Raithe

Its kind of funny and sad at the same time...

To be fair, the microtransactions for the game aren't in your face or something you casually stumble across in-game. It's pretty much a specific part of the main menu outside the game. Which I think is about the only saving grace of putting them in a single player game like that.

Hm, I find myself in a weird balancing act of both liking and disliking the way they've set this story and the hubs. There really is only the Prague hub, and everything that's non-Prague is more single mission rather than hub-tastic. On the one hand, it's nice to revisit Prague and see how it changes as the story progresses and you get a slight grasp on fallout depending on certain choices you make early in the game, on the other hand I kind of miss that feel of world travel and having fresh hubs to explore and find side-quests and get in touch with the locals.

I think the worst is with Miller. The combination of the voice acting and the bad face animation seems to leave most combinations with your "boss" as very odd.

I'm happy with the gameplay and level design. Although the loading times are quite awful for me, especially when you have to catch the train back and forth from one side of Prague to the other. The vertical design adds something, but it does mean you can end up trying to poke at everything to find out if there's something new or hidden or different routes around. Currently in the second dose of Prague after the Rucker mission. Although that was slightly odd, the cinematic had Rucker with shaggy hair, then he stands up, the game shifts to the engine and conversation..and Rucker is suddenly marine buzz cut hair. Then cinematic and its back to the shaggy look.

And what you basically get are linked to videos of background interviews. A couple of the design people talking about the why and wherefores of certain decisions.

One that might interest a few folks... Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines - Unofficial Patch History

From what I've gathered, there are five or six side quests available during your first visit to the Prague Hub. If you notice, in your quest log, the missions are all numbered, so "SM00" SM01" etc. But a couple are tucked away and you don't start them up unless you wander into the right areas and talk to the right people, and they aren't all hung out on the route of the main mission quests. I think its about mission 6 on the main quest line that you first leave Prague and head to Utulak (Golem city).

Well, having completed the first 6 main missions and the first..5 side quests, I can say there aren't that many offices as such. But there are a lot of apartment rooms and shop basements. Hm, now I seem to have the weird issue that the game crashes if I try to load a game that was saved shortly after I entered Golem city. Saves from before I left Prague are fine, but the game just hangs then crashes if I try to load Golem city saves. Tres weird.

The hacking is pretty close to what it was in DEHR, but it does feel as if its a touch more difficult than before. I'm wandering around Prague getting used to the hub and chasing down the various side-quests and seeing how things work.

I have to say, by putting in micro-transactions like that in the single player game... They make me want to go and download cheat engine just to add in those things for free.

Slowly working my way through the opening of Mankind Divided. A nice set if slow set up and introduction to the mechanics of it all. Although I'll have to sit down and figure out why I have no sound during any cinematics. It's fine the rest of the time, but the moment a cinematic starts all the sound cuts out, only to start up again when its finished.

Hm, for all the stuff about the benefits of pre-loading for digital purchases.. it always seems to end up taking an hour+ to unpack, and that's after the final download once release time has arrived. Considering that most of the game is meant to have been installed on your hard-drive by now, it seems odd it'll take twice as much time to set the game up as compared to installing it from a physical product (ie dvd). As you might gather, waiting on the Deus Ex to be playable.

Of course the season pass for Deus Ex is rather expensive. And the main two "dlc's" that are coming out several months in the future.. get put into the middle of the Deus Ex game. So, you'll have to replay the game for them to make sense. At least, that's what it seems to read like from the info they've given so far. Oh yes, plus the season pass gives a bunch of in-game gubbins like extra money, praxis points, parts for weapon mods, and stuff for the alternate game version that you can do with Deus Ex. Which does tend to make you shake your head over the whole thing. At least to me it does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZthGh758pYY