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Human Revolution was wonderful, but Mankind Divided had such bizarre pacing… I was ~15 hours into Prague, waiting for the transition to the next locale like in

Human Revolution was wonderful, but Mankind Divided had such bizarre pacing… I was ~15 hours into Prague, waiting for the transition to the next locale like in all of the other Deus Ex games, and then the story ended… sigh

iammjm 4y ago
Yeah I've read they planned plenty more but then were pressed to wrap it up asap... still it was a fun game, awesome interior and costume design
paulryanrogers 4y ago
In their defense the level of fidelity increases costs, and the franchise ownership doesn't seem as committed as to other brands.
terafo 4y ago
I spent around 45 hours there in my first walkthrough, can imagine how did you beat it so fast, but can't understand why.
Rodeoclash 4y ago
I barely made it past the first 20 minutes before giving up for MD. Somehow the experience was wildly different from the HR despite the mechanics being mostly the same. One thing I think was a big contributing factor to my enjoyment of the first game was the soundtrack. The first time you enter the Sarif Industries building and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAljZX-9HMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAljZX-9HMI starts playing - chills.
- omnibrain 4y ago
  For years I used a playlist of the soundtracks of Deus Ex: HR and the movie Transcendence on shuffle for working on the PC.
- Melatonic 4y ago
  I did the same thing - I was very confused at first. Once you orient yourself though in that initial city and get a bit into it then it becomes very very good. I think I may have been playing years after with all the bugs fixed and the DLC's added and whatnot but I thought they killed it with that game. Still hoping we get another!
- ethbr0 4y ago
  I see you Sarif Industries theme and raise you the UNATCO theme. ;) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JhjkBE3d3Uw&t=17m35s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JhjkBE3d3Uw&t=17m35s From memory, that was also the first mirror in the game, and so the first time you saw... yourself (JC).
  - Agentlien 4y ago
    I don't know which game did it first, but I the first mirror I came across was in Duke Nukem 3D, 4 years before Deus Ex.
    - aasasd 4y ago
      The parent commenter means to say that for most of the game in Deus Ex, the player doesn't see the protagonist. (Can't remember if the cutscenes shown him from a third-person view.)
      - ethbr0 4y ago
        Point! YT confirms there were cutscenes on Liberty Island before. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jnbCwPwJNFY&t=3m30s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jnbCwPwJNFY&t=3m30s So maybe it was the first player-controlled viewing of yourself.
        aasasd 4y ago
        The cutscene experience was funny if one happened to have both legs shot—so JC crawls around for hours, then stands up during a cutscene, and afterwards plops down again and proceeds to crawl to completion of the level.
        ethbr0 4y ago
        I believe there may have been an unfortunate GEP gun incident where I found that out. I kinda miss stuff like that. Sadly, when things break like that now (looking at you, Bethesda) it usually leaves the game in an unplayable state, versus reverting to a known-good state.
- ak217 4y ago
  Michael McCann is a genius and deserves way more credit for Deus Ex than he is given, but he was responsible for at least half of the Mankind Divided soundtrack too.
- henriquecm8 4y ago
  I also stop at the tutorial on my first try, then later I tried again, and now I like it more than Human Revolution, it's better in all aspects, except maybe the story for ending abruptly.
guardiangod 4y ago
Playing Mankind Divided made me not want to visit Prague, ever. I guess in a way the game was well designed.
- ellisv 4y ago
  Did playing HR make you want to visit Detroit?
- smcl 4y ago
  Not sure if this will sway you but the entirety of the MD version of Prague is fictional. Překážka doesn’t exist, the main train station doesn’t look like that, Golem City isn’t a thing, there are no oppressive riot police stalking the streets :-) The things that put me off Prague aren’t in the game, and likely wouldn’t irritate a tourist
post_break 4y ago
Human Revolution had one of the best gaming preludes. You had no augmentations, and then you get rocked. The opening credits while you're in surgery, chefs kiss. Obligatory "I never asked for this" Opening credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIqJaT3cvf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIqJaT3cvf8
- DylanFuery 4y ago
  Though this site is under appreciated and less than up to date now they produced a fantastic interview with the director and opening sequence director. The additional images and videos make it really shine. https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deus-ex-human-revolution/ https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deus-ex-human-revolution...
- paulmd 4y ago
  > one of the best gaming preludes. You had no augmentations, and then you get rocked. The opening credits while you're in surgery, chefs kiss. I'm afraid it's been... nine years! *midge ure plays* (that's right, you think that's the real bowie you're listening to!?)
  - smcl 4y ago
    Interestingly a few people really dislike the intro to both DXHR and DXMD - and contrast it with the original Deus Ex where you effectively just hop in and start running around liberty island. If they added a skip to those sequences or created a "New Game (post-intro)" option on completion that might have been nice. Both games definitely feel rushed gameplay and story-wise, I always wonder what they'd look like if they got a bit more love
- cloutchaser 4y ago
  I thought the mankind divided opening was pretty good as well. The terrorist attack really surprised me, and for a few seconds I felt like I was there. Deus ex is by far my favourite universe, it's such a shame it isn't better developed.
- orthoxerox 4y ago
yamtaddle 4y ago
Some of the DLC for Mankind Divided is excellent, though. You should check it out if you haven't. The worst thing about MD is the stability and bugginess. I recently replayed both, and HR is still (and more-or-less always has been) pretty damn solid. MD, meanwhile, had intermittent jankiness in the UI including getting itself into states that required a restart to fix, wild swings in framerate, and crashed probably a half-dozen times in my playthrough (which wouldn't be a bad stat for a game in, like, 1999, but is now). I think HR crashed maybe once, but I may be mis-remembering and it was in fact zero times, and that was a much longer play-through. [EDIT] Oh, one nice touch in MD was how they improved balance on hacking. No more ending the game with 500 pieces of hacking software because it was so easy. No more feeling compelled to hack everything even if you already had a code for it, for the XP. New UI's terrible and (on PC, at least) buggy, though :-(
- onli 4y ago
  I played MD recently again, including all the DLCs. It was not unstable or buggy at all. I played under Linux, but am not 100% certain anymore that I played the Linux version and not the Windows version via Proton. In any case, maybe something to test next time you play it. There is only one DLC I'd call excellent though: A Criminal Past. The others sadly are not great. Desperate Measures might be included now, but is just missing content from the main story, suffering by it being not integrated properly and it saw clearly less design work. System Rift saw even less, it's made cheaply - but not not fun and at least a story of its own. And then there is A Criminal Past, better than some parts of the main game, the only one I'd absolutely recommend.
  - Semaphor 4y ago
    I’m currently playing it on Windows, 7 or 8 hours in. I’ve had 2 bugs so far that required a restart.
cercatrova 4y ago
That is because the publisher Square Enix forced the developer Eidos Montreal to split Mankind Divided into two games, and then they canceled the second game. Thankfully the IP and developer has been bought by a holding group that actually knows about gaming, Embracer Group.
- selfhoster11 4y ago
  Please don’t tell me that you don’t see the irony of the holding group being named “Embracer Group”. It’s literally an antagonist name.
  - brenainn 4y ago
    I agree it's a pretty bad name. But they seem to have an okay track record of buying studios and publishers and letting them be. Then again, maybe they are the villains and they're going to one day direct all of this acquired talent to producing the ultimate cash cow live service free to play bullshit game.
  - cercatrova 4y ago
    The name is tongue-in-cheek. That you're here commenting about them means it worked.
Melatonic 4y ago
Wait - it ends at Prague? I thought that was the first city? I swear there were lots of locations .....
- kevingadd 4y ago
  IIRC there are two main hubs and then some throwaway locations. It definitely felt like there was supposed to be more.
- smcl 4y ago
  It does not end in Prague. You leave and come back to Prague a couple of times, each time it’s more locked down and hostile. Finale is weirdly in a convention center in London.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

