Wadjet Eye Primordia - A Point and Click Adventure - Now Available

[Darth Roxor]

(if only )

 

[Rake]

What looking glass have I gone through that all you Codexers are talking about preordering based on developer hype and promises?!?

Fixed.
If a developer only has offered games we liked(only one in your case but it doesn't matter), we will trust him until he fucks up. But sadly most of them fuck it up down the line.
I liked Primordia. I would buy a game from the same team blindly as long as the setting sounded even remotely interesting.
If i bought it and then i didn't like it,i would murder you for the third game i would be more negative.

 

[MicoSelva]

Another one late to the Primordia party reporting in. I've finished the game over the weekend and am now feeling dirty for buying it during a GOG sale instead of full price. Damn, this is a good game. I haven't played anything as well written since Psychonauts (which was quite a while ago).

I will start by saying that I absolutely adored Crispin. Not all of his jokes were funny, but that only made him so much better and believable as a character. Do you know anybody who tries to be funny all the times and manages it? Yeah, impossible. Crispin was exactly funny enough to be genuinely funny, while at the same time being annoying enough to sound, uh, natural.

Puzzles felt very logical to me and let me feel pretty smart for working (most of) them out without help, but I wouldn't say that the game was too easy. It was probably exactly as hard as it should have been (although the abundance of red herrings made me burn a lot of brainpower on futility). Crispin helped twice, while one too-hard-for-me puzzle was optional, so it did not block my progress.

Spoiler

- I wasn't able to enter the courthouse after clearing the line, because I did not connect Primer's number (137) = bridge code. Also, I did not even think that crossing the bridge is required to enter the courthouse. After being stuck for some time, I started clicking on Crispin and he eventually mentioned Clarity (who we have not met by this point, so it was a bug/spoiler). Then I figured out that "thing" on the crane must have something to do with Clarity, since no other part of Metropol had a character by that name, so I focused on the bridge until I managed to piece that 137 is the code.
- I failed to notice Scraper's arm in the rubble, so Crispin had to tell me about it.
- I wasn't able to figure out the Memorious kiosk puzzle (failed to see ART), but that let me feel pretty smug about myself after I pieced the council code together from only three parts.

The one thing I was disappointed with was (yep, you guessed it) the abruptness of the ending.

Spoiler

I had to leave house after escaping the council tower. I couldn't wait to get back and continue playing. Imagine my surprise a couple of hours later when it turned out I only had 15 minutes of gameplay left. I was not a happy man at the moment.
In fact, I was so disappointed that I wasn't in my right mind to be able to figure out how to reach any decent ending (despite furiously clicking with the Urbanian decoder on everything prior to that point ) and resorted to a walkthrough on gamefaqs (yes, I am still ashamed) to see them all. The only endings I managed to reach by myself were those of Horatio killing himself, getting killed or joining MetroMind.

Summary:

Pros:
- great writing
- great setting
- great characters
- great artwork (not a fan of pixelated retro look, would prefer higher fidelity 2D graphics; not a big deal though)
- good VA (haven't played any Wadjet Eye games before so no "I know this voice" syndrome for me)
- good music (not very memorable, but very fitting and greatly enhancing the mood)
- good interface
- cool and logical puzzles with many alternate solutions
- Crispin!

Cons:
- too short

Overall:
Great game, please make some more!

 

[MicoSelva]

Download Link

http://shutupload.com/dl/533d6bf35930/

Any chance of making this available again? The link is dead atm.

 

[AndyS]

A couple other things are that I am generally interested in older works that have had a more significant impact on the "culture" of space opera, because what I'm trying to do is situate myself squarely in the heart of the genre, not forge new ground. I certainly would never skip over an important series, but I'm willing to give more time and attention to Heinlein and E. Hamilton, for example, than their works probably merit simply because those are foundational books.

I think you have a very good list but I didn't see Murray Leinster there, so if you're still devouring old books you might want to check those out. Baen has a couple of really good collections: Med Ship, collecting all the stories about an ass-kicking frontier doctor in space, and Planets of Adventure, more of a general collection.

Put me down as another one that just finished my first run through Primordia and had a great time. The art is beautiful, the story was good, and the puzzles and game design hit that sweet spot where I'd have to think my way through what was in front of me, but I'd feel clever when I beat the puzzles instead of thinking the game was too easy.

(Am I an asshole for making my first Codex post about adventure games instead of RPGs?)

 

[MRY]

@ Rake: Perhaps it is a product of a praise-starved childhood, but it seems to me that the developers you most like are precisely the ones who need to be berated and second-guessed, lest they go rotten with self-confidence!

