So I finally got around to finishing the game and I have to say that the fight with Marchenko wasn’t great but oh well. I had no problem with the length of the game, but I did play it slowly over several sessions so that may colour my impression.
I can’t wait to see what the DLC brings and I also hope they add more of the stories, it seems like it is set up for more. There is so much fertile ground for them to cover. Eliza does seem to care for Adam even though they are at odds. I really hope that there is some sort of meeting or confrontation between Helle and Eliza at some point, that would be interesting.
The mid credit cut scene also adds a layer of confusion by seeming to imply that Adam is an Illuminati pawn and has been at least since his recovery after the end of HR.
Just finished it. Very slightly disappointing since HR was so great, but still fun and a solid addition to the franchise.
The Marchenko fight wasn’t bad, if for no other reason that I felt obligated to disable/disarm/hack every laser, mine, turret, terminal, etc. After I’d comprehensively disabled his setup I sneaked to the top and pumped tranquilizer darts into his face. He never even turned red.
I guess I was hoping for a second hub location. DX:HR had Detroit and Hengsha. DX1 had Hell’s Kitchen and Hong Kong. DX:IW had Seattle and Cairo. I actually consider this to be one of the core aspects of DX; the alternation of large, open hubs with smaller (and more linear) maps.
There’s plenty to do in Prague (and they keep the theme of things getting progressively worse as you return to the hub) so I’m not too put out, but still I’d have liked another hub in some exotic locale.
I got the Pacifist cheevo, but somehow I missed Foxiest of the Hounds, even though I’m not aware of setting off any alarms and was always careful with bodies. But I guess I’ll be playing again on the highest difficulty, so I’ll have another chance.
My guess as to what is going on is that the Jensen we were playing is actually a clone with implanted memories. Possibly his brain itself is a computer. Otherwise, the whole storyline with David Sariff seems to end having gone nowhere except to inform Jensen that his cyberwear isn’t the cyberware he was originally installed with. The teaser in the credits seemed to be consistent with this postulation as well.
I hope the DLC isn’t going to be a couple of isolated stories, like short the mini-campaign that came with my pre-order.
Some DLC dropped called System Rift. It’s a stand-alone mini campaign, which bugs me. I mean, sure you could argue that it’s not that different from one of the Fallout DLCs where you basically have to get teleported to another realm. But at least that realm is connected to the main game and most of the time you can go back and forth. A separate story where your work advancing your character’s abilities and equipment doesn’t count, that’s an irritation.
Also, at first I thought it was being sold for $4.99, and it’s actually less bothersome that they’re actually charging $11.99, because if the two actual gameplay DLCs were going to be five bucks each, that meant that 66% of the cost of the Season Pass was going to be one-time-use bullshit. As opposed to 26%, which is still bullshit.
The burnable DLC is especially stupid since 1) if you restart in New Game+ mode, you already have all the Augs and gear you picked up in the last playthrough and 2) I still had prax to spend at the end of the first playthrough to begin with.
Anyway, I’ve started playing the Deus Ex: Revision mod. Basically, you have to have Deus Ex GotY on Steam. But the mod isn’t in the workshop. You install Deus Ex: GotY, then search for Deus Ex: Revision. The modified version makes it much less awkward to play the game on modern systems. You can adjust to the resolution of your big-ass widescreen monitor, though the fonts will remain small. You have mouse-look, but you also have the old-fashioned corner-peeping functionality on the Q and E keys that has been pretty much abandoned in modern games. And there are other weird control changes to get used to – right mouse button to Use, + and / on the keypad for Quick Save and Quick Load, etc.
Unlike the Eidos games, every non-lethal takedown requires expending a resource – tranq darts, stun wand charges, gas grenades. With the tranquilizer, you pretty much have to hide and wait for the enemy to stop running around and finally pass out. But they also have a weirdly short range of vision, so you’re often pretty safe squatting out in the open if the guards are far enough away. I replayed Deus Ex just before Human Revolution came out, but even at that time it didn’t seem so old and strange.