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Has anyone had the Fund bug out on them? I treated some people in the streets, filling out some of the bar, then when I got to the theatre I only had to cure two to fill the rest. Now it's midnight and the log says "Nah son, you ain't been to no hospital. do not pass go, do not collect $200" Assholes didn't see me!   Edit: looks like there was a tiny sliver left unfilled. It's not enough to pass the notches, it seems. Welp, now to replay the entire evening! woodenchicken fucked around with this message at 21:06 on Jun 24, 2019 |
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Jun 24, 2019 20:53
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the fund bar is the reward. the circle with the hospital symbol is binary. you didn’t actually do the hospital quest lol
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Jun 24, 2019 22:20
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Yeah the priority is the hospital, then babies (lol never again) then randos
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Jun 24, 2019 22:36
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Yeah, if they locked you out of the fund completely then you didn't finish the hospital quest for that day. It changes every day, so be sure to ask whoever's on duty what the job is. I finally finished the game, the end sure was... something.
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Jun 24, 2019 22:40
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I finished it last night as well. It's just the best IMO. It's not without blemishes but overall I can't believe how good a job they did. Maybe someday I'll be able to organize my thoughts about just how genius this game is, but by then there might be two more entire campaigns to consider 
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Jun 24, 2019 22:48
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Beat the drat thing and managed to at least keep all my kids and a semi-respectable chunk of the townspeople safe! The events of day 9/10 (especially the magical realist carnal clusterfuck of the Abbatoir and the mournful fading myth dream sequence right after it) may be some of the most affecting moments in gaming ever? Meeting the beating heart of the earth and finally understanding Udurgh/The Eighth felt straight out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. The choices you're presented with making in the end are somber, sacrificial, and so perfect--I finished up the daily tasks pretty early and spent the entire rest of the day cycle agonizing over which of the two options I could even remotely justify. it felt like poo poo draining Boddho's blood and killing the Kin, essentially ending a culture whose dignity had survived despite being enslaved in a malicious industrial genocide, but the way things were presented up to that point left me feeling that they still wouldn't be long for this world and their Earth's death to progress would always be an eventual inevitability. I hope Taya can tell their stories...  It was uncharacteristically nice of the game to allow you to go back to a pre-ending save to see each outcome, and it's an achievement that both feel ethically fraught and heavy with guilt in a way that isn't tacky or cheap.I had some issues with the pacing toward the ending--I felt that after the intensity of day 10 things faltered a bit and some of the stakes/consequences of your actions could have been articulated in a more affecting way we really don't get a direct depiction the kin's extinction / the plague remaining incurable in as weighty a manner as these catastrophic events deserve IMO, and they could have better streamlined wandering around town talking to survivors on day 12 to make it feel a bit less languid/uneventful--maybe something more choreographed like the hellish "day 12" opening sequence at the begining of the game. I get that a lot of this probably comes down to budget constraints and cinematic sequences being hard as hell to orchestrate though, and I'm so, so impressed by what Ice Pick pulled off here. Truly unlike anything else in gaming. The themes really do remind me a bit of that show Carnivale--the whole idea of a civilizational calamity laying bare the conflict between wonder and reason and all these avataric representatives of both sides--and some classic magical realist lit like 100 Years of Solitude. I need a Russian literary classics primer because I'm so hungry for more of this crushing, mystical poo poo. Can't WAIT for the bachelor/changeling campaigns, charge me full price again Ice Pick pleaaaseee take my money Oh, random question: does Aglaya not ever show up in the theater with all the other ghost townspeople? I was really curious to hear her little bit of symbolic life-summary dialogue but ran around but couldn't find her. Can anybody think of a reason for this? I guess she does get pretty insanely meta and fourth wall breaky towards the end there so maybe she's exempt from the play in some way. Lopside fucked around with this message at 05:34 on Jun 27, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2019 05:32
