This vs Classic HD version.

[Strong Glass]

I have both. Unfortunately i can't run pathologic 2 smoothly. If i could, id play this one first (better graphics, apparently deeper lore and interactions).

If i play through on the classic HD version, how badly will i spoil myself?

[Tovarish Lieutenant]

Well in terms of plot Pathologic 2 is just like Pathologic HD, but with many various twists throught the game which were abstent in the original. Honestly, as a big Ice-Pick fan I prefer people to play original game first. It's a little junky, but somewhat more balanced and contain all three stories. Also, Pathologic 2 is aware of events of the original and plays around them with such elegance and villany, that it's impossible to appreciate all game developers ideas in terms of game design without experiencing first game.
So, if P2 is way too slow on your PC, PHD is kinda equivalent choice in merits of quality but just older.

[rusty_dragon]

You won't spoil yourself. Since second part is re-imagining.

Also Pathologic 1 is a full game unlike P2, and has much more refined gameplay mechanics. P2 has good graphics, but that's it. Devs made a number of very bad design choices in P2(like fake and tryhard difficulty by unrealistic starvation), reason why it sold so poorly and now struggling to progress in delivering remaining content(probably fans would never see two remaining characters in P2).

So I'd say everyone should play P1, to not spoil themselve with P2. Yes, P1 would feel not as much user friendly, because games of old not cared to break it down and put it simple for the player. But that's the beauty of old games, because they've made players thinking.

If you've bough Pathologic games, you are here for something special and different, a very artistic project. And you will get all of it with P1.

[Heikai]

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

Also Pathologic 1 is a full game unlike P2, and has much more refined gameplay mechanics. P2 has good graphics, but that's it.

Nonsense. P2 obviously has much more refined gameplay. Also my unpopular opinion is that P2 is already a complete enough game with just one campaign and doesn't necessarily need more. It was a drag to play through all the three campaigns in the original game. One time is enough unless the gameplay is drastically different. In the original game it wasn't.

PS. Because of this I'm happy that IPL has said that Bachelors's campaign will be in different genre. So it's something completely different. Good.

[rusty_dragon]

Originally posted by Heikai:

Originally posted by rusty_dragon:

Also Pathologic 1 is a full game unlike P2, and has much more refined gameplay mechanics. P2 has good graphics, but that's it.

Nonsense. P2 obviously has much more refined gameplay. Also my unpopular opinion is that P2 is already a complete enough game with just one campaign and doesn't necessarily need more. It was a drag to play through all the three campaigns in the original game. One time is enough unless the gameplay is drastically different. In the original game it wasn't.

PS. Because of this I'm happy that IPL has said that Bachelors's campaign will be in different genre. So it's something completely different. Good.

Well, tanked sales tell it makes all sense. ;)

But who said you should play all three campaigns? P2 is a mess, most of the studio's employees been fired, so it's unlikely those two more characters would save the game.

Will be in different genre? What?

[DerkestUnderd]

I platinumed the original game very recently and then tried to play 2 so I feel I'm a good person to answer this.

Spoiler wise, basically everything is different. They changed the layout of the town, the locations of characters, plot points and interactions, mechanics... At best you'll know a little more about the culture of the town but even that is much deeper in the sequel, but relying on some of the mechanics you might have abused in the original will get you killed in Pathologic 2. I had to restart after getting stuck in a loop of reloading a save and immediately getting stabbed to death with no escape.

My advice is play Classic HD, but then take a long break before playing 2. I jumped straight in and burnt myself out. I genuinelybelieve the sequel is the better game but I don't have the drive to pick it back up. I got 19 hours in and then a friend invited me to play something else and I couldn't find a reason to play Pathologic 2 instead. I was declining Overwatch, Stellaris and Minecraft invites with best friends due to the obsession I had with the original, but that same feeling isn't here for the sequel. I have my own theories as to why but for now I'm taking a break until I have the motivation to try again.

Hope that helps! And may Boddho caress your roots

[rusty_dragon]

This. ^

But when you actually pick sequel up, you might find it's not what you think.

[petrichorus]

Honestly, I think it's certainly worth playing Classic HD first. Be aware that graphically it is a lot worse, it is much easier to cheese once you figure out the mechanics, its characters are nowhere near as deep (even though most of them have the same names), and the story is significantly less nuanced. Also it can get really boring (there's no sprint and no fast travel, so be prepared to do a LOT of walking).

I hesitate to call it a good game, but it is a very interesting game, and it's worth playing just for the comparison to 2 (which is a much better game in my opinion).

[Strong Glass]

I've spent about 30 hours and got somewhere before in Classic version. Thanks for the replies. Ill play classic one first and then later on, when i can, play the 2nd.

[rusty_dragon]

Originally posted by Void Vellax:

I've spent about 30 hours and got somewhere before in Classic version. Thanks for the replies. Ill play classic one first and then later on, when i can, play the 2nd.

It's a great game for what it does. Ignore people who are saying that it's easy or have no difficulty. They say it from the position of a power gamer, who look for every opportunity to abuse the system. If you play game fairly you'll find not only it has great mechanics that create atmosphere through gameplay not policing of the player, but game that offers great replayability.

Good luck, man. Wish you fun with the game.

