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While I replayed Arcanum handful of times, I am still yet to full tech playthrough. It's such a gem. Troika's RPG triumph. I wish someone would remaster it and tweak few things here and there.

When Trump started repealing the ACA via executive order, you had a non-insignificant amount of people freaking out because they didn't know that was "Obamacare". They of course blamed "the left" for naming it two different things. It's just the voter suppression tactics they've been using for the last few years, require increasing amounts of security in the name of combating fraud while simultaneously closing off avenues to get through said security for the person who doesn't have ample free time and resources.

Sounds like a pretty ideal situation from a DOGEesque perspective though. The ideal there is that a lot of people don't turn up and get cut off so they make yuuuge savings on federal cash that they can crow about- while also assuming everyone who didn't turn up was a fraudster rather than bedridden/ sick/ uninformed about the requirement/ got annoyed at the process/ were unable to turn up etc. And yeah, using that as evidence they can then say that there was massive fraud under Biden and Obama. The only negative is that you don't really want to annoy old people since they vote, though you can at least be fairly confident that the people who vote will mostly be the ones to turn up for verification even if it is a bit onerous.

Arcanum really is in dire need of a remaster. A remaster that makes it playable. I have no idea how you guys can stand "playing" that game.

Usual ploy to break public services then tout them as terrible so you can replace them with private or just remove them. I bet a lot of Americans, if they were to be cut off from Social Security, would still blame Biden or Obama or something

Arcanum is the one game from that era that I also have never played, but which I have wondered about playing. And then I keep telling myself to wait for a remasterd/enhanced version to come out. But maybe I should play it now before it gets way too old to enjoy.

I like that the exploit in itself is an easter egg. You <redacted>, so you find <redacted>. You can <redacted>. There you <redacted>. And that takes you directly to the ending. And it all makes sense.

I dont agree with the methodology, but I would be inclined to believe the Social Security is riddled with inefficiency and fraudulent collections. I cant think of any other way to prove identity other than in person with papers in hand.

My review about "Avowed (PC)" after first playthrough in 111 hours. (Translated from German. I apologize for any errors in the translation.) Story / Lore / Characters / Companions / Dialogue / Logic / Dynamics I found the direct story of "Avowed" about the land of the living, the Dream Scourge, the individual factions, the power structure, the politics, the gods, and the Messenger's own personality to be very interesting and exciting from beginning to end. I always wanted to know what would happen next and how the story would end. Furthermore, you have various options to influence the story and its outcome, both small and large. However, I can't conclusively assess the ultimate impact of many smaller dialogue decisions without further playthroughs. In the end, despite many decisions in various dialogues, I apparently had the opportunity to choose any of the four main endings. However, there may still be differences in the outcome within the four main endings, similar to Fallout: New Vegas. The system certainly seems quite complex and dynamic to me, as the narrator goes into many details at the end: How did the land develop, how did the gods develop, how did the followers develop, how did the individual factions develop. I also find the lore/backstory of the world of Eora extremely creative, exciting, and interesting. You learn a lot about this world in various books and dialogues, which I really like. Whether it's about the gods, the past, the peoples, the wars and conflicts, or the continents, I absorb everything because it's so interesting. The lore can easily compete with that of Dragon Age and, for me, is even significantly more interesting than the lore of the Forgotten Realms, which I always find far too confusing and complex. What I also really like are the dialogues throughout the game. There are always many dialogue options, which in turn depend on attributes and your character's background. Yes, it often doesn't matter which dialogues you choose, but what I still love about it is that I can play my envoy the way I want. For example, I played a war hero, and he usually gives very direct and assertive answers and can incorporate his war knowledge into the dialogues, but his heart was still in the right place. This usually had no effect, but it does make the dialogues flow a little differently, which in turn underscores the extremely diverse dynamics of the written dialogues. I love how the dialogues are slightly different when you choose answer B (war hero) or answer C (determination) instead of answer A. For me, this reflects the possible character traits very well. This creates a strong dialogue dynamic. I also love how many small decisions become apparent again and again in various dialogues throughout the game. If I tell Kai at the beginning that Commander Lödwyn used to be a comrade you fought alongside, this is brought up again and again throughout the game. If you choose to have a romantic relationship with her, this would also have a corresponding effect on various dialogues. And that was just one of many examples. So many small decisions in various dialogues have exactly