Completed Let's become daemon cops in Unavowed (Finished)

[Alpan]

He's human, so kill him.

Unfortunately, this chapter, the only one without a creepy supernatural creature, stands out as the most creatively bankrupt of them all. You'd think that Gilbert, as a creative type himself, would have something more substantial to say about the creative force than "relive traumas lolz" but, probably in a bid to calibrate the game towards being what MRY calls a market success, opts out of anything remotely interesting. And even that is left half-baked; the PC learns literally nothing new about the characters whose minds they are privileged to access.

 

[MRY]

If there is one thing that Dave has been clear about, it's that he doesn't dumb down or change his stories to accommodate the market. (Puzzles are different; he's equally open that he has removed or simplified them to showcase stories and appeal to customers who don't care for them.) Story-telling is his love and he puts everything he has into it.

 

[Alpan]

Yes, my interpretation above was rather charitable.

 

[Atrachasis]

A mind-meld. I totally get the reference. And yeah, that's exactly it.

Well, this episode IS channeling Star Trek, but not one of the good ones.

CODEXIA IS SYBOK FROM STAR TREK V! *gasp*

Admittedly, the setup of Eli's "issues" is not uninteresting: How does a being of supernatural longevity deal with the prospect of the inevitable loss of all personal bonds to family and friends? Certainly has some narrative potential in Sci-Fi and Fantasy. The rather forced "resolution" that this game implements, however, offers no great insight into the human condition. As for Logan - "the monster you are running from is yourself" does not really strike me as the most original of ideas.

Still, one part of being a genius developer is knowing what you can chew and bite

Methinks that, in this episode, this criterion is not met.

As for the poll, this episode fills me with such indifference that I shall abstain.

 

[Zdzisiu]

Can you kill them both and take the power of autism for yourself?

 

[baud]

Edit: Koschey has convinced me, I switch give back the powers to Calliope.

Spoiler

I went to check what were the issue with the others; for Mandana it's the opposition/differences between her parents, human nature vs Jinn nature and for Vicky, she's just butthurt that she hasn't got enough recognition for her job as a cop.

 

[Koschey]

Darth Roxor Considering you made no comment whatsoever about it, I assume you also just plain forgot trying to release Amos' ghost after learning his name and before confronting Bates? Has anyone else who played through the game tried it and if so, is it even possible?

While I'm still convinced that letting Bates keep both his powers and his life would be the way towards a much needed hipster purge, the maximum choice is obviously to transfer the powers back to Calliope, so neither of them gets what they want. Another advantage: Calliope will never be able to create poetry again.

 

[Erebus]

Calliope must be stopped ! Tell her to take back her power.

(Seriously, that old dude can't be trusted. And if we kill him, somebody else will probably end up with Calliope's power.)

 

[Darth Roxor]

Considering you made no comment whatsoever about it, I assume you also just plain forgot trying to release Amos' ghost after learning his name and before confronting Bates?

yarp

 

[orcinator]

Just kill him already

 

[Reinhardt]

Killing is an art. Let's create something beautiful. Let's make a statement!

 

[lightbane]

(2) It is interesting to compare the psychonautic sequences in this game to Psychonauts in terms of the way in which underlying trauma and guilt are portrayed. I guess it's an ancillary theme in this game, but it seems like something more could've been done in terms of the environment of their mental struggles. Still, one part of being a genius developer is knowing what you can chew and biting with that in mind .... Probably would've been more resources than it was worth.

Don't compare Psychonauts to this game, please. It's offending the former, it's a goddamn masterpiece in comparison to that sequence. Also, were you bribed or something to be so overtly positive of this game? Just to know.

If there is one thing that Dave has been clear about, it's that he doesn't dumb down or change his stories to accommodate the market.

Tell that to the last Blackwell game, where IIRC the emotional vampires were put aside and the single scene where they were referenced was axed, because "it confused players".

----

Calli just follows Mel around and is being useless. Can't even go down to murder-kid or the sculpture with her in tow.

Gameplay!

But... weren't the autists like human torch goy or the little girl willing subjects?

They weren't hit as hard as the three losers here. Also, what happened with that ghost? Will you be capable of coming back and helping him move on?

No! That would be... kinda bad. Like brain-explody bad.

Then why do the pics end up being finished anyway then?

Blablablabla what if we can be assured of nothing?

Can you even fail this sequence, or is it a glorified cutscene?

I... sorry, my head, it's... I... think I need to sit down.

You lazy ass, you could have tried to sit on the stairs, not on the ground like a moron.

This is such a hilariously stereotypical and dumb presentation of a recovering alcoholic, I can only wonder whether whoever wrote this actually knows any alcoholics or is basing this on cheap TV drama

This is what happens when you make one-note characters. Then again the game is supposed to have "good writing"...

