Primethius
Banned
Extremely disappointing sales which sucks because the game seems so interesting. I can't wait to pick it up when I'm home.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's UK sales are [UPDATE: worse than expected]
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
I'm still really enjoying the game, bad lipsyncing, bugs and all. I do really hope the team tries to move out more from the Human Revolution DNA if they get another sequel greenlit. They may have played things too safe and one big city hub is really disappointing (I was hoping for three myself). Perhaps consumers just weren't being grabbed by what was shown off.
I'd like to see takedowns become active (no pre-canned animation) like Dishonored and the option to use melee weapons, such as batons in the original game. And better animation, such as having Jensen's mouth actually move when he's in third-person.
I'd like to see takedowns become active (no pre-canned animation) like Dishonored and the option to use melee weapons, such as batons in the original game. And better animation, such as having Jensen's mouth actually move when he's in third-person.
Tizoc
Member
The microtransactions don't impact the game at all, you can go about playing the game for 100 hours and never need to use the microtransactions.
If you want to hear more about the game itself, there's an OT for it and a PC performance thread, that should give you good enough info about the game.
A great game which appeals to the masses will sell regardless of MP, see Witcher 3, Batman Arkham Knight, Fallout 4. Same can be said for the reverse.
StrongBlackVine
Banned
They took too long. Game should have been released 2 years ago. I lost all interest and it doesn't look that good.
Square Enix is doing a horrible job with their Western games(Hitman, Deus Ex and Tomb Raider).
Square Enix is doing a horrible job with their Western games(Hitman, Deus Ex and Tomb Raider).
This really makes me sad. R.I.P Deus Ex
I'd be surprised if they stopped making the series after one failure given they're still going with Tomb Raider and don't really have much going for them in dedicated devices.
I am expecting them to re-evaluate what they do with the next game though, either in budget (by lowering it dramatically) or trying to make the game feel modern in the year the next game is targeted to come out.
johnnydrama
Banned
lowhighkang_LHK
Member
You know, a bit off-topic, but outlets that track media sales really needs to start creating estimates and applying them in regards to digital sales.
You can't just ignore 20 to 30 percent of games sales. It's ever the more apparent when NPD says software sales are down 5 or so percent compared to last year, when I'm thinking that 5 percent could easily be the difference between the ever increasingly higher adoption rate of digital purchases on consoles compared to physical media.
Adding 30% to Mankind Divided doesn't change the situation that it's underperforming compared to Human Revolution...but if you include digital the total approaches 84,000 for it's two week mark in the UK.
You can't just ignore 20 to 30 percent of games sales. It's ever the more apparent when NPD says software sales are down 5 or so percent compared to last year, when I'm thinking that 5 percent could easily be the difference between the ever increasingly higher adoption rate of digital purchases on consoles compared to physical media.
Adding 30% to Mankind Divided doesn't change the situation that it's underperforming compared to Human Revolution...but if you include digital the total approaches 84,000 for it's two week mark in the UK.
Yeah, this. DX is one of my favorite games ever, plus I really enjoyed HR, and I had no idea this was coming out this month until about a week before release when the OT popped up. It really feels like SE just pooped this out without a care in the world.
As for MD, I really feel like it's the first game since the original that really captured what it felt like to play through the first game. Or, at least the first 1/3 of the first game >.>
The game really feels like it was chopped in half or at least thirds, and then they padded the hub out with a bunch of sidequests to make due. I mean don't get me wrong I enjoyed the hell out of the game, but main plot just goes nowhere. The game feels like the Mass Effect 2 of the series except they didn't nail what made ME2 so compelling despite the 2 hour plot: all the side characters here feel halfbaked. You just never are with them enough to gain any kind of attachment to them. Like, okay you're making sidequests the game. Fine, but take a note out of ME2 and make at least 50% of those quests coming out of the main office so we can get some depth out of the characters. None of them really develop, and the one the game really goes out of its way to make you think about ends up not making it through the game anyways. The main bad guy is a cheap one note Herman Gunther wanna be that has probably 20 minutes of screen time in a 30 hour game, so you neither care nor feel anything by the time the ending rolls around. He feels like the midgame Texas accent dude boss fight from HR, but placed at the ending of the game.
Overall, I do not regret buying it and had an absolute blast playing it, but with a defter hand directing the narrative it could have been one of the best games this generation instead of just a really good one if you're a fan of these types of games.
