Wadjet Eye Unavowed - Dave Gilbert's RPG-inspired urban fantasy game

[Darth Roxor]

tyranny of choices

 

[V_K]

Finished it (mostly because it was short and almost played itself). Ultimately, it's exactly the kind of game that Hepler preached - lots of dialog "roleplaying" with next to no gameplay in-between. Meh.

EDIT: The gay sex scene seems to be written on purpose to piss off everyone: the right - because it exists, and the left - because the party reacts to the fact with all the maturity of 13 year olds.

 

[Infinitron]

Hah, the mouse-over descriptions over props and such differ depending on whether you're man or womyns. That's a pretty cool detail.

I think Blackwell Unbound did that when you controlled Joey (he couldn't recognize modern technology)

 

[Darth Roxor]

well duh but that's hardly the same thing

 

[Cabazone]

It is done ! Behold my grandiose take on Unavowed.

-Writing : correct writing but dull characters. Not all characters, secondary characters are fine. Only companions are not okay : they are so bland. They feel very safe and have no subtlety. Secondary characters are better. Dave's style works better with them : they are generally not as positive as the companions, which makes them more interesting. And not seeing them for too long or too often makes their lack of subtlety less jarring.

Storywise : The overarching story is bad. Not original, nor coherent, nor sophisticated. It's like it was written by Bioware. The little stories are better. Some are awful (the character's arc of Eli, rarely have I seen writing less creative or subtle), but often it does the job. Some scenes are very cool (the revelation, and actually most of the cases).

It is good that the little stories are nice because they are really the meat of the game, which is enjoyable because of it. The fact the overarching story is bad is sad, but not very important : that becomes apparent mostly at the end. If the writing of the companions had been better, it would have been a well-written game, like the Blackwell series.

-Puzzle design : It is like Blackwell : that is not very good, but it does the trick. The puzzles are simple and it is not very interesting to solve them, but they are not trivial nor badly designed. They often use some unique mechanisms and are not narratively insignificant (for the most part, they do not involve doing too trivial a task). All in all, that is fine.


-Rpg elements: Very disappointing.

-The blank canvas character. I like blank canvas character because I can impart my personality on them. But I can't here. The different answer choices are like "No!", "Definitely not!" or "No! No! No!" or like "You're evil!", "You're really an asshole.", "Here a funny way to say you're an evil asshole!". It's like the character is a predefined character but with like the most neutral and boring personality ever. Not cool.

-Companion selection : changes a bit how some puzzles will be solved, but not much and it doesn't really change the experience. If choosing one companion over another had an impact on the story or a bigger impact on gameplay, it may have been okay. But that is not the case. Too bad.

-Background and gender choice : enhance replayability on a type a game that should not be replayed. Doesn't add much hence. Just a lot of work for the writer. Game would have been just as fine without these options.

I was hoping adding RPG elements to the game would make the experience more immersive, but it's not. This change almost nothing to the experience: it feels like a very classic PnC like Blackwell. That is not very important, though : I also like very classic PnC, but it would have been nice to have a more immersive and personal experience. Would have been me, I would have cut the choice of background and companion, shortened the game a wee bit and focused on the choices made by the player. Would have been better, I think.

-Visual and music : It's okay. I don't like that much Ben Chandler's style, but it's okay, not ugly or anything. Portraits are good. Music is good too.

Overall, the game is okay.

 

[evdk]

It's like it was written by Bioware.

Man, do I have some news for you...

 

[fantadomat]

Well for the people wondering,the game was written by the bioware cunt that was pushing for being able to skip combat and other interactivity in their games a few years back. Also i believe that she was/is an anti-GG and SJW.

 

[DaveGilbert]

I never wrote for Bioware...

 

[Big Wrangle]

BREAKING NEWS: Dave Gilbert appointed as BioWare's new CEO, plans incline.

 

[fantadomat]

I never wrote for Bioware...

Are you claiming that Jennifer Hepler doesn't have any fingers in this? I read it somewhere that she did,i could be mistaken tho,if i was then apologies. Still you wrote that sjw shit so get fucked by a demon! Won't even pirate that shit let alone buy it.

 

[MRY]

No one is disputing that she designed the game:


I've seen her described as "co-writer" (https://www.gamepressure.com/games/unavowed/z146f1), "co-designer" (https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/03/29/blackwell-unavowed-interview/), or "narrative consultant" (https://www.resetera.com/threads/unavowed-ot-demonic-possession-is-nine-tenths-of-the-law.60427/), etc., so I'm not sure what the division of responsibilities wound being.

I'm pretty sure that Dave was just deflecting your comments so that he didn't have to fight on the Codex over someone being cruel toward his friend and colleague. As I've said before, in this very thread, one reason why many developers don't post here is that if they say nothing, they tacitly approve of such ugliness, and if they say something, they get drawn into endless debates.

