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[PATV] Extra Credits s.3 ep.18 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Bogey
I'm back, baby!Santa Monica, CAModerator mod
I'm back, baby!Santa Monica, CAModerator mod
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_Ex_Machina_(video_game)
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.
1980s tech limitations, I love you.
Langly comes in and says what I was thinking, but I was too stupid to put into words.
because that did not become any less dumb since the propaganda games episode
http://www.audioentropy.com/
They said that? Because that is seriously stupid if they did. A lot of modern great works all express some kind of viewpoint from the author - for example Frankenstein. It's not just a book about a man made monster, it's an important statement about the beliefs of the author using the monster as a device. From what I gather from most episodes, they want games treated similarly to how books and movies are treated and you can't really get that unless the "authors voice" can come through in the game (just like in a movie/book). I haven't watched all the episodes yet, but I find it very surprising they would have that opinion.
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.
Yeah, having just saw the episode in question that is quite a mischaracterization of what they actually said on the matter. They don't mind an author putting their viewpoint in, but it is how consciously and if there is a choice that is the point of the matter. I think that Deus Ex more than avoids all the pitfalls of the propaganda games article.