Remaking a 2005 Russian Game into a Weird Masterpiece - Pathologic 2

[@WafeTv]

How is the sound mixing in this video with the background music, from 1 to 10? Also, Subscribe & Ring the Bell to get notified for future uploads... or something: kzbin.info

[@cloacky4409]

9, your voice is clear and the music doesn't get in da way

[@frantsel5711]

little deesser and eq would be nice.. to make your voice little more silky.. besides that, goood!

[@Melaisis]

The algorithm recommended this video to me randomly and I thought it was great - your voice work in particular is super clear. I know it's been up for 2 years but wanted to show my support!

[@Mousy677]

i admit that i genuinely love both the pathologic games but pathologic 2 is also for the most part really fun to explore while pathologic classic is more like something that happens to you.

[@authenticbaguette6673]

I have to disagree about Artemiy being the ideal choice for the first campaign... I think the first patho got it right by introducing to the game through Daniil's pov (at least, the game subtly hints that you should play Daniil first, and I honestly feel bad for those who started with Artemiy) because Daniil is in the same position as a new player, he is new to the town and knows nothing about it, and he is often mislead and manipulated because of that, and by the end, you will most likely even choose to destroy the town like Daniil realistically would.

[@miloformiles]

Maybe not a perfect first playthrough, but I'd have to say it's a strong all-encompassing perspective. According to IPL, the Bachelor campaign is still in the works after two whole years following the release of the game. Artemy offers an introduction to the setting that shows all aspects, whereas Daniil can only understand the world through the rich families that aren't close to the children and the Kin (both distinctive features of Pathologic's setting), unlike Artemy, who interacts with everyone. If IPL knew they may have to abandon further campaigns in Pathologic 2 due to funding (thankfully that hasn't happened but it was definitely a possibility), it makes sense to go with the character that shows off the most of the world and gameplay mechanics they built.

[@junpei6180]

@@miloformiles have pathologic 2 sold well? I haven't supported it unfortunately as I played on gamepass but it really deserved every penny of mine tbh, amazing game,i really would want it to receive what it deserves Still needs to finish pathologic 1 tho,at least danill and Clara as arthemy is the same as 2 i heard, stopped it on day 7 of Danill

[@alejandrovallejo6763]

Daniil also sees the world as the player. If you arrived in a town in the middle of nowhere with a deadly plague spreading and heard people say it's the work of a mythical beast that transforms into a woman you would also think thats fucking stupid. (At least I hope so, this pandemic has shown me how easy is for people to throw reason and science out of the window)

[@adude1237]

If there is only going to be one campaign (Which, let's face it, is the case) I say Artemy is the perfect choice. He's, after al, the only one capable of achieving true free will, according to the devs. Also, his campaign leads you to a fuller, deeper understanding of how odd and unsettling, yet lovable the town is. It manages to fill you with empathy for this wretched hell hole of a town and its inhabitants. I mean, poor, sweet, dear Murky, man! Honestly, while not being as good an introdaction as Daniil's, I consider it the quintaessential pathologic experience.

[@authenticbaguette6673]

@@adude1237 I don't disagree. I just think the Daniil campaign would have been a more ideal introduction, but ultimately Artemiy's perspective is the all-encompassing and most involved one. I think much of the value of Artemiy's campaign in the first patho came from the fact that it re-contextualised the world after having seen it through Daniil's eyes.

[@fuckhandsmcmike3957]

i'm back again and only just now noticing the guy on day 11 who claims to be artemy's replacement is labeled "artemy burakh at home:" LMAAAAO

[@Ranixo286]

I wonder if whenever they complete Danill and Clara's routes we'll get some different music. It of course makes sense that Artemy has the step chanting and orchestration, but I do miss some of the synth from P1. Maybe we'll get more of that with Danill. And his time travel mechanics seem really unique and fit with the character and story. Even though he's a Doctor he obviously can't do surgeries/Autopsies as easily as a mehnku like Artemy could. So I definitley see the time travel and perhaps searching out information through political banter being the strong mechanics in Danill's campaign. He was always the "vanilla" character, since Artemy had access to bodies and folk medicine, and Clara has her magic hands and hypnosis.

