The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante - obscure Russian narrative RPG

[Heroic Liberator]

Its more about replayability. Devs are saying one playthrough takes about 10-15h, of course depending mainly on your reading speed. It took me about 3h to finish the first 2 chapters, out of 4 total, but especially the last chapter is supposed to be much longer than the first 2. So probably 10h for one playthrough is a pretty accurate estimate.

edit: actually not even sure about the 4 chapters, maybe its 5 total? Anyway, dev estimation stands at 10-15h

It's five in total, the 4th being somewhat longer and the 5th being much shorter.

Also, it took me around 8 hours to finish the game while reading all the text and rewinding some chapters a few times.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

I didn't care that my family died. Except Gloria. Why can't we bang our half sister?

 

[Maxie]

obscure

soy

russian

cringe

narrative rpg

bataille

 

[Verylittlefishes]

obscure

soy

russian

cringe

narrative rpg

bataille

Well if Infinitron would allow to review this game for Codex, bataille is actually the best writer I can think of.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Wow, this is so Game of Thrones.

It is indeed. Particularly since to get the ending I wanted I had to sacrifice my family to a mob. Although both endings which I've had based on that variable were alright.

Spoiler

If I saved my family, I had to either achieve a meh victory with Anizotte being subsequently reintegrated into the Empire by force when enemy reinforcements came OR to take Sophia's side rather than becoming the leader of the revolt myself.

In the latter case:

By sacrificing my family though...

Still gonna do a rebel path replay to see if I can achieve a more Reign of Terror style ending with the PC as the equivalent to Robespierre.

 

[Gradenmayer]

4th chapter is the longest and changes a lot depending on which of the 3 paths you took (though in 2 of them I played, Brante ends up as mediator between 2 powers).
Was actually surprised devs didn't wiggle out of having to make a decent branching plot like a lot of these "choice and consequence" games like to do.
Overall it is fun, thou it's more of a management game than RPG after the 3rd chapter.
Didn't like that in faith route hero plays mediator as well, I wanted holy war between old and new faith or some shit.
Game is 10 hour long+ 8 from replays (with average reading pace). Worth it's price.

 

[fantadomat]

romance the high noble girl

don't know if a pathetic cuck like you could do it.......but my romance with her turned her in to a elf like alien that flew away from this dimension.

 

[fantadomat]

The game is pretty fun and tells an interesting story,the setting is also pretty based. Good times all around. The biggest problems are that the stats are pretty annal at time and kind off railroad you in to one direction. So there is a bit of illusion of choice. You end up with three obvious paths,noble,priest or degenerate sjw bitch. A bit of choices end up nowhere,and there is not that many choices in general. Also the UI is very slow and annoying,it makes replaying a chapter a chore. Maybe i should do a priest replay,it seems to be a decent amount of interesting lore. Also the sjws are really annoying.....just like in real life.

 

[Rzorrz]

This game is painfully Russian. If you know just about anything about Russian obsession with grimderp in games (because they take grimdark to such levels it just can't be taken serious anymore, despite served as such), the whole "appeal" of this... thing falls apart. Played it and realised two minutes in it displays the serf mentality as core point of the whole plot. Endured it until 3rd chapter and then just dropped, but stopped having fun much, much earlier. "Oh woe me: The CYOA", with this boring, uninspired mudcore setting of "EVERYTHING is dark, evil, corrupt, hopeless and grinds you down".
Why Ruskies are like this? You would think after the shit they had throughout their history, the last thing they would want to make is more of the same.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

It's called realism, Rzorrz. Your average Western fantasy setting in video games tends to have more in common with today's sanitized children's fables than with medieval European history.

As for this game in particular, I don't think that it ever crossed that line where it became edgy in an infantile way. Whether you like low & dark fantasy or not is a matter of personal taste, but grimdark in itself can be done both well and poorly.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

This game is painfully Russian. If you know just about anything about Russian obsession with grimderp in games (because they take grimdark to such levels it just can't be taken serious anymore, despite served as such)

"EVERYTHING is dark, evil, corrupt, hopeless and grinds you down"

It's called realism, Rzorrz

People in Russia honestly don't understand what's so "such grimdark that it can't be taken seriously anymore". It's just realism for us. Western snowflakes))

 

[fantadomat]

It's called realism, Rzorrz. Your average Western fantasy setting in video games tends to have more in common with today's sanitized children's fables than with medieval European history.

