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Beyond the edge of owlsguard review.
Don’t listen to them JDawg, giving a passing 5/10 grade minus a couple points for a game-breaking bug isn’t harsh at all. I’d be a lot less generous than you - if I couldn’t finish a game or book or movie because a part of it was missing I’d be inclined to give it a big fat zero.
That’s a weird approach. No part of the game is missing, plenty of people finished it (me included) without encountering this bug. If you rate every game where you may run into a game-stopping glitch as “a big fat zero”, then you’ll have to rate 99.99% of all games as zero. I’ve ran into all sort of critical bugs in practically every FPS or RPG I’ve ever played, as well as most adventure games — from Grim Fandango to Broken Swords to the Tex Murphy series to everything released this century.
And I don’t even mention Sierra or similar games which — in addition to plenty of bugs — had dead-ends where you had to reload an early save, because it was intentionally programmed that way. And it’s not even about the budget: modern AAA releases have tons of bugs despite running through tons of beta-testers. Owslguard was programmed by one man, using a freeware AGS engine, it was inspired by oldschool games and had regular death encounters as one of its features, which basically called for “save early, save often”. Yes, I also often forget to save often, tbh, but I never rush to rate games based on just that.
I liked cedric better to be honest, bc they gave this owl here no character traits besides being a plot mcguffin. Plus he was only used in one puzzle to lower finn down a shaft. I find it telling that you remember Cedric’s name but much like me, i cannot remember the owl’s name at all. He obviously didn’t leave a big impact on us lol.
Well, Cedric’s name turned into a meme of sorts because of how annoying and useless he was, so that’s hardly a complement) But I agree that this particular owl also wasn’t that great, too loud and attention-seeking in a modern cartoonish way (and it was a female btw). But I remember she was used to solve puzzles way more than once to pass monsters on both islands. Not the greatest companion, but not the worst either.
PC means personal computer
No part of the game is missing, plenty of people finished it (me included) without encountering this bug. If you rate every game where you may run into a game-stopping glitch as “a big fat zero”, then you’ll have to rate 99.99% of all games as zero. I’ve ran into all sort of critical bugs in practically every FPS or RPG I’ve ever played, as well as most adventure games — from Grim Fandango to Broken Swords to the Tex Murphy series to everything released this century.
My response would have been essentially the same. I even started typing and then thought what-the-hell-who-gives-a-shit, and deleted everything. But now I’m very glad someone else said it.
And I don’t even mention Sierra or similar games which — in addition to plenty of bugs — had dead-ends where you had to reload an early save, because it was intentionally programmed that way. And it’s not even about the budget: modern AAA releases have tons of bugs despite running through tons of beta-testers. Owslguard was programmed by one man, using a freeware AGS engine, it was inspired by oldschool games and had regular death encounters as one of its features, which basically called for “save early, save often”. Yes, I also often forget to save often, tbh, but I never rush to rate games based on just that.
Yes! Jdwag, if you don’t know by now you have to save often in this kind of game, you’ve only got yourself to blame. Two hours! Really.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
Don’t listen to them JDawg, giving a passing 5/10 grade minus a couple points for a game-breaking bug isn’t harsh at all. I’d be a lot less generous than you - if I couldn’t finish a game or book or movie because a part of it was missing I’d be inclined to give it a big fat zero.
That’s a weird approach. No part of the game is missing, plenty of people finished it (me included) without encountering this bug. If you rate every game where you may run into a game-stopping glitch as “a big fat zero”, then you’ll have to rate 99.99% of all games as zero. I’ve ran into all sort of critical bugs in practically every FPS or RPG I’ve ever played, as well as most adventure games — from Grim Fandango to Broken Swords to the Tex Murphy series to everything released this century.
