Jaron Namir Boss Fight, No Augments

jaron namir

This guy killed me at least 50 times.

Over break I was preparing to teach Learning with Video Games and decided to check out Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It’s the kind of game I like…mostly a FPS, but with a good narrative, multiple ways to tackle problems, … I decided to use it for one of the play assignments for the course, when we talk about narrative in games. But, this isn’t a game review, just a friendly tip.

I was playing the game on standard difficulty, and moving through without much trouble, except for the (much maligned) boss fights. The boss fights were a bit of a challenge. I had decided to play using minimal force, mostly using non-lethal force on opponents and using my praxis upgrades for hacking. But, after a few tries and a good fight, the first two bosses went down.

Not so for Jaron Namir, boss number three. You see, I got the bad chip upgrade (in part to see what the game would do). But, I kept getting my ass kicked.

After some (a ton) of frustration, I went on line for some help. I found some hints, but nothing that I hadn’t tried and nothing that worked. If you happen to be in the same position, this post is for you.

What I had

  • heavy machine gun
  • plasma rifle
  • stun gun
  • 3 EMP mines
  • 1 EMP grenade
  • 2 frag mines
  • 1 gas mine
  • lots of amo

What I tried (in order, more or less)

  1. hit and run: basically, I would take my best shot, throw a grenade, and run away. From the starting position, I would get a good head shot with various weapons, throw grenades, etc. Running, I was able to stay alive for a while, but couldn’t seem to score much damage. Eventually I’d run into Jaron and die (by typhoon, mostly)
  2. Search for bigger guns. Without going nuts, I looked around upstairs for bigger guns. The inventory above is what I found. It didn’t do me much good.
  3. But, I did find a turret that I had hacked earlier. I had the arm augment for heavy items, so I brought it down with me. I want back to plan 1, but with the help of the turret. Didn’t do me much good.
  4. Went online for hints. Turret seemed most credible, but it wasn’t helping me.
  5. Front loading mines. From the elevator, before stepping out into the cut scene, I would toss out all my mines. I tried various placements, including throwing to Jaron’s initial position. No go.
  6. Throwing the turret in various places before exiting the elevator. Mostly just tossed my best weapon on its head, facing a wall.

What worked

  1. Get the turret (turn it to “enemies”).
  2. Before you leave the elevator, throw an EMP mine into the center ring, in front of the elevator.
  3. Pick up the turret.
  4. Leave the elevator for the cut scene.
  5. Stay alive, when the fight starts, in the outer ring.
  6. When you hear your EMP go off, it will stun Jaron.
  7. Run over and hit him with another EMP.
  8. Your turret should take care of him while he’s stuck there.

If you don’t have the strong augmentation (and I think at least level 2 hacking), you cannot carry the turret down. This technique might work with your own fire power, but I wasn’t able to keep him still long enough to finish him off. You are better off looking for a praxis kit somewhere upstairs.

Good luck.

David Graeber & Poetic Technologies

I attended David Graeber’s talk last Thursday at New York’s School of Visual Arts, On Bureaucratic Technologies and the Future as Dream-Time. I want to post some notes and thoughts from the lecture. Graeber framed his talk around the idea that the science fiction of 1900 had been, largely, realized by 1950. Whereas the ideas from science fiction from the 1950s era have gone mostly unfulfilled today. We, in the West (and especially the U.S.) suffer a sort of social trauma because of our failure.

Artist's concept of possible colonies on future mars missions. NASA

Continue reading

Organization for “mobile learning” class

I’m working on the syllabus for the m-learning course that I’m teaching this Spring. Since the course is an elective for everyone in it and we will have a small class, I have been debating the best way to structure the course. I’ve decided that we will, as a group, take the first session to plan out our semester.

Girls using XO Laptop in South America

Girls using XO Laptop in South America

Continue reading

Abolish the PEP

bloomberg godfather, pep strings

Why the NYC Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) Must Go

The Occupy Wall Street movement has ignited our social imagination and helped form a coalition of the 99%. Some of the enemies of the 99% are easy to spot: housing foreclosures, bank bailouts, Citizens United. While not as well known, the New York City Department of Education’s Panel for Educational Policy (the PEP) is just as emblematic of the class warfare the 1% wages. The PEP is meeting tonight, December 14, 2011, to decide on school closings and charter school co-locations in New York City. A group of concerned parents, students, and public school teachers have gathered around the idea of #OccupyTheDOE. They will attend tonight’s meeting to demand that the PEP be disbanded. I want to explain why I agree with them and why I think you should too.

Continue reading

Spring courses: m-learning & video games in ed

Spring 2012 will be my fourth semester at Adelphi, but will be the first one where I am teaching 2 courses from the Program in Educational Technology.

Mobile Learning

I’m excited about the m-learning course, especially because I have a lot to learn in the area. It’s been about a year since I’ve done a concerted review of the literature. I expect (but am not sure) that there will be some studies of tablet learning being published. Since the iPad, they have exploded in schools.