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

[Prime Junta]

Many of the Thought Catalog things you can research and unlock give mechanically negative effects. Like -1 to this -2 to this, etc. So do they have an actual in game effect or is it just you view your character as having developed this mindset and you roll with it even if it has a negative impact?

I haven't had any thoughts that give only mechanically negative effects, except some during the "research" phase. Mazovian Socio-Economics f.ex. does give skill maluses but it also gives an XP bonus whenever you say something Communist. I also think some Thoughts come in chains, i.e. you can't get a later one without an earlier one, and the later one is more beneficial.

Some of them also have highly useful mechanical side effects. Superstar for example is terrific if you have shit Motorics because it bumps the hell out of your Perception cap, and Perception is really kinda super useful.

 

[Trash]

Game absolutely fucked me over on day one when trying to approach the body. Raising the stat, ammonia and even adding that shit together thought didn't help. I actually thought the game was messing with me but you can repeatedly miss 87% checks. Even Kim was surprised the last time it happened. Finally got it by grinding another level.

Still, it didn't feel frustrating. More like some bizarre challenge and very much in line with the fucked up cop angle. Anyway, game is definitely not afraid to let you fail important checks.

 

[Prime Junta]

Yeah I know. I think I just ruined somebody's life by failing a check.

 

[Salvo]

Anyone got a datamined list of Thoughts and their bonuses? I'm curious...

 

[Tacgnol]

I was sceptical of this, but after playing a couple of hours I'm really enjoying it.

The skill checks have been varied and interesting as hell so far.

 

[Goose]

They're doing pretty good for an isometric visual novel about communism, and the hipster way. Especially as an indie developer no one has heard of, and it's only available in english.

I'm not being sarcastic either, I don't know what people were expecting numbers wise.

Numenera coasted on name recognition alone.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Didn't find the "always run".
Movement is shit all around.
Texts overlapping.
Crappy zoom.
Is this a unity game? I think this is a unity game.

 

[Twiglard]

So how should I run with it? Do stuff FOR THE LULZ? Try to make stuff work for the main character? Having played for several hours, the latter approach isn't all that satisfying and I keep missing a lot of skill checks regardless. Failure is funny, yeah, but the checks gate content.

The Conceptualization stuff is unfunny (in the "wacky hijinks" kind of way) most of the time, and I'm into abstract and morbid humor. At least I like the brain interjections.

Having played for several hours my minmaxing skills are less than satisfactory. There's always some skill with a low value that's overall not worth putting a point into, but gates content I'm interested in. So far it seems like:

- INT is king due to problem-solving and conversation skills
- Perception is as important as the INT skills. Hand-eye coordination has some checks but not so much for other DEX skills.
- STR wants me to take drugs and shit. It's good for having two hit points instead of one.
- PSY is less important than it seems to be. Slightly less than PER.

Am I doing it wrong? The game looks as if every combination is the "right" one to use. Some ultimate Sawyerite deviationism. I want to unlock the most content and the fucking game is cock-blocking me.

 

[tripedal]

I've discovered another bug:

Spoiler

When you read the letter hidden in the ledger, you pass out and Kim wakes you up. BUT, you can also read the ledger when Kim is gone for the rest of the day (with the body). In that case Kim still wakes you and then joins your party as if he never left.

 

[Twiglard]

I've discovered another bug:

Spoiler

When you read the letter hidden in the ledger, you pass out and Kim wakes you up. BUT, you can also read the ledger when Kim is gone for the rest of the day (with the body). In that case Kim still wakes you and then joins your party as if he never left.

Same thing (Kim-wise) happens in the motel interrogation.

Spoiler

The one upstairs.

 

[Starwars]

I've played a bit of the game now, going in pretty much blind.

Very easy to get drawn in I must say. The highlight for me has been the writing. I'm not 100% onboard with the humor, the more serious stuff, some of the political stuff and and how it all blends together, but there is some really good character writing here and there. I mean, basically the character interactions are really fun which is of course really important given how much of a talky-talky game it is. They pretty much nailed that.
I think they also have done a great job of having a strong "main questline" to follow but at the same time allowing minor dicking around, and how some of it melds together. I'm finding it pretty impressive how organically it seems to unfold thus far.

Not typically a big fan of dicerolls in convo skill checks but I'm liking it here. Just go with the flow.

So yeah, I'm pretty hooked thus far. The character interactions and writing are what's really making the game fun for me though like I said, I don't think the humor vs seriousness always succeeds.

And also, I love that the game feels unique to play. Stygian also had some of that but Disco Elysium is just way better overall, feels way more meaty, ambitious and solid as well.

 

[Andnjord]

Just finished the first day and had he grand idea to end on that letter in the ledger. That sure hit hard man

 

[Twiglard]

What builds do you guys use and how do they do wrt unlocking content?