 

[baud]

Well for the people wondering,the game was written by the bioware cunt that was pushing for being able to skip combat and other interactivity in their games a few years back.

Well, skipping bioware-quality combat can't be that bad. Also her quote is a little different:

I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games. While I enjoy the interactive aspects of gaming, if a game doesn't have a good story, it's very hard for me to get interested in playing it. Similarly, I'm really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly -- I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don't like tactics, I don't like fighting, I don't like keeping track of inventory, and I can't read a game map to save my life. This makes it very difficult for me to play to the myriad games I really should be keeping up on as our competition.

 

[fantadomat]

I'm pretty sure that Dave was just deflecting your comments so that he didn't have to fight on the Codex over someone being cruel toward his friend and colleague. As I've said before, in this very thread, one reason why many developers don't post here is that if they say nothing, they tacitly approve of such ugliness, and if they say something, they get drawn into endless debates.

Only "insulting" thing i said about her was the word cunt,and i didn't use it as a offensive term,more like a matter of speech. All the other things were more or less factual. Pointing one's past and views is hardly an insult in my book.

As for your argument about the devs...well i don't really care about it. I come here to write with people about RPGs and sadly this days also politics. I don't care if a profile have a dev tag or not,i will say my mind and talk to him/her as person not as with some divine being.

 

[fantadomat]

Well for the people wondering,the game was written by the bioware cunt that was pushing for being able to skip combat and other interactivity in their games a few years back.

Well, skipping bioware-quality combat can't be that bad. Also her quote is a little different:

I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games. While I enjoy the interactive aspects of gaming, if a game doesn't have a good story, it's very hard for me to get interested in playing it. Similarly, I'm really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly -- I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don't like tactics, I don't like fighting, I don't like keeping track of inventory, and I can't read a game map to save my life. This makes it very difficult for me to play to the myriad games I really should be keeping up on as our competition.

I don't really remember all the drama,it was like 5 years ago. Also if you take the combat from bioware games you will be left with only the shitty sjw writing and bull riding . The combat is only decent thing in their games now.

 

[MRY]

Well for the people wondering,the game was written by the bioware cunt that was pushing for being able to skip combat and other interactivity in their games a few years back.

Well, skipping bioware-quality combat can't be that bad. Also her quote is a little different:

I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games. While I enjoy the interactive aspects of gaming, if a game doesn't have a good story, it's very hard for me to get interested in playing it. Similarly, I'm really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly -- I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don't like tactics, I don't like fighting, I don't like keeping track of inventory, and I can't read a game map to save my life. This makes it very difficult for me to play to the myriad games I really should be keeping up on as our competition.

Actually, she said both that and then later in the same interview:

If you could tell developers of games to make sure to put one thing in games to appeal to a broader audience which includes women, what would that one thing be?

A fast-forward button. Games almost always include a way to “button through” dialogue without paying attention, because they understand that some players don’t enjoy listening to dialogue and they don’t want to stop their fun. Yet they persist in practically coming into your living room and forcing you to play through the combats even if you’re a player who only enjoys the dialogue. In a game with sufficient story to be interesting without the fighting, there is no reason on earth that you can’t have a little button at the corner of the screen that you can click to skip to the end of the fighting.

And she went on to praise Jade Empire before lamenting that "Bioware is unlikely to produce any games that streamlined again, since their more hardcore audience didn't like the lack of inventory, easy combat and other features which made it so newcomer-friendly." (A mistaken prophecy, as it turned out!)

The whole interview is here: http://web.archive.org/web/20061129214316/http://www.killerbetties.com/killer_women_jennifer_hepler

I actually think the interview is thoughtful, candid, and charming, and the reaction to it seems awful, though not having followed it at the time, I don't know how much of the reaction was tit-for-tat escalation rather than out-of-the-gate mean-spiritedness. I guess I can see, though, why "hardcore" Bioware fans might read her answers as suggesting not merely offering a fast-forward button as an alternative (akin to skipping cutscenes) but also simply removing the things she doesn't like (tactics, inventories, combat, exploration) altogether from some future games in an effort to "streamline" them and make them more appealing to casual audiences. While you could imagine a scenario in which these new exclusively narrative games are purely additive (e.g., you get Dead State 2 and PANIC at Multiverse High!), my personal experience is that these things tend to displace each other. For instance, there's only one Dave Gilbert, and if he's making Unavowed, he's not making a more heavily puzzle-oriented adventure.

 

[fantadomat]

Her whole proposition is retarded at best,you can't just cut the core gameplay of the genre and expect it to be good. There is other genres that could deliver story without combat,just go there and do that shit,as she apparently did with this game. Wanting to change whole genres because you hate gaming and like writing is shitty thing to preach,typical sjw retards. What if some imbecile dev goes on preaching that adventure games should cut off all the puzzles and exploration and make the game a 3 hour cinematic?

