Game ENDINGS - ALL discussion (BEWARE SPOILERS inside!)

[Daeda]

I suspect she may have started a relationship with him.

But why would Jensen want that? She basically told him: "Hey remember when I convinced David to hire you. That was actually because I was just using your DNA for my research, and I needed a reason to keep you close after our first breakup."

She might have some stockholm syndrome, but the half year in Singapore probably convinced her of some Illuminati motives. She was easily the scientist with the most freedom there and she seemed to enjoy the work.

Also, we cant rule out the possibility that, having been declared dead, she cant return to her normal life anyway, as explaining the whole situation will get her either killed by Illuminati or just thrown into the looney bin. Hence she has "nowhere to go" but Bob Page.

[Redem]

Originally Posted by Mizkreant

Why would Megan help create the Grey Death virus? It doesn't have any beneficial applications. Stockholm Syndrome? When Adam walks into her room, she asks, "Jaron, is that you?" in a friendly tone. I suspect she may have started a relationship with him.

She could easily have made grey death without actively wanting it, grey death just nanobots the body is rejecting

[rubiomhs]

the story is so half baked i don't even want to pay attention to it.

[Danik0226]

If I had to choose one, I would have chosen Sarif. Like someone already mentioned, the Taggart and Darrow ending are just about control. They seek to the force the world into their own vision of how it should be. In the trailer, I think the line by Sarif said it best. "They cannot stop the future." One way or another this technology would have advanced. A simple news cast would not change whether or not secret organizations or private companies could get away with ethically questionable research and advancements. Sarif may have been a jerk, but I think he really did envision a future where everyone could have been augmented without the financial troubles of dependency on something like neuropozyne. Obviously Adam's DNA was the ticket to nano augmentation that would no longer require a choice between form and function. Everyone could look human, but still benefit from the technology within them.

Since the topic was brought up, I felt like the development of Megan Reed was somewhat disappointing. While Adam was involved with uncovering the conspiracy, it is obvious that his main focus was finding Megan Reed. Once he finds her, he discovers that she is at the very least somewhat comfortable with her current conditions. You never truly find out what makes her tick. In the beginning she seems legitimately concerned about Adam, regardless of the fact that the relationship may have been a front for to gather whatever DNA, etc. she needed off of him for her research. By the end she is shocked by Darrow and then tells you to go to Panchaea to stop him.... Then she meets up with Bob Page later...

Sadly, the meeting of Megan lends me to believe that the canon might be the destruction of the facility. It would be just one more reason for her to believe that she has no choice in continuing her research with Page, although I'm sure no one knows Page's intentions by this point. In the end I think Megan is a slave to solving problems with little care for what could happen if the knowledge was used immorally.

[Biggus]

Megan is Wernher von Braun in white

[Snwaters]

The end choice was pretty obvious to me- How could I choose anyone other than David Sarif's suggestion?

Taggert end the end just wanted Adam to cover up all the things he spent the entire game trying to uncover and expose.

Darrow grew to hate his own creation mainly because it was something he himself couldn't use. And while I agree about trying to out the Illuminati, I seriously doubt a few news reports is going to bring down men who control the entire planet.

The 'do nothing and everyone dies' ending just felt stupid: All that leads to is things staying the same. If no one knows what really happened, whats to stop the evil things that have been happening to continue? It was pretty much 'I can't tell the truth, and I can't tell lies so I'll just give up and sink me and everyone else to the bottom of the ocean.' Silly.

As others have said, Sarif had his bad moments. Despite that, I think his goal was something other than himself. I'm not foolish enough to believe that he isn't out there not to make a profit, but he really is trying to make the world better for everyone- even at the cost potentially to himself (Unlike the Illuminati who use the excuse of helping everyone to justify making the world better for a select few).

Here was a man who managed to singlehandedly save a prominent American city, and stave off repeated attempts to destroy everything he had built by a group of people who had the entirety of the world in their hands. And though he lied to Adam and Pritchard, I can see that he didn't want to hurt Adam with the truths the P.I. uncovered.

A man I respected put forth the most logical plan to try and turn what was a potential mess into something that could be used to help all of humanity- not just a select few. Sarif ending FTW.

