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

[Butter]

Avowed bethesda-esque skill trees:

2024 hot take: Tim Cain ruined RPGs by introducing perks. Now all our RPGs are just basic bitch action games with +damage perks slapped on.

 

[Zombra]

oh god no. Not the "damage goes up X%" skill tree.

Not great, BUT 40% is very substantial and will be felt in gameplay. Not like the usual 2% increase that numbers go up gives you.

 

[jf8350143]

The dialogue UI is awful.

They keep the weapon upgrade system from Pillars, which is nice. Third person mode is also pretty good.

The skill tree looks pretty bad, at least for the first level. It might get better at later level but I don't have high hopes for it.

 

[jf8350143]

The weird thing for me here is how everything clashes. The player strikes with a sword, but the sound effects and enemy feedback make it seem they're bludgeoning with a mace, or at least punching with the sword's guard. The mushrooms and protrusions give me the impression the game takes place underwater, but that's clearly not the case. The colors fail to complement each other in every instance. It's as if two very different people designed the game completely oblivious from one another and then a third one mashed everything together. It's disconcerting.

They said later that the reason why the sword sound like a mace at the beginning is it's under leveled(maybe not sharp enough to cut through the enemy). After they upgrade it the sound goes back to normal.

They do this so the player knows when their equipment is not working well.

It's a nice touch and has some potential.

 

[Trash Player]

If they add in a rudimentary Grounded-in-Eora, it will boost sales a lot. Open world survival sandbox is the go-to for AA now. It is a shame to waste the art assets from a financial standpoint.

 

[Darkwind]

oh god no. Not the "damage goes up X%" skill tree.

Not great, BUT 40% is very substantial and will be felt in gameplay. Not like the usual 2% increase that numbers go up gives you.

It is, but it is still lazy as fuck game design, please do not defend this.
"Let's create a new power, effect, or ability-"--- 'Nah, too expensive, just edit the cell in that database row on the back end"--> (Fn=x*1.40) "All set, New Upgrade ready!"

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

Haha horny baiting and that FUCKING consoleshit UI. You know exactly who the target audience is.

Retards.

Oh I know you're gonna like it. Just like you like Inquisition.


The skill tree is fine but I want to see non-combat perks.

 

[Silverfish]

GUYS WOW I JUST LEVELED UP
DO I GET THE 25% FART DAMAGE BONUS OR THE 2% CHANCE TO CRIT ON A MOONLESS NIGHT AT SEA? IM SO EXCITED!!

In true Obsidian fashion, +25% fart damage will come with a penalty of -25% fart radius.

 

[jf8350143]

Based on what they show in the deep dive, the passives are basically number increase.

It's more about choose what magic and abilities you want to use when you level up.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game is uglier than Dragon Age 4.

How is that possible? This is a crime against my eyeballs.

Whoever wins, we lose...

At least we are getting Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, even with lower graphics, it has much more style than these two fuckups...

 

[Tyranicon]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game is uglier than Dragon Age 4.

How is that possible? This is a crime against my eyeballs.

Whoever wins, we lose...

At least we are getting Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, even with lower graphics, it has much more style than these two fuckups...

I really have no idea what the hell happened in the industry to where the art design sucks this hard. Everything looks like sickening cartoonish shit.

Did all these 30-something art directors go to the same school or something?

 

[Quillon]

the garish, hyper-cartoony look of Avowed.

I remember they spent time and effort to make a medieval bathroom right/realistic through iterations in deadfire, an isometric gaym, both games' looks were realistic af but now just cos it is said something along the lines of "the living lands is wacky" in the lore they went crazy on everything and they don't need a second invite to paint the game eye melting purple & pink(again after TOW)

 

[Readher]

I can't believe I'm saying this, but this game is uglier than Dragon Age 4.

How is that possible? This is a crime against my eyeballs.

Whoever wins, we lose...

At least we are getting Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon, even with lower graphics, it has much more style than these two fuckups...

I really have no idea what the hell happened in the industry to where the art design sucks this hard. Everything looks like sickening cartoonish shit.

Did all these 30-something art directors go to the same school or something?

Talented people left for jobs where they aren't being slaved away and where they get paid their worth. There's no creative freedom in the AAA space anymore, so there's no reason to stomach shitty pay and working conditions. This goes for programmers too.

The industry is filled with incompetent soyboys and tumblrinas who are mentally stuck at being 10 years old, hence the amount of infantile dialogue, childish writing and cartoonish art styles.

 

[Tyranicon]

Even their bots are shit.

"Wow! I can't wait to explore the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger, coming this Fall! This is a real human opinion!"

-ObsidianFan334

Who the fuck do you think this is fooling? It's almost as bad as the Dragon Age shills having "I cream 4 Solas" in their actual Twitter handles.

 

[Nikanuur]

That one particular fight against Mushroom Men in the newest trailer does seem a lot more fluent than the very first clumsiness-fest we've seen, though.
I like how the player staggers after attacking them—because of the inappropriate weaponry.
There's some hope yet.

