up).

[Mr. Gerbik]

I finally came back to this after my initial disappointment with the quality of the port on PC and the terrible opening mission - and really glad I did! A few minor tweaks and the game runs well and looks good (well, apart from the last-gen character models and the almost PS2-era like animations of those models), but most of all it improves massively after the opening bit. Like everyone said in this thread, so thanks for that

 

Anyway, my Jensen is an incorrigible but loveable kleptomaniac of course. I love exploring the city, hacking my way around and just talking to everyone. Finding side-quests in an organic manner and I especially love how you really get the feeling that free to tackle these as you see fit. Like, you almost feel like you're breaking the game in a way you're not supposed to by doing things like stacking garbage containers to circumvent security - but the way the game is designed, it actually encourages you to do this constantly. And as a player you're not only rewarded with xp, but also extra background info on the characters and the story. I love games like this.

 

But what I really wanted to say - has anybody else noticed how Mankind Divided has sort of the same basic structure as Shadowrun on the SNES, but in 3D and first-person? Think about it, the way the cyberpunk city is divided into various open areas and how you're travelling between those areas using the subway - even with a short cutscene! The way you're free to explore each area before the story leads you there, going into buildings to dig out items and bonus lore (bonus lore > bonus xp, btw). They should totally let these guys take a crack at a modern take on Shadowrun the way it was on the SNES - Mankind Divided is already there in terms of basic structure. Next time you play it just imagine Jensen as Jake Armitage and Prague as Seattle - replace aug with magic and you could almost remake the SNES classic in its entirety. Or is this just me?

[Wiper]

3 hours ago, Mr. Gerbik said:

I finally came back to this after my initial disappointment with the quality of the port on PC and the terrible opening mission - and really glad I did! A few minor tweaks and the game runs well and looks good (well, apart from the last-gen character models and the almost PS2-era like animations of those models), but most of all it improves massively after the opening bit. Like everyone said in this thread, so thanks for that

 

Anyway, my Jensen is an incorrigible but loveable kleptomaniac of course. I love exploring the city, hacking my way around and just talking to everyone. Finding side-quests in an organic manner and I especially love how you really get the feeling that free to tackle these as you see fit. Like, you almost feel like you're breaking the game in a way you're not supposed to by doing things like stacking garbage containers to circumvent security - but the way the game is designed, it actually encourages you to do this constantly. And as a player you're not only rewarded with xp, but also extra background info on the characters and the story. I love games like this.

 

But what I really wanted to say - has anybody else noticed how Mankind Divided has sort of the same basic structure as Shadowrun on the SNES, but in 3D and first-person? Think about it, the way the cyberpunk city is divided into various open areas and how you're travelling between those areas using the subway - even with a short cutscene! The way you're free to explore each area before the story leads you there, going into buildings to dig out items and bonus lore (bonus lore > bonus xp, btw). They should totally let these guys take a crack at a modern take on Shadowrun the way it was on the SNES - Mankind Divided is already there in terms of basic structure. Next time you play it just imagine Jensen as Jake Armitage and Prague as Seattle - replace aug with magic and you could almost remake the SNES classic in its entirety. Or is this just me?

 

Goddammit Gerbik!

 

Spoilers contain the subject of my upcoming first non-GOTY video, plus dodgy first draft footage:

 

 

I spent last night drafting out my next video, which I decided to open with a game series that I'm fond of but not overwhelmingly so, and opted for Shadowrun. And you can bet your bottom dollar that, when discussing the merits of the most recent Shadowrun games, I mention that as a modern adaptation of the SNES game Mankind Divided probably comes closer! How dare you presciently plagiarise me 

 On the plus side, this gives me an opportunity to wow the thread with my ever-professional output with my first attempt at an intro for the video, taking advantage of Jo being off on holiday and me being able to record at night:

 
(how's that for advertising, eh! I'm definitely getting this Youtube lark)
 

[Mr. Gerbik]

@Wiper Great minds think alike! If anything, that makes me even more interested in your next video

 

And I'm especially glad that it's not just me who saw the remarkable similarities. I don't have anything interesting to add to that observation though, so I'm relying on you to do that. The test footage is promising!

 

Edit: as much as I like the Harebrained Shadowrun games, snes Shadowrun remains my favourite. Maybe because it was my first,  maybe because of the time and place when I played it, but the newer games never quite recaptured that same magic for me. I'd like to think that if it isn't nostalgia talking, that this is due to the exploration aspects of the recent games lacking a bit compared to the snes classic. They have less freedom to explore, fewer interesting things/details/hidden stuff/alternate paths or methods to discover . In that respect,  Mankind Divided feels a lot more like the snes game.

