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[Disco Elysium] Hobocop just can't stop

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Posts

  • A Half Eaten OreoA Half Eaten Oreo Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    One trap I fell into on my first playthrough was being too curious about thoughts. I wasted a lot of skill points removing old thoughts so I could slot in new ones, just to see what they do upon completion.

    This was a bad idea because of just how often the game throws new thoughts at you. If you get too curious about them, you won't have very many points left for investing in skills. Better to treat thoughts as a roleplaying feature and only slot in the ones that match your view of who your detective is as a person.

    I only removed one thought, before I knew it cost skill points to do so. Seemed better to just unlock new slots in the thought cabinet (it also costs 1 skill point I believe). The negatives of the thought I learned never seemed THAT bad.

    A Half Eaten Oreo on
  • ColdrazorColdrazor Registered User regular
    Word of advice:

    If at any point in the game Authority tries to convince you to put a loaded gun in your mouth and pull the trigger to stop some random stranger from calling you a sissy, do not assume you'll be fine just because your Endurance and Pain Threshold stats are very high.no matter what

    Fixed it for you.

  • BaskeBaske Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    Maybe a weird question, but what's the inventory system like?
    IE is there a lot of juggling of items to pickup because you are limited by inventory space or similar mechanic (weight). Do you get inundated with items and have to choose between them?

    Baske on
  • BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    Baske wrote: »
    Maybe a weird question, but what's the inventory system like?
    IE is there a lot of juggling of items to pickup because you are limited by inventory space or similar mechanic (weight). Do you get inundated with items and have to choose between them?

    There's no weight or space limit, and actual usable items are minimal in number. You only have two hands and can only equip two items like the crowbar or flashlight at the same time, which necessitated some juggling at points (it didn't help that I had a bonus to a social stat for having empty hands).

    I think the only real problem with the inventory is that there's no way to sort all the clothing you get, and make no mistake there is a lot of it if you go looking for it.

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  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    So this is great

    I think I read here that skill checks tend to break on 2 4 and 6, so I'm running a 4 2 2 4 Sherlock Holmes shitcop as my first run

    After that I might spoil myself and do the full Malkavian INLAND EMPIRE run

    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    I wondered if that's the point of the pre-made classes having their highest attribute aw five, so that you take the +1 with your signature skill =6 that way you can hit the 6-level checks?

    But now that I'm playing everything seems percentage based? it's not really like a Shadowrun: Dragonfall style dialogue where you need tge minimum and then you have one hundred percent success to pick

    SummaryJudgment on
    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    Did I fuck up by choosing the Sensitive type first? Cause I don't really understand a lot of what's going on! I seem to be passing / failing a lot of dialogue prompts that I didn't attempt.

    Oh brilliant
  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    I haven't gotten very far into the game yet, but I think you could argue that your pre-amnesiac self is the true villain of the story. Seems like most of your time is spent trying to fix problems that he created.

    As for the money problems that @Tumin mentioned, I do think it's pretty terrible that the game gets stuck in an unwinnable state if you allow nightfall to come without securing a place to sleep. This isn't a 1990's Sierra point-and-click! A modern game should at least have the decency of killing you if you're created a situation where you can't progress. It wouldn't take much to just have the screen fade to black and a newspaper appear saying, "Frozen corpse of local cop found on street corner."

    Or better yet, have your character wake up the next morning with all but one health bar depleted. Still a harsh punishment, but at least you have the option of continuing the game in your weakened condition if you wish to do so.

    Planescape: Hobocop

    This is some good shit and I have no idea how this gets made in 2019

    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • Blackhawk1313Blackhawk1313 Demon Hunter for Hire Time RiftRegistered User regular
    I haven't gotten very far into the game yet, but I think you could argue that your pre-amnesiac self is the true villain of the story. Seems like most of your time is spent trying to fix problems that he created.

    As for the money problems that @Tumin mentioned, I do think it's pretty terrible that the game gets stuck in an unwinnable state if you allow nightfall to come without securing a place to sleep. This isn't a 1990's Sierra point-and-click! A modern game should at least have the decency of killing you if you're created a situation where you can't progress. It wouldn't take much to just have the screen fade to black and a newspaper appear saying, "Frozen corpse of local cop found on street corner."