the same kind of impact on many other future dialogues. I would also like to mention that the companions you take with you often actively participate in the dialogues you have with other NPCs. For me, this represents an enormous level of detail, which greatly increases the replay value. There are more of these types of dialogues, decisions, and effects than you would think. Not every decision always has serious and major consequences, but that doesn't have to be the case. Even these many little details make the game a true role-playing game with a lot of depth. Especially in the many dialogues in the game, you notice how much attention to detail has gone into it. Time and again, certain dialogue decisions affect many other dialogues. I think it's brilliant! I can think of few games that offer such a complex and dynamic dialogue system. I don't even want to imagine how much work the developers and writers had to put into this, and how much more complex the dialogue trees look from the outside, if you were to consider all the many branches as a whole. I find it even more astonishing that, despite the complexity, I didn't notice any quest or dialogue bugs. The game always correctly reflected all my decisions in various dialogues. The four companions are also all well-written and undergo believable developments that you, as an envoy, can directly influence by speaking with them regularly. After each main quest, in each area, after each companion quest, and sometimes even after side quests, the companions always have new topics of conversation to offer, not only with the envoy, but also with each other. The group dynamics of the four companions are extremely well-crafted and always seem consistent and logical. For example, if I recommend to Giatta that she continue to emulate her parents and cling to the ensoulment, this not only affects future dialogues with her and the end of the game, but also the dialogues between the companions in the camp. Giatta talks with the other companions about what the envoy has done or said. And here, too, the game is permeated with these group conversations. I also think it's great that you can ask the companions for advice in various dialogues throughout the main story. Each companion has their own opinion on possible decisions and consequences. And whatever you decide, this will subsequently lead to corresponding dialogues with the companions in the camp. If you make a serious decision, a companion may absolutely dislike it, but during the dialogue, both sides—the envoy and the companion—can gain and demonstrate mutual understanding for each other's views. And anyone who thinks the dialogues in the game are poorly written, stupid, or superficial simply hasn't played the game, or they've rushed through it in ten hours, clicking away all dialogue, and never listening to the group dialogues or doing the companion quests. Whoever is reading this, don't believe such statements. The dialogues are well-written, profound, and full of detail. They are serious, mature, and never childish or stupid. Each character has their own personality and their own opinion, and each companion offers a wonderful and believable development in which you play a significant role, depending on what you say and what you advise your companions. All in all, the game's dialogue, with all its dynamics and complexity, as well as the many decisions and consequences, is among the best I've ever experienced in video game history. I've played all sorts of role-playing games, from "Fallout 1-4" to "Baldur's Gate 1 & 2," "The Witcher 1-3," "Deus Ex 1-4," "Morrowind," "Oblivion," "Skyrim," "Mass Effect 1-4," "Dragon Age 1-3," to Kingdom Come: Deliverance and "Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2." Yes, I would rank "Avowed" among the ten best role-playing games of all time in this regard. Rating: 10/10 Game World / Level Design / Exploration / Enemy Placement / Reactivity / Dynamics The game world of "Avowed" consists of four larger areas that function independently of each other, acting as a kind of "hub." Each area is large enough that walking from one end to the other takes an average of 3 minutes (with constant sprinting). I would estimate that each area is 1 km² in size, which is quite impressive considering how well-populated and beautifully designed these four areas are. As already mentioned, the four areas differ fundamentally in their design, with different assets, vegetation, color schemes, lighting, and, of course, the environmental design. Thanks to the varied design and high visibility, you can easily navigate each area even without a map and quest markers. The areas you have explored are revealed on the map. White fog on the map then gives way to a colorful design. Overall, the map is beautifully drawn and labeled. The enemies in each area are hand-placed, as are the bosses. Once you've killed the enemies, they usually stay dead. There's no respawn in Avowed, but here and there, new enemies do appear, either for story-related reasons or sometimes for other inexplicable reasons, although the latter rarely happens. Basically, an area that has been cleared of enemies stays clear. This gives you the feeling that you've made the area safer and cleared it of enemies. In my opinion, there's nothing worse than constantly respawning enemies and constantly replenishing loot. The many treasures in the form of chests, corpses with loot, or simply loose coins or weapons in creative locations are all hand-placed and seem well thought out. To find the many treasures, you have to explore and observe the environment very carefully, both vertically and horizontally, to really find all the treasures. The hiding places are