Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting - coming November 12th(?)

[RepHope]

This is a pretty old story at this point:

• Studio becomes popular after making good games for a niche genre.
• Studio loses popularity after making bad games for a niche genre.
• Studio gets bought by big corp who funnels it into making mainstream games.
• Studio dies.

It is. The release of Pentiment is the confounding variable in that narrative, though. EA never let BioWare do something like that.

I'm not privy to insider info, but I think Xbox is generally more open to experimentation and maybe Sawyer had enough connections/influence to put money behind what clearly was a passion project for him.

Xbox has been very hands off in the Spencer era, which bit them in the ass with Redfall.

 

[Nikanuur]

This is a pretty old story at this point:

• Studio becomes popular after making good games for a niche genre.
• Studio loses popularity after making bad games for a niche genre.
• Studio gets bought by big corp who funnels it into making mainstream games.
• Studio dies.

When you stop getting angry after losing, you've lost twice.

 

[santino27]

This is a pretty old story at this point:

• Studio becomes popular after making good games for a niche genre.
• Studio loses popularity after making bad games for a niche genre.
• Studio gets bought by big corp who funnels it into making mainstream games.
• Studio dies.

It is. The release of Pentiment is the confounding variable in that narrative, though. EA never let BioWare do something like that.

If Obsidian survives, it'll be on the back of Grounded/Pentiment, not the stuff they're actually supposed to be good at, which is borderline hilarious.

 

[Roguey]

I'm not privy to insider info, but I think Xbox is generally more open to experimentation and maybe Sawyer had enough connections/influence to put money behind what clearly was a passion project for him.

As Sawyer has noted, Pentiment would not exist without Game Pass. Didn't have to worry about ROI or profitability, just another title to draw people into using their rental service.

 

[Alienman]

I'm not privy to insider info, but I think Xbox is generally more open to experimentation and maybe Sawyer had enough connections/influence to put money behind what clearly was a passion project for him.

I heard Sawyer fixed Phil Spencer's flat tire on his bike, and in return he could do Pentiment.

 

[Ibn Sina]

"When we're starting up a product we basically say, all right, go play all these games, and even play our own games," said Urquhart. "It sounds silly, like why should we have our people play our own games? But it's important, and so we do.

When they asked about her history with roleplaying games, Patel admitted she lacked experience in the types of RPGs that were influencing Pillars of Eternity, but made up for it with her knowledge of writing other types of stories as well as playing other types of story-driven games. She got up to speed on the classics before starting at Obsidian a couple of weeks later. “I did play Planescape: Torment once I got to Obsidian, in part because I knew that was such a big touchstone for us as a company and as the Pillars team, and because it was such a groundbreaking game in terms of narrative design and storytelling in games, but I had not played Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. We've always been looking for a balance in the Pillars games between hearkening back to that flavor and style, and updating it and creating our own world and story.”

(She didn't like Torment )

"For Avowed, weirdly, it is go play BioWare games," said Urquhart, "go play Dragon Age, play Mass Effect,

Obsidian fully embracing that they're Bioware Junior, now with gameplay-immortal story critical-companions (just like Dragon Age and Mass Effect).

Only thing left for Obshitian to become Bioware Jr is cringe romance and sex starved land whale baiting.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

"When we're starting up a product we basically say, all right, go play all these games, and even play our own games," said Urquhart. "It sounds silly, like why should we have our people play our own games? But it's important, and so we do.

When they asked about her history with roleplaying games, Patel admitted she lacked experience in the types of RPGs that were influencing Pillars of Eternity, but made up for it with her knowledge of writing other types of stories as well as playing other types of story-driven games. She got up to speed on the classics before starting at Obsidian a couple of weeks later. “I did play Planescape: Torment once I got to Obsidian, in part because I knew that was such a big touchstone for us as a company and as the Pillars team, and because it was such a groundbreaking game in terms of narrative design and storytelling in games, but I had not played Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. We've always been looking for a balance in the Pillars games between hearkening back to that flavor and style, and updating it and creating our own world and story.”

(She didn't like Torment )

"For Avowed, weirdly, it is go play BioWare games," said Urquhart, "go play Dragon Age, play Mass Effect,

Obsidian fully embracing that they're Bioware Junior, now with gameplay-immortal story critical-companions (just like Dragon Age and Mass Effect).

Only thing left for Obshitian to become Bioware Jr is cringe romance and sex starved land whale baiting.

Already there in POE2

 

[Ibn Sina]

"When we're starting up a product we basically say, all right, go play all these games, and even play our own games," said Urquhart. "It sounds silly, like why should we have our people play our own games? But it's important, and so we do.

