@@chriswaves It always makes me chuckle when TH-camrs (mostly gamers) say their not into politics... while complaining about politics in a video game they don't agree with despite them not being into politics. But I usually just chop it down to "Hey, they just don't know much, and it's up to them to decide if they want to."
@@NgaMarsters when these people say they don't care about politics what they actually mean is that they label everything they dislike as "politics" in order to dismiss them. They want to say "I don't care about poverty and racism and bigotry and oppression" without making it immediately obvious how stupid that viewpoint is.
@@NgaMarsters the satire is so good. harry's written to be such a ridiculous and unserious character by default and all of his dialogue options are obviously satirical and shallow interpretations of each ideology, except when you get to fascism, where it sounds like legitimate fascism. the whole point is that fascism and moralism/centrism are so fucking ridiculous already they don't even need to be satirized. it's genius, and somehow people still get shocked when they're called out as fascists after being given like 5 chances to STOP being fascists haha
Games these days shower us with corpses and we don't bat an eye. Disco Elysium reteaches us that a corpse is something terrible. There are only two corpses in Disco Elysium.
i agree and actually adore it. it shows you that a corpse was a person with family with memories and with love. it hurts to see a corpse, in a way that other games gloss over
Shivers is one of my favourite videogame characters, ever. thanks for talking about this game, I have a lot to say on it but, a whole year on from finishing my first playthrough, I'm still reeling at what it made me feel.
a fellow shivers fan! that's what I mean when I say it ruins everything. it hits you so hard you have this kind of emotional hangover that just lasts and lasts... I hardly covered 10% of what I had to say.
One thing I only realised yesterday was how complex the philosophies in Disco Elysium actually are. I've been batting around a theory that the way to make characters sound clever in fiction is less pulling on a specific set of knowledge, rather it's treating them as people who can speak a particular language repertoire and then speaking it (whether that repertoire is physics, philosophy, theology, fandom, medicine. Knowin the words and being able to follow the etiquette and presentation rules is what makes a person feel credibly smart and it's why shows like Star Trek can get away with 'Insert science here' and have another script writer come in and write the science, without worrying about how it will interface with the characters other voices. Because expertise are languages of their own). The thing is that while Star Trek, Doctor Who, Rick and Morty etc are very good at giving those repertoires language objects (technical terms, key words etc) Disco Elysium's the first thing I've seen to really give them language cultures and language histories. When we dive into communism we don't just have Mazov, we have neo-mazovians, counter mazovians, infra-materialists and Hsin-Yao communes giving an entire other communism separate (I think) from Mazov. We don't just go back to one thinker and the people who speak 'Communist' do so with this history of terms and thinkers behind them, but also within ongoing real world disputes (so Evart Claire speaks communist, but does so to increase his own power and with an eye to the current situation in Revachol). Similarly we can track the fascists and see these language evolutions between Rene's nostalgia, Gary's dog-whistles and Measurehead's nonsense, we can also see that they've mostly internalised this from radio and books and that Measurehead has actually flipped the framing of fascism to make an alternate theory of racism, but one still consistent with and borrowing the language of the previous one. Like this is kind of incredible. The fact that we can see the repertoires internal conflicts and tensions and see characters like Evart Claire who speak both Communist and Ultraliberal and all these characters are doing it intentionally. I'm by no means a sociolinguist, but this sort of stuff is just awesome. I really sort of want to plug your observation about Harry's extremism into it and see if I can get anything out of that, but Disco has proved a really hard game for me to replay (the first playthrough I did remains kind of special to me after succeeding a >10% chance to save Kim and I'm always sort of worried I'll mess it up the next time and not be able to go dancing in the Church on the last day. Also I'm admittedly a little awkward around the Finished Cut, since I had very set mental voices for the skills pre-voice acting).
I’ve watched every disco elysium video essay this platform has, so take my word for it when I say this is one of the best. Incredibly well put together and a bunch of fresh insights I had never considered!! It’s such a treat to find out that I still have more to learn from my favourite game. Thank you for sharing this.
"There is a radio in the distance. A radio of the world. Playing sounds: Good morning, Elysium. Soon you will return to the world." Easily the best rpg I've ever played and belive me a played a few, literal art.
Oh Chris I see you are here finding out the hard way that you can't feed discussion of fascism into YT algorithm :D I didn't even get notified. Great video as always!
I've always conceived of the Pale less as an analogy for climate change and more as the reification of the "End of History". As you note near the end a core message of the game is that we have to keep moving forward, keep hoping. The Pale represents the total systemic failure to do that. To become so stuck in the past, as the Paledriver is, that we forget to live. The theorized way of fighting the Pale is pretty much its exact opposite: Basically trying to blast passion at it until it shrivels up. In contrast the Moralist quest involves you telling the Powers That Be about the Pale being somewhere it shouldn't. They are, to put it lightly, unsympathetic. In a sense you could say that the Moralists, aiming for full control and no change, are aligned with the Pale itself in this reading of the text.
They aren't unsympathetic? They can hire Harry to work for them in entroponetics which has been his childhood dream. Anyways, them doing things slowly actually helps Elysium. In the book 'Sacred and Terrible Air', Mesque wants Pale to be everywhere, and so they start wars so that it spreads. One casuality of this is Revachol which Harry can be warned about in the game.
@@kvm6 have you heard of the term "being disappeared"? That is what is happening here. The moralintern is clearly just trying to cover up the existence of a new pale source
first time i finished it i just sat there mouth agape (figuratively) watching the credits roll. you're totally right, DE snapped something inside of me and i don't even really know what that is, but it changed me.