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Lopside posted:Beat the drat thing and managed to at least keep all my kids and a semi-respectable chunk of the townspeople safe! The events of day 9/10 (especially the magical realist carnal clusterfuck of the Abbatoir and the mournful fading myth dream sequence right after it) may be some of the most affecting moments in gaming ever? Meeting the beating heart of the earth and finally understanding Udurgh/The Eighth felt straight out of a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel. The choices you're presented with making in the end are somber, sacrificial, and so perfect--I finished up the daily tasks pretty early and spent the entire rest of the day cycle agonizing over which of the two options I could even remotely justify. it felt like poo poo draining Boddho's blood and killing the Kin, essentially ending a culture whose dignity had survived despite being enslaved in a malicious industrial genocide, but the way things were presented up to that point left me feeling that they still wouldn't be long for this world and their Earth's death to progress would always be an eventual inevitability. I hope Taya can tell their stories... Maybe I'm misremembering, but I didn't interpret the Diurnal Ending as implying the outright extinction of the Kin so much as them finding a radically different position in society, namely one without most of their traditions and history intact. This mirrors the assimilation process that a lot of colonized peoples have undergone. If Taya survives she implies she can still hear Mother Boddho's voice and that the Kin still respect her. Basically Haruspex's solution to the contradiction that is the town is to rip out its dreams and memories and turn it into a plain old burg with ordinary people, where enforced dynastic marriages and subsistence living continue. Also isn't the idea that the plague has now been permanently cured with the flood of blood from the base of the polyhedron? I think the day 11 quest sequence was definitely an unusual note to go out on, but not in a bad way. I was down to the wire tracking down couriers and got the "failure ending" several times, so I liked the way it felt like reality itself was breaking down and testing your resolve after the triumphs of day 10. It's also the first part of the game in a while where you're reminded that the other protagonists exist and have been going on their own journey all this time, with access to bits of the narrative you'll never know. Aglaya never appears in the theater afaik. Speaking of which, I'm kind of curious what you thought of her as a character? I was pretty disappointed by her role in the remake bcs she's much more fleshed out and active in the original, and the special place she holds in the narrative is a little more clear imo. That said I have a feeling she might appear more in the Bachelor's route.
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Jun 27, 2019 08:15
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I mostly agree with your sentiment, but I think day 11's tamer pace in comparison to day 10 is deliberate. Everything is breaking down at that point, even the plague blew up its load by infecting the kids on day 10 and Aglaya is deliberately trying to sabotage the script, which leads to her death. Even the act structure is broken, as so far we had each act taking one extra day than the others, but then act 4 just continues into its fifth day. For the endings, in relation to the original, destroying the Polyhedron to save the town was the Haruspex default ending in the original, while destroying the town to preserve the Polyhedron was the Bachelor's. I'd add another layer to the theme, in that Artemy's choice to preserve the town is about saving the people and his list is the kids who are both the most vulnerable and most adaptable characters, also literally the future of the town. Daniil on the other hand thinks he's looking for science and reason when in truth he is looking for a miracle, his conclusion is that it is worth to sacrifice people for the sake of ideas¹. His own list is the town's rulers and elite, who either designed the Polyhedron and/or are best equipped to thrive after the destruction of the town. They are thesis and antithesis. I also don't think Artemy's ending is the end of all magic and wonder in his world either, like youcallthatatwist says, Taya still hears Mother, the Kains are planning a new transcendental project and the new generation of Mistresses are set to become. I agree with the sentiment that this means the assimilation of the Kin and the loss of the magic of the steppe, however. Clara's path in the original is the synthesis to the game's argument, as she finds a way to preserve both the Polyhedron and Town (and you can't even play her without finishing the game with at least one of the two boys). I don't know how this will work out in the remake, but I suspect she will try to become a third mistress to balance out Nina/Maria's darkness and Victoria/Capella's light to try to solve the town's contradiction. ¹I think this goes back to Mark's parting comment to Artemy, where he says it was a mistake to have someone who's not afraid of death. He'll probably complain about the Bachelor's lack of compassion in the latter's ending. And yeah, about Aglaya, I agree that apart from the Farewell sequence I felt her participation was somewhat muted in comparison to the original. I suspect this might also be deliberate, as she's written as realizing she's trapped by Fate and is more concerned with breaking from it than the events of the town. You get a lot of her philosophy second-hand from Grief. I did like the Diurnal ending a lot, it felt downright optimistic to a point that caught me off guard. I managed to preserve everyone in the Blood group (I also really liked how the kids gradually move from The List to Blood as the game continues), so the kids are all being set up to succeed as the new leaders of the town and Artemy's old friends will continue their lives alongside him. It was very touching to me that Artemy arrived in the town as an orphan and, provided he saves them, concluded the game with a family. Lopside posted:I need a Russian literary classics primer because I'm so hungry for more of this crushing, mystical poo poo. Funny you should say that, because the Ice-Pick Lodge team did make a list of film and book recommendations.
