Topic: 🍁 PUSH SQUARE GAME CLUB 🍁 | November | The Plucky Squire ⚔️

@Th3solution One MASSIVE tip I'd give is that holding down L1 will highlight everything on the screen you can interact with.

Any particular issues though?

This game... just wow.

I played earlier this year, having never dabbled in anything resembling CRPG status. Fell in love with DE, and such a tremendous achievement for the devs.

My only tip to those starting - don't save-scum, however tempting it might be. Failed checks in DE can sometimes yield results that are advantageous over passing... just have fun with the game

OK, so I've started off as a starting class as a thinker. I'm less than a couple of hours in but thanks for the hold L1 tip, @Thrillho, has already been really useful. I wish my inner monologue was as interesting as my characters! I've already laughed multiple times and glad i have some drama in my starting stats, my Liege 🤣 I've only spoken to 5-6 voiced characters but the quality of voice acting so far is really high. Some of the set up has some real Irvine Welsh vibes, which might be completely coincidental but it kinda gives me "Filth" vibes. I can see this taking over my gaming time for the next month, I woke up early after thinking about it last night and got another hour in before the fam woke up.

I've made a start on this. It's taking some time to get used to, just because I've never played anything similar to the dice roll checks before, but I'm enjoying it. It's a rather interesting setting, and the main character struggling with the bare basics of life is certainly different from the standard hero archetype.

In terms of stats, I did my standard approach of playing things safe and doing a balanced 3/5 on everything. Though of course, not excelling in anything may have its own risks later on.

@crimsontadpoles I can wholeheartedly endorse NOT playing it safe. The game is most fun when you role play a bit more of an extreme character and it’s much more interesting to see the things you can unlock with the higher abilities.

The insane things out this game is how much dialogue there must be with all the interjections you get from your stats. Going heavy on physique I’ve had some quite funny ones from electrochemistry regarding various substances and some creepy ones from shivers.

A couple of other tips;

1) When pressing L1 some things appear white. You can’t interact with these unless you happen to have a crowbar in your hand..

2) The thought cabinet is something not to overlook. When you’ve enough comments along a certain thought process (communist, free marketer etc) or you make certain conversation choices, you might open the ability to unlock a thought. The “cabinet” is opened as a menu option alongside your items and quest markers. Thoughts take time to unlock and normally give a penalty to stats during that time but then unlock various things. You can only unlock a set amount and need level up points to open new slots.

One tip with regards thoughts is that Jamais Vu is one of the most powerful as you get XP for every “orb” (those little circles around the map) which levels you up quickly and you can get this on day one by talking to Joyce and choosing a specific dialogue option during your conversation

As for me, I finished day 1 yesterday and got loads done as I remembered most of the key things to do, even though I last played the game two years ago. I’ve spoilered most of the stuff as there’s no guarantee you’ll have done any of it on day 1 but left some vague comments up too.

1) I went in the bookshop and rammed down the locked door so have been all round the doomed commercial area already and got the shot put to replace the pétanque ball I lobber into the water

2) I spoke with Cuno and inadvertently got into the docks managing to pass the check to jump off the roof of his shack into the dock, despite a <10% chance, and met with Evrart already, taking the bribe and the key to help him out

3. I met with Joyce and maxed out her conversation, getting the Jamais Vu thought. Went back to her after dark to discuss the Pale

4. Did some investigating around the back of the Whirling in Rags cracking open the trash can and getting everything from there I could

I’ve currently got the Jamais Vu, hobocop, superstar cop, and free marketer thoughts unlocked too!

I think all of that stuff took me the best part of three days on my first play through

Oh, and the conversation thread my guy had about the “c*ck carousel” was horrendously sexist, in keeping with his character, but did make me laugh.

Oh man, one of the all-timers this month then!

Where to even begin with this game… 😅

I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but I think I’m really liking it. I’m around 5-6 hours along, just finished Day 1. It’s probably one of the most unique gaming experiences I’ve had in recent memory. As a fan of choice-based branching-storyline games and RPGs there’s a lot to like here. The setting and detective murder mystery themes aren’t exactly my usual preferred backdrop, but it’s good to have some exposure to fresh gaming narrative ideas.