    Or better yet, have your character wake up the next morning with all but one health bar depleted. Still a harsh punishment, but at least you have the option of continuing the game in your weakened condition if you wish to do so.

    Planescape: Hobocop

    This is some good shit and I have no idea how this gets made in 2019

    I’m so very happy it did though.

  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    Since there seems to be some confusion, allow me to explain the differences between passive checks and active checks.

    Passive checks are when your skills will assert themselves during conversation to provide you with some extra information. There are some passive checks that only appear when you succeed, and other that only appear when you fail. On subsequent playthroughs, you may find yourself saying, "Oh, I never knew there was a check in this conversation", because the stats you chose in your first playthrough didn't meet the success/failure requirements.

    Here are the difficulty ranks of passive checks in the game.

    Trivial: Requires a level 0 skill. These can only be failed if you use clothing or thoughts that lower your skills into negative numbers.
    Easy: Requires a level 2 skill. You can only fail these if you took an attribute as a dump stat during character creation.
    Medium: Requires a level 4 skill. You need to be at least above average to pass. This is by far the most common level of passive check.
    Challenging: Requires a level 6 skill. If you want to pass these in the early game, you'll need to max out an attribute during character creation.
    Formidable: Requires a level 7 skill. You'll need to invest in a skill a little to pass these.
    Legendary: Requires a level 8 skill. You'll need to invest a moderate amount. Clothing helps a lot with passing checks beyond this level, so be fashion conscious!
    Heroic: Requires a level 9 skill. You'll need a considerable investment. Heroic checks are rare and tend to occur mostly in conversations after day 3.
    Godly: Requires a level 10 skill. This seems to be the highest level of passive check that appears upon success, so raising skills above level 10 is usually not recommended. These checks are very rare, but usually provide very interesting information if passed.
    Impossible: Requires a level 12 skill. While there are impossible passive checks in the game, they seem to be exclusively of the type that only appear in dialogue when you fail the check.

    Active checks are checks you initiate yourself. They are marked by a white or red border when the option for them appears during dialogue. Active checks use the same difficulty rankings as passive checks, but the requirements to pass are 6 levels higher for each rank than they are for passive checks. To "help" you pass active checks, the game will roll two six-sided dice every time you make an attempt, then add the sum of the dice values to your skill level. Rolling a 12 will automatically pass the check regardless of your skill level, so it's technically possible to pass any check in the game the first time you try. But beware! Rolling a 2 automatically fails a check, so success is never truly guaranteed!

  • Blackhawk1313Blackhawk1313 Demon Hunter for Hire Time RiftRegistered User regular
    Since there seems to be some confusion, allow me to explain the differences between passive checks and active checks.

    Passive checks are when your skills will assert themselves during conversation to provide you with some extra information. There are some passive checks that only appear when you succeed, and other that only appear when you fail. On subsequent playthroughs, you may find yourself saying, "Oh, I never knew there was a check in this conversation", because the stats you chose in your first playthrough didn't meet the success/failure requirements.

    Here are the difficulty ranks of passive checks in the game.

    Trivial: Requires a level 0 skill. These can only be failed if you use clothing or thoughts that lower your skills into negative numbers.
    Easy: Requires a level 2 skill. You can only fail these if you took an attribute as a dump stat during character creation.
    Medium: Requires a level 4 skill. You need to be at least above average to pass. This is by far the most common level of passive check.
    Challenging: Requires a level 6 skill. If you want to pass these in the early game, you'll need to max out an attribute during character creation.
    Formidable: Requires a level 7 skill. You'll need to invest in a skill a little to pass these.
    Legendary: Requires a level 8 skill. You'll need to invest a moderate amount. Clothing helps a lot with passing checks beyond this level, so be fashion conscious!
    Heroic: Requires a level 9 skill. You'll need a considerable investment. Heroic checks are rare and tend to occur mostly in conversations after day 3.
    Godly: Requires a level 10 skill. This seems to be the highest level of passive check that appears upon success, so raising skills above level 10 is usually not recommended. These checks are very rare, but usually provide very interesting information if passed.
    Impossible: Requires a level 12 skill. While there are impossible passive checks in the game, they seem to be exclusively of the type that only appear in dialogue when you fail the check.

