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

[Kyl Von Kull]

In other news, we now know Marat Sar is a better writer than China Miéville, which makes him a hella good writer. He says so himself.


(As an aside, I agree with him about C&tC, and in fact Miéville in general is terrible at endings, his books just sort of devolve into a mumble and peter out. The start and the middle are usually great though, and Embassytown even had a decent ending.)

Disagree. Perdido Street Station had a real ending, not epic, but full of closure (when the victim of choice theft in the second degree shows up). The Scar’s ending was a very deliberate anticlimax in terms of the big picture but had nice resolution for the main character. Iron Council may have dragged a bit, he probably should have ended it sooner, right after the train gets frozen. Embassytown’s ending was much better than decent—if you want a traditional ending, I’m not sure what more he could have given you (kneel before Spanish Dancer). Kraken had a solid twist and it ends with a bang. Railsea didn’t peter out although credit for the main story beats goes to Melville (but the very end with the tribe of train conductors is a nice touch). I still haven’t gotten around to the new novellas.

You’re right about The City & The City. That said, for all the critical acclaim, it’s not Miéville at his absolute best. And middling Miéville remains much better than most. Kurvitz is definitely boasting in the right general direction.

Marat Sar it’s “all in all.” Wouldn’t want you to make that mistake once you start collaborating with China.

 

[Prime Junta]

Disagree. Perdido Street Station had a real ending, not epic, but full of closure (when the victim of choice theft in the second degree shows up). The Scar’s ending was a very deliberate anticlimax in terms of the big picture but had nice resolution for the main character. Iron Council may have dragged a bit, he probably should have ended it sooner, right after the train gets frozen. Embassytown’s ending was much better than decent—if you want a traditional ending, I’m not sure what more he could have given you (kneel before Spanish Dancer). Kraken had a solid twist and it ends with a bang. Railsea didn’t peter out although credit for the main story beats goes to Melville (but the very end with the tribe of train conductors is a nice touch). I still haven’t gotten around to the new novellas.

I strongly disagree about Perdido Street, The Scar, and especially Iron Council -- all of those powered along marvelously and then just drooped into nowhere. Un Lun Dun also ended weakly.

Kraken's ending was okay, and I already gave credit to Embassytown. I haven't read Railsea.

I.e. from where I'm at he has about two good to very good endings in a pretty big bibliography. That's not great for an otherwise excellent and highly original writer.

 

[Fenix]

and it is not one sided political bashing

I'm afraid it's is exactly the case.
That's my only concern with the game.

as interpreted by communists

You see, what irritate me most is that anything that is non-leftists today called as communists.
Trotskism is not a comminism, left radicalism also not communism, those who called "cultural merxists" are no communists also.

But -- are the ideologies handled so that they won't offend the sensitivities of traumatized men who have been called misogynists and racists by sycophantic liberals their whole lives? Certainly not. You *will* be offended. We've made it a point to offend liberals in equal measure, and communists above all, but from my life experience it's always the liberals and the right wingers who shit themselves the hardest, while communists just wink at their Stalin busts and laugh heartily.

Then you guys should understand, that if you will get success and people start talking about your game, your words and posts will be examined with\under microscope.



PS Who is that China guy\being?

 

[Background Character]

I can't wait for that commie playthrough

 

[Zombra]

Do not expect political stuff to be the main course here. Only one fourth of the thoughts in your thought cabinet are political in nature.

This begs the question: what is the other ¾? Tough guy police work? Asking adventure game stuff where to find the purple key? Drug deals? Welcome to my shop adventurer I will sell you wares if you find my nephew? Hard core forensics and crime clues? Shut up and give me a drink? What is the main course?

 

[Kasparov]

Main course is a fucking surprise

 

[agris]

(As an aside, I agree with him about C&tC, and in fact Miéville in general is terrible at endings, his books just sort of devolve into a mumble and peter out. The start and the middle are usually great though, and Embassytown even had a decent ending.)

