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    Saturday, March 27, 2021

    Deus Ex JC would rather be a minimalist

    Deus Ex JC would rather be a minimalist


    JC would rather be a minimalist

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 07:39 PM PDT

    [Spoilers abound] DXMD Reimagined with Black Light

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 10:25 PM PDT

    New to the fandom (and new to reddit, so apologies if I messed up the format!). I am only an occasional gamer, so I myself am amazed that my impulsive purchase of DXHR over the holidays led to 2 playthroughs of HR, MD, all the DLCs, reading Black Light and brushing up on all the lore of the DX universe, in the two months that followed. It has been such a fulfilling journey that I just can't shake the urge to write down my thoughts and share.

    When reading Black Light, I got a strong sense that much of the book was, at some point, intended to be part of the main game. Part of it is credit to the author James Swallow – while the dialogue often feels clunky and characters tend to lack distinctive voices, the action scenes are indeed cinematic and pack a huge punch. Part of it, though, is due to the fact that narratively speaking, MD is kinda weird. As a sequel, the game throws in a two-year gap without really hinting at what happened in the main missions; it surrounds us with a bunch of new characters we don't know or care for, and yet pretends that the existing camaraderie or tension matters. (On the note of NPC relationship development – HR did a stellar job.)

    So here's my very amateur attempt at reimagining the first half of Black Light as part of MD. If folks are interested I will write more! Written to The Mole & Home from HR soundtrack.

    Once again, SPOILERS for HR, Black Light & MD ahead!!

    *OPENING CG & TRAINING MISSION

    Adam wakes up at Facility 451 in Alaska (normal wake up, a few weeks after the big wake-up from the long coma). (This is a helpful setting for a first mission – you as the player are just as confused as Adam, and your only clear objective is to get out of this freaky place.)

    He gets checked up by Orlov (under the pseudonym McFadden).

    - This is important because the whole "mystery augs" story as is in MD is fascinating but leaves much to be desired emotionally. In HR, knowing that Sarif is the one that unnecessarily augmented Adam without his consent, and yet having to continue to work for him and meet with him is a source of discomfort. Yet in MD, your "second creator" is a faceless corpse. LOL.

    Showcases the stark and inhumane conditions of the facility.

    Adam is called to meet with Jenna Thorne, posing as Homeland Security agent (this could be a social boss training missions without CASIE, just like with Zeke in HR). Then he gets set up by Thorne, gets attacked by other patients as the perpetrator of the Aug Incident. (Can include Stacks as a companion. I appreciate the character but it probably won't work too well for game mechanics.)

    Adam gets badly beaten up but manages to survive, gets dragged to "solitary confinement". On the way he feigns weakness and plans for escape. (This can be visual callback later for his "death" at GARM, being dragged through pristine snow yet again.)

    Adam attacks the guards, gets rid of the inhibitor, moves through the facility, steals a truck, gets in contact with Pritchard (!). With Pritchard's help, he goes back to Detroit.

    *OPENING CREDITS

    (One of my biggest complaints with MD is that the main story rarely succeeds at tucking one's heartstrings. For example, its opening credits are extremely bland, whereas the one in HR truly kicked off the game with a bang – plot wise, it showcases the brutal yet miraculous transformation of Adam; aesthetically, it sets the tone and the landscape: gold & black color palette, beautiful lightning <not sure how to describe it>, and you hear the same female vocal, distinct beats, and synth instruments that will be heard throughout the soundtrack.)

    While approaching Detroit in the truck, cut to the ruined skyline, with flashbacks to its glorious former self before the incident. Then zoom in to the Sarif building that are now completely dark, again paired flashbacks. Then zoom in to groups of homeless augs. Then, the truck approach the dilapidated metro station, revealing a downtrodden Pritchard. Lastly, as he gets off the truck, Adam catches a glimpse of his unkempt, tired and confused self. (This will be the first instance of Adam seeing himself in the mirror in his games. It can also help balance out the criticism that Adam has a god status in MD and is really completely unfazed by the everyday tragedies around him.) Nevertheless, he is home as he ponders over his choices and missions...

    The sequence should also be done such that the returning players can feel the transition in artistic direction, from the renaissance gold to bleak grey (? Still, I would've preferred a much more distinctive artistic style, even if it's not the gold theme from HR).

    (As a social science student, I think there are very few tragedies in reality that exceed the fall of great cities.)