He's not really wrong. The main quest in MD is about as long as the Missing Link, with the rest of the game being padded out with sidequesting and exploration. You could have cut half the sidequests out and left the rest as is and the game would have felt like a meaty 30$ expansion pack to HR, sort of like that cut Montreal hub from HR that was rumored would show up as DLC to HR back in the day.
funkystudent
Member
It should have come out earlier in the gen.
HR came out a long ass time ago. Making such a direct follow up this long after the fact was a iffy decision.
This should have been Edios' early in the gen game instead of Theif.
I hope they get to make a sequel and its out before 2020
HR came out a long ass time ago. Making such a direct follow up this long after the fact was a iffy decision.
This should have been Edios' early in the gen game instead of Theif.
I hope they get to make a sequel and its out before 2020
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Honestly, even if they just gave us a Human Revolution mission pack it still would have been one of the best games of the generation so far. It'll be quite sad if the series gets taken out back and shot.
The missing link is like a 4 hour experience.
Big DX fan, bought all main DX games since the original, was hugely into the modding scene for the first game. I'm probably an outlier, but there was enough neutral-to-negative press (long) before release that kept me from pre-ordering, and enough after release to keep me from buying. I'm sure there are larger factors at play for everyone else, but that's what it was for me.
It took me about 7 hours to play through, which is about what I would pin down the time I played on the main story in MD. I finished the game in 35 hours, but the vast majority of that time was sidequests and exploration. I played the game for about 13 hours before I even started the first main quest.
johnnydrama
Banned
But he is wrong. Man, Missing Link is a four hour DLC. Five tops. I don't know how you finish this game in five hours even if you skip all the side quests.
CaptainofIndustry
Member
I'm really enjoying the game. I really hope the game sells well enough to get a sequel.
Well, you're missing out on a great game then.
I know what you mean but blaming marketing is becoming the new de facto excuse on GAF, as though simply spending more money on advertising is the answer. Plenty of well advertised games this gen have been total flops.
I am not talking about what they do, I am saying I have heard more about them than I have about the game itself.
I've thought for a long time that if a game isn't online-multiplayer-based, it needs to be open-world to have a good chance of selling well. Open world is like a guarantee to consumers that the game will have 50+ hours of content, offer you plenty of narrative (to fill all that space, you see), and have plenty to see.
If you look at all the most successful single-player focussed games these days, they're almost all open-world. Witcher 3, Far Cry series, Minecraft, Assassin's Creed series, Skyrim, Fallout 4, MGS V, GTA V (yes some of them have multi, but they're single-player focused games). This is where the trend is, and has been for ages. I mean, look at E3. Nintendo announces Zelda is going open-world, years behind trend? Still gets nothing but rapturous applause.
It just seems to be what gamers want out of single player games, and games like Deus Ex seem somewhat last-gen or dated by comparison and are seeing sales to match.
As for this game in particular, the word-of-mouth regarding the games story and presence of microtransactions kept me away despite loving the first.
It is that, but it's also really good. It's undeniably Deus Ex but they could still go a lot further when expanding on the systems. It's still a very gamey game but I dunno if I want them to fix that because it's one of the things I like about the series. The ending sequence is a lot more well made and impactful than Human Revolutions though I'll give it that.
Hey, I saved 60 bucks.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Howlongtobeat has it at 4.5 hours and I took less time than that while doing all side-quests (4 hours first run according to steam), playing it stealth.
HLTB has "main story" of MD at 14.5 hours and "main story + extras" at 26.5 hours. In both cases, the playtime estimates no doubt include "some" side content despite saying it's just "main story", because the people they're polling are somewhat unreliable. But MD is still a vastly meatier experience than TML, even if we're just comparing the main questline to the entire package of TML.
IMO it's a bit of a distraction anyway, since a game doesn't have to have a long main questline if the side content is compelling. I'd point to the prototypical example being Mass Effect 2, whose main content is anemic and not very well written, but which excels at giving the players loads of meaty sidequests for the recruitment and loyalty parts of the game.
You describe it as "padding", but is it really fair to call it padding if that's intended to be an important part of the experience? Dragon Age: Inquisition auto-generated fetch quests are padding, but these are hand crafted and really make the game fun to play.
The game is incredible, and so this is really disappointing. The main narrative arc feels a bit disjointed, but the side missions and gameplay really are incredible. Exploring Prague, speaking to everyone, uncovering quests by accident - it's a damn shame it's not selling well. Square Enix didn't market it well either, and with the publisher adding microtransactions did it no favors.
I'm in love with the game - loved HR, and this feels wonderful.
I'm in love with the game - loved HR, and this feels wonderful.