iammjm 4y ago

Yeah I've read they planned plenty more but then were pressed to wrap it up asap... still it was a fun game, awesome interior and costume design

paulryanrogers 4y ago

In their defense the level of fidelity increases costs, and the franchise ownership doesn't seem as committed as to other brands.

terafo 4y ago

I spent around 45 hours there in my first walkthrough, can imagine how did you beat it so fast, but can't understand why.

Rodeoclash 4y ago

I barely made it past the first 20 minutes before giving up for MD. Somehow the experience was wildly different from the HR despite the mechanics being mostly the same. One thing I think was a big contributing factor to my enjoyment of the first game was the soundtrack. The first time you enter the Sarif Industries building and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAljZX-9HMI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAljZX-9HMI starts playing - chills.

omnibrain 4y ago
For years I used a playlist of the soundtracks of Deus Ex: HR and the movie Transcendence on shuffle for working on the PC.
Melatonic 4y ago
I did the same thing - I was very confused at first. Once you orient yourself though in that initial city and get a bit into it then it becomes very very good. I think I may have been playing years after with all the bugs fixed and the DLC's added and whatnot but I thought they killed it with that game. Still hoping we get another!
ethbr0 4y ago
I see you Sarif Industries theme and raise you the UNATCO theme. ;) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JhjkBE3d3Uw&t=17m35s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JhjkBE3d3Uw&t=17m35s From memory, that was also the first mirror in the game, and so the first time you saw... yourself (JC).
- Agentlien 4y ago
  I don't know which game did it first, but I the first mirror I came across was in Duke Nukem 3D, 4 years before Deus Ex.
  - aasasd 4y ago
    The parent commenter means to say that for most of the game in Deus Ex, the player doesn't see the protagonist. (Can't remember if the cutscenes shown him from a third-person view.)
    - ethbr0 4y ago
      Point! YT confirms there were cutscenes on Liberty Island before. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jnbCwPwJNFY&t=3m30s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jnbCwPwJNFY&t=3m30s So maybe it was the first player-controlled viewing of yourself.
      - aasasd 4y ago
        The cutscene experience was funny if one happened to have both legs shot—so JC crawls around for hours, then stands up during a cutscene, and afterwards plops down again and proceeds to crawl to completion of the level.
        ethbr0 4y ago
        I believe there may have been an unfortunate GEP gun incident where I found that out. I kinda miss stuff like that. Sadly, when things break like that now (looking at you, Bethesda) it usually leaves the game in an unplayable state, versus reverting to a known-good state.
ak217 4y ago
Michael McCann is a genius and deserves way more credit for Deus Ex than he is given, but he was responsible for at least half of the Mankind Divided soundtrack too.
henriquecm8 4y ago
I also stop at the tutorial on my first try, then later I tried again, and now I like it more than Human Revolution, it's better in all aspects, except maybe the story for ending abruptly.

