Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting - coming February 18th

[Vyvian]

I kinda liked the gameplay video they put out recently. The companions though, I don't like Orlans and they were really pushing that one.
I liked it a hell of a lot more than the abortion I just saw today from Bioware that's for damn sure.

 

[ArchAngel]

Not to be a negative nancy but this looks like shit.

"The Outer Worlds crossed with Pillars of Eternity" is literally the most sickening series of words in the English language. Translate it into other languages and it'll be the most sickening phrase in them too. The fucking awful garish colours and horrible UI are just a direct lift from TOW, everything about this game triggers TOW PTSD.

I have not played TOW yet but I see it looking back at me on gamepass each time I am scrolling to see what to try next. What is so terrible about TOW?

 

[Gargaune]

Not to be a negative nancy

What is so terrible about TOW?

It's Avoid with guns.

 

[Lemming42]

I have not played TOW yet but I see it looking back at me on gamepass each time I am scrolling to see what to try next. What is so terrible about TOW?

It's the blandest game in the world but the big issue is the writing and worldbuilding, which is just absolutely shocking. I could write about it all day but to summarise, it's an extremely heavy-handed satire made by people who have nothing useful or funny to say about the topic at hand, every character is an irritating caricature (and half of them exist to tell you sub Rick & Morty jokes), the central conflict is completely black and white and the "corporate" faction are demonised to the point where the game repeatedly tells you outright that there's no advantage to siding with them and everyone you meet from that faction is not allowed to possess any nuance, the companions are all absolutely awful (except Nyoka, who's merely very boring). It's also very tonally confused, it's ostensibly a wacky satirical comedy but it also feels very dour and serious and up its own ass. I'm saying all this as someone who is, theoretically, a good target audience for a big extended whine about capitalism, because I'm left-wing economically, but even I thought TOW was brainless fucking shit.

Outside the writing, though, it's like a Bethesda game that's somehow worse than any Bethesda game. Just big open maps that are mostly empty and filled with scattered bandit/animal mobs, a character system which doesn't really feel consequential (including the least exciting Perks ever devised for a videogame), combat and stealth mechanics that are passable but deeply uninteresting, etc. Dungeons are about the quality of something like Fo4. Quest design is theoretically fine but there's just no motivation to be messing around with alternate routes and shit when the simple act of playing the game is so draining.

 

[ArchAngel]

I have not played TOW yet but I see it looking back at me on gamepass each time I am scrolling to see what to try next. What is so terrible about TOW?

It's the blandest game in the world but the big issue is the writing and worldbuilding, which is just absolutely shocking. I could write about it all day but to summarise, it's an extremely heavy-handed satire made by people who have nothing useful or funny to say about the topic at hand, every character is an irritating caricature (and half of them exist to tell you sub Rick & Morty jokes), the central conflict is completely black and white and the "corporate" faction are demonised to the point where the game repeatedly tells you outright that there's no advantage to siding with them and everyone you meet from that faction is not allowed to possess any nuance, the companions are all absolutely awful (except Nyoka, who's merely very boring). It's also very tonally confused, it's ostensibly a wacky satirical comedy but it also feels very dour and serious and up its own ass. I'm saying all this as someone who is, theoretically, a good target audience for a big extended whine about capitalism, because I'm left-wing economically, but even I thought TOW was brainless fucking shit.

Outside the writing, though, it's like a Bethesda game that's somehow worse than any Bethesda game. Just big open maps that are mostly empty and filled with scattered bandit/animal mobs, a character system which doesn't really feel consequential (including the least exciting Perks ever devised for a videogame), combat and stealth mechanics that are passable but deeply uninteresting, etc. Dungeons are about the quality of something like Fo4. Quest design is theoretically fine but there's just no motivation to be messing around with alternate routes and shit when the simple act of playing the game is so draining.

Take into consideration I put 50+ hours into Starfield (and consider it 6/10 game), how would it compare to Starfield?

Is the writing at least better than average Bethesda game, or at least more funny?

 

[Lemming42]

I'd also give Starfield a 6/10. I'd say Starfield has better combat. Exploration in both games is obviously a total mess. It's sort of like Starfield without any ship gameplay, and a smaller handful of equally shitty planets.

Writing-wise, I really can't express how much I hated TOW. Starfield just washed over me, I wasn't engaged with the plot or setting but didn't really have a problem with it, and enjoyed the pirate questline. TOW actively repelled me, I really hated it. Bethesda writing at least generally doesn't have any pretensions, but TOW is nothing but pretensions. You'd probably have to try it yourself to see if it clicks with you but I'm warning you, it is raw sewage in game form, and you may end up a broken husk like I am after playing it.