And I don’t even mention Sierra or similar games which — in addition to plenty of bugs — had dead-ends where you had to reload an early save, because it was intentionally programmed that way. And it’s not even about the budget: modern AAA releases have tons of bugs despite running through tons of beta-testers. Owslguard was programmed by one man, using a freeware AGS engine, it was inspired by oldschool games and had regular death encounters as one of its features, which basically called for “save early, save often”. Yes, I also often forget to save often, tbh, but I never rush to rate games based on just that.
Unless I’ve misunderstood the situation encountered here, Sierra’s approach to development isn’t really comparable. It was built into the game and there was always a way through using a hint or walkthrough. What JDawg has described is not being able to proceed in spite of hints or walkthroughs, which would be frustrating. So how is it not effectively a part of the game missing? It would be like a certain book being purchased with the last chapter missing. It could be there for all other readers, but if it’s not there for me, I’m entitled to be dissatisfied.
(And I’ve definitely not experienced that in 99.9% of games.)
AKA Charo
No part of the game is missing, plenty of people finished it (me included) without encountering this bug. If you rate every game where you may run into a game-stopping glitch as “a big fat zero”, then you’ll have to rate 99.99% of all games as zero. I’ve ran into all sort of critical bugs in practically every FPS or RPG I’ve ever played, as well as most adventure games — from Grim Fandango to Broken Swords to the Tex Murphy series to everything released this century.
My response would have been essentially the same. I even started typing and then thought what-the-hell-who-gives-a-shit, and deleted everything. But now I’m very glad someone else said it.
And I don’t even mention Sierra or similar games which — in addition to plenty of bugs — had dead-ends where you had to reload an early save, because it was intentionally programmed that way. And it’s not even about the budget: modern AAA releases have tons of bugs despite running through tons of beta-testers. Owslguard was programmed by one man, using a freeware AGS engine, it was inspired by oldschool games and had regular death encounters as one of its features, which basically called for “save early, save often”. Yes, I also often forget to save often, tbh, but I never rush to rate games based on just that.
Yes! Jdwag, if you don’t know by now you have to save often in this kind of game, you’ve only got yourself to blame. Two hours! Really.
Lol come on a game breaking bug is not the same as a death scene lol. Hell this game even flashes a save symbol before every death scene, so he was trying to warn you, that death was imminent, I don’t recall Sierra ever doing that. I guess the dev should have put a save symbol before every game breaking bug then too, if you are saying this was an intented feature like the death scenes lol. Because while a lot of people have not experienced this bug, the steam forum is littered with other bug complaints, the Barron here complained of some.
Like i used to tell Chrissie all the time I don’t care if it’s a one-man team or a Triple A game, a game breaking bug is a game breaking bug. That’s why even in that Cottage demo that I recommended, I talked about a bug which made me do a hard reset but I lost 0 progress because the game had autosave. I would have rated it harshly if that was not the case too. So why you might not agree I’m consistent in my views on game breaking bugs.
Don’t listen to them JDawg, giving a passing 5/10 grade minus a couple points for a game-breaking bug isn’t harsh at all. I’d be a lot less generous than you - if I couldn’t finish a game or book or movie because a part of it was missing I’d be inclined to give it a big fat zero.
That’s a weird approach. No part of the game is missing, plenty of people finished it (me included) without encountering this bug. If you rate every game where you may run into a game-stopping glitch as “a big fat zero”, then you’ll have to rate 99.99% of all games as zero. I’ve ran into all sort of critical bugs in practically every FPS or RPG I’ve ever played, as well as most adventure games — from Grim Fandango to Broken Swords to the Tex Murphy series to everything released this century.
And I don’t even mention Sierra or similar games which — in addition to plenty of bugs — had dead-ends where you had to reload an early save, because it was intentionally programmed that way. And it’s not even about the budget: modern AAA releases have tons of bugs despite running through tons of beta-testers. Owslguard was programmed by one man, using a freeware AGS engine, it was inspired by oldschool games and had regular death encounters as one of its features, which basically called for “save early, save often”. Yes, I also often forget to save often, tbh, but I never rush to rate games based on just that.
