Incline Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - a hardboiled cop show isometric RPG

[Urthor]

Before I fully invest myself in the game :

1. Does it work on Linux ? (Even through Wine)

It's a Unity game with specs that are close to zero, so the same applies as to all other Unity games

2. Does it have gamepad support ?

No.

3. How many romanceable characters are there ?

Some, but romance is a very small part of their dialogue trees and it is extremely hard to track down

 

[v1rus]

How do you access the console? Since actual art degree is bugged, and i get no xp when passinf checks, Im gonna edit them in.

 

[Shadenuat]

Spoiler

what happens if you arrest Klaasje btw? Does it change the Tribunal much or do you get the same result for that either way, with Fat Angus dead etc, whether you arrest her or not

I did and judging but what you say I am not sure it changes anything.

 

[Jenkem]

Well, I just finished it. Overall I enjoyed it but I'm not sure how much replay value it has outside of flavor text and minor choices/how quests are solved, but I'll probably play it again as a drug addled cop who doesn't give a shit about actually investigating now that I've experienced it. The writing was mostly good, the worst bits are the meme-politics answers (there were several instances where like all 4 options were just stupid as fuck and I didn't want to pick any of them) The actual political dealings in the world and dialogue when not being snarky were good. I feel the best written parts were the supernatural aspects like the church and the doomed commercial district, the cryptozoological quest, etc. and some of the side quests were well written and touching. Not sure how I feel about the ending, I'll have to sleep on it a bit, but first impression is that it's fine, though that might be because of expectations set by other posters. Also from experiencing Stygian's ending a week or so ago...

I feel like I did everything in terms of tasks and optional things, Steam says 25 hours played. Not sure how people are claiming 40-60 for "completionist" runs.. That being said I feel the length was fine and satisfying.

 

[toro]

This game's review is self-writing. We should do this more often

While the way it wraps up the story is sort of subpar, ultimately the game is extremely enjoyable.

If you are going to overreact about the last 15 minutes of a game and tell people it's literally awful and you should never play it, well that's okay. But the single blemish is literally a single plot point in a game that was overwhelmingly great up to that point.

Then again, people overreacted enormously about the last 15 minutes of Mass Effect 3 instead of the actual reasons it's bad so idk what to say

My original post saying that the ending is subpar was prospered therefore I was curious to see if I'm the defect one or others.

It looks like I'm not alone and many cocksucking fanbois left the thread as soon as the bad opinions started to pile on.

In other words, I do agree with you. The game is actually great for 2/3 parts and only the last part is railroaded into a unfulfilling ending.

Which for me means that I cannot recommend the game.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Honestly I think Disco Elysium is gonna go down as Rick & Morty of RPGs. As in, the game is quite fun but faces backlash because of insufferable fanboys.

Fanboys promised me deep and challenging detective work, groundbreaking open world with unprecedented freedom, a revolutionary dialogue system and a 90-hour epic thriller.

What I got?

- 20 hours of content
- world littered with plot-gates and invisible walls.
- exploration that consists of wandering around like a zombie and hunting meaningless text orbs.
- detective work that consists of 11111-ing your way through walls of text until you see a skill check
- gimmicky ruleset and Thought Cabinet that tried too hard to be fancy instead of being enjoyable

A game is p.fun even ignoring all that, because the writer is genuinely talented and the graphics are gorgeous. But devs need to be called out on their misleading marketing and fanboys can get fucked.

 

[you know what time it is]

Well, I just finished it. Overall I enjoyed it but I'm not sure how much replay value it has outside of flavor text and minor choices/how quests are solved, but I'll probably play it again as a drug addled cop who doesn't give a shit about actually investigating now that I've experienced it. The writing was mostly good, the worst bits are the meme-politics answers (there were several instances where like all 4 options were just stupid as fuck and I didn't want to pick any of them) The actual political dealings in the world and dialogue when not being snarky were good. I feel the best written parts were the supernatural aspects like the church and the doomed commercial district, the cryptozoological quest, etc. and some of the side quests were well written and touching. Not sure how I feel about the ending, I'll have to sleep on it a bit, but first impression is that it's fine, though that might be because of expectations set by other posters. Also from experiencing Stygian's ending a week or so ago...

I feel like I did everything in terms of tasks and optional things, Steam says 25 hours played. Not sure how people are claiming 40-60 for "completionist" runs.. That being said I feel the length was fine and satisfying.

