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AG Community Playthrough #59 - Tormentum: Dark Sorrow

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Thanks for participating, Mikekelly.  I’m glad it came together for you despite the uncertain start. Smile

     

Carpe chocolate.

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I finished tormentum last night, and now I’m mad lol.

The finale shows you all the choices up til now, and it’ only classified 1 that I did as “evil.”  And then because I chose the good guy key, it called me arrogant and damned me to hell.

And like we talked about at the beginning, even the tough the mistake I made was in the last chapter, I can’t go back and try it again without starting the whole game again.  Not that it would really take me that long, but still.  The save and quit only option didn’t really irritate me until the end .

Anyways from the top of my notes…

I can’t believe I forgot my chief complaint about this game.  The exits, like which screen edges lead to a new screen or path, need to be better indicated!  This subtle white shape is not enough for me.  I often miss whole screens because I just don’t know they are there.

The music has changed a lot in this new area, almost more upbeat in some places. Or maybe hopeful?  Determined?

I like this blacksmith character, and the fact that he gave me objectives from the word go, and seems to be the only character that doesn’t try to manipulate me, double cross or hurt me.  I’m a big fan of his.  He even let’s me stay the night!

when I completed the mage’s quest in the cave, the jester from level one was summoned.  He begged for mercy at my hands, and implied he had already been punished for trying to betray and kill the queen.  I released him, and he promised to behave.  I don’t believe him.

When I awoke from the blacksmiths house, the icari had spread the poison mist, and all the little imp creatures had been slaughtered and burned.
The lizard thief tried to protect them, but the crown I brought him in fact had no special powers.

I told them the Icari’s location, where he was hiding so they could get their revenge.  This is the only “bad” decision I made in the entire game, and yes it was enough for me to be damned to hell.  The Icari tried to blame me, that because I did not give him the egg, he was forced to betray his friends for the horned demons.  I don’t believe him, but I’m going to have to play the whole fucking game over again, just to not say where he is hiding, so maybe I"m just a little cross right now.

I didn’t destroy the painter’s gallery, and instead brushed all 30. Yes I suppose I could have destroyed it, but it seemed pointless really. 

I made the sword, stabbed the statue, weighed my soul against the key, and got credits!

Did you all pick the good angel key thing?  Did you all fall to hell too?

I’m trying to think how fast I can get through some other playthroughs so I can see what happens if you get the other key, or if your actions match the key, or if it matches anyway.

Does anyone have any ideas about the red hooded figure waiting in the chair at the hands and lady statue?

EDIT:  I forgot I wanted to say that cleaning the painting gallery is a good way to make the player look at and appreciate the hand-made art for the game.  So I thought that was nice, and also this game is very good at playing with expectations, especially when it comes to gaming conventions, and helping the desperate characters you meet. 

I feel like most of these puzzles would be worth 10-15 picarats if this were a layton game.  It’s strange because I expect the puzzles to match the daunting environment, or help simulate for me the trials the character must overcome… but really I think most of the puzzles would be less out of place in a layton game.

     
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I think the figure in the chair is hesitating from fear and is trying to muster some courage before acting. 

The first time I played the game, I ended up killing the guard doing the torturing, but it was by accident.  I clicked on the glass-like buttons, thinking it was a viewer of some kind, before I saw the pictures on either side.  I also picked the wrong key.  Since then I’ve tried several combinations, but I don’t want to spoil it here if you intend a replay.

     

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I’ve now finished the game.
I tried my best to ‘be good’ but had already blown it by killing the witch in the first part of the game. In the last part I did all the ‘right’ things except for destroying the paintings - but only 3!
I have to agree with Celebreon about the ‘save and quit’ option being annoying - I think in games like this where there are choices to make throughout there should definitely be the option to manually save & there should be a several slots in which to do so. 

