Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Liamness]

The ending is... pretty poor. There really is next to no narrative thrust throughout the whole story, and very few of the main characters are worth caring about, or at the very least their plotlines don't seem to go anywhere. You have to hope they are planning major DLC or a sequel to follow soon after to provide some sort of proper payoff. There are some side plots that are very compelling, and as a world-building exercise, Prague in 2029 is about as good as it gets. The minute-to-minute gameplay is also excellent. But it's strange to have an RPG where the main plot and story missions are clearly not the main attraction. Feels like there was a lot of great talent involved, but maybe not a strong enough vision guiding them overall?

 

 

Particularly thought the GARM facility was basically pointless. You get dropped in, you get attacked, then you escape. I don't think the whole thing lasted more than 20 minutes for me? There were just these big empty rooms that you had to get from one side of to the other. I guess if I have another run I might try and clear the whole place out and search every nook and cranny, but that's sort of going against "what Jensen would do" in my mind. But yeah, probably the key example of how the supposed "spine" of the game felt anaemic to me.

 

I would also say that most of your decisions felt like they had little consequence. Particularly at the end, when I tried to save the UN delegates first, but Londoners got blowed up. It feels like the story is happening to Jensen rather than because of him, which is really the wrong way around. I get that they might be trying to make you feel like you're just an insignificant speck as history marches on, controlled by powerful organisations and individuals who are beyond anyone's reach. But that isn't a super fun narrative framing device for a game.

 

Pleasantly surprised that the DLC mission has downloaded for me, despite me not pre-ordering. I don't really get what actually qualifies you to play it? But from everything I've heard, there's little to no reason why it couldn't have been integrated with the main game, which is disappointing, possibly even more so than it being DLC in the first place. Here's hoping that the upcoming thingy with Pritchard lets you continue with your save somehow.

[Let us measure]

I can agree with aspects of all these points. It's still my GOTY so far, but there are some aspects to the plot development and characterisation that leave you wanting. It feels to quite an extent like a spin-off side story of the Deus Ex universe, with very little of the cyber-punk globe-trotting that  marked Deus Ex and HR. And yet the attention to detail is insane. Not since being plonked into Amn after the intro to Baldur's Gate II have I felt so pleasingly bewildered by an RPG city like Prague in MD - the incidental dialogue between random nobody NPCs, the feeling you're an unwanted alien in a foreign country, the gripping side quests available from seemingly innocuous people, the shops, the options available to you to ignore orders from the boss and instead go casino-heisting in some underground sewer... 

 

But as you mention, the awesome side quests soon take precedent over saving the world or whatever. I feel it's quite a badly paced game in that respect. It slows the narrative pace of the main arc right down, so that by the time most of us get to Golem City there's no sense of urgency, or even of why we're really there in the first place. And for better or worse it feels like a smaller, more intimate game than HR, probably because of the focus on Prague and the detective noir inspired side quests. And the animations and lip-synching are as janky as anything.

 

And yet I'm on my third playthrough on I Never Asked for This difficulty and loving it all over again. The core stealth mechanics, once the controls become second nature, are easily as good as MGSV's IMO. It's such a fun and rewarding game to play. Ghosting through GC last night knowing that my save would be deleted if I died was a bloody thrilling experience (and I finally managed to get that Golden Rookery trophy by clearing out the whole bottom floor!). McCann's ambient soundtrack is just amazing (that segue from TF29 to UNATCO FFS ) and you can tell that a hell of a lot of love has been poured into the whole thing.

 

A pity then that SquEnix sent this out to die. I bought the season pass after completing the game as I was just desperate for more gaming experiences like this, of which there aren't a whole lot at the moment, but admit that I'm probably supporting SE's shitty business practice of dissecting games to later be sold piece by piece to the player. I just really hope that the alleged sequel is far enough into development by now that it would be a waste of resources to cancel.

 

 

 

 

[deerokus]

I'd agree with most of that. I'd say it's a good game which isn't a great game, and not as good nor as refreshing as the previous, it feels like there's room for some innovation in this weird sub genre (immersive sim seems to be the accepted name?), this game hews pretty close to the formula but so many other games have adopted elements of what these games do that it doesn't stand out in the same way, even though the genre itself isn't exactly crowded.

 

The dev team definitely deserve a chance to make a third one. I don't understand why SE keep spending way too much money on their western games to the extent they need ridiculous sales to break even.

 

It is unfortunate that I only played Witcher 3 this year, everything vaguely rpg-ish pales in comparison.

[RadgyAdgy]

I enjoyed large parts of this and some of the side missions were really interesting, but overall it just felt unfinished. 

 

The ending was a total let down and in general the 2nd half of the game felt really rushed in terms of fleshing out the story and the villains. Bit of an odd one really. 

[sandman]

This is a bit shit isn't it. It's simply nowhere near as good as HR. I have no idea what's going on plot wise and the voice acting is just bloody awful (particularly Macready). It's no 3/10 but I've played HR multiple times and doubt I will ever replay this. It's a weak 7/10 at best whereas HR was a strong 9/10 for me.

 

The levels don't seem designed for stealth half the time yet the game wants you to be much more stealthy than HR and even the original game. IW was better than this!