sometimes more and sometimes less difficult to find, but often very creative. You reach a treasure, for example, by climbing a ladder. For example, it's only behind a crumbling wall of a secret room, which you first have to find and open. Secret rooms within secret rooms, so to speak. You can also occasionally access shortcuts in the area through secret rooms, similar to Dark Souls 1. I absolutely love this kind of level design. In "Avowed," everything is hand-built and hand-placed. Everything in the game has its place and order. This type of game design is the perfect adventure playground for me, because as an adventurer, I want to explore the world, "scour" it, and rid it of all enemies. Neither Skyrim nor The Witcher 3 can offer me that in this form. Yes, "Avowed" also has its weaknesses in the game world. For example, there is no NPC daily routine; the NPCs always stay in the same place (unless they change their positions due to the story). You can barely manipulate or change the environment (except for burning vines, blowing up walls, or opening doors from other sides). The level design is quite static. But honestly, in what game is the environment truly dynamic? I can't think of any right off the bat. You could see that as a disadvantage, but I don't find it a big deal and it doesn't bother me. The adventure, the discovery and exploration, as well as the fun and motivation of the game, are hardly affected at all. Exploration and a sense of adventure are "Avowed's" greatest strengths and, for me, what defines the game most. One thing that could be criticized is the lack of a theft system. You can simply steal all the items from the NPCs, and no one cares. It's rarely commented on, for example, if you steal money from a beggar's bowl. But it doesn't have any impact. On the one hand, it's a shame, but on the other hand, it's also nice that the developers of "Avowed" didn't try to cram every conceivable feature into the game and create a fully realistic simulation like "Kingdom Come: Deliverance." "More" isn't always better. I like that "Avowed" focuses on the essentials, on its strengths. Rating: 9/10 Character System / Progression System The character system in "Avowed" is quite simple, but absolutely serves its purpose, similar to "Gothic 1 & 2." You always start as a god-like character, which is story-driven and cannot be changed. However, you can customize your appearance in many ways. There are six attributes, each of which affects two characteristics and dialogue options: Might, Dexterity, Constitution, Intellect, Resolve, and Perception. Might is the only attribute that only affects one useful characteristic: damage. The second would be carry weight, but that's almost irrelevant in the game, because you can send items in your inventory to the storage chest at any time from anywhere. I therefore consider Might to be the least useful attribute, because damage also only increases by a manageable amount. All other attributes are, in my opinion, more useful overall. You can distribute a total of 22 attribute points up to level 30, which is the maximum level. You don't get a point at every level. Each attribute can be increased up to a maximum of 15. Attributes can also be increased through items and through training with companions. For a certain amount of money, you can reset and redistribute attributes at any time. Then there are various skills, both active and passive, distributed across three talent trees: Warrior, Ranger, and Sorcerer. Up to level 30, you can allocate a maximum of 35 skill points. Purely ranged fighters (pistol, rifle, or bow) have the fewest useful skills, so 35 points are oversupplied. For melee fighters, the number is just right to learn a good fighter with the most suitable skills at level 30. The number of skill points is also well balanced for sorcerers. As a melee fighter and sorcerer, you can't learn everything and have to specialize well. Anyone who likes to be a master of all skills by the end of a game will be disappointed; you can't create a perfect all-rounder here. I like it the way it is. You can also reset and reassign skills at any time for money. The great thing about this is that once you reach level 25, you can learn and improve all skills directly from the second skill point in a skill tree, without any prerequisites like in many other games. You have a lot of freedom in distributing skills and combining them. The four companions also each have four skills they can learn. Each skill can be increased by three points after learning it, with companions receiving a maximum of eight skill points by the end. Some companions are more useful than others in terms of skills. I always found Kai to be relatively useless, serving only as a distraction, while Giatta, with her healing spells, has the most useful skills. My advice: take the characters you most want with you, regardless of their skills, because you essentially do most of the work in combat. I was never dependent on my companions. You can also reset and redistribute the skill points of your companions at any time for money. Overall, I find the character system good, fun, and fair. The balance is good, if not perfect. But you can't become overpowered when playing on a high difficulty level, and that's an absolute plus. However, I would have liked to see more skills for ranged fighters, and perhaps a few more spells. I think the progression system in "Avowed" is great because I notice many character improvements immediately in combat. While not every single strength point is noticeable, if you increase an attribute by three points, you usually notice it right away, as you get, for example, 15 points more stamina, 10% more health