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

[Yosharian]

I didn't think Tyranny was as bad as some people here think it was. Mediocre would probably be a better description. To me the biggest issues were that the first part of the game was the only one that felt really meaningful. Another was a very limited companion pool. Both in terms of the number of party members and the overall number of characters you can recruit. Even Pillars of Eternity allowed for 5 party members.

I used the word mediocre several times when describing it. It's the UI, bugs and shitty RTWP implementation that pushes it into shit game territory for me

 

[Raghar]

Pillars of Eternity had bad RPG system. Basically they had no clue about why attributes should work as they are working.
And they had kinda dumb story and dumb decision. Compare PoE to Storm of Zephir, or Hordes of Underdark... PoE looks like trash with better graphic.

 

[Raghar]

It has nonsense like women being the property owners in a pseudo-Bronze Age setting

Some societies in Bronze Age were Matriarchates. (In fact, Jews are based on Matriarchate inheritance.)

 

[Oreshnik Missile]

Pillars of Eternity 1/2 would be top tier RPGs if they had more good writing, less bad writing, a more immersive world instead of liberal soy.
Those games had top-tier art and high production values all around, maybe the ruleset wasn't ideal but it was still far more deep and engaging than AD&D used in the infinity engine games.
Everything was good except for being ironically soulless.

Incredibly stupid plot in the second game, the eothas thing was not only stupid and simplistic in itself, it had no relation to the factional infighting at all.

As for Avoid... I've got nothing. these nu-rpgs couldn't be worse could they?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

As previously stated,

I think BG3 would've worked best as a duology. Perfect ending for the first game with Ketheric as the final boss and the narrative reveal of the Dead Three's plan, then the second game could've had an intro where you reach Baldur's Gate, a first chapter focused on the lower city and Bhaal, a second chapter focused on the upper city and Bane and then the final shorter chapter dealing with the Absolute and the ramifications of your actions and choices within the prior chapters. Naturally, it could've also had quests that take you to other realms (e.g. Avernus) while otherwise being mostly limited to the city of Baldur's Gate.

Indeed:

I think that Act III is about equal in length to Act I (including the entire Underdark, Grymforge, and monastery/creche), but it clearly had a large amount of cut content and probably should have been 50 hours rather than 30. However, this would have resulted in BG3 being about 100 hours in length, which returns to an earlier point that BG3 really should have been two separate games, or rather a game and its sequel, each about 50 hours in length. Granted, it would have been bizarre to release a game named Baldur's Gate where the player never actually reached the city of Baldur's Gate itself, and only somewhat less bizarre for the sequel to have occurred almost entirely within Baldur's Gate. But this would have addressed not only the issue of the cut content in Act III but also the decline in how polished the game is after Act I, as well as permitting a higher level limit in the second game than exists in the actual BG3 Act III.

Baldur's Gate 3 should have been BG3 and BG4; it's an approximately 80-hour game for a completionist, even with a vast amount of excised or reduced content in Act 3, which is a sprawling mess. If they had decided to leave Act 3 for a sequel, then they could have polished Act 2 as they did with Act 1, while having a better climax and the game end with the party reaching the outskirts of Baldur's Gate and viewing the city in the distance, and it would still have been a 50-hour game. The sequel would then have incorporated the content Larian intended for Act 3, and could easily have been the same length of 50 hours, with a proper ending for the duology rather than the sad excuse that existed in the release version.

 

[whocares]

Which is also a shame, BG3 could really use a few DLCs. It especially needs more padding on the evil path for especially act 1, where it is pretty much flat out a fail state since you lose so much player power for no gain whatsoever and act 2 where it is more like hardmode and again losing so much player power. I suppose it follows the Tolkienism that one who falls to dark side loses their power (and bunch of unique items, evidently).

BG3 was clearly meant to have more DLCs, arguably designed for it, which makes Vincke pretending there's some sort of artistic vision around foregoing DLCs they were actually developing all the more vile.

I'm just amazed that someone would make long arguments of being offended at game mechanics he doesn't even understand in the most basic functions

I've not played Tranny and don't intend to so I have no whores in this race. But fuck right off with this bullshit. Yes. A studio that barely ever released any DLC for any of their games (and what they had was bite sized joke bullshit, not content cut out of the game to sell later), and all their real post release support for their past 3 projects was sizable and FREE Enhanced Editions (of dubious enhancedness but that's not the issue for right now), were cunningly planning to break this pattern with BG3 and only you polished your crystall balls enough to recognize that. Clearly, they canceled their million clearly planned DLC just to clearly make you look bad. Those dastards.

