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Eternity Avowed - Obsidian's first person action-RPG in the Pillars of Eternity setting - coming Fall 2024

The_Mask

Just like Yves, I chase tales.
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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Skyrim clone in PoE setting sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Clone of the worst disgrace in gaming in one of the worst settings of all time.

As a final touch just add Soyer as lead to make sure systems are crap.
And then imagine it being wildly successful to the point where 10 years later people are still tricked into buying it because they add... fishing. :smug:
 

Roguey

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The gift that keeps on giving


It isn't true. I've heard from people inside the studio that Chris' comments were seen as laughable. So.
Reporter for @WindowsCentral with @FuturePLC. Covering Xbox, Microsoft.

"I spoke to Feargus and he said everything was going fine, so that must be the truth."

Avellone names names:



Jorge Salgado, Justin Bell, Lucian Soulban, Zachary Simon (not a lead, but Parker's son), and the ones who were moved or went on leave - Bobby Null (lead design), Chris Parker (ex-Proj Lead), and an art lead whose name I don't know.

All total, that's project director, lead design, lead story, lead level, and audio director at the least. Again, I don't know the art lead name, though, so I wouldn't know how to check against that. This does not mean these people haven't been replaced, and most likely have.

Zachary Simon is new (guess Feargus isn't the only one hiring family members :lol:). I would correct him about Null being creative director as opposed to lead designer, but I'd rather not draw attention to our forum here.
 

Briar Diem

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The art lead in question is Dan Platt. Along with the rest on the list he is no longer on Avowed, but is still at Obsidian. Current Art lead is Matt Hansen, who was the art lead on OW expansions, Deadfire expansions.
 

Quillon

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The art lead in question is Dan Platt. Along with the rest on the list he is no longer on Avowed, but is still at Obsidian. Current Art lead is Matt Hansen, who was the art lead on OW expansions, Deadfire expansions.

Who is the lead writer? No promotion for Paul Kirsch yet?
 

Flou

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Avellone isn't really telling anything new, with the exception of Parker taking a leave of absence and Zachary Simon being his son. Bobby Null was originally on Grounded when they were coming up with the idea for the game. Chris is doing his best to twist the narrative to how the whole game is in huge trouble, but he missed with his Sawyer comments and bad. If he had better inside information (or actually read what Josh has said lately), he would know that Josh wanted to take break from leading the bigger projects after Deadfire and is working on his own passion project instead. Or maybe Josh saw into the future and decided to steer clear of the project to begin with....

Sure there's some truth behind his statements, but as always when it comes to Chris and Obsidian, he is heavily trying to bend the narrative to suit his vendetta towards Feargus and Parker.

Seems to be like Justin Bell finally decided to take the job at the more prestigious company. It's not like he hasn't had offers or opportunity earlier. Didn't Chris say at some point that he has been almost out of the door twice, but got sweet talked into staying. Now it suits his narrative to forget that fact.
Shame about Jorge though. He was a good level designer for sure.
Who knows what happened with Soulban. The guy moved? from Montreal to California and a pandemic hits. Now he is back in Montreal. And it's not like he had that much experience with branching story writing to begin with. It's a huge leap from writing a Farcry game with almost no branching to writing a crpg with heavy branching dialogues and quests...
I don't think that many people are very surprised that Parker got removed from the project. It was surprising he got the project to begin with. Didn't his removal happen already like a year ago?
 

santino27

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My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
The gift that keeps on giving


It isn't true. I've heard from people inside the studio that Chris' comments were seen as laughable. So.
Reporter for @WindowsCentral with @FuturePLC. Covering Xbox, Microsoft.

"I spoke to Feargus and he said everything was going fine, so that must be the truth."


I don't read WC much, but in my limited exposure, that guy has never had a take that wasn't completely stupid.
 

undecaf

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Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2
Chris should probably channel this unwavering hatred into writing something fictional instead of Twatter posts. It’s therapeutic; and I have a hunch something like that might be called for.

:lol:
 

ferratilis

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EDIT: Fuck, posted in the wrong thread. But nevermind.

https://www.windowscentral.com/deta...-obsidian-outer-worlds-meets-medieval-fantasy

Details on Xbox exclusive Avowed: The Outer Worlds meets medieval fantasy
There are more reasons than ever to be excited about Xbox Game Studios' future.

