Pentiment | NSW/PC/PS/XB

aayl1 wrote:
Memento Mori wrote:
aayl1 wrote:Feel like I completely strawberry floated up the second act. Didn't get a single persuasion check.

It's tough - the writing and characters are great. You enjoy spending time with them and want what's best for them, so it's frustrating to be strawberry floating up left right and centre through no fault of your own.

I guess that's what they're going for eh. Your experience as a player mirrors the experience of the characters.

I felt the same but I got a satisfyingish resolution to act 2.

What was your Act 2 resolution?

I accused Brother guy after I found out about his embezzlement and thus the cause of higher taxes. Figured even if he didn't do it I'd be offing a baddun at least!

But that led to him running to the mill, and the Abbey still being burned down and Andrea's dying etc etc which I felt was unsatisfying and wondered if I could have done better.

I have now finished the game. I really enjoyed the third act, but I can see it being boring for some. Also loved the resolution to the overarching mystery.

Same act 2 resolution as me.

I wanted to accuse the Miller but the game wouldn't let me so I accused Guy then the miller died anyway. Great success!

Andreas dying and the abbey burning was less good but I assume that must always happen.

Not that far into act 3 yet. As amusing as it would be to paint a human sacrifice mural, figured these squares wouldn't go for it. Chose the boring Roman one. Thinking at the minute the village priest is the guilty party, he's always hovering around somewhere. Probably educated enough to write the letters.

On that point about the letters, as Andreas I found the book in the abbey the letters had been copied from and the game told me to ask another priest about it. The game never let me bring it up in conversation though which was annoying.

Having let this sit for a couple of days I really do think this is something special. Fantastic writing, excellent sense of place and history. It's super interesting to thoroughly dig around in (what feels like) an accurate representation of what daily life would have been like back then, with all the overarching troubles and philosophies of the time.

I do think if you're expecting a solid murder mystery game, this is not that. It's more A Night In the Woods with a medieval bavarian mystery flavour - but what a flavour.

Definitely not for everyone, but if it's for you, you'll love it.

I'm still at the very start (first hour) and I do enjoy the writing and the weird way some of it's delivered (talking to a nun about books and both characters appear in said books was endearing). I like what I've played, it MAY be too sedate for my tastes but ill give it a few goes.

aayl1 wrote:Having let this sit for a couple of days I really do think this is something special. Fantastic writing, excellent sense of place and history. It's super interesting to thoroughly dig around in (what feels like) an accurate representation of what daily life would have been like back then, with all the overarching troubles and philosophies of the time.

I do think if you're expecting a solid murder mystery game, this is not that. It's more A Night In the Woods with a medieval bavarian mystery flavour - but what a flavour.

Definitely not for everyone, but if it's for you, you'll love it.

I really enjoyed A Night In The Woods so a comparison with that does have me tempted a little more now, maybe will try this once I’ve finished with Pokémon then!

I'm playing through this, mostly on Steam Deck and am really enjoying it.

I wish they'd explained better about the time system and what causes it to move on, though.

Zaichik wrote:I'm playing through this, mostly on Steam Deck and am really enjoying it.

I wish they'd explained better about the time system and what causes it to move on, though.

Like an idiot, and despite picking medicine as a speciality, I missed the opportunity to do an autopsy on the dead body because there was only one time period when you had the opportunity and I didn't realise that following one of the other leads would cause me to miss it.

Yeah it's a bit harsh sometimes in that regard (and other regards), but I think the game wants it to feel like a struggle. I will say that the "investigate" symbols on the map usually move time forward,so pick carefully.

If seeing lots of stuff is important to you, talk to everyone who doesn't have the investigation symbol on the map before you make your choice, as sometimes the optional dialogue can give you "things that will be remembered" which can help (or most likely hinder) things later on, etc etc.

That said, try not to worry too much. I think the game wants you to feel like Andrea's at this moment - stressed, in over your head and too much to do in the time limit.

Normally the game will explicitly say if something will cause time to pass- "This will take a while".

Finished the game and I was satisfied by the ending. Though I think not getting an explicit answer for who did the actual murders will be divisive.

Also apparently my actions led to two of the characters getting burned at the stake which was nice.

Memento Mori wrote:
Finished the game and I was satisfied by the ending. Though I think not getting an explicit answer for who did the actual murders will be divisive.

I definitely did get one of those!

Edit:

MASSIVE SPOILERS

aayl1 wrote:
Memento Mori wrote:
Finished the game and I was satisfied by the ending. Though I think not getting an explicit answer for who did the actual murders will be divisive.

I definitely did get one of those!

