Pathologic: Difference between revisions

The second storyline is that of a Haruspex, Artemii Burakh, (pronounced 'Artemiy Boorahk'). He is the son of a resident who has just died, and he wants to take his father's place. However, the people's opinion is that he killed his father, so you always have to be on the run from angry mobs.

The game received many good reviews praising its atmosphere. Sadly, the English translation was [[Blind Idiot Translation|absolutely incomprehensible]] at times, which, coupled with the developer being practically unknown outside Russia, resulted in rather bad sales. (Though retranslation projects have been planned, none were ever finished.) Also note that this is not a game for everyone. As with many [[Survival Horror]] games, ''Pathologic'' has no parts that can really be considered conventionally "fun". From a technical standpoint, it didn't age well, and there's a lot to take in. It is, however, a very powerful, emotionally draining experience, and not to be missed.

* [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]: The game notably averts most of these. Many of the gameplay mechanics are surprisingly realistic - the [[In-Universe Game Clock]] is a [[Timed Mission|major constriction]] and is constantly ticking, enemies take few hits to kill but ammunition is scarce, using weapons or wearing clothes decreases their (very limited) durability, being [[Stupid Evil]] and reducing your [[Karma Meter]] will get you killed, etc. This may be one of the many reasons why the game is [[Nintendo Hard|maddeningly difficult]] and no part of it is described as "fun", even by fans.

** Also inverted on occasion, where prices will sometimes ''decrease'' on the next day. Increases are far more common, though.

* [[Anachronism Stew]] / [[Culture Chop Suey]]: The world of the game bears resemblance to a typical Siberian outpost city of [[Tsarist Russia]], circa the [[World War I]] period. But there are several much more modern elements present, especially in terms of clothing and medicine. Not to mention the many [[Low Fantasy]] elements, the [[Magic Realism|strange]], [[Purely Aesthetic Era|timeless atmosphere]] and the fact that [[Aerith and Bob|about a third of the characters have decidedly non-Russian names]]. Essentialy, the setting itself is as enigmatic as the cause of the disease and the [[Backstory|backstories]] of the various characters.

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Most characters, including the playable ones. Particularly the Haruspex, though, who even starts out with [[Hero with Bad Publicity|critically low Reputation]].

* [[Back Stab]]: Doing this with any melee weapon (any ''actual'' weapon, that is, not your fists) will result in a [[One-Hit Kill]]. Just hitting the person's back isn't good enough, though; you need to hit a ''very'' tiny area located around the base of the neck.

* {{spoiler|[[Beautiful Void]]}}: {{spoiler|Day 12.}}

* [[Betty and Veronica]]: Eve and Maria in Dankovski's scenario. Subverted, because Maria is only possibly in love with Dankovski. Also, {{spoiler|Eve commits suicide midway through the game}}.

* [[Big Freaking Gun]]: {{spoiler|The army's cannons used in the ending scenes are ''fucking giant''. And they're mounted on railroad tracks!}}

* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: [[Zig Zagged]]—the English language translation is very spotty. At times, it's a train wreck, at other times it's decent, and every now and then the incomprehensibility will actually add to the atmosphere. However, it can make it hard to know what to do. (The worst errors are in Day 3 and Day 6 in the Bachelor's scenario, as well as a letter on Day 12.)

* [[Boss Battle]]: Exactly one, and it isn't even necessary to progress the plot -- {{spoiler|Oyun}} in the Haruspicius' scenario, if you discover that {{spoiler|he killed Artemiy's father}}.

* [[Breakable Weapons]]: All weapons have 'durability' scores that go down when you use them. Though weapons can still be used even at 0% durability, the game averts [[Critical Existence Failure]]; melee weapons will dull and deal less damage, and ranged weapons will become less accurate. Fortunately, you can repair weapons for a modest sum by talking to a certain type of [[NPC]].

** The former is present throughout much of the gameplay: Despite being healers, the three playable characters have to cause a lot of death, and their morals (and general well-being) decay along with those of the towns' inhabitants.

** The latter is especially prevalent in {{spoiler|the [[Multiple Endings]] -- there is no truly "perfect" or "good" ending. All three of them are a tradeoff that require the sacrifice of one thing to save another.}}

* [[Closer to Earth]]: Compared to [[Judge, Jury, and Executioner|what we]] [[Utopia Justifies the Means|hear of]] [[All Crimes Are Equal|the other Inquisitors]], {{spoiler|Aglaja}}, the only female Inquisitor we know of, is extremely fair, kind, and reasonable. (Only ''relatively'', though—she's still quite terrifying in her own right.)