In the past year or so, more and more details have gradually made their way to me via trusted and proven sources familiar with Microsoft's plans for the future of Xbox. First, we detailed Contraband, previously known as Project Typhoon, which is set to be a co-op smuggler's paradise. Then, we detailed Project Dragon, which looks to be an online RPG from the creators of Hitman, IO Interactive. We also recently offered some details on InXile's Project Cobalt, which is a steampunk-style FPS RPG, alongside Project Indus, which we believe is a 4X strategy game from the team behind Ashes of the Singularity.

There are mountains of known games on the horizon too, from Hellblade II to Perfect Dark, and other rumors, such as Kojima's reported cloud-oriented game project with Microsoft.

Now, there's Avowed. I've got a small update on this project making its way to Xbox, and details on why I'm more excited for it than ever.

The World of Eternity gains a new dimension
Sources familiar with internal plans have reached out to us in recent months offering details on Avowed, moving through pre-production towards a playable alpha state. Indeed, Obsidian is likely close to having a working early version of the game, with many mechanics and core gameplay pillars already implemented. I can't be sure how old some of the footage I've seen is, and there's a good chance it's far further along.

For those who don't know, we've only seen Avowed in a pre-rendered CGI trailer thus far. The game is set in the Pillars of Eternity universe, known as the World of Eternity, and utilizes a first-person viewpoint similar to Obsidian's The Outer Worlds.

The Outer Worlds fans already have plenty of reasons to be excited about Obsidian's upcoming slate, given that The Outer Worlds 2 has been confirmed. Avowed seems to be based on a similar, albeit enhanced engine from The Outer Worlds, complete with action-oriented first-person combat and deep RPG exploration and narrative systems. We were told Avowed will feature multiple class playstyles and borrow from Skyrim's two-handed combat system. You could wield two daggers and be a stealthy rogue, or dive into archery with a two-handed bow. You could use a combination of swords and magic, or go full two-handed magic, which is required to wield some of the game's more potent spells and abilities.

Avowed will feature many elements Pillars of Eternity fans will be familiar with. Wizard spells like Jolting Touch, which can fry enemies with forks of lightning, will be present. Two-handed spells like Fireball are conjured using complex-looking hand gestures, but decimate enemies in a storm of magma and fire. I also saw status effect spells like Fetid Caress, imbuing enemies with corrosive poison. Weapon enchantments seem to be a big feature too, with magically enchanted swords and frozen arrows, as examples. Pillars-style guns may also appear in the game, similar to the muskets and arquebuses found in the original two titles. Familiar creatures such as the lizard-like Xaurips will appear, alongside much larger and deadlier threats, all the way up to wyverns and drakes.

The combat seems to be more loadout-based than The Elder Scrolls, which gives you mountains of spells in a gigantic list. Warriors will get access to more physical attacks like swordplay, powerful kicks, and shield bashes, while casters will be given a range of spellbook options to customize and tailor their combat style, with attacks bound to specific buttons.

I am a huge Pillars of Eternity fan and seeing stills of Avowed's early builds filled me with a ton of excitement. As much as I love the tactical combat of Pillars, seeing the classic CRPG add new dimensions with action-oriented combat is undoubtedly going to bring in a whole legion of new fans to the franchise. I think fans of The Outer Worlds should be particularly excited, too.

The Outer Worlds meets Pillars of Eternity
If The Outer Worlds was Obsidian's take on a Fallout-style game, Avowed is undoubtedly Obsidian's take on The Elder Scrolls. The two-handed, first-person combat style is unmistakable, but there are obvious differences in early documentation.

At least directly compared to the likes of Skyrim and Oblivion, Avowed seems to be a far more colorful game, reminding me far more of The Outer Worlds. Luminescent cave mushrooms, verdant forests awash with gigantic flora, and hulking sunlit temples complete with skeleton-infested depths and tombs are plentiful. It came as a bit of a surprise given the game's original trailer, which seemed like it was trying to strike a much darker tone, save for the neon spell effects.

Pillars of Eternity does seem to take environmental interactivity a bit further than The Outer Worlds too, complete with swimming capabilities. We've even heard of destructible environments, using lit torches and fire spells to burn down blocked entryways too. Fire spells leave areas coated in flames too, which cascade against walls and floors.

