Deus Ex Human Revolution EP24: Reloads and Elevators

By Josh Posted Wednesday Feb 22, 2012

Filed under: Spoiler Warning 86 comments


Link (YouTube)

Apologies for the late post, but the insanity of these episodes seems to be spilling over into all aspects of life at the moment. We’ll be working to contain the localized Cuftbert distortions in the space time continuum to minimize such disturbances in the future.

 


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86 thoughts on “Deus Ex Human Revolution EP24: Reloads and Elevators

  1. Paul Spooner says:

    I was pretty careful to not kill people here, for the reasons outlined in this episode. It seemed really shady to be killing people in my company’s competition’s headquarters. Breaking in was bad enough.

    And, really? Not going to turn off the spilled electricity? Huh.

    It is really cool that the door won’t close on objects. I tried that as well. As we can see though, the door won’t stop closing if there’s nothing in the way when it starts. I wonder if you can get killed that way? Maybe it only closes when you’re too far away to jump in the way?

    I also never noticed that balcony that Josh is trying to get to at the end of the episode. Even after all that Portal, I don’t look up enough in videogames… Oh well.

    1. Sydney says:

      Get off the stage.

    2. Destrustor says:

      I once fell down that balcony after sneaking my way in. The guards at the entrance must have wondered “didn’t that guy just walk in here a minute ago?”

  2. FryGuy says:

    -_-

    The parachute aug is awesome, I don’t know why you haven’t grabbed it yet.

    1. Josh says:

      I think you just answered your own question.

      1. Gamer says:

        Welcome back, Reginald Cuftburt. Welcome back.

      2. Rasha says:

        It’s just too bad we can’t get more trolling mileage out of not maximized inventory space. Maybe by bringing it up next time you want stuff. ”If only an inventory increase could be bought for all these kits I have.”

      3. Thomas says:

        I hate the parachute aug. The parachute aug makes the game funny and more chaotic evily. Which I hate. My greatest wish on the life of a dear puppy is that no-one on the internet ever gets the parachute aug. Especially not people with 5. frickin. Praxis. Points

      4. Nick says:

        Yeah, you have to love the dissing of the parachute aug after the fourth death from failing to use a ladder…

        1. Daemian Lucifer says:

          The same one even.

          1. The Other Matt K says:

            The best part about it, is that Josh is obviously avoiding getting the parachute aug to infuriate others, but doing so only keeps getting himself killed. Which means that he has found a way to successfully troll himself.

  3. Eärlindor says:

    Speaking of the level hubs that got cut, weren’t the boss characters were supposed to be more fleshed out as well? Did anyone else here about that?

    1. Mathias says:

      It would be kinda cool if they pulled a Deus Ex 1 and each of the three bosses were on your side. I can actually see that being cool, especially if they were more distinctive than they are.

      1. Phantom Hoover says:

        The problem with that would be that you’d need to rehash DX’s betrayal plotline, and as the earlier episodes said one of the strengths of HR’s plot is that it stands on its own with minimal core ties to DX, and another is that Sarif isn’t a villain.

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Yup.You can even see them talk in the first encounter,like its going to be a big thing.And then *PUF*.

    3. Eärlindor says:

      Whuh??? Nooo! All those typos! Howl and shame! X(

  4. GM says:

    through wall robots,jump and die,rutskarn dental arm? and ha ha the vending machine.

  5. uberfail says:

    But if it’s day time in hang shaw it must be night in detroit.

  6. Gamer says:

    I love that vista. It looks amazing and helps to remind the player that this is an actual world with actual people. Plus, it’s a much needed contrast to Detroit and Lower Hengsha.

    I wonder what the game would have been like if they were able to incorporate the Upper Hengsha and Montreal hubs were finished. It’s already 30 hrs long, which is perfectly acceptable and greater than most. Those hubs might have brought in another 8-12 hours of gameplay.

    1. Paul Spooner says:

      I would really love to explore the Upper Hengsha Hub! From the first view of that beautiful vista, my main goal was to get outside the building and down into that park.
      I really hope they add a DLC for Upper Hengsha. I would buy that right off the bat.

    2. Hal says:

      I sort of wonder if Upper Hengsha wasn’t included for thematic and technical purposes.

      Technical in the sense that the impression we get of it from TYM’s panoramic view is something very open and large. Most of the game is spent in cramped quarters, generally, so a quest hub of broad streets and expansive parks might have been taxing on the engine.

      Thematic in the sense that we spend the game either putzing around dirty, cramped streets or office/industrial corridors. Upper Hengsha looks bright, green, and, well, happy. Heck, do we ever see any greenery in the game that isn’t a window texture? It might have just been a problem to write it into the story in a coherent way.

