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

[Heroic Liberator]

You don't get a new portrait in the moralist vision quest, right?

 

[Larianshill]

Maybe you do, I didn't get past the second check yet.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Ah, thought you've finished it.

In that case, godspeed and keep us updated.

 

[Harthwain]

I want the achievement, no other reason. Disco Elysium doesn't become any harder to beat on the hardcore mode, since the game basically plays itself, it just becomes harder to see new content, so I feel no guilt whatsoever.

Ah, I see. I didn't realize there is an achievement for finishing the hardcore mode specifically.

 

[Larianshill]

Does the game feel agonizingly slow to anyone else now? After each interaction, there's about five second window where your clicks don't register, as the screen slowly drags, and whatever animations have been going on finish.

 

[Polyphemus]

Objective evidence of the decline of Cuno:

Alright, there's no way I'm playing with the new voice acting. It was bad enough that they had one guy voice every skill.

Is there much actual new content, or just these vision quests?

 

[Ghulgothas]

Is there much actual new content, or just these vision quests?

Some new area with new content, purportedly. No idea where it is or how to get there, or how tied it is to the 4 vision quests.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Cuno is a little cunt. I got a lot of satisfaction out of punching him to the ground now that I am playing a character with a good Physical Instrument skill.

Achievement Unlocked: Made Cuno Care

 

[Zariusz]

I started new game with Final Cut and it all feels weird, i just have this feeling "wait this shit wasn't there, there was something different". Its not about new content but more like changing what was there already. Ehh probably my bad memory, i finished this in 2019 and didnt touch it since i think.

 

[Latro]

more fitting for a PC game with professional VO

yeah, and combat with brainless power fantasy story is more fitting for a PC game developed by professional gamedesigners.

Combat is gameplay. If you cannot differentiate gameplay from “power fantasy”, it is because you are taking the video game a tad too seriously.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

more fitting for a PC game with professional VO

yeah, and combat with brainless power fantasy story is more fitting for a PC game developed by professional gamedesigners.

Combat is gameplay. If you cannot differentiate gameplay from “power fantasy”, it is because you are taking the video game a tad too seriously.

Go read some books, kid.

 

[Latro]

more fitting for a PC game with professional VO

yeah, and combat with brainless power fantasy story is more fitting for a PC game developed by professional gamedesigners.

Combat is gameplay. If you cannot differentiate gameplay from “power fantasy”, it is because you are taking the video game a tad too seriously.

Go read some books, kid.

Game by day and read by night bruh

 

[Alpan]

There is now a Klaasje comparison too:



The new voice has none of the mystique of the original. It feels bog-standard. Even before that though, and I'm not sure if this is an artifact of video recording, but the new voice kinda sounds like she's speaking over Discord. The mixing is definitely a bit off.

 

[Hellion]

I honestly can't fathom how one could possibly find "Old Klaasje" superior to "New Klaasje". Or even find her voice "more seductive".

Compared to the new VO, she sounded like a role straight out of a b-movie RLM usually reviews.

 

[Drowed]

She sounded bored/tired, but it was kinda the point. I didn't see much difference in the two cases.

But Cuno was a regrettable loss.

 

[Ghulgothas]

Tiago the Crab-Man is another unfortunate casualty of the redub.

Gotten a significant way into my Final Cut run, and so far the only new voices I like over the originals are Rene, Gaston and the Hardies (Not Titus).

 

[jackofshadows]

That is a very lazy, no proper Klassje comparison. For a proper one VO samples should be taken from

Spoiler

interrogation

scene, even if there wasn't that many bits. Something tells me this new broad didn't deliver in that regard but I could be wrong ofc.

 

[Alpan]

That is a very lazy, no proper Klassje comparison.

Disagreed. The initial encounter did more than the interrogation to set the tone for the character.

 

[Lithium Flower]

I like both the classic and the new VOs for their intended purposes.

What people are failing to consider is that VOs that sound good for a few lines, to provide maximum characterization for the character, may be overbearing or grating when extended to the character's entire dialogue. People bemoaning the change in Cuno's VO actor/direction don't understand how grating listening to him would have been in the long run - that's a good half hour of being screamed at by a manic kiddo-chan. Same with Joyce's steely delivery, or Kortenaer's drunken drawl. It makes sense that, for the purposes of full voice acting, the deliveries were scaled down to a more natural cadence.

IMO the classic VO was excellent at defining each character in a few brief lines, but the new VO is more pleasant, with nuances that reveal themselves in the long run. The change in direction showed that ZA/UM carefully considered the needs and limitations of both sparse and full voice acting, and picked actors and direction that harmonized with their design goals.

However, these comparison videos will naturally disappoint most, because they showcase a switch between an actor giving their all in a few brief lines to a restrained excerpt from a much larger body of work - as a result, line-for-line the classic VO will sound more lively. It's a lot like how Pepsi overwhelmingly wins in taste tests versus Coca Cola by the virtue of being sweeter, but the latter is an empirically more popular drink in the long run due to its more balanced taste.

Of course, ideally the classic setting would have used old VOs for this reason, but considering an overwhelming majority of people are going to play with full voice acting, I can see why they decided to save some disk space and just stick with a single, consistent VO for every setting.

Psychological is still king, though.

 

[frajaq]

These voiced skill lines are bothering me way more than they should

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

New voice actors are shit. Not reading the thread.

 

[True Ukrainian]

Is it worth playing the game again if you've completed the original version?

