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

[Silverfish]

I've heard argonians are good at polishing spears. Which class is that?

 

[rojay]

Man, I hate modern AAA gamedev interviews because they say absolutely nothing about nothing. Like I skimmed through the above and it's all shit like

But how exactly do companions work in Avowed?

"If you go into an encounter, they will follow you and they'll fight alongside you," Patel explains. "And they'll draw some of the aggro with you. But yes, you can absolutely make use of their specific abilities, which are all tied to their combat roles if you want to exercise a little more control."

It's like ChatGPT dialogue on "what does a companion do in RPGs?"

Why do they do those interviews?

“It shouldn’t be like ‘this is a wonderful sandbox, but I’m just building my own sandcastles here without a larger sense of purpose or identity.’ I think Avowed absolutely does fit the Obsidian ‘personality.’"

I do not actually care how they make the sausage. I just want good sausage. But even if I did care, this nonsense language that fills the page and says nothing is depressing.

 

[Tyranicon]

Why do they do those interviews?

Brand exposure/cheap marketing. It's nice and organic, plus, having the headline itself is valuable. Probably still playing that SEO game.

Why they gave the most bland and uninteresting answers, I dunno.

 

[rojay]

Why do they do those interviews?

Brand exposure/cheap marketing. It's nice and organic, plus, having the headline itself is valuable. Probably still playing that SEO game.

Why they gave the most bland and uninteresting answers, I dunno.

I think the question I should have asked is, who do they think the audience is? I get that sometimes you do interviews to justify the marketing budget, and that the people asking the questions are not there to ask hard-hitting questions. But who reads that and comes away thinking, "Fuck yeah, there's push and pull in the pacing and momentum!"

Seems like you'd just market the pew-pew shiny stuff if you're going for casual gamers. If they're trying to convince customers who might actually be interested in the mechanics behind the game, or the lore or some other esoteric shit, then they have failed. This probably wasn't going to be a game for me anyway, but their press for it has not done them any favors.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

One thing I'll note is that we've seen pistols but no muskets, bows or crossbows. Also no polearms so no spear polishing? Wonder if any of these are in.

 

[whydoibother]

One thing I'll note is that we've seen pistols but no muskets, bows or crossbows. Also no polearms so no spear polishing? Wonder if any of these are in.

Just occurred to me how cool a bayoneted musket(-ish rifle thingy) could be. Fire once, then go melee. If the battle permits it, try the slooooooooooooow reload, and fire again.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

That can't be quickly slapped into TOW movement and combat mechanics that they've used.

 

[Viata]

Can't have good things, mate. This is just an AA game.

 

[luj1]

What? Skyrim is classless. Did this person even play it?

During character creation you can select a "class" which is a selection of skills you're proficient in https://elderscrolls.fandom.com/wiki/Character_Classes_(Skyrim)

Oh wait scratch that. In Skyrim, it's about race which determines what you're good at. That is sort of like a class.

What kind of savage uses Fandom instead of UESP?

The new age hipster cuck that is Roguey

 

[CyberWhale]

That can't be quickly slapped into TOW movement and combat mechanics that they've used.

It is as hard as adding a new item, LOL.

 

[scytheavatar]

Why do they do those interviews?

Brand exposure/cheap marketing. It's nice and organic, plus, having the headline itself is valuable. Probably still playing that SEO game.

Why they gave the most bland and uninteresting answers, I dunno.

I think the question I should have asked is, who do they think the audience is?

Patel mde it clear the target audience are the ones who asked for a medieval The Outer Worlds. Is that audience large enough to be worth targeting? Probably not. But that's the message Obsidian wants to get across.

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

I'll pirate it. I've even pirated high on life to see how bad it was.

 

[Roguey]

Patel mde it clear the target audience are the ones who asked for a medieval The Outer Worlds. Is that audience large enough to be worth targeting? Probably not. But that's the message Obsidian wants to get across.

TOW sold 5 million and fantasy RPGs typically outsell sci-fi RPGs (Skyrim beat Fallout 3/4 and Starfield by a significant amount) so hypothetically it could do pretty well for itself.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gamesradar.com/avowed-i...s-still-the-players-story-first-and-foremost/

Avowed is a fantasy RPG with open-zone maps, unique local conflicts, and companions to meet – but it's still "the player's story first and foremost"​

Big in 2024 | Obsidian highlights Avowed's player-centered view on exploration and storytelling, including how companions factor in

Obsidian Entertainment is known for its beautiful video game environments and stories, but Avowed is poised to up the ante even more. We already know that the upcoming fantasy RPG is set in Eora, an embattled kingdom in its Pillars of Eternity universe. Despite this, you don't need to have played that game to understand Avowed's story, and in keeping with large segmented world maps as seen in The Outer Worlds, Obsidian is determined to maintain the player's ability to navigate the story however they choose.