 

[Sòren]

I have not played TOW yet but I see it looking back at me on gamepass each time I am scrolling to see what to try next. What is so terrible about TOW?

It's the blandest game in the world but the big issue is the writing and worldbuilding, which is just absolutely shocking. I could write about it all day but to summarise, it's an extremely heavy-handed satire made by people who have nothing useful or funny to say about the topic at hand, every character is an irritating caricature (and half of them exist to tell you sub Rick & Morty jokes), the central conflict is completely black and white and the "corporate" faction are demonised to the point where the game repeatedly tells you outright that there's no advantage to siding with them and everyone you meet from that faction is not allowed to possess any nuance, the companions are all absolutely awful (except Nyoka, who's merely very boring). It's also very tonally confused, it's ostensibly a wacky satirical comedy but it also feels very dour and serious and up its own ass. I'm saying all this as someone who is, theoretically, a good target audience for a big extended whine about capitalism, because I'm left-wing economically, but even I thought TOW was brainless fucking shit.

Outside the writing, though, it's like a Bethesda game that's somehow worse than any Bethesda game. Just big open maps that are mostly empty and filled with scattered bandit/animal mobs, a character system which doesn't really feel consequential (including the least exciting Perks ever devised for a videogame), combat and stealth mechanics that are passable but deeply uninteresting, etc. Dungeons are about the quality of something like Fo4. Quest design is theoretically fine but there's just no motivation to be messing around with alternate routes and shit when the simple act of playing the game is so draining.

Take into consideration I put 50+ hours into Starfield (and consider it 6/10 game), how would it compare to Starfield?

Is the writing at least better than average Bethesda game, or at least more funny?

the game is nothing. well, almost nothing. the only aspect that might evoke some emotions is how insultingly bad they push the "strong wymens" trope there. are you lesbian? oh you might enjoy partnering one of your crew members with a chink. it takes about 10 minutes. what else? there is a corporation that experiments with toothpaste and it goes horribly wrong (shocking) and you have to kill thousands of mutated dogs.

i wouldn't even recommend it if you got nothing better to do for 20 hours. just do push ups until you are drooling on the floor.

 

[S.torch]

No romance for the players. But they get to watch others have sex in a corner lmao.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Companions and romances in videogames are such a fucking waste of resources it's surreal.
It's your adventure, as a player/characte, not of others with you. The whole game should be tailored to dealing with obstacles by oneself not with friends. How is this blatant aspect ignored so much?

 

[Bulo]

both games' looks were realistic

You think like that because all you see in Deadfire and 1 are the miniature of the world/building/people, and even then the character design looks cartoonish-ish, despite semi-realistic environment.

This game is no different.

All I hear is that you people have mental dissonance over the much bigger, first person world design. If this game was an Isometric RPG, it still going to look the same compared to Deadfire and Pillars 1.

The latest trailer actually did start off with a couple of pseudo-iso shots, allowing one to make the comparison.

And here's Deadfire.

Pillars 2 is gorgeous. Shame it's so gay

 

[Infinitron]

The four companions are the aumaua guy, the oceanfolk woman, the orlan gal, and a bearded dwarf guy. Predicting the orlan's going to be popular.

 

[scytheavatar]

Companions and romances in videogames are such a fucking waste of resources it's surreal.
It's your adventure, as a player/characte, not of others with you. The whole game should be tailored to dealing with obstacles by oneself not with friends. How is this blatant aspect ignored so much?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartle_taxonomy_of_player_types

As the Bartle taxonomy of player types puts it, there are a large group of players who Socializers and gain the most enjoyment from a RPG by interacting with fictional friends. They are a large percentage of the audiences and not something game devs of RPGs can ignore.

I'll go as far as to say there's more people who want to romance their companions than there are those who seek to min max their characters.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Lord, it's time to bring on the flood again.

 

[Lemming42]

writing is as shitty as you can expect from obsidian, after they lost all people of value in that department. look at 24:28.
the protagonist asks: "For How long have you been here?"
plant queen (very creative character btw): "For all time."
and directly after your next dialogue choice, she says that "(the heart) belonged to someone who tended this grove longer than I have been here."

This whole exchange made me laugh so much that I decided to see if AI could beat Obsidian's writers. I fed the in-game dialogue into it, then let AI continue the conversation, responding to my questions:

I buy it. An unthinking, unalive, unfeeling computer program has more or less managed to write Obsidian out of a corner. The sooner these jokers are replaced by machines, the better.