Now I’ll admit, the game has been quite confusing for me, as a CRPG noob. It hasn’t yet driven me to the point of frustration, but there are systems I’m struggling to understand, like the significance of the Thought Cabinet (thanks @Thrillho for the further explanation), and what exactly certain messaging means like “[Medium: Success]” — I think that indicates a dice roll occurred in the background that I had a medium chance of getting and it was successful, so it triggered the dialogue….?

I also struggle with how to best spend my level up points for all the inner egos, I have generally focused on a few areas and then have been putting points into some of the egos / Skills that I have noticed popping up a lot that I’m deficient in. I have also opened one extra Thought Cabinet spot, I have four active. I forget which thoughts I have active (not in front of my game atm) — I think one was about remembering my home life, one was about being sorry and regretful for my past, one was something about moralism, and the fourth may have been the superstar one, I can’t remember.

It can be confusing as to which of my internal voices that I need to listen to and what aspect of my psyche each represents. Some of them are self-evident, based on their name and how they talk to you, like Logic, Drama, Empathy, or Physical Instrument. But some are more cryptic like Savoir Fare, Interfacing, or Inland Empire. Whenever those speak to me I’m unsure whether to put much credence into their remarks, with regard to how I want to build my character. Often, two of my inner personalities tell me completely conflicting advice. I had a direction I wanted to develop my guy, but the options that I’m being given are throwing me off and making it hard to stick with my plans. Perhaps that’s the point of the game.

I started out with 4-4–1-3 build favoring intellect and psyche and going leanest on physique. I wanted to follow a socially responsible and progressive path but not a rebellious or anti-establishment one, as well as encouraging industry to rebuild the community, but also seek for fair treatment for the proletariat. I want to try my best to be a “good cop” but I also want to encourage some law and order amongst the chaos. It’s making it hard to know how to respond sometimes. It seems like the game is pushing me to be either a communist or a conservative loyalist, with not much room for alternate thinking. I’m still early hours so perhaps it opens up later but so far it’s a series of binary choices, some of which bleed over into each other.

The writing in general is very good. Lots of humor and also some really well-phrased dialogue and narration. I do have to complain though about the copious amounts of background lore, world-building, and extraneous setting details. So far there’s a little too much of the historical and cultural parts that don’t seem to affect the game or story. Perhaps knowing all the intricate details of the former monarchies and failed local businesses will come in handy later, I don’t know. All the extra world building could be tucked away in optional books or papers rather than my having to read and hear several minutes of exposition from some of the NPCs. I know I could skip some of those conversations, but I’ve found there are some nuggets, side quests, and even free XP to be earned by clicking all dialogue options and listening to them all the way to the end. (And yes, the irony of my own long-winded musings on the game is not lost on me. 😂 But I’m not selling a game here…😛)

Oh, and Cuno. What to say about Cuno… Is there a more annoying and deplorable character in gaming? 😅 Not sure I’ve wanted to smack a virtual character that much before.

But to be clear, there’s times that the writing shines and is on the level of a good book. It can be deep and even poetic. It can also be quite witty, sharp and ironic. I just finished the bookstore side quest in the back curtained area. I was able to convince the owner, after much negotiation, to let me go back there and investigate and was so amused to uncover the genius fourth wall breaking subplot of the failed early computer RPG developer and also met the dice maker. It was just so clever and self-ridiculing by the developer and it put a big smile on my face. Another similar example of a funny gaming Easter egg was when you ask Kim why he’s following you and he talks about how you run everywhere and go about in a weird erratic pattern back and forth, common to people from your precinct (I think he called it the “jamrock shuffle”) 😂 It was another small inside joke about video gaming.

Speaking of side quests, or rather “tasks” — there’s so many of them! I’ve already opened up like 20. It’s giving me OCD-driven anxiety to have all these partial quests that I don’t know how to finish yet. Every time I explore to try to complete something I uncover a new task. It’s the start of the second day and I haven’t even investigated the body yet! How do I get it down?! 😅

The final comment I’ll make is that I’m having some difficulty getting the markers locking onto the items of interest with right analog stick. I’m grateful for @Thrillho for the L1 tip to highlight everything that can be interacted with. That helps. But there’s a little jankiness to the exploration where you can see the original design for PC M&K showing through and the right stick doesn’t quite navigate predictably all the time.

Anyways, that’s enough for now. It will be interesting to read how everyone’s experience is different.

