Squeenix did actually postpone the Deus Ex franchise in favor for the devellopment of *a game* (at the time) in response to their new deal with disney about the avengers license.
@@Jarmundx why did they even fucking bother if they were just going to half ass it? Ill never understand what monkey is calling the shots at AAA studios.
@@robbietorkelsonn8509 It's one of my favorite series that hasn't been run into the ground and in Mankind Divided, it was JUST starting to get really good, in my opinion. I hope they pick up from where they were.
One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention is how Mankind Divided somewhat fixes one of your complaints of Human Revolution's story - why everyone got augmented. A big part of MD is how lots of poor workers got augmented in order to get/keep jobs, where augmented workers were needed for complicated tasks. That angle of augments being imposed on the poor in order to compete is actually quite interesting, IMO - basically that bodily autonomy is a privilege for the rich in a world of augments.
only problem with that is you have to treat it as a story/lore fix and not one that fits well in game. Most people that are augmented in human revolution don’t look poor or as a worker that does manual labor. Most you see look like your average person.
@@D00000T They look average because the game engine or the old consoles couldnt handle more details. Like the homeless person you met in one of the quest, she was depicted as being in the middle of going through the trash yet her faces and clothes were very clean.
Yeah i dont get that criticism, the game explicitly tells you that Adam has military grade augments that the general populace can’t access, so obviously they have more limited augments
Yes. What I loved about the two games is the switch in the aug situation. HR : Being augmented is the sign of being rich. You also become more productive thus richer and more respected. Then Darrows happens MD : An aug is just a time bomb. A mistake that should never have happened. With them not being able to work anymore, they can't even afford neuropozyne. The drug is scarcer, more expensive and the augs become addicts to be dealt with... That was brillant !
They touched upon this in HR as well, there was a side quest in the brothel where you have the 'persuade' the local gang to not chase her after she had got a loan and were now using it to extort her, something like 50% on the salary made with the augment. She got it because everyone in her class had one and her grades suffered as a result, threatening her scholarship. I think it was the augment that allows you detect emotion, whatever that was called.
As a Czech person I found the npcs of Mankind Divided very funny. Some of them talk perfect Czech while others talk in English with a THICC Russian accent.
THAT's what it was! I knew something was weird, but I couldn't pick it out. I'm not used to Czech at all unless I hear it, but I knew the Russian seemed odd.
Well, some of them are supposed to be Russian (or Georgian). Although I'm always triggered by Vaclav Koller mispronouncing his own name. Not to mention "Wunderkind". I mean, if you insist on English pronunciation, why not just say "Wonderkid"?
Fun fact, the voice actor for Adam Jensen, Elias Toufexis, used his normal speaking voice for the character of Jensen for the deus ex games. So its not actually him putting on a batman voice, thats just how he speaks.
Mankind Divided didn't grab me at release (I stopped about 2/3 of the way through), but I convinced myself to restart it this summer and ended up playing through it twice. It's.... so much better than I remembered or expected, and honestly, I think it may be the best immersive sim to date when it comes to moment to moment gameplay, exploration, and environmental detail. I liked the story more than I expected, but it's the way it shows you the world through its environments (one of many ways in which the game rewards exploration) that makes it truly special. I really hope Eidos Montreal gets to complete the story at some point.
everyone keeps repeating this but no one knows if it's really dead. it could get dusted off at some point in the future. I'm hoping it won't be too long.
@@LeGronk We'd all love to see it back, but Square Enix isn't very keen on doing anything for their IPs acquired from buying Eidos. They didn't even give a shit about Deus Ex when they were making the games; a Square Enix rep at an expo once said "Deus Ex? I don't think that's ours" right next to a Mankind Divided booth.
I don't know what makes me more sad, how deus ex parallels with the modern world or we will probably never get a resolution to the tragic life of Adam Jensen
@@lifewentdownhill i know it suits the atmosphere of the game, it's very cool indeed. but they could add the option to turn it off. Farcry 2 have the same """problem""", there's this brown filter that in my opinion, the game is better off without it.
@@lifewentdownhill You pretty much have to because the entire colour design of the game was designed with the gold-filter in mind and it looks wrong without it. And there's also the huge disconnect between the tint of gameplay and cutscenes. It shouldn't need a mod and should be a checkbox in the menu (on by default).
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
Well about that... Neuralink + more Advanced artificial Limps every Year + World Economic Forum (probably the real Illuminati) the Guy who gave the Devs from SqureEnix the Ideas about the Near Future just said after Mankind Devided again, that about 2027 we are there, 90% like in the Game, so this will become reality. And just like in the Game the Augs and Neuralink will be hackable, so that you might get hacked or Braindanced. Ah and Elon Musk wants to connect us to a Super AI in the Future, I guess around 2030+. So all in all Deus Ex is Verry realistic and it could become our all reality around 2030.
This might be a weird anecdote, but Deus Ex: The Fall actually introduced me into the franchise. I was going away on holiday and bought the game for my iPad to have something to do on the plane. It was in the recommended section on AppStore, and I always heard good things about Deus Ex so I bought it. It actually had pretty positive reviews back then. As a mobile game in 2014, I enjoyed it and it didn't seem unfinished because I assumed the sudden ending was a cliffhanger to get you to buy the PC game. I didn't much care for the story, but the gameplay loop was pretty fun, enough for me to actually buy Human Revolution when I got back home. I loved it, even though it didn't have anything to do with The Fall's story, or maybe because of it. Then I played the original Deus Ex and eventually Mankind Divided when it came out. But yeah, The Fall is pretty garbage if you play it today, even though I still remember it fondly.
I never hated DE The Fall that much even if it is more limited that DE: HR and I actually wanted the storyline to continue as I was curious where it was going to next. I actually did not care that much for Adam Jensen's story. There was something about it that just could not grab me. My favorite DE despite its age remains the original Deus Ex. It is pretty flawed now but I find its world more interesting to explore.
@@TheDutchGhost The correct way to introduce someone who's not into those games is: The Fall, Invisible War, Human Revolution, Mankind Divided and then *DEUS EX* . That way, they end up playing a better game each time.
@@psychodrummer1567 lmao so that's how this conversation will go: Me: "dude play the games in this order. Thus you'll play a better game each time!!" **friend plays deus ex: the fall** Friend: "wtf is this shit? crap port, poor controls, anti climatic story... You recommended me this??" Me: "but please play the next one. It's better" **friend plays deus ex: invisible war** Friend: "that's it, I'm out. Deus ex games suck"
It's amazing how few people know the extent to which Mankind Divided was gutted. The beginning? Gone and sold as DLC. The last 10 hours of main plot and it's side quests? Pulled for the sequel that was put on hold for 2 Marvel games then shelved indefinitely bc it failed to meet sales expectations. It did sell very poorly it's first 6 months, never cracking the top 10 in sales that year, but ended up selling relatively well at just over 4m copies I believe. Unfortunately for the game's future, many of those were sold at a steep discount (I got mine for $30 on GoG about 6 months after release if I am not mistaken. It may have been Steam, but that doesn't matter, it was cheap and contained all the DLC. They did end up saying that it was too big an ip to keep on the back burner earlier this year, so I'm pretty sure they will make a sequel, especially if Avengers continues to tank and their single player games continue to do well. Heck, almost all quality single player games are doing well. BG3 has sold over a million copies in ridiculously early access (It was pretty darn good), the Tomb Raider games all did well, even if the last one "underperformed" as well, it was still a top 10 selling game that year, AC: O did great, AC: V is doing exceptional, CP 2077 will obviously break records, Red Dead 2, The Last of Us 2, Spiderman 1 and 2...the list goes on and on. I think "never" underestimates how popular and well known Deus Ex is. It could very well put up similar sales figures as TL2, GoW or the Spidey games as it's tri-platform, They just need to avoid all the shenanigans, and they really need to keep micros out unless it has a multiplayer component. The audience for this type of game; The people who buy games like Dragonage, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Witcher) just don't tolerate micro in SP games even if they don't impact the game. The ones in DE:MD were added after the game was done and people still freaked out about them. They (most of us) don't want to see them at all, never mind in our single-player games. The blew it marketing-wise last time, hopefully, when they do release another game, they won't make the same mistakes. I'd like to see a game set after the first. I don't want to see the first remade, as I don't think it will age well, even with a remake. It will either be too easy or too annoying (Lol, I am not waiting for that damn reticle!).
The beginning is even stupider than cut content, it’s not even alluded to in the main story it’s just shit they made up for a crappy preorder bonus. Ivan Berk was never supposed to the game and was made up for the trailer
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
@@crzyces1693 Damn that is so sad... I loved that game playing it now going through backlog, I really hope embracer can give them a lot of resources and free hands for upcoming deus ex
The OG Deus Ex will always be one of my all time favorite games. I love exploring every nook and cranny, and on the next play through I find something new. Fantastic game.
If I remember correctly, human revolution does talk more about how augments affect employment/employability. There was a side quest in lower hengsha where you had to save a prostitute from being augmented against her will, which also gives us a glimpse at how augments can be used by the rich and powerful as a tool to use and manipulate those without power. I’m also pretty sure there were a few dialogue lines talking about how augmented construction workers were being used to build Darrow’s project in Antarctica. I’d imagine that would be an incentive for normal people to seek augmentation as without them they are unable to work on projects such as that one. Plus, Adams augments are state of the art military grade ones that are not available to the public and the game points that out many times, so the point about swords in your arms doesn’t really make sense
Yup, there's also talk of augmentation as medical cures, like having augmented body parts for diseases that target specific organs. Which raises questions about healthcare as an unowned product since here it is delivered via augmented body parts that work only if you pay a subscription fee (neuropozyne).
Yeah this part of the critique bothers me. Augments in this game are treated as like performance enhancing Running shoes, or suits. But instead of external, they are internal, part of the body. You can run faster, Sing better, Record stuff with your eyes. There were alot of trailers and ingame advertisements showing the benefits of augmentations outside the army. Although ofc was with everything in the world its a big investor into the research.
1:17:57 is a very good point that I often also mention. Some games may give you the option to disable quest markers, but if the game is built from the ground up with them in mind, disabling them likely won't have the same effect as if the game was made without them in mind.
"There isn't much time to build cybernetic augments or a universal gold filter over everything..." Hahaha, thank you for the dead dry delivery of that line. My favorite part of this year.
