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

[Dark Souls II]

Hi.

Have you considered the physical copy of Avowed, or wondered about the high-end quality of the cloth map inside? Perhaps this will sway you to get it added to your Eora collection.

THE LIVING LANDS

Enjoy the detail of Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, Galawain's Tusks and The Garden. All five unravel their petals during your exploration of The Living Lands where hidden treasure and devious monsters await.

Thanks,
Sherry

Shatterscarp? I barely know her!

Also I can't believe how shitty Asoyed is on every level, even the map is shitty. The dumb island doesn't make any geological sense. Mountains spread evenly across the entire landmass (instead of mountains in the centre, like in Morrowind), idiotic highways that make no sense (for a second I thought they might be something similar to foyadas, like in Morrowind, but foyadas were placed realistically and you could believe they were created by lava flows - what were the Asoyed highways caused by? Not lava but not rivers either, since they have zero correlation with the rivers). The whole map is just filled with "mountains" (walls so the player knows where not to go!) and these weird tunnels so that the player has no problems going straight to the le heckin awesome reddit content. Have you seen the abdominal muscles on that xaurip? They ripple!

 

[Butter]

What's fun is driving around in the country and seeing the small towns that sprang up around a major crossroads. It makes sense. If a lot of traffic goes through a particular junction, you can set up a shop, inn, livery, or other convenience and do good business.

Video game developers seem totally unfamiliar with this concept. The crossroads are almost always entirely barren of human life and activity. No thought is given to how settlements actually form. It's like seeing a major city along a rocky beach instead of at the river delta. Amateur hour.

 

[Fedora Master]

What's fun is driving around in the country and seeing the small towns that sprang up around a major crossroads. It makes sense. If a lot of traffic goes through a particular junction, you can set up a shop, inn, livery, or other convenience and do good business.

Video game developers seem totally unfamiliar with this concept. The crossroads are almost always entirely barren of human life and activity. No thought is given to how settlements actually form. It's like seeing a major city along a rocky beach instead of at the river delta. Amateur hour.

Americanisms.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Convenient tube paths between locations, just like I expected from a consoleshit title.

Either the scale is off, the Living Lands are very small, or the paths are very wide.

 

[BrainMuncher]

I like those kind of maps but it doesn't seem like this game really needs one

 

[Sixwinds]

Hi.

Have you considered the physical copy of Avowed, or wondered about the high-end quality of the cloth map inside? Perhaps this will sway you to get it added to your Eora collection.

THE LIVING LANDS

Enjoy the detail of Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, Galawain's Tusks and The Garden. All five unravel their petals during your exploration of The Living Lands where hidden treasure and devious monsters await.

Thanks,
Sherry

Wow this is something a 12 year old would be ashamed to make...

 

[Roguey]

Vailians are described somewhat different in the game's setting books than they look in the game, but I can't currently bring you quotes. The ubiquitous black skin is more Obsidian's artists "subverting" Obsidian's own setting. I think the PDF books described them as being darker skinned than Dyrwoodans but more remiscent of a Mediterranean anthropological type, and not simply black. I blame stupid shallow racist Americans.

Josh Sawyer approved everything, no one was subverting anything.

Ocean Folk—Calbandra
(cahl-BAHN-drah, “warm ring,” Vailian)
The Calbandra originated near the equator
on the other side of the world. It is believed
that they migrated heavily due to rapid
cultural expansion in the last two thousand
years. Most cultures recognize that Calbandra
are currently the most widespread human
ethnicity in this part of the world.
Ocean folk are the dominant culture of
the Vailian Republics, though they are also
common in Dyrwood. They are rare in both
Aedyr and Readceras.
• Features: Broad, flat noses. Full lips. Round,
almond, or prominent eyes. Mid-to-shallow-set
eyes and strong brows.
• Skin: Light brown to extremely dark brown.
• Hair: Rust brown, brown, black hair.
Texture may be straight, wavy, curly, or kinky.
• Eyes: Brown, green, gray, hazel, yellow-green,
red-brown.

The more Med-like people would be the Savannah folk.

 

[frajaq]

Hi.

Have you considered the physical copy of Avowed, or wondered about the high-end quality of the cloth map inside? Perhaps this will sway you to get it added to your Eora collection.

THE LIVING LANDS

Enjoy the detail of Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, Galawain's Tusks and The Garden. All five unravel their petals during your exploration of The Living Lands where hidden treasure and devious monsters await.

