Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting

[Ismaul]

the latest gameplay trailer looks like fucking fortnite

Wow, I've missed a bit lol. Fortnite? They're going for the most generic soulless design?

Looks like the game really should be nicknamed 'Avoid'.

 

[Butter]

Avowed tried to be Skyrim, failed

It already failed before release? lol

I mean aside from trying to be Skyrim being a fail by virtue of what Skyrim is in itself...

They realized their content pipeline isn't fast enough to pump out a Skyrim's worth of stuff. All of Gamebryo's failings aside, it lets you generate places and quests quite rapidly.

 

[Roguey]

Cain thought hub and spoke would improve the narrative control...it did not, and that excuse, again, sounds like cope. He instead ended up with a game with much looser narrative control than dedicated linear campaigns like Halo:CE, and no immersion or world building type environmental narrative like FNV. TOW is and was widely panned as mediocre, and for good reason; it is the worst rather than the best of both worlds. It absolutely tried to be a similar genre to Fallout NV, and failed hard for, among other reasons, its video-gamey hub world. The kind of emergent, difficult to quantify, je ne sais quoi of immersive open world games is fully dependent on having an actual open world. As soon as that is abandoned, you are now competing with other linear or quasi-linear experiences with better gameplay and graphics, tighter narratives, and more in depth focus on their specific genre (first person shooters, immersive sims, etc...). TOW sucked in large part because it wasn't an open world, and Avowed will suck for the same reason.

You're speaking as if it were some kind of commercial and critical failure. It wasn't.

"Yeah, well I didn't like it." Cool.

The tone of the game is more OG fallout than new vegas, sure. But the actual game plays more like new vegas than the original fallout, and you don't just do that by accident.

"Fallout but real time and first person" isn't going to be radically different no matter how you interpret it.

 

[KVVRR]

"Fallout but real time and first person" isn't going to be radically different no matter how you interpret it.

I don't think this is true. There are multiple ways to make a first person RPG, and they deliberately choose to go with how the post-bethesda fallouts played, not just New Vegas. I mentioned the VATS earlier but it really is just Fallout 4's VATS system that they threw into the game because "it's supposed to be there" with just a handwave as to why you can do it. They very obviously planned to introduce a faction disguise system early on before cutting the feature to its barest bones, ending up having to lampshade the whole thing. Even fluff, like Doc Mitchell's unique dialogue for the highest or lowest SPECIAL stats is replicated by Phineas on the character creator screen. Again the tone is more OG Fallout - not in it's quality, but in it being more sarcastic and snarky than New Vegas - but the game itself doesn't play like the original fallouts regardless of genre jump.

I remember playing the game and thinking the whole thing felt like someone tried to replicate a Gamebryo game on Unreal Engine. The biggest difference being the hub worlds as opposed to one big open map you can explore.

 

[gabe1010]

Avowed tried to be Skyrim, failed

It already failed before release? lol

I mean aside from trying to be Skyrim being a fail by virtue of what Skyrim is in itself...

They realized their content pipeline isn't fast enough to pump out a Skyrim's worth of stuff. All of Gamebryo's failings aside, it lets you generate places and quests quite rapidly.

I think this is a good point. The tools programmers that do the work that goes into enabling artists, level designers, writers, and quest designers to actually produce content efficiently are the great unsung heroes of game dev.

On the other hand, I will say that in my brief foray into Skyrim modding I found the creation kit tools to be outrageously tedious, slow and outdated compared to modern engines, but I wasn't familiar enough with them to make a good judgment and I don't know what the custom TOW tools look like.

 

[Jarpie]

"Fallout but real time and first person" isn't going to be radically different no matter how you interpret it.

I don't think this is true. There are multiple ways to make a first person RPG, and they deliberately choose to go with how the post-bethesda fallouts played, not just New Vegas. I mentioned the VATS earlier but it really is just Fallout 4's VATS system that they threw into the game because "it's supposed to be there" with just a handwave as to why you can do it. They very obviously planned to introduce a faction disguise system early on before cutting the feature to its barest bones, ending up having to lampshade the whole thing. Even fluff, like Doc Mitchell's unique dialogue for the highest or lowest SPECIAL stats is replicated by Phineas on the character creator screen. Again the tone is more OG Fallout - not in it's quality, but in it being more sarcastic and snarky than New Vegas - but the game itself doesn't play like the original fallouts regardless of genre jump.