@ AndyS: Thanks! I have added Murray Leinster to my to-read list. It's interesting how that there's this whole doctor-in-space subgenre; I guess that was part of the inspiration to the Dr. Franklin character in Babylon 5, who's really quite different from the Star Trek doctors and much more like the literary ones. In terms of Primordia, thanks for the kind words (although there is a cruel touch of damning with faint praise in "beautiful . . . good"!). I do think it's funny that your first post in about adventures, but there is something awesome about feeling like somehow emerged from the Codex shadows on Primordia's behalf. Now, say goodbye to your free time as you're sucked into endless debates!

@ MicroSelva: Thanks! I wouldn't worry about having bought it on sale. After portal and publisher cuts, the development team only gets around half the gross, so on a given transaction, the difference between a $10 and a $2 sales price is like a dollar in each team member's pocket. We'd rather have more people playing than worry about an extra dollar.

In terms of your particular questions/comments:

(1) Glad you liked Crispin. The Psychonauts comparison made me swoon, even if it's totally undeserved.

(2) The arm is tough to spot. FWIW, you can also cross the bridge by using the decryption module (since Primer's encryption is Urbanian).

(3) I'm thoroughly persuaded that the ending is too abrupt. I'm hopeful that we can do a better job of pacing next time!

[EDIT:

(4) I will ask Vic to rehost Beacon.]

 

[MicoSelva]

FWIW, you can also cross the bridge by using the decryption module (since Primer's encryption is Urbanian).

Well, I missed this one completely. Somehow it did not occur to me to access the inventory after flying over there with Crispin, and thought that it is just an alternate way of entering the code to transmitting it via radio.

BTW, I forgot this pro:
- many alternate solution to puzzles (loved this part)

 

[MRY]

For Beacon, try this link: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1403/

 

[DeepOcean]

What looking glass have I gone through that all you Codexers are talking about preordering based on developer hype and promises?!?

Depends of the developer, you aren't on the douchebag list.

 

[MRY]

Depends of the developer, you aren't on the douchebag list.

Not yet, anyway!

 

[agentorange]

Posted my thoughts in some other thread, but I'll say thanks here too. Great game, best of the Wadjet Trio (Gemini Rue, Resonance) in my opinion. And lots of thumbs up to your artist for such unique backgrounds, character art, and framing, looks unlike any other adventure game.

I actually liked the abruptness of the ending, but even in films and novels I've always had a thing for ambiguous endings, especially grim ambiguous ones (ending of Sorcerer). The only dislike I have for it is that all the ending choices are made in the last few seconds of the game, but that's a problem I have with every game that does it that way.

I do have one plot related question.

Spoiler

If Clarity knew where Metromind's brain was, why did they have to go to the tower in the first place? Wouldn't it have been easier to go straight to the brain and destroy it? Or was Clarity hoping to distract Metromind and Scraper while Horus went for the brain?

 

[MRY]

He's not "my artist"; more like I'm "his writer." :D But, yeah, Vic is amazing. And thanks for the kind words!

I fielded the same question over in the Let's Play thread, so I'll just copy from there:

Spoiler

THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU COME HERE AT ONCE INSTEAD OF WASTING TIME WITH THE COUNCIL CODE AND HEADING DEEP INSIDE ENEMY TERRITORY, CLARITY, YOU STUPID BITCH?
Two things. First, Horatio isn't going to the Tower to capture or kill MetroMind -- he's going to get his power core back. Clarity isn't going there to capture of kill MetroMind -- she's going to help Horatio get his power core back. When Clarity joins the party, she says:

MetroMind is wrong.
The law is not weak.
And destroying Arbiter did not destroy justice.
She will learn *exactly* how wrong she was.
But first . . . .
First, MetroMind's possessions are forfeit.
Whatever right she claimed to your power core is null and void.
So I will help you take it from her and Scraper.
It will be the first thing I take from them, but it will not be the last.​

In other words, the encounter with MetroMind at the Council Tower is, if not a surprise, at least not the mission.

But wait, you say: wouldn't it be easier to kill MetroMind first rather than risking facing her in the Council Tower? Err, why would that be? The presumption would be that her lair would be better guarded than the Council Tower. Scraper would've shown up there no less than he would've shown up at the Council Tower. In fact, while it happened that MetroMind caught them entering the Tower, she indisputably would have seen them entering the hallway leading up to her lair: there is no obvious sentry robot at the Tower entrance (the Crier being disabled), but there's a sentry in the hallway leading up to the lair.

And, whereas they can potentially crack the code to enter the Council Tower, they can't crack a code to get into MM's inner sanctum. (Would Clarity know this? Probably not, but it's a fair-ish inference.) And even if they went and arrested or killed MM in her sanctum, they'd still need to crack the Council Code.

That said, the fact that three different people have all posed this question strongly suggests that it's a weakness in the exposition, even if not a hole in the plot.