Thanks,
Sherry

wait thats all the zones in the game?

 

[thesecret1]

Hi.

Have you considered the physical copy of Avowed, or wondered about the high-end quality of the cloth map inside? Perhaps this will sway you to get it added to your Eora collection.

THE LIVING LANDS

Enjoy the detail of Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, Galawain's Tusks and The Garden. All five unravel their petals during your exploration of The Living Lands where hidden treasure and devious monsters await.

Thanks,
Sherry

Seems like you posted the map of some theme park by mistake

 

[AwesomeButton]

Vailians are described somewhat different in the game's setting books than they look in the game, but I can't currently bring you quotes. The ubiquitous black skin is more Obsidian's artists "subverting" Obsidian's own setting. I think the PDF books described them as being darker skinned than Dyrwoodans but more remiscent of a Mediterranean anthropological type, and not simply black. I blame stupid shallow racist Americans.

Josh Sawyer approved everything, no one was subverting anything.

Ocean Folk—Calbandra
(cahl-BAHN-drah, “warm ring,” Vailian)
The Calbandra originated near the equator
on the other side of the world. It is believed
that they migrated heavily due to rapid
cultural expansion in the last two thousand
years. Most cultures recognize that Calbandra
are currently the most widespread human
ethnicity in this part of the world.
Ocean folk are the dominant culture of
the Vailian Republics, though they are also
common in Dyrwood. They are rare in both
Aedyr and Readceras.
• Features: Broad, flat noses. Full lips. Round,
almond, or prominent eyes. Mid-to-shallow-set
eyes and strong brows.
• Skin: Light brown to extremely dark brown.
• Hair: Rust brown, brown, black hair.
Texture may be straight, wavy, curly, or kinky.
• Eyes: Brown, green, gray, hazel, yellow-green,
red-brown.

The more Med-like people would be the Savannah folk.

Yes, ok. Yet in the games, the characters' skin seem to be leaning towards the dark brown end.

 

[Roguey]

Yes, ok. Yet in the games, the characters' skin seem to be leaning towards the dark brown end.

Dark brown is pure African black. Light brown is African-American. By contrast, the Savannah folk are "lightly tan to dark tan skin with a warm reddish tone" and Meadow folk are "fair to light tan."

 

[Dark Souls II]

Have you considered the physical copy of Avowed, or wondered about the high-end quality of the cloth map inside? Perhaps this will sway you to get it added to your Eora collection.

THE LIVING LANDS

Enjoy the detail of Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, Galawain's Tusks and The Garden. All five unravel their petals during your exploration of The Living Lands where hidden treasure and devious monsters await.

Thanks,
Sherry

wait thats all the zones in the game?

Not all of these are in the game. To access the snowy valley, (you know the fully snow-covered valley located right next to the tropical jungle), you'll have to wait for the DLC. Because this will be the third game in this setting in a row in which they absolutely must include a winter-themed DLC, because they have no other ideas.

 

[Sherry]

Hi.

Have you considered the physical copy of Avowed, or wondered about the high-end quality of the cloth map inside? Perhaps this will sway you to get it added to your Eora collection.

THE LIVING LANDS

Enjoy the detail of Dawnshore, Emerald Stair, Shatterscarp, Galawain's Tusks and The Garden. All five unravel their petals during your exploration of The Living Lands where hidden treasure and devious monsters await.

Thanks,
Sherry

wait thats all the zones in the game?

Hi.

That is just what is shown on the cloth map you can get for yourself when you purchase the physical case.

There looks to also be a snowy region [4] (shown already in video trailers of gameplay), a forest region with a lake [5], a swamp or bog region [3], a desert region [10], and a secondary forest or swamp region [8]. With those five regions named on the map, that is an additional five unnamed for 10 minimum.

Possible 10 regions in The Living Lands

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[VerSacrum]

Shatterscarp? I barely know her!

Also I can't believe how shitty Asoyed is on every level, even the map is shitty. The dumb island doesn't make any geological sense. Mountains spread evenly across the entire landmass (instead of mountains in the centre, like in Morrowind), idiotic highways that make no sense (for a second I thought they might be something similar to foyadas, like in Morrowind, but foyadas were placed realistically and you could believe they were created by lava flows - what were the Asoyed highways caused by? Not lava but not rivers either, since they have zero correlation with the rivers). The whole map is just filled with "mountains" (walls so the player knows where not to go!) and these weird tunnels so that the player has no problems going straight to the le heckin awesome reddit content. Have you seen the abdominal muscles on that xaurip? They ripple!