Technically aren't the Grays from Deus Ex genetically engineered rather than actually aliens? To be honest in some respects it's even goofier than the relatively vanilla conspiracy theory of the government hiding aliens.
Wait a minute, the government isn't hiding aliens? Yeah right. next you're going to tell me that Bezos isn't a Lizard person and Musk isn't telepathically getting tech ideas from Extraterrestrials. I suppose you're one of those people who doesn't believe the Earth is flat too? Pft. A circular map does not fit right over a globe, so it's pretty obvious who's correct here.
NKB's makes videos of astounding quality. The amount of work needed to even just play the games and gather information is just immense, but on top of that this dude produces insightful, thorough commentary on just about every aspect of the games he covers. And the production quality is on point, not unnecessarily over the top. All that work for an ASMR channel, it's crazy.
I never forgot "The Fall". It was the first experience I ever had of a truly awesome game on mobile. It was supposed to have been releasing further episodes but got cancelled. It is a sham e, could have been something.. new.
Can confirm that Mankind Divided's moment in TF29 where the one guy (can't think of his name) says he's noticed you snooping around is entirely dependent on whether you've been doing a lot of that. In my second playthrough I had avoided hacking any computers in the office at all and that conservation was much different as a result.
God damn, I love the vibe and rhythm of your videos. I’ve been following you since almost the beginning and I’ve watched as your videos and production values have gotten progressively higher. I’ve watched as your channel grew from 5-10k subs to almost 100k now. I really feel like you’re on your way to becoming youtube’s next big video game critic. Keep up the good work, man!
Mhe... while part of it its true, i feel most of it its simply hyperfocus, no diferent than how people want rerererere-read the bible and claim everything of today's problem was already there.
Well, if you tell a story in very general manner and have concepts like fighting of power, corporatalism, Disenfranchised people, pandemia etc. it eventually hits something in current day. Certain story elements are copied from history and since history is cyclic in nature or it's pretty clear how certain things develop (rich get richer, poor get poorer, etc.) so it's only matter of time they in some way become true. Some of these were even evident when Deus Ex came out in 2000s.
@Daniel von Strangle as some other has said deus ex is soo scatershooted that it's no surprise he managed to hit some points more taking into account that some of it's criticisms where things that where already happening when the game was made 1984 is a really bad criticism of the future who a lot of people has taken as profetic because it talks loud and mighty, it's popular and well known and has managed to touch some sensible themes of now a days, almost all of the things the book talks about are outright imposible or just silly in real life and the things that it touches that are somewhat real (like goverments legitimaly trying to supervise their own citizens) people blows it soo out of proportion that it losses the message, no things are not going to devolve to 1984 levels only because the goverment follows people on facebook or tries to influence voting elections (and it's not like those things where invented 10 years ago or something) Also nothing bad about globalism, i guess you can say it devalues culture or makes the goverment stronger or some shit like that but even talking through UA-cam is globalism and i like my international videos so who cares
they gotta find a way to end the Jenson trilogy man. like honestly i think that is my all time favorite fictional interpretation of the future. very few non-shooter games actually try to incorporate real life groups and corporations in to the story and gameplay and its just so cool to see. long live the deus ex universe
Maybe if the IP wasn't owned by who it currently is. I don't have much hope though. Japanese publishers that buy western IP's usually only give them one chance to make money, and if they don't they just put it in storage. Really if I owned the IP I would be funding a remaster of HR to fix the issues of no definitive version. Then completed version of mankind divided. Then finally a faithful remake of the original.
@@Th3BigBoy lmao because the original game was made in the 90's and they didn't plan for a prequel...at least not one being made over a decade later by different people.
@Sic Semper Beats I'm asking about in universe. I heard there was an in universe explanation but I don't know what it is. I couldn't play MD because of technical issues at the time iirc.
My favorite part of Mankind Divided was the paranoia. tbh at one point I thought that I might even be the mole, being unwittingly manipulated into it by the Juggernaut Collective
@@justanotheryoutubechannel I still think the Jensen we play as in MD is a clone of the Jensen who "died" at the end of HR. I think of it like a test for Project D so MJ12 could master and fully understand Jensens genetic potential while preparing Nano augs in the future.
I thought this as well. His takes on the comparison to MGS2 felt right on to me. IE Adam Jensen (Clone?) was an unwilling participant and tool just being manipulated by two different sides taking shots at each other.
I'm leaving a comment for the algo and hope more people get to see your videos soon, because I enjoyed them very much. I can't imagine how much work it is to put them together, yet you expand the discussion even further and always end with satisfying conclusions.
Great video and congrats for getting a sponsor, since UA-cam monetization incentivizes the opposite of long format videos. Good luck with your next project, which will be quite the endeavor I imagine and have a happy new year.
I really appreciate you going through all of the games and commenting on every element: story, design, logic, writing and how you eloquently explored each and every aspect. Even when I found myself disagreeing with some of your opinion (largely around your criticism of the games use of slurs--they are as you rightfully say idiotic words but IRL slurs when you look at their etymology are just as braindead as the people who use them), your arguments were grounded in fact and with respect to the franchise, and you would always qualify your views by saying "I think", "In my opinion", "for me." Which is very different from many of the detractors you rightly criticize who took their opinions as gospel, and your defense of the boss battles in DEHR was spot-on. Actions, such as how you choose to level your character, has consequences and its irrational to complain about a result you could've avoided had you prepared properly. As an aside I focused on a balanced build with an emphasis on stealth was still viable even in those boss battles. One aspect I would've wanted to see was the whole control chip reference to the original Deus Ex in DEHR. Right after you return to Hensha for the second time I believe, you start experiencing software bugs--well all augmented people do at the same time. Pritchard says you should get it looked at, but you're never forced to. If you do get the new chip, Zhao basically shuts you down for the Namir boss fight. If you don't get it, you can fight him at full power, and you're rewarded with a cutscene featuring Zhao's shock that her "Killswitch" didn't work, because you kept playing with those minor software bugs created by the Illuminati to goad you into receiving it. But ultimately it ties into your greater point of how DEHR returned to the series' emphasis on choice, making the inclusion ultimately unnecessary. DE is really one of my favorite franchises of all time, up there with MGS, Splinter Cell, Syphon Filter, and Halo. And you did the franchise justice, and can tell you're as big of a fan if not a bigger fan than I, as I've only played the first two and completed the latter two (my first DE was actually HR) and I wouldn't have made a video like this! You get a subscribe and if we get another Deus Ex, I certainly look forward to your review! Cheers
Exceptional work! I can barely fathom the amount of time and effort spent playing, recording, researching, writing and editing something like this. A true work of art. Bravo, Sir.
It's kinda dumb but can you imagine an immersive sim that as a character you've got a life, bills and so on. So when you turn on all your lights and leave the water running while your out playing the game at the end of the in game month your hit with a massive utilities bill you've got to deal teaching you that even small actions in game can lead to big consequences.
Manderley: "Here's the bill for all the government services you wasted" JC: "I can't afford this!" Manderley: "Maybe you should get a job" JC: "Hey wait, wha-?"
What timing, I just started playing Human Revolution again and a few days later this pops up :). Some points of a small voice that doesn't matter: - Regarding Deus Ex 1, hacking was actually the skill I first maxed. It is not necessary to access stuff in general, but hidden behind hacking is also a great amount of worldbuilding through E-mails, and the time limits to read them are extremely annoying for immersion. That's also one thing I absolutely LOVED about the original : Newspapers, mails, notes, books - there's tons of stuff lying around fleshing out the world you are in, and in most cases they are very interesting to read. I still remember some "advertisement" to essentially get a big amount of money for your family if you kill yourself so that insurances remain stable - it's grotesque, but a surprisingly interesting joke considering the growing issues of overaging. It's just a smart game through and through, something I never experienced to this degree again ever. - I'm ashamed to say I quite enjoyed Invisible War. Imho it was a fun game and I played through it several times. As is often the case, it just suffered from being called Deus Ex, and the way they dumbed down JC rubbed me the wrong way. - Human Revolution: I actually agree with the boss fights. Even with 0 skills in combat the fights were still very manageable, and I was quite proud of myself when I e.g. used the environment to my advantage in the Barrett fight to overwhelm him due to me not being able to gun him down. Now that I'm replaying the Director's Cut I don't see much value added with the new options, it just seems ridiculously easy now. What I didn't like about them was just that they were just that - boss fights. Coming from the way you can defeat bosses in the original earlier if you pay attention it just seemed disappointing to just be thrown in front of a boss in a designated fighting area without meeting them earlier on. But that is a minor thing and in general I absolutely love this game and think it's a worthy entry to the series. The art style is absolutely amazing and combined with the music stunningly beautiful, the game even inspired me in my home decoration (plant-like lights, my gaming area is also black/gold). I still remember getting goosebumps when the Penthouse track started playing combined with the stunning visuals of it. A+ for that. I quite enjoyed the augmentation plot in general and found it a great gap to use from the original game, where augmented people basically were second-class citizens of forgotten times. Imho the game also makes enough points to answer why people augment themselves: If they don't, they fall behind everywhere. Noone is interested in non-augmented workers in well-paid jobs, art is starting to be dominated by augmented people, even sexuality-wise people got accustomed to the higher standards offered by augmentation and "aug fetishes" seem common. The point, for me, was that the initially optional thing becomes more and more mandatory in order to keep up in society, and I found that idea quite intriguing. While I agree the ending choices were a bit meh, it was a bit evened out for me by the style of the ending videos...they just got me with the atmosphere they built up during them. - Mankind Divided: Honestly, I was surprised how much you had to say about the story. I remember 0 of it and just have it in my memory that it ended when I thought it would just really start. The clear star was the level design in Prague - I especially loved how every single apartment had a story to tell, even to the point of finding out personal details of your coworkers accidentally just by exploring random apartments. Unfortunately the price for this was a disappointing main game. One thing I always missed in general in this series is emotional moments. Despite the dystopian premise, you never really feel for anyone. I would have hoped for some successor to go a bit into the Philip K. Dick style and explore the emotional impact of technology a bit more. Jensen's struggle with augmentation in HR was a great opportunity that - as you mentioned - was just not taken. This seems to be a thing with SciFi games in general, they usually go more by the rule of cool rather than diving into emotional areas. I really hope Cyberpunk will take up on this, but what I've seen so far looks like yet another rule of cool entry unfortunately. Getting detached from your body, a feeling of emptiness when all your desires can be fulfilled with the click of a button etc. are all great topics for emotional explorations that this series just never takes despite having the fitting topics. Anyways: Amazing video, I can't believe I just watched two hours of someone talking about a game series without pause. Great summary of the series and portrayed in an engaging way.
