Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting - coming 2024

[McHodensack]

Trailer is a big meh for me. Looks like Outer Turds in Skyrim or something like that. Obsidian is really done for, the last good thing they did was Tyranny.

 

[Briar Diem]

Codex always gives a good, wild ride! This thread is bonkers but 100% warranted. The trailer fails to show much in its 2 minute run time. To clear up misconceptions though I'll say this, the game is big and open, it is unfair to compare it to OW (I think Feargus is trying to keep expectations down just in case), which I think it is nothing alike.

The studio that did the trailer did some compression of colors and image editing, the screenshots that have been released are much more representative of what it looks like just running through it (they also are appear to be totally random shots from the game, I'm not sure why these were chosen out all the things, probably to keep spoilers at minimum). A lot of the game is being kept hidden right now, I think you will have to wait until the next trailer or some sort of presentation to really see it, but it is safe to assume it is very Obsidian . No, the entire game isn't all bright and happy town, no it is not all so indistinct visually. There are lots of characters, quests, conversations, various game mechanics, big story, etc.

I guess take that as you will. Dumpsterfire comments are bit overhype, development is going well right now, MS is allowing Obsidian free license to do as they will, and if it is success or fails it'll be on Obsidian's own terms.

 

[Roguey]

Yeah there'll be an extended showcase tomorrow.

My view is that the environment art is fine but the character models are lousy.

PS3/360-looking bear, cartoony xaurip. European-minded people don't like cartoons.

 

[Drakortha]

If it comes out on Xbox 360 I might give it a go.

 

[Briar Diem]

Showcase won't show anything new from the game

 

[Briar Diem]

My view is that the environment art is fine but the character models are lousy.

All I can say is the game has not entered Alpha yet, art will get refined in various ways. Lighting will change. Though designs will not change of course. They are what they are.

 

[Kem0sabe]

MS is allowing Obsidian free license to do as they will, and if it is success or fails it'll be on Obsidian's own terms.

Never forget that Obsidian would be finished if it didn't ask for fan handouts with Kickstarter. Microsoft giving Obsidian free hand, a studio known for its mismanagement, poor quality control, poor sales, and whose greatest achievement is grounded, is not a recipe for success.

Maybe I'm being unfair and Avowed will be remembered as a classic like Greedfall or Bound by Flame.

 

[ItsChon]

My view is that the environment art is fine but the character models are lousy.

I mean, what the fuck even is this shit? Everything looks so damn muddy and low resolution. And it's not just the character models.

All of these look super bad.

I'm someone who thinks Underrail has "amazing graphics", so I would not say that I'm a graphics whore by any means. This shit just looks bad though, and I don't know if it's an issue of fidelity or lighting/texturing or art style or whatever, I just know it needs to be fixed.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

You're just seeing Obsidian's models and textures up close. They were never that good to be honest.

 

[ItsChon]

KotOR 2 is the only Obsidian game that's worth calling decent in my eyes, so maybe this studios games just aren't for me. That being said, always love to see a developer stopping by and interacting with the community, so I hope for their sake that the extended showcase is better.

 

[Briar Diem]

I may be the only Obsidianite who comes here (other than Avellone, lol), though maybe others lurk. But I like how insanely critical you guys are. It's all valid criticism, from people who take this shit seriously, IMO. It's just so hard to interact with any community by a dev. What's the point of making games if you can't have fun, this shit gets too intense sometimes as it is. Keep at it

 

[Roguey]

My view is that the environment art is fine but the character models are lousy.

All I can say is the game has not entered Alpha yet, art will get refined in various ways. Lighting will change. Though designs will not change of course. They are what they are.

2024 release date and still not in alpha (and after five years no less)? We may be seeing the return of Bugsidian.

