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Hi, my name is Herzog, I’ve been reading screenshot LPs for 12 years, and now it’s time for me to give something back.  What is this game? Pentiment is a 2022 point-and-click adventure game created by Obsidian Entertainment. Its story centers on Andreas Maler, an artist working at an abbey in early 16th-century Bavaria, and the lives of people of the abbey and its nearby village. Obsidian Entertainment was created by former members of Black Isle Studios who worked on classic narrative RPGs such as Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, and Fallout 2. Obsidian developed further classics Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout New Vegas, and Pillars of Eternity. Pentiment was directed by Josh Sawyer, who started with Black Isle as a designer on Icewind Dale and went on to direct Fallout New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity. With a smaller budget and more niche genre, the game is a major departure from the studio’s mainstream RPG catalog. Sawyer went on record saying that he was motivated to pitch the game after Obsidian was acquired by publisher Xbox Game Studios in 2018, which offered Xbox Game Pass as an alternative business model to the AAA environment that Obsidian was used to. The game was released in November 2022, and received high praise from critics for its medieval manuscript art style and strong narrative. I’m playing it because it taught me about history in a way that no other medium ever could. It sucked me into the world and made me care about its characters enough that I felt compelled to play through it three times back to back and 100% the achievements on Steam before I could put it down. Now it’s been about a month since I put it on the shelf, and I’m ready to get back to it one more time in order to share my experience with all of you. How are we going to do this? Pentiment is an extremely “choices matter” kind of game. There are very few explicitly highlighted major decisions, and the broad story beats are generally fixed, but within the framework of the story, the player’s choices have significant effects on the lives of the people of Tassing and Kiersau Abbey. At the points in the game where Andreas is free to move around and explore, he generally has a limited amount of time and won’t be able to investigate every available option, and the way he uses his free time will affect his relationships and limit the choices available later on. I’ll be asking for thread participation for:
Aside from the choices, I will be making an effort to talk to everyone frequently and explore out-of-the-way places to show off as much of the game’s dialog and optional scenes as possible. Spoiler policy It’s a story-based game that came out a few months ago. Don’t spoil anything or hint at anything that’s going to happen. If you’ve played the game, you know what choices are available, and you want a particular thing to happen, then you’re welcome to say “please be nice to X,” or “please be mean to Y,” or vote for/against sidequests or whatever. Bonus content This game turned on all the lights in my brain because of the history. For me, the idea of almost any time more than 100 years ago has always been a sterile image of a handful of famous paintings, or a high-drama, fanciful interpretation of events centered around some historical figure like Henry VIII (yes, I’m talking about The Tudors). Pentiment puts you at eye level with people living in Bavaria in the early 16h century; not just historical figures, but people of all of the social classes that don’t have their stories told in the textbook narratives. The designers of the game did their homework in order to present a reasonably accurate depiction of a very specific time and place, and it inspired me to go way the hell out of my way to learn more about that time and place. In that spirit, I’m going to do some more homework in order to share more details about the world as it was in the 1500s. My goal is to intersperse occasional historical posts between gameplay posts, focusing ondetails brought up during gameplay that deserve a deeper dive. Readers are absolutely welcome to add their own historical information posts or ask me to focus on a particular topic. Let’s get started! s__herzog fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Mar 19, 2023 |
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Feb 24, 2023 06:19
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Part 1: April 1518 The main menu is basic stuff. You can have up to three saved games.  We start a new game, and the book opens as we zoom in for our first historical joke right out of the gate. Some monk started writing the text of the Gospel of John and then veered off into a tangent, mixed in a little bit of I Corinthians, messily scratched out a mistake in the middle of the page, and complained about his job. Credit to petcarcharodon: Surprised no one mentioned this, but I thought I'd point out that the manuscript you rub out is the first paragraph of The Name of the Rose. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was beginning with God and the duty of every faithful monk would be to repeat every day with chanting humility the one never-changing event whose incontrovertible truth can be asserted. But we see now through a glass darkly, and the truth, before it is revealed to all, face to face, we see in fragments (alas, how illegible) in the error of the world, so we must spell out its faithful signals even when they seem obscure to us and as if amalgamated with a will wholly bent on evil.  Obviously, this manuscript is worthless, but the parchment it’s written on is both durable and expensive, so we need to scrape off the ink so we can reuse the parchment for our own story. This kind of reuse was incredibly common throughout the Middle Ages, until handwritten books were eventually phased out by the proliferation of printing presses and affordable paper throughout Europe. At the time of our story, in 1518, the decline of manuscripts has been underway for quite a while, and the era of monastic scribes is almost over.    After the page is cleared, we flip through a few more pages of the book and watch the ink lift itself from the surface and disappear.   Now that the book is empty, we can start to write the story of Pentiment. The Latin on the first page contains some very subtle hints about what we’ll be witnessing.     The music in the game, as you might expect, is in a historically informed Medieval style, performed by the band Alkemie. Definitely worth a listen if you’re into that style. The use of music is pretty reserved, with a lot of the gameplay underscored by natural environmental sounds without music.   This text is part of a synopsis of Act 1, which we haven’t played yet, so I won’t be translating it.     With the credits out of the way, we set the scene.  We see our protagonist.  The camera zooms into the illustration, and the story begins with a dream sequence.   I’ll be screenshotting most or all of the game’s dialog choices, with our selection highlighted.  Saint Grobian is a literary figure invented in the late 15th century as the patron saint of vulgarity.  Socrates is arguably the most famous of ancient Greek philosophers, used here as a personification of rationality.  