 

[daveodeth]

Just finished the game and you are right about the abrupt ending. Still i enjoyed my time with it.

 

Ending spoilers below

 

Spoiler

So going by the harvester mission, the Sarif conversations and the mid credits scene. We were a copy of the real Jenson with implanted memories? Apologies if it's already been talked about ad infinitum but i took my time with this one.

 

[deerokus]

3 hours ago, sandman said:

This is a bit shit isn't it. It's simply nowhere near as good as HR. I have no idea what's going on plot wise and the voice acting is just bloody awful (particularly Macready). It's no 3/10 but I've played HR multiple times and doubt I will ever replay this. It's a weak 7/10 at best whereas HR was a strong 9/10 for me.

 

The levels don't seem designed for stealth half the time yet the game wants you to be much more stealthy than HR and even the original game. IW was better than this!

 

The funny thing is that MacReady's actor is by far the biggest name in the cast, it's Peter Serafinowicz!

[dr_manhattan^]

I started this in the last week and I think it's fantastic, really enjoying it!

[Down by Law]

3 hours ago, sandman said:

This is a bit shit isn't it. It's simply nowhere near as good as HR. I have no idea what's going on plot wise and the voice acting is just bloody awful (particularly Macready). It's no 3/10 but I've played HR multiple times and doubt I will ever replay this. It's a weak 7/10 at best whereas HR was a strong 9/10 for me.

 

The levels don't seem designed for stealth half the time yet the game wants you to be much more stealthy than HR and even the original game. IW was better than this!

 

 

Wow

 

[Down by Law]

GIGANTIC, HIGHLY DEBATED PLOT POINT SPOILER DO NOT CLICK EITHER IF YOU AIN'T FINISHED

 

http://imgur.com/a/cSMct

 

 

Apparently this is the inside of the Versalife vault, so maybe you are a clone all along

[Let us measure]

I swear I've been there twice and never saw that. Amazing little easter egg if true, and suddenly gives the whole story a completely new twist. This game's like Bloodborne with all its secret little lore tidbits to find!

 

So it's obvious that you're

Spoiler

the sleeper cell agent referred to in the illuminati conversations, right? So it seems you've been 'programmed' to take out Janus as soon as you meet him in the flesh, but also you're a clone of the real Adam? This is backed up by the 0011101010 quest, where the real Eliza says that you're not the same you she knew before, or something.

 

The sequel to this better appear at some point...

[Spacehost]

I swear I'm going to kill whoever coded the bin collision detection in this.

 

 

[Down by Law]

lmao brilliant

 

I would have just bought dash and have done with it in 10 seconds though, but i admire your persistance

[Spacehost]

I bought Super Stength and stuck a dumpster up there.

[Pandy]

I've just started this on PC. Debated whether I could be bothered to rewatch the summary of Human Revolution as I thought I remembered all of it, but I'm pretty glad I did as I'd forgotten a few bits. Just on the first mission and completed the secondary objective, going to finish the rest later. I like it so far - surprised how well it plays at 1080p on my 970, everything's on high.

 

I do have one bug-bear though which is driving me nuts - is there any way to "switch on" the Dual Shock 4 button prompts? Disappointed how something like the Witcher 3 just natively works with the pad, but something like seems to have overlooked it. Is anyone else playing with a DS4?

[Down by Law]

For those that have finished, have a read through this thread on gaf. It's amazing how much cool plot stuff is in here.

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1284470

 

Also, did anyone play System Rift yet? I love the trailer, but I think i'm going to wait for a re-release like directors cut with all the content hopefully intergrated into the story.

 

 

She knows me as 'nuclear snake' lol, love Pritchard.

[davejm]

Really disappointed to hear that the ending is shit; is the plot generally awful throughout?  I've been playing the game and enjoying the level design and stealth, but I admit the characters are leaving me cold and I do tend to favour games where the story is strong; otherwise I lose interest.  I have spent a couple of gaming sessions searching for other things to play due to the comments about story/ending killing some enthusiasm  

[Cosmic_Guru]

The ending isn't really shit, not on the ME3 scale of shitness at any road. It's a wee bit sudden, but I didn't have any complaints.  The real question seems to be whether the poor sales of this will justify the production of the third and final part of the Adam Jensen story.

 

 

[CarloOos]

On 9/19/2016 at 22:14, Spacehost said:

I swear I'm going to kill whoever coded the bin collision detection in this.

 

 

 

 That's EXACTLY how I tried to do it! After bouncing off the ceiling of the vent without grabbing the ledge for ten minutes straight I relented and bought the super jump.

[smac]

4 hours ago, Down by Law said:

For those that have finished, have a read through this thread on gaf. It's amazing how much cool plot stuff is in here.

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1284470

 

Interesting stuff - I finished off the game with a lot of little niggly feelings that somethig wasn;t quite right; things like Sarif's comments about my augs and the like. Confirmed by the final cutscene in the end credits.