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Jun 27, 2019 13:05
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Here's something I've been wondering - is it actually a random dice roll for getting infected / dying to infection for the npcs? Maybe I've just gotten super lucky (except for Notkin lol) but I keep winning those rolls
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Jun 27, 2019 18:25
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Lopside posted:I need a Russian literary classics primer because I'm so hungry for more of this crushing, mystical poo poo. If we're talking Russian (-language) though, then for some hardcore steppe survival, intercut with tales of Soviet misery, steppe legends and philosophical sci-fi, may I recommend The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years by Chingiz Aitmatov. A slow read, and depressive as hell, but also thought-provoking and kinda beautiful. woodenchicken fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Jun 27, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2019 18:26
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I haven't read as many russian classics as I'd like, but of those I have the bros karamazov resemblance is pretty striking. The increased emphasis on the theater motif in P2 feels very rosencrantz and gildenstern are dead as well. Naturally both are on their list. The plague's rolls struck me as slightly on the weak side in my playthrough as well but I don't know of any proof. An interesting thought experiment is that I think a gimmick run to get everyone killed would actually be somewhat hard to orchestrate
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Jun 27, 2019 18:50
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No Mods No Masters posted:I haven't read as many russian classics as I'd like, but of those I have the bros karamazov resemblance is pretty striking. The increased emphasis on the theater motif in P2 feels very rosencrantz and gildenstern are dead as well. Naturally both are on their list. I haven't tried can you attack the NPCs for whatever reason? Also the thing striking me so far about the game is that the original had a lot more of a theme about free choice in a linear, designed narrative (thus why you can win if you just quit after a point) which this one still has but takes it in an entirely different direction. I'm seeing why they didn't want to just call it a remake. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Jun 27, 2019 |
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Jun 27, 2019 18:53
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I vaguely remember trying at some point while being a savescummer and it not working, but I could definitely be wrong. If you can then yeah it would be trivial
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Jun 27, 2019 18:56
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The rolls are random and are seeded in the beginning of the day when the bells ring, confirmed by the devs on their Discord. You'd have to start at least from 23:59 of the previous day to get a different roll for the plague.woodenchicken posted:Camus' The Plague has so many similarities with Pathologic, it has to have been one of the inspirations. I can see some parallels as well, but I feel the plague is very different in each work. For Camus it is a very deliberate metaphor for depression, while in Pathologic I'd say the plague is more about contradiction. [edit]Actually, I guess, I recall some commentary from some character in the final days that the Plague spared those who had a reason to live, so I guess Camus' metaphor for the plague does apply to the Town as well in a certain sense.
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Jun 27, 2019 19:00
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ZearothK posted:The rolls are random and are seeded in the beginning of the day when the bells ring, confirmed by the devs on their Discord. You'd have to start at least from 23:59 of the previous day to get a different roll for the plague. Interesting; I've been getting so lucky outside my soul-and-a-half (and he'd have been fine if I hadn't managed to gently caress up the antibiotic, I must have mistaken the brewed one for a different color) I started to think the meter was just there to make you sweat lol.
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Jun 27, 2019 19:06
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RBA Starblade posted:I haven't tried can you attack the NPCs for whatever reason? I'm only on day 5,but I like how the game has all this meta commentary about being a game (rat prophet, respawn dude) without falling into Metal Gear/Bioshock "but what *is* choice?" bullshit. Feels a lot like the new Prey in that regard.
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Jun 27, 2019 22:59
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To me one of the most interesting things is how the game gets so much mileage out of the actually fairly limited reactivity it has. The game is full of decisions that have no reactivity in terms of story or game mechanics at all, and really only matter insofar as you feel the decision is important, which could feel totally shallow if done badly. But in practice it actually works, partly because the game obfuscates what does and doesn't matter a lot, but mostly because it makes you so invested in the characters, the world, and the stakes. (And it does this despite having the theater motif constantly remind you how fake everything is!!) I have a lot of praise for the game mechanics as well, but the writing especially is just too good
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Jun 27, 2019 23:25
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No Mods No Masters posted:To me one of the most interesting things is how the game gets so much mileage out of the actually fairly limited reactivity it has. Yeah, like day 3 is actually just "walk to the town hall", but it's one of the best parts because the audio is blowing out your speakers and everything is just gone except for the tragedians. It's unsettling and gives an immediate sense of urgency while admitting its totally artificial and just like every upcoming plague area. It rules.