For fucks sake, they're currently making a patch adding a new subclass to every class in BG3. A free patch. When they already broke their further dealings with WotC. Yes, these are the actions of money-grubbing DLC peddlers.

And I hate BG3. So congratulations. Your string of posts was so retarded it got me defending that piece of shit.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Indeed

I'm surprised with how few 'dexers acknowledge this, even amongst those that aren't fanboys of the game.

 

[Readher]

A studio should be more than their last game. Especially given the context. Outer Worlds was a budget title under Private Division. Hardly fair to declare them dead because of that alone. Pentiment and Grounded were great games.

I'm gonna give them 2-3 projects that began production under Microsoft before I have any opinion. Obsidian's biggest problem was always a lack of stability as a independent work for hire studio.
Avowed = for me

If it was a budget title, they should've priced it as such, and not at $60.

No, the fact it was on Game Pass which you could get for $1 is not an argument.

TOW was shit and this will be too. Obsidian's games used to be good because they aimed sky-high and fell short, so the end result was messy, but still ambitious and above average. Now they aim low and still fall short, so the end result is garbage.

 

[Haplo]

Pillars of Eternity had bad RPG system. Basically they had no clue about why attributes should work as they are working.
And they had kinda dumb story and dumb decision. Compare PoE to Storm of Zephir, or Hordes of Underdark... PoE looks like trash with better graphic.

The system was not perfect, but was a good evolution for a real time game.
PoE and Deadfire are A LOT better then Storm of Zephir or Hordes of Underdark.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Grauken]

Indeed

I'm surprised with how few 'dexers acknowledge this, even amongst those that aren't fanboys of the game.

It wouldn't have worked, the company would have gone bankrupt before finishing the second part or there would have been a major shift in story development, leading to tonal and plotwise inconsistency (like say Mass Effect 1 to 2), that is how this usually plays out, better try to put it all in one game instead of parceling it out

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Indeed

I'm surprised with how few 'dexers acknowledge this, even amongst those that aren't fanboys of the game.

It wouldn't have worked, the company would have gone bankrupt before finishing the second part or there would have been a major shift in story development, leading to tonal and plotwise inconsistency (like say Mass Effect 1 to 2), that is how this usually plays out, better try to put it all in one game instead of parceling it out

Eh, we would've still gotten half of a good duology at the very least. Meanwhile the 2in1 game we got is just mid. And most definitely not some incomplete masterpiece that you'll revisit years from now.

 

[Grauken]

Indeed

I'm surprised with how few 'dexers acknowledge this, even amongst those that aren't fanboys of the game.

It wouldn't have worked, the company would have gone bankrupt before finishing the second part or there would have been a major shift in story development, leading to tonal and plotwise inconsistency (like say Mass Effect 1 to 2), that is how this usually plays out, better try to put it all in one game instead of parceling it out

Eh, we would've still gotten half of a good duology at the very least. Meanwhile the 2in1 game we got is just mid. And most definitely not some incomplete masterpiece that you'll revisit years from now.

It's so big that on revisits you likely run out on steam in part 2, so I'm fine with it

 

[SayMyName]

This is also great, and better than DnD

lol. lmao.

It is better than any iteration of DnD in videogame format. DnD sucks major ass in videogame format despite having great games. Pathfinder was always better, and PoE did a great job too

DnD also has a problem right now in that they pushed abstraction a little bit too far. Nobody knows what the stats even represent, at this point. Nobody knows what HP is actually supposed to represent. It's all left to the imagination and rationalizations of R*dditors and midwits. 5e is one of the most abstract and least realistic systems possible.

Yes, which is why Tyranny and PoE did it better. They actually solve exactly this issue.

The Pillars system was okay but suffered a little bit from a opacity and over-balancing in PoE1, especially where casters were concerned.

How it works is pretty straight forward, people are just pissy about balance man designing attributes to affect every single class or legitimately retarded like Butter and not even understanding how the system works. Obsidian solved the issue of classes being forced into a handful of attributes.

PoE2 just plain wasn't balanced properly at all, it was ackshually completely botched, with everything being too difficult at low levels and far too easy from mid to high levels

Have yet to play PoE 2

I wonder how Avowed is going to be. The soundtrack, at least, has sovl.

Obsidian is going to pay, karmic justice. Avowed will be the flop for the unwarrabted success of TOW despite probably being pretty good.

Pillars of Eternity had bad RPG system. Basically they had no clue about why attributes should work as they are working.
And they had kinda dumb story and dumb decision. Compare PoE to Storm of Zephir, or Hordes of Underdark... PoE looks like trash with better graphic.