and resistances, or a 7% increase in attack and ability casting speed. Every upgrade in equipment also makes a difference. This is further supported by the fact that enemies have a fixed level (like in "Gothic 1 & 2"), so you can take on stronger opponents with each upgrade. Over time, you become stronger and can take on increasingly stronger opponents. The feeling of "becoming more powerful" is simply fantastic. Rating: 9/10 Combat System / Battles / Weapons / Difficulty / Balancing The combat system in "Avowed" is fundamentally simple and straightforward. Yet despite its simplicity, it offers many options and customization. You can fight with fists, swords, axes, clubs, spears, daggers, wands, shields, magic, bows, pistols, and rifles, and combine various weapons. You can fight with a sword and shield, two one-handed swords, or even two pistols, or you can combine a spellbook with a dagger, or a classic spellbook with a wand. There's no shortage of variety. Each weapon type has its own advantages and disadvantages. Each weapon is fun in its own way, and I think there should be something to suit every taste. There are also five different types of grenades that can be used for support: explosive grenades, ice grenades, poison grenades, electric grenades, and fire grenades. There are also light, medium, and heavy armors, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Light armor has the smallest penalty to stamina and essence (like mana). Heavy armor offers the best protection, but also has the highest penalties. You can reduce the respective penalties to stamina and essence with two skills at three levels each. There are also some active skills you can learn that offer additional attack variations and options, such as "Charge" or "Shield Bash." On "Hard," at least the melee combat is well balanced, though perhaps it becomes too easy later on because you're no longer dependent on the perfect tactical use of abilities, grenades, and potions. I could have also mastered the highest difficulty level as a melee fighter. I actually consider this to be the best and most ideal difficulty level in "Avowed," but I haven't played as a mage or ranged fighter, so I can't say much about that yet. At least in the first half of the game, I found the hard difficulty level to be just right and pleasantly challenging, but never unfair. I thoroughly enjoyed the combat system from the beginning to the end. It's fun, varied, and pleasantly challenging on the higher difficulty levels. The many weapon types and abilities offer plenty of options for every type of player. The game's only weakness is the variety of enemies. There aren't too many different enemy types. There are humans, Xaurips, spiders, bears, ghosts, and one or two others. That's a bit lacking. There could have been three or four more enemy types. At least there are different types within each type, such as wizards, priests, melee fighters, and ranged fighters. There are also several particularly strong boss enemies. Rating: 9/10 Crafting / Equipment There's standard gear and unique gear in "Avowed." The latter offers a fifth rarity level (Legendary) and two additional unique properties. The first property of each weapon can be further enhanced with special materials or replaced with an alternative property. However, this only works with weapons, not with armor or shields, which I find very unfortunate. There are several unique items in the game for each type of weapon and armor, as well as for shields. On the one hand, that's great, because you only find many of them if you look around carefully and explore the world thoroughly and attentively. This keeps the motivation to explore high. But what I didn't like so much: even shortly before the end, you still find some unique items, which I find a bit late. What's the point of having something new if the game ends five hours later? I think you should be able to find the unique weapons, armor, and shields in the fourth area at the latest, not just in the finale. You can upgrade all weapons, shields, and armor. There are five rarity levels, and within each rarity, three upgrade levels. However, the fifth and highest rarity level (Legendary) is reserved only for unique equipment. In total, you can upgrade a unique weapon, armor, or shield up to nineteen times. For upgrades within a rarity level, you need common materials such as iron, steel, wood, and plants. To increase to a higher rarity level, you need Adra of various types. You can also upgrade each material to a higher-quality material. For example, three iron ingots become three steel ingots. Crafting is simple, but fun and motivating. Once you've found a weapon or armor you want to keep, you can gradually improve it. Crafting materials are quite rare in the first 75% of the game and also expensive to buy from vendors. You should always use crafting materials sparingly and not just upgrade any weapon or armor you find. If you do this, you'll quickly run into serious resource problems. Exploring the game world is therefore essential for continually improving your equipment. What I also miss is the ability to craft your own weapons and armor. I would have liked to use a one-handed sword at the beginning that also deals cold damage, but such a unique sword simply didn't exist until the end of the game. I would have found it ideal if you could improve or change each of the two unique properties of each unique piece of equipment through enchantment. For example, if I have my favorite weapon, I would have liked to have the option to replace the additional fire damage with ice damage. To prevent this from being done carelessly and constantly, this type of enchantment could have cost a