|
Meallan posted:Has anyone tried the pathologic alpha yet? If so does it look good? (Both gameplay and story wise) I played it when it was still in private alpha and ultimately I think you're going to have a pretty similar experience to Pathologic 1. it's a dreamlike sort of experience where the real and the fake bleed into each other heavily and your overall job is to first separate the two and then figure out how they relate to one another. Gameplay wise it's incredibly basic right now, you walk around, you talk to people, you use item. There's very little you can do to interact with the world and very little direction or hinting; frequently going to a place with an objective will ambush you with a couple side objectives that are completely unrelated to what you went there to do. I don't mean to act like this is a bad thing or that the game plays badly; ultimately, pathologic is a much more complicated and freeform point and click adventure game where outcomes are pretty binary. either you have the tools to do this thing or you don't. it's good that they're sticking to a relatively simple interface to keep interactions from being obscured or cluttered up. But there's no gameplay revolutions from the first game as far as I can tell, it's pretty much the same formula with prettier graphics and a readable translation from the get-go.
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 19:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 08:44 |
|
|
Alan Wake is getting a tv show and Sam Lake will be an executive producer. They might use stuff that would have appeared in the sequel.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 19:21
|
|
|
Is there a Pathologic plot summary I can read somewhere? It's not a game I'd really want to play, but I am really interested in the actual plot itself - unfortunately the LPs I've found don't explore the game as a whole, just individual characters. Though I imagine it's one of those games where the ending and interpretation of the events of the game are up to the player.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 19:32
|
|
|
Casimir Radon posted:Alan Wake is getting a tv show and Sam Lake will be an executive producer. They might use stuff that would have appeared in the sequel.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 19:38
|
|
|
Just gonna be someone doing a no-commentary LP of the game.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 19:49
|
|
|
Morpheus posted:Just gonna be someone doing a no-commentary LP of the game. I'd watch that, if they're good at it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 19:58
|
|
|
Morpheus posted:Is there a Pathologic plot summary I can read somewhere? It's not a game I'd really want to play, but I am really interested in the actual plot itself - unfortunately the LPs I've found don't explore the game as a whole, just individual characters. the unmovable/canon things per Pathologic 2 so far is that this lovely town on the edge of the Russian steppe got a horrific plague, and a lone doctor (who the game refers to as the Bachelor) instituted a draconian quarantine backed up by a military lockdown to stem the plague's advance. while harsh, the Bachelor's plan worked and the town was saved from the plague. beyond that yes Pathologic 1 is very much about personal choice and how your choice shapes the world around you so trying to write out its events will get awkward and confused really loving fast.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:16
|
|
|
Casimir Radon posted:Alan Wake is getting a tv show and Sam Lake will be an executive producer. They might use stuff that would have appeared in the sequel. Nani the gently caress
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:20
|
|
|
Morpheus posted:Is there a Pathologic plot summary I can read somewhere? It's not a game I'd really want to play, but I am really interested in the actual plot itself - unfortunately the LPs I've found don't explore the game as a whole, just individual characters. In a nutshell: There is a town on a steppe. You play as one of three people, the Bachelor, a scientist obsessed with conquering death, the Haruspex, a native of the town familiar with its practices, and a surgeon, and the Devotress, a young girl who can perform miracles (you unlock her after finishing the game as the others and is more or less the "true" run). As the Bachelor or Haruspex, the other opposes you philosophically. A brutal disease called the Sand Plague breaks out after a town elder, Simon Kain, dies, and you spend twelve days trying to contain or stop it. You largely fail. While this is going on there is a whole bunch of political machination going on involving traditions, the Kains, two other families, the military once they appear, and the Inquisitor, who shows up in the name of the Authorities to figure out what the hell is happening and take charge. Ultimately you learn that Kain's death, the plague, and an impossible structure called the Polyhedron which can create new realities are interrelated. You must choose between destroying the Polyhedron to save the town or saving the Polyhedron at the cost of it. There's much more to it but that's the very basic gist. It gets very metaphysical. This probably will come up in Pathologic 2 based on the Marble Nest demo so don't read it if you don't want the actual point ruined. The game world is eventually revealed to be a fake construct by children coping with loss after a funeral. The Inquisitor is aware of this, as their mother's old doll. The Authorities are not the Russian government but those kids. If you do the right actions, you eventually learn that even this is fake, because it is, in reality, a video game called Pathologic. The developers challenge you, the player, directly. Your true objective is to make a free action. One way to win the game is to decide to stop playing at this point and literally walk your character out of the game world, and they accept it as a victory, for instance. There is a walkthrough for the game that if you follow directly, they chastise you for in-game.  In the Marble Nest demo released last year, it is possible to choose a dialogue option at the end telling the personification of the plague you remember the theme of Pathologic 1 and that you're speaking directly as yourself again, so it's likely this will continue in 2 since it started as a remake. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Sep 12, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:24
