Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Since no one else seems to have made a thread about DE:MD, here it is. Post your opinions, thoughts or questions regarding the game.

I'll start by saying that I just finished the game, clocking in at 22 hours, knowing I've missed a few side quests and some optional, non-quest content. Overall I liked the freedom the game offered, from the multiple ways to approach the story missions to the way you can traverse Prague and find interesting things. It certainly offers more routes and options than Human Revolution did and I'd dare say it approaches the original Deus Ex in terms of player freedom to take on the scenarios presented.

Spoiler: End Game Spoiler

I was also a bit amused that the final boss could be defeated as if he was a regular exoskeleton equipped enemy. I cloaked, stunned him and clocked him out in under 5 seconds after spending some 5 minutes disabling all the security systems. I am not sure if I am more disappointed or amused with that.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

I will be playing it soon. im waiting they fix before i buy. many people complain on steam about unoptimization.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Spoiler: End Game Spoiler

I was also a bit amused that the final boss could be defeated as if he was a regular exoskeleton equipped enemy. I cloaked, stunned him and clocked him out in under 5 seconds after spending some 5 minutes disabling all the security systems. I am not sure if I am more disappointed or amused with that.

Spoiler: All the spoilers

Yeah, I did the exact same thing. I get what you mean, but I prefer this over the bosses you had to kill in Human Revolution. In the pacifist achievement (which I got) it states "Bosses are people, too.".
Did you manage to save the delegates and stop the bombing as well?

I actually had to reload the game before that, when you have to take out 11 guards. One of them went "hostile" as I took him out in melee, which triggered the boss fight. I thought it was a scripted event that happened when you took out X amount of guards and couldn't make sense of it.

I spent 34 hours and missed only a few things, apart from whatever secret achievements there are.
Apparently you can give Kohler the device he asks for, before him asking for it, which should allow you to use experimental mods way earlier (at least I think it does, otherwise it makes no sense to do so). I avoided them altogether until that point, since I needed most things anyway.

One more question: On the "Fork in the Road" where you have to choose between the bank and saving the bomb-maker, which did you choose and do you know whether it's possible to do both, like it is with the end-objective?

Spoiler: Spoilers ahoy

Yeah, I managed to save the delegates and stop the bombings. I reckoned that since I had gotten a bomb jammer from the bomb maker (so yeah, went for the bomb maker), that I should stop the delegates from being poisoned. Turned out to be the right call. I believe that had I gone with the Versalife vault, the choice should have been made the other way around.

I am currently contemplating if I want to do a new game+ to go super stealth for realz or a fresh new game with more combat focus.

Did you get all the keycards for the Bank Vaults? I got Tai Yong and Picus, but failed to find Tarvos keycard.

Plus why all but one of the evil conspirators are white men? Going in real world logic (as much as it can considering the setting), if the illuminaty exists Hillary should definately earned a spot, and the game makes great deal of China's influence, wouldn't it make sense to have at least some asian members?

Technically, 2 are not white men. 1 is Morgan Everett, a black man, and 1 is an unknown, white woman. To answer your question, it is a left over from the original Deus Ex, since all the (currently named) conspirators in Mankind Divided are characters that had prominent positions in Deus Ex, like Joseph Manderley and Bob Page.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Can't quote from fear of spoilers, but for a world spanning organization it wouldn't raise eyes eyebrows if they had more than 10 leaders, since now it just seems illogical considering how currently the world looks. It doesn't help a lot of the illuminaty theories are spread from antisemitical ideas.

Once again, Deus Ex has already set the board for Mankind Divided. The people running the Illuminati were named in the original Deus Ex, which means that MD can't do much if it wishes to remain true to lore (and if it wasn't, Eidos would never hear the end of it). I mean, I sort of agree with the criticism about lack of diversity, but it is to be expected from a computer game that was written almost two decades ago.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Plus why all but one of the evil conspirators are white men? Going in real world logic (as much as it can considering the setting), if the illuminaty exists Hillary should definately earned a spot, and the game makes great deal of China's influence, wouldn't it make sense to have at least some asian members?

Technically, 2 are not white men. 1 is Morgan Everett, a black man, and 1 is an unknown, white woman. To answer your question, it is a left over from the original Deus Ex, since all the (currently named) conspirators in Mankind Divided are characters that had prominent positions in Deus Ex, like Joseph Manderley and Bob Page.

The Woman is Beth Duclare, mother of Nicollette Duclare. She died the same Year JC Denton joined UNATCO in OG Deus Ex. Also, don't forget Zhao from Human Revolution. She was head of Thai Yong Medical and one of the primary antagonists of the game.

 

[balladbird]

Plus why all but one of the evil conspirators are white men? Going in real world logic (as much as it can considering the setting), if the illuminaty exists Hillary should definately earned a spot, and the game makes great deal of China's influence, wouldn't it make sense to have at least some asian members?

The conspiracy is larger than those members shown, they're just the highest order of the Illuminati, most of whom are carried over from the original Deus Ex.

