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http://bsn.boards.net/board/40/dragon-age-4
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Post by Fredward on Oct 21, 2019 11:24:26 GMT
Encyclopedia is the answer of someone thinking lore-dumps are gauche but also having a very densely constructed, intricate world and not being able to help but brag about it a little.
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Post by aglomeracja on Oct 23, 2019 19:48:11 GMT
Guess I'm buying,this game sounds pretty great...
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linksocarina
N5
Always teacher, sometimes writer
Teaching Mode Activated
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
PSN: LinksOcarina
Posts: 3,179 Likes: 4,063
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Always teacher, sometimes writer
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
LinksOcarina
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Post by linksocarina on Oct 24, 2019 17:08:19 GMT
I have a review in pending for it. It is pretentious as fuck and a bit self-indulgent with its writing, but it is a damn good RPG that I recommend. Wonder what you mean with pretentious?
Short version, its overwritten and self-indulgent with a lot of its prose and encounter situations. The example I use is the thought cabinet mechanic, it's thematically great, but my God it needs a bit of curating. Ironically this makes the main crux of the game feel not only insignificant, but pales in comparison to the side content which I found much more interesting.it was the same feeling I had playing Tides of Numenera, but Numenera was vastly inferior compared to Disco Elysium. At work at the moment but my review is up if you wish to read it. In the end I really liked this, if I have the time I'd play it more for sure, though now I've moved on the console release of baldurs gate . techraptor.net/gaming/reviews/disco-elysium
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Iakus
N7
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
Posts: 20,879 Likes: 49,335
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Iakus on Oct 24, 2019 17:52:49 GMT
I'd be all over this, but with The Outer Worlds coming out, I can't get both.
Definitely planning on getting this later, though.
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...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Oct 24, 2019 18:01:36 GMT
^ A 9.0 is fair! Surprisingly high considering you spent a lot of time nitpicking in your review, linksocarina . I'm still in day 2 but so far I absolutely love it. One of the coolest game concepts out there. A real joy to play. Especially when you play "together" with somebody over a headset comparing results and reading hilarious lines out loud to each other as you progress in different ways.
The game is however not as branching as it seems. In the beginning I chose to not say certain things because I assumed it might come back to bite me in the ass. Revealing too much to a shady character, that sort of concern. But MOST lines of inquiry don't seem to have any particular effect. You can insult them all you want and it usually doesn't make them stop talking to you. The gameplay is skill based, not choices based as far as I can tell. You DO get different lines from NPCs depending on your choice of words but ultimately conversations end the same. Failing skill checks is what leads you to pursue different approaches. THAT is where the game gets fun and has a ton of replay value. Whether or not you are rude or polite is unimportant. That is just flavor.
I personally do not mind the text overload. I love how crazy it all is. Especially the different skills arguing with each other. Hysterical! The necktie is just awesome! It's FAR less tedious than Tides Of Numenera (that I'm currently playing too!). Tides feels a lot less like a game than Disco. It's like an interactive novel to me. Pages upon pages of flavor text. Disco does it all in a much more engaging dynamic way. It's a flood of text too but comes at you in a burst of short instances, broken up by colorful skill checks and selecting your character's reactions. The reading never gets dull. It's so quirky I really don't mind. Sure, they could have dialed it back a bit but it's easy enough to skip some of it if it gets too much. It's visually well structured thanks to the color coding. So skipping a particular voice like Encyclopedia is easy to do.
Together with (coop) DOS2 one of the most fun RPG experiences in the past 5 years. Easily GOTY material for me.
