I barely remember the “game” parts of Planescape: Torment (unlike, say, Baldur’s Gate 2 or something). If anything, I feel like the battles and magic system and inventory and what not got in the way of the really good stuff, which was the “visual novel” part of it all. And I suppose a “spiritual successor” of that game should probably feel the same.
What do you mean “a game this long”. The Dev’s have stated that this is a MASSIVE game.
“It takes 60+ hours of continuous playtime to finish Disco Elysium if you’re a reasonable completionist player, as I am. It takes 90 hours if you’re absolutely savoring every detail. And 30 hours if you’re rushing it”
Perhaps this isn’t your jam, but I dont understand the discount culture when it comes to games. Esp with small developers that need our support.
I’m willing to pay full price for a short game in the 15-20 hour range. Any game longer than that is liable to not be finished by me, so I’m not willing to pay full price for it.
He mentioned somewhere that he rarely plays games over 10 hours, and probably won’t play this one beyond that either, and as such doesn’t want to pay full for it.
In other words, rather than “dollars per game hour” value, he thinks in terms of “dollars for percentage of full experience within the constraints of my time and interest” value.
I’m definitely sympathetic to this line of thinking. I do want to support small developers by paying full price for excellent games. But I also want to encourage smaller, shorter game experiences with my purchase decisions too, so it’s a quandary. But in this case, the game really does sound like it’s way too long, so that makes the decision easy.
Interesting. Your logic makes sense. Its funny how we are all so different. I am actually over biased in the other direction. I rarely/never
buy a game if its < 20 hours. Its one of the first things I look at before I buy.
I am aware of the flaws in this line of thinking. I just cant get past it :)
For that record, that’s just as fine. ;)
Why not just buy it and play for 15-20 hours and see if you still feel like playing more?
I watched part of that one. I jumped ahead a bit, then experienced what has to be among the most annoying npcs of all time followed by a critical failure on a stat check resulting in a game over. Decided to stop at that point.
I mean, I don’t voluntarily play games to the 15-20 hour mark. It takes me about 3 months to get that far. It’s just 3 months later, usually life intervenes, I get distracted by other things. That’s how far I’ve gotten in the original Planescape Torment too. I’ve played the first 15-20 hours of 3 times now over the years. I love it. I’m sure the rest of it is excellent, but I’ve never gotten to it.
Seriously, tweets like the below are making it impossible to not plan on buying a copy of this Tuesday despite feeling like this $40 will be the difference between being able to upgrade my PC on that paycheck or not. I wish I knew exactly how much my bonus and PTO cash out was going to be. I suppose I could just plan on upgrading in early November…
Some video impressions from RPS:
I wonder if its possible to play the entire game in just your briefs?
If not that’s going to be a gamebreaker
Not sure about a tidy-whities playthrough, but it seems like wearing your disco-style bell bottom trousers will impact your roleplaying. The UK IGN podcast spent an hour enthusiastically discussing the game, with one recalling an instance where their character tried to make a pump, and despite having the required physical stats, they didn’t believe enough in themselves to follow through. After unequipping his heavy garb, they made the jump, but half-way through a mini-story unfolded where his mind began reflecting on how cool he looked making the jump in his underwear.
Another strange detail that occurs in a bit of flavor text. After encountering a few racist characters, part of your brain interrupts a dialogue scene to discuss that while there seem to be a lot of racists in the city, the latest one is your favorite so far, before suggesting the best one will be the next one you meet.
This sounds like it’s going to be amazing role-playing experience.
Helpful guide if you don’t want spend the first 90 minutes of the game staring at the character creation screen (and probably ultimately feeling like you have to start over again).
“Summary: In a day and age where social and political issues are subtly weaved into the very fabric of nearly every form of entertainment, Disco Elysium takes them head on without a hint of shyness. Disco Elysium is certainly not a game for those that are faint of heart, but if you have a sense of humor, and you’re looking for a breath of fresh air then Disco Elysium is a must buy game.”
Man, I really want to play this. Too bad there’s no console versions. I might even see if it’ll play on my low-end Surface.
For games like Fallout, I really enjoy that process. In fact, that’s still my touchstone for how a game can have a fantastic character creation screen that it’s actually fun to read through and fiddle with for 90 minutes. (As opposed to most games, where it’s not fun at all).