 

[Tigranes]

So how should I run with it? Do stuff FOR THE LULZ? Try to make stuff work for the main character? Having played for several hours, the latter approach isn't all that satisfying and I keep missing a lot of skill checks regardless. Failure is funny, yeah, but the checks gate content.

The Conceptualization stuff is unfunny (in the "wacky hijinks" kind of way) most of the time, and I'm into abstract and morbid humor. At least I like the brain interjections.

Having played for several hours my minmaxing skills are less than satisfactory. There's always some skill with a low value that's overall not worth putting a point into, but gates content I'm interested in. So far it seems like:

- INT is king due to problem-solving and conversation skills
- Perception is as important as the INT skills. Hand-eye coordination has some checks but not so much for other DEX skills.
- STR wants me to take drugs and shit. It's good for having two hit points instead of one.
- PSY is less important than it seems to be. Slightly less than PER.

Am I doing it wrong? The game looks as if every combination is the "right" one to use. Some ultimate Sawyerite deviationism. I want to unlock the most content and the fucking game is cock-blocking me.

Why don't you just play a guy whose life is on the rocks and everything has a chance of going wrong? Why do you care that you get 18 oodles of content as opposed to 19? The less you treat it as a minmaxing game, the more you'll get out of it. Are you playing the game to maximise the sheer quantity of lines on a computer screen you will see, or are you playing to have a cohesive, well-paced experience? I also like minmaxing, but if I wanted to datamine traits, build a spreadsheet and reload 18 times to get the right build, I would play a combat-heavy party RPG with a robust system.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

The highlight for me has been the writing.

Really on the fence here, haven't played all that much so there's that but it ain't no UR. So far it's all been very.....flowery.., the voice acting had to go within 15 minutes

 

[tripedal]

I've discovered another bug:

Spoiler

When you read the letter hidden in the ledger, you pass out and Kim wakes you up. BUT, you can also read the ledger when Kim is gone for the rest of the day (with the body). In that case Kim still wakes you and then joins your party as if he never left.

Same thing (Kim-wise) happens in the motel interrogation.

Spoiler

The one upstairs.

Do you know if it breaks anything? I just reloaded and avoided it...

 

[Jezal_k23]

Why is everyone assuming this has bombed? Underrail recently achieved nearly 2k concurrent players (thousands of Underrail copies sold at $7.49 due to the Sseth review), and from what we heard from Styg, this is apparently a huge success. Disco Elysium has pulled off over 3k concurrent players, each copy sold at $40. How is this anything other than an amazing result for an indie game?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

This game is so fucking funny in an intelligent way:

Spoiler

 

[Butter]

What builds do you guys use and how do they do wrt unlocking content?

2 INT, 5 PSY, 4 FYS, 1 MOT, tagged Authority. I get tons of checks for Empathy, Authority, Inland Empire, and a decent number for Electrochemistry, Physical Instrument, Suggestion, Shivers. I have 1 Perception, which has got me worried because everyone says it's important but fuck it. I was lucky to pass a 3% Perception check anyway.

 

[Lady_Error]

Was being a complete asshole to a random stranger and then it turned into an actual investigation task.

Kasparov I wanted to mention that the initial loading screen is an issue on Win10 as well. The game freezes when that smoke video starts playing and about 20 seconds later unfreezes to show the main menu.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Hmmmmmm. Corrupt cop taking a slight detour. Although this thought has fucked me a few times as I'm internalizing it with that penalty. Shame I waited to start internalizing it until just before I was heading into some big important story shit. The thoughts are driving me a bit nuts too, since it's difficult to get a decent estimation of what they mean or do. Like I'm tempted by magnesium-based lifeform since I go through a lot of it but I don't trust the thoughts enough to really want to keep internalizing them now. Except in the case of oddballs like precarious world where I simply gotta.

 

[luinthoron]

Why is everyone assuming this has bombed? Underrail recently achieved nearly 2k concurrent players (thousands of Underrail copies sold at $7.49 due to the Sseth review), and from what we heard from Styg, this is apparently a huge success. Disco Elysium has pulled off over 3k concurrent players, each copy sold at $40. How is this anything other than an amazing result for an indie game?

And let's not forget that this is just Steam stats, and GOG may have lured away a lot of people by offering free Underrail in addition to the already superior DRM-free version.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Was being a complete asshole to a random stranger and then it turned into an actual investigation task.

Had that one too! Really cracked me up. The husband and wife, right? Laughed after wasting so much time on it when it actually turned into a task.

 

[BlackGoat]

Spoiler

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

EDIT: It also looks like there is no penalty for not resting/sleeping? I'm on Day 2 and am busily working away through the evening near midnight w/ no negative effect, is that true or will you start taking penalties if you just keep on going?

At 0200 everyone is sleeping, so there's not much you can do at that point.