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire
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Post by Gwydden on Oct 24, 2019 18:25:18 GMT
Together with (coop) DOS2 one of the most fun RPG experiences in the past 5 years. Easily GOTY material for me. Weirdly, this game reminds me of D:OS2. Mostly in the quest and level design. There are multiple ways to approach tasks, which you are usually free to figure out by yourself, and something interesting around every corner. The individual dialogue choices have little impact on other characters' opinion, but that's pretty usual for branching dialogue and the game even warns you about it ("Don't be afraid to say weird things; people are more forgiving to authority figures."). They do, however, impact your cop type. Because of the stuff I've been saying, I've already gotten offers from the voices in my head to accept my identity as a communist, a Sorry Cop, an Honour Cop, and a Boring Cop. My only real disappointment so far is that I'm on Day 3 and the thought cabinet has yet to become relevant.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
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Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Oct 24, 2019 18:44:30 GMT
The individual dialogue choices have little impact on other characters' opinion, but that's pretty usual for branching dialogue and the game even warns you about it ("Don't be afraid to say weird things; people are more forgiving to authority figures."). They do, however, impact your cop type. Because of the stuff I've been saying, I've already gotten offers from the voices in my head to accept my identity as a communist, a Sorry Cop, an Honour Cop, and a Boring Cop. My only real disappointment so far is that I'm on Day 3 and the thought cabinet has yet to become relevant. Oh yeah, your choices shaper your character and influence what kind of thoughts you can learn. Which is awesome! I do think the thought cabinet is passively useful because it boots your skill cap. Some dramatically. I'm a sorry cop (who is unfortunately the most boring one but I'm sticking to that role now) and some of the thoughts will aid that style by expanding the pain threshold. So I started out with only 1 physique but learned the Shit Compressor so that now I can bump up pain threshold by +5 which is quite handy. I like how the skill tree is dynamic that way and lets you get better at a specific skill even though the base stat is low. There is an infinite number of combinations that way.
I was just confused about the lack of impact conversation choice have coming off Tide Of Numenera where saying the wrong thing can lead to a fight. And you do NOT always know which ones. The most frustrating such instance was just picking "Ask more questions" the other day. WTF?!? Anyway, yes, conversations in most games are mostly about the illusion of choice and different outcomes. At least Disco Elysium leads you down very different roads based on your skills before it brings you back to the same overall result (I assume). That's really the most one can expect I guess. It's not a flaw. Just something that took me a while to realise. Good thing you can always replay a conversation and finish off branches previously neglected. That's nice.
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saandrig
N5
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Posts: 3,382 Likes: 6,964
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Apr 26, 2024 13:47:09 GMT
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January 2017
saandrig
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by saandrig on Oct 24, 2019 20:41:21 GMT
My only real disappointment so far is that I'm on Day 3 and the thought cabinet has yet to become relevant. You can do the whole game without it. It has some nice bonuses here and there, but overall hardly impactful or crucial. More often than not you get some perks that you will want to forget asap.
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Post by aglomeracja on Oct 24, 2019 22:42:51 GMT
This game is awesome.
I got "free market fundamentalist" though and now I get money every time I pick a "lolberg" dialogue option. My character can also say the most insane things just to suddenly get serious moment later. Somehow a character like that makes sense in this world.
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linksocarina
N5
Always teacher, sometimes writer
Teaching Mode Activated
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
PSN: LinksOcarina
Posts: 3,179 Likes: 4,063
inherit
Always teacher, sometimes writer
370
0
4,063
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Teaching Mode Activated
3,179
August 2016
linksocarina
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
LinksOcarina
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Post by linksocarina on Oct 25, 2019 4:44:32 GMT
^ A 9.0 is fair! Surprisingly high considering you spent a lot of time nitpicking in your review, linksocarina . I'm still in day 2 but so far I absolutely love it. One of the coolest game concepts out there. A real joy to play. Especially when you play "together" with somebody over a headset comparing results and reading hilarious lines out loud to each other as you progress in different ways.
The game is however not as branching as it seems. In the beginning I chose to not say certain things because I assumed it might come back to bite me in the ass. Revealing too much to a shady character, that sort of concern. But MOST lines of inquiry don't seem to have any particular effect. You can insult them all you want and it usually doesn't make them stop talking to you. The gameplay is skill based, not choices based as far as I can tell. You DO get different lines from NPCs depending on your choice of words but ultimately conversations end the same. Failing skill checks is what leads you to pursue different approaches. THAT is where the game gets fun and has a ton of replay value. Whether or not you are rude or polite is unimportant. That is just flavor.