[@VeryPeeved]

Well, Daniil may not have had magic hands or folk medicine, but he did have that Plaguefinder. That thing is a fucking lifesaver, especially against those really fast plague clouds you can get badgered by out on the streets. And I still have no idea how the fuck it works, or why he made it, since he has it long before he knows about the plague.

[@SpiderPig42]

The moment that really got to me in Pathalogic 2 are the baby quests on Day 4. The infection is still new and, being early in the game, I was terrified of the infection. After hearing about the reward, I decided that I was going to risk it and be A HERO! I was going to heroically go into an infected house, rescue the baby, and use my schmowder if I got infected. My first attempt, I got infected and held up by plague carriers. I loaded a game then tried for the second time. I sprinted to the 2nd story, sprinted to the baby's room, and found two people standing over the crib. One was desperate and needed to save the baby to save their husband's life. The other basically called dibs on the baby. I took the baby and fled. I turned the baby and selfishly took the credit. The NPC called me a hero as I doomed the wife and her husband. I went into the quest wanting to play the hero but left feeling self centered and selfish. We all took the same risk but I stole the reward. Pathalogic has been fun

[@tei4724]

Context: I'm one of them anxiety people, so I've been playing on easy mode. Also I have Anna Angel reactions to babies irl The baby crying so loud in infected districts felt really purposeful to me. I felt haunted by the cries when I was debating whether to run in or to ignore the child. I felt pressure save every baby whenever it would pop up on map. Never felt a "mother" instinct in my life till that point lmao

[@dontworryhouston]

I've seen a similar comment in another pathologic video already, but the npcs having the same model really is a feature more than anything. Each npc will trade different things or attack you depending on the type so you really wanna be able to identify them at first glance

[@Andrew-bz4yo]

this is probably one of the best long-form pathologic video I've seen yet. you've done an awesome job - i really think this deserves as many views as the hbomberguy video.

[@Oryxification]

I completely disagree about the combat. Weapon damage is all about durability. A pristine knife will kill any bandit in one powerstab and one slash, a pristine revolver has a high chance of an instant kill. When fighting multiple guys get your back against something solid and if at night into a lightpost so you can see them.. Powerstab, then block and and backpedal to recover stamina then do it again. Prioritise bandits with knives over the fist guys. Also, if yer in a burnt district, and you see a human walking, sneak up on them and look to see if he has a peaked cap. If he doesn't, backstab him and slash him as he's reeling, as it's a bandit. If he does, it's a militiaman. Useful distraction. oh and a trade tip, buy lockpicks from grief and trade them to the militia for morphine, bullets and toast. So much profit.

[@IWannaBeAnArtistToo]

Omg YES another long form pathologic video to add to my collection

[@W0lfbaneShikaisc00l]

"It's weird that they attack you in the abattoir and termitary" (Burakh and Oyun start simultaneously banging their head against the wall after explaining this several times) Bachelor: "Hey you're right that is weird!" (They pick Bachelor up and throw him upside down into a bin) Rubin: "I feel I should be angrier now... did someone say something monumentally stupid that somehow involved my plot?" Both: "Yes."

[@starwarsfan117]

Not going to lie, This is probably one of my favorite reviews on this subject, I'm going on a bit of a bender of Pathologic content lately, and have been watching every piece of media I can on the matter, And I think this is my favorite right behind the "Playing pathologic, for those who won't" video and it's rough draft sequel, I Really appreciate the length and detail you've taken in discussing this fever dream of a game, and I appreciate the bit about the four types of fun, I didn't realize how much I loved "This will be fun to think about later, but boy it sucks rn" type of experiences. Warning, as the following is a purely anecdotal, Read at your leisure. I recently went through one such experience, I was stuck in line at a fast food joint after a long day of work, for about forty five minutes. Thirty of which were spent behind an out of towner from Indiana who was busy screaming at the staff there, "This is wrong, and this is wrong, and my wife is crying, and I think I peed a little!" he shouts as he thrust the burger in the poor cashiers face, who was clearly already having a bad day. I was exasperated, I ended up having to turn off my car to keep it from overheating, and indeed I spent so long there I got to hear other peoples cars fans kick in, I even at one point got out of the car and considered making a scene, the thing about it all that sticks out is just how mad about it all I was, how distressed I was to be stuck between two cars that were packed too closely together, But what sticks out the most is just how absurd it was to both have been in that position, and to have been so upset about it. And that fact amuses me, Especially when compared to all of the misfortune in the world, and in my own life. I realize that has absolutely nothing to do with this video, but when you went into your, almost masochistic relationship with pathologic, I couldn't help but think of it. I appreciate all your hard work in this video, and hope to see more of your work in the future! ~M.M

