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Why do people like Disco Elysium's writing so much?

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
To answer the OP's question... I can't, really. It's like asking someone to explain what's so great about Monty Python's Flying Circus. You either get it or you don't, and there's no way to explain it if you don't.

It's whimsical and absurd, that's not difficult.
 

Ol' Willy

Arcane
Zionist Agent Vatnik
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Reichskommissariat Russland ᛋᛋ
Disco is fucking cancer. It died 12 July 1979 and it should stay dead.

idea_sized-149272727.jpg
 

KVVRR

Learned
Joined
Apr 28, 2020
Messages
594
I played it about half an hour, refunded it. It was a miniscule amount of content I read, but to me it didn't reek like bad prose, just the kind I don't like. I've seen plenty of bad prose in video games and it's usually in the form of stilted dialogue, purple prose and characters doing shit that makes absolutely no sense given their motivations and context. Disco Elysium didn't give me the feeling of a complete amateur being on the wheel like Tyranny did for example. If you find the idea of having arguments with your subconcious thrilling it's probably a decent experience. But personally I'm not a fan of stories where the tangible reality is kinda just an irrelevant setpiece and all the relevant happens inside the protagonist's head.
While a lot happens within Harry's head the game doesn't completely spend it's time there. Hell, by the end the most important parts of the game happen outside of it, and some of the reads of the game say that the whole point of it is that you HAVE to get out of it every once in a while. Don't wallow on your thoughts less you drown in them.
 

fantadomat

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Edgy Vatnik Wumao
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P.S. And before someone tells me to go play Call of Duty or whatever, I'm a person who loves story-heavy games, and loves to read (as in actual books, with pages and shit). I bought Disco Elysium with every expectation that it would be an amazing experience; instead it turned out to be the biggest disappointment of my gaming career.
Ok,go play torment tides of numenera.
 

maximusriley

Literate
Joined
Aug 20, 2020
Messages
15
Hey, everyone, thanks for the responses! I'm actually surprised that so many people agreed with me, because for a bit there I was starting to wonder whether or not I was crazy for not liking a game that seemed tailor made to my tastes and that everyone else seemed to think was the best thing since sliced bread.

And I didn't mean to hate on the game, and certainly not on anyone who liked it. I wrote the OP while feeling a little frustrated and disappointed with my personal experience. Obviously for the people that genuinely enjoyed it, that's great. To each his own.
 

ItsChon

Resident Zoomer
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Երևան
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Dogshit thread made by someone's alt.
I can't see it for anything other than self-indulgent, incoherent, disjointed verbal diarrhea
You just threw some words together without even knowing what you mean. DE is a bit self-indulgent but so are almost all RPGs, that's hardly a strike against it. Incoherent? Are you ESL? Perhaps you're retarded? The game is easy to follow and I feel bad for you if you can't. And finally you call it verbal diarrhea, which amounts to you calling it shit, which isn't an argument at all. Your first sentence already falls flat on its face.

Low quality, low IQ analysis that's not even worth responding too. It's fine if you don't like the game, but please make a thread that isn't trash so I don't have to waste my time getting disappointed. Opened the thread hoping for quality discussion and criticism, and instead I got treated to this shit.
 

Quilty

Magister
Joined
Apr 11, 2008
Messages
2,406
Disco was one of the most beautiful, most heartbreaking, and most hopeful experiences of my gaming life. It made me cry as I played it and then I cried again when I talked about it with my girlfriend.

The fact that she didn't run away screaming after seeing a grown man shed a tear over a videogame character is the true surprise twist in this story.
 

fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
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Messages
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Bulgaria
Disco was one of the most beautiful, most heartbreaking, and most hopeful experiences of my gaming life. It made me cry as I played it and then I cried again when I talked about it with my girlfriend.

The fact that she didn't run away screaming after seeing a grown man shed a tear over a videogame character is the true surprise twist in this story.
That one is a keeper. Don't know if you are joking or serious,but disco does have very human writing.
 

