Deus Ex Deus Ex

[Ash]

Finished Deus Ex yesterday, with GMDX 9. My first full run. A year ago I started playing it but something did not click and I abandonned the playthrough during Mission 4. This time I devoured the game in like 10 days.

What a glorious experience it has been. The variety of locations and quests, decent writing and hilarious voice acting... I especially liked the moments when I was wounded and out of ammo, hoping that I'm finally approaching the end of a mission... and then the game threw something else at me, like Walton Simmons on my return trip from the Ocean Lab. It was a difficult fight with like 10% of health and no way to regain at least some of it. But somehow, each time I managed to push through these obstacles without a need to resort to cheat codes. Feels good passing this willpower check.

Hey you could always just run away from Simons....unless you have no legs.

Now play again on Hardcore difficulty for the real deal.

I'm looking forward to the other parts of the franchise, even though from what I've read they are inferior to the first one.

Prepare for disappointment and soy.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I'm looking forward to the other parts of the franchise, even though from what I've read they are inferior to the first one.

Prepare for disappointment and soy.

Well, since then I completed Invisible War so I see what you mean. On the other hand I heard some good things about the prequels (Human Revolution and Mankind Divided) so maybe there is still hope.

 

[Nano]

I never did manage to finish Invisible War. It's shocking just how boring it is.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I never did manage to finish Invisible War. It's shocking just how boring it is.

Well, at least it was pretty short.

 

[JDR13]

Thinking about doing a Deus Ex run with GMDX. What's the difference between GMDX 9 and GMDX SRD?

 

[Lemming42]

Replayed through DX1 and DX:HR over the last few days and I forgot how weird HR is.

For a start, it's just odd how it copies the trajectory of the original game:
- Start in the ruined, crime-filled streets of an American urban centre
- Playing as a comically aloof man with a trenchcoat, slick black hair, and shades
- Working for a boss who's affable on the surface but clearly not quite right
- Fight against a terrorist group with despicable methods but potentially sympathetic motives (albeit far more sympathetic in the NSF's case)
- Have your best pal, who's a chopper pilot, fly you to a huge East Asian city
- Meet a treacherous wealthy woman, who looks and acts like a stereotypical Anna May Wong character, who is involved with the larger conspiracy and will soon betray you to attack you
- Discover that your parents were not your parents, and that you're super special, engineered to accept augs
etc.

I enjoyed replaying the game quite a lot, especially from a gameplay standpoint - the sticky cover kind of sucks but other than that it's a surprisingly faithful way to bring DX's gameplay into 2011. But the writing is just so strange. Putting aside the ways in which it confusingly apes DX1, I also have no fucking clue how this is all meant to fit together. This takes place like 7 years from the present day? And this takes place a few decades before DX1? How do they go from a situation where impoverished/working class people are being basically forced to get augs in HR, to a point where only the wealthy and people in the military are able to afford augs in DX1? Shouldn't most older poor people have defunct/shitty augs in DX1? How do mechs like Anna and Gunther fit in, when Jensen's augs were way better decades earlier? Doesn't add up at all and doesn't feel like the same setting.

Plus the game is oddly humourless. DX1 had a good story but it was also kind of trippy, filled with odd characters and larger-than-life situations, and didn't always take itself seriously. HR is comparatively dull and dour. Adam's a prick and his stoicism is never really played for laughs like JC's was, and the plot keeps devolving into melodrama, especially during all the big dialogue challenges where Adam spouts off a bunch of greeting-card-tier life advice to people on the brink of suicide.

Really liked the DLC which I've never played before. Enemies constantly reacting to how you approach things (the INTERPOL agent being like "ooh nobody saw you ooh nice stealth", the enemies being like "HE'S NOT KILLED ANYONE SO FAR, BUT THAT JUST MEANS HE'S EXTRA DANGEROUS!!", stuff like that) is great and makes it feel like the game actually cares about what you're doing in a way that most of DX1 and the rest of HR doesn't. Found the secret poison gas shutdown method as well, was absolutely amazed and delighted that the devs put such a thing in, especially when game devs usually love coming up with tough dichotomies and making you pick.

By the way, fuck Hugh Darrow, never wanted to kill a videogame character more. I just knifed him in the guts after he gave me the shutdown code. Only killed three people in the whole game - those two of Tong's thugs who are holding the woman hostage to force her to get augs, because fuck them, and Darrow, because fuck him.

