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

[Harthwain]

I brought it up in the other thread but it's worth repeating, I suppose.

The game will have pronouns, which of course is an excellent sign that it'll be infested with other subversive nonsense.

Source: https://x.com/Pirat_Nation/status/1859986344006815787

I have not watched any of the videos Infinitron is linking. I would bet real money that they are all avoiding the woke nonsense because the point is to sell this game in the wake of Failguard. "You have to buy the game to find out how much woke is in the game."

If they actually wanted the game to sell, they wouldn't have agreed to make it Day-one Gamepass.

I heard an interesting theory that making the game so pricey is a calculated move to sell more gamepasses (because it is cheaper than buying the game for yourself).

 

[DKunit]

If they actually wanted the game to sell, they wouldn't have agreed to make it Day-one Gamepass.

Agreed? Microsoft owns Obsidian.

Fair point.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Fallout 3 was more in tune with Fallout 1&2, than this games appears to be with respect PoE 1&2.

 

[sebas]

"[combat] while it definitely has a little jank and awkward animation here and there, combat feels more impactful than it looks which is hard thing to convey over video"

This guy is fucking retarded. If it's hard to convey over video, how the fuck will I feel it differently in a VIDEO game you fucking soap muncher? Is the game shipping with a full suit of armor you gotta play it dressed in?

 

[cioran]

"[combat] while it definitely has a little jank and awkward animation here and there, combat feels more impactful than it looks which is hard thing to convey over video"

This guy is fucking retarded. If it's hard to convey over video, how the fuck will I feel it differently in a VIDEO game you fucking soap muncher? Is the game shipping with a full suit of armor you gotta play it dressed in?

The great Jesse Babcuck (Mortismal Gaming)

 

[Riddler]

"[combat] while it definitely has a little jank and awkward animation here and there, combat feels more impactful than it looks which is hard thing to convey over video"

This guy is fucking retarded. If it's hard to convey over video, how the fuck will I feel it differently in a VIDEO game you fucking soap muncher? Is the game shipping with a full suit of armor you gotta play it dressed in?

The man unironically hasn't found slop he didn't enjoy.

I don't think he has had a net negative opinion on a single game he's ever covered.

That he happens to like tactical games doesn't make his opinion valuable or interesting since there is nothing he doesn't like.

 

[Morgoth]

"[combat] while it definitely has a little jank and awkward animation here and there, combat feels more impactful than it looks which is hard thing to convey over video"

This guy is fucking retarded. If it's hard to convey over video, how the fuck will I feel it differently in a VIDEO game you fucking soap muncher? Is the game shipping with a full suit of armor you gotta play it dressed in?

The man unironically hasn't found slop he didn't enjoy.

I don't think he has had a net negative opinion on a single game he's ever covered.

That he happens to like tactical games doesn't make his opinion valuable or interesting since there is nothing he doesn't like.

He didn't enjoy Dragon's Doggy 2, a Codex darling and the very definition of slop.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

He didn't enjoy Dragon's Doggy 2, the very definition of slop.

I didn't realise there would be a dumbass nigger on these forums lower than H. P. Lovecraft's Cat yet here we are.

 

[Riddler]

"[combat] while it definitely has a little jank and awkward animation here and there, combat feels more impactful than it looks which is hard thing to convey over video"

This guy is fucking retarded. If it's hard to convey over video, how the fuck will I feel it differently in a VIDEO game you fucking soap muncher? Is the game shipping with a full suit of armor you gotta play it dressed in?

The man unironically hasn't found slop he didn't enjoy.

I don't think he has had a net negative opinion on a single game he's ever covered.

That he happens to like tactical games doesn't make his opinion valuable or interesting since there is nothing he doesn't like.

He didn't enjoy Dragon's Doggy 2, a Codex darling and the very definition of slop.

In that very video he calls the game fine but finds it worse than the original.

