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

[Gargaune]

There wasn't anywhere near enough buildup for the reveal to matter.

"It don't matter. None a this matters." - Carl and Josh Sawyer

Yet ironically, the very legitimate "I don't care" isn't an option. They tried to do their own kind of "What can change the nature of a man?" moment but it didn't really land because, yes, there was no equivalent and necessary build-up, and also because it's too open a question to offer the player a comprehensive palette of reactions.

Ravel asks for a concrete answer, whereas Iovara invites navel-gazing. All in all, it was a cool little reveal in the moment, but hopelessly momentary.

 

[Sherry]

Hi.

The Avowed Steelbook collection you can get for your game shelf, does come with a letter from Carrie Patel, the Game Director of Avowed - in the small chance you are unable to pick up the Avowed Steelbook for your collection - I would like to share her message with you.

LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to the Living Lands:

an island of mystery, wonder, and danger. Whether this is your first adventure in Eora, or the return to the realm that is Pillars of Eternity, I am excited to introduce you to a strange and wondrous corner of the world.

In game development, it's a rare gift to continue a franchise over multiple projects. For many of us on the development team, creating Avowed is a return to a setting we've known and loved for over a decade.

We've worked to bring you immersive roleplay, exhilarating action, memorable characters, and captivating fantasy, but one of the most exciting parts of developing Avowed has been exploring the world. The Living Lands is vibrant and colorful in a way that's both beautiful and unsettling. We want to untether you - like your character, the envoy - from the familiar so that you can discover yourself in a journey that rewards your curiosity.

That's what makes RPGs so compelling - each revelation, choice, and challenge is yours to own, and the story flows from your personal experiences. As you embark on your journey, I wonder what you'll choose - will you be a conqueror, a protector, an explorer, or something in between?

On behalf of the Avowed team, welcome to the Living Lands. May your journey be full of wonder and surprise.

Carrie Patel
Game Director, Avowed

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[AwesomeButton]

Please respond the following in my name:

"Dear Carrie,
I'm deeply taken with your managerial style and talent for project management. The way you direct a game production process reminds me of the way Theodor Eicke directed the Concentration Camps Inspectorate of the Third Reich, only that he murdered people, where you murder ideas. I have more hours clocked playing Obsidian and pre-Obsidian games from Obsidian developers than you have clocked in office meetings, or deciding on pronouns, and between "race" and "species". But all of this will come to light soon. When Avowed inevitably flops under your wise leadership, think of me. I hope you run into the same woods that Matt Smith is dreaming of. And then hopefully Gavin Newsom sets fire to them.
Love,
AwesomeButton"

 

[FreeKaner]

Game is frankly looking good from some of the previews I just watched so I bought it though not the premium edition since it is impossible to justify the extra cost for "premium skins" and 5 day early gameplay which will probably have some problems they'll have to patch on release.

I wish they made pistol and arquebus reload times slower though but I do love that you actually pour gunpowder and push a ramrod down the barrel while reloading it just happens too fast because I assume they got the feedback it felt too slow or punishing to reload otherwise. That's really a shame because in gameplay mixing and matching gun and melee could have been really good tactical option without being able to just shoot firearms back to back.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Game is frankly looking good from some of the previews I just watched so I bought it

I'll be happy to be proven wrong. For me, Patel symbolizes everything that's going to get Obsidian shut down. People who don't belong being put in charge of projects. Someone who never wanted to do videogames but had to find an office job because her writing was bad.

 

[FreeKaner]

Game is frankly looking good from some of the previews I just watched so I bought it

I'll be happy to be proven wrong. For me, Patel symbolizes everything that's going to get Obsidian shut down. People who don't belong being put in charge of projects. Someone who never wanted to do videogames but had to find an office job because her writing was bad.

Obsidian is extremely uneven with writing, so I have no doubt it will be incoherent here again. However there are good stuff in PoE1/2 both, particularly in DLCs where Patel was also involved. Recently also John Gonzales rejoined Obsidian too so if this one is successful they might do DLCs for it that are good again maybe.

I'll be honest, I just want to shoot people with blackpowder firearms then cut them down.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Game is frankly looking good from some of the previews I just watched so I bought it

I'll be happy to be proven wrong. For me, Patel symbolizes everything that's going to get Obsidian shut down. People who don't belong being put in charge of projects. Someone who never wanted to do videogames but had to find an office job because her writing was bad.

Obsidian is extremely uneven with writing, so I have no doubt it will be incoherent here again. However there are good stuff in PoE1/2 both, particularly in DLCs where Patel was also involved. Recently also John Gonzales rejoined Obsidian too so if this one is successful they might do DLCs for it that are good again maybe.

I'll be honest, I just want to shoot people with blackpowder firearms then cut them down.