guardiangod 4y ago

Playing Mankind Divided made me not want to visit Prague, ever. I guess in a way the game was well designed.

ellisv 4y ago
Did playing HR make you want to visit Detroit?
smcl 4y ago
Not sure if this will sway you but the entirety of the MD version of Prague is fictional. Překážka doesn’t exist, the main train station doesn’t look like that, Golem City isn’t a thing, there are no oppressive riot police stalking the streets :-) The things that put me off Prague aren’t in the game, and likely wouldn’t irritate a tourist

post_break 4y ago

Human Revolution had one of the best gaming preludes. You had no augmentations, and then you get rocked. The opening credits while you're in surgery, chefs kiss. Obligatory "I never asked for this" Opening credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIqJaT3cvf8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIqJaT3cvf8

DylanFuery 4y ago
Though this site is under appreciated and less than up to date now they produced a fantastic interview with the director and opening sequence director. The additional images and videos make it really shine. https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deus-ex-human-revolution/ https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/deus-ex-human-revolution...
paulmd 4y ago
> one of the best gaming preludes. You had no augmentations, and then you get rocked. The opening credits while you're in surgery, chefs kiss. I'm afraid it's been... nine years! *midge ure plays* (that's right, you think that's the real bowie you're listening to!?)
- smcl 4y ago
  Interestingly a few people really dislike the intro to both DXHR and DXMD - and contrast it with the original Deus Ex where you effectively just hop in and start running around liberty island. If they added a skip to those sequences or created a "New Game (post-intro)" option on completion that might have been nice. Both games definitely feel rushed gameplay and story-wise, I always wonder what they'd look like if they got a bit more love
cloutchaser 4y ago
I thought the mankind divided opening was pretty good as well. The terrorist attack really surprised me, and for a few seconds I felt like I was there. Deus ex is by far my favourite universe, it's such a shame it isn't better developed.
orthoxerox 4y ago

yamtaddle 4y ago

Some of the DLC for Mankind Divided is excellent, though. You should check it out if you haven't. The worst thing about MD is the stability and bugginess. I recently replayed both, and HR is still (and more-or-less always has been) pretty damn solid. MD, meanwhile, had intermittent jankiness in the UI including getting itself into states that required a restart to fix, wild swings in framerate, and crashed probably a half-dozen times in my playthrough (which wouldn't be a bad stat for a game in, like, 1999, but is now). I think HR crashed maybe once, but I may be mis-remembering and it was in fact zero times, and that was a much longer play-through. [EDIT] Oh, one nice touch in MD was how they improved balance on hacking. No more ending the game with 500 pieces of hacking software because it was so easy. No more feeling compelled to hack everything even if you already had a code for it, for the XP. New UI's terrible and (on PC, at least) buggy, though :-(

onli 4y ago
I played MD recently again, including all the DLCs. It was not unstable or buggy at all. I played under Linux, but am not 100% certain anymore that I played the Linux version and not the Windows version via Proton. In any case, maybe something to test next time you play it. There is only one DLC I'd call excellent though: A Criminal Past. The others sadly are not great. Desperate Measures might be included now, but is just missing content from the main story, suffering by it being not integrated properly and it saw clearly less design work. System Rift saw even less, it's made cheaply - but not not fun and at least a story of its own. And then there is A Criminal Past, better than some parts of the main game, the only one I'd absolutely recommend.
- Semaphor 4y ago
  I’m currently playing it on Windows, 7 or 8 hours in. I’ve had 2 bugs so far that required a restart.

cercatrova 4y ago

That is because the publisher Square Enix forced the developer Eidos Montreal to split Mankind Divided into two games, and then they canceled the second game. Thankfully the IP and developer has been bought by a holding group that actually knows about gaming, Embracer Group.

selfhoster11 4y ago
Please don’t tell me that you don’t see the irony of the holding group being named “Embracer Group”. It’s literally an antagonist name.
- brenainn 4y ago
  I agree it's a pretty bad name. But they seem to have an okay track record of buying studios and publishers and letting them be. Then again, maybe they are the villains and they're going to one day direct all of this acquired talent to producing the ultimate cash cow live service free to play bullshit game.
- cercatrova 4y ago
  The name is tongue-in-cheek. That you're here commenting about them means it worked.

Melatonic 4y ago

Wait - it ends at Prague? I thought that was the first city? I swear there were lots of locations .....

kevingadd 4y ago
IIRC there are two main hubs and then some throwaway locations. It definitely felt like there was supposed to be more.
smcl 4y ago
It does not end in Prague. You leave and come back to Prague a couple of times, each time it’s more locked down and hostile. Finale is weirdly in a convention center in London.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]