Poll: Which Deus Ex: Human Revolution Ending did you choose? *SPOILERS*

[Danpascooch]

Which Deus Ex: Human Revolution ending did you choose and why?

Personally I chose to send the message that David Sarif asked me to after heavy consideration, here is why I made my decision, and an analysis of the pros and cons:

CHOICES:

1.) Self Destruct Button

Pros:

- No "spins" or lies about what happened at Pangea

Cons:

- Many innocents die
- Adam Jenson dies
- Mystery surrounding incident invites conspiracy theories, political exploitation, and general public discord

This choice didn't sit right with me, despite the death of many innocents in the facility, Adam Jenson himself would die, which seems like a poor path to take. I considered the Illuminati the main enemy of the game, and without their organization dismantled or at least severely ham-stringed I don't think it is a good idea to take Adam Jenson out of the equation. I was vindicated in my decision upon seeing the post-credits cutscene, the Illuminati is not finished doing dangerous shit, Adam Jenson is still needed.

2.) Hugh Darrow (No Augmentations)

Pros:

- Dangerous augmentations no longer a fear
- Biochip exploitation is presumably discovered and remedied (since Hugh's ending is supposed to reveal "everything" to the public)

Cons:

- 20% of the general population (augmented people) no longer fit into society
- Technological progress stunted
- Paves way for even less regulated augmentation market in the form of harvester-style black market augmentation groups

The main reason I avoided this ending is because I don't think it is wise, or even possible to bury a technological advancement to the extent that Hugh Darrow was seeking, augmentations are out there, they aren't going anywhere, so deal with it because you can't turn back time.

3.) Bill Taggart (pro heavy regulation)

Pros:

- Augmentations are properly regulated

Cons:

- Furthers the agenda of the Illuminati
- Lies to the public


The con list may seem short on this one, but the reason I didn't choose it is because of the magnitude and implications of helping the Illuminati is such an important way. In short, fuck the Illumunati, I'd rather blow up Pangea or help Hugh Darrow than further the agenda of this powerful shadow-government.

4.) David Serif (pro-augmentation)

Pros:

- Promotes technological innovation
- Biochip exploitation is presumably discovered and remedied (because this ending supposedly blames the humanity front, but still claims the biochip exploit was the means of attack)
- Acts counter to the Illuminati's agenda

Cons:

- Is at least partly a lie
- Paves the way for corporate corruption

I consider this choice the lesser of four evils, after what happened the government clearly won't let corporations have completely free reign with augmentations, so there will be at least some regulation, and this choice deals a blow to the Illuminati by removing their kill-switch and allowing augmented people to remain a threat to them. It also directs blame to a group that at least partly deserves it (after all, Bill Taggart, leading the humanity front, was instrumental in created the kill-switch that lead to this whole mess) while still promoted technological progress.

My second choice would have been to destroy Pangea, and let the general population figure out how to get their shit together by themselves.

EDIT: If you think there is a factual error in my reasoning then I ask that you please do a little research in the form of a google search or the like before quoting me about them (if you can't figure it out on your own, then go ahead and ask). I may have information you do not because I made it a personal goal to hack every terminal, ready every email, and perform every side-quest/optional objective. If everyone starts quoting me yelling things like "How does choosing Taggart's ending help the Illuminati!?" it's going to quickly because a pain in the ass having to explain it over and over.

It's possible that I made a mistake, but I think it's very unlikely.

EDITEDIT: I should note I never played the original Deus Ex, as a 19 year old it was just a bit before my time and I never went back to play it later, although I find this a merit in choosing the endings, because I'm not biased by further information about the Illuminati or special information about the future that Adam Jenson would not have had when making his decision.

 

[obliterate]

I chose David's. The others are just meh. Throughout the game I trying doing things like Adam would so killing so many innocent people wasn't an option. Hugh Darrow and Taggart's endings didn't sound appealing at all.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I killed Hugh Darrow and Bill Taggert, then sent David's message.

