Disco Elysium Pre-Release Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[barghwata]

4- Appearently certain decisions you make and dialogue options you choose in a conversation can influence the difficulty of passing skill checks later, if you find yourself having to extract informations from someone you insulted just seconds before, it's gonna be harder to do it even if you have the skills for it, but i don't know how much of these type of situations will be in the game and i am looking forward to it.

They are very common. Most (all?) of the major challenge-dialogues you can get during the first day have them.

I’ll list a few in a spoiler for the skeptics (srsly, these are spoilers so be warned, don’t read if you intend to play this any time soon)

Spoiler

In the autopsy, if you’re too confident about your conclusions too early, the checks for determining the actual cause of death will be harder. Conversely if you were particularly observant in the pre-examination they will be easier.

When trying to break Cuno, the crucial Empathy check will be easier if you’ve impressed him with your flashy cop skills or talked to Cunoesse, and harder if he managed to mindfuck you earlier.

Shooting the corpse down from the tree will be harder if you react to Cuno’s heckling, and easier if you take the right actions to steady your aim.

An important check in the conversation with Joyce Messier is way easier if you’ve internalised a certain Thought. Same for passing the Endurance check to examine the body.

The crucial checks in the conversation with the bookseller when convincing her to let you in the back are modified by intel you may have gathered talking to her daughter outside the store. That conversation also gives hints on what line you should take with her.

There’s more but that’s for starters. I’m not even including basic things like equipping a crowbar making it easier yo pry open a container.

Are you Kasparov's second account by any chance?

 

[JarlFrank]

Look, the real question for DE to solve is quite simple - can it keep the player engaged with slow-paced, passive and repetitive gameplay throughout a 50 hour game.

Well, I mean... people did enjoy The Bard's Tale back in the 80s.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I'm about at 3:00 PM out of the day and felt the need to comment. I notice new things open up during the day - new pathways, new interactions, new NPCs move in to areas. Your buddy cop also comments on things, and you get random thoughts throughout the day at certain locations on the map that trigger interactions. Pretty neat. I think I was supposed to make the face of my character but I accidentally said I didn't care and skipped it, not knowing. So I got left with a default face portrait, is that how that works?

Writing is still good. Met some new characters, very well detailed in lore, characters with all sorts of engaging and sometimes repulsive personalities (I mean that in a good way.) Finished a few tasks and got XP, new thoughts are opening up that I can dismiss or follow through on after an interaction. You get to make so many choices, it really is staggering. I'm curious how different types of characters get responses in these interactions.

Collecting bottles for money, I also stole some money in a quick fit of thievery from a sleeping patron of the hotel. Good thing I passed that check!

Still enjoying it quite a bit, I'm going to be sad when this day is over and I have to wait for the full version release.

 

[Molina]

Near the beginning of the game, there's a scene where your character gets in contact with his precinct (by police radio) and reports his badge missing. It's a mostly sombre scene which quite competently and subtly establishes the hero's past on the force without much exposition, just by picturing the characters' demeanor and attitude towards our cop. Half the precinct gathers around the communication officer to cruelly ridicule and tease us about the result of our latest escapade, while the poor drunk fails Reaction Speed checks, unable to defend his hurt Authority with any sort of comeback. And when it feels like he can't sink any lower, one of the cops delivers a devastating gut punch by asking one unexpected question... which I won't spoil. The whole scene is kinda hard to stomach, but it's more bittersweet than hopeless, thanks to the obvious humanity of the writer.

But that's not the point of me telling you this. It occurs at the end of the scene, when it looks like you're done and can continue with other business. Suddenly, you pass an Esprit de Corps check, and it brings about a sudden change in perspective. We witness the aftermath of our call on its other end. The officers are in the room, and they begin talking among themselves about what has just happened, and their tone is completely different. They change the mode to "he's not listening anymore." For a bit they continue in the same vein, lamenting the cop's current state, apparent suicidal/self-destructive tendencies, and revealing some more details about him. After a while, the mood changes. They reflect on the situation. Some of the officers decide not to give up on one of their own. A few of them get visibly uncomfortable and maybe ashamed of their recent behavior; someone tries to leave the room. Some back and forth later, the policemen decide to cut our hero some slack, cover for him, and maybe try to help the prodigal son step back into the ranks.