Tom Wolfe as well.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

I strongly disagree about Perdido Street, The Scar, and especially Iron Council -- all of those powered along marvelously and then just drooped into nowhere. Un Lun Dun also ended weakly.

Where do you think Perdido and The Scar went off the rails? I thought the end of The Scar powered along nicely. He establishes a real sense of dread as Armada gets closer and closer to the scar itself and everything boils over nicely with the mutiny. The issue with The Scar might be that it keeps going a little too long post mutiny, with Bellis reflecting on what the fuck just happened, but I like that he ends on an ambiguous note, leaving you wondering just how much the whole chain of events had been planned by the guy with the probability sword.

You could argue that the big battle might have been a more natural ending, but that’s part of the story he’s telling: Armada’s leadership can’t just declare victory and move on to calmer waters, they feel compelled to keep pushing their luck.

Perdido was his first book; the best thing about it is the worldbuilding. I think it’s more that he runs out of Marxist terminology to appropriate and turn into elements of the setting in the second half because the world is already built. That said, the actual ending:

Spoiler

Isaac has finally figured out how to use crisis theory as a power source, at great personal cost, and then Garuda lady finds him and explains that his whole quest had been in service of rolling back the just punishment of a rapist. So he just says fuck it and moves on. That’s profoundly depressing and unsatisfying, but it’s also kind of great.

I agree completey on Iron Council. The last third was a mess. He had a fantastic climax with a perfect ending—the time golem and the train—but he pads it out with the totally unnecessary Spiral subplot that’s a complete waste of time.

Anyway the three Bas Lag books and Un Lun Dun were written before Kraken or Embassytown, so even if you refuse to be re-educated, it’s clear that he’s gotten a better handle on how to pace his stories.

 

[Kasparov]

OUR ART-FU IS PRISTINE

Disco Elysium

I walked away from my time with Disco Elysium and said “That game has GOTY contender written all over it”. You might have heard of this isometric point-and-sleuth RPG before but under the guise of “No Truce With The Furies”, the previous name of Disco Elysium before it was changed a month ago, but no matter what it’s called, this game oozed charisma, style and originality. In it you play as a broken cop who wakes from a stupor not knowing who is, what he’s doing and, most importantly, what kind of person he is. There has been a murder and you discover it’s your job to figure out who did it but that’s one of the only restraints on this story which adapts to the way you play in astonishing ways. I watched someone play the opening dialogue exchanges before sitting down to play Disco Elysium myself and to my surprise, the conversations I had with the same characters were almost entirely different. Shaping your version of the main character through decisions and the way you play alters the way NPC’s respond to you. Act like an authoritative law man and some characters will react to your forcefulness by giving you more information while others clam up and keep things secret from you. Respect the feelings of others and work for their aims and while some characters will warm to you, it’s possible you could become blinded my your empathy. The games choices are underpinned by a mesh of characteristics and random dice rolls which make them easier or harder based on who you are as a player and what kind of decisions you’ve made in the past. Just from the first 15 minutes of the game, I got the feeling of this living, breathing, bizarro retro-futuristic world that has been bought about through some very smart writing. There was a moment when an NPC was being sarcastic with me – something that I often find games struggle to portray via text – and it was done in such a way that even without a vocal track, I felt berated by it.

Then there’s the art style. Oh boy, that art style. Disco Elysium looks like a moving water colour painting with hand crafted visuals in the world itself and as portraits that pop up alongside the dialogue. The art-fu of the artists at ZA/UM is on another level.

Disco Elysium launches this year and promises “a unique journey for each of its players” and I highly recommend you add it to your Steam wish list by clicking here.

 

[Prime Junta]

Question Kasparov and others: is there anyone you showed it to who didn't like it?

There was that one guy who thought it was ... problematic, but other than that it seems to be getting everybody excited. I think even Josh is jelly, what with his talk about RPGs needing to innovate and all.

 

[Haba]

Main course is a fucking surprise

You lie. Why you have lie.

all bears are toys

 

[ArchAngel]

Question Kasparov and others: is there anyone you showed it to who didn't like it?