    Active checks are checks you initiate yourself. They are marked by a white or red border when the option for them appears during dialogue. Active checks use the same difficulty rankings as passive checks, but the requirements to pass are 6 levels higher for each rank than they are for passive checks. To "help" you pass active checks, the game will roll two six-sided dice every time you make an attempt, then add the sum of the dice values to your skill level. Rolling a 12 will automatically pass the check regardless of your skill level, so it's technically possible to pass any check in the game the first time you try. But beware! Rolling a 2 automatically fails a check, so success is never truly guaranteed!

    Well... almost any...

  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    Okay, weird situation:
    I'm trying to make the jump down again to get into the dockyard area by using Cuno's hideout room roof access

    I've done it once before without an issue to get my coat, and got the dialog about Kim climbing down like a normal person

    Without my coat there I can't seem to jump down again? Is that access now closed?

    SummaryJudgment on
    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    Okay, weird situation:
    I'm trying to make the jump down again to get into the dockyard area by using Cuno's hideout room roof access

    I've done it once before without an issue to get my coat, and got the dialog about Kim climbing down like a normal person

    Without my coat there I can't seem to jump down again? Is that access now closed?

    Yes, you can only use the door to get in and out of there from now on.

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    The way you got back out should remain unlocked.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Failing an Impossible Empathy check when it's like level 8 by rolling two 1's is just so peak my character. I just sighed and carried on.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • jothkijothki Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    I just tried to do a run where I did absolutely nothing related to the case, to see what Kim would say at the end of the day. I didn't get to have an end of the day, as Kim didn't offer to cover my room. Did I bug it out, or does he just not offer it if he doesn't like you enough?

    One thing that I did do was putting off talking to Garte at all until Kim had already brought up the room. I wonder if that messed up the event flags.

    jothki on
  • WotanAnubisWotanAnubis Registered User regular
    MegaMan001 wrote: »
    Failing an Impossible Empathy check when it's like level 8 by rolling two 1's is just so peak my character. I just sighed and carried on.

    My first try with this game, early on when trying not to throw up when getting closer to the corpse, I rolled snake eyes and the cop threw up.

    Then I officially Got My Shit Together and gave it another go.

    And rolled snake eyes again.

    And threw up again.

    Disco Elysium

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    jothki wrote: »
    I just tried to do a run where I did absolutely nothing related to the case, to see what Kim would say at the end of the day. I didn't get to have an end of the day, as Kim didn't offer to cover my room. Did I bug it out, or does he just not offer it if he doesn't like you enough?

    One thing that I did do was putting off talking to Garte at all until Kim had already brought up the room. I wonder if that messed up the event flags.

    I think he should always offer to cover it but you can leave it too late. But your idea about missed flags might be right as well.

    The ability to get stuck at the end of day 1/2 due to lack of cash is such a weird blackmark against the game. The bench is right there! Just let people go hobocop and give an appropriate debuff.

    People like to argue back how easy money is to make or how you can load an earlier save or how it's thematic, but that's bollocks. Letting people get a save into an inescapable position due to an inability to make time progress is very much not thematic!

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • MegaMan001MegaMan001 CRNA Rochester, MNRegistered User regular
    Yeah any game that locks a player like that is just bad design.

    I am in the business of saving lives.
  • Blackhawk1313Blackhawk1313 Demon Hunter for Hire Time RiftRegistered User regular
    Didn’t have this issue but just a thought, does it work at all if you
    Let Kim go to sleep, and then when you are alone, use the bench outside to advance time?

  • Jam WarriorJam Warrior Registered User regular
    Didn’t have this issue but just a thought, does it work at all if you
    Let Kim go to sleep, and then when you are alone, use the bench outside to advance time?

    Sadly no. You reach 2am and you're stuck in limbo forever.

