Deus Ex Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Rean]

Jensen rocks my cock!

 

[Rean]

Jensen:

Denton:

Codex: Noooo not my Denterinos that I grew up with nooooo

 

[Not.AI]

I feel that Invisible War is better than both HR and MD.

Agree.

IW was actually quite good, contrary what people like to say. Just console clunky.

Like Jade Empire around the same time.

 

[Yosharian]

I feel that Invisible War is better than both HR and MD.

Agree.

IW was actually quite good, contrary what people like to say. Just console clunky.

 

[Not.AI]

I feel that Invisible War is better than both HR and MD.

Agree.

IW was actually quite good, contrary what people like to say. Just console clunky.

I separate the console clunk - universal ammo and that sort of rubbish - from the amazing and immersive gameplay of vent exploration. No game has ever done better vent exploration. (Name one ...)

 

[Ninjerk]

I feel that Invisible War is better than both HR and MD.

Agree.

IW was actually quite good, contrary what people like to say. Just console clunky.

I separate the console clunk - universal ammo and that sort of rubbish - from the amazing and immersive gameplay of vent exploration. No game has ever done better vent exploration. (Name one ...)

sup drog

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I like the nu Deus Ex games and think they're kinda underrated.
Eidos is probably one of the most competent studios still around come to think of it. I have nothing bad to say about them.

 

[Inhabitants of Khorinis]

Jensen:

Denton:

Codex: Noooo not my Denterinos that I grew up with nooooo

That's cool and all, but JC's got better prank calls:

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

The best thing that can seriously be said about Invisible War is that it's not infinitely bad, but just mediocre with occasional glimpses of something vaguely good.

 

[Skinwalker]

Is Manchild Divided still heavily pushing that transhumans vs luddites oppression narrative?

 

[distant]

I like the nu Deus Ex games and think they're kinda underrated.
Eidos is probably one of the most competent studios still around come to think of it. I have nothing bad to say about them.

Agreed but aren't they also responsible for the Thief remake?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I like the nu Deus Ex games and think they're kinda underrated.
Eidos is probably one of the most competent studios still around come to think of it. I have nothing bad to say about them.

Agreed but aren't they also responsible for the Thief remake?

Thiaf was developed concurrently with MD.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Mankind Divided is better than Human Revolution, both are inferior to the original Deus Ex. Personally I feel that Invisible War is better than both HR and MD, but that's probably just my opinion, or something...

EDIT: None of these games are cRPGs, please move this thread.

Yeah, for all the shit Invisible Wars gets, I thought that game was vastly better than Human Revolution. I got Human Revolution like a year after it came out since I was hearing some good thing about it, (and it was cheap) but I thought it fucking sucked. Kind of came off like a weaker version of a Splinter Cell game. Maybe I'll try playing it again sometime, but I gave up somewhere during the first mission since I found the game so bad, and mostly just came away wishing I'd bought Shadows of the Damned instead.

For the most part it does have a nice aesthetic.

 

[Spukrian]

Yeah, for all the shit Invisible Wars gets, I thought that game was vastly better than Human Revolution. I got Human Revolution like a year after it came out since I was hearing some good thing about it, (and it was cheap) but I thought it fucking sucked. Kind of came off like a weaker version of a Splinter Cell game. Maybe I'll try playing it again sometime, but I gave up somewhere during the first mission since I found the game so bad

It is one of the few games that actually made me ragequit a couple of times.

 

[oklenny]

Invisible War is okay compared to RPGs lately but still pretty bad.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Invisible War and Human Revolution are both pretty mediocre. If HR had managed to maintain the quality of the first third of the game I would say it’s definitely better, but instead it takes on a progressively steeper nosedive. IW is a more consistently mediocre package which I would say gives it the edge.

 

[Ninjerk]

Invisible War and Human Revolution are both pretty mediocre. If HR had managed to maintain the quality of the first third of the game I would say it’s definitely better, but instead it takes on a progressively steeper nosedive. IW is a more consistently mediocre package which I would say gives it the edge.

Not to mention the

Spoiler

zombie subplot at the end

HR was a cynical cover-shooter/MGS3 derivative with this kind of "we want to be revolutionary but not offend anyone" underpinnings.