You are fed up with "Ogniem i Miecziem"? I would think it has everything you may wish for, including Ottoman cavalry

 

[Quillon]

looking good from some of the previews

TOW didn't even have a serviceable story & was extremely frontloaded, and previews for this took place in the first area. For some reason I'm looking at TOW for indication how this game will turn out rather than PoEs. Tho if they utilized Paul Kirsch efficiently there might be enjoyable parts in this gaym.

 

[FreeKaner]

looking good from some of the previews

TOW didn't even have a serviceable story & was extremely frontloaded, and previews for this took place in the first area. For some reason I'm looking at TOW for indication how this game will turn out rather than PoEs. Tho if they utilized Paul Kirsch efficiently there might be enjoyable parts in this gaym.

I am not getting TOW vibes from this at all. TOW's combat was just not very good, though I did appreciate what it tried to do with its skill system, it's world is just a sad attempt at humor that falls flat constantly and somehow manages to be worse than even Borderlands. It tried to be fallout 2 and firefly at the same time without taking itself seriously but its time has past even if it was good at what it does. Even Fallout 2 is hard to read sometimes with its humor and pop culture references, in a way I think that type of humor itself is dead and Tim Cain and Boyarsky seem to be out of touch.

We haven't seen much to writing of Avowed yet and it may indeed be bad as many parts of PoE1/2 are but if there is one thing that the writing in that games are it is that they take themselves seriously, too seriously if anything. We'll see maybe this game will insist upon itself but it also does seem developers took the feedback about PoE1/2 having too much self-indulgent purple prose and lore dumps to heart as well since one of the reviews said that when they interviewed the developers the developers said they tried to avoid it and to keep things concise and acceptable to pacing.

TOW also was empty and short on content on all fronts and had little in the way of exploration while all reviewers of Avowed are saying that it has great exploration if nothing else. I am not thinking this will be anything groundbreaking frankly, but let's be honest if it manages to be about as engaging as first Dragon's Dogma then it is going to be a lot more than TOW was to begin with, which is a sorry game that it almost feels tragic.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I know people are hating here and for good reason , Outer Worlds was mid as fuck, but the combat seems half decent and i like most companions looks. Magic seems the most creative that i seen in a triple A game in a while.

 

[Quillon]

looking good from some of the previews

TOW didn't even have a serviceable story & was extremely frontloaded, and previews for this took place in the first area. For some reason I'm looking at TOW for indication how this game will turn out rather than PoEs. Tho if they utilized Paul Kirsch efficiently there might be enjoyable parts in this gaym.

I am not getting TOW vibes from this at all. TOW's combat was just not very good, though I did appreciate what it tried to do with its skill system, it's world is just a sad attempt at humor that falls flat constantly and somehow manages to be worse than even Borderlands. It tried to be fallout 2 and firefly at the same time without taking itself seriously but its time has past even if it was good at what it does. Even Fallout 2 is hard to read sometimes with its humor and pop culture references, in a way I think that type of humor itself is dead and Tim Cain and Boyarsky seem to be out of touch.

We haven't seen much to writing of Avowed yet and it may indeed be bad as many parts of PoE1/2 are but if there is one thing that the writing in that games are it is that they take themselves seriously, too seriously if anything. We'll see maybe this game will insist upon itself but it also does seem developers took the feedback about PoE1/2 having too much self-indulgent purple prose and lore dumps to heart as well since one of the reviews said that when they interviewed the developers the developers said they tried to avoid it and to keep things concise and acceptable to pacing.

TOW also was empty and short on content on all fronts and had little in the way of exploration while all reviewers of Avowed are saying that it has great exploration if nothing else. I am not thinking this will be anything groundbreaking frankly, but let's be honest if it manages to be about as engaging as first Dragon's Dogma then it is going to be a lot more than TOW was to begin with, which is a sorry game that it almost feels tragic.

I got TOW vibes from this the first time they showed in-game footage, combat was looking awful here too probably why they delayed the game and used the time to iterate on combat. Also its them who started comparing this with TOW, apparently TOW-style is their default/reliable formula/what they are known for now. But I haven't even considered gfx nor combat above, I just don't trust their writers to make the story not a snoozefest, except for 1 dude who proved to me that he knows how to design/write fun content with the stuff he was responsible for in Tyranny & Deadfire.

 

[Gargaune]

Hi Sherry, thanks for sharing that letter from the director, I wouldn't have been able to read it otherwise because I won't be buying the Steelbook edition of Avowed. Do you also happen to have any letters that come with the regular edition? Because I won't be buying that either.

