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

[Fenix]

Heh, now that I think about it the music from games I remember most are those with an isometric perspective...

Same here, except Looking Glass Studio's games.

Gonna have to read that novel, now.

Sadly, no Russian translation. Like in whole Estonia not even single person can speak Russian.

The fuck.

Me not understand.

 

[cherry blossom]

I was expressing my disappointment at the lack of a translation.

 

[Fenix]

I was expressing my disappointment at the lack of a translation.

Feel the same.
I can swear I saw in the davblog something about the book, but now I can't find it.

 

[Viata]

Sadly book business in Russia is slowly dying, book-shops are closing and so on.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Hngggf

 

[Fenix]

People who don't read books have no future.
is good picture for that.

Found it!

Right from the onset we knew that we had to cater our worldbuilder-in-chief, Robert, with the most expressive system we could build in terms of interactivity and also in terms of his writing ambition. His book, sadly available in Estonian only, is possibly one of the most interesting slipstream fantasy books that I have read and also in a large part the reason why I believe into our writing enough to dedicate myself to the game.

 

[Prime Junta]

Sadly book business in Russia is slowly dying, book-shops are closing and so on.

Fuck, seriously? That is fucking TRAGIC. I remember the first times I went to Russia in the early 1990's I was struck by how everybody seemed to be reading all the time -- in the park, in the metro, in cafés... everywhere. And an enormous range of books in beautiful editions that cost next to nothing.

Seriously if the Russian literary tradition is withering, the world will be a much, much, much poorer place. I think I'll need to go cry a little...

 

[Fenix]

It is usual neo-liberal policy - government don't do a shit about books, so they are skyrocked expensive now.
This is compounded by the fact that internet do not conducive to reading books, and Russia have internet everywhere now, I have heard a lot of scandals about abuse of money, corruption in any sphere except those guys who lay fiber-optic cable all around country.
We are ahead of US in terms of availability of easily accessible and cheap internet lol. That's just for 15 years.
Add changes in education in schools - test system, these "innovations" have fallen off the school educatin system.
Official results of final school exams shows it perfectly.
Now our future - children - are as dumb as american children, so they can be instilled anything through the TV, just easily controlled crowd.
The only thing that gives some hope that Russia cannot live and survive like that, we must be at the forefront of scientific and technological progress in order to survive, so maybe past 2024 we will see some changes.

 

[makiavelli747]

Russia in the early 1990's I was struck by how everybody seemed to be reading all the time -- in the park, in the metro, in cafés... everywhere.

Well, that was bloody USSR where science and space conquer was something worth to live for, and now everybodys playing democracy shit.

 

[Kasparov]

Well, that was bloody USSR where science and space conquer was something worth to live for, and now everybodys playing democracy shit.

Haha, I´m not sure that´s the only issue OR the main issue.

Spoiler

I lived in St. Petersburg a couple of years ago and well - everybody read all the time. People were reading in the streets, on the bus, in the subway and in cafes and parks and on the waterfront. But more often than not they read from e-book readers - probably cheaper to download a few thousand books and get crackin´ rather than blowing tons of money on overpriced and bad translations.

Anyway - I think that subject is derailing from this thread a bit Let us return to the land of No Truce

We´ll see what comes first - Fenix learns to read Estonian or the book gets translated into Russian or English:

You can buy a good ol´ analog copy from here: LINK
Or you can download a digital fricking FREE COPY: FROM HERE
​

If you like free things then in the last one go through the add to cart business and power up your Google Translate

Of course! Here your monocled link. :D

Thanks!

Btw you should make some efforts to introduce youself to some Russian gameing sites. -snip- ex-RPG CORE, now C.O.R.E. Codex of RPG Elucidation -snip- Also, there is riorpixels

Thanks for the heads up. So far there´s a discussion started on the Russian forum RPG Nuke.