  7. Thomas says:

    I love that the developers actually expected you do that with the vending machine. It shows an uncanny exceptance of what players are actually like. Only beaten by that convo in MGS 2 you get when you try to …. Otacons unconscious little sister

  8. krellen says:

    I just realised something: what’s Rutskarn doing in the credits? According to last week’s, he was DELETED.

    1. Paul Spooner says:

      I suspect something like this. “What? You’re not Ali. You’re not even literate. Oh, though I have just the thing for you: DELETED! [SAVED FOREVER!]”

      1. MrPyro says:

        He’d probably have hit the right command if he hadn’t been typing in those boxing gloves.

    2. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Thats such an ineffective way to get rid of someone.Now if he was EXTERMINATED,that wouldve been bad.

  9. No one expects… the wall clipping robots! Though in a world with Reginald Cuftbert, they probably should…

    1. Nick says:

      *disregard, made a mistake*

  10. Gamer says:

    BTW, this isn’t related to Deus Ex, but what does everyone think about the Prothean character DLC recently leaked to be available Day 1 for Mass Effect 3? I admit, I’m more than a little pissed about it, but I don’t think it will affect my purchase of the game. I still want to see the conclusion of Mass Effect.

    1. krellen says:

      At this point, I really don’t care about Mass Effect. It’s like Highlander: there was only one.

      1. Sumanai says:

        I seem to remember a couple of months back someone mentioning that he wanted a new Highlander film, but I think there can be only one.

      2. Reet says:

        I really want to forget about mass effect but…I’m actually in the middle of another playthrough of ME2 right now.
        I think I need help…

        OT: Wow, I never actually looked outside those windows in TYM. They’re some pretty cool vistas. Shows how much atention I pay.

          1. Nick says:

            Tai Yung Medical, the building the SW crew is in

            1. Daemian Lucifer says:

              Its only a model.

      3. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Same.I vented all my rage about 2 during the spoiler warning run of it,and now that thing is buried for me.I might play 3 in the future if I can get it cheap/rent it/borrow it,but it will be without any interest in the story/dialogues.

    2. Chris says:

      Ah, if only game franchises would ever well and truly conclude.

      Remember when Halo was over, and we finished the fight?

      1. noahpocalypse says:

        Good times, good times.

        (Though to be fair, Microsoft required that Bungie make moar Halo. Legal issues.)

        1. Gamer says:

          And that opens up a whole new can of worms with regards to publisher decisions vs. developer decisions, profit margins vs. creativity and innovation, etc. that I’d rather not get into.

      2. krellen says:

        Here’s the conclusion:

        After the death of Sovereign, the Reapers were defeated. With no other agents inside the galaxy, they were forced to travel back from dark space without the benefit of the Mass Relays, a feat that would take them a whole other cycle to complete.

        Shepard, obsessed with the Reaper threat, used her fame as the first Human Spectre to negotiate a holonovel deal, the publication of which was Mass Effect 2. However, after many fans across the galaxy tore apart Shepard’s story, pointing out the many plot holes, retcons and outright falsehoods (“Why would any military return to clips?!”), Shepard was disgraced, and stripped of her Spectre status. She continued in the Alliance military, but was never promoted again and ended her career working a desk job on Mars.

        The end.

        1. noahpocalypse says:

          Eh. I never cared for the Mass Effect games anyway. I read much faster than people talk, so when they add subtitles by default it is torture because I spend more than half of the conversations waiting, and I skip much of it, and screw up decisions by pressing the button without realizing that was not another line of dialog, and aargh I hate this. Deus Ex is different somehow- I think it’s simply the better animations. In ME all the characters are doing something, but it doesn’t really mean anything and is boring.

          I’m not entirely sure why I dislike the games. They just never really held my interest, despite being a fan of Starcraft and Star Wars and Halo (the novels, which are deep, as well as the game) and fantasy in general. I suppose maybe space opera is simply not my thing.

          1. Daemian Lucifer says:

            Star wars is space opera,so its probably not that.But maybe its the reverse.Mass effect had lots of pretty plausible things in it.It tried to explain everything in it with some actual facts.So maybe ME2 would be more your thing.

            1. Sumanai says:

              To me it sounds more like the Bioware writers have yet to grasp the concept of “succinct and punctuate” to a level he can tolerate.

        2. Sumanai says:

          I don’t know. ME2 sounds more like it was written by a Shepard fanboy/fangirl (a bit of both most likely). I remember someone else mentioning before that the story feels like a bad fanfic, so I can’t be the only one.

