Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[HarryBizzle]

2 hours ago, hmm said:

I'm probably out of touch but is that especially low for the PC version of a multi-platform title? 

 

I think the budget was CAD70 million, or at least that's the number that's been bandied around, and 3 million copies to break even (presumably at full price).

 

So half a million copies is not an impressive figure by any means, especially since a significant portion of those will not have been at full RRP. This is a game that came out just over 6 months ago and was on sale for £13 this sale. Not good.

 

Likewise, UK console sales were dire during the first week. Outsold by 100,000 units by No Man's Sky, so somewhere between 30k and 40k units. Currently available for £16 in most supermarkets - and "day 1" editions, still.

[Nespresso]

Uhm... where did all my augs go? I just received 11 Praxis points, spent them, then had to disable an aug I wasn't using (so disabled the Titan one) and now all of my augs are gone? I can't equip them from the aug wheel nor can I reactivate them from the inventory menu?

[Nespresso]

Anyone?

 

[RubberJohnny]

If you've gone to the medical guy at the start, those 11 Praxis points aren't in addition to your existing augs, they're essentially those augs refunded (+1). The game gives you a bunch of the accessible UI augs for the tutorial and then a respec once you hit the real game.

 

Took me far too long to realise why I couldn't jump good anymore.

[Untogether]

Not sure if this is console as well but on PC they've just added all the Pre-order / Day One DLC for free which is apparently:

 

Quote

We're making available to everyone the Desperate Measures extra in-game Mission, a compilation of skins for Adam's armor and trench coat, a re-skinned pistol and combat rifle, and various consumables. 
This will be added to your library automatically upon updating the game (if you don't already own this content). 

 

Somehow this manages to be 2.5Gb on PC.

[Mr Do 71]

 

Yes, it's for everyone!

[df0]

Completed it. I enjoyed it less than the previous entry, but I enjoyed it enough to not cry over the 35 euro it cost me. Speaking of money, I played on Hard at ended the game with 7 Upgrade points to spare and 40k credits to my name.

 

First and second visit to Prague are excellent, Golem City as is the area where you meet Rucker are excellent. I was amazed by the attention to detail in Golem City and the Rucker area, absolutely beautiful especially the Rucker area that feels like a massive playground where people actually live and work. Greenhouse, entertainment rooms, apartments.

 

And than there's GARM and the third visit to Prague. GARM felt rushed, perhaps even shoe-horned in. Third visit to Prague was a snore fest with parts that made me go "for fucks sake!' out loud because of the poor timing of quest triggers. I had done everything there was to do, make my way to the Story mission only to get a call from David Sarif the second I take the 20-second elevator ride down. Who of course tells me I need to meet him in my apartment which is all the way of the other side of the sodding map because for some reason the wireless communication we use now is not secure. Any time would have been good David, but you call me that one time it is not convenient. Boring stuff when you consider I went full stealth so the curfew means nothing to me. I cloak, run past the guards, enter the subway, exit another subway, cloak, walk past guards. Boring and uninteresting.

 

The final part of the game was decent. I disliked the usual big-area-many-baddies approach but alas. Final boss took three seconds the first time. Cloak, Arc shot, run in, melee attack, win. Quite the opposite of the previous game.

 

Not very interested in its DLC. It came with the bundle I purchased but I could not care less about it honestly.

[Kayin Amoh]

On 1/8/2017 at 12:47, df0 said:

Completed it. I enjoyed it less than the previous entry, but I enjoyed it enough to not cry over the 35 euro it cost me. Speaking of money, I played on Hard at ended the game with 7 Upgrade points to spare and 40k credits to my name.

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

First and second visit to Prague are excellent, Golem City as is the area where you meet Rucker are excellent. I was amazed by the attention to detail in Golem City and the Rucker area, absolutely beautiful especially the Rucker area that feels like a massive playground where people actually live and work. Greenhouse, entertainment rooms, apartments.

 

 

And than there's GARM and the third visit to Prague. GARM felt rushed, perhaps even shoe-horned in. Third visit to Prague was a snore fest with parts that made me go "for fucks sake!' out loud because of the poor timing of quest triggers. I had done everything there was to do, make my way to the Story mission only to get a call from David Sarif the second I take the 20-second elevator ride down. Who of course tells me I need to meet him in my apartment which is all the way of the other side of the sodding map because for some reason the wireless communication we use now is not secure. Any time would have been good David, but you call me that one time it is not convenient. Boring stuff when you consider I went full stealth so the curfew means nothing to me. I cloak, run past the guards, enter the subway, exit another subway, cloak, walk past guards. Boring and uninteresting.

 

The final part of the game was decent. I disliked the usual big-area-many-baddies approach but alas. Final boss took three seconds the first time. Cloak, Arc shot, run in, melee attack, win. Quite the opposite of the previous game.

 

 

 

Not very interested in its DLC. It came with the bundle I purchased but I could not care less about it honestly.

 

I started Mankind Divided and never finished despite loving the original, but I do hear that the DLC has a way better narrative than the main game does for whatever reason.