That is unfortunate, but Square deserves some blame for shooting themselves in the foot.
The in-game microtransactions for the single-player game that were single-use consumables put people off, along with their earlier pre-order campaign to get the game 4 days early, and then on launch there were performance issues for enough people on Steam that the game got review bombed hurting continued sales.
I like the game alot, more than Human Revolution in the gameplay and exploration departments, but they could've done a better job making this game attractive. It came out at the end of August with nothing else to compete with it.
It's one of the few immersive sims getting made with a nice sized budget, and I want MORE of them...not less.
The in-game microtransactions for the single-player game that were single-use consumables put people off, along with their earlier pre-order campaign to get the game 4 days early, and then on launch there were performance issues for enough people on Steam that the game got review bombed hurting continued sales.
I like the game alot, more than Human Revolution in the gameplay and exploration departments, but they could've done a better job making this game attractive. It came out at the end of August with nothing else to compete with it.
It's one of the few immersive sims getting made with a nice sized budget, and I want MORE of them...not less.
such a big DX fan but you dont go judge a dx game for yourself, you fall for the word of mouth which is not always correct. yes, tehg ame has its flaws, but its a great game. i dont see how a true dx fan would miss out on such a good game.
Thanks for the correction. My memories got corrupted by the Take Two CEO saying they are bigger than Madden. ;-)
I'm the kind of DX fan who got burned buying Invisible War without listening to anyone else. I guess it's a cautiousness that comes from experience.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
HR had a pretty big PR coup in the form of the leaked build, also. MD wound up going the opposite direction, having preorder controversy followed by negative exposure based on the mechanical apartheid and aug lives matters stuff and finally the microtransaction stuff. I doubt any of this really tanked it in a large way but the general air surrounding the game was a lot less positive than what I remember HR being.
what? you played human revolution? why go with that logic? invisble war was a long time ago, human revolution was the beginning of soemthing good which still is good.
Call me picky.
Tizoc
Member
The microtransactions dont even exist nor will u ever need to use them
The story isnt that big a deal and hasnt turned me off from a new game plus because i enjoyed the gameplay as i enjoyed hr.
Just play the game for yourself and judge it fo yourself. If u liked hr you May find something you like about this game as well
The main story in MD wouldn't take you 14.5 hours to play through, I'm pretty much positive of that. I'm a slow poke and it's like what, 6 missions? Dubai, fluff, Station, fluff, Golem City, fluff, Switzerland, a little more fluff, London, with the majority of that time being Golem City. Dubai is an hour, tops. Station is an hour, tops. GC is probably 2.5 hours depending on how much you explore the mini hub. Switzerland is like half an hour, and London is probably 2 hours. Depending on how quickly you navigate Prauge for the fluff content in between missions I could see the game topping out at 8 hours, 9 max. If you go the shooty shooty route I could see it dipping down into the sub 5 hour mark very easily.
As for the "padding" stuff, I'm not really using it as a negative. Good padding can be fun to play, but that's basically what it is.
Except I did not say DLC. I said expansion pack, as in Brood War or Frozen Throne.
MD really feels like it. The gameplay is identical, the art direction is the exact same, and the plot is a direct continuation (it even requires a recap if you don't remember everything).
So, yeah, 5 years is too long a gap for such a sequel. Most people moved on.
KyanMehwulfe
Member
Wonder if the themes of the game were too depressing or unexciting for some people?
Even myself, and I've been a pretty big fan of the game so far, sort of found the game... depressing. Not really emotionally, and I don't mean in a tragic sense. Maybe oppressive is a better word. It's a very dystopian, glum game, and everything from some of the colour palette (Prague is very blue, almost clinically so.. like the white lights of a hospital) to the art and city life (constant segregation and oppression) to the story itself...
And that's even relative to Deus Ex, a series known for its manipulation by the powers to be. But the original Deus Ex was still thrilling and Human Revolution, an apt namesake, was an exciting sort of foray into the future of technology.
I've made this comparison a few times... if Deus Ex could be said to sort of be like Neuromancer with its dark city imagery and topics of AI (and a lot of sort of 'out of this world' locations).... and maybe Human Revolution is a bit more Blade Runner -- more exploration of what it is to be human, a bit more an investigative/corporate angle, but also an sort of mesmerizing colour palette (HR's use of gold vs BR's use of red and neon)... and then based on those standards (which are forced and not great... just trying to make a point using examples non-cyberpunk or non-sci-fi fans would know) then Mankind Divided is more like Children of Men.
