Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

I sure hope he can do all of this in-game.

I'm getting an "Assassin's Creed" vibe from the bad guy in this trailer.

I'm getting a more Bane vibe, personally.

And I got a Colonel Volgin Vibe outta him. Probably because of the facial scarring, and the fact that he's Eastern European.

...there's already a general deus ex thread? here.

^ Eh, I think it's ok since even normally when we discuss HR we did it in DX 3 thread, not the DX thread you linked...but eh.

Agreed. Plus, it would help those who've played the previous games from having to use spoiler tags and such or avoiding certain topics.

So, one thing I've noticed that I can't stop thinking about is the fact that, in the announcement trailer, Sarif Industries is included with the companies under Illuminati control.

David is a member of the Illuminati though, isn't he?

You can hack Athene's computer and she has an email from Sarif where he says he wants her to block any voice mails, phone calls, emails, or any other communication from Lucius DeBeers because Sarif wants nothing to do with him or his organization, no matter how much money they have.

edited 19th Apr '15 7:49:49 PM by unnoun

Ah, okay. I never got to Athene's computer, myself. I hacked pretty much every other computer available but I didn't get to hers, that I remember XD

edited 19th Apr '15 7:51:33 PM by theLibrarian

That, and, the Illuminati in the Deus Ex games isn't actually the sort of organization that would deliberately launch a crippling attack on one of its' member companies.

They're a very different sort of incompetent.

They might assassinate Sarif himself, or go after Megan and the other researchers in a less open setting, maybe hijack the plane. Something that wouldn't cause as much property and personnel damage to Sarif Industries itself.

But throughout Human Revolution, Sarif Industries has a lot of outside pressure, from the attack in the opening, to the Purity First attack on their plant, to some of the rioting prompted by Picus reporting and spin doctoring, to all the hacking done by TYM and Windmill.

All of those incidents have Illuminati backing.

The Illuminati owns the Tyrants and Belltower, TYM and Picus, and it owns the Humanity Front and Purity First as well. Throughout the course of Human Revolution they were hitting Sarif from every angle imaginable.

And if Sarif was in on it all I don't honestly think he'd have reacted in any of the ways he did. He wouldn't have needed to send Jensen to find out what was going on.

edited 19th Apr '15 8:23:26 PM by unnoun

I believe that it was mentioned that Sarif Industries collapsed following the Aug Incident. Leftover assets and tech after the dissolution of the company, perhaps? Although the only benefits Sarif tech seems to have over what Tai Yong Medical has is higher quality at a higher price point.

I believe Sarif mentioned that the real breadwinner for his company was the military R&D stuff. The publicly marketed augs, while high-end and customizeable, were rather niche and didn't sell enough to make ends meet.

The Illuminati is probably already being subverted by Majestic 12 at this point. Pretty sure that it was Page who responsible for the the blatant attacks on Sarif.

edited 20th Apr '15 6:04:02 AM by Rationalinsanity

Page is subverting things for his own ends but he's not ready or even close to doing his own thing yet.

Hell, DeBeers is still around at the time of Human Revolution apparently. Hasn't become a Popsicle yet. If Page didn't have the backing of the larger organization they'd still be able to overrule him, for now. At least until 2035.

Sarif tells Jensen about the Illuminati and says he wants to stop them.

He tells Athene that he wants nothing to do with them, mentioning DeBeers by name.

He turned them down.

edited 20th Apr '15 6:16:24 AM by unnoun

No, that was all Zhao. Page probably did encourage Belltower to lend their black-ops mercs, but Zhao was the one ruthlessly blackmailing or even killing the opposition.

I think that council at the beginning with Everett (he was in France, and also in charge of Picus and Eliza, and she was integral in the plan) Page, Zhao, Darrow, Taggart and Dowd (the council in the beginning of HR has at least one member in New York, the Icarus Effect novel mentions that Stanton Dowd basically never leaves New York at that point) seems to indicate that they were all more-or-less agreed that Dr. Reed really shouldn't be allowed to spill the beans and make augmentations universally available.

The Humanity Front was definitely a thing on their part to control and monitor augmentations. That's what the biochip was for initially, before Darrow hacked the damned thing.

...And, also, right after Adam gets into Windmill's data in TYM, he gets a monitored communication between Zhao and Namir, and Zhao is really upset because she hasn't been told all the details of the kidnapping.

I mean. An email in TYM mentions that they've started development on a military aug that sounds a lot like the Typhoon, so she did seemingly steal that from Sarif with Windmill's help.

edited 20th Apr '15 6:36:32 AM by unnoun

Forgot about that part. I guess that means she isn't that high up the totem pole after all, especially if they're leaving her in the dark about certain things. But they kept Taggart in the dark about certain things too, and at one point in the novel the Illuminati were planning to kill him in order to make him a martyr for the cause. Makes you wonder how much, or little, rank and prestige actually mean for the group.

She's probably only there due to being a big competitor to Sarif. You see how she's basically helpless to do anything when Adam confronts her and can't even control the computer thing very well.

Well, Dowd, Everett, and Page are all in the Council of Five.

DeBeers is in charge. Everett is his protege. Page is Everett's protege.

DuClaire is on the council too.

...It's weird, Human Revolution has an email from a Nicolette DuClaire in Picus. A character from the first game in the Illuminati. She was the daughter of Elizabeth DuClaire, who was on the Council of Five and killed by MJ 12.

Also, it was mentioned that Nicolette was 17 years old in 2052, which means she was born in 2035, so why and how the hell was there an email from her eight years before she was born?

The devs were normally so good at the little details like that. They were such nerds. It was great. So that one instance kinds stands out.

Windmill was seemingly on her payroll to get corporate espionage and blackmail. The rest of the Illuminati needed a good hacker for the attack on Sarif.

edited 20th Apr '15 6:47:00 AM by unnoun

So yeah, she's a Small Name, Big Ego, at least in the sense of her ranking of the Illuminati. She's there to provide them with her money and resources and nothing else.

One Steve Limit? It MIGHT be a different Du Clare.

Doubtful I know and most likely an oversight. And as for Zhao, I always got a Maggie Chow reference / feel from her: She thinks she's a big fish, but really is just another tool. Much like Megan will turn out to be - expendable.

As for Sarif, likely that his company was bought out legitimately via aggressive corporate actions as a result on Pangea going horribly right.

And this I suppose is all leading up to us asking that mech bartender in Hells Kitchen about her augs. Interesting the backlash because you don't see that many mech augs in DX original; Gunther and Navarre are fairly "cutting edge" for their type. Or supposed to be, until the MI Bs and the Denton's show up.

It'll be interesting to see how Jenson is viewed as the only aug in the team as well. Plus I do hope we see Malik - I liked the quiet bit of potential tension there. And yeah, I know, DX isn't a bioware rom-com game, but the fact there was that hint of character (And possibly even with Pritchard!) I liked those two, so I do hope they find a way to include them.

Interesting how Eliza is MORE advanced than Morpheus in many ways as well, which I suppose shows how the technology took that dip between HR and the first game.

So, Augments people theorize could appear?

Zhao not being as important as she's like was part of the source of her Motive Rant in Panchea.

...On the subject of Megan, I do think her employment with Page at the end is being kept secret from the rest.

I think Eliza developing a conscience, personality and emotions was sort of an accident, and possibly even a reason Everett might consider her a failure. They want something to sort and monitor data. Feelings would get in the way.

edited 20th Apr '15 8:05:04 AM by unnoun

Rocket punches