 

I also noticed how

 

all of my new augmentations were the ones used by the guys in golden masks; especially in Switzerland - the level had you fighting a lot of people with the new shield augs, dash and the like. So your aug guy has never seen the like, yet here's hundreds of people with the same ones - basically rebadged Belltower goons, which is a nod back to the previous game and the mission with the Belltower merc in the sewers of Hengsha looking for revenge for the experimental augs he'd been loaded with.

[Let us measure]

This game gets better and better on subsequent play-throughs. I'm half-way through my third now trying to mop up some trophies and I'm still discovering new routes and areas of the game I had never seen before. I know what's coming, so the pace flows a lot better now and I'm ghosting through most of the main missions like an absolute ninja. The stealth play in this is so well executed, it's incredible fun.

 

Some little things I've noticed so far (minor spoilers):

 

Spoiler

- There's an area of the sewer that's hard to reach, and when you get there some civilians are being attacked by police drones. No idea what was going on and I didn't fancy being ripped to shreds by getting involved but still, cool.

 

- I picked up the thread of the Neon Nights quest entirely differently this time round, by opening the safe in the stomping grounds near your apartment. Last time I think I got it by gate-crashing some underground rave?

 

 -Completed Ruizicka Station without being spotted once.  There's an absolutely brilliant shortcut behind some heavy duty boxes where you find the evidence, that takes you through a gas-filled chamber and plonks you straight back at the station platform. EZ.

 

- You can spot Delara, the guy responsible for the bombing and Madame Photographe in the opening stroll through Ruizicka station.

 

- You can see an e-mail from Angela Gunn, the journalist who would later be killed by the Harvester, to the Samizdat PC in the apartment you break into - seems they were trying to recruit her.

 

The amount of detail in, well, absolutely everything in this game is unbelievable. I can't wait to get into the vault and check out the megaton posted above for myself. I wonder where they'll go with it in the sequel?

[smac]

13 hours ago, Let us measure said:

Some little things I've noticed so far (minor spoilers):

 

That first one I encountered in my first playthrough, but didn't spot it at all second time around - first time it was all over by the time I worked out what was going on; this time I was prepared to step in.

 

Did anyone else actually take action? What happens then?

[Down by Law]

I took them down in my second playthrough blasting them out of the sky with the PEPS aug.

 

You can speak to one of the women on the upper level who says they are using the subway to escape the city and she gives you a gate code to obtain some supplies, IIRC.

[smac]

Sounds familiar; maybe I met her elsewhere. Otherwise, I hacked just about every gate I came to anyway. Or used a multi-tool earlier on.

 

I assumed that a hacking build would get the most experience the soonest, like the previous game, and prioritized that.

[Hexx]

Still slowly playing through this (in Golem City)

Season Pass is £25 quid - first SP pack in £10. Should I assume the second pack will cost >£15 - or are all the breach/boost packs in the pass increasing it's value" and the second SP pack will be £10 as well?

[Mr Do 71]

On 26/09/2016 at 08:32, Down by Law said:

For those that have finished, have a read through this thread on gaf. It's amazing how much cool plot stuff is in here.

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1284470

 

Also, did anyone play System Rift yet? I love the trailer, but I think i'm going to wait for a re-release like directors cut with all the content hopefully intergrated into the story.

 

 

She knows me as 'nuclear snake' lol, love Pritchard.

 

System Rift is good, you get a very small outside area to explore. Plus the Blade building is full of secrets to find etc... One small problem is that it needs a New Game+ IMHO so you can keep going through, trying different routes etc..

[Down by Law]

Deus Ex will be the first Xbox One / PS4 games to support HDR, I hope this get them some extra sales from people dying to check it out.

 

[Let us measure]

Completed System Rift (at the right time in the story!!)

Spoiler

Just after doing the bank heist and going home to chill for a bit...

 

and loved it. A nice, chunky piece of stealth action with some great level design and side objectives. It's like Palisade Bank x10.

 

Also quite happy with the Breach update today. I've got to Tier 3 already but could do with some more firepower right now. 

[Spacehost]

Got to do some classic noir gumshoe action; investigating a crime scene, cold-cocking goons, placing dumpsters across doorways so the police don't notice me stealing their shit, using my bionic powers of sight to locate things... okay, maybe not so classic.

[Hexx]

Yeah had a really good bash at this over the weekend - up to M10ish now.

 

Snuck through Golem City without killing - got some guards to yellow alert, but not red. Talked down Rucka to coming with me - but he died anyway.

 

Trusted Miller with the evidence - I'm pretty unsure about him, but generally TF29 seem ok. Then broke into Miller's house and found out all about his personal situation and felt like a massive dick.

 

Investigated a Dr who might know about my mystery Augs - he's dead with loads of info on me - garages nearby indicate I've been under surveillance for a while...

 

Helle contact me to rescue her memories - not sure who she is, but it's either an Aug who's had stuff downloaded or more likely an AI (who knows me - so Eliza?). Intercepted some Mercs sent by Everett...got the memories and now to deliver them...

 

Investigating a murder - got lots of evidence and currently in a shadey politician's basement.

 

Only downsides so far - I think I've made myself unstoppable (stealth/hacking build) and despite carefully going through the earlier mission without killing anyone (I'm sure) the Newspapers are now reporting it was a "bloodbath" with unconfirmed causality numbers