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

[Deleted Member 16721]

Electrochemistry, for example. Even a braindead drug addict with low INT knows a ton about their drugs. These skills are intelligence skills, nothing more and nothing less.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Nah, they give you tons of ways to achieve getting rent. They want you to pay it, so they gave you ways how to.

Fluent, you were useful to the Party when we needed hype, but now your blind enthusiasm is simply unconstructive to making the game even better than it already is. Call me crazy, but I think that softlocking your game when a fictionally-appropriate alternative exists is kind of dumb. Especially when the game projects a hobo option and does not deliver.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Fluent, you were useful to the Party when we needed hype, but now your blind enthusiasm is simply unconstructive to making the game even better than it already is. Call me crazy, but I think that softlocking your game when a fictionally-appropriate alternative exists is kind of dumb. Especially when the game projects a hobo option and does not deliver.

Isn't one of your tasks finding rent money for the night? That's part of the challenge.

 

[the mole]

I've been on your side in general fluent but if you can't progress in the game without rent can you really hold this game up as allowing different choices, that's a pretty big choice you aren't allowed to make

I've been around braindead drug addicts that didn't know shit about drugs as well

 

[Goral]

Didn't they get money from IGN (HB)? If so, this is the last review I would look at.

Humble was supposed to publish the game, but then the relationship was terminated and they self published. Got financing from some Estonian businessman. Maybe they sold some organs.

Or maybe they wanted us to think that and created some Estonian businessman persona so that people wouldn't say it's a conflict of interest :].

Anyway, the fact is IGN gave them money and promoted the game during its development so they are still biased.

 

[Butter]

Fluent, you were useful to the Party when we needed hype, but now your blind enthusiasm is simply unconstructive to making the game even better than it already is. Call me crazy, but I think that softlocking your game when a fictionally-appropriate alternative exists is kind of dumb. Especially when the game projects a hobo option and does not deliver.

Isn't one of your tasks finding rent money for the night? That's part of the challenge.

One of your tasks is also finding and smoking cigarettes, and I'm pretty sure that's not mandatory to progress.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Fluent, you were useful to the Party when we needed hype, but now your blind enthusiasm is simply unconstructive to making the game even better than it already is. Call me crazy, but I think that softlocking your game when a fictionally-appropriate alternative exists is kind of dumb. Especially when the game projects a hobo option and does not deliver.

Isn't one of your tasks finding rent money for the night? That's part of the challenge.

Sure. What do you think is a more appropriate way to penalize the player that failed to meet this challenge?

1. Softlock, bitch!

2. Humiliation, some sort of mechanical penalty, literally anything else that allows the character to continue - if at a serious disadvantage.

I thought we liked how this is the one game where we can fail forward? I thought we liked how this is the one game where we *don't* have to rely on saves (except for this one puzzling scenario)?

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I've been on your side in general fluent but if you can't progress in the game without rent can you really hold this game up as allowing different choices, that's a pretty big choice you aren't allowed to make

I've been around braindead drug addicts that didn't know shit about drugs as well

I think Kim should just bail you out every night, honestly. But that would be my solution, rather than letting you sleep in a dumpster.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Sure. What do you think is a more appropriate way to penalize the player that failed to meet this challenge?

1. Softlock, bitch!

2. Humiliation, some sort of mechanical penalty, literally anything else that allows the character to continue - if at a serious disadvantage.

I thought we liked how this is the one game where we can fail forward? I thought we liked how this is the one game where we *don't* have to rely on saves (except for this one puzzling scenario)?

It shouldn't be a soft lock yet it also shouldn't let you sleep on the streets. Kim wouldn't allow that. Best case should be Kim bailing you out and paying your rent imo.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I imagine they wanted part of the experience of challenge to be finding rent money for the night as a top priority. But they shouldn't lock you out, I agree.

 

[Owlish]

IHaveHugeNick , you're expecting a low INT playthrough to be like Fallout, i.e. completely braindead, but that's not how the game works. So you're blaming the game for what YOU think it should be like.

