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Disco Elysium

Started by AllisonSays, October 13, 2019, 02:14:21 PM

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AllisonSays

Anyone excited for this? A dialogue-heavy role playing game where you play a maverick detective with the inevitable amnesia, in a noir-ish urban setting. Sounds like it might live or die on the writing, which is always a risky proposition for these kinds of games, but it also seems like a rare attempt to do something unusual and thoughtful with the RPG format. I loved Baldur's Gate 2 as a kid, but I've bounced off all the modern reinterpretations like Pillars of Eternity - hackneyed, corny writing, boring combat. I think this one will be worth checking out for sure.

brat-sampson

I feel like I need a 3 hr demo of this to get a personal feel for the style and the writing. For something like this, a 60-90 hr heavily dialogue-focused deep alt-reality CRPG, to even *exist* in the way it does is a marvel, but I fear they're at risk of over-egging it and turning the whole thing into being like that time I tried to read Gravity's Rainbow.

It does look amazing/intriguing though, and I'm very excited to see if they pulled it off.

brat-sampson

Bought. FYI, if you buy from GOG, you also get UnderRail for free, if that's of value to people.

It definitely seems to be living up to its premise, and I'm intrigued to see how different my journey through the game (as an unempathising Sherlock Holmes savant adamantly refusing to acknowledge his complete amnesia to anyone) would be to someone who played a cantankerous bruising lout out to get his hands on all the substances he can find to ease the fucking pain. One of my earliest quests/goals was given to me by my own electro-chemistry, which was demanding booze and cigs. I'm not going to complete that goal, but if I wanted to I could've sipped some spilled rum straight off of a table.

In the role-playing sense you do seem free to be tolerant of/utterly absorbed into any kind of economic or political viewpoint it throws at you, and I've already landed a perk that grants money for choosing dialogue options in line with a set of ideals. The characters and scenarios are weird yet grounded. Everyone plays it straight even when the scenario is getting more and more out-there.

Writing is up to snuff, bar occasional minor typos, which probably shouldn't have gotten through but then I've never been in charge of editing *fuck-knows* how much text. It's gargantuan by the looks of it, even if those earlier '50-90 hours' were apparently a bit of a stretch if you don't count replays. Still, 30-40 hours can get you a lot of reading in, even for faster folks. But yeah, it's made me laugh more than once and mostly there was a dialogue option I actually wanted to choose in line with the style I was going for, but not always. It's one of those where the story stays the same each time, but the way you bumble your way through it, what you learn and the paths you take to discover the preset solutions to the mysteries will vary dramatically depending on your skills. I've already made use of my crime-scene analysis skills and suffered from a lack of strength/pursuasion, but one way or another, goals will be met.

Definitely worth a blind plunge if you're even remotely interested. I did watch footage before going in, which helped sell me on the game, but then also spoiled me somewhat as essentially every scenario you see someone else play through is one you'll see yourself.

This will absolutely be some people's GOTY, and it's the only thing I've seen like it in a very long time.

AllisonSays

Thanks for that BS, you have pushed me from maybe-going-to-buy into definitely-going-to-buy after payday.

Zetetic

Just echoing AllisonSays.

brat-sampson

Some massive laughs at the sheer crudity/bluntness of an option, when looking at a particular item tied to your mysterious past, to SPOILER: 'Fucking kill yourself you asshole.'

There have been some other stand-out moments recently too, and I'm only on day 2. And I still haven't even managed to inspect the body.

Hank Venture

Is this available on Playstation?

brat-sampson

Maybe down the line, but PC only right now and nothing else announced.

falafel

Would love to have this on Switch. Can't be arsed with PC at the moment.

Zetetic

I've really enjoyed the first day - I can mostly only echo brat-sampson: it's mostly been well-written, interesting, funny and natural feeling.

I would say I've been a tiny bit frustrated on occasion where I've not been able to express a ... nuanced opinion when someone's been demanding I give them a view on something that's clearly not straightforward. (Noting that I've already got the Biggest Communism Builder achievement...)

Extremely pleased by a game opening with R.S. Thomas lines.

AllisonSays

Can't play it cos I've only got a Macbook. Frustrating.

brat-sampson

Yeah, it's not one for subtlety. Blame the hangover. There's always a boring neutral option, but that leads places eventually too...

Zetetic

Neutral but generally not very thoughtful, if I'm trying to find criticisms.

Zetetic

Quote from: AllisonSays on October 30, 2019, 06:20:22 PM
Can't play it cos I've only got a Macbook. Frustrating.
How is your internet connection - bandwidth and cap-wise? (I have a vague thought of a possible solution, but it is very vague right now.)

madhair60

This looks very interesting.

Heard so many good things about it but I'm a console peasant so I'll wait for the inevitable ports. Never would have thought that Divinity or Witcher or Obra Dinn would have come to Switch so plenty of hope, especially given how well it's been received.

AllisonSays

Quote from: Zetetic on October 30, 2019, 06:39:14 PM
How is your internet connection - bandwidth and cap-wise? (I have a vague thought of a possible solution, but it is very vague right now.)

