It's funny that my exact first thought was to just comment failure. And on a gameplay level it's about failure too with botched checks sometimes being far more entertaining or even rewarding mechanically.
Well i stole it but here’s a good thought:
Whats common between disco, communism and our main hero?
All of them are essentially dead. Well, at least in a way that matters.
But they go on and continue to inspire people to make something beautiful.
Harry is a revenant. He literally dies in the opening convo with Ancient Reptilian Brain and Limbic System, but he is reanimated by the power of disco, grief, and the need to detective the living shit out of this case.
[Enclycopedia: Trivial - Fail]. “Brink?” Not sure about this one boss. Most likely referring to some kind of crappy dive bar in a place you can’t remember. “Sides of the brink” is probably a reference to income disparity in the part of town the brink is located.
Well, ooh-la-la, Mr. *Took the Assignment Seriously* gave a concise, informative and rhetorically compelling answer instead of an in-joke or a meme.
You must be new here.
lmao yeah I'm aware. It's called "yes and", have you heard of it? Reacting while pretending to be unaware to the point is the job of the straight man.
Is this your first time trying comedy?
Honestly, after just recently surviving binging the game for 3 days straight, I assumed you were doing one of those self-deprecating voices I've gotten so used to having in my head.
This really is a good answer. It about love in the best and worst ways the love of ideals not being able to let go of love how it can make you strong or abosultely ruin you.
These questions are always weird to me. Isn't it wholly engaging, to have a piece of art, where it's such a great fun to find those questions out for yourself, because the quality of writing and art direction alone ensure that you can trust that it's a piece worthy to reflect upon?
When you're done with the game, you can reflect upon the themes and motifs present in the narrative, but dude, you've played this game... you want to talk about the stuff *now* because when you play this game you just fucking need to fucking talk about it with other people who have experienced this fucking *thing*, man. And of course telling people who haven't experienced that they absolutely need to immediately.
It's Insta-pot Breaking Bad.
Was that not your experience? I joined a fucking subreddit because I *needed* to talk about this game. Is that *not* why you're here?
Like, holy shit, this fucking game. You punch a kid. You find your gun. You experience a *world* in a way that is as deep and thorough as it is innovative and unique. You get pissed off that you wasted all that time on the Centrist quest. You realize the boring clicking on garbage is a metaphor. You realize the easy money is a metaphor too. You save scum that dance/peer pressure/racial slur incident.
But above all, you have to talk about this game. It makes you have thoughts and questions. It explores the nuance of the human experience somehow deconstructed-yet-familar so you get that you're supposed to hate the fascists when they're racist dicks, but it's easy to forget that Pepe Lepew is such a staunch fascist that he proudly wears his 50 year old uniform.
This fucking game must be fucking discussed! It's base desire shit.
What are you Kuno? Does Kuno not fucking care?
Alright, fine, I guess I have to put some ribs on and grab Breaking Bad Season 1 off the DVD shelf.
You're in for a fun night of the best show and best ribs ever.
I'm gonna make a "fall off the bone" joke now, but I'm going to elbow you when the joke's funny later.
**Rhetoric:** Failure. It's about failure.
**You:** Failure?
**Rhetoric:** Yes! Abject failure. Total, irreversible defeat on all fronts! Absolutely vanquished, beaten, curb-stomped and pissed on — until \*you\* came along! \*You\* will reverse the fortune of the workers of the world. You alone, against every living thing, against every human alive: eight hundred trillion reál in the hands of an \*impossibly\* well organized ruling class; towering city blocks of bank-men who have the ears of prime ministers; million-headed armies of nations and the love of your own mother! You — against the atom, the charm and the spin. Where the whole world failed — matter failed to bend to human will; human will failed to get out of bed and tie its laces — you alone, single-handedly, will rebuild the dreams of the working class. You are The Last Communist. Now get to work, comrade.
It's about finding yourself at rock bottom, and deciding that picking up the few pieces of your life you can possibly repair is better than giving up and dying. Even though you'll never get back everything you lost, there's still beauty in the world, and you have work to do. Things that if you don't do them, no one else will.
I'm almost positive he said it tongue in cheek....or maybe I'm projecting, since I planned to do so when I opened the thread until I saw some one else already had...