 

[Sizzle]

What if some imbecile dev goes on preaching that adventure games should cut off all the puzzles and exploration and make the game a 3 hour cinematic?

They're called Telltale :D

 

[fantadomat]

What if some imbecile dev goes on preaching that adventure games should cut off all the puzzles and exploration and make the game a 3 hour cinematic?

They're called Telltale :D

I have played only one of their game after the first episode and it was the borderland one. The first part had some pretty fun writing,after that it was not that well.

 

[bertram_tung]

I just finished the forest fight

enjoying the game

the butt sex scene wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be - it was actually funny and i am glad my character could respond to it in a way to condemn the action rather than justify it

my biggest stress while playing the game is deciding which characters to bring in my parties - I want to bring them all

 

[ghostdog]

the butt sex scene wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be

what did I miss? (tl:dr)

 

[evdk]

the butt sex scene wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be

what did I miss? (tl:dr)

Spoiler

The demon possessing your body for reasons decides to use mindfuckery to turn what is basically a smart artist commune into a double murder suicide. This plan involves seducing a dude. This happens no matter what gender you pick during character creation. The revelation also basically consists of a dark, blurry and low res photograph. People are being silly

the butt sex scene wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be - it was actually funny and i am glad my character could respond to it in a way to condemn the action rather than justify it

You realize the player character freakout is mostly due to "rape by possession" and not "icky homo stuffs," considering that after the all murder and human sacrifice that seems like the least of their problems.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I just finished this and while I enjoyed it, I think it's good but not great. The art and atmosphere were good, but the writing was uneven. Not many cases felt memorable; off the top of my head I'd say Wall Street and Chinatown were probably my favorites. The rest were mostly decent with some good moments. The twist was... well, a twist I guess, but I was disappointed that nothing much changed after the revelation. The final sequence (where you summon / use the abilities of your allies) was pretty underwhelming, as was the final confrontation. No puzzles to speak of, except for

Spoiler

the riddle of the sphinx

which made me smile when I recognized it. This is a Wadjet Eye game though so I wasn't expecting any hard puzzles anyway.

Also Calliope was p. cool.

 

[ItsChon]

Game looks very cool, and I'll definitely be playing it at a later date.

I'm pretty sure that Dave was just deflecting your comments so that he didn't have to fight on the Codex over someone being cruel toward his friend and colleague. As I've said before, in this very thread, one reason why many developers don't post here is that if they say nothing, they tacitly approve of such ugliness, and if they say something, they get drawn into endless debates.

Fant is being unreasonable in that someone's personal beliefs shouldn't matter when it comes to hiring them, just how well they can do the job. As execrable as this Helper woman sounds, if she was the best woman for the job than the developers/company/whatever would have been remiss if they didn't hire her. Too bad it sounds like she's shit at her job though *shrug*. As for your comments regarding developers posting on the Codex, for every developer that can't manage it, there are plenty of developers that do manage to post here and garner the request of the Codex's audience; you and Avellone being one or two that immediately come to mind, as well as several others. I really don't see what was particularly difficult to handle about this situation specifically. All this Gilbert fellow had to do was say,

"Regardless of Miss Helper's personal beliefs, we felt that she was the most capable writer for the game we were trying to create and we were happy she was able to help in the development of Unavowed." Or some other bullshit along those lines. I think you're slightly over exaggerating the level of toxicity in the Codex in regards to it being developer friendly.

 

[bertram_tung]

the butt sex scene wasnt nearly as bad as some made it out to be - it was actually funny and i am glad my character could respond to it in a way to condemn the action rather than justify it

You realize the player character freakout is mostly due to "rape by possession" and not "icky homo stuffs," considering that after the all murder and human sacrifice that seems like the least of their problems.

That may be your personal interpretation, but the writing is far better than you are giving it credit for. I feared this may be a scenario where they would force the player into leftist pandering which would be typical of this industry. Thankfully it's handled more intelligently than that and not quite so limited to one interpretation. Certainly appropriate, since this is an adventure with role playing game elements. My character responded in a way that showed clear disgust and disdain for the act itself, as well as anger for being forced into it. His companions went along with him and did not protest, even showing some disgust themselves, which I also chose to interpret as them agreeing with my character (which would make sense given their ages and cultural backgrounds). The fact that you can interpret it so many ways is a testament to the game design and writing here.

 

[fantadomat]

Fant is being unreasonable in that someone's personal beliefs shouldn't matter when it comes to hiring them, just how well they can do the job.

I assumed that you are talking about me and thus i ask you point out where i said anything opposing to this!

I will also argue that someone's opinions and views do matter when they could fuck up the team balance and mechanics. You can't just bring a neo nazi skinhead to lead an sjw team and expect balance and vice versa. Still i do agree that skills and getting the job dome is more important in normal situations.