|
|
|
Coolguye posted:the unmovable/canon things per Pathologic 2 so far is that this lovely town on the edge of the Russian steppe got a horrific plague, and a lone doctor (who the game refers to as the Bachelor) instituted a draconian quarantine backed up by a military lockdown to stem the plague's advance. while harsh, the Bachelor's plan worked and the town was saved from the plague. So, wait, it wasn't some sort of metaphor for the body of some cattle or something like that? Making an actual story-based sequel to a game filled with such bizarre symbolism is a peculiar choice. /\/\/\/\/\ Yeah that's the weird poo poo I'm talking about.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:26
|
|
|
Morpheus posted:So, wait, it wasn't some sort of metaphor for the body of some cattle or something like that? Making an actual story-based sequel to a game filled with such bizarre symbolism is a peculiar choice. It was that too! Pathologic goes places. 2 started as a remake but is something more now, though it isn't really a sequel-sequel afaik. RBA Starblade fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Sep 12, 2018 |
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:27
|
|
|
Casimir Radon posted:Alan Wake is getting a tv show and Sam Lake will be an executive producer. They might use stuff that would have appeared in the sequel. yo what holy poo poo
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:29
|
|
|
I hope Alan wake includes that Twilight Zone-esque show
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:42
|
|
|
Casimir Radon posted:Alan Wake is getting a tv show and Sam Lake will be an executive producer. They might use stuff that would have appeared in the sequel. That sounds good because the story of Alan Wake was pretty good (from what I saw) but the gameplay was very much not.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:42
|
|
|
catlord posted:That sounds good because the story of Alan Wake was pretty good (from what I saw) but the gameplay was very much not. Whaaaat
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:43
|
|
|
The gameplay of AW was pretty fun but extremely repetitive. What you do during the first 20 minutes is what you'll be doing for the next 6 hours.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:52
|
|
|
GUI posted:The gameplay of AW was pretty fun but extremely repetitive. What you do during the first 20 minutes is what you'll be doing for the next 6 hours.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 20:57
|
|
|
Morpheus posted:So, wait, it wasn't some sort of metaphor for the body of some cattle or something like that? Making an actual story-based sequel to a game filled with such bizarre symbolism is a peculiar choice. yeah the game isn't just weird, it's loving weird, and i didn't want to spout off on what's canon and what's not until i get a bigger load of what 2 has to offer - which won't be for a while yet since the alpha doesn't have a lot in it thus far. metaphors, motifs, and allegory abound in pathologic but they change pretty heavily based upon who you're playing and what actions you take.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 21:10
|
|
|
Coolguye posted:yeah the game isn't just weird, it's loving weird, and i didn't want to spout off on what's canon and what's not until i get a bigger load of what 2 has to offer - which won't be for a while yet since the alpha doesn't have a lot in it thus far. Yeah all that stuff I described is like 5% of what happens.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 21:21
|
|
|
The Elder God concert in Alan Wake was one of the best goddamn moments in gaming
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 22:21
|
|
|
http://pathologistics.blogspot.com/?m=1 This blog is cool, it's two different authors doing a playthrough of Pathologic as the first two characters alternating between them each day and logging their experiences. Pretty well-written and contains some good analysis
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 22:24
|
|
|
Pretty sure there’s some good LPs on the Rchive. Also that very good RPS article.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2018 22:31
|
|
|
Thanks so much for posting that! Got my copy downloaded last night.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 00:05
|
|
|
A. Beaverhausen posted:Whaaaat I was unaware this had become a controversial statement. The human enemies I remember being fine, especially when you get the dodging down, but the possessed objects were the least fun thing possible of just shining your flashlight at them until they poof away. I remember the crows being kinda unfun, but they were a boss thing or a miniboss thing, right? It's a shame because it's easily the best Stephen King video game out there (gently caress off if you say The Dark Half).
