Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC/PS4/XB1)

Temptamperu

Finally scraped together the funds to buy this. Its taking forever to download tho.

joe123

Wonda-Boy wrote: »

Game is REALLY SHORT, just as I was getting into it the credits popped up! Felt I was just halfway through the story really disappointed over all.

Glad I only paid €53 for it, trading it in the morning.

Weird, most reports Ive heard say its a pretty long game. Did you do all side missions or just stick to the main plot?

Its a game meant to be explored. The way point marker is off by default for me not sure if thats because its on the hardest difficulty. Gotta say im loving it.

KeithTS

joe123 wrote: »

Weird, most reports Ive heard say its a pretty long game. Did you do all side missions or just stick to the main plot?

Its a game meant to be explored. The way point marker is off by default for me not sure if thats because its on the hardest difficulty. Gotta say im loving it.

Agree, I've been sneaking around, exploring and being as stealthy as possible and have easily sunk 30-40 hours into the game so far and have only done a couple of main missions.

I'd imagine if you go in guns blazing and not try to use the game mechanics as they're intended you could get a speedy play through alright but what's the fun in that.

Zillah

I looked up how many missions there are and I am getting nearish the end, and I really feel like I should be about 40% of the way through. Pacing is definitely a bit weird in this one. Doing every side quest I can find, but then again I'm sure I've missed some as I've no interest in just breaking into random people's homes just to see what might be going on. When I think about other Deus Ex titles I can't help but feel that this one is much shorter. Also, boy am I bored of getting the metro in Prague.

Main missions seem incredibly short. Like, you leave the hub and seem to be back within ten minutes. I might play an Iron Man game after this playthrough for some extra tension.

Cina

I think I'm around 15 hours in now - full stealth mode, not a single person killed so far.

My thoughts, gameplay wise it's superb, especially with the silly mouse aiming fixed on PC now. The level design is incredible and there's just so many ways to go about missions and side quests.

Unfortunately, the story is meh, to the point where I often find myself switching off and looking at my phone during conversations. There's simply very little substance to it. I guess when we're spoilt with games like TLOU, Uncharted and The Witcher 3 - average stories don't really cut it in games anymore.

Also.. I don't think it's quite pretty enough to warrant its outrageous PC requirements.

8/10, for me.

The Specialist

In terms of length I've put about 28 hours in since Thursday and I'm only going to GARM now (this is 80% complete going by a few sourxes). No complaints at all (apart from some lip syncings during dialogue) and definitely feel like Im getting value from what I've paid. Already looking forward to an ng + to make different choices and see how it plays out

My massacre of the cops in Ruzicka being one

Wonda-Boy

joe123 wrote: »

Weird, most reports Ive heard say its a pretty long game. Did you do all side missions or just stick to the main plot?

Its a game meant to be explored. The way point marker is off by default for me not sure if thats because its on the hardest difficulty. Gotta say im loving it.

Did most of the side missions, I was doing them to aug up coz I was expecting a hell of a fight towards the end with robots and the like. I did not even play it that much per night and it was on the 2nd hardest difficulty.

Seriously its not that big a game...but in fairness I was not all stealth and creeping mix of 50-50 I would say.

DeVore

I have been playing a stealth game but back at the start I am pretty sure I pressed the Q button a bit too long and killed some poor bloke rather than knocked him out... its easily done so be careful! (No achievement for me )

DeVore

Also... this was a bit squeaky-bum-time...

JD1763

Agree that pacing is weird currently working through my least favourite part of the game so far -

GARM. Up till now I've been happy enough with the story but GARM is just so meh especially compared to golem city. The super poison that kills everyone except Jensen is just ridiculous and bond levels of bad guy stupidity because bullets are so expensive and the only way to dispose of a body in a super secret research facility is over a cliff. Its at the point where I'm just killing my way through the facility to get it over with.

Rant over

DeVore

DeVore wrote: »

I have been playing a stealth game but back at the start I am pretty sure I pressed the Q button a bit too long and killed some poor bloke rather than knocked him out... its easily done so be careful! (No achievement for me )

Just reload a save and you'll be fine.

Wonda-Boy

JD1763 wrote: »

Agree that pacing is weird currently working through my least favourite part of the game so far -

GARM. Up till now I've been happy enough with the story but GARM is just so meh especially compared to golem city. The super poison that kills everyone except Jensen is just ridiculous and bond levels of bad guy stupidity because bullets are so expensive and the only way to dispose of a body in a super secret research facility is over a cliff. Its at the point where I'm just killing my way through the facility to get it over with.

