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

[orcinator]

Can I just get my New Vegas 2 in space, and be done? FEARGUS U FUCKER

But you already got a bad Action RPG fps with the first OW.

 

[JarlFrank]

It all goes back to Tim Cain's philosophy that if the player wants to do something within the scope of the game, she should be able to to do so, and have that decision respected.

Speaking of this, Fallout and Arcanum actually did follow the "immersive sim design philosophy" as Roguey put it (and Vince not doing so is why AoD and Colony Ship feel so radically different from Fallout despite being inspired by it).

In Fallout, you can attack any NPC at any time. You can also use any skill on any object at any time, due to the skilldex which works kinda like the verb interface of old point & click adventures. It wasn't very widely implemented - only a few objects in the game actually respond to those skill uses - but it is a universal system that unties quest solutions and environment interactions from the dialog window, which is how most RPGs do it today. Wanna interact with a broken well and repair it? In a modern RPG, you'd click on the well, it opens a dialog window, you get a list of options including "[Repair] Try to repair the well."

In Fallout, you examine the well, get a description that it's broken, then put two and two together and open your skilldex to use the repair skill on the well. Then your character repairs it. Similarly, most computers are interacted with by using the science skill on them. I'm not aware of any RPGs other than Fallout that do this. It's a system with huge potential and would solve the whole issue of many RPGs feeling like all the interactions you perform are done in dialog windows.

And then there's of course the infamous trick of reverse pickpocketing an active time bomb into a guy's inventory and watch him explode. Classic. This kind of interaction is only possible when you approach game design with an imsim mindset.

Arcanum may not have a skilldex, but it still has a lot of environmental interaction. You can attack anything - not only NPCs, but also objects. Locked door? Bash it down with your axe. Locked chest? Bash it down with your axe. Or use a fireball. Or a grenade. All doors and containers in Arcanum have hitpoints and can be destroyed with force. Pickpocketing in Arcanum lets you access an NPC's entire inventory, including his equipped items. Usually that's gonna fail because obviously someone will notice if you try to take his clothes off, but the game occasionally gives out "fate points" you can spend to make your next attempted action succeed with 100% chance. And that literally lets you steal someone's clothes off his back lmao.

Fallout and Arcanum are RPGs where pretty much every action the player can perform is universally performable. The game never tells you "no, you can't do this in this particular case". If you can do a thing, you can do it everywhere, anytime. And usually it gives you immediate feedback for it.

This is the core of the Codex's foundational games. The "imsim design" style is what makes the games we adore so great. It is objectively the best possible approach to game design.

 

[Orange Clock]

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk what? The game was dogshit and there was a lot of posts on plebbit and elsewhere where people were disappointed that the city is pretty but is just a movie set-piece with 0 interactivity, wooden NPC AI, police bounty system worse than GTA 3 and traffic simulation worse than a fucking LEGO game. Only normies who don't even like RPGs and just play movie games were wowed by Cyberpunk. All those "Real size Whiterun in UE" is how you end up with TW3 Novigrad or CP Night City - a pretty movie set piece that has 0 systems you can interact with as a player. I'll take Bethesda's village-sized capital instead if I have to choose (though I wish I didn't have to), thanks.

All those Reddit post were either butthurted consoletards or GTA-enjoyers, so CDP “fixed” it by addressing some bugs, removing PS4 support and adding gta-lite mechanics (they also made an anime), I myself don’t care of such things at all, I wanted an ARPG with C&C, instead we got sci-fi Witcher3, a cutscene-simulators. But because such criticism weren’t heard, or ignored, we got DLC(which was basically a polished version of the main game) that was praised and somehow redeemed a game.
And I know, that my analogy would seem far-fetched and retarded, but Avowed should be first and foremost criticized for having a fake flavor [skill checks] and pain inducing dialogues, not for it not playing like Skyrim

 

[Grauken]

and Vince not doing so is why AoD and Colony Ship feel failed

ftfy

 

[JarlFrank]

and Vince not doing so is why AoD and Colony Ship feel failed

ftfy

Yes, unironically that is the main reason these games have such a niche appeal and a hard time finding a wider audience even among RPG enthusiasts.
They don't really let you do anything beyond clicking a choice in the dialog windows.

 

[Sherry]

Hi.

dark
Dark
DARK!

There is a lot of dark undertones in Avowed to get you thinking on what is bubbling up to the surface of The Living Lands. It all starts when you arrive at Fort Northreach and see the massacre of the men and women inside the guard post. Then when you read the scattered notes and entries you can find, the horror they all began to face begins to unwind. The interrogation room, with its walls painted by fingers with blood of others is quite the scene to introduce the protagonist to the story about to unfold. Not as heavy compared to the video in Event Horizon, but done well enough you get a clear picture of what went down there. dark.

Or the uncle who became surrounded by Xaurips and left a suicide note to their child. When you poke your head even further inside the small outhouse, do you see an inside wall sprayed with everything that was blasted out from the back of his head. You can even take his arquebus. Dark.