I personally do not mind the text overload. I love how crazy it all is. Especially the different skills arguing with each other. Hysterical! The necktie is just awesome! It's FAR less tedious than Tides Of Numenera (that I'm currently playing too!). Tides feels a lot less like a game than Disco. It's like an interactive novel to me. Pages upon pages of flavor text. Disco does it all in a much more engaging dynamic way. It's a flood of text too but comes at you in a burst of short instances, broken up by colorful skill checks and selecting your character's reactions. The reading never gets dull. It's so quirky I really don't mind. Sure, they could have dialed it back a bit but it's easy enough to skip some of it if it gets too much. It's visually well structured thanks to the color coding. So skipping a particular voice like Encyclopedia is easy to do.
Together with (coop) DOS2 one of the most fun RPG experiences in the past 5 years. Easily GOTY material for me.
I do fair reviews . Giving something a 9 is high praise from me so take that for what it is I guess.
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November 2016
gwydden
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire
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Post by Gwydden on Oct 27, 2019 3:09:34 GMT
With the talk about inXile's similar attempt at a Planescape: Torment spiritual successor, I thought some here might find a review of Disco Elysium by one of Tides of Numenera's writers an interesting read.
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Post by aglomeracja on Oct 27, 2019 11:08:51 GMT
10/10
Really amazing game, never seen one like it before.
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Post by aglomeracja on Nov 1, 2019 23:33:03 GMT
I'm wondering how well is this game doing, plenty of AAA games are being released now which might have hindered DE's sales unfortunately. For me it's the best RPG I've ever played and I've played many.
I'm finishing my second run. First time I went with 5 1 2 4 with drama signature skill and it was great, now I went with 1 5 5 1 volition build and it is a very different experience. Even though I did almost all quests both times, a lot has change due to different skill checks succeeding - both in terms how things played out and main characters internal narrative. Fun stuff.
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November 2016
gwydden
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire
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Post by Gwydden on Nov 2, 2019 19:32:09 GMT
I'm wondering how well is this game doing, plenty of AAA games are being released now which might have hindered DE's sales unfortunately. For me it's the best RPG I've ever played and I've played many. It's great. But it's also rather niche. I've seen plenty of people, even those who say they enjoyed it, claim it has no gameplay, that it has too much reading, or that it's not really an RPG. I disagree on all of those points, but that's the way it is. Something tells me The Outer Worlds will steal all the accolades, precisely because of how safe it is and because it is made by Obsidian — the love of which I don't relate to, but it takes all kinds. Something I will point out, now that I finished the game, is that the pre-release playtime estimate (30/60/90 hours for rushed, average, and completitionist) was way off. It's more like 20/30/40. I'm not complaining; it's meaty enough for an RPG and I'm glad that they skipped on filler content. But still, I wonder where the developers pulled those numbers from.
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Post by aglomeracja on Nov 2, 2019 20:38:47 GMT
I'm wondering how well is this game doing, plenty of AAA games are being released now which might have hindered DE's sales unfortunately. For me it's the best RPG I've ever played and I've played many. It's great. But it's also rather niche. I've seen plenty of people, even those who say they enjoyed it, claim it has no gameplay, that it has too much reading, or that it's not really an RPG. I disagree on all of those points, but that's the way it is. Something tells me The Outer Worlds will steal all the accolades, precisely because of how safe it is and because it is made by Obsidian — the love of which I don't relate to, but it takes all kinds. Something I will point out, now that I finished the game, is that the pre-release playtime estimate (30/60/90 hours for rushed, average, and completitionist) was way off. It's more like 20/30/40. I'm not complaining; it's meaty enough for an RPG and I'm glad that they skipped on filler content. But still, I wonder where the developers pulled those numbers from. You're right about it being a niche, even though it might be more approachable than Pillars of Eternity which had very complex combat mechanics. While most modern action RPG's play like an interactive movie, Disco Elysium is more like an interactive book. Very little micro-managment or thinking about your next move, but still plenty of reading.
