Junior Adventurer's Guild - December: Deus Ex: Invisible War

[rusty_shackleford]

I think this might be one of the most successful months in terms of completion fwiw.
Whether the festive fundraiser had anything to do with that, I dunno.

Its a short game. If a game is more than 20 hours I probably won't beat it in a month but I beat this in a week.

Of Orcs and Men is pretty short too. Sadly ends on a sorta cliffhanger for the overarching story that will probably never be resolved.

[J1M]

I think this might be one of the most successful months in terms of completion fwiw.
Whether the festive fundraiser had anything to do with that, I dunno.

We'll top it next October when I ram Darksiders through with vote buying. Should be out of BioWare games by then.

[Finarfin]

I think this might be one of the most successful months in terms of completion fwiw.
Whether the festive fundraiser had anything to do with that, I dunno.

We'll top it next October when I ram Darksiders through with vote buying. Should be out of BioWare games by then.

sure.
Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3
Jade Empire
Baldur's Gate 1
Baldur's Gate 2
Neverwinter Nights 1
Neverwinter Nights 2

[Lord of Riva]

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3

Last I checked those are impossible to play for me due to EAs retardism.

I never owned Mass Effect digitally, I have the first one as a physical disk though but played the second and third one via family sharing. I recently thoguht maybe I should get the LE of these three for the 4 bucks it costs but after I purchased it I came to realize that I can't play it.

After trying quite a bit the reason I found that my origin account I had was never updated and there is no E-Mail address associated with my account anymore however my steam account it linked with this Origin account, since I am incapable of unlinking my steam account (because the origin account does not exist in any form whatsoever) and steam accounts can't be part of more than one account, that means I am fully unable to play EA games from steam.

It's a total **** show.

[Tinky Winky]

I om nom nom Gothic for next month. We need to consolidate to fight the slop.

Or maybe Risen 1, should be something that's less played.

[rusty_shackleford]

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3

Last I checked those are impossible to play for me due to EAs retardism.

I never owned Mass Effect digitally, I have the first one as a physical disk though but played the second and third one via family sharing. I recently thoguht maybe I should get the LE of these three for the 4 bucks it costs but after I purchased it I came to realize that I can't play it.

After trying quite a bit the reason I found that my origin account I had was never updated and there is no E-Mail address associated with my account anymore however my steam account it linked with this Origin account, since I am incapable of unlinking my steam account (because the origin account does not exist in any form whatsoever) and steam accounts can't be part of more than one account, that means I am fully unable to play EA games from steam.

It's a total **** show.

Piracy.

[Finarfin]

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3

Last I checked those are impossible to play for me due to EAs retardism.

I never owned Mass Effect digitally, I have the first one as a physical disk though but played the second and third one via family sharing. I recently thoguht maybe I should get the LE of these three for the 4 bucks it costs but after I purchased it I came to realize that I can't play it.

After trying quite a bit the reason I found that my origin account I had was never updated and there is no E-Mail address associated with my account anymore however my steam account it linked with this Origin account, since I am incapable of unlinking my steam account (because the origin account does not exist in any form whatsoever) and steam accounts can't be part of more than one account, that means I am fully unable to play EA games from steam.

It's a total **** show.

You realize you can just pirate them right? Or talk to the support.

[1998]

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3

Last I checked those are impossible to play for me due to EAs retardism.

I never owned Mass Effect digitally, I have the first one as a physical disk though but played the second and third one via family sharing. I recently thoguht maybe I should get the LE of these three for the 4 bucks it costs but after I purchased it I came to realize that I can't play it.

After trying quite a bit the reason I found that my origin account I had was never updated and there is no E-Mail address associated with my account anymore however my steam account it linked with this Origin account, since I am incapable of unlinking my steam account (because the origin account does not exist in any form whatsoever) and steam accounts can't be part of more than one account, that means I am fully unable to play EA games from steam.

It's a total **** show.

You realize you can just pirate them right? Or talk to the support.

That and even on Steam ME 1 and 2 do not require EA play nonsense.

[Tweed]

I om nom nom Gothic for next month. We need to consolidate to fight the slop.

Or maybe Risen 1, should be something that's less played.

How less played was Risen over Gothic? After PB lost the rights to the IP and the closure of the series I figure people would have been interested in the spiritual successor.

