Incline Disco Elysium - The Final Cut - a hardboiled cop show isometric RPG

[TT1]

OMG, is possible to shot Cunoesse. This game is GLORIOUS.

 

[axedice]

Well I was expecting to see her brains blown out in gory detail, so I felt a little bit letdown. But just a little.

 

[vota DC]

I'd go with mostly FYS/MOT, tagging Authority and pumping it with items (and Thoughts if you can manage it without metagaming). 1-2-5-4? You'd start with Authority 3 and be able to pump it to 6 even without any Thoughts or items. Drop a bit of psychedelics and put an extra pip into it for 7. With items you'll be able to get that to 9 which is plenty.

Are you sure? Tag means +1 learning cap so every psyche will have 3 learning more except authority just because 1 is already used.

 

[Theldaran]

Is Disco Elysium the new Planescape Torment in terms of writing quality?

 

[AwesomeButton]

OMG, is possible to shot Cunoesse. This game is GLORIOUS.

Is it really an automatic Game Over?

Is Disco Elysium the new Planescape Torment in terms of writing quality?

I'd say it's better.

 

[Prime Junta]

Is it really an automatic Game Over?

Yes.

I'd say it's better.

I'm not sure. I'm not even sure it's possible to rank them nor what would be the point of trying. I'll have to replay PS:T one of these days to check.

-- The differences are as interesting as the similarities IMO though. PS:T reads very much like a young man's game, the philosophising about what can change the nature of a man is the kind of shit you do in your twenties when you're trying to figure out who you actually are. It's clear the DE writers have... lived a little. I do think that the Apricot-Scented One punches harder than Deionarra for example -- Deionarra is kind of a Gothic romance written by somebody who's read a lot of them but probably hasn't lived that many, whereas the ex-something feels agonisingly real. I don't think it's possible to write up heartbreak as vividly as that if you haven't paid your dues. (Note that this isn't intended as a criticism, the Deionarra story is beautiful and brilliant, it's just different.)

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

The writing quality and overall similarities are quite strong between PS:T and Disco Incline. Disco is one of my all-time favorite written games, the writing is just very expressive and also entertaining, over the top at times in a good way. Between it and PS:T I wouldn't be able to choose a favorite, although I do lean a bit towards PS:T since I think the setting is unmatched (although Disco Incline's setting is also very good.)

 

[vota DC]

I think the game would benefit from having one less skill for each attribute. Merge Drama into Rhetoric/Suggestion, kill Pain Threshold, merge Savoir Faire into Hand-Eye Coordination, etc. The checks were slightly too random in some cases, with multiple skills underutilized.

If the sequel is X4 times bigger they can keep it, if it is "only" X2 times they could merge.
In motorics I would merge Savoir Faire and Reaction Speed. Hand-Eye is more similar to interfacing maybe, anyway if the sequel will have more shooting it would be a very powerful combo.
Agree with rethorics+drama.
Pain Threshold is used even in warhammer: it means that you will less likely get damage when hit. It is difficult which skill merge in that field. Half Light right now just unlock funny quotes but if you aren't a cop you would use it more often not rely on authority for threatening people. It could be merged with physical instrument but then you couldn't play as an aggressive midget.

 

[Will Zurmacht]

What's with the thought cabinet?

The main issue is that final bonuses should be listed along with research penalties. Similar to the classic Fallouts there are tons of noob trap perks in Disco and the "trial and error that costs you skill points lol" system is unacceptable.

One funny quirk is that most of the commie and capitalist perks are pretty shit but the ones taught by that racist beefcake are among the best in the game.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

The main issue is that final bonuses should be listed along with research penalties. Similar to the classic Fallouts there are tons of noob trap perks in Disco and the "trial and error that costs you skill points lol" system is unacceptable.

Just look up the wiki if you want to spoil yourself. Half the point of the thought cabinet is that you're picking up an idea and you don't know where it's gonna go.

 

[Forest Dweller]

The main issue is that final bonuses should be listed along with research penalties. Similar to the classic Fallouts there are tons of noob trap perks in Disco and the "trial and error that costs you skill points lol" system is unacceptable.

Just look up the wiki if you want to spoil yourself. Half the point of the thought cabinet is that you're picking up an idea and you don't know where it's gonna go.

Agreed. That's the whole point of the system. It's actually a pretty good representation of how it works in real life.

Some of them open up dialogue options as well, and from a narrative perspective it's important you wouldn't know that ahead of time.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Don't spoil yourself. It's worth playing blind. There's no reason to min/max in the game.

 

[vota DC]

The main issue is that final bonuses should be listed along with research penalties. Similar to the classic Fallouts there are tons of noob trap perks in Disco and the "trial and error that costs you skill points lol" system is unacceptable.

Just look up the wiki if you want to spoil yourself. Half the point of the thought cabinet is that you're picking up an idea and you don't know where it's gonna go.

