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

[AwesomeButton]

I bet she's been climbing the dick ladder to get to where she is.

It's not a long ladder if you chance to find the right dick early on.

Joyce is a fancy lady, she wouldn't bang a literal hobo.

I'm sober, been so for two days!

 

[AwesomeButton]

I'd like to inform you that after getting to know her, I feel strangely attracted to Joyce L. Messier, both intellectually and sexually.

More like:

 

[Tigranes]

A question from someone still back in Day 4, a fairly simple one about the boardwalk area

Spoiler

I'm supposed to check out the area as a possible sniper spot, but I found & reported the fellow there before I activated that task. I can go to Land's End and properly scout out the area, but the boardwalk, there's nothing to do anymore except the trashcan? '

Or do I have to first 'check out the mural more closely'? Because I've talked to the dude and looked closely at both walls with no new option.

 

[Prime Junta]

A question from someone still back in Day 4, a fairly simple one about the boardwalk area

Spoiler

I'm supposed to check out the area as a possible sniper spot, but I found & reported the fellow there before I activated that task. I can go to Land's End and properly scout out the area, but the boardwalk, there's nothing to do anymore except the trashcan? '

Or do I have to first 'check out the mural more closely'? Because I've talked to the dude and looked closely at both walls with no new option.

Second option.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Here I was, 8 hours in, enjoying the game.

When all of a sudden, the 4th wall explodes and there's this dice-maker chick character who starts pompously telling me there's no "curses" in business (and the protag can only say stupid shit, while she sounds "Super Smart" in comparison, while spouting typical "free market" agitprop). So there's no curses, only hard work, and the reason all these other VIDEO GAME COMPANIES failed is because they had EGO PROBLEMS and were FOOLS, while ZA/UM are a bunch of GENIUS and HARD WORKING guys and that's why they made something HISTORICALLY UNPRECEDENTED and FASCINATING. A bit pompous, self-referential and pretentious, aren't we? The tone of the protag turning to stupid was wow. I have a strong feeling this dialogue was written by a dumb cunt (chick).

The entire tone of the game is very subtle, but this here was a hammer to the face. Very out of place.

I dropped the conversation, went out of the building and quit the game. Feeling annoyed.

I don't even have anything against the free market. It's just the bluntness and the stupidity of the propaganda, and the eccentricity with which infantile examples are presented as "DEEP THOUGHTS" was wow. Just fucking wow.

 

[Prime Junta]

I don't even have anything against the free market. It's just the bluntness and the stupidity of the propaganda, and of her "examples" was wow. Just fucking wow.

Spoiler

It turns out she's wrong though.

 

[Zombra]

3. Bargaining <---- this is you.
Trying bargain down your pre-launch expectations from "unprecedented freedom" all the way down to "look, reading meaningless flavor is the whole point".

My observation about the lifeblood of the game really has nothing to do with previous expectations. Playing the game I got, the text is what drives it, and differences in the text are what drive my interest. (I'm not going to play the game through 4 times nonstop - I don't do that with any game really - but it would be cool to watch a friend play it and see the different choices they make, or try again in a couple years with a totally different character.)

A VN? I mean, okay, let's look through that lens. When was it going to (structurally) be anything but a VN? A bunch of dialogue and branching choices. Gated by stats and dice rolls, but still that. So what points have you really scored there?

Would I have been happier with a million choices and a million different ways the story could go, without sacrificing any of the depth we did get? Of course. Was I convinced that that was what I should honestly expect? You tell me; you seem to have ideas about what I was thinking that I'm not aware of. Is it possible you're projecting?

Whatever direction it goes in, all this mind reading is quite appropriate when talking about this game.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

3. Bargaining <---- this is you.
Trying bargain down your pre-launch expectations from "unprecedented freedom" all the way down to "look, reading meaningless flavor is the whole point".

When was it going to be anything but a VN?

That was quick, you arrived to Acceptance while skipping Depression.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

A question from someone still back in Day 4, a fairly simple one about the boardwalk area

Spoiler

I'm supposed to check out the area as a possible sniper spot, but I found & reported the fellow there before I activated that task. I can go to Land's End and properly scout out the area, but the boardwalk, there's nothing to do anymore except the trashcan? '

Or do I have to first 'check out the mural more closely'? Because I've talked to the dude and looked closely at both walls with no new option.