I liked cedric better to be honest, bc they gave this owl here no character traits besides being a plot mcguffin. Plus he was only used in one puzzle to lower finn down a shaft. I find it telling that you remember Cedric’s name but much like me, i cannot remember the owl’s name at all. He obviously didn’t leave a big impact on us lol.
Well, Cedric’s name turned into a meme of sorts because of how annoying and useless he was, so that’s hardly a complement) But I agree that this particular owl also wasn’t that great, too loud and attention-seeking in a modern cartoonish way (and it was a female btw). But I remember she was used to solve puzzles way more than once to pass monsters on both islands. Not the greatest companion, but not the worst either.
You sure this owl is a female, I thought it was a young preteen male owl, to match finn the deer, I fully admit I could be mistaken here but that’s what I figured.
The second part I will disagree with you because I literally just played the game, what other puzzles is she used in to solve? Literally there is one puzzle on the first island, you have to break into a cave, for the record I remember this so well because it’s one of the few puzzle chains I really enjoyed, you have to get a fish to get a drill bit off of one of the machines to drill a hole in the cave big enough for the owl to fit through, she uses a lever and finn gets on a platform and she lowers you down to find the ship. After that you sail the ship in a very long teadious boring mini game, (to the devs credit you can skip this if you want.) Then you get to owlsguard and she follows you around but does not help you solve any puzzles. in the next chapter you go through the portal and she is gone. Unless she comes back at the end of the game to help you which I don’t think she does that’s the end of this great owl companion lol.
All I can say is my personal opinion I think Cedric was a far better owl companion and more entertaining in an annoying kind of way. Ohhhh watch out Graham there’s a snnnaaaake lol.
Ps come on Doom be real save early save often because of death scenes is an intended feature. That is one thing, a game breaking bug where there is no death anywhere in the room is another. literally the bug happened in a room where there’s two interactable objects,a lever to raise a lift and a window to look out of, why would I I save here, especially because this is actually once again to the devs credit the first bug I found. it just happened to break the game completely for me, and I really have no idea what caused the glitch other than my earlier speculation of I picked up the wrong brick from the wrong pile because there’s two different piles in this chapter that will give you different bricks. I’m guessing and it’s purely a guess that the game didn’t like the brick I chose to use, to prop up the lift
Unless I’ve misunderstood the situation encountered here, Sierra’s approach to development isn’t really comparable. It was built into the game and there was always a way through using a hint or walkthrough. What JDawg has described is not being able to proceed in spite of hints or walkthroughs, which would be frustrating. So how is it not effectively a part of the game missing? It would be like a certain book being purchased with the last chapter missing. It could be there for all other readers, but if it’s not there for me, I’m entitled to be dissatisfied.
“Dead end” literally means inability to finish the game after you did something “wrong” according to its creators. You may be allowed to wander around until you somehow realise that you won’t be able to move further because you missed an important item/event. There are no ways around, you have to reload an old save or restart the game, with or without a walkthrough. I don’t see how it’s different from JDawg’s situation. In fact it is worse, because JDawg might find a walkaround the bug after all, but in case of dead ends you are done.
And there were good chances to encounter them more than just once or twice, like in the King’s Quest or Zork series, or even early LucasArts titles. The aforementioned KQ5 had some legendary dead ends programmed into it, like ignoring a cat catching a mouse in a 3-second seemingly non-interactive scene, or eating a tasty pie you bought for no particular reason which you will need hours later… Many acclaimed RPGs also had those — selling a crucial item or losing it in a battle was very easy. I remember replaying half of Ultima VII because of that.