That means although the game isn't a fully open roaming experience, we can expect opportunities for nuanced environmental storytelling and companion-specific decisions as we explore Eora. "Open zones allow us to create a strong sense of place in each of our environments," game director Carrie Patel tells us. "All of our regions have distinct aesthetics and atmospheres as well as unique local conflicts and narratives that build towards the larger, grander story that the player is at the center of. Building Avowed through separate regions allows us to balance that sense of distinctness with a feeling that the player is journeying through portions of a much larger world," says Patel, speaking to Avowed's championing of choice and consequence-driven gameplay – and its flexibility doesn't stop at its "classless" combat system.

Gather the troops​

Avowed's highly-reactive world contains myriad stories and subplots to explore, largely involving your companions. Patel describes these companions as "fellow travelers'' you meet on your journey, and "each have their own ties to the Living Lands, investment in its central conflicts, and personal demons, all of which shape their perspectives." While a romantic opportunity with any of these companions is seemingly off the cards, their stories have the potential to affect the player's own.

In Avowed, we can "influence how the companions tackle their respective personal struggles, and the companions in turn will try to nudge the player around the decisions and outcomes that they think are best…rightly or wrongly," says Patel. "Ultimately, though, companions are the player’s allies – and if you get to know them – friends, which means they’ll help the player out of sticky situations when they can, and they’ll share the expertise they have."

This sounds like Avowed's companions are somewhat optional rather than hard-written into any given playthrough. Their importance in the broader narrative seems essentially down to how players deal with respective quest lines, district conflicts, and other subplots.

Potentially "missable" content like this has been a huge draw for me in other RPGs, with the sheer breadth of choice on offer in the likes of Baldur's Gate 3 being but one reason many players (including myself) are finding such immense replay value in it. I'm keen to explore just how much Avowed's story can shift and branch out after making certain decisions. Obsidian has already commented on how players will never see 100% of everything in a single playthrough due to how much of it hinges on choice, so right now, it's sounding more than promising.

In terms of who these companions are and what they're capable of, Avowed is leaning toward a party-makeup system that can be shaped however you wish. "Each companion has a role in the party if the player wants them to," says gameplay director Gabe Paramo. He goes on to give two examples. "Kai is a tank and can taunt enemies, causing him to take aggro, or Giatta can heal the party when you want her to."

Still, companion choices are just one part of Avowed's overarching mission to facilitate the roleplaying fantasy. "Players will have extensive freedom to experiment with companions, class capabilities, and character progression in both combat and other aspects of the game," says Paramo, with Patel having said previously that Avowed's combat is more like a "fantasy Outer Worlds" despite the Skyrim comparisons.

The ultimate goal of Avowed is clear to me: it's our world to shape however we want, from whose stories we interact with to how we engage in battle. "The player is the main character of Avowed," Patel says in conclusion. "Companions have their own outlooks, goals, and visions for the future of the Living Lands, but this is the player’s story first and foremost, and it falls to the player to decide whose advice to heed."

 

[Gargaune]

Help me out, what's the difference between "open-zone" and "hub" maps? Or are we that desperate to tap into that "open-world" marketing that we're inventing new words for old shit?

 

[Viata]

but it's still "the player's story first and foremost"​

Why are they pushing this?

 

[Infinitron]

Help me out, what's the difference between "open-zone" and "hub" maps? Or are we that desperate to tap into that "open-world" marketing that we're inventing new words for old shit?

If it's like Monarch from The Outer Worlds, the "open zone" is still big enough to have several towns, not just a single hub that you run quests in and out of.

 

[Rhobar121]

but it's still "the player's story first and foremost"​

Why are they pushing this?

"Player's story" means nothing less than games in which the plot is completely non-existent and is only a not-so-sophisticated reason why the game exists when it might as well not exist.
Example? Every game Bethesda ever made.
Alternatively, there will be a game with multiple choices, each of which literally leads to the same result, with dialogue options such as: yes, no (but yes), sarcastic yes.
Of course, everything will have zero consequences.
Have you joined the warrior guild? No problem, you can also be an archmage, a dark assassin, or a leader of thieves and no one will care.