I've decided to play the series a few months back starting with the mainline games first and so far this is incredible. Even if pacing and some themes in the first Deus Ex do clash, it still is an amazing game to me, where I thoroughly enjoyed 60% of it. Now playing Human Revolution and I must say, as an immersive Sim fan, this is one of the greatest games that I've played. Artstyle, OST, character writing, world building, gameplay - everything is amazing. Now I am very sad, knowing that Mankind Divided is a half of a game at best, ending in a cliffhanger with no continuation in sight. Although maybe since Avengers did fail, Squre Enix will let the developers to finish this series proper.
@Some Guy I would hope Square Enix sells the rights to the game to Arkane Studios or Obsidian ^^ But that is a pipe dream for another time. First DX game, even with its clunky battle and A.I. was extremely immersive and accessible. The story, aside from when they went WAY into the conspiracy portion (The Greys), was amazing as well as the final choices one had to make. The sequel...man, I played it only because it was the only DX sequel I knew of at the time xD Tried to play it now and the loading times plus the smaller levels really bummed me out. It is not the worse game out there for sure, just disappointing. If it was re-done with larger levels, individual ammo loadouts, skill system returning, and the choice of faction actually making an in-game difference... Which DX:HR seems to have done in a certain way. Love the art style, improved battle mechaics, voice-acting...wish that the players would have been able to further explore Upper Heng-Sha and the cut Montreal Hub but ah well. I do agree that the Boss fights were...forced in. Not so much that they should have had more ways to take out the boss, but rather, how to MEET the boss. " Coming from the way you can defeat bosses in the original earlier if you pay attention it just seemed disappointing to just be thrown in front of a boss in a designated fighting area without meeting them earlier on" ...exactly! It would be different if we met with Barrett (the first boss in HR) outside when we overhear him talking to the other Tyrant agent dude, with all the infantry supporting him, BUT with the boxes blocking his field of view compared to later on being ambushed by him in that open area. Or maybe even finding something in a broadcast that would help him find a loved one that the Tyrants are hiding away from him so you can convince him to work with you INSTEAD of fighting. Having those options would have been way better than what Square Enix delivered. DX:MD...ah, this was definitely a game that was a Middle Child of a supposed "trilogy". Time to really evaluate who to trust, who Jensen is, and just all of these other factors yet never get too deep into any of it. Though the main story is difficult to follow because the side stories are all so interesting! Though Prague itself is a beautiful area, I missed being able to traverse to other Hubs of other globe-trotting places and explore how other countries are seeing the result of an augmented world. Plus the way Square Enix butchered the game, laid it out with the in-game transactions, the story elements, and actors (they replaced Sarif's voice actor and I still have not recovered x) )... Deus Ex is not going to be the next Halo, or Call of Duty. It is not a series for that. For them to attempt to monetize it in that manner felt ... wrong. Messing with it, especially considering the game is about "those in Power" attempting to steal from those who do not have it (money) felt hypocritical. And NKB described it greatly when it came to the Augmentations/Racism angle. It could have been a whole lot more (while also tugging at those threads) but the focus did not get to expand too much (which granted, could have been a whole lot worse). Otherwise, I so want Deus Ex to finish and if it does not, guess I'll have to make a spiritual successor to it someday x)
@@blindeyedblightmain3565 don’t know if you ended playing MD also, but after two playthroughs I have to say it’s a definitive gaming experience for me, despite its butchered status. Immersion factor is unreal, and I was maybe a bit surprised by the completeness of the story experience by the end of my 2nd playthrough, with foiling Marchenko and his cronies. Jensen got his guy…kind of reminded me of True Detective S1’s resolution. Have to say that going back to HR after it was a surprising struggle, given the improvements MD brings to the table.
A tear came to my eye when the first few notes of your foreshadowed next video connected me to years of nostalgia for the 100s of hours i spent playing the game along with the friends i talked to while i did. All it took was a few musical notes for me to become incredibly excited for you next video :)
Human Revolution's "trust humanity" ending literally bring tears to my eyes. Such powerful writing. I think people focus too much on nitpicking when it comes to the new deus ex games, really gets repetitive. There is so much inspiring moments and so few were mentioned in depth that I couldn't finish the video, honestly
"some kind of magic GPS system to track your every move and signpost your destination" Modern GPS can pretty much do that anyway. It's not hard to believe that in the far flung future of 2027 GPS will be slightly better than it is now, going to very zoomed out satellite images that don't show enemy locations seems like a step backwards if anything. What I do like the idea of is JC starting the game with a modern minimap and quest system, but needing to give it up to avoid being tracked.
This was fantastic! Agree with almost everything stated here. My only point of contention though is that the cause of Aug racism in MK was pretty clear to me: the Aug Incident caused the majority of augmented people to go on murderous rampages. Witnessing that would give PTSD and Aug-phobia to a large number of people. Even if they knew that it wasn't technically Augs' fault, it would still provoke them to fear augs on an instinctual level. It was also called out at the beginning of the game that Prague was uniquely anti-Aug compared to the rest of the world, which is another reason why the racism was dialed up to 11 in the game.
Was about to type the same thing: while there is a metaphor for racism in the game it's clear that the resentment was different than just seeing one group as "other". Leaders were using the fears that it could happen again to stir up the populace and increase their political power.
The devilishly based and ironic part of this is that the games view on racism as being a reaction to actions of the group and not an irrational fear is very realistic.
21:40 - "He almost starts to sound like he's talking a lot of sense until you remember he's a terrorist" That doesn't mean anything though, the points he makes are still completely valid lmfao
NKB just dropping by to say, man, this was awesome. Essentially a documentary on Deus Ex, one of my favorite franchises ever. Cannot say how many times I have clocked DXHR and DXMD, but it's at least 10-20 between both titles. Really nice to see this retrospective, you've got a sub from me and I will be checking out your other content as I have already noticed a few more I am keen to watch. Thanks for making excellent content.
When you were talking about the removal of map markers and exploration in Human Revolution, it made me really want to see your analysis of the dishonored series. I love turning off the waypoints in those games and navigating through the environment, the games are actually really well designed for it and it is such an interesting experience that I don’t think I’ve truly had anywhere else.
I hated the energy recharge in human revolution. It was one of the major issues I had with the game past the mid point as a large part of my inventory became dedicated to energy bars. One of the things I did like about the directors cut is they made the recharge apply to two bars.
38:05 "there's a clear message behind Deus Ex: ... it's simply to **be skeptical of power**" probably the simplest description of my political stance I've ever heard
I had one playtrough with Mankind Devided now and I basically just kept clearing my inventory by selling everything before every mission. Still found a way to complete missions with no starting items. Well designed game.
i just played and finished Deus Ex, the first game, and imo still holds up as a great game in 2022, i was surprised how complex the game is for it's year and how the story flows, i really liked it, now, based on this video, i don't like how Deus Ex evolved and i won't be playing the games, it misses the investigative approach that first game had.
Nice to hear that people who play the original Deus Ex in these last couple of years still find it to be an enjoyable game despite that it looks pretty old now and that some of its gameplay may feel complex or unrefined. I was very disappointed with some of the gameplay changes done after the original such as getting rid of skills. While I think Invisible War had some interesting themes and elements, from a story point of view but also gameplay the game was sadly a major disappointment after really looking forwards to it. I really wish this game was replaced by a new sequel even if I have no idea what direction it would have to go. As for the series after Invisible War. To me it feels more like what designers today feel what the series should be rather than building on the original game. The characters, the storylines, the dialogue, but also the gameplay, the aesthetics and the style of everything. Like the designers wanted to use elements from the original DE such as human augmentation and what shape the future could take, different approaches at going through levels, but preferring to ditch the rest in order to build something that in some ways felt like it had to compete with Metal Gear Solid. But they had to use elements like the Illuminati, Bob Page, a build up towards JC Denton, as otherwise this would not be a DE game. That the original Deus Ex was fine for its time but that the franchise had to be more reflect modern day gaming sensibilities. For example the auto take down button. I think HR and MD should perhaps have been part of a new IP.
To anyone considering replaying Deus Ex after watching this, I'd highly recommend the New Vision 2.0 mod, which uses AI to upscale the game's textures and the result is too impressive for words!
One thing that wasn't mentioned: Alex D from Invisible War can be a woman too Also, boss fights in HR are a step down from Deus Ex 1 because they offer little choice in how to handle them, this is mostly due to boss fights being outsourced to another company. In the original Deus Ex most bosses have a kill phrase that allows the more methodical or tactical players to quickly achieve victory, and Anna can be killed with a preemptive mine in the airplane skipping the whole conversation.
@@807D14M0ND5 It was made easier to hide, find weapons, ammo and explosive barrels. But you still end up murdering bosses, despite role playing a pacifist. Even the pacifist achievement says "excluding boss fights". In Mankind Divided the last boss can be knocked out, kill phrased and directly killed. The serial killer sub-boss can be reasoned with to surrender, given you completed certain optional objectives.
@@cha14cha14 I mean you have to kill every boss in OG Deus Ex as well, even if you are playing as a pacifist. Director's cut added a lot of optional ways to defeat them outside of shooting or typhooning them to hell. I like the fact that there are dudes who can't be talked out of wrongdoing. That adds some realism and stakes to the confrontations.
@@blindeyedblightmain3565 True, but OG Deus Ex didn't encourage a pacifist or ghost playstyle by rewarding higher xp, only to sweep the rug from under the feet during boss fights quite like HR did.
From 35:46 that monologue with the soundtrack.... Gives me goosebumps. Dude I don`t know much about your career apart from youtube , but I honestly think you should try writing if you don`t already doing it.
Incredible retrospective, thank you very much for such a thought-provoking and detailed analysis of this amazing gaming series. Those two hours genuinely flew by, and It's already made me re-download the games for another round. Easily one of the best video essays I've seen in a long time.
As soon as the Human Revolution soundtrack started, I got emotional... I played all of them and non of them stood out for me, but I love HR. Great video, thanks ! Now I gotta go replay HR...
1:12:12 the issue was there was only ONE WAY TO BEAT THE BOSSES: SHOOT IT A TON AND DON'T GET SHOT TO HELL! This was especially egregious with the first boss who is a literal tank on two legs armed with an GAU-8/A Avenger for an arm.
