Pentiment - Josh Sawyer's historical mystery narrative-driven game set in 16th century Bavaria

[Infinitron]

 

[Fedora Master]

You're spamming Tumblr and yet wonder why people are so hostile.

 

[HeroMarine]

You're spamming Tumblr and yet wonder why people are so hostile.

It's all part of the plan.

 

[Dadd]

https://www.tumblr.com/jesawyer/703574990848655360/hello-josh-in-tassing-most-of-its-denizens

Hello Josh!
In Tassing, most of its denizens' surnames seem to be more of a statement of their profession (Maler, Zimmerman, Bauer etc).

Is it a stylistic choice or was it a common thing in that period? If so, I have two additional questions:

1. What about Alban, Gertner or Stolz? My knowledge of German is very basic, but these seem to have not that much to do with characters' profession.
2. Historically, would they change when someone change their profession? It seems implied in Pentiment epilogue, in the family tree particular character does have their name changed based on their fate.

Thanks in advance for an answer and thank you for all your great work in the industry <3

It was not uncommon for surnames to reflect professions. Over time they would stick even if the family was no longer engaged in that trade. In my research, I found both surnames where the profession matched the family's (apparent) current occupations and ones where they did not. And many surnames were not profession surnames, but were tied to other things - many of which are lost to history. Not every surname can be cleanly traced to a specific origin even if there's historical evidence that it existed in a time and place.

My family name was once Sayer. It was an Austrian name that I've traced back to the late 16th century (Michael Sayer, b. 1590 in Vienna). Michael moved to what is now Baden-Württemberg in 1610. His descendants spread throughout the area. One of them, Georg Sayer, left Eningen (near Reutlingen) around 1750 and traveled down the Danube to settle in Apatin, Hungary (this was part of a larger movement promoted by Empress Maria Theresa and other Habsburgs that became known as the Danube Swabians or Donauschwaben migration).+

My great-grandfather, Josef Sayer, left Apatin for America in 1909. Sayers continue to exist in Germany, specifically in Baden-Württemberg. They no longer exist in Austria. What did the name mean? Why did my great-grandfather Anglicize our name to Sawyer? It is unlikely I will ever know, and it's like that for a lot of people.

Trace back further to the 12th century, it was Soyer, named after their soy-producing profession.

 

[Infinitron]

Soybeans are an East Asian crop and weren't widely known among Europeans until the 17th century.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

My family name was once Sayer. It was an Austrian name that I've traced back to the late 16th century (Michael Sayer, b. 1590 in Vienna). Michael moved to what is now Baden-Württemberg in 1610. His descendants spread throughout the area. One of them, Georg Sayer, left Eningen (near Reutlingen) around 1750 and traveled down the Danube to settle in Apatin, Hungary (this was part of a larger movement promoted by Empress Maria Theresa and other Habsburgs that became known as the Danube Swabians or Donauschwaben migration).+

weird that a minor migration would have its own name and be treated like a major event, I was told europe was full of migrants from africa and asia

 

[Utgard-Loki]

jew: why do the goyim persecute me so!?
jew a few seconds later:

 

[Ivan]

I'll give it a spin. It's F2P on GP. Hope it doesn't put me to sleep

it put me to sleep

 

[mediocrepoet]

jew: why do the goyim persecute me so!?
jew a few seconds later:

Not sure what the problem is. Is there a more Codexian image than a guy bending over and sucking his own cock? Think about it.

 

[good fucking shit happen]

jew: why do the goyim persecute me so!?
jew a few seconds later:

Not sure what the problem is. Is there a more Codexian image than a guy bending over and sucking his own cock? Think about it.

True dat, we have fucking Canucks around these here parts like you who smoke their own dicks like they be chingchongs that just found opium in there when not getting high on there own supply of fart stank.

 

[SophosTheWise]

I saw a few screenshots of Pentiment in the weeks/months leading up to the release. Thought it looked very nice and thought I'd give it a whirl eventually, since I'm a huge fan of early modern stuff. Didn't take the Disco Elysium comparisons too seriously and thought that it'd probably just be a small, fun game but nothing more.

And now here I am, not sure whether Elden Ring or Pentiment is my game of the year. Seriously, what a great title. Something about the conversations and gameplay loop is just unexplainably addicting to me.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[HeroMarine]

And now here I am, not sure whether Elden Ring or Pentiment is my game of the year.

 

[Jasede]

I pirated this "game" and didn't even last 5 minutes.

1) unskippable intro
2) weird eraser that takes too long to erase
3) 3 typos in five minutes
4) unskippable dream sequence with jesters right after an unskippable dream sequence

 

[Jvegi]

3) 3 typos in five minutes

I highly doubt it.

I'm playing it in small chunks and it's cool. Not much of a game so far, but I've seen worse. It's not for everybody, that's clear.

I'm playing with all easy fonts turned off. It's painful, but perhaps it'll get easier with time and then I'll finally be able to enjot Ultima VII.