[Mizkreant]

Originally Posted by Daeda

But why would Jensen want that? She basically told him: "Hey remember when I convinced David to hire you. That was actually because I was just using your DNA for my research, and I needed a reason to keep you close after our first breakup."

I meant she started a relationship with Jaron Namir after being captured, not Adam. That's why he kept telling him things like, "She is lost to you." and "Men like us never get back the things we love."

[Vallux]

It's entirely possible that Megan and Namir had a relationship. But Namir could also be referring to his younger sister who was killed in a car crash. If I remember correctly, that's the reason he became one of the Tyrants.

[Itkovian]

My favorite ending is Sarif's, which comes naturally to me as atheist and proponent of science.

But like DX1 and DX2, none of the endings are perfect. They each have their downsides.

For Sarif's, augmentation research continues as much as possible (within the context of what just happened), but the other hand is we know what unregulated advance can lead to.

For Taggarts, well then you're basically letting the Illuminati win, giving them more control over humanity.

For Darrow's, then you're basically stalling scientific advancement for at least a few years, which is a Bad Thing (unless you're a Luddite that is)... plus you're letting a nutter like Darrow win.

And as for the final Doomsday Option, it's still similar to Darrow's ending (with no explanation, people will still clearly reject augmentations after what happened)... BUT the Illuminati are not revealed AND you end up killing hundreds of innocents (the workers at the station, for example. I made sure to stay non-lethal the whole time in that mission, and it was PEPS heaven). So in all I think it's morally the worst ending.

That said, the various ending videos do a GREAT job showing the upsides to each choices.

But, I think overall all of them could be the Canon endings. They don't contradict the state in DX1, just how you get there. It's clear that no matter what people will be much warier of Augmentations, which explains why we don't have augs all over the place in DX1. The Illuminati are still in power and doing their thing, and their plans are clearly still in place for the D project.

What I love about the Sarif ending, and really the storyline as a whole when it comes to the Illuminati's goals, is how it ties so very well to the Denton ending in Invisible War. Basically, if JC gets his way, the humanity becomes exactly what the Illuminati fears (augmented beyond and possibility of control, essentially making the Illuminati obsolete).

So all in all, it's good stuff. And the ending videos are very well done and balanced.

Itkovian

[Itkovian]

Originally Posted by Vallux

It's entirely possible that Megan and Namir had a relationship. But Namir could also be referring to his younger sister who was killed in a car crash. If I remember correctly, that's the reason he became one of the Tyrants.

Aye, that is quite likely as well.

I rather liked that line, it hints at hidden depths to the character (I wonder if there's a terminal I can use to find more about him, or if the novel is it).

He was a rather nice villain, I'll admit, if a little underexposed in the game. I'm glad the novel gave us a deeper look.

Itkovian

[Dresden]

Originally Posted by Random

You can see the post-credits sequence here, at the 10 minute mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMMcd6-D4x8

It forges a number of links between Deus Ex and Human Revolution in a few lines of dialogue, though I'm not pleased with all them.

Bob Page is talking to Morgan Everett (who in DX1 is one of the Council of Five, the innermost circle of Illuminati members, and in HR is the CEO of Picus), telling him not to worry and that everything can be sorted out 'in time'. Basically it's saying that no matter what ending you chose Bob Page will still be able to manipulate things into what we see in Deus Ex 1.

Edit: also he tells Everett to keep searching the wreckage of Panchaea for anything they might use for the Morpheus Initiative, which is their AI project that results in the Icarus and Daedalus AIs from Deus Ex 1, the project designed to monitor global communications. So basically HR says that Everett/Page effectively copied Darrow's work. Which I think sucks because they were not some thieves of others' ideas; Everett was a genius and Page is protege, a mastermind. HR's ending undermines Everett's and Page's stories which I'm disappointed about. And Everett was a brilliant engineer, not the head of some global media empire. He was more Hugh Darrow than Rupert Murdoch.