Such is the nature of CYOA games (and I feel like DE is even more restrictive in some ways), regardless of how many choices you have, there's no real reason for a second playthrough since the story will remain the same, the only thing that'll change is how your character experiences it. As for the exaggerated time requirement, I felt like the scope was initially quite a bit bigger, but a lot of stuff had to be cut to deliver a proper, focused experience (and even that got a little muddled towards the end).

In any case, it's a pretty damn nice world they'v built there, hope they'll get a chance to expand on it in one way or the other. Some sort of hobocop RPG in a big metropolitan area would be great.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Disco Elysium is a masterpiece.

 

[Prime Junta]

In any case, it's a pretty damn nice world they'v built there, hope they'll get a chance to expand on it in one way or the other. Some sort of hobocop RPG in a big metropolitan area would be great.

There was a quite a lot of foreshadowing for a possible sequel. The world is ending in 28 years, remember?

 

[Shadenuat]

This game also made me want another detective RPG, but in a setting where it's always raining, always dark, and in a massive city.

Try the Blade Runner adventure game.

which, by the way, is a more advanced game than DE even though doesn't have stat or skill checks.

another one you must play is Terry Pratchett Discworld Noir.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Don't you deus vult me, Nick. I'm here to exchange my voucher for a dick sucking like you promised.

(it is a masterpiece though. finished it tonight. i'm a little conflicted at how fucking good my ending was considering my 6 physical 4 motorics dump stat everything else character. shivers is overpowered)

 

[Shadenuat]

Yeah Shivers is like if you dumped whole purple, well gotta give player somethin.

 

[Shadenuat]

I would often go there
To the tiny church there
The smallest church in Saint-Saëns
Though it once was larger

How the rill may rest there
Down through the mist there
Toward the seven sisters
Toward those pale cliffs there

I would often stay there
In the tiny yard there
I have been so glad here
Looking forward to the past here

But now you are alone
Now you are alone
None of this matters
None of this matters at all

I failed the check. and it was a lot more realistic.
i know I sounded like a dying toilet booth, but i put my soul into that song man and u didn't like it?? fuckers.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Yeah Shivers is like if you dumped whole purple, well gotta give player somethin.

It's probably there just to make the game more manageable for fystards. The other option would be to have Kim do 99% of the work and just guide the player around like a wrecking ball, but that'd be a hell of a lot more work to develop and probably wouldn't be satisfying to most people playing, so shivers prolly works. And I liked shivers, don't get me wrong, but I would've been happier with a worse ending for Harry/the case but a better ending for the city itself if you follow shivers.

 

[Junmarko]

Try the Blade Runner adventure game.

 

[whocares]

I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.

 

[Shadenuat]

Yeah Shivers is like if you dumped whole purple, well gotta give player somethin.

It's probably there just to make the game more manageable for fystards. The other option would be to have Kim do 99% of the work and just guide the player around like a wrecking ball, but that'd be a hell of a lot more work to develop and probably wouldn't be satisfying to most people playing, so shivers prolly works. And I liked shivers, don't get me wrong, but I would've been happier with a worse ending for Harry/the case but a better ending for the city itself if you follow shivers.

Yeah one thing about these abilities is that they're too good of a hints/solvers actually - all of them. I think they're lacking in nuance.

Is there a way to get 100 big ones on the first day without fucking Kim over? I took all of Evrart's bribes, picked up every bottle, and sold every item that didn't look important and ended up with 60. Had I sold everything I had on me, I would've been at around 80. Is there some money-making trick I'm missing? Well apart from going full bum and just begging random people.

Also, how do you get the password for the radio RPG? Is it tied to the stronger prybar?

boat lady gives you whole sum for purple check.

password you'll have to wait. for some reason it's sorta plot blocked until you open another part of town.

 

[v1rus]

Cmon guys. Anyone else tried internalizing Actual Art Degree?

Im really pissed if this is bugged. Its been 10 mins of gameplay, and i already missed 70 fucking experience from this bug.

 

[PrK]

So, completed the game. Wow. It's something else alright.
I finished it in 30 hours, pretty completionist. The length is not a problem at all although the 60+ hour claims are certainly misleading. The amazing thing is not once did I feel the need to reload for a check and not once did I miss combat.