Prester John is a legendary figure imagined by medieval Europeans as a powerful Christian king in a faraway land of Asia or Africa, used as inspiration for European explorers throughout the Middle Ages.   Beatrice is a character from Dante’s Divine Comedy, who guided Dante through Heaven and personifies divine love and grace.  Throughout the game, character and glossary entries are underlined in red in the dialogue, which you can click to zoom back out of the scene and read about them as footnotes.  In the case of character names, the footnotes are just pictures of their faces. Going forward, I’ll only show images for these notes if the illustrations are particularly interesting.  That is true, and Andreas is simply under the abbot’s employ, not a sworn brother of the abbey. Despite the abbot’s ire, you must endure. Soon you will have finished both the abbot’s work as well as your masterpiece. Nuremberg Free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, major trade center and city of arts, including printing.  Yes, marriage to someone he has never met. Hardly ideal. Well, the alternative is becoming a philosopher. Oh, Jesus, then you should definitely get married. Is she pretty, at least? It is growing late. The wheel of time stops for no man, Andreas. I fear you must leave us. Ah, true, your majesty. Will you visit us again soon? Of course. If you are not here tomorrow night, I pray you will be someplace as pleasant. Grobian, please see Andreas safely home. Of course, your majesty. Until next time, Andreas. Until next time, your majesty. The Ship of Fools originated with Plato as an allegory for any enterprise run by a group of people where no one has enough expertise to actually lead the work successfully. It was illustrated as a literal ship full of court jesters in printings of a long poem titled Ship of Fools (Die Narrenschiff) by Sebastian Brant in 1498, which was also the origin of Saint Grobian. I never do.   At least I would if they’d stop stepping on my feet. Watch where you’re going! Hehe. They’re fools, Andreas. No point in trying to teach them anything. I know old John wants you to endure the abbot’s poo poo, but since I take you home, I get the last word. Don’t let him run you ragged, boy. That’s what I like to hear!  Characters make it extra obvious when they’re upset by splattering their ink. Would you please st–  Hehe. As you wish, Andreas.   Time to get up. Gameplay begins! We can now walk around and click on points of interest in the environment. Books on the table: The Picatrix, Key of Solomon, the Heptameron… Prior Ferenc keeps giving me all of these books to read.Scattered papers on the table: I really should clean this up… Compline Monastic hour corresponding to 8 P.M. One of the little hours of prayer, the monks and nuns retire to their dormitories shortly afterward. We’ve seen everything up here, so we head downstairs to the ground floor of the Gertner house, where Andreas is lodging.   We find Clara and Eva casually hanging out and cooking.   What kind of obnoxious dickhead would answer his host any differently?  Oh, I’m glad to hear it! Anyway, I know you’ll be off to the abbey, so I packed you some food. Almonds, cheese, and some of the rye you like from the Albans. Otto wanted me to ask you to join him for dinner at the abbey. Yes, around dawn.  Here you are, Andreas.  Master Andreas, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could I… I mean, could we…?  And if we… raised it by two groschen?Groschen A type of thick silver coin minted throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Groschen are typically worth 12 pfennigs, but may be minted at different values. I hate to ask, but we’re behind on our taxes to the abbey. Two months behind. Peter’s losing his hair over it. Even more than usual, I mean. Every once in a while, Andreas has an opportunity to speak with himself and get feedback from his dream personalities to consider a dialog choice before answering.  I’m not sure how to respond to this. Rent wasn’t due until the beginning of May. On the other hand, she might think she can keep asking me for advances on rent. Hm… Oh, God bless you, Andreas! And may Saint Luke watch over you today.Saint Luke Christian evangelist and patron saint of artists and physicians, often represented by a winged bull. Speaking of Saint Luke, how is your masterpiece coming along? It’s been two months now, hasn’t it? Slowly, I’m afraid. Most of my days are spent doing work for the abbey. It’s only during the Divine Office that Prior Ferenc allows me to work on my masterpiece.Divine Office The prayer times observed by all Christian monastic orders. Monks and nuns pray together seven times a day and once at night, as dictated by the Rule of Saint Benedict. A reasonable restriction, but slow going. The city council doesn’t require it to become a master. I’m making it mostly to show clients - and for my own sake. And yes, when I do finish, I will go back to Nuremberg, where I will marry and open a workshop of my own. From Nuremberg to a university and now traveling the world as an artist! What a life you have ahead of you, Master Andreas. Yes, I suppose it does feel like I’m starting a new chapter in my life after… It must be frightening - starting all over again.  The game helpfully lets you know when one of your dialog choices will affect a persuasion check later on. I’m sure you make your family proud, Andreas. Anyway, I don’t know anything about art, but I’ve seen you sketching such beautiful things in your little book. Your masterpiece must be wonderful. Hard work will get you all the way. That’s what my father used to say, God rest his soul. Now I have to get back to my own work. Have a good day at the abbey, Andreas, and we’ll see you after Vespers for supper.Vespers Monastic hour at dusk. One of the major prayer hours, it is followed by supper. Not tonight, but thank you. Claus Drucker invited me over for supper. Of course. Please say hello to the Druckers for us. Of course. Until later, Clara.And with that, it’s time to head outside and start heading to work. (Eva doesn’t have anything to say if we try to talk to her now.)  Peter is hard at work in the field. We’ll head to the right first.  Well, we can’t go this way. Let’s see what the old guy is all about.  …Andreas. Ah, oh. Yes, Andreas. This weather’s been God-awful. This town’s gone to poo poo since my days…  The old abbot didn’t bother us much about our customs. He didn’t mind if we left a little offering to Perchta to keep the skies clear, the weather fair.Perchta Pagan goddess of the Alps, associated with animals and spinning wool. She is still invoked by some Christians in Austria, Switzerland, Bavaria, and Swabia. Matthias knew that Christ was in our hearts even if the White Lady’s name was on our lips. Saint Moritz Saint Moritz is the patron saint of Tassing. Legend states that he was an Egyptian-born commander of a Roman legion who converted to Christianity. They were all martyred for their faith. His hand is a relic in Kiersau’s shrine. Heh! Sharper than you look, eh? The saints weren’t the first to watch over Tassing. My father knew that. Old Rannig Kemper knew that.Rannig Rannig Kemper, the late husband of Ottilia. That bastard abbot may not like it, but some of us keep the traditions alive. When you get up in the night to take a piss, go around the right side of the house, and never go back the same way. That way the witches don’t steal your soul. *cough cough* I should go. Hmm? All right. God bless you. The only way to go now is back to the left, where this strapping young lad accosts us.  