I'd like to meet his therapist.

Since when fictional organizations have therapists? Especially these guys.

YOU!!!

I like how the bad guy comes to you so that you don't even have to look for him.

> greek muse saying 'oh my god'

Cringeheresy detected.

that... escalated quickly.

I guess being moody comes with "art".

If I used my gift... improperly... then I am sorry. I can learn!

That was a sudden change of heart, probably related to the fact he's being threatened and therefore he's being disingenious.

The chosen one must choose.

Kill him.

I want to see how your comrades spun this action positively, as so far they NEVER say something negative about the player's actions even when they should (only that stupid genie did, funnily enough).

 

[Reinhardt]

Since when fictional organizations have therapists? Especially these guys.

Since Codexia joined.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Can you even fail this sequence, or is it a glorified cutscene?

take a guess

Will you be capable of coming back and helping him move on?

nope

if that was possible before getting art-zapped, i forgot to try it

 

[EruDaan]

Kill him. KILL HIM! And I also want to say that, yes, there is such a thing as creative freedom but how the lore of one of the Muses - Calliope, Muse of Poetry - is butchered and turned into something that once was born, was a child and grew up LEARNING (!?) how to be a muse and how to bestow the powers of creativity unto others is a little bit too much. Also, how she is depicted in the game - a hippy chick with multi-coloured hair. Also, also ... a fallen godess that lost everything that msut have been dear to her: her immortality and her mission to make mortals create art and is HAPPY about it?! Yeah... no!

 

[Darth Roxor]

Unfortunately, this chapter, the only one without a creepy supernatural creature, stands out as the most creatively bankrupt of them all.

The worst thing is that it's not only the most creatively bankrupt - it's by far the peak worst chapter in the entire game on all fronts. The writung and characters are terrible, its relevance to the main story is almost non-existent (although still better than the total wtf of Chinatown), the gameplay IS non-existent (again, the only non-dialogue interaction is to give Calli a donut to get moar dialogue). It barely even feels like there's any solid form or interconnection between the characters in the level (baker, murderkid and mom), AND barely any closure to them.

 

[Storyfag]

If there is one thing that Dave has been clear about, it's that he doesn't dumb down or change his stories to accommodate the market. (Puzzles are different; he's equally open that he has removed or simplified them to showcase stories and appeal to customers who don't care for them.) Story-telling is his love and he puts everything he has into it.

But. He. Fails. Hard.

I'm better at storytelling when I procrastinate and don't update my VtM LP.

 

[MRY]

I'm at an age where I've given up trying to assess whether game writing is good or bad, and ask only whether I like it (which is what matters to me) and whether the readership likes it (which is what matters to the writer in most instances). For Dave, the question is not whether everyone loves his writing, but whether he has a sufficient audience who adores it. Like orchids that attract only a single pollinator, his writing need only appear beautiful to the fans with whom it has evolved. And Dave clearly has succeeded in that regard: his writing is beloved by the most well-regard critics (Richard Cobbett calls him "one of the best working in the field [of video games] right now"), by players (who have rated his last two games 97% and 96% positive on Steam respectively), and by the video game lecture junket (which routinely invites him to give speeches about how to write, hires him for teaching gigs, etc.).

"But. He. Fails. Hard." is a weird way to describe that level of success. We're talking about someone who makes enough to own a house in New York City, jets around the world to deliver speeches to packed convention halls of admirers, releases best-selling and top-reviewed games, gets to work from home and spend all day with his family, and does all this while writing exactly the stories he wants, exactly the way he wants, without ever going through crunch times or satisfying a corporate hierarchy. We should all be so lucky as to fail like that... In many ways, it's what Avellone should have, rather than having to do piecework on other people's projects.

 

[MRY]

Also, lightbane -- nope, not bribed, just trying to look for the positives here.

Obviously, Psychonauts is an all-time great game (though IMO, much that follows Lungfishopolis is not as good). I think Unavowed compares unfavorably in that sequence, which seemed like a direct nod toward Psychonauts but perhaps without the same resources to execute it. It just seems weird that everyone's neurosis consists of standing on a pillar in a cloudy sky.

 

[Atrachasis]

"But. He. Fails. Hard." is a weird way to describe that level of success. We're talking about someone who makes enough to own a house in New York City, jets around the world to deliver speeches to packed convention halls of admirers, releases best-selling and top-reviewed games, gets to work from home and spend all day with his family, and does all this while writing exactly the stories he wants, exactly the way he wants, without ever going through crunch times or satisfying a corporate hierarchy. We should all be so lucky as to fail like that... In many ways, it's what Avellone should have, rather than having to do piecework on other people's projects.

