Game Thoughts: Disco Elysium
After another back injury I found myself bedridden once again. I decided it was time to finally get through Disco Elysium.
It's a game I've struggled to play for a while now. One that felt like it was very much catering to everything I could want in a game, but frustrated me at every attempt to play.
-The first time I attempted the game I felt berated for playing it "wrong" when I was awarded with "Boring cop" and "Sorry cop" dialogues.
As someone who's never been particularly interested in drugs and alcohol (or partying at all, for that matter), I found very little to relate to in the protagonist. So little that I couldn't even role-play, as I found the only available options in several parts of the game distasteful.
This time I figured "fuck it, I'll just be the boring cop" and managed to get through everything. Honestly, though, it wasn't as rewarding as I'd hoped.
I found the game rather drab. The characters were all dour, the storyline was meh, and most sidequests were unsatisfying. I didn't enjoy failing checks on a 78% success chance. I didn't care about anybody except Kim, the ending sucked, and the 10000-line long dialogue options blathering about politics and world-building was terribly boring.
I love the ideas in the game -- the way different parts of your brain would interject, the thought cabinet, and the levelling systems were a joy. The menu artwork was fabulous, and honestly the interactions between Kim and the protagonist were fantastically written. By the end of the game I'd take a bullet for Kim.
I feel like I saw a lot that the in-game world had to offer. I even had a decent Inland Empire stat and got to see a bunch of weird waking dreams. Still, there wasn't much here for me.
I've honestly got no interest in role-playing as a racist or ultra-liberal or drugged-out hippie detective, so I've got no reason for a second playthrough.