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Jun 27, 2019 23:30
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RBA Starblade posted:Yeah, like day 3 is actually just "walk to the town hall", but it's one of the best parts because the audio is blowing out your speakers and everything is just gone except for the tragedians. It's unsettling and gives an immediate sense of urgency while admitting its totally artificial and just like every upcoming plague area. It rules. I'd put that as one of my all time favorite gaming moments.
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Jun 27, 2019 23:57
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youcallthatatwist posted:Maybe I'm misremembering, but I didn't interpret the Diurnal Ending as implying the outright extinction of the Kin so much as them finding a radically different position in society, namely one without most of their traditions and history intact. This mirrors the assimilation process that a lot of colonized peoples have undergone. If Taya survives she implies she can still hear Mother Boddho's voice and that the Kin still respect her. Basically Haruspex's solution to the contradiction that is the town is to rip out its dreams and memories and turn it into a plain old burg with ordinary people, where enforced dynastic marriages and subsistence living continue. Also isn't the idea that the plague has now been permanently cured with the flood of blood from the base of the polyhedron? Replayed the ending and I must have totally missed that initially haha, nothing like a densely interwoven literary-rear end game to remind me of my horrid reading comprehension! I must have mistakenly thought the final meeting w/ the pleading kin and the shabnakh dream meant that they were all essentially marked for death if the earth's blood was drained--I do still think it was implied that the shabnakhs/odonghs/herb brides weren't long for the world, though. I actually like the choice much more now that, like you said, it functions on a more metaphorical level about colonized people's customs and legends being taken from them during a process of regretful assimilation. I really loved how all the wildly different members of the Kin are portrayed with a real sense of complexity and moral grayness rather than getting a Dances with Wolves "blessed nature victims" treatment--I feel like there are compelling and nuanced conversations to have about this game's handling of indigenous peoples (in a really specific and interesting blended Eurasian way) that are being wasted on noble savage hyperliteral tripe like Tomb Raider or RDR. Oh and I was talking about the nocturnal ending in reference to the plague still existing--like yes the infected townspeople are still in mummy mode and the town still has plauge miasma, but nobody really... seems that upset by this or engages with the idea that they're uncured and still dying. I did LOVE the idea that the polyhedron was seemingly converted into an alternate purpose by the Kin to bring the Aurochs back in defiance of The Kains/Dankovsky though, and the voice of god game dev children describing the vulgarity of quest markers were great. They're kind of muted and inconspicuous, but I really like both endings the more I settle in and steep in them youcallthatatwist posted:Aglaya never appears in the theater afaik. Speaking of which, I'm kind of curious what you thought of her as a character? I was pretty disappointed by her role in the remake bcs she's much more fleshed out and active in the original, and the special place she holds in the narrative is a little more clear imo. That said I have a feeling she might appear more in the Bachelor's route. Like you said, I wish her character moments were a bit less thinly stretched, because I was immediately interested in her. Her dramatic entrance, really cool character silhouette, and the initial super brutal pantomime of her enacting judgement imply a lot that wasn't entirely lived up to--and I didn't really buy her semi-romantic, semi-existential fixation on Artemy. I love the idea of another player being so acutely aware of the world's artifice/frustrated with her inability to break from the strings that pull her to the point of being disconnected from any of the actual events happening, but yeah, a little more would have been nice. I hope we get some interesting moments with her in the Changeling / Bachelor routes! The one optional moment where you try to run away with her on the train only to have her taken and executed and you forcibly returned to the town is pretty crushing and great though RBA Starblade posted:Interesting; I've been getting so lucky outside my soul-and-a-half (and he'd have been fine if I hadn't managed to gently caress up the antibiotic, I must have mistaken the brewed one for a different color) I started to think the meter was just there to make you sweat lol. I'm so envious lol, I had Lara, Yulia, AND Nina all die on 12:00 AM day 11, each having been given a + tincture and with under 30% of their infection meter filled. Was kind of infuriating because IMO they are three of the most interesting townspeople and their excellent designs convey a lot of character. Also Katerina Saburov for most compelling townsperson and tragic pseudomistress!!!! I love those unhinged flyaway hairs and rat prophet induced insomniac eyes! People criticizing the game's visuals are high fidelity luddite purists, there is so much stunning characterization and atmosphere in every little detail (and also it doesn't even look graphically unsophisticated... it has the totally adequate polygonal complexity of a Dishonored game, like play a game that cost under 4 million dollars or shut uppp) Lopside fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 00:16
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I think Aglaya is pretty much the only character who feels like a step back from the depiction in P1. (Maybe Block as well, just because he's in it so little.) Even then they still manage to do some effective stuff with her, but yeah hopefully the other two paths will fill out the picture a bit.