@Th3solution So the [Medium: Success] things are sort of automatic checks based on your underlying stats that can implicate conversations or give you more info on something without you actively doing anything and the level corresponding to the level you have in that skill (I can recall it being from trivial up to impossible).

For instance, on my first run I went for an intelligence build so would frequently get Encyclopaedia check successes which would provide a more in-depth explanation about something. Sometimes an active fail will come up, for example this run is low intelligence for me and a character gave a clearly fake name but a failed logic check came up with it saying that my guy believed it.

It's a clever little mechanic as it alludes to what I said in my big post above as even though what is being said in a conversation may be very similar at times on this run to my previous one, loads of these little interjections are seeing the world and conversation through how my character is developing skills wise.

I wouldn't get too bogged down on worrying about which skills to go for. If you press R1 when on a skill it gives you a rough idea of what it's about and the last paragraph tells you what high level in that skill equates to. The only two that have immediately direct results are the ones that increased your health and morale (endurance and volition). You will unlock loads of gear (or substances) as you go that can help boost stats and the thought cabinet can help do that too. As I said above as well, I think it's most fun to go relatively heavy in certain areas rather than trying to spread yourself too thinly so having an idea of what cop you want to be helps with that;

And Cuno is a great character and it's funny you say about smacking him as I did just that with my current character.... Kim was not amused

And with the book keeper I basically said to hell with it and pulled the curtain back and then smashed the door down.

Don't worry about the task list too much. It can be a good reminder as to what is on your plate but it'll tick off as you go anyway and some tasks can't be completed until much later anyway. Plus, there are "secret tasks" too which will randomly pop up and complete as you go so just do what you think is most important in the moment.

@Thrillho Thanks, makes sense. I wanted to focus on the cognitive and emotional pieces so I have run into some challenges with a base physique of 1. I basically have just 1 HP and have to heal if I merely kick the mailbox. 😂

I haven’t met Joyce yet, nor tried my hand at getting past the gate where the protest is going on. I also have an invite from the guy smoking on the apartment balcony that I need to follow up on. Also have to track down my gun, as the pawn shop guy gave me a few clues there. Meanwhile, I need to figure out how to inspect the body, seeing as my guy’s stats were so low he got too nauseated when we tried to look at it closely. I reckon there’s a way to maybe climb the tree and get the body down too…? But again physically I’m so puny. I tried to jump to my cloak and just couldn’t do it either, and had to heal afterwards.

So far it seems like the game has been fairly responsible with painting substance abuse as a negative, but I’m starting to wonder if I might not be able to accomplish some of my tasks without taking a hit of speed to boost my stats. 😅

I played some more until the early afternoon of Day 1. So far, I've not managed to do anything particularly useful in terms of the investigation. My character is just as hopeless as he was at the start of the day. However, his cluelessness fits perfectly with my cluelessness, so it works oddly well. Agonisingly, I failed a 92% chance of getting the body down from the tree, when using a Thought Cabinet perk for that situation. Then again, my guy can't even get his tie off a ceiling fan, so it's no surprise to see him so pitiful.

Whatever happens happens, I'm not going to save-scum here. This feels like one of those games where it's better to accept every bad dice roll or terrible decision. At this rate, things may not end well for my guy, but that in itself could be an interesting outcome.

Some of the characters are very annoying, particularly Cuno. I do wish the game would give some options to be a bit more aggressive with people. I did eventually have an option to get violent with Cuno, but the odds weren't good, and my guy just made a fool out of himself. I had to sneakily reload there just to watch the guy punch the kid successfully, but I've now reloaded again back to the original failure timeline.

The game is an interesting concept so far, but I'll need to play some more before I really know what to make of it.

A couple other thoughts on the game:
They’ve been very stingy with the trophies so far. Only have one bronze after 6 hrs of play - “Goodest of the Good Cops”.

There’s been a few small technical hiccups, nothing major. But there is a narrative quirk I’ve come by where the game has given up the main character’s name through some of the supplemental information in the thought cabinet and tutorials. In other words, in my playthrough the protagonist still doesn’t know his name, only his initials. But I know what his first name is because they have referred to it in the menu items. I’m not sure if that’s a design flaw or not, but it does rob some of the RPG elements of playing someone with amnesia.

