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KickStarter Pathologic 2 (AKA Pathologic remake)

v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
Its a curious game, indeed. I wouldnt call it fun, but I definitely wouldnt call it boring either.

Its difficult to swallow, painful, and outright sadistic.

And yet, I couldnt stop playing it. A true masterpiece in my book.
 

Burning Bridges

Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
27,562
Location
Tampon Bay
unfun game +M

It's just RUS idea of fun

Pathologic has always been too janky for me but I do play DCS. And it is hilarious how the Russians have to make everything harder to fly than in real life.

There is a video where a WW2 veteran flew his Fw190D again and was annoyed as hell by the flight model, he stalled in every turn and said it was impossible to fly. And then there was some prick from ED who told him it was because he was not used to the PC interface.

You can easily envision those Russians how they sit in front of their computer, stone faced, corners of the mouth pulled way down determined to get things done the right way and only the right way.
 

Cpt. Dallas

Learned
Joined
Dec 15, 2020
Messages
515
Location
Keep on the Borderlands
Its difficult to swallow, painful, and outright sadistic.

And yet, I couldnt stop playing it. A true masterpiece in my book.

I've never played a game that would outright punish you for exploring its own lore and backstory, taking the trouble to watch the evening pantomimes for instance. Time passes, and hunger, exhaustion and health tick down during the play. There is a cost to everything in this game, since all is rationed from time, sleep, item wear, bandits or infection endured while travelling, uncared for patients, etc.
Half of the 'quest' waypoints are simply backstory and red herrings but it *costs* to find them. This is beyond simple C&C.

Case in point: hoof it all the way out to the steppe settlement to talk to someone, then all the way through the abattoir where the NPC in question is naturally at the far end. In a minor mercy, they at least drop you back outside the entrance when done.
Another fun one: tarry too long at the doorway in an infected zone for a map check and a cloud will make a beeline right for you.

Beat me harder, daddy.
 

Verylittlefishes

Sacro Bosco
Patron
Joined
Sep 14, 2019
Messages
4,731
Location
Oneoropolis
Half of the 'quest' waypoints are simply backstory and red herrings but it *costs* to find them. This is beyond simple C&C.

scale_1200
 

v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
There is a cost to everything in this game, since all is rationed from time, sleep, item wear, bandits or infection endured while travelling, uncared for patients, etc.
Half of the 'quest' waypoints are simply backstory and red herrings but it *costs* to find them. This is beyond simple C&C.

I loved this aspect. It pretty much makes you decide whats worth it, and second guess and analyze your choices. "Is this motherfucker going to waste my time again, or theres actually something real going down this time?"

Spoilers.
I'm generally a completionist must-do-every-side-quest asshole, and I tried my hardest to do the same here, before I figured it aint gonna work out. I can still remember that on the 4th, or 5h days, there were two events remaining, and midnight was ever so close. No way in hell I'd manage to do to both. One of them was that childhood chick requesting to help her with some water, cant remember the other one. I decided the other one is more urgent, and did it. When I finished the game I checked the girl quest - and found out, that doing it would actually screw me. Water was contiminated and another zone would get diseased. That blew me away so much, I still remember the water quest and not the one I at the moment decided was more important. Its such a realistic, intelligent and ungamey design choice, especially today, where every single game is based on the principle of - DO MOAR< D MOAR YOU DO DO POWERFUL YOU ARE< GRIINNDZ, MAX MXAXMAXMAXAM EVERRY!THING.

You cannot save everyone.
 

Cpt. Dallas

Learned
Joined
Dec 15, 2020
Messages
515
Location
Keep on the Borderlands
Not sure if Rasputin or Happy Merchant. Is that dev?

I loved this aspect. It pretty much makes you decide whats worth it, and second guess and analyze your choices. "Is this motherfucker going to waste my time again, or theres actually something real going down this time?"

Spoilers.
I'm generally a completionist must-do-every-side-quest asshole, and I tried my hardest to do the same here, before I figured it aint gonna work out. I can still remember that on the 4th, or 5h days, there were two events remaining, and midnight was ever so close. No way in hell I'd manage to do to both. One of them was that childhood chick requesting to help her with some water, cant remember the other one. I decided the other one is more urgent, and did it. When I finished the game I checked the girl quest - and found out, that doing it would actually screw me. Water was contiminated and another zone would get diseased. That blew me away so much, I still remember the water quest and not the one I at the moment decided was more important. Its such a realistic, intelligent and ungamey design choice, especially today, where every single game is based on the principle of - DO MOAR< D MOAR YOU DO DO POWERFUL YOU ARE< GRIINNDZ, MAX MXAXMAXMAXAM EVERRY!THING.

You cannot save everyone.

