I wanted to like Disco Elysium-I really did. A wildly different kind of RPG, with your stats representing a Greek Chorus of abilities, instead of standard base-'Knowledge' isn't an option but Encyclopedia is. Your stats can be tweaked by the kind of clothes you wear-you can fail the game entirely by staring at yourself in the mirror. There is a possessed necktie!
However, I think that Disco wanted me to get into the role playing aspect a bit more than I wanted to.
The main character is a drunk and there were often options to do or say some pretty shitty things-the kind of thing a barely functional alcoholic might say or do as a cop.
I didn't want to do those things, so the game wouldn't let me proceed.
Which is where I eventually found myself; In endless loops of conversations with other characters, an somehow unable to figure out which lever I could push that I wanted to push in order to move forward.
The game is exceptionally well written, has impressive art design, and a score that is just dead on.
None of it mattered, in the end. I wasn't able to get any further with what I was doing and I wasn't sure if that was on me, or if the game just wasn't giving me the tools.
So I had resigned myself to do something drastic with my character: if the game was only going to give me options that were pushing the envelope, then fine. Let's push.
It was with this reluctance I booted the game up again, having taken a break to finish Wasteland 3.
I found myself in a room that I couldn't get out of. No interaction with any object let me out. The game itself broke!
Which, on the downside, means that I can't finish. On the upside, it means I don't have to! I can just let this one go, having had an experience I appreciated, but didn't exactly enjoy.
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