Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Wiper]

I'd be very confused if Square Enix had thrown any money at Dishonored, to be fair... 

[mushashi]

2 hours ago, Down by Law said:

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.

 

 

EA and Activision-Blizzard already proved the Marvel license isn't a license to printmoney.gif so I'd think the list of publishers capable of making a big budget Marvel game work is fairly low as-is. Black Lotus/True Crime 3: HK got shitcanned by Activision, much like they dropped other games they didn't think would do well enough during development by a contractor, maybe Bobby Kotick ain't that much on an idiot, as the publishers who did pick up their cancelled projects didn't exactly manage to find that much commercial success with the finished versions either.

 

Having to go down the licensed route seems a fairly typical risk mitigation strategy, on the bright side, less or no people have to be fired as a result.

[Talk Show Host]

4 hours ago, Wiper said:

I'd be very confused if Square Enix had thrown any money at Dishonored, to be fair... 

Exactly. They should have adjusted their sales expectations accordingly. The same applies for MD which needed, supposedly, 3m to break even.

 

On a, supposedly, 70m budget, we got a game that had nothing to do story wise with the "mechanical apartheid", animation systems that look atrocious, AI with no progress, lip synching that is worse than the Gabriel Knight remaster, a side game or something called Breach designed to strip you of your money and a marketing push that was incredibly uneven. The end product, it can be argued, was worse than HR.

 

The general mismanagement in SE now is reaching legendary levels (FFXV is the grand example ofc). I think we should blame that first before any market tendencies.

[Wiper]

I actually meant that I wouldn't have expected SE to throw money at Dishonored, as Dishonored isn't one of their games!

 

I do think they mismanaged DE woefully, though - as you say, it's not the biggest of franchises, but HR did very well for itself and could have been a solid start to something... if they hadn't let it fade away for five years, then release its sequel to no fanfare. I do think that Mankind Divided a genuinely well designed game, for what it's worth - in terms of level and system design I found it to be a step up from HR, with greater focus on open areas and less of the 'corridors and vents' design of HR - but you're absolutely right that mechanically it's very limited (and worse, very obviously limited), and the writing was, well, not great.

[Down by Law]

On 9/16/2016 at 15:49, Down by Law said:

Square Enix shit management:

 

Awful - 'augment your pre-order' initiative that was scrapped

Delay from a quiet February for six whole months without any particular reason

Radio and PR silence for months, no previews, diddly squat

Promo materials still circulating showing the February date

Sod all marketing of the game close to release

Released just after No Man's Sky, a super hyped title

Negative coverage of Microtransactions that have zero effect on the game but no response from Square to assure players they are completely optional

Breach mode pretty much a big waste of time 'do the same map 4 times' as opposed to good large, sprawling levels

Poor overpriced collectors edition (£110!)

Jensen's Stories blatantly pulled from the main game

Overprice season pass that contains praxis kits and credits, further giving the impression you need them for the campaign - you dont

No PS4/XB1 port of Human Revolution : Directors Cut to keep interest in the franchise but choose to release Sleeping Dogs a game they do not intend to make a sequel for instead

 

The sales are criminal but steamspy has around 320,000 users on PC, so with the physical console sales it must have hit 1/2 million surely

Either way it's way short of the projected 3million target for the game

 

Game needs a re-print or pack in with PS4 Pro now to have any legs. Criminal. Absolutely criminal.

 

yeah good luck with those Marvel games square enix , your gonna need it

 

Gah no more Michael McCann soundtrack goodness. Proper gutted about this news. I should stop getting invested in games I like.

 

I've only got 2 special edition Xbox 360 games....

 

 

[Down by Law]

50 minutes ago, Wiper said:

I do think they mismanaged DE woefully, though - as you say, it's not the biggest of franchises, but HR did very well for itself and could have been a solid start to something... if they hadn't let it fade away for five years, then release its sequel to no fanfare.

 

Totally this. Look at Resident Evil 7 - coming off the back of 6 which everyone other than spainkiller thinks is complete gash (it is) a long , long five years in between. Capcom have kept interest in the franchise by releasing HD versions of REmake and 4 to keep the brand in the public consciousness. Of course, Resident Evil is a much bigger beast than Deus Ex would ever be, but even so, there's a right and wrong way to cultivate interest in your brand.

 

On a side note, Arkane must be shitting themselves. Prey is a guaranteed flop.

 

[Vin]

I doubt the franchise is dead. It'll bounce back under a different dev and most likely different publisher.

[Talk Show Host]

1 hour ago, Wiper said:

I actually meant that I wouldn't have expected SE to throw money at Dishonored, as Dishonored isn't one of their games!