[@glubero2623]

Dude everytime I see how full your hunger bar is I get flashbacks and it stresses me out

[@tonyastark1215]

*goes out of the way to stress the correct pronunciation of Kain* *butchers Tycheek name 5 seconds later?* Or, unless there is a canon English pronunciation that is different from Russian, then whatever

[@magusperde365]

Would have called the video "remaking a weird mastepiece into anothet more playable weird masterpiece"

[@W0lfbaneShikaisc00l]

I'll be honest having experienced Pathologic 1: Pathologic 2 just lacks things that I liked about the first game more: I miss the rats: the actual fat cute adorable blobs that would bite your toe, I miss the mystery of Pathologic 1: it was more subtle about everything, I miss the Factory levels, I hate how they babied the difficulty of some aspects like removing any wandering npcs near the factory and moving the bar next to where Burakh sleeps: Like hello? Developers: you already have the kids trading you food, ammo and lockpicks the bandit shop trading you food, coffee, lockpicks and ammo and now you want to put the pub right next to me? Well that's dumb: especially since the pharamacy is a jump over a rock away straight forward! Why bother with storage!

[@j.carrotshorts1821]

love the video, had to point it out because it bugged me, you refer to the kin as though that is the name for the worms/odongh when in reality it refers to all the native people of the town

[@HaTesful]

I really hope this blows up, this game as a series was something amazing and you’ve just shown the possibility of a remastered version or even an new addition to the series :) thank you!

[@h.o.c.1753]

So are we gonna talk about how this is one of the best gaming based commentary channels out there but for some fucking reason still has subs in the triple digets? Wtf is going on...

[@katback1678]

I agree. I bet the low numbers are from the vocals. This person is difficult to understand because they talk quickly and don't annunciate. Successful video essay channels have a focus on cadence and rhythm. I think a good comparison is SulMatul.

[@Grandmaster-Kush]

It's due to the video lenght, I know it puts me and many others off no matter how excellent it is written and edited, same with Hbomber.

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

1:09:54, This a lie by the way, The Changeling takes over the hospital and you can still perform work there for the fund, another example of broken trust.

[@W0lfbaneShikaisc00l]

Actually I think they're not "theatrical lights" at the start: they're search lights: yes - there are "search lights" in the game, specifically near the station... you don't really notice them at first but once the days progress and the town comes more well... "lively" they become way more obvious. The theatre lights tend to just be held in one place you see: it's subtle but noticeable. I do agree with the hallucinations though: (without spoiling things) because as one of the achievements put it: "You haven't given us any time to change the set!". Everything at the start plays out as a blur of scenes together, no structure and nothing seems to fit smoothly it's like we were replaying the entire 11 days in one walk forward. Basically a lore dump.

[@dadgbe4834]

the fictional language borrows a lot of words from minority languages actually spoken in that area of russia

[@cloacky4409]

Epic

[@qubi69]

such a good video, you did a great job! had a lot of fun watching it

[@dianarendon4037]

Awesome vid, well-written and well-researched. I agree with you on the soundtrack of Pathologic 1 being better but I believe the devs had to compromise to allow the player to hear game cues, like if the music is too loud you can't hear the tugs' catchphrase when they come at you or the herbs yelling to be picked up.

[@homecomin]

I have not finished the video yet but I am really impressed by your quality. Keep it up! Edit: Just finished it. You did an outstanding job!

[@gloomsi]

The main thing I'd change about Pathologic 2 is the damn name. It put me off buying it for so long, seriously, fuck Tinybuild for making them do that.

[@TCO_404]

Yeah, the name is the main thing I'd change as well.

[@WafeTv]

I'm guessing it's due to the whole "this is the 2nd theater play" meta thing, and also since it's SUCH a different game than the first. It's definitely confusing to the buyer though; if you've played pathologic 1, you know it doesn't make much sense for that game to have a sequel.