lot of valuable materials and additional money. This way, you make it possible for players to customize their favorite equipment without completely destroying the balance, because enchanting requires a lot of resources. There's also the option to change the appearance of your equipped armor, but unfortunately, this doesn't work with shields and weapons. And you can only change the appearance of armor you've already found and that you have in your inventory. This could have been improved a bit, too. And please, also for weapons and shields. In addition to the three main categories, there are also other gear categories: bracers, boots, two rings, and an amulet. These cannot be crafted or enchanted in any other way, nor can they be visually customized. Each of these items has one or two unique properties. Rating: 8/10 Voice Acting / Dubbing Unfortunately, "Avowed" is only available with an English dub. All other languages are served only with subtitles. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a big advocate of German dubbing and that I avoid various games simply because of the lack of German dubbing. However, I made an exception for "Avowed," as I was too interested in the game to ignore it just because of that. I can say that while it's still a shame that there's no German voice acting, reading subtitles in "Avowed" is nowhere near as stressful as in some other games like "Red Dead Redemption 2" or "GTA." In this type of game, there's a lot of talking, in the middle of riding, fighting, driving, or other gameplay sequences. This always annoys me immensely and distracts me from the game. In "Avowed," on the other hand, 90% of all dialogue takes place in a closed dialogue. You have all the time in the world to read the subtitles, as you can open the entire dialogue history during the dialogue. This means you can read the entire dialogue history retrospectively until the current dialogue ends. After that, the history is no longer visible. Overall, I find this very pleasant. The remaining 10% of the dialogue takes place outside of the dialogue windows and is exclusively conversations between NPCs and companions. While you can't pause and reread these dialogues, that's still okay, because you're never in combat or active gameplay during these dialogues, and you can follow the dialogue easily. You can also increase the display time of the dialogues in the menu. Very rarely, there are also comments from companions during exploration or even in combat, but this is extremely rare and usually not really relevant. The English voice actors, however, do an excellent job. The voice directors put a lot of effort into making the dialogue sound very authentic and emotional. Rating: 9/10 Sound Design / Sound Mixing The ambient sounds are very diverse, and the sound design is excellent. The environments come to life simply through the sound design. There's a lot to offer for the ears here. A spatial surround mix is also included. Those who enjoy playing with a 5.1 or 7.1 system will get their money's worth. Spells and battles in general seem powerful and varied. Later, in the volcano area, the sounds of the volcano also sound very spatial and powerful, with many low tones. This creates a great atmosphere. Each of the areas generally has its own soundscape that fits the respective setting. There's a lot of variety here. I have no criticism of the sound design. Rating: 10/10 Graphics / Art Design / Effects / Physics / Presentation / Staging "Avowed" uses Unreal Engine 5. The game offers good graphics quality, but doesn't stand out technically with any particular feature. It doesn't have the best textures, the most beautiful lighting, and the best (facial) animations. Nevertheless, the graphics are high. If I had to assign it a year, I'd say that, depending on the aspect, it looks as good as the best games released between 2016 and 2022 - well, good enough to create a great mood and atmosphere without appearing technically outdated. The substandard technical graphics quality is easily compensated for by the beautiful design. The color scheme of the individual areas is extremely varied and diverse, conjuring up some picturesque images and landscapes, as well as sunsets and surroundings, on the screen. The overall environmental design is beautiful and appears to be of a unified nature. Everything has its place and its design is unique. The game gave me many "wow" moments, visually alone. "Avowed" also offers a beautiful day and night cycle with many different lighting moods. The incredibly high visibility is also great. If you stand at a high point, you can enjoy the entire surroundings of the current area in high quality. And even beyond the area, you can marvel at the sea and the horizon. Beautiful is a very accurate description. The underwater world also looks beautiful and, after "Horizon Forbidden West," is, for me, almost the most beautiful underwater world I've ever experienced in a game. The spell effects also look decent. And the enemy designs are also absolutely impressive. Even up close, the models look very detailed. Many people claim the game seems too "colorful," but I have to disagree. The game isn't "colorful," it's simply diverse and brighter in its color palette. In reality, when I look at a meadow of flowers with many colors in springtime under bright sunshine, it's not simply "colorful," but diverse, bright, and vibrant. The mood that "Avowed" creates is therefore cheerful, not the gloomy one like in The Witcher 1. In the first area, "Avowed" is most reminiscent of the "The Witcher 3" add-on "Blood & Wine"—a gloomy world yet still a beautiful color scheme and variety. Not everything always has to be "gloomy" and "dark