 

I do think they mismanaged DE woefully, though - as you say, it's not the biggest of franchises, but HR did very well for itself and could have been a solid start to something... if they hadn't let it fade away for five years, then release its sequel to no fanfare. I do think that Mankind Divided a genuinely well designed game, for what it's worth - in terms of level and system design I found it to be a step up from HR, with greater focus on open areas and less of the 'corridors and vents' design of HR - but you're absolutely right that mechanically it's very limited (and worse, very obviously limited), and the writing was, well, not great.

 

Hehe, words came faster than actual thinking. But the same, as I said, applies to Bethesda. You can clearly see it in other titles too, like the latest Fallout. But the franchise is still too strong to be affected by the woeful mediocrity of its last release.

 

Probably SE thought they had something like that on their hands? Just offer the same old thing with an graphical update and let the franchise name do the rest? 

 

The company clearly has little idea of what they are actually doing.

[Vin]

 

Fucked it SE. Proper fucked it. 

[Majora]

2 hours ago, Down by Law said:

 

On a side note, Arkane must be shitting themselves. Prey is a guaranteed flop.

 

 

Yep. Another game with absolutely no online buzz whatsoever. It's going to tank unless it gets absolutely stellar reviews. Hopefully Bethesda will keep Arkane around because they're clearly a very talented studio, but I wouldn't be surprised if they get nudged towards msking games with wider appeal. I do think these style of games are relatively niche in the grand scheme of things, especially considering that they're probably not cheap to make. 

[mushashi]

18 hours ago, Vin said:

I doubt the franchise is dead. It'll bounce back under a different dev and most likely different publisher.

 

How so? Eidos funded the original Deus Ex, Square-Enix bought Eidos, they own it outright. It is their plaything to revive or bury, few publishers ever sell off old game ideas, except in exceptional circumstances. People bitch and moan about them, but who else is stupid enough to throw the sort of money needed to do a full production value Deus Ex sequel?, the brand isn't valuable enough to carry that sort of weight as it has never been huge, at best a mid-table contender on a good day. Complaining bitterly about S-E is the equivalent of looking a gift horse in the mouth. Even the indies are hardly tackling this genre in their droves.

 

CD Projekt RED have ironically built a business on licensed product, the difference being they choose obscure cheap licenses to use, and seem the only other publisher/developer interested in throwing vast resources into a Cyberpunk game, literally in their case.

[Let us measure]

22 hours ago, Down by Law said:

 

yeah good luck with those Marvel games square enix , your gonna need it

 

Gah no more Michael McCann soundtrack goodness. Proper gutted about this news. I should stop getting invested in games I like.

 

I've only got 2 special edition Xbox 360 games....

 

 

 

I feel your pain mate, I think MD is going to be pretty high up on my GOTY list this voting season. It's a real shame because the game and set up of the story had so much potential, and yet it's become clear through various Jimquisitions and just through playing the game itself that the end product has been ripped in half, and then further sliced to pieces by holding back DLC content that was blatantly supposed to fit neatly into the main narrative.

 

Square Enix is solely to blame here I feel, and I feel sorry for the talented devs at Eidos Montreal whose hard work was ripped to shreds. I agree with the accusations of shoddy lip-syncing and character animations, but the main stealth gameplay was really fun. Sidequests too were deep and not too cliched, with a lot of piecing stuff together and red herrings along the way (Mad hypnotist Richard and the Harvester quests were my faves). And that see-it-and-you'll-shit-bricks revelation at Versalife!

 

More than that though, it was just a solid cyberpunk game. People were all like, yeah, yeah, Deus Ex, but what about Dishonored? Cool, but Dishonored isn't cyberpunk. Seeing the Utelek complex for the first time, or London in the space year 2087 - there's been nothing comparable this gen sadly.

 

EDIT: Also the soundtrack was incredible.

[Vemsie]

Obsidian was originally approached to do the sequel:

 

[Vin]

7 hours ago, mushashi said:

 

How so? Eidos funded the original Deus Ex, Square-Enix bought Eidos, they own it outright. It is their plaything to revive or bury, few publishers ever sell off old game ideas, except in exceptional circumstances.

 

I dunno, part wishful thinking but also part knowledge of SE being complete fucking chumps. Worst case scenario, they'll sit on it for years or create some shitty ramshackle FTP game that no fucker on earth will actually play. 

[Mr Do 71]

The new DLC is rather good, for those wanting more Deus Ex.

[Let us measure]

Good to hear - will have to get onto it this week.

 

EDIT: Trailer's pretty hype.

 

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by Let us measure

[Down by Law]

Looks great. I'm still going to wait a bit longer hopefully for a disc release with everything on it though.

[Kevvy Metal]

I recently finished this, in a bit of a hurry to get it out of the way before Zelda. 

