Disco Elysium - Final Impressions (Spoilers)

So I just finished playing Disco Elysium.

I think it was a well-written game with a fun enough story. The game plays mostly as a detective point & click/choose your own adventure. I would not personally call it a fully fledged RPG, but that's a different discussion.

Starting out as a drunk moron was not something I liked, but I kept going through the game as it had some very interesting dialogue and I feel happy I did.

The has a lot of interesting NPCs and quests. Somehow almost all quests are actually tied together - even some of the ones you'd think are irrelevant side quests.

The game does a good job of making use of a very large proportion of skills - although I think they probably could have reduced it by one per attribute as there were couple that seemed underused.

I found some of the dialogues to have too much "exposition" (is that the right word?) - especially the encycolpedia ones telling you soo much about the gameworld.

I originally promised myself that I wasn't going to reload for any checks but I did do so for 3 checks I was really unhappy with (2 of them closer to the end game).

In reality, I think you probably should go with the flow, as most checks can be retired, but I do not think I'll replay this anytime soon, so I'm happy with my choices now.

Game has a relatively narrow-pathed ending, but I guess that's fine.

The only other thing I would say is that the whole political thing detracted from the game for me. It just felt valueless to me and I would have preferred other areas to explore or something like that.

Overall a good game, but you need to be in the mood for a lot of reading.

Thanks @Pladio;

Do those checks impact the story and the path you can/have to take, like in BG3?

Redglyph said:

Thanks @Pladio;

Do those checks impact the story and the path you can/have to take, like in BG3?

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The checks in dialogue have two types, each usually have different types of impacts, but both are dice-based. You basically roll dice and add your skill modifier to the roll to determine if you pass/fail.
- Red Checks are what you would expect like in most RPGS -> Choose the dialogue option and if it fails then you have to live with the outcome. In contrast with many RPGs, failing a red check isn't a full failure as Disoc Elyisum often does quite well, whereby this often means a new branch opens up in the game.
For example, imagine you are trying to figure out a suspect's motives and you fail the check which would have given you it. It could open up a whole new questline whereby you need to discuss other things with other people and find some alternative path.

- White Checks are different in that they can be retried based on a few circumstances - one of which is simply raising the relevant skill. These are often less impacting checks on their own, but can open up sidequests or new information.

In short, yes the checks impact the paths you take in the story and they are both skill & dice roll based.

My character didn't properly excel or was horrible at most skills, but apparently that's a fun way to play this game. If I ever replay this, I think I would play as a full-time bruiser.

Just played for the first time and got a game over screen almost right away! (Talked to Cuno and apparently running away when he accuses you of rape is not the right thing to do.)
Trying again now, but I hope this doesn't repeat.

Jeesus! Lasted all of about 2 minutes before G.O. again when I took a look at the car!

Philistine said:

Jeesus! Lasted all of about 2 minutes before G.O. again when I took a look at the car!

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I suggest you make a character with at least 2 endurance and volition. They're your life points. Until you have some healing items, you can die quite easily…

Pladio said:

I suggest you make a character with at least 2 endurance and volition. They're your life points. Until you have some healing items, you can die quite easily…

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I used the pre-made Thinker with Psyche 1 and having 0 Morale is what's killing me.

Yeah, I would suggest to then immediately put another point in volition at first level up or make your own character.

You can simply select volition as your signature skill if you want to go psyche 1.

Tbatll give you two hit points of morale at least.

Pladio said:

Yeah, I would suggest to then immediately put another point in volition at first level up or make your own character.

You can simply select volition as your signature skill if you want to go psyche 1.

Tbatll give you two hit points of morale at least.

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Or he is VERY careful with his choices of actions in the game…
Edit: And DON'T look into the light...

THis is definitely a unique experience that surely will inspire many games in the future; i thought for instance pathfinder wotr was complex, but this one simply puts it to shame in that regard. Anyway like i said in another thread, what i really enjoyed is that the game keeps on surprising you even when you expect it had its last.
As Pladio said, the sidequests really come up nice together and some are just fantastic. For instance, when you have to turn the church into a nightclub, i did not liked the "speedfreaks" at all and was in no mood to help them, and in the end the quest becomes one of the best in the whole game.

The game had many memorable moments where i laughed so hard, but overall many that stirred different and deep emotions. For example, when you talk to the lady in fron of the bookstore with the cockatoo (that scene was so hilarious) and then you have to let her know about the husband later.

Anyway i played a 5-4-2-1, i wanted to do a replay with a pure alcoholic-no intellect- muscle one but its a long game, maybe in the future.

Lolozaur said:

The game had many memorable moments where i laughed so hard, but overall many that stirred different and deep emotions. For example, when you talk to the lady in fron of the bookstore with the cockatoo (that scene was so hilarious) and then you have to let her know about the husband later.

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That quest with lady at the bookshop was one of the most memorable quest in DE - I failed roll check and delivered the news worst way possible. I felt so crap, I had to reload the game - couldn't live with that outcome.

DE really is an incredible game - it was the only game I played male character and actually finished.

But I don't think I will ever replay it - it had too much things I found uncomfortable like strong language, drug references and political debates. Way too depressing for my liking.

Edit: Found my old impression/mini review:

https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061630983&postcount=3425