I remember liking Mankind Divided but I can't seem to force myself to start playing it, even though I'm having a good time playing through the games. Weird.

 

[Sunsetspawn]

Since this seems to be reality now

Actually reality is some combination of 1, 3, and 4.

Spoiler

3 has the pharmaceutical conspiracy about preventing the population from having a cure for their rejection syndrome, and instead making them need constant doses of Neuropazine. FEMA camps for the impending aug crisis. Global warming is a scam for carbon credits, which are then used to fund a massive facility that will cause the aug crisis, I think. I don't know, I was replaying it on the 360 but then had the idea to get a hot rig to replay it in style so I made it to CHYNA and am about to restart.

Spoiler

4 has the whole auged/unauged as vaxxed/unvaxxed thing

And Alex Jones yelling on the radio, who had to fake his death years ago or something, but I think that last part was added in 4 after the Bill Hicks is Alex Jones rumors got started.

 

[Falksi]

Replayed through DX1 and DX:HR over the last few days and I forgot how weird HR is.

For a start, it's just odd how it copies the trajectory of the original game:
- Start in the ruined, crime-filled streets of an American urban centre
- Playing as a comically aloof man with a trenchcoat, slick black hair, and shades
- Working for a boss who's affable on the surface but clearly not quite right
- Fight against a terrorist group with despicable methods but potentially sympathetic motives (albeit far more sympathetic in the NSF's case)
- Have your best pal, who's a chopper pilot, fly you to a huge East Asian city
- Meet a treacherous wealthy woman, who looks and acts like a stereotypical Anna May Wong character, who is involved with the larger conspiracy and will soon betray you to attack you
- Discover that your parents were not your parents, and that you're super special, engineered to accept augs
etc.

I enjoyed replaying the game quite a lot, especially from a gameplay standpoint - the sticky cover kind of sucks but other than that it's a surprisingly faithful way to bring DX's gameplay into 2011. But the writing is just so strange. Putting aside the ways in which it confusingly apes DX1, I also have no fucking clue how this is all meant to fit together. This takes place like 7 years from the present day? And this takes place a few decades before DX1? How do they go from a situation where impoverished/working class people are being basically forced to get augs in HR, to a point where only the wealthy and people in the military are able to afford augs in DX1? Shouldn't most older poor people have defunct/shitty augs in DX1? How do mechs like Anna and Gunther fit in, when Jensen's augs were way better decades earlier? Doesn't add up at all and doesn't feel like the same setting.

Plus the game is oddly humourless. DX1 had a good story but it was also kind of trippy, filled with odd characters and larger-than-life situations, and didn't always take itself seriously. HR is comparatively dull and dour. Adam's a prick and his stoicism is never really played for laughs like JC's was, and the plot keeps devolving into melodrama, especially during all the big dialogue challenges where Adam spouts off a bunch of greeting-card-tier life advice to people on the brink of suicide.

Really liked the DLC which I've never played before. Enemies constantly reacting to how you approach things (the INTERPOL agent being like "ooh nobody saw you ooh nice stealth", the enemies being like "HE'S NOT KILLED ANYONE SO FAR, BUT THAT JUST MEANS HE'S EXTRA DANGEROUS!!", stuff like that) is great and makes it feel like the game actually cares about what you're doing in a way that most of DX1 and the rest of HR doesn't. Found the secret poison gas shutdown method as well, was absolutely amazed and delighted that the devs put such a thing in, especially when game devs usually love coming up with tough dichotomies and making you pick.

By the way, fuck Hugh Darrow, never wanted to kill a videogame character more. I just knifed him in the guts after he gave me the shutdown code. Only killed three people in the whole game - those two of Tong's thugs who are holding the woman hostage to force her to get augs, because fuck them, and Darrow, because fuck him.

I remember liking Mankind Divided but I can't seem to force myself to start playing it, even though I'm having a good time playing through the games. Weird.

HR's characters and atmosphere carried it a long way for me. Both were just interesting and absorbing.

MD did fuck all for me. Too much open world bullshit and too much daylight normality.

The original Deus Ex pisses all over both of them from a great height though. Fucking God tier stuff.

 

[JDR13]

Deus Ex is absolutely still the best game in the series.