 

[Nikanuur]

Sometimes, the combat in this game doesn't seem half-bad, and sometimes I can't help but feel that it was designed by someone with the talent and creativity to craft intricate animations but who never bothered to play first-person RPGs or action games much. It’s puzzling. If that's the case, how difficult would it have been for someone with such intellectual capacity to take a moment, switch on their self-awareness, and watch a few well-crafted examples to gain some insight? There aren't a lot, but games like Dark Messiah, Arx Fatalis, Dishonored, and Elderborn could have offered valuable inspiration.

Two: I agree that some things can't translate well just by looking at them. The control, the feedback, the actual "feel" is what gameplay is mostly about, after all. I suppose, it all stands to be seen felt yet. But whatever the outcome with this game, one thing's already clear for me: in the very least, overall, the game doesn't seem to be sinking to the same rock-bottom depths of moronism as Veilguard.

 

[Readher]

AAA companies don't want to spend money on developing internal engines anymore because they can save upfront cost using Unity/Unreal instead. It's a shame because there are a lot of internally developed engines that have great optimization. Case in point: the Fox Engine used for MGS V. That game released in a buttery smooth state. Budget rigs could run that game at a high framerate without stutters, and it still looked incredible.

At this point in AAA game development I imagine a lot of devs don't even know how to program fluently, and can get by just tinkering with their basic knowledge in the third party engines. Gun to head I doubt most of these companies would be able to assemble a team to develop an engine with immediate talent. They would probably have to hire a brand new group for that sole purpose. The people that can develop engines aren't working at game companies, there isn't money in it for them.

The reason why AAA companies aren't developing their own engines anymore is because:

1. You need experienced, well-paid software engineers to do that. They used to work in game dev, because they were nerds and mostly had creative freedom, so they stomached the crunch and shit pay to pursue their dreams. Now there's no creative freedom, a lot of programmers don't even know how to assemble a PC (I have Master's in Comp Sci and know this first-hand, there were people who were absolutely better programmers than me, but were clueless about PCs) and the pay is still shit, and the crunch is still there. No reason for competent programmers to be in game dev anymore.

2. Every time you brought someone new, you had to teach them about the internal tools. I imagine there were numerous times when someone left due to shit pay/environment before they even did any work - lost time and money for the dev and publisher. Compare that to Unreal/Unity, which are publicly available and a lot of schools teach at least the basics on how to use them. Easy to get cheap fresh grads to grind until they have enough and then replace with new ones.

3. Developing an engine is only one part, maintaining it, updating it and documenting it is a never ending, constant cost, while Epic/Unity does all that for you.

The onboarding is the biggest advantage, I believe. With the ever insufficient deadlines and ballooning budgets, it seems like a good thing for the dev and publisher that they can easily replace anyone with cheap labor at a moment's notice, and they can get to work immediately, quality notwithstanding. Sweatshop mentality basically.

An additional reason why games run worse now is DX12 and Vulkan adoption. The reason they were introduced was the devs wanted more control over low-level stuff. Turns out, however, that most of the devs are too incompetent to handle low-level stuff. DX11 and earlier and OpenGL were more obfuscated, but that in turn allowed Nvidia and AMD to optimize to a greater extent with drivers, and they have much better engineers than any AAA dev. Now it's almost all on the dev side, and we're seeing the effects of this.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

"[combat] while it definitely has a little jank and awkward animation here and there, combat feels more impactful than it looks which is hard thing to convey over video"

This guy is fucking retarded. If it's hard to convey over video, how the fuck will I feel it differently in a VIDEO game you fucking soap muncher? Is the game shipping with a full suit of armor you gotta play it dressed in?

The man unironically hasn't found slop he didn't enjoy.

I don't think he has had a net negative opinion on a single game he's ever covered.

That he happens to like tactical games doesn't make his opinion valuable or interesting since there is nothing he doesn't like.

He didn't like too much Dragon Age Origin.

 

[thesecret1]

Every time you brought someone new, you had to teach them about the internal tools. I imagine there were numerous times when someone left due to shit pay/environment before they even did any work - lost time and money for the dev and publisher. Compare that to Unreal/Unity, which are publicly available and a lot of schools teach at least the basics on how to use them. Easy to get cheap fresh grads to grind until they have enough and then replace with new ones.

