[PATV] Extra Credits s.3 ep.18 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Bogey

superwoot

Great episode.... But didn't they say in the "cartel" episode that they aren't a review show? Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but that was a review. I agree that they presented a lot of info..... But that was a review. I'll even admit that it was a good review. I wish game informer tried harder to explain WHY they like the game, not what the game HAS. Btw, I haven't played Human Revolution. Did it really have an ability that does nothing? lol

Henroid

This worded why I enjoyed Deus Ex in a much better way than I could ever have hoped to. And it also explains why I'm looking forward to playing Human Revolution so much. And more importantly, now I know that what I was looking forward to is persistent in the game so YES.

I don't think it was a review by the way. It started out like one pointing out what they liked, but at the end of the day, they were focusing on ... well okay it was a review, yeah. But it was because of how far and away the game sets itself apart from others.

Aurich

superwoot wrote:

Great episode.... But didn't they say in the "cartel" episode that they aren't a review show? Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but that was a review. I agree that they presented a lot of info..... But that was a review. I'll even admit that it was a good review. I wish game informer tried harder to explain WHY they like the game, not what the game HAS. Btw, I haven't played Human Revolution. Did it really have an ability that does nothing? lol

I think they were referring to the social augmentation they kept talking about in the first press cycle. It's supposed to let you analyze pupil dilation and pheromone levels and beta waves and whatnot to manipulate people, and there are indeed a couple instances where you can get extra quest rewards out of NPCs. Really though, all the aug does is add all these neat graphs and charts to the periphery of conversation.

And personally, I don't care if they've strayed from their intended purpose with this episode. DE:HR is such an excellent, rare example of developers just doing it right. I can't think of a single thing I would have done differently or better with that game. It is mission accomplished.

superwoot

Human Revolution just entered my gamflyQ, lol. :-P Like I said, it was an amazing review. I guess it is asking too much for them not to review games specifically... And I'm not being sarcastic. On one hand, i don't want reviews crammed down my throat(I have game informer for that). On the other hand, I learned so much from that simple review, that I am happy I watched it. I... Conflicted..... Ugh..... Woot SMASH!!!!

Henroid

I think, to defend them from the "review" thing, they were more of praising a game that actually succeeded at having the players ask questions about things really going on, or at least start thinking about it.

I've mentioned time and again for the Occupy movement that the shit going on was stuff I'd only see in video games. Deus Ex, at the beginning, has a guy preach a bit about income disparity, corporations paying damn near nothing on taxes, high unemployment, etc, and goddamn it is it depressing to see it happening in real life. Deus Ex: HR has an advantage in 1) leading up to the first game, and 2) it's actually reasonably set on top of current events.

So basically, life is depressing.

Aurich

Henroid wrote:

I think, to defend them from the "review" thing, they were more of praising a game that actually succeeded at having the players ask questions about things really going on, or at least start thinking about it.

I've mentioned time and again for the Occupy movement that the shit going on was stuff I'd only see in video games. Deus Ex, at the beginning, has a guy preach a bit about income disparity, corporations paying damn near nothing on taxes, high unemployment, etc, and goddamn it is it depressing to see it happening in real life. Deus Ex: HR has an advantage in 1) leading up to the first game, and 2) it's actually reasonably set on top of current events.

So basically, life is depressing.

You can take comfort in the fact that, in order to present the phattest visual treats, they took some liberties with the timeline. There are some things in the game, Like that enormous metal Hengsha club sandwich, that simply could not be accomplished between now and then, even if everyone in the world stopped what they were doing and committed all their resources to help.

I'm not saying we're not rocketing towards a cyberpunk dystopia, but it'll be closer to the end of our lives I think, so we'll be able to make our escape right as things are getting really bad.

Henroid

Aurich wrote:

Henroid wrote:

I think, to defend them from the "review" thing, they were more of praising a game that actually succeeded at having the players ask questions about things really going on, or at least start thinking about it.

I've mentioned time and again for the Occupy movement that the shit going on was stuff I'd only see in video games. Deus Ex, at the beginning, has a guy preach a bit about income disparity, corporations paying damn near nothing on taxes, high unemployment, etc, and goddamn it is it depressing to see it happening in real life. Deus Ex: HR has an advantage in 1) leading up to the first game, and 2) it's actually reasonably set on top of current events.