I liked Mankind Divided more than HR though despite the forgettable story. MK actually had decent exploration where HR felt claustrophobic and on rails by comparison.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

For a start, it's just odd how it copies the trajectory of the original game:
- Start in the ruined, crime-filled streets of an American urban centre
- Playing as a comically aloof man with a trenchcoat, slick black hair, and shades
- Working for a boss who's affable on the surface but clearly not quite right
- Fight against a terrorist group with despicable methods but potentially sympathetic motives (albeit far more sympathetic in the NSF's case)
- Have your best pal, who's a chopper pilot, fly you to a huge East Asian city
- Meet a treacherous wealthy woman, who looks and acts like a stereotypical Anna May Wong character, who is involved with the larger conspiracy and will soon betray you to attack you
- Discover that your parents were not your parents, and that you're super special, engineered to accept augs
etc.

DX:HR even has one mission taking you to Montreal, which was intended to include a neighborhood that had to be cut for reasons of time and resources, mirroring the Paris section of original Deus Ex with its ultra-small neighborhood due to similar constraints.

 

[Spukrian]

Trigger the Codex with a statement: Invisible War is miles better than HR and MD. I like to replay IW every couple of years but I don't think I would ever replay HR and MD.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Trigger the Codex with a statement: Invisible War is miles better than HR and MD. I like to replay IW every couple of years but I don't think I would ever replay HR and MD.

Ok, but it's too low quality bait to trigger anyone! 4/10, next time try harder!

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Revision was officially endorsed by Square Enix.

 

[Gargaune]

For a start, it's just odd how it copies the trajectory of the original game:

It's not that odd if you see the Jensen series for what it is - a soft reboot rather than a direct prequel. After how Invisible War bombed with DX dans, Eidos Montreal wanted to secure their new vision with a massive dose of familiarity.

But the writing is just so strange. Putting aside the ways in which it confusingly apes DX1, I also have no fucking clue how this is all meant to fit together. This takes place like 7 years from the present day? And this takes place a few decades before DX1? How do they go from a situation where impoverished/working class people are being basically forced to get augs in HR, to a point where only the wealthy and people in the military are able to afford augs in DX1? Shouldn't most older poor people have defunct/shitty augs in DX1? How do mechs like Anna and Gunther fit in, when Jensen's augs were way better decades earlier? Doesn't add up at all and doesn't feel like the same setting.

This is just a limitation of how near-future fiction works, the real present eventually catches up and invariably turns it into alternative history or retrofuturism. The Jensen series was necessarily boxed into DX's past because Invisible War directly continued the plot too far into the future and messed it up, to boot, and at the same time, EM wanted to have enough distance from Deus Ex to do their own thing, rather than have you, for example, play Paul in the lead up to JC's story. And because the original title worked on how people at the end of the '90s thought the 2050s might look like, the new developers had to haphazardly bridge the gap between that vision and how our world has developed in the past twenty years, which was necessarily going to introduce some inconsistency.

As for the augmentation technology, EM put their own spin on the matter of augmentations as an expression of dehumanisation, favouring runaway consumerism and decadence over the original's high-stakes labour market pressures. It's an interesting take, though not as compelling in concept or execution as DX1's and it does jar that way. You'll note they do try to discreetly walk it back a bit in Mankind Divided, though it'd still put a lot of pressure on a hypothetical third installment to explain A to B.

In general, I think EM did a decent job with the worldbuilding in their soft reboot, with one major exception - the "Aug Incident", which was exceptionally stupid in HR and kept paying dividends in MD, providing a very brittle ground to build on. It's clear they planned to reconcile the aug-frenzy of their 2030s with the rarer, specialised use of the tech in the 2050s, but they should've found other rationales for their regulatory and public perception circumstances, or factored in economic and technological developments, anything other than having some technobabble zombie virus wreak havoc.

 

[Maggot]

Trigger the Codex with a statement: Invisible War is miles better than HR and MD. I like to replay IW every couple of years but I don't think I would ever replay HR and MD.

It might be ugly as fuck and dumbed down with tiny levels, but it still feels more like a Deus Ex game than Eidos Montreal's games which really just want to be some sort of anime cyberpunk game with the Deus Ex name slapped on top. And you can do this:

 

[antimeridian]

Adam's a prick and his stoicism is never really played for laughs like JC's was, and the plot keeps devolving into melodrama, especially during all the big dialogue challenges where Adam spouts off a bunch of greeting-card-tier life advice to people on the brink of suicide.