Nobody gives a shit about fresh grads because they know fuck all anyway - every time a company hires a junior coder, it knows it'll need to spend time mentoring him regardless what school he's finished. The actual issue are seniors - it's much, MUCH easier to find a senior Unreal or Unity developer than it is for some in-house engine (logically), and a large chunk of knowledge that you get from working with one engine is non-transferrable to another. It's normal for game dev studios to ask for years of experience with a specific engine in job ads as a result. "Hiring Senior Game Programmer, 3+ years of experience with Unreal minimum". If you come in with 6 years of experience with Unity they'll tell you to kindly fuck off.

 

[Readher]

Nobody gives a shit about fresh grads because they know fuck all anyway - every time a company hires a junior coder, it knows it'll need to spend time mentoring him regardless what school he's finished.

Tell that to CDPR lol. You clearly don't know the mentality at some of the companies, or perhaps even countries. They expect senior-level competency at a junior-level pay.

 

[thesecret1]

Nobody gives a shit about fresh grads because they know fuck all anyway - every time a company hires a junior coder, it knows it'll need to spend time mentoring him regardless what school he's finished.

Tell that to CDPR lol. You clearly don't know the mentality at some of the companies, or perhaps even countries. They expect senior-level competency at a junior-level pay.

They're free to expect it, but they won't get it unless they spend time mentoring them. I expect CDPR and similar to have some manner of a bootcamp during the trial period to bring their juniors up to speed, because to let an unsupervised junior, fresh from school, start making submits to your project is downright suicidal. Adopting Unreal or Unity does not remove the need to train juniors. The advantage comes from having a labor pool of seniors.

 

[Artyoan]

He didn't enjoy Dragon's Doggy 2, a Codex darling and the very definition of slop.

It is my game of the year.

Mortismal is speed running and achievement hunting every game he plays. Having to rush through games to get a video out for a review is an awful way to play a video game and a detrimental way to play DD2.

That is also the reason I don't put much stock in his opinion. His only role is to make me aware that a game exists to begin with.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Yeah I've heard of a bunch of games from him but listening to him review them is good for insomnia

 

[Stavrophore]

Why does it looks, at least graphically, like a carbon copy of Baldurs Gate 3? Is obsidian trying to capitalize on the BG3 success?

https://fandomwire.com/avowed-confirmed-best-of-baldurs-gate-3/

Looks like it, at least according to game industry journos. Hard pass.

 

[Infinitron]

Why does it looks, at least graphically, like a carbon copy of Baldurs Gate 3? Is obsidian trying to capitalize on the BG3 success?

https://fandomwire.com/avowed-confirmed-best-of-baldurs-gate-3/

Looks like it, at least according to game industry journos. Hard pass.

This website is some pajeet AI generated slop.

 

[frajaq]

wait, the ENTIRE website is AI slop? what the fuck

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

Dead internet.

 

[Stavrophore]

Why does it looks, at least graphically, like a carbon copy of Baldurs Gate 3? Is obsidian trying to capitalize on the BG3 success?

https://fandomwire.com/avowed-confirmed-best-of-baldurs-gate-3/

Looks like it, at least according to game industry journos. Hard pass.

This website is some pajeet AI generated slop.

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rp...urial-companions-with-distinct-personalities/

 

[mediocrepoet]

Just saw a bit of the newer videos for this thing. They should've waited before, this looks leagues ahead of that first set of videos and actually looks like it could be fun. That first set of gameplay videos from months ago looked like complete ass.

 

[cioran]

Just saw a bit of the newer videos for this thing. They should've waited before, this looks leagues ahead of that first set of videos and actually looks like it could be fun. That first set of gameplay videos from months ago looked like complete ass.

Any links at hand?

 

[mediocrepoet]

Just saw a bit of the newer videos for this thing. They should've waited before, this looks leagues ahead of that first set of videos and actually looks like it could be fun. That first set of gameplay videos from months ago looked like complete ass.

Any links at hand?

I think it was posted in this thread already, but I was just watching Force Gaming's blab about it and just watching the gameplay part of it. Really looks like the sort of thing DMoMM hoped to be before it turned into The Kickman Saga.