 

[ItsChon]

It's just so hard to interact with any community by a dev, like I don't know if tomorrow there will be screenshots of these posts and I'll be fired, but whatever. What's the point of making games if you can't have fun, this shit gets too intense sometimes as it is. Keep at it

For sure. There are definitely a lot of idiots on this forum that don't realize how risky it can be for a developer to interact with this forum with all the no-no words that are thrown around willy nilly as well as some of the ideas expressed here, both genuinely as well as ironically/for comedy. I always try to censor myself a bit when I see someone like that posting because I want more developers to come by here because I see the potential for us to influence the genre and industry positively, even if in only a minor way. Sadly, most people here don't seem to realize the dynamics at play or are too edgy/unempathic to bother.

So regardless of what my personal opinions are, will always wish people like you the best, and hopefully you can take the critiques that you see here (although it can be hard to find with all the lazyposting and shitposting that happens) back to the studio to improve the final product.

 

[jf8350143]

Just take a look, we are arguing whether Obsidian's PR is dancing at the edge of the razorblade of deceptive marketing for multiple projects in a row, or beyond the edge.

Genuine conversation I had with a "certain significant other" person:
- What trailer is this?
- That's Avowed, Obsidian's own Skyrim, set in their own IP.
- Oh.., it's in the PIllars universe... But why is it first person?
- Well, they've decided to target a more mainstream audience.
- But Pillars was isometric, then Deadfire was isometric, and now this is first person... why?
- Deadfire didn't sell that well.
- But the reason for Deadfire not selling well was Pillars, not the fact it was isometric!
- Yeah, but Obsidian have instead taken it as a sign that they have to make the next game first person and this will fix sales numbers.
-

No noeed to lie to yourself, isometric rpg never sells well. it has become a niche genre for almost 20 years now.

 

[Briar Diem]

2024 release date and still not in alpha (and after five years no less)? We may be seeing the return of Bugsidian.

On previous projects Alpha periods were sometimes just a few months long. This is actually the longest we'll have for Alpha/Beta period for any game at Obsidian by a longshot, and is good news.

 

[Tyranicon]

I may be the only Obsidianite who comes here (other than Avellone, lol)

Um....



But free brofists just for showing up. Always appreciate someone on the inside even if it's the usual 'dex doom and gloom.

For what it's worth, if you guys knock it out of park, it'll be seen as a hell of a comeback around here.

 

[Briar Diem]

There are definitely a lot of idiots on this forum that don't realize how risky it can be for a developer to interact with this forum

There is actually straight up no chance of any sane developer interacting with this community. It is so toxic no one could touch it with a 10 foot pole on official terms. Anything from extreme misogyny to full fledged nazis lmao but I personally don't care and see value in the other side of the community (the unadulterated feedback, legit care about the genre Obsidian is working in). The fact one of the cofounders of Obsidian saw that value as well tells you something also.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

It's just so hard to interact with any community by a dev, like I don't know if tomorrow there will be screenshots of these posts and I'll be fired, but whatever. What's the point of making games if you can't have fun, this shit gets too intense sometimes as it is. Keep at it

I hope your most pretigious boss that never did anything wrong, Urquhart doesn't fire you..

Much love Urguhart. And Good luck with the game Briar Diem.

 

[Briar Diem]

Just take a look, we are arguing whether Obsidian's PR is dancing at the edge of the razorblade of deceptive marketing for multiple projects in a row, or beyond the edge.

Genuine conversation I had with a "certain significant other" person:
- What trailer is this?
- That's Avowed, Obsidian's own Skyrim, set in their own IP.
- Oh.., it's in the PIllars universe... But why is it first person?
- Well, they've decided to target a more mainstream audience.
- But Pillars was isometric, then Deadfire was isometric, and now this is first person... why?
- Deadfire didn't sell that well.
- But the reason for Deadfire not selling well was Pillars, not the fact it was isometric!
- Yeah, but Obsidian have instead taken it as a sign that they have to make the next game first person and this will fix sales numbers.
-

No noeed to lie to yourself, isometric rpg never sells well. it has become a niche genre for almost 20 years now.