Just took a look at your other videos and instant subbed. It took me a couple of days to listen through this but you are exactly the kind of person I go to youtube for. Thanks for your content. Game design is my favorite passion and you make excellent video essays
I fell in love with Mankind Divided. I'd never played such an open game with so many choices and the fact it was first person for some reason made it more impact full. But I HAVE to go back and play the old games I see. They may be clunky and unpolished but those are the kind of old games I love. Janky mechanics to take advantage of! Or vice versa lol. Plus the story just looks too good to pass up
With difficulty. This video and the crpg guide video where started more than a month in advance, and next month won't have a video. Glad you enjoy them though.
@@NeverKnowsBest Wow. You are an inspiration. If I may ask something else, where does your insane experience with RPG's come from? You know almost anything about everything it seems.
(1:45:40) The question, "This is NAZI Germany 2.0 and everyone is just okay with that, but why?" requires the answer to the question, "Why was everyone okay with NAZI Germany 1.0 at the time?"
Most weren't. That is why we had WW2, because enough people did not accept Nazi Germany, such that they even went to war with them. And you just have to look at all the resistance movements within Germany to see that even under the threat of extermination, A LOT of people were not fine with it.
I like the fact that Adam Jensen is like a reverse side of the same coin as Adam Smasher in the world of Cyberpunk. That being he's basically saved and put back together by a corporation and used as their muscle while he works for them. Makes me wonder if he wasn't named Adam just for the prequel setup but also as a nod to Smasher.
A great video, both a trip down memory lane and educational. I’ll take issue with one claim; that a director’s cut should be an objective improvement. By its definition it should be a re cut that better suits the director’s vision, one person’s vision. It will be different but whether it’s better will be subjective.
I have a thought on the subject of quest markers in the modern games. For me they are quite useful for two different reasons. For players that are new to the genre, they provide familiarity, comfort and guidance. They do make exploration optional but they can also enable a sense of freedom to explore since the player doesn't have to worry about being lost in levels that are quite different from all the other games out there. For me as an experienced player, the quest markers indicated the areas where I shouldn't go until I explored everything. With markers present I can feel free to explore knowing that I won't trigger an event that would potentially stop me from doing it.
Excellent points - while he was making his point about the maps in HR and MD, I kept trying to remember if I ever used them once while playing these games. I found exploration to just be so rewarding that I completely forgot about the actual maps.
1:21:29 to 1:21:33 "Adam Jensen, whose voice is so gravelly it can give Christian Bale's Batman a run for his money" This guy missed his chance Adam Jensen: "I never asked for this" How many people read this in Adam's rough voice
Mankind Divided was such a dissappointment for me, they were clearly in conflict with making a sequel and square enix demanding higher sales and new players. Explains why the story never went anywhere and barely any of the original characters returned outside DLC
I wonder if Square Enix were pressured by a certain shadowy group to push for high sales expectations, so the franchise was doomed to failure due, maybe due to its subject matter..... ;)
funny thing about your comment. I was having an amazing time with Mankind Divided for like 6 hours because the gameplay and stealth/flow is the best in the series imo but then i realized that the story hadnt gone anywhere. and then sooner or later it ended right as it was getting interesting. the story almost feels unfinished.
I agree about SQEX mismanagement, but I don’t think the narrative that the games story is unfinished is entirely fair, yes it is setting up a third act, but Mankind Divideds main plot is about Marchenko and his group, and that story wrapped up by the end. Most current triple a games are far more egregious in leaving main plot points unresolved for future installments.
@@blumiu2426 can somebody tell me what happened to the dude from the announcement trailer in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided? The one who was wearing a hoodie and was seen with Marchenko... I never saw him in-game
With Cyberpunk 2077 needing another six months at least to come to fruition, I picked up DE:MD as a stopgap. Watched the first two games and briefly skimmed the others, to avoid spoilers. Thank you for posting this as a nice focal point of review.
I have been a gamer for more than 20 years. I have played in the arcade halls of old, grew up with the NES and gameboy into gaming pc’s and all playstations. I have played more titles than I can count. Whenever I am asked what my favorite game of all time is, I still say: Deus Ex (the original). What an experience. The soundtrack, story and endless possibilities to solve levels... unequalled to this day in my opinion. I haven’t played the game for almost ten years, but watching this video, it is incredible how familiar all the gameplay felt to me. Your critique is awesome and thank you for the feels. A thousand thumbs up. I need to play this again!
i almost like how in Human Revolution it almost feels like all everyone ever talks about and all that is ever advertised relates to augmentation because it feels like we're getting a glimpse into Adam's mind set. I think that feeling of suffocation we feel by not getting a break from it would mirror the way a man like Jensen would feel given its prevalence in and control over his life.
Oh, but it wasn't. It was her choice and she was ready to face consequences. She lived and died for things she believed in. And that is a lot more than can be said about IRL people nowadays.
I would have much preferred a sequel to Mankind Divided or a remaster of Human Revolution than that mistake of an Avengers game.
Squeenix did actually postpone the Deus Ex franchise in favor for the devellopment of *a game* (at the time) in response to their new deal with disney about the avengers license.
@@Jarmundx why did they even fucking bother if they were just going to half ass it? Ill never understand what monkey is calling the shots at AAA studios.
they should release the second half of mankind divided
@@robbietorkelsonn8509 It's one of my favorite series that hasn't been run into the ground and in Mankind Divided, it was JUST starting to get really good, in my opinion. I hope they pick up from where they were.
As would we all.
Somebody say Deus Ex?
no, it's dude sex
Mandatory.reinstallation
Already instaling.
Been seeing you in the comments here a lot. When's a collab? for dual duration. I wanna see a 10 hours vid with both of you talking about a game.
I love that there is a community of great game critics on UA-cam, and that they keep posting little jokes on each of them videos.
I can't believe you manage to upload these kinds of videos once a month. Its very admirable
It reallyis quite radical to getvthese vids once in a while
Pure passion
It's honestly kind of impressive too.
Ğ
@@jeremyalexander135 this is a joke right?
One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention is how Mankind Divided somewhat fixes one of your complaints of Human Revolution's story - why everyone got augmented. A big part of MD is how lots of poor workers got augmented in order to get/keep jobs, where augmented workers were needed for complicated tasks. That angle of augments being imposed on the poor in order to compete is actually quite interesting, IMO - basically that bodily autonomy is a privilege for the rich in a world of augments.
only problem with that is you have to treat it as a story/lore fix and not one that fits well in game. Most people that are augmented in human revolution don’t look poor or as a worker that does manual labor. Most you see look like your average person.
@@D00000T They look average because the game engine or the old consoles couldnt handle more details. Like the homeless person you met in one of the quest, she was depicted as being in the middle of going through the trash yet her faces and clothes were very clean.
Yeah i dont get that criticism, the game explicitly tells you that Adam has military grade augments that the general populace can’t access, so obviously they have more limited augments
Yes. What I loved about the two games is the switch in the aug situation.
HR : Being augmented is the sign of being rich. You also become more productive thus richer and more respected.
Then Darrows happens
MD : An aug is just a time bomb. A mistake that should never have happened. With them not being able to work anymore, they can't even afford neuropozyne. The drug is scarcer, more expensive and the augs become addicts to be dealt with...
That was brillant !
They touched upon this in HR as well, there was a side quest in the brothel where you have the 'persuade' the local gang to not chase her after she had got a loan and were now using it to extort her, something like 50% on the salary made with the augment. She got it because everyone in her class had one and her grades suffered as a result, threatening her scholarship. I think it was the augment that allows you detect emotion, whatever that was called.
Your idea of having contextual quest markers based on what your character actually knows is a great one and something I'd love to see in games.
The new Hitman games kind of did that.
As a Czech person I found the npcs of Mankind Divided very funny. Some of them talk perfect Czech while others talk in English with a THICC Russian accent.
THAT's what it was! I knew something was weird, but I couldn't pick it out. I'm not used to Czech at all unless I hear it, but I knew the Russian seemed odd.
Well, some of them are supposed to be Russian (or Georgian).
Although I'm always triggered by Vaclav Koller mispronouncing his own name. Not to mention "Wunderkind". I mean, if you insist on English pronunciation, why not just say "Wonderkid"?
@@Mrityugata But would there be that many or are they just could find enough Czechs?
@@blumiu2426 I was just referring to the Dvalis. I believe they're supposed to consist largely of Russians due to recent changes to the organization.
@@Mrityugata Ah, okay. I see what you mean now
Had a really shite day over here. You have no idea how much better seeing you publish a video on one of my favourite games made my evening. Cheers!
Keep your chin up dude, shit is gonna get better soon, even if only a little bit!
Sorry you’re having a hard time. Shit really sucks right now, but I’m glad we have small things like this to make it just a lil better
Holy moly didn't know you are a gamer! 😁
Hoping we get another Deus Ex game!
Martin I can say the same about your uploads man. Big fan.
I think we should get the back out for f to
The defining factor of an immersive sim is having a keypad with 0451 in it, right?
Why it's also called the 451 genre
I guess The Last of Us 2 is an immersive sim then lol.
@@BestintheWest25 nah it's a cover based shooter with pussy politics
And to be developed before 2000.
@@nifftbatuff676 what about Prey... the best immersive sim ever made?
Fun fact, the voice actor for Adam Jensen, Elias Toufexis, used his normal speaking voice for the character of Jensen for the deus ex games.
So its not actually him putting on a batman voice, thats just how he speaks.
I never asked for this.
But hey thanks. His voice is impressive
He also appeared in the series The Expanse.
@@Yaetora a great show
Reminds me of Geralt's voice actor except this one sounds a lot more natural and actually fits the character.
So it's not just a voice Elias uses for Adam...so...what your saying......is....HE ACTUALLY IS BATMAN......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!
Mankind Divided didn't grab me at release (I stopped about 2/3 of the way through), but I convinced myself to restart it this summer and ended up playing through it twice. It's.... so much better than I remembered or expected, and honestly, I think it may be the best immersive sim to date when it comes to moment to moment gameplay, exploration, and environmental detail. I liked the story more than I expected, but it's the way it shows you the world through its environments (one of many ways in which the game rewards exploration) that makes it truly special. I really hope Eidos Montreal gets to complete the story at some point.
Deus Ex died for Marvel Avengers.