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Jun 28, 2019 00:22
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No Mods No Masters posted:I think Aglaya is pretty much the only character who feels like a step back from the depiction in P1. (Maybe Block as well, just because he's in it so little.) Even then they still manage to do some effective stuff with her, but yeah hopefully the other two paths will fill out the picture a bit. Aglaya is weird because iirc, the Haruspex is the one who's closest to her in the original game. They seem to be going with "Block and the Changeling have a rapport" again so maybe we'll get more of him in her route. I'm also hoping for more of the Kains in the Bachelor's route and hopefully a trip up the Polyhedron not hidden behind one ending.
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Jun 28, 2019 00:32
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lol I loving knew the Bachelor would in fact not look at that one corpse embalming guy but I told Sticky that anyway.  quote:I think Aglaya is pretty much the only character who feels like a step back from the depiction in P1. (Maybe Block as well, just because he's in it so little.) Even then they still manage to do some effective stuff with her, but yeah hopefully the other two paths will fill out the picture a bit. I'm I always enjoyed with Block in P1 how in opposition to the military's total uselessness and desire to ruin everything for everyone in most media in the US (which is strange considering how much we jerk them off) Block in Pathologic seems to both give a poo poo and want to do the right thing, he just doesn't know what that actually is, and he's under orders. It's refreshing that he shows up and he's like "catch me up to speed what the gently caress is this" while the soldiers are bare-armed and like "Sergei did you feel a tickle just now" as the plague swirls around them. quote:I really loved how all the wildly different members of the Kin are portrayed with a real sense of complexity and moral grayness rather than getting a Dances with Wolves "blessed nature victims" treatment--I feel like there are compelling and nuanced conversations to have about this game's handling of indigenous peoples (in a really specific and interesting blended Eurasian way) that are being wasted on noble savage hyperliteral tripe like Tomb Raider or RDR. I love that at least one of the Udurghs is like "hell yeah I can't wait to start killing these lovely townspeople" and your responses are "No, don't", "You do you" and "Shut the gently caress up idiot". Also you're right the game may not be graphically the best but the art direction (and sound, and writing, and) is top tier. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 00:53 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 00:48
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The Vosgian Beast posted:Aglaya is weird because iirc, the Haruspex is the one who's closest to her in the original game. Definitely, the Kains were as central to the Bachelor as the kids are to Haruspex, and the final day shows he ends up as obsessed with the Polyhedron as in the original. I kind of feel that it will be more in character for the Bachelor to just let people not on his list equivalent to just die, I also have the impression he'll probably have less actual healing resources, unless you can do quests to aid Artemy to be rewarded with some Panacea at key points or the kids also invite Daniil into the game. I also expect his healing procedure to be different, since tinctures are something you can only get from crafting with Artemy and they're pretty central to how the Haruspex treats people. I thought I'd need a month long break to actually want more Pathologic, but I finished last week and I am itching for more already.