    MhCw7nZ.gif
  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    Okay, weird situation:
    I'm trying to make the jump down again to get into the dockyard area by using Cuno's hideout room roof access

    I've done it once before without an issue to get my coat, and got the dialog about Kim climbing down like a normal person

    Without my coat there I can't seem to jump down again? Is that access now closed?

    Yes, you can only use the door to get in and out of there from now on.

    That's unfortunate. I didn't want to internalize that thought, so I had to savescum a bunch.

    Also: that check is hella bugged. I had a 28% for it
    after besting him in phrenology
    and it still took maybe 20 reloads? I actually loaded an earlier save because I wondered if XCOM style seeds preventing save-scumming were a thing.

    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    Okay, weird situation:
    I'm trying to make the jump down again to get into the dockyard area by using Cuno's hideout room roof access

    I've done it once before without an issue to get my coat, and got the dialog about Kim climbing down like a normal person

    Without my coat there I can't seem to jump down again? Is that access now closed?

    Yes, you can only use the door to get in and out of there from now on.

    That's unfortunate. I didn't want to internalize that thought, so I had to savescum a bunch.

    Also: that check is hella bugged. I had a 28% for it
    after besting him in phrenology
    and it still took maybe 20 reloads? I actually loaded an earlier save because I wondered if XCOM style seeds preventing save-scumming were a thing.

    I don't understand what the problem is.
    Evrart should have given you a keycard after he interrogates you. You're free to visit the dockyard whenever you want now. You don't need to bother with Measurehead at all if got in by jumping.

    Also, don't forget that you can spend a skill point to permanently forget a thought. If the only way you can get into the docks is by convincing Measurehead that you're a racist, you don't need to stay that way forever.

  • SummaryJudgmentSummaryJudgment Grab the hottest iron you can find, stride in the Tower’s front door Registered User regular
    Okay, weird situation:
    I'm trying to make the jump down again to get into the dockyard area by using Cuno's hideout room roof access

    I've done it once before without an issue to get my coat, and got the dialog about Kim climbing down like a normal person

    Without my coat there I can't seem to jump down again? Is that access now closed?

    Yes, you can only use the door to get in and out of there from now on.

    That's unfortunate. I didn't want to internalize that thought, so I had to savescum a bunch.

    Also: that check is hella bugged. I had a 28% for it
    after besting him in phrenology
    and it still took maybe 20 reloads? I actually loaded an earlier save because I wondered if XCOM style seeds preventing save-scumming were a thing.

    I don't understand what the problem is.
    Evrart should have given you a keycard after he interrogates you. You're free to visit the dockyard whenever you want now. You don't need to bother with Measurehead at all if got in by jumping.

    Also, don't forget that you can spend a skill point to permanently forget a thought. If the only way you can get into the docks is by convincing Measurehead that you're a racist, you don't need to stay that way forever.
    I inspected the clipboard in the dockyard but before I met Everett. Passed out and woke up in the squad car.

    Some days Blue wonders why anyone ever bothered making numbers so small; other days she supposes even infinity needs to start somewhere.
  • WotanAnubisWotanAnubis Registered User regular
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPP0Uy34u94

    So Disco Elysium now has a Hard Mode. According to the Steam page, all skill checks are harder, healing items are less effective, and money is harder to come by.

    Meanwhile, here's me constantly restarting because I can't figure out what stat spread I want to use for my Cop.

  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    Hard Mode.

    "HARDCORE TO THE MEGA!"

  • Dark Raven XDark Raven X Laugh hard, run fast, be kindRegistered User regular
    Still no controller support tho? Harrumph!

    I'm still on the first day. This game is more intimidating than Sekiro. What if I say the wrong thing!?

    Oh brilliant
  • GlaziusGlazius Registered User regular
    Still no controller support tho? Harrumph!

    I'm still on the first day. This game is more intimidating than Sekiro. What if I say the wrong thing!?

    You'll eat some -1s to things down the road probably and move on. As long as you're not, like, obviously wallowing in misery or picking a fight with ten guys bigger than you, it's not likely to actually hurt you.

  • PhillisherePhillishere Registered User regular
    Glazius wrote: »
    Still no controller support tho? Harrumph!