Yeah, I can't imagine an isometric RPG selling well. Deadfire is better than POE1 (IMO), and the reason POE1 sold well is because there was a lot of hype about infinity engine games returning, and the kickstarter itself being on the news everywhere. There were even celebrities playing it on Twitch. And suddenly everyone had their fill once POE came out (also IMO). Codex says POE was nowhere close to infinity engine games quality (writing, combat), sure, maybe true enough. If Avowed sells < 300k copies though this comment will age like milk and I'll have to eat a shoe.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Just take a look, we are arguing whether Obsidian's PR is dancing at the edge of the razorblade of deceptive marketing for multiple projects in a row, or beyond the edge.

Genuine conversation I had with a "certain significant other" person:
- What trailer is this?
- That's Avowed, Obsidian's own Skyrim, set in their own IP.
- Oh.., it's in the PIllars universe... But why is it first person?
- Well, they've decided to target a more mainstream audience.
- But Pillars was isometric, then Deadfire was isometric, and now this is first person... why?
- Deadfire didn't sell that well.
- But the reason for Deadfire not selling well was Pillars, not the fact it was isometric!
- Yeah, but Obsidian have instead taken it as a sign that they have to make the next game first person and this will fix sales numbers.
-

No noeed to lie to yourself, isometric rpg never sells well. it has become a niche genre for almost 20 years now.

Yeah, I can't imagine an isometric RPG selling well. Deadfire is better than POE1 in every single way (IMO), and the reason POE1 sold well is because there was a lot of hype about infinity engine games returning, and the kickstarter itself being on the news everywhere. There were even celebrities playing it on Twitch. And suddenly everyone had their fill once POE came out (also IMO). Codex says POE was nowhere close to infinity engine games quality (writing, combat), sure, maybe true enough. If Avowed sells < 300k copies though this comment will age like milk and I'll have to eat a shoe.

IDK , Pathfinder and Divinity sold pretty well. Of course , Owlcat is not as big as Obsidian and DOS2 was a outliner, but still. There's a market for it.

 

[santino27]

I may be the only Obsidianite who comes here (other than Avellone, lol), though maybe others lurk. But I like how insanely critical you guys are. It's all valid criticism, from people who take this shit seriously, IMO. It's just so hard to interact with any community by a dev, like I don't know if tomorrow there will be screenshots of these posts and I'll be fired, but whatever. What's the point of making games if you can't have fun, this shit gets too intense sometimes as it is. Keep at it

That's the right kind of attitude for actually making things better imo, although of course in development, change like that needs to often come from the top. Some of the complaints here are just people bitching, which is par for the course with any open discussion environment, but I think there's a lot of truth in the negativity too. Not engaging with anyone other than braindead game journos or the echo chamber of diehard fans is why everything is stagnant shit. Anyway, glad you're here, and don't get fired yet. Also kudos for using your name... being connected to the codex at a professional level is, as you said, pretty damn dicey, which is why so few of us do it.

Yeah, I can't imagine an isometric RPG selling well. Deadfire is better than POE1 in every single way (IMO),

Except for story and characters, because holy shit.

 

[Eirinjas]

So, judging by the trailer it's an Elderscrolls-Lite game that rips off the combat mechanics of Skyrim, gives you the übermensch killing prowess of Corvo from Dishonored, in a land that looks like Outer Worlds meets Lord of the Rings, fighting fungally infected creatures ala The Last of Us, with that quasi-cartoon realist vomit art-style so prevalent in games these days, and it lets you roleplay your gender and diversity hire attributes. Talk about creative bankruptcy. Boy, marketing sure did focus group the hell out of this one. It wouldn't surprise me if loading the game the Obsidian logo includes the poc trans flag just to tick off all the boxes on the demographics bingo card. Why not go a step further, Obsidian, and put Dylan Mulvaney in your next gameplay trailer? I know you've thought about it.

