Deus Ex Pacifist…

by: Deus Ex Pacifist

On October 16, 2011 at 11:46 am

Just completed defeating Barret. Attempting a pacifist route, ended up defeating him with a stun gun while cloaked (pretty lucky with my mod choices it seems).

Ended up playing the first game years ago in a similar way. Although, initially, on the first missions I killed all the terrorists: at the time I think I was pretty naive i.e. terrorists -> bad -> kill on sight. Then after being reprimanded by Paul I began to question such logic.

As a result, I will have to admit I like obsessing over the non lethal approach to the point of almost constant reload. What I love about the game how I can almost play by importing an ethical code (based on how I might act in such a world). I’ve invented self-imposed rules such as: no killing; only hack a terminal if the owner is (or appears to be) on the wrong side of justice; only knockout guards if neutralizing them if part of the objective, otherwise, remain a ghost/smooth operator. Also, I like how I might question such codes whilst playing and my code might ‘evolve’. For example, at first I wanted to do everything ‘by the book’ so I was originally stuck at Sarif for asking me to perform the break in. But after hearing his defense – essentially that it was his only option – I agreed: if the system is corrupt, carry out justice and then try and fix it if I can.

The impression of ‘my’ Adam is that he is a man of integrity, hence I think the code for the character I’ve developed fits quite nicely into my imaginative world. But I suppose there is a conflict between my mental image of Adam and the writers in the ‘no killing aspect’. His quest for the death of those responsible for the first attack seems, to me, out of character given his “integrity” (well I suppose they were over 15 and he was in SWAT so please forgive me for overlooking that).

The decisions that I really enjoyed so far:

The opportunity to knockout Zerke and put him behind bars.
Use stealth inside the police station rather than persuading Adam’s former SWAT partner as I didn’t want to risk implicating him. I was disappointed I missed out on the bonding session as a result (wanted to talk to him without strings attached so to speak)
Putting the security techie in touch with the company to provide drugs to the needy.

I think the problem might stem from the fact the events that occurred at the beginning of the game happened without illustrating his character and his relationships (from memory I thought that the first game built up a good feeling of family in UNATO so any unavoidable deaths within the organization were tragic at the very least). In this game, Megan came across to me as a scientist with a pretty face who I was apparently in love who was immediately burnt to cinders. Therefore, I haven’t really developed any empathy with his love and his thirst for death. For the latter, perhaps being British has something to do with it. However, I latched onto his idea of integrity. I’ve built up a mental image that he is an ex-cop that believes in justice of the system but isn’t afraid to do what he thinks is right. From a quick internet search it seems that Detroit has no death penalty like Britain so perhaps that make the context for killing the bosses shakier. On the other hand, I suppose SWAT officers shoot to kill if necessary (same with SO19 in Britain I imagine. But is it necessary? (Assuming I ignore the fact that it is the only choice in the game ;p)

All in all, I’m disappointed there’s no non-lethal approach to defeating Barret (hope my take at least makes some sense). Although it was pretty funny causing all that damage with a stun gun. Does the same occur with a tranquilizer darts fired to his head? I would’ve thought that was a viable non-lethal choice in the context of the game. I’ll have to redo the game to check that out! But I still love the game: now back to grilling Sarif about the security leak!

(Source: gamefront.com)