Will_Corrigan on 21/2/2002 at 03:46
Having finished Deus Ex yet again, I'm left to wonder: how does the DX2 team plan to reconcile the wildly divergent story lines at the end of DX?
At this point, we know precious little about the approach they're taking:
* In a recent interview, WS indicated that they had not opted for the "import savegame, continue story" route.
* We know that many of the same characters are returning, albeit 15 years older, and that several characters will be descendants of the original DX crew.
* It has been suggested that you can either reprise your role as JCD or play as a new female character (perhaps the chick we've seen in the concept art?).
[/list=1]
Because we won't be able to import savegames, we must assume that no specific information about the choices we made in the first game will be carried over to DX2. This seems to indicate that we'll be starting from scratch, both in terms of skills and augmentations (and inventory for that matter). This also means that while we'll be seeing some familiar faces, we may or may not be seeing the swing characters like Paul Denton, Alex Denton and Jock. Finally, what impact will the inclusion of a female player character have on the story? Might this indicate that JC has a little brother AND a little sister?
One interesting clue we've been given is that nanoaugmentation technology is now in the hands of the people, so much so that a black market for augmenation technology exists. This idea seems imcompatible with the Dark Ages ending; indeed, 15 years seems too brief a time for such a remarkable recovery. Is this really significant? I guess we'll see.
When asked about how they'll tie everything together, HS simply says, "There's something interesting we're doing for DX2." Something interesting, eh? Well, what do you guys think they're up to?
William
Agent Monkeysee on 21/2/2002 at 04:03
IMO the Illuminati ending had the most "sequel" potential. At the end the world and JC himself were left relatively unchanged. If they went with any of them I'd say Ion Storm probably went with this one as the basis.
Or... they could have just pulled an Alien<sup><font size=2>3</font></sup> copout and simply killed off all the story threads in the intro, leaving a clean slate for the sequel to begin on ;)
Chade on 22/2/2002 at 23:34
Well, my guess is, as to who you are in DX2, is that you are Alex Denton, whose body you see being "constructed" at Area 51, and whose name can be (amazingly enough) both male or female.
Ok, so its not that much of a coincidence, lots of names can be male or female, but still, that's my guess.
Elenkis on 23/2/2002 at 07:08
Quote:
One interesting clue we've been given is that nanoaugmentation technology is now in the hands of the people, so much so that a black market for augmenation technology exists. This idea seems imcompatible with the Dark Ages ending
Actually it could fit perfectly with the New Dark Age ending. With the massive blow dealt to corperate power and likely with the world in a state of confused turmoil and anarchy, technology is there for the taking. Remember that destroying the internet and the world's communication systems is not going to make all the technology suddenly disappear - It is still around and most likely still being developed. Don't think that New Dark Ages implies everyone is going to start running around with swords and ride horses instead of cars :) It would be a modern dark ages, and by using that Ion Storm would have pretty much total freedom to do what they want with the world.
Remember also that a major new cult/order/religion has been formed since the end of Deus Ex (dedicated to the worship of technology? I dont remember) - This again would be something that could quite easily fit in with a new dark ages.
Just rambling, I'm looking forward to seeing what Ion Storm do :)
By the way, you definitely play as JC in the sequel - Both the male and female are JC Denton. It was always intended in the original that JC could be either male or female, but they didn't get time to implement it. I believe they're just putting that choice back into the game (I guess when choosing female JC we will have to pretend the option was already there in the first game).
Nethawk on 23/2/2002 at 08:53
I'm going with Elenkis on this one. Tong's ending to me seemed like it has the greatest potential for a sequel. Mind you, Helios and its subsequent coming to power also seems like a good choice. Given what we already know however, I definitely feel that Tong's ending is the one Ion Storm will go with.
Will_Corrigan on 23/2/2002 at 15:38
Quote:
By the way, you definitely play as JC in the sequel - Both the male and female are JC Denton. It was always intended in the original that JC could be either male or female, but they didn't get time to implement it.
Are we sure of this? Personally, I think it'd be cool to play as, say, JC Denton's sister.
Regarding whether they'll choose to branch the story from one of the specific endings...
To acknowledge only one ending while completely ignoring the other two seems like a rather inelegant solution to me. Add to this the fact that HS has stated that they're "doing something interesting" with the story, and I'm given to believe that they're going to come up with a really nifty solution.
I mean, the big thrust at the moment is giving players as much freedom as possible; they wouldn't want to limit us at the very beginning. ;)
Oh, and just a quick note about the Dark Ages ending:
If today's Internet were to disappear, well, that would suck, but life would go on much as it has for the last two thousand years.
If Internet3 were to disappear, when virtually all technologies (we're talking critical infrastructure) are tied into the Internet... imagine the carnage.
Elenkis on 23/2/2002 at 17:07
>>Are we sure of this? Personally, I think it'd be cool to play as, say, JC Denton's sister.<<
Hmm, now I think about it some more I am not so sure that they have stated the female will be JC. I do suspect that will be case though, maybe my mind is just playing tricks on me. This is the only quote I can really find on the issue, from PCG UK:
"Perhaps the most striking initial change in Dx2 will be the reinstallation of an option that slipped from the initial game:the ability to play as either gender. In fact, the gender-neutral codename of your character, JC Denton, was originaly included specificaly to allow both sexes, and was only droped due to space conciderations of fitting dual voices onto the CD. Exactly how they're going to introduce the female character, ofcourse, remains to be seen."
>>If Internet3 were to disappear, when virtually all technologies (we're talking critical infrastructure) are tied into the Internet... imagine the carnage.<<
Right, but would that make the cars, guns, computers etc that are all in existance in the DX world magically disappear? Same goes for the nanotech, I don't see how the existing tech would disappear - I could definitely see it becomming easier to get through various illegal means during the carnage/anarchy though. Maybe production would be slowed or even halted temporarily, that depends on exactly how much is connected to the internet3, which we really don't know.
frozenman on 23/2/2002 at 18:09
The story is probably the one thing i'm most excited about. What the hell are they gonna do with it?
Perhaps some sort of branching (significantly, not just character interactions and the like) story lines.
X on 23/2/2002 at 20:17
I dunno, I think the Illuminati ending would allow for the greatest simlarity to the original, whereas Tong's ending would give the greatest freedom. It depends on what sort of slant Ion Storm wishes to put on it.
Either way, it will be great.
Homoludens on 25/2/2002 at 19:02
What I'm most interested in are the story and, more specifically, how gameplay and/or story will be affected depending on which sex you choose to play. That is, if Ion Storm does take take advantage of the overwhelming possibilities of gender based gameplay -- social situations in which you gain acces to areas and info based on your gender, as well as what weapons you can carry, using your chosen gender's attributes (sexual, physical, mental, etc.) to gain the upper hand.
