Disco Elysium spoilery thread

[FeelTheRads]

This isn't right. You can increase even a dumpstat skill to 5+ with thoughts, clothes and substance abuse.

Yes. Not really by putting skill points into them though. Stay on track: the point was that I had points left over that I didn't need. I had them left over either because I couldn't assign them, or because I felt I didn't need to.

Also you think I needed them because I didn't pass all the checks. I think I didn't because I didn't care to pass all of them and didn't have any problem finishing the game.
And when the fuck did it became the goal to do everything in one playthrough? Is this Oblivion?
An RPG presents a series of problems and you need to increase your skills to pass them. I passed them and finished the game. Therefore any unused point was not needed.

I feel like it would be logical to assume that putting the points into skills would be more beneficial than not spending the points at all. But you're the expert, of course.

Well, OK, in that case this game is played by clicking on skills randomly because you have no idea and no possible way to find out what you'd ever need.
You know, considering that I usually spend my points in RPGs and didn't in this one, maybe the problem is not with me.
But no, it must be me and the answer was just to click the mouse button!

Did you not enjoy the internal dialogues? Then there's nothing to get, you just don't like the game.

What? I said I saw no reason to spend the points so I might have missed those checks unintentionally. Not that I didn't care about them.
But yeah, I can't say that I really like the game. I don't think the mechanics (as much as they are) are that great, even if they're original.
The only things I like are the writing, the setting and the occasional lulzy moment. I hate many of the themes discussed in the game.

But it's funny how no criticism is possible. Basically all I said is that I finished the game with points left over and the replies are "lol u dont know how to play", like I said I got stuck and the answer was to spend my points.

 

[Tigranes]

I do think that the more you play DE as a larper, the better it works, and the more you treat it as a set of number systems to test and optimise, the worse it works. That's not a criticism of the player, because I don't think it's necessarily their 'fault', just an observation of what it is.

I proceeded by thinking of a general character concept, and picked out skills I thought were most important to that character. And I just kept spending points that way, though of course as you play you get a rough sense of which skills activate when and what counts as 'high', so you are always adjusting to translate your character concept to the game's systems. I thought DE was usually good at allowing you to do this, bar a few weird bottlenecked places.

If instead I played by saying "I want to pass that check and that check" or "I want my guy to be as rich as possible / maximise all the content / get the 'best' ending" etc, I imagine it would be a pretty annoying experience of running around trying to detect checks then fiddle with SPs to pass them. And all that for not even the reward of blowing somebody's brain out, but some dialogue options. At which point you might as well be playing a different game.

 

[Haba]

Yeah. DE is one of the best ROLE-PLAYING games out there. The fact that you can pick an idea of a character and the game actually rolls with it is brilliant. If you decide that you have an feminist agenda, you find yourself unable to say sexist things and eventually start spouting feminist tirades at characters - even when that is not beneficial to you. You find yourself doing things that your Harry would do instead of things that give the best metagaming rewards.

 

[madrigal]

The fact that you can pick an idea of a character and the game actually rolls with it is brilliant.

Except that you can't fail, if you play a loser cop, you still solve the case and get accepted back. The adaptability is a complete illusion. In the final conversation, you can say you lost your gun and badge, you crashed your car joy riding while drunk, show no remorse for any of it and you will still be judged as worthy because you solved the case.

The case you solve by stumbling on an island where the killer is sitting with the murder weapon and no bullets and ill so no way to escape and even if you understand nothing of his motive, any of the motives you choose for the killer are accepted in the final interrogation and if you are honest and say you don't know the motive the conversation loops infinitely until you select one of the three acceptable motives.

 

[Twiglard]

Interesting, the disguised cop at Whirling references an album by Future Sound of London. They had a great demo, and also this song:



The demo:



Actually the game does it twice:

- Far out son of lung
- Her face forms in summertime

From how it is presented in game one gets the impression that the Pale is either null data (as in the "2 mm hole in the world", apparently representing "nothing") or arbitrary data (i.e. whatever data remains at a given memory address at the time of its accession, like in the case of uninitialized variables in a language like C).

No. It's a metaphor for entropy. But strangely enough no references on how tardigrades will inherit the Earth. Bummer.

 

[Terenty]

The case you solve by stumbling on an island where the killer is sitting with the murder weapon and no bullets and ill so no way to escape and even if you understand nothing of his motive, any of the motives you choose for the killer are accepted in the final interrogation and if you are honest and say you don't know the motive the conversation loops infinitely until you select one of the three acceptable motives.

Really?

The developers explicitly said you could be a total failure of a cop and not solve the case. It was their whole schtick before the game released. What happened to that?

 

[Haba]

The fact that you can pick an idea of a character and the game actually rolls with it is brilliant.

Except that you can't fail, if you play a loser cop, you still solve the case and get accepted back. The adaptability is a complete illusion. In the final conversation, you can say you lost your gun and badge, you crashed your car joy riding while drunk, show no remorse for any of it and you will still be judged as worthy because you solved the case.

The case you solve by stumbling on an island where the killer is sitting with the murder weapon and no bullets and ill so no way to escape and even if you understand nothing of his motive, any of the motives you choose for the killer are accepted in the final interrogation and if you are honest and say you don't know the motive the conversation loops infinitely until you select one of the three acceptable motives.

I've seen multiple claims of an ending where Harry gets kicked out.

 

[Belegarsson]

Finally finished the game, took me 24 hours which means I missed a lot of things (didn't find the gun) because I didn't realize that shiver check was point of no return.

