Deus Ex (Late to the party)

[CerberusIV]

I finished the ship, now about to do my second try at the cemetary.

Hint 1 - check the cemetery keeper's lodge carefully.

Hint 2 - don't go into the Dowd mausoleum through the front door (or exit it that way either)

[lord of the mark]

Okay, I'm actually paying something for this game. Gametap decided to move it from free to premium as of the 22nd of Jan (so in 2 hours, assuming they are doing it on east coast time)

I valiantly tried to finish the game before then (a pre-inaug party on Monday, and going to the mall for the swearing in yesterday did NOT help) but as of now I am still at the submarine base, and I don't want to stay up till midnight to finish, so I upgraded to gold. Its 1 dollar for the first month ($10 a month after that) . I figure I should be done with DX in a few days, at the latest. I may then play another premium game, but I guess a short one this time.

[CerberusIV]

I guess that means DX is still popular.

You still have quite a bit to do so don't bother trying to rush it.

[Quillan]

DX is still available from Direct2Drive for a 1 time purchase price of $9.95, you could play at your own pace and download it again later on if you need to.

[lord of the mark]

shoot. I thought I was done with politics (in this game, anyway)

So I make it to sector 3 at area 51 and get the tracer tong message.

It looks like Ive got 3 choices - give power to Majestic12 to become gods, side with Everett to have the illuminati exercise power in secret, or destroy all global communications to create "a world of city states"

WHile there may yet be a twist, at this point the "right course" seems to be the last, its what the games dialog has been pushing toward all along.

TOng tells me that the existence of globalizing technology leads to absolute power. Well it does in the DX world, where for some reason the decentralized aspects of technology have been done away with. In OUR world, since Morse, communication technology has never been centralized like that, even when it was run by monopolies. In the world of the internet it is MORE decentralized, as the net by its nature bypasses central modes. Even the govt of China has trouble controlling the flow of info, and that was a well established authoritarian state before it connected with the outside.

And we did not live in a world of city states before electronic communication. When the telegraph was invented, the world was largely run by empires, including the british and Russian empires. Messages on horseback and sailing ship were quite adequate for the maintenance of a level of organization quite remote from ordinary people.

And there has never been an age when the world was composed of city states. Classical Greece, Renaissance Italy, were instances when one small, highly commercialized region existed in a world that was largely either living under empires, or living in a dark age.

Ironically Renaissance Italy invented all those evil banking practices that the game implies were maintained by the Templars and passed to the Illuminati.

If the political side of this games is is not a naive antiglobalization rant, I still haven't seen it.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Interesting!

I personally sided with Tong, but I believed the game didn't want you to do that. I believe the game wants you to do something else.

(The "side with Maj12" option is not one that I saw in the game. I saw a different option in place of that.)

[El_Cid]

............

If the political side of this games is is not a naive antiglobalization rant, I still haven't seen it.

Yeah true, but it's a pretty good delivery of that message for a computer game. I did the 'right' thing first time - but i tend to agree with that slant so it was a no-brainer for me. For you it may be different.

Do you feel dirty now you understand that the game is an anti-globalisation pusher?

The other endings are fun also, and all worht doing, shame about the way you had to hurry to finish it, will you get a chance to play the other endings with your download version?

It's another reason i'm still a fan of physical media over download only(unless it's a real full download with no limits).

[Unimatrix11]

I did what i felt was right, yesssss. End the circle of destruction and reconstruction and bring civilization to its only logical conclusion that does not include total anhilation out of corruption and greed. Yessssss...

[Quillan]

Same choice I made the first time Uni. I've since replayed all of the endings. Honestly, I don't find any of them to be totally satisfactory, which I consider to be a Good Thing™. However, that's the choice I keep going back to anytime I replay it now.

[DaShi]

I think I choose the Icarus ending first. Who better to rule the world then me? I can guarantee at least one person would be happy with that.

[lord of the mark]

Yeah true, but it's a pretty good delivery of that message for a computer game. I did the 'right' thing first time - but i tend to agree with that slant so it was a no-brainer for me. For you it may be different.

Do you feel dirty now you understand that the game is an anti-globalisation pusher?

The other endings are fun also, and all worht doing, shame about the way you had to hurry to finish it, will you get a chance to play the other endings with your download version?

It's another reason i'm still a fan of physical media over download only(unless it's a real full download with no limits).

They sell you your first gold month for a dollar. That should be enough time to finish all the endings I guess.

as for feeling dirty I felt much better having gotten the above post off my chest. I may have to play some Tom Clancy game to make up for it though

[Solver]

I saw the Helios ending as the one requiring a leap of faith. Theoretically, it's very good - an impartial, objective, logical machine to rule the world would help in that situation, but only if it had the right understanding of emotions and all things human. So if you believe that Helios would get that knowledge properly after merging with JC, it's a good ending, otherwise, not really.

