New interview with Alphyna, summarized under readmore:
1. Quarantine was originally intended as the intro to P3, but taking feedback, they learned that it's still too confusing for new players. New players didn't connect with the characters. They are intending to use the scenes from Quarantine, but not at the beginning or in the same order
2. Serafina and Platon will appear in the main game
3. The release date is vague because they are being careful of not realeasing it at a poor time (again). Alphyna notes IPL has things "crash and burn at the most inopportune times". Specifically, they are trying to avoid when GTA6 comes out, because that game will change the gaming landscape so much. They have very much work to do still, so it won't be ready by summer, but they're going to try and release before GTA6, if they can.
4. She can't make promises, but they *intend* to release a game for the Changling, Pathologic 4. It's just a vision document right now.
5. P3's autotravel is here to stay. It's meant as a different experience, as Daniil tries to remove himself from the town, and is more like a strategist over a map. However, the autotravel will be more robust, and multiple routing choices will be available. Furthermore, they don't want to make the same game.
"Pathologic has never really been about looting trash bins"
(Regarding how survival mechanics are common now): Pathologic would be a worse Valheim if IPL just kept making survival games. Our end goal has always been to create new amd unique experiences, using game mechanics to tell a story. It's a gamble, but it's better than making the same mold over and over again.
6. She discussed the nature of AAA vs indie studios, and how that effects interests and sales... In short, she believes that innovation is a necessity for an indie studio to be successful. As an indie studio, if you are too risk averse, people will not want to play the same game over and over. "Run fast to stay in place"
7. Gaming journalism & official reviews do mean something because they're displayed everywhere. A yellow number is a bad thing. But generally, apathy and lack of outreach to the right people can hurt a game. With P2, they reached out to the wrong people, so it took time for the right influencers to find it, but then P2 sales massively increased. It's important to reach the right people/audience. When you do weird, experimental indie stuff, some people won't like it. Plus, it takes cognitive effort to unpack an experimental indie, and it's IPL's job to communicate that the effort will be rewarded.
8. The team for P3 is larger than P2, but this happened only very recently. So it's been in active production for 2 and a half years.
9. After P2 the studio was in a (?)morale/moral(?) crisis, and the studio decided they should make smaller games to earn some money. But it wasn't especially successful. So they found an investor, and then they could finally start production. IPL didn't use kickstarter to get P3 under production because crowdfunding is good for very small companies and specific productions, plus a marketing tool, but in truth people who often support crowdfunded games don't fully understand how expensive a game really is to make. Crowdfunders need to see a possible end in sight, or they won't donate
10. When asked if the game would be simpler, she said that P3 is in some ways easier then P3, but it's way more complex. It has more mechanics, more "minigames" (many have not been shown in the demo), the nonlinear storytelling, the decrees, etc. You can't play the game from Day 1 to day 12, the town dies on day 6 when you begin the game. You have to find a way to make the town survive until the end. Daniil's survival is simpler, but the survival of the town and the systems that deal with that are WAY more complicated. It puts a very different type of stress on the player.
However, you might need to search for new decrees to make the later days available to you.
11. In the released game, interactions in infected districts will be much more complicated than the demo, and there will be more systems in the "whodunnit" side of things.
12. (About the visual presentation and "flair") Cutting the Town down from free roaming helped a lot with the presentation, they can make sure there's more detail, environmental construction, better lightning, and cinematography.
They did different things with art direction - the palatte, the grass, etc, bc Daniil percieves the world differently, and it's important to show the world around him is different. Subjective storytelling is one of most crucial differences to Pathologic.
13. The music is not by the same person. They have good relationship with them, but with subjective storytelling, the world has to sound different, the chanting music is not a fit for Daniil. There will be P2 songs in P3 when appropriate.
14. P3's code and coding architecture is very different from P2's.
15. Pathologic is a game that is watched on youtube more than directly played, like Fear & Hunger, because it's difficult & unique (by which she means grueling and annoying at times). But, you can't just make a game for youtubers or influencers. We want to make games people will play, but you don't want to be too accomodating. Making games that challenge the player is IPL's goal. So they are making a game that is stressful, but less punishing from the start. Able to interact, without making it too simple.
16. She recognizes that for many people, Pathologic is about the clock ticking and the feeling that if you don't rush you will miss out or die. It's a big departure to not have that. "The clock is ticking, but as Daniil you can, let's say, (air quotes) "travel back in time" (end air quotes) or to a different point of your story that you're telling to your investigator."
Note: so it isn't literal time travel, it's story jumping
17. Daniil's main quest is to defeat death, to transcend human nature. Not just extend life. So the choice to give him some empowerment works with his character and story. His ideas and ideals are interesting, and easier to understand for the modern player. He's not a night in shining armor, he has faults, not the nicest guy in the world, but you the player push the buttons, so you guide Daniil to be a certain way.
18. She is not allowed to answer if they plan a physical release or console. Physical releases are something for successful games can allow themselves to have.
19. She was asked whether she thinks Pathologic's vibes/aesthetic/cerebral aspects resonate universally or with Slavic players.
She points out that in the game, many people are Asian, not just Slavics, and that it would be silly to deny that the clash of ideas and worldviews is based between those populations in early 20th century Russia. What to do with the dead in P2 is a direct example. The vibes are about a clash of ideas and ideals with people who have larger than life agendas who percieve through different lenses.
The vibes are also high art low life.
Pathologic is also imbued with nihilism.
So, she thinks all these things are close to the hearts to the people of eastern europe, people who have seen hardships under Soviet Union. However, Pathologic also strongly resonates with people from countries with not very good economies and big social gaps. Extreme social divide, places of contrast.
20. The original game's name is a pun. Plague and utopia being homonyms. The idea if the English name was also to be a pun. A game about disease, but meant to evoke Path of Logic, as in each character follows their own path of logic. Though, Daniil's path is the most "logical"
