I'm a big sucker for games with heavy amounts of world building, it's part of the reason I enjoy a lot of rpgs. Although I do run into the issue of constantly intercepting and comparing games of similar builds/structures to each other. I guess it can be summed up to just being too aware or fixated on tropes in the genre but it does make playing certain games nowadays harder to fully immerse myself in. Before I even get to DE, I'll even admit to going into the game comparing it to Fallout (not helping that I played quite a bit of Fallout in tandem with this playthrough). What I can say however is that Disco Elysium's world and its presentation of the narrative is nothing short of astounding with how much is put into describing the world our protagonist awakes from.
I'll at least start with some of the lulls I came across in my playthough:
I do think the ending section is oddly structured, as you get a good bit of experience points in finishing quests only to not really need any skill points (I had about 5 free points by the time I hit credits).
Fast travelling is a bit of a bitch at times and I got a bug that just got rid of it entirely. It didn't matter too much since I was near the end and you running from one end to the other doesnt take forever but it was an odd hang up. Also the way these are set up is quite weird, as two of the three are placed quite close together but I would have liked some for some more specific places (say the harbor).
Honestly, just dont get it for PS. It's best probably way better (and loading in/out of places is probably better) on PCs.
Lastly, -and Im probably splitting hairs here- but I kind of wish certain aspects of the 'alignments' were just a smidge more vague in dialogue choices. Once I saw the game was tallying points in these categories in one of the menus it was a bit easy to just think "Yeah why don't I just try to get as many points in each category" as the dialogue prompts for these are fairly obvious, which kinda botched a part of the role playing experience.
Despite some of these issues, I fucking loved this game. It's an incredibly satisfying and colorful narrative that keeps the player thinking about how they should consider each scenario they come across while allowing them some time to help out the locals and explore the town for what it offers. Its a lot more linear than I figured (I thought the game was going to eventually have you pick a faction in a given issue) but that isn't really the point of the story. The game just allows you to go at your own pace and solve the mystery in what way you want to. Hell, one of the achievements of the game is solving the mystery without even doing an autopsy. On top of this freedom of progression, the main focus is in the dialogue. Partially with the citizens of Martinaise, who are quite enjoyable in their own way -but mostly towards your own 'voices'.
Speech skills in RPGs are usually well-regarded since they break up the idea of tackling problems head on but this game takes it on another level. Going back to the Fallout comparison it's easy to compared some of these to the 'SPECIAL' stats in that game but sans Luck and pretty much expand the others into microskills that just constantly add to your experience in playing the game. Overall the skill points make this game as fun as it is, interjecting into conversations with whatever humors/tidbits they can pick up on- be it a person's composure slipping, whether you can measure up physically to another person, the logistics of a crime scene, the tone and candor of a person's voice, etc. Not only does increasing the level of these skills allow you to focus on certain aspects of 'policing' in better ways but, as the skill descriptions say, even focusing too hard on certain skills can come with detriments. I don't even think I had too high of a score with this skill but 'Suggestion' late in the game would often butt into certain pivotal moments and give a certain dialogue choice only for the responding NPC to rebuke that choice and the 'Suggestion' skill to think something to the extent of "I'm not sure why I even thought of that. You should stop listening to me I only bring up bad ideas". And the whole game is just filled with these voices that are filling your head with either (good or bad) advice, conversations, strategem, or even just feelings about the environment you've been walking through. It says a lot about this game that maybe the most revealing line given to you comes off as some nonsense line spoken by a skill I don't think most people would even think about putting points into so some probably never get it (Spoilers ROT13: Fuviref gryyvat lbh nobhg gur cunfzvq tngurevat rivqrapr sebz gur ohbl jura gnyxvat gb Xynffwr). This, on top of the "thought cabinet" and "clothing" mechanics just make for a fun way to think about building your cop in the way you want to go about the case. Even if its not for making certain skill checks, it might just be for seeing what each skill has to say. Even putting a single point into one given skill helped hear a bit more dialogue pop out of that skill at certain points (I basically heard nothing from Endurance until I figured I probably shouldn't have 3 health and put a point into it).
On top of that you have a very nice looking game with some great sound design yet sparse music (mostly just atmosphere). The character models are just okay but the character/skill portraits are really nice to see, as is Martinaise in general. The voice acting in general is also really great, if especially for an indie game. Certain lines can have a weird delivery but with how much some of these characters say I don't really mind -although the narrator/skills voice in particular absolutely kills it.
Lastly, Kim Kitsuragi is just a treasure. I won't talk too much about him but that's really because he's pretty normal. And thats probably the best part about him. It's really great having such a colorful and detailed world but your partner Kim is always there to ground you back into reality as you dive deeper into the messed up nature of this case and the situation you awake from. Everyone needs a Kim in their life, a real G.