Before you get that option,

Spoiler

You need to ask the old washerwoman about Ruby, then when she refuses to give information, search her cottage (the one she lets you sleep in for free) and ask her about Ruby again. Also, Kim needs to be with you when you inspect the mural. There might be an easy passive Shivers check you need to pass, too, but it’s low enough that you can do it with 1 in Shivers + the RCM raincoat, man from Hjemdall t-shirt, and the scarf that you find near the lighthouse.

Here I was, 8 hours in, enjoying the game.

When all of a sudden, the 4th wall explodes and there's this dice-maker chick character who starts pompously telling me there's no "curses" in business (and the protag can only say stupid shit, while she sounds "Super Smart" in comparison, while spouting typical "free market" agitprop). So there's no curses, only hard work, and the reason all these other VIDEO GAME COMPANIES failed is because they had EGO PROBLEMS and were FOOLS, while ZA/UM are a bunch of GENIUS and HARD WORKING guys and that's why they made something HISTORICALLY UNPRECEDENTED and FASCINATING. A bit pompous, self-referential and pretentious, aren't we? The tone of the protag turning to stupid was wow. I have a strong feeling this dialogue was written by a dumb cunt (chick).

Jeez, Bester, this is a major misread of what’s happening. All the Fortress Accident stuff is ZA/UM mocking itself and no one else. Their studio used to be called Fortress Occident. They’re making fun of the fact that people at ZA/UM have ego problems and often make foolish decisions (and the writers never meet their deadlines and they probably had way too many artists and not enough producers). Their self-insert studio was a catastrophic failure.

Plus, as Junta pointed out,

Spoiler

the dice maker is just plain wrong. After you do a later sidequest in the church, you’ll learn why the doomed commercial area is cursed. That should unlock a Shivers check and if you pass it, you can figure out why the dicemaker escaped the curse and then explain it to her, causing much butthurt.

 

[Prime Junta]

not enough producers

They had many producers. Many, many producers. They went through producers like Stakhanov through a coal vein. The quantity of producers was assuredly not a problem. I'm pretty sure there's a rehabilitation centre somewhere for former ZA/UM producers.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

You can't convince me this character was written by regular staff. Not only the tone is vastly different, even the huge number of replies and the unedited long answers are all pointing to the fact that some chick wrote it and someone white knighted for her so it wouldn't get cut.

Games usually have a writing guide. This is the only character that doesn't follow it. In lots of ways, too.

 

[Duraframe300]

Disco passed 50'000 owners (on steam)!

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

You can't convince me this character was written by regular staff. Not only the tone is vastly different, even the huge number of replies and the unedited long answers are all pointing to the fact that some chick wrote it and someone white knighted for her so it wouldn't get cut.

Games usually have a writing guide. This is the only character that doesn't follow it. In lots of ways, too.

I don’t know, I feel like you’re reading her as an author insert, but the actual author insert is Fortress Accident, and that’s coloring your reaction here.

not enough producers

They had many producers. Many, many producers. They went through producers like Stakhanov through a coal vein. The quantity of producers was assuredly not a problem. I'm pretty sure there's a rehabilitation centre somewhere for former ZA/UM producers.

I guess not that particular detail—they didn’t try to voice 10,000 heads either—but it’s crazy to read that floor as “this is why other studios fail and why we are awesome.”

 

[AwesomeButton]

They went through producers like Stakhanov through a coal vein.

ENCYCLOPEDIA: Stakhanov was fake news.

 

[Life of the Party]

I didn't finish the church quest.

What's the deal with the curse and the dicemaker?

 

[Prime Junta]

I didn't finish the church quest.

What's the deal with the curse and the dicemaker?

Ask in the spoiler thread if you really want to know.

I would strongly recommend you save it for a later playthrough to discover for yourself though, even if you don't want to start one now. (I just found out yesterday and IT BLEW MY MIND)

 

[AwesomeButton]

Is the whole church quest part of the "Fortress Accident" red herring? If yes, I'd leave it for another playthrough, because I feel I'm wasting too much time and things will blow up after day 4.

