u/YogurtClosetThinnest

I know El-Sayed and William Lawrence. Any others?

I find that there aren't many good places online to discuss American democratic socialism in a fun and open way. Lots of subjective rules, gatekeeping, and over moderation. Goal here is to be open, welcoming and chill.

Feel free to post memes, discussions, debates, news, or whatever you like related to democratic socialism.

It’s kinda better than Disco Elysium.

Considering the (often justified) drama surrounding the studio, it feels like a mortal sin to type that, but holy moly Zero Parades is good. I’m 14 hours in and just sitting here thinking about it at work. If you’re on the fence, I would highly recommend it. I will also say I have a Kim Kitsuragi portrait in my living room, and I’ve finished DE 3 times, so I am by no means a Disco hater. 

The “thought internalization” mechanic is so much deeper in ZP, it opens tons of new dialogues, some of which add a LOT to the story. Some of which I’m looking at thinking “that sounds so interesting, but I don’t want it in this playthrough cause it also kinda sounds like a nightmare”.

The delirium/fatigue/anxiety mechanic is way more interesting than Disco’s health/morale. It’s a constant balance of trying to regulate your emotions with coffee, beer, cigarettes, and the sketchy weed you can buy from the local dealer. Trying to keep your psyche from collapsing and your skills from lowering. The thought cabinet also plays into this, giving you a higher max skill perhaps for the tradeoff of say gaining delirium every time you mention a conspiracy. A world of difference from Disco’s health/morale, which was basically “I have no health so I better not sit in that uncomfortable chair or I’ll die”. Which was funny, but admittedly not interesting at all.

The story is more interesting too. It feels like every interaction in the game in some way or another leads back to your main quest. There are so many twists and turns (it is a spy story) which are just great. The game slowly paints this big picture of what is going on, and the history of all the parties involved in such clever ways throughout the story. It doesn’t exposition dump, and every clue still feels earned when you work everything out. 

Getting items is so rewarding. In Disco I recall being able to use your gun in 2 scenarios after you get it. You can pretty much just walk around flashing your gun at everyone in ZP after you get it lol. There is also another very spoiler heavy item that’s insanely rewarding to find/figure out: >!the imprinting device!<. 

I currently have like 3 routes open to how I want to complete the main quest, and I’m not sure which I want to do.

I am so hyped to finish the game. I will probably replay it afterwards and do different stuff / thought cabinets. 

Edit: some things I think Disco did better:
Music
Aesthetics
Having a companion to bounce ideas off, get commentary from

Basically I want to know if I register my braced pistol as an SBR, and I do not feel like dishing out $200 for a stock right now, can I still legally put a vertical foregrip on it?