Topic: Disco Elysium

Starting my first playthrough of this game tonight. Anything I really need to know beforehand?

@Kidfried Try not to reload checks you fail as failing is part of the fun. Also holding down either L1 or R1, I forget, shows the objects you can interact with. Right stick is a bit fiddly but try to point towards the object you want to interact with. One tap of X walks towards the interactive object, another interacts with it. It’s a great game, hope you enjoy!

@Kidfried It can take some time to get used to how you select items too; once you press X, your guy will then wander around to the right position to interact with it no matter how close you are.

But yeah, talk to everyone, checks are sometimes meant to be failed, and don't be afraid to go weird!

Just a quick question from a noobie, how does the time exactly work? Should I worry about getting stuff done in time more, or can I just chat with the bookstore owner for an hour about police novels, even though I probably won't make any progress that way.

@Kidfried The time is pretty sketchy. Some things move it forward and others don't. I'm by no means an expert but I did keep an eye on it because I wondered the same thing, and I found that I think that conversations that advance the story in some tangible way move time forward while general chit chat seems to not. So like just going round and exhausting all conversation options will not advance time every question, but just the one that gives you the bit of information you need to progress.

I think.

But I also think the time doesn't matter that much either.

@johncalmc But do I need to worry about that at all? I like taking in all the lore, however useless, but on the other hand I don't want to suffer consequences from deviating from the main path.

@Kidfried I definitely don't want to say 100% as I used no guides when playing and winged it - so there might be something I didn't notice or just didn't come across - but in my experience no, not really. It doesn't seem to matter. Like it's not a ticking clock like in Persona where a certain thing is going to happen on a certain day and woe betide you if you messed about at the batting range or taking your girlfriend to the burger shop.

In Disco Elysium time moves on but then once you've been to bed and you're back at it everyone is kinda just back where they were. So certain things can perhaps be only done at night - but it doesn't matter which night. Certain things you need to wait for a specific time but it doesn't matter if it's today or tomorrow. From memory there were no hard cut-offs where I specifically needed to do a thing and couldn't because I spent too long talking to the locals.

Also, deviating from the main path is actually useful. And honestly recommended. I know that your partner will chime in and be like, "Hey this is nothing to do with our investigation," or whatever, but there's no negative consequences to taking on side-quests. It helps build your character. You should do every quest you can, unless you disagree with the quest on moral grounds or whatever.

@Kidfried Time advances when you interact with anything except bubbles. Usually when you talk to someone or read a book and such.

@johncalmc Thank you for your reply!

@Kidfried Time stops at 2am but there’s normally very little going on at that time.

It feels like you need to do as much as possible but I don’t think there is actually a rush. One part of the map doesn’t open until after a bit of time but I don’t think the story pushes on at a certain point but more once you’ve hit certain points.

Basically, don’t get too hung up on it.

@Kidfried How're you getting on with the game?

And has anyone else tried a hardcore run of the game yet?

@Thrillho I used to worry a lot about the game at the start, but I think that's mainly due to a little too much being unclear. Yes, the writing is awesome, the music is nice, the voice acting acts a lot of depth, but I kept worrying about the game. Was I making enough progress? What's the consequence of failing a certain challenge? What do the different attributes do anyway?

The game starts off with a tutorial in the hotel room, but I don't think it's really enough to give the player a feel for what to except. I've seen a lot of people comparing your attributes, thoughts, to party members. And that's a nice way to look at it. And what I would have loved a bit more, is that you'd get these thoughts during the game, like party members in an RPP joining your team. It's completely unclear what the player should focus on, making your first hours into the game seemingly random. You just choose something... because you have to choose something.

I'm at day 3 and I have a way clearer idea of what I want to do now and what I should focus on. And I enjoy the game more.

Another thing is patience, you need a lot of it. I'm playing this game with my partner, who loves large scale and complex games. They can play Disco Elysium for hours on and, without seemingly making progress or an idea what to do. Their favorite games are Dragon Age, Fallout and The Witcher, to give you an idea. I'm more of a Chicory and Ratchet & Clank kind of player. I wouldn't call myself casual, and I wouldn't call my partner very hardcore either; it comes more down to patience and the willingness to deal with an enormous amount of variables.

Anyway, it's my fault that it took us quite a while to really start making progress, but now we're making progress and loving it.

@Thrillho I really love the writing and the way you can really make your own personality and the world changes according to it. Our character believes he's the hero of the people, so truly arrogant, superstar and believing we're some kind of reincarnation of Mazov. I can only imagine that this is the most popular way to play the game. Amnesia is the perfect excuse to reinvent yourself into someone cool.

Of course we stay off the booze and drugs, because they're opium of the people, and only hinder the ultimate goal of a new revolution. And we're quickly making a lot of enemies, because of our much hated guts.

Also, this is very much a game for Europeans. There's a lot of typically European references in there; the EU, the very German/Dutch notion of social democracy, the topic of colonialism from the European perspective, etc. Like The Witcher too it is nice when a game world more closely resembles your own, instead of the US.

@Kidfried Yeah, the game’s definitely made by Europeans for Europeans, the unique post-Soviet perspective is what grounds an otherwise made-up world in reality.

@Kidfried I think the game is quite clever in subverting your expectations of a game. The start felt to me like it was intentionally vague with things to go with the fact you don't know anything about yourself or what is going on. It is a bit discombobulating but it almost seems like it's supposed to be. It also wants you to play it differently by mocking you for being boring, saying sorry etc.

With stats, I thought it would be more interesting to go all in on certain areas to get higher level access to some options but by the end of the game, I had so much XP that I had pretty decent stats across the board but with some especially high. The amount of clothing I had also meant I could tinker with stats to normally get the level needed to pass checks. As for checks themselves, it's clever that the game WANTS you to fail some.

Minor spoilers incoming for early game stuff!
The biggest example would be the check that Joyce gives (to do with your badge I think?). Failing it unlocks the task of investigating the drug smuggling which reveals more stuff about the case. Pass the check to start with and you'll never get that task and part of the story.
Spoilers end

Glad to hear you're enjoying it though. I really want to do another run at some point, probably in hardcore mode, and just go off the deep end with hedonism and fascism, and maybe a later one as a paranormal detective.

@Keith_Zissou Yeah, just figure out what kind of person you want your guy to be and roll with it. The game encourages you to be a bit weird and it’s probably most fun to lean into some specific character trait.

Also, don’t worry about failing speech checks as sometimes that leads to more interesting things and if you find yourself at a dead end there’s almost certainly someone else to talk to..

Enjoy!

young man, pick up guilty gear strive or kingdom hearts 3

@DivinityTaste

Started DE last week. It's great and unique in many ways. I like the political nature and the bizarre thought processes are amazing.

The intro is great, the menus are boss and the creativity is ingenious.

On the end day 2 about to go to bed and have a decent handle on what I need to do. I've put most of my points in Rhetoric, Encyclopedia, Drama and Conceptualisation. Playing it straight, avoiding drugs and drink.

Pretty cool brain cabinet idea I learned was one which is giving me 1xp every time I click on a bubble. I think I got that off the lady on the boat.