[rusty_shackleford]

I om nom nom Gothic for next month. We need to consolidate to fight the slop.

Or maybe Risen 1, should be something that's less played.

How less played was Risen over Gothic? After PB lost the rights to the IP and the closure of the series I figure people would have been interested in the spiritual successor.

gothic & risen are both widely unknown outside of germany/poland, even among people who play only RPGs.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 3

Last I checked those are impossible to play for me due to EAs retardism.

I never owned Mass Effect digitally, I have the first one as a physical disk though but played the second and third one via family sharing. I recently thoguht maybe I should get the LE of these three for the 4 bucks it costs but after I purchased it I came to realize that I can't play it.

After trying quite a bit the reason I found that my origin account I had was never updated and there is no E-Mail address associated with my account anymore however my steam account it linked with this Origin account, since I am incapable of unlinking my steam account (because the origin account does not exist in any form whatsoever) and steam accounts can't be part of more than one account, that means I am fully unable to play EA games from steam.

It's a total **** show.

I really hate how the new digital re-release of the mass effect trilogy is censored in multiple cutscenes because of current political realities. I hade the physical original trilogy at some point but got lost so now I going have to pony up over $100 to get the physical copied once again.

[Lord of Riva]

Piracy.

I would and I appreciate the source you have provided for gog software but otherwise I'm not well versed in sourcing such a thing. So, you know, if you know something...

Or talk to the support

Impossible as far as I am aware, I have tried to find a way to contact support but have not found any option to do so, just like X, it seems there is no real time customer support anymore, you get linked into the FAQ or a Bot who just says what is in the FAQ.

That and even on Steam ME 1 and 2 do not require EA play nonsense.

You are right, I assumed that only the legendary edition would exist and that the old ones have been delisted, they have not but then again I am unwilling to pay double the price for a game less and being unable to play the finale also makes no sense.

In any case I would be open to play any of those, if I play these games I normally play them let's play style for my wife or Son.

I would do Risen, G1 (or 2) or ME (if I can find a solution to my problem.)

@Oyster Sauce


I have also finished Deus Ex Revision, I can provide more screenshots if needs be.

Gonna be open on this one, the changes in Revision and the bundled Biomod mod lead me to actually cheat in the game. One of these swaps swimming for athletics meaning that normal running speed is lowered to a crawl, especially when carrying bodies, so I cheated the exact amount of skill points to max athletics, whoever thought that was a good idea should have been shot.

Also while I understand that the original Augs did not work well, due to how they were handled making them passive and only cost energy when used makes them way to efficient. Using Ballistic shield+Ballistic Armor reduced damage to 95% using healing in tandem makes you basically a walking tank.

The standard setting, that I did not change, to award xp on kill + bonus on headshot for the sniper is completely flabbergasting, I mean through cheating athletics I had some 3XXX skill points more but in the end I had maxed Rifles, low-tech, Heavy, Environmental, Medicine, advanced skill in computers and trained in lockpick and electronics.

It also lead to me playing the game like I did the first time, when I was still a child, ergo murderhoboing everyone. I couldn't die, at least once I had the Explosive defense aug and was able to kill everyone easily with the dragons-tooth.

Meanwhile, while some areas are quite beautiful some of seem are also needlessly big and confusing for no apparent reason, especially Hong-Kong and the Paris streets. When I eventually replay deus ex, it won't be as Revision.

If you want to award me the deus ex 1 badge is up to you

[Tinky Winky]

Or maybe Risen 1, should be something that's less played.

How less played was Risen over Gothic? After PB lost the rights to the IP and the closure of the series I figure people would have been interested in the spiritual successor.

gothic & risen are both widely unknown outside of germany/poland, even among people who play only RPGs.

Doubt that. Not knowing gothic is like not knowing about trouka as a rpg gamer. Unless you are talking about weebs but they don't really count.

[rusty_shackleford]

How less played was Risen over Gothic? After PB lost the rights to the IP and the closure of the series I figure people would have been interested in the spiritual successor.

gothic & risen are both widely unknown outside of germany/poland, even among people who play only RPGs.

Doubt that. Not knowing gothic is like not knowing about trouka as a rpg gamer. Unless you are talking about weebs but they don't really count.

everyone knows of vtmb
PB is a niche euro developer

[1998]

gothic & risen are both widely unknown outside of germany/poland, even among people who play only RPGs.