Humanity can't be trusted to not fly into senseless rage as they would with the other endings.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Was there anymore ending footage after the credits? I really only had the patience to sit through Adams speech.

 

[cvejic]

With respect, I disagree with your assessment of the likely outcomes of each choice. First off, it has to be said that the choices are somewhat illusory, as this is a prequel and hence an "all roads lead to Rome" type of situation. We know what the future of this game universe is because it has already been written. But putting that aside, the finale choice is laid out as two extremes, one middle of the road, and one "take a third option" choices. Yes there are in game documents and information, but in the end I think the writers here were looking for you to state your opinion on the "best" future for mankind.

One of those choices is a full steam ahead, no limits sprint towards technological advance, damn the consequences. You can't water the choice down by saying "oh, I think there would still be some regulation and the corporations would be contained in their power grab". It makes the choice too easy. An option that gives us all of the benefits of technological progress while minimizing the downsides would be a choice most people would make. But that's not the question, I think. The question is, is extremely rapid advancement worth the abuses and problems you see in-game? Would you be happy rapidly moving forward technologically, and reaping all the benefits that entailed, even knowing that greed and power would dictate the structure of society, if only for a while? Or would you go in the opposite direction and close off this avenue of technological development, forcing society to look elsewhere for those advantages and possibly even foregoing them altogether? Or would you go middle of the road and try to have progress, but attempt to limit its pace? Or, finally, would you admit that you aren't sure what would be best, and roll the dice that someone else has a better idea?

This isn't a new type of ethical question. Society had this debate at the beginning of the nuclear age and again at the start of the age of genetic manipulation (that one is still being debated, actually). Personally, I don't know what the best choice is, but I know I wouldn't trust myself or any one person to make it for all of humanity. I destroyed the facility. To me, it was the only real choice. Good topic though, and a really great game. Wish they made more like this.

 

[andy_amfad]

I like this thread .
I think though, that if you are going to make excuses for Sarif's arguement, excuses could be made for the other arguements too. To say that 'there will probably be regulation anyway' is like saying that in Darrow's arguement there will probably be augmentations freely available to all anyway.
I choose Darrow's, not because of some deep moral reason, but purely because of my geekery. I have always been a lover of conspiracy theories (not exactly believing them, but still wanting to bring powerful arrogant groups to their knees), so in the name of Fox Mulder, i wanted them exposed dammit.

 

[Hazy]

I was partial between Darrow's and the Self Destruct ending. Ended up choosing the latter.

It's not up to the corporations. It's up to the men and women - they will decide how humanity progresses, unheeded by lies and deceit. Humanity can choose for itself, the sacrifice of a few can save many.

...God I fucking loved this game.

 

[4173]

I honestly don't remember. It was either Sarif or Taggart. I did them all back-to-back-to-back-to-back for the achievement.


I'm more sure it was the button on the left hand side, which I think was Sarif.

 

[Redem]

I used Darrow ending first if only because I feel a certain duty toward the truth, I admit sarrif had appeal, hell I'd probably side with Taggart in real life if only A)Taggart wasn't a complete d*ck B) clearly a pawn a of the illuminati

However I feel that the destroy pangea is the true ending,my only regret is killing all those people for nothing

 

[xxcloud417xx]

KAAAAA-BBOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!!!

Everybody's got an agenda and I personally am Sick and tired of them all. Let humanity decide what they want to do. Will Human Augmentation die out? Probably not since the technology can't simply be erased. Will they regulate augmentation tech? Probably since the whole world went ballistic just then. And let's not forget that Megan Reed is still out there and know about the Chip. I have a feeling they would be able to reverse the effects and, due to Megan's team's guilty conscience, work towards sage augmentation research and development.

 

[Ryuo]

I actually liked Sarif, which was mostly to blame for my choosing that ending.
I did feel sorry for Hugh though, and wanted the truth told, but it seemed unlikely to me that tech of that advancement could just be up and left to gather dust.

I didn't care much for the Taggart ending, and far less the self-destruct ending.