    *FIRST MISSION & "HOME"

    On the ride to Pritchard's hide-out, Adam will hear the full exposition dump of what happened (can we not let Eliza do the social info dump, just for once?). Then Adam arrives at his first "home" in the game – the Rialto theater, shared with Pritchard. (Since Adam's homes play such important roles in the games, we must have a home for each stage Adam is in 😊 )

    Adam then returns to Sarif Industries to get checked his augs checked, grab supplies, and investigate his own missing ID (which is used by one of his former men, Don Wilder, to steal military-grade SI augs).

    - I feel this should be the proper start of the "mystery aug" storyline.

    - Starting at SI, yet as a trespasser, gives returning players a throwback, with the same assets, but with a completely new MO.

    - Detroit will again be the first hub. Some of the Prague side missions can be moved here, such as Cult of Personality or Neon Nights.

    - Also, at some point in the Detroit hub, there should be a side mission to dig into Adam's backstory a bit more, whether it's Mexicantown or White Helix (which is actually mentioned in the novel). This part is woefully missing from MD, and acquaintances forgotten was one my favorite side missions in HR.

    *SECOND MISSION

    Using intel collected from SI, Adam chases down a suspect, another one of his former men, Henry, at a bar. He knows Henry is not the mastermind and presses for more details (possible social boss). (From the HR days, I've loved Adam's interactions with his men – they clearly respect greatly and look up to him, but there might also be a slight tinge of fear, especially after Adam was turned into a billion-dollar killing machine. Most passers-by will have no clue, but his own men would know this better than most.) Adam finds out Don Wilder is the ringleader. He then fights the cleanup crew sent by MCB to murder Henry.

    Then Adam has a few options to figure out the next clue, specifically Wilder's whereabouts. One of the options should be one of the most interesting bits from Black Light. Adam subdues one of the MCB thugs, drags him into an alleyway, and starts a savage interrogation, by tearing off the thug's cybernetic limbs one by one. He leaves the thug to the police after getting said information.

    (In HR and MD, almost 100% of the time, there's just 2 MOs – lethal vs non-lethal. But ofc in reality, there're a lot more shades in between. This interrogation sequence is gory, and clearly doesn't fit the "pacifist norm". While some pacifist players may call the novel immersion breaking for just that reason, I love the possibility it provides. After all, Jensen is emotional, and he just watched one of his guys get murdered in cold blood. It stands to reason he wants payback, and that he can be effectively brutal even without killing.

    The other commentary is that this helps diversify Adam's way to gather intelligence. I really, really did not like the way Adam/TF29/the Collective did that in MD, or at least the way it's presented. In HR, Adam collects information in the most haphazard way (overhearing random stuff by luck) + some support from Pritchard and Sarif. That actually makes sense because Adam was a one-man army working with very meager leads. Yet in MD, when Adam is literally a double agent with two highly sophisticated organizations, the game is still driven forward by Adam overhearing Marchenko's plan simply because he wasn't killed by Orchid. LOL. I wish Adam was allowed to do more detective work in the main mission (the Harvester quests were fantastic) or interrogator work, and that the various people at TF29 and the Collective could provide conflicting information. That'd be so fun to work out.)

    submitted by /u/amaranthine913
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    New Mod This April: Vanilla Madders

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 02:04 PM PDT

    You can check the official ModDB page out at: https://www.moddb.com/mods/vanilla-madders-legacy/

    But in summary: I've decided to release an unfinished parody of Vanilla Matters, purely because it's collecting dust and I know some archivers out there love gems like this. I think Invisible War Revised recently came up the past couple of months as a quirky project getting restored/polished, so I figured I'd throw my hat into the ring.

    If you like malkavian mod, this mod will be right up your alley. While devoid of soundbytes, it's just as surreal and just plain dumb. Anyways, do what you will. Peace folks.

    submitted by /u/YCCCM7
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    Zeke Sanders changes his mind about augmentations

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 02:24 PM PDT

    Deus Ex 3 (aka Project Snowblind) is a Beautiful Mess

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 09:25 AM PDT

    In case someone missed this classic.

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 02:12 AM PDT

    Will there ever be a Director's Cut-ish release of this game?

    Posted: 26 Mar 2021 06:17 AM PDT

    The Jensen stories are so obviously cut content from the game it's fucking hilarious and pathetic. I so wish they'd include all the DLCs in the main game as parts of the story or sidequests like the Director's Cut in Human Revolution

    submitted by /u/printers_of_colors
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