Doubt that. Not knowing gothic is like not knowing about trouka as a rpg gamer. Unless you are talking about weebs but they don't really count.

everyone knows of vtmb
PB is a niche euro developer

Here, German article from 2003 admitting that Gothic did not sell outside Germany

https://web.archive.org/web/20181204043 ... 39775.html

[rusty_shackleford]

Doubt that. Not knowing gothic is like not knowing about trouka as a rpg gamer. Unless you are talking about weebs but they don't really count.

everyone knows of vtmb
PB is a niche euro developer

Here, German article from 2003 admitting that Gothic did not sell outside Germany

https://web.archive.org/web/20181204043 ... 39775.html

PB didn't even know Gothic 2 had an English release until months after it was published.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060810190 ... dlines.php

There was no advertising for it to the best of my recollection.

[Lord of Riva]

PB didn't even know Gothic 2 had an English release until months after it was published.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060810190 ... dlines.php

There was no advertising for it to the best of my recollection.

The english VA and localisation are also absolute trash, If I was an american I would probably also not have bought Gothic.
In that sense the G1 Remake may actually surpass the original as it is definitely anglocentric as could be seen by the absolute gay VA for the "Teaser"

[Tweed]

PB didn't even know Gothic 2 had an English release until months after it was published.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060810190 ... dlines.php

There was no advertising for it to the best of my recollection.

The english VA and localisation are also absolute trash, If I was an american I would probably also not have bought Gothic.
In that sense the G1 Remake may actually surpass the original as it is definitely anglocentric as could be seen by the absolute gay VA for the "Teaser"

DO NOT SPEAK EVIL OF THE ENGLISH VA!!

There's only a few that really need to be changed and I'd do that if I had money for one of those voice AI services, but I don't.

[Lord of Riva]

PB didn't even know Gothic 2 had an English release until months after it was published.
https://web.archive.org/web/20060810190 ... dlines.php

There was no advertising for it to the best of my recollection.

The english VA and localisation are also absolute trash, If I was an american I would probably also not have bought Gothic.
In that sense the G1 Remake may actually surpass the original as it is definitely anglocentric as could be seen by the absolute gay VA for the "Teaser"

DO NOT SPEAK EVIL OF THE ENGLISH VA!!

There's only a few that really need to be changed and I'd do that if I had money for one of those voice AI services, but I don't.

granted, I only know videos of the most damning examples as I've never played it in english, those that are bad are *really* bad though

[Tweed]

Instead of a Bioware slop parade we should have a PB slop parade.

[1998]

At least we should have plenty of options for next month.

[SpellSword]

I'm am now pretty much fully augmented and have just landed in Germany.

---

► Also... (Spoiler)

A what...?

Deus Ex IW - Teleporters! WHAT!.png

[MC_Sea]

I finished this game a few days ago but only decided to post now due to being somewhat feverish. I completed all of the content in the game besides the final mission with the different endings. (Disclaimer: I did not watch the other endings on Youtube.) This is my first Deus Ex game and I chose the worst one to get it out of the way first. (The playtime isn't necessarily accurate due to how sleep mode works on Steam Deck.) Below, I will post highlights/noteworthy events in my playthrough in the spoilers.


^PROOF^

PART 1

► Show Spoiler

Ugh, off to a bad start with the character creator defaulting to the brown female portrait. You have to press left for the lighter skin females + male portraits. Also, I chose Hard over Realistic since Realistic gives the player and enemies a damage boost while Hard only gives the enemies a damage boost.

The only free food available in Seattle is Soy. I guess I can let this slide since it's accurate to real life...

I was so excited at first for the strength biomod since it said it would "increase carrying capacity" and the collector inside me is always a sucker for more inventory slots only to be dismayed that it actually only allows you to carry heavier objects. This is doubly useless since it can be cheesed by simply pushing the object away with your body. Barrels in front of vents mean nothing. (As pictured above. Vent is next to the NW symbol.)

This random table flew at me out of nowhere as I turned around. It scared the living **** out of me. I thought it was part of the story or something.

I started panicking when this energy bot left because I thought I would be softlocked in the room full of radioactive gas. Turns out that's the repair bot I was searching for. I felt so silly afterwards.