Adam is no JC, but I did always find these parts hilarious. My favorite Adam detail is the little bits of lore you can find in his apartment building that imply building management won't replace his bathroom mirror anymore because he keeps breaking it. Fucking comedy gold

It's not that odd if you see the Jensen series for what it is - a soft reboot rather than a direct prequel. After how Invisible War bombed with DX dans, Eidos Montreal wanted to secure their new vision with a massive dose of familiarity.

This is just a limitation of how near-future fiction works, the real present eventually catches up and invariably turns it into alternative history or retrofuturism. The Jensen series was necessarily boxed into DX's past because Invisible War directly continued the plot too far into the future and messed it up, to boot, and at the same time, EM wanted to have enough distance from Deus Ex to do their own thing, rather than have you, for example, play Paul in the lead up to JC's story. And because the original title worked on how people at the end of the '90s thought the 2050s might look like, the new developers had to haphazardly bridge the gap between that vision and how our world has developed in the past twenty years, which was necessarily going to introduce some inconsistency.

Agreed. Great example of something similar was the film Prometheus, with visual design and tech way ahead of what was seen in Alien despite being a prequel. I respect the devs for trying to create their own world and style instead of directly aping the original game (usually not a successful move). The world and atmosphere of HR certainly can't live up to the original game, but it still has its moments.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I've started a new playthrough of my own. About 8 hours in. Game is even more relevant than it was the last time I played it (~7 years ago).

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Replayed through DX1 and DX:HR over the last few days and I forgot how weird HR is.

For a start, it's just odd how it copies the trajectory of the original game:
- Start in the ruined, crime-filled streets of an American urban centre
- Playing as a comically aloof man with a trenchcoat, slick black hair, and shades
- Working for a boss who's affable on the surface but clearly not quite right
- Fight against a terrorist group with despicable methods but potentially sympathetic motives (albeit far more sympathetic in the NSF's case)
- Have your best pal, who's a chopper pilot, fly you to a huge East Asian city
- Meet a treacherous wealthy woman, who looks and acts like a stereotypical Anna May Wong character, who is involved with the larger conspiracy and will soon betray you to attack you
- Discover that your parents were not your parents, and that you're super special, engineered to accept augs
etc.

I enjoyed replaying the game quite a lot, especially from a gameplay standpoint - the sticky cover kind of sucks but other than that it's a surprisingly faithful way to bring DX's gameplay into 2011. But the writing is just so strange. Putting aside the ways in which it confusingly apes DX1, I also have no fucking clue how this is all meant to fit together. This takes place like 7 years from the present day? And this takes place a few decades before DX1? How do they go from a situation where impoverished/working class people are being basically forced to get augs in HR, to a point where only the wealthy and people in the military are able to afford augs in DX1? Shouldn't most older poor people have defunct/shitty augs in DX1? How do mechs like Anna and Gunther fit in, when Jensen's augs were way better decades earlier? Doesn't add up at all and doesn't feel like the same setting.

Plus the game is oddly humourless. DX1 had a good story but it was also kind of trippy, filled with odd characters and larger-than-life situations, and didn't always take itself seriously. HR is comparatively dull and dour. Adam's a prick and his stoicism is never really played for laughs like JC's was, and the plot keeps devolving into melodrama, especially during all the big dialogue challenges where Adam spouts off a bunch of greeting-card-tier life advice to people on the brink of suicide.

Really liked the DLC which I've never played before. Enemies constantly reacting to how you approach things (the INTERPOL agent being like "ooh nobody saw you ooh nice stealth", the enemies being like "HE'S NOT KILLED ANYONE SO FAR, BUT THAT JUST MEANS HE'S EXTRA DANGEROUS!!", stuff like that) is great and makes it feel like the game actually cares about what you're doing in a way that most of DX1 and the rest of HR doesn't. Found the secret poison gas shutdown method as well, was absolutely amazed and delighted that the devs put such a thing in, especially when game devs usually love coming up with tough dichotomies and making you pick.

By the way, fuck Hugh Darrow, never wanted to kill a videogame character more. I just knifed him in the guts after he gave me the shutdown code. Only killed three people in the whole game - those two of Tong's thugs who are holding the woman hostage to force her to get augs, because fuck them, and Darrow, because fuck him.

I remember liking Mankind Divided but I can't seem to force myself to start playing it, even though I'm having a good time playing through the games. Weird.