This game reminds me of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude (the bleak yet not hopeless atmosphere, and the sensation of a decrepit land that has been existing in multi generations), Pynchon's Inherent Vice (drug culture and some light hearted occurences) and Irvine Welsh's Filth (the dilemma that working class has to face, and fun dialects ).

Ubiquitousness of the past is probably the strongest theme of the game and also my most favourite. People try to get over it, some try to fight against it, some succumb to it. The Deserter erased himselves from reality so it can't haunt him and he came back to prove that the past doesn't forget.

The past leaves wound and heal them at the same time. Had there not been conflicts, there would have been no existential empathy. Had people not been lost and broken, there would have been no reason to celebrate life. That's probably the reason why Rene's off screen death hit so hard, whether you agree with his ideology or not, he was a pillar of a nearly long lost generation that's seen it all.

The entire game feels like a grand, imposing example of why we romanticize scars. We taste cruelty and heartbreak so the sun at the entrance of Elysium shines brighter. And ultimately, it's a testament to both how strong and fragile a human can be. Until now I still wonder if my Harry's sorry ass is still indulging in cheap alcohol every night, waiting for a right moment to off himself for good.

And god damn it the Dolores Dei thing. Nothing since Flowers for Algernon made me drop tears, I don't want to encounter that feeling again please

 

[Twiglard]

Cool, one more interesting conversation about the Pale.

Paledriver: They say there is a point -- one that I have not crossed -- in the pale superdeep. If you stray too far off the course on the U41-A, or in Lomonossov's Land... where every step you take is one step further from home, no matter the direction.

This references Penrose diagrams, and how crossing black hole's event horizon in fact twists space such-that each direction is inward. This Lovecraftian abomination literally makes space inside the contents of the event horizon disconnected from reality as we know it.

 

[madrigal]

I've seen multiple claims of an ending where Harry gets kicked out.

Maybe you can but the options I posted are not grounds enough.

 

[Haba]

I've seen multiple claims of an ending where Harry gets kicked out.

Maybe you can but the options I posted are not grounds enough.

Even if it does exist, it seems that very very few people went for that. According to Steam, only 0.6% of the players have managed to disappoint Kim.

 

[Terenty]

I've seen multiple claims of an ending where Harry gets kicked out.

Maybe you can but the options I posted are not grounds enough.

Even if it does exist, it seems that very very few people went for that. According to Steam, only 0.6% of the players have managed to disappoint Kim.

Basically you will have to go out of your way not to solve the case instead of the opposite

 

[Terenty]

FK in the coffee. Deadly Premonitin?

 

[Twiglard]

And god damn it the Dolores Dei thing. [...] I don't want to encounter that feeling again please

"Dolores Dei". Perception of a woman warped so hard she turned into a godlike figure, or a prophet. But is that person the thing in itself that's valuable? Or is it a symbol to own to feel better about oneself? I think it can go either way.

Edit: Or just both, to a varying degree. Been there, done that.

 

[Prime Junta]

oh shit

oh shit

ohshitohshitohshit

I just thought of something

you know that interview where Robert said he wants to make the protag of the next game a pregnant woman

well, who's the pregnant woman in this story?

 

[ItsChon]

oh shit

oh shit

ohshitohshitohshit

I just thought of something

you know that interview where Robert said he wants to make the protag of the next game a pregnant woman

well, who's the pregnant woman in this story?

Oh, "Dolores Dei"? Lame. I'd rather get a story based on Measurehead, and/or the people from his tribe.

 

[Deadass]

bruh i don't wanna play a thot pls

 

[Prime Junta]

bruh i don't wanna play a thot pls

Don't sweat it, he knows, he said it'd be commercial suicide and he wants to defer that until he's 50 or 60

 

[Shadenuat]

preggo nameless one with amnesia waifu protag or not GOTY.

also or zaum is chicken.

Spoiler

 

[Mortmal]

oh shit

oh shit

ohshitohshitohshit

I just thought of something

you know that interview where Robert said he wants to make the protag of the next game a pregnant woman

well, who's the pregnant woman in this story?

Possible but you wont get any hints here the only "dev" posting here is the guy with the keys doing a bit of cleaning and turning off the lights when everyone left the building.

 

[Twiglard]

preggo nameless one with amnesia waifu protag or not GOTY.

Klaaaaasje or Dora please.

Spoiler

FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA
FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA
FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA
FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA FUCK YOU DORA

 

[toro]

oh shit

oh shit

ohshitohshitohshit

I just thought of something

you know that interview where Robert said he wants to make the protag of the next game a pregnant woman

well, who's the pregnant woman in this story?

The Phasmid obviously.

Edit: Or based on previous experience, the protag will be called the The Pregnant One and it will be introduced in the last 10 minutes of the game.

 

[3 others]

Got the good ending on my 2nd playthrough:

Cunoesse Vittulainen

 

[vota DC]

oh shit

oh shit

ohshitohshitohshit

I just thought of something

you know that interview where Robert said he wants to make the protag of the next game a pregnant woman

well, who's the pregnant woman in this story?

It can be very interesting.
You start as strong independent woman that can defeat 3 ceramic armor mercenaries early game but the baby is kicking and decreasing your physique, you get premature Alzhemier to reduce your intellect and Parkinson to reduce your motorics and that makes you depressed so Psyche will reduce too. In the first part of the game gathering information will be very easy but the mistery gets bigger as your character become dumber and weaker.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

People butthurt on this game be like


Everything slightly left is "pushing current year agenda."