Morning, Big Jorg. How’s it going? You working today? Just taking a rest for a bit. Dad’s still in the field. He hit a big rock with the plow and it took me Lord knows how long to pull it out. You off to the abbey? Right. Thank God for Sundays. Huh. Just smells like fresh Alpine air to me. You’ve been traveling too much. Where was it you spent your Wanderjahre before you came to Tassing?Wanderjahre Wandering years during which a journeyman artist or craftsman travels far and wide to improve their skills. Decision time! We need to make a few choices to define Andreas’s character. A couple of them will come up during this conversation with Jorg, and then the rest will follow a few minutes later in an interaction with another character. I want to cover them all now so I can fit them into the next update. These decisions unlock various unique conversations, affect some persuasion checks, and determine how easy or difficult it is to get certain narrative outcomes. None of them are critical to the way the game plays out overall, but some options are absolutely better than others. Regardless of what we settle on here, I’ll probably do a parallel playthrough to show off some of the more interesting dialogue from alternate choices. First, where did Andreas travel for his Wanderjahre?    Next, of course Andreas is an artist by profession, but what are his other priorities?      Andreas spent some time in university before dropping out and deciding to pursue a trade. What was his major field of study?    Finally, what else did Andreas learn in university? We can pick two of these, so please give a first and second choice.      While we’re at it, feel free to give suggestions about what kind of attitude Andreas should have toward various kinds of people (peasants, well-to-do townsfolk, clergy, nobility), and I’ll start making dialogue choices accordingly. New character bios   
s__herzog fucked around with this message at 15:25 on Mar 1, 2023 |
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Feb 24, 2023 06:21
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Oh lovely, this was such a fun game and I enjoy how you're presenting it! Fyi, you have one broken bold tag near the end (university study choice), and one of Ill Peter's portraits is missing (right after the Perchta definition) Let's see... Basel Craftsman Rapscallion Imperial Law Latinist and Orator All different stuff from what I picked, I'm curious to see what develops differently.
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Feb 24, 2023 06:55
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This game has always looked interesting, but I haven't been able to play. Looking forward to this. Low Countries Craftsman Imperial Law Occultist, Orator
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Feb 24, 2023 07:16
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Oh neat. I saw this game pass by on Steam but didn't realize it was by good old Obsidian
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Feb 24, 2023 07:33
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Oh, this looks dope. I've been meaning to play this, and now I get to see this LP! I vote for: The Low Countries Bookworm Theology and Orator and Latinist. Andras feels at home in the church but he's not exactly impressed by its magnificence, either. With peasants he's generally friendly, and he looks up to the well-to-do (he is working to become a master artist, after all), but he falls back on etiquette around the nobility because he doesn't know how else to behave around them. ...does that make sense??
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Feb 24, 2023 08:07
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Hmm, this seems interesting! Italy - his knowing Greek would explain why he has Socrates in his head, and we're in the Renaissance so Italy would be a natural choice for an artist. He's a bookworm for the same reason, there's a real uptick in knowledge and learning at this time. He studied theology. That study left him a Latinist and he is a natural Logician (which is why he abandoned his studies, logic was stronger than faith). To attend university he is clearly from a wealthy background, but he is also well travelled and well read, so he has a more open mind than many of his peers; he's unlikely to automatically look down on any particular person, but he won't automatically grovel either. He's polite and reserved until he sees what sort of person he's interacting with, and guides himself by how they behave towards him. Any new encounter is a chance to learn something.
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Feb 24, 2023 09:58
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Andreas went to the Low Countries, naturally drawn by the promise of jenever and other methods of indulging his hedonistic ways. Indeed, what else could one expect of a man of such low character, that he failed studying Imperial Law, the basest of all doctorates? Still, he's not completely hopeless; he did, after all, pick up some latin and oratory, which is handy when you need to think up an excuse for ones excesses on the fly.
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Feb 24, 2023 13:39
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Been meaning to check this out. Italy Hedonist Imperial Law Logician Orator Party lawyer turned artist sounds fun.
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Feb 24, 2023 14:50
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I'm just gonna shamelessly go with stuff I didn't go for in my playthrough, so: Basel Rapscallion Imperial Law Latinist Logician Oh, and let's be an rear end in a top hat to everyone.
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Feb 24, 2023 15:05
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Low countries Rapscallion Medicine Logician and Orator
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Feb 24, 2023 16:04
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Andreas has - Traveled the Low Countries - Is a Craftsman by trade - Knowledgeable in Imperial Law - He learned to be a Latinist and Occultist because secret knowledge is cool
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Feb 24, 2023 20:03
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Italy is still the cultural and academic center of the region, even if the center of real power has long since moved elsewhere. Rapscallion seems amusing Imperial Law - it isn't safe to go around breaking the law unless you know it well Orator to help get out of trouble and Occultist to maximize the amount of trouble he gets in.
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Feb 24, 2023 20:29
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Looking forward to this, came to it a bit late after seeing some folks I follow stream it but ended up blitzing down like two playthroughs in a row and have a third floating out there half-done just to see a wide variety of stuff.