Love how the game explains the tiniest of details and how everything makes sense at the end. Even as obscure moment as the grating noise you hear waking up is explained by the game. True video game achievement
Excellent video, as always! Several other lefty youtubers that I follow have talked about this game before, but your approach to the topic is the one that has convinced me that I NEED to actually play this game!
GOD DAMN WAS THAT GOOD!!!!! Holy shit that was an amazing analysis of one of my favorite games, thank you dearly for your time and effort making this amazing piece of art!
I think that the nostalgia of "greater times" killed The hanged man. revechol's incapibilty to move on wich is shown with characters like Iosef and Rene, two sides of the same coin, the hatred they Have for anyone who tries to change themselves or the city for better or for worse, that is among other things one of the main themes of disco elysium change vs nostalgia and the cause of death
I recently finished my first playthrough of Disco Elysium. My version of Henry was deemed “the world’s sorriest centrist” and an “ultra liberal” by Kim. Harry is constantly apologizing for his past but ironically ends up idolizing it. He hears stories about his time when he was the best cop in the city and he starts to live up to his past reputation. Harry shaves his face, gets sober, and takes literally any case he find. Helping anyone he comes across. He actively makes it effort to please everyone. The only person Harry outright hated was Evart. My favorite pettiest moment was when Evart says “every man-“ expecting Harry to say “a member of the board”. And Harry just says, “every man for himself”, which just takes the piss out of him. The story ended on a hopeful note. Harry convinces Kim to join the RCM, he gets his job back, becomes completely sober and moves on from his ex wife. There’s even hope that Harry and Kim will clean up the city and boost the RCM’s reputation.
I think out of all the Disco Elysium video essays I've watched, this is my favorite. You're very talented, educated, personable and you have great insights. I hope you have fun going forward from here, and that I get to see more of your work in the days to come :3
This is such a wonderful analysis of the game. The point of stress testing one's political belief is so well-articulated! And the last bit of the writing is very touching T_T thank you for your presentation!
There's a part where Evrart the union boss is talking about some of the violent and intimidating tactics his members carry out and one of your voices scoffs, "That sounds like organized crime." But it also sounded exactly like what the police do. When the Moralists use fear and intimidation to control the population it's 'keeping law and order', but when a labor group does the same thing it's 'organized crime'. This made me realize that laws are just the opinions of the people with the most guns.
I think it's crazy that I never had the necktie thing because my inland empire wasn't high enough. Instead I was just very good at conceptualization... which was actually really interesting in the way my character thought about stuff.
You only have 1.8k subs!? This is criminal. This is a great, GREAT video. Absolute quality. The intro was god tier. Never stop in achieving your dream sir. You have my support. 🎉
@@chriswaves oh my lord. I only wish I was a semi-talented youtuber so I could join you for that discussion. I love games. Just lack the talent needed to create the videos lol Ive always wanted to write an intro for a game-centric video.
ONE OF THE BEST VIDEO ESSAYS ON DISCO ELYSIUM I HAVE EVER SEEN (and i’ve seen a lot) such a great work, i’m honestly surprised that you dont have more subsribers. your video truly moved me, thank you for that. ❤
This game impacted me so much that not only do I cry every time I play through certain parts of the game, even videos talking about the game's themes and messages make me cry.
The funniest part of the game is the prompt (I think for moralism) that says "we're getting reports of *normal*, *temperate*, *reasonable* political opinions somehwere in Martinese." Just that one line says so much
I wish centrism was a boring as the game suggests. That it was about having no opinions and taking no stance. Yet I've never met a fellow centrist like that. Instead centrists have strong opinions, some of them left-leaning and some of them right-leaning, which makes the average center. Centrists are hated by both extremes. Not because they have no opinions, but because those opinions do not line up with either side. Rather than taking being seen as neutral, you're the enemy of both.
Truly it is a impossible task to focus on such important matters in the world when such small yet grossing problems exist, yet we still do so, we get up every morning, we go to work, yet the seas rise to drown all our woes away every second of every minute, it is impossible but to never thrash against the impossible is to choose to never live at all.
glad you found it!! sometimes you gotta hit all the buttons on youtube AND turn on notifications on the app. it's this fun game we play. I make a video, youtube is like lol I'll never tell.
One thing that messed me up from playing this game, is how much of realisation I had when I look at my own thought process and how it works. I am person who spend s a lot of time having dialog with myself in my thoughts, and I noticed that is a rare thing for people to have that sort thought process, most people don't have it and that most both be amazing but also scary from the perspective of someone who is so use to talk to themselv. Regardless, another thing that also interesting is that due my mental health always having been funky at best, a lot of my inner dialog with myself is super hateful at times, and after finished disco elysium I try to be more self aware with how my thought process is always semi trying to make my day shit for myself. Depression and anxiety is a beast to battle and even worse when you have deep inner dialog with yourself all the time your brain is switched on. But this is game is an experience I will only be found of, and I love going back and playing the game again and trying out new skill sets and seeing how the whole game changes depending on how I use my skill point. My current playthrough is HOBO COP and I AM THE LAW COP.
"Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi, and... you will come to love this man" It's not even optional - not from like a game design perspective but I've never met a Disco Elysium player that didn't love Kim. Incredible video, I wish that you had kept the final encounter as secret as the hanged man or how to explore the pale - but your video did a great job of exploring the themes in a thoughtful way, and allowed me to wistfully recall my playthrough in Elysium without subjecting myself to that game again. Disco Elysium is the only 11/10 game I can never recommend to anyone - it is an absolute infohazard. I've never been cut so deep as I was with... [Authority] +1 The lieutenant trusts you +2 Kim *truly* trusts you Still leaves me feeling misty. Anyway. Thanks! 🙏
Just found this video after playing DE for the first time. One of the rare times i was emotionally moved not by an event that happens in the game but reflecting on the thematic messaging of the world of Revachol. DE to me is the great leftist hopeful artwork that does not stew in doomer thought without ignoring failure or toxic positivity as you said so eliquoently. Great video am eager to look at some of your other stuff
Inner Empire is Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, and Pink. and Lady Gaga. and MIKA. and One Republic. and all the other singers who sang their lyrics. like Thriving Ivory. Gnarls Barkley. and countless others. also a little bit of Evanescence and Eminem. and of course the greatest hits of Sia. ESPECIALLY "Loved Me Back To Life". ah... so sad youtube no longer has "The King Is Dead But The Queen Is Alive" video. even though she's dead now, but hey, it's a great video. love every second of it. and every time i just hear "the queen is a liar". that song of John Oszajca from 1999 called "I Hate You (My Friend)" is interesting enough. never liked loud rock like early Evanescence, but 2003 Evanescence is especially interesting too. impressed by her "Imperfection" and "Wasted On You" songs. oh oh! and "Everybody" by Backstreet Boys (that Casper vibe), and Rihanna's 2008 hits. Gaga was at her best in 2008. "I want... the future" from her "Fame Ball Tour Opening Intro" was like "I want my life back! give me back my time!". and when the guy asks her "What did the Pop say?" and Gaga goes "He wanted a new face", in "The Face [Lady Starlight] (The Fame Interlude)". now, i think she's just trying to repeat that. even "Telephone" demo was written back in 2008. anyway... i wish i didn't have inner empire. it's not helpful.
My god, Just finished my 1st playthough and as someone who lived this to a degree, fuck. In my early 20's I gave into alcohol to cope. I remember my first summer job at IBM after freshman year, coming to grips with the realities of capitalism. Working for peanuts, spending 2 weeks wage to visit my girlfriend for a weekend and bring her a stuffed bear and then fly back across the country for the 4th time in 10 days and sit in an office building counting beans, arranging beans, methodologizing beans, and most importantly stealing beans. I remember the dinner out with my "mentor", the manager of our team telling me how he didn't like George and he was gonna send him to Colombus Ohio as punishment for ratting them out on expenses. I remember how we lied brazenly to the client about things they couldn't measure. When I came to grips with the beast I was too far down the road, there's no way to go back and live small once they get you indebted. The next 10 years were a blur until I realized I was a Hippie, and being broke is better than being broken.
the point about the boring cop is quite interesting. I would argue that it is akin to for example a histerionic disorder. People who are suffering from it often don't seek help since they see their behavior as special and people who urge them to get help as the problem as if they did not understand that this is good. For them the normal option would be the boring one they also tend to be extrem and often also suffer from substance abuse. the fact that the game, so more or less youself, calls it the boring option exemplifies how such a person would see it. in essence the game isnt calling you boring at all you yourself are. And in fact it labels it as extremly boring also the juxtaposition between crazy and boring is importan.
More often than not I drink myself into a hazy stupor and gracelessly descend into comment sections in order to take a clumsy, yet layered verbal shit from some inane point of view I don't even follow in real life. I am, sadly, forced to restrain myself this time because, my dear man, I praise and envy your narrative skills.
The fact that internalizing communism gives you a penalty to visual calculus because you see conflict everywhere rocked me to my core. I'm a better person because I had to sit with that for a minute.
I''ve played it and I want more. I want to see the perspectives of other countries and characters. I honestly tried to stay neutral in politics and do good for the sake of good. However, I ultimately became a moralist. I'm not a moralist in real life, I think. The way the game made it sound it made me think if I choose this side then I can do more good than harm. I've never heard of moralism before this game. Or I did but never paid attention. After watching this video I realized I''m no better than the other parties trying to do good themselves. We do things differently and will have different results. Some good and some bad. Somethings not everyone can benefit from.
great video! i love disco elysium and its one of the best games I've ever played. I really think it should have won GOTY but I must admit, the appeal of RDR2 as a video game is a bit stronger somehow, but as a piece of media and taking everything into account between RDR2 and Disco Elysium, it is clear as day that Disco Elysium outclasses RDR2
You actually could be nice person and friends with Kim, even if you are fascist, you just need to stay in "traditionalist" route. Game portray fascism (as i saw in my playthrough) as a sorrow about the past, and be sorry for not being strong and manly enough for whatever reason (Measurhead has daddy issues, racist driver is some sort of an incel, Rene lost his war, his country and his love as well), and final thing you do in fascist quest is become some sort of "stoic last warior". As cringe as it sounds, it's not completely "evil" choise like it seems from video.
