#015 - Spoiler Alert - Well, Sort of I Guess

Hello everybody! It has occurred to me that I played Deus Ex: Mankind Divided for about 12 hours today. Most of that time was finishing the main game and the last 10 minutes or so was starting Desperate Measures. What else did I do today? That's it. There will be no streams this week because I will be away from home during my time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. With the main game completed, I have a high degree of confidence that I can start hammering out the last few DLC. And so, as the title mentions, I will now bring up minor spoilers for Mankind Divided.

The entire subplot relating to The Harvester was my favorite side mission of the whole game. It was an absolute pain getting absolutely every little detail for the first part though. Truth be told, I done-goofed my first time. Due to how unsatisfying it was to miss several secondary objectives on it, I proceeded to get guidance online for all the things to find and all the people to talk to. This was last night, mind you, so I was also getting a bit tired. It was one of the last things I did for the play session. But once I fully completed all that I could for the first part of the subplot, I was satisfied.

Today, I got through more of the main story and the next part of The Harvester was available for me to do. Oh man- it did not disappoint. Fortunately, I had less struggle in the second part, and there was also less to do. I was happy with the ending and only wished that there was more to it. I did some looking up online, and it appears that all there was, is all there is.

Let me share more details (okay, actual spoiler time). At the beginning of the subplot, we find a very recent murder of Angela Gunn- a journalist. At the crime scene was Detective Montag, Daria Myska (can't add the fancy symbol above the s), and some scandalmonger who provides a little bit of useful information. Daria was shaken up and appeared to have seen something, but didn't want to tell any cops present, including Detective Montag. Our boy in black though, Adam Jenson, was something trustworthy though. Upon first meeting her, I found this to be an interesting detail.

Afterward, it was some sort of information chase talking to the detective, Angela's husband, a politician who did not agree with the things Angela wrote about, and various other documents. At the end of the chase, the player (Adam) had no conclusive evidence other than knowing the people who didn't kill Angela and harvest her augments. Shortly afterward, Adam gives Daria a call (which she thought was sweet) that the killer was still out there and that she should remain on the lookout.

Fast forward to the second part of The Harvester, and Daria gives Adam a distressed call. She claims that the killer is at her apartment- then is cut off.  It was at this point that I had a big concern for her. I was on the other side of town when she called, so I was assuming that I would be too late to get to her apartment. There was another side mission to get to, but I said Nope! and booked it there. We encounter Montag again right outside Daria's apartment. He sheds some light that more augmented harvestings have occurred and wanted to check in if she remembered anything new yet.

When I did not encounter her corpse inside, I had some relief, but things were not clear yet. Another small trail of information led to the discovery that Daria received some sort of brain implant in the past, which was out of her own voluntary actions and even the shutdown code for that implant. Unfortunately, she was given access to some memories of a previous murderer and continued doing what he did. This was when I knew that she would at least remain alive for as long as I allowed her to. Me being the pacifist I am in this game (just like Dishonored), I applied big brain power trying to find a way to deal with her that did not end with blood on my hands. Simply incapacitating her was an option, but since there was a blatant option to "find another way" that is what I chose to go toward.

Back at her apartment, I followed a trail of blood splatters and various damaged objects. Part of the trail continued at the bottom of a sewer ladder. For a brief moment, part of me hoped she didn't just splat on the floor by choosing the fastest way down from the manhole cover. Taking the safe route, I climbed down it and continued following the trail. In an open area deep within the sewer, I found her seemingly tied to a chair and claiming that the killer was close by.

I played along with her at first, hoping that would get me brownie points or something, but nah- she ended up just pulling a revolver on me once I revealed that I knew her backstory and whatnot. This was when I really had to use my brain to make sure the conversation ended well. There is an augment that is able to be unlocked that is called the C.A.S.I.E. System. Playing all through Criminal Past and a big chunk of the main game, I had no idea how to actually use it because the only in-game description was the worldbuilding one and not the player-friendly one. -_- I ended up looking up online how to actually use it so that I knew how to get the desired outcomes when talking to people.

Anyway, the Casie System persuasion conversation I had with Daria was really interesting for the in-game reasons, but was also the hardest to do from a gameplay standpoint. Out of all the Casie conversations I had, that one was the hardest, and really put my brain to good use. However, unlike a lot of conversations, I was able to get it fully completed on my first try. I succeeded in convincing Daria to let go of her murderous tendencies and the brain chip fully shut down. In the end, I was willing and able to safely approach her. Truth be told, her being a cat-lover and showing a sensitive side beforehand, I was almost hoping it would end in a hug. Turns out- I'm not the only one thinking this way, based on some of the comments on her Fandom wiki page.

In the end, Detective Montag makes a return once Daria has calmed down we all talk a little bit. Me being the collector I am, I picked up her revolver. I just so happened to have inventory space at that time. Generally, it is full because of how much I pick up. But I was lucky enough to have sold a bunch of stuff before starting this mission. That specific revolver is one I held onto for the rest of the game (though, it was in temporary storage until the last time I accessed it before the final missions because I wanted to use the inventory space for as long as I could, but also carry it into New Game+ for whenever I start that).

Hot-diggity-doggity-dog I sure have said a lot. I realize that I end up saying a lot of things about stuff I like, so I guess I like Daria so let's not bring up Crown Princess from Daemon X Machina. :P As a closing point though, she is my favorite unimportant character. Aria was always in TF29 (similar names, amiright?) and used to be second place. But unfortunately, she does not do much participation, though I can understand that from a story standpoint. Daria on the other hand, we discover has a really interesting background and does some pretty crazy stuff. I thought that having the brain implant of a previous serial killer (who has been dead for a while) was quite interesting. The lead-up to the revelation was pretty good; I did not see it coming until just the right moment. And then that final confrontation with her was a thought-provoking and slightly challenging social boss battle. I really do wish that one day, we could see more of her. However, I don't think anything new will be happening with Deus Ex anytime soon, and especially not with Adam Jenson's story arc.

And so to end off one of my longest blog posts of the day, which took over an hour to write out, I will now share that I look forward to getting through the rest of the Deus Ex franchise so that I can start New Game+ and experience her story again. Thank you all for reading. Bye!

P.S. Congratulations, Daria, you've been officially provided inclusion in The Great Quickwrite Adventure! I don't know when I will get back to writing, or when it will be, but I think including part of this little adventure within the Quickwrite is satisfactory enough to get Deus Ex involved. I just need to remember to write that down along with the other adventures to visit during the last Quickwrite book.