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Feb 24, 2023 23:53
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Thanks to everyone who’s cast their votes so far! I’ll leave the options open for Andreas’s background until tomorrow night and then get to work on the next post on Monday. For now… Let’s Talk About Fonts If you’ve only heard one thing about Pentiment, it’s probably something like “the game with medieval art” or “the game that nerds out about text.” So let’s nerd out about text first.  The text is one of the celebrated features of this game, particularly the way that each line of text is animated as someone was writing it out in real time, and the way that social class, status, and education are reflected in the font used for each character. Grobian here uses the “Humanist” script, which is reserved for characters with some amount of university education, like our protagonist Andreas (Grobian sounds like a humanist, despite being a vulgar fool, because he’s really just a voice in Andreas’s head). Humanist dialog boxes pop up with the text already outlined and then carefully filled in. Emphasized words are filled with red ink in a second pass, a ubiquitous manuscript technique known as rubrication.  Clara, a peasant, naturally uses the peasant script. This script has a lot of unevenly sized letters to give the impression of rapid and unskilled handwriting, and it generally identifies characters who are either illiterate or at least uneducated. Peasant textboxes frequently make spelling errors that then get corrected before the animation finishes. The other three fonts will come up in the next update as we meet some more of the local residents. There is a lot of fascinating historical detail to discuss about lettering styles in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. For this particular topic, I don’t have to do my own full writeup, because it’s already been wrapped up into a neat little package specific to Pentiment. Obsidian hired a specialist design studio called Lettermatic to help them develop these distinct fonts, and one of the designers, Riley Cran, was kind enough to write a blog post describing the process very thoroughly. You can read all about it here: https://lettermatic.com/custom/pentiment
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Feb 26, 2023 03:38
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Neat. I hate the "peasant script" font, though. It's hard to read, even if that is intentional. So glad you're playing this for us.
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Feb 26, 2023 04:54
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Italy Rapscallion Imperial Law Heaven's And Earth And I believe in a generally polite attitude, unless they piss him off or are offensive to a large degree.
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Feb 26, 2023 04:56
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Italy, Craftsman, Theology, Orator and Logician I also think our hero should be generally polite and prosocial. This is going to be an excellent LP. I hope ropekid pops by at some point! I just started to play through Pentiment, but decision paralysis and work projects stopped me in my tracks.
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Feb 26, 2023 12:58
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ZCKaiser posted:Been meaning to check this out. I second these choices. This was a good game, and I'd love to see the LP of it.
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Feb 26, 2023 13:24
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Ooh, this looks very interesting.s__herzog posted:Books on the table: ...speaking of interesting, that's certainly a set of books for a Prior to give out to a rando artist. I can only assume he made a good use of the Key of Solomon to get some demonic time travel help, to obtain the Heptameron in 1518. (apologies for accidental spoilers if there's actual time travel in this game) I know occult bullshit is high fashion at this time, and no one (of notable standing) was actually getting inquisitioned for it (yet), but that was still a startling book list to see just casually mentioned.
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Feb 26, 2023 13:29
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Discendo Vox posted:This is going to be an excellent LP. I hope ropekid pops by at some point! I just started to play through Pentiment, but decision paralysis and work projects stopped me in my tracks. Good point! OP, if you want, you should drop a link to this LP in the Video Games thread for Pentiment (spoilers for the entire game, obviously), as ropekid - aka Josh Sawyer - posts there quite frequently.
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Feb 26, 2023 15:00
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Love love love this game. I got it a few months ago and they took a short break after finishing the first act since it got pretty heavy. I only just picked it back up and am excited to see how different paths branch out. I personally went for Italy, rapscallion, imperial law, rhetoric and occultist first play through so I'm going to vote for some different options. Low countries Hedonist, Theology Logician Latinist Also I'm mid way into the third act and I've only just realized you can click thought bubbles to talk to yourself, I thought those characters were underused... Mainwaring fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Feb 26, 2023 |
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Feb 26, 2023 16:39
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Ach! I got scooped! I just recorded the start of a VLP with my regular co-host yesterday. It's an excellent game, really fun and charming. I'll put it on the backburner for now, just so this thread has room to breathe. As for my choices, I'll go as different as possible from my real playthrough, for variety's sake. Low Countries Craftsman Rapscallion Logician Occultist LLSix posted:Neat. I hate the "peasant script" font, though. It's hard to read, even if that is intentional. So glad you're playing this for us. The game does offer an easier-to-read option where all the characters use the same font as Andreas, if that's putting you off trying it.
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Feb 26, 2023 17:24
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Lokapala posted:I can only assume he made a good use of the Key of Solomon to get some demonic time travel help, to obtain the Heptameron in 1518. The book in question is probably not the short story collection from 1558, but the grimoire theoretically written by Pietro d'Abano, who was killed by the Inquisition in 1316. I think the authorship of that is disputed, but this isn't my area, so I wouldn't be able to say for sure.
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Feb 26, 2023 19:28
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idonotlikepeas posted:The book in question is probably not the short story collection from 1558, but the grimoire theoretically written by Pietro d'Abano, who was killed by the Inquisition in 1316. I think the authorship of that is disputed, but this isn't my area, so I wouldn't be able to say for sure. That makes slightly more sense than time travel, but now I really want to meet Ferenc and ask some pointed questions. Who dumps on a hired artist a "Theory of Magic 101" tome and 2 instruction manuals on summoning methods? I really don't like where the combo of "new abbot bothers his tenants about folk traditions", "scriptorium overseer is into occult bullshit" and "we're on the verge of inquisitorial resurgence targeting the HRE" is going. Or I wouldn't like it if I lived in the area, I guess.