[@gloomsi]

@@WafeTv Even just naming it pathologic Remake would have been leagues better, though I don't blame Icepick. Like I said, I think I read somewhere that Tinybuild made them go with that name unfortunately.

[@Jesse-fd5bv]

@@gloomsi Just ''Pathologic'''would have sufficed as well, since the original Steam version is called "Pathologic Classic HD Edition''. I've recommended this game so many times to friends and their response is always ''Shouldn't I play the first one before I play the 2nd?''

[@citrus_sweet]

lol yea. From my experience, I remember when Pathologic 2 came out, I loaded in, found out it was a sequel at some point (I knew nothing about the game), uninstalled the game and planned to play the first one before doing the 2nd, forgot to do this for years, eventually remembered to do this years later, and then learned that the two games have roughly the same plot. M fkn F W I mean, at least I can experience Daniil and Clara so I'm not mad.

[@Steamuch]

It's fascinating that only comments starting with a positive feedback about video itself ever receive

[@conormcfadden399]

You must be real fun at parties

[@virtyozf1]

It would be great to have high-quality subtitles for this video (then a translator can translate them quite well into another language). Subtitles created automatically are of poor quality and after translation into another language lose a lot of meaning. The topic of the video is interesting, but the language barrier does not allow you to enjoy the work. In any case, thanks for your interest in the topic and the work done!

[@WafeTv]

I just fixed the subtitles! I put subtitles on all my videos, but apparently it glitched out here since there's some silence in the beginning. I simply had to copy paste them again and it worked.

[@virtyozf1]

@@WafeTv Super, thank you very much, I will get acquainted with the work in the near future.

[@volition142]

1:08:03 actually there is a decent amount of white whip around the base of the polyhedron

[@s_callahan]

pathologic 1 is so piss easy at times especially compared to p2, at least for me. i think i prefer many p1 character designs, the p1 soundtrack, p1s vibes, and the overall story of p1 more. but p2 is still amazing in all of those departments, and p2 has much better gameplay in nearly every way.

[@helloworld1249]

Ah another Pathologic video I can watch twice a week And an awesome one at that!

[@redband788]

No bicycle?🚲 Even Pokemon games got that.

[@elenakhalistova8064]

Thanks a lot for the video! I would like to add a couple of ideas: the fact that there are only as many NPC types with minor differences is not a flaw as such, it's a theatrical method. They are "the crowd", merging into a solid mass with very few individual features. Feature, not a bug. Second, about the difficulty of navigating through the town and the sameness of the districts, especially the poor ones (and the fences, yesss, endless fences). I am sorry to say, but these are typical for provincial and outskirts-of-a-big-city townscape. Yes, you can literally get lost among exactly the same-looking buildings, damned useless fences starting and ending in the middle of nowhere... And there is very little of what we can call friendly or obvious city environment. Sad, but true.

[@elenakhalistova8064]

I meant Russian cities and post-Soviet and modern towns, obviously.)

[@alignthestars]

This should have so many more views, it was such a brilliant and thoughtful breakdown of the game! Thank you!

[@seeker8]

when you cure children and they dont respond at first i was disappoint too but then i think that it might be because the cure damage their health so much they cant speak like when you sick so much all you can do is lie in bed all day. So later on when i cure them i just let them rest and leave without think about it too much.

[@WafeTv]

Oh, I see. That's a good interpretation, never thought about that.

[@youmukonpaku916]

I didnt even notice you dont get praise for curing someone. I was just too focused on getting work done. Id just show up at your house, give you a bottle of blood, and leave immediately. My artemy mustve been a strange fellow.

[@BATzPessoa]

Several days of your life, two hours of our leisure. Thank You!

[@NeverduskX]

Despite having seen at least ten hours of other Pathologic-related analysis, you still managed to bring up a lot of new and original points throughout this video that really made me think. "Knowing the Lines" potentially meaning "Knowing the lines of a play" really blew my mind despite how obvious it might be in retrospect. Great work!

[@vogonp4287]

I first played Pathologic during quarantine. Weird time to play a game like that.

[@justinld]

Is this video sped up or something? Not hating, it's a great video and I appreciate the time you took to explore this great game! But it sounded a bit off to me so I set it to .85 speed instead and it sounds a lot better to me for some reason! It was making me anxious at full speed, I dunno how to explain it lol!