Given the name of the organization, it likely originated in Bavaria or somewhere else in Europe, so the homogeneous nature of the top ranks is somewhat justified.

It's been a few years since I last played HR, but as I recall, wasn't the last head of Tai Yong medical a member?


As to this game: just beat it last night. Didn't keep close tabs on the time spent, but no way it was less than 30 hours, and I didn't follow a guide, so no idea if I got all the side quests, but I certainly played as many as I could!

Awesome gameplay, fun enough story, if a little hamfisted in its message from time to time. Like, the divide itself makes sense enough. The normies are right to fear the augmented, because, well, they inadvertently killed a few million people a couple years ago, and the augmented are right to take issue with how they deal with this fear, since they didn't choose to do what was done, and the measures taken against them were pretty... extreme.

That said, it feels like the conflict here would make more sense if it was a story about, say, a matrix-style "robots gain sentience" subplot, rather than an augmented humans subplot. I remember exploring the hub city and finding graffiti on a wall that read "Wrenches are tools, not people!" and that message really sent home how... "off" this conflict is with augmented humans rather than robots... I buy that people need no help hating each other for stupid reasons. We've made that into an art, really. Still, perhaps I'm a naive idealist, but I'd like to think that if I ever lost my arm in an accident, and needed to replace it with a prosthesis, a majority of people wouldn't suddenly doubt my humanity because of it. xD

The first mission had me afraid the game had shifted genres into yet another military FPS, but that fear did eventually prove unfounded. Sad we didn't see Detroit again, and the lack of Pritchard was criminal, but I liked basically everything else about the game. The cassie mod is actually useful now, and only one boss couldn't be talked down.

Ending was abrupt as hell, though... I liked that they had Elisa's last news broadcast cover the results of your actions and decisions, it actually gave the game a bit of closure, which is more than can be said of Human Revolution, but still. This was clearly the second chapter in a trilogy, and the satisfaction of reaching its climax was hampered a little bit by how much the game wanted to build up its sequel.

I'm going on not much sleep, and my thoughts and words feel a little murky... I may come back to this post later and clean it up some. XD

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

Spoiler: Spoilers ahoy

Yeah, I managed to save the delegates and stop the bombings. I reckoned that since I had gotten a bomb jammer from the bomb maker (so yeah, went for the bomb maker), that I should stop the delegates from being poisoned. Turned out to be the right call. I believe that had I gone with the Versalife vault, the choice should have been made the other way around.

I am currently contemplating if I want to do a new game+ to go super stealth for realz or a fresh new game with more combat focus.

Did you get all the keycards for the Bank Vaults? I got Tai Yong and Picus, but failed to find Tarvos keycard.

Spoiler: Spoilerific

I chose to break into the bank (again), giving me an antidote to Orchid. I never got to use it, but it's possible to save Jim with it (there's a cheeve for it), though I never got the option to as far as I know, nor was it obvious that you were supposed to, since he isn't augmented.
[...]
Did you find Kohler dead as well? I didn't get a single line of explanation or dialogue for that, nor any mention at the end of it. It seems like something broke there as well.
Also, did you get a side mission (possible a POI) for your neighbor to stop a serial killer? Apparently through a detective?
I saw somewhere that, that's supposed to happen, but I never got the option. I just surveyed the crime scene in the alley and then that was done without any explanation.

Spoiler: Spoilers fired!

Jim seems to have survived in my playthrough. I found him wounded in the kitchen area, but nothing indicates that he was dying or died later on. If anything, he seems to have been shot or beaten. I also revisited Kohler just prior to the last mission and he was still alive at the time.

I did get the side mission, though I can't remember how. I recall being a bit miffed when arriving there because the detective just fed me some one-liner. The mission only started proper after I realized one of the witnesses nearby was named and speaking to her initiated a full blown conversation.

 

[Zhukov]

Question from someone who hasn't played it:

How's the combat? What game(s) would you compare it to?

One of the things that soured me on HR was that while it made for a middling stealth game, doing a straight up combat run was woeful.

Oh, and does it make you traipse back and forth across mission hubs if you're doing side quests?

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Question from someone who hasn't played it:

How's the combat? What game(s) would you compare it to?

One of the things that soured me on HR was that while it made for a middling stealth game, doing a straight up combat run was woeful.

Oh, and does it make you traipse back and forth across mission hubs if you're doing side quests?

It's identical to HR but a more refined. Mileage may vary. It feels better, but handling better then a pregnant cow isn't a huge feat. (FYI, I love the games, so if HR really bugged you it might not have improved much at all in your eyes).

There are 2 "hub" areas in the game with one loading screen between. There are no loading areas within each hub area (so no loading into a buildings interior). However, a lot of sidequests still require some trotting between the 2 hubs and one of the few loading screens in the game. It can be annyoing.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Question from someone who hasn't played it:

How's the combat? What game(s) would you compare it to?

One of the things that soured me on HR was that while it made for a middling stealth game, doing a straight up combat run was woeful.

Oh, and does it make you traipse back and forth across mission hubs if you're doing side quests?