I remember playing the game and thinking the whole thing felt like someone tried to replicate a Gamebryo game on Unreal Engine. The biggest difference being the hub worlds as opposed to one big open map you can explore.

The Outer Worlds is sarcastic and snarky because the writers are plebbit-tier fans of Joss Whedon and watched way too much Buffy, Angel and Firefly when they were kids, not because they were trying to emulate Fallout. As far as I played it, the whole game oozes of that modern "Look how ironic, sardonic and clever we are!" retardation.

 

[scytheavatar]

The reception to Starfield makes me wonder, already people are complaining about how dated the game feels compared to Baldur's Gate 3. Yet making a game on the level of Starfield is far beyond the ability of Obsidian. Are Obsidian basically screwed? Not just for Avowed but also for TOW2. They are chasing trends which are already outdated and not very impressive.

The general gaming audience can understand why a small studio like Owlcat cannot compete with Larian, they are likely to be far less forgiving for studios like Obsidian and Inexile with Microsoft money.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

Are Obsidian basically screwed? Not just for Avowed but also for TOW2. They are chasing trends which are already outdated and not very impressive.

Like TOW I think these games will still sell decently but their reputation as a more prestigious RPG developer will completely vanish and people will start calling them names like "Midsidian" again.

 

[Roguey]

I don't think this is true. There are multiple ways to make a first person RPG, and they deliberately choose to go with how the post-bethesda fallouts played, not just New Vegas. I mentioned the VATS earlier but it really is just Fallout 4's VATS system that they threw into the game because "it's supposed to be there" with just a handwave as to why you can do it.

If you're making a real time adaptation of a turn based game, a slow-mo/active pause mode seems sensible. Other action rpgs also have a similar feature (Mass Effect trilogy, Witcher 2 and 3, Divinity 2, Spiders's games)

They very obviously planned to introduce a faction disguise system early on before cutting the feature to its barest bones, ending up having to lampshade the whole thing.

This dates back to the original Fallout with the cathedral robes.

Even fluff, like Doc Mitchell's unique dialogue for the highest or lowest SPECIAL stats is replicated by Phineas on the character creator screen.

Fallout had attribute checks in dialogue.

 

[skaraher]

I don't think this is true. There are multiple ways to make a first person RPG, and they deliberately choose to go with how the post-bethesda fallouts played, not just New Vegas. I mentioned the VATS earlier but it really is just Fallout 4's VATS system that they threw into the game because "it's supposed to be there" with just a handwave as to why you can do it.

If you're making a real time adaptation of a turn based game, a slow-mo/active pause mode seems sensible. Other action rpgs also have a similar feature (Mass Effect trilogy, Witcher 2 and 3, Divinity 2, Spiders's games)

They very obviously planned to introduce a faction disguise system early on before cutting the feature to its barest bones, ending up having to lampshade the whole thing.

This dates back to the original Fallout with the cathedral robes.

Even fluff, like Doc Mitchell's unique dialogue for the highest or lowest SPECIAL stats is replicated by Phineas on the character creator screen.

Fallout had attribute checks in dialogue.

Fallout 2 enclave armor also worked as a faction disguise.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Yet making a game on the level of Starfield is far beyond the ability of Obsidian. Are Obsidian basically screwed?

Yes, that's why Patel is blabbering about "bespoke" (twitterati's favorite word for some reason) "hand-crafted adventures". Damage control before the first gameplay is even released.

 

[frajaq]

Avowed bros did the hype die...?

 

[Roguey]

Avowed bros did the hype die...?

There's no news whatsoever so not talking about it at all is the proper course of action.

 

[Zeriel]

Avowed bros did the hype die...?

It ever had hype in the first place?

 

[Perkel]

I mean from what they presented it looked more like Outer Worlds but with swords than legit RPG to follow.
also they have Outer Worlds 2 to make.

I just really hope that MS acquisition gave them enough funding to finally make something according to their design fully and still something ambitious.

 

[cvv]

Now every Obsidian game seems to have the dangerhair color palette.