This moment was particularly hilarious. I was searching the slum apartments when I saw the caged Raptor and decided to take a closer look at the window. The crazy lady came into the room and started shooting for no reason. I crouched as she threw a Spiderbot into the room (who couldn't see me) which attacked the Raptor who then fought back which caused the lady to start shooting the Raptor. The Raptor killed the Spiderbot and the crazy lady killed the Raptor. It had me laughing for a minute straight.

This is officially the first point where I started rooting for the Templar. It didn't help that both the Order and WTO were ******** in different ways. The WTO is beyond extreme with bureaucratic measures which reminds me of modern day "democracy" while the Order is a literal ******** hippie blend of all religions.

I found this easy dupe glitch where I could get infinite multitools in the Order temple. Didn't abuse it though since the game was simple enough as is. Strangely enough, the other mosques in Cairo and Germany had the same glitch and it was only those locations where it could happen.

It's funny how these type of lines were meant to demotivate players from picking Templar but they only pushed me further towards them.

It was strangely satisfying to annoy this little girl. The voiced sounded so annoyed that I couldn't help myself. I did the same thing with the real NG Resonance which was just as fun especially since both of them kept screaming.

PART 2

► Show Spoiler

This is one of the few lines in the game that truly resonated with me. I've seen so many successful and intelligent people be easily manipulated by the people around them or above them due to lacking any sense of conviction. Without any unshakable foundations for having the beliefs that you have or the choices you choose to make, you will have no sense of direction in life or any way to prevent yourself from making the wrong choices. These are the type of people who can be conditioned to believe anything as long as they are exposed to it for long enough. It made me grateful to the fact that I truly know what I believe in with 100% certainty.

These are the ideals that turned me away from the Order. Money isn't inherently evil, it's only when the love for money trumps all other aspects of life like family, morals, health, etc. A world without money simply wouldn't work due to the fact that most people require a reward that motivates them to do the tasks given to them. The general population needs concrete metric value that are able to determine the value of someone's work. Kindness and appreciation would not be enough and that isn't even mentioning the people who would exploit others for their own gain.

Another cheeseable vent I found. If it weren't for the increased damage, that strength augmentation would be worthless like the environmental hazards one.

I found this coal-burning cheating ***** and her "dying poet" of a lover in the medina and instantly shot them once their conversation ended. Two-faced whores like her are why men can't have trusting relationships these days. While I'm on the topic of killing degenerates, I also killed that niggerfaggot "Minister of Culture" and his little boytoy that were in the nightclub in Seattle before I left. Some of the NPCs in this game are just so detestable.

These idiots deserved to lose and have their entire family ruined. One of the very few based things the WTO did.

This pretty much sums up how I feel about The Order as well.

This rat next to me wouldn't shut up with its high pitch squeaking throughout the whole conversation. I noticed this game in general has terrible or outright broken sound design in many places.

"Le heckin hateful ones amirite?" This is the point that completely solidified my stance on The Templars and caused me to root for them till the end.



JC Denton's speech was so ****** I felt the need to include 3 screenshots. All of this speech just sounded like "Let's make everyone a hivemind similar to the Omar." Not to mention, the constant talk about forcing everyone to be on the same level and making every decision purely democratic. Erasing everyone's personal ambitions is a recipe for disaster. No doubt about it. The ideas mentioned come off as eerily similar to the ones redditards believe in as well...

Leo was one of my favorite characters so seeing him turn out this way was disappointing. This was my main reason for rejecting the whole Omar/JC mindset too. It all comes down to the machines controlling people through sheer force. One feature I did like was how the cutscenes hinted at hidden items through dynamic camera angles like with this multitool behind the tires.

The bio-modified aliens in the final level are hilariously dumb. I saw 3 of them burn themselves to death with these trash cans. 2 are displayed in this photo; one is on the left.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

► Show Spoiler

I had a surprising amount of fun with this game despite my lackluster expectations but not due to the official game design. The physics+lighting combined with the biomods allowed a ridiculous amount of cheese like passing by cameras undetected by carrying objects in front of you while crouching, blocking enemies from moving with a single crate, and using proximity mines to block doors from opening. If it weren't for that, my playthrough would have been much more mundane. I could have easily used the human/robot cloak to speedrun the game but I wanted to give myself the slightest bit of challenge. Biomods are so poorly balanced and there is a clear objective choice for all of them. Move Silent for feet, Bot Domination for arms, Thermal Masking for body, Cloak for head, and Regeneration for eyes. The sneaking in this game is so bad too, it's either run-n-gun or crouch to become nearly invisible despite being 2 feet away from the enemy. I'm well aware this was designed to accommodate for the crowded areas in the game but that doesn't make it any less of a problem.