[@XupyprKZ]

my favorite game, Mop

[@alphamale7388]

I knew orderly N°12 was the real deal! The thing with the baby was the opposite for me, I couldn't continue the game until I saved them! (They give a nice money and reputation bonus, but I "totally" rescue them out of the goodness of my heart)

[@W0lfbaneShikaisc00l]

That's the funny thing about this game - there is no need to rescue the babies or perform ANY of the doctor actions: I think the game wanted you to recognize Burakh's role more: Burakh is supposed to be caring but also quite a ruthless person: if you were to follow how he actually acts: he would leave the babies alone, even though children are his wards he's not likely going to throw himself in danger just for one of them to live... that's why some of the quests feel "off" but instead of being punished we are rewarded for doing something exciting. I do believe because we are reliving events we are rewriting some of them: no-one expects Burakh to be completely good as it's out of character.

[@00Sunny00full]

Honestly after I played P1 I was disappointed in Pathologic 2!

[@SpiderPig42]

20:30 Good to know I'm not the only one that took those organs on accident! 😂 PS: Love that Artemy Burakh at home joke

[@stefankojadinovic6198]

But you should anyway becouse they burned herb bride on stake they deserve it.

[@DRNGDGMR]

Picked this up a couple days ago. Never felt more interested in a game world than this one. One so doomed, yet intriguing. It likely has something to do with the grim-dark aspect of it and how the story just throws it all at you and makes you learn from your mistakes

[@winterlif]

thank you for spreading the Pathologic word in such a well crafted manner!

[@user-qm8pz5oi5l]

I genuinely don’t understand how some people think patho1 is harder than patho2. I was fighting for my LIFE in pathologic 2 it’s literally one of the worst(and most fun) game experience I’ve ever had, while in pathologic 1, people literally throw money at you, and I’ve always had enough time to complete all the quests plus even the fights are easier.

[@michaellaro7443]

Implying there is anything to fix

[@yari4046]

after playing patho 2 i watched a few playthroughs and im so glad that i noticed that im supposed to only cut open the stomach of that guy cus i saw soo many people just cut open every part

[@gotgunpowder]

I'm just really wondering when the hell they're gonna add the other two campaigns.

[@Mylifestoriesmaybe]

A PATHOLOGIC VIDEO I HAVEN'T WATCHED? THAT'S ABOUT TO CHANGE BB

[@Mylifestoriesmaybe]

Great video!

[@normalperson397]

ikr, there's so little content dedicated to this awesome game

[@brianronayne5456]

Lmao at random spoderman at 11:06

[@nullvoid3265]

Love that panacea isn't pronounced the same way twice

[@DorneysHouseofGames]

Such a good video and on a time stamp of 1:48:00~ I decided to look at statistics of the video… And I was SHOCKED how little view and subscribes I saw. This video deserves so much more. Personally loved it. Cheers from Russia

[@DeaDiabola]

I am a huge Pathologic nerd, so I knew I needed this video- even though I've both played, and watched countless others play and dissect its amazing atmosphere and indimidating visual metaphors. Even the colors and lighting are inherently threatening, reminding you that you don't ever get to know a moment's comfort. You'd think it'd grow tiresome. It has not. I'm gonna load up my last save while I watch

[@NeverduskX]

What's this? A multi-hour Pathologic 2 video that I haven't seen? *clears schedule*

[@halfghostcoffee8635]

i really like the way you talked about this game. i bought it for myself recently, and even tho i already watched multiple let’s plays if it, i still had a very different run and game experience. it was definitely worth it playing it myself. tho my computer isn’t the best and the game didn’t run that great, which made fighting very hard, and doing the abattoir was kinda impossible for me, which sucks, but i still had a good experience overall. (yes even with turning down the difficulty)

[@Chriswoz83]

Revolvers don’t jam, your argument is invalid

[@Akechifan]

Thank you for this brilliant content. Your vids are of very high quality. You've earned a new sub!

[@matheusarantes2989]

Great video. Commenting to help with the algorithm.

[@katback1678]

if ya slowed down your speech a bit, you'd be much easier to understand. It's a great essay but you're tough to listen to because you talk too quickly and don't annunciate. Always looking forward to more videos!

[@youmukonpaku916]

I didn't mind personally. I noticed none of these things. In terms of non-tradtially American accented folks I watch this fellows got pretty decent annunciation and such.