Pre-release playtime estimate is accurate if spread to more than one playthrough. It's certainly misleading, but there's a whole lot of content you'll see only if you play the game with different builds and make different choices. Going high Psyche and Phys will make Harry pretty much a supernatural detective who feels what he should say or do instead of deducing it as he would with high Int and Motorics. There are some dialogue options that will show up only if you internalized certain thoughts, or have high enough skills. Same goes for interactable object and of course "internal chatter". Single playthrough might take maximum 30 hours if you do every quest, not much more than that.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
3,372
Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Nov 4, 2019 10:15:48 GMT
Finished the game last night. 10/10 for me. There was nothing that bothered me playing this game. No bugs, no annoying gameplay elements. Just smooth sailing. Hilariously absurd, heart-breakingly sad and oddly touching. That surprise appearance towards the end was one of the coolest weirdest and most beautiful gaming moments in my life. I almost cried. The music, the entire surreal feel of that scene. I was transfixed. Need to get my hands on the soundtrack... The actual ending was maybe a bit anti-climatic. Was hoping for a nice cutscene but there was none. And probably without much variation? I wanted my sorry cop to be done with police work and kill himself at the end in some kind of bitter-sweet scene. But even though I picked "done with police work" I got the same open ending as my boyfriend.
I wanted to go out with a bang drinking that lethal alcohol that the horrific necktie was thrilled about but at some point the task just disappeared. :/
The whole mystery about the Pale got even weirder at the end. Does anybody have theories about it? The whole time I thought I'm maybe playing a drunken dream but looks like it was all real. But then what is going on in that world?! Major Pale spoiler:
How is Harry the source of the Pale?? Or is THAT just something he made up because he probably didn't really talk to the creature?
And how can an all consuming nothingness be real?
I loved that weird aspect of the game. The conversations with the Paledriver were cool. Interesting world building. I read the person who created the world will publish a book about. Could be an interesting read.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
3,372
Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Nov 4, 2019 10:21:08 GMT
Oh wait, I might have had one bug: the thought that was supposed to reset all white checks did nothing. ...which was tragic. Because I failed the disco dance check and then saved on it without realizing that I had reached my skill cap!!! So then I looked up online which thought coud help me out. And I was so happy to have found a check reset. Only it was still locked. So I probably missed the best scene in the game. Gosh, that pissed me off so bad... Now I REALLY need to replay this game and get my groove on.
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Post by aglomeracja on Nov 4, 2019 18:05:22 GMT
You can raise your skills with drugs/alcohol, not sure if that unlocks white checks though. As for the pale: It's not Harry who created it, phasmid says it appeared along with humanity. One of the theories I've read is that it's a by product of human thoughts. To me it seemed like the phasmid wasn't sure itself and was only theorizing.
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November 2016
gwydden
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire
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Post by Gwydden on Nov 4, 2019 18:28:26 GMT
Did you guys know that... ...getting new dice opens up white checks again? I didn't realize until the game was pretty much over.
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Apr 26, 2024 12:59:59 GMT
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
3,372
Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Nov 4, 2019 19:21:13 GMT
Did you guys know that... ...getting new dice opens up white checks again? I didn't realize until the game was pretty much over. Ah crap, really??? Should have done that then. Is this confirmed by you or another player? Because that thought I googled sure did NOT do that- >_<
Raising skills with clothing items does NOT unlock checks again unfortunately. That much I know. Haven't tried alcohol. But I doubt alcohol raises composure. I THINK you really need to invest actual skill points to redo checks.
As for the pale: It's not Harry who created it, phasmid says it appeared along with humanity. One of the theories I've read is that it's a by product of human thoughts. To me it seemed like the phasmid wasn't sure itself and was only theorizing. Could have sworn it said that Harry was bringing on the end of the world with it... That he is making it grow, in any case. Well, it doesn't really matter. I just hope they make another game that expands on it.
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Post by aglomeracja on Nov 4, 2019 19:42:05 GMT
Did you guys know that... ...getting new dice opens up white checks again? I didn't realize until the game was pretty much over. Ah crap, really??? Should have done that then. Is this confirmed by you or another player? Because that thought I googled sure did NOT do that- >_<
Raising skills with clothing items does NOT unlock checks again unfortunately. That much I know. Haven't tried alcohol. But I doubt alcohol raises composure. I THINK you really need to invest actual skill points to redo checks.