          1. krellen says:

            The worst Mary Sues are almost always author inserts.

            1. Sumanai says:

              Yeah, but you know. Miranda.

      3. Irridium says:

        ‘Tis why I like Infamous, on the PS3.

        Infamous 1 started a story, Infamous 2 finished the story.

        Good series. Fun games.

    3. guy says:

      Wait, that’s DLC?

      Can you play the game without it? Will it not automatically be added if you connect to Origin? Does this mean I can pretend that particular batch of idiocy is not cannon?

      Shamus, I think your moderation queue has picked up bad habits from your old spam filter and is just flagging everything now.

      1. Gamer says:

        I should disclose that I’m a console gamer (PS3) and don’t really know what’s going on with the PC version. I’d assume that I would be the same or similar for the PC.

      2. Sumanai says:

        There’s a decent chance that it will be referenced in-game or something to try and get you to buy the DLC. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if parts of the game would feel incomplete without it.

      3. Klay F. says:

        Its the same as the Zaeed DLC. Preorder the game, get the character, otherwise pay however much for it off Bioware’s site.

        1. Gamer says:

          From what I heard, only the Collector’s Edition get’s it for free. Everyone else pays.

          1. Sumanai says:

            Digital Deluxe should have it, but according to TotalBiscuit that’s 20 USD or 20 GBP more than normal edition.

          2. Eärlindor says:

            I really don’t understand why people are calling it free DLC with the CE. As I see it, you’re paying for all that extra content. That’s why it costs more. How is it free?

        2. Michael says:

          No, that was Sebastian in DA2. Zaeed is part of the Project $10 kit. Sebastian was preorder only or pay.

      4. Eärlindor says:

        For all my complaints about the Prothean squadmate, it irks me that it’s DLC. You’d think that a character such as that would be essential to the plot of the game since it’s about trying to figure out how to stop the Reapers. Why would they let that sit on the back burner then realize, “Oh wait! We still have to make that and now it won’t be included in the full game!”?

        I was one of those people who read the story leaks, and it seemed the Prothean played significant roll that DLC characters cannot typically do.
        On the other hand, maybe the Prothean being optional will focus the importance back on Shepard’s Cipher? I can hope, can’t I?

        1. Sumanai says:

          One can hope. One can also jump off a building if one chooses to do so, but I wouldn’t recommend that either. Let the cynicism flow in you and through you. Let it fuel your apathy. Let it grow until nothing remains but it. Repeat after me:
          “meh”

  11. rofltehcat says:

    No time to watch Spoiler Warning. Have to play Skyrim and read Shamus’ book. And I have to start learning for my exams somewhen around next week. But first Skyrim and Witch Watch. Argh.

  12. Andrew B says:

    “In Antarctica it’s daytime for half the year!”

    What, you mean like everywhere else in the world?

    1. noahpocalypse says:

      ++

  13. The Hokey Pokey says:

    Hey Josh, maybe it’s time to break out the true power behind the player character: the quick-save key.

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      Yeah,I wondered myself why he hadnt used it in that sequence where he died because of the same ladder.

      1. Even says:

        I remember vaguely Josh saying in one of the previous seasons that he had some problems with it but I can’t for the life of me remember why… FRAPS recording hotkeys maybe? I do remember noting he didn’t use it once in New Vegas “on camera”. Always did a regular manual save.

  14. noahpocalypse says:

    Josh, you should start tagging these episodes with Spoiler Warning and Deus Ex. You know, to put some order into the blog-

    I mean to inflict chaos and make it impossible to discover the exploits of Reginald Cuftbert. Because when you link it, it becomes impossible to find. Really. It sends a little kill signal to a server, and they explode and spit out green gas and (almost) kill whoever has the misfortune of simultaneously being near them while suffering from a critical case of chronic stupidity.

    Or something like that.

  15. Dante says:

    So Shamus, how did you like this weeks Spoiler Warnings? :P

  16. Sydney says:

    Re: Exploiting the AI’s “examine bodies” routine.

    http://www.gigaville.com/comic.php?id=162

  17. MatthewH says:

    I had no particular difficulty plugging Belltower guys when the opportunity presented itself. These were the same guys who raided Alice Garden. Oh, sure, maybe a different platoon, but same outfit.

    As a general rule I went non-lethal, but that had more to do with silence and being a civilian (I mean, justified or not, police tend to not look kindly on that sort of thing). So sure, most Belltower guys got knocked out, stunned, or tranqed.