@@zefft.f4010 how it is "evil" besides name (again, we are not talking about being rude racist, game would call you fascist just for being isolationist or monarchist)?
oh my god, i feel like i need to buy you flowers or something. I've been desperate to read and hear discussion of this game because it's FASCINATING, but there's a lot of "ah, this writer didn't understand the game here; this person didn't get either..." So, thank you so much for an interesting, clearly presented, and insightful discussion. I have had the delightful experience of disagreeing with you only in fun interpretive and nitpicky ways rather than "holy shit did this person even play the game" ways. If you haven't already, may I reccommend you read (the fan translation of) the novel set in Elysium in the '70s: "Sacred and Terrible Air" by Robert Kurvitz? I suspect you'll enjoy it! Also, damn, I haven't played moralist yet and "God is in his heaven, everything is normal on earth" is so hard hitting and ominous.
But my game told me I was a fascist, a communist, AND a boring cop. WHAT AM I?!?!?!?!?😭😭😭😭 For real, though, this is one of the best games I've ever played. An absolute 10/10. As soon as the phasmid appeared it all hit home in such a way that I couldn't stop myself from tearing up. Your conversation with the deserter is so very brutal, but when the phasmid appears it all suddenly...stops. All the pain that your character has endured, the reality of this grim world that you've taken in falls into the background and, for a moment, you just wanna stay there and have it all go on just a little bit longer; you're curious, you have questions, you're fascinated. The ending of Disco Elysium is brilliant; no matter what choices you made throughout your playthrough, for that moment you are right there with Harry and it is EVERYTHING.
"Savoir Faire" I can say is French, where "Savoir" = "Know" and "Faire" = "Do". "Savoir Faire" literally translates to "Know how to do" something. i.e: "Il faut savoir faire ça" = "You must know how to do that". What is interesting to me is how they decided to go with French for that skill name. I love how original of a design choice that is.
It's a term relatively commonly used in English as well for suaveness or social grace. It's not just that they decided to throw random French into the game. Another skill "esprit de corps" is also a phrase English borrowed from French, though much less commonly used/heard at least where I live.
I always find ideology a hard thing to process. Like all things wherever you stand, someone somewhere can and will deconstruct all you believe and prove you wrong. The idea that an ideology with flaws exists to me means that no ideology is valid, because i am the type of person who needs a clear and unquestionable "justice" in order to act with confidende. I am still somewhat afraid of embracing the chaos that is ingrained in life.
that's a good half of your video dedicated to coping that the game espouses how good communism really is when the guys in the path for it talk about achieving it with magic and miracles and slaughtering anyone who doesn't believe with them, only for their grand tower to collapse in on itself even when everything aligns perfectly.
20:00 I disagree with the idea that the setting's a self-aware critique of politics. Everything is clearly through a dem-soc/post-communist lens, which makes sense given the context of the creator. Disco Elysium not really above it's own criticism, and I find the 'politics' of it the smallest important aspect compared to the world building. I think too many English speakers aren't really aware of their brand of 'left-winged' thought vs. American leftist talking points either which makes this obnoxious to hear at times. I actually love this game, but for very different reasons.
![Disco Elysium, Acid Communism, and Revolutionary Art [SPOILERS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-DQcMRuKqRg/mqdefault.jpg)
"During the darkest times, should the stars also go out?"
This is the first game that taught me how to have hope in hell.
well said.
@@chriswaves It always makes me chuckle when TH-camrs (mostly gamers) say their not into politics... while complaining about politics in a video game they don't agree with despite them not being into politics.
But I usually just chop it down to
"Hey, they just don't know much, and it's up to them to decide if they want to."
@@NgaMarsters when these people say they don't care about politics what they actually mean is that they label everything they dislike as "politics" in order to dismiss them. They want to say "I don't care about poverty and racism and bigotry and oppression" without making it immediately obvious how stupid that viewpoint is.
@@ejynk Don't worry I'm aware of that it's still funny and sad as hell.
And I love how this game pokes fun at it.
@@NgaMarsters the satire is so good. harry's written to be such a ridiculous and unserious character by default and all of his dialogue options are obviously satirical and shallow interpretations of each ideology, except when you get to fascism, where it sounds like legitimate fascism.
the whole point is that fascism and moralism/centrism are so fucking ridiculous already they don't even need to be satirized. it's genius, and somehow people still get shocked when they're called out as fascists after being given like 5 chances to STOP being fascists haha
Games these days shower us with corpses and we don't bat an eye. Disco Elysium reteaches us that a corpse is something terrible. There are only two corpses in Disco Elysium.
i agree and actually adore it. it shows you that a corpse was a person with family with memories and with love. it hurts to see a corpse, in a way that other games gloss over
@@Flexyglamwichboth of you put this perfectly
Actually there's 8 or more if you count the mercenary tribunal stuff
"Are you the miracle?"
"No. You are the miracle."
During the stick insect dialogue, I cried like a child.
the writing has such an ability to reach that inner child, in the vivid felt-experience sort of way, it's brilliant
Shivers is one of my favourite videogame characters, ever. thanks for talking about this game, I have a lot to say on it but, a whole year on from finishing my first playthrough, I'm still reeling at what it made me feel.
a fellow shivers fan! that's what I mean when I say it ruins everything. it hits you so hard you have this kind of emotional hangover that just lasts and lasts... I hardly covered 10% of what I had to say.
One thing I only realised yesterday was how complex the philosophies in Disco Elysium actually are.
I've been batting around a theory that the way to make characters sound clever in fiction is less pulling on a specific set of knowledge, rather it's treating them as people who can speak a particular language repertoire and then speaking it (whether that repertoire is physics, philosophy, theology, fandom, medicine. Knowin the words and being able to follow the etiquette and presentation rules is what makes a person feel credibly smart and it's why shows like Star Trek can get away with 'Insert science here' and have another script writer come in and write the science, without worrying about how it will interface with the characters other voices. Because expertise are languages of their own).