 

[HoboForEternity]

I prefer e-books too for reading. Maybe it is because i am filthy millenial who grew up with damn new fangled mobile phones, and more comfortable holding it than regular old paper stacks.

And beside that, i love reading in complete darkness, i usually read at night, close all windows and doors, turn lights off and set my phone's brightness to the lowest, and use night mode.

Anyway back to truce is it gonna be like aod; short playtime but with extensive multi paths and replayability or long hours playtime?

I can't believe this came out of nowhere, but with each info, it is exponentially getting better

 

[Renegen]

Meh, isometric games are rarely pulled off well so I don't hold much promise for this eastern european dev. Additionally, the juvenile humor is not a good sign, the game was not inspired by Call of Duty and Kentucky Route Zero for example so I don't know what point they're trying to make by being so random, a stand-in for actual descriptive influences that's all it is. All of the writing, down to the title of the game and the scene with the gun pointing share this aversion to seriousness and so I don't have any hope the devs can nail down a specific vision.

 

[gaussgunner]

Yeah, there' s reason to be sceptical. The gun scene looks like a cutscene, and that dialogue is a tedious way of asking "make them leave or shoot them?"

From the dev blog:
- It's their first game, a small proof of concept
- All they talk about is art and graphics, never gameplay or mechanics
- Combat is part of cutscene dialogues
- Smells like JRPG

EDIT: There's potential for their next game to be a more serious CRPG but NTWTF won't be.
Another red flag, they're using Unity.. yet another band of artists/designers in over their heads?

 

[Trias_Betrayed]

I would like to be positive about it, but those sound like valid concerns. Though I don't necessarily think lacking combat mechanics is inherently a bad thing. Also not really that big of a deal if they use unity? Wasteland 2 uses it and it's alright.

 

[Durandal]

- Combat is part of cutscene dialogues

How else would you tie failure routes in the story to something else but a game over screen?

 

[Viata]

Wasteland 2 uses it and it's alright.

What kind of drug you used while playing W2? I want some too

 

[Trias_Betrayed]

Wasteland 2 uses it and it's alright.

What kind of drug you used while playing W2? I want some too

I said it was alright, not great or even good but it was playable. To say that it wasn't at least average in the current market seems a bit much to me.

 

[undecaf]

Combat is part of cutscene dialogues

I don't see this necessarily a bad thing. It might seem a bit unorthodox, but it could be better that way since the game doesn't seem to be focused on solving large tacticool armed skirmishes. If they pull it off, it might well provide interesting situations (even mechanically) with interesting outcomes from quicker than normal TB resolutions.

 

[Wayward Son]

Combat is part of cutscene dialogues

I don't see this necessarily a bad thing. It might seem a bit unorthodox, but it could be better that way since the game doesn't seem to be focused on solving large tacticool armed skirmishes. If they pull it off, it might well provide interesting situations (even mechanically) with interesting outcomes from quicker than normal TB resolutions.

As well, if I interpreted Marat Sar post correctly, there will be skill checks in these cutscenes to see if you actually win.

 

[Fenix]

We´ll see what comes first - Fenix learns to read Estonian or the book gets translated into Russian or English.

Sadly I'm very bad at languages of Slavic languages group, if Estonian isn't belong to a Slavic group, it is even worse. Maybe a bit of Turkic blood produces such an effect, dunno.
Also I prefer paper book over e-ink book in any day, it is better for reading, because it uses other parts of the brain, which greatly help with quality of memorization. Because of that I recomment to you HoboForEternity read paper books whenever you can.

So far there´s a discussion started on the Russian forum RPG Nuke.

Yeah, they are decent too, sadly I forgot their name.

Also, RPG CORE just published today a preview about No Truce With The Furies. It looks like they listened, dirty lurkers! ))))

From RPG Nuke

Скорее всего выйдет полная хрень, но описание чертовски заманчивое, прямо поиграть захотелось. Пойду, пожалуй, догонюсь пока ледорубами.