I don't know how to ascertain those things - haha - I have a Virgin broadband thing, apparently 55mbps or so is the download speed. It's not capped so far as I know. Thanks for applying yourself to vague thoughts of a possible solution though, appreciate it!

brat-sampson

Quote from: The Boston Crab on October 30, 2019, 07:29:32 PM
Heard so many good things about it but I'm a console peasant so I'll wait for the inevitable ports. Never would have thought that Divinity or Witcher or Obra Dinn would have come to Switch so plenty of hope, especially given how well it's been received.

Looks like it's definitely happening, at some point.

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/v2/disco-elysium-dev-confirms-playstation-4-xbox-one-ports-for-next-year/

Zetetic

Like the White/Red Check system, particularly with the emphasis on doing other things in the world to make the checks easier, but it does make the incentive to shuffle your clothing for certain tasks more prominent (I'll just swap hats for a bit so I can write better poetry) which here feels a lot like an unsolved problem.

Zetetic

I think:

It's a lovely, almost exactly right-sized, well-focused RPG. It feels a bit like an artefact of a longish now, in a good way, like a pair of people trying to paint something about what they've known of their own generations' ideologies and those of the ones gone and just to come. It's not very subtle, but I've never minded that.

It isn't served well by claims like "the most faithful representation of desktop role playing" or that it's a "groundbreaking open world" game. I'm not sure it's really either of those, and it doesn't need to be. But saying these things invites you to scratch more at some of the usual silly trick-ish mechanics that don't really support roleplaying very well.

It did make me laugh and grin more than a few times, and it really does emphasise a kind of hope, but the game mostly evokes sadness - about hundreds if not thousands of years of squandered opportunities. So much sadness, that's almost hard to recommend it.

#20
Can someone give a thick individual (me) some advice?
Purchased this today while its 7 quid cheaper on Steam. Before doing so thought I may as well use Will it Run. Com or something like that to determine whether my laptop actually has the right requirements; was surprised and disappointed to find it failed in one category; the CPU speed...being stubborn and wanting to play it so badly I decided to buy anyway figuring I'll just ask for a refund tomorrow if it doesn't work. Played around 5 mins before work earlier and it seemed totally fine.

Can anyone tell me how it could potentially affect the game? If it runs fine at the start, is there actually any likelihood there'd be problems down the line?

My guess would it means the game may run slower and lag or something, but as long as it's actually launching and playing fairly well (like it said it seemed absolutely fine) do you think it should be passable?

Zetetic

It'll be fine, if it's running fine now.

Zero Gravitas

Quote from: Misspent Boners on November 30, 2019, 07:28:51 PM
My guess would it means the game may run slower and lag or something, but as long as it's actually launching and playing fairly well (like it said it seemed absolutely fine) do you think it should be passable?

Yeah it'll run fine, the one place where it falls down on slower systems is the loading screens, for some reason they absolutely crawl.

Interesting fact, Dasha from Red Scare the the voice actor for the first human you interact with in the game.

Quote from: Zero Gravitas on December 02, 2019, 09:43:04 PM
Yeah it'll run fine, the one place where it falls down on slower systems is the loading screens, for some reason they absolutely crawl.

Interesting fact, Dasha from Red Scare the the voice actor for the first human you interact with in the game.

Yes it's absolutely fine; about 3 hours into gameplay it auto saved and exited the game and I absolutely shit myself thinking it was going into a cut scene and wasnt able to process, but hasn't happened again since. So far the only bit that runs slowly is the wondrous graphic of the main menu but obviously that's not too severe an issue.

This could not be any more up my street; I love the art style; the dizzying melancholy and just how well realised and unique the whole world is. Outside of the protagonists warped inner psyche I like how (at least so far) the world is at once alien and bizarre but nothing fantastical or supernatural is really happening...delving into an abandoned basement where a now defunct radio based rpg network once thrived is where it really sank in for me. Theres a depth and lunacy in the creative ness here that reminds me.of things like infinite jest and gravitas rainbow. Havent actually done fuck all and not even quite through the first day (at the moment not sure exactly where I'll be able to sleep tonight) but its felt fruitful funny and exciting nonetheless

Mwwwwweeeyyyahh loveit

Zetetic

#24
Wonder what you'll make of the pale. That's probably the most supernatural element?

Edit: Not really a spoiler, to be honest.

Quote from: Zetetic on December 02, 2019, 11:21:59 PM
Wonder what you'll make of the pale. That's probably the most supernatural element?

Edit: Not really a spoiler, to be honest.

Is that the woman who is in some kind of entranced state envisioning being someone else 20 years ago sitting on a lorry

Zetetic

Related to that. (Find someone rich to talk to, if you like.) (It's also mentioned in some of the scene-setting writing that ZAUM put out around the game - but I wouldn't read any of that until you've played it through at least once.)

Zetetic

But I should add - even that feels very grounded and human.

Noonling

How is there not 100 pages on this thread? Best game this side of Jesus.

Thursday

I really enjoyed it - not as much as everyone else seemed to, but that's just because I'm thick.