Tribunal opinions [spoliers]

[Meeg]

I was enjoying the game a lot until the Tribunal happened. The fact that the mercenaries are going to have a "tribunal" was mentioned once or twice before hand. I remember Joyce mentions it. But I don't think it was set up well. Not only was I unprepared, but I felt like "what is this?" How is this a tribunal anyway? isn't it just angry mercenaries confronting the townies to avenge their fallen brother? Are the two weird "undercover cops" or whatever from the hotel lobby with the mercenaries? Also, there was an unknown third mercenary?
The fact I hadn't encountered any of the mercenary characters at the tribunal before this point made me feel like I missed something. (Did I? Is there a way to meet these people before it all goes down?)
Not only did it come out of nowhere but then everything got out of control: several people are going to die and Harry is going to get seriously wounded no matter what you or your necktie choose to do. At first I wondered whether I had just died and "game over," but when I came to I just felt dejected for Harry and lost a lot of my enthusiasm for the game. It seems like there's nothing to do now except chase after the killer and even if there are a few other things you can do first I don't know if I even care anymore.
Anyway, I'm curious what other players thought. Did you feel similarly? Do you eventually get over this loss of enthusiasm or does it pretty much stay like this for the rest of the game. Maybe there isn't much game left?
Thanks in advance for everyone who shares their thoughts. Disco Elysium has so many cool elements that I don't want to harp on the negative and I would love to have more games set in this world but had to get that off my chest.

[kaymarciy]

You might miss some dialogues with Joyce I guess. At some point after investigating the narco-trafick you may ask her who are mercenaries. If you pass the Logic check, Harry will figure it out on his own and she will simply confirm: first one is the "leader" of protesting workers (you may ask him to explain tatoos then, it will give you a small bonus on the gun-shot check), the other one was told to be the person from the square who observed you all that time. To be honest, I'm not sure who that is, probably the drunkard on the stairs near Rene . The third one was deliberately left unknown to surprise the player, but you may notice him with the Perception check on your way to the Tribunal.

If you felt unprepared, you probably missed a passive Shiver thought right before the encounter with Ruby. You'd get a premonition that everything will go south as soon as you enter the room and there will be no turning back .

I didn't dislike the scene altogether, but I would like to be able to save more Hardi-boys. It was clearly set to show thatdetective work isn't all rainbow and flowers (just like the scene with the working-class wife), but I would still like to have an option with even higher Motorics/Physical checks to perform better.

[Jupiter]

The tribunal is talked about quite a bit by a couple different characters.

Joyce talks about it fairly openly after you do what she wants. You can get passive checks that lets you determine that the scab leader is one of the mercs and lets you talk to him about it as a side quest (involving the photo of the tattoos), and that another would be hiding in a building above the roundabout. You can also get a perception bubble from this building that indicates someone/something is in the building if I remember correctly. The third merc is a surprise though, as Joyce didn't even know of the third I think.

The union boss also talks about how the mercs trying to kill the union members is actually what he wants as well.

After the tribunal is the finishing stretch of the game - the tribunal being the climax.

[Johelian]

I felt exactly the same as you when I reached this section, even though I had met some of the people and knew it was coming - the suddenness put a bit of a dampner on things for me, and I was gutted that I didn't have the skills to do more. But, as someone else said, I think that's meant to be the point, and that became more evident the longer I played. The ending was just perfect, and, I have to say, I almost cried at more than one point. Honestly, if you haven't finished it already, keep going - it will win you back! :)