Rant over

Yeah I did the same after a little while I just said fcuk it.

Zillah

Deleted User wrote: »

Just reload a save and you'll be fine.

He said "back at the start" so I'm thinking it was a long time ago.

I've never understood chasing achievements anyway.

The Specialist

Just finished it, excellent game and definitely in my GOTY list for this year.

Think I got the bad ending though

Towers were saved but the delegates and Miller are dead. Stopped Marchenko with the Kill Switch

DeVore

Yeah, it was back at the start... I don't normally chase achievements and in fact had forgotten about that one until someone mentioned it a few pages back. I remember looking at the guy and he had the "dead" icon over him but thought nothing more of it because usually I start out in DX trying to stealth but end up blasting my way through in frustration. This time however, the levels are pretty well designed and I'm finding I can waltz through most places without killing anyone (even in the cop shop!). But now I regret that I pressed the button too long...

Mostly I just wanted to warn people not to hold that button down because its the difference between lethal and non-lethal (which is kinda dumb imho).

Zillah

Zillah wrote: »

He said "back at the start" so I'm thinking it was a long time ago.

I've never understood chasing achievements anyway.

Ahhhhh missed that

Yeah achievements are a 'marmite' thing in gaming some of us love them other don't care for them at all

DeVore

yeah and I'm somewhere in the middle... I would never actively try to hit an achievement, the idea of doing so seems like "work"... but I love when I do hit one by accident, then its like "hey, the devs recognised what I just did was hard!" ...

Like in DX, I made it through to leader of ARC without killing anyone because I was determined not to kill my brother Augs ... during the cutscene me makes reference to that fact which I thought was super cool!! Achievements are like that for me...

Zillah

DeVore wrote: »

Like in DX, I made it through to leader of ARC without killing anyone because I was determined not to kill my brother Augs

Well yeah, I did the exact same thing and thought it was really nice that it was acknowledged (cos I really didn't want to slaughter people fighting for aug rights), but that's story-events and consequences for your behaviour - that's a hell of a lot more complex than arbitrary achievements usually cobbled together like medals handed out at the end of some kids' race.

DeVore

Yeah I hate the "Hey, you opened a box! You get the My First Box achievement!" ones... but things that recognise real skill are nice to get and ding my neurotransmitters

Zillah

Serotonin and dopamine: the only two things I enjoy.

Azza

Its nice your finally able to fully go through a Deus Ex game and not be forced to kill anyone, although I can't recall if you could do it in Invisible War.

Just a note for anyone else going for foxiest of the hounds , I knew this from the start and still got careless, if you hack anything and the system starts to track you and you fail to exit before the timer hits zero thats the achievement gone unless you reload. I slipped up ages ago i think, only realised when it came to a storage sthat wouldn't let me hack it and I knew then I must have been at it and failed much earlier on

Zillah

Azza wrote: »

Its nice your finally able to fully go through a Deus Ex game and not be forced to kill anyone, although I can't recall if you could do it in Invisible War.

I got frustrated on the last mission and just went Rambo with a combat rifle. The stealth wasn't to protect me lads. Next time just look the other way.

DeVore

Yeah ... I have been doing stuff like that too. The guy who gives you bigoted sh*t in the bank? Walked over, flicked the windows to opaque, walked back, stun gun to the hooter. Very satisfying...

SeantheMan

I've been enjoy the game, exploring and finding little sidequests(which I usually prefer over the main story)....but now just back from Switzerland (which was a real lull in the game) to find the place on lockdown, and my interest has just plummeted.

Azza

SeantheMan wrote: »

I've been enjoy the game, exploring and finding little sidequests(which I usually prefer over the main story)....but now just back from Switzerland (which was a real lull in the game) to find the place on lockdown, and my interest has just plummeted.

Your close to the end of the game at that point. At this stage just treat Prague as a mission area rather than a hub. I think there is only 1 main storyline mission and may 2 side quests left in Prague when you return for the third time.

Zillah

Prague on lockdown would have been fine if it was just one mission, but to get everything done you have to cross it back and forth a bunch of times. Some areas I had a preferred route to avoid the cops and could do it blindfolded by the end.