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Feb 26, 2023 21:53
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Not too late I hope Andreas is a man of contradictions: Italy Hedonist Theology Logician Occultist
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Feb 27, 2023 00:33
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Podima posted:Good point! OP, if you want, you should drop a link to this LP in the Video Games thread for Pentiment (spoilers for the entire game, obviously), as ropekid - aka Josh Sawyer - posts there quite frequently. Thanks for the suggestion! I will post a link there and take another half a day before I tally the final votes just in case there's anyone watching that thread who hasn't seen this yet and wants to chime in.
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Feb 27, 2023 04:52
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Italy is the beating heart of Christendom, and of Christian scholarship especially. ...it's also a drat good place to be a Hedonist. Andreas studied Medicine (great for doing even more hedonism), and is a 1. Latinist and 2. Occultist.
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Feb 27, 2023 05:06
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Looking forward to reading this! I've already played through the game twice since it's release, but I'm eager to see it again through another set of eyes, especially with the added historical context. I appreciate the translation of the book that shows up at the beginning. I figured something interesting must have been written there but never thought to look it up. My choices are mixture of ones that I thought were interesting when I played and that I haven't seen yet: Basel Rapscallion Imperial Law Latinist Occultist
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Feb 27, 2023 08:33
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Very, very happy about this  I'm very interested in Pentiment, but wouldn't have time to play it myself.And there's even still time to vote, so here's my version of the story: Andreas studied Medicine, but became a lot more occupied with the techniques of depicting human anatomy than with the anatomy itself, which ultimately put an end to his studies. He became quite a Bookworm in the process, and like for many learned and semi-learned people at the time, his appreciation for Logic and his keen interest in Occult practices are not a contradiction at all. After dropping out he traveled the Low Countries, a rather good place to be an artist at that time, attracted to a good degree by the lush and imaginative hellscapes created by Hieronymus Bosch (whom he might have even still have come in time to meet). He considers himself to be an urban person with all that this entails, certainly a burgher and not a peasant; particularly, he takes some pride in not being permanently bound to the service of any noble or clerical ruler. While he feels quite a bit of distance between himself and the peasantry, he'll easily take their side when it's them against the nobility or the landed clergy.
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Feb 27, 2023 13:24
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While someone mentioned anarchonisms above, it seems we've missed the ancient manuscript from the intro having a... ...flowchart? Also, for a totally uninteresting tidbit: Saint Grobian's legacy lives on in at least parts of what used to be the HRE. In Czech, the word "grobián" means a rude person and while somewhat archaic, it stuck around for at least as long as my grandmother did. anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Feb 27, 2023 |
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Feb 27, 2023 14:37
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anilEhilated posted:While someone mentioned anarchonisms above, it seems we've missed the ancient manuscript from the intro having a... Yes, the credits illustrations are specific to the job being credited at the same time. "Programming Director" is necessarily anachronistic. I thought the flowchart, geometry and multiplication table were a reasonably cute way of representing it.
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Feb 27, 2023 16:00
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anilEhilated posted:Also, for a totally uninteresting tidbit: Saint Grobian's legacy lives on in at least parts of what used to be the HRE. In Czech, the word "grobián" means a rude person and while somewhat archaic, it stuck around for at least as long as my grandmother did. Same in Danish, except here there's an extra r, "grobrian," to make it fit better with all the other less-than-flattering personal adjectives.
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Feb 27, 2023 16:55
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anilEhilated posted:Also, for a totally uninteresting tidbit: Saint Grobian's legacy lives on in at least parts of what used to be the HRE. In Czech, the word "grobián" means a rude person and while somewhat archaic, it stuck around for at least as long as my grandmother did. The "grob" root (meaning coarse, uneven or rude) is shared between Germanic and Slavic languages (not sure if one of the language families stole it from the other, or if it's traceable to PIE origins). But the "grobián" form does seem to be a direct transliteration of Grobian, and it spread outside of HRE territory, given Russian "грубиян".
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Feb 27, 2023 17:52
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Lokapala posted:Ooh, this looks very interesting. idonotlikepeas posted:The book in question is probably not the short story collection from 1558, but the grimoire theoretically written by Pietro d'Abano, who was killed by the Inquisition in 1316. I think the authorship of that is disputed, but this isn't my area, so I wouldn't be able to say for sure. Prior Ferenc is Hungarian, and in Central Europe, dabbling in learned magic was even less persecuted at this time than it was farther west. However, he is playing with fire and it quickly becomes relevant to the plot. rope kid fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Feb 27, 2023 |
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Feb 27, 2023 22:11