The thing is that while Star Trek, Doctor Who, Rick and Morty etc are very good at giving those repertoires language objects (technical terms, key words etc) Disco Elysium's the first thing I've seen to really give them language cultures and language histories. When we dive into communism we don't just have Mazov, we have neo-mazovians, counter mazovians, infra-materialists and Hsin-Yao communes giving an entire other communism separate (I think) from Mazov. We don't just go back to one thinker and the people who speak 'Communist' do so with this history of terms and thinkers behind them, but also within ongoing real world disputes (so Evart Claire speaks communist, but does so to increase his own power and with an eye to the current situation in Revachol). Similarly we can track the fascists and see these language evolutions between Rene's nostalgia, Gary's dog-whistles and Measurehead's nonsense, we can also see that they've mostly internalised this from radio and books and that Measurehead has actually flipped the framing of fascism to make an alternate theory of racism, but one still consistent with and borrowing the language of the previous one.
Like this is kind of incredible. The fact that we can see the repertoires internal conflicts and tensions and see characters like Evart Claire who speak both Communist and Ultraliberal and all these characters are doing it intentionally. I'm by no means a sociolinguist, but this sort of stuff is just awesome. I really sort of want to plug your observation about Harry's extremism into it and see if I can get anything out of that, but Disco has proved a really hard game for me to replay (the first playthrough I did remains kind of special to me after succeeding a >10% chance to save Kim and I'm always sort of worried I'll mess it up the next time and not be able to go dancing in the Church on the last day. Also I'm admittedly a little awkward around the Finished Cut, since I had very set mental voices for the skills pre-voice acting).
7:54 "And... you will come to love this man." Absolute punch in the gut, total fucking annihilation.
I’ve watched every disco elysium video essay this platform has, so take my word for it when I say this is one of the best. Incredibly well put together and a bunch of fresh insights I had never considered!! It’s such a treat to find out that I still have more to learn from my favourite game. Thank you for sharing this.
thank you so much!!
Did you watch Kay and Skittles’ essay?
"There is a radio in the distance. A radio of the world. Playing sounds: Good morning, Elysium. Soon you will return to the world."
Easily the best rpg I've ever played and belive me a played a few, literal art.
makes my heart hurt every time I play it.
Oh Chris I see you are here finding out the hard way that you can't feed discussion of fascism into YT algorithm :D I didn't even get notified.
Great video as always!
thanks Ana! the masochistic drive to make more videos about fascism *intensifies*.
I've always conceived of the Pale less as an analogy for climate change and more as the reification of the "End of History". As you note near the end a core message of the game is that we have to keep moving forward, keep hoping. The Pale represents the total systemic failure to do that. To become so stuck in the past, as the Paledriver is, that we forget to live.
The theorized way of fighting the Pale is pretty much its exact opposite: Basically trying to blast passion at it until it shrivels up. In contrast the Moralist quest involves you telling the Powers That Be about the Pale being somewhere it shouldn't. They are, to put it lightly, unsympathetic. In a sense you could say that the Moralists, aiming for full control and no change, are aligned with the Pale itself in this reading of the text.
They aren't unsympathetic? They can hire Harry to work for them in entroponetics which has been his childhood dream.
Anyways, them doing things slowly actually helps Elysium. In the book 'Sacred and Terrible Air', Mesque wants Pale to be everywhere, and so they start wars so that it spreads. One casuality of this is Revachol which Harry can be warned about in the game.
Honestly thought the Pale was like the Force.
@@kvm6sorry, they dont hire him to do anything. They kill him
@@99baking No it's left vague and Moralintern won't kill someone as skilled as Harry.
@@kvm6 have you heard of the term "being disappeared"? That is what is happening here. The moralintern is clearly just trying to cover up the existence of a new pale source
first time i finished it i just sat there mouth agape (figuratively) watching the credits roll. you're totally right, DE snapped something inside of me and i don't even really know what that is, but it changed me.
Love how the game explains the tiniest of details and how everything makes sense at the end. Even as obscure moment as the grating noise you hear waking up is explained by the game. True video game achievement
To answer the question in the name: "it is a good pain. Follow it"
Excellent video, as always!
Several other lefty youtubers that I follow have talked about this game before, but your approach to the topic is the one that has convinced me that I NEED to actually play this game!
I'm so glad! I'll do you one better; set your stats at 4413, or 4422, and thank me later :)
it hurt indeed, the break up dream for sure
that kiss is brutal.
Is that what happens when you sleep on the island? Because I completely missed that. I also failed the check on the phasmid and it ran away.
GOD DAMN WAS THAT GOOD!!!!! Holy shit that was an amazing analysis of one of my favorite games, thank you dearly for your time and effort making this amazing piece of art!
thanks so much! I really wanted to replicate in a small way how it feels to play the game.
ive been dying for more video essays on disco elysium, so glad i found this 💛
I think that the nostalgia of "greater times" killed The hanged man. revechol's incapibilty to move on wich is shown with characters like Iosef and Rene, two sides of the same coin, the hatred they Have for anyone who tries to change themselves or the city for better or for worse, that is among other things one of the main themes of disco elysium change vs nostalgia and the cause of death
I recently finished my first playthrough of Disco Elysium. My version of Henry was deemed “the world’s sorriest centrist” and an “ultra liberal” by Kim. Harry is constantly apologizing for his past but ironically ends up idolizing it. He hears stories about his time when he was the best cop in the city and he starts to live up to his past reputation. Harry shaves his face, gets sober, and takes literally any case he find. Helping anyone he comes across. He actively makes it effort to please everyone. The only person Harry outright hated was Evart. My favorite pettiest moment was when Evart says “every man-“ expecting Harry to say “a member of the board”. And Harry just says, “every man for himself”, which just takes the piss out of him. The story ended on a hopeful note. Harry convinces Kim to join the RCM, he gets his job back, becomes completely sober and moves on from his ex wife. There’s even hope that Harry and Kim will clean up the city and boost the RCM’s reputation.