So basically, life is depressing.

You can take comfort in the fact that, in order to present the phattest visual treats, they took some liberties with the timeline. There are some things in the game, Like that enormous metal Hengsha club sandwich, that simply could not be accomplished between now and then, even if everyone in the world stopped what they were doing and committed all their resources to help.

I'm not saying we're not rocketing towards a cyberpunk dystopia, but it'll be closer to the end of our lives I think, so we'll be able to make our escape right as things are getting really bad.

Oh yeah I definitely get that 16 years from now probably won't have a lot of that shit, but it'll definitely be closer.

Really though, on the topic of the social issues of income / class disparity, it hits way closer to home.

Zellpher

superwoot wrote:

Did it really have an ability that does nothing? lol

I think it was the hacking ability which told you the likelihood of setting off an alarm, which the game already did. The pupil dilation thing helped tell you what responses were more likely to get what you wanted.

superwoot

interesting....

Aurich

Zellpher wrote:

superwoot wrote:

Did it really have an ability that does nothing? lol

I think it was the hacking ability which told you the likelihood of setting off an alarm, which the game already did. The pupil dilation thing helped tell you what responses were more likely to get what you wanted.

That's probably it. I always assumed that one did something else as well, but I never picked it up 'cause with all the other hacking mods, I never even needed to touch my stockpile of like 50 worms/viruses.

Henroid

The CASSIE or CASS or CASIE is the social augmentation right?

That one definitely does something, I had people explain it to me. The usefulness is the only thing that came into question. But it has a use, is the bottom line.

Never heard about that hacking augmentation though.

The Good Doctor Tran

This review finally inspired me to do that ultraviolence run through I've been intending to do! Adam Jensen, World's Biggest Jackass!

Victory63

Just wondering if anyone was aware but, before "Deus Ex" there actually was a game that looked at the conecpt of "god from the machine". Coincidentally that game was called "Deus Ex Machina" and was released back in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, an early attempt at combining art with gaming.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex_Machina_(video_game)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwJBsYJ16IE
In 2010, the game was included in the book "1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die" (ISBN 978-1-74173-076-0).
Doctor Who fans may be interested to know that the game starred Jon Pertwee (Third Doctor) in his first video game role.

Henroid

Victory you should email that to the EC crew to see if they 1) know of it or 2) intend to bring it up in future discussion. :^:

Tleilaxu

Oh wow. The pause/begin stuff was because the soundtrack is on a separate cassette tape?
1980s tech limitations, I love you.

Langly

this wasn't a review of the game Human Revolution, it was a lecture on how you can develop a game that uses fantastic elements that is still relevant to current events. The world the game creates lets people examine our own real problems in a fictional setting. That is the point of the video.

Henroid

Langly wrote:

this wasn't a review of the game Human Revolution, it was a lecture on how you can develop a game that uses fantastic elements that is still relevant to current events. The world the game creates lets people examine our own real problems in a fictional setting. That is the point of the video.

Langly comes in and says what I was thinking, but I was too stupid to put into words.

Speed Racer

kinda bummed they went back to that dumb point they made about how developers should never express their actual viewpoint on a subject in their work

because that did not become any less dumb since the propaganda games episode

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The Good Doctor Tran

Speed Racer wrote: »

kinda bummed they went back to that dumb point they made about how developers should never express their actual viewpoint on a subject in their work

because that did not become any less dumb since the propaganda games episode

I don't recall them saying this. What I recall them saying is that no one can help but express their viewpoints in their creative work and developers should seek to minimize that expression, or express their viewpoint in a way that presents it as a choice or observation the player can make.

Captain Carrot

Aurich wrote:

Zellpher wrote:

superwoot wrote:

Did it really have an ability that does nothing? lol

I think it was the hacking ability which told you the likelihood of setting off an alarm, which the game already did. The pupil dilation thing helped tell you what responses were more likely to get what you wanted.

That's probably it. I always assumed that one did something else as well, but I never picked it up 'cause with all the other hacking mods, I never even needed to touch my stockpile of like 50 worms/viruses.

Nitpick: that upgrade shows you the alarm probability for any node, as opposed to ordinarily any node that you can hack. Still useless, but it doesn't literally do nothing, it's just a very minor bit of information that you don't need.

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