Did you read the other reviews about how kingdom management is an atrocious endeavor? I did, too, and thought, "It can't be that bad." It wasn't. It also wasn't fun and didn't feel like there was a point to it. -Example: a medical emergency hits your barony; a character laments the lack of hospital in the city; but there is one - I built it long before the chapter began. Thanks, game. Did you read the other reviews about how the game allows switching between turned-based and real-time combat? I did and thought, "Sounds great!" It sort of is. -Very often, combat is better than Neverwinter or Baldur's. -But the classes and characters or so unbalanced, and the enemies go through such obnoxious power spikes, that any fun you might have in experimenting in oddball characters is subsumed by the need to keep overpowered units on hand. -Min-maxers will have a blast! Did you read about the slog that is map movement? I did, but saw the size of it and figured, "That's a place that'd be fun to explore!" It isn't. -The consensus was right. Did you read all about the role playing? I didn't. It sucks. -It feels irrational (e.g. game conflates Neutral alignment with not taking sides in conflict). -NPCs can be interesting but usually wind up as flaccid tropes. -Curiously high DC skill checks encourage save scrumming. -Some points will seem to provide copious options - most lead to the same conclusion. -Some points provide few options, shoehorning you into only performing uncharacteristic actions. -You will never, ever cast magic in an event or conversation. There's pleasure to be had here, but this household decided it got enough and could move on, confident that we wouldn't get any more out of the game.
In any game with many branching paths and means to progress the plot, a gamer should expect hiccups and moments where immersion is chipped at, like an NPC referencing events the PC allegedly had a hand in but never actually happened. This game has such events aplenty. What shouldn't be expected is a railroading of the plot so illogical and forced that it shatters all immersion, forcing the player to wonder, "How on earth did any of this happen?" After 3 hours spent completely outside combat (because this PC has a 100% fatality rate in fights, forcing frequent F9 presses), progressing purely on skill checks as a Loremaster with some skill at fancy talk, my PC: +changed factions after being railroaded to the next plot point because of a single successful Lore skill check ten minutes into the game +doomed two city-states to despotic tyranny because of successful Lore and Persuasion skill checks that shuttered me out of cities toward the next event, triggering the story to charge on and the cities to suffer without my guidance (I think?) +started a war between three factions because assassination, negotiations, and scouting are the job Lords give their fledgeling loremasters with questionable Loyalty and no combat skills I won't say the game is broken, but depending on how you play it, the game might not work as intended. Combat can be a blast, the world and lore are interesting for fantasy and history nerds alike, and dialogue is not overly florid but has abundant character and charm ----- but by the long-absent-Gods is progressing through the game a bugged mess.
I liked this game and am glad I tried it. There are portions of Pathologic I will never forget, feelings it instilled in me that linger in my mind - how many games can say that? But I also feel cheated by Pathologic. There are, online, copious warnings about how monotonous the gameplay can be, but I found the gameplay elements added a deal of gravitas to every action you as the player perform. Where do you choose to walk? Who will you take the effort to talk to? Do you engage in the local economies to aid your later survival, or do you rush to your next location, worried about ever-fleeting time? It's brilliant. Nor do the graphics bother me - the art direction (complemented by the strong sound and music choices) has a lasting strength, aging far better than mere polygons do. No, I feel cheated because of Pathologic's oft-lauded writing. The game displays an adventure-game-logic to its dialogue options. Will this option continue a conversation, end it, fail a quest for you? Who knows! Select it and save scrum if you don't like it. Which major NPC in the previous conversation do you have to talk to next to continue the plot? Dunno! Sometimes the quest log helps you decide, sometimes it doesn't. Most often the journal is filled with nonsense and flowery descriptions of dialogue and events that are no way accurate. Sometimes there are map markers put down, sometimes there aren't. Sometimes places are referred to only by their colloquial names (Spleen, Tannery, Earth, etc.) that ARE NOT LABELED ON THE MAP (you figure some of them out quickly, others...), sometimes not. Sometimes the game outright tells you who to talk to, but others times you can wander around for hours looking for an NPC to give you the day's mission. This is not the most important game you never played. This is a great work of art, and the passion of the creators should be lauded and supported. Video games can be art, but being artistic does not a good video game make.
I'm a terrible shot and have never played a cover based shooter before this game. That said, once I started this game at 10pm, thinking I'd play for a few levels at most, I could not put it down and played it from beginning to mournful end in a single sitting, getting up only briefly to wonder what the everloving heck was going on. It's a short game made longer for those looking to learn all the secrets and achieve every ending, but it is also brilliant in its storytelling, characterization, and use of dialogue. Even if you haven't picked up a shooter since Half-Life 2, you can enjoy this game. Buy it.
Pro: Unique gameplay and party / village building mechanics that's a bit different in each playthrough... Con: But that's obscured behind an obtuse and unfriendly user interface. Solution: Play on easy at first and get used to how things work. Experiment! The game autosaves sporadically, so if you are attached to your group, ctrl+alt+delete your way out of the situation. Pro: Huge diversity of events and lots of ways to approach them... Con: But things can get repetitive come turn 100. Solution: Venture further and further afield, things will get more interesting. Pro: You feel like you and your village grows and strengthens as you play... Con: Until that one random event pops up that wipes out you or your best villagers. Solution: Err on the side of caution if you're afraid of TPKO - or save scrum... Pro: Intricately crafted world and mythos that makes you feel immersed and eager to find out what's beyond the fog of war and keeps you playing for just one more turn... Solution: Keep playing.