As for the pale: It's not Harry who created it, phasmid says it appeared along with humanity. One of the theories I've read is that it's a by product of human thoughts. To me it seemed like the phasmid wasn't sure itself and was only theorizing. Could have sworn it said that Harry was bringing on the end of the world with it... That he is making it grow, in any case. Well, it doesn't really matter. I just hope they make another game that expands on it. I had no idea about dice, good find
There are 4 kinds of drugs in the game and each of them temporarily raises one of the main stats - for composure your drug of choice would be speed, because it boosts your motorics. The also raise your skill caps, so if you had any unspend skillpoints you could use speed and than raise composure permanently.
I personally don't use anything though, mostly for role playing reasons, but it also affects some dialogue later on.
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8,392
Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
3,372
Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Nov 4, 2019 20:43:38 GMT
Fuck me, I accidentally reloaded the page and deleted ten minutes of writing, grrrrr.
aglomeracja Ah, a skill cap raise would probably do the trick, yes! I didn't have my sorry cop take speed for RP reasons either. He was really trying to get better. I only had him drink booze on the first night to complete the task (and get the sweet XP). But seems like it doesn't matter for the final conversation if you do drugs once or throughout the whole investigation. They're still disappointed. I'm not even sure if you get a different response at all if you stay sober. Do you know?
But no matter how wild you go, seems like it all plays out much the same way. My boyfriend's superstar cop abused every substance he could get his hands on, hit the kid, was super creepy with women, a raging communist and generally a total embarrassment. While I played him much less abrasive and without a strong political opinion. He chose to stay a cop, I said I'm done with police work. And yet we both got the same open ending. Which leads me to believe there is only one ending really. Maybe there is a version where you get fired and there is nothing you can do about it?
But overall you're just playing slightly different versions of the same character who is always meant to somewhat recover and become a supercop investigator again. The narrative is VERY railroaded that way. You can die a hundred different stupid ways or outright quit several times. Which I did out of curiosity. But if you want to continue the story you need to keep going. And it all leads to the same end result. The big "faction" conflict always plays out the same way. The plot is not altered in any way. Not even the sequence of plot events. To some people that may be a negative but lots of different branching endings would have required a bigger budget that this small studio probably didn't have. Also, I don't think different endings was ever the intent. They had a very specific narrative in mind with a lot of symbolism.
For anybody on the fence: This is not a game with a dozen different endings or even ending slides. You do get a rundown on your achievements in the end. And there CAN be variations. But if you want the most out of this game, you're going to want to help everybody. There is no point in not doing a quest, not helping people. You're just missing out on great content.
Also, the different skill builds only really matter as a starting point. The narrative is basically built around regaining your supercop skills. You'll want to balance them out to some degree if you want to get the most info/extra flavor. Especially when it comes to passing checks. The game WANTS you to retry checks and get ALL conversation branches. It lets you redo most conversations. You are supposed to get better at interrogating people. You even get a map telling you where you failed a skill check so you can keep track.
It makes little sense investing most skill points in only two branches. I started out with low intelligence but without improving logic and other skills, you're totally gimped. There are only so many skill points you need to pass most checks but you can invest more points. But that doesn't make the experience any wilder. The biggest difference in terms of flavor is whether or not your tie talks to you, lol!
Some skills have low checks for story reasons so that you get important feedback regardless of your playstyle. hell, even that amazing surreal scene at the end happens even when you fail the check!
Disco Elysium is the journey of a very broken man who talks to himself and hears voices. No matter which skills you boost, this is always the case. Despite going for very different builds, boyfriend and I had 95% the same info at the end. Because the game gives you plenty of time to boost your stats so that you get quests from NPCs. It took him very long to get Cuno's quest about his dad due to his low empathy. But in the end he got it by investing maybe 2 skill points into it, and it played out exactly the same way. The only major narrative he missed out on was the Paledriver who for some reason would not talk to him.
The game even encourages you to say EVERYTHING, no matter how insulting. So really, you're playing a set character. Your journey is always the same, just with a different order in which you do things based on what checks you fail.
I'm all fine with that though! It was an amazing experience.