[@bszafraniec108]

TLDL; Pathologic 2 is what Pathologic 1 wanted to be and so much more.

[@Jader7777]

Don't change the first game at all. Leave it broken.

[@authenticbaguette6673]

So, the Nocturnal ending... the game is through and through interesting and filled to the brim with interesting dilemmas and choices, yet the Diurnal ending is clearly superior, and the people who disagree are either juvenile or just being edgy. I have heard people drawing analogies between the kin/magic/earth etc. and indigenous populations, which has always struck me as a bit racist, despite the fact that the people who push this narrative claim to strongly oppose colonialism and imperialism. Let's clear this up: The kin are not an allegory for native Americans or any other human population. The kin are clearly not human, and are innately incapable of progress or change, and this is an important detail that is *always* either left out of this discussion, or misunderstood completely. Ever since the very beginnings of the human race, humans have built their societies around the acquisition of resources required for survival and well-being, and the way in which humans organise this process is called "the mode of production". This mode of production allows the population to grow, creating more people who can work and innovate, and in turn allowing for new ways of organising society and new kinds of relations between individuals that weren't possible before. First it was hunting-gathering, then agriculture developed, surplus production allowed for more reproduction and eventually slave society, into feudalism, and into capitalism, and so on and so on. There isn't some innate essence to a human being, and that is what makes the Diurnal ending such an endlessly positive ending, but we need to know when we are moving forward and when we are just re-treading old trials. The kin are not capable of progress, and make a point of living as their ancestors lived and keeping it that way, with the earth punishing those who try to change that. So killing the earth in this ending is breaking the shackle of a "utopia" or a supposed "superior" way of living regardless of time and place, allowing new generations of people to spring forth and decide how they want to live, hopefully arriving (given enough time) at something better than anything a supposed Utopia could ever promise. That is what anti-colonial struggle in Africa and the middle east has been about, it isn't about whose way of life is "superior" or who should live like who or be allowed to do what, but rather it's about the basic human right to decide your own fate; a nation's right to decide its own fate, and thus grow as a nation.

[@lessevilnyarlathotep1595]

indigenous people exist in places other than america. just because they're not based on the indigenous population living in north america, doesnt mean that they dont pull inspiration (including the language the Kin speak) from eurasian indigenous people. not everything is about the us

[@authenticbaguette6673]

@@lessevilnyarlathotep1595 That is not a half-assed response. That is quarter-assed... no, 10%-assed. Did you even read my comment?

[@authenticbaguette6673]

@@lessevilnyarlathotep1595 I'm neither American, nor do I care in the slightest or have any love towards America, and I only *briefly* mention Native Americans for the sake of simplifying it for ignorant white people, and even though I clearly mentioned Africa and the middle east (where I live), you clearly chose to tunnel-vision on a singular word I say. Why did you do that?

[@Shona-yb2iy]

The diurnal ending is the most immediately positive one. You save the people currently alive. However you also rob the world of miracles and kill the Earth. Who knows what repurcussions that will have in the future? CAN the world go in with the Earth dead? Worms can live for a time in a dead host, but ultimately they will die without the host to systain them. Additonally, an indigenous people die out. Both are bittersweet. The diurnal ending promises survival in the immediate term but leaves questions as to what will come in the future, without the kin, without the spirit of the Earth, without miracles. The nocturnal ending promises suffering in the immediate term, but retains all the miracles of the Living Earth. These include the Plague, but also premonition, the ability to cure people with the wave of a hand, the ability to construct buildings that defy physics, etc. Cures for the plague can be made, and so can vaccination. The plague will kill many in the short term, but post an innoculation drive and mass production of treatment, the world could usher in a time where the plague no longer poses a threat but other miracles remain. The black death ravaged europe in the past, and caused intense suffering. Now, it's an easily cured disease treated with simple antibiotics. If miracles existed, would it have been worth it to destroy them forever in exchange for ending the black death? Also it's messed up to say the 'kin clearly aren't human.' The kin don't only include the Worms, but the people of the steppe, who most decidely are human.

[@fuckhandsmcmike3957]

only a bit through the video and had to pause because i laughed super hard at you saying dankovsky has an ai generated most punchable face LMAO. good work!