The variety of biomes here, which is a plausibility problem in general in many open world games, seems to have a lore reason at least. Living Lands was already described as being unusually varied in Pillars.

 

[Infinitron]

The more Med-like people would be the Savannah folk.

Back in 2013, Josh Sawyer described the Savannah Folk as "mestizo" (a term I'm not sure he'd be willing to use today). Fantasy Mexicans. Which is interesting because it's not clear what two races mixed together to create them. Maybe they're just a fantasy human race that happens to look like that.

 

[Roguey]

Back in 2013, Josh Sawyer described the Savannah Folk as "mestizo" (a term I'm not sure he'd be willing to use today). Fantasy Mexicans. Which is interesting because it's not clear what two races mixed together to create them. Maybe they're just a fantasy human race that happens to look like that.

Mexicans, indigenous Americans in general originated from East Asia. The description of the Savannah folk mentions that some of them have epicanthic folds.

 

[Sherry]

Convenient tube paths between locations, just like I expected from a consoleshit title.

Hi.

It is a really nice throwback to the games of old with corners of the map being different altogether of snow, desert, fire, etc., that The Living Lands gives off that vibe with the little routes you can follow to get from one region to another just like this map example below. The Living Lands map also has a similar map style from the Sorcery! series you can play on Steam that recreates the books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone very well.

Follow the route to get to the region.

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Tyranicon]

I'm assuming all those mountains are put there so players have to stick to designated paths, otherwise it's just open world (albeit a very small one.)

But seriously, the map makes the game look tiny.

 

[Gandalf]

Nothing wrong with having a smaller map. What counts is a quality of content in it.

 

[Fedora Master]

Convenient tube paths between locations, just like I expected from a consoleshit title.

Hi.

It is a really nice throwback to the games of old with corners of the map being different altogether of snow, desert, fire, etc., that The Living Lands gives off that vibe with the little routes you can follow to get from one region to another just like this map example below. The Living Lands map also has a similar map style from the Sorcery! series you can play on Steam that recreates the books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone very well.

Follow the route to get to the region.

Thanks,
Sherry

This is what I'm talking about:

The individual zones won't be open, they will be defined paths to explore. Because consoles and console gamers get confused with wide open areas.

 

[Infinitron]

The Outer Worlds didn't have maps like that so why would this.

 

[Fedora Master]

The Outer Worlds didn't have maps like that so why would this.

Competency Crisis

 

[S.torch]

Deadfire is not a historical documentary of European colonialism in Caribbean

Stop right there. You called Vailians a PERFECT representation of Italians, and now you're backpedalling saying this is just a fantasy. Either call it for what it is, a glorified mismatched fanfiction, or recognize that is not a accurate representation of what is supposedly representing. But you can't have it both ways and switch sides when is convenient for your argument.

Something not being a hundred percent historical analogy doesn't mean it is incoherent.

The problem is that Deadfire is not just a "bit" incoherent. Everything from the cultural aspect, to the fashion, the socio-political structure and the interaction with the natives is wrong. Which indicates that the developers didn't do the minimal investigative effort or intentionally misrepresent it to push an agenda.

tracing the exact history of Italy or even Spanish and Portuguese colonization

Is not tracing because is made up bullshit that never happened.

South Italian, which itself influenced by Spanish and Vailian republics being more alike Northern Italy but also indeed Netherlands

Excellent example of incoherent worldbuilding.

Spain, Italy, Portugal were all under one point in history a single country during the Iberic Union. Their culture and customs are very similar. But Netherlands was the opposite. It came to be as a country because they separated from the Spanish Crown during the 80 Years' War, which was a result of the religious divisions caused by the protestant reformation. They constantly attacked Spanish and Portuguese territories and their power was based on the control of commercial routes and maritime supremacy.

This can be summarized in one infamous and popular event of history: the brutal massacre of Christians perpetrated in Japan by the Shogun and their subsequent expulsion was actually instigated by Dutch colonizers and traders. The Christian missionaries preaching the gospel in Japan were Portuguese who had a colony in Nagasaki (yes, that Nagasaki) but viewing they had a foothold in Japan and they didn't, the Dutch intrigued until the Shogun decided to kill them. For the East Company this was never a problem because they were only concerned about the next buck, they didn't care about any preaching.

