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Pentiment |OT| Murder, She Wrote.

RedSparrows

RedSparrows

Prophet of Regret
Member
Feb 22, 2019
6,516
Sorry not sorry for the bump. It's so nice to read people enjoying the game. The more I think on it the more it's one of the best things I've experienced in gaming for a very, very long time.

Also, in a curious mix of gaming things, the fact I have so many achievements still to get means a replay is in order!

Also, the game is my unfortunate totem in my futile crusade about how we look at gaming. It got great review scores, sure, but it's the antithesis of so much that is seen as 'the norm' in gaming, and all the better for it.
 
Dandy

Dandy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,471
I definitely need to replay it again at some point. It was such an amazing experience!
 
Sephiroth

Sephiroth

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,067
Any impressions on the Switch version? Trying to decide to get this for PS5 or Switch physically.
 
Cocaine Jesus

Cocaine Jesus

Member
Nov 4, 2018
169
I just finished the game yesterday so it was a pleasant surprise to see this thread and read through others' thoughts.

I don't have too much to add other than it felt like everything the game was trying to do was at odds with the actual game mechanics. A limited amount of time to investigate? Cool in concept and makes you have to plan ahead. People having "schedules" and changing locations throughout the day? Realistic and makes you feel more like someone just passing through a real place that exists outside of you. Speech checks being very difficult or impossible to pass even after doing everything correctly? Interesting enough, there isn't always a way to "win" a conversation in reality.

All of these things are cool in concept and certainly add to the themes the game is presenting but make the actual act of playing the game an incredibly tedious slog of running around the entire town and checking every location over and over to find the person you want to talk to or to make sure you don't miss anything. I hated every moment of slowly walking around searching the entire map for the person I want to talk to just for them to say "god bless" on loop because I hadn't done the correct trigger to open up any additional dialogue options yet or it was simply the wrong time of day. Or if they were willing to talk to me I was often forced into making a speech check I could see I'd fail because of unclear reasons that made me unsure it's even possible to pass them.

I really enjoyed the art style, setting, and story but good lord actually playing it was a terrible experience. Realizing that nothing I did ultimately had a significant effect on what happens to the town is, again, a neat concept that I can appreciate but made me even more annoyed the game wasted so much of my time trying to solve the unsolvable. It also seems like it's deliberately designed not to be replayed as the whole theme of it is that nothing you do really matters. A fun commentary on the futility of existence to be sure but in the context of a video game it just feels like it's mocking the player for even trying
 
RedSparrows

RedSparrows

Prophet of Regret
Member
Feb 22, 2019
6,516
Nothing you do matters? People die or survive because of you, and thus you see a different inflection on the history of Tassing. By that token nothing you do matters in any game because you can't change the plot structure. The lack of time and the mistakes/doubts you have are a fundamental part of the game. It'd be cool if you could radically change the plot but then it wouldn't be the same game at all.

I get the issue about all the running about, can see why that'd be annoying. It wasn't for me.
 
Thorrgal

Thorrgal

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,386
Cocaine Jesus said:
I just finished the game yesterday so it was a pleasant surprise to see this thread and read through others' thoughts.

I don't have too much to add other than it felt like everything the game was trying to do was at odds with the actual game mechanics. A limited amount of time to investigate? Cool in concept and makes you have to plan ahead. People having "schedules" and changing locations throughout the day? Realistic and makes you feel more like someone just passing through a real place that exists outside of you. Speech checks being very difficult or impossible to pass even after doing everything correctly? Interesting enough, there isn't always a way to "win" a conversation in reality.

All of these things are cool in concept and certainly add to the themes the game is presenting but make the actual act of playing the game an incredibly tedious slog of running around the entire town and checking every location over and over to find the person you want to talk to or to make sure you don't miss anything. I hated every moment of slowly walking around searching the entire map for the person I want to talk to just for them to say "god bless" on loop because I hadn't done the correct trigger to open up any additional dialogue options yet or it was simply the wrong time of day. Or if they were willing to talk to me I was often forced into making a speech check I could see I'd fail because of unclear reasons that made me unsure it's even possible to pass them.

I really enjoyed the art style, setting, and story but good lord actually playing it was a terrible experience. Realizing that nothing I did ultimately had a significant effect on what happens to the town is, again, a neat concept that I can appreciate but made me even more annoyed the game wasted so much of my time trying to solve the unsolvable. It also seems like it's deliberately designed not to be replayed as the whole theme of it is that nothing you do really matters. A fun commentary on the futility of existence to be sure but in the context of a video game it just feels like it's mocking the player for even trying
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I'm 3/4 done with my PS5 playthrough and I mostly agree with this. Bought the game with a friend that is a graphic adventure enthusiast and he stopped playing with me after act 1.