I’ve very much enjoyed the combination of environments, puzzling & wondering what the protagonist could possibly have done that was worse than killing the witch.
But for me, unfortunately the flow & concept of the story was completely shattered by the one paragraph at the end referring to what was perceived to be the worst deed of the protagonist, which at the very least I found disappointing & at the most offensive.
For me, if a bigoted opinion like that is going to be incorporated it also needs to be presented as an undesirable one from a 3rd party character within the story rather than coming across as, as it does to me, a personal belief of the developer(s) to foist upon me. 
The offensive parts for me are, first of all, that the feelings of jealousy & cowardice & the act of suicide are treated as far worse than the act of taking someone else’s life.
Secondly, suicide (aside from a conscious decision by the terminally ill) is nearly always due to mental health problems (& not sinfulness) where the victim has sought to escape from unbearable torment & sees no other way out 
I would have cared more about the fate of the character had he killed himself due to suffering from his obsessive feelings without acting on them beforehand to murder his beloved.
Otherwise the story as it is, for me would have been more acceptable if it had just eliminated that one paragraph & concentrated on the murder of his beloved as being the crime his soul was being punished for as I did very much like the idea of the protagonist having been given the opportunity, through a series of challenges, to prove that they could become a better person.

     
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Also finished the game which turned to be exactly what I predicted - a purgatory or something where the hero’s soul was tested before being sent to hell or heaven. I really enjoyed all the effort they put into art (especially that gallery with around 50 cool unique pictures that served no purpose whatsoever). Too bad there was no good game attached to it. The story was shallow, most of the characters - one-dimensional except maybe for that dog-rabbit and the ugly bird which I really hated, but decided to let it die peacefully at the last moment. Puzzles were even less satisfying, like they went out of steam by the last chapter, although I did like the upside-down music code which was pretty clever. Had no trouble with the choices and ended up with all “correct” decisions that allowed to fly to heaven, although I really don’t think he deserved it. It would’ve probably made more sense if the developers sold Tormentum as a casual game rather than a “normal” adventure. Not sure I will play the sequel which is due to release this year, but I’m glad I played the original game, had been long intrigued by this title. Thank you for the playthrough, Lady Kestrel!

     

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chrissie - 28 May 2020 08:19 AM

But for me, unfortunately the flow & concept of the story was completely shattered by the one paragraph at the end referring to what was perceived to be the worst deed of the protagonist, which at the very least I found disappointing & at the most offensive.
For me, if a bigoted opinion like that is going to be incorporated it also needs to be presented as an undesirable one from a 3rd party character within the story rather than coming across as, as it does to me, a personal belief of the developer(s) to foist upon me. 
The offensive parts for me are, first of all, that the feelings of jealousy & cowardice & the act of suicide are treated as far worse than the act of taking someone else’s life.
Secondly, suicide (aside from a conscious decision by the terminally ill) is nearly always due to mental health problems (& not sinfulness) where the victim has sought to escape from unbearable torment & sees no other way out 
I would have cared more about the fate of the character had he killed himself due to suffering from his obsessive feelings without acting on them beforehand to murder his beloved.
Otherwise the story as it is, for me would have been more acceptable if it had just eliminated that one paragraph & concentrated on the murder of his beloved as being the crime his soul was being punished for as I did very much like the idea of the protagonist having been given the opportunity, through a series of challenges, to prove that they could become a better person.

I agree with you completely.  The comment about it being a “way, but a shameful one” or something like that, I basically instantly thought to myself, well fuck this game.  That’s some bullshit.  I tried to hold back from commenting on it too much.  But yeah.  I think he story makes sense without the emphasis on suicidal ideation, I really have no clue why that’s there.   Other games have presented these ideas in more palatable ways, and as a survivor myself, it feels offensive, but I accept that my view is not the only one.

@ Doom yeah I was not thrilled that I spent an hour replaying it just to see the protagonist fly in the opposite direction at the end.
And that’s another thing you mentioned Doom, this feels very much like a game for mobile, maybe iOS or something.  I’ve not played a ton of these mobile games, but the puzzle quality tends to be less consistent in them for… some reason.  I don’t know if I would call it a casual experience, but eh, maybe so.  I did play it while inebriated or sleep-deprived or both, so it wasn’t really too challenging.