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Part 2: Sheep The results are in! I had to make a couple of tiebreaker decisions. We’re going with: Low Countries Rapscallion Imperial Law Latinist Logician Our Andreas’s personality is rooted in an abiding disdain for authority, combined with an overabundance of cleverness in turning systems of authority against themselves (or at least trying to). He’s a rowdy boi who likes to do petty crimes and then weasel his way out of the consequences on technicalities. He’s generally friendly, particularly among the lower classes, and he usually has enough tact not to actively antagonize his betters. At the same time, he can’t resist speaking like a pedantic know-it-all, and sometimes his aggressive urges push him over the line. We don’t even have to stretch the explicit text in the game to play a character just like that (or a pretty good variety of other personalities), which speaks to the strength of the writing. I’ll probably just add a little bit of extra inner monologue here and there (in italics, to distinguish from the real text) if it seems appropriate.   Where’s that? North and west, down by the sea. There’s your problem. The sea air has confused your sense of smell. Spend enough time in these mountains and you’ll be able to smell a storm coming. How long will that take? Mm. Ten, fifteen years?    Antwerp is overflowing with riches, rich fools, and traders from across Christendom and beyond. There’s always someone to have a bit of fun with. Or a bit of a fight. Sounds like a strange way to pass the time, Andreas. Anyway, I have to get going.  See you later, Andreas. Until later.We head up the road into the southern part of the village of Tassing.  Before we engage with the scene in town, let’s just take a quick look to the left…  Road blocked by sheep again, alright. Turning back to the one true path, we meet the local blacksmith, Endris.   Do you have a moment to lend me a hand? There are countless opportunities to brush people off and make it clear that we don’t have time for them. Per the thread’s consensus, we’re not playing a callous rear end in a top hat, so of course we’ll take a minute to help. Wonderful! I’ve got too many irons in the fire. Or rather, shoes. Horseshoes.     This is the first of several minigames sprinkled throughout the game. There’s no skill involved, you just have to rotate the horseshoe to each side and tap the hammer a few times. The minigames get a little tedious if you play through the game a half dozen times, but for a normal person, they’re short enough to come across as fun little novelties that break up the standard gameplay loop of walking from one side of the screen to the other and clicking through a bunch of dialog boxes. After two horseshoes, we’re done.  If you leave a piece of steel in a hot forge for too long, it will get too hot. Just below the melting point of the metal, the carbon will burn off, messing up the crystalline structure of the steel and causing it to crumble into useless slag. Having too many irons in the fire, so you don’t have enough time to work them all before they overheat, is a good way to ruin some of your expensive materials. Hm. It sure would be nice to have someone to help me out here every day. Ah, well… that’s probably a topic for another day. Anyway, I don’t want to take up any more of your time. I’ll see you and Otto up by the abbey guest house for dinner. Until then. What’s going on over here? We stop in the middle of the ovine traffic jam.    That looks a lot like standing there and doing nothing.  Ah, morning Andreas. Excuse us. One of the fence rails fell and the sheep started hopping it. Should I offer to help? Wait - that’s presumptuous. I’m not close to their family… Thanks. It’ll probably take an hour or two to track them all down at this rate. Blood sacrament! Dammit, Veronica! What did I say about blasphemy? Sorry, mom. The camera pans up and left to the town stonemason shouting and gesticulating at a visiting nobleman.    Look at this sketchy motherfucker.  I don’t know, Martin, but Lucky is giving him an earful. Christ, I haven’t seen Lucky that worked up since Peter and Clara’s wedding when Johan pulled his pants down. Knocked two of my man’s teeth out. You don’t want to feel the strength of a stonemason’s anger. Do you think he’s a noble? He looks really rich. What, Aunt Heddy? Behave yourself. Don’t we have enough to deal with right now? Andreas, if you wouldn’t mind moving your skinny body up the road, we need to get these sheep under control. Of course. See you later.  Hm… Anyway, time to move along.   Sheep railroad continues.  New part of town, more sheep, and a new character to meet.   Claus Drucker is a printer, so his dialog boxes have a special font and animation, laying out the movable type (mirrored, of course), inking it, and then pressing it. Morning, Claus. Another day at the abbey, another few hours to work on my masterpiece. Good to hear. You still coming by for supper tonight? Marie and Bert would love to see you. You really need to see these new woodcuts I have for an Italian edition of Till Eulenspiegel.Till Eulenspiegel The titular character of a popular 15th century book. Till is a prankster, continually exposing the vices and hypocrisy of others. He is also quite skilled at tricking people into smelling, touching, or eating his excrement. I didn’t realize Father Thomas let you print books in Italian. Come on, Andreas, he’s not that strict. I know he’s just trying to protect people from… He doesn’t mind those so much, actually. No? As long as they don’t get too… carnal. Ooh. So, supper tonight, after Vespers? Great. I’ll tell Marie and Bert you’re coming. See you then. See you later. There’s the town priest, better be polite and say good morning.   Father Thomas uses a new font, scribe text, which is associated with characters who are literate and reasonably well-read but without a university education. Scribe text makes frequent typos and corrections just like peasant text does, but the lettering is more precise and consistent.   Good, good… Andreas, I don’t recall seeing you at Sunday morning Mass. You understand how important it is for your salvation that you receive Holy Communion, don’t you?. I stayed up too late on Saturday. I don’t want to get into an argument with him about this. Actually, I think he can make me go. poo poo… You don’t have to make a promise to me, but our salvation is contingent on th–The noble and his servant enter from the left.  Master Maler, this is Lorenz, Baron of Rothvogel, a great lord from the countryside near Worms.Worms Prosperous imperial free city in the western part of the empire. Located on the Rhine river, Worms has been the site of many imperial diets.   Well… yes. What brings you back to our little town? My wife and I were returning from a trip to Venice. We spent a few days in Innsbruck and it was terribly dull.Innsbruck Capital of the Austrian county of Tyrol and major stop on the Imperial Road connecting Italy and Bavaria. It is the closest major city to Kiersau Abbey and Tassing. Notably, it was also the site of witch trials in 1485. Venice One of the most powerful republics on the Italian peninsula. Sitting on the northwest coast of the Adriatic Sea, Venice is a major center for commerce and art in southern Europe. I mean, it has a certain charm common to these Alpine cities, but the place was crawling with nobles for the emperor’s diet.diet An imperial diet is an assembly of the three colleges of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire: the prince-electors; the princes and dukes; and representatives of the imperial cities. They meet to deliberate on matters of importance to the empire.  