After that, out of nowhere, the last, absolutely brilliant phrase by Esprit de Corps comes, bringing us back to the motor car; to the small, sad, infinitely pitiable man who is wordlessly hunching over the silent police radio. And... it gives me shivers and moves me to tears. The profoundly sad tremolo in the post-rock-like song in the background just deepens the impact of that last bit. I sit there, thinking: what the fuck has just happened? Video games are not supposed to trigger Stendhal syndrome. This never happened before. How is this possible? Why did a half-hidden skill check show me a couple pages long vignette that squeezed some tears out of me?

So this is my question: how is this possible?

 

[Molina]

Look, the real question for DE to solve is quite simple - can it keep the player engaged with slow-paced, passive and repetitive gameplay throughout a 50 hour game..

my personal prediction/suspicion is that it will have a flashy, even overdeveloped start, as if accurate to all promises, but then fall off a cliff or wear increasingly thin as compromises in execution mount up from the lack of technical skill to pull it off in full intended glory or from implementing ideas that were not thought up with the same enthusiasm as the pitch was

a flawed poop diamond/10

Who knows. I follow a journalist, who played it for about ten hours, and he claims it's still as good as the beginning. Of course, it can end up as Tyranny. Except we can also say it's not Obsidian. They are communists, they could have spent another 4 years living with potatoes if the game wasn't finished.

 

[normie]

Come now, that hardly ever happens.

I need to tell myself these stories to keep myself from redistributing 40 bux - 30 and I'd feel a lot less apprehensive, and it'd feel in line with well meaning reds; 20 and it'd be a nobrainer, the game is already a joy to look at, at that point I'd start to feel pangs of guilt for not having paid 10 more and it would not feel out of order for the game to have a 10 bux donation "dlc" for people who feel like parting with their money (ie Battle Brothers)

to recover the investment at the very least and perhaps some more on top, I think someone somewhere made some calculations concerning what the price should be based on the expected number of die-hards who'll buy the game day 1 regardless of the price set because there won't be any day 2 purchases - maybe someone called Steam HQ and asked "how many accounts on Steam are the mentally ill millionaire types who purchase every game to ever appear on Steam? that many? ok, that works"

40 feels gouge-y but just enough and is giving me bad vibes, like with a bad bluff, I'd have more confidence if they were confident enough themselves to bullshit me with a 60 buck pricetag

 

[Molina]

Hey look, some resetera posters are agree with codexers :
https://www.resetera.com/threads/di...ng-on-october-15th-new-trailer.141758/page-10
"Sheesh, if I wanted to just talk all the time I'd call my grandma"

 

[Tigranes]

4- Appearently certain decisions you make and dialogue options you choose in a conversation can influence the difficulty of passing skill checks later, if you find yourself having to extract informations from someone you insulted just seconds before, it's gonna be harder to do it even if you have the skills for it, but i don't know how much of these type of situations will be in the game and i am looking forward to it.

They are very common. Most (all?) of the major challenge-dialogues you can get during the first day have them.

I’ll list a few in a spoiler for the skeptics (srsly, these are spoilers so be warned, don’t read if you intend to play this any time soon)

Spoiler

In the autopsy, if you’re too confident about your conclusions too early, the checks for determining the actual cause of death will be harder. Conversely if you were particularly observant in the pre-examination they will be easier.

When trying to break Cuno, the crucial Empathy check will be easier if you’ve impressed him with your flashy cop skills or talked to Cunoesse, and harder if he managed to mindfuck you earlier.

Shooting the corpse down from the tree will be harder if you react to Cuno’s heckling, and easier if you take the right actions to steady your aim.

