Deus Ex: Human Revolution... Why do we care ?

defiante1

New member
Nov 9, 2010
46
0
0
As anyone who doesn't live in a hole should know, the new Deus Ex game is well on its way to coming out and will be with us soon. The marketing power of Square Enix is well at work at creating a buzz for it too but we have to ask ourselves... should we really care at all ?

The first Deus Ex admittedly was a great game but it was made over a full decade ago, not to mention developed by a different company. Ion Storm. Since then we had a sequel that was pretty generic and ruined the unique nature and ground breaking RPG advances of the first.

So why should we be excited for a game, made by different people in a series that stopped being relevant or good ages ago ? There is no reason to belive anything will be done right in this, especially since the dreaded Square Enix is controlling a large portion of it. A company that doesn't need that infamous exploits listed. Although their recent MMO is one example of their bad work.

The game also has a massively overt cliche nature to it, the main protagonist drinks whiskey, smokes and talks with the gravelly voice of Batman. Although it smacks more of Eric Cartman from South Parks "Coon" episodes than Batman. Posing massively with this whole flight of Icarus type metaphor they have going with him, with build in sunglasses to his eyes and so forth. Screams of trying to hard and over compensating.

Squire Enix's influence can also be felt with the huge anime styled nature of the visuals the game has provided so far. Something that the first game never had although the second toyed with and failed miserably. Everything from sexualized females to ridiculous story writing attempts that while may work in Japanese culture, rarely translate into a Western idea of a story. Something that can be seen in most JRPGs. Squire Enix has also announced that it will not be related to the previous Deus Ex games in any way story wise save for basic universe.

So with all these terrible omens to take note off, should we really be anything more than optimistic about it ? A series that stopped being decent 10 years ago and died 7 years ago with its first sequel. Are we really thinking with our brains or just ramped up sentimentalism and "old school" dreams ?

Or are the masses just marching towards the marketings red flag, eating up the goo like Fallout New Vegas. Only to realize that once the shine has worn off they have been duped.
 

Kahunaburger

New member
May 6, 2011
4,141
0
0
defiante1 said:
The game also has a massively overt cliche nature to it, the main protagonist drinks whiskey, smokes and talks with the gravelly voice of Batman. Although it smacks more of Eric Cartman from South Parks "Coon" episodes than Batman. Posing massively with this whole flight of Icarus type metaphor they have going with him, with build in sunglasses to his eyes and so forth. Screams of trying to hard and over compensating.
That's cyberpunk. And built-in sunglasses go all the way to the beginning with Molly Millions. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropesAreTools?from=Main.TropesAreNotBad
 

Sixcess

New member
Feb 27, 2010
2,719
0
0
defiante1 said:
Squire Enix's influence can also be felt with the huge anime styled nature of the visuals the game has provided so far. Something that the first game never had although the second toyed with and failed miserably. Everything from sexualized females to ridiculous story writing attempts that while may work in Japanese culture, rarely translate into a Western idea of a story. Something that can be seen in most JRPGs. Squire Enix has also announced that it will not be related to the previous Deus Ex games in any way story wise save for basic universe.
Cyberpunk as a genre has always had japanese influences. Besides what I've seen of DE: HR looks more like Bladerunner than Final Fantasy.

Best case scenario: it's Deus Ex, with the depth and sophistication of its legendary predecessor combined with current gen visuals and production standards - in which case it's GOTY material. Whether or not it'll live up to that remains to be seen, but everything I've seen and read so far makes me think it's going to be good.
 

ChildofGallifrey

New member
May 26, 2008
1,095
0
0
Because it's a new Deus Ex Game. In a series that contains one unarguable classic and one meh follow up, I don't think we're right to be judging on its pedigree. The whiskey and voice and that stuff you mentioned is just to make it more accessible to the frat boy crowd who'd probably stay away if the main character didn't sound like Steve Blum first thing in the morning. It's a business decision.