I think out of all the Disco Elysium video essays I've watched, this is my favorite. You're very talented, educated, personable and you have great insights. I hope you have fun going forward from here, and that I get to see more of your work in the days to come :3
thank you- I'm currently losing my mind working on "why mass effect hurts..." and comments like this give me fuel!
@@chriswaves Oooh! Mass Effect! I adore that series. Looking forward to it :3
Im a simple man, i see a disco elysium video essay and i subscribe
This is such a wonderful analysis of the game. The point of stress testing one's political belief is so well-articulated! And the last bit of the writing is very touching T_T thank you for your presentation!
There's a part where Evrart the union boss is talking about some of the violent and intimidating tactics his members carry out and one of your voices scoffs, "That sounds like organized crime." But it also sounded exactly like what the police do. When the Moralists use fear and intimidation to control the population it's 'keeping law and order', but when a labor group does the same thing it's 'organized crime'.
This made me realize that laws are just the opinions of the people with the most guns.
yes! definitely a moment that's underscored later when you can tell Titus he would be a good cop and he goes, "don't you get it? I already am."
I think it's crazy that I never had the necktie thing because my inland empire wasn't high enough. Instead I was just very good at conceptualization... which was actually really interesting in the way my character thought about stuff.
Emotionally traumatizing me with your mass effect video pointed me toward your channel, but THIS one scored you a sub boss. Good stuff.
You only have 1.8k subs!? This is criminal. This is a great, GREAT video. Absolute quality. The intro was god tier. Never stop in achieving your dream sir. You have my support. 🎉
thank you so much! I'm working on a similar video about the Mass Effect trilogy so keep your eyes peeled for that 👀
@@chriswaves oh my lord. I only wish I was a semi-talented youtuber so I could join you for that discussion. I love games. Just lack the talent needed to create the videos lol
Ive always wanted to write an intro for a game-centric video.
ONE OF THE BEST VIDEO ESSAYS ON DISCO ELYSIUM I HAVE EVER SEEN (and i’ve seen a lot) such a great work, i’m honestly surprised that you dont have more subsribers. your video truly moved me, thank you for that. ❤
This game impacted me so much that not only do I cry every time I play through certain parts of the game, even videos talking about the game's themes and messages make me cry.
Mia cole?? She is some sort of folkloric entity of video essay voiceovers and I kneel at her altar.
The funniest part of the game is the prompt (I think for moralism) that says "we're getting reports of *normal*, *temperate*, *reasonable* political opinions somehwere in Martinese." Just that one line says so much
I guess I will have to play this game now.
you must.
I wish centrism was a boring as the game suggests. That it was about having no opinions and taking no stance.
Yet I've never met a fellow centrist like that. Instead centrists have strong opinions, some of them left-leaning and some of them right-leaning, which makes the average center.
Centrists are hated by both extremes. Not because they have no opinions, but because those opinions do not line up with either side. Rather than taking being seen as neutral, you're the enemy of both.
Communism. But love did him in.
Truly it is a impossible task to focus on such important matters in the world when such small yet grossing problems exist, yet we still do so, we get up every morning, we go to work, yet the seas rise to drown all our woes away every second of every minute, it is impossible but to never thrash against the impossible is to choose to never live at all.
I MISSED THIS!???? I was asking for this vid forever and I got zero notification?!??
glad you found it!! sometimes you gotta hit all the buttons on youtube AND turn on notifications on the app. it's this fun game we play. I make a video, youtube is like lol I'll never tell.
Your not just building your thoughts, you’re building Harry’s thoughts
The Real Disco was the crazy incoherent thoghts and the Journey of a man so Broken by the World, that he grew up to undestand it better. 😂😂
Let me kiss Kim Kitsurugi you absolute cowards! Also Joyce is one of the best conversational NPCs I've ever met as a gamer
One thing that messed me up from playing this game, is how much of realisation I had when I look at my own thought process and how it works. I am person who spend s a lot of time having dialog with myself in my thoughts, and I noticed that is a rare thing for people to have that sort thought process, most people don't have it and that most both be amazing but also scary from the perspective of someone who is so use to talk to themselv. Regardless, another thing that also interesting is that due my mental health always having been funky at best, a lot of my inner dialog with myself is super hateful at times, and after finished disco elysium I try to be more self aware with how my thought process is always semi trying to make my day shit for myself. Depression and anxiety is a beast to battle and even worse when you have deep inner dialog with yourself all the time your brain is switched on.
But this is game is an experience I will only be found of, and I love going back and playing the game again and trying out new skill sets and seeing how the whole game changes depending on how I use my skill point.
My current playthrough is HOBO COP and I AM THE LAW COP.
Okay, okay, I'll get this game.
Also, interesting way to intro. Great video essay.