I really like the game, and it was a heck of a ride IMO just based on the exploration and art detail, and seeing the detail of Prague... but I'm not sure how often I really want to revisit Prague or the themes of the game....
it hasn't been a very good combat game imo because there are really no clear great villains to kill; the art is tremendous but it sort of dampens my spirits... so I wonder if the marketing -- the mechanical apartheid and such -- just never clicked with people... and not even because it's controversial... but just because it's not exciting, and not what people want from escapism.
for all the conspiracy in DX and HR, they are still exciting settings. heck, i still play HR to this day because of inspiring sort of renaissance feel of it. in contrast, MD is just... gloomy, glum, oppressed, and dystopian.
it's an awesome game, probably a 9/10 imo and could have been an easy GOTY choice if the story hadn't ended so abruptly (it'll still be a contender tho). but even as a fan, some of its aesthetic and atmosphere is rather glum and i could see maybe how that could be a reason why the marketing never struck a chord with people. maybe, i mean we'll see the US sales, but i wonder if many other people felt that way.
Even myself, and I've been a pretty big fan of the game so far, sort of found the game... depressing. Not really emotionally, and I don't mean in a tragic sense. Maybe oppressive is a better word. It's a very dystopian, glum game, and everything from some of the colour palette (Prague is very blue, almost clinically so.. like the white lights of a hospital) to the art and city life (constant segregation and oppression) to the story itself...
And that's even relative to Deus Ex, a series known for its manipulation by the powers to be. But the original Deus Ex was still thrilling and Human Revolution, an apt namesake, was an exciting sort of foray into the future of technology.
I've made this comparison a few times... if Deus Ex could be said to sort of be like Neuromancer with its dark city imagery and topics of AI (and a lot of sort of 'out of this world' locations).... and maybe Human Revolution is a bit more Blade Runner -- more exploration of what it is to be human, a bit more an investigative/corporate angle, but also an sort of mesmerizing colour palette (HR's use of gold vs BR's use of red and neon)... and then based on those standards (which are forced and not great... just trying to make a point using examples non-cyberpunk or non-sci-fi fans would know) then Mankind Divided is more like Children of Men.
I really like the game, and it was a heck of a ride IMO just based on the exploration and art detail, and seeing the detail of Prague... but I'm not sure how often I really want to revisit Prague or the themes of the game....
it hasn't been a very good combat game imo because there are really no clear great villains to kill; the art is tremendous but it sort of dampens my spirits... so I wonder if the marketing -- the mechanical apartheid and such -- just never clicked with people... and not even because it's controversial... but just because it's not exciting, and not what people want from escapism.
for all the conspiracy in DX and HR, they are still exciting settings. heck, i still play HR to this day because of inspiring sort of renaissance feel of it. in contrast, MD is just... gloomy, glum, oppressed, and dystopian.
it's an awesome game, probably a 9/10 imo and could have been an easy GOTY choice if the story hadn't ended so abruptly (it'll still be a contender tho). but even as a fan, some of its aesthetic and atmosphere is rather glum and i could see maybe how that could be a reason why the marketing never struck a chord with people. maybe, i mean we'll see the US sales, but i wonder if many other people felt that way.
Such a shame hopefully this does not affect the series going forward but I'm sure it will.
This is currently my favourite game this year. Best side quests since Witcher 3. Great lore if you have played them all since the original.
I'm still looking forward to the DLC but now appreciating it a lot more since it might be the last we see of Deus Ex :-(
This is currently my favourite game this year. Best side quests since Witcher 3. Great lore if you have played them all since the original.
I'm still looking forward to the DLC but now appreciating it a lot more since it might be the last we see of Deus Ex :-(
Robot Pants
Member
what a rotten way to die.
Rexatality
Member
That's a damn shame. It's a good game, and I like it better than Human Revolution, though I agree they took too long to release it.
But I must admit, it does make me a bit worried for Dishonored 2
But I must admit, it does make me a bit worried for Dishonored 2
johnnydrama
Banned
Neither the gameplay is identical, not the art direction is same. I don't know what game you played.
potatohead
Member
We seem to be forgetting how low the CAD is right now. The Euro and USD are well above parity compared to CAD.
BaraSailey
Member
Damn shame; the game is incredible. The gameplay is the best in the series, and the world is so immersive and easy to get lost in. I'm working on my second playthrough right now and I'm enjoying it just as much as my first. Definitely a game of the year contender, for me at least.
Doesn't really matter, that's probebly about right.
Similar threads
- Poll