 

[ADL]

I'm still coping that Outer Worlds was a result of it being a smaller Private Division label game. Doesn't excuse the writing but it might excuse the scale. Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 may still be large, ambitious productions.

 

[Fedora Master]

Avowed bros did the hype die...?

It ever had hype in the first place?

Fabricated by (((certain people))) maybe

 

[StrongBelwas]

I'm still coping that Outer Worlds was a result of it being a smaller Private Division label game. Doesn't excuse the writing but it might excuse the scale. Avowed and The Outer Worlds 2 may still be large, ambitious productions.

Outer Worlds 2, probably. Avowed has already been cut down from what they were planning to begin with. Will probably still end up being larger than Outer Worlds uno but that is a relatively low bar for RPGs.

 

[Butter]

If you can stomach the weapons grade cringe, you'll be reminded that they were priming their audience for "We're AA guys! This is going to be another unambitious product." from the outset of TOW2.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Well, I mean, the tow 2 trailer was pretty funny.

 

[Dr1f7]

Obsidian is a epic video game developer known for their really really good story telling and writing skills. Obsidian have made reknowned games like such as Planetescape: Tournament, Neverwinter Knights: Shadow of Kel'Thuzad, Dragon Age 2, South Park: Swearing is funny, and Skyrim 2 (currently in development).

The head writer of Obsidian is a mysterious figure known only as MCA. Not much is known about MCA, but rumors hold that this person identifies as 'incel', which could explain their penchant for jamming stupid obtuse adolescent-esque 'subversive' bullshit into their narratives, which other self-identifying 'incels' seem to love. MCA seems to also have Gerontophilia (an abnormal attraction to grannies), evidenced by the annoying bitch "Kraya" from Obsidian's "Start Wars: Kings of the Old Liberal 2", who lectures the player for flirting with Handmaiden and Lady Darth Vader, the game's two babes, and generally acts as a self-insert to project MCA's mental illness.

to be continued

 

[Yosharian]

Obsidian is a epic video game developer known for their really really good story telling and writing skills. Obsidian have made reknowned games like such as Planetescape: Tournament, Neverwinter Knights: Shadow of Kel'Thuzad, Dragon Age 2, South Park: Swearing is funny, and Skyrim 2 (currently in development).

The head writer of Obsidian is a mysterious figure known only as MCA. Not much is known about MCA, but rumors hold that this person identifies as 'incel', which could explain their penchant for jamming stupid obtuse adolescent-esque 'subversive' bullshit into their narratives, which other self-identifying 'incels' seem to love. MCA seems to also have Gerontophilia (an abnormal attraction to grannies), evidenced by the annoying bitch "Kraya" from Obsidian's "Start Wars: Kings of the Old Liberal 2", who lectures the player for flirting with Handmaiden and Lady Darth Vader, the game's two babes, and generally acts as a self-insert to project MCA's mental illness.

to be continued

I got more enjoyment from this than from the writing in TOW

 

[Shaki]

Obsidian is a epic video game developer known for their really really good story telling and writing skills. Obsidian have made reknowned games like such as Planetescape: Tournament, Neverwinter Knights: Shadow of Kel'Thuzad, Dragon Age 2, South Park: Swearing is funny, and Skyrim 2 (currently in development).

The head writer of Obsidian is a mysterious figure known only as MCA. Not much is known about MCA, but rumors hold that this person identifies as 'incel', which could explain their penchant for jamming stupid obtuse adolescent-esque 'subversive' bullshit into their narratives, which other self-identifying 'incels' seem to love. MCA seems to also have Gerontophilia (an abnormal attraction to grannies), evidenced by the annoying bitch "Kraya" from Obsidian's "Start Wars: Kings of the Old Liberal 2", who lectures the player for flirting with Handmaiden and Lady Darth Vader, the game's two babes, and generally acts as a self-insert to project MCA's mental illness.

to be continued

This sounds like something written by LLM trained exclusively on Codex forum data

 

[Roguey]

If you can stomach the weapons grade cringe, you'll be reminded that they were priming their audience for "We're AA guys! This is going to be another unambitious product." from the outset of TOW2.

That's a "We have nothing to show but they told us to make a cinematic trailer" trailer outright stating it as such.