[Megathread] Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Vespian]

I've been watching some PS4 streams of this, and I'm surprised by some of the poor graphical quality that I've seen, particularly the character models and to a lesser extent the buildings.

Game is beautiful on PC. Just don't buy consoles, fixed.

The story is extremely boring so far though. I feel like Jensen doesn't have an actual stake in this, compared to HR. And the 'twists' are completely obvious as well, so I'm actually rating this lower than HR, even though some of my gripes with HR (like hacking) have had some major fixes in the right places.

[Endus]

Game is beautiful on PC. Just don't buy consoles, fixed.

The story is extremely boring so far though. I feel like Jensen doesn't have an actual stake in this, compared to HR. And the 'twists' are completely obvious as well, so I'm actually rating this lower than HR, even though some of my gripes with HR (like hacking) have had some major fixes in the right places.

It's less personal-stake, I guess, but in HR, the main driver of the story was a very personal attack on Jensen, his girl, and his boss. That then boiled out into something else. In MD, it's about how bad things have gotten between "naturals" and augs, as a clear metaphor for any other kind of racism/apartheid/whatever. And Jensen's in the middle of that, because he's obviously augmented.

The thing that drives that most home, to me, is the checkpoint shenanigans, which (at least by where I am) have nothing to do with the actual story, and occur after loading, and randomly, so the only reason for them to be there is to reinforce that feeling and make you feel targeted and harassed.

It's less personal, more factional.

[Vespian]

It's less personal-stake, I guess, but in HR, the main driver of the story was a very personal attack on Jensen, his girl, and his boss. That then boiled out into something else. In MD, it's about how bad things have gotten between "naturals" and augs, as a clear metaphor for any other kind of racism/apartheid/whatever. And Jensen's in the middle of that, because he's obviously augmented.

The thing that drives that most home, to me, is the checkpoint shenanigans, which (at least by where I am) have nothing to do with the actual story, and occur after loading, and randomly, so the only reason for them to be there is to reinforce that feeling and make you feel targeted and harassed.

It's less personal, more factional.

Oh absolutely, but where others often claim that Jensen showed no emotional involvement in HR and more in MD, I personally feel that the reverse is true. He's just going through the motion.

[Endus]

Oh absolutely, but where others often claim that Jensen showed no emotional involvement in HR and more in MD, I personally feel that the reverse is true. He's just going through the motion.

For the main mission, that might be true, but a lot of it depends on side missions, and how you play them. There's one, involving a murder in an alley, where he shows a lot of emotion, depending on how you play it.

[grandpab]

There was one point that disappointed me pretty bad last night. I was using this lady's computer talking to someone through the chat and trying to get them to open a door. I didn't have the code, so he wouldn't open it for me, and I kept pressing him about it. Then he tells me to wait in the office, he'll be right there as required by protocol.

Nobody came...I didn't want to alert the guards so I got scared and hid in a vent, but nobody came...I sat there watching the mini-map and there was one guard that just kinda casually walked up to the door, and then he just stood there for a few seconds before walking away. I think that was just his usual patrol route. I was totally let down by it.

I've been enjoying the game though.

[sinilaid]

Just finished and wtf was that ending? it's a total fucking scam. We were sold a demo or something, the story just stops half way thought. Yea we kill Marcenko but the ones really behind it all are still out there. It's like HR would have ended after the first boss. This is the first time I'v been so disappointed with the game, every other flop I'v not cared about but this...

Edit: Ok just saw the after credits scene, yea they will sell the rest of the story to us in a DLC pack...

[Endus]

Just finished and wtf was that ending? it's a total fucking scam. We were sold a demo or something, the story just stops half way thought. Yea we kill Marcenko but the ones really behind it all are still out there. It's like HR would have ended after the first boss. This is the first time I'v been so disappointed with the game, every other flop I'v not cared about but this...

Edit: Ok just saw the after credits scene, yea they will sell the rest of the story to us in a DLC pack...

Yeah, completely disagree. The complaints about the ending are kind of like complaining that Star Wars: A New Hope is a "bad movie" because Vader, the Emperor, and the Dark Side of the Force aren't forever defeated and the galaxy sees peace forevermore.

Yes, there are threads left unresolved. Yes, some might get handled in DLC. Others, though, I think may be being left to drive future games. Deus Ex: HR was a bit of an experiment, and they probably gave it a relatively closed story, since if it didn't sell well enough to generate sequels, they'd never get to resolve them. It was a pretty big hit, though, so they're likely far more confident that Mankind Divided will make up its development and more, allowing them to justify further sequels, expanding the story.

The actual story you're given in Mankind Divided is tied off. There are shadowy movements behind it all that aren't, but that's not really a huge negative. The story threads they've left are far too big to be handled with a couple of DLC. At a guess, they're planning a trilogy.


By comparison, I played through Human Revolution at least twice; once in a "murder everyone" kind of way, and the second time pursuing the "ghost everything, kill nothing, on hardest difficulty" runthrough, which took a fair bit of resetting. Total of 75 hours. My first run-through of Mankind: Divided was 30 hours. Not bad at all for a game like this, and I'll definitely run through it again; I already noticed several elements that I clearly missed out on, like finding King Peng, and thinking that was weird, and then finding out WHY he was in the game later on, but not wanting to run all the way back to accomplish that errand.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Liking what I'm getting so far, but I have to admit I do not really get some of the background. Why exactly was Thai Yong Medical (they made and distributed the fucking chips of the incident, they even made the software afaik) able to buy Sarif? They should have been the prime target here. Are you telling me no one was able to link the mysterious emergency update that everyone had to get and that just happened to send them all into rage back to them? Also was is really Darrow that send the signal? I'm remembering these things quite differently, is this some revisionist history to fit the plot or is my memory really that bad?