As for the writing, it is absolutely terrible for the most part. I couldn't be bothered to care for any characters besides maybe Leo, Brother Saman, or the Panzerverkers. I despise how none of the choices or killings matter until the very end either. If you told me this game was made in the modern age, I would totally believe it with how often it preaches equality, "evil" bigotry, and the amount of brown people everywhere. (it especially stood out during the Germany portion) I chose the Templar ending for this reason and many more.

Brother Saman has his priorities straight. He was willing to circumvent formalities when recruiting Alex because he knew the situation at hand was more important than appearances. He did a great job biding his time waiting for the perfect moment to take over the arcology without hurting innocent individuals.
Besides, the Templar don't hate machines, they just hate the biomodification of living beings and plants. They are still willing to use computers and surveillance bots for general purposes. All of their ideals are justified due to all the current issues in the present ultimately stemming from biomodifications and their consequences. Biomods are one of those concepts that seem amazing for humanity until you realise how government and other nefarious groups will weaponize them for their own personal gain. Erasing biomods worldwide is the only way to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. (Also, they have the strongest power armor in the game. )

The Illuminati felt terrible to side with because of how long they manipulated you along with the fact they force people to go with excessive bureaucracy who burns untaxed food or kumbaya ******** that leaves everyone defenseless. Their need to worship Satan brings them down as well. "Praise Baphomet!" "May the Fallen One watch over us." <-- Illuminati NPC dialogue
I was open to JC's ending until he made that soy-filled speech in Antarctica. It was most likely planned to be something more reasonable by the previous writers but unfortunately this is what we ended up with. I see very little difference between this and the Omar faction besides the "democratic" choices you can make.
My issue with the Renegade is that I don't trust the writers to write this ending well. It would either be: "Everyone dies, the end!" or a complete 180 with "Everyone lives somewhat fulfilling lives in spite of everything."

Speaking of the developers, the party ending gives an insight to their team and their sense of humor. I saw 1 ******, 2 vegans, and plenty women mentioned in the 18 files scattered throughout the party and nearly all of them included Reddit/Tumblr humor like ranting about vegan sandwich shops, drag jokes, etc. So if you are wondering why this game ended up the way it did, this is definitely why.

4/10 SKIP THIS GAME AT ALL COSTS!

[Tweed]

And before voting starts I'd like it if the management could establish whatever stupid ******* arbitrary rules they want in place this time at least a day in advance, thanks.

[Oyster Sauce]

And before voting starts I'd like it if the management could establish whatever stupid ******* arbitrary rules they want in place this time at least a day in advance, thanks.

What arbitrary rule was there that has you acting so womanish?

[Tweed]

And before voting starts I'd like it if the management could establish whatever stupid ******* arbitrary rules they want in place this time at least a day in advance, thanks.

What arbitrary rule was there that has you acting so womanish?

All of them.

[Oyster Sauce]

And before voting starts I'd like it if the management could establish whatever stupid ******* arbitrary rules they want in place this time at least a day in advance, thanks.

What arbitrary rule was there that has you acting so womanish?

All of them.

Have another drink, Tweed

[J1M]

And before voting starts I'd like it if the management could establish whatever stupid ******* arbitrary rules they want in place this time at least a day in advance, thanks.

My vote for next month is available to be purchased in exchange for a future vote of my choosing.

[logincrash]

► Show Spoiler

"Praise Baphomet!" "May the Fallen One watch over us." <-- Illuminati NPC dialogue

I thought it was the Templars shouting that during fighting. If it's actually the Illuminati, then that's really gay of them.

► Show Spoiler

I was open to JC's ending until he made that soy-filled speech in Antarctica. It was most likely planned to be something more reasonable by the previous writers but unfortunately this is what we ended up with. I see very little difference between this and the Omar faction besides the "democratic" choices you can make.

Same here.

[Roderick]

Made it to Cairo with no problem but now any save refuses to boot.