All this is true, but not really relevant. To the average Codex poster, the state of Dave's bank account or the opinion of Richard Cobbett is not all that relevant to the question of whether or not to remove a game from an inventory. Of course opinions are subjective, but they are correlated within certain subsets of the population, the RPG Codex being one such subset. As such, Darth Roxor's LP and the subjective opinions uttered by him and other posters, and the general conclusion - "Stay away, you are unlikely to enjoy this!" - are of relevance to the average Codexer, especially given that Dave's earlier work has indeed met some positive reception here.

 

[Darth Roxor]

But. He. Fails. Hard.

I'm better at storytelling when I procrastinate and don't update my VtM LP.

Shivah and Blackwell 1-4 would disagree with this hard.

The way I see it is that Wadjet Eye have begun to believe that they are indeed "one of the best working in the field [of video games] right now", which has led to the inevitable consequence of a writer sniffing his own farts.

 

[Storyfag]

But. He. Fails. Hard.

I'm better at storytelling when I procrastinate and don't update my VtM LP.

Shivah and Blackwell 1-4 would disagree with this hard.

Well ofc. I only meant this game.

 

[Darth Roxor]

The chosen one has chosen.

Spoiler

But before we get to that, I loaded an aulder save to check if we can save Amos.

You did all this because of May Stein, didn't you?

Her gratitude is nothing. I had to... cleanse.

binge and purge

Cleanse?

My feelings for May! They wouldn't leave me! I needed to cleanse them. The way Stan Bates taught me.

Stan Bates taught you to... burn yourself?

No! He taught me to make a STATEMENT! Bring what's inside out into the OPEN! It was the only way.

There are lots of ways to deal with a break-up. Burning yourself alive is not even on the list.

You don't understand. You don't know what it's like to have... feelings. Feelings you can't get rid of.

I... understand, Amos. I understand more than you'd think.

You do?

I spent over a decade of my life trying to drink away feelings like that.

But... not anymore?

No. I got help. I... talked to people. Talking helps.

It does?

For a while. Then you have to do it again. So, do you want to talk to us about it?

More than anything.

Okay.

Show me the money, then we'll talk.

He's gone?

Yeah. He's gone.

Now that we've sent Amos into the wild blue yonder...

Back to the task at hand.

Taking the x-treme option won over to screw them both 5:4.

We can't take the risk. Stan Bates has to die.

The blasphemer shall meet only with unflinching justice.

What? No!

Thank GOD!

Eli? Make it painless, if you can.

*Sigh* Don't worry, I'll make this quick.

Hadouken!

Blackout.

No. The right thing would have been to fry you both.

He didn't leave a lost spirit behind. That's... something at least.

I don't like killing human beings. Even if it's... unavoidable.

"unavoidable"

You know, I get that the party members are supposed not to have any agency with regard to these ~moral dilemmas~ but this kind of total cuckery on their part is just stretching it way too far.

But was he even human anymore? I dunno. A debate for another time.

c o p e

Well, thank you. Is all I'm saying.

You want to thank us? Just do one thing for me. EARN this.

Earn this? I spent thousands of YEARS "earning" this.

A man died so you could stay human. Make sure it's worth it, okay?

I'll... do my best.

Okay then.

Exeunt.

Back at the ranch.

Hello. I am Logan. I am defined by nothing more than two stupid shticks.

I... beg your pardon?

KayKay's wondering what level you'd be if you were in TrollGate.

I... see.

So many great bars in Brooklyn and we didn't walk past a single one. I call that a blessing. Anyway, what's up?

I can remember being Codexia so clearly. It's very... strange.

Listen. I can't begin to relate, but I DO know what it's like to have feelings you want to drown away. So my advice? Focus on the job ahead. That's enough to get you through today. Worry about tomorrow tomorrow. And... I'm here if you ever want to talk. Right. And KayKay too. Sorry.

Today is only yesterday's tomorrow.

Any thoughts on that last mission?

You meet some guys in the program. They might be trying, but deep down you know they're out of control. You know it's just a matter of time before they get themselves killed. And you pray they won't take anyone else with them. THAT was Stan Bates. He was not in control. I'm not sure he really wanted to be. Either way, what's done is done. If it turns out we made the wrong call, we'll try and make it right.

See you around, Logan. You too, KayKay.

Now for Womandana.

Your encounter with the creative force sounded... harrowing. I wonder what I would have seen there? Perhaps it is for the best I do not know.

indeed

Any thoughts on that last mission?

Stan Bates was given a power he could not control. Nor did he want to. Leaving him alive would have caused more death and chaos. Ending the menace before it spread was... the right thing to do.

Should we start a meeting?

A meeting is not necessary. We know our mission, we know our destination. When you are ready to proceed to the subway, we will follow.

I'll leave you to it.

Thank you.

♫ Mine, mine, mine, mine the data! ♫

Oh, hi. Sorry, I was a bit... distracted.