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Jun 28, 2019 00:53
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ZearothK posted:Definitely, the Kains were as central to the Bachelor as the kids are to Haruspex, and the final day shows he ends up as obsessed with the Polyhedron as in the original. I don't remember, what did the Bachelor do in P1 that Haruspex and Changeling didn't? I thought he made tinctures and stuff in that too. e: Also what the gently caress what do you mean the Dead Item Shop can be at the peak of the Cape how am I supposed to do that and not die from plague and exhaustion uggggh fine I'll snort all the boosters on earth too RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jun 28, 2019 |
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Jun 28, 2019 00:54
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RBA Starblade posted:I don't remember, what did the Bachelor do in P1 that Haruspex and Changeling didn't? I thought he made tinctures and stuff in that too. He pretty much didn't do poo poo, he was entirely out of his depth and flying by the seat of his pants the entire time. He imposed some ineffective quarantines of the infected districts and at one point he looked at the plague under a microscope I guess, before getting totally distracted by deepening obsession with the polyhedron. And it owned, very much
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Jun 28, 2019 00:58
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RBA Starblade posted:I don't remember, what did the Bachelor do in P1 that Haruspex and Changeling didn't? I thought he made tinctures and stuff in that too. He mostly got loads of money in comparison to the other characters, he also had a spyglass that could detect infection and was barely used in practice, but no crafting whatsoever. Some of the preview gifs had him using the spyglass, so I guess it might be somehow tied up to his method of diagnosis? The art book commentary kind of suggests that will be the case.  No Mods No Masters posted:He pretty much didn't do poo poo, he was entirely out of his depth and flying by the seat of his pants the entire time. He imposed some ineffective quarantines of the infected districts and at one point he looked at the plague under a microscope I guess, before getting totally distracted by deepening obsession with the polyhedron. And it owned, very much [edit] Also this, LOL
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Jun 28, 2019 01:00
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No Mods No Masters posted:He pretty much didn't do poo poo, he was entirely out of his depth and flying by the seat of his pants the entire time. He imposed some ineffective quarantines of the infected districts and at one point he looked at the plague under a microscope I guess, before getting totally distracted by deepening obsession with the polyhedron. And it owned, very much lmao hell yeah can't wait to have Haruspex come up and be like "a small child told me some rear end in a top hat is leaving corpses around help stop this" everywhere and have the true and accurate thing to do about it be to go to sleep and ponder things quote:He mostly got loads of money in comparison to the other characters, he also had a spyglass that could detect infection and was barely used in practice, but no crafting whatsoever. Some of the preview gifs had him using the spyglass, so I guess it might be somehow tied up to his method of diagnosis? The art book commentary kind of suggests that will be the case. Joking aside what's interesting to me about Marble Nest that is so far absent in P2 is that you could tell the Plague that the Bachelor was ready to die; if you did so then were clever about your responses you could make it obvious to the game that You, The Player, know the score because you remembered the disconnect, and the ending there congratulated you for recalling it and telling the game you're playing by another set of rules. I wonder if that all isn't going to be shunted to him? Though then again I found the children from P1 already in a dream. And the intro.
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Jun 28, 2019 01:09
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Is there any mechanical/story outcome to saving all the kids on your list? The emotional investment I had for them was far and away enough to justify bothering, but I'm curious if anything differs if some of them don't make it (aside from dialogue). I feel like it could have been a cool choice to have them help you find the courier or stall the bombardment or something if you manage to save them all--or do some culminating helpful gesture referencing their place as Isidor's pupils but I get that the game also isn't really into doing mechanical rewards like that.
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Jun 28, 2019 02:04
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My pet hope for bachelor 2 is some crazy the void esque glimpses of what it’s really like inside the polyhedron, to sell you on what a miracle it is and why the bachelor gets more and more obsessed with it. Sort of the equivalent of the much deeper exploration and sympathy the kin got in haruspex 2. I half remember an ancient Kickstarter update where they sort of teased something like this so I’m holding out hope. I know adults can’t really see what’s going on inside but maybe the bachelor’s  is the next best thingLopside posted:Is there any mechanical/story outcome to saving all the kids on your list? The emotional investment I had for them was far and away enough to justify bothering, but I'm curious if anything differs if some of them don't make it (aside from dialogue). I feel like it could have been a cool choice to have them help you find the courier or stall the bombardment or something if you manage to save them all--or do some culminating helpful gesture referencing their place as Isidor's pupils but I get that the game also isn't really into doing mechanical rewards like that. I managed to save them all, and no not really that I know of. I almost feel like they were so confident that you’d care on a character level, and rightly, that they deliberately avoided cheapening it by giving you a gamey mechanical prize. Or maybe it was just a decision made out of resource limitations that I’m game to invent excuses for, haha.