Add all sort of bugs, like falling through textures, or boxes and other random stuff blocking your way (happened all the time in FPS), or items disappearing from inventory (Stasis 2 did this to me at one point, for example), or the protagonist stops responding — I ran into such bug in Arcanum near the very end. It couldn’t be fixed even with an old save, so I replayed the whole game with a different character, and it was a blast. I consider it one of the best-written and engaging games out there, why give it a zero? No part of the game was missing, and no part is missing in Owlsguard. I don’t see a problem replaying some parts of the game as long as you are enjoying it, it’s also part of the experience. Of course, if I’m not enjoying my game, like JDawg here, I would most probably just uninstall it or watch a Youtube playthrough.
Lol come on a game breaking bug is not the same as a death scene lol. Hell this game even flashes a save symbol before every death scene, so he was trying to warn you, that death was imminent, I don’t recall Sierra ever doing that. I guess the dev should have put a save symbol before every game breaking bug then too, if you are saying this was an intented feature like the death scenes lol. Because while a lot of people have not experienced this bug, the steam forum is littered with other bug complaints, the Barron here complained of some.
I never said it was intended. Yes, a bug is a bug, something both devs and players try to avoid at all costs. I was suggesting why “saving often” might sound like a good idea in this sort of game, at least to me. In fact it’s a good idea for every indie game, especially created using freeware engines. Btw I checked the Steam forums, there are not really that many complaints, and half of them concern some missing achievements (who needs them anyway?).
You sure this owl is a female, I thought it was a young preteen male owl, to match finn the deer, I fully admit I could be mistaken here but that’s what I figured.
Yeah, we even discussed it during the playthrough 
Many thought it was a male owl at first because of her boyish behavior, but the game then explicitly states that she is she.
The second part I will disagree with you because I literally just played the game, what other puzzles is she used in to solve?
Well, I recall that her extraordinary strength was used at least several times to move things, and she also helped to distract some robomonsters, but I don’t remember the details now. And she had a lot to tell. Cedric was just there, either giving useless comments or getting into all sort of trouble. And since I played only the floppy version, I missed even all the “POIsonous snake” fun)) I think he was originally intended as some sort of help system, but they cut out of all that, and he ended being, well, just Cedric.
literally the bug happened in a room where there’s two interactable objects,a lever to raise a lift and a window to look out of, why would I I save here, especially because this is actually once again to the devs credit the first bug I found.
Yes, but you said you had to replay 2 hours of the game, so I guess there were plenty of other opportunities to save. Not that you had to, of course, like I said, I also often forget to save before something bad happens.
PC means personal computer
Doom For one last time, bc we are talking in circles, i encountered a game breaking bug, that is not an intended feature of the game. Dead ends in sierra games were cruel but it was a feature. Going back to Kings quest 5 you literally have one attempt to throw a shoe at a cat chasing a rat, if you do not do that, you cannot complete the game. That is a cruel puzzle, but it is intended to be there. What I encountered was not, it is literally a glitch. The full price of this game is $24.99 ( so definitely not cheap for an indy adventure game), but I luckly only paid $9.99 for it, so I have every right to deduct points for a game breaking bug, it’s really that simple. you might give Solace because it’s on AGS made by one dude, I don’t see what that has to do with anything, bc I have played many games on that engine and not encountered any bugs from wadjet eye Games to free Indie Games also made by one to two men teams, with 0 issues.
I also would say we have different thresholds of what constitutes a puzzle, yes I do believe she does help you push two objects around but the game does it automatically for you so I do not consider that a puzzle, maybe you do, which is fine. Either way I’m actually not defending Cedric as some kind of of great companion, I’m just saying I found him more endearing than her and that’s a very low threshold to cross.