Quick thoughts:
It looks beautiful. The art style is spectacular, portraits, icons, inventory items are all top notch. Absolutely no complaints.
It sounds beautiful. Music, sound effects, voice acting are very fitting and evocative. When you meet Measurehead, the karaoke, the club, the boat ride are moments I believe are unforgettable.
It reads beautiful. The writing is excellent, the dialogues are gripping, the characters truly memorable. The story is compelling and the world well realised. The political side when integrated in the story or part of the characters is nice, in your own answers it can be on the nose but it's not a big problem.
It plays nice. The menus are very intuitive, how you interact with the world is fluid. The animations are great but the character controls quite poorly. I encountered a few annoying bugs but nothing gamebreaking.

Some further observations:
It's very open ended, and although not "unprecedented freedom of choice" level, it accomplishes nicely what it set out to do. Some notable missteps imo are

Spoiler

that you can't become a real hobocop, the merc showdown is railroady and the fact that you can't visit the island before the finale. On the other hand I loved the ending unlike quite a few people here. Sorry toro .

The reactivity is phenomenal. If you think you might want to say something in a dialogue chances are it is available as a choice. You can even say stuff very tangentially related that you would have no reason to and characters react appropriately. The dialogues also take into account a surprising amount of stuff, I can count on one hand the times there was something unacknowledged or simply contradictory that would make me suspend my disbelief like in so many RPGs. In this aspect it is simply miles ahead of probably any game.
An annoying thing is when a new option in an already explored dialogue node with a character opens up it isn't immediately apparent. It both forces you to repeat the node to get to the new option which can be immersion breaking and the node itself remains faded.
The meat of the game, the skills and thoughts are for the most part very well done. The skills are expertly written and although I'm not utterly convinced the way checks work is the ideal method, it certainly is something unique that I want to see perfected/imitated. Thoughts are intriguing, although not as integrated in dialogue as they could be and the bonuses needed some more fiddling.
Balance wise it probably needs some work with the way the healing items and drugs work as well as the bonuses from clothing egging you on playing unwarranted dress up.
I'm not certain about replayability, the number of checks and thoughts to unlock are certainly massive enough to warrant it, but with not having done another playthrough to see how different it plays I can't comment.
The censorship is some faggy shit.

It is funny, it is sad, and it is gripping. All in all, an amazing game, thank you Marat Sar , Kras Mazov , Kasparov . GOTY for certain, but not quite GOAT. Really looking forward to what ZA/UM have in store next.

 

[Quillon]

Spoiler

How do you forge sigs in the quest for Evrart? I went to my room, no prompts...nothing, I collected all the bottles tho, its much cleaner now.

 

[Prime Junta]

Is there a way to get 100 big ones on the first day without fucking Kim over? I took all of Evrart's bribes, picked up every bottle, and sold every item that didn't look important and ended up with 60. Had I sold everything I had on me, I would've been at around 80. Is there some money-making trick I'm missing? Well apart from going full bum and just begging random people.

Also, how do you get the password for the radio RPG? Is it tied to the stronger prybar?

Joyce will give it to you if you can bring yourself to ask.

Yes it's tied to the stronger prybar. You can't complete that quest before Wednesday.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Is there a way to get 100 big ones on the first day without fucking Kim over? I took all of Evrart's bribes, picked up every bottle, and sold every item that didn't look important and ended up with 60. Had I sold everything I had on me, I would've been at around 80. Is there some money-making trick I'm missing? Well apart from going full bum and just begging random people.

Also, how do you get the password for the radio RPG? Is it tied to the stronger prybar?

You can strong arm the bartender to lower the price with high authority.

edit: I'm so sorry, I meant cafeteria-manager. What was I thinking.

 

[Lithium Flower]

If you fail the Savoir Faire check and do the whole double flipping the bird crashing into a wheelchair lady thing then he will actually lower the price to 100 out of a mixture of fear and pity as well.

 

[whocares]

I will not eat the bugs. I will not live in a pod. I will not use 2FA.

 

[Jinn]

Balance wise it probably needs some work with the way the healing items and drugs work as well as the bonuses from clothing egging you on playing unwarranted dress up.

This made me think. Kasparov, another nice balancing option might be that it actually consumes time to swap outfits. This could really change the way that people are tempted to exit out of dialogues to mix and match outfits, with a serious impact on their goals in regards to NPC interaction. Maybe not as a "normal" difficulty option, but if there is a more challenging option that comes in the future, this could be really nice.