Men-E More on 15/9/2011 at 07:21

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When I first played Deus Ex early on, alongside reading the game pamphlet with much interest, as well at glimpsing slightly at spoilers in the strategy guide and online (but not much to reveal what actually was happening), I knew that JC would end up facing even stronger cyborgs than himself as the game's bosses from the hints I gathered. For some reason, I expected the game's bosses to be more recurring prototypes for new nanotechnologically augmented humans (without realizing that Paul, JC, and Walton were pretty much the only ones). I even made the mistake of assuming that the naked man in the tube in the intro might have been an impending boss, and even a picture of Lucius De Beers which I uncovered in the strategy guide. I know, it turned out to be a stupid presumption, but he looked much like the Denton clones in Area 51, that I assumed he was merely recharging in that chamber in preparation to fight you. (It might have been a cool boss fight, if it had been so). Another supposition I had about the game's last bosses were again from the brief glimpses I found in the strategy guide (very brief) and an online Deus Ex multiple choice test, where I got the names Daedalus and Icarus. (One question asked which ending actually occurs, and one of the answers was joining Icarus, even though Icarus was now Helios). I assumed from what I read that Daedalus and Icarus experimental nanotech units utilized by Page to destroy you.

So the reason why I've begun the topic with this brief preamble of false assumptions and wishful thinking is because they shaped how I perceived my contacts from Daedalus and Icarus in the game. Even though Daedalus is really cool as an ally when he helps you escape from UNATCO HQ and help hinder Majestic 12 around the world, I still felt that something wasn't quite right with the AI. This feeling was reinforced by times when Daedalus seemed almost like he was glitching, or when JC himself wasn't quite sure if he should trust the AI completely (such as when he questioned Everett if it could be trusted). I kept thinking that on some point, Daedalus would see me as a threat, betray me, and assume a sentient humanoid form, and in the process, tear me apart. For Icarus, he was such a scary presence in the game (almost a projection of SHODAN from SS2), and based upon his freaky infolink icon, I rather expected him to appear as an extremely creepy nanotech cyborg at the end of the game, or a giant mechanical eyeball following and gunning you around the facility.

Alas, the Helios mergence between the two distinctly different A.I. was an unexpected twist. It's even more interesting that, considering that Icarus, before merging with Daedalus, was considering a New Age for global civilization already, but had no intentions for JC to survive when it happened. It seems like only after Icarus absorbed Daedalus, that it realized that he had something to learn from JC. Icarus' personality still seems somewhat dominant in Helios, yet Daedalus evens out Icarus' sinister nature, and probably even gave Icarus the realization that MJ12 is flawed, and enabled it perfect its plan for the New Age. Otherwise, how do we know how much of Daedalus still exists in Helios, or how really trustworthy Helios totally is?

To the point, even though I like the way the Icarus/Daedalus story was built up, I nonetheless felt that potential story opportunities were missed in the game's development. After witnessing the boss fights with SHODAN in System Shock 1 and 2, I have been wondering whether it would have added to DX1's story dimensions if you had the choice to fight Daedalus before he would be absorbed by Icarus, and attempt to destroy Icarus before he could help Page further his plans. If there had been a means to plug JC's mind into cyberspace, I would imagine him facing the A.I.s in a similar manner as System Shock 1's ( even though it would violate the rule which Warren Spector believes should be followed: that the continuity of the world the game should not be broken). I did toy with the idea for a Deus Ex 1 expansion pack where boss fights with A.I. similar to D/I/H, except that it wouldn't be believable for A.I. with similar capabilities as the ones in the main game to be programmed in so short a time (or within the short time of DX's time frame).

Do any of you think that alternative approaches to Daedalus/Icarus would've suited the game better? What did you expect Daedalus and Icarus to do to you when you first played it? On the side, hasn't anyone done an artistic rendering of what they believe Icarus and Daedalus looks like, full formed, in cyberspace?

SubJeff on 15/9/2011 at 19:01

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Interesting thought though.