Wrong

Marketing for the game was absymal, Microdick didn't give enough of a fuck to put this is the xbox showcase and the will-own-nothing-pass spells death for AA games and already killed Tango

 

[Heroic Liberator]

It's so big that on revisits you likely run out on steam in part 2, so I'm fine with it

Eh, personally I just see the wasted potential and that greatly hampers my enjoyment of it.

 

[Grauken]

It's so big that on revisits you likely run out on steam in part 2, so I'm fine with it

Eh, personally I just see the wasted potential and that greatly hampers my enjoyment of it.

You can always replay PST instead

 

[frajaq]

Only one day left... let's hope pirates go after the Early Access

 

[AwesomeButton]

Pillars of Eternity had bad RPG system. Basically they had no clue about why attributes should work as they are working.
And they had kinda dumb story and dumb decision. Compare PoE to Storm of Zephir, or Hordes of Underdark... PoE looks like trash with better graphic.

The system was not perfect, but was a good evolution for a real time game.
PoE and Deadfire are A LOT better then Storm of Zephir or Hordes of Underdark.

Or, as I've said before, real Sawyerism has never been tried.

 

[SayMyName]

Which is also a shame, BG3 could really use a few DLCs. It especially needs more padding on the evil path for especially act 1, where it is pretty much flat out a fail state since you lose so much player power for no gain whatsoever and act 2 where it is more like hardmode and again losing so much player power. I suppose it follows the Tolkienism that one who falls to dark side loses their power (and bunch of unique items, evidently).

BG3 was clearly meant to have more DLCs, arguably designed for it, which makes Vincke pretending there's some sort of artistic vision around foregoing DLCs they were actually developing all the more vile.

I'm just amazed that someone would make long arguments of being offended at game mechanics he doesn't even understand in the most basic functions

I've not played Tranny and don't intend to so I have no whores in this race. But fuck right off with this bullshit. Yes. A studio that barely ever released any DLC for any of their games (and what they had was bite sized joke bullshit, not content cut out of the game to sell later), and all their real post release support for their past 3 projects was sizable and FREE Enhanced Editions (of dubious enhancedness but that's not the issue for right now), were cunningly planning to break this pattern with BG3 and only you polished your crystall balls enough to recognize that. Clearly, they canceled their million clearly planned DLC just to clearly make you look bad. Those dastards.

For fucks sake, they're currently making a patch adding a new subclass to every class in BG3. A free patch. When they already broke their further dealings with WotC. Yes, these are the actions of money-grubbing DLC peddlers.

And I hate BG3. So congratulations. Your string of posts was so retarded it got me defending that piece of shit.

Larian sold a pre alpha with the promise of fixing it and then wrapped up BG3 with a final most rushed and buggy act that no reviewer actually played through anyway.

Oh my hecking Fauci, did they release "free" enhanced editions? Did you play D:OS on release, it was a complete piece of shit that makes indie unity games look polished.

I don't think you realize just how many things were cut or never delivered in Larian games, especially BG3, and it wasn't resource constraints because they kept this game in early access for years.

The update wasn't meant to be "free" either because they plainly said they cancelled the DLC. and we now know that it is because Larian and WotC management are at odds, all they did was dump the assets they were developing for that DLC and had nothing to do with those anymore.

I have grown jaded of Larian because they consistently overpromise and then shit the bed, and BG3 is the worst example of this and they got away with it with some enhanced edition pr bullshit yet again

 

[whocares]

Larian sold a pre alpha with the promise of fixing it and then wrapped up BG3 with a final most rushed and buggy act that no reviewer actually played through anyway.

Who cares? This is the Larian MO and has nothing to do with how greedy they are. If anything, keeping a game in early access for 2 years ensures lower sales because it kills the hype of the big initial launch, while at least delivering one properly polished act.

Oh my hecking Fauci, did they release "free" enhanced editions? Did you play D:OS on release, it was a complete piece of shit that makes indie unity games look polished.

Why you lying? Release version of D:OS was perfectly fine, playable, and actually better than its EE version.

I have grown jaded of Larian because they consistently overpromise and then shit the bed, and BG3 is the worst example of this and they got away with it with some enhanced edition pr bullshit yet again

Larian was great when every one of their games was something new and inventive. Now that they made it big with D:OS and every game of theirs is just D:OS with a fresh coat of paint and increasingly more wokeness, there's no point playing them. But you've gotta give them credit for not milking any of their projects.

