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astralartefact · 6 months ago

Text

Placeholder Name for Atarase's Media Diary

Entry 008 - Pentiment <<Prev: Starfield:Shattered Space

Synopsis

The whimsy of a big-city artist makes a small south Bavarian township discover that maybe religion, politics and gender roles are kind of a big deal.

How much did I know before playing?

Not much, I've seen this game somewhere before and thought huh neat but then proceeded to completely forget it existed... until now

Did I like it more than I expected?

I literally played this on a whim so I did not have expectations; that being said it's pretty good.

And since we're talking about expectations while talking about an Obsidian game - I'm also one of the three people that has not played New Vegas. Please don't look at the previous entry in this diary. No, I don't want to talk about it.

Since I liked it, here's what I hated about it

Okay, this feels like an out-of-character thing for me to critique as an anti-history nerd who detests being made to remember arbitrary facts - which means I could very well be wrong on this - and ultimately I don't really care that much either and I think I even can make sense of it in a gigabrain kind of way, but. As someone who lives relatively close to where this game is set this just occupied a little space in my brain while playing this:

The architecture design of this game doesn't seem right at all.

I don't have some bullet-proof argument to make, after all there aren't all that many villages around that preserved all details of their structures from way back in the 1500s, but it just didn't feel right that I didn't recognize the architecture of this game at all when I live pretty close to where this game is set - and that's especially confusing in a game that clearly is very invested in historical accuracy (the game literally cites their bibliography at the end of the credits). I don't know, it's just something about the texturelessness of the white infills, the timber framing feels too narrow and too clean, the color and texture of stone surfaces doesn't look right even if it maybe is actually accurate, same with the very geometric, big shapes structure of the cloister.

I do think the latter actually makes some sense looking at it from the perspective that *spoilers* the game builds heavily to the reveal that the history of the town is far more roman than the church likes to admit? The architecture style of the cloister seems very roman and the architecture of the town houses (but notably not their arrangement) reminds me more of mock-ups I've seen of roman castrum towns around the Limes (which would be close enough to where the game is set) than of old pictures of historic german buildings i've seen - so I guess that could all be intended as a little hint towards keen-eyed players.

But even looking at it that way what's in the game just reminds me more of what houses look like in generic Medieval Fantasy Animes than anything else and that made it feel a little bit less like "this is literally right here somewhere in Bavaria." Like, I can look at a house in Manor Lords and say "Yup, I've seen an old barn like that around here somewhere" and I didn't really do that for any of the architecture in this game.

It's also a bit of a headscratcher for me given how historically accurate the game presents itself. Like, they go out of their way to have an "period accurate walking cycle" but they couldn't look up a couple of old buildings? And now we have several articles commending the game for its dedicated historical accuracy... but I guess that's a journalism problem

Another thing I didn't really like is that the contents of the Third Act Mural didn't have any narrative impact at all, I played the entire third act going like "okay, i have to be at least a little bit pro-church or else the inquisitors are going to fckin kill us with those guns they've threatened me with" and yet turns out? didn't matter at all lol, what does matter is that i talked to a pagan a little bit too long, that made him do that to other people too which in turn got him killed. turns out i'm an enabler ._.

Also for those murals in particular, while I liked that you basically choose them post-mortem I didn't like that they only really explain the implications of your choice after you made it, especially since the character that asks you what you chose immediately berates you with every textbook nuance you probably didn't think about. If you want me to learn that stuff you should probably tell me before, now I just feel stupid even if I thought of some of those nuances.

also "Mags" doesn't really make sense as a nickname for the german pronounciation of Magdalene (ma as in mama) and I'm kind of mad the german localization kept it unchanged

What did this game make me think about?

Gender Roles. Classic. Oldie but Goldie as they say.

Specific Impressions that will stick with me

The font typing of the dialogue is so cool. Like, the typos are randomized to some degree which means it's built in to the code of the text animation?? That's so cool. (ngl though, i think the typos happen way too often)

And using the font to tell something about the social standing of the speaker and then, every once in a while when talking to a character for the second time they show the change of their font when the player character realizes their first impression doesn't actually align with the person they're talking to only to then use it with the dramatic purple font at the end gaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh so cool so so so so so cool

Outstanding Audio

The music swelling in dramatic moments was really well done.