 

[LostHisMarbles]

Not gonna lie, been bitching and bitching about the bicycle lesbian, but that interview Infinitron posted here?

Gotta admit the visual element's a killer; from illustrations, fonts, depiction, to UI, i admit i find those pics glorious to look at. No irony.
Assuming one doesn't find the typical incosistencies that are the fruit of "online" research.. tempting.
Am still held back (it's Josh either way you look at it), but, again.

Looks glorious. If incline were looks (in an era of "AAA" or "Indie" 2bits on purpose), this would be it.
Looks. No clue about content.

 

[agris]

Not gonna lie, been bitching and bitching about the bicycle lesbian, but that interview Infinitron posted here?

Gotta admit the visual element's a killer; from illustrations, fonts, depiction, to UI, i admit i find those pics glorious to look at. No irony.
Assuming one doesn't find the typical incosistencies that are the fruit of "online" research.. tempting.
Am still held back (it's Josh either way you look at it), but, again.

Looks glorious. If incline were looks (in an era of "AAA" or "Indie" 2bits on purpose), this would be it.
Looks. No clue about content.

For what it’s worth, it’s a captivating visual novel. The aesthetics are quite good, and really works together as a whole package. The vibes are top-notch. The sum is greater than the parts etc etc

It’s not an rpg, it’s not a point and click, it’s a VN with the highest production values that we’re likely to see in a while. Very different than Inkle’s Sorcery or those other CYOA games, as Pentiment is much more a VN.

It’s slow, dry, and the characters express themselves through different writing styles. It tries hard to put you into 1520s Bohemia, despite a few whiffs of modernist critique of gender roles. Those are few and far between.

I quite like it. If you want something more like an adventure game with similar vibes, check out Follett’s Pillars of the Earth. If you want something more like a CYOA, check out Life and Suffering of Sir Brante.

Pentiment had a bit of CYOA, but I wouldn’t go into it with those expectations as you’ll likely be disappointed.

 

[LostHisMarbles]

luj1 what's so hard to grasp?
That i like it strictly aesthetically speaking?
That one man's tastes need not be another's?

DU gives all the buttans for (all of) you to press, but we do have speech to employ.

Assuming you're so nu-gen the mere idea of one's liking this is alien to you:
Once upon a time, all books looked like that. They looked like that for more reasons than folks seem to grasp, today anyway.
The illustrations were not just the fruit of the illustrator's labour, they were more often than you'd know their only way of expressing a sentiment, disagreement, or mere touch of the personal into a body of work they had no liberty on. They were as important as the text itself, they required a knowledge as deep and esoteric as that for the very text itself to decipher, as often enough they hid segments deemed too important for the uninitiated to witness.
Likewise with fonts. Today it's 'pick what's pretty', but that's the usual decay and decline evident in everything cultural. They too used to be specific, targetted and illuminating. The choice of font alone dictated many a time whether what you had was for you (or your purposes) or not; right there. They further dictated lineage, the school the author had come from, and so much more.
So much info, on so many layers.

So yes, i enjoy seeing this. Even if it's all above most gaemz retards' heads.

We had Byzantine, Arabic and later on French cuisine. Now we have McDonald's.
We had literature as deep and complex as described above. Now we print-a mil-no one cares-read in tube station 'novels'.
That's why i loved what i saw here

 

[agris]

Luj1 has high standards, I expect he’s disgusted with this bc he expects an rpg.

Expectations are a bitch.

 

[LostHisMarbles]

I'm disgusted with Sawyer on many levels myself. Past a certain stage however, one can be both objective and butthurt at the same time

 

[Dadd]

The art style is reminiscent of LGBT tumblr art circa 2014

 

[agris]

The art style is reminiscent of LGBT tumblr art circa 2014

This hot take is not good. The art of the game is made up of a lot of different components, the weakest being the characters themselves. The fonts, manuscript illuminations, murals, buildings and general village/wilderness art plus the SecretAreas(TM) is quite good.

I was somewhat put off by the character art before I started playing, especially coming from Follett’s Pillars, but the art drives the game. And character art is not supreme; what sells it is all the other stuff.

 

[Dadd]

The art style is reminiscent of LGBT tumblr art circa 2014

This hot take is not good. The art of the game is made up of a lot of different components, the weakest being the characters themselves. The fonts, manuscript illuminations, murals, buildings and general village/wilderness art plus the SecretAreas(TM) is quite good.

I was somewhat put off by the character art before I started playing, especially coming from Follett’s Pillars, but the art drives the game. And character art is not supreme; what sells it is all the other stuff.

It's not a hot take. It's reality. To clarify I was talking about the character art.

 

[1451]

The graphics are nice, they look like medieval art that is animated which I guess was the purpose.

 

[Talby]

sub-60 iq puzzles (infant-level really),

This game was made in California to be played by journos after all.

So you're saying the puzzles should have been easier.