As for this game in particular, I don't think that it ever crossed that line where it became edgy in an infantile way. Whether you like low & dark fantasy or not is a matter of personal taste, but grimdark in itself can be done both well and poorly.

Yeah,tho it is not even dark to be honest. I didn't come by any muh grimdark shit.....outside of me wfiu turning in to some flying goblin.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

This game is painfully Russian. If you know just about anything about Russian obsession with grimderp in games (because they take grimdark to such levels it just can't be taken serious anymore, despite served as such)

It's called realism, Rzorrz

People in Russia honestly don't understand what's so "such grimdark that it can't be taken seriously anymore". It's just realism for us. Western snowflakes))

This, but unironically. W*stoids are so deluded that they mistake realism for edginess. And its reverse applies just as well - high fantasy settings in Western CRPGs tend to be infantile and caricatural in their portrayal of their medievalesque fictional societies not because they are meant to imitate fables, but because their utopian thinking can't go beyond the rudimentary black and white morality which is characteristic of fables. And the same shit applies to the increasing pozz found within these settings - they are a reflection of their philosophical idealism which informs their real world politics. In the minds of BioWare & co., beyond pandering to vocal SJW troglodytes with their forced inclusivity, many of those working within this industry honestly believe that the culture of a society is detached from the material conditions in which it finds itself and that a wokeoid utopia could've existed in medieval times just as well.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

"EVERYTHING is dark, evil, corrupt, hopeless and grinds you down"

take grimdark to such levels it just can't be taken serious anymore

I can say this about The Age Of Decadence, though (also developed by ex-USSR citizens).

 

[Rzorrz]

It's called realism.

Yes, the extreme, over-the-top caricature that is mudcore is "realism". And we want to have more of shit in fiction, because world outside the window isn't shit already. Because what everyone needs is some more downbeating.
God, I'm glad we kicked you from our country those 30 years ago. Even the hobby improved once the Russian-themed influences died, because people finally were willing to play something ELSE than wallowing in shit simulators by early 00s.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

fantasy settings in Western CRPGs tend to be infantile and caricatural in their portrayal of their medievalesque fictional societies not because they are meant to imitate fables, but because their utopian thinking can't go beyond the rudimentary black and white morality which is characteristic of fables.

Btw, I think that was the thing that made Game Of Thrones so fascinating to read/watch: there are no "good" characters here, you can always understand the motivation of "bad" characters, and crowd-favourite waifu turns out to be (Spoiler alert to 2019 show that everyone saw) literal Hitler in the end.

God, I'm glad we kicked you from our country those 30 years ago.

Hohol, is it you?

 

[Heroic Liberator]

It's called realism.

Yes, the extreme, over-the-top caricature that is mudcore is "realism". And we want to have more of shit in fiction, because world outside the window isn't shit already. Because what everyone needs is some more downbeating.
God, I'm glad we kicked you from our country those 30 years ago. Even the hobby improved once the Russian-themed influences died, because people finally were willing to play something ELSE than wallowing in shit simulators by early 00s.

Enjoy eating from your trashcan, comrade.

Spoiler

And just in case I wasn't clear, I am not advocating for all fiction to be turned into grimderp. Yet the creators of any fictional setting should have the necessary self-awareness to know what ideological underpinnings their work will have.

 

[AwesomeButton]

It just so happens that I recently watched the 2005 costume drama "Bleak House", an adaptation of the Dickens novel, and I'm halway through the novel "Chevengur". So in this context, I don't think you are being just to The Life and Suffering if you call that "too dark", it's not too dark compared to these fine examples, but it's certainly not as well-crafted as they are.