From what previews have been saying, the story and gameplay are top notch, so I'm going to reserve my complaining for when I've, y'know, actually played the damn thing.
 

defiante1

New member
Nov 9, 2010
46
0
0
Yes ill admit it has some cyberpunk trends sure, but it is also heavilly mixed with anime. The arms scream of them far more than Cyberpunk. The whole thing looks far to slick in most cases and modernised to be real cyberpunk, they say the arts style is cyber renaissance, a mix of near future and renaissance.

In the screenshots though ive yet to see anything that isnt slick modern Ipon like tech or any background that hasnt looked like modern Tokyo. I really fail to see any industrial type cyberpunk or even anything that has a more... improvised look to it. The tech looks bland and typical of most animes that involes giant robots or what have you, such as armoured core. Giant robots look far to slick and modern to be steam punk.

Again though merely proves my point, the game has gone a very japanese heavy route that the origional classic did not have. FF X was another game they went the steam punk route with in a lot of stuff, that was hardly remembered for its greatness.

As for we shouldnt judge it on its Pedigree... people are ? Trailers reveal very little save game play that looks a bit easy and unchallenging, a few basic power ups making a mockery of the defenses. And some poserish images of a character who seems to have no origional notes. Really cant hold out much hope on the story front either since its Square Enix for crying out loud, they havent delivered a decent story in such a long time.

People are raving about this game mainly becuase of the origional classic, when it has little or nothing to do with it. Made by differant people, differant art style, differant cultural background... 11 years since the first. Considering SE background I dont see any reason to be hopeful at all, they have rarely if ever handled a series well. Especially one that came from a western background.

All im saying is dont judge it by its pedigree, it has none. Its not connected to the first in any way save by name, which it barely earns.

Also pandering to certain crowds is a great way to ruin a games story. Bulletstorm showed us that to name a recent example. Running a story by what makes good "business sense" rather than what makes good writting... yeah, not holding up much hope.
 

StriderShinryu

New member
Dec 8, 2009
4,987
0
0
You do realize that Square us just publishing the game, right? They're not actually the ones making it (it;s being made by Eido's Montreal branch).
 

ShadowFighter15

New member
Jul 11, 2009
25
0
0
Just need to correct you on one major thing you're misunderstanding. Square Enix aren't developing Human Revolution; they're publishing it. They're just fronting the cash, it's Eidos Montreal that are doing the coding. Sure, Eidos is a subsidiary of Square now, it wasn't always and just because Square owns Eidos now, doesn't mean they've populated the Eidos offices with their own employees flown over from Japan.

What's more; Eidos were the publishers of the first Deus Ex and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the Deus Ex design team are working for them now that Ion Storm is out of business. So in one form or another, the new game is being made by people who've been working with the series from day one.

Also, in your first post, you mentioned that it wouldn't be tied to the earlier games except by the general setting. That's blatantly false if you took the time to look at the game's wikipedia article. It's been mentioned numerous times in the media that Human Revolution is a prequel - events in the game will show how people and organisations in the first game came to be. We'll be seeing the founding of UNATCO, maybe the bombing of the Statue of Liberty as well.

Also, the cyber-Renaissance thing is a bit more subtle than you might think. Go back and have a look at trailers that showed soldiers in body armour. Notice the high collars? That was common in fashion and armour during the Renaissance. The office of Sarif Industries' CEO? The leather chairs, the globe, the rich mahogany desk? More Renaissance influence. They're not trying to beat you over the face with it so you might not notice it til someone points it out to you (I didn't).

And in my book - the original game's only failing was the graphics and that can be forgiven considering when it came out. The gameplay is still top-notch.

And one last thing related to the main character's built-in sunglasses. Now this is my own personal take on it and the game may prove me wrong, but hear me out. We know that all of the implants Jensen gets are military-grade. Now if his eyes (assuming both are cybernetic) are as advanced as I've been led to believe, then he wouldn't need sunglasses at all - he can just turn down the sensitivity of his eyes. So why have them? Maybe those new eyes aren't much tougher than normal human eyeballs? Now imagine the sort of conditions these implants were designed to be put into - battlefields with mud, dirt and god-knows what else being thrown around. The obvious solution to that is to wear some sort of eye protection so that you're not trying to get dirt out of your eyes at the wrong time. And mechanical eyes? Who knows what sort of maintenance those things'd need and it'd be quite easy to lose or forget your goggles or whatever when artillery shells or snipers are trying to turn you into a heavily-augmented corpse. The solution? Build the eye protection right into the head while you're putting the eyes in.