Think of each attribute as intelligence. Booksmart intelligence, emotional intelligence, physical intelligence and motoristic intelligence. Your cop is not braindead he has a myriad of intelligence skills that fall under each category. They purposely designed it this way, it's not a fault. You're expecting something else based on past experience.

You are a shameless fanboy. To the point where calling it more of a comic book than an RPG is "edgy," when that's basically what it is. An interactive comic book.

 

[Lithium Flower]

I think Kim should just bail you out every night, honestly. But that would be my solution, rather than letting you sleep in a dumpster.

Ok so we agree there is should all be an alternative. Why did you decide to have this argument, again? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not to mention first it was "dude, its more challenging this way" and now you say you would prefer what is essentially a get out of jail free card to the whole paying rent problem.

Come on, my dude. Much like you I love this game to bits but we should be honest with our criticisms.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I consider it more of a visual novel RPG. Or an adventure game with RPG elements. Or jist an RPG. So I'm a fanboy because I don't see it as being a comic book???

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Ok so we agree there is should all be an alternative. Why did you decide to have this argument, again? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not to mention first it was "dude, its more challenging this way" and now you say you would prefer what is essentially a get out of jail free card to the whole paying rent problem.

Come on, my dude. Much like you I love this game to bits but we should be honest with our criticisms.

I just woke up, I needed time to gather my thoughts. They wanted it as a challenge to you but I do feel there should be a get out of jail free card, yes. It would make more sense that way.

 

[Owlish]

I consider it more of a visual novel RPG. Or an adventure game with RPG elements. Or jist an RPG. So I'm a fanboy because I don't see it as being a comic book???

A visual novel. Like a graphic novel?

Otherwise known as ...

A comic book.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Comic book is an odd way to describe the game bro.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I've been on your side in general fluent but if you can't progress in the game without rent can you really hold this game up as allowing different choices, that's a pretty big choice you aren't allowed to make

I've been around braindead drug addicts that didn't know shit about drugs as well

But you're a cop, you have to have some intelligence. Low INT shouldn't mean you grunt to communicate and can't say a sentence properly.

 

[Lady_Error]

Lithium Flower doing that Shivers check unmodified lets you skip most of the second act.

What is the second act?

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Lithium Flower doing that Shivers check unmodified lets you skip most of the second act.

What is the second act?

Everything past the bridge through, let’s say, Ruby.

 

[RegionalHobo]

edit : nvm this retard found it
my character seems to know where but guess i don t have his logic stats irl lmao

 

[ItsChon]

I finished it. The game took about 25 hours, and I accomplished every single task except for one (the game progressed fast at the end so I missed one). I played with 4/3/4/1. I treated Motorics as a dump-stat, barely investing in it except for a check here or there. I don't know how much I missed because of it, but I saw very few checks in the game that really made investing in motorics worth it. Definitely the weakest of the four stats. As I said before, the game was absolutely great, but I feel as if the overall replayability has been exaggerated. I am not someone who generally replays games (Underrail is the only exception), especially story-driven ones because all the tension has been removed, so perhaps I am not being entirely fair. I can see how it could be fun to go around and seeing how people react to you doing wild shit compared to what you did before, but for me at least, it doesn't warrant a second playthrough. Some critiques are below, spoiler-heavy.

Spoiler

Perhaps I missed something, but I did not really find many options to be a corrupt asshole cop that does fucked up shit and hands out fines willy-nilly. I think I saw maybe two opportunities to give someone a fine, and other than helping the kids set up the drug den in the church and ask for a cut, I didn't see much else. Perhaps if I followed through with the Union line and mailed the letter, there would have been more opportunities. Regardless, I think that they should have expanded upon this more and given you the opportunity to beat the shit out of some people perhaps and let you be truly deranged.

I agree wholeheartedly with Lithium regarding his points on the economy. There should have been some more interesting ways to earn money in Martinaise that didn't involve just scrounging through different containers and such picking up loose change. I agree with his assessment regarding the drugs as well. I never used any but it would have been super trivial to maintain a +1 to Int, Psyche, and Physical throughout the game if I wanted to game the checks even more than I already did by saving my level-up points (I don't even think I used all of them by the end of the game). I also wish they gave some cons to not using drugs, perhaps some withdrawal symptoms I had to deal with?

