Multiplat Disco Elysium

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dwwaino

dwwaino

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Jun 25, 2011
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I've been eyeing off this game for a little while but only just picked it up on the weekend. I've just started my second in game day and 7 hours in (after a couple restarts) and it's definitely one of the more unique games I've played in a while. Anyone else got into it yet? So far it's only on PC as far as I can tell with a PS4 and Xbox One release set for 2020.

I only watched a few partial reviews after seeing the great scores and had to stop them because I wanted to go in completely blind, and I'm glad I did. My first restart was due to a game over about nearly an hour in. I had a quicksave only minutes earlier but in that time I learned a lot more about the game and wanted to start again. Then I had a bug that I don't think was game breaking but would have been annoying and unfortunately according to the internet and the developers the only solution was to delete all saves and restart the game (thankfully it was right at the start of the game. I'll include it in a spoiler at the end if anyone wants to know).

Trying to explain the game is hard without giving it away. Understanding the game is a massive part of its charm. It's an isometric RPG but it doesn't have combat in the traditional sense. The game's dialogue is the combat and it uses 2d6 rolls to determine success or failure not unlike D&D. You play as a detective trying to solve a murder in a fictional universe. It's a true RPG, you can truely role play your detective how ever you want. Even describing my character may give things away so I'll put that in another spoiler for anyone who is currently playing themselves and we can share. Even the "skills" and "upgrades" are very clever given it's a game that's almost entirely dialogue. The language and themes could be quite brutal and confronting to some I think. It's also really tempting to save-scum, but I really don't recommend that either. I did a few times on my first botched save and it was surprising how different things play out by asking questions in different order or not saying certain things at all. This is anything from task (quest) outcomes to unlocking "thoughts".

As for the setting, I was thinking the developer may have been Dutch or Flemish given the location names and the way the loading screen explains how they're pronounced. However the developer is Finnish/Estonian. Actually, Wikipedia leads to a single guy but it says he leads the company. :shrug:





my character
Going cold turkey from grog and drugs, trying to reform and be the superstar detective, anti-communist and anti-union and taking a casual interest in racial theory much to Kim's displeasure. I took the first starting build and am just working on logic and knowledge. I had to put a skill point into volition though as 1 moral point just wasn't enough to begin with. Next time I might go more physical with drama and just be a total jerk.

the really, really early game bug, to do with a shoe
After grabbing your first shoe and getting the task to find the other, don't save your game at all. Go straight to the balcony and grab your second shoe. You may also need to unequip the pair of shoes and put them back on to trigger completion (I had to do this step too). Some people went to the mirror first and had no problems completing the task of finding your other shoe, but for others it didn't work. It might be because the game autosaves. The bug is you can pick up the shoe and equip it but it never checks off the task. The only penalty is you miss out on 5xp, have a -1 to whatever stat it is (I can't remember?) and Kim makes a note of it at some point that you only have one shoe. This bugged me so I just did the suggestion of deleting all my saves, closing the game and starting again.
 
One of my favourite games of the year, had an absolute blast. I'm playing through again at the moment with a modded save to have 100% success with checks, even after the first day there's dialogue and side quests I missed so it's not all the same.
 
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JordanWCE said:
One of my favourite games of the year, had an absolute blast. I'm playing through again at the moment with a modded save to have 100% success with checks, even after the first day there's dialogue and side quests I missed so it's not all the same.
Click to expand...

Even after I replayed the first hour a few times making different choices I found I was locked out of different things. With my current save up to day two I can see how some decisions have already snowballed into other things.

I can only imagine how convoluted switch statements for the dialogue must look in the game's underlying code haha.
 

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Waiting for PS4 release but it looks really good.
 
The final cut version launched today. I have no idea what the game is but its getting a lot of buzz so I bought it on my US account. Will download when I get home and see what its all about.
 

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Quivorir said:
The final cut version launched today. I have no idea what the game is but its getting a lot of buzz so I bought it on my US account. Will download when I get home and see what its all about.
Click to expand...

It's awesome. Take your time with it. Isometric RPG but instead of fantasy and "combat" you play as a ****ed up, alcoholic cop battling his own mental demons. You can "die" from poor dialogue choices and I think from some other choices like drug abuse and stuff.

I'm pretty keen to reinstall and give it another go now that it's supposed to be fully voiced.
 
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Quivorir said:
So I died. Not exactly sure why but I did. And it's a literal game over. Interesting game though.
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Where was it? You can actually game over during an internal monologue at the mirror in your room. Other than that you still have health and certain choices can affect that health. I game overed a few times until I understood what was happening. Dialogue should be treated like combat.
 
dwwaino said:
Where was it? You can actually game over during an internal monologue at the mirror in your room. Other than that you still have health and certain choices can affect that health. I game overed a few times until I understood what was happening. Dialogue should be treated like combat.
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I'll put it in spoilers just incase, but it was quite early in the game.

I had just finished questioning the cafe manager and was trying to get out the back to the kitchen. Was speaking to my partner in the orange jacket and did something that caused my morale to drop. The tone of the game kinda changed instantly. It started becoming black from the corners of the screen then I got some dialogue I didn't really understand the context of, chose a random answer and boom I was back at the menu screen
 
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Quivorir said:
I'll put it in spoilers just incase, but it was quite early in the game.

I had just finished questioning the cafe manager and was trying to get out the back to the kitchen. Was speaking to my partner in the orange jacket and did something that caused my morale to drop. The tone of the game kinda changed instantly. It started becoming black from the corners of the screen then I got some dialogue I didn't really understand the context of, chose a random answer and boom I was back at the menu screen
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I ran into something similar a few times before I really understood what was going on. In RPGs I tend to speed read dialogue or only listen to half of what I need and will get the gist. But once I understood to treat dialogue like combat and to start paying more attention did it click for me. That's likely what happened when you chose a random answer.

The early stages can be a bit hairy, but it gets more forgiving as you level up. You will put skills points into characteristics you want to be and will choose internal thoughts that will lessen the negative effects of playing the way you want. For me that was why I rated this game so highly because it is an authentic role playing experience.
 
Quivorir said:
So I died. Not exactly sure why but I did. And it's a literal game over. Interesting game though.
Click to expand...
Just reload an old save. Scum saving is possible (assuming they haven’t changed it) so you can redo checks if you want. Often failing a check is fun though and can lead to other good stuff.

I am thinking about another play thru as a alcohol/drug fuelled hard man but not sure yet.
 
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Purple Suit said:
Just reload an old save. Scum saving is possible (assuming they haven’t changed it) so you can redo checks if you want. Often failing a check is fun though and can lead to other good stuff.

I am thinking about another play thru as a alcohol/drug fuelled hard man but not sure yet.
Click to expand...

My last time I was boring and played a reformed drunk, but I'm thinking about doing something similar this time hahah.
 
Quivorir said:
So I died. Not exactly sure why but I did. And it's a literal game over. Interesting game though.
Click to expand...
You can also take stuff to recover both health and moral which are affected by different things. Basically 2 health metres that kill you if either hit zero.

You might want to put some skill points into endurance and volition to get them up. Spec wrong at the start and you can get one shotted by embarrassment.
 

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