That's just me though.


Captcha: You've ropletta ...what?

 

[Ian Caronia]

Spoiler: Personally

I went into this game knowing nothing about it. Nothing about Deus Ex at all.
The biggest flaw it has is an utter lack of resolution with Adam Jensen and the computer buddy (and a few side characters). I know it's a prequel and all, but the least they could've done was show what the hell happened to them, especially Adam.
However, I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say it was probably done this way because marketing had the whole comic series in mind and wanted to leave something for the fans to gobble that stuff up. Either that or the studio was being forced to focus on gameplay and aesthetics so much that, by the end, the folks working on the game just couldn'y squeeze out anymore blood from themselves to put into this thing (I hear Eidos isn't the nicest company, especially on a newly forming studio like Eidos Montreal- This was their launch title, you know).

As for which ending I chose and why, I think it's better explained with TsunamiWombat's (Escapist member) explanaition for the events between HR and Deus Ex and how my route, Darrow's ending, fits into it:

Spoiler: TsunamiWombat Explains All

Right, that was the Council of the Illuminati (mentioned briefly by Chao at the end of DE:HR). Bob Page is a millionaire and the protege of Morgan Everett, a brilliant engineer and millionaire who is in turn the protege of Lucius DeBeers, leader of the Illuminati Council and a b-b-billionaire with a god complex. None of this is important for DE:HR but between the events of HR and the original Deus Ex.

DeBeers falls ill (post HR) and cryogenically freezes himself until such a time he can be cured so he can live forever- Everett, his protege, keeps him frozen forever even though the technoligy to save his life has existed for a while. Everett inherits the Illuminati from DeBeers, running things in a very passive slow and steady style - something percieved by his surrogate son Bob Page as a weakness. Page eventually betrays the Illuminati just before the events of Deus Ex and with other members of the Illuminati who found the groups 'do nothing attitude'- the Illuminati had been banking on the collapse of the US during the economic and social upheavels taking place in Human Revolution making it willing to join a One World Government with the European Union, but it is implied the actions of Adam Jensen prevent this and cause the country to right itself. This throws a monkey wrench into the Illuminati's plan, and the events of HR lead to a new explosion in global terrorism as small factions begin to guess that they are being manipulated.

The Illuminati (under Everett) decides to take a wait and see approach, deeming drastic action might expose themselves or further inflame the situation and resolve to subtly change the world. Bob Page doesn't like this approach and leverages his media control group, MJ12 - an arm of the illuminati established to control technoligy and communication (When you enter the Picus Building basement in HR and see the statuary of the Globe in the hand? That is the symbol of MJ12)- to sieze control from the illumanti and largely kills most of his opposition or drives them into hiding, then develops the Aquinas Cloud Processing system. The Aquinas system was a cloud processor based on the Daedalus AI (a newer version of the Picus system) which made bandwith free for everyone and provided internet to the world ostensibly as a humanitarian project, but in reality allowed MJ12 to monitor the internet which had previously remained a free zone. With this level of Data Control the Illuminati were crushed by Page, who then set in motion the events of Deus Ex: creating the even more powerful Helios AI and the Universal Constructor devices, used to manufacture the Grey Death plague and it's vaccine, Ambrosia - the supply of which is made in limited supplies and kept expensive both to reduce the worlds population and make them and the world leaders easier to control through control of Ambrosia, similar to Neuroprozyne in HR. Page plans to eventually merge himself with the Helios AI, controlling all world communication and information, then connect himself to the Universal Constructors which would allow him to create any matter he desired. Effectivly, he would become god, or Deus Ex Machina. This brings us up to speed with the start of Deus Ex, when the character J.C. Denton becomes entangled in the conspiracy and is require to stop Page.

It is strongly implied that the genetics of the main character of HR make the augmentation and Nano experimentation of Deus Ex possible, and that JC Denton is a test-tube baby son/grandson of his. This would mean that either the Sarif ending or the "Jensen kills everyone" ending are canon for Deus Ex.