Your preview caused a desire to play Ice-Pick Lodge games. )

 

[Prime Junta]

Haha Estonian is far harder than Slavic -- it's Fenno-Ugric.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Tervist, fellow Estonians!
I wish you the best of luck in your current and future endeavors.
NTwtF certainly looks interesting.

P.S. I've also misread it as "furries".

Haha Estonian is far harder than Slavic -- it's Finno-Ugric.

Actually, I think they are quite comparable in difficulty. We have much more cases, but, on the other hand, we have "no sex and no future":D.

 

[Viata]

Haha Estonian is far harder than Slavic -- it's Fenno-Ugric.

It's more about the lack of good materials to learn than the language being hard itself.

 

[you know what time it is]

Dropped. Fuck choose-your-own-adventure games.

Them's fightin words

One of the reasons why I could never get far in Arcanum was that everything looked so damn ugly. NWN was just as hideous but in a 3D game it didn't bother me so much.

Fuck's sake

 

[Kasparov]

Anyway back to truce is it gonna be like aod; short playtime but with extensive multi paths and replayability or long hours playtime?

Marat Sar said earlier in this thread that No Truce With the Furies will take you a few days to complete. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can binge a long week-end and not finish. In the end it comes down to what kind of cop do you want to be?

Meh, isometric games are rarely pulled off well so I don't hold much promise for this eastern european dev.

We are none-the-less going to give our best so you'll have to wait and see.

the game was not inspired by Call of Duty and Kentucky Route Zero for example so I don't know what point they're trying to make by being so random, a stand-in for actual descriptive influences that's all it is.

While CoD as an influence should be taken with a grain of salt, Kentucky Route Zero is an influence with its art and polish and its wonderful oddness. Why'd you leave out Planescape: Torment?

From the dev blog:
- It's their first game, a small proof of concept
- All they talk about is art and graphics, never gameplay or mechanics
- Combat is part of cutscene dialogues

A. True.
B. We're a small team - would you rather we hang out on twitch and talk shop all day or would you like your coders to code, designers to design and writers to write? We believe that a (moving) picture tells more than a thousand words. We're working our asses off to get the best material to you that'll do justice to what we want the final product to be like.
C. Well, yes. Kind of. I personally think that traditional cRPG combat is a chaotic stream of very short cutscenes with no dialogue at all or brief floating messages and squishy sounds with dice rolls thown in.

- Smells like JRPG

So does your mother.

Another red flag, they're using Unity.. yet another band of artists/designers in over their heads?

Taming Unity is like taming a wild horse. Our coders' backsides are sore, for sure, but we're trudging on.

I would like to be positive about it, but those sound like valid concerns. Though I don't necessarily think lacking combat mechanics is inherently a bad thing. Also not really that big of a deal if they use unity? Wasteland 2 uses it and it's alright.

In many aspects we endeavor to make a better game than what Wasteland 2 was, although the comparison is not entirely justified, because Unity as the game engine is pretty much the only thing these two games have in common.

How else would you tie failure routes in the story to something else but a game over screen?

Word.

I said it was alright, not great or even good but it was playable. To say that it wasn't at least average in the current market seems a bit much to me.

You said it - a v e r a g e . Brian Fargo might bully the kid in the Lamborghini or what was it the little twerp rode in on, but at the end of the day he seems to run his business the same way most of the old-school developers do, Kickstarter or no.

As well, if I interpreted Marat Sar post correctly, there will be skill checks in these cutscenes to see if you actually win.

Yes.

Also, RPG CORE just published today a preview about No Truce With The Furies. It looks like they listened, dirty lurkers! ))))

Your preview caused a desire to play Ice-Pick Lodge games. )

Thanks! And we like Ice-Pick Lodge too!

Tervist, fellow Estonians!
I wish you the best of luck in your current and future endeavors.
NTwtF certainly looks interesting.

P.S. I've also misread it as "furries".