Goose

Learned
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Messages
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The Crucible
It's written by a deeply depressed, drug addled college kid from Eastern Europe who fantasizes about Communism and what could have been, if only things were done a little differently.

So if you're into college humour, Rick & Morty, hipster sarcasm/irony, nihilism, drugs, depression, degeneracy, vulgarity, etc. etc. then it might appeal to you.

That's why so many game journalists slurp it up, it appeals to them emotionally and it's written by a fellow comrade. So they're more than happy to boost the signal "10/10 RPG of the decade, best writing ever!".

DE is Zoe Quinn's Depression Quest on a bigger budget, or Grand Theft Auto without the fun.
 
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Voids

Augur
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Messages
222
Location
California
It's not like reading Hemingway but it's not like there's much else out there. RPG writing has been in the toilet since the early to mid 2000s.
 

Marat

Arcane
Wumao
Joined
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Messages
2,585
It's written by a deeply depressed, drug addled college kid from Eastern Europe who fantasizes about Communism and what could have been, if only things were done a little differently.

So if you're into college humour, Rick & Morty, hipster sarcasm/irony, nihilism, drugs, depression, degeneracy, vulgarity, etc. etc. then it might appeal to you.

That's why so many game journalists slurp it up, it appeals to them emotionally and it's written by a fellow comrade. So they are more than happy to boost the signal "10/10 RPG of the decade, best writing ever!".

This is Zoe Quinn's depression quest on a bigger budget, or Grand Theft Auto without the fun.

Another one of those dimwits. Muh GOMMUNISM ruining everything.
 

Marat

Arcane
Wumao
Joined
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Messages
2,585
RPG writing has been in the toilet since the early to mid 2000s.
Akhem: Age of Decadence, Underrail, ATOM, Titan Outpost, Pathologic 2, New Vegas, Dragonfall, Expeditions. Just a few that come to mind.
 

Goose

Learned
Joined
Oct 13, 2019
Messages
122
Location
The Crucible
It's written by a deeply depressed, drug addled college kid from Eastern Europe who fantasizes about Communism and what could have been, if only things were done a little differently.

So if you're into college humour, Rick & Morty, hipster sarcasm/irony, nihilism, drugs, depression, degeneracy, vulgarity, etc. etc. then it might appeal to you.

That's why so many game journalists slurp it up, it appeals to them emotionally and it's written by a fellow comrade. So they are more than happy to boost the signal "10/10 RPG of the decade, best writing ever!".

This is Zoe Quinn's depression quest on a bigger budget, or Grand Theft Auto without the fun.

Another one of those dimwits. Muh GOMMUNISM ruining everything.

What's the problem exactly?

The writer is a hack who romanticises Communism. He's not a hack because he's a Communist. He's a hack because he's a hack.

Gayming journos are largely cat food-eaters who also romanticise Communist/Marxist/Socialist ideals. Yes, all of them at the same time. Yes, they're different, and no, it doesn't matter.

So when they see a pro-Commie writer make a video game, anything he does will automatically be good and praised to the high heavens. It's that simple. His game will never be attacked for sexism or racism, despite being more sexist or racist than any game made by Warhorse Studios, Golden Era Games, or Rockstar Games. Why? because he plays for the same "team". Compare the reception Disco Elysium is getting from journalists vs Planescape.

I don't understand your disagreement with my original post. Unless you're one of those mongoloids who doesn't believe journalists are capable of bias, spinning narratives, or lying to protect their own, helping them profit/succeed, while at the same time sabotaging those they view as "ideological enemies".

Are we just gonna pretend the writer isn't a Communist and the journalists don't love him because of it? Fuck off.
 
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AndrewCC

Educated
Joined
Oct 25, 2018
Messages
84
Location
RO
People are easily dazzled by what appears to be insightful. You'd know this if you'd ever read a few scientific papers.

As for DE, communists aren't known for their good taste. If their product supports their ideology, it is good. If it doesn't, it is bad.

Unlike us humans, communists are incapable of liking anything made by people they disagree with.
Acording to the game I'm a moralist, so why did I love it if it's a communist game?
 

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