_The Darrow ending can be canon too since it's the only one that fully uncovers everything. This would in turn lead into what TsunamiWombat said about those factions guessing they are being manipulated and lead to the Illuminati fearing it might be exposed (or exposed any further).
The only issue would be the BS that is told to you about humanity deciding against technology because of the message (which is obviously bunk since, well... "Deus Ex 1" and all...). However, that false truth is disproven in the same ending by the metaphorical imagery at the end: It depicts a lone robotic arm in a room, and just as all the lights are turned off one by one, out of the pitch black darkness it lets off a sudden glow (showing that, despite the truth being revealed, technology is never going to be banned or left behind).

The only ending I can't see working is Taggert's ending, and that's only because of how much power it would eventually give to the Illuminati, which would then make some actions the organization takes later on a bit...well, they just wouldn't make much sense.

Eidos Montreal did make it easy to see how each ending could potentially lead into Deus Ex, despite some endings fitting much better than others. I just wish the devs and writer gave us some well deserved character resolution DAMN IT! No one liked it when MGS2 pulled that stockfootage-voice-over-philosophy stuff! NOT ONE! Let me at least see Adam blending into a crowd, never to be seen again or something! Glad he doesn't have to die, but come on!
Anyway, yeah, that's my choice and, despite my gripe with the ending, I appreciate it for what it tried to do, forgive it's ultimate fault, and absolutely adore this game.
I'm now a Deus Ex fan.

P.S. If you look at it in a certain way, Deus Ex could kinda be like MGS in some ways. In that case, I guess Adam would be the Big Boss to J.C.'s Solid Snake...

 

[Redem]

You know I wonder if the Jensen cells in the post-credit actually might play another role than to help the creation of the Denton brother (at least that what a lot of people seem to think) since Paul (the genetic base for both JC and Alex D) is already 9 years old by the time of HR

 

[TsunamiWombat]

You know I wonder if the Jensen cells in the post-credit actually might play another role than to help the creation of the Denton brother (at least that what a lot of people seem to think) since Paul (the genetic base for both JC and Alex D) is already 9 years old by the time of HR

Both were created as Embryos in tubes and implanted into a surrogate mothers womb.

 

[EHKOS]

Self destruct. If mankind can get over it then good, if they can't well then they didn't deserve it.


EDIT: What innocent people? They were all insane! Plus it looked like David survived, he had a submarine in the room.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I saved before making my choice then chose all 4.

 

[akloser1957]

Yeah, i chose the self destruct button... went out for a smoke, and about 5 mins later; I heard sound coming from my speaker. Bob Page begins working on the chimera nanite virus with Dr. Reed in preparation of the Morpheus Initiative + you Get a steam achievement too. (The D Project)

 

[kane.malakos]

I went with Sarif's ending. It was a tough choice for me, particularly because I didn't really want to lie to people, but I personally want a future where technological advancement is free and available.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Self destruct. If mankind can get over it then good, if they can't well then they didn't deserve it.


EDIT: What innocent people? They were all insane! Plus it looked like David survived, he had a submarine in the room.

Exactly, insane because of something done to them. They were driven insane by that signal. They were innocents- it's not like they WANTED to give Deus Ex some form of zombie enemy. Er... wait, I mean, it's not like they WANTED to fuck everything around them up!

Also, I'm guessing you're right about David surviving.

Unless you shoot him, of course.

As for me? As much as I hated the guy, I had to go with Taggart's ending. Letting augmentation tech run rampant (David's idea) is foolish as all hell. Forbidding it all together (Darrow's idea) is just as bad. Humanity, as a whole, is kind of like a rebellious teenager... force them to NOT do something, and they clamor for it. Destroying the entire place would be my second option. I don't like the idea of NONE of it getting out, though. So I had to go with Taggart's. Allowing augmentations with heavy regulation. It's the best way to handle stuff like that. It's the way I see the idea of gun control. Preventing it will do nothing but create very lucrative black markets.