The content I saw does represent a pre-alpha state with certain aspects like lighting and textures not fully implemented, which is one reason I'm not sharing the documentation I've been shown. The finished art style is expected to elevate what we saw in The Outer Worlds, though, with a brighter, more lively color palette, although it could end up looking a bit darker akin to the debut trailer. I only saw a couple of areas, although it could represent the diversity of locale styles Obsidian aims to deliver.

As for the story and layout, I can only speculate. I'm not sure whether it will go full-blown open world like the modern Elder Scrolls games or utilize something more like The Outer Worlds' hub system, which connects large areas with an overworld map, complete with interior areas and dungeons. I'd expected it to be the latter, as it gives Obsidian greater control over the pacing of the narrative, which is one of the studio's biggest strengths. There is some evidence that it may go fully open world though, given previous job listings (thanks for the tip, Camonna Tong).

Even in its pre-alpha state, Avowed looks like it plays extremely well, with refined action RPG combat set in a vibrant, medieval fantasy world I cannot wait to explore.

Avowed fan of Avowed
I feel like there's a good chance we'll see Avowed in a playable state by E3 2022 at the latest given the quality of the content I've seen, which may even be several months old at this point. Perhaps there's even a small chance we'd see it at The Game Awards at the end of the year. I teased on my podcast recently that I'd bet money that we'd see another Xbox exclusive, Hellblade II, at The Game Awards this year — since I've indeed heard that it was in the plan to show more of the game by the end of the year. Perhaps we could get a two-for-one deal and see Avowed show up there too, but it may be too early just yet.

Either way, Avowed went from relative obscurity in my list of most anticipated Xbox games to sitting near the top, especially as a big fan of The Outer Worlds. Obsidian's excellent character writing and penchant for branching narratives, combined with the rich World of Eternity gives Avowed some seriously huge potential, and I can't wait to see the game fully revealed.

While you're waiting, if you haven't already, I recommend giving The Outer Worlds on Xbox Game Pass a try to get an idea for how Obsidian can pull together a modern action RPG. If you're a fan of classic-style tactical CRPGs, I also cannot recommend Pillars of Eternity enough too. It's hard to get into if you're unfamiliar with the gameplay style, but if you can get to grips with it, it's one of the most rewarding RPGs I've ever played.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Cross

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The combat seems to be more loadout-based than The Elder Scrolls, which gives you mountains of spells in a gigantic list.
More dumbed down than Skyrim. Impressive.
 

Butter

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More dumbed down than Skyrim. Impressive.
Loadout is vague, but that could actually be real incline if it means you have to commit to a set of weapons/spells and can't just pause and change everything mid-combat.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
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35,660
Dragon Age Inquisition had load-outs, it didn't result in additional difficulty. Didn't think much of it one way or the other.

At least directly compared to the likes of Skyrim and Oblivion, Avowed seems to be a far more colorful game, reminding me far more of The Outer Worlds. Luminescent cave mushrooms, verdant forests awash with gigantic flora, and hulking sunlit temples complete with skeleton-infested depths and tombs are plentiful. It came as a bit of a surprise given the game's original trailer, which seemed like it was trying to strike a much darker tone, save for the neon spell effects.

The content I saw does represent a pre-alpha state with certain aspects like lighting and textures not fully implemented, which is one reason I'm not sharing the documentation I've been shown. The finished art style is expected to elevate what we saw in The Outer Worlds, though, with a brighter, more lively color palette, although it could end up looking a bit darker akin to the debut trailer. I only saw a couple of areas, although it could represent the diversity of locale styles Obsidian aims to deliver.

Obsidian games are going to look like multi-colored vomit how huh.
 

ferratilis

Magister
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Oct 23, 2019
Messages
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PoE had nice, evocative art style. I remember seeing this screen of Dyrford village a long time ago and wanting to get the game just based on how nice it looked.
pillars-of-eternity-dyrford-village.jpg

If they don't maintain the consistency in art style, then fuck Avowed. Outer Worlds looked like one of those indie Unreal games that go for 20 bucks on Steam, and gameplay was no better tbh.
 

The_Mask

Just like Yves, I chase tales.
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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
I remember seeing this screen of Dyrford village a long time ago and wanting to get the game just based on how nice it looked.
Dev commentary track shows that Dyford was the vertical slice of the game. And it shows. Because there's an argument to be made that, outside the DLCs, it's one of the better designed areas of the game.

That doesn't excuse much though.
 

PEACH

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"it's like this, although maybe it'll be like that ?"

great article. super informative.
 

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