The main issue the game has for me is that while the text is the medium through which the player forms his perception of the world, the text itself is not graphic enough. It lacks descriptiveness and feels more like the script for a game that was going to be realized with actual graphics than a text that was written solely for reading.

Maybe I'm just not advanced enough through the plot yet. I did like the fact that I found myself making decisions based on feelings, so it did provoke me emotionally regardless of my complaints.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

It lacks descriptiveness and feels more like the script for a game that was going to be realized with actual graphics than a text that was written solely for reading.

It certainly is a possibility, depending on how well this one will sell. The Talisman universe is huge, it includes many fantastical syberian LARPS (since late 1990s!), rulebooks (see spoiler) and a couple tons of lore. I think Brante is just a test slice for what they can offer.

Spoiler

Also I stumbled upon some interesting notes to 2014 LARP (in Russian), setting's creator states here that he was inspired by Begman's Seventh Seal and Camus' Plague. Also key themes are defined: dealing with personal death, decline of the civilization, culture's existence, need of God, future of humanity, art as an escapism and a vehicle for survival:

Spoiler

1. Столкновение с личной смертью. Корнелий — это просто метафора смерти каждого из нас, которая рано или поздно приходит. Отношения с ней — попытки ее понять, договорится, оправдаться перед ней, принять — с этим нам хотелось столкнуть игроков, дать возможность найти свои «слова» для этой встречи, найти способ жить и способ умирать.

2. Гибель цивилизации или «что делать если у тебя очень плохой «Бог»?» Эта тема существует для меня в контексте современной российской цивилизации, самопожирания культуры, исторического апокалипсиса, который, как мне кажется, уже наступил. Для меня эта тема упрощалась до вопроса: может ли самоубийство цивилизации, быть единственным правильным и этичным шагом? Бывает ли смерть «правее» жизни, особенно в историческом масштабе?

3. Может ли человек научить «Бога» или может ли человек творить культуру, а не быть лишь ее проявлением?

4. Как зарождается новая культура и обновляется цивилизация? Как появляется новый порядок жизни, новые отношения людей друг с другом? Может ли человек вырваться за рамки культурно-исторической определенности? Может ли человек быть человеком даже в абсолютно бесчеловечном мире?

5. И искусство. Искусство как вторая реальность, превосходящая первую. Искусство — как рефлексия и как миро-творчество, как способ найти оправдание и надежду для себя и мира.

P.S. also the setting once was positioned as "dramatic anti-fantasy" which is incline.
P.P.S. found a huuuuuge Livejournal post of author about LARPs in general, existentialism and Talisman setting history (in Russian).

 

[Antigoon]

Damn the third chapter is really short, bit disappointing that

Spoiler

Sophia and Tommas are still around offering all kind of support and options even if you did everything to alienate them

 

[Axioms]

Honestly Tommas has a way better ending than me, the hero. So jelly

 

[Harthwain]

Yes, the extreme, over-the-top caricature that is mudcore is "realism". And we want to have more of shit in fiction, because world outside the window isn't shit already. Because what everyone needs is some more downbeating.

I agree that some games go into the extreme, over-the-top caricature by trying to be too grim and too dark to be realistic. And while I agree it's unrealistic, I still find this approach to be more believable (and as such - preferable) in the end. Because the world is more likely to be shitty than it is to be full of sunshine and rainbows. Additionally, after being confronted with such a depressing depiction of the world, you are more likely to appreciate what you've got here, on this earth. This is why some people watch horror movies: it's easier to cope with reality, when in the back of your mind you have the idea of how bad it could've been.

When looking for an ideal I'd point to something like a Game of Thrones or Battle Brothers, where the level of shitness in the world is kept realistic (for a fictional world). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a part of the reason for the success of George R. R. Martin's books.

 

[The Jester]

I like misery.

 

[Verylittlefishes]

According to this recent article on localization (warning, Russian language), the game contains 500 000 words in total. It was translated into English by two professional translators (I didn't manage to play the English version yet, so don't know how it went).

 

[AwesomeButton]

I didn't know this was set in a pre-existing universe. That probably explains the insufficient introduction to the world.