Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Hexx]

54 minutes ago, friedgold said:

I'm actually glad this is a big, as I'm going completely pacifist and was a bit annoyed to be chewed out and sent to Psych evaluation for 'the mess I'd left' in an early mission when

  Reveal hidden contents

first exploring the bombed train station for the something-something Chip in Prague

 

I've been extremely careful, particularly after almost failing the same achievement in Human Revolution when a knocked-out body fell from a building. Thankfully I had a back up save.

 

Yeah that's the exact same mission I thought I'd been careful, but kept being referred to as a bloodbath.

 

Obviously can't promise it's bugged for you two, but I wouldn't give up your attempt!

[smac]

That's just the spin the Prague authorities are putting on it, aided by the media - play up the threat, spread misinformation in the news, justify the crackdown on civil liberties. Sound familiar?

[Hexx]

Um...NPCs at TF29 refer to something similar as well. Like "Jesus Jensen. Those people had families! Can't you control yourself!?!?!?" [paraphrasing, but really not that much]

[friedgold]

42 minutes ago, smac said:

That's just the spin the Prague authorities are putting on it, aided by the media - play up the threat, spread misinformation in the news, justify the crackdown on civil liberties. Sound familiar?

I would actually like that if it wasn't delivered by my bosses. Also I KO'd maybe 2 people max, triggered no alarms and wasn't spotted at all.

[Stanley]

2 hours ago, Beitel said:

I feel it has actually far more options than Human Revolution and Invisible War. Especially HR could be fairly linear but here you have some pretty interesting ways of moving through environments. It does feel a bit more cramped than the original Deus Ex, but for me it's the first sequel in the series that actually comes close to that classic.

Oh yes, in terms of traversal and the environments I think it's the best yet. The level design is phenomenal. People (rightfully) praise Miyazaki for the Souls games but this is up there for me - it's so intricate and layered. 

[smac]

2 hours ago, Hexx said:

Um...NPCs at TF29 refer to something similar as well. Like "Jesus Jensen. Those people had families! Can't you control yourself!?!?!?" [paraphrasing, but really not that much]

 

Did they? OK, I just put it down to media spin. First time I did bop someone on the head. Twice, because he was woken up by a colleague. Can't recall if I got the same grief when I ghosted the level the second time around, augmented to the eyeballs on NG+.

[Ktisis]

It's just buggy dialogue flags for the most part. The train station, golem and moving through Prague the final time are all susceptible to it and it doesn't necessarily mean you've lost pacifist (buggy physics are more likely to get you there). I've talked to Aria once and had her congratulate me on being stealthy, then go right back for a second conversation and have her disappointed I had to defend myself. No-one has been able to pin it down but it seems to be something to do with moving bodies around after you've loaded a save, which just seems bizarre if true but there it is.

[gospvg]

The best feature I love about this gen is how easy you can save a clip of gameplay to capture those amazing moments.

 

[Stanley]

I'm such a murdering bastard in this. I can't help myself. 

 

The amount of times I reloaded that   Vincent Black mission during a certain part.

 

 

Spoiler

After successfully negotiating my way to getting that woman sent to Berlin, knowing I couldn't kill the gang leader because it would all go wrong for her. Think I've killed him about 20 times now in every way possible. Him and all his mates!

 

[davejm]

Just finished this.  I'm not sure how the endings vary; but this is how it turned out for me...

 

I chose to tackle Marchenko (which was easy and over with in 10 seconds; stun gun and melee) then managed to save the delegates just before they were about to take a drink.  I assumed the price for taking down Marchenko was going to be their death, but it turned out well.  Not sure if this is the way it turns out for everyone if you take him down first?  What if you save the delegates first, can you still stop him from detonating the bombs?  I wonder how much actual cause and affect is in play here, or is it just smoke and mirrors all leading to a similar ending?

[Hexx]

As I understand getting both is the best ending/hardest to do - but it's a rush against a timer (certain actions/choices can extend the timer...in certain orders

 

 

[davejm]

2 minutes ago, Hexx said:

As I understand getting both is the best ending/hardest to do - but it's a rush against a timer (certain actions/choices can extend the timer...in certain orders

 

Ah, makes sense.

 

I took out Marchenko in seconds, then ghosted past all the enemies on the way to the delegates (including ghosting past everyone outside the elevator that takes you up).  I did all of that without taking anyone out.  So the whole thing was over in seconds really.

[Hexx]

Yeah

 

I did similar - a quick Tesla bolt and melee take down...suprisingly easily.