Then Megan Reed arrives and greets Page, saying she didn't really have anywhere else to go to pursue her line of work. Page says she'll be excited by their projects, and Reed agrees, saying the 'nanite-virus chimera' looks interesting. It seems to be implying that Megan is involved in the development of the gray death virus from Deus Ex 1.

It's a nice link I suppose, but a bit silly considering you can find emails in HR that reveal Bob Page's involvement in things, so if Jensen is alive you'd think he'd tell Megan about Page. The game doesn't take into account that you might have uncovered Page's involvement. Or maybe it's just saying Megan is unethical? A bad end for her in any case.

(Edited to fix a few details.)

Everett was certainly not a genius. He kept the former head Illuminati on ice in a secret room in his house so he could use him for advice. He doesn't have any problem with taking credit for others' work.

Personally I loved the stock footage style endings. The only problem is that they don't tell you what will happen to the world. I mean sure, Eliza tells you but that really isn't the same. The trick is that all of the endings will come to the same conclusion really. Augs will become severely regulated, probably only a select few soldiers will be allowed to have them and the augmentation industry will crash.

[Biggus]

Ending videos were to preachy for may taste

[BType]

Megan's choice at the stinger after the credit did not even remotely surprise me.
She's basically a pedestrian: she likes living her life, and doing what she does. Hard choices, decisions, the ethical consequences of her actions are largely secondary to simply doing what she enjoys in life.
She's a BRILLIANT pedestrian, but she's no visionary, no leader: she just really likes doing her science, and like many pedestrian types doesn't really question the answers she's been fed.
I think she was genuinely sorry when she discovered what the whole thing led to...but she also bought into Darrow's rationalizations VERY quickly, showing perhaps at the core, she doesn't give whit about WHY she does her science, instead just enjoying that she does it at all.
She probably didn't INTEND to create the Grey Death, a plague that kills millions, and a tool to be used in the Illuminati's control: Bob Page just fed her another lie, and she ate it up, because it gave her a reason to not think too hard about it, and just focus on her work.
What I wanted to know is this: was she, or was she not sleeping with Namir.
If she was that tells us ultimately relationships are a thing of convenience for her, and secondary to her work: she cares, in a distant way, that she drops when her environment changes, ultimately a shallow (if brilliant) person.
If not then she's basically just a technical genius who also happens to be an unquestioning idiot.
Neither are really shining examples character though.

[Random]

Originally Posted by Dresden

Everett was certainly not a genius. He kept the former head Illuminati on ice in a secret room in his house so he could use him for advice. He doesn't have any problem with taking credit for others' work.

He kept Debeers around for advice on Illuminati business perhaps, but there's no suggestion Debeers was the one who actually came up with all the projects. Everett was still a brilliant engineer, as Stanton Dowd states very clearly to us.

[Vendetta11]

Originally Posted by Black-Xero

I picked the Darrow's message ending and it was more favorite of all 4. The one I mostly agree with.

Me as well....

[dsung]

I never had such strong feelings of hate for a videocharacter before. Curse you, Megan. The time playing DX:HR felt just like the 6 months for Jensen to take revenge. At the end there was nothing I accomplished as Adam. Nothing.

I took the Sarif ending. And I want to know what happens to Jenson. The ending feels so depressive, I am so sorry for Adam. There was no need to save him from death.

Wow, thank you for such a great game! As I said I never felt such a emotional binding to the characters. Awesome.

[thetrac3r]

After thinking about it, I'm actually starting to hate the 4th option/cop-out ending. Mostly because of the preachy part Biggus mentioned. Like right at the end, "I'm not going to let Taggart, Sarif, or Darrow stand in the way" of humanity...I dunno, finding its way.

Right. We have to make sure that the string-puller who guided society forward, the visionary who pushed society forward, and the genius who made it possible for society to move forward.....aren't involved in man moving forward.

Total cop-out. And one of those smug ones, because it seems from the extra line of dialogue (Eliza saying how impressed she is with you), and the extra epilogue scene... that this ending is the sort of the preferred/canon ending the writers had in mind.

P.S. And yes, I still hate Megan Reed.

[jason95821]

i really really hated the ending
so i blew myself up and the station along with it

i expected the ending to be more futuristic and not somthing that look like a youtube scrap book collection

[DeusEdt]

One thing I'm not sure I understand about the ending section of the game...