Reading some old books about the Hunters, and the Fire War. Well, I say "reading", but I'm really looking at the pictures. The ones of Aldin. He... really did look like me.

If looking like Aldin bothers you, you could always disguise yourself. Dye your hair or something?

i'm sure this will do wonders to confuse the vengeful pixies hellbent on his destruction

No need to go THAT far. I'll manage. Same as I always have.

dye your hair = "going that far"

I have so many memories of being Codexia. It's very... confusing.

I... can't imagine what that must be like. I'm sorry. But I do know that demons don't act like you do. They are chaotic. Mindless. Were you a demon before? Sure, maybe. But you're NOT a demon now, and that's what matters. That's all that matters.

roll credits, nothing more needs to be said

Any thoughts on our last mission?

I remember when my power first manifested. I had no real control. I was worried I was going to kill someone. But Stan... wasn't. He wasn't worried about people dying. He was more worried about losing his power. Killing him... saved lives. Most likely.

I'll leave you to it.

Right! See you around.

'Sup Vicki.

So. Muses exist. And they can kill people.

Nice that Vicki took over the role of the local bumpkin who has to act surprised about the existence of weird things from Mel.

I have so many memories of being Codexia. It's got me all mixed up.

Look, I get it. Things are crazy and you don't know which end is up. You wanna have a meltdown and drink yourself stupid. And when this is done? Feel free to do that. I'll even join you. Hell, I'll buy the first round. But right now? We need you focused. *I* need you focused. Okay?

Okay.

Any thoughts on that last mission?

You know how many idiots there are out there carrying weapons? As far as I'm concerned, Stan was just another idiot. I'm just glad he got put down before he could kill somebody else.

We'll chat later.

Right. Catch ya later, partner.

That way lies victory.

Damn it.

What? Is everything okay?

Just checked the score. The yanks are down 1 in the 6th inning against the Sox, so no.

just kwan things

You're a baseball fan?

Have you met a cop family? The order of religions is Catholic, Football, Baseball.

Heh, I used to take my kids to games in the summer time. Back when the Mets were worth rooting for.

Sorry, that was when again?

Ouch.

Duty calls.

Not for nothing, but I think you're gonna need some backup on this one.

Agreed. This is not the time to splinter our forces.

All the BROS rise to the occasion




friendly reminder they couldn't when we had to face galene in the north woods

Well, here's our stop. Let's get moving.

So... did we do it?

Yeah. Yeah, we did it. We can open this up whenever we want.

So what's on the other side of that thing?

It is impossible to say. It could be anything. It could be nothing.

Pocket realms can completely ignore the laws of nature, or invent new ones entirely.

So... be prepared for anything.

My pocket realm would have forced big heads for everyone.

You ready for this, Vicki?

Okay. Real truth? No, I'm NOT ready. I'm about to step through a portal into another WORLD. I could never be ready for that. But... I'm a Santina. I finish what I start.

So let's finish this.

Logan? Any thoughts before we go?

Yeah. I was thinking not a single person in the program would judge me if I picked up a drink right now. But that's not true, is it? That's just the addiction, making excuses and twisting the truth.

I don't often actually roll my eyes in person, but this time I did.

So all I can do is focus on what's in front of me. Which means going through that glory glowing hole and stopping whatever's on the other side. That's enough for now. It'll have to be.

Any words before we head out, Eli?

Oh, I always have words. I was just thinking. It wasn't that long ago I was throwing lightning at you on a rooftop.

Speaking of which, the way this game completely skips any mentions of the passage of time is jarring at times as well. Sometimes it feels like the events from start to the current point transpire within a week or so, but then someone says something that would suggest much bigger timeskips between missions.

A lot has changed since then. You've made some... tough decisions. Decisions I'm not sure I'd have been able to make. I guess all I have to say is... whatever happens in there? I got your back. And I know you've got mine.

Do you have any sage advice for us, Mandana?

I have lived a long time, but I would hardly call myself a "sage".

you don't say

If anything, I know how easy it is to... reinvent yourself. Rediscover who you are, over and over. You have done much the same in your time with us. My only hope is that you do not change further. Regardless, know that I am with you. For as long as I can still stand.

or stand still

KayKay? How are you feeling about all this?

She says she's getting bored with all this talking.

*canned laughter*

Sorry, KayKay, we'll get going in a minute.

Yes. It is time. Eli? Shall we open it together?

All right. On three. One... two... THREE!

well then

Um...

Did something go wrong?

I... think so? Yeah, we definitely went through. I FELT it.

So did I. Something is different.

But what exactly is different?

Mayhap the answers lie through this door.

 

[MRY]

“Earn this” is definitely a better Saving Private Ryan joke than the sticky bomb in Primordia!

 

[Reinhardt]

I'm... I'm just glad i didn't see it in motion.