More to your point about the writing, one thing that is exceedingly odd but hard to put your finger on at first is how strange the people behave. Cops that don't act like cops. Body language that doesn't what is being said, or the age of the person in question. People with nonsensical motives. It's all very amateurish imo.

 

[Nano]

I've started a new playthrough of my own. About 8 hours in. Game is even more relevant than it was the last time I played it (~7 years ago).

That's how cyberpunk fiction generally is. It becomes more relevant with time as the world slides deeper and deeper into dystopia.

 

[J1M]

Adam's a prick and his stoicism is never really played for laughs like JC's was, and the plot keeps devolving into melodrama, especially during all the big dialogue challenges where Adam spouts off a bunch of greeting-card-tier life advice to people on the brink of suicide.

Adam is no JC, but I did always find these parts hilarious. My favorite Adam detail is the little bits of lore you can find in his apartment building that imply building management won't replace his bathroom mirror anymore because he keeps breaking it. Fucking comedy gold

It's not that odd if you see the Jensen series for what it is - a soft reboot rather than a direct prequel. After how Invisible War bombed with DX dans, Eidos Montreal wanted to secure their new vision with a massive dose of familiarity.

This is just a limitation of how near-future fiction works, the real present eventually catches up and invariably turns it into alternative history or retrofuturism. The Jensen series was necessarily boxed into DX's past because Invisible War directly continued the plot too far into the future and messed it up, to boot, and at the same time, EM wanted to have enough distance from Deus Ex to do their own thing, rather than have you, for example, play Paul in the lead up to JC's story. And because the original title worked on how people at the end of the '90s thought the 2050s might look like, the new developers had to haphazardly bridge the gap between that vision and how our world has developed in the past twenty years, which was necessarily going to introduce some inconsistency.

Agreed. Great example of something similar was the film Prometheus, with visual design and tech way ahead of what was seen in Alien despite being a prequel. I respect the devs for trying to create their own world and style instead of directly aping the original game (usually not a successful move). The world and atmosphere of HR certainly can't live up to the original game, but it still has its moments.

The mirror thing is just a joke about the engine being unable to render to a surface.

 

[JDR13]

So... since no one answered my previous question... what is the absolute best version of GMDX?

Pros and cons of v9.0 vs v10

 

[ZagorTeNej]

I enjoyed replaying the game quite a lot, especially from a gameplay standpoint - the sticky cover kind of sucks but other than that it's a surprisingly faithful way to bring DX's gameplay into 2011.

Nah, HR is designed to be played as console cover stealth game/shooter. It's why you have no leaning, shadows, why Jensen is not mobile and is fragile as tissue paper, why he has default health regen etc. Furthermore level design doesn't lend itself to use of weapons like sniper rifle (which was the weapon in the original DX) because they're smaller and feel gamey and formulaic (you'll have ways A, B and C right to pass the obstacly right next to each other).

Now Dishonored plays like first DX despite a much different setting, it's an immersive sim focused on a FP perspective and creative use of powers/augs. DX HR simply doesn't, it's a different game that doesn't leave much space for any type of creative gameplay.

 

[Jaedar]

So... since no one answered my previous question... what is the absolute best version of GMDX?

Pros and cons of v9.0 vs v10

I assume the latest one, but the fact that you're asking suggests there's some controversy. Was v10 the one made by butthurt community modders? If so go with v9. If v10 was made by RosoDude, I suspect it's a pretty faithful to the gmdx vision.

 

[HansDampf]

So... since no one answered my previous question... what is the absolute best version of GMDX?

Pros and cons of v9.0 vs v10

Wait... Is v10 the "Community Edition" and not RoSoDude 's fork? I wouldn't trust the "community" to make a faithful continuation of GMDX. Either install v9.0 or RSD edition with even more qol features (which I have yet to play). Ash stopped working on GMDX after v9.0 but approves pretty much all of RoSoDude's additions.

 

[Spukrian]

It might be ugly as fuck and dumbed down with tiny levels, but it still feels more like a Deus Ex game than Eidos Montreal's games which really just want to be some sort of anime cyberpunk game with the Deus Ex name slapped on top. And you can do this:

I made a pile of dead adults in the school actually and shot one of the corpses in the leg with the Hellfire Boltcaster... the flame spread from corpse to corpse and it was glorious!