Edit:

MASSIVE SPOILERS

It was Father Thomas. He was trying to cover up the fact that the Christian story about the town (Saint Moritz or whoever's hand it was visiting the town, etc) was not true as he realised it was based on the pagan stories. He worried if people found out they'd lose faith.

Sister Amelie (the one in the cell) was a really great scribe before she went in the cell. Father Thomas was lying to her about her visions, getting her to write what he wanted instead. She had no idea.

He killed the previous Abbot coz of that Historiae Tassieae book which mentioned the pagan stuff etc. The Baron also had a copy and needed to die.

Otto (was it?) said that he found proof that God was on their side and would reveal it that evening. He found the head of the Saint Moritz (from the ruined statue in the meadow) while building foundations for the rathaus. He took it to Father Thomas (who could read) and he saw it said "Mars Pater", and thus would unravel the pagan stuff again.

I found this out by exploring the ruins with Andreas. We stumbled into the weird bath bit which coincidentally was under the church. Sister Amalie thought it was a spiritual realm as she got there via digging her grave.

I thought it was a cool resolution!

Oh I got that yeah but Thomas didn't literally kill the Baron or Otto himself. He had Amalie write the notes and he delivered them to multiple people to bait someone into killing. Thomas killed the previous abbot and Claus only.

Memento Mori wrote:
aayl1 wrote:
Memento Mori wrote:
Finished the game and I was satisfied by the ending. Though I think not getting an explicit answer for who did the actual murders will be divisive.

I definitely did get one of those!

Edit:

MASSIVE SPOILERS

It was Father Thomas. He was trying to cover up the fact that the Christian story about the town (Saint Moritz or whoever's hand it was visiting the town, etc) was not true as he realised it was based on the pagan stories. He worried if people found out they'd lose faith.

Sister Amelie (the one in the cell) was a really great scribe before she went in the cell. Father Thomas was lying to her about her visions, getting her to write what he wanted instead. She had no idea.

He killed the previous Abbot coz of that Historiae Tassieae book which mentioned the pagan stuff etc. The Baron also had a copy and needed to die.

Otto (was it?) said that he found proof that God was on their side and would reveal it that evening. He found the head of the Saint Moritz (from the ruined statue in the meadow) while building foundations for the rathaus. He took it to Father Thomas (who could read) and he saw it said "Mars Pater", and thus would unravel the pagan stuff again.

I found this out by exploring the ruins with Andreas. We stumbled into the weird bath bit which coincidentally was under the church. Sister Amalie thought it was a spiritual realm as she got there via digging her grave.

I thought it was a cool resolution!

Oh I got that yeah but Thomas didn't literally kill the Baron or Otto himself. He had Amalie write the notes and he delivered them to multiple people to bait someone into killing. Thomas killed the previous abbot and Claus only.

Oooh, right! I guess I didn't think too hard about it haha! I'm which case that is an interesting choice but I'm not too fussed about that all things considered!

Started this over the weekend - really loving it so far. Completed the first act and I'm pretty certain they executed the wrong person. Maybe I should have just kept out of it.

What a beautifully presented game it is.

Edge gave this a 9

Everything from thereon in delivers on that early promise of leaving your mark, the first act's setups producing a series of powerful, sometimes painful returns across the second and third. Few games have so affectingly depicted the ravages of time in the long term, or made you quite so acutely aware of its passage in the short. Yet despite its bleakness, Pentiment is profoundly life-affirming: a reminder of the value of that one brief moment we're given, the impact of our words and actions rippling ever onward. Granted, at times Sawyer's excellent script seems overly keen to demonstrate the extent of his research, while one lingering mystery is resolved a touch too neatly. Yet these blemishes are forgiven when the bigger picture is finally unveiled, a coup de théâtre that leaves us bowled over. One for gaming's history books? That's something upon which Pentiment's players can surely agree.

Rest of the scores -

Finished this yesterday, loved it, I'd probably give it a 9 as well.

This being on the service permanently means it keeps getting bumped down the list for me (despite being one of my most wanted to play games of the year). Currently playing Norco, and I feel I should really play Return to Monkey Island sooner rather than later. Then there is the final season of Walking Dead that has just been added. I did manage to squeeze in the new DLC for Citizen Sleeper at least.

It's an incredible problem to have though.

aayule1 wrote:
Memento Mori wrote:
aayl1 wrote:
Memento Mori wrote:
Finished the game and I was satisfied by the ending. Though I think not getting an explicit answer for who did the actual murders will be divisive.

I definitely did get one of those!

Edit:

MASSIVE SPOILERS

It was Father Thomas. He was trying to cover up the fact that the Christian story about the town (Saint Moritz or whoever's hand it was visiting the town, etc) was not true as he realised it was based on the pagan stories. He worried if people found out they'd lose faith.