"Lieutenant Kim Kitsuragi, and... you will come to love this man"
It's not even optional - not from like a game design perspective but I've never met a Disco Elysium player that didn't love Kim.
Incredible video, I wish that you had kept the final encounter as secret as the hanged man or how to explore the pale - but your video did a great job of exploring the themes in a thoughtful way, and allowed me to wistfully recall my playthrough in Elysium without subjecting myself to that game again.
Disco Elysium is the only 11/10 game I can never recommend to anyone - it is an absolute infohazard.
I've never been cut so deep as I was with...
[Authority]
+1 The lieutenant trusts you
+2 Kim *truly* trusts you
Still leaves me feeling misty.
Anyway. Thanks! 🙏
this might be the video that finally makes me play it
Wonderful video. It never clicked that the ideologies are so extreme because Harry can't do anything by half-measure.
Than intro alone was shiver inducing!
this video is a masterpiece
Every time I try to voice my thoughts on the game I never do it justice. All I can say is that I love it and it taught me so much.
Oh fuck I am so excited to watch this
The lieutenant *truly* trusts you.
What a fantastic openning, I dont usually comment on videos. But props to you man, you get a like and subscribe from me for that alone
This video essay is awesome. Just subbed
And just like that Godwin's law still remains as strong as ever.
Just found this video after playing DE for the first time. One of the rare times i was emotionally moved not by an event that happens in the game but reflecting on the thematic messaging of the world of Revachol. DE to me is the great leftist hopeful artwork that does not stew in doomer thought without ignoring failure or toxic positivity as you said so eliquoently. Great video am eager to look at some of your other stuff
This might just be the best review of Disco Elysium I've seen, well done!
amazing video. keep it up!
this is my new favourite video.. lifechanging, just like the game
Communism killed him but love did him in. I think the killer is one of the least important parts of the game.
Inner Empire is Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley, and Pink. and Lady Gaga. and MIKA. and One Republic. and all the other singers who sang their lyrics. like Thriving Ivory. Gnarls Barkley. and countless others.
also a little bit of Evanescence and Eminem.
and of course the greatest hits of Sia. ESPECIALLY "Loved Me Back To Life".
ah... so sad youtube no longer has "The King Is Dead But The Queen Is Alive" video. even though she's dead now, but hey, it's a great video. love every second of it. and every time i just hear "the queen is a liar".
that song of John Oszajca from 1999 called "I Hate You (My Friend)" is interesting enough.
never liked loud rock like early Evanescence, but 2003 Evanescence is especially interesting too.
impressed by her "Imperfection" and "Wasted On You" songs.
oh oh! and "Everybody" by Backstreet Boys (that Casper vibe), and Rihanna's 2008 hits. Gaga was at her best in 2008. "I want... the future" from her "Fame Ball Tour Opening Intro" was like "I want my life back! give me back my time!". and when the guy asks her "What did the Pop say?" and Gaga goes "He wanted a new face", in "The Face [Lady Starlight] (The Fame Interlude)". now, i think she's just trying to repeat that. even "Telephone" demo was written back in 2008.
anyway... i wish i didn't have inner empire. it's not helpful.
My god, Just finished my 1st playthough and as someone who lived this to a degree, fuck. In my early 20's I gave into alcohol to cope. I remember my first summer job at IBM after freshman year, coming to grips with the realities of capitalism. Working for peanuts, spending 2 weeks wage to visit my girlfriend for a weekend and bring her a stuffed bear and then fly back across the country for the 4th time in 10 days and sit in an office building counting beans, arranging beans, methodologizing beans, and most importantly stealing beans. I remember the dinner out with my "mentor", the manager of our team telling me how he didn't like George and he was gonna send him to Colombus Ohio as punishment for ratting them out on expenses. I remember how we lied brazenly to the client about things they couldn't measure. When I came to grips with the beast I was too far down the road, there's no way to go back and live small once they get you indebted. The next 10 years were a blur until I realized I was a Hippie, and being broke is better than being broken.
My body will be riddled with Disco
Un jour je serai de retour près de toi
I never knew what having a parasocial relationship meant until I started watching you and Mia Cole. Now it all makes sense to me.
the point about the boring cop is quite interesting. I would argue that it is akin to for example a histerionic disorder. People who are suffering from it often don't seek help since they see their behavior as special and people who urge them to get help as the problem as if they did not understand that this is good. For them the normal option would be the boring one they also tend to be extrem and often also suffer from substance abuse. the fact that the game, so more or less youself, calls it the boring option exemplifies how such a person would see it.
in essence the game isnt calling you boring at all you yourself are. And in fact it labels it as extremly boring also the juxtaposition between crazy and boring is importan.
Amazing work on an amazing piece of art.
Oh this is incredibly well done and Im only 6 minutes in
thank you!!
I've watched this intro a dozen times, it also caused me to play the game
More often than not I drink myself into a hazy stupor and gracelessly descend into comment sections in order to take a clumsy, yet layered verbal shit from some inane point of view I don't even follow in real life.
I am, sadly, forced to restrain myself this time because, my dear man, I praise and envy your narrative skills.
Great video!
The fact that internalizing communism gives you a penalty to visual calculus because you see conflict everywhere rocked me to my core. I'm a better person because I had to sit with that for a minute.