Then there is the diary of the Ambassador which is wonderfully giddy with how he is attracted to Inquisitor Lödwyn as her submissive pet, and his fantasies he has of her. DARK!

Of course that X post is just another one of the more thought provoking notes, books, and letters you can come across during your adventure in The Living Lands. VERY DARK!

I am quite confident Pirate_Nation is not going to attempt to take the Worn Book out of context, and mention it was found on a dead body of a member of the Steel Garrote.

GOSH! I hope you're going to do that too.

Thanks,
Sherry

 

[Orange Clock]

What pisses me off is how people are willing to excuse things like this too, as if they "don't matter". They do. If they aren't paying attention to the details then they are showing that they clearly don't give a shit. For a game like Avowed to have no basic item physics and hit collision is ridiculous and they should be mocked for that as much as for anything else.

Exactly. I also hated the argument used that a lot of cRPGs don't allow you to kill everyone and don't have interactive objects and whatnot. But we're talking about isometric games which are heavily abstracted by the virtue of the camera alone, and further abstracted by its combat systems (usually based on dice rolls). It's a translation of tabletop into a video game format. A first-person action game will and should have different expectations set upon it when it comes to world detail, interactivity and simulation, because it's more immersive by the virtue of the camera alone.

So yes, object physics, world simulation and interactivity are important in a game like Avowed. And the more abstract the genre (FPP -> TPP -> isometric), the less important they become, but should never be excused as "not mattering".

Nobody(except some autists) gave a fuck about such things then BioWare released their “classics”, CDPR made Witchers, Morrowind(best ES game) didn’t have them either, and now suddenly it’s the most important feature. OTOH people still beg Bethesda to change their engine, get rid of constant loading and make state capitals great again. Just look how many views videos such as “True Whietrun size in UE” get.

BRO WE HAD INTERACTIVE SHIT SINCE THE EIGTHTIEES

MORROWUND HAD SOME WORLS SIMULATION SHIT OBJECT INTERACTION WATCHU SAYING BRAH

ALSO NO LOADING SCREENS FOR TOWNS MADE WORSER GMES BACK THEN LOOK AT ULTIMA SIX VS FIVE

MY DREAM AS A LITTLE BRO WAS THE INTERACTIVITY AND SIM OF ULTIMA WITH SKILLS OF WASTELAND

BROS I LOVED KILLING AN ENTIRE CITY EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE I OFTEN KILLED EVERYONE IN NEW RENO AND TRINSIC

Not being able to kill major NPC is a valid criticism, other stuff not. But again, it all comes down to MCA/Bioware approach, there telling you the STORY, is more important than letting you tell your own. Young developers came to an industry wanting to “write” their own PS:T, not make their own Fallout. And for me this is a true decline.

 

[Fedora Master]

 

[luj1]

BRO WE HAD INTERACTIVE SHIT SINCE THE EIGTHTIEES

MORROWUND HAD SOME WORLS SIMULATION SHIT OBJECT INTERACTION WATCHU SAYING BRAH

People always saying how Morrowind has a static world (it does) but compared to this talentless woke garbage it's like Michelangelo

 

[countrydoctor]

Honestly, this doesn't bode entirely all that too well for The Outer Worlds 2, does it?

I actually think Avowed for all its shortcomings is still a vastly superior experience compared to the dogshit that was TOW1, at worst you can feel the same stench of millennial gay humor from the likes of Dollarhyde here and there. No idea how it would correlate with TOW2.

 

[ArchAngel]

Obsessing about Obsidian is part of this community's DNA

If by "obsessing" you mean obsessive constant shilling, then yes

You pushed it with that fake Pillars retrospective, ofc that people have grown to dislike you (and deservedly so)

Now you are taking a bit of fun about shillfinitron a bit too far. Only edgelords dislike people for stuff like this.

 

[Dark Souls II]

Look at the body language of the Asoyed faggot "art" director (on the right), (this is the guy who created the fishnigger as his self-insert by the way), talking to a nigger "game journalist" or whatever... really can't contain himself, wants to jump on the nigger and tongue his xaurip, if you catch my drift. Faggot game made by faggot people, played by faggots AND FAGGOTS ONLY, no exceptions - what a sad state of gaming!

 

[Raghar]

completely sterile environment where nobody in town reacts to anything you do, whether it's stealing his food or bashing his head in or luring an enemy to a guard.

Remember this SJW turd had $80 mil budget

I can literally open 2 small mines (I work in the industrial metals industry) for this money and keep them operational for 5-15 years

Do you mean? You pay salaries, maintenance, and energy costs, and release product for free? And 80 USD fy2024 can keep two small mines afloat for at least 5 years?

Well... We are living in era similar to the end of the Roman empire. Rich companies are doing crazy things.

 

[JarlFrank]

Now the important question is, would you rather work in the industrial metal mines, or in the Obsidian mines?

