Disco Elysium, An Isometric RPG with text-based gameplay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PHL026ULe4&feature=youtu.beI do not see any thread about this game, so...
Disco Elysium is open world role playing game. The gameplay is an RPG dialogue and skill-based with plenty of non-combat options to resolve the quests, in the line of Age of decadence, Planescape, etc.
You’re a detective with a unique skill system at your disposal and a whole city block to carve your path across. Interrogate unforgettable characters, crack murders or take bribes. Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium/
It is available now in steam, but I do not have time to play it until the weekend. Anyone played it?
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I'll probably get it somewhere down the line. Having only humans crawling around is honestly kind of a letdown though.
I´ve only played for a few hours, but I can share a few points. Is it all text-based, with dialogue and skills most of the time, and lots of options that do not involve combat to solve all the quests and plenty of exploration. There are many skills and builds, and you can only master a few, even if you buff yourself with drugs and "thoughts" so I think the game will be very replayable.
You are a detective in a foreign city. You wake up in your underpants bloody, beaten and with a hangover, with no memory whatsoever about who you are and what the hell happened, and they expect you to solve a murder case that implicates the major powers of the city in record time.
Right now I am playing a creative type and it is hilarious.
Creative and savoir fair are not super-useful but they are very fun options in every dialogue. 'Everyone thinks you're fucking insane and you probably are' from what I know"
My character just convinced the lock of a container to open itself because I took that advice from my tie. Clever tie.
Then I reached a game over sitting in a very uncomfortable chair because of a heart attack.
I have seen zero combat until now, and I don´t plan to see it much in the rest of the game. I love the game so far.
What I've found interesting is failing a roll can often open up other paths to success or result in happy accidents. I botched my rolls to catch a key somebody threw at me and got nailed in the eye, taking damage. I pushed the "You just assaulted a cop angle" and the guy threw a large quantity of cash my way.
Sometimes I get to wear the most outlandish outfits. I wanted to nail the karaoke check, so I get up there in a fishnet shirt, sunglasses and a jacket with a horrible name on the back to push up my drama skill.
Big time ending spoilers
Initial impression: wow! It's incredible, I love how hard-hitting and grown up it is, I love how dark it is, I love the brain stuff. But my is it overwhelming. So much to read, so many people to talk to, so much freedom in what to do. I have no clue how to make good use of skillpoints or even how to advance the plot. I just end up talking and making notes and my Task List is growing and growing. This could be quite special, but I need to find time to play with full concentration, it doesn't feel like the kind of game you can dip into for half-hour slots when you have a bit of spare time.
I’ll put it in spoilers in case there are other new players that don’t want to read about it.
Brief summary of what’s happened so far: woke up, explored the room, got my shoes, talked to people in the hostel. My Inland Empire (I think) told me Kim is to be trusted and that he is my half-brother?! Is that literal or conceptual as a fellow cop? Don’t know, let’s see how it plays out. I decided to be open and honest about not being able to remember anything, and got a really helpful summary from Lena the paraplegic (that’s something I didn’t get in the first run where I decided not to let on that I had amnesia – already playing out differently).
I explored the crime scene, no chance of getting body down (3% chance) so didn’t even risk it. I worked out all the footprints, which I guess is to do with my Intellect being so high. Cuno ran rings around me, but I did discover his shack. I didn’t attempt to jump for the cloak though, low chance of success and no way I would risk that in my condition and hangover.
Failed the check talking to the gardener about what she was planting, even though I had like 83% chance of success or something (dice roll unfortunately was a 3). I passed that in my previous run but will disregard what information I know that gave me.
Reported my badge missing, managed to bluff about my gun. Didn’t get any money or information from the precinct. Spoke to Sylvie as well and got quite a lot of information from her about what a jerk I am (/was), and specifically that I tried to flush my documents down the toilet and that I might have pawned my gun. Oh great.
I opened the bins and found the victim’s clothes, a racist mug, and my clipboard. I have discovered the information in the documents and the naming convention, but didn’t manage to open the secret compartment (I did succeed in the first run so I have some awareness of what is coming…but can easily ignore that and will try to open it later as it was a white check).
Since I levelled up Perception while going through the documents, I could then discover that a car had crashed into the fence and then reversed out and headed south.
And that’s where I am. The only further progress I made in the first run was to explore south to the bridge, go into the pawn and book shops, and talk to the smoker guy on the balcony. I will try to do those again asap so I can be free from ground I have already covered and into the unknown.
Things that I think are going on (this is pure speculation now, my guess from first impressions at how stuff will play out): I reckon it was me that crashed the car into the fence. Cuno suggested he had seen me before and would keep my secret, and Kim’s car felt familiar when I touched the steering wheel; so maybe I had a similar car and crashed it.