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Post by aglomeracja on Nov 4, 2019 22:30:27 GMT
Fuck me, I accidentally reloaded the page and deleted ten minutes of writing, grrrrr.
aglomeracja Ah, a skill cap raise would probably do the trick, yes! I didn't have my sorry cop take speed for RP reasons either. He was really trying to get better. I only had him drink booze on the first night to complete the task (and get the sweet XP). But seems like it doesn't matter for the final conversation if you do drugs once or throughout the whole investigation. They're still disappointed. I'm not even sure if you get a different response at all if you stay sober. Do you know?
But no matter how wild you go, seems like it all plays out much the same way. My boyfriend's superstar cop abused every substance he could get his hands on, hit the kid, was super creepy with women, a raging communist and generally a total embarrassment. While I played him much less abrasive and without a strong political opinion. He chose to stay a cop, I said I'm done with police work. And yet we both got the same open ending. Which leads me to believe there is only one ending really. Maybe there is a version where you get fired and there is nothing you can do about it?
But overall you're just playing slightly different versions of the same character who is always meant to somewhat recover and become a supercop investigator again. The narrative is VERY railroaded that way. You can die a hundred different stupid ways or outright quit several times. Which I did out of curiosity. But if you want to continue the story you need to keep going. And it all leads to the same end result. The big "faction" conflict always plays out the same way. The plot is not altered in any way. Not even the sequence of plot events. To some people that may be a negative but lots of different branching endings would have required a bigger budget that this small studio probably didn't have. Also, I don't think different endings was ever the intent. They had a very specific narrative in mind with a lot of symbolism.
For anybody on the fence: This is not a game with a dozen different endings or even ending slides. You do get a rundown on your achievements in the end. And there CAN be variations. But if you want the most out of this game, you're going to want to help everybody. There is no point in not doing a quest, not helping people. You're just missing out on great content.
Also, the different skill builds only really matter as a starting point. The narrative is basically built around regaining your supercop skills. You'll want to balance them out to some degree if you want to get the most info/extra flavor. Especially when it comes to passing checks. The game WANTS you to retry checks and get ALL conversation branches. It lets you redo most conversations. You are supposed to get better at interrogating people. You even get a map telling you where you failed a skill check so you can keep track.
It makes little sense investing most skill points in only two branches. I started out with low intelligence but without improving logic and other skills, you're totally gimped. There are only so many skill points you need to pass most checks but you can invest more points. But that doesn't make the experience any wilder. The biggest difference in terms of flavor is whether or not your tie talks to you, lol!
Some skills have low checks for story reasons so that you get important feedback regardless of your playstyle. hell, even that amazing surreal scene at the end happens even when you fail the check!
Disco Elysium is the journey of a very broken man who talks to himself and hears voices. No matter which skills you boost, this is always the case. Despite going for very different builds, boyfriend and I had 95% the same info at the end. Because the game gives you plenty of time to boost your stats so that you get quests from NPCs. It took him very long to get Cuno's quest about his dad due to his low empathy. But in the end he got it by investing maybe 2 skill points into it, and it played out exactly the same way. The only major narrative he missed out on was the Paledriver who for some reason would not talk to him.
The game even encourages you to say EVERYTHING, no matter how insulting. So really, you're playing a set character. Your journey is always the same, just with a different order in which you do things based on what checks you fail.
I'm all fine with that though! It was an amazing experience.
Yes, you get a different response if you stay sober, maybe it's enough not to drink on the job (i.e. before Kim goes to sleep).
I have a bit different opinion on how the journey plays out, because there are many dialogue options, interactive items, choices etc. that won't show up if you don't have enugh points in one of your skills. You can level them up and not have any weak spots by the end, but that's after you've finished most of the game. Choosing different copotypes or internalizing different thoughts matters too, there's plenty of different flavors in this game.