 

[ItsChon]

Yeah, I can't imagine an isometric RPG selling well. Deadfire is better than POE1 in every single way (IMO), and the reason POE1 sold well is because there was a lot of hype about infinity engine games returning, and the kickstarter itself being on the news everywhere. There were even celebrities playing it on Twitch. And suddenly everyone had their fill once POE came out (also IMO). Codex says POE was nowhere close to infinity engine games quality (writing, combat), sure, maybe true enough. If Avowed sells < 300k copies though this comment will age like milk and I'll have to eat a shoe.

This isn't your field of expertise and I know you can't do anything with this information, nor does it probably matter to you, but see this post about why Deadfire sold very poorly.

The two main reasons Deadfire flopped is because,

A) There was little to no marketing/media behind it, or at least, media that was effective. I remember reading that PoE 2 had come out and being confused as fuck, especially since I hadn't even got around to the first game yet. There wasn't nearly as much Kickstarter and youtube hype surrounding the sequel, which obviously means less exposure.

and

B) PoE scored so well and got high reviews all around, despite the fact that it was so bland and mediocre. Pillars of Eternity was super popular, and a bunch of people knew about it. This led to a lot of people new to the genre buying the game and playing it. These people that are new to the CRPG genre play the game for a few hours, but for some reason, they just can't get into it. Normally, this would lead a player to think that said game was bad or missing something, but this is where all the good reviews came in. If all these reviewers and YouTubers are praising the game, they conclude that this is what the best of the genre has to offer. This means that their inability to get into the game is not due to the game being bad or missing something, but it's due to the fact that they're not really into the CRPG genre.

The vast majority of people that play video games are fucking retards, and they have no idea what's good and what isn't. You'll see someone on the Codex who played PoE for hours, perhaps even finished it, and will turn around and say the game is shit, while a "regular gamer" will have barely stomached the game for an hour or two, and turn around say "yeah PoE is a good game". They do this because people are sheep, and will believe whatever the general consensus is all the while, they buy and play games that might be completely contrary to what they say they like/say is good (see all the popamole Codexers that larp liking old games to impress oldfags, all the while they've sunk tens of hours into TOW, FO:NV, and Skryim).

So, when Deadfire came along, all of those people that bought PoE the first time abstained from Deadfire, because they just assumed that the CRPG genre wasn't for them, hence the complete commercial failure that the second game was. D:OS went the other way, the people that got played the first one enjoyed it and got pulled in, and when D:OS 2 got all the Kickstarter and YouTuber hype, that core audience along with all the people new to the game came in, which led to its sweeping success. I haven't played D:OS 2, so I don't know if it was good or not, but if it was, I'm sure the sequel will do anywhere from a little less successful, to even more successful, depending on how people liked it.

The reason there was no hype and coverage was being of reason B. Just some food for thought.

 

[santino27]

Sales vs. quality is of course something we've discussed ad nauseum, but... from what Sawyer has said in the past, Deadfire at least eventually made it to profit, albeit not at a magnitude (or rate of speed) that anyone would consider a hit. As for quality, the graphics/tech aspects were leagues better than POE imo, the mechanics were (mostly) better, the combat was (mostly) better, the main plot blew chunks out of its infected anus, the party companions veered between dull and disastrous (a clear and ongoing problem with the writing staff), and the ship layer just didn't excite anyone, including seemingly the devs involved. So, I guess sales-wise, it ended up a minor success, but otherwise it was a very mixed bag. Not interesting enough to fall into the traditional Obsidian 'crippled potential masterpiece' vein, but not awful either. Just there. Which set the stage nicely for Outer Worlds tocome out and double down on the idea of just being there too.

 

[Briar Diem]

IDK , Pathfinder and Divinity sold pretty well

Pathfinder and Divinity were both full 3d though, maybe more accessible? Yea you're right though, if game is fun enough shouldn't matter. Divinity eclipsed POE's by an insane margin of sales.