I reckon the “sad song”, which I’ve learned is “Church in Saint-something” has something to do with ex-wife.
Klaasje the dancer must somehow play a key role: I tried knocking on her door again, I heard the shower go on, but no answer. I need to speak to her again.
The Union lynching the hanged man must be a red herring: I find it hard to believe that the answer could be so straightforward, so I’m expecting a swerve there.
Cannot wait to play again and get deeper into the story!
Also why is everything French? Is this a French game or French setting? I like it, but it makes names and places harder to remember.
Btw the whole detective investigation is the most engaging in computer games I have ever experienced. I changed my mind who the real killer is so many times that I lost count. I have never played such engaging crpg since... well PST. But as you've said, it's not the game that should be played in 30 minutes intervals. It's too damn good to not engage in it fully.
Totally agree on the immersion. I have 6 pages of notes from a 2 hour session last night, and I've been reading through and categorising them today. Almost like being a real detective...
I wouldn't worry overly much about failure, just roll with the punches, I had a great time blundering my way through the game with an unjustified high opinion of myself.
The last 25% was awful though. What were they thinking? That ruined what would otherwise have been a great game. A few specifics:
1) Everything to do with the Church was just stupid. You've basically got Spiderman, some ridiculous computer jargon, an invisible black hole, and a bunch of druggies talking a load of crap with that horrible music pumping through every conversation.
2) The radio waves thing with Ruby stretched credibility.
3) The deserter. What a joke. You have this incredible murder mystery, so many people and suspects, so much politicking going on. And it turns out the shooter is somebody totally unconnected from everyone else; he has no part in the plot, he wasn't taking orders from anybody, he's just a random dude who decides to murder somebody for no (real) reason. Yay. Pathetic.
4) He then confesses to a load of other stuff, so you can tie every little thing up and put a ribbon on top of your case.
5) The cryptid. Just f**k off. It's basically like a joke being played on you right at the end.
I was also surprised that the game was actually quite small/limited. First experiences and the wealth of lore suggested it would be a massive game. But the area you explore is actually quite small and sparsely populated, there is very little additional stuff to explore once the bridge is fixed. I also thought the plot would develop in layers. Once the drugs plot was uncovered, I figured that after the murder you would then have to go after the organisation who ordered the murder, which would get you involved against the drug cartels etc. But no, it was just the murder that had to be solved as well as some recapture of personal identity.
They messed up. It's sad to see something that should be great ruined by a bad ending. It also kills desire to replay the game.
I've definitely gotten some pretty solid laughs at the writing. It's really well done.
but it looks like something i'll enjoy i do love a good murder mystery story. and the comparisons to pst to the point i have seen some reviewers saying it's more a torment successor then tides was also has me interested.
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/26/disco-elysium-is-getting-a-tv-show-of-all-things/
Disco Elysium - The Final Cut with Full English Voice-Over and additional quests will be available on the 30th of March 2021 (includes a new area, new quests and characters + full voice acting)
https://steamcommunity.com/games/632470/announcements/detail/4929725629735214514
10 hours in is not enough for a review but it's obvious the game is special (1 in 10000) and I will remember it for a long time.
One thing I don't like in this game is the world-building (I find it hard to believe into the story about the world, atmosphere, Pale, etc) and the fact the main character who has only 1, 2, 3, 4 days in the world is constantly being asked about his political views. As the player, I have no idea if being a monarchist, a communist, a liberal is good or bad in that particular world, I don't have sufficient information about that. The Pale story sounds as if the author watched a series of science films about space and then decided to mix it up into one crazy cocktail:
- the Pale is being described as a vacuum
- it's also being described as a Black Hole
- it's also being described as ordinary space with radiation
- it's also being described as antimatter
If the world's physics function so much different from our real world, how can I decide on politics - maybe political movements function entirely different as well.
The whole dialogue with Joyce about the Pale was really hard to accept for me, especially considering it's all so nicely written regarding other game aspects.
That said, the game is special because it doesn't fear trying new things and talking about things not commonly discussed in other games.
Wut? Also, from what I've seen, politics in this game reference common real world stereotypes, and the game mocks all of them/you as a player. I'd just go with ultra-liberal because that's the closest to my personal politics.
Yeah, I'm glad I didn't play the game long before I realised what it was (so I was able to refund it); I got it for the premise of being a mystery RPG, but frankly it doesn't take long to realise that's little more than a framework for what the game otherwise does.
And there's nothing more boring to me than a broad, shallow political polemic, it's not that I have an issue with political issues in stories but more that the game does it with no depth or nuance so it's not interesting or insightful. It's always better to focus and dive deeper into a subject in a story.
Frankly I'm kinda annoyed about how much the detective aspect was focused on to sell the game when the game sidelines it so much in favour of bland satire.