I assume because the 3 guys in the credits are also designing the puzzles.  When you compare Tormentum to other games with similar puzzles, usually other games have puzzle designers that aren’t also the writer, and programmer, and artist etc, and they can just focus on puzzles.

     
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this feels very much like a game for mobile, maybe iOS or something.  I’ve not played a ton of these mobile games, but the puzzle quality tends to be less consistent in them for… some reason.

I have over 120 adventure games on my iPad mini. Most of them are PC ports and are very well done. What few original titles we have don’t look like this game, those are mainly find a phone games that get ported to the PC from mobile. I can only think of 2 mobile games I have that are not on the PC and both are amazing. This game looks and plays like a casual Big Fish kind of game, which I have many of on the PC.

  I forgot I wanted to say that cleaning the painting gallery is a good way to make the player look at and appreciate the hand-made art for the game.

Sadly, I slashed the beautiful paintings and got the ending I deserved. And I want to add that those were beautifully done paintings.


Heart

     

I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Oh yeah bigfish, that’s what I was thinking of.  Yeah for some reason I had them mixed up with these mobile games.  My biological mom plays a lot of those big fish game and mobile games and stuff, and I forget.  She is really into those, which is cool for her, but most of them don’t hold my attention much.

I would say I would recommend this over “Adera” and other games of it’s kind.

And really, being mature is something that sets Tormentum apart from those games for sure.

     
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Celebreon - 28 May 2020 12:15 PM

I assume because the 3 guys in the credits are also designing the puzzles.  When you compare Tormentum to other games with similar puzzles, usually other games have puzzle designers that aren’t also the writer, and programmer, and artist etc, and they can just focus on puzzles.

Yes, I had similar feelings about a number of other indie games recently, like Gibbous, for example, also a work of three people which looked fantastic, but left me wishing they invited a professional writer/designer.

     

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If you’ve decided not to replay the game, here are the ending options:
If you have chosen mercy and kindness, choose the white key at the end. 
If you have made one wrong choice, choose the black key.
If you have made more than one wrong choice, it doesn’t matter which key you choose.

By the way, if you got the good ending, the being who judged you gives you a hint that there will be a sequel by saying, “Will she forgive you?”  Also, it seems that some of the scenes shown during the credits may be art for Tormentum 2, which is supposedly being made now.

     

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I’ve finished the game. Although it turned out that I made all the right decisions, I chose the ‘evil’ key and still got the good ending?!

On the whole I found it to be an enjoyable enough experience, simple and fine. To be honest, if I had paid full price for it I might be a little less happy, but I’m still glad I played through it.

Thank you very much Lady K for hosting and to everyone else for your interesting comments and opinions, it’s always fun to playthrough together. Laughing

     

3.5 time winner of the “Really Annoying Caption Contest Saboteur” Award!

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Ah, that was one combination I didn’t try, Intense.  My sister told me she wants to play it, but because her reading skills are limited, I’ll have to sit with her when she does.  Maybe we’ll try that choice.

I also enjoyed the playthrough and everyone’s comments.  Thank you to all who participated!

     

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Thank you Lady Kestrel for leading the playthrough. Thumbs Up
It was a good prompt to play the game which I did enjoy despite minor reservations about the plot & would consider playing the sequel.  Smile

     
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Thank you Lady K,

I had fun!

Yeah, so after I went back to the the like best ending I was… not thrilled at how little different it was. 
I did see the art you were referring to, and also that line at the end about her forgiveness is kind of weird.  Like is our protagonist going through multiple trials, one to absolve himself of his “sin” of suicide, and a new one to earn forgiveness of his “beloved.”  Maybe that scene between the two will be fleshed out, and we will learn what they mean by “jealousy” was the thing that fueled his crime.

That’s one thing lady k that should help, is that most of the buttons rely on symbols within the art to figure out what they do, like lowering a cage, versus opening a cage may be more clear.  And also I noticed a few writing mistakes in this game, but nothing game breaking , like Pathologic”

     

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