Favorite Character

Okay, guys, this is embarassing to admit but... I really liked the doctor guy, something about him is kind of hot... That has never really been my type of character, I think mean characters are most of all annoying, but... I think I get it now.

I know I can fix him. because i did

Favorite Arc/Story Line

Looking at how interconnected the 3 arcs are it's kind of hard to pick one, but I think the first arc was my favorite, the other two felt a little bit more restrictive in a way I didn't love.

I did like Mags a lot more than Andreas though...

Favorite Set Piece

I really liked the eating scenes and the story book scenes, especially the one with Sebhat.

Favorite Scene

I already mentioned some (I will think about the purple font change for a while...) but also the reveal in Act 3, you always know something's up when your character leaves, but the camera view doesn't fade away...

German Localization Notes

This is my moment. This is somehow exactly what I made this section for and I didn't even know.

I'm pretty confident in saying that if you can speak German playing this game in German will make the experience of playing this game several times better. Not in an "the English version sucks" way, in a "it just makes sense" way.

There were several points in the game where I had to remind myself that this game wasn't made by a German indie dev or something because it just all fits together really well. The English writers did their research (well, except for the architecture) and the Localization managed to make it feel like this is exactly how it was meant to be played. I feel bad that I don't really have anything specific to point to - but in my defense maybe that's just a sign of how natural the dialogue felt to me. There was nothing "noteworthy" sticking out for me to analyze. It all just felt right.

And combining that with the setting? Crazy. I'm glad I played this game just for the German of it all.

It makes me wonder if it's easier or harder to localize a game that "should" be set in the language your translating it into. I can imagine a bit of both, I think while it's easier to know how it "should" sound, how the characters "should" speak - that same thing also goes for the audience. Whatever the case may be - the German Localization knocked it out of the park with this one...

except for mags why did you keep that!?!?!?

--- ENTERING THE PRETENTIOUS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY ---

What about this game gives me Hope for the future of gaming?

If you're ever feeling down on the industry, this is one of those games that makes you a little bit more confident in the future of gaming "as an art form". You don't need unlimited funds to make an interesting and insightful game, you just need means of production (not in a communist way... but also not not in a communist way), good planning and something to say.

What about this game makes me scared for the future of gaming?

Listen, I don't care all that much about the fact they got the architecture wrong, even now I would at most bring that up as a little fun fact in a conversation about it. The only reason I'm kind of cheesed off about it is that when I went to look it up everyone went wild about the stupid walking cycle as the pinnacle of accuracy when they got something so relatively fundamental wrong, especially when the framing of the story is particularly focused on the history of the Romans in southern Bavaria. When the big thing the game wants to tell you is about how the past, present and future connect. When it wants to impart how actively learning from the past will ultimately help you to presently commit better things to the future.

Like yeah, in that context it would have been nice if you could have looked up a German building from the 1500s or the structure of a Roman castrum town - which you should probably have stumbled over during your research. Also, that sort of town structure would have been perfect for a hidden in plain sight reveal. Who cares that there was absolutely not a single way one of those towns would have survived into the 1500s - that's something to break with historical accuracy for! also p sure the town layout doesn't make sense anyways

So it's kind of weird that you're sub-textually lecturing me about how important learning, knowing and growing from our history is while in context talking about roman architecture where ...you didn't really do the things you're talking about, at least not holistically. Like... do you know what you're talking about? I think so, but... bad mistake to make if you want to prove that.

But hey, at least there are some Hyperspecific Lore Details that we can parade around, that's all we need to commend the entire game for its outstanding accuracy, because what's Understanding but learning arbitrary history facts.

Also, just for whoever needs to read it: No, none of this broke my suspension of disbelief because I'm a big boy who knows stories aren't real.

The Ramble Section where I get to actually talk about what I thought about

Marriage is really one of those things, huh. Just a constant that most of our civilization has only now considered might not be all that necessary - or let's call it sacred - but it's still everywhere. The three things family members that don't actually really know what you're about will talk about is the food, your work and then your love life. The food is lacking something... anyways how much money do you make and when can I expect children? Those are the constants. We all eat, We all work, We all procreate. Right?

Right.

I guess next time your weird uncle asks you to "hide your girlfriend" when he's announcing himself before entering the room - a lot of assumptions he never really thought about in a sentence he feels really adamant about saying - let's all take a moment to remember that that's an enduring piece of living history from all the way back in the 1500s and prior.

#pentiment #atarasemediadiary

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