I am a Professor of History and an avid gamer; indeed, years ago I was also a game reviewer. I have been enthralled by Pathologic, which I was able to order as an international import. I plan to encourage my friends to play it -- even though the English translations can often cause some confusions, the game is steeped in intrigue and philosophical enigmas. I only wish that I both spoke Russian and could get the Russian version -- I fear some of the subtleties of the characters are lost.

I would suggest in the future that a slightly less strict time limit -- I noticed a small cheat that slows teh clock down a touch -- would have made em feel welcome to go around and explore a bit further. The melee combat is punishing and hard; I would have enjoyed the greater availability of ammunition and used the time to take some dangerous detours into houses in "yellow burned out zones."

I did have one question though: I read in a walkthrough that on one day you can sneak into a rail car to get the 5 rifles in the quest on day nine. I see the surrounded railway cars but I am unable to find a point of entry. I wanted to go back and test my sneaking skills -- can you tell me where this entry is so i can try it?

Thanks!

PS: While I cannot read the original Russian, if you have the pages of translated English text I would be happy to contribute to the translation project by rewriting the most obvious flaws and smoothing out what text I can. My favorite mistranslation: The healing kit says it contains bandages and tampons! Now, unless it is the Devotress who is bleeding and it just happens her menstruation cycle is happening during the time in game, it is an odd tool to use to help a gunshot wound!


Bill Jahnel
writing from San Diego, California

Thanks for your positive response! It's nice to hear that Pathologic has somehow made it's way to America even though it hasn't been officially released. We get bashed for the translation a lot - the problem is, that the original translator has quit the project leaving the job half done due to personal reasons, so the rest has to be completed in a hurry, by multiple translation agencies, which led to this scramble you've seen. ) Fortunately, we have a lot more time for the next translation, which I will be doing myself, so I hope it won't be that unintelligible (Thanks hydra9 ). (Tension game is our next project - if you still haven't heard about it - check it out at www.tension-game.com - the English section isn't open yet, but you might check out the screens and videos.)
The game's time limit is both its major advantage and downfall - should have added difficulty levels, I guess.
Actually, using the sneaking skills will clearly exploit a bug in the game - there's actually another way to get the guns - by completing one of the three sidequests. Anyhow, if you still want to try - gun down the two flamethrower wielders from the back while sheaking and covering with the train car. Then wait until the guards calm down again - walk around the car making a detouur, so that you are hiding behind the large rocks right in front of it - then you can sneak in a straight line between the soldiers into the car. Almost impossible, without killing everyone. On day 11 there will be a quest where it will be quite possible to stealth kill 11 guards. )
viewforum.php?f=21 - well, here's the section for the fan translation project - its currently stalled due to the nearing of the next projects release and lack of time. You can use this FTP data to access all the texts in the game:

PROJECT FTP: 
login: "pathologic" 
password: "Trans2007" 
host: "pathologic.thelxr.info"

It's useless to proof-read the Devotress just yet- I think it needs to be redone completely and I've been working on it in my free time. You'll help a lot if you proof-read the Glossary (viewtopic.php?t=4126 - check out this topic for the discussion) and the Bachelor scenario. Also, there's some reference materials from theGerman version translators: viewtopic.php?t=4144 - these texts explain most of the logic and philosophy behind the text and other stuff which is not evident from the translation.

Alex, IPL

FatherAzerun,

Out of curiosity: What kind of history are you interested in?