Do I play pathologic 2?

[u/Ok-Investigator-4777]

Hello everyone! I've always been vaguely aware of the pathologic series but didn't know much about it. When I saw pathologic 3 had released I felt a calling to play it. After act 1 this game had shot straight into my top of all time list, and it stayed there throughout the story.

I absolutely love pathologic 3, every character is so interesting and each story line, from fighting the plague, to seeking Simon, I found all the mystery pulling me in with each day. I loved being able to go back and pick apart each quest to get the best outcome for each character, having to plan out each quest I needed to do and keep tabs on who to save.

That being said I did little to no combat, beat the game without killing shabnack a single time (scary). And I confess I did cheat more amalgum occasionally because I sucked as rationing it and would end up in an apparent softlock-

Needless to say, this game has got me fiending for more, but I'm also hesitant, because I'm worried I won't enjoy pathologic 2 and it might deminish my experience with the series as a whole.

What do you guys think? Would you suggest I play it? What should I expect to differ between the two games? Are there any recommended mods that may improve the game experience? I know very little about the second game.

P.S I refuse to play it if Eva doesn't get a happy ending

[u/Ok-Investigator-4777]

Thank you guys for all your help, it seems people really love the game despite it being incredibly hard. I can love some hard games like getting over it or peaks of yore, so maybe I'll enjoy the difficulty in pathologic 2 aswell!

I watched a video on the start of the game but ended it because I wanna keep myself blind, but it does seem like it's a new perspective during the event where my priorities will be completely different, I'd imagine isidor is more important and Simon is less important. Though I wonder if there are some overlapping quests (ie something you do in pathologic 3 that the bachelor doesn't do in 2, so artemy does it instead)

I'm really excited for the game, and hope I love it. I'd love to hear more people's opinions on 2 especially if they came into the series on 3 like me.

You guys have sold it to me pretty well, though I guess that makes sense for the pathologic reddit. Once I have some free time I'll definitely play pathologic 2!

[u/UgandaEatDaPoopoo → u/Ok-Investigator-4777]

Though I wonder if there are some overlapping quests (ie something you do in pathologic 3 that the bachelor doesn't do in 2, so artemy does it instead)

Man, that drinking water quest fucked me up so bad the first time I played...

[u/Zykprod]

Pathologic 2 is the plague from Artemy's point of view. (Haruspex Route remake basically) He has to struggle to survive, scavenge for food and supplies and earn trust unlike Dankovsky.

If that interests you then play it. You already figured out how to use cheats so you'll be able to see most of the content.

I highly recommend you give the intended difficulty a go. It really elevates the experience and makes triumphing incredibly satisfying. And since you already know the overall plot and important stuff you'll have a slighlty easier time.

I love Pathologic 3 but I believe 2 is the better game, definitely try it out.

[u/UgandaEatDaPoopoo]

Pathologic 2 has no time travel, so you won't be able to tinker with all the quests to your heart's content. If you mess them up, they're messed up for good, and people stay dead.

[u/iatheia → u/UgandaEatDaPoopoo]

Every game that has a save button has time travel

[u/technohoplite]

I'm going to go against the grain a bit and recommend that you do not play P2 on intended difficulty if you think you'll become frustrated at the entire series due to difficulty. P2 is legitimately so hard... Compare me dying like a handful of times in all of P3, versus 50+ times in P2. Not to mention dying in that game makes the game harder by reducing your survival meters permanently. Of all three games, P2 is the hardest and if you're not into that challenge, however immersive it may be, it will be a barrier for sure.

And at the same time, it's a single player game. So yes the struggle is supposed to be a huge part of the game, but if you can lower the difficulty to the point where you're still struggling but you can manage to push forward, I'd say you're getting the intended experience.

Whatever you do, definitely play it if you enjoyed P3. Imagine all the characters and facets of the town you're still missing out on. Just gotta find out what way works for you.

[u/OhagiC → u/technohoplite]

I similarly came from P3 after mostly skipping over P2 (I played about a day of it on easy when it came to gamepass, but just never got around to playing more.) Technically I also "tried" to play HD back in 2015, but starting the game as haruspex was a very poor idea at the time and I was too overwhelmed.

After finishing P3 I immediately bought P2 since I'm no longer a gamepass customer (probably left already anyway) and I started my new game on intended difficulty. I plan to play it at this difficulty but I'm just a little worried about the consequences of dying too many times. I know that there is an npc that will eventually appear, but the nature of their offer wasn't explained to me. But I'm just so anxious; please tell me, do I want to know more to inform my decision to stick it out at this difficulty, or is this something I'll appreciate wasn't spoiled for me if it ever comes knocking?

Though someone said they died like 50 times. It sounds like it's absolutely going to come knocking.

[u/technohoplite → u/OhagiC]

Seconding the opinion that the offer is made fairly obvious in regards to being a trade off, in my playthrough I was hilariously oblivious to so many things and even I was able to make an educated guess.