My first time through though, I chose the dark age ending because that was what Tracer Tong advocated, and he had been quite truthful and friendly throughout the entire game. The Illuminati ending I see as a nothing changes ending. You deal with Bob Page and MJ12 but basically the Illuminati are still going to stay in the shadows. They may do some good but they wouldn't ever really improve the world, given their small number and the wish to remain unseen.

[lord of the mark]

I saw the Helios ending as the one requiring a leap of faith. Theoretically, it's very good - an impartial, objective, logical machine to rule the world would help in that situation, but only if it had the right understanding of emotions and all things human. So if you believe that Helios would get that knowledge properly after merging with JC, it's a good ending, otherwise, not really.

Democratic ethos still a ways to go over there, eh? The idea that folks making their own decisions is INTRINSICALLY good for them, not merely the best path to optimal decisions. (Sorry, i couldnt resist) Too bad the Denton character in DX gets such lame response lines, but ive commented on that before.

The Illuminati ending is really the best, the JC as god thing is so authoritarian, and the city states thing is BS. The Illum is just returning to the good old 20th c. Only bad thing is the illuminati rule - but I aint got suspension of disbelief on that one, there ARE no Illuminati, thats all BS too (I have no idea if Spector really believes any of the conspiracy **** or if its just fodder for the plot) so its just the real 20th c.

Anyway I intend to try all 3 endings, but Im not sure how long each will take (ive just talked to Helios)

[Unimatrix11]

@LotM:

1) I am not so sure about folks making their own decisions is intrinsically good for them. History shows that their are instances in which this seems doubtful at best. Since i came to know You as a very educated person, i dont have to point you to the most prominent example.

2) 10 years ago i would have 100% agreed with the illuminati being BS. I woud have (and did) roll over anybody who claimed such a thing (like the ill. being real) with my usually vastly superior histrical knowledge. Today, i am not so sure anymore though.

The two issues are linked though: If there is such a thing like the illuminati, then any example of a self-ruling people deciding against their interest may not quite be to the point...

[El_Cid]

They sell you your first gold month for a dollar. That should be enough time to finish all the endings I guess.

as for feeling dirty I felt much better having gotten the above post off my chest. I may have to play some Tom Clancy game to make up for it though

It IS a good deal i think(gold membership for 1 dollar first month), i'm just still that far behind that curve that online only is still an uncomfortable thought for me - heck i still play games from 15 years ago all the time!!! I don't like time expiry on my paid for games! If i buy something it's mine!

lol at the Tom Clancy remark - actualy ghost recon is one of my favourite FPS type games and i can play that without too much objection. There are a whole slew of (mostly american) really nasty fascist(what i consider so) shooters imho - 'America's most wanted'/'Mercenry' etc - nasty games, evil agenda's and i(nor future I's) wont go any where near them

As for the existence or not of 'the Illuminati' , i guess much like many of the stories around these kind of things it is very hard and probably impossible to prove anything, enough black ops material is created that when push comes to shove someone in authority can just blow any arguement away by disclosing. That is after all one of the points of black operations.

How about something like the free masons? They have a similar history to the Illuminati(formed in the medieval period, mercentile/financial institution, close to seat of power etc).
I know 100% they do exist and much of day-to-day policy(governmental) in the uk runs through them. My father has lived in exile for 30 years after trying to expose some of their dealings, he was a pro democracy(i.e. he really believed in the principles of democracy) 'naive' politician.

So 'the Illuminati' may just be a red herring name. names are not that important imho, it's the intent behind them that is worrying to a free world, and I think we can see every day in all our lives, that intent at work in the world. So imho something 'evil' is calling the shots. That's just the world we live in. True democracy is actualy dead, and has been for some time, you may have to go all the way back to ancient greece for the only time a full democratic model really did shape a society.

Imho we now live in some kind of corporate fuedal state(in the democratic west that is). Corporation's control our government's policy - reasons for war, GM propagation, reasons behind global warming, reasons behind genetics etc, all the big challanges of our era fall right at the foot of our corporate states, and most of their agenda is about control of 'us' in one form or another. The question is will we wake up to this and do something about it before we have destoyed our future? Probably not i would say.

And games like Dues Ex I think are important atleast for getting people to wake up a bit to the realities, even if they dont quite hit the mark - they dont really need to. Are we servants of our governents, or the other way around? what do we want for ourselves and our children? etc

We need more games like Dues Ex, we have enough 'dumb console games' imho, we need 'brain food games' now