 

Then a cloaked, silent run to the delegates - gobbling down Biocells

 

I did a quick read up after playing if you got the poison cure earlier you can arrive later as the delegates will still be savable.

 

If you got the bomb blocker that helps somewhere as well

 

 

[davejm]

I didn't get the poison cure; as I chose to go after Alison Stanek and not go to the bank.  I've just read that you can save Miller if you have the cure (obviously) so not the best outcome possible for me but at least I took out Marchenko and saved the delegates so happy enough

[smac]

31 minutes ago, Hexx said:

As I understand getting both is the best ending/hardest to do - but it's a rush against a timer (certain actions/choices can extend the timer...in certain orders

 

 

 

In my case

I went the wrong way initially and took out all of the goons patrolling the route to the final target. So after completing the interim mission, I simply walked - well, OK, jogged - to Miller and saved him without encountering anyone on the way.

 

I didn't go to the bank, either. Can't recall where I got my cure. Did have the bomb blocker, I think because I didn't go to the bank - I think that prevents the bad guy taking out the surrounding towers.

[womblingfree]

I'm very early on in this. It's good but my god the NPCs don't half yap on. Also, worst derp heads and spaghetti Western lip-synching ever.

[Down by Law]

£19.95 at the game collection (with the bonus DLC)

 

get off the fence and support this excellent game peeps

 

it's pro enabled too !

 

http://www.thegamecollection.net/deus-ex-mankind-divided-day-one-edition-ps4.html

[Captain Kelsten]

For those that perhaps hadn't bit the bullet on this, such as myself, it is now available for £14.99 over at cdkeys. Bought it thus morning, really looking forward to getting stuck in! My first Deus Ex game since the original (of which I only had a demo!). 

[Stanley]

I think it's superb. Takes a little while to get going but once it does it has a grip tighter than a boa constrictor. The level design is really incredible.

[dr_manhattan^]

Yeah it's wonderful.  Still on my first playthrough, but I love it.

[Quest]

On 11/11/2016 at 18:46, womblingfree said:

I'm very early on in this. It's good but my god the NPCs don't half yap on. Also, worst derp heads and spaghetti Western lip-synching ever.

 

The lip-synch is unbelievably bad. I can't remember the last game I even noticed it in, but it bugged me throughout the entirety of this one.

[Marlowe]

Mid-way through this at the moment.

 

It still has a few of HR's issues like hacking being too powerful, cut-scenes in place of proper melee, etc. but it's much the better game. The choices so far feel more meaningful (and the permutations less transparent), the level design is improved and genuinely up there with the first game in some areas, and while still heavily weighted towards stealth it feels like there's much more scope for mixing up your approach to situations. Have to mention side missions as well - there are some real full game highlights in there and very little throw-away.

 

For anyone coming into it new I'd suggest turning off objective markers, the mini-map and action prompts. I had them on for the first mission but especially with the mini-map I felt like I spent far too much time staring at it rather than taking in the environment.

 

I rarely replay games any more, but the permadeath difficulty mode intrigues me so I expect I'll be coming back to this game a few times.

[RubberJohnny]

Bought this in the Steam sale. Gosh it's a bit good isn't it? Ended up having a monster session that lasted until the early hours, just couldn't put it down.

 

I didn't actually do any of the main quest in that time, instead I robbed two apartment complexes, broke up a forgery ring, stumbled on a drug lab, shut down a fake police checkpoint, stopped a mind control cult, snuck through a heavily guarded bank to rob the safe in the executive office and hacked everything I saw. The world is wonderfully realised, and leaping about on the rooftops to break into someones apartment is actually very reminiscent of the original - leaping out of windows in Hells Kitchen or across Tonnochi Road, except massively scaled up. I did about half of this before getting my augs reset though, so spent a bit longer than I should have wondering why I couldn't jump as high or survive falls anymore now I'd put everything into hacking and remote hacking.

 

Jensens first mission to compromise the Opsec of his organisation by letting the equivalent of Anonymous surveil them seems like a really fucking bad idea though.

[RubberJohnny]

So just completed Golem City, it's the first real combat I've been in, every other situation mostly being sneaking and taking down a single guy at a time so far, and was actually quite tough with loads of enemies piling onto you when spotted and a fair few deaths, due to me prioritising hacking and all sorts of skills that grant me access over combat stuff. Would have been a real slog without the TESLA.