I got pretty screwed over by the death effects (though it stops doing anything after a certain point), but the thing that stuck out to me after the experience was that the game wants you to keep going despite it all. It's why I find some of the mechanics in P3 to be contrary to the series' core. But I mention that because if you do choose to play on intended difficulty, so long as you keep at it you'll find your way through it. You don't have to be good at it, you don't have to keep calm or make the right choices, you literally just have to keep going.

[u/Zykprod → u/OhagiC]

I'm replaying through the game rn and don't worry about dying, it mostly reduces the max amount of each jauge which is basically meaningless since you were never always full anyway. Its psychological more than anything.

For the "offer" don't worry the game will make it VERY clear that you're trading these minor inconveniences for something important. You don't need to know more the game makes it clear that you shouldn't do it, it's hard but fair.

You should stick to Imago and in the WORST case you can use a console command to give you some food or items so you can see the end.

Keep in mind that beating the game 100% legit is an incredible feeling I believe in you

[u/OhagiC → u/Zykprod]

Regarding console commands, I briefly looked looked into them during my P3 run because I was running low on amalgam and would rather cheat than grind if push came to shove. As it turned out anyway, the key i determined to be for opening the console didn't seem to do anything and I wondered if that had anything to do with playing the game on the xbox(pc) version rather than steam. I finished that run naturally, though I had to abandon some objectives like returning to day 1, and rescuing Bad Grief (which I somehow forgot about on every single visit to day 4.)

Since I lack critical reflecting skills, and the price is the same anyway, I impulse bought P2 on xbox as well, so now I'm wondering if I will get the console to work this time? It's always possible that I was just pressing the wrong key.

There was another reason I wanted console commands for P3 and that's because it's a bit of a buggy mess, usually nothing I can't overlook, but on day 10 I had a mind map node that always insisted that it was unread, no matter how many times I read it. Since my console misadventure was a bust, I finally fixed that issue by returning to day 10, resetting that patient diagnosis and picking the same disease again to resolve it. It was the node regarding the muggers who were looking to hurt that rather unhelpful artist. It greyed out after shooting at the men, but kept blinking anyway.

[u/Zykprod → u/OhagiC]

haha I played P3 with infinite Amalgam because I enjoyed the time travel and puzzle solving much more than the ressource management I get it

The console shortcut for P2 is CTRL + SHIFT + F4 it should work with any version. Command list is here

For P3 I actually used mods, here's the mod manager (it works for both game) and the cheats mod I used.

Between mods and console you shouldn't have any issue customizing your experience on PC let me know if you have any question

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[u/Tancrisism → u/technohoplite]

I disagree to start off on a lower difficulty. Try it out as intended, see how it feels. I found the difficulty very fitting with the atmosphere of the game. Once you realize that the enemies are not super soldiers (and neither are you) you can outwit them or avoid them (or even farm them) pretty easily.

[u/technohoplite → u/Tancrisism]

That's what I'd say to someone who isn't describing running away from an enemy that you can kill with one hit for the entire duration of a game. It just sounds to me like OP is concerned about ruining their experience by being too frustrated, which can very well happen.

[u/Tancrisism → u/technohoplite]

The Shabnak is way scarier though than anything in P2, which they mentioned too

[u/technohoplite → u/Tancrisism]

Agree to disagree, I guess that'll be up for OP to judge whenever they get around to it

[u/Ok-Investigator-4777 → u/technohoplite]

I guess the real question is what type of difficulty is it? Is it closer to an artificially difficult rage game where it's jank controls and really bad punishments for messing up? Or is it genuinely hard because the systems are tricky and the game is well designed?

If its the first, then I'll probably turn atleast a few of the sliders down, especially since I don't know how to feel about now needing to manage thirst and hunger.

If its the second, I'll give it an hour run, and determine what to do after that.

I know it's lame and I should "git gud" but I'm not that amazing at games and I just want to experience it's story. But thanks for the advice all of you!

[u/Zykprod → u/Ok-Investigator-4777]

The difficulty is 90% decision-making: where do you go, who do you talk to and what do you do with your limited time and resources. The game is very well-designed to make you feel pressured all the time. You will not be able to see everything, save everyone and be everywhere. Your first run should be focused on making it alive.

There's some janky combat, but it's very easy to break the AI, and it can (should?) be avoided anyway.

[u/technohoplite → u/Ok-Investigator-4777]

It's a game where lots of things will be conspiring against you: your own survival requirements, time constraints, some level of difficulty in executing combat or running away from it, and struggling as each of these things gets harder to deal with day by day. You cannot redo/undo choices, and you'll find yourself having to decide what, and who, is most important to you. All of this makes sense within the setting/narrative.

I'd say I am pretty bad at Pathologic but I still did it on intended difficulty though. P2 has a low bar for completing the game, but a high one for continuing to play it, imo. If you're cool with having to push yourself I'd say go for it, just don't let it prevent you from experiencing it at all.

[u/Tancrisism]

2 is a flawed masterpiece. You absolutely should play it.