I am one of those assholes as well. Nearly every game will give you *some* reward for this, whether a unique item or perk, or simply the XP for the extra time grinding. The best case for this one might be that one piece of random bin trash you need for item maintenance or a few daisies on the way in and out of the steppes. MOAR GRINDING applies to story fagging as well, it seems. (orders an extra item on menu, or take too long eating and the chef walks out of kitchen to slap you and spit in your food)
As a counter example, there is almost nothing to be gained or lost by reading most of the books in an Elder Scrolls title.
 

v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
I am one of those assholes as well. Nearly every game will give you *some* reward for this, whether a unique item or perk, or simply the XP for the extra time grinding. The best case for this one might be that one piece of random bin trash you need for item maintenance or a few daisies on the way in and out of the steppes. MOAR GRINDING applies to story fagging as well, it seems. (orders an extra item on menu, or take too long eating and the chef walks out of kitchen to slap you and spit in your food)
As a counter example, there is almost nothing to be gained or lost by reading most of the books in an Elder Scrolls title.

Wholly agreed.

But, how does it all make you feel?
 

Cpt. Dallas

Learned
Joined
Dec 15, 2020
Messages
515
Location
Keep on the Borderlands
Wrapped it up, caught all 3 major endings and picked through the wiki for loose ends. Wow, speaking of 'no, fuck YOU'.....imagine taking the 'deal' early on in frustration, then powering on through the game and getting screwed out of any ending.
:rage:


Anywhoo.....good stuff. Would herb bride again.

If I didn't have Truograd and Encased cued up I might try to take my lumps with a default difficulty run.
 

HansDampf

Arcane
Joined
Dec 15, 2015
Messages
1,471
Only casuals would take the deal. They deserve that ending.
I don't think the punishments have that big of an impact anyway.
 

Burning Bridges

Enviado de meu SM-G3502T usando Tapatalk
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
27,562
Location
Tampon Bay
You simply need to understand the philosophy of Russians.

Life in Russia is miserable and there is no way out of it. The only way to make it easier is to make life harder for other people.

That's what real Westerners will never get. They think people would help you if you need help. But in Russia they only help you when you don't need it. They laugh about your misery when you do. That's why those games are so fucking annoying. They are meant to be that way and the only bright thing in the life of the developers.

As to their fans it's of course also possible that people have developed some sort of Stockholm syndrome and become addicted to being tortured. That's something only a Russian could explain to us.
 

Ol' Willy

Arcane
Zionist Agent Vatnik
Joined
May 3, 2020
Messages
24,572
Location
Reichskommissariat Russland ᛋᛋ
You simply need to understand the philosophy of Russians.

Life in Russia is miserable and there is no way out of it. The only way to make it easier is to make life harder for other people.

That's what real Westerners will never get. They think people would help you if you need help. But in Russia they only help you when you don't need it. They laugh about your misery when you do. That's why those games are so fucking annoying. They are meant to be that way and the only bright thing in the life of the developers.

As to their fans it's of course also possible that people have developed some sort of Stockholm syndrome and become addicted to being tortured. That's something only a Russian could explain to us.
Burning Pontoon Bridges talks from his 20+ years experience of life in Russia
 

Jaedar

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 5, 2009
Messages
9,837
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
I've never played a game that would outright punish you for exploring its own lore and backstory, taking the trouble to watch the evening pantomimes for instance. Time passes, and hunger, exhaustion and health tick down during the play. There is a cost to everything in this game, since all is rationed from time, sleep, item wear, bandits or infection endured while travelling, uncared for patients, etc.
Punishment and reward is frequently a matter of expectation. If you expect to be able to learn all the lore, character, backstory and complete every quest... then yes pathologic 2 will feel very punishing. If you have a more realistic bar, you will realize that having the time to watch the pantomimes, doing quests for minor characters and such is the reward for good play.

I did almost all the errands for everyone, wound up too low on resources and busy that I missed some stuff, and as a result some named characters died (and I also never had nearly enough money to buy the shotgun or rifle). But those were my choices and what made my playthrough unique.
I tried my best :negative:
 

prengle

Savant
Joined
Oct 31, 2016
Messages
355
they had a pr lady back in the pathologic + tension era (gauhar aldiyarova) and iirc alphyna was responsible for pr stuff like kickstarter updates for a while but don't take my word for it lol

saying tinybuild has done nothing in the last few years is slightly disingenuous... they did this:
krrhp8.jpg
 

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
they had a pr lady back in the pathologic + tension era (gauhar aldiyarova) and iirc alphyna was responsible for pr stuff like kickstarter updates for a while but don't take my word for it lol

saying tinybuild has done nothing in the last few years is slightly disingenuous... they did this:
krrhp8.jpg

Imagine simping for a cuck like MatPat.
 

v1rus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
2,253
Was hoping to get it sooner, but oh well. Cant wait to give it a play.

I better beat The Void till then.
 

Terenty

Liturgist
Joined
Nov 29, 2018
Messages
1,367
I need to apologise to my fellow comrades for previously saying they haven't made Pathologic 2 slick enough compared to the first one.

This game is a masterpiece plain and simple. And not in a pretentious "so deep, i cried" way, but just plain GAME masterpiece.

The perfect difficulty supported by a web of finely tuned systems all working in tandem to create an engaging and fun experience. Constant stream of events every day, not one boring minute - absolutely masterful pacing.

On top of that the atmosphere of a fever nightmare with strange and bizarre coexisting with mundane and ordinary.

Production values, art style, ost all top notch with no trace of an indie shoestring.

Up there with the classics for sure.

P.s. beating the game made me realise Patholgic 2 is totally a Russian retelling of Princess Mononoke
 

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