KickStarter Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones - a Lovecraftian Computer RPG

[Zombra]

ITT I learned that the concept of cheating on your spouse or lover was invented less than a decade ago

 

[Serious_Business]

ITT I learned that the concept of cheating on your spouse or lover was invented less than a decade ago

I do not cheat baybay I only spread the free love

Disgusting, isn't it

 

[chuft]

Most of the trial period has been spent trying to figure out the character creation (no clues given - is a 6 in something exponentially better than a 5, or a minor incremental difference, or a total cutoff value like in Wasteland 2 for locks).

Look at your derived stats..?

I did. So changing a 4 to a 5 on the left changes a 6 to a 7 on the right. Still have no idea how significant that is.

First convo is with the bartender, who says my female character reminds him of a "cornuto" and then explains that means cuck, and curses constantly. About the least Lovecraftian 1920s dialog I can imagine. Leave memes out of the "atmospheric" game please.

"Cuckold" isn't a meme, it's a word from the 1200s; cornuto from the 1400s. But yes, they weren't trying to go for a fictional sanitized 1920s.

I am aware of what cuckold means, and where it comes from (the cuckoo bird, who lays its eggs in the nests of other birds). In the 1200s, when thrones were hereditary, it was a big deal if your heir was actually someone else's son. It's actually a general concern of males, since a woman by definition cannot be cuckolded into raising some other woman's child by mistake; her children are always her own. This is why males have always been violently jealous, obsessed with marrying virgins, chastity belts etc. Males can be fooled into spending their time and energy raising another male's child. Evolution has made this a major concern of males in general, even in cats, who will kill kittens of other males.

None of this is relevant to a Lovecraftian horror game, nor to my female character. The writers just put in a meme reference (and yes, depraved people on the internet are obsessed with the word "cuck" and have been for some time) as well as putting in the word "fucking" as many times as they could in the game's very first conversation. It was the worst first dialog I've ever seen in any RPG, an immediate turnoff.

I've read a lot of Lovecraft. The man might have been the greatest prude in history. Reading the "cuck" conversation and the gratuitous profanity immediately pulled me from any attempt at a 1920s Lovecraftian atmosphere and into the smelly basement of tittering 15 year olds reading 4chan, the kind of morons who think it's clever to use profanity whenever possible in an attempt to sexualize everything. It's jarring, it's puerile, and it ruins the atmosphere immediately.

Then I realized this is a real time game and I am taking starvation damage despite starting with several rations and buying more. What were they thinking. Who wants to have a buggy food/starve system in a game where you want to read dialogue and admire the art and it doesn't pause?

Should have read my review!

I think I did, I don't remember the "you starve to death even if you have rations in your inventory and buy even more" part though.

 

[Roguey]

None of this is relevant to a Lovecraftian horror game, nor to my female character.

The word cuckquean dates back to the 1500s. They just gave female and male characters the same speech, you're reading too much into it.

I think I did, I don't remember the "you starve to death even if you have rations in your inventory and buy even more" part though.

I never starved so I don't know what happened in your game or why.

 

[Trash Player]

I've read a lot of Lovecraft. The man might have been the greatest prude in history. Reading the "cuck" conversation and the gratuitous profanity immediately pulled me from any attempt at a 1920s Lovecraftian atmosphere and into the smelly basement of tittering 15 year olds reading 4chan, the kind of morons who think it's clever to use profanity whenever possible in an attempt to sexualize everything. It's jarring, it's puerile, and it ruins the atmosphere immediately.

This game is far more apocalyptic than horror themed. It is also on the mythos cargo cult train rather than the 1930s horror/weird pulp writing style one.
That aside, the tavern keeper is exactly the kind of figure who would use profanity as much as possible. He tries to scam you for a petty sum, you remember?
It is merely in character, being a sleazy bastard who would throw anyone under the bus for paltry gain is a sort of coping mechanism in the end of the world, ala the in-game value system.
There is a plot-critical pawnshop across the street with a owner that is a erudite occult academic type that speaks as one would expect, if you really want a occult mystery(tm) experience,
just leave the smelly tavern and follow the main quest.

 

[Delterius]

None of this is relevant to a Lovecraftian horror game, nor to my female character. The writers just put in a meme reference

No you retard (I say this in the most friendly way possible). Latins just use the word corno/cornutto to refer to stuff more than just cuck, though it is what it is. Pay attention to the dialogue Jesus Christ.

 

[Harthwain]

My impression was he used "cornuto" to imply the main character was betrayed and is looking for revenge on whoever is responsible. At least that's how I understood the story he uses to explain the whole thing.

 

[Delterius]

The Italian guy says he likes pizza I would very much prefer that games don't talk about pizza gate tyvm.

 

[Wunderbar]

I too felt like the whole cuck thing came out of nowhere.

The city is stuck somewhere between dimensions, there are otherworldy creatures roaming around, people are going crazy, and then a bartender calls you a cuck. What?

 

[V_K]

The city is stuck somewhere between dimensions, there are otherworldy creatures roaming around, people are going crazy, but the bartender is somehow supposed to be perfectly normal and make total sense. Checks out, sure.