Press F.
Avengers died.
everyone keeps repeating this but no one knows if it's really dead. it could get dusted off at some point in the future. I'm hoping it won't be too long.
Comics kill everything. First cinematic blockbusters. Then Deus Ex.
Nah.
@@LeGronk We'd all love to see it back, but Square Enix isn't very keen on doing anything for their IPs acquired from buying Eidos. They didn't even give a shit about Deus Ex when they were making the games; a Square Enix rep at an expo once said "Deus Ex? I don't think that's ours" right next to a Mankind Divided booth.
I don't know what makes me more sad, how deus ex parallels with the modern world or we will probably never get a resolution to the tragic life of Adam Jensen
Dont give up hope, you never know
Don’t worry. We got that Avengers game instead... 😒
Ok angela
@Angela Pittman ok boomer
@@nnk_ll2 Eww. You actually use that word. Way to fall in line.
THIS IS GOLD like the entire color palet of Deux ex Human Revolution
I know most people disliked the filter but I enjoyed it so much I grabbed the mod for directors cut to add it back in, it was comfy
@@lifewentdownhill i know it suits the atmosphere of the game, it's very cool indeed. but they could add the option to turn it off. Farcry 2 have the same """problem""", there's this brown filter that in my opinion, the game is better off without it.
@@lifewentdownhill You pretty much have to because the entire colour design of the game was designed with the gold-filter in mind and it looks wrong without it. And there's also the huge disconnect between the tint of gameplay and cutscenes.
It shouldn't need a mod and should be a checkbox in the menu (on by default).
@@lifewentdownhill That mod is worth getting regardless to fix the lighting.
@@nosferatu9561 Why do devs not just do that? Instead of forcibly removing it, make it an option!
2-hour Deus Ex retrospective? Absolute Madlad!
You can have MY soyfood!
Can I have it instead.... Preety please😁😁
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
Soy is ghey
Take my lemon-lime soda.
instablaster
Mankind Divided is one of my favorite games of the generation. Hope Eidos Montreal gets to make another someday
I hope so too.
Yeah...Deus Ex conspiracy theories seem far fetched in some ways...until you remember that MK-Ultra was a real thing the CIA actually did to people.
Watergate, Tinnamen Square, and many other things happened and who knows what else is hidden under our noses
Yeah I know right?
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
Well about that... Neuralink + more Advanced artificial Limps every Year + World Economic Forum (probably the real Illuminati) the Guy who gave the Devs from SqureEnix the Ideas about the Near Future just said after Mankind Devided again, that about 2027 we are there, 90% like in the Game, so this will become reality. And just like in the Game the Augs and Neuralink will be hackable, so that you might get hacked or Braindanced. Ah and Elon Musk wants to connect us to a Super AI in the Future, I guess around 2030+. So all in all Deus Ex is Verry realistic and it could become our all reality around 2030.
@@ContentCrusader69 Covid.
This might be a weird anecdote, but Deus Ex: The Fall actually introduced me into the franchise. I was going away on holiday and bought the game for my iPad to have something to do on the plane. It was in the recommended section on AppStore, and I always heard good things about Deus Ex so I bought it. It actually had pretty positive reviews back then. As a mobile game in 2014, I enjoyed it and it didn't seem unfinished because I assumed the sudden ending was a cliffhanger to get you to buy the PC game. I didn't much care for the story, but the gameplay loop was pretty fun, enough for me to actually buy Human Revolution when I got back home. I loved it, even though it didn't have anything to do with The Fall's story, or maybe because of it. Then I played the original Deus Ex and eventually Mankind Divided when it came out. But yeah, The Fall is pretty garbage if you play it today, even though I still remember it fondly.
I never hated DE The Fall that much even if it is more limited that DE: HR and I actually wanted the storyline to continue as I was curious where it was going to next.
I actually did not care that much for Adam Jensen's story. There was something about it that just could not grab me.
My favorite DE despite its age remains the original Deus Ex. It is pretty flawed now but I find its world more interesting to explore.
@@TheDutchGhost The correct way to introduce someone who's not into those games is: The Fall, Invisible War, Human Revolution, Mankind Divided and then *DEUS EX* .
That way, they end up playing a better game each time.
@@psychodrummer1567 lmao so that's how this conversation will go:
Me: "dude play the games in this order. Thus you'll play a better game each time!!"
**friend plays deus ex: the fall**
Friend: "wtf is this shit? crap port, poor controls, anti climatic story... You recommended me this??"
Me: "but please play the next one. It's better"
**friend plays deus ex: invisible war**
Friend: "that's it, I'm out. Deus ex games suck"
@@n00b_ninja - Lol.
Human revolution is an outstanding game, also great soundtrack and I greatly enjoyed the 50% of mankind divided released.
It's amazing how few people know the extent to which Mankind Divided was gutted. The beginning? Gone and sold as DLC. The last 10 hours of main plot and it's side quests? Pulled for the sequel that was put on hold for 2 Marvel games then shelved indefinitely bc it failed to meet sales expectations. It did sell very poorly it's first 6 months, never cracking the top 10 in sales that year, but ended up selling relatively well at just over 4m copies I believe. Unfortunately for the game's future, many of those were sold at a steep discount (I got mine for $30 on GoG about 6 months after release if I am not mistaken. It may have been Steam, but that doesn't matter, it was cheap and contained all the DLC.
They did end up saying that it was too big an ip to keep on the back burner earlier this year, so I'm pretty sure they will make a sequel, especially if Avengers continues to tank and their single player games continue to do well. Heck, almost all quality single player games are doing well. BG3 has sold over a million copies in ridiculously early access (It was pretty darn good), the Tomb Raider games all did well, even if the last one "underperformed" as well, it was still a top 10 selling game that year, AC: O did great, AC: V is doing exceptional, CP 2077 will obviously break records, Red Dead 2, The Last of Us 2, Spiderman 1 and 2...the list goes on and on. I think "never" underestimates how popular and well known Deus Ex is. It could very well put up similar sales figures as TL2, GoW or the Spidey games as it's tri-platform, They just need to avoid all the shenanigans, and they really need to keep micros out unless it has a multiplayer component. The audience for this type of game; The people who buy games like Dragonage, Horizon Zero Dawn and The Witcher) just don't tolerate micro in SP games even if they don't impact the game. The ones in DE:MD were added after the game was done and people still freaked out about them. They (most of us) don't want to see them at all, never mind in our single-player games.
The blew it marketing-wise last time, hopefully, when they do release another game, they won't make the same mistakes. I'd like to see a game set after the first. I don't want to see the first remade, as I don't think it will age well, even with a remake. It will either be too easy or too annoying (Lol, I am not waiting for that damn reticle!).
The beginning is even stupider than cut content, it’s not even alluded to in the main story it’s just shit they made up for a crappy preorder bonus. Ivan Berk was never supposed to the game and was made up for the trailer
ua-cam.com/video/1e0PKWcjFqw/v-deo.html
Inspired by the Ambient Track of Deus Ex 1, ( enemy within), check this out and help me please to help and save our world - JcD Helios Mo11.01.2021
i love the sound track when you discuss with talos
@@crzyces1693 Damn that is so sad... I loved that game playing it now going through backlog, I really hope embracer can give them a lot of resources and free hands for upcoming deus ex
You haven't played Deus Ex correctly unless you've turned on every faucet in every apartment.
if you didn't go to the women's restroom and then get reprimanded by Manderley, did you ever really play Deus Ex?
Aaaah the famous "wet bandit" approach
The wet bandits strike again
Deus Ex knows the best thing about conspiracy theories are the leaks...
@@tylermalone4842 Is that because of the "FLOOD" of information...lol...
The OG Deus Ex will always be one of my all time favorite games. I love exploring every nook and cranny, and on the next play through I find something new. Fantastic game.
May sound like insult, but I'll fall asleep to this for a good week....it'll all get absorbed and enjoyed, though....
He has very calming and pleasant voice, paired with some light tranquilizers his videos helped me escape insomnia for a while now.
BRO THATS WHAT IM SAYING
I don't even know what this video is and i'm an hour and twenty minutes in, I literally did fall asleep to this
@@blindeyedblightmain3565 ++ под траву особенно
I find his voice and the deus ex music very soothing and relaxing. No wonder if you fall asleep.
If I remember correctly, human revolution does talk more about how augments affect employment/employability. There was a side quest in lower hengsha where you had to save a prostitute from being augmented against her will, which also gives us a glimpse at how augments can be used by the rich and powerful as a tool to use and manipulate those without power.
I’m also pretty sure there were a few dialogue lines talking about how augmented construction workers were being used to build Darrow’s project in Antarctica. I’d imagine that would be an incentive for normal people to seek augmentation as without them they are unable to work on projects such as that one.
Plus, Adams augments are state of the art military grade ones that are not available to the public and the game points that out many times, so the point about swords in your arms doesn’t really make sense
Yup, there's also talk of augmentation as medical cures, like having augmented body parts for diseases that target specific organs. Which raises questions about healthcare as an unowned product since here it is delivered via augmented body parts that work only if you pay a subscription fee (neuropozyne).
Yeah this part of the critique bothers me. Augments in this game are treated as like performance enhancing Running shoes, or suits. But instead of external, they are internal, part of the body. You can run faster, Sing better, Record stuff with your eyes. There were alot of trailers and ingame advertisements showing the benefits of augmentations outside the army. Although ofc was with everything in the world its a big investor into the research.
1:17:57 is a very good point that I often also mention. Some games may give you the option to disable quest markers, but if the game is built from the ground up with them in mind, disabling them likely won't have the same effect as if the game was made without them in mind.
"There isn't much time to build cybernetic augments or a universal gold filter over everything..." Hahaha, thank you for the dead dry delivery of that line. My favorite part of this year.
Technically aren't the Grays from Deus Ex genetically engineered rather than actually aliens? To be honest in some respects it's even goofier than the relatively vanilla conspiracy theory of the government hiding aliens.
Yeah, they're implied to be monkeys
@BrokenMikrofone yep, weaponising a more out there conspiracy to obfuscate the wider one. Cements the theme even further at the end of the day.
Wait a minute, the government isn't hiding aliens? Yeah right. next you're going to tell me that Bezos isn't a Lizard person and Musk isn't telepathically getting tech ideas from Extraterrestrials. I suppose you're one of those people who doesn't believe the Earth is flat too? Pft. A circular map does not fit right over a globe, so it's pretty obvious who's correct here.