It is better than any iteration of DnD in videogame format. DnD sucks major ass in videogame format despite having great games. Pathfinder was always better, and PoE did a great job too

DnD also has a problem right now in that they pushed abstraction a little bit too far. Nobody knows what the stats even represent, at this point. Nobody knows what HP is actually supposed to represent. It's all left to the imagination and rationalizations of R*dditors and midwits. 5e is one of the most abstract and least realistic systems possible.

Yes, which is why Tyranny and PoE did it better. They actually solve exactly this issue.

Nigga what? The crux of PoE's system is that you need to work out and pump iron to increase your strength (Might lol) if you want to get better at chucking fireballs. It's as retarded as an RPG system can possible get. But then it gets even more retarded with countless inconsequential % bonuses and the Balance Man's ceaseless attempts to make everything equally viable. Any edition of D&D, no matter how bad, is infinitely better than that.

 

[SayMyName]

Larian sold a pre alpha with the promise of fixing it and then wrapped up BG3 with a final most rushed and buggy act that no reviewer actually played through anyway.

Who cares? This is the Larian MO and has nothing to do with how greedy they are. If anything, keeping a game in early access for 2 years ensures lower sales because it kills the hype of the big initial launch, while at least delivering one properly polished act.

Oh my hecking Fauci, did they release "free" enhanced editions? Did you play D:OS on release, it was a complete piece of shit that makes indie unity games look polished.

Why you lying? Release version of D:OS was perfectly fine, playable, and actually better than its EE version.

It wasn't, both Dos games had a plethora of bugs, some of which got fixed and replaced by EE bugs. Quests would mark as completed and not give rewards or always mark as active, prices were wrong, bonuses didn't apply, even keybinds that wouldn't savez just to recall a few.
Only Bastard's wound was this buggy.
Sven will justify early access with Larian being perfectionist and then release D:OS 3 that is just as buggy and unfinished and it doesn't even matter because people will eat it up.
Baldur's Gate 3 has currently broken quests in Act 3, you can play it and check by yourself, and they act like they are perfecting the Sistine Chapel

It is better than any iteration of DnD in videogame format. DnD sucks major ass in videogame format despite having great games. Pathfinder was always better, and PoE did a great job too

DnD also has a problem right now in that they pushed abstraction a little bit too far. Nobody knows what the stats even represent, at this point. Nobody knows what HP is actually supposed to represent. It's all left to the imagination and rationalizations of R*dditors and midwits. 5e is one of the most abstract and least realistic systems possible.

Yes, which is why Tyranny and PoE did it better. They actually solve exactly this issue.

Nigga what? The crux of PoE's system is that you need to work out and pump iron to increase your strength (Might lol) if you want to get better at chucking fireballs. It's as retarded as an RPG system can possible get.

Nothing retarded about it, attributes work differently for any class. You not liking it has nothing to do with how good it qctually is to play. A Might Wizard will throw powerful fireballs or magic missiles, another wizard might go for aoe spells by leveling Intelligence more. A more agile wizard woll fire spells that are less powerful but rapid. In the cas eof Wizards, Might affect their ability to channel more powerful spell, vs other stats affecting their range or rapidity of casting. You actually don't get this kind of hybridization and customized progression in DnD systems, vecause even RtwP games are abstractions of tabletop turn based systems. It's innovation vs systems still trying to rehash Vancian magic.

But then it gets even more retarded with countless inconsequential % bonuses and the Balance Man's ceaseless attempts to make everything equally viable. Any edition of D&D, no matter how bad, is infinitely better than that.

Which bonus would be inconsequential exactly?

 

[Sherry]

Sherry I know you are our local handler but you can't just be spoiling that Woedica is puppeteering Lödwyn like this. Is it Woedica's voice actor at least?

Hi.

Oh goshgoshGOSH nononono! I only mention Woedica because Lödwyn was a Paladin that ran the Court of Woedica and who else would make Lödwyn a death guard right? No spoiler intended just my excitement for The Living Lands running wild.

I do believe I heard Liza Ross doing the voice over for one of the XBOX reveal trailers for Avowed, who was the voice actor for Woedica in DEADFIRE!

There is no voice actor information available except for the four companions.

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Child of Malkav]

No spoiler intended just my excitement for The Living Lands running wild.

Hi,

The only one running wild here, is you, Sherry.

Thanks,
Malkav Jr.

 

[jackofshadows]

I'm amazed at the bugs argument you guys have. Who the fuck cares about bugs? Except for critical ones and if the game in question is barely playable in general. It should be the last point, not the first.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I'm amazed at the bugs argument you guys have. Who the fuck cares about bugs? Except for critical ones and if the game in question is barely playable in general. It should be the last point, not the first.

Based and Owlcatpilled.