Monthly Game Discussion #1 - Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Apr 15th - May 30th)

I ordered Deus Ex: Human Revolution for Wii U. It's scheduled to arrive on Monday. I'm kind of annoyed because I would have expected Saturday with my prime shipping but I suppose I'll be pretty preoccupied on Saturday/Sunday anyway.

 

Started the game, ended up shooting all the guys in the intro and regretted it, so I started a new game and tried sneaking past them instead. The game just hands you a gun so naturally you'd assume you're supposed to shoot them, but you don't have to. I realized it's very easy to die, so I think sneaking is the best option. I played through the first mission and rescued the hostages before the gas went off, also didn't kill anyone but I was detected a few times. I think playing stealthily will get easier as I unlock more augmentations. I like how the game rewards you with EXP for finding the best route to get by undetected, or at least I think that's what the "traveler" bonus means, I noticed I got it when I traveled through a vent instead of trying to navigate my way through a room with a bunch of patrolling enemies.

I find the energy thing really annoying, you have to recharge after using a takedown on an enemy so now I'm mostly just avoiding them. It probably gets better with energy and takedown upgrades eventually.

 

I'm playing the original version because I don't feel like buying the Director's Cut

 

I just shut down the transmission in Derelict Row, getting there was a pain in the ass and getting out without being seen or killing anyone was an even bigger pain in the ass. Lots of saving and reloading. After that I was sent to the LIMB clinic where the woman told me everything was fine and sent me on my way. My next mission is to go back into Derelict Row and get back to the helipad where I shut off the signal... WHAT WAS THE POINT EVEN LEAVING??

The place is filled with enemies, getting seen pretty much means you're dead. I just upgraded my energy cells and I'm going to start buying the stealth camo augments with the next Praxis I get, I feel like they'll make it much easier to get around.

 

There were actually three games released in the Earthbound series, however the second and third were never released in the States (because Nintendo).
But when everyone talks about Earthbound they're mainly referring to the first game in the series, playing the first one will be a great experience (allegedly, never played the game myself).

 

Ah, what they said then.

 

I just got the game today, Director's Cut. I'm liking the story so far. I went through the tutorial/intro mission and first main mission where you're supposed to retrieve Sarif's secret device. I made it through non-lethal without killing anyone, but I got detected a few times. I also never actually spotted any of the hostages other than the girl at the end who you're supposed to retrieve through dialog.

I never really liked Earthbound. I found it a bit dull. I want to like it because it's so popular, and I feel like I'm unsophisticated or something for not liking it. I played it back when I was a kid on the SNES, got to some giant footprint and couldn't figure out how to proceed forward with the game and gave up. I eventually tried playing it again on an emulator a few years ago but it just doesn't interest me all that much.

 

There are two easy to miss sidequests in Detroit that must be completed before going to China, I ended up missing them because you're supposed to seek them out yourself and one is really easy to miss. I was going to finish one of them, but I forgot to go check my computer when Sarif told me he was sending me something Sidequests are really rewarding though, I did some in China along with the main story and got 6 Praxis stocked up without realizing I had that many.

Some things about Augmentations I've noticed: Energy cell upgrades are completely useless since you only recharge one of them automatically no matter how many you have, the only way to charge more is to use consumable items, so I think I wasted two upgrades. I maxed out the Cloaking System and energy recharge rate and it recharges really quickly, it also seems to start recharging as soon as you execute a takedown, so it will charge through the animation. As far as I can tell, you really only need one or two energy cells. Cloaking System is really nice, you can walk right in front of enemies without them noticing you, fully upgraded it lasts 7 seconds per energy cell and you can use it every 20 seconds with maxed out recharge rate. I said I was annoyed about energy cells before, but it's a lot better now with faster recharge and the double takedown ability, most of the time you'll only be dealing with two enemies at a time anyway.

Using a full stealth build, I didn't have much trouble with the first boss. I hit him three times with the rocket launcher and he died. I just hope the later bosses aren't too much trouble without upgraded offensive abilities. Right now I'm still in China, but I think I'm almost done there.

 

I just played the game for the second time this week, I'm hoping to get more time in this week so I can catch up . I started some optional sidequests. One involving investigating the murder of some girl, I think it was Adam's girlfriend or something, the other is helping a friend recover some security footage. They also had the main quest of recovering that chip from the "purity" person. I finished the security footage quest, got the chip, and got the information from the computer to blackmail that cop in the lobby. There's another blue marker but it's behind this electrocuted floor so I'm not sure how to get there.

I fired a gun inadvertently and alerted a cop. I went into the police station hoping it'd remove my alert level, ironically none of the cops went after me once I was inside the station, but the moment I left they're all on me even more than before, and I don't have all that many good weapons, I'm not entirely sure what to do at this point. Both my last auto save and previous one lead to after I triggered the alert, and the last save I made before that is quite a ways back and I don't want to start over from there. I'm worried it's like GTA 5 or something where when I kill a cop more come at me, and my weapons aren't all that good at the moment so it's hard to escape. I guess I'll look for a way out tomorrow.

 

I've finished the game, I kinda wanted to play it little by little over the month but I got hooked since it's so good. I managed to make it through without killing anyone, and the bosses didn't give me too much trouble. By the end of the game, I had more Praxis than I needed so I didn't really waste any after all. I'm playing the "DLC" now, but I believe that's included in the main story of the Director's Cut.

Megan Reed, the girl who was with you when you were nearly killed

Next to the police station, right? There's another way around there, and you can find a switch to turn off the electricity as well.