EDIT:
Damn, I blame it on the morning brain fog. There was no stagger. Just a thud sound instead of a 'swish', the player attacked with the hand-guard instead of the blade, and the Mushroom Men glowed.
In other words, a made-up, nonsensically telltale graphical effect and a confusing translation of the weapon having bouncied off of something as a character suddenly getting clumsy.

Man...

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

both games' looks were realistic

You think like that because all you see in Deadfire and 1 are the miniature of the world/building/people, and even then the character design looks cartoonish-ish, despite semi-realistic environment.

This game is no different.

All I hear is that you people have mental dissonance over the much bigger, first person world design. If this game was an Isometric RPG, it still going to look the same compared to Deadfire and Pillars 1.

 

[FreeKaner]

the garish, hyper-cartoony look of Avowed.

I remember they spent time and effort to make a medieval bathroom right/realistic through iterations in deadfire, an isometric gaym, both games' looks were realistic af but now just cos it is said something along the lines of "the living lands is wacky" in the lore they went crazy on everything and they don't need a second invite to paint the game eye melting purple & pink(again after TOW)

Things being grey and brown does not make them realistic. If anything a lot of medieval fantasy lacks color. I personally like what they did with armor and weapon designs especially.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

People are gonna mod the color palette within 24 hours, I don't see what the problem is.

 

[Quillon]

the garish, hyper-cartoony look of Avowed.

I remember they spent time and effort to make a medieval bathroom right/realistic through iterations in deadfire, an isometric gaym, both games' looks were realistic af but now just cos it is said something along the lines of "the living lands is wacky" in the lore they went crazy on everything and they don't need a second invite to paint the game eye melting purple & pink(again after TOW)

Things being grey and brown does not make them realistic. If anything a lot of medieval fantasy lacks color. I personally like what they did with armor and weapon designs especially.

What I meant with purple and pink is mostly the spell fx blown to our faces or on the objects in the environment from the gameplay videos you can see, very simlar with TOW, which is separate from unrealistic artstyle of the game which it was in pillows 1&2.

This looks more fable-y than that Fable gaym lol, apart from the character that game looks great.

 

[Baron Tahn]

Just give us something interesting ffs. I don't care what colour it is just give us good dungeons, some good progression, some good exploration and don't shove the damn agenda in my face every goddamn second. Is it too much to ask for someone to just make a game as good as Ultima Underworld, Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah or even just something with some depth like Morrowind?! What is the malfunction with these people.

 

[FreeKaner]

What I meant with purple and pink is mostly the spell fx blown to our faces or on the objects in the environment from the gameplay videos you can see, very simlar with TOW, which is separate from unrealistic artstyle of the game which it was in pillows 1&2.

This looks more fable-y than that Fable gaym lol, apart from the character that game looks great.

Yeah there is a trend of just oversaturating games with particle effects to overcompensate for lack of coherent VFX direction in general, though I like how equipment and environment looks on this one so the VFX just being that didn't particularly jump at me.

 

[Roguey]

both games' looks were realistic

You think like that because all you see in Deadfire and 1 are the miniature of the world/building/people, and even then the character design looks cartoonish-ish, despite semi-realistic environment.

This game is no different.

All I hear is that you people have mental dissonance over the much bigger, first person world design. If this game was an Isometric RPG, it still going to look the same compared to Deadfire and Pillars 1.

The latest trailer actually did start off with a couple of pseudo-iso shots, allowing one to make the comparison.

And here's Deadfire.

 

[Infinitron]

With the addition of third person perspective it might be possible to create an isometric mode mod for Avowed.

 

[Nikanuur]

Just give us something interesting ffs. I don't care what colour it is just give us good dungeons, some good progression, some good exploration and don't shove the damn agenda in my face every goddamn second. Is it too much to ask for someone to just make a game as good as Ultima Underworld, Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah or even just something with some depth like Morrowind?! What is the malfunction with these people.

Yes, unfortunately very too much to ask.
Complex, immersive FPS simms is the most expensive genre (development-wise) with the least audience, and therefore the payout is poor even if it is a success.
No large companies, only madmen without personal lives like Ratower now risk it.
Then again, developing tools are getting more accessible by the day, many graphical assets are free, latest remakes of legendary games pave way for broader audience, and AI is likely going to help gifted single-developers' plight immensely very soon.
There's hope!

 

[PunchYouInTheFace]

both games' looks were realistic

You think like that because all you see in Deadfire and 1 are the miniature of the world/building/people, and even then the character design looks cartoonish-ish, despite semi-realistic environment.

This game is no different.

All I hear is that you people have mental dissonance over the much bigger, first person world design. If this game was an Isometric RPG, it still going to look the same compared to Deadfire and Pillars 1.

The latest trailer actually did start off with a couple of pseudo-iso shots, allowing one to make the comparison.

And here's Deadfire.

It's Deadfire HD+ 4K.

Shoutout to Deadfire environmental artist. Hands down the best Pre-rendered environment ever created.