    I'm still on the first day. This game is more intimidating than Sekiro. What if I say the wrong thing!?

    You'll eat some -1s to things down the road probably and move on. As long as you're not, like, obviously wallowing in misery or picking a fight with ten guys bigger than you, it's not likely to actually hurt you.

    The game is pretty good at making the things that permanently hurt you happen quickly and obviously, so you can just reload. I never encountered a situation where a choice from hours back came back to haunt me, at least not in a way that wasn't fun.

  • captainkcaptaink TexasRegistered User regular
    I shaved

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    Reload

  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    Were people really asking for a hardcore mode?

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  • PMAversPMAvers Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    Honestly, it sounds like it could be fun for a "Total Disaster Cop" play-through to see how spectacularly some things can fail.

    EDIT: More importantly, it looks like it actually remembers and respects your Full-Screen setting when you launch the game.

    PMAvers on
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  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    Were people really asking for a hardcore mode?

    It may not be something I was asking for, but I do have to admit that the game becomes trivially easy once you've built up a stockpile of discarded medication. It's pretty much impossible to die after that point.

  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    If it mainly works as a challenge, it’s not for me. If it pushes the player into using more of the options at their disposal and accepting failure more readily, it sounds fascinating.

    webp-net-resizeimage.jpg
    "Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
  • cooljammer00cooljammer00 Hey Small Christmas-Man!Registered User regular
    Were people really asking for a hardcore mode?

    It may not be something I was asking for, but I do have to admit that the game becomes trivially easy once you've built up a stockpile of discarded medication. It's pretty much impossible to die after that point.

    Yeah, but this isn't Mario. It's not on a lives system.

    It's a CRPG heavily based on story and dialogue. Why would I want to die more?

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  • Ninja Snarl PNinja Snarl P My helmet is my burden. Ninja Snarl: Gone, but not forgotten.Registered User regular
    Were people really asking for a hardcore mode?

    It may not be something I was asking for, but I do have to admit that the game becomes trivially easy once you've built up a stockpile of discarded medication. It's pretty much impossible to die after that point.

    Yeah, but this isn't Mario. It's not on a lives system.

    It's a CRPG heavily based on story and dialogue. Why would I want to die more?

    I dunno, there's just this odd subset of RPG players who are totally into the idea that conflated numbers in an RPG represent some kind of actual challenge instead of just being the artificial game bloat they actually are.

    Whatever, just glad the devs continue to add to the game, even if it's not really anything I want/need.

  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    Were people really asking for a hardcore mode?

    It may not be something I was asking for, but I do have to admit that the game becomes trivially easy once you've built up a stockpile of discarded medication. It's pretty much impossible to die after that point.

    Yeah, but this isn't Mario. It's not on a lives system.

    It's a CRPG heavily based on story and dialogue. Why would I want to die more?

    You don't want to die more, but you do want to feel like the reason why you're not dying is because you're playing the game well and not because the game itself is giving you a free pass.

    Let me put it this way. In my playthrough of the game, I was never tempted even once to indulge in alcohol or nicotine. At the time, I felt proud of myself for keeping my amnesiac cop on the straight and narrow.

    But looking back, it feels a little too convenient. Shouldn't I have been at least a little bit tempted to indulge? Why were there no checks difficult enough to make me feel that internal conflict? The game gave me absolute control over that part of my life. Is that really roleplaying, or is it just a shallow power fantasy?

    That's why a game mode that forces me to make more hard decisions sounds good. To me, that's an essential component of role play.

  • ThirithThirith Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    I don’t even think it’s playing the game well. In effect, is characterisation. The main character isn’t one that easily resists his own urges.

    I wouldn’t have wanted to play the game like that the first time round, but I can absolutely see the appeal in making it more difficult
    for Harry not to be, well, Harry.

    Thirith on
    webp-net-resizeimage.jpg
    "Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
  • Ivan HungerIvan Hunger Registered User regular
    edited January 2020
    Might want to spoiler tag that, @Thirith. The main character's real name is something you're not supposed to know until you're a ways in.

    Ivan Hunger on
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