There was that one guy who thought it was ... problematic, but other than that it seems to be getting everybody excited. I think even Josh is jelly, what with his talk about RPGs needing to innovate and all.

Those are not a problem anymore comrade, they are all now in a gulag. Their capitalist swine propaganda will not be allowed vs a superior bolshevik product.

 

[Kasparov]

Question Kasparov and others: is there anyone you showed it to who didn't like it?

There was that one guy who thought it was ... problematic, but other than that it seems to be getting everybody excited. I think even Josh is jelly, what with his talk about RPGs needing to innovate and all.

There indeed were a few odd ones that were intrigued by the art and writing, but admitted they prefer shooters/MMOs/whatever to single player role playing games.

By day three of EGX Rezzed I was confident enough with any and all sceptics to just get them to sit down with the game for five minutes - every single person stood up from playing with their eyes glowing.

As far as journalism goes - it’s tough to find anything that’s openly critical.

 

[conan_edw]

Did you guys get any feedback from any known writer/designer?

 

[Kasparov]

Did you guys get any feedback from any known writer/designer?

We did indeed. There were both laconic asspats and longer constructive discussions.

If you haven’t been to events like this then you should consider that meeting with anyone on a showfloor is akin to dogs sniffing butts on the corner of a busy intersection and moving on after a while to find more butts.

 

[Prime Junta]

By day three of EGX Rezzed I was confident enough with any and all sceptics to just get them to sit down with the game for five minutes - every single person stood up from playing with their eyes glowing.

That has got to be a huge morale-boost. It's one thing to be confident that you're doing the right thing, another entirely to have it confirmed.

Now release it and sell a billion copies. The Revolution needs you.

 

[Kasparov]

Did you guys get any feedback from any known writer/designer?

Also there are pics to prove it. (Follow our Twit feed for a regular stream)

I´ll definitely miss a bunch of names, but you´ll forgive me because it´s like naming an infinity of dwarves from a Disney flick:
There was Suda.

And Tim.

And Tom.

And Cash.

 

[Kasparov]

And Gareth.

And myriad of Larian peeps:




Didn´t meet with Thomas, but it appears word gets around:

 

[Fenix]

The Revolution needs you.

It won't happen, because the rest not on their level.

 

[Kasparov]

There are a bunch of podcasts out there where people tell of their impressions when playing Disco.

Here´s one by an initial sceptic: LINKLINK.
Disco Elysium bit starts at pretty much exactly at 51:00 minutes and goes on for a bit over five minutes. Good for a smoke break.

RPS is talking about us as well: Disco bit begins at 36:40, but you might want to listen to the bit leading up to it. They´re really giving us shit too so it´s right up Codex´s alley if I do say so myself. Length-wise another cigarette probably. Space them out wisely or you´ll get an unnecessary nicotine rush.

 

[Blakemoreland Hybrid Boss]

Now release it and sell a billion copies. Capitalism needs you.

Fixed.

 

[ArchAngel]

There are a bunch of podcasts out there where people tell of their impressions when playing Disco.

Here´s one by an initial sceptic: LINKLINK.
Disco Elysium bit starts at pretty much exactly at 51:00 minutes and goes on for a bit over five minutes. Good for a smoke break.

RPS is talking about us as well: Disco bit begins at 36:40, but you might want to listen to the bit leading up to it. They´re really giving us shit too so it´s right up Codex´s alley if I do say so myself. Length-wise another cigarette probably. Space them out wisely or you´ll get an unnecessary nicotine rush.

RPS guys sound really excited about it. Good job guys. Now release it so we can play as well

 

[Kasparov]

RPS guys sound really excited about it. Good job guys. Now release it so we can play as well

On it.

 

[Prime Junta]

Didn´t meet with Thomas, but it appears word gets around:

Ho, you've got Zyklon Beekers onboard. You can't fail now.

 

[Ezeekiel]

RPS guys like it?

No buy