 

[Grauken]

completely sterile environment where nobody in town reacts to anything you do, whether it's stealing his food or bashing his head in or luring an enemy to a guard.

Remember this SJW turd had $80 mil budget

I can literally open 2 small mines (I work in the industrial metals industry) for this money and keep them operational for 5-15 years

pretty tiny mines

 

[Heroic Liberator]

completely sterile environment where nobody in town reacts to anything you do, whether it's stealing his food or bashing his head in or luring an enemy to a guard.

Remember this SJW turd had $80 mil budget

I can literally open 2 small mines (I work in the industrial metals industry) for this money and keep them operational for 5-15 years

pretty tiny mines

 

[sebas]

There is a lot of dark undertones in Avowed to get you thinking on what is bubbling up to the surface of The Living Lands. It all starts when you arrive at Fort Northreach and see the massacre of the men and women inside the guard post. Then when you read the scattered notes and entries you can find, the horror they all began to face begins to unwind. The interrogation room, with its walls painted by fingers with blood of others is quite the scene to introduce the protagonist to the story about to unfold.

It's impossible to express anything dark in theme when you're literally followed around by Mr. Clippy. Or when in the midst of all this carnage you find a woman locked in a cell untouched both physically and mentally by the events described above. Or when you finally escape this Fort of horror by hooking a ride on a makeshift boat you are greeted by a happy-go-lucky blonde cheerleader. Captain of the guards cheerleader. And when you find the ambassador in the midst of another carnage, your first dialogue option is to WINK at him.

I could go on.

I also can't possibly express my disgust for the "writers" working now at Obsidian, a gaming company that made its name with its vivid characters and engaging narratives.

Anyway, the end result is that the game's tone is straight out of Mary Poppins.

 

[Morgoth]

Look at the body language of the Asoyed faggot "art" director (on the right), (this is the guy who created the fishnigger as his self-insert by the way), talking to a nigger "game journalist" or whatever... really can't contain himself, wants to jump on the nigger and tongue his xaurip, if you catch my drift. Faggot game made by faggot people, played by faggots AND FAGGOTS ONLY, no exceptions - what a sad state of gaming!

The body language of a man of taste and confidence.

Butthurt much?

 

[luj1]

completely sterile environment where nobody in town reacts to anything you do, whether it's stealing his food or bashing his head in or luring an enemy to a guard.

Remember this SJW turd had $80 mil budget

I can literally open 2 small mines (I work in the industrial metals industry) for this money and keep them operational for 5-15 years

Do you mean? You pay salaries, maintenance, and energy costs, and release product for free? And 80 USD fy2024 can keep two small mines afloat for at least 5 years?

depends on commodity but if you really want to know

2 small open pit mines or 1 medium sized open pit / underground mine

start 2 small open pits with $40-50 mil

allocate $30-40 mil for operations over 10+ years

the rest will pay for itself ($40-100 mil (?) revenue per year, per mine)

So yeah... gamedev has really become the premier choice to burn money and go bankrupt

 

[JarlFrank]

Now the real question is how many mines do you need to finance one Avowed (assume it will make zero sales)?

 

[Grauken]

So yeah... gamedev has really become the premier choice to burn money and go bankrupt

To go bankrupt you need to have money in the first place, most game devs look dirt poor to begin with

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Do you mean? You pay salaries, maintenance, and energy costs, and release product for free? And 80 USD fy2024 can keep two small mines afloat for at least 5 years?

Well... We are living in era similar to the end of the Roman empire. Rich companies are doing crazy things.

depends on commodity but if you really want to know

2 small open pit mines or 1 medium sized open pit / underground mine

start 2 small open pits with $40-50 mil

allocate $30-40 mil for operations over 10+ years

the rest will pay for itself ($40-200 mil revenue per year, per mine)

So yeah... gamedev has really become the premier choice to burn money and go bankrupt

Damn, i didn't knew we got to the point of talking about logistics of a mine.
Shit, let me write down this discussion

 

[ArchAngel]

Look at the body language of the Asoyed faggot "art" director (on the right), (this is the guy who created the fishnigger as his self-insert by the way), talking to a nigger "game journalist" or whatever... really can't contain himself, wants to jump on the nigger and tongue his xaurip, if you catch my drift. Faggot game made by faggot people, played by faggots AND FAGGOTS ONLY, no exceptions - what a sad state of gaming!

That room does not look fun, the guy on the right has just farted something big if he needed to lean to the side that much.

 

[luj1]

So yeah... gamedev has really become the premier choice to burn money and go bankrupt

To go bankrupt you need to have money in the first place, most game devs look dirt poor to begin with

I think today it's more about using the gamedev industry (and Hollywood too) to create outlets for propaganda... rather than producing anything of value (doesn't matter what they produce, what matters is the propaganda and conforming to DEI guidelines)

 

[Skinwalker]

Wow, a page from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in this game? Maybe Awoked is crypto-based.