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Jun 28, 2019 04:32
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ZearothK posted:Funny you should say that, because the Ice-Pick Lodge team did make a list of film and book recommendations. I did not know this.
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Jun 28, 2019 07:05
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No Mods No Masters posted:To me one of the most interesting things is how the game gets so much mileage out of the actually fairly limited reactivity it has. I think the theater motif is pretty integral to why the game's approach to choice works so well. It's not just that the writing is good, it's that Pathologic correctly understands that playing a video game is like acting out a script - you have a prefabricated role to play in all of this, but what differs is your portrayal of the character. Does Artemy believe in the steppe tales? Does he want to take his place among the Kin, or is he more reluctant and skeptical? Does he still care about his old friends, even seeing what they've become? There are a great deal of choices in the game that don't alter anything concrete (like Notkin's day 1 quest) but help you shape your understanding of your character's worldview and desires - in that sense Pathologic is the most role-playing of role-playing games. My preferred characterization of Artemy was Tired Father Of Seven - he was bitter, disillusioned about Rubin and the others, and cared little about the Kin outside of their general safety, but grew obsessively intrigued about the children and their games. He wanted to care for them as part of a second chance at family. And while some of this is part of his general motivations and personality, a lot of it is down to my personal feelings and interpretations. This is in direct contrast with a lot of modern games' obsession with Making Your Choices Matter. No Mods No Masters posted:I managed to save them all, and no not really that I know of. I almost feel like they were so confident that you’d care on a character level, and rightly, that they deliberately avoided cheapening it by giving you a gamey mechanical prize. Or maybe it was just a decision made out of resource limitations that I’m game to invent excuses for, haha. There's a Kickstarter update where they talk about wanting the Bound to not feel so much like your "hit points", unlike in the original game where the only way for your bound to get sick was if you failed your daily quest, and you had to keep them alive to get a "good ending". I think the way P2 handles things is much more effective and elegant.
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Jun 28, 2019 07:55
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i think they completely nailed the challenge of the game being entirely about managing your own survival against a bunch of really unfair/punishing mechanics and making the survival of your bound or other characters entirely a personal mission with basically no mechanical effects at all
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Jun 28, 2019 09:03
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Verviticus posted:i think they completely nailed the challenge of the game being entirely about managing your own survival against a bunch of really unfair/punishing mechanics and making the survival of your bound or other characters entirely a personal mission with basically no mechanical effects at all Yeah, the balance between that and the story and the optional bits you stumble on if you have the time is well done. As part of my death spiral I feel like I missed a lot in day 5 (not least of all because I ignored a thing), but I pulled out, made the last of three I need to dream of panacea, and have a spare! And four boosters and like three pills and a dozen tinctures but none of them are orange so hopefully that won't matter lol. I couldn't make it to the Dead Item Shop without walking through way too much plague and eating too much time and I was already exhausted so I'm saving up for the next day. I got the fund to give me 2000 bucks so I'm going to try to buy a cloak or just drugs and chug along. I think if there's one thing that's getting stale it's the barter system, though - it's pretty samey after a while.
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Jun 28, 2019 14:26
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So what are the recommended difficulty settings for keeping the survival mechanics mostly intact where I just have to engage with them every once in a while but not being forced to have the metabolism of a shrew because the default settings sound absolutely terrible and not what I wanted when I backed this game at all. I wanted this game to be more accessible than the original, not less.