    But if getting down a hallway required me to pull out the silenced pistol and put down two Belltower guards because the tranq rifle didn’t reload fast enough and they were too far away for the stun pistol -that’s the way it went.

    Also, bets on how Reginald gets out of the Penthouse? Typhoon, concussion grenades and fists, lots of tranq darts, or the vent?

    1. Rosseloh says:

      I haven’t watched the episode, so I assume we’re assaulting the big building where you can see the upper city out of the windows.

      Anyway, yeah, I felt similar. Basically, I was willing to play it cool and non-lethal for this section, simply because the guards may or may not have been actually cruel or had anything against me. But, that opinion changed when I first got accidentally discovered and everyone started shooting at me. After that I just mowed them down – if they’re not willing to just take me down and turn me over to the authorities as a trespasser, I’m not affording them a similar luxury.

    2. decius says:

      Get the reflex upgrade and lots of fisticuffs. Cue comment on how few animations there are.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Grenade.The explosive one.Or better,a mine.Actually,a mine in front of the door is exactly the type of exploit Josh is fond of using.

  18. silentlambda says:

    Death by thrown refrigerator and/ or vending machine IS hilarious, but I found them much more useful for blocking doorways until the AI forgot that I existed.

    1. Hitch says:

      I just noticed that refrigerators and vending machines in DX:HR have their own self-contained internal power supplies. I don’t know why that bothers me, but now I feel cheated that someone didn’t have to spend weeks animating power cords dangling off them and draw outlets on the wall behind them.

      1. Daemian Lucifer says:

        Its the future!

  19. Bryan says:

    Hmm. That guard’s helmet did more to remind me of Legion, than it did to make me think “hmm, there’s no *way* an actual human head could fit in here”.

    Must be Legion is getting better (though still not perfect) at looking like a human. For some reason…

  20. Packie says:

    The atmosphere in this level is simply wonderful. Like Josh said, very Mirror’s Edge-y.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbdBNMTR8mM

  21. george says:

    If only Josh knew F5 was quicksave.

    For almost every game ever invented.

  22. bassdrum says:

    I actually had to watch the first 15 seconds or so about 3 or 4 times to fully comprehend everything that had just happened. You really do have a knack for bringing out the buggy side of games, don’t you?

  23. Zaxares says:

    4:47: Shamus, I use that exact same trick in the Hitman games to eliminate guards one after the other. XD I knock out/kill one guy, drag his body into a room that’s off a main passage and close the door. When a guard or another witness walks by, I open the door, the guy sees the body and runs over to check. I then close the door behind us, pull out my silenced pistol and shoot the guy in the head so he falls over the first body. Repeat this process ad infinitum until there’s a pile of corpses in this one room, and all of the wandering guards have all been eliminated. With no alarm being raised (although it will seriously mess up your stealth rating in the later games).

    And all the while, NOBODY ever thinks to themselves, “Hey, maybe I SHOULDN’T go into the room that’s filled with dead bodies.” *chuckle*

    10:20: That IS pretty cool! :D It was probably done so the game doesn’t flip out and do something crazy with the crate while you’re going up the elevator, but it helps to build verisimilitude in the sense that the “elevator can’t close because there’s an obstruction in the way”. Even if there’s no automated voice informing Jensen about that.

    11:21: On a random note, I really, REALLY like the ambient music when you arrive at this part of Tai Yong Medical headquarters.

    14:27: Hey, *I* never did it. :P I just walked up to the two guards and went, “Hey guys! Check out my Double-Takedown Aug!” “Huh-?” WHAM!

    1. Daemian Lucifer says:

      So you were trained by Rutskarn 47?

  24. lurkey says:

    Poor stupid helmet dude. First, some creep swoops in right into his very personal space – like, into your face personal space – and keeps peering at him from various angles for a good couple minutes, then retreats without saying a word and leaving Mr Helmet all shaken and creeped out…just to return a minute later and throw a fridge at him. “Video game mook” is such a shitty job.

  25. Anonymous says:

    Technically, daytime occurs for half of the year everywhere in the world

  26. Helgi says:

    So did Josh ever learn that F5 quicksaves?

    1. Helgi says:

      And one day later I decide to check out the next episode. derp

      Edit: Well, that name was misleading.

  27. Phantos says:

    Listening to these while I draw, and I heard the part at 13:34 with the helmet that was never intended to be worn by a human skull. And then Josh says: “He looks like a grunt from Halo, actually.”

    Which I think is amusing. Because if that weird looking helmet guy showed up in a new Halo game, he would be the least ridiculous thing about it.

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