[DarkAmbient]

Game is beautiful on PC. Just don't buy consoles, fixed.

The story is extremely boring so far though. I feel like Jensen doesn't have an actual stake in this, compared to HR. And the 'twists' are completely obvious as well, so I'm actually rating this lower than HR, even though some of my gripes with HR (like hacking) have had some major fixes in the right places.

Yeah, I watched some reviews and it looks much better on PC. No surprise there though.

I think I will buy this game, it looks good despite a few faults. I wish it still had that striking graphical presentation with the colour scheme like Human Revolution did. Not everyone liked it but it gave it an almost noir quality. It had a dark, moody futuristic vibe to it which seems to have been lost in Mankind Divided.

[Endus]

Yeah, I watched some reviews and it looks much better on PC. No surprise there though.

I think I will buy this game, it looks good despite a few faults. I wish it still had that striking graphical presentation with the colour scheme like Human Revolution did. Not everyone liked it but it gave it an almost noir quality. It had a dark, moody futuristic vibe to it which seems to have been lost in Mankind Divided.

It's not really "lost", I'd say. Wait till you hit Golem City. The big difference is that the main city hub(s) are in Prague, so there's a lot of century-old buildings (and older) mixed in among the new construction, which is exactly how development tends to work; that actually made it feel more like a real place, to me, than the settings of HR.

Also, later iterations of Prague get more "moody" pretty quick; you're sticking with those maps, but you've got two points where you leave the city for a major mission, and when you get backs, things have . . . evolved.

- - - Updated - - -

Liking what I'm getting so far, but I have to admit I do not really get some of the background. Why exactly was Thai Yong Medical (they made and distributed the fucking chips of the incident, they even made the software afaik) able to buy Sarif? They should have been the prime target here. Are you telling me no one was able to link the mysterious emergency update that everyone had to get and that just happened to send them all into rage back to them?

Part of the main story is that the Illuminati control the media, pretty completely, for reasons I won't get into for spoiler-y reasons, in MD. So the people know the story the Illuminati want them to know.

Also, Jensen was out of commission for months after the Incident, so he wasn't around to challenge that; it's a major plot point in MD, and something that occurred after the events of HR, so it's "new" info.

Also was is really Darrow that send the signal? I'm remembering these things quite differently, is this some revisionist history to fit the plot or is my memory really that bad?

It was always Darrow. You're remembering it differently for some reason.

[Medusa Cascade]

It has a shop...they obviously forgot that memory editing is a thing

[Endus]

I absolutely agree, HR was really good until the DLC, then it just started to decline. The end boss fight / rush in the DLC was the worst, and the Panchaea, I missed a lot of stuff there, because how it was played out.

So I beat HR and started Mankind Divided, but I've been slacking a bit, the game is really amazing though as far as I've played. They indeed seem to know what to do this time around, they learned a lot from HR. I won't be able to finish it before Legion though, even though I've heard it's not that long of a game..

My first run-through was 30 hours. While I'm sure you could speed-run it faster, I skipped through some levels (like Garm) rather than clearing them out completely. It's not like it's a 12-hour flash in the pan.

[sinilaid]

I stealthed past as much as possible but did all the quests and missions including bonus objectives and got about 21h according to Steam. Got the no kill achievement for it.

[WarpedAcorn]

I'm really enjoying it so far. I haven't progressed a lot through the main story, but I have been exploring Prague a lot and picking up side missions here and there. Either the ambient soundtrack, setting, visuals, or a combination of them all have actually calmed my natural "rush through it first" attitude and allowed me to sit back and take my time...which does not mean I am not playing every second I can. =)

My only complaint right now has nothing to do with the game, it has to do with how as I am walking around in the world I am wishing for a Shadowrun FPS-RPG like this. Like this is awesome, but what if that Weapons Dealer was a Troll, or instead of the Nanoblades you could upgrade your Cyberware for Microfilament Whips.

[Verdugo]

EDIT: Ok what the fuck was this all about, what were they thinking.



Just look at this shit.

[minteK917]

I kind of chuckle at the people whining we dont get to beat the illuminate.... theres a game about that, forgot the name of it.

[Deleted]

I'm 20 hours in now and it seems to be a great game. Unfortuantely, it is probably the buggiest game I've ever played.

[Verdugo]

I'm 20 hours in now and it seems to be a great game. Unfortuantely, it is probably the buggiest game I've ever played.

I thought you played Elder Scrolls games.

[Deleted]

Cash shop in a single player game? Back in my day cheating was free as long as you knew the codes =(

No one can stop you from using artmoney or cheat engine.

[minteK917]

Just finished it. Loved it. Love the setting, love that we see more characters from the original game involved. Its more exploration based like the original one. The one thing that kinda annoyed me in HR was how everything was too clean and too futuristic. This one is closer in line with the original game, a world falling apart. Human agumented are a mess, just like the world they live in is a mish mash of old world and new tech. This game gets it right. I guess HR had to happen for the world to start falling apart.

I guess all thats left now is a complete remake of the original but with todays technique. My god it would be amazing. Im thinking about Area 51, the airfield, submarine base and Hong Kong and jizzing myself. They could be expanded so much and be amazing set pieces. As long as you keep the story you can just renew everything else and it would def be worth it even for someone that played the game hundreds of times lol.