RedSparrows said:
Nothing you do matters? People die or survive because of you, and thus you see a different inflection on the history of Tassing. By that token nothing you do matters in any game because you can't change the plot structure. The lack of time and the mistakes/doubts you have are a fundamental part of the game. It'd be cool if you could radically change the plot but then it wouldn't be the same game at all.

I get the issue about all the running about, can see why that'd be annoying. It wasn't for me.
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Don't matter in the aspect of solving any mystery. They die or survive on our whim, not because of anything that we found out. My friend was so pissed about that lol, I actually didn't mind that much but yeah, I understand how that can be frustrating.

Anyway I still lke the game but it's an 8/10 at this point and I was expecting a 10/10. We enjoyed way more Return to Monkey Island for example, I guess we enjoy the puzzle solving aspect of those.

But again, still a great game, get it on sale now on the PS5 if you are in the fence.
 
RedSparrows

RedSparrows

Prophet of Regret
Member
Feb 22, 2019
6,516
But you not being able to stop events is the whole thematic point. The weight of history, religion, the social order, superstition et al is the point. You are not a liberal agent in a fantasy world. You are a compromised, limited, medieval artisan in trap. I.e. life, and that is why it's so historically compelling for me, because it's an anti-power fantasy. Nothing can be resolved perfectly, and nothing can be doubt free. People do die (and survive, one must recall the negative [in a logical sense] of any choice) based on what you choose to investigate and say, however. That is quite a significant thing for those characters...

I can see why it's frustrating as per genre standards, and I'm not saying people are wrong to dislike it. It does not let you succeed, and it can be considered rather arch and constricting for that. It could probably do things better if it allowed some flex but retaining the overall cosmic whim element of it - perhaps that would better marry the themes with gameplay reward. I just think it needs to be recognised for what it is, and I celebrate it for being just that.
 
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Thorrgal

Thorrgal

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,386
But that's the big revelation at the end of Act 1, so pacewise the game is a bit anticlimatic after that.

Iin any case I don't see it being a 10/10 without those elements, and I guess it is a 10/10 for those people because of those elements, but for me it wouldn't reach those highs either way due to the other aspects mentioned above, the slow walking, frustrating conversations etc.

I also think I went in overhyped due to all the buzz and that almost always backfires.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
116,162
I honestly respect the shit out of Pentiment for going, right up front, "No, there is no Golden Route. We do not want you to replay this game 50 times trying to find a perfect ending where everything works out. It's not going to happen."

I know that decades of choice/consequence games have bred that kind of expectation in players, and I don't begrudge anyone who's so used to it that Pentiment's structure feels like narrative discord to them. I get it. It took me a hot minute to calm down when I failed to dig up the last crucial piece of evidence because time expired WHILE I was talking to the NPC that would do it for me, but there's just something really narratively compelling about a game that will not let you do everything perfectly and really hammers home how failure is an inevitable part of life. You're just playing as a guy, and the limitations of time and the human body mean you can only do so much, and you can't save everyone/get all the answers. You really have to choose WHERE your influence is most felt.

It's like the antimatter version of a power fantasy, and while I FULLY acknowledge how frustrating it can be, I'm also just addicted to the idea of it. I don't know how else to put it.
 
RedSparrows

RedSparrows

Prophet of Regret
Member
Feb 22, 2019
6,516
PlanetSmasher said:
I honestly respect the shit out of Pentiment for going, right up front, "No, there is no Golden Route. We do not want you to replay this game 50 times trying to find a perfect ending where everything works out. It's not going to happen."

I know that decades of choice/consequence games have bred that kind of expectation in players, and I don't begrudge anyone who's so used to it that Pentiment's structure feels like narrative discord to them. I get it. It took me a hot minute to calm down when I failed to dig up the last crucial piece of evidence because time expired WHILE I was talking to the NPC that would do it for me, but there's just something really narratively compelling about a game that will not let you do everything perfectly and really hammers home how failure is an inevitable part of life. You're just playing as a guy, and the limitations of time and the human body mean you can only do so much, and you can't save everyone/get all the answers. You really have to choose WHERE your influence is most felt.

It's like the antimatter version of a power fantasy, and while I FULLY acknowledge how frustrating it can be, I'm also just addicted to the idea of it. I don't know how else to put it.
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Fully agreed, and this is a key area where gaming can actually develop artistically, without apeing film for its language and cues.
 
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