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 02:23
|
|
|
there's also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stH9JSnGH9Q video analysis on Pathologic that goes into good detail on all 3 characters' stories
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 02:31
|
|
|
The thing I remember most about playing Alan Wake was thinking that it wasn't half as clever as Darkplace.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 04:28
|
|
|
DeathChicken posted:The Elder God concert in Alan Wake was one of the best goddamn moments in gaming
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 06:05
|
|
|
I’ve wanted to play pathologic myself for many years. In the meantime I’ve settled for LPs that have a good translator. I’m tempted to try the alpha. But I’m thinking I’ll just wait for the finished version.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 06:56
|
|
|
Pathologic HD is the rerelease that fixes the translation. It's perfectly readable, if a bit stoic and barren in the Russian > English way.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 06:57
|
|
|
I feel like I got out of the loop on Pathologic. What’s this Ice Pick Lodge version of Pathologic then?
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 07:38
|
|
|
Pathologic 2, a sequel
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 07:41
|
|
|
They also made Pathologic HD, the original with a legible translation
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 07:44
|
|
|
I finished Outlast again last weekend and have been trying to revisit Outlast 2. Holy man is hiding and stealth a better horror mechanic than running away the entire game
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 08:22
|
|
|
I finally got around to trying the My Lovely Daughter demo that I've had since it launched. It lasted about an hour and really made my skin crawl. Didn't think I'd ever want to buy it and go through all that grinding and management for such a dark and creepy experience based around murdering magical-pseudo-children, so off I went and looked up some stuff about the plot and endings. WOW. What a kick in the teeth that is for anyone who invested the time to see how that story unfolds. And the devs later added 2 new ones, looked those up as well...yeah, like I said, the whole experience, with a unique and horrific premise, will make your skin crawl and never let up. (Side note: most of the game "endings" aren't, you'll keep going back in to try to get to the ones that are, some of which erase your save file.) But if you actually commit to playing it and seeing where it all goes, you'll probably just get mad at the final revelations. That seems to be a recurring theme in the negative user reviews. A highlight: quote:And the absolute worst is that the message of this game is: everyone knows about the child slavery that's happening, but nobody cares. Nobody is going to stop it. And you, the player, should definitely exploit these children for your benefit (after all, it's the only way to progress in the game). (Not sure if I'd say that's the "absolute worst" part to the whole thing...) That said if you don't mind the time I'd say the demo is worth checking out to see a unique and twisted and VERY macabre premise get brought to life, but as it turns out it ends so badly in all ways that you probably don't want to buy it, let alone spend the time playing it. Content aside and without spoiling it, the true end not only doesn't make sense, it directly contradicts other aspects of the story. AND is a troll job in more ways than one. (All that plus it feels like a bit of a ripoff of the twist ending from (PS3 exclusive open-world game) Infamous but done far worse and more nonsensical.)
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 09:36
|
|
|
RBA Starblade posted:The thing I remember most about playing Alan Wake was thinking that it wasn't half as clever as Darkplace. Darkplace is a comedy, it makes no attempts at being serious, while Alan Wake has some funny moments but plays its ridiculous setting straight. It's like the difference between Police Squad with Sledge Hammer (I hope people know what this beautiful show is).
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 12:11
|
|
|
Alan Wake's gameplay is solid. The only real issue with it is that it's very repetitive because it doesn't introduce a lot of new mechanics or weapons as you go on, so you end up doing the same thing over and over. That being said, you play for a lot more than the combat.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 14:16
|
|
|
chitoryu12 posted:Alan Wake's gameplay is solid. The only real issue with it is that it's very repetitive because it doesn't introduce a lot of new mechanics or weapons as you go on, so you end up doing the same thing over and over. That being said, you play for a lot more than the combat.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 14:23
|
|
|
Maybe they needed to get more creative with the fights. Like the concert.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 14:34
|
|
|
al-azad posted:Darkplace is a comedy, it makes no attempts at being serious, while Alan Wake has some funny moments but plays its ridiculous setting straight. It's like the difference between Police Squad with Sledge Hammer (I hope people know what this beautiful show is). Wasn't expecting a reference to Sledge Hammer in the horror games megathread, that's for sure.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 14:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 12, 2024 08:44 |
|
|
I'm so behind that "standard" horror gameplay for me is Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil 2, and "good" is Silent Hill 3 and Resident Evil 4. All it takes to impress me is a non-fixed camera and the ability to aim my lead pipe.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2018 15:03
|
|