An important check in the conversation with Joyce Messier is way easier if you’ve internalised a certain Thought. Same for passing the Endurance check to examine the body.

The crucial checks in the conversation with the bookseller when convincing her to let you in the back are modified by intel you may have gathered talking to her daughter outside the store. That conversation also gives hints on what line you should take with her.

There’s more but that’s for starters. I’m not even including basic things like equipping a crowbar making it easier yo pry open a container.

Are you Kasparov's second account by any chance?

BREAKING NEWS: Kasparov outed as LIKING PILLARS OF ETERNITY

 

[RickOmbo]

I only hope the game will be at least half as good as its predecessor.

Spoiler

 

[Adidas-Clichèd Cringe]

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

So I've finished the first day. It's interesting that you don't really feel like a cop on the first day, you feel more like a drunken wreck trying to get his life back together. There are some cop elements, like interviewing suspects and what not, but a heavy theme is your past life and who you were, and trying to scrape up enough coin to just have a place to sleep for the night, let alone solve some smashing case.

So far I'm going with stats of:

Intellect - 2
Psyche - 6
Physique - 1
Motorics - 3

And I'm leaning toward being an empathetic cop, suggestive, with good understanding of pop culture and gut feelings. I've also internalized the thought of being a balls-to-the-wall, superstar cop. This is a big type of personality who lives hard and fast on the edge and doesn't care who knows it.

I guess I've said everything I wanted to so far about the game. It's great, looking forward to more days and more interactions with the townsfolks.

 

[Infinitron]

That's the racist black guy character people were talking about? Well-timed video.

 

[Alienman]

That is some interesting voice over...

Spoiler

 

[Jenkem]

How is this any different than something like Fallen London which has stats and skill checks?

It has pretty pictures?

 

[Jenkem]

a cabal of at least five people scour this thread to shill and give negative ratings.

these are the same (((types of people))) that ritually murdered the romanovs

Lord have mercy on them, they are ignorant and blind.

 

[Stakhanov]

To be fair, no one liked the Romanovs.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I only hope the game will be at least half as good as its predecessor.

Spoiler

That game visually looks neat. What's it called?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I only hope the game will be at least half as good as its predecessor.

Spoiler

That game visually looks neat. What's it called?

Police Quest 3.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

how do you measure the depth of writing? by the adjective occurrence ratio?

To me, it's more about if the writing is engaging, intriguing and fun to read or if it's boring. So far Disco has similar writing to PS:T. It's descriptive but not overly so. It's fun to read and keeps me wanting more. It doesn't get boring, the skill checks and pure intrigue (sometimes in a David Lynch way) keep things going from interesting at worst to I can't put this down just ten more minutes at best. There is definitely a ton of text but it doesn't overstay its welcome. This is why I genuinely think it has some of the most interesting writing I've seen in a game.

And for the record I do like Numenera's writing as well but Disco is more along the lines of PS:T.

 

[HoboForEternity]

well it has been a while since we have 5+ pages retarded argument of "what is an RPG"

if there is multi pages argument about if a game is an RPG or no, that mean it is an RPG

 

[bertram_tung]

well it has been a while since we have 5+ pages retarded argument of "what is an RPG"

if there is multi pages argument about if a game is an RPG or no, that mean it is an RPG

wrong because zelda is not an rpg

 

[Prime Junta]

if there is multi pages argument about if a game is an RPG or no, that mean it is an RPG

Hello everyone! Let’s discuss Kerbal Space Program

 

[Latro]

if there is multi pages argument about if a game is an RPG or no, that mean it is an RPG

Hello everyone! Let’s discuss Kerbal Space Program

might as well be a rpg if disco e. is

 

[just]

i can feel this game is going to be something special
really excited after watching all the gameplay vids
it even has potential to replace grim fandango as my favorite adventure game

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

DIALOGUE BASED GAMEPLAY IS ONE OF THE MARKS OF GLORIOUS TEXT-ADVENTURE MASTER RACE. I'M IN.