 

[FreeKaner]

I got TOW vibes from this the first time they showed in-game footage, combat was looking awful here too probably why they delayed the game and used the time to iterate on combat. Also its them who started comparing this with TOW, apparently TOW-style is their default/reliable formula/what they are known for now. But I haven't even considered gfx nor combat above, I just don't trust their writers to make the story that's not a snoozefest, except for 1 dude who proved to me that he knows how to design/write fun content with the stuff he was responsible for in Tyranny & Deadfire.

I think they are comparing it to TOW in hub-based, regionalized and episodic world and narrative. They could indeed compare it to Dragon's Dogma too which this seems similar to. In terms of narrative and combat, I just don't think so though I agree that early demonstrations of its combat was atrocious but even then they had said they tried to make it like Vermintide which I adore in terms of combat. It feels between now and then they just managed to iterate and reiterate it based on feedback to more successfully make it alike Vermintide.

In terms of writing I can't say anything, I can rant a lot about PoE1/PoE2 writing and narrative, indeed I already have in both of their game threads. I just don't think it is that transitive of a criticism between two games when those were narrative-focused cRPGs that mostly failed at it (though with combat I grew to enjoy more over time) while here we are looking at an action game set in same world.

Will it have good writing? I would be skeptical I don't even think writers at Obsidian even have an idea what makes for a good writing in a RPG and what can they write good to begin with which is why they are so uneven and why anytime they write something good it comes off from more isolated or self-contained stuff like in PoE DLCs and some side quests. They attempt at epic, philosophical and deep topics and just fail at them repeatedly and considering Avowed is probably attempting to tackle that sort of thing again in will likely fail again but occasionally their writers manage interesting things when they are focusing on little side stories grounded in the world, like the guy who called on two paladins on his neighbor, or story of Devil of Caroc written by Patel, or the tone and vibe of Beast of Winter in general.

Point being, I don't think Dragon's Dogma had a good story either, it's about as generic a Japanese medieval fantasy monomyth slop it can get, I still enjoyed playing it because it is ambitious and janky in the right way. I have quite a lot of hours in Vermintide and the only writing of note in that is the (admittedly excellent) banter between the characters.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

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

Tbh, the right map looks like a typical map from the old Bioware games. The left map instead is similar to Veilguard's maps.

 

[SayMyName]

I'm almost at the end of PoE and will then play PoE2.
So far I'm having lots of fun. Arguably the best iteration of RtwP combat in the genre
I'm also a sucker for esoteric metaphysics and worldbuilding lore dumps so there's probably that
Hope Avowed doesn't go light on dialogues to please Skyrimfags

 

[luj1]

Outer Worlds was mid as fuck

if only it was mid dude

it was essentially a reskin of Fallout 4, which is an abysmal game in itself

 

[Sherry]

Hi Sherry, thanks for sharing that letter from the director, I wouldn't have been able to read it otherwise because I won't be buying the Steelbook edition of Avowed. Do you also happen to have any letters that come with the regular edition? Because I won't be buying that either.

Hi.

I see. So. You're tucking something in between?

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Rieser]

Outer Worlds was mid as fuck

if only it was mid dude

it was essentially a reskin of Fallout 4, which is an abysmal game in itself

It's a terrible game, I agree, but it is not as bad as the abomination that is Fallout 4. For one, it's far shorter and thus more merciful to my remaining brain cells.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Outer Worlds was mid as fuck

if only it was mid dude

it was essentially a reskin of Fallout 4, which is an abysmal game in itself

At very least they tried something interesting, even if the execution was shoddy, with the disguise and flaws system.

I take that over anything in Fallout 4 and their obsession with settlement

 

[Infinitron]

Microsoft money:

 

[Fedora Master]

Microsoft money:

Not news. Literally a FUCKING ADVERTISEMENT.

 

[Takamori]

Shame MS money wasn't used for a better game

 

[Sherry]

Microsoft money:

Hi.

GOSH!

Allow me to +1 UP YOU!

https://www.tiktok.com/@obsidian/video/7467270109791391019?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

edit: I am sorry. Whomever was behind this, should be fired.

I had best be able to shove the back of her head into that brick wall behind her for such an insult.
Or burn her home down at night while she is asleep with her children, puppiees and kittens!
Or drag her out to the middle of her fields and nail her to where the Scarecrow hangs.
Or shove mushrooms down her throat.

I will not put up with such insults as this TikTok video does. Like wh wtf! Who is this new University graduate still playing Stardew Valley marketing a fantasy game set in Eora with dance lclkb mus? ic wtf!!! And all you do is show a character created everyone has already omg!!!

So now when I sort on the YouTube for new Avowed content I am going to see all those stupid channels copy and pasting this gawd awfuyyl marketing video using music today for a fantasy game in a world that has no dance music.

I am sorry to all fo you for seeing this.

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Elttharion]

Was this posted already?

 

[jackofshadows]

Was this posted already?

I was expecting "FUCK DOES CUNO CARE" retort.