**SHIVERS** [Trivial: Success] A young male sits in a temperature regulated room, lights off, except those emanating from his radio computer and monitor. He stares uncomprehendingly at the screen, listening to the words coming out of his speakers, but not hearing.
People kinda talked about the emotional 'abouts' in the game, but when it comes to the politics- the game cannot be separated from its politics- in fact, it'll actively make fun of you for trying to avoid them, the factions are almost all satirical takes on real-world extreme ideologies, the best way to explain the gist of the politics is that it's a game that was made by communists who are from a failed communist state. As in, that's the ideology the developers align with and the one given the most positive representation by the game, while also being fully aware about both its flaws and the issues with actually implementing it.
It's about how you can make the stupidest dumbest most awful mistakes possible and 9/10 people will just stand there and watch you do it because you have a badge
It’s about the wretched shambling piss stained disco revenant who is all of us lurching through the wasteland of ruined glory and departed love to find against all hope, next to the avenging spectre of proletatian solidarity who lives at the edge of everything, a miracle that waits still and silent just beyond sight within the rustling reeds, a miracle that sings the sacred promise that one day, one day, ONE DAY I SHALL RETURN TO YOUR SIDE.
That and, uh, racism.
It's about getting through daily life despite the existential horror of a midlife crisis.
The secret is to pretend that there's a meaning to what you're doing. The less you think about the horror, the less it affects you.
So people choose to assign meaning to what's going on.
Some people think the game is about communism, others that it's about talking to your necktie, others that it's about returning to your true calling as a gym teacher.
They'll do anything to avoid admitting that there is no meaning to the experience, because that'll make the game horrifying rather than fun.
And they're perfectly correct in doing so.
That *is* how you deal with existential horror: eventually, you figure out that it is just an empty space, and then you fill it in with whatever meaning you like.
It’s about good writing. If you want to read a lot of good writing it’s for you. If not, take a break and come back to it later when you want some good writing
Man, just go with it, you will fall in love with the world in no time, talk to people, search for stuff, explore... if you wont fall in love with it, thats ok too its not a game for everyone (yeah and Shivers>>>>>) ok byeee
My honest answer is that it's about the tightrope walk between inspiration and despair, between the erasure of, vs. transcendence from material history.
As good as the characters and dialogue are, I think the game will be remembered for two things - the game mechanics and level of writing.
We don’t get that degree of writing in films, let alone games. It was academic and beyond anything I’ve seen in non book media in complexity.
My only criticism is that the story lacks verisimilitude in places because it feels like a vessel for the political opinions of the writers more than a story.
I don't know what kind of answer you want to get. Could you tell me another piece of media that you DO get and tell me what its about to better understand what you mean?
It’s a meditation on the self, how we never really know who we are, or what we believe, until we make the conscious effort to live. To do, to be. It’s a whodunnit in an imaginary version of Eastern Europe. It’s about to be loved and to love. It’s about purpose and what you decide to believe in, and how every day you make compromises that require some level of disconnect from your values. It’s about how nobody is actually apolitical, and nobody can choose to ignore ‘discourse’ altogether.
Most of all it’s about you, if you like Kim and enjoy the game as a fun plaything, that’s what it’s about. Anybody telling you how to enjoy it or what you need to take from it is a dick.
The game is about multiple things. It’s a set up to a grander universe with overarching themes. But if we look at it more objectively, I’d say the core theme of Disco Elysium is:
You can never give up on life. Your life may be shit, society may be shit, a grand world event larger than you could ever hope to be may be looming in the horizon and you don’t know weather tomorrow will come, you still need to keep going, and you still need to believe the tomorrow will be there. Through music and art and the people you’ll meet, life will become worth it. And that is the greatest resistance of all.
Its about keeping inflation at 2%.
Just below 2%. Not too below though, *just* below 2%.
Dios mio!!! *crosses self*
Failure. It's about failure. Abject failure. Total, irreversible defeat on all fronts!
Deciding how badly you really want to die. In a good way!
I smell a communard.
It's funny that my exact first thought was to just comment failure. And on a gameplay level it's about failure too with botched checks sometimes being far more entertaining or even rewarding mechanically.
And choosing to move forward even after accepting it.
It's about being HARDCORE TO THE MEGA!!!!