It's true that main events stay mostly the same, are triggered by the same things etc. but there still are some possibilities that may surprise you
For instance, did you know you might be finishing the game with another detective instead of Kim? Also the fate of Hardie Boys, Klaasye or Ruby isn't exactly "settled" either
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Gwydden
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November 2016
gwydden
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire
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Post by Gwydden on Nov 5, 2019 2:34:17 GMT
Ah crap, really??? Should have done that then. Is this confirmed by you or another player? Because that thought I googled sure did NOT do that- >_< Towards the end of the game, I needed some time to pass but had ran out of things to do, so I bought everything in the bookstore and checked it out. The very last thing I got was Wirral, the totally-not-D&D board game. The dice were inside the box, and when I inspected them white checks opened up. That's when it dawned on me what the dicemaker and the ability to ask her for custom dice was for. Incidentally, if you pick the right dialogue, she'll give you some for free. If you haven't tried it, I would also recommend the other board game at the bookstore, Suzerainty. It's clearly meant to be a Eurogame a la Archipelago or Brass, and you can actually play it with Kim. If you're a commie, you can do all kind of bad moves by prioritizing your workers' well-being over valuable objectives. Quite fun. Addressing your other post, I have no idea what quest you're referring to with Cuno's dad or what a Paledriver is, even though I believed I had done almost everything there was to do in the game. I'm starting to think I missed more than I thought.
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Kappa Neko
...lives for biotic explosions. And cheesecake!
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Oct 18, 2016 21:17:18 GMT
October 2016
kappaneko
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Kappa Neko on Nov 5, 2019 8:10:08 GMT
Yes, you get a different response if you stay sober, maybe it's enough not to drink on the job (i.e. before Kim goes to sleep).
I have a bit different opinion on how the journey plays out, because there are many dialogue options, interactive items, choices etc. that won't show up if you don't have enugh points in one of your skills. You can level them up and not have any weak spots by the end, but that's after you've finished most of the game. Choosing different copotypes or internalizing different thoughts matters too, there's plenty of different flavors in this game.
It's true that main events stay mostly the same, are triggered by the same things etc. but there still are some possibilities that may surprise you
For instance, did you know you might be finishing the game with another detective instead of Kim? Also the fate of Hardie Boys, Klaasye or Ruby isn't exactly "settled" either Sure, there is a lot of flavor that will be different based on your skills. Lots of passive skill checks in the background. So you don't actually know how much you missed out. Also extra dialogue choices based on thoughts, yes. What I meant is that it's still a very linear story. Doesn't matter if you help Claire or not, shit will hit the fan the same way regardless, I think.
I spent some time reading a message board discussion later last night where quite a few people were disappointed in all the railroading. They noticed when they replayed how the plot plays out the same. Lots of different details though, yes. So every playthrough is unique. And I guess that is all that matters. But these people wished that there were more instances where you could progress the PLOT in different ways. For example, you cannot find your gun without helping Claire, I believe. You cannot meet the old crazy woman otherwise. She won't be there. (That's what I gathered from the internet, mind you.)
But apparently it's super hard to get fired at the end. The devs REALLY didn't want that outcome. Somebody never found their gun or their badge, was drunk as a skunk and fucked up in so many ways and STILL did not get fired at the end. The game is SUPER linient about what you actually do. Because the writers wanted to get a specific message across. Hell, I said I QUIT and the dialogue still played out with the higher ups totally ignoring that and the ending was open same as if I wanted to stay.
I'm curious what you mean about Kim though. I read he CANNOT die during the shootout. Or could he just quit because you were being a racist asshole?
Don't take that as criticism though. Just trying to figure out how different certain outocmes can be. I'm fine with there not being as many as people imagined. Every game is about the illusion of choice more than actually impacting anything of relevence.
Addressing your other post, I have no idea what quest you're referring to with Cuno's dad or what a Paledriver is, even though I believed I had done almost everything there was to do in the game. I'm starting to think I missed more than I thought. Did you not even meet the Paledriver lady?? She's to the south and right of the Scab leader. I almost missed her the first time too. She's tucked away.
You need to bond with Cuno a bit with an empathy check and eventually he'll ask you to get the speed from his dad. It's quite the depressing short questline.
Btw is it possible to complete miss out on all the Pale dialogue and not understand what's happening to the world? I guess you'd have to not talk to Joyce much, not do the church quest the "right way" (one of my favorite), not talk to the Paledriver. What about the encounter at the end. Does anybody know if it won't happen if you don't do the corresponding quest?
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