When they asked about her history with roleplaying games, Patel admitted she lacked experience in the types of RPGs that were influencing Pillars of Eternity, but made up for it with her knowledge of writing other types of stories as well as playing other types of story-driven games. She got up to speed on the classics before starting at Obsidian a couple of weeks later. “I did play Planescape: Torment once I got to Obsidian, in part because I knew that was such a big touchstone for us as a company and as the Pillars team, and because it was such a groundbreaking game in terms of narrative design and storytelling in games, but I had not played Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. We've always been looking for a balance in the Pillars games between hearkening back to that flavor and style, and updating it and creating our own world and story.”

(She didn't like Torment )

"For Avowed, weirdly, it is go play BioWare games," said Urquhart, "go play Dragon Age, play Mass Effect,

Obsidian fully embracing that they're Bioware Junior, now with gameplay-immortal story critical-companions (just like Dragon Age and Mass Effect).

Only thing left for Obshitian to become Bioware Jr is cringe romance and sex starved land whale baiting.

Already there in POE2

Not enough land whale baiting though. I am talking about fangirl tier characters like the ones in Dragon age.

 

[duskvile]

Reading various comments from many sources, a lot of players didn't like neon lights, exaggerated bloom and vibrant mushrooms. I believe this won't be the final look of the game.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

"When we're starting up a product we basically say, all right, go play all these games, and even play our own games," said Urquhart. "It sounds silly, like why should we have our people play our own games? But it's important, and so we do.

When they asked about her history with roleplaying games, Patel admitted she lacked experience in the types of RPGs that were influencing Pillars of Eternity, but made up for it with her knowledge of writing other types of stories as well as playing other types of story-driven games. She got up to speed on the classics before starting at Obsidian a couple of weeks later. “I did play Planescape: Torment once I got to Obsidian, in part because I knew that was such a big touchstone for us as a company and as the Pillars team, and because it was such a groundbreaking game in terms of narrative design and storytelling in games, but I had not played Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. We've always been looking for a balance in the Pillars games between hearkening back to that flavor and style, and updating it and creating our own world and story.”

(She didn't like Torment )

"For Avowed, weirdly, it is go play BioWare games," said Urquhart, "go play Dragon Age, play Mass Effect,

Obsidian fully embracing that they're Bioware Junior, now with gameplay-immortal story critical-companions (just like Dragon Age and Mass Effect).

Only thing left for Obshitian to become Bioware Jr is cringe romance and sex starved land whale baiting.

Already there in POE2

Not enough land whale baiting though. I am talking about fangirl tier characters like the ones in Dragon age.

They're there, alright. POE2 is definitely Biowarian.

 

[Roguey]

Not enough land whale baiting though. I am talking about fangirl tier characters like the ones in Dragon age.

Are you not familiar with the gay fish meme?

 

[Kem0sabe]

Reading various comments from many sources, a lot of players didn't like neon lights, exaggerated bloom and vibrant mushrooms. I believe this won't be the final look of the game.

Don't underestimate Microsoft's capacity to overlook shit and then be surprised when it's a trainwreck at release and reviewing 20 points below their internal assessments. Case in point, Redfall.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Funny seeing people think they know shit about this game.

 

[bobocrunch]

Funny seeing people think they know shit about this game.

you can wait a year until the game's out and come around then, but i think this is more some weird fanboy thing where you just shield your eyes and hope it's not garbage. anyone still caring enough to say it's garbage is the best part, slap a spiders logo on this and it's ignored

 

[bobocrunch]

NPC react is ironic cuz i think i saw your comment like 10000 times on youtube

 

[Readher]

"When we're starting up a product we basically say, all right, go play all these games, and even play our own games," said Urquhart. "It sounds silly, like why should we have our people play our own games? But it's important, and so we do.

When they asked about her history with roleplaying games, Patel admitted she lacked experience in the types of RPGs that were influencing Pillars of Eternity, but made up for it with her knowledge of writing other types of stories as well as playing other types of story-driven games. She got up to speed on the classics before starting at Obsidian a couple of weeks later. “I did play Planescape: Torment once I got to Obsidian, in part because I knew that was such a big touchstone for us as a company and as the Pillars team, and because it was such a groundbreaking game in terms of narrative design and storytelling in games, but I had not played Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale. We've always been looking for a balance in the Pillars games between hearkening back to that flavor and style, and updating it and creating our own world and story.”

(She didn't like Torment )

"For Avowed, weirdly, it is go play BioWare games," said Urquhart, "go play Dragon Age, play Mass Effect,

Obsidian fully embracing that they're Bioware Junior, now with gameplay-immortal story critical-companions (just like Dragon Age and Mass Effect).