Obsidian is unable to understand this division and difference in mentality because they're studio composed of fedora tippers atheists. And instant resort to "mismatch" what is basically water and oil. Not to mention the disgusting mockery of what's essentially the culture of half the planet.

 

[FreeKaner]

Excellent example of incoherent worldbuilding.

Spain, Italy, Portugal were all under one point in history a single country during the Iberic Union. Their culture and customs are very similar. But Netherlands was the opposite. It came to be as a country because they separated from the Spanish Crown during the 80 Years' War, which was a result of the religious divisions caused by the protestant reformation. They constantly attacked Spanish and Portuguese territories and their power was based on the control of commercial routes and maritime supremacy.

This can be summarized in one infamous and popular event of history: the brutal massacre of Christians perpetrated in Japan by the Shogun and their subsequent expulsion was actually instigated by Dutch colonizers and traders. The Christian missionaries preaching the gospel in Japan were Portuguese who had a colony in Nagasaki (yes, that Nagasaki) but viewing they had a foothold in Japan and they didn't, the Dutch intrigued until the Shogun decided to kill them. For the East Company this was never a problem because they were only concerned about the next buck, they didn't care about any preaching.

Obsidian is unable to understand this division and difference in mentality because they're studio composed of fedora tippers atheists. And instant resort to "mismatch" what is basically water and oil. Not to mention the disgusting mockery of what's essentially the culture of half the planet.

You are connecting a focus on the religious aspect of Iberian colonization with the financial aspect of Dutch one and deciding that it is incoherent because it is flipped in this case (It is also flipped in case of Aedyr, which is meant to be Anglo-Saxon but focuses more on authority, monarchy, religion instead of finances like English did). This again comes back to same point, which is that incoherence is not related to direct historical analogy, you could make the argument that this is incoherent in the setting if Vailians were meant to be especially religious (like Iberians were) but then disregarded this religious aspect within the narrative (As they generally are more professional and profit focused). However Republics are not that religious, so there is no incoherence in them prioritizing profit like Dutch does as they do in the game nor would there be an incoherence in Aedyr prioritizing authority and religion because that's unlike East Indian Company. This is not to say that the game isn't incoherent, to the contrary I find both games but especially the first one wholly incoherent and just all over the place in general in its narrative but their setting building isn't incoherent just because they do mashups or flip arounds of historical factors as long as that is coherent within those themes.

Now I generally agree that fantasy writers can't do religion in games, and indeed fantasy settings in general suck at religion which is why they reduce everything to pantheons that are little more than student club presidents that vaguely associate with certain alignments and themes while at the same time avoiding any notion of monotheism or even just divinity itself that is metaphysical beyond patronage because they don't have the right mindset to approach either pantheon religions which revolve around ritual and duty or monotheistic religions revolving around morality and judgment. They also idealize pantheons because of its variety while offering no variety of interpretation to religion where all across the setting everyone are perfectly orthodox believers with no sectarianism or heterodoxy at all. However I don't know if this applies to either of pillars games or avowed in this case, or even Sawyer's approach to religion in either Honest Hearths DLC in New Vegas or his own game pediment which are all revolving around religious themes, do seem to put value to faith even in case of "artificial" gods in case of pillars and the impact of metaphysics, theology and religious philosophy in focus.

If anything, I'd say Obsidian is generally doing better than most RPG settings, and this including oldschool DND, sword & sorcery and other common fantasy settings like Warhammer even. If your only frame of reference to compare all fantasy settings in terms of their approach to metaphysics and theology is Tolkien, then they'll all fail and I don't think Obsidian is failing more than other fantasy settings do and in many cases they are doing less so with their general approach to metaphysics (MotB, Kotor2, Honest Hearts and Pillars1/2 etc.) which while having the American liberal perspectives as one expects at least treats religion as both serious and sincere things rather than mere cheerleading factions for zealots where everyone is perfectly orthodox in their ignorance and main appeal is having a powerful patron.

 

[mediocrepoet]

The Outer Worlds didn't have maps like that so why would this.

Competency Crisis

The cloth maps have never been a 1:1 game map. Quit being retarded.

inb4 Obsidian screws me and these things are basically 1:1 game maps