karzac
(he/him)
Ah interesting! The Cheese and the Worms is another one that I've heard of.
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Pentiment - Take a look, I'm in a book!
- Thread starter Mr Bean
- Start date
Ah interesting! The Cheese and the Worms is another one that I've heard of.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Interesting thing I noticed on this second playthrough: (Act 2 spoiler)
when you're at the inn and buy a round of drinks some side stuff during the conversation with the doctors plays out differently depending on which languages you know. When my spouse played through they were talking about the murder in German, and when Hannah brought up the drinks because she could understand what was being said she got startled and spilled them all on the floor. When I played I could speak Italian, and since she couldn't understand she just placed them on the table and went back downstairs.
There's so many cool minor touches like that in this game, I love it.
when you're at the inn and buy a round of drinks some side stuff during the conversation with the doctors plays out differently depending on which languages you know. When my spouse played through they were talking about the murder in German, and when Hannah brought up the drinks because she could understand what was being said she got startled and spilled them all on the floor. When I played I could speak Italian, and since she couldn't understand she just placed them on the table and went back downstairs.
There's so many cool minor touches like that in this game, I love it.
That’s amazing and I love it. Thank you!
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
This is on sale on steam as part of the Xbox studios sale (which is a weird sentence but whatever), and is $13. This game is absolutely worth $13 people.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Oh dang, I just saw this needed an update and they've added a number of small things. Support for other languages, one new map area, a
"alternative end scene for Caspar" in Act II (curious about that), bug fixes, etc.
I've already played through this game twice so I can't imagine doing it again, but I may poke around act 1 in Japanese for funsies. Also curious if they're going to carry over some of the older language nuances in the added ones, although I assume that's a lot to ask as that would be a huge undertaking.
"alternative end scene for Caspar" in Act II (curious about that), bug fixes, etc.
I've already played through this game twice so I can't imagine doing it again, but I may poke around act 1 in Japanese for funsies. Also curious if they're going to carry over some of the older language nuances in the added ones, although I assume that's a lot to ask as that would be a huge undertaking.
Started this game last night. I got through the first time period of investigating after the baron's murder, but so far I'm really liking it. The pen-scratching sounds and the ink-soaking-in visuals for the dialog are like candy to me.
I journeyed in Basel, was a bookworm, majored in Imperial law, and excelled at logic and latin. I went with what felt right, but I'm also already mentally taking note of which backgrounds, and which dialog choices, I choose for an eventual "Asshole Andreas" run. Dunno if I'll actually do that run, but from what I hear the game can go in really different directions, so we shall seeeeee
I journeyed in Basel, was a bookworm, majored in Imperial law, and excelled at logic and latin. I went with what felt right, but I'm also already mentally taking note of which backgrounds, and which dialog choices, I choose for an eventual "Asshole Andreas" run. Dunno if I'll actually do that run, but from what I hear the game can go in really different directions, so we shall seeeeee
I finished Act I yesterday. All my investigation centered on the Abbey; I talked to Lucky but didn't follow him, and then never came back around to follow up. But I'd found the volvelle in the Prior's office early, and I snuck into the library so I found info about both Matilda and the Prior's code. I ended up solving the code and digging up the grave against the abbot's orders, but I found a blood-encrusted heavy object buried there. The motive and evidence seemed strongest for the prior so I pointed the finger at him; didn't have anything for lucky or Martin, and didn't think they or Matilda had done it anyway. I ended Act I very out of favor with the abbot for getting his prior executed. I can't shake the feeling I may have gotten the wrong person, but also feel like that the game makes you feel that very much on purpose and likely would no matter who got the sword. Especially with the early Act II reveal that the note-writer is still around.
I'm only one day into Act II and haven't yet found Whatever's Going to Happen, but I'm very intrigued, which is good. Although Act II starts on a series of sad notes, and I don't even mean visiting the grave; Andreas being all depressed and hating his life is a downer, and I keep finding out that his friends from Tassing would write him letters and he never responded, which made me feel bad too. The feeeeeeeliiiiiiings
I'm only one day into Act II and haven't yet found Whatever's Going to Happen, but I'm very intrigued, which is good. Although Act II starts on a series of sad notes, and I don't even mean visiting the grave; Andreas being all depressed and hating his life is a downer, and I keep finding out that his friends from Tassing would write him letters and he never responded, which made me feel bad too. The feeeeeeeliiiiiiings
Andreas isn't just depressed in the sense of "really sad," he's clinically, capital-D Depressed, and the game does a fantastic job of talking about that (in period-appropriate language) as it goes on.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Yeah, without giving anything away I'll just confirm you haven't missed anything or done anything wrong.
Annnnd finished the game.
Act 2: Boy, that feeling of "Oh fuck I don't have the right person do I who actually did it" really only gets much worse in act 2, doesn't it? I ended up sending them after Brother Guy because I had the most, and most damning, evidence against him, but I was never sure that he did it unlike in Act I where I was pretty confident that the prior did it what with the hidden murder weapon.
The end of the act felt a bit forced, what with Andreas dying to save the books. I almost wondered if it was because I had the bookworm background, which might actually fit, but I know it happens regardless of background and it didn't make sense to my friend who's playing alongside me.