 

Edit edit: oops,  I did have something to add! I'll shut up now

 

Edit edit edit: last edit! I'm hoping that Cyberpunk 2077 will also feel like playing a modern take on snes Shadowrun, only a lot more polished and ambitious than Mankind Divided. That's how I envisioned the game ever since CD Projekt announced it, only without the Orcs and Shamans obviously. 

[Wiper]

I'm very fond of the Harebrained games, but as much as they were billed as a follow-up to the SNES game, they're very much their own thing: closer to the actual pen and paper RPG and its universe than the SNES game, and with more plain RPG trappings (turn-based, squad-based combat being an obvious one). For me that's not so bad a thing, as while I like the SNES game, it's not a milestone game for me.

 

I didn't play SNES Shadowrun at the time - I only knew one person with a SNES and they didn't have it, and so I didn't even know of the game until I had access to the internet in the late '90s, and as such it always reminded me most of Beneath A Steel Sky (despite, you know, being in a completely different genre). I liked it - I've always loved cyberpunk settings and noir fiction, so I was always likely to - but as I'd already played several noirish cyberpunk games that I loved (aside from BASS, Dreamweb was a firm favourite), plus properly expansive RPGs like Fallout, it wasn't a completely revelatory experience.

 

Plus, you know, those controls! Yeesh, but it's a hard game to go back to, mechanically speaking.

 

But yeah, I always liked what it strove to achieve, and my love for the Deus Ex games comes from them aiming for a lot of the same ideas from a similar perspective (single character, exploration of open environments, multiple approaches and secrets galore, cyberpunk setting, endless corporate conspiracies...), and in Mankind Divided's case they've come as close as imaginable to completely aping the structure, even down to the split hub world focus.

[Talk Show Host]

Is it worth it to play the game without going out of your way to steal everything there is? I did very minimum stealing on HR and it didn't feel like I missed much. 

[Mr. Gerbik]

@Wiperoh the snes game is definitely hard to go back to, especially with those controls! Can you believe they didn't include support for the snes mouse even though they went through all the trouble of implementing a mouse control scheme in a snes-exclusive game? I played it back when it was new, before I ever laid hands on a pc and all the fantastic rpgs on that platform, and it will therefore always remain one of my formative games and the main reason I'm always up for more cyberpunk in my games.

 

Snes Shadowrun was also remarkable for how much it let the player figure out for himself instead of spelling everything out. It also had a very interesting dialogue system whereby you accumulated keywords by chatting to people and then used those keywords to open up more conversations. This was a decade or so before Morrowind, another of my all-time favourites, and a game which took these last two aspects even further - never mind the sense of discovery.

[Mr Do 71]

21 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

Is it worth it to play the game without going out of your way to steal everything there is? I did very minimum stealing on HR and it didn't feel like I missed much. 

 

Sure. It's very easy to fill up your inventory, and you keep on making repeated trips to a vendor to sell everything.

[Captain Novaforce]

Regarding the Harvester

 

Spoiler

So I cocked this up and ended going all stabby on Daria, i thought my CASIE Aug would take care of it! The cop turned up after and of course accused me of being the harvester, I tired the CASIE Aug on him and he said "I've been a cop for over 25 years - you think I don't know when someone is trying to pull that CASIE crap on me!" Ended up knocking him out. 

 

Jensen then calls up Peter Cheng 

 

"Cheng, its Jensen, I'm in the sewers and there is a dead woman and an unconscious cop down here that I need to you take care of. I've solved the Harvester killings"

 

"Wait what- an unconscious cop?! Jensen just what is it you think I do for a living"

 

"You are the only one I could turn to with this Cheng, you are the only one I can trust"

 

Jensen is such a prick!

[Down by Law]

Some grim shit to find in this game..

 

[davejm]

I've started playing this; around 7 hours in.  I'm in Prague and have completed a few side missions.  Loving it so far.

 

What are these triangles dotted around that have some kind of app integration?  Worth bothering with?

[Garibaldi]

1 hour ago, davejm said:

I've started playing this; around 7 hours in.  I'm in Prague and have completed a few side missions.  Loving it so far.

 

What are these triangles dotted around that have some kind of app integration?  Worth bothering with?

 

Not on a first playthrough, at least. I decoded one and they appear to be small slices of developer commentary on the scene/area etc. No draw for me personally but I'm sure some folk might find them interesting. 

[davejm]

Ah, was hoping they'd be praxis points or something.  If there's no need for them from a gameplay point of view then I'll leave for now.  Maybe one for another playthrough.

[Garibaldi]

I think my biggest disappointment with Mankind Divided is that David Sarif didn't maintain his 'Aaaaaaadddaaaaam,' greeting from the previous game.