[df0]

Does it? Hmm, I do have some time to kill before distractions (Resi 7, Yakuza 0, Berserk etc.) are released.

[HarryBizzle]

I've made it to mission 13 where you have to escape GARM.

 

The bit with the drill is hilarious. Totally just skipped a chunk of the level by figuring out what you can do with it. 

[HarryBizzle]

The latter third of this game seems to be just running between metro stations!

 

It's ridiculous. I had a mission to go to my flat, went there and as soon as I got there I got a phone call telling me to go to the other side of the map. 

 

It's like nothing happened story wise for the first half of the game and now it's just being doled out in a rush. 

[HarryBizzle]

I finished this yesterday. On the whole it was very enjoyable but it's mostly downhill from when you finish the Golem City mission.

 

I'm left feeling much as I did regarding Human Revolution; I absolutely love the gameplay, but the story just falls incredibly flat and there's no decent payoff. Over each game you don't really feel like Jensen is just getting more confused and has even less of an idea of what the hell is going on. The game is also unrelenting in it's pessimism and by the end even though you've supposedly achieved something it doesn't feel like that in the slightest.

 

Even the side missions seem really interesting but they never quite reach the point of greatness. This game (rather than HR) felt particularly rushed and I don't think Square Enix want to pay enough for it to reach its true potential - the fact they botched its marketing so badly is indicative of their lack of faith in it.

 

At the moment this universe and that of the original Deus Ex games seems entirely disparate and I really don't see how things go from how they are in Mankind to how they are at the beginning of Deus Ex.

 

It's a real shame and I'm not convinced we'll get a sequel. Although if this is the sort of thing we can expect then I don't really feel the need for a sequel. I don't know how they would do it justice at this point. They've painted themselves into a very odd corner with the plot and they would need more money than SE are likely to be prepared to give them.

 

 

[Let us measure]

 

New DLC released 23rd Feb, set in an Arizona high-security prison block. Disappointingly set before the main game, but I'm really looking forward to getting stuck back into the world of Deus Ex nevertheless.

[HarryBizzle]

I don't know what their fascination with this crap is.

 

The plots are never satisfying in and of themselves and then in the DLC instead of actually making things better they do prequels or to fill out bits in the main game that you don't care about. I think for HR the biggest bit of DLC was on the bloody boat that took you to Panchea.

 

I started the first bit of DLC and quit within ten minutes. It felt like a side mission they'd cut out due to lack of time or whatever and stuck back in half finished.

[Down by Law]

9 hours ago, HarryBizzle said:

 

I started the first bit of DLC and quit within ten minutes. It felt like a side mission they'd cut out due to lack of time or whatever and stuck back in half finished.

 

If your talking about the 'Jensen Story - Desperate Measures' then you would be totally right. As a pre-order bonus DLC it's not bad but really should have been in the game anyway to give background to the Tarvos group. The first proper bit of story DLC, System Rift is meant to be really good by the folks in here that have played it.

 

I'm a bit dissapointed they went the prequel route with this new slice but hey a whole new location is certainly better than regurgitated assets from the main game. Arizona could be very special indeed. I'm more inclined to believe this mission was meant to be in the game and serve as a proper introduction of Jensen into TF29 but square enix gonna square enix probably told them to cut it and add to season pass later.

 

Grumble, still gonna buy a complete version though if they release one. I love games like this and they deserve the support. Second fave game of last year for me.

[Grobbelboy]

What was the best moment in the game to play the Desperate Measures DLC again?

[Hexx]

IIRC opinion is split on either just before or just after going to Golem City. It either sets up or spoils elements you learn there depending on your viewpoint.

[gospvg]

EG reporting that we might not see another game for a long time, frustrating I was hoping they would use the current engine to get another game out this year or next & carry on the story. Squeenix going all in their newly acquired Marvels licence.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-30-dont-expect-another-deus-ex-game-anytime-soon

[Mr Do 71]

Idiots 

[Majora]

It tanked in sales after taking 5 years to make so you can't blame them, sadly. I wouldn't expect another Dishonored either. The sequel has done a bit better than Mankind Divided did but it's also underperfomed relative to its predecessor quite badly and can be picked up for about 20 quid now. The market just doesn't seem to be there for this type of game at the moment.

[gospvg]

I think it was poor marketing to be fair & the messed up pre-order fiasco that resulted in poor sales.

[dr_manhattan^]

While it makes sense business wise to not produce these games, it makes me very sad as they're pretty much my favourite game series.

[Down by Law]

Obligatory:

 

 

Absolutely gutted but not surprised by this. Deus Ex (and Sleeping Dogs) deserved a better publisher than SE.

 

You spend all this time and money in building a franchise to then throw it all away in favour of some licensed crap. That said, If there's one publisher that can ruin a sure fire easy win in the Marvel license, it's them. Or Microsoft.

 

Deus Ex really hurts as there's nothing else really like it - hopefully Cyberpunk can fill it's shoes, when it finally sees the light of day.

 

I never asked for this - bye Jensen

 

 

[HarryBizzle]

Couldn't care less. SE clearly don't want to invest in the franchise to the extent needed so we keep getting these half baked efforts. 