Act 3: I was really surprised when I got to play Magdalene, but I really liked it and liked her as a protagonist. Her first background/personality trait being based on the book you give her as Andreas was such a brilliant little piece of design. I picked bookkeeping, haggling and polyglot to round her out as a strong-willed intellectual, and played her as such. I really liked seeing how everyone in the village had grown and changed, even more after this time skip than the earlier 7-year one. (I was especially happy for Matilda and Wojslav, and I was happy that I got the blacksmith to go find the girl and get married.) For the mural, I went secular and depicted the human sacrifice, then the Bavarians finding the ruins, then Otto giving a speech.
As for the ending, (SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS) I called the true culprit back in act II after Andreas found the book and remarked it must have come from a different abbey, and then Thomas said that he and Amalie had come from a different place shortly thereafter. I didn't finger Amalie as the note-writer though, I thought it was just Thomas top to bottom. As for his motivation, I feel like I picked up on that way early, back in Act I. Someone told the pagan story around the same time as I heard about saints moritz and satia, and I was like "oh, that's the same story. They're obviously all different versions of each other," which the Roman version only reaffirmed. Heck, there were even dialog choices along the way that had your character say "Oh, maybe they're different retellings of the same myth." So the idea that the connection to the saints was Thomas's motivation rang really hollow to me, because it seemed so obvious. I also wish I got more payoff for telling the people about the truth of the history, but it wasn't touched on.
One thing I wasn't clear about (still huge ending spoilers): Was Thomas actually the murderer in acts I and II, and all the suspects were innocent? Or was the idea that the manipulations were successful and one of the culprits really did murder the Baron and Otto? The game gives you the strong sense that maybe the people you get killed are innocent, but I wasn't sure if it was just making it realistically vague and making you live with the consequences, or if the idea is always that you got two innocent people killed.
Anyway, very good game. I'm still toying with another playthrough with completely different background to see how differently things play out. I'm pretty sure that like in most adventure games, the main beats won't really change, but it might be fun to see all the different dialog options and see how differently my investigations and routes play out.
Act 2: Boy, that feeling of "Oh fuck I don't have the right person do I who actually did it" really only gets much worse in act 2, doesn't it? I ended up sending them after Brother Guy because I had the most, and most damning, evidence against him, but I was never sure that he did it unlike in Act I where I was pretty confident that the prior did it what with the hidden murder weapon.
The end of the act felt a bit forced, what with Andreas dying to save the books. I almost wondered if it was because I had the bookworm background, which might actually fit, but I know it happens regardless of background and it didn't make sense to my friend who's playing alongside me.
Act 3: I was really surprised when I got to play Magdalene, but I really liked it and liked her as a protagonist. Her first background/personality trait being based on the book you give her as Andreas was such a brilliant little piece of design. I picked bookkeeping, haggling and polyglot to round her out as a strong-willed intellectual, and played her as such. I really liked seeing how everyone in the village had grown and changed, even more after this time skip than the earlier 7-year one. (I was especially happy for Matilda and Wojslav, and I was happy that I got the blacksmith to go find the girl and get married.) For the mural, I went secular and depicted the human sacrifice, then the Bavarians finding the ruins, then Otto giving a speech.
As for the ending, (SERIOUSLY, SPOILERS) I called the true culprit back in act II after Andreas found the book and remarked it must have come from a different abbey, and then Thomas said that he and Amalie had come from a different place shortly thereafter. I didn't finger Amalie as the note-writer though, I thought it was just Thomas top to bottom. As for his motivation, I feel like I picked up on that way early, back in Act I. Someone told the pagan story around the same time as I heard about saints moritz and satia, and I was like "oh, that's the same story. They're obviously all different versions of each other," which the Roman version only reaffirmed. Heck, there were even dialog choices along the way that had your character say "Oh, maybe they're different retellings of the same myth." So the idea that the connection to the saints was Thomas's motivation rang really hollow to me, because it seemed so obvious. I also wish I got more payoff for telling the people about the truth of the history, but it wasn't touched on.
One thing I wasn't clear about (still huge ending spoilers): Was Thomas actually the murderer in acts I and II, and all the suspects were innocent? Or was the idea that the manipulations were successful and one of the culprits really did murder the Baron and Otto? The game gives you the strong sense that maybe the people you get killed are innocent, but I wasn't sure if it was just making it realistically vague and making you live with the consequences, or if the idea is always that you got two innocent people killed.
Anyway, very good game. I'm still toying with another playthrough with completely different background to see how differently things play out. I'm pretty sure that like in most adventure games, the main beats won't really change, but it might be fun to see all the different dialog options and see how differently my investigations and routes play out.
I believe Thomas got Amalie to write the notes to various people who already had motivations to murder his intended targets, and the identity of the actual murderer in both cases intentionally does not have a canonical answer.
OK, yeah, that's the impression I had been working under.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
Yep, that's how I interpret it too.
Violentvixen
(She/Her)
This is coming out on Switch today! I definitely didn't expect that since it's an Xbox studios game.
Yes! I really hope that this means a lot more people play it, because it's a fantastic game. (If you're reading this and you have a switch and haven't played Pentiment, I'm talking about you!!)