** The [[Rule of Three|trio]] of "aristocratic women" (Lara, Julia, and Anna) are also portrayed as much more level-headed and trustworthy than the actual ruling families, who are primarily male.

** Ospina, too.

* [[Critical Existence Failure]]: Limping around and heavily bleeding from innumerable bruises and cuts? No problem—you'll still be able to walk, aim, and fight exactly as well as when you're at 100% health. This wouldn't normally be that notable if it wasn't for the game's otherwise [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality|strict adherence]] [[Averted Trope|to realism]].

** Completely averted with the infection meter, though: the higher it gets, the faster it'll rise, the quicker you'll lose health, and the more disorienting the [[Interface Screw]] will be every subsequent time you're infected.

* [[Cutscene Power to the Max]]: Subverted. The opening cutscene of Artemiy's scenario shows him beating a group of armed muggers to death with his bare hands...however, once gameplay starts, it becomes apparent that the battle took its toll on him, as his [[Life Meter]] is at critical levels.

* [[Dark World]] / [[Genius Loci]] / [[World Gone Mad]]: The entire game...

* [[Disc One Nuke]]: It's possible to get a revolver and a decent amount of bullets on the first day in both the Bachelor's and Haruspicius' scenarios. Though the revolver isn't the greatest weapon, it'll allow you to survive encounters with relative ease, and you won't get any more guns until day 3 or 4.

** In the Bachelor's scenario, one reward for a sidequest on day 4 is a repellent cape, one of the best pieces of equipment in the game. Normally, the cape doesn't appear in shops for ''three more days''.

* [[Eldritch Location]]: ''A lot of them.'' But the "[[Bedlam House|Apiary]]", the [[Alien Geometries|Polyhedron]], and the town's gigantic Abbatoir take the cake...

** A weapon example is the revolver. It's relatively weak and pretty inaccurate, but its large magazine size allows you to fire multiple bullets in quick succession—useful for dealing with large mobs before you get the shotgun.

* [[Freudian Trio]]: The three lead characters qualify, despite the fact that they don't work as a team at all.

** [[The Spock]]: The Bachelor

** [[The McCoy]]: The Haruspex

** [[The Kirk]]: The Devotress

* {{spoiler|[[Gaia's Vengeance]]}}: {{spoiler|The infection is spreading because the ''earth'' is sick.}}

* [[Golden Ending]]: {{spoiler|Sort of. If you manage to save everybody's adherents during a playthrough, at the end sequence you get to choose between the three endings listed below. ''[[Nintendo Hard|Doing this is very hard]]''. Also, you get some extra Fourth Wall Breaking scenes from the theater too.}}

* [[Guide Dang It]]: A lot of sections, especially the effects of items—only a few actually have helpful descriptions, and there's little way to tell which foods are most efficient (bread and smoked meat, by the way). Fortunately, there ''is'' an [https://web.archive.org/web/20130903170718/http://www.pathologic-game.com/path_walkthrough_eng.pdf official guide] that is very helpful.

** There is a specific example that the walkthrough doesn't help with due to a wonky translation—in day 7 of the Bachelor's scenario, there's a sidequest that involves {{spoiler|collecting the mask and overall of an Executioner}}. However, there's a very narrow window of time for it to actually trigger—you need to talk to Mark Immortal after performing the penultimate step of the day quest, but before actually completing it. Semi-justified, since the sidequest relates to the day quest, but it's still bothersome that the game doesn't tell you this anywhere.

*** Even more specifically (also due to translation weirdness), there's one that's a [[Guide Dang It]] within ''the official guide itself''! In the section describing the aforementioned quest, the guide mentions that {{spoiler|the overall}} is in {{spoiler|a "pit" that's "opposite of the cemetery"}}. These are pretty confusing directions—what it's actually referring to is {{spoiler|a small, rectangular morgue that's on the other side of the train tracks, across from the cemetery}}.

** There's "harmful buffing" as well, of sorts - many medicines that boost your immunity have an adverse effect on your health and exhaustion as well, though not nearly to the extent of the powder.

** Though the powder is perhaps the most prominent example, due to the game's multiple survival meters, this happens for most healing items. Usually, something that restores one bar will reduce the other—for example, eating lemons will decrease exhaustion and increase immunity, but it'll also increase your hunger. Painkillers will allow you to gradually regenerate health, but greatly increase exhaustion. And so on...

* [[Healing Factor]]: Taking painkillers will cause you to regenerate health over time. It's very slow though; don't rely on it. They're best used right before sleeping, especially since [[Harmful Healing|they shoot your exhaustion through the roof as well]].