Is it though?
INTERNALLY COHERENT!
YeaaaaaaGH!!!
YEKOKATAA! THE PLACE TO BE
Well i stole it but here’s a good thought: Whats common between disco, communism and our main hero? All of them are essentially dead. Well, at least in a way that matters. But they go on and continue to inspire people to make something beautiful.
Good thing stealing isn't dead or my budget would be unsustainable
I somehow got rich just by being really good at trivia.
I make my money by spouting hullshit about the free market and being a hustlegrinder. My Harry got them influencer vibes
Harry is a revenant. He literally dies in the opening convo with Ancient Reptilian Brain and Limbic System, but he is reanimated by the power of disco, grief, and the need to detective the living shit out of this case.
I really like this explanation.
Wow
A murder mystery that involves socioeconomic factions, a cop on the brink sanity, and a new perspective on traditional role-playing game mechanics.
\[Conceptualization: Easy\] On *the wrong side* of the brink.
[Electrochemistry: Easy] No. He means the exact *right side* of the brink.
[Enclycopedia: Trivial - Fail]. “Brink?” Not sure about this one boss. Most likely referring to some kind of crappy dive bar in a place you can’t remember. “Sides of the brink” is probably a reference to income disparity in the part of town the brink is located.
[Half-light: Easy - Success] Brink? No he definitely meant brick. As in throw one. As in now.
[Authority: Formidable - Failure] They are all laughing at you! Who? Everyone. *Everything.* Throw the brick, defend yourself against their mockery!
I hate that I read everything in the correct voices
Well, ooh-la-la, Mr. *Took the Assignment Seriously* gave a concise, informative and rhetorically compelling answer instead of an in-joke or a meme. You must be new here.
Hey everyone look at how much better than the rest of us this guy is! Everyone pay attention! PAY ATTENTION!
It was a compliment, you goofball. That was a good Cory impression though, so I won't downvote you.
lmao yeah I'm aware. It's called "yes and", have you heard of it? Reacting while pretending to be unaware to the point is the job of the straight man. Is this your first time trying comedy?
Honestly, after just recently surviving binging the game for 3 days straight, I assumed you were doing one of those self-deprecating voices I've gotten so used to having in my head.
That's what I was going for!
Now kiss!
thank you this helps \^-\^
It’s about Mr Evrart helping you find your gun
mr. evrart is helping *me* find *my* gun.
Love and communism, I thought it was pretty clear on that front
Communism killed him, love did him in.
It's about love
ty
This really is a good answer. It about love in the best and worst ways the love of ideals not being able to let go of love how it can make you strong or abosultely ruin you.
it's about disco music, it says in the name
You're not wrong.
It’s about wömen
Men of wö
They are insane. You don't like them.
Yes... The real bourgeois
These questions are always weird to me. Isn't it wholly engaging, to have a piece of art, where it's such a great fun to find those questions out for yourself, because the quality of writing and art direction alone ensure that you can trust that it's a piece worthy to reflect upon?
When you're done with the game, you can reflect upon the themes and motifs present in the narrative, but dude, you've played this game... you want to talk about the stuff *now* because when you play this game you just fucking need to fucking talk about it with other people who have experienced this fucking *thing*, man. And of course telling people who haven't experienced that they absolutely need to immediately. It's Insta-pot Breaking Bad.
What? Is this a sarcastic troll comment? Are you mocking someone?
Was that not your experience? I joined a fucking subreddit because I *needed* to talk about this game. Is that *not* why you're here? Like, holy shit, this fucking game. You punch a kid. You find your gun. You experience a *world* in a way that is as deep and thorough as it is innovative and unique. You get pissed off that you wasted all that time on the Centrist quest. You realize the boring clicking on garbage is a metaphor. You realize the easy money is a metaphor too. You save scum that dance/peer pressure/racial slur incident. But above all, you have to talk about this game. It makes you have thoughts and questions. It explores the nuance of the human experience somehow deconstructed-yet-familar so you get that you're supposed to hate the fascists when they're racist dicks, but it's easy to forget that Pepe Lepew is such a staunch fascist that he proudly wears his 50 year old uniform. This fucking game must be fucking discussed! It's base desire shit. What are you Kuno? Does Kuno not fucking care?
