Asakiyume takes on ... Disco Elysium!

[asakiyume]

I have started playing a video game! After the healing angel (youngest kid) told me about Disco Elysium, I thought, heyyyyy, I could try that. That sounds like something I might like. (I can't remember what she said that made me interested, but it was probably something along the lines of what raven says in her entry here about playing and loving the game. In fact, it was reading Raven's entry that CONFIRMED me in my desire to try the game.)

For context, I have played approximately zero video games in the past thirty years. The last (and only) video games I played for real were Tetris and Mac Man (Mac computer version of Pac Man). Somewhere we have a photo of me sitting with infant ninja girl in my lap, playing one of those like the happy but not very skilled addict that I was. Since then, nothing. But I was encouraged by comments on Raven's entry from another person who'd come to it with my level of video game experience. That person said, "I was generally able to learn how to do things by floundering around and fucking up (it helps that floundering around and fucking up is very much in the spirit of the game)."

I needed Wakanomori and the healing angel to turn off all the special bells and whistles that people with dedicated gaming computers enjoy when playing video games, as those were causing my poor desktop machine to huff and puff like the tired engine in The Little Engine That Could, and I need this faithful desktop to keep functioning. But they did, and then the healing angel sat with me through the first fifteen minutes or so, showing me how I could interact with things, etc. Good good! The next day I played a little on my own--Good good!

It was a while before I tried again, and to give you a sense of how incredibly out of it I am with regard to video games, when I decided that today was the day I was going to play some more, I happily opened ... the Discord app. (This also shows you how rarely I use Discord--I think it's been three years?) "Huh... this ... does not look right..." I said to myself.

Because it's Steam that you need to open, not Discord!

Oh, oops!

Then I opened the right app, and I played for almost an hour! 😌😌 I'm so proud of myself, and I'm having fun.

Below are two screenshots--I am not sure when/how I got the first one; it seems tutorial-like in nature? I have marked it up to show all the things that I'm ??? about (but you'll have to click through to see a large size to read). The second is an example of game humor--the last dialogue choice (well, and the third, too).

The Mysteries of Disco Elysium


The Humor of Disco Elysium

Comments

[raven]

AAAH HELLO. I'm so thrilled you're having fun I was so sure you would!!

You do seem to have discovered a tutorial page that I did not, I had to figure all that stuff up by fucking around as earlier discussed! In brief, and remember I am also someone who doesn't play games, sometimes the dialogue options will be locked, and that's a skill check - if you want to say/do that thing, the game will throw an internal dice for you and you might win or lose. Your skills and earlier game choices will have an impact on how likely you are to pass the check. it will make more sense as it happens.

Sometimes you'll want to make time pass! Though not for a while yet. It's when the game has given you a job to do at a time, there's nothing else you want to do immediately and otherwise you're just twiddling your thumbs.

I'll let someone else explain thoughts, I still don't understand them!

[raven]

Wait, I forgot to ask about Kim. No, I shouldn't ask about Kim. I should let you develop your own relationship with my boyfriend Kim Kitsuragi.

[asakiyume]

ahahaha, I like him so far. I am leaning on him heavily! (But with all the respect due to his being your boyfriend, I hasten to add)

I am making notes! (Am I doing it right? Do gamers make notes?) We should investigate to the East! (click through to hopefully see my scrawl more clearly)

[raven]

this is perfect and I love it. Do gamers make notes, I have no idea, they do now.

[asakiyume]

I am loving the experience on ALL THE LEVELS. Like, in terms of plot and worldbuilding, and how they construct a branching tree of choices, as well as watching myself flounder around. It's great!

[threemeninaboat]

I have an entire notebook for The Return of the Obra Dinn, which you can play when you are done with DE.

[asakiyume]

All right! Good to know ;-)

[asakiyume]

I successfully radioed Sylvia! (Or is it Sylvie? My memory, man. I mean the one who quit the bar because of our nameless viewpoint character.) I saw it was one of the things on my to-do list, and I thought, BUT HOW can I use Kim Katsuragi's radio when he hasn't mentioned a radio??? And then we came to his car! And there was a radio! Oh, I was so pleased.

[threemeninaboat]

When you have enough skill points and experiences you can process Thoughts. It's kind of like when in real life you need to mull something over, character is mulling over things that he experienced. Mulled over thoughts can lead to different experiences in the game. It'll help you when it is time.

[asakiyume]

Sounds good. My current strategy is to simply interact with as much of the environment as possible to see what happens and what I can learn.

[larryhammer]

That's good basic video game strategy.

[asakiyume]

Wohoo! I'm a natural!

[mallorys_camera]

I ❤️LUV❤️ video games myself. 😀 I mostly play empire-building games where you watch civilizations rise & fall, and of course, the Sims for which I've downloaded all sorts of x-rated mods. But it's weird—these days, I feel very guilty when I play them. Because there's so much other fuckin' stuff I should be doing.

[asakiyume]

In this game, you wake up with no memory and quickly discover you're a police officer who hated his life as a police officer. You appear to be in a grimy failed state. There's great atmosphere and the humor is excellent (when you're given choices of what to say, some of them are just great. I got it on sale on Steam for $5! (I think regularly it goes for like $30)

[sovay]

I'm so proud of myself, and I'm having fun.

I'm so glad! I have heard nothing but good things about Disco Elysium and I am happy to hear that it isn't letting you down, either.

[asakiyume]

Wakanomori, who knows all my internet pals vicariously, asked, "Has your friend who writes the film reviews** played it? Does she play video games?" And I said I didn't know if you did, but that I thought spatch did.

Yeah, I've heard nothing but good things too! Deserved, based on my approximately 1.3 hours of game play so far!

**speaking of, I'm just now sitting down to read your most recent one.

[sovay]

Wakanomori, who knows all my internet pals vicariously, asked, "Has your friend who writes the film reviews** played it? Does she play video games?" And I said I didn't know if you did, but that I thought spatch did.

Aw! Tell him thank you for asking. I really do not play video games, but I enjoy watching spatch and rushthatspeaks play them and tell me about them. And I have a deep historical fondness for Glider (1988) and its successor Glider Pro (1994), which I did play through on their respective Macs.

**speaking of, I'm just now sitting down to read your most recent one.

(Enjoy!)

[threemeninaboat]

Oh, and if you die you can re-launch your last save point if you don't want to start all over.

[asakiyume]

Very good to know. I will certainly not want to start all over! I'm already attached to my current playthrough, and I still haven't put in 2 hours.

[missroserose]

Aaaahhhh, this makes me so happy! Disco Elysium is one of my favorite storytelling experiences I've come across, ever, in part because of the ways it utilizes video game mechanics to alter the way it tells the story based on your choices and also an element of chance. The sheer size of the dialogue tree is absolutely mind-boggling to me—I think the narrator alone said he recorded over half a million words for it, when all was said and done.

I have So Much to say but I'll sit on it until you've gotten more immersed in the game—please keep us updated!

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, will do!

[green_knight]

Heard many good things, but I don't need another game.

Oh look, 75% off on Steam.

Now I only need enough hard drive space to play.

[asakiyume]

If things work out so that you do end up playing, I hope you have as much fun as I'm having!