This was great! I'll still play this once I forget all the spoilery bits. 😂
I''ve played it and I want more. I want to see the perspectives of other countries and characters. I honestly tried to stay neutral in politics and do good for the sake of good. However, I ultimately became a moralist. I'm not a moralist in real life, I think. The way the game made it sound it made me think if I choose this side then I can do more good than harm. I've never heard of moralism before this game. Or I did but never paid attention. After watching this video I realized I''m no better than the other parties trying to do good themselves. We do things differently and will have different results. Some good and some bad. Somethings not everyone can benefit from.
Moralism is by Moralist International, and they are combined Centre Left and Centre Right. This is for Europe.
What an intro. Subbed
great video! i love disco elysium and its one of the best games I've ever played. I really think it should have won GOTY but I must admit, the appeal of RDR2 as a video game is a bit stronger somehow, but as a piece of media and taking everything into account between RDR2 and Disco Elysium, it is clear as day that Disco Elysium outclasses RDR2
I particularly love the skill shivers as i believe its the only skill that isnt Harry, shivers IS Revachol be that literally or figuratively
Love from a ThatDangDad and Vaush fan!
This game turned me into an atheistic anarcho-communist and I'm OK with that.
You actually could be nice person and friends with Kim, even if you are fascist, you just need to stay in "traditionalist" route.
Game portray fascism (as i saw in my playthrough) as a sorrow about the past, and be sorry for not being strong and manly enough for whatever reason (Measurhead has daddy issues, racist driver is some sort of an incel, Rene lost his war, his country and his love as well), and final thing you do in fascist quest is become some sort of "stoic last warior". As cringe as it sounds, it's not completely "evil" choise like it seems from video.
It is still evil. Evil isn't done so much by evil people, as it is by sad, insecure and broken people, which this game demonstrates excellently.
@@zefft.f4010 how it is "evil" besides name (again, we are not talking about being rude racist, game would call you fascist just for being isolationist or monarchist)?
oh my god, i feel like i need to buy you flowers or something. I've been desperate to read and hear discussion of this game because it's FASCINATING, but there's a lot of "ah, this writer didn't understand the game here; this person didn't get either..." So, thank you so much for an interesting, clearly presented, and insightful discussion. I have had the delightful experience of disagreeing with you only in fun interpretive and nitpicky ways rather than "holy shit did this person even play the game" ways.
If you haven't already, may I reccommend you read (the fan translation of) the novel set in Elysium in the '70s: "Sacred and Terrible Air" by Robert Kurvitz? I suspect you'll enjoy it!
Also, damn, I haven't played moralist yet and "God is in his heaven, everything is normal on earth" is so hard hitting and ominous.
But my game told me I was a fascist, a communist, AND a boring cop. WHAT AM I?!?!?!?!?😭😭😭😭 For real, though, this is one of the best games I've ever played. An absolute 10/10. As soon as the phasmid appeared it all hit home in such a way that I couldn't stop myself from tearing up. Your conversation with the deserter is so very brutal, but when the phasmid appears it all suddenly...stops. All the pain that your character has endured, the reality of this grim world that you've taken in falls into the background and, for a moment, you just wanna stay there and have it all go on just a little bit longer; you're curious, you have questions, you're fascinated. The ending of Disco Elysium is brilliant; no matter what choices you made throughout your playthrough, for that moment you are right there with Harry and it is EVERYTHING.
"Savoir Faire" I can say is French, where "Savoir" = "Know" and "Faire" = "Do". "Savoir Faire" literally translates to "Know how to do" something. i.e: "Il faut savoir faire ça" = "You must know how to do that". What is interesting to me is how they decided to go with French for that skill name. I love how original of a design choice that is.
It's a term relatively commonly used in English as well for suaveness or social grace. It's not just that they decided to throw random French into the game. Another skill "esprit de corps" is also a phrase English borrowed from French, though much less commonly used/heard at least where I live.
@@nephatrine That explains a lot, thanks!
It was love what did him in.
Mia sighting
a wild Mia appears!
I always find ideology a hard thing to process. Like all things wherever you stand, someone somewhere can and will deconstruct all you believe and prove you wrong.
The idea that an ideology with flaws exists to me means that no ideology is valid, because i am the type of person who needs a clear and unquestionable "justice" in order to act with confidende. I am still somewhat afraid of embracing the chaos that is ingrained in life.
About halfway through, wondering why tf theres only 400 views
the uphill battle of youtube
Great video
you have an alternate portrait for kim!
it is september 9th and Stalin saved the world from fascism
great video.
Workers of the world, unite!
are you a writer or what
Communism, but love did him in
nice
Love the vid - commenting for algo
Wait was that Mia Cole? 😂 can't be
Check the description and I answered my own question
go digging on her channel or mine and you'll find some lore!
3:06
The irony is that as computer game characters, neither Harry nor the Phasmid really do exist.
good 🅱️ideo
that's a good half of your video dedicated to coping that the game espouses how good communism really is when the guys in the path for it talk about achieving it with magic and miracles and slaughtering anyone who doesn't believe with them, only for their grand tower to collapse in on itself even when everything aligns perfectly.
I am pretty gay
20:00 I disagree with the idea that the setting's a self-aware critique of politics. Everything is clearly through a dem-soc/post-communist lens, which makes sense given the context of the creator. Disco Elysium not really above it's own criticism, and I find the 'politics' of it the smallest important aspect compared to the world building. I think too many English speakers aren't really aware of their brand of 'left-winged' thought vs. American leftist talking points either which makes this obnoxious to hear at times. I actually love this game, but for very different reasons.