About half a year ago I stumbled across Disco Elysium. I fell in love with this game almost immediately. The style of storytelling, the art, and the sheer chaos of the game's protagonist was something that just pulled me in from the start. There's something incredibly engaging about a self-destructive protagonist that we are at the hands of. Capable of amplifying that self-destructive behaviour and attempting to be some sort of hero detective at the same time. I didn't get too far into the game, but I remember it being something incredibly addictive. But, I got a bit sick, and then had to leave my computer behind and travel across the planet. I never did get to finish the game, and I've thought about it a lot since. I purchased an overpriced Macbook Pro here in Armenia though, and while that's certainly not the gaming machine one would ever want, it seems to be just barely capable of running the game. Albeit on low settings and with the fans screaming at me as the body reaches temperatures capable of frying eggs and bacon.
I booted up the game, having to deal with Crossfire in order to play it, and instantly opted for creating the most broken character I could. One so empty inside that the process of being a detective should be a great challenge. Incapable of talking to people, barely capable of moving. A constant drunkard on the brink of passing out at any moment. It got me excited to play as a character that roams through the space with no awareness. To have everyone looking at him like he's delusional and insane, and that's ultimately what he is. What is my name again, anyway? Apparently I'm some sort of detective, I have a logo on me that appears to imply that, though I'll just tell everyone I stole it from a real detective. From my last attempted playthrough, I think I gave my character a bit more intelligence, a little more health. Someone capable of a bit of thought and agility. The game wasn't that difficult as a result. Engagements with people seemed simple, and I rarely lost any morale and health. It's time for total pain and misery now though!
I tried to convince myself to stay in the ether. To avoid the suffering of reality by not opening my eyes to it. I toyed with my own mind in the debate of existence and whether I wanted to return to it. The darkness felt so good. There was a hint of emotional trauma, something about an ex? I ignored it. I couldn't possibly feel love. I don't exist! But wait, what is this? Light? Objects thrown around the room as I pulled myself up from the ground holding my head up with my hand. A thumping headache. Where are my clothes? Do I really need them? Attempting to pull my tie from the fan, I almost died. Clenching my chest in pain from the horrific movement I subjected myself to. One step at a time from here on, I guess. I gathered my things, and looked into the mirror. An expression of pain was visible. An attempted smile from a broken face; this was no genuine emotion, this was one that instinctively came out. But is this really me? I think I would like to return to the darkness now.
I escaped the pain of the mirror. But I was still unfortunate to be in reality. Stumbling across the room and out into the outdoor world, I began my first encounters with people. Opting for the rudest, most insufferable being possible. Refusing help, rejecting pity. Downright stubborn and direct. Few seemed to mind at first, it seems that everyone is already familiar with my antics. There is no sympathy here, no care for the next big trick to come from my sleeve. They've seen it all before, yet I continue. It's already too late to go back, I've apparently already been doing this nonsense for two or three days already. They know me, they don't want to know me. I stumbled around a little more and stole some leftover change on the counter, out onto the balcony and found my other shoe. I felt sick at the air outside. That dose of reality again being too much to deal with.
I avoided everyone after going downstairs. I didn't want to talk to the people around me. I had already attempted one discussion with someone upstairs and that was uneventful. But I stumbled into a fellow detective that was searching for me. I told him I was not the main he was looking for. He assumed I was. He asked about the body outside, I lied and told him it was dealt with already. That I had already talked with everyone, settled any hotel debts, and all was well. Not a single part of this was true, and he saw through it quickly, insisting that we go through it all again, releasing a little sigh at the realisation of what he was to now deal with. Clearly a man of professionalism, dedication to the job. But I was quite the opposite, I couldn't even remember my own name. Speaking of which, perhaps it's time I make up something cool? This could be my big break to give myself some real cool superstar detective name, after all! But none of that matters anyway, whether I have a name or not, I'm still an alcoholic mess with a raging migraine. And it appears that I was engaging in some sort of behaviour the night before that resulted in people having taken a lesser liking to me.