Sister Amelie (the one in the cell) was a really great scribe before she went in the cell. Father Thomas was lying to her about her visions, getting her to write what he wanted instead. She had no idea.

He killed the previous Abbot coz of that Historiae Tassieae book which mentioned the pagan stuff etc. The Baron also had a copy and needed to die.

Otto (was it?) said that he found proof that God was on their side and would reveal it that evening. He found the head of the Saint Moritz (from the ruined statue in the meadow) while building foundations for the rathaus. He took it to Father Thomas (who could read) and he saw it said "Mars Pater", and thus would unravel the pagan stuff again.

I found this out by exploring the ruins with Andreas. We stumbled into the weird bath bit which coincidentally was under the church. Sister Amalie thought it was a spiritual realm as she got there via digging her grave.

I thought it was a cool resolution!

Oh I got that yeah but Thomas didn't literally kill the Baron or Otto himself. He had Amalie write the notes and he delivered them to multiple people to bait someone into killing. Thomas killed the previous abbot and Claus only.

Oooh, right! I guess I didn't think too hard about it haha! I'm which case that is an interesting choice but I'm not too fussed about that all things considered!

Actually, I think whoever you accuse will always be the murderer. The game uses the murders to propel the plot, but it's not really about solving a mystery. I don't think any choice you make can truly be considered wrong.

1.1 Patch Notes -

Endris has a new minigame that can be found at the beginning of Act 1
Logic issue with the Final Day of Law and Judgment has been fixed to prevent people from being condemned if they were never accused
Telling Father Gernot your evidence against a character in Act II will no longer automatically prevent you from speaking with that character in the future.There is now a Persuade check-in place that can allow the conversation to continue.
Credits have been adjusted and updated to contain various additions and fixes
Parallax has been added to the meadow
Credits speed can now be adjusted, speeding up, slowing down, pausing, or reversing
You can now skip the intro
Created hybrid input option that keeps mouse active when using keyboard and mouse
Added an instant dialogue display option
Fixed bugs with the input mapper
Various Bug Fixes and Improvements

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/13121 ... tch-notes/

twitter.com/Obsidian/status/1602444648944836608

Started this 3 days ago and it’s already probably my favourite game of the year. It feels a lot like Disco Elysium but with lighter mechanics and obviously a very different setting.
It’s great to be playing games in an era where you get one or two high quality games of this nature each year.
Oh, and the sound design with headphones on is excellent.

Act 1 complete. Absolutely love the tone and writing of this. It really does feel like the natural progression of the visual novel medium. I wonder just how different future playthroughs have the potential to be?

It's not the type of game I like tbh. I did enjoy the first hour or so with it though, very intriguing art style and I love how the fonts are different for different people, the weird spelling corrections are also well done, like the words are being written as you read them.

It's a game that apparently was only made possible with Gamepass after MS bought Obsidian according to Josh Sawyer:

"I never would have proposed making Pentiment without Game Pass. Like, I literally just wouldn't have done it. I just don't think it would have been possible," said Sawyer.

"The old mentality of publishers and developers is generally focussed on larger investments with higher ROI, and that's not the point in this environment, in this ecosystem."

"Game Pass is the only way in which I conceive of [Pentiment] being viable.

"For my own sake, making a game so different, I've completely shifted my thinking for Pentiment. It is so unusual, so niche, it's for a small audience, and as long as that audience is into it, that's fine."

twitter.com/Obsidian/status/1661805219393736705

Finished Pentiment this week, such a good little game.

Act I
I had a gut feel it was Martin and ruled out Lucky on the basis of lack of time. I had enough to pin the murder on the Sister (Martha?) but in the end dug up the grave and had more than enough to accuse Ferenc. He claimed innocence at death.

Act II
Much more of a head scratcher this one. By the end I really only had enough to pin it on Guy, but whilst I had 8 pages of guilt, it seemed a little roundabout. Hanna I just cottoned on to a little late. Casper did not leave Tassing. Guy claimed innocence at death

Act III
By Act II I had nailed down the Thread-Puller, but wasn't able to do anything with it. Found getting someone to read the Historia Tassitae impossible, which was frustrating. The comeback of Andreas was great, mainly as I forgot I thought he was a fakeout. Guessing you can get a non-Andreas version of Act III. Thomas as the big bad was clear to me, and he seemed to confirm Guy and Ferenc as the killers, but I guess he doesn't actually know as he just sent the notes out. Endris got the girl, as did the kitchen monk so I counted that as two wins. The heretic dude with Smokey was on the stake in the mural at the end.

Great game. Really curious how other people's games played out.

Pentiment | NSW/PC/PS/XB

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