Some that I didn't even tried seems odd because final result is far more worse than research bonus. Lonesome road is ok because you lost that +1 to ENC but you get the perception cap high that can be very useful if you have low motorics but I seen some on the list that give you huge research bonus for a couple of hours and you have nothing when researched.

 

[Tigranes]

OK I went 1-2-6-3 with Authority tagged

First day highlights: learnt Advanced Race Theory and then beat up Measurehead anyway because fuck me I always thought if you're going to subscribe to being a Free Thinker with a clear eyed view of Scientific Racism then you're not going to suck some Youtuber's arsehole like some desperate otaku cuck, you're gonna beat the shit out of him on your zen quest to blood purity

Task Complete: Regaled Friend Garte With Tales of Cock Carousel, Garte Very Appreciate

 

[Prime Junta]

I seen some on the list that give you huge research bonus for a couple of hours and you have nothing when researched.

That's the trick right there. Use them as a temporary stat boost when you need them.

 

[Life of the Party]

Svet Kompjutera gave it 94.

I was expecting Miodrag Kuzmanović but it was some other guy, probably because of Qzma being a bit too Codexian for such an agitprop of a game.

He called it an inexplicably functional mishmash of Torment, Fallout, Sanitarium, Nordic noir, Hunter S. Thompson, Terry Gilliam and Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

 

[Prime Junta]

He called it an inexplicably functional mishmash of Torment, Fallout, Sanitarium, Nordic noir, Hunter S. Thompson, Terry Gilliam and Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

Fair.

 

[Prime Junta]

God damnit they put in this beautiful moment of Communism and I missed it. "A hug a day keeps the bourgeoisie away."

Spoiler

Edit: god damn the comments on that tweet though, I really don't want to live on this godforsaken planet anymore

Spoiler

"Don't hug people without their consent tho."
"I do agree. No hugs without consent irl."

 

[AwesomeButton]

"Nordic noir" is a good point. It did remind me a bit of "Insomnia" (2002).

 

[fantadomat]

God damnit they put in this beautiful moment of Communism and I missed it. "A hug a day keeps the bourgeoisie away."

Spoiler

Edit: god damn the comments on that tweet though, I really don't want to live on this godforsaken planet anymore

Spoiler

"Don't hug people without their consent tho."
"I do agree. No hugs without consent irl."

Welcome to Revachol .!.

 

[vota DC]

God damnit they put in this beautiful moment of Communism and I missed it. "A hug a day keeps the bourgeoisie away."

Spoiler

Edit: god damn the comments on that tweet though, I really don't want to live on this godforsaken planet anymore

Spoiler

"Don't hug people without their consent tho."
"I do agree. No hugs without consent irl."

That was Batman's girlfriend, she changed her surname to Segal because Measurehead suggested that al ghul is bad.

 

[Squid]

Haven't had time to beat this game. But 8 hours in and I think I'm finally running out of things to talk to people about on Monday night around midnight to 1 am.

Game's pretty damn neat so far.

 

[Ramnozack]

God damnit they put in this beautiful moment of Communism and I missed it. "A hug a day keeps the bourgeoisie away."

Spoiler

Edit: god damn the comments on that tweet though, I really don't want to live on this godforsaken planet anymore

Spoiler

"Don't hug people without their consent tho."
"I do agree. No hugs without consent irl."

You don’t like your fellow comrades, comrade?

 

[Will Zurmacht]

God damnit they put in this beautiful moment of Communism

Spoiler

"Honest working class plastic explosives..."

That one was so good I had to write it down.

 

[TT1]

Kotaku review:

https://kotaku.com/disco-elysium-the-kotaku-review-1839723176

Disco Elysium: The Kotaku Review

The most important thing about Disco Elysium, an oddly titled role-playing game that came out last month for PC, is that it’s funny. Set in a beautifully ugly world of smudged watercolors and throbbing noir music, Disco Elysium appears at first to be the type of game that might take itself too seriously. It seems nihilistic, dropping not-so-subtle messages that its writers believe everything sucks. Fascists bombed the city. The union leaders are corrupt. The cops are jerks. But there’s a warmth to the game that reveals itself over time, largely thanks to its fantastic sense of humor. Following a branch of dialogue is just as likely to lead to a long-winded treatise about communist philosophy as it is to result in your character dying from a heart attack because he got exhausted trying to remove his tie from a ceiling fan.

Disco Elysium is best described as a cross between the seminal role-playing game Planescape: Torment and a LucasArts point-n-click adventure like, say, Monkey Island. It’s an isometric RPG, complete with stats and equipment, but rather than battle guards and monsters, you have conversations. Trials are resolved through dialogue options rather than combat. Many of those dialogue options are locked behind Dungeons & Dragons-style dice rolls—failing, say, an Empathy check will make it tough to understand what someone is thinking—but most of this game is about reading oodles and oodles of text. It’s less traditional RPG, more visual novel. Perhaps the gamiest thing about Disco Elysium is a pair of life meters—one for health, one for morale—which will tick down when you, say, kick a mailbox, or drunkenly embarrass yourself. You can pick up restorative items for both meters, and if either of them drains, you’ll get a game over. But all you’ve really got is text.

