Signs of the Sojourner is really challenging me, and all my ideas of ‘good’ in-game dialogue, and completionism in role-playing games. I stopped playing today, frustrated at the time spent trying to converse with in-game villagers. Alice Bell’s review in Rock, Paper, Shotgun, sums up the difficulty in playing this game:
“But the thing is, and maybe this is me just not being good enough at card games, that eventually all the conversations get too hard. On the one hand, this is fine, because Signs Of The Sojourner is sort of about life, and you can’t win at life, nor should you think of it that way. But on the other hand, the bittersweet story – meeting people, making new friends, losing old ones – is a lot of this game’s appeal, and I got the sense I was missing out on loads of it because I wasn’t getting through conversations successfully. Especially so because you only get one chance to talk to someone on each trip.”
I’m over halfway done with the game, and I’m failing almost every conversation. Because I’ve tried to build a balanced deck, one built to succeed with every in-game villager, I’ve changed my in-game language to actually appease nobody. I find myself frustrated because I’m trying to play the game like I would Persona 4 or 5; min-maxing dialogue, and obsessing over the calendar so I can see as many conversations and events as possible. This doesn’t work in this game.
Instead, my character’s brain seems to be disintegrating. At the start of the game, conversations with nearby villagers were easy and successful. My deck was pre-built to our language. But as I’ve ventured further from the village, I’ve let go of pieces of my first language to incorporate symbols from others. My deck now, an attempt to be all things to all people, is nothing but frustrating. Villagers from my hometown dismiss me. What should be casual conversations with me leave them confused--why can't I get along? And I can’t progress through the world because I haven't left enough of my home language behind.
It’s clear that Signs wants me to let go of my predisposed completionist attitude. That language is not something to be collected and ‘finished.’ As much as it evolves, language is of indigenous people; trying to make it malleable--optimized--is a foolish colonial mindset. Signs pushes back against this core tenant of card collecting and battling.
My only wish was that the narrative goals of the game were more aligned to this clever gameplay. Every conversation forces you to draw and leave a card, or metaphorically, take and leave a piece of knowledge. As I'm wrapping up my run-through and settling into a specific form of communication, it doesn't make sense that I should be forced to give up something which helps me communicate with the people I want to talk to. Subsequent failures feel forced by trading; if a traded card pushed me into failure when I would have been fine otherwise. It should be okay if conversations feel normal and routine-like; not every exchange needs to be heavily strategies. Not every 'good' conversation should be the result of winning.
I would also point out that the writing is superb, but not always logical. You may have a complete breakdown of conversation one-day, but the next day, the same person you were talking to will be easy-breezy. The issue isn't with the message: creating a conversation shrouded in unknown variables and 'fickleness' on the part of NPCs is interesting. But the previous failures feel cheapened without any acknowledgment of prior conversations. And the core goal of Signs, traveling the road to buy merchandise for your store, has been confusing the entire game. By every measure, I've been successfully buying and selling products. But Nadine, the caravan leader and who gives your store the stamp of approval to stay open, flip-flops. Every line from Nadine seems to be warning you to keep your store in shape. It's unclear if my actions have any consequence to keeping the store open.
In short, the game would benefit from more writing; from more awareness of your actions. Signs' main goal is to make conversation a collaborative experience. For that to fully shine through, you need more feedback from NPCs.
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