[avatar_58]

Tried the demo. What in holy hell is this? I wandered the streets bored out of my skull stabbing people because that was the only way to see the game react at all. Why is everyone a zombie? Why do little kids sell drugs and weapons? What the hell am I supposed to be doing? Why is every conversation a lesson in confusion?

Seriously I really expected this to be something fresh and original, but I don't understand how anyone could see this as something more than mediocre.....

[NcroManiac]

Can you stab the kids?

[Jackal]

Originally Posted by avatar_58

Why is every conversation a lesson in confusion?

Clearly the demo hasn't addressed the translation issues.

As for not knowing what to do, what does the journal say you should be doing?

Seriously I really expected this to be something fresh and original, but I don't understand how anyone could see this as something more than mediocre.....

If your experience is limited to what you've described, then you really haven't seen what the game is all about. (This may be the demo's fault, of course.) The game has actually been getting some very high ratings in Russia, which says something either about Russians, the game, or the game in Russian.

[avatar_58]

Ok then, enlighten me. What journal? I'm only doing what the game has told me....some guy spouted jibberish and in the midst of the poetry told me to seek out someone and marked my map. After taking a good 10 minutes to get there (you walk so slowly...) the person called me a killer and said "Go heal some people" without telling me where. So I wandered the streets.

I don't get this game at all......I also don't understand how something this ugly and simple could be released in 2006. Its beyond comprehension.

Seriously, from the AG preview I really wanted to see this game. Now I'm confused and left holding the bag here......what am I missing?

[Jackal]

In the version I played, "Q" activates the diary. ("M" activates map, "L" activates letters, if any, "I" activates Inventory.) And "E" is the "use" key, if I recall correctly.

Part of the problem with the demo is that it doesn't start at the beginning of that particular scenario, effectively turning Faulkner into Chaucer.

There's plenty to do overall, though.

[avatar_58]

Plenty to do? Where??? I just don't understand this....I walked up a flying staircase to the sky for crying out loud.....a baby cries when I kill people. I die from falling only five steps down. O_o

I just don't get this and I'm having a hard time believing this is going to be released. The zombie people really freak me out too.....

[Jackal]

Maybe the demo has some funkiness that the preview code didn't. Some of that stuff sounds way weirder than anything I encountered. (I heard the baby crying, though. It giggles when you help people. ) I haven't tried the demo, and really don't plan to, but I toldja the game was different. Repeatedly.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Jackal

Maybe the demo has some funkiness that the preview code didn't. Some of that stuff sounds way weirder than anything I encountered. (I heard the baby crying, though. It giggles when you help people. ) I haven't tried the demo, and really don't plan to, but I toldja the game was different. Repeatedly.

Well someone has to try it, because I'm really confused as to how anyone could actually buy this game from demo impressions. This is like the Big Rigs of 2006....

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Jackal

Maybe the demo has some funkiness that the preview code didn't. Some of that stuff sounds way weirder than anything I encountered. (I heard the baby crying, though. It giggles when you help people. ) I haven't tried the demo, and really don't plan to, but I toldja the game was different. Repeatedly.

Why did the pubishers release an allegedly fooked up demo? Do they not want people to buy this game?

Oh, and it looks like I should try playing the demo myself to see what the fuss is about.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

Oh, and it looks like I should try playing the demo myself to see what the fuss is about.

Please do, I've spent enough time trying to figure out what the deal is with it. In fact I don't even see how its supposed to be 'different' either. To me it seems like they wanted to make an open ended type of game, and yet they forget to include interactivity and actual things to do....rather than buying drugs off children.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by avatar_58

This is like the Big Rigs of 2006....

That would take quite a lot. And I say that as a proud owner of Big Rigs. Yes, I paid good money to import it.

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by Jackal

In the version I played, "Q" activates the diary. ("M" activates map, "L" activates letters, if any, "I" activates Inventory.) And "E" is the "use" key, if I recall correctly.

All of these work in the demo as well (as can be read in the controls tab in the settings screen, or in the enclosed pdf manual).

Another nice feature you may have missed, avatar, is that the demo comes with several savegames from different situations from across days 4 and 5.