Accordion Man fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Jun 29, 2019 |
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Jun 29, 2019 01:21
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Accordion Man posted:So what are the recommended difficulty settings for keeping the survival mechanics mostly intact where I just have to engage with them every once in a while but not being forced to have the metabolism of a shrew because the default settings sound absolutely terrible and not what I wanted when I backed this game at all. I wanted this game to be more accessible than the original, not less. Just crank them all to the easiest setting, then
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Jun 29, 2019 01:27
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i almost always come on the side of accessibility vs difficulty, but this game is basically fundamentally designed to be hard in a way that whatever dumb game people like to hold up as a paragon of challenge like darksouls isnt. its not challenging because they want you to perfect a skill and then use it in the normal gaming feedback satisfaction loop, its challenging because its thematically necessary if you're really expecting to just ignore the part of the game that kills you repeatedly, just start on normal and make it easier as you go along, you can change that poo poo at any time. i guess id say to increase how much food fills you up Verviticus fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Jun 29, 2019 |
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Jun 29, 2019 01:27
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Arrhythmia posted:Just crank them all to the easiest setting, then
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Jun 29, 2019 01:49
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Accordion Man posted:So what are the recommended difficulty settings for keeping the survival mechanics mostly intact where I just have to engage with them every once in a while but not being forced to have the metabolism of a shrew because the default settings sound absolutely terrible and not what I wanted when I backed this game at all. I wanted this game to be more accessible than the original, not less. It's a difficult and sometimes frustrating game, but it's more about emergent planning than any twitch reflex stuff for the most part, and a lot of that feels important to the experience. While it is quite hard at times I do feel like the game is structured in a way that allows you to be aimless and lost the first few days while learning the systems and economy--in a way that feels relevant to the direct experience of the character you're playing. Navigating the economy/scrounging for resources/planning out good routes for daily tasks while managing health/hunger/thirst bars felt pretty compelling and unique to me as someone without a lot of experience in this survival sim style of game. Maybe its an unpopular opinion but i did find rolling with the punches the game brings to be bizarrely gratifying and fun. I think the game gets a lot less punishing once you learn some of the ins and outs of the world, and I myself bounced back from some pretty dire situations by going back just 5-6 ingame hours and making some better choices--I feel like the idea that you will always be locking yourself into these intense patterns of unavoidable death and have to restart on a 3 day old save is pretty overblown! Just do whatever you can to avoid being infected (but maybe try it out once, what happens is pretty cool) and most other problems can be resolved... with some delicious and meaningful compromises. I think having some knowledge about managing the world/economy is actually way more useful than dramatic meter rate decreases, here are some general tips: Don't wait for equipped items to fall into the 2nd or 3rd rung of disrepair before fixing them because it costs way more resources Don't eat nuts/raisins, trading them is way more valuable. They also remain pretty cheap in the store and can be traded for much more valuable food items so its never a waste to buy them too! Twyrine grows in scattered spots in the town but in clustered, reliable places within the Steppe--find them and return every once in a while during dedicated harvesting blocks Some tincture types energize you in addition to coffee beans/lemons There are almost as many valuable tasks to perform at night as there are during the daytime Boats are useful primarily for traveling vertically through the map, horizontally it can be a bit of a waste The dead items shop can be EXTREMELY helpful, save those bloody bandages and broken ampoules! Generally its a bad idea to have your surgery tool double as your weapon -- degradation sneaks up on you fast Trading away water for bandages is generally never worth it imo The game almost never directly offers you resource rewards for completing daily objectives--but in the cases where it does, prioritize doing them as well as possible Sleeping can feel bad/stressful when your exhaustion is high and you have tasks left on the docket, but dreams are a fascinating and important part of the game that can bring their own rewards That all said, I get that everyone has a different threshold for frustration and really want everybody to experience this game and what it has to offer. The difficulty feels earned and valuable imo but there's still so much to enjoy from a writing/design/musical perspective and prioritizing those modes of experience is totally fine if that's your jam. I would say some meters to moderately lower that keep the core soul of the game intact are equipment degradation rate (I mostly found repairing items tedious and a little silly rather than atmospheric or evocative) and fight damage (the combat is janky in a not-that-great way; once you figure out the rhythm it can be quite easy to exploit but is frustrating to learn, especially since I generally tried to avoid it altogether and was always fumbling whenever combat was required. Definitely DON'T lower this so you can go super saiyan on bandits without consequence but for help on the few brief mandatory combat sequences if you're struggling). I'd say at least give it a try on normal mode, you can alter the sliders at any time if you feel like you aren't getting much value out of the experience. Lopside fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Jun 29, 2019 |
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Jun 29, 2019 04:28
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Accordion Man posted:I wanted this game to be more accessible than the original, not less. -it is much easier to avoid infection this time around -inventory can be upgraded to huge sizes -healing the townfolk actually brings food and cash rewards -herbs that you must collect are indicated -sprint button -fast travel -you can repair your poo poo yourself at home
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Jun 29, 2019 07:49
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