[Komaru]

Originally posted by Void Vellax:

I have both. Unfortunately i can't run pathologic 2 smoothly. If i could, id play this one first (better graphics, apparently deeper lore and interactions).

If i play through on the classic HD version, how badly will i spoil myself?

It's much harder to start from Pathologic 1, because that game is just so painfully slowpaced and buggy. However you could still start your jorney from Pathologic 2, even on mediocre pc, if you use a framerate limiter to force the game run on 30fps instead of 60fps.

[Komaru]

Originally posted by Edward Carnby:

I just played the Pathologic 2 demo and I am so glad I took the time to do that instead of buying Pathologic 2. Like you, I could not stop playing the first game until I finished it. I absolutely despise the second game based on the demo. I think it's awful, and have no desire to play this game at all. I don't like the graphics. I don't like the dialog. I don't like the changes to the game play. The music is terrible. It sounds more like noise than music. I completely understand why this game has flopped.

Pathologic 2 demo is almost entirely different game compared to the final product.
Like it's not same at all. It's not really even "demo". It's more like an alpha version of the game.

They later released the demo as Marble Nest dlc, because it was so different compared to the actual game that it wasn't even canon in the storyline. The demo is like a filler arc in some anime show.

[Komaru]

Originally posted by Edward Carnby:

Originally posted by Komaru:

Pathologic 2 demo is almost entirely different game compared to the final product.
Like it's not same at all. It's not really even "demo". It's more like an alpha version of the game.

They later released the demo as Marble Nest dlc, because it was so different compared to the actual game that it wasn't even canon in the storyline. The demo is like a filler arc in some anime show.

Unfortunately, I just played the actual game on PC Game Pass and it didn't change my opinion of the game that much.

BTW The demo is not really that different than the main game. I played the second demo.

Okay then, I have nothing that can change your opinion, and there's nothing wrong with it.
However is the first one really that much better, with all the bugs, ultra slow gameplay pacing, horrible english (GO ONION), economy balancing cheats, etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vNY8xPDKcs

Atleast Pathologic 2 fixed most of those problems.

[Komaru]

Originally posted by Edward Carnby:

We definitely see things differently.

There is no question the first one had problems with pacing and horrible English, among other problems. (I didn't really have any notable problems with bugs.)

The problem is that the second game loses a LOT of it's character and atmosphere. In my brief time playing (it was all I could stand) I did not like what they did to virtually every character I came across. The Executors, Aspity, Mark Immortell, the Changeling, Bad Grief, the general, and the inquistitor. The sound effects were irritating and the writing for the characters may have been in better English but it was boring and lost most of it's sense of humor. Not to mention the change in the save system alone would have stopped me playing the game.

I have no issue with that opinion whatsoever, but that doesn't explain why the game didn't sell, because most players don't seem to have issues with the atmosphere, or even with the writing.

Instead most of the criticism against Pathologic 2 comes from the harsh & brutal difficulty mixed with the slow pacing of the game. That is the reason why they added difficulty meters as a patch to the game. Therefore Pathologic 2 would sell even less, if it was more like Pathologic 1.

You can read more about why the game didn't sell from this interview:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/03/the-difficulty-with-pathologic-2s-difficulty/

[Heikai]

Originally posted by Edward Carnby:

Did you ever look at the percentage of people who finished the first game? I think it was 3.4% of all people who owned the game. Why would they think it was a good idea to make it even more difficult?

The low percentage is because the game was so monotonous gameplay wise. It's just walking from dialogue to dialogue and dumpster diving. The story is not very approachable either with so many characters introduced so quickly, and difficult, lengthy writing style.

I can maybe understand liking the first game more if you just want to read the story, and not engage with the gameplay too much.

[Yuga-Suggah]

Originally posted by Komaru:

Originally posted by Edward Carnby:

We definitely see things differently.

There is no question the first one had problems with pacing and horrible English, among other problems. (I didn't really have any notable problems with bugs.)

The problem is that the second game loses a LOT of it's character and atmosphere. In my brief time playing (it was all I could stand) I did not like what they did to virtually every character I came across. The Executors, Aspity, Mark Immortell, the Changeling, Bad Grief, the general, and the inquistitor. The sound effects were irritating and the writing for the characters may have been in better English but it was boring and lost most of it's sense of humor. Not to mention the change in the save system alone would have stopped me playing the game.

I have no issue with that opinion whatsoever, but that doesn't explain why the game didn't sell, because most players don't seem to have issues with the atmosphere, or even with the writing.

Instead most of the criticism against Pathologic 2 comes from the harsh & brutal difficulty mixed with the slow pacing of the game. That is the reason why they added difficulty meters as a patch to the game. Therefore Pathologic 2 would sell even less, if it was more like Pathologic 1.

You can read more about why the game didn't sell from this interview:
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/03/the-difficulty-with-pathologic-2s-difficulty/

I would say the difficulty setting should be considered "tediously hard" which is what the game thematically should be. But it's not a fun, and more importantly, marketable difficultly. Imagine people talking about this game "IGN Rates this game 9.5-Tediously Hard". The game isn't very game-y and the story really appeals to kind of a rare set of people, people who know a lot about gaming, theater, and tragedy. And honestly, I think it's the actual theme and dramaturological presentation that makes it not palletable for a lot of people and probably even more difficult to market.