 

Having Prague switch to night is a clever way of resetting the map, and I was pleased to see a whole new area open up. I'm still finding areas in the old map I haven't reached on returning with new abilities, new apartments and awnings and ladders and hatches that open up to whole new underground areas, the exploration is fantastic.

 

My only bugbear is the writing, everything is a bit pat and cliche - in a setting where literally every conspiracy theory is true the investigative journalists are portrayed as stoned tinfoil hatters, but the real one that rankles is the treatment of ARC, which is very Bioshock: Infinite-esque.

 

In the game the Augmented are discriminated against by law, and hounded into ghettoes by a police state, and ARC are generally completely justified in their views and goals of wanting equal rights. Your actual interactions with them have them as un-idealised and fallible, but with strong principles and using peaceful protest, who are only undone by the meddling of a third party pulling strings to bring the two sides into conflict. But then everyone else you talk to seems to be from a different writer whose gotten all their views from South Park - painting a picture where like Columbias founders the police state escapes all criticism or condemnation while the group wanting to change things gets endless different attacks, none of which really engage with their core Aug-rights issues, like the "well these guys are dicks so slavery is actually kind of justified" Vox Populi. The most tone deaf bit being Jensen insisting to a black Augmented lady that the cops are actually the good guys while we're standing in a horrible ghetto and a few dozen feet away the police are rounding people up to be beaten the shit out of. It's unintentionally ironic that we're warned of the dangers of groupthink by everyone with the same status-quo views, you know?

 

Like Dreamfall: Chapters did a similar "engaging with politics in future Eastern Europe cyberpunk police state where secretly there is a conspiracy behind everything, also terrorism" so much better, bouncing between idealism and realism and cynicism. This feels like they got their views from a Twitter Egg.

[Let us measure]

Yeah, I agree. The gameplay and balance between stealth and action is very well done, but the themes found throughout the story are generally heavy-handed and clumsy. I love the atmosphere of cyberpunk Prague though; rundown and neon, but still ostensibly European, which makes for a great combo.

[RubberJohnny]

And done, I managed to get the best ending by chance -

spent ages reloading in the lobby where you have to take out the guards secretly, and then found that cutscene that plays when you get an alert played while I was looting in the backroom afterwards and worked out it was on a timer, so reloaded and went straight to the objective instead and found Miller. Went after Marchenko, and managed to take him out really quick by dint of throwing some EMP grenades to take out the turret and then meleeing him after he was caught in the blast. Then managed to have enough time to rush through everyone and save the attendees, I had so many biocells and health stims that I was charging at people punching everyone, so got through that battle that's designed to stall you pretty quick.

GARM was the first time I really felt the combat system click, probably because I finally unlocked stealth camouflage, which enabled a much more Arkham or nu-Splinter Cell harassing approach as opposed to the other missions, where I'd typically get swarmed and die a lot.

 

Really enjoyed it overall - I get that people didn't like it dropping the globespanning approach, but Prague is so well realised that I didn't mind, and I dig the old-world history infused with futuristic technology far more than futuristic architectures. It's very elegant in how it's essentially three free-roam acts separated by more standalone missions that allow them to change up the open world, and while the plot leaves a number of elements teased and unresolved, it does actually wrap up it's opening mystery of "who are these gold faced guys?"

 

And I'll have to soften my moaning about the writing - it's only really Golem that was a bit poor, there's some clever stuff before and after ("no, I don't believe in authorial intent"), and a surprising number of sidequests and characters that you think are one and done (as they often are in these types of games) come back later on for a chat or to help you or offer a follow up. Now New Game+ beckons, with the "kill everyone" playthrough.

[Down by Law]

Glad you enjoyed it - the final mission is one of my favourite levels in gaming this year. I've since played it through twice, and now I've got a Pro, I'm going to do a clean runthrough over christmas.

 

The soundtrack is far and away the best I've heard this year, too.

[Down by Law]

The official extended soundtrack has just been released and you can listen to it in full on youtube:

 

 

TF29 

[Mr Do 71]

Or on Spotify.

 

 

[Captain Kelsten]

I'm going to be honest; I'm really not enjoying this. Admittedly I'm not very far in, having just discovered I've got some dodgy augs installed thanks to that doctor guy, but I'm just not finding it much fun to play. It feels really clunky and sluggish to control, Jensen is probably one of the least likeable protagonists I've seen and the whole thing seems a bit of a chore right now. I'm assuming I'm just not "getting it", given how popular this game and the series as a whole are, so I may try to persevere, but with so much else on my to do list I can see it slipping ever further down the pile of shame.