I'm also sad that there didn't seem to be any interactions with the sword I got. I should have been able to charge the mercenaries and try to stab them with it, and I was very let down when I couldn't even try to and fail. I also wish there was a better interaction with the armor I got from the corpse and the mercenaries.

Content-wise, I do wish the team had included some more conflict in the game to make use of the Physical/Motorics tree. The Measurehead fight was so fucking fun and exhilarating, I figured that there would be more such checks throughout the game. There wasn't sadly. Other than the fight with Measurehead, destroying Ruby's sound machine, and the mercenary fight, I didn't really see any other options to get into fights. Perhaps I missed some due to my careful dialogue choices, but I do think that this was a missed opportunity on their part.

I already mentioned the lack of encyclopedia being a problem, as there really are a fuck ton of things to keep track of. As the game is only 25-30 hours long, and it dumps so much information at you, it doesn't really give you enough time to properly familiarize yourself.

There was also a bug where my shirt wouldn't show after playing for some time.

I'll also mention a few things that I thought were great, definitely not a comprehensive list

Spoiler

Finding the Plasmid was so fucking great, and then being able to talk to it was even better. Definitely one of the highlights in the game. The final showdown with you and your cop buddies at the end was really good too. Listening to Kim call me a fascist, racist, sexist, Revachol nationalist, only to compliment my detective skills and the way I treated the citizens Revachol made me swell with pride. It was nice being able to prove to my disgruntled compatriots that I wasn't a totally irredeemable piece of shit.

The game really made me care for some of its characters. The Dicemaker, Titus and his boys, Klaseje (still mad I couldn't fuck), the woman with kids at the small fishing town (the date was fun and she was the only reason I didn't mail the letter Everart gave me), Measurehead, Tiago, Acele, Garthe, and of course, Detective Kim. He's got to be one of the greatest companions in video-game history, right up there with Morte. The females in this game were exceptionally well written. Perhaps I'm just a horny 19-year-old, but they really stood out to me.

The art-style of this game is absolutely gorgeous. I've said it a thousand times but 2D backgrounds is the absolute fucking best way to do an Isometric game. The entire gaming experience was buttery smooth, I loved the reactivity when you clicked on a piece of dialogue, and I just wanted to see more and more of the world I was in. The voice acting in this game was absolutely incredible. Klaseje, Cuno, Measurehead, Kim, Everart, Tiago, Acele, the list just keeps going. Triple A don't have even close to the level of voice acting this game did.

That about sums it up. I'm glad that Styg and his crew aren't the only arbiters of incline left in this god-forsaken gaming industry. They don't need to change a god-damn thing in the sequel. Just give us more places to explore, more people to talk to, more mysteries to solve, and some more opportunities to fuck shit up.

 

[v1rus]

Ok, this has been an experience.

Goty Disco or Patho 2?

 

[RegionalHobo]

I finished it. The game took about 25 hours, and I accomplished every single task except for one (the game progressed fast at the end so I missed one). I played with 4/3/4/1. I treated Motorics as a dump-stat, barely investing in it except for a check here or there. I don't know how much I missed because of it, but I saw very few checks in the game that really made investing in motorics worth it. Definitely the weakest of the four stats. As I said before, the game was absolutely great, but I feel as if the overall replayability has been exaggerated. I am not someone who generally replays games (Underrail is the only exception), especially story-driven ones because all the tension has been removed, so perhaps I am not being entirely fair. I can see how it could be fun to go around and seeing how people react to you doing wild shit compared to what you did before, but for me at least, it doesn't warrant a second playthrough. Some critiques are below, spoiler-heavy.

Spoiler

Perhaps I missed something, but I did not really find many options to be a corrupt asshole cop that does fucked up shit and hands out fines willy-nilly. I think I saw maybe two opportunities to give someone a fine, and other than helping the kids set up the drug den in the church and ask for a cut, I didn't see much else. Perhaps if I followed through with the Union line and mailed the letter, there would have been more opportunities. Regardless, I think that they should have expanded upon this more and given you the opportunity to beat the shit out of some people perhaps and let you be truly deranged.