And Zuckerberg isn't a lifeless humanoid that needs a set of jumper cables to the old nutsack to Jumpstart that cold mechanical heart.
Yeah they're not aliens, and it's clearly explained they're not in both games. no clue what video maker is so salty about them for
You don't know how happy this makes me. As someone who both loves DE and your format
NKB's makes videos of astounding quality. The amount of work needed to even just play the games and gather information is just immense, but on top of that this dude produces insightful, thorough commentary on just about every aspect of the games he covers. And the production quality is on point, not unnecessarily over the top.
All that work for an ASMR channel, it's crazy.
I never forgot "The Fall". It was the first experience I ever had of a truly awesome game on mobile. It was supposed to have been releasing further episodes but got cancelled. It is a sham e, could have been something.. new.
Can confirm that Mankind Divided's moment in TF29 where the one guy (can't think of his name) says he's noticed you snooping around is entirely dependent on whether you've been doing a lot of that. In my second playthrough I had avoided hacking any computers in the office at all and that conservation was much different as a result.
The IT guy maybe....its been a long time...but I feel ya
Thanks for including all the games in the series, and not just the first, you spoil us.
God damn, I love the vibe and rhythm of your videos. I’ve been following you since almost the beginning and I’ve watched as your videos and production values have gotten progressively higher. I’ve watched as your channel grew from 5-10k subs to almost 100k now. I really feel like you’re on your way to becoming youtube’s next big video game critic. Keep up the good work, man!
I absolutely love this series. I really hope they bring this back to life.
This is probably my top five channels to just binge watch, I love how engaging yet chill your video essays are. Wow
FYI the plural of Knight Templar is "Knights Templar"
But why is not Knight Templars instead?
@@hshocker98 Because there's more than one knight but the Templar organization is just one
Like "attorneys general" for multiple AGs
The craziest thing about Deus Ex 1 especially is, that all it's views and comments about our politics and society have become true.
Mhe... while part of it its true, i feel most of it its simply hyperfocus, no diferent than how people want rerererere-read the bible and claim everything of today's problem was already there.
Well, if you tell a story in very general manner and have concepts like fighting of power, corporatalism, Disenfranchised people, pandemia etc. it eventually hits something in current day. Certain story elements are copied from history and since history is cyclic in nature or it's pretty clear how certain things develop (rich get richer, poor get poorer, etc.) so it's only matter of time they in some way become true.
Some of these were even evident when Deus Ex came out in 2000s.
or like how the twin towers aren't in the game because they were destroyed in a terrorist attack even though it was made before the 9/11 attacks.
@Daniel von Strangle as some other has said deus ex is soo scatershooted that it's no surprise he managed to hit some points more taking into account that some of it's criticisms where things that where already happening when the game was made
1984 is a really bad criticism of the future who a lot of people has taken as profetic because it talks loud and mighty, it's popular and well known and has managed to touch some sensible themes of now a days, almost all of the things the book talks about are outright imposible or just silly in real life and the things that it touches that are somewhat real (like goverments legitimaly trying to supervise their own citizens) people blows it soo out of proportion that it losses the message, no things are not going to devolve to 1984 levels only because the goverment follows people on facebook or tries to influence voting elections (and it's not like those things where invented 10 years ago or something)
Also nothing bad about globalism, i guess you can say it devalues culture or makes the goverment stronger or some shit like that but even talking through UA-cam is globalism and i like my international videos so who cares
@@carso1500
Good points. I guess people don't like their crazy theories being downplayed, so you didn’t get likes.
they gotta find a way to end the Jenson trilogy man. like honestly i think that is my all time favorite fictional interpretation of the future. very few non-shooter games actually try to incorporate real life groups and corporations in to the story and gameplay and its just so cool to see. long live the deus ex universe
Maybe if the IP wasn't owned by who it currently is. I don't have much hope though. Japanese publishers that buy western IP's usually only give them one chance to make money, and if they don't they just put it in storage. Really if I owned the IP I would be funding a remaster of HR to fix the issues of no definitive version. Then completed version of mankind divided. Then finally a faithful remake of the original.
Yeah. I wanna witness how Task Force 29 evolves into UNATCO and the birth of nano-augmentation. And Majestic-12 betraying the Illuminati.
Why is the tech seemingly worse in JC Denton time as compared to Jenson?
@@Th3BigBoy lmao because the original game was made in the 90's and they didn't plan for a prequel...at least not one being made over a decade later by different people.
@Sic Semper Beats I'm asking about in universe. I heard there was an in universe explanation but I don't know what it is. I couldn't play MD because of technical issues at the time iirc.
Where is the orange juice???? All I keep getting is Lemon Lime!!! I tell you this is a conspiracy.
You must drink gamerfuel.
You came all the way to paris to tell me that?
My favorite part of Mankind Divided was the paranoia. tbh at one point I thought that I might even be the mole, being unwittingly manipulated into it by the Juggernaut Collective
It’s funny that you should think that considering the canonical plot of the game, you might’ve been onto something.
On my first play, I wondered something similar.
@@justanotheryoutubechannel I still think the Jensen we play as in MD is a clone of the Jensen who "died" at the end of HR. I think of it like a test for Project D so MJ12 could master and fully understand Jensens genetic potential while preparing Nano augs in the future.
I thought this as well. His takes on the comparison to MGS2 felt right on to me. IE Adam Jensen (Clone?) was an unwilling participant and tool just being manipulated by two different sides taking shots at each other.
I'm leaving a comment for the algo and hope more people get to see your videos soon, because I enjoyed them very much. I can't imagine how much work it is to put them together, yet you expand the discussion even further and always end with satisfying conclusions.
NKB: "Deus Ex is overly generous with the items it gives you, which forces you to make choices that actually matter".
JC: "Give me the GEP gun".
Great video and congrats for getting a sponsor, since UA-cam monetization incentivizes the opposite of long format videos.
Good luck with your next project, which will be quite the endeavor I imagine and have a happy new year.
I really appreciate you going through all of the games and commenting on every element: story, design, logic, writing and how you eloquently explored each and every aspect. Even when I found myself disagreeing with some of your opinion (largely around your criticism of the games use of slurs--they are as you rightfully say idiotic words but IRL slurs when you look at their etymology are just as braindead as the people who use them), your arguments were grounded in fact and with respect to the franchise, and you would always qualify your views by saying "I think", "In my opinion", "for me." Which is very different from many of the detractors you rightly criticize who took their opinions as gospel, and your defense of the boss battles in DEHR was spot-on. Actions, such as how you choose to level your character, has consequences and its irrational to complain about a result you could've avoided had you prepared properly.
As an aside I focused on a balanced build with an emphasis on stealth was still viable even in those boss battles. One aspect I would've wanted to see was the whole control chip reference to the original Deus Ex in DEHR. Right after you return to Hensha for the second time I believe, you start experiencing software bugs--well all augmented people do at the same time. Pritchard says you should get it looked at, but you're never forced to. If you do get the new chip, Zhao basically shuts you down for the Namir boss fight. If you don't get it, you can fight him at full power, and you're rewarded with a cutscene featuring Zhao's shock that her "Killswitch" didn't work, because you kept playing with those minor software bugs created by the Illuminati to goad you into receiving it. But ultimately it ties into your greater point of how DEHR returned to the series' emphasis on choice, making the inclusion ultimately unnecessary.
DE is really one of my favorite franchises of all time, up there with MGS, Splinter Cell, Syphon Filter, and Halo. And you did the franchise justice, and can tell you're as big of a fan if not a bigger fan than I, as I've only played the first two and completed the latter two (my first DE was actually HR) and I wouldn't have made a video like this! You get a subscribe and if we get another Deus Ex, I certainly look forward to your review!
Cheers
Exceptional work! I can barely fathom the amount of time and effort spent playing, recording, researching, writing and editing something like this. A true work of art. Bravo, Sir.
He has a gift for waffling....
your appointment to fema should be finalised within a week
I’ve already discussed the matter with the senator
I take it he was agreeable?
He didn’t really have a choice
Has he been infected?
Ah yes, most certainly
It's kinda dumb but can you imagine an immersive sim that as a character you've got a life, bills and so on. So when you turn on all your lights and leave the water running while your out playing the game at the end of the in game month your hit with a massive utilities bill you've got to deal teaching you that even small actions in game can lead to big consequences.
That reminds me of My Summer Car which I don't know much about besides those features.
Could you imagine in the Unatco sections of the game manderley bills you for government services youve used. Detracting it from your pay
"i never asked for this"
Sims?
Manderley: "Here's the bill for all the government services you wasted"
JC: "I can't afford this!"
Manderley: "Maybe you should get a job"
JC: "Hey wait, wha-?"
What timing, I just started playing Human Revolution again and a few days later this pops up :). Some points of a small voice that doesn't matter:
- Regarding Deus Ex 1, hacking was actually the skill I first maxed. It is not necessary to access stuff in general, but hidden behind hacking is also a great amount of worldbuilding through E-mails, and the time limits to read them are extremely annoying for immersion. That's also one thing I absolutely LOVED about the original : Newspapers, mails, notes, books - there's tons of stuff lying around fleshing out the world you are in, and in most cases they are very interesting to read. I still remember some "advertisement" to essentially get a big amount of money for your family if you kill yourself so that insurances remain stable - it's grotesque, but a surprisingly interesting joke considering the growing issues of overaging. It's just a smart game through and through, something I never experienced to this degree again ever.
- I'm ashamed to say I quite enjoyed Invisible War. Imho it was a fun game and I played through it several times. As is often the case, it just suffered from being called Deus Ex, and the way they dumbed down JC rubbed me the wrong way.
- Human Revolution: I actually agree with the boss fights. Even with 0 skills in combat the fights were still very manageable, and I was quite proud of myself when I e.g. used the environment to my advantage in the Barrett fight to overwhelm him due to me not being able to gun him down. Now that I'm replaying the Director's Cut I don't see much value added with the new options, it just seems ridiculously easy now. What I didn't like about them was just that they were just that - boss fights. Coming from the way you can defeat bosses in the original earlier if you pay attention it just seemed disappointing to just be thrown in front of a boss in a designated fighting area without meeting them earlier on. But that is a minor thing and in general I absolutely love this game and think it's a worthy entry to the series. The art style is absolutely amazing and combined with the music stunningly beautiful, the game even inspired me in my home decoration (plant-like lights, my gaming area is also black/gold). I still remember getting goosebumps when the Penthouse track started playing combined with the stunning visuals of it. A+ for that.