@Th3solution I ignored substances on my first play as I was trying to go clean but this time round BRING IT ON! The negatives have been fairly minimal so far, mostly using smoking to boost my pitiful intelligence levels which has been fine as it affects health which my beefcake has plenty of points. It has been funny rubbing Kim's face in my substance abuse too.

(As a side note, your health and morale recover overnight so you can abuse those things in the evening if needed and don't need to worry about recovering them either. And a secondary side note, in the bottom left corner it shows a number which is how many recovery units you have, press left or right on the d-pad to use them).

@crimsontadpoles Failing checks is a huge part of the game and in some instances it's failing that opens up the more interesting options and even whole side "missions". Your map keeps a check of ones you haven't attempted or can retry later on if needed too, either once you've skilled up, boozed/drugged up, or got some gear to give a stat boost.

@Th3solution Yeah, it's certainly not a game for platinum hunters! But if you're after some then it helps to go all in on certain conversation choices. On this run I've so far got;

• One for preaching the free market multiple times
• One for saying multiple "traditionalist" things
• One for "hitting an all time low with Kim" (please forgive me buddy)
• And then one for starting Hardcore mode

One I'm aiming to get on this run that won't be spoiling anything for you two is for solving the case without inspecting the body. I'm also aiming for one for saying "I am the law" whenever it comes up.

My aim has always been to then do a third run in the future going all in on being a paranormal cop to see if I could hoover the rest up.

Kim doesn’t get how I roll.

@Thrillho 😂 I love all the little jabs that the characters take at you, depending on how you’ve been responding.

Regarding the healing items for health and moral, appreciate that tid-bit also, since somehow I didn’t realize that’s what the little number on the gauge in the left lower corner was. I was poring through my inventory trying to find my healing items to know how many I had, and so now I realize they are just tracked on the life bars themselves.

Not sure if all CRPGs are like this but the tutorials are relatively lean. It’s fine because I’m figuring things out, but it’s been more hands-off than I’m used to. I’ve heard Baldur’s Gate 3 is like that as well, so it’s possibly a genre thing. Hopefully getting my feet wet with DE will serve me well for future endeavors in the genre.

The "...and what's with all the running?" line at the first night's debrief properly cracked me up. Almost 4th wall, but not quite.

I just finished replaying this on Wednesday, as it happens. Second time playing through (on PS5) - played it about a year ago on the Switch.

I wasn't sure about replayability but I could not tear myself away from it once I started.

I really enjoyed my first playthrough, but I was wildly inconsistent in my choices and what stats I invested in, I also didn't really touch the thought cabinet. This was reflected in the ending which I am pretty sure was the 'worst' one it is possible to get- kim had been shot, and everyone just basically walked away from me muttering that I was an insanse disgrace ! I also didn't see nearly as much of the game as I did on this playthrough. This time I focused on the psych tree (empathy and inner empire, particularly) and filled my thought cabinest with thoughts weighted towards remembering my old life and making amends.

This time I think I pretty much got the best ending possible old precinct took me back, recruited Kim, Kim got a photo of the phasmid and I saw so much more doomed commercial area + started the club in the church, the video rental/ dolores dei dream on the island and got a lot more information about the world, despite having little in Encylopedia this time.

If anything I enjoyed it even more this time around.

In short, HARDCORE TO THE MEGA!

@Th3solution Yeah, it’s kind of weird how little the game explains. There is a voice that jumps in every now and again to tell you how to do some things like equip tools but you’re mostly left to it.

@woollypump I got most of the things you described first time round and it’s pretty cool to wrap it all up so nicely. That said, I am looking forward to how much I can actually mess it up

I’m hoping that that I don’t get Kim killed but he ditches me instead. I did accidentally get him to do that on my first run by failing a random check and Harry blurted out something really racist so Kim stormed off. I did have to reload that save!

What author does DE most bring to mind for you? Definitely echoes of Philip K Dick and Douglas Adams, I thought.

It's been a slow burner for me, but it's clicking with me more now that I've reached the end of the first day. Now that I've got a better view of the overall case, along with some familiarity of the external factors, things are becoming more than just wandering around aimlessly.

I'm currently trying to see if I can turn my guy's life around, and avoid the booze and drugs. Of course, there's incentives for partaking in these activities, so I might have to resort to them if things get bad.

I should be able to get a lot more played this weekend, as I'll be less busy then.