I agree wholeheartedly with Lithium regarding his points on the economy. There should have been some more interesting ways to earn money in Martinaise that didn't involve just scrounging through different containers and such picking up loose change. I agree with his assessment regarding the drugs as well. I never used any but it would have been super trivial to maintain a +1 to Int, Psyche, and Physical throughout the game if I wanted to game the checks even more than I already did by saving my level-up points (I don't even think I used all of them by the end of the game). I also wish they gave some cons to not using drugs, perhaps some withdrawal symptoms I had to deal with?

I'm also sad that there didn't seem to be any interactions with the sword I got. I should have been able to charge the mercenaries and try to stab them with it, and I was very let down when I couldn't even try to and fail. I also wish there was a better interaction with the armor I got from the corpse and the mercenaries.

Content-wise, I do wish the team had included some more conflict in the game to make use of the Physical/Motorics tree. The Measurehead fight was so fucking fun and exhilarating, I figured that there would be more such checks throughout the game. There wasn't sadly. Other than the fight with Measurehead, destroying Ruby's sound machine, and the mercenary fight, I didn't really see any other options to get into fights. Perhaps I missed some due to my careful dialogue choices, but I do think that this was a missed opportunity on their part.

I already mentioned the lack of encyclopedia being a problem, as there really are a fuck ton of things to keep track of. As the game is only 25-30 hours long, and it dumps so much information at you, it doesn't really give you enough time to properly familiarize yourself.

There was also a bug where my shirt wouldn't show after playing for some time.

I'll also mention a few things that I thought were great, definitely not a comprehensive list

Spoiler

Finding the Plasmid was so fucking great, and then being able to talk to it was even better. Definitely one of the highlights in the game. The final showdown with you and your cop buddies at the end was really good too. Listening to Kim call me a fascist, racist, sexist, Revachol nationalist, only to compliment my detective skills and the way I treated the citizens Revachol made me swell with pride. It was nice being able to prove to my disgruntled compatriots that I wasn't a totally irredeemable piece of shit.

The game really made me care for some of its characters. The Dicemaker, Titus and his boys, Klaseje (still mad I couldn't fuck), the woman with kids at the small fishing town (the date was fun and she was the only reason I didn't mail the letter Everart gave me), Measurehead, Tiago, Acele, Garthe, and of course, Detective Kim. He's got to be one of the greatest companions in video-game history, right up there with Morte. The females in this game were exceptionally well written. Perhaps I'm just a horny 19-year-old, but they really stood out to me.

The art-style of this game is absolutely gorgeous. I've said it a thousand times but 2D backgrounds is the absolute fucking best way to do an Isometric game. The entire gaming experience was buttery smooth, I loved the reactivity when you clicked on a piece of dialogue, and I just wanted to see more and more of the world I was in. The voice acting in this game was absolutely incredible. Klaseje, Cuno, Measurehead, Kim, Everart, Tiago, Acele, the list just keeps going. Triple A don't have even close to the level of voice acting this game did.

That about sums it up. I'm glad that Styg and his crew aren't the only arbiters of incline left in this god-forsaken gaming industry. They don't need to change a god-damn thing in the sequel. Just give us more places to explore, more people to talk to, more mysteries to solve, and some more opportunities to fuck shit up.

dunno if it s just flavor but perception procs quite a lot

 

[Lithium Flower]

Ok, this has been an experience.

Goty Disco or Patho 2?

I just like both games. Why must we be compelled to create an arbitrary hierarchy of values when we can just admit that there is shit we like and shit we don't like and an entire hazy spectrum in between?

I am very smart ok

 

[ItsChon]

dunno if it s just flavor but perception procs quite a lot

I ended up boosting my perception towards the end, but from what I saw, it was all flavor checks regarding your atmosphere. Not nothing, but still, not enough.

I just like both games. Why must we be compelled to create an arbitrary hierarchy of values when we can just admit that there is shit we like and shit we don't like and an entire hazy spectrum in between?

Answer the fucking question.