I quite enjoyed the augmentation plot in general and found it a great gap to use from the original game, where augmented people basically were second-class citizens of forgotten times. Imho the game also makes enough points to answer why people augment themselves: If they don't, they fall behind everywhere. Noone is interested in non-augmented workers in well-paid jobs, art is starting to be dominated by augmented people, even sexuality-wise people got accustomed to the higher standards offered by augmentation and "aug fetishes" seem common. The point, for me, was that the initially optional thing becomes more and more mandatory in order to keep up in society, and I found that idea quite intriguing.
While I agree the ending choices were a bit meh, it was a bit evened out for me by the style of the ending videos...they just got me with the atmosphere they built up during them.
- Mankind Divided: Honestly, I was surprised how much you had to say about the story. I remember 0 of it and just have it in my memory that it ended when I thought it would just really start. The clear star was the level design in Prague - I especially loved how every single apartment had a story to tell, even to the point of finding out personal details of your coworkers accidentally just by exploring random apartments. Unfortunately the price for this was a disappointing main game.
One thing I always missed in general in this series is emotional moments. Despite the dystopian premise, you never really feel for anyone. I would have hoped for some successor to go a bit into the Philip K. Dick style and explore the emotional impact of technology a bit more. Jensen's struggle with augmentation in HR was a great opportunity that - as you mentioned - was just not taken. This seems to be a thing with SciFi games in general, they usually go more by the rule of cool rather than diving into emotional areas. I really hope Cyberpunk will take up on this, but what I've seen so far looks like yet another rule of cool entry unfortunately. Getting detached from your body, a feeling of emptiness when all your desires can be fulfilled with the click of a button etc. are all great topics for emotional explorations that this series just never takes despite having the fitting topics.
Anyways: Amazing video, I can't believe I just watched two hours of someone talking about a game series without pause. Great summary of the series and portrayed in an engaging way.
I've decided to play the series a few months back starting with the mainline games first and so far this is incredible. Even if pacing and some themes in the first Deus Ex do clash, it still is an amazing game to me, where I thoroughly enjoyed 60% of it. Now playing Human Revolution and I must say, as an immersive Sim fan, this is one of the greatest games that I've played. Artstyle, OST, character writing, world building, gameplay - everything is amazing. Now I am very sad, knowing that Mankind Divided is a half of a game at best, ending in a cliffhanger with no continuation in sight. Although maybe since Avengers did fail, Squre Enix will let the developers to finish this series proper.
@Some Guy I would hope Square Enix sells the rights to the game to Arkane Studios or Obsidian ^^ But that is a pipe dream for another time.
First DX game, even with its clunky battle and A.I. was extremely immersive and accessible. The story, aside from when they went WAY into the conspiracy portion (The Greys), was amazing as well as the final choices one had to make.
The sequel...man, I played it only because it was the only DX sequel I knew of at the time xD Tried to play it now and the loading times plus the smaller levels really bummed me out. It is not the worse game out there for sure, just disappointing. If it was re-done with larger levels, individual ammo loadouts, skill system returning, and the choice of faction actually making an in-game difference...
Which DX:HR seems to have done in a certain way. Love the art style, improved battle mechaics, voice-acting...wish that the players would have been able to further explore Upper Heng-Sha and the cut Montreal Hub but ah well. I do agree that the Boss fights were...forced in. Not so much that they should have had more ways to take out the boss, but rather, how to MEET the boss.
" Coming from the way you can defeat bosses in the original earlier if you pay attention it just seemed disappointing to just be thrown in front of a boss in a designated fighting area without meeting them earlier on" ...exactly! It would be different if we met with Barrett (the first boss in HR) outside when we overhear him talking to the other Tyrant agent dude, with all the infantry supporting him, BUT with the boxes blocking his field of view compared to later on being ambushed by him in that open area. Or maybe even finding something in a broadcast that would help him find a loved one that the Tyrants are hiding away from him so you can convince him to work with you INSTEAD of fighting. Having those options would have been way better than what Square Enix delivered.
DX:MD...ah, this was definitely a game that was a Middle Child of a supposed "trilogy". Time to really evaluate who to trust, who Jensen is, and just all of these other factors yet never get too deep into any of it. Though the main story is difficult to follow because the side stories are all so interesting! Though Prague itself is a beautiful area, I missed being able to traverse to other Hubs of other globe-trotting places and explore how other countries are seeing the result of an augmented world.
Plus the way Square Enix butchered the game, laid it out with the in-game transactions, the story elements, and actors (they replaced Sarif's voice actor and I still have not recovered x) )... Deus Ex is not going to be the next Halo, or Call of Duty. It is not a series for that. For them to attempt to monetize it in that manner felt ... wrong. Messing with it, especially considering the game is about "those in Power" attempting to steal from those who do not have it (money) felt hypocritical.
And NKB described it greatly when it came to the Augmentations/Racism angle. It could have been a whole lot more (while also tugging at those threads) but the focus did not get to expand too much (which granted, could have been a whole lot worse).
Otherwise, I so want Deus Ex to finish and if it does not, guess I'll have to make a spiritual successor to it someday x)
@@blindeyedblightmain3565 don’t know if you ended playing MD also, but after two playthroughs I have to say it’s a definitive gaming experience for me, despite its butchered status. Immersion factor is unreal, and I was maybe a bit surprised by the completeness of the story experience by the end of my 2nd playthrough, with foiling Marchenko and his cronies. Jensen got his guy…kind of reminded me of True Detective S1’s resolution.
Have to say that going back to HR after it was a surprising struggle, given the improvements MD brings to the table.
A tear came to my eye when the first few notes of your foreshadowed next video connected me to years of nostalgia for the 100s of hours i spent playing the game along with the friends i talked to while i did. All it took was a few musical notes for me to become incredibly excited for you next video :)
Human Revolution's "trust humanity" ending literally bring tears to my eyes. Such powerful writing. I think people focus too much on nitpicking when it comes to the new deus ex games, really gets repetitive. There is so much inspiring moments and so few were mentioned in depth that I couldn't finish the video, honestly
>Such powerful writing
I can only hope this is sarcasm.
'Such powerful writing'
It's a game about how bodily augmentations might be bad because... look they just might be ok.
"some kind of magic GPS system to track your every move and signpost your destination"
Modern GPS can pretty much do that anyway. It's not hard to believe that in the far flung future of 2027 GPS will be slightly better than it is now, going to very zoomed out satellite images that don't show enemy locations seems like a step backwards if anything.
What I do like the idea of is JC starting the game with a modern minimap and quest system, but needing to give it up to avoid being tracked.
An maybe we'll get fancy augs an flying cities as well. Or whatever that floating thing is in China.
This was fantastic! Agree with almost everything stated here. My only point of contention though is that the cause of Aug racism in MK was pretty clear to me: the Aug Incident caused the majority of augmented people to go on murderous rampages. Witnessing that would give PTSD and Aug-phobia to a large number of people. Even if they knew that it wasn't technically Augs' fault, it would still provoke them to fear augs on an instinctual level. It was also called out at the beginning of the game that Prague was uniquely anti-Aug compared to the rest of the world, which is another reason why the racism was dialed up to 11 in the game.
Was about to type the same thing: while there is a metaphor for racism in the game it's clear that the resentment was different than just seeing one group as "other". Leaders were using the fears that it could happen again to stir up the populace and increase their political power.
His whole point on racism in the game was by far the worst part of the video.
The devilishly based and ironic part of this is that the games view on racism as being a reaction to actions of the group and not an irrational fear is very realistic.
"I did ask for this" - Adam Jensen
42:59 “Bored sociopathic House Cat” is redundant. All those little bastards are sociopaths….
21:40 - "He almost starts to sound like he's talking a lot of sense until you remember he's a terrorist"
That doesn't mean anything though, the points he makes are still completely valid lmfao
He was being ironic
@@generalmod debatable considering the other (albeit small) political stuff he's said in his videos
@@Morellen He is being ironic. And he's also talking from the perspective of JC Denton.
The plot is that you work for the bad guys and the terrorists are less evil.
NKB just dropping by to say, man, this was awesome. Essentially a documentary on Deus Ex, one of my favorite franchises ever. Cannot say how many times I have clocked DXHR and DXMD, but it's at least 10-20 between both titles. Really nice to see this retrospective, you've got a sub from me and I will be checking out your other content as I have already noticed a few more I am keen to watch. Thanks for making excellent content.
When you were talking about the removal of map markers and exploration in Human Revolution, it made me really want to see your analysis of the dishonored series. I love turning off the waypoints in those games and navigating through the environment, the games are actually really well designed for it and it is such an interesting experience that I don’t think I’ve truly had anywhere else.
Human Revolution is probably one of my top 5 games of all time, but I completely agree with all the points you made.
You're also able to save Paul from the apartment raid, the gas + LAM combo never fails
I hated the energy recharge in human revolution. It was one of the major issues I had with the game past the mid point as a large part of my inventory became dedicated to energy bars. One of the things I did like about the directors cut is they made the recharge apply to two bars.
38:05
"there's a clear message behind Deus Ex: ... it's simply to **be skeptical of power**"
probably the simplest description of my political stance I've ever heard
you mean you're left/right libertarian
@@TheWiseWombat no
I had one playtrough with Mankind Devided now and I basically just kept clearing my inventory by selling everything before every mission. Still found a way to complete missions with no starting items. Well designed game.
i just played and finished Deus Ex, the first game, and imo still holds up as a great game in 2022, i was surprised how complex the game is for it's year and how the story flows, i really liked it, now, based on this video, i don't like how Deus Ex evolved and i won't be playing the games, it misses the investigative approach that first game had.
Nice to hear that people who play the original Deus Ex in these last couple of years still find it to be an enjoyable game despite that it looks pretty old now and that some of its gameplay may feel complex or unrefined.
I was very disappointed with some of the gameplay changes done after the original such as getting rid of skills.
While I think Invisible War had some interesting themes and elements, from a story point of view but also gameplay the game was sadly a major disappointment after really looking forwards to it.
I really wish this game was replaced by a new sequel even if I have no idea what direction it would have to go.
As for the series after Invisible War. To me it feels more like what designers today feel what the series should be rather than building on the original game.