The good news is that all the text is fantastic. Your character, an alcoholic mess who wakes up with no recollection of his past, quickly learns that he’s a detective who’s been tasked with investigating a murder in the decrepit city of Revachol. “Become a hero or an absolute disaster of a human being,” offers Disco Elysium’s marketing slogan, but it’s difficult to avoid the latter. Whether you’re trying to make amends with colleagues whose names you’ve forgotten or attempting to convince a smarmy union leader to help you find your missing gun, chances are high you’ll fall on your face. Early in my playthrough, for example, I encountered a teenage tweaker named Cuno with red hair and a penchant for foul insults. In order to show dominance and get Cuno to stop throwing rocks at the corpse of my murder victim, I took a swing at him, knowing that my physical strength was subpar. I failed the roll, which caused my character to deliver a glorious haymaker right into the air, toppling over and losing a health point. Cuno got a kick out of it.

An alternate-reality incarnation of my character might have connected that punch but perhaps would have lacked the mental fortitude to pass a later check and convince Cuno to chill out. If I’d made smarter decisions and succeeded at more dice rolls, I might have even persuaded him to become my junior partner and keep me company on a mission later in the game. There are maybe 30 or 40 characters in Disco Elysium, and many of them, like Cuno, are memorable, worth revisiting multiple times over the course of your investigation. Maybe they’ve got new things to say, or maybe one of your stats will be higher and offer you a better chance at a dialogue check you failed earlier. (You can retry many stat checks every time you put a point into that stat. You get those points by gaining experience and leveling up, which happens organically as you play.)

Your stats aren’t just good for passing dialogue checks, though. Each of them is a voice inside of your character’s head, chiming in to offer commentary during conversations and dull moments. Your Electrochemistry stat, for example, will encourage you to seek out and ingest as many drugs and alcoholic beverages as you can find. Encyclopedia will interject with lore dumps about Revachol and its history, while Drama will encourage you to lie to everyone you meet in increasingly hilarious ways. Some of the most interesting skills are the most specific ones, like Esprit De Corps, which gives you a psychic connection to other cops, and Inland Empire, which prowls the inner depths of your imagination and comes up with all sorts of disturbing conclusions. The interplay between these skills might be the best thing about Disco Elysium, full of clever quips and hilarious moments.

The caveat is that you can’t play Disco Elysium like you might play a standard RPG. Most games with dialogue options encourage you to explore them all, with RPGs like The Witcher 3 signaling that optional text will always be white and text that advances the conversation will always be yellow. There’s no downside to asking every question and exploring every possibility. In Disco Elysium, however, even the optional dialogue can have very real consequences—ask someone about something too brusquely, for example, and you face the very real risk of shutting them down forever. Call someone a fuckhead and they might remember it every time you speak to them.

The sheer number of role-playing possibilities in Disco Elysium is mind-boggling and often overwhelming. You can play as a pinko communist, an apathetic centrist, or a fascist herb. You can miss major quests and story moments if you choose the wrong paths or don’t get to them quickly enough. (Disco Elysium unfolds over the course of about a week, with time passing only when you have conversations.) Dialogue options that at first seem like throwaway jokes can lead to gut-wrenching quests, and people who seem delusional might reveal themselves to have the sharpest minds in Revachol. I’m still not quite sure what I could have done with the man I stumbled upon in a truck container who was so rich that he was literally glowing, but I’m glad I was able to go on a pseudo-date with that hard-boiled fisherwoman. She seemed lovely.

Later in the game, once you’ve started to understand all of Disco Elysium’s systems and you just want to see the ending through, the thrill dissipates. It becomes a little too easy to min-max the game, save-scumming or swapping out your equipment just before each skill check so you can boost your chances of passing. The final act railroads you in a way that’s disconcerting compared to the pure freedom of the rest of the game, and some of your choices don’t appear to matter quite as much as they should in the broader scheme of things. Still, this is a tremendous game, one I’d recommend to anybody who likes their games to be heavy on the text, hard-boiled, and hilarious.

There’s unexpected joy in the little moments of Disco Elysium, like trying to crack your straitlaced partner Kim Kitsuragi’s shell. Kim at first seems like the perfect foil to your antics—a frequently exasperated, by-the-book cop who wishes he hadn’t been saddled with an alcoholic, amnesiac mess. But over time it becomes clear that Kim has developed a soft spot for your hero. At one point, the two of you might find yourselves staring at the bullet-filled wall of an apartment building, the remnants of a mass execution that had been carried out decades earlier. You might stare at the wall and nod, pensively. He’ll nod, too. You’ll nod harder. He’ll nod faster. You’ll nod furiously, and look over to see him nodding so much that he’s actually sweating. Keep nodding and you’ll actually take physical damage—maybe even enough to cause a heart attack and die—but you might earn his respect in the process. You might even get him to smile.