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Unavowed by Wadjet Eye Games

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Joined 2015-07-01

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millenia - 25 June 2020 10:57 AM
Luhr28 - 25 June 2020 10:11 AM
millenia - 25 June 2020 09:42 AM

I’m not sure what you are asking, really. I don’t think stories need to have a clear thing they are “trying to say” or that they should teach me anything. That makes it sound like every story should be edutainment or take some kind of clear moral or political stand.

No, that would be absurd. But when we started talking about quality, there are certain benchmarks. And given the nature of the will’s natural drive towards freedom, knowledge, clarity, it would be difficult to see how a story in which nothing significant or meaningful happens, and hours are spent in a state of distraction or entertainment (personally there are many ways I would prefer to entertain myself, such as spending time with friends or going on a long walk) could be considered as superior to a story which adds meaning to our seemingly pointless existence on this planet.

I suck up a lot of stories and I love reading queer romances for example. I have some standards, definitely, there is a lot of real trash out there, but I prefer a fluffy gay romance to a lot of other activities, and I’m sure I’d have a hard time explaining what kind of meaningful events happen in most of those books.

I understand now what you mean, but I’m very happy that I spent that night playing Unavowed instead of hanging out with my friends. It was a unique experience and a positive one. And I think in the game there was some meaning in what happened to the protagonist and Eli.

Jdawg445 - 25 June 2020 10:11 AM

I agree not all stories have to have a lesson, but this was a detective game with very little detecting, bc the puzzles were all very easy or designed to character specific powers. As a rule I hate silent protagonist, the only game that doesnt bother me in is half life. It is one of the reasons im struggling with dragon quest 11, the other reason is bc much like unavowed I dont really care for any of the characters in dq11. Eli is the fire mage right? I felt like the whole game really revolved around him, with the rest being 3rd rate characters, to espouse exposition or a funny line here or there. I felt like the multiple characters/powers gameplay gimmick was much better executed in whispers of the machine. I know there was just one playable character, but the puzzles dealing with the different augments that you could unlock was far more enjoyable, than bring the guy that can talk to ghost to solve puzzle d like in unavowed. At least to me.

That is more about the puzzles than the story and I’ve agreed that the puzzles were not on par with Blackwell etc. I think the detective story is there. It’s an ongoing joke that Indiana Jones “doesn’t do anything” to influence the outcome in Raiders of the Lost Ark. But that’s not the point. (Not saying that you would have been suggesting anything that absurd, it just sprung to mind.)

I don’t think the multiple characters failed but as I said, I wouldn’t have anything against having the game choose the party for you and focus on deepening the story instead of going for the optional puzzles. Whispers of the Machine probably had better optional puzzles but it does less for the replay value than the other things Unavowed tried (custom protagonist and npc choices). But then again since the game didn’t exactly nail those things, I understand people being disappointed.

I also get that the silent protagonist is not for everyone and I don’t always like it either. Still it kinda fit in here plotwise, although I wouldn’t go especially praising it (it was most likely a budget issue anyway). And yes, it’s clear that Eli got most of the love of the makers. Maybe instead of Logan and Vicki it would have been nice to have one whole character. They had some potential but they were very one note. Mandala I still liked even though she wasn’t as good as Eli. I think I did care for the characters to a point. I have also noticed the problem of not being able to care enough, especially in long RPGs, that can be really off-putting.

All in all I think the story of Unavowed is clearly inferior to Blackwell series - which I completely love - which is why I wasn’t giving this one a 5/5, but still something along the line of “very good” considering how absorbed I was.

Honestly I do feel like the main character, no matter who you choose or your backstory is just along for the ride in eli’s story until very late game. I felt like I did not have much agency in the outcome of the narrative, much like a telltale game, there is an illusion of choice but not really. Whispers gameplay added to the ambient story telling, this did not to me. There were actually a whole bunch of interesting concepts to me, and I applaud dave for swinging for the fence, but all the pieces just did not add up for me.

     
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Jdawg445 - 25 June 2020 12:42 PM

Honestly I do feel like the main character, no matter who you choose or your backstory is just along for the ride in eli’s story until very late game. I felt like I did not have much agency in the outcome of the narrative, much like a telltale game, there is an illusion of choice but not really. Whispers gameplay added to the ambient story telling, this did not to me. There were actually a whole bunch of interesting concepts to me, and I applaud dave for swinging for the fence, but all the pieces just did not add up for me.

Well the protagonist certainly is very blank for the large part of the game, but it makes sense within the story. When I’m talking about caring about him/her, I mean after the reveal that it’s actually been Melkhiresa during the game. That’s what makes the whole character interesting and also explains the initial blandness. That’s also why I was a bit disappointed that in the end by not agreeing with the human spirit just meant that Melkhiresa went completely out of the picture. At that point I did care about Melkhiresa in a human body and wanted to know what could have come from that. The final choice is less painful though, considering that you are a neutral crteature of knowledge and your body isn’t even your own.

     

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