It's definitely more of a 'read' than a game, with more time spent on just unloading the histories, psychologies and philosophies of its world than spent in anything else, yet its hard to overstate just how engaging almost every part of this game was to learn about. It is absolutely one of those games where a second playthrough would be really nice, especially with putting points into completely stats to get whole new thoughts, outcomes or missed skill checks. Highly recommended.
I'll at least start with some of the lulls I came across in my playthough:
I do think the ending section is oddly structured, as you get a good bit of experience points in finishing quests only to not really need any skill points (I had about 5 free points by the time I hit credits).
Fast travelling is a bit of a bitch at times and I got a bug that just got rid of it entirely. It didn't matter too much since I was near the end and you running from one end to the other doesnt take forever but it was an odd hang up. Also the way these are set up is quite weird, as two of the three are placed quite close together but I would have liked some for some more specific places (say the harbor).
Honestly, just dont get it for PS. It's best probably way better (and loading in/out of places is probably better) on PCs.
Lastly, -and Im probably splitting hairs here- but I kind of wish certain aspects of the 'alignments' were just a smidge more vague in dialogue choices. Once I saw the game was tallying points in these categories in one of the menus it was a bit easy to just think "Yeah why don't I just try to get as many points in each category" as the dialogue prompts for these are fairly obvious, which kinda botched a part of the role playing experience.
Despite some of these issues, I fucking loved this game. It's an incredibly satisfying and colorful narrative that keeps the player thinking about how they should consider each scenario they come across while allowing them some time to help out the locals and explore the town for what it offers. Its a lot more linear than I figured (I thought the game was going to eventually have you pick a faction in a given issue) but that isn't really the point of the story. The game just allows you to go at your own pace and solve the mystery in what way you want to. Hell, one of the achievements of the game is solving the mystery without even doing an autopsy. On top of this freedom of progression, the main focus is in the dialogue. Partially with the citizens of Martinaise, who are quite enjoyable in their own way -but mostly towards your own 'voices'.
Speech skills in RPGs are usually well-regarded since they break up the idea of tackling problems head on but this game takes it on another level. Going back to the Fallout comparison it's easy to compared some of these to the 'SPECIAL' stats in that game but sans Luck and pretty much expand the others into microskills that just constantly add to your experience in playing the game. Overall the skill points make this game as fun as it is, interjecting into conversations with whatever humors/tidbits they can pick up on- be it a person's composure slipping, whether you can measure up physically to another person, the logistics of a crime scene, the tone and candor of a person's voice, etc. Not only does increasing the level of these skills allow you to focus on certain aspects of 'policing' in better ways but, as the skill descriptions say, even focusing too hard on certain skills can come with detriments. I don't even think I had too high of a score with this skill but 'Suggestion' late in the game would often butt into certain pivotal moments and give a certain dialogue choice only for the responding NPC to rebuke that choice and the 'Suggestion' skill to think something to the extent of "I'm not sure why I even thought of that. You should stop listening to me I only bring up bad ideas". And the whole game is just filled with these voices that are filling your head with either (good or bad) advice, conversations, strategem, or even just feelings about the environment you've been walking through. It says a lot about this game that maybe the most revealing line given to you comes off as some nonsense line spoken by a skill I don't think most people would even think about putting points into so some probably never get it (Spoilers ROT13: Fuviref gryyvat lbh nobhg gur cunfzvq tngurevat rivqrapr sebz gur ohbl jura gnyxvat gb Xynffwr). This, on top of the "thought cabinet" and "clothing" mechanics just make for a fun way to think about building your cop in the way you want to go about the case. Even if its not for making certain skill checks, it might just be for seeing what each skill has to say. Even putting a single point into one given skill helped hear a bit more dialogue pop out of that skill at certain points (I basically heard nothing from Endurance until I figured I probably shouldn't have 3 health and put a point into it).
On top of that you have a very nice looking game with some great sound design yet sparse music (mostly just atmosphere). The character models are just okay but the character/skill portraits are really nice to see, as is Martinaise in general. The voice acting in general is also really great, if especially for an indie game. Certain lines can have a weird delivery but with how much some of these characters say I don't really mind -although the narrator/skills voice in particular absolutely kills it.
Lastly, Kim Kitsuragi is just a treasure. I won't talk too much about him but that's really because he's pretty normal. And thats probably the best part about him. It's really great having such a colorful and detailed world but your partner Kim is always there to ground you back into reality as you dive deeper into the messed up nature of this case and the situation you awake from. Everyone needs a Kim in their life, a real G.
It's definitely more of a 'read' than a game, with more time spent on just unloading the histories, psychologies and philosophies of its world than spent in anything else, yet its hard to overstate just how engaging almost every part of this game was to learn about. It is absolutely one of those games where a second playthrough would be really nice, especially with putting points into completely stats to get whole new thoughts, outcomes or missed skill checks. Highly recommended.