The characters, the storylines, the dialogue, but also the gameplay, the aesthetics and the style of everything.
Like the designers wanted to use elements from the original DE such as human augmentation and what shape the future could take, different approaches at going through levels, but preferring to ditch the rest in order to build something that in some ways felt like it had to compete with Metal Gear Solid.
But they had to use elements like the Illuminati, Bob Page, a build up towards JC Denton, as otherwise this would not be a DE game.
That the original Deus Ex was fine for its time but that the franchise had to be more reflect modern day gaming sensibilities.
For example the auto take down button.
I think HR and MD should perhaps have been part of a new IP.
To anyone considering replaying Deus Ex after watching this, I'd highly recommend the New Vision 2.0 mod, which uses AI to upscale the game's textures and the result is too impressive for words!
GMDX
GMDX community update + dx11 renderer + Helios texture overhaul is basically Deus Ex Definitive Edition/remastered
I hear the "HDTP" (High Definite Texture Pack) Mod' for the 1st game is *at last* nearly finished...
Ive tried everything but cant get the game to work on my laptop till this day
WHY did you not talk about the god damn music. I mean ... HR OST is just. ... wow.
1, HR and mankind divided all have amazing soundtracks
@@KnightRaven Hell, even Invisible War has some great tracks.
One thing that wasn't mentioned: Alex D from Invisible War can be a woman too
Also, boss fights in HR are a step down from Deus Ex 1 because they offer little choice in how to handle them, this is mostly due to boss fights being outsourced to another company.
In the original Deus Ex most bosses have a kill phrase that allows the more methodical or tactical players to quickly achieve victory, and Anna can be killed with a preemptive mine in the airplane skipping the whole conversation.
Wasn't this one of the things changed in the directors cut edition?
@@807D14M0ND5 yes, it is better but still meh. IMO, the easiest way is to spend 3 points on typhoon and quickly spam it to kill bosses.
@@807D14M0ND5 It was made easier to hide, find weapons, ammo and explosive barrels.
But you still end up murdering bosses, despite role playing a pacifist. Even the pacifist achievement says "excluding boss fights".
In Mankind Divided the last boss can be knocked out, kill phrased and directly killed.
The serial killer sub-boss can be reasoned with to surrender, given you completed certain optional objectives.
@@cha14cha14 I mean you have to kill every boss in OG Deus Ex as well, even if you are playing as a pacifist. Director's cut added a lot of optional ways to defeat them outside of shooting or typhooning them to hell. I like the fact that there are dudes who can't be talked out of wrongdoing. That adds some realism and stakes to the confrontations.
@@blindeyedblightmain3565 True, but OG Deus Ex didn't encourage a pacifist or ghost playstyle by rewarding higher xp, only to sweep the rug from under the feet during boss fights quite like HR did.
Aside from HL, deus ex human revolution is one of my favorite gaming memories of all time.
Such a great game.
Man, please continue these series retrospectives. They're amazing! Consider doing Elder Scrolls and Mass Effect.
Catch the outro music at 2:10:01
From 35:46 that monologue with the soundtrack.... Gives me goosebumps. Dude I don`t know much about your career apart from youtube , but I honestly think you should try writing if you don`t already doing it.
”What a shame”
*lip smack*
”What a rotten way to die”
Work horse. Your rate of uploading never fails to amaze
Incredible retrospective, thank you very much for such a thought-provoking and detailed analysis of this amazing gaming series. Those two hours genuinely flew by, and It's already made me re-download the games for another round. Easily one of the best video essays I've seen in a long time.
43:00 "...like a bored, sociopathic housecat"
Implying that housecats aren't all sociopaths already.
As soon as the Human Revolution soundtrack started, I got emotional...
I played all of them and non of them stood out for me, but I love HR. Great video, thanks ! Now I gotta go replay HR...
1:12:12 the issue was there was only ONE WAY TO BEAT THE BOSSES: SHOOT IT A TON AND DON'T GET SHOT TO HELL! This was especially egregious with the first boss who is a literal tank on two legs armed with an GAU-8/A Avenger for an arm.
Idk why, but I love mankind devided so much.
Just took a look at your other videos and instant subbed. It took me a couple of days to listen through this but you are exactly the kind of person I go to youtube for. Thanks for your content. Game design is my favorite passion and you make excellent video essays
I fell in love with Mankind Divided. I'd never played such an open game with so many choices and the fact it was first person for some reason made it more impact full. But I HAVE to go back and play the old games I see. They may be clunky and unpolished but those are the kind of old games I love. Janky mechanics to take advantage of! Or vice versa lol. Plus the story just looks too good to pass up
Adam Jensen is probably the coolest protagonist in the last ten years.
In Human Revolution, my problem with the boss fights wasn't that I had to fight, it was that I was forced to kill, when I was doing no kill runs.
How do you upload every month? This is insane with how good these videos are!
With difficulty. This video and the crpg guide video where started more than a month in advance, and next month won't have a video. Glad you enjoy them though.
@@NeverKnowsBest Wow. You are an inspiration.
If I may ask something else, where does your insane experience with RPG's come from? You know almost anything about everything it seems.
@@tommero6584 Nowhere special, I just started playing them as a kid and kept playing them as an adult.
(1:45:40) The question, "This is NAZI Germany 2.0 and everyone is just okay with that, but why?" requires the answer to the question, "Why was everyone okay with NAZI Germany 1.0 at the time?"
Most weren't. That is why we had WW2, because enough people did not accept Nazi Germany, such that they even went to war with them.
And you just have to look at all the resistance movements within Germany to see that even under the threat of extermination, A LOT of people were not fine with it.
I'm totally with you on passive augments in the first game, including them in the second is one of the few things it did better in my opinion.
I like the fact that Adam Jensen is like a reverse side of the same coin as Adam Smasher in the world of Cyberpunk. That being he's basically saved and put back together by a corporation and used as their muscle while he works for them.
Makes me wonder if he wasn't named Adam just for the prequel setup but also as a nod to Smasher.
Everytime you mention Deus Ex, someone else is reinstalling it...
Plot twist: these super dystopian government conspiracies you reference? They're already happening.
A great video, both a trip down memory lane and educational. I’ll take issue with one claim; that a director’s cut should be an objective improvement.
By its definition it should be a re cut that better suits the director’s vision, one person’s vision. It will be different but whether it’s better will be subjective.
I have a thought on the subject of quest markers in the modern games. For me they are quite useful for two different reasons.
For players that are new to the genre, they provide familiarity, comfort and guidance. They do make exploration optional but they can also enable a sense of freedom to explore since the player doesn't have to worry about being lost in levels that are quite different from all the other games out there.
For me as an experienced player, the quest markers indicated the areas where I shouldn't go until I explored everything. With markers present I can feel free to explore knowing that I won't trigger an event that would potentially stop me from doing it.
Excellent points - while he was making his point about the maps in HR and MD, I kept trying to remember if I ever used them once while playing these games.
I found exploration to just be so rewarding that I completely forgot about the actual maps.
The boss where you fight in a room full of water is a straight up soft lock even on the easiest difficulty for stealth builds.
1:21:29 to 1:21:33 "Adam Jensen, whose voice is so gravelly it can give Christian Bale's Batman a run for his money"
This guy missed his chance
Adam Jensen: "I never asked for this"
How many people read this in Adam's rough voice
A review of every major Immersive Sim from the last ten years when?
join his Patreon and you'll get an answer :-p
You mean review of Arkane games?
I'm for it as that means he will have to play Underworld Ascendant
So like 3/4 games
Mankind Divided was such a dissappointment for me, they were clearly in conflict with making a sequel and square enix demanding higher sales and new players. Explains why the story never went anywhere and barely any of the original characters returned outside DLC
I wonder if Square Enix were pressured by a certain shadowy group to push for high sales expectations, so the franchise was doomed to failure due, maybe due to its subject matter..... ;)
funny thing about your comment. I was having an amazing time with Mankind Divided for like 6 hours because the gameplay and stealth/flow is the best in the series imo but then i realized that the story hadnt gone anywhere. and then sooner or later it ended right as it was getting interesting. the story almost feels unfinished.
I agree about SQEX mismanagement, but I don’t think the narrative that the games story is unfinished is entirely fair, yes it is setting up a third act, but Mankind Divideds main plot is about Marchenko and his group, and that story wrapped up by the end. Most current triple a games are far more egregious in leaving main plot points unresolved for future installments.
@@BestintheWest25 It actually was a rushed project they weren't able to spend time on.
@@blumiu2426 can somebody tell me what happened to the dude from the announcement trailer in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided? The one who was wearing a hoodie and was seen with Marchenko... I never saw him in-game
With Cyberpunk 2077 needing another six months at least to come to fruition, I picked up DE:MD as a stopgap. Watched the first two games and briefly skimmed the others, to avoid spoilers. Thank you for posting this as a nice focal point of review.
I have been a gamer for more than 20 years. I have played in the arcade halls of old, grew up with the NES and gameboy into gaming pc’s and all playstations. I have played more titles than I can count. Whenever I am asked what my favorite game of all time is, I still say: Deus Ex (the original). What an experience. The soundtrack, story and endless possibilities to solve levels... unequalled to this day in my opinion. I haven’t played the game for almost ten years, but watching this video, it is incredible how familiar all the gameplay felt to me. Your critique is awesome and thank you for the feels. A thousand thumbs up. I need to play this again!
Love your tone w/ the subtle humor. The commentary is great. Good job.
I'm glad this popped up in my recommended. Never seen your channel before. Instant sub, loving the vids!
NeverKnowsBest is a serious legend
Mankind divided is exactly how many countries treat purebloods (un-jabed) these days. You were an optimist.
I just wrote exactly the same. 😂
This guy teases the Elder Scrolls music and than uploads the dragon age video. What a time to be alive.
i almost like how in Human Revolution it almost feels like all everyone ever talks about and all that is ever advertised relates to augmentation because it feels like we're getting a glimpse into Adam's mind set. I think that feeling of suffocation we feel by not getting a break from it would mirror the way a man like Jensen would feel given its prevalence in and control over his life.
Malick's death was the saddest in any game... because it felt it was my fault
Oh, but it wasn't. It was her choice and she was ready to face consequences. She lived and died for things she believed in. And that is a lot more than can be said about IRL people nowadays.
@@TheMrDewil Except that you can save her, so it totally is your fault.
I really hope there will be more Deus Ex game, I love Mankind Divided.