 

[markec]

No romance for the players. But they get to watch others have sex in a corner lmao.

 

[Sòren]

writing is as shitty as you can expect from obsidian, after they lost all people of value in that department. look at 24:28.
the protagonist asks: "For How long have you been here?"
plant queen (very creative character btw): "For all time."
and directly after your next dialogue choice, she says that "(the heart) belonged to someone who tended this grove longer than I have been here."

This whole exchange made me laugh so much that I decided to see if AI could beat Obsidian's writers. I fed the in-game dialogue into it, then let AI continue the conversation, responding to my questions:

I buy it. An unthinking, unalive, unfeeling computer program has more or less managed to write Obsidian out of a corner. The sooner these jokers are replaced by machines, the better.

that's really not bad. i am impressed.

 

[Orange Clock]

All this trailers, interviews and reveals.. yet still they don’t answer two most important questions(for us, Deadfire fans)

1. Di verus, are we to expect foreign words thrown into conversations, ac? They must add them, I say. Make the world so much immersive and believable, per complanca. (Also add mouseover loredumps)
2. I didn’t see any pets. Does it mean we won’t be able to get our own animal harem in camp? Or is it a Ranger ability

 

[zaze]

writing is as shitty as you can expect from obsidian, after they lost all people of value in that department. look at 24:28.
the protagonist asks: "For How long have you been here?"
plant queen (very creative character btw): "For all time."
and directly after your next dialogue choice, she says that "(the heart) belonged to someone who tended this grove longer than I have been here."

This whole exchange made me laugh so much that I decided to see if AI could beat Obsidian's writers. I fed the in-game dialogue into it, then let AI continue the conversation, responding to my questions:

I buy it. An unthinking, unalive, unfeeling computer program has more or less managed to write Obsidian out of a corner. The sooner these jokers are replaced by machines, the better.

don't you worry I'm sure they'll find a way to enshittify AI too

 

[Heroic Liberator]

No romance for the players. But they get to watch others have sex in a corner lmao.

 

[Lemming42]

Wait, Josh isn't involved? I've been wishing agony and excrement and death upon him for TOW, but looking it up, it turns out he really isn't involved with that or with this. Josh, I am so sorry. I'm so ashamed of what I've been wishing upon you. I'll go back to wishing misery upon you for PoE instead.

 

[luj1]

it really makes no difference if he's on it

 

[Butter]

Wait, Josh isn't involved? I've been wishing agony and excrement and death upon him for TOW, but looking it up, it turns out he really isn't involved with that or with this. Josh, I am so sorry. I'm so ashamed of what I've been wishing upon you. I'll go back to wishing misery upon you for PoE instead.

One wonders what he actually has been doing since his visual novel shipped more than 18 months ago. As much as Feargus loves him, he probably still has to keep up appearances of doing work.

 

[Vulpes]

What's their sales pitch even supposed to be? Who the fuck is their target audience? Obsidian fans who like exploring the world of PoE? Do those people even exist? It's certainly not gamers who enjoy ARPGs for the gameplay, because it looks barely better than vanilla Skyrim.

No romance for the players. But they get to watch others have sex in a corner lmao.

 

[Lemming42]

What's their sales pitch even supposed to be? Who the fuck is their target audience? Obsidian fans who like exploring the world of PoE? Do those people even exist? It's certainly not gamers who enjoy ARPGs for the gameplay, because it looks barely better than vanilla Skyrim.

I doubt whoever gave the project the green light had any deeper reasoning than "a Skyrim clone might make money". The PoE setting won't help much but it probably won't hinder either; most people who do play this will just be looking for any old ARPG and think "ooh, looks a bit like a shitty Skyrim knockoff" without knowing/caring about PoE. On top of that, as with TOW, there might be a few people who hear the name Obsidian and think of New Vegas and go into the game based on that goodwill, which will probably be immediately exhausted in the first hour of the game.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Companions and romances in videogames are such a fucking waste of resources it's surreal.
It's your adventure, as a player/character, not of others with you. The whole game should be tailored to dealing with obstacles by oneself not with friends. How is this blatant aspect ignored so much?

As much as anyone focused on gameplay detests companion romances, the success of Baldur's Gate 3 has ensured this will be a prominent feature of large-budget party-based RPGs for the forseeable future (and even including Bethesda-style PC plus one companion RPGs; Starfield already had romances for the four mandatory companions). From the perspective of profit maximization, this is sadly the opposite of wasting resources, for any game in which companion romances are feasible.