 

[Ol' Willy]

Latins just use the word corno/cornutto to refer to stuff more than just cuck, though it is what it is.

Latin has a better term for promiscuous person:

FORNICATOR MAXIMVS

 

[GewuerzKahn]

My impression was he used "cornuto" to imply the main character was betrayed and is looking for revenge on whoever is responsible. At least that's how I understood the story he uses to explain the whole thing.

Me too.

Here is the full dialogue (more than one picture)

I guess you can intepret the last screenshot as "Who cucked your life, Protagonist?"

edit: Same dialogue as a woman.
As an aristocat you have your own butler. Cool. I did't new that.

 

[lightbane]

In a game where making a literal sex cultist magician, who also happens to be a granny, is a viable choice in character creation, it is to be expected than fidelity with Lovecraft's works was not the main idea.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

In a game where making a literal sex cultist magician, who also happens to be a granny, is a viable choice in character creation, it is to be expected than fidelity with Lovecraft's works was not the main idea.

They just went for a Lovecraftian aesthetic, but it's deep as a puddle in depth and it ends up seeming less like a derivative work and more like a cheap caricature every now and then.

 

[Delterius]

Latins just use the word corno/cornutto to refer to stuff more than just cuck, though it is what it is.

Latin has a better term for promiscuous person:

FORNICATOR MAXIMVS

What about the cornutto kings, do they get a Latin term as well?

 

[chuft]

None of this is relevant to a Lovecraftian horror game, nor to my female character. The writers just put in a meme reference

No you retard (I say this in the most friendly way possible). Latins just use the word corno/cornutto to refer to stuff more than just cuck, though it is what it is. Pay attention to the dialogue Jesus Christ.

I did. He talked about someone looking for the man who fucked his wife. Totally gratuitous profanity and cuck reference.

Refund obtained, I will sleep better tonight.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Refund obtained, I will sleep better tonight.

Not much lost anyway. The game is way too barebones mechanically and incomplete storywise.

 

[Delterius]

None of this is relevant to a Lovecraftian horror game, nor to my female character. The writers just put in a meme reference

No you retard (I say this in the most friendly way possible). Latins just use the word corno/cornutto to refer to stuff more than just cuck, though it is what it is. Pay attention to the dialogue Jesus Christ.

I did. He talked about someone looking for the man who fucked his wife. Totally gratuitous profanity and cuck reference.

Refund obtained, I will sleep better tonight.

ok how can i explain this

cornutto is like kurwa for a certain age of latinos

you asked a finn what satanna! means and then complained about satanism

ffs

 

[GewuerzKahn]

Refund obtained, I will sleep better tonight.

Does profanity and a cuck reference in a cheap unknown video game keeps you awake at night?
From reading you posts the cuck reference really hit a nerve.

 

[Zombra]

The city is stuck somewhere between dimensions, there are otherworldy creatures roaming around, people are going crazy, but the bartender is somehow supposed to be perfectly normal and make total sense. Checks out, sure.

Last year, people made the same complaint about The Sinking City. As I observed then, in the face of the unthinkable, some people still go about their lives the best they can. Would the game be better if it was nothing but raving lunatics running around screaming incoherently and starving to death?

 

[Saduj]

The city is stuck somewhere between dimensions, there are otherworldy creatures roaming around, people are going crazy, but the bartender is somehow supposed to be perfectly normal and make total sense. Checks out, sure.

Last year, people made the same complaint about The Sinking City. As I observed then, in the face of the unthinkable, some people still go about their lives the best they can. Would the game be better if it was nothing but raving lunatics running around screaming incoherently and starving to death?

The monocled choice would be for people to revert to Stone Age tribalism in the immediate aftermath of an apocalyptic event.

 

[newtmonkey]

I'm sure the writer intended for the bartender to sound like some kind of jaded badass foreign guy, but instead the character ends up sounding like some kind of edgy ESL student. That's why he feels out of place.

 

[ValeVelKal]

Sounds like an inferior // failed "Renowned Explorers". Renowned Explorers was one of the best games of the last 10 years IMO.

 

[vota DC]

They should say cornuta to a female character.
You can use to women too, the word was a reference to king Minos but It just means that betrayal Is growing on you and everyone except you Is aware about It just like horns for animals (we have some ancient tales about deers got stuck because unaware of having horns).
If the betrayal Is something that everyone knows you use the word cornuto/a but you don't if it is unknown, also usually you cease to use that word after they get revenge with murder or divorce.

 

[newtmonkey]

I completed this just now, and enjoyed the 15 hours it took to see it to the end.

Although the world sometimes feels like a Lovecraft theme park (some of the quests are taken 100% from individual Lovecraft stories), the game does have a great creepy atmosphere thanks to the excellent music and chilling sound effects. I enjoyed the resource management in the game, though during the last half you have so many cigarettes that you can stay at full health and sanity most of the time. I ended the game with three levels of angst, an alcohol addiction, and a mental illness where dialog choices would randomly be replaced with ravings and inappropriate outbursts.

I would have liked there to have been more optional content. The game appears nonlinear at first, but every quest is basically mandatory as far as I can tell. It's got a really interesting character system, so some optional content would have really made replays interesting.