 

[Life of the Party]

I just found out yesterday and IT BLEW MY MIND

With FACTS and LOGIC?

 

[Prime Junta]

I just found out yesterday and IT BLEW MY MIND

With FACTS and LOGIC?

SO MUCH LOGIC

SO MANY FACTS

 

[Life of the Party]

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Is the whole church quest part of the "Fortress Accident" red herring? If yes, I'd leave it for another playthrough, because I feel I'm wasting too much time and things will blow up after day 4.

Don’t worry about running out of time.

Edit: Really, IHaveHugeNick, on my most extensive run I made it to day 6 before triggering the endgame without running out of time. Things do not blow up after day 4.

 

[Haba]

Don't worry about wasting time but do pay attention to your journal.

 

[Luckmann]

It's just the bluntness and the stupidity of the propaganda, and the eccentricity with which infantile examples are presented as "DEEP THOUGHTS" was wow. Just fucking wow.

This is about the only thing I agree with. While yes, she actually does come across as not following the writing guide, now that you mention it, there's plenty of characters in the game that can and will argue for various things. If anything, I think that she's one of the better examples precisely because her arguments/statements are exactly the kind of arguments you'd hear from an actual entry-level market liberal with a successful business.

If you want to discuss "bluntness and stupidity of the propaganda", let's discuss how every would-be "fascist" is an absurd caricature, and how every response in support of Fascism is either equally absurd ("Ok, I'm down with some racism lmao"/"Lmao foreigners bad, 'kay?"), not indicative of Fascism at all (basically any response supporting traditional values, conservatism, imperialism, racism, etc. contributes to Fascism), or - surprise surprise - doesn't contribute to Fascism at all (such as the actually very principially Fascist/authoritarian-hierarchial statement that the leaders have a responsibility to care for their people, which contributes to... communism, hah, bamboozled ha-ha so funny).

The political aspects of the game may be wide as an ocean but shallow as a puddle, but when it comes to the character you're referring to, it's actually not bad. She, along with the two old men (the imperial/royalist soldier & the journo coat-turning pinko), actually stand out as some of the better written ones, because while they argue/state very different points in very different ways, they're not caricatures, as opposed to, say, the racist lorry-driver, Measurehead, or the countless responses you can make.

As a side note, I wonder if it'd felt less jarring if they'd just called it Socialist/Jingoist/Libertarian/Moralist instead of Communist/Fascist/Ultraliberalist/Moralist. It would've meant a lot more flexibility of interpretation.

 

[Prime Junta]

As a side note, I wonder if it'd felt less jarring if they'd just called it Socialist/Jingoist/Libertarian/Moralist instead of Communist/Fascist/Hyperliberalist/Moralist. It would've meant a lot more flexibility of interpretation.

I am feeling very strange arguing with that avatar, with this avatar, with our respective positions. Send help

Anyway, you're taking the politics much too seriously. The game is taking a piss at all ideologies and all ideologists, and at refusing to commit to any ideology. Ideology is the "what can change the nature of a man" of DE: you just gotta pick an answer and roll with it, and then in the end you go like "huh, none of it really matters in the end."

 

[Eisenheinrich]

Here I was, 8 hours in, enjoying the game.

When all of a sudden, the 4th wall explodes and there's this dice-maker chick character who starts pompously telling me there's no "curses" in business (and the protag can only say stupid shit, while she sounds "Super Smart" in comparison, while spouting typical "free market" agitprop). So there's no curses, only hard work, and the reason all these other VIDEO GAME COMPANIES failed is because they had EGO PROBLEMS and were FOOLS, while ZA/UM are a bunch of GENIUS and HARD WORKING guys and that's why they made something HISTORICALLY UNPRECEDENTED and FASCINATING. A bit pompous, self-referential and pretentious, aren't we? The tone of the protag turning to stupid was wow. I have a strong feeling this dialogue was written by a dumb cunt (chick).

The entire tone of the game is very subtle, but this here was a hammer to the face. Very out of place.

I dropped the conversation, went out of the building and quit the game. Feeling annoyed.

I don't even have anything against the free market. It's just the bluntness and the stupidity of the propaganda, and the eccentricity with which infantile examples are presented as "DEEP THOUGHTS" was wow. Just fucking wow.

Snowflake.