Azza

Didn't bother me that much. At that point I got the invisibility augmentation to make the section easy. On a second run at the moment, playing a combat heavy style, when I get to Prague on lock down I intend to kill everyone to make it easier to get around.

Currently in Golem city again, there isn't too many police or ARC members left standing. I think Rucker will be a little less complementary to me than on first run through.

Combat is pretty easy in this as well, have so many weapons to choose from and enemies go down quickly. The weapon upgrades feel a bit unnecessary, base weapons seem pretty powerful.

Azza

Some thoughts on the game.

Gameplay
Overall quite good. Its pretty much classic Deus Ex. Its not very challenging overall, particularly if your a save scummer like me. Combat is okay about on par with DE:HR but its somewhat lacking compared to dedicated FPS games. At least the XP gained from combat matches XP from stealth, so your not penalized for playing a certain way, which is a nice improvement over HR. The classic multi option approach to each objective is still there as is the ability to bugger off and just ransack people's home. This is what makes the Deus Ex games unique and fun. A.I isn't going to win any awards but its not terrible and to be honest Deux Ex never had amazing A.I. You have to be willing to let stuff like stacking a mountain of boxes up to break into a vent right in front of security with no consequences go.The amount of air conditioning vents feels a little contrived as well as it did in HR as well.
Full credit for them allowing you to finally beat a game without killing anyone. They also got rid of boss fights for the most part and what few there are can now be played non lethally. Also the game does support micro-transactions but the game is in no way balanced around them. As I said before, overall its quite an easy game.

Storyline
For sure the weakest part of the game. Main story line doesn't really go any where and leaves a lot of loose threads, the events in Dubai are never explained is one example. Characters are pretty boring including Jensen. Bob Page doesn't get enough screen time either. I suppose that's keeping with Illuminati's MO of moving things along subtly without drawing attention to themselves. I think the issue here is the game is still 23 years off the events of the original so we are no were close to getting a conclusion. We also know many of the characters will survive the events of these games because they show up in the original DE. The story might make more sense and feel smarter as part of the larger story if we get more sequels but as a standalone story its weak and feels like its something they might try to pad out with DLC. The side missions are much more interesting. Some of them have so interesting choices to be made, which make you think a lot more than say Bioware's cookie cutter black and white morality options.

Graphically
Its pretty great looking overall. Once again great art direction, Prague reminds me greatly of City 17. Golem city looks pretty impressive as well. Character models on the other hand are pretty poor (with the exception of Jensen and the police) as is lip syncing. Performance wise on PC its not too bad. Could probably do with a few small optimizations.

Sound
The soundtrack is pretty understated. Its not bad, just be hard pressed to think of any music from the game. Its a step back from HR. Voice acting is sufficient but you do feel the characters are rather soulless.

Overall it plays slightly better than HR and is a considerable graphical improvement over HR but it takes a big step back with the story and the soundtrack isn't as memorable.

DeVore

One thing I am looking forward to is going back and doing it again as a run-and-gun because it genuinely feels like I'm playing only half the game (which is good, choices are meaningful and I chose to play in a stealth-n-hack way this time).
What I mean by that is that I have hardly crafted a thing, one multitool I think, before I could open level 5 stuff. Since getting hacking up I haven't needed to do that again.

My health is untouched so why would I need heals? (I haven't even upped my health from the starting amount... why would I?).... The energy system is a bit crap with my energy mysteriously dropping back to 1 small chunk very soon after topping it up (and yes, I know its supposed to do that if I use the energy, but I'm not talking about that, I'm saying that after cutscenes or big zones it seems to have reset).

So crafting has pretty much not be a thing for me and I have 600+ crafting parts while only just returning from Golem city.

I haven't bought anything either. I was saving up for a praxis point but I don't really need that now, I have plenty of them since I don't have to spend on any of the shooter stuff (I'm stock full of most ammo and have all the weapons... got them almost immediately!). I have 15,000 now so currency is kinda pointless this way... if I was shooting my way through I'm sure I would need to buy ammo.

Most of the game for me now is trying to avoid ways of having to kill people so I'm looking forward to going back and becoming a one man wrecking machine.

Btw, everyone (I mean *everyone*) in Palisade bank is asleep on the job now... man, I wouldn't use that bank if you paid me. Disgraceful.