So, I've been playing - and loving - Deus Ex: Human Revolution for ages now (gradually crawling through the game at around an hour per day). I have spread my augments quite diversely, but avoided weapon specific perks such as recoil (mainly focusing on hacking with a few sneaking skills such as the ability to run and jump silently or abilities such as the one which allows to break through walls and access new areas). However, I've gotten to the third boss battle and I'm just stuck. Am I the only one that thinks these boss battles are stupid and, unless you take the combat augments (despite choice being a key aspect of the game), they can prove pretty difficult? I still can't beat the guy in Singapore even with my augments. What can I do?

Typhoon the hell out of him.

The boss fights are pretty much the biggest point of criticism that every review brings up, and rightly so.

It's been a while since I've played it. If you have the typhoon aug that'll make it easy, but if you don't, I think grenades worked pretty well on him. And I think there's usually a decent weapon in the area before the boss fight, in case you don't have anything good on you at the moment.

I didn't think they were stupid. They just take tactics.

If you have the target seeking upgrade for the combat rifle, use that. It helped a lot for me. Keep an eye out for the blur of his cloak, and wait for him to climb over a wall. It'll give you a few seconds to hit him before he lands and starts attacking. Keep running around the perimeter when you get hit until your health is full. Unless he kills you outright, you should have enough time to recover. Save during the battle so if you screw up you don't have to do the whole thing over. Just don't save at low health.

I just beat him with a heavy machine gun and typhooned him like twice. The fight was easy and I got the best weapons in the game because of it (the laser rifle which beats the final boss in like 7 seconds).

http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/03/07/deus-ex-human-revolution-designer-on-boss-fights-we-are-truly-sorry/

I am 99% sure that if you perform a takedown as he is climbing over the wall, you score an insta-kill. It might take a few tries though.

I don't see the problem with the boss battles. Even the first Deus Ex forced you into lame, anti-climactic boss battles with no more strategy than "Turn on all your combat augments and spam bullets" or, if you were a stealth character, "Fire that rocket launcher you've been saving up just for this/Utter a phrase that makes them explode". I'll take boss battles that resemble the ones in the original over a poor attempt to be overly flashy like all these new games do. Would I like better? Yeah, but what's there is acceptable to me.

I thought you could utter a phrase and deactive or cause them to self destruct in the first.

Edited it slightly. I honestly don't see the difference between the kill phrase and firing a rocket at them, though. They both make the bosses explode. No matter what, the bosses in Deus Ex will explode because of you. There's no option to completely avoid them or have a long talk with them. It'd be one thing if the kill phrase worked like the switch and removed the boss threats ahead of time, but it doesn't work like that. It's just a flaw in a game I love, and I'll happily admit it. That game was full of flaws, actually.

I didn't mind the boss battles either. At least they had unique tactics and required some thought and strategy (okay, except the last one if you have a laser rifle). It would have been nice to be able to avoid them without fighting, but whatever.

What I did mind was the 'Press a different button, get a different cinematic' ending. But that's not the topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v1X5F0d58I.

I think can be avoided completely though (twice). And technically too, but that's a bit of an exploit for the second encounter.

The boss battles in DX:HR really were a turd in a gold pile.

Explosive rounds revolver though was always a good solution for me.

I heard the boss battles were outsourced to a different company. That would probably explain some of the frustration with boss battles.

Namir, right? Hmm, I think I just shot him. A lot. It took a few tries, most of my ammo and all of my medkits, I admit, but attrition can work.

I didn't even have my augmentations (not because I am stupid, but because I decided to play stupid), although funnily enough the only one I really missed was my HUD. It's amazing how panic inducing it can be to have no idea how far from death you actually are.

Just use your cover, be patient when scoping him out, and stay mobile - and far away from him (unless you're trying for the aforementioned exploit).

I didn't have a problem with them. The stungun is very effective on the bosses, and you'll most likely have that anyway if you're a stealth character.

I don't have the typhoon.

There is some kind of big weapon on the side of a wall out of the elevator to the boss. But, as I approach the weapon, the cut-scene triggers and when it ends the boss battle has began with the weapon now gone...

I didn't, until recently, because I just much preferred a silenced pistol or just taking them down by getting up close and personal. I only have 10 shots on him and, in the time it takes me to reload, I have already been shot so many times. I have Dermal Armour so I avoid 45% damage, yet he still kills me in like 2 hits.

Well, I have my augments because I didn't take the chip.

I heard that to. It seems as though the boss battles were made for an FPS game - not an RPG. They don't take into consideration that some people would have not invested in the slightest into combat skills and, without those, the bosses are ridiculously hard.

Yes, I beat the second boss solely with them. But, I am unfortunately out of ammo on it...

I know you can perform take-downs on bosses, but does it actually instantly kill them?

There's a Multiquote button right next to the Quote button.

Why are you dying while reloading? You should not be getting hit while reloading. You should be running. There's tons of cover in that place. You shouldn't be in his line of sight long enough for him to hit you twice. Keep moving.

Yes, as shown by the video that was linked, a take-down will kill him if he's climbing over the wall.

I did kind of feel pushed into a certain type of character by Deus Ex HR, and what is more I was reluctant to spend points on many of the abilities that let you know where everyone is. I had way more skill points than I wanted to spend.

After dying a couple times fighting Namir (I took the chip), I ended up backtracking to the courtyard, switched the targeting parameters on the turret, then lugged the thing over to the elevator with me. It actually does let you bring it down, but Jensen apparently does everything to the extreme. Instead of gently setting the turret down, he flung it halfway across the room. It still kinda worked, but it was lying on it's side so the angle was all screwed up.

In the situation as shown in the video, yes. It's a bit of an exploit, you're not supposed to be able to do that. Normally I think attempting a take-downs on a boss doesn't succeed.

I purposely brought the Augmented Edition of Human Revolution, which includes the original for free, with the intention of playing it after finishing the new prequel game. However, the graphics are really bad - even for the year of 2000. There is a mod that upgrades the graphics, but it only works if you actually have the game installed (something OnLive being a cloud-gaming service doesn't offer). So, how can I get this game cheaply? What is the cheapest way to buy it or is it now free or are there some give-away contests for it or anything?

Most places I know of (GOG, steam, etc) sell it for ten bucks.

Lurk around, look for a sale. They recently had a deus ex sale over steam, actually. Not sure if it's still going on though.

Well, you could always check Steam for sales, but it could be a while before that happens. I'd recommend getting it off GOG.com; not only do you get the game, but you get al sorts of other cool stuff, like the soundtrack, for ten bucks.

Deus Ex was actually on sale on Steam just last week, so yeah, as Xetirox said, it will probably take a while until it happens again.