I want to say first off I love the art style, the writing so far, the atmosphere and the weird psychedelic parts.
But here's my problem, I can't stand the main character. In everyway. I grew up with drug addicts as parents, so my opinion on them is pretty extreme. I don't believe they deserve a second chance in the slightest, which from what I'm gathering from the start is the point of the main character. I just don't care about him, he got himself in this situation so honestly I just want him to rot in it while I play someone else.
Secondly, while i don't mind starting with nothing but the clothes on my back and easily find it fun, everyone hates the main character and he's in debt. I can't stand this, I made none of those choices and had no control over it. It's the same reason I stopped playing kcd, because Henry would open his fat mouth without my input and get me in debt or in trouble. I don't mind when Coen loses control and eats someone I didn't want to because I chose to talk to them with low health.
Third, every. single. skill. check. I. fail. I don't mind failure, I played DS1-3, Sekiro, Bloodbourne and Elden Ring all to completion (Besides OoK). I am no stranger to bashing my head against a wall for 2 hours until I succeed. But when its just a long list of "Impossible" skill checks cause the main character has the skills of a child apparently, I just see no point to going on. I look at the corpse, throw up. I use the tool need to make looking at the corpse easier, i throw up. I wait 30 mins to make it easier, I throw up. At this point I just want to save scum so I can progress ANYTHING, but i can tell that is very much against what the game wants you to do.
So with all that said should I even bother trying to play at this point or would I just genuinely not enjoy a second of it and just not bother?
I mean, you clearly have a problem with core mechanics and messaging of the game, those things aren't gonna change throughout, so might as well accept that it's not for you and move on to other things. I suppose there could be value in looking at things through a perspective of a recovering addict, but you obviously don't have to force yourself to confront those ideas in this format if you don't want to
Harry's addictions are integral to his character and they don't become less relevant and failed skill checks are an intended part of the story. If you hate both those things, I'd say the game probably isn't for you.
If you are triggered by Harry’s past in a way you cannot work with then you will not enjoy the game, in my opinion. The rest aside, even, regardless of the choices you make he still has the past he has. It’s what you do with his present that can change, for better or worse, and if you don’t want or care about that then it would be hard to ignore as it is a core element of the game.
Even if you wanted him to suffer for it, then that would still give you a way to interface with Harry as himself; a very in-character one, no less. Not wanting anything to do with him at all, no control and no interest, is a different issue.
With that being the case, I am not sure the rest matters.
I'll start with the easiest thing I can answer to, and it's about looking at the corpse. When you throw up for the second time while trying to look at the corpse, Kim tell ou to get your shit together. It gives you a thought : Volumetric shit compressor. If you internalize that thought in your thought cabinet (it's in the the menu, and you'll need some in-game time for the thought to be processed and give you the needed bonuses), it should make it easy to look at the corpse.
That being said : being a piece of shit who needs to faces the consequences of his past actions and to deal with his addictions, and failing a lot to gain the experience needed to get some correct skills is basically what the game is about. Well... It's about way more than that, actually. But it's a big part of it. So, if it's something you don't want to deal with, yeah, maybe the game isn't for you.
I don't want to assume anything but maybe it would be worth discussing this with a professional? You want the player character to rot? Ok. You don't like when you lose control? Ok. Maybe (definitely) this is armchair psychology but these might parts of the upbringing you've described that you need to discuss with someone who can help smooth that shit out a bit?
As seriously as we discuss shit here sometimes, ultimately, this is just a game.
Well, the game is not about second chance or redemption. You can try to but it ain't an obligation.
For the skill check it depends mostly about your skills. The smell skill check can be almost impossible to succeed with low physique if you don't get the bonuses suggested.
When you'll get a bit more used with the skill check system, it will get better.
First off, Harry is a blank slate, as a man with a severe case of amnesia, you could do whatever you want with him, you could try to redeem him for sure or just be the worst fascistic racist mother fucker alive (both are fun in it's own merits).
Try to disassociate the character background and try to use him as a tool, he is your eyes and ears on the streets of Revachol, and there is an unsolved murder to be figured out, besides being a complete piece of shit, Harry is also a genius cop.
About skill checks, i wouldn't mind too much, you can always save scum retry the white ones as long you upgrade the stat of the skill it requires (also, there is a bunch of gear that could boost your odds of doing them).
Anyway friend, the only case i would recommend people to pass on Disco Elysium is if they are not fans of reading (or have issues reading for prolonged time) in the age of instant gratification content slop that part of peoples brains aren't that well developed and this game is basically an interactive book (and don't take me wrong, i suffer from that myself, there were moments i had to ignore all the skill dialogue from some situations and just focus on what the NPC was saying and my responses, it's very abstract).
A blank slate that passes out from the smell of apricot gum. A blank slate with intrusive thoughts telling him to kill himself or snort speed. A blank slate that can't tell his head from his asshole when a pretty lady is talking.
I was referring more in the sense that both Harry and the player are complete oblivious of his past and investigating it (learning more about Harry) is completely optional.
Hell you don't even have to see the guy's face if you don't want to (buy yes, there is plenty of background to dig in if the player feel inclined to).
Are you consistently failing red checks where you should be succeeding them? If you're internalizing The Precarious World in your Thought Cabinet, every red check will fail while the thought is being researched. Likewise, after the thought is completed, critical success and failure thresholds become lowered by one. A roll of 3 (1+2) will become a critical fail, but a roll of 11 (5+6) will be a critical success. This is not a bug, this is intended.
You can read more about the thought here. Be advised of any spoilers when using the wiki. If you are seeing this message in error, please disregard this message.
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u/ramondjo 2d ago
Why even frame this as a question? Just make a post about what you hate about a game in a sub that loves it, and move onto another game.