The emperor?! Was he there? Did you see him? Oh, briefly, but he was sitting for a portrait at the time. Quite lovely. I didn’t want to bother him or the painter. I’m sure you know him. An older man from Nuremberg with enough reputation to paint the emperor. I’m sorry, my lord. I’m not sure who you mean. First background fail here. Because Andreas spent his travels in the Netherlands, he couldn’t talk to the baron about Venice, and because he’s not an extremely serious artist (didn’t pick Craftsman), he doesn’t know the most famous artist working in his own hometown. I’m not generally going to highlight minor missed opportunities like this - you should play the game yourself to try out the alternate backgrounds! But I will do a few supplemental updates later to show off some highlights from an alternate timeline where Andreas is a Hedonist Occultist Theologian who traveled to Italy. Dürer Albrecht Dürer is a renowned painter and printmaker from Nuremberg. He is revered in Venice as well as across the Holy Roman Empire. Since 1512, he has enjoyed the patronage of Emperor Maximilian I. Anyway, my wife wanted to stay a bit longer in Innsbruck and I decided to ride ahead to make a visit to Kiersau. I heard Father Matthias died shortly after my last visit, of course.Father Matthias Abbot of Kiersau before Father Gernot. Widely respected by the monks and nuns as well as the people of Tassing. Known for his kindness and his love of books. A great loss for the abbey and for us all. Indeed. By good fortune, I recently came across a copy of the Historia Tassiae he was reading during my last visit.Historia Tassiae An account of the early history of Tassing. Kiersau’s previous abbot, Father Matthias, had a copy. Baron Rothvogel brought another to the abbey as a gift. Father Matthias was hoping to find a second copy to corroborate the contents of the first. It contains some fascinating details about the history of this place. I’m afraid they might even cause a bit of a scandal, heh. But I’m afraid I must be off. There will be time enough to discuss Tassing’s past later. I commissioned a manuscript from the abbey through Father Gernot and I have come to check on its progress. Oh! My lord, If you have come to see your manuscript, you should speak with young Master Maler here. Andreas is a journeyman artist from Nuremberg. For the next few months, he’s also helping in the abbey’s scriptorium.scriptorium A room for writing, illustrating, and illuminating manuscripts. Though typically associated with monasteries, they have disappeared from almost all abbeys by the 16th century. A Nuremberger artist working in an abbey scriptorium? In 1518? Oh, we should talk, Andreas. I must know the story.  Thank you for the introduction, Father Thomas. Come to supper at the abbey tonight. I’m inviting you to the abbot’s table. Is… did the abbot invite me? Oh, don’t worry about it, father. Just come to the abbey after Vespers. What is he going to do, refuse us?  Michlaus, I’m dismounting. Run ahead of us and take the horses to the abbey’s guest house. I’d like to take my time talking with Master Maler. I’ll meet you there.   Forgive me for saying so, but you seem a little old to not yet be a master. Are you unmarried? No, I’m not married, but in truth I came to my vocation later than my father and brothers. I was in university for a number of years, at Erfurt.Erfurt Erfurt is one of the most populous cities in the empire and is located near its heart. It has been home to a respected university since 1379 Erfurt! Wonderful! The same university as Martin Luther. Have you read his works? Tremendous mind.Martin Luther Priest and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg. Controversial for his opinions on the church’s sale of indulgences to forgive sin, which were recently published and distributed throughout the empire. He says things about the church that should have been said years ago. Might get him into trouble, but he’s a brave, brilliant man. Wait, you may even have met him! Did you? You must tell me. Ah, no. He was a few years ahead of me.On our way to work at an abbey, talking about Martin Luther less than a year after the widespread publication of his ideas. This is definitely going to end well. For now, our best bet is to just tell the baron whatever he wants to hear.  I wonder if the good brothers of the abbey have heard of him. Perhaps they have even read his list of ninety-five theses against the church.ninety-five theses A list of propositions against the church’s practice of selling indulgences for the remission of sin. It was written in 1517 by Martin Luther. Father Matthias was not above having a lively debate. I hope Father Gernot does not disappoint in that regard. But enough about Luther for now. Tell me about your university studies. Ha. No. My family is merely wealthy enough to have provided me with all of the books and tutors a child could dream of. I love all knowledge, from Aristotle to Cicero to Ficino and Erasmus - and everyone in between and yet to come.Aristotle Greek philosopher and student of Plato. Renowned as a polymath, he wrote on a wide variety of subjects. His work is extensively cited by current scholars…and even more work is attributed to him than he could have ever written. Cicero Statesman, scholar, lawyer, and renowned orator of the late Roman Republic. He is revered both for his contributions to Latin literature and his skill at rhetoric. Ficino Marsilio Ficino was a 15th century Italian priest and humanist who was one of the leading figures of the Italian Renaissance. He is well known for his translations of the works of Plato into Latin. Erasmus Erasmus of Rotterdam, a Dutch priest and philosopher who is preeminent among northern humanists. He is known for his works in Latin and Greek as well as his calls for reform within the church.   Extremely cool effect with the textbox speaks for itself. I- no, I didn’t. Only a master’s degree. I started working toward a doctorate, but I didn’t finish.This reminds us that the concept of “dropped out of university” doesn’t mean the same thing in this context as it does for your 21-year-old cousin who had some trouble in their sophomore year of undergrad and now works at a gas station. (Also, no criticism of low-status workers, everyone’s got their own lives to live.) Oh, that’s a shame. Well, what was your area of study?   Besides, the empire is such a mess of jurisdictions. Bavarian law, Rhenish law, Franconian law. Nonsense. Hello to you, too.  The old woman turns around and heads back where she came from. These rustic communities display a shocking lack of hospitality, don’t you think? Who knows? By the time I finish guessing, the old crone will probably be dead. We walk along for a moment and then pick up where we left off. Well, what of your early time in university? Every student must study the trivium and quadrivium, yes?trivium and quadrivium The trivium and quadrivium represent the lower and upper divisions of a classic liberal arts university education. (Latin) grammar, logic, and rhetoric form the trivium. Arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy form the quadrivium. Did you have a favorite subject? I focused on Latin. It’s useful in so many ways, but especially for understanding manuscripts. Wonderful! A beautiful language used in the greatest empire of the ancient world. Tell me, what is your favorite sententia?sententia Sententiae are commonly-understood moral maxims, typically originating from ancient Rome or Greece. They may be employed as a sort of quasi-logical rhetorical shorthand among educated audiences.   