Lmao, the 4chan pasta was true after all.

Each attempt Obsidian makes to create their own universe rather than simply deconstruct a setting made by others, has been more disastrous than the last. Aside from the outdated gameplay and lifeless cities, Pillars of Eternity's only consistency has been its lack of excitement and ineffective use of combat mechanics, all to make magic unmagical, to make action seem inert.

Perhaps the die was cast when Sawyer vetoed the idea of making anything at all innovative or original; he made sure the game would never be mistaken for a work of art that meant anything to anybody, just ridiculously profitable nostalgia pandering to ageing Baldur's Gate fans. Pillars of Eternity might be anti-casual(or not), but it’s certainly the anti-Divinity series in its refusal of spontaneity, fun and excitement.

>a-at least the writing was good though

"No!"

The writing is dreadful; the narrative was terrible. As I played, I noticed that every time I engaged in dialogue with an NPC the game presented me with a Wiki-page style infodump instead of anything resembling actual human conversation.

I began marking on the back of an envelope every time this was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Sawyer's mind is so governed by obsession with pointless minutiae of the lore that he has no other style of writing.

Later I read a lavish, loving review of Pillars of Eternity by the same David Gaider. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kiddies are playing Obsidian games at 17 or 18, then when they get older they will go on to enjoy Dragon Age II." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you play "Pillars of Eternity" you are, in fact, trained to shill for Bioware.

 

[Sordid MCA/Prosper Hybryd]

Somebody needs to do June of Rage to explain what the fuck went wrong with this project over the course of 3 years.

It has to be Feargus' son!

 

[Butter]

This is a pretty old story at this point:

• Studio becomes popular after making good games for a niche genre.
• Studio loses popularity after making bad games for a niche genre.
• Studio gets bought by big corp who funnels it into making mainstream games.
• Studio dies.

It is. The release of Pentiment is the confounding variable in that narrative, though. EA never let BioWare do something like that.

I'm not privy to insider info, but I think Xbox is generally more open to experimentation and maybe Sawyer had enough connections/influence to put money behind what clearly was a passion project for him.

He can thank Adam Brennecke for making Obsidian's highest ROI game since New Vegas on less money than Feargus spends for lunch.

 

[McHodensack]

Trailer is a big meh for me. Looks like Outer Turds in Skyrim or something like that. Obsidian is really done for, the last good thing they did was Tyranny.

 

[Briar Diem]

Codex always gives a good, wild ride! This thread is bonkers but 100% warranted. The trailer fails to show much in its 2 minute run time. To clear up misconceptions though I'll say this, the game is big and open, it is unfair to compare it to OW (I think Feargus is trying to keep expectations down just in case), which I think it is nothing alike.

The studio that did the trailer did some compression of colors and image editing, the screenshots that have been released are much more representative of what it looks like just running through it (they also are appear to be totally random shots from the game, I'm not sure why these were chosen out all the things, probably to keep spoilers at minimum). A lot of the game is being kept hidden right now, I think you will have to wait until the next trailer or some sort of presentation to really see it, but it is safe to assume it is very Obsidian . No, the entire game isn't all bright and happy town, no it is not all so indistinct visually. There are lots of characters, quests, conversations, various game mechanics, big story, etc.

I guess take that as you will. Dumpsterfire comments are bit overhype, development is going well right now, MS is allowing Obsidian free license to do as they will, and if it is success or fails it'll be on Obsidian's own terms.

 

[Roguey]

Yeah there'll be an extended showcase tomorrow.

My view is that the environment art is fine but the character models are lousy.

PS3/360-looking bear, cartoony xaurip. European-minded people don't like cartoons.

 

[Drakortha]

If it comes out on Xbox 360 I might give it a go.

 

[Briar Diem]

Showcase won't show anything new from the game

 

[Briar Diem]

My view is that the environment art is fine but the character models are lousy.

All I can say is the game has not entered Alpha yet, art will get refined in various ways. Lighting will change. Though designs will not change of course. They are what they are.

 

[Kem0sabe]

MS is allowing Obsidian free license to do as they will, and if it is success or fails it'll be on Obsidian's own terms.

Never forget that Obsidian would be finished if it didn't ask for fan handouts with Kickstarter. Microsoft giving Obsidian free hand, a studio known for its mismanagement, poor quality control, poor sales, and whose greatest achievement is grounded, is not a recipe for success.

Maybe I'm being unfair and Avowed will be remembered as a classic like Greedfall or Bound by Flame.