Incidentally, I agree with the criticism on the ending choices, although a couple of things -- granted, not really "choices" -- can affect the ending: getting the decryption module and not destroying it and getting Crispin's personality matrix. And all the little things that determine which robots show up to help repair the ship, though that's purely cosmetic.

For what it's worth, my current thinking on the next game is to do something more akin to Fallout's ending slides for various choices you make throughout the game, while having the main ending (i.e., the resolution of the protagonist's circumstances) be less open than it is in Primordia.

 

[agentorange]

Thanks for clearing that up.

For what it's worth, my current thinking on the next game is to do something more akin to Fallout's ending slides for various choices you make throughout the game, while having the main ending (i.e., the resolution of the protagonist's circumstances) be less open than it is in Primordia.

That's the just about the best system for a story heavy RPG, I think. I don't mind if the main character has a more concrete, unalterable ending (Like how Fallout only has 2 resolutions to the main plot, with some slight variance to 1 of them), since my problem with the "choose one of five endings at the end" is that it tends to whitewash all of the protagonists motivations up to that point.

 

[MRY]

I understand that criticism, although I still think Horatio's motivations and growth are opaque enough that the variety of endings is essentially necessary if you want to let the player project (retroactively) an explanation for why Horatio did certain things over the course of the game. In other words, while the game doesn't give you much flexibility in what Horatio does, the endings are meant, to some measure, to let you explain why Horatio did what he did, or, at least, what impact it had on him.

Of course, the wide variety of endings makes sequels quite difficult; in Primordia's case it was a deliberate once-off story, but even doing the "Fallen" novella was tricky because of the choice of endings.

 

[tuluse]

The ending felt like a love letter to the end of PS:T to me, and I assume that was intended.

You do get variation of the "good" ending based on how you handle the other robots' problems.

 

[MRY]

Everything I write is a love letter to PS:T. :D

Incidentally, the Wormwood Team (slightly recomposed) made a couple of small games for Indie Speed Run. We will be releasing more polished versions very soon, but in the meanwhile, if you're eager to play them, they are here. Also, we'd really appreciate it if you played and rated 'em, though of course you may hate them (they're 48-hour premies), in which case we will both squander the good will we've earned and drive our ratings to the bottom. But so be it!

Like a Raisin in the Sun: An interactive story about a robot with special tools who wants to bake a cupcake, even though the baker says he's too small.

Salt: A small point-and-click adventure game about the survivor of a shipwreck, loosely based on the story of the HMS Terror. This one doesn't yet have voice acting (that's what will be added), and it could use a bit more polish.

 

[Gozma]

Eh, have Fallout style ending slides ever really worked? Even in Fallout the only thing I remember feeling about them was, "Huh, these are pretty bugged and don't mention stuff I thought was interesting." It's also giving you more opportunities to see that most of the consequences you create in the narrative are handled by just a few janky flags. The part of the Fallout ending I did like was the Adventure Game ending that I shouldn't like for A Role-Playing Game: the lonely walk away with the Ink Spots over it.

I think it's still the kind of thing that is an interesting idea, and not an effective template.

 

[MicoSelva]

For Beacon, try this link: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/site/games/game/1403/

Thanks!

 

[MRY]

Eh, have Fallout style ending slides ever really worked?

Well, I liked them in Fallout! But I especially liked them in MOTB, where I felt that they allowed for quite a bit of flexibility in the end resolution, more than any other approach would've provided.

 

[Gozma]

Yep, I forgot MotB. It did completely work there.

 

[Crooked Bee]

New Primordia review at Hardcore Gaming 101: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/primordia/primordia.htm

 

[MRY]

That's one nice review!

 

[MicoSelva]

Primordia spoiled me with its great puzzles and tight gameplay (no long walking times, for example). I tried playing Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis but gave up due to tedium and abstract puzzles. Sticking a chewing gum onto your shoes to climb a coal shaft? Really? And don't even get me started on Algiers, when I had to find the perfect item for the food seller. Running back and forth between two NPCs and listening to the same dialogue over and over again is not exactly my idea of fun.

I switched to Loom now. It has some charming and unique stuff and so far I like it much more than Atlantis, but it's no Primordia either. You've made a really good game, MRY. I'm looking forward to the next one.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Sticking a chewing gum onto your shoes to climb a coal shaft?

You know you don't have to do that, right?

Funny thing you should mention Fate of Atlantis 'cause I'm playing it right now as well, and its puzzles are anything but abstract. In fact, I'd say it's downright suspiciously easy and logical for a classic Lucas Arts adventure game.

 

[MRY]

Loom is a great game! I think Fate of Atlantis is really good, but my memory of it is a little foggy. I do remember being enraged about an endgame puzzle that involved rotating wheels where it was quite easy to figure out what to do, but then too forever to rotate them.