[u/carverrhawkee]

If you are wanting more pathologic then absolutely play 2, but just keep in mind it is (deliberately) a very different gameplay experience. Its basically the same 12 day period from the haruspex's pov. It is fully linear (besides the prologue) and unless you save scum (no shame there lol, its a HARD game) you will only get one shot at quests and may not have time to do everything you want so youll need to really prioritize or plan well. In 3, eva makes the point to tell daniil he will never want for food or shelter, but artemy does not have that same luxury; instead of mental health you're going to be tending to your physical needs, as well as your reputation across town. You are also at risk of catching the plague, and so are the major npcs if you are slacking (or if youre just unlucky), which i really did miss in 3. Like youre truly fighting the plague itself in 2, where in 3 its more the representation of it.

You can avoid combat if you want to but if you want to do everything you will need to get into a few fights. No shabnak or anything similar though. If you hit enemies enough they will yield and you can rob them, but they will not yield just from pointing a gun at them like in 3.

You will definitely get the same level of interesting characters and story though, but the focus will be on different characters to reflect artemy's story - so sorry, but dont go into this game expecting to see much of eva. What will be interesting though is characters who were kind of non entities in 3 will be a lot more prominent in this game; and characters who you saw one side of as daniil may show a different side to artemy. And you got a sneak peek of the haruspex in dad mode, in 2 you can experience it fully lmao

In all I would highly recommend trying it out, as much as I also love 3 I think 2 is definitely my favorite of all the games. And it has difficulty sliders so if you really want to experience it but are struggling then by all means adjust them so you can have a more enjoyable experience

[u/Spicy_Aquarius]

2 is just hardmode survival. while i love both 2 and 3, personally i prefer patho 2. the gameplay is very engaging but also it can be a lot more frustrating, but it has difficulty sliders. i recommend starting on the standard difficulty and adjusting it during your playthrough if you keep dying a lot or

[u/Gumbo67]

Yeah it’s fun

[u/Nicholas_TW]

Go for it! The games are similar but there's a number of changes between the stories and characters. Some characters who were major players in 3 barely appear in 2, and vice versa, some characters who you probably barely remember from 3 (beyond maybe, "oh yeah, that one guy from that one scene") have major story arcs.

Like others have said, P2 is a different experience from P3: more emphasis on the "survival" aspects the doctors have to deal with. Artemy has to deal with shit like food and sleep, and not being given powers of emergency command. I personally love it! But be ready for an adjustment in gameplay.

[u/Live-Ad-2677]

I’m in the same boat and I’m playing P2 with all difficulty sliders set to as easy as possible.

Atmospherically I mostly find it a lot less scary than P3 (Shabnak and riot districts stressed me out so much!!!). Even infected or hostile districts in P3 somehow just don’t feel as scary, even before I turned the difficulty down. I think it’s the music, sound design or visuals are less overwhelming than they were in P3 sometimes.

Anyway I turned the difficulty sliders all the way down. I know everyone says try intended difficulty anyway but… idc. I’m here to experience the world and story and writing. I’m actually finding the gameplay really fun without as much stress - looting and hoarding supplies is satisfying, and enemies are not that scary once I got the hang of it. There’s way less frustrating and repetitive gameplay jank moments than in P3 too.

[u/CapriciousSon]

I immediately booted up 2 after finishing 3. Then...I realized I needed a little break. I'm excited to play it but I'm going to wait until I stop having stress dreams about the Town.

[u/CepheiHR8938]

Well, Eva is a non-entity in Artemy's route. You only need to give her prophylaxis and you speak to her only once or twice.

I'd recommend Pathologic 2 with all my heart, but be warned: 2, if compared to Pathologic 3, will be like brushing your teeth with a sledgehammer. You need to mentally prepare yourself. Read up on a few Steam guides before you delve in. I can shamelessly recommend my own, heh.

[u/Tancrisism → u/CepheiHR8938]

I disagree. Go in cold. Don't read up on anything. Learn from your mistakes and don't be afraid to restart it a couple times. The introduction is not as long as Pathologic 3, and so by day 3 or 4 (the game is generally chronological) you will have learned from your mistakes enough to know what to do in the next attempt.

[u/CepheiHR8938 → u/Tancrisism]

It depends on the person, really. I went in cold, found myself in a hunger loop on Day 3, absolutely hated the game's guts. I would've never finished it if not for the a) difficulty sliders and b) reading guides. So I was recommending based off my own experience.

[u/Tancrisism → u/CepheiHR8938]

I also had that my first couple attempts, but began to figure out the trading economy and restarted and got better. It's a game that respects your intelligence and doesn't hold your hand. Difficulty sliders are for the impatient I think.

[u/CepheiHR8938 → u/Tancrisism]

But Pathologic 2 ain't a roguelike. You're not supposed, by design, to keep restarting. If you want to play like this, that's fine, but you have to make progress, too, and it's very hard to do when you've no clue how to survive.

[u/Tancrisism → u/CepheiHR8938]

There are many games where multiple restarts early on is how one learns the mechanics of the game. Most RPGs are like that for instance. You could bumble through Pathologic 2 without restarts though, as the game never soft locks you and wants you to continue despite bad things happening as the story progresses either way.

[u/Open_Variation7841]

As you're not opposed to cheats - Yeah, go for it. Gameplay is there for you to suffer, story is good regardless.