 

[AwesomeButton]

There is now a Klaasje comparison too:



The new voice has none of the mystique of the original. It feels bog-standard. Even before that though, and I'm not sure if this is an artifact of video recording, but the new voice kinda sounds like she's speaking over Discord. The mixing is definitely a bit off.

Why is the game being narrated by a Huana from Deadfire? Za/Um have been smoking too much.

What people are failing to consider is that VOs that sound good for a few lines, to provide maximum characterization for the character, may be overbearing or grating when extended to the character's entire dialogue

Don't even try to sell me this shit. There is simply good and bad voice acting. Grim Fandango was fully voiced, and it didn't need bland or bored-sounding tone, nor people who sound like they are struggling to read, in order to "not feel overbearing or grating". It was great because it was done by actors.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Speaking of Grim Fandango - when they made the director's cut version for that game, the remixed soundtrack was again terrible compared to the original. Another proof that it's down to talent or technical ability respectively.

 

[KVVRR]

Finished the game with an ultra lib high int and mot artcop Harry. I think the new VO is overall an improvement BUT for the people who'd rather hear the characters themselves talk rather than just read it. Personally, if Classic mode would disable the narrator voice for the skills, I'd play it that way. I don't know why it doesn't.

Spoilers below.

New voice actors are a mixed bag. There are a few like Miss Oranje Disco Dancer and Harry's entire precinct that are actually better than their originals even if they lack in some parts (Jean's new voice actor can't get as angry his predecesor) and most of them are at least on par, even if they're reinterpretations like Lena, who sounds less like deary old Grandma but like a gentle old lady from the south, or Garte who doesn't sound as refined but puts a lot more emotion into his lines. But for every one who fits there are some that are just straight up a downgrade. I don't know what they were thinking with the new Titus. He sounds like a drunk barely awake trying to put up a rough act, which hey, it is part of his character, but not all the time. Especially not after the tribunal. It really isn't as imposing as his previous voice, who actually gave the impresion of a tough man leading a group of vigilantes. It clashes REALLY hard in the tribunal, because he sounds very similar as Raul Kortenaer (the RIGHT TO WORK mercenary) who is also a decline from his previous actor. New one doesn't sound neither as drunk nor as angry.

The voices for characters that didn't have any are pretty good though. As said before Harry's entire precinc is now full of personality and makes me want to do a full Espirit de Corps run. That they have a lot of different yet well put accents really gives them a lot more of colors. There are also a very good detail with the Shivers skill. You know how you have the skill actually talk to you instead of describing the world every now and then? They went through the effort of dubbing these lines with another VO rather than the narrator who usually does it, so every now and then you'd hear her. The city, speaking to you.

Spoiler

And then you get to the last dream, and realize it is actually Dora/Dolores Dei voice you've been hearing all this time.

There are a lot of new good ones voices. Horrific Necktie, The Phasmid, the murderer, even the DJs from SPEEDFREAKS fm are all very good. But with a game as big on words as this, I'm not sure it's worth it unless the main thing holding you back from playing it was having to read this much.
Something weird I noticed was that sometimes the new voicelines didn't match with what was happening or even written on screen. The most noticable one I can remember is that halfway through the Ruby showdown Kim stopped talking like his head was about to burst and decided this was just a normal interview. Very weird.

Now, in regards to the new content, I think it's an improvement overall. The new political vision quests are a very nice implementation and, from what I've seen, give characters who previously didn't have much to do new ways to shine. For example, in the ultralib one

Spoiler

buying art from Cindy, selling it to the light bending ultra rich guy for stonks and using them to buy the streetlight and having Idiot Doom Spiral as your manager and construct you an actually pretty nice monument to you (as well as at least trying to have him leave the bottle)

All very good, makes me want to try new ones.
The new animations are a plus as well. Especially just before the credits roll, it helps give it more of a sense of closure to the whole thing. There's an entire new animation if you decide to make Harry sleep in a dumpster, too.

Spoiler

After reading that something cool happened if you failed the unavoidable shivers check I decided to try and do so and it is pretty damn cool

Spoiler

You get told to check on the children by the sea, so you do so. Afterwards it's revealed that they've somehow listened to Speedfreaks FM despite not being a single radio on the whole village - so you need to go ask the actual radio djs for info.

Afterwards you deduce that you need to go back to the building Ruby's hiding in, and suprisingly now there's a new check besides the shivers one to progress. Can't remember if it was a logic, conceptualization or encyclopedia one.

There are a few noticable bugs too. There were several times where voicelines didn't play out (or a muffled sound did), lines started halfway through, normal voices played in a radio conversation (which have their respective radio sounds) and with the phasmid encounter it's voicelines straight up didn't turn on on Psychological mode, I had to turn full on VO for it. I don't know why, is it supposed to show it's really just Harry talking to himself?

Overall, I'd say it's a welcomed improvement. New content is very good, but the new voice actors are a mixed bag, especially when it comes to previously stablished characters, and one might just prefer to just read instead of listen, sadly there's no actual option for that. The classic mode really should just mute the narrator altogether.
Oh, and yeah, they really shouldn't have bothered having the narrator voice the skills too. His voice is very good but also very slow and not for highly emotional characters such as the skills. I had a friend stream his (mostly blind) run and he inmediatedly switched him off. Hours later I told him to turn him on for the first big shivers check, he said "hey this is pretty good, I think I'll keep him on". 15 minutes later he turned it off again.