The urge to perform karaoke for everyone is intense though. For seem reason it feels like it is my destiny to perform for everyone, to give off the greatest performance there ever was! But I need to find some song to sing first. At least my priorities are in order. Forget about the decaying body outside that's supposedly my problem and I have to solve some crime or whatever. I guess that can wait. The first thing is finding something to smoke and a drink or two.
This is one of the best role-playing games I have had the opportunity to discover. It has been some time since I played it, but I still remember some things.
For a game based on dialogue and role-playing experience, I must say that I love the character you created. He sounds fun:
LOL. I hope you continue to enjoy this excellent video game! :-)
I played with a very different style before, I had a character that wasn't so broken, but now I get what the general idea of the game is like, I feel like it's a lot of fun to just stumble through the interactions and find the most stupid ways to engage with people.
I saw this game in my library recently and was thinking about booting it up for a try. Perhaps once I finish the game I am currently working on, I will do just that .
It's a great game, a whole lot of fun. Quite humourous but also relaxing. Quite a story heavy game but in the right ways. You really start to feel part of the world as you start to understand it.
I feel like you should try roleplaying games if you haven't already XD
I would love to! I really want to play Rogue Trader and the Pathfinder games, but it seems anything other than Stardew Valley really kicks in the fans and creates some heat. A bit worrying given it's already very hot here and I'm cautious of causing some long-term damage running it at such temperatures for long sessions. I've been tempted to buy something like a Steam Deck at some point; I really missing passing a bit of time playing things, and I'm really trying to figure out what works with this thing.
I find that surprising but not. I can do Blender stuff on my Macbook Air but character work is agonisingly painful so I usually just have to do hard surface things (buildings and objects). I used to be able to do some pretty hardcore stuff on my last MacBook Pro (a billion years ago), and I know sibling dearest is able to run Minecraft on her (much more current) MBP, but Apple's quality in general seems to be stagnant at best.
Play actual tabletop (or virtual tabletop if you can't find anyone local to play with) :D Then you theoretically shouldn't have a fans issue. And if you ever try out Rogue Trader let me know what it's like, I kind of vaguely looked at it as I thought it might be something fun for me and youngest to be able to do together, as he only likes DnD and I hate that system, but while he has played CoD a couple of times with me he doesn't like that system, and he has been trying to get me to play Warhammer with him and I've tried a couple of times but I suck at it XD
I find that it can run games decently, certainly at a playable state. Just the fans and the heat are the concern. Even on low everything it still generates quite a bit of heat. For running programs though it's fine, I don't have problems video/photo editing; I'm actually very happy with the performance on that end. The only times I've heard the fans kick in and the laptop generate some heat has been from running games, but at the same time that makes sense given how intensive games are. But I did expect a bit more from it.
Battery life goes out of the window with anything remotely intensive on this thing. The 16 - 20 hour battery life Apple claims the M2 Pro has is just a lie. Chrome alone will push my battery down to 8 hours if I'm lucky. Add on any social stuff like Telegram and it comes down to about 6. I haven't had a laptop in forever though, I've been spoiled with the luxuries of a high end desktop for most of my life.
Oh, 3% of the battery capacity is also gone within six months of owning this. So most of the time I just keep it plugged in if I can to avoid adding on cycles.
Man, it's great to see you playing! The game looks very good, although they are too deep for me, too many puzzles, but it looks fun
I've missed it a lot!
The puzzles aren't anything major though, it guides you through everything quite easily. It's not like you have to really solve anything, it tells you what you can click on and gives you dialogue options based on how you interact with the world.
And it's the dialogue options that are the 'puzzles' almost, which are how your character traits guide you through the space. Poor physique, poor ability to lie, etc etc.
Im not a English speaker, but i understand a little, so you set up yourself a kind of "nightmare lvl of difficulty" hahah what is seems to me a creative way to find where the game goes in this way. Im happy that you are enjoying the game to that level. I wish you my best in this path, let us know how it goes hahah
Yeah that's it! :) I'm sure I could've made things even harder for myself too.