Invisible War was just... sigh.

It's shit, men. If you like it, you are too.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyone else skip right over IW because it looked like every other console-first shooter that was being crapped out in that time period?

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

Not to mention the

Spoiler

zombie subplot at the end

Yeah, that part had me doing some serious rubbernecking. The rest of the game actually does a decent job at slotting into Deus Ex canon, even if it's rather uninteresting and mostly just pussyfoots around the original's lore. And then they just go completely nuclear at the end with absolutely no regard for the setting's internal consistency. Very lulzy.

Anyone else skip right over IW because it looked like every other console-first shooter that was being crapped out in that time period?

I bought IW on release because I was hyped to have a Deus Ex sequel and the magnitude of the console decline had not yet set in for me. I tried to play it 3 or 4 times over the subsequent decade, but gave up after an hour or two; the only reason I ultimately did was because I ended up stranded in the Shetland Islands with no internet and my shitty travel laptop that happened to have it and not much else installed. My memory (a decade old at this point) is that it's not a particularly good game, but it's not a particularly egregious case of franchise rape provided you go into with the severely lowered expectations that any understanding of console memory limits will bring.

Curious as to your fondness for nuDX though. As stated, I haven't played MD, but based off my experience with HR it seems like an odd franchise to escape your misanthropy.

 

[Gargaune]

The best thing that can seriously be said about Invisible War is that it's not infinitely bad, but just mediocre with occasional glimpses of something vaguely good.

Invisible War was the biggest disappointment of my gaming career and I literally shelved it after the first half hour, but once I got bored some months later and gave it another go, I found it to be better than some other games at the time. It was a terrible Deus Ex, but not a terrible videogame taken on its own. Didn't have have the same reaction to Human Revolution - yeah, it definitely had problems, but I certainly felt like I was playing a Deus Ex game. And then I got to Mankind Divided and I felt like I was playing a good Deus Ex game.

As for the writing flaws in Eidos Montreal's DX titles, I just can't relate to this recurring topic - yes, the "Aug Incident" was so unbelievably stupid it tore a hole through HR and kept going right through MD, yes, the allegories were, uh, overambitious, yes, MD's plot is jarringly stunted even for a middle episode... And I never had time to give a crap. I usually care about plot in games, but whenever I'd start giving it some thought, the game would dangle a nice shiny vent in front of me and off I went. And MD's third DLC design was so good you could've slotted it right into the original DX without missing a beat.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Some people look for plot and meaning, others are happy with a... shiny vent.

 

[Gargaune]

Some people look for plot and meaning, others are happy with a... shiny vent.

 

[Not.AI]

Some people look for plot and meaning, others are happy with a... shiny vent.

(a) I liked the plot where both coffee companies aggressively competing are really ...

Spoiler

(SHOCK!!!) the one and the same company.

Or that the two "opposing" factions are actually fake opposition.

Spoiler

William Hazlitt pointed out long ago that is usually the case.

So some thought went into that game for sure.

As for the rest of the story, it's basically just the following.

(b) Nobody expects Alex Denton* when he pops out of a vent!

(I forgot the forgettable protagonist's name and had to google it.)

Turns out the way the world gets saved is by exploring each and every vent. When in doubt what to do, look for a vent, climb into it.

Branching storyline == pick which way to proceed in a vent. Left or right or up or down. There. Four different options. Four different ways to play the game. To get all story options, go back and select the other route.

 

[Not.AI]

WS says every game must have a deeper meaning, what it has to say, and he's right.

IW has a deeper message, for example. I think it is the following.

"Vents are what connect all the people in the world."

 

[gruntar]

Jensen:

Denton:

Codex: Noooo not my Denterinos that I grew up with nooooo

Adam Jensen is how a twelve year old boy would imagine how cool, tough grown up man should look, sound and behave. Super serious, Batman voice, metal arms, punches hookers in the face with full force. Typical head of security for a big corporation.

Nothing especially amazing about Denton, but he is believable as a genetically enhanced agent, and occasionally goofy voice acting makes him likeable for me.