Hah! But using Erasmus is cheating. A little, but Erasmus was paraphrasing Aristotle. Fair, if you don’t mind dipping your Latin cup in a Greek well. And your other studies? Was there anything else you excelled at? Logic, geometry, and arithmetic. Quite interesting for an artist. Was Aristotle’s Organon the foundation of your study? Yes, the Organon for logic and Euclid’s Elements for geometry, but the past few centuries have yielded wonderful new texts on logic.Euclid Mathematician of ancient Alexandria. He is recognized as the father of geometry and is most well-known for his book of Elements, the foundation of all university education on geometry. Peter Abelard provided the foundation of scholastic philosophy and established the primacy of Aristotle’s work.Peter Abelard 12th century French teacher, philosopher, and theologian. He is known for his philosophical work in logic and his theological work in atonement theory. He is also remembered for his love affair with his student, the renowned Benedictine nun, abbess, and scholar Heloïse d’Argenteuil. The Englishman William of Ockham gave us the Summa Logicae, arguing nominalism against Platonic realism.William of Ockham 13th and 14th century English Franciscan, philosopher, and theologian. Known for his commentaries on Peter Abelard’s Four Books of Sentences, his defense of Apostolic poverty, and his writings on faith and reason. And of course Thomas Aquinas gave us the tools to employ both faith and reason in the pursuit of truth.Thomas Aquinas An immensely influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism. All monks and friars, of course. A great deal of work to force Aristotle to fit within the church’s vision of truth. Is that so wrong? I question that these great men should have to wrestle logic into what the church established by fiat and force.We proceed on the last leg of our walk.   I have good memories of this place - and of Father Matthias. I was sad to hear of his passing. How did you come to know him? How did you come to know of Kiersau at all? My family have been patrons of Kiersau for, oh I don’t know how many generations. Some years ago I heard that Kiersau still had a wonderful library and artisans. Professional artists have taken over most manuscript production, so I was shocked to find an active scriptorium here. Certainly, though I’m sure you miss the comforts of Nuremberg when you’re stuck in a drafty old abbey like this. That’s good for me since I still appreciate the abbey’s work. I commissioned a manuscript through Father Gernot a year ago. I thought I would stop by and check on the progress. Wait - are you the artist working on it? It’s a prayer book with twenty illustrations. I know the work, but no. I do know the artist well, the venerable Brother Piero. How venerable? He still has his wits and skills, if that’s what concerns you. Brother Piero has an incredible talent with color. Then I very much look forward to seeing it.We stop by the outer wall of the abbey, Lorenz checks in with his servant briefly, and we proceed inside the abbey walls.     Quite unusual for a Benedictine house to have monks and nuns, even if they are separated.Benedictine Founded in the 6th century, the Benedictines are a Christian monastic order that observes vows of obedience, poverty, chastity, and stability under the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia. The church closed most of them centuries ago. But then, Kiersau is a place out of time in more ways than one. We are acquainted, yes. Let’s leave it at that.The abbot walks in from the right and sneaks up behind Lorenz without speaking.   Ah, if you say so. I am not good with remembering faces. Please forgive me, my lord, but I wasn’t expecting you for another few days. Monastic script is reserved for the leadership and senior residents of the abbey. Yes, I know, but I rode ahead. I just couldn’t wait to see my manuscript. I’m sure it’s no trouble. We- I…yes. I mean, no. It’s no trouble. Did you want to see it now? Oh, in a moment. I could do with a bit of refreshment, though. May I grab something from the kitchen? Yes, yes. Certainly, my lord. I will meet you there.The baron walks into the abbey, while the abbot remains outside for a word with Andreas.  Andreas! I don’t know what you were doing with the baron, but I need you in the scriptorium, now!  drat, that was satisfying. The abbot scoots off quickly after the baron and leaves us alone.  Maybe I could just convince Brother Mathieu to pay me early.  I know I said I was going to play up the petty crimes a little bit, but I really don't think this is a good idea. After the sheep railroad and the long walk up to the abbey, the plot is starting to take shape, and we’re finally set free. Sort of. We still have pretty limited options at this point, so in the next post, we’ll be moving right on with the plot after some very minor diversions. I’ll gradually have a little more commentary to add as we gain a little bit more choice and more familiarity with the setting and characters. Our Protagonist  New Characters Because we’re meeting so many characters so quickly in these first few segments, and they all get sorted in alphabetical order into the biography section of the menu, I’m going to save them up and post a larger batch next time so I can avoid posting too many duplicates or going to too much trouble cropping individual sections. s__herzog fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Mar 1, 2023 |
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Feb 28, 2023 06:54
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Baron Lorenz would make a fantastic smilie with the right crop and scaling work. Pure 
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Feb 28, 2023 10:10
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^^^ gosh, yes. Blood sacrament is a kick-rear end swear. Also, Till Eulenspiegel is far from being the most explicit texts from back in the day - there's the... 'interesting' text: Le Chevalier qui fist parler les cons
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Feb 28, 2023 10:14
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This is actually more interesting than I thought a game about an artist in an imperial German monastery would be. I'm very much looking forward to the next update.
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Feb 28, 2023 12:38
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I'm going to say something controversial here... I don't like the Abbott
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Feb 28, 2023 12:44
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