Sat on this for a while, but despite its charms and fantastic ideas, I think I'd much rather just pick up and reread the many books I've read or was taught about from the period rather than force myself to find something more in Pentiment.
I have the benefit of being somewhat familiar with the setting, so much of that time period was taught to us at school. It is a big part of my country's history, it was our golden age after all. Name of the Rose comes up a lot when discussing Pentiment, one of the many books we had to read surrounding that period of time, and it is definitely very inspired by it, but there's also clearly a great deal of research that went into creating believable and exciting scenarios for the game to remain interesting throughout its entire runtime. I love the way this game looks and that strive for an enjoyable mystery within the framework it set for itself. For most I assume it would be the feeling of something unique and exciting, but for me it was the old, comforting familiar feeling that drew me into Pentiment.
The way you explore the gameworld is through a set of predetermined interactions that are available to you at a given time, you are supposed to select which one you want to spend your limited time on. Some interactions do not pass time, and it is usually indicated by a character specifically asking whether you want to spend it on this particular action. The game sets up these rules to make passage of time a very important narrative and gameplay element, making the most of the time and chances given, dealing with the consequences of the choices made under its constraints, etc.
So when any cracks start to show within the logic of the gameplay or the narrative, or when one begins to clash with another, the believability and investment begin to dwindle. Unfortunately, my playthrough led me to a few too many. The game taught me that walking and exchanging simple words with certain people isn't a time-consuming action, but when I needed one character to be outside in a certain time of day, not an unreasonable one like the middle of the night or anything, I was simply unable to. Said character knew we were supposed to meet and was supposed to pass me a cure for a person that was dying, who was unable to come and get it themselves. But I couldn't do that, the game blocked me from following up on that, even though I was promised earlier that I could come pick it up the same day. I couldn't save the life of a character I really enjoyed interacting with due to an artificial reason, not a narrative one or one that was necessarily the consequence of my actions. This situation arose because it was ultimately a game and didn't set up a proper trigger for me to interact with. What's worse, a completely unrelated trigger with a different character in the same area caused the character I needed to appear to join in this activity, but afterwards they were gone once more and I could not interact with them!
Plenty of other, similar moments began popping up. I uncover a lead that I could undoubtedly confront a person with, but the game didn't set up a trigger for me to do that. I walk up to a person, their family and loved ones and they cheerfully go "Hello!" and that's that, even though I have in my posession a damning piece of evidence that would undoubtedly end up with a death sentence. Pentiment too often clashes with any idea that might pop up in a player's head because its systems are so rigid. This ultimately ties to the story it tries to tell in a way, but it is done so artificially that I simply could not find enough investment or emotion in it.
Nothing but disappointment really sticks with me from my own playthrough, yet when I take a look at it I find it difficult to not feel generally positive towards Pentiment. A clear labor of love only made possible thanks to the GamePass, beautiful art, so many stories of other people going through it and having these fantastic realizations. I know that somewhere where I haven't gone myself there is a potential for an enthralling story, and that it is entirely possible to avoid the trappings I fell into. There are some profound moments that, should enough investment be built, I think will stick with others for a long time. I would lie if the praise it gets didn't bug me somewhat, I experienced a far different game than most, but even I find it to be very charming, so I understand what an amazing feeling a perfect run of this game must feel like. I, too, loved the early moments, when I was fully invested in the history of Tassing.
I have the benefit of being somewhat familiar with the setting, so much of that time period was taught to us at school. It is a big part of my country's history, it was our golden age after all. Name of the Rose comes up a lot when discussing Pentiment, one of the many books we had to read surrounding that period of time, and it is definitely very inspired by it, but there's also clearly a great deal of research that went into creating believable and exciting scenarios for the game to remain interesting throughout its entire runtime. I love the way this game looks and that strive for an enjoyable mystery within the framework it set for itself. For most I assume it would be the feeling of something unique and exciting, but for me it was the old, comforting familiar feeling that drew me into Pentiment.
The way you explore the gameworld is through a set of predetermined interactions that are available to you at a given time, you are supposed to select which one you want to spend your limited time on. Some interactions do not pass time, and it is usually indicated by a character specifically asking whether you want to spend it on this particular action. The game sets up these rules to make passage of time a very important narrative and gameplay element, making the most of the time and chances given, dealing with the consequences of the choices made under its constraints, etc.
So when any cracks start to show within the logic of the gameplay or the narrative, or when one begins to clash with another, the believability and investment begin to dwindle. Unfortunately, my playthrough led me to a few too many. The game taught me that walking and exchanging simple words with certain people isn't a time-consuming action, but when I needed one character to be outside in a certain time of day, not an unreasonable one like the middle of the night or anything, I was simply unable to. Said character knew we were supposed to meet and was supposed to pass me a cure for a person that was dying, who was unable to come and get it themselves. But I couldn't do that, the game blocked me from following up on that, even though I was promised earlier that I could come pick it up the same day. I couldn't save the life of a character I really enjoyed interacting with due to an artificial reason, not a narrative one or one that was necessarily the consequence of my actions. This situation arose because it was ultimately a game and didn't set up a proper trigger for me to interact with. What's worse, a completely unrelated trigger with a different character in the same area caused the character I needed to appear to join in this activity, but afterwards they were gone once more and I could not interact with them!
Plenty of other, similar moments began popping up. I uncover a lead that I could undoubtedly confront a person with, but the game didn't set up a trigger for me to do that. I walk up to a person, their family and loved ones and they cheerfully go "Hello!" and that's that, even though I have in my posession a damning piece of evidence that would undoubtedly end up with a death sentence. Pentiment too often clashes with any idea that might pop up in a player's head because its systems are so rigid. This ultimately ties to the story it tries to tell in a way, but it is done so artificially that I simply could not find enough investment or emotion in it.
Nothing but disappointment really sticks with me from my own playthrough, yet when I take a look at it I find it difficult to not feel generally positive towards Pentiment. A clear labor of love only made possible thanks to the GamePass, beautiful art, so many stories of other people going through it and having these fantastic realizations. I know that somewhere where I haven't gone myself there is a potential for an enthralling story, and that it is entirely possible to avoid the trappings I fell into. There are some profound moments that, should enough investment be built, I think will stick with others for a long time. I would lie if the praise it gets didn't bug me somewhat, I experienced a far different game than most, but even I find it to be very charming, so I understand what an amazing feeling a perfect run of this game must feel like. I, too, loved the early moments, when I was fully invested in the history of Tassing.