 

 

Also they need to hire a decent writer. At the moment it feels like they're making it up as they go along. 

[Talk Show Host]

2 hours ago, Majora said:

It tanked in sales after taking 5 years to make so you can't blame them, sadly. I wouldn't expect another Dishonored either. The sequel has done a bit better than Mankind Divided did but it's also underperfomed relative to its predecessor quite badly and can be picked up for about 20 quid now. The market just doesn't seem to be there for this type of game at the moment.

 

They made a mediocre, uninspiring game out of a tremendous franchise name, a successful series relaunch and five years development time. They screwed up marketing, they screwed up writing and they ended up with something that is more or less worse than the previous game. It has very little to do with market conditions imo. The sanbox rpg market is far from saturated and can easily afford a few more contenders out there.

[Majora]

I don't know, there was really very little general hype for either this or Dishonored 2 in the months leading up to release. In fact, I commented a few weeks before the release of Mankind Divided in this thread that I felt it was going to struggle to sell. It just didn't have any buzz. And that was before we knew that the final game would end up being a bit disappointing. I don't think the writing or quality of the game have that much to do with it. It got decent reviews - 83/84 on Metacritic and reviews are generally harsher than they were several years ago. Very few games get into the 90s on Metacritic nowadays. The demand just wasn't there.

 

I also think you're overestimating the general appeal of the 'tremendous' Deus Ex name. It means a lot to a small group of gamers. To most people I'd say it means little, or they have some vague memory that a game in the series was released 6 years ago. 

 

Then Dishonored 2, which shares a lot of the same kind of design ethos, scores even higher - 88/89 - and disappoints in sales too. Again, the hype just wasn't there for it.

 

Big budget single player games are in a difficult place right now. If you're not an open-world game or you're not operating the 'games as service' model which is gaining traction very very quickly, it seems like it's pretty hard to find success unless you're a massive blockbuster like Uncharted 4.

 

 

 

 

[Vemsie]

24 minutes ago, Talk Show Host said:

 

They made a mediocre, uninspiring game out of a tremendous franchise name, a successful series relaunch and five years development time. They screwed up marketing, they screwed up writing and they ended up with something that is more or less worse than the previous game. It has very little to do with market conditions imo. The sanbox rpg market is far from saturated and can easily afford a few more contenders out there.

It's hard to say. As Majora said, Dishonored 2 underperformed as well and that got really good reviews and did well at Game of the Year awards. 
We'll see how Prey fares. Hopefully well, as immersive sims are a cool genre.

[Pob]

Dishonoured 2 was released right in the middle of a bunch of other big releases, though. It's the reason I've still not bought it despite it being the one game I was sure I'd buy last Christmas.

 

Mankind Divided doesn't have that excuse.

[Down by Law]

MD was a much better follow up to HR than D2 was to D1, IMO.

 

I'd take either of them over licensed capeshit anyday though.

[Talk Show Host]

30 minutes ago, Majora said:

I don't know, there was really very little general hype for either this or Dishonored 2 in the months leading up to release. In fact, I commented a few weeks before the release of Mankind Divided in this thread that I felt it was going to struggle to sell. It just didn't have any buzz. And that was before we knew that the final game would end up being a bit disappointing. I don't think the writing or quality of the game have that much to do with it. It got decent reviews - 83/84 on Metacritic and reviews are generally harsher than they were several years ago. Very few games get into the 90s on Metacritic nowadays. The demand just wasn't there.

 

I also think you're overestimating the general appeal of the 'tremendous' Deus Ex name. It means a lot to a small group of gamers. To most people I'd say it means little, or they have some vague memory that a game in the series was released 6 years ago. 

 

Then Dishonored 2, which shares a lot of the same kind of design ethos, scores even higher - 88/89 - and disappoints in sales too. Again, the hype just wasn't there for it.

 

Big budget single player games are in a difficult place right now. If you're not an open-world game or you're not operating the 'games as service' model which is gaining traction very very quickly, it seems like it's pretty hard to find success unless you're a massive blockbuster like Uncharted 4.

 

 

 

 

 

The two Dishonored games -despite being good games- are way overrated. SE didn't really create any hype for them and, to be frank, it would be difficult to do so since the world and characters have nothing interesting to say other than amazing art. Most of the times, no matter how good a single player game is considered to be (especially when talking about a new franchise), it has to capture the imagination of people in order to become proper mainstream and market healthy. A mediocre game that captures people's imagination has way more chances to explode in a huge franchise than a good game that doesn't mean anything to anyone - just look at the first AC game.

 

You may be right that I am overestimating the general appeal of Deus Ex these days, but it was -and is- a much more important and well known franchise than Dishonored. Why? Because the first game captured the imagination of people (both story and gameplay). SE, to me, seems that they had very little budget to throw at both of these games but, because Deus Ex is a historical franchise and Dishonored a critical darling, they expected much bigger sales than their actual investment could bring in.

 

I do not believe the market has any serious issues for big budget single player games. But if you release mediocre titles or badly marketed ones or sequel after sequel then, there is a chance, that gamers simply won't give a flying fuck.