It's identical to HR but a more refined. Mileage may vary. It feels better, but handling better then a pregnant cow isn't a huge feat. (FYI, I love the games, so if HR really bugged you it might not have improved much at all in your eyes).

There are 2 "hub" areas in the game with one loading screen between. There are no loading areas within each hub area (so no loading into a buildings interior). However, a lot of sidequests still require some trotting between the 2 hubs and one of the few loading screens in the game. It can be annyoing.

Do they still use that weird cover and shooting system where you have to hold a button to stick to cover? I tried HR on console, hated the control system, then tried it on PC and didn't find it much better.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

[Do they still use that weird cover and shooting system where you have to hold a button to stick to cover? I tried HR on console, hated the control system, then tried it on PC and didn't find it much better.

Nope, it is a sticky system now. Press the button and you remain in cover until you press it again or move away. My personal experience is that the controls are better in MD, especially now that they fixed the mouse acceleration.

 

[meiam]

How long is it compared to HR? I read all this 22 hour and that scares me since HR was much longer...

I'm enjoying it, having just reach prague and still doing side quest around, my main fun in HR was trying to squeeze the absolute maximum XP out of every situation and the weird crap that makes me do, like taking out all the guy in stealth/non lethal fashion and then going down a pacifist route that I could have done much earlier.

Still got a few annoyance, like weapon disappearing if you already have a version in your inventory. Also the energy system that constantly degrade all the time, I really hope some of the new aug help with that, at least double the amount that doesn't degrade. The new crafting system is nice, but non lethal weapon don't seem to have much upgrade available, so soon enough they'll just accumulate for nothing. Really dislike how they changed the ui of the hacking, its much harder to see anything and playing it on console your cursor used to stick to node very well so you could go very quickly when time was running out, but now its much harder to use the node themselves and it feel like its much slower as a results.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

How long is it compared to HR? I read all this 22 hour and that scares me since HR was much longer...

As I said, about 22 hours for me with at least 2 side quests missed and loads of optional, non-quest side content left that I lacked the patience to find. In comparison, my first HR playthrough clocked in at 26 or 28 hours. For more thorough players and those with a less hectic pace, I imagine 30+ hours is not impossible.

 

[balladbird]

How long is it compared to HR? I read all this 22 hour and that scares me since HR was much longer...

It's a little bit shorter than Human Revolution, sadly. Based on the times I've seen quoted and experienced myself, doing all side quests and taking a moderate amount of time to complete the combat sections (well, for me it was probably more than average, since I went with a stealth, non-lethal, no weapon except takedown playthrough) it takes about 30-35 hours to play to completion, and ends somewhat abruptly. Seriously, if it weren't for mission names mentioning things like "the final clues" and whatnot, I'd have felt like, narratively, we were being built up to end the second act, and then the game just stops.

 

[stroopwafel]

I absolutely love this game. It's basically Human Revolution with more polished gameplay, superior level-design and prettier graphics. I'm also glad they got rid of the 'piss filter' from the previous game. Gameplay is immensely enjoyable but the world building and atmosphere are so authentic and meticulously crafted that I can't find this anything else than the best cyberpunk game I ever played. A game like this in this day and age with such supreme production values is a rare thing indeed.

That said, it feels like the conflict here would make more sense if it was a story about, say, a matrix-style "robots gain sentience" subplot, rather than an augmented humans subplot. I remember exploring the hub city and finding graffiti on a wall that read "Wrenches are tools, not people!" and that message really sent home how... "off" this conflict is with augmented humans rather than robots... I buy that people need no help hating each other for stupid reasons. We've made that into an art, really. Still, perhaps I'm a naive idealist, but I'd like to think that if I ever lost my arm in an accident, and needed to replace it with a prosthesis, a majority of people wouldn't suddenly doubt my humanity because of it. xD

Well, people who lost limbs are really only a small part of the 'augmentation problem'. I think the story really drove home how corporations misinformed and deceived the public by pushing augmentations onto perfectly healthy people then abandoning them completely when public opinion turned against them. For real-word analogy: just look at how people have become pretty much 'one' with their smartphone or how cosmetic surgery has become pretty much commonplace; when corporations start aggressively marketing their products the public is definitely susceptible. Sure, having entire healthy limbs removed takes it one step further but Mankind Divided talks about a number of 7.1 million augmented people which on a worldwide population of 8 billion really isn't that many. Prague only had a disproportionate amount of 'augs' b/c of..story reasons I won't spoil.

Speaking of which, I think the story in this game is absolutely superb. The Squeenix marketing for this game that had all the tact of an elephant reflected poorly on it but the actual story itself is very expository and goes really in-depth explaining the deteriorating plight of the augs and the wider impact it has on society as a whole that is crumbling at the seams by both rapid technological change and people's fears heralding the advent of a police state. The entire game is basically spent witnessing that process which is masterfully done not just by the story itself but also through all the environmental cues and NPC dialogues.

Tastes differ ofcourse but I would have a hard time picking any flaws in this game. Other than it leaving me wanting for more!!