(no subject)

[kradeelav]

> disco elysium liveblog pt4 -- through the end
aka now we're getting into the good stuff ... :D

• DE's one of those games i'm finding i don't get the instant drawing itch - i mentioned elsewhere that I usually only draw/create out of irritation at something failing to meet my standards when I can envision something better, so this is more of a compliment to the story than anything.  that being said I have this perfect mental image of the paledriver as the "death" major arcana tarot card. I found a beautiful singular one-off card of harry as the hanged man the one complete "discotarot" i found wasn't really well done, forgive me if it was done by a friend of a friend - and i don't have the endurance to do a whole ass tarot deck, but I can sure celebrate the one character I dug the most outside the obvious ones... thinking about the composition, hmm. need to sketch up some lorry ideas.
• okay i have to admit the game got slow as hell halfway through between the constant re-trekking all over the map (they really should have set 2 fast travel points, one by the town square, and one by the fishing village - i think you'd still "feel" the earthiness of walking everywhere but it wouldn't be quite as soul sucking) , but i think that was because I:
  
  • 1) didn't realize you could read books to speed time up rather than trying to find The One Conversation I hadn't done, and
  • 2) almost softlocked myself out of the ending (oops) by like, one conversation - it took a few (real life) hours between grilling Klassje and harassing other random folks like Cuno before shaking out That One Check before the big T-guy started cracking about the suspect.  after that though, bam bam bam dominoes started coming down, and didn't fuckin stop until the end.
• call me manana is a cool dude. tommy, too. how everyone softened up on you after the shootout was an extremely well done piece of character acting / literary action, imo. going back around once to check on everyone just ... was really satisfying.
• the fact i had +2 on that One Critical Save Check to save kim b/c he "+2 - really trusts you" .... T____T (he lived, no worries)
• honestly this was a masterclass in 'how to get people to bond with your tag-along video game helper buddy" 
• ok i was wrong about my joyce/klassje crackship but dang i still want it, how about a joyce/ruby/klassje threesome actually .... if there's anyone else i'm drawing i'm doing these dears because i actually loved how DE handled its lady characters especially aesthetically. there's a sense of sharpness and a total lack of fanservice that was so appreciated.
• the ending could have landed a little more, hmm -- dramatically? better? but i think that's half because it gave me must-exit-the-game error halfway through the Deserter's finale speech :')  if i had to nitpick on any of the game's failures, the amount of errors on the supposedly "final cut" would have been it - i don't think i've played a game that has had that many bugs, which is also strange because it doesn't seem like a programmatically complicated game?
• THAT BEING SAID the dream sequence in the end was A++, other than desert chapters those have to be my favorite "levels"/parts of games and DE didn't disappoint there. the whole mixing of Dolores Dei and Harry's ex-wife and the subtle sort of understated commentary on not being able to let go of his ex with the  extremely unhealthy"grief" to the point it was easy to mistaken the chick for like, dying.... gooooood.... more videyagames need to go in there -
  
  • oh no i'm getting gnarly angsty zihark comic ideas krad u have one brain cell
• all in all this wasn't the video game that affected me the most emotionally as a sustained punch (mass effect 2/3 - weirdly enough - still holds that honor for me. the god damn best story done on an apocalypse ever, even despite being a reskinned shooter), but this was an entirely unique, deep, dense as hell and exquisitely designed game. i'm still finding extremely cool artist recommendations based off of who's work is similar to the style of the game, so that's a win right there.