What circles, I just answered your comments) As I also wrote, it’s absolutely up to you not to like the game and thus not finish it. My main point was how you and Charo treat a random bug like something extraordinary, like you were cheated by the developer who sold you an unfinished product. Despite the game is fully playable and the bug is most certainly unintentional, not seen in other bug reports. Otherwise it would’ve probably been fixed by now. That’s how games work. Yes, you paid for it, you disliked it, the bug is frustrating, I got it and feel for you. I just disagree with the suggested rating metrics. Sierra games also had plenty of bugs in addition to dead ends (intentional or not, they still made you resort to a save point), and so did other timeless classics from LA, Revolution, Microids or whatever other adventure and non-adventure company. You had no issues with Wadjet Eye, I ran into bugs in practically every game by them, from the updated (!) version of Shivah to the award-winning Gemini Rue to one of my favourite ags of the last 20 years, Primordia. So what, I’ve seen worse, games that literally fell apart as you were playing them, because no effort was put into making them. Which is obviously not the case with Owlsguard.
PC means personal computer
What circles, I just answered your comments) As I also wrote, it’s absolutely up to you not to like the game and thus not finish it. My main point was how you and Charo treat a random bug like something extraordinary, like you were cheated by the developer who sold you an unfinished product. Despite the game is fully playable and the bug is most certainly unintentional, not seen in other bug reports. Otherwise it would’ve probably been fixed by now. That’s how games work. Yes, you paid for it, you disliked it, the bug is frustrating, I got it and feel for you. I just disagree with the suggested rating metrics. Sierra games also had plenty of bugs in addition to dead ends (intentional or not, they still made you resort to a save point), and so did other timeless classics from LA, Revolution, Microids or whatever other adventure and non-adventure company. You had no issues with Wadjet Eye, I ran into bugs in practically every game by them, from the updated (!) version of Shivah to the award-winning Gemini Rue to one of my favourite ags of the last 20 years, Primordia. So what, I’ve seen worse, games that literally fell apart as you were playing them, because no effort was put into making them. Which is obviously not the case with Owlsguard.
once again my point is if you ran into that many Bugs in those games you would have every right to deduct points from those titles, or not bc its your choice aka YOUR REVIEW. This was my review, I encountered a game breaking bug that was not a feature like a dead end in sierra, so I deducted points. I have have deducted points from King’s Quest 5 for some of its overly cruel puzzles design, but I would not call it a bug, and put it in the the same category as dumb design features like in Sierra games. that is the difference, one is a design choice and the other was an unintentional glitch, that halted all progress, that key distinction is very important. I get it, you think I’m being overly harsh, I do not. Just like I don’t think I’m overly harsh on Telltale Games, I’m just calling them out because they truly lack puzzles or meaningful choices. Some disagree, some agree, that’s what the internet is for. But I’ve explained my point system repeatedly, whatever the game I’ve reviewed, if I have encountered a bug I have stated it, and a frustration level associated with the bug. I also did not enjoy this game overall and think it’s a Meandering mess, even taking the bug out of the equation. like I said it’s just one man’s review, a lot of people on steam are in love with this game, I’m just not one of them, and I’ve explained why in great detail. from puzzle design, to characters, to overall story this game does not pass my level of enjoyment, the bug was just the icing on top of a shit cake to me.
Jdawg445’s review summary: “a shit cake” 3/10 
At least the icing was nice!
At least the icing was nice!
lol. The foundation was not good but if the icing is animation, robot design, and background art i agree. But im moving onto something new, probably that tintin game, i have not much hope there either, but i am curious.
I get it, you think I’m being overly harsh, I do not. Just like I don’t think I’m overly harsh on Telltale Games, I’m just calling them out because they truly lack puzzles or meaningful choices. Some disagree, some agree, that’s what the internet is for.
I’m so glad you managed to squeeze in your comment on the terrible awfulness of TellTale’s games again. We hadn’t read about if for days!
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
I get it, you think I’m being overly harsh, I do not. Just like I don’t think I’m overly harsh on Telltale Games, I’m just calling them out because they truly lack puzzles or meaningful choices. Some disagree, some agree, that’s what the internet is for.
I’m so glad you managed to squeeze in your comment on the terrible awfulness of TellTale’s games again. We hadn’t read about if for days!
Id say a week at least
LOL. Been sitting on you hands a lot?
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
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