Tervist! And thanks! Also - you won't be the first or last one to read it as "furries"

We have much more cases, but, on the other hand, we have "no sex and no future":D

Yeah it comes down to which you prefer. Tons of cases or no cases and tons of sex and what comes with it.

Speaking of text and sex, this weeks newspost is by our writer who goes by the moniker Andreas W. He writes about writing for the game and its unique challenges when compared to writing, let's say, a play for the stage. Now, text your mom or girlfriend to bring some eye drops when they get home, because I give you a WALL OF TEXT. Scroll down for a picture.

DEV BLOG:

Writing has never been this hard. Of course this isn’t the sort of talk you’d like to hear. A creation should come into being with natural elegance, should it not? Strain means dull work and the smell of sweat, lack of ideas probably, etc.


Or not. Once I co-wrote a play with a friend (Jaak Tomberg http://smallblueabsence.blogspot.com.ee/). Everything was nearly finished, but three scenes remained to be written. With a clause that it’s me that wants to write them (we generally took turns at writing and switched between techniques, at times either of us wrote every other sentence). My friend was becoming impatient. The deadline was approaching. The clock was ticking.


It wasn’t an old school inspiration thing, it was rather like a chess puzzle you construct in your head with no clear shape, inexpressable as a graphic presentation. The field of text is laid out in your head and lone sentences are situated on it as protruding points of tension. But these are not worded sentences and they don’t express any fully formed thoughts. Everything falls into place at the moment you are finally ready to lay it all out, get it out of your head.


In the end, the time was right. Rather a question of decisiveness than finding a way: „I’m going to do it now.“ Later, when it was ready, I sat on the ground with my back against the wall, as if I had just ran 10 kilometers at my top speed or wrestled for an hour against a strong opponent. The fatigue was aggressive, sudden and physical.


This sort of thing is almost completely absent in game writing. The concentration part is there. The graphical chess scheme of structure and developments is there. The sentences still appear from the darkness. But rest, there is none. Rest always comes when the thing is ready, or, when running, if you can stop. There’s no such moment in game writing. It isn’t ready for months. All relief is temporary. For a moment it feels like something fell into place, that the eternally branching end of the dialogue has somehow logically found its way back into the main hub. But then you realize that the ends of all the other branchings haven’t made it there yet. And they will not go willingly.


So you have to force them. Every moment, all the time, there’s forcing of a logical structure. Like some kind of damn landing of Normandy. Taking it with force.


The main difference from all other writing (and I’ve written much of whatever else, starting with D&D campaigns and ending with opera libretti and scientific articles) is that you have a thousand endings. It doesn’t surprise neither you nor Deleuze, but it takes you to a place our lead designer Robert Kurvitz has described frankly: „While writing a book you always have lots of good ideas which you won’t write because they won’t fit. When writing a game you’re suddenly in a situation where you’re obligated to write down all your good ideas, and you’ll learn with unpleasant clarity if they were good ideas to begin with.“


While engaged in just that, we’ve encountered a little problem with Articy: Final Draft, the program that usually helps us tackle those thousands of branching endings. Sometimes it doesn’t. It seems possible that the size and complexity of our dialogues has reached the limit of Articy’s traction. It’s developers probably didn’t expect interactive literature to sprawl explosively like a borderless field of text (as it exists in the writer’s mind in its proto-being). And now we’re in a situation where we sometimes have to wait for the letters to appear on the screen with excruciating slowness. Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 is almost capable of rendering reality in real time, but Articy has some disagreements with it. We generally hope for Articy’s very flexible team to offer us their helping hand at some moment (and we are well aware it won’t be easy).


Another option is to rework our plans and start working on a dialogue editor instead of the game. You the public wouldn’t like this and you have every right to presume that we will not. However, it certainly couldn’t happen before the thousand ends of No Truce With the Furies have converged into a single concrete mother-node and made accessible to you.​

A field of text.​