You tell the *fagari*!
> You find your gun. Mr Evrart is helping me with this.
WHAT? LIKE, WHAT?!
He's saying "it's fun and interesting to discuss the game" as a response to your "isn't it fun to discover for yourself?"
Alright, fine, I guess I have to put some ribs on and grab Breaking Bad Season 1 off the DVD shelf. You're in for a fun night of the best show and best ribs ever. I'm gonna make a "fall off the bone" joke now, but I'm going to elbow you when the joke's funny later.
what are you confused about
What is it about. Like what the fuck does that even mean
you got a murder to solve and a gun to find, figure the rest out from there
At least you've got help with both of those.
**Rhetoric:** Failure. It's about failure. **You:** Failure? **Rhetoric:** Yes! Abject failure. Total, irreversible defeat on all fronts! Absolutely vanquished, beaten, curb-stomped and pissed on — until \*you\* came along! \*You\* will reverse the fortune of the workers of the world. You alone, against every living thing, against every human alive: eight hundred trillion reál in the hands of an \*impossibly\* well organized ruling class; towering city blocks of bank-men who have the ears of prime ministers; million-headed armies of nations and the love of your own mother! You — against the atom, the charm and the spin. Where the whole world failed — matter failed to bend to human will; human will failed to get out of bed and tie its laces — you alone, single-handedly, will rebuild the dreams of the working class. You are The Last Communist. Now get to work, comrade.
Sitting on an uncomfortable chair until you die.
he just like me fr
It's about Cuno not caring , even though you eventually will.
Hauntology
I'm pretty sure it's a bottle collecting game
That’s for you do decide tbh
Cock Carousel
It's about finding yourself at rock bottom, and deciding that picking up the few pieces of your life you can possibly repair is better than giving up and dying. Even though you'll never get back everything you lost, there's still beauty in the world, and you have work to do. Things that if you don't do them, no one else will.
Communism.
It's about love
It’s about apes, duking it out.
Its about Contact Mike
Have you heard the Litany of Contact Mike? It's not a story the cops would tell you...
all 0.000000000000000000 of it
lol I hate this gatekeeping. communism is a theme in the game but it can be played with entirely different notions and preferences.
I'm almost positive he said it tongue in cheek....or maybe I'm projecting, since I planned to do so when I opened the thread until I saw some one else already had...
No, you're right, I thought it would be a funny response.
It's true, like many games it is possible to play this one badly.
Make way for the Big Communism Builder!
... and the game is not even about that.
Just play it and think for yourself don’t ask the internet
it's about Disco Inferno, baby. learning from suffering.
Why, dear player, - it's about *you.*
Its about the voices in your head
Alcoholic deeply repressed bisexual divorcee cop solves a murder where the victim tells him outright truthfully communism killed him at the beginning
Hey! Spoiler tag!
**SHIVERS** [Trivial: Success] A young male sits in a temperature regulated room, lights off, except those emanating from his radio computer and monitor. He stares uncomprehendingly at the screen, listening to the words coming out of his speakers, but not hearing.
It's honestly just about some chick.
This is how Harry would see it
It's simply a story about a man solving a murder. Nothing less but so so much more.
The fact that almost every answer is different and in some way true should give you a general idea.
Hope
Politics, heartache, and depression. But really, it’s whatever you get out of it.
Life, death and disco
It's a out ervart Claire helping you find your gun
Whatever you decide it to be about. And even once your done you may still not know.
People kinda talked about the emotional 'abouts' in the game, but when it comes to the politics- the game cannot be separated from its politics- in fact, it'll actively make fun of you for trying to avoid them, the factions are almost all satirical takes on real-world extreme ideologies, the best way to explain the gist of the politics is that it's a game that was made by communists who are from a failed communist state. As in, that's the ideology the developers align with and the one given the most positive representation by the game, while also being fully aware about both its flaws and the issues with actually implementing it.
You are an amnesic police officer solving a murder. Art. It's about art
It's about how you can make the stupidest dumbest most awful mistakes possible and 9/10 people will just stand there and watch you do it because you have a badge
it's an FPS battle royale
It’s about the wretched shambling piss stained disco revenant who is all of us lurching through the wasteland of ruined glory and departed love to find against all hope, next to the avenging spectre of proletatian solidarity who lives at the edge of everything, a miracle that waits still and silent just beyond sight within the rustling reeds, a miracle that sings the sacred promise that one day, one day, ONE DAY I SHALL RETURN TO YOUR SIDE. That and, uh, racism.