I blasted through the main missions and made my guy a bit too much of a stealth dude, so a little underpowered towards the end. 

I enjoyed it enough.. but then started New Game+

 

This play through so far - that I've only dipped in and out to - is SO much better.

I'm now tool up a bit more to have more fun in this cool sandbox of a game and focusing more of picking about, breaking into shit and doing side quests. WAY more fun, and properly excellent. Some of the side missions are the most interesting things in the game! 

[Mr Do 71]

Quote

@TheGameCollection

Today's deal has a Deus Ex feel with Adam Jensen in 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PS4 & Xbox One) at £9.99!
http://buff.ly/2lpouBp

 

[df0]

Wow, Criminal Past is a letdown. Spoilers.

Spoiler

 

As a sneaky hacker with 0 kills on record in vanilla and System Rift, I decided to not take the enhanced thing not regain my fancy Augs. The game does it utmost best to make clear that taking the enhanced thingie might be something bad. So here I am without any Augs, no (remote) hacking, no fancy sneaking, no melee attacks, not enough tranquilliser and shock ammunition, but a boatload at lethal weaponry. Every part of this DLC was a boring chore to the point where I just ignored sneaking and resorted to suicide runs which surprisingly got me very far.

 

Also, melee attacks are blocked behind Augs? Really?

 

 

 

[Mr Do 71]

1 hour ago, df0 said:

Wow, Criminal Past is a letdown. Spoilers.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

As a sneaky hacker with 0 kills on record in vanilla and System Rift, I decided to not take the enhanced thing not regain my fancy Augs. The game does it utmost best to make clear that taking the enhanced thingie might be something bad. So here I am without any Augs, no (remote) hacking, no fancy sneaking, no melee attacks, not enough tranquilliser and shock ammunition, but a boatload at lethal weaponry. Every part of this DLC was a boring chore to the point where I just ignored sneaking and resorted to suicide runs which surprisingly got me very far.

 

Also, melee attacks are blocked behind Augs? Really?

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed it.

[df0]

Can I ask, how did you play? What did you choose?

[Mr Do 71]

29 minutes ago, df0 said:

Can I ask, how did you play? What did you choose?

 

I chose to use my Augs, and I sneaked around knocking enemies out.

 

[Jamin]

I recently picked this up, and currently 10 hours in. Aside from the opening mission which I found pretty tedious, once you get to the train station part when it opens up, it kicks up a gear and really am having a blast now. Going to replicate my tried and tested method of "loud" playstyle on normal difficulty, before coming back for a "silent" runthrough on the hardest difficulty.

The stylised future world is incredibly well done, art and design are excellent (as was Human Revolution) and aug tree is genuinely overwhelming in terms of upgradeable options and options for different styles of play. Love the hacking mini-game too. The lip syncing in-game is pretty terrible, but not terrible enough to stop me having an absolute blast so far. Really enjoying it, anyone intrigued by this should definitely pick it up now it's hit £10 new. Would recommend/10.

[gospvg]

The soundtrack, the soundtrack to this game is amazing, 

 

[gospvg]

Listening to the soundtrack makes me sad that this may well be the last Deus Ex game we will see for a while maybe even ever 

Poor pre-order incentive choices, lack of any decent marketing & the Don't read the spoiler if you are playing the game

Spoiler

disappointing to be continued ending. I'm still convinced the plan was to release another Deus Ex game this year to continue the story & turn it into an Assassin creed yearly type affair.

 

All resulted in poor sales for the game, with Square Enix now getting the Marvel licences for games they will obviously be focusing their attentions elsewhere.

[RaoulSilva]

This is currently on sale for £8.75 on base.com

[Let us measure]

Thought I'd tuck into the Criminal Past DLC tonight since I'm done with Nioh and don't have a Switch yet. Really impressed so far; the same fantastic, oppressive atmosphere that the game does so well coupled with a feeling of vulnerable nakedness at being stripped of your augs and having that 'painful' screen flash and rumble happen every so often to portray your thumping migraine. Music is, as expected, top-notch.

 

I also like the narrative pace of it being a flashback told after the events of the main game have unfolded. Only an hour in but will crack on with it tomorrow.

 

Can't wait to see what Eidos have planned for the sequel.  The sequel that's probably in development right now.

 

In development right now, Eidos. Isn't it.

 

 

[Let us measure]

Shame, I've only got a bog standard PS4 but MD is one of the best looking games on the system IMO. The Throat of the Utelek Complex is amazingly vivid.

 

EDIT: Argh, new page. Quoting LeChuck

[Takizawa]

2 hours ago, Captain LeChuck said:

Yep, this game looks like fucking arse at 4k on the PS4 Pro. What a shit show.

 

 

Ever thought of using expressions like "not as good as I was expecting" or "quite poor"?