Plus imagine how kick-ass they'd be to have in a poker tournament! :p
 

hem dazon 90

New member
Aug 12, 2008
837
0
0
Kahunaburger said:
defiante1 said:
The game also has a massively overt cliche nature to it, the main protagonist drinks whiskey, smokes and talks with the gravelly voice of Batman. Although it smacks more of Eric Cartman from South Parks "Coon" episodes than Batman. Posing massively with this whole flight of Icarus type metaphor they have going with him, with build in sunglasses to his eyes and so forth. Screams of trying to hard and over compensating.
That's cyberpunk. And built-in sunglasses go all the way to the beginning with Molly Millions. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropesAreTools?from=Main.TropesAreNotBad

Cyberpunk needs to innovate though. The last truly great cyberpunk novel was River of Gods[i/] And you know why that was? It took place in India, a place no western novel ever tries to explore and it did it very well. we need more innovative cyberpunk works like that.
 

Smooth Operator

New member
Oct 5, 2010
8,162
0
0
Should we care, if you want a good experience then leave your expectations blank, or even lower them.

I did, after I saw all the gameplay footage, they obviously targeted this at the casual audience which just isn't me, but hey they want to make money and I'll go find a better game.
 

ultrachicken

New member
Dec 22, 2009
4,303
0
0
Gravelly voice? Not really. As for the whiskey and cigarettes, is that really enough to put you off of a game?

The game looks good. That's all that matters.
 

LordRoyal

New member
May 13, 2011
403
0
0
I personally don't plan on buying Human Revolution on release.

A few weeks later? Sure but not for full price. It doesnt seem like it contains the same depth as the original. Not nearly.
 

Sacman

Don't Bend! Ascend!
May 15, 2008
22,661
0
0
Well I care because it's promising to be a proper successor to one of the greatest games of all time... I still think it's gonna suck though mostly because it's made for consoles which was Invisible Wars major downfall, pandering to consoles... also I don't trust the dev team with a Deus Ex game... I wouldn't even trust it if they had the entire original staff and was being released as an independent game with billions of dollars behind it...

A lot of you're points are rather well completely wrong... for one Deus Ex isn't being developed by Square only published, secondly anything you say about the aesthetic can be boiled down to subjective taste, meaning that part can be ignored as a personal opinion... but I want to pick on it some more, for one, saying, "it is anime inspired." isn't a bad thing. Especially since, within Cyberpunk anime has taken some of the largest steps in innovation with not only aesthetics but in story telling and defining just what cyberpunk is... secondly, it was more or less inspired by Blade Runner and renaissance style art... I never heard anyone on the staff say, "lol, we totally ripped that shit out of Akira." and it shows, there are major differences between western depictions of cyberpunk and eastern, in a visual medium anyway...

also how the character is depicted in a CG trailer really doesn't define the character especially in a game like Deus Ex where the character is typically defined by the players actions... and complaining about an aspect that to my knowledge has barely been touched upon in any trailer or interview is just ignorant...
 

NathLines

New member
May 23, 2010
689
0
0
I've heard a lot of good things about Deus Ex, but I was just too young back when it came out. Now I can't get in to it. I'm hoping this will be a worthy sequel that can finally introduce me to Deus Ex.

And what's wrong with it looking Japanese?
 

DirgeNovak

I'm anticipating DmC. Flame me.
Jul 23, 2008
1,645
0
0
Because it looks awesome. Why else? I discovered the first game way too late for it to be really enjoyable for me, but I still liked the concept of the game, even if it's barely playable by today's standards. HR looks like it takes the first game's basic concept and elevates it to today's standards of quality.

So I preordered it months ago.
 

thirdsonsaburo

New member
Apr 10, 2010
169
0
0
Using the publisher (not the actual developer) of the game to judge it based on your problem with the JRPG "genre" isn't particularly fair to the game. This sounds a bit reactionary and more than a bit skewed in terms of judgment.