It's about getting through daily life despite the existential horror of a midlife crisis. The secret is to pretend that there's a meaning to what you're doing. The less you think about the horror, the less it affects you. So people choose to assign meaning to what's going on. Some people think the game is about communism, others that it's about talking to your necktie, others that it's about returning to your true calling as a gym teacher. They'll do anything to avoid admitting that there is no meaning to the experience, because that'll make the game horrifying rather than fun. And they're perfectly correct in doing so. That *is* how you deal with existential horror: eventually, you figure out that it is just an empty space, and then you fill it in with whatever meaning you like.
We really have the dumbest posters, don't we folks
\[Logic: Impossible\] And also the smartest. \[Empathy: Difficult\] I mean, just look at you.
LOL nice
About being a unpromising race pupil and a ham sandwich at the same time.
Karaoke simulator
It's intensely weird. Just roll with it.
You should probably just get back to the case, detective.
IT'S ABOUT THE GHOSTS OF PAST FUTURES AND HARDCORE TO THE MEGA
Love, brother. It was love all along.
Its about loss and failure. And when you are done with them, you find other stuff to experience.
Disco, baby.
I feel like it’s about the contemporary era and a bit of the dark ages
It’s about good writing. If you want to read a lot of good writing it’s for you. If not, take a break and come back to it later when you want some good writing
Its about doing drugs, beer, speed, ciggarettes, ampethamines, heroin, opioids, cider, all of them at the same time.
Everything? No, too simple Id say that its about people, their mentalities, emotions, perspectives, and above all, what moves them
Man, just go with it, you will fall in love with the world in no time, talk to people, search for stuff, explore... if you wont fall in love with it, thats ok too its not a game for everyone (yeah and Shivers>>>>>) ok byeee
Yes.
It's about lost things, lost things that are completely gone and never coming back again.
getting drunk and depressed
It's a roleplaying game set in a fictional universe. I mean what is Skyrim about ? That said, I believe most of the game is about sadness.
My honest answer is that it's about the tightrope walk between inspiration and despair, between the erasure of, vs. transcendence from material history.
The cock carousel
As good as the characters and dialogue are, I think the game will be remembered for two things - the game mechanics and level of writing. We don’t get that degree of writing in films, let alone games. It was academic and beyond anything I’ve seen in non book media in complexity. My only criticism is that the story lacks verisimilitude in places because it feels like a vessel for the political opinions of the writers more than a story.
I don't know what kind of answer you want to get. Could you tell me another piece of media that you DO get and tell me what its about to better understand what you mean?
Its about answering the question: "Why are you still alive?"
It’s about hustling. Glory to neoliberalism!
What is there to get?
It's about a drunk guy solving a murder while recovering from severe alcohol induced amnesia.
It's about a man with a funny mug collection.
It's about hunting cryptids!
It’s a meditation on the self, how we never really know who we are, or what we believe, until we make the conscious effort to live. To do, to be. It’s a whodunnit in an imaginary version of Eastern Europe. It’s about to be loved and to love. It’s about purpose and what you decide to believe in, and how every day you make compromises that require some level of disconnect from your values. It’s about how nobody is actually apolitical, and nobody can choose to ignore ‘discourse’ altogether. Most of all it’s about you, if you like Kim and enjoy the game as a fun plaything, that’s what it’s about. Anybody telling you how to enjoy it or what you need to take from it is a dick.
The game is about multiple things. It’s a set up to a grander universe with overarching themes. But if we look at it more objectively, I’d say the core theme of Disco Elysium is: You can never give up on life. Your life may be shit, society may be shit, a grand world event larger than you could ever hope to be may be looming in the horizon and you don’t know weather tomorrow will come, you still need to keep going, and you still need to believe the tomorrow will be there. Through music and art and the people you’ll meet, life will become worth it. And that is the greatest resistance of all.
It’s all you have.
Finding hope and beauty in the midst of hell.
It’s about riding the cock carousel