Thanks to Jack's down-to-earth preview, my expectations were properly toned down, and I am intrigued by the demo. Its weirdness and incoherence seem somehow focused (like in the best Lynch's movies) rather than random (that, and I hope some things are explained later on). I don't agree it's ugly. I love the graphical style, and especially the use of colour filters when you enter different areas (the infected areas are red parts of the map, btw, so look for sick people there, avatar). Sound design set the mood excellently, too (the kid's crying when you reputation goes down; I don't see how it's any more abstract than some random melody in other games).

One thing in which I agree with the criticism is that there doesn't seem to be much to do at all. I haven't explored the demo very thouroughly, but it seems I am given a task to fulfill, and while I can explore the town to my heart's content , all I can find are, to use an RPG terminology, "treasure chests" (only they look more like garbage containers here ) or people whose importance is de facto limited to what items they carry/sell/repair.

However, this game's something unique, for better or for worse, and for that alone I recommend that everybody who can manage the 700 MB download take a peek at the demo.

EDIT: Alright, I think this discussion should not stay in Site Feedback any longer.

[RLacey]

I'll take a look at this tomorrow. Sounds intriguing, certainly.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by avatar_58

Please do, I've spent enough time trying to figure out what the deal is with it. In fact I don't even see how its supposed to be 'different' either. To me it seems like they wanted to make an open ended type of game, and yet they forget to include interactivity and actual things to do....rather than buying drugs off children.

I'll download it now and see what's going on. Theoretically it sounds like they were trying a Deus Ex thing.

EDIT: WTF!! 652MB?!!

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

I'll download it now and see what's going on. Theoretically it sounds like they were trying a Deus Ex thing.

Are you insane? If shooting that gun-like thing makes this an FPS then I'm going to run outside and get hit by a car to end my life. Its pathetic.....whatever action element they were going for doesn't work. I also don't see any indication of RPG elements....unless you consider collecting useless junk to be RPG based (I sure as hell don't).

I don't know if these guys are being cut slack for their first game, but this is god awful. I'm still trying to understand how this achieved a publisher. Why do all the voices come out of my rear speakers and have an odd echo to them anyway?

[Intrepid Homoludens]

No, not necessarily comparable to Deus Es in terms of shooting weapons and stuff. I was thinking instead that they were trying to create a world where you can do many different things and it would have some limited effect in how the game plays out.

[avatar_58]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

No, not necessarily comparable to Deus Es in terms of shooting weapons and stuff. I was thinking instead that they were trying to create a world where you can do many different things and it would have some limited effect in how the game plays out.

Well in Deus Ex killing people was frowned upon. Here I can kill 20 children and still walk around a free man.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Wow, that's shiny. Lionhead Studios originally allowed you kill children in Fable, but they ended up dumping that idea for fear of reprisal from Senator Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, and countless paranoid soccer moms.

So how come you don't get lynched by the town for killing kids in Pathologic? Didn't the developers think about moral consequences as a cool part of gameplay and gameworld?

[avatar_58]

I'm still trying to find the gameplay. I'll let you know when I do, but don't hold your breath.

[AFGNCAAP]

Originally Posted by Intrepid Homoludens

So how come you don't get lynched by the town for killing kids in Pathologic? Didn't the developers think about moral consequences as a cool part of gameplay and gameworld?

Well, it's really like asking about the psychological motivations of David Lynch characters. Realism is probably very low on the list of this game's priorities (although I'd still call it partly a simulation genre, strangely enough). Also, while I didn't try to slaughter children, I know that: 1) on one occasion I killed a man, and a guard who stood nearby spotted that and attacked me, 2) every murder brings your reputation meter considerably down, so the path of killing everyone is in no way recommended by the game, 3) in one of the savegames you are actually given a choice of killing either the human sacrifice in some obscure ritual, or her oppressors (I can't tell whether it affects future story, but I suspect it might).

I'd like to add I don't think it's fair to lump together the intended curiosities (like the heavily mysticized plot) and actual flaws (like the incompetence of translation).

Oh, and, needless to say, it's not the same class as Deus Ex, but I had thought of this comparison as well.