Why do the violently insane Augmented only attack Adam and not each other?

[Nokturnalex]

Having played Dues Ex 1.

And just finished HR.

I gotta say they're really bad at designing strategic and interesting boss fights and making good cinematic endings. "Press a button to make a world changing choice" lol. Nothing you did previously in the game mattered, you could've killed every single person (including civilians) in the game and Jensen still would've said he was being a "good guy" more often then not.

The best part of deus ex is the freedom to complete missions how you see fit with multiple entry points into areas and the ability to hack, run-and-gun, smash and stealth through missions.

Other then that, the conspiracy theory stuff got old quick to me since I just played the first one all the way through in anticipation for this one.

Human augmentation? Cool
Nano-technology? Cool

Conspiracy theories? Kinda boring.

The parts of the story I liked the best were the militaristic ones. I prefer actual wars between nations/people more interesting then government conspiracies. Sure government conspiracies control those wars, but knowing exactly who your enemy is is more exciting then saying they're some secret club that apparently can't be stopped cause they appear in different forms in all 3 dues ex games.

[zombieturtle01]

What happens if you install the biochip at the LIMB clinic? I never did because I was obviously suspicious.

[cqc_batman]

I have to say BRAVO! to Eidos-Montreal for creating a masterpiece. After playing for over 40 hours, I finally finished Deus Ex Human Revolution for the first time at the "Give Me Deus EX" difficulty. The choice was hard but I chose Darrow. I wanted people to know the truth. Although thinking about it, destroying the complex was probably a better choice. Considering the whole issue with the story of the game. And that is that humans were never given the choice to choose what they want they're future to be. And that is what happened to Jensen. He wasn't given a choice so he wants to give the world that ability. The ending and how it tied to Bob, project D using Adams cells, and the nano-tech virus (that * Reed). Time to go and play Deus Ex. Thank you again Eidos. You've earned every penny of my Augmented Edition purchase of Deus Ex Human Revolution.

[DeusEdt]

Originally Posted by zombieturtle01

What happens if you install the biochip at the LIMB clinic? I never did because I was obviously suspicious.

You lose your augmentations for the Namir boss fight. Other than that there are no real consequences.

[Danik0226]

Originally Posted by Mizkreant

I meant she started a relationship with Jaron Namir after being captured, not Adam. That's why he kept telling him things like, "She is lost to you." and "Men like us never get back the things we love."

In the book that was released prior to the game, Jaron Namir has a wife and kids. I highly doubt Megan Reed is his wife, but it was never explicitly stated who is the wife of Jaron. Now that I think about it, I don't think this is possible at all unless Megan is really devoted to nothing but science. The timeline of the book is along side that of the game. Adam had a relationship with Megan for 6 months if I'm not mistaken leading up to the incident. Unless she has been leading a double life, I doubt this is a reality. Sarif also kept tight tabs on his employees as can be seen by the PI work prior to hiring Adam. If Sarif can find out that Adam is an orphan of White Helix labs, then he should be able to find out whether or not Megan was betraying him from the start. Weren't they also locked up in the lab for a significant portion of time at Sarif as well? The other option is that Jaron is cheating on his wife, and Megan started up a relationship with a fully augmented man within 6 months? It all seems kind of unlikely.

[Crash Override]

Huh, I thought the post-credit ending made it explicit that the destruction of Panachaea was the canon ending. If not, what wreckage is Everrett digging through, and if it's merely the wreckage of Panachaea without its total destruction, why is he at liberty to do so if Darrow is alive? I don't see Darrow letting the Illuminati dig through his stuff.

It also made sense for Megan to work for Page Industries under that premise. "Where else could I go?" How about back to Sarif Industries? Unless Sarif is dead? There's nothing to suggest that Megan knows Page was involved with the biochip conspiracy, so she may have just legitimately sought employment at Page Industries since the leadership of Sarif and Tai Yong Medical both died.

I find the ending pretty depressing in that light; everyone dies and Megan goes and works for Bob Page, whom comes out of it smelling like roses.