One game that came out in the last 2 years where such a term could be positive is BG3. I won't believe that Obisidian can provide even 10% of that to Larian.

 

[Hobo Elf]

One thing I'll note is that we've seen pistols but no muskets, bows or crossbows. Also no polearms so no spear polishing? Wonder if any of these are in.

Just occurred to me how cool a bayoneted musket(-ish rifle thingy) could be. Fire once, then go melee. If the battle permits it, try the slooooooooooooow reload, and fire again.

But then you wouldn't need to interact with their highly innovative weapon switching system. One weapon that does it all would be cheating the good designers who worked hard on that feature.

 

[Hagashager]

One thing I'll note is that we've seen pistols but no muskets, bows or crossbows. Also no polearms so no spear polishing? Wonder if any of these are in.

The PoE setting plays very fast and loose with its guns, which is surprising considering Sawyer is a gun-person (or was at least).

Technically, PoE is mid-Renaissance: for fire-arms that means matchlock arquebus and wheellock pistols which are both referenced in the PoE games.

However, both of them function like flintlocks. That may seem like I'm splitting hairs here because most people assume everything prior to cartridrige breach-loading guns were the same, but they really weren't.

The wheellock is a substantial step up from the matchlock, which was so cumbersome to use you almost never saw it outside of a warfare context. The flintlock, likewise, cut the wheellock's typically multi-minute reload speed down to half a minute if you were fast. None of this is represented in-game.

Same goes for most weapons. The Estoc Kana Rua carries, for example, was a highly specialized blade for thrusting and would not have made a good self-defense weapon for a casual wanderer like him.

Also, and this is arguably the dumbest part of the setting, apparently the printing press isn't a thing. This is so stupidly ignorant it boggles my mind.

The Printing Peess is what allowed the Renaissance to take place. You don't just handwave the Printing Press not being used en-masse. That's not how that works.

 

[AwesomeButton]

but it's still "the player's story first and foremost"​

Why are they pushing this?

They have nothing else to push.

 

[Quillon]

Also, and this is arguably the dumbest part of the setting, apparently the printing press isn't a thing. This is so stupidly ignorant it boggles my mind.

The Printing Peess is what allowed the Renaissance to take place. You don't just handwave the Printing Press not being used en-masse. That's not how that works.

its said that Thaos/Leaden Key is the reason there is no printing press in Eora

 

[NaturallyCarnivorousSheep]

One thing I'll note is that we've seen pistols but no muskets, bows or crossbows. Also no polearms so no spear polishing? Wonder if any of these are in.

The PoE setting plays very fast and loose with its guns, which is surprising considering Sawyer is a gun-person (or was at least).

Technically, PoE is mid-Renaissance: for fire-arms that means matchlock arquebus and wheellock pistols which are both referenced in the PoE games.

However, both of them function like flintlocks. That may seem like I'm splitting hairs here because most people assume everything prior to cartridrige breach-loading guns were the same, but they really weren't.

The wheellock is a substantial step up from the matchlock, which was so cumbersome to use you almost never saw it outside of a warfare context. The flintlock, likewise, cut the wheellock's typically multi-minute reload speed down to half a minute if you were fast. None of this is represented in-game.

Honestly I've assumed both the arquebuses and pistols were matchlock in game even though they look like flintlocks(can't see match from any orientation etc.).

 

[jackofshadows]

but it's still "the player's story first and foremost"​

Why are they pushing this?

They have nothing else to push.

What about each other's shit?

 

[Gargaune]

but it's still "the player's story first and foremost"​

Why are they pushing this?

It seems to be "the in thing" in videogame marketing of late, trying to particularise the product to the player on a personal level. BG3 was quite bullish on the player "seeing" themselves in the chargen, Obsidian keeps repeating the "your world, you story" line with Avowed (which is odd, since it should read "our world, your story"), "you are V" in Cyberpunk... It's not resonating with me because I feel it's almost like misreading the genre, I'm all for player agency in RPGs, but I see it as co-authoring a character in a shared fiction, not personally identifying with them.

Help me out, what's the difference between "open-zone" and "hub" maps? Or are we that desperate to tap into that "open-world" marketing that we're inventing new words for old shit?

If it's like Monarch from The Outer Worlds, the "open zone" is still big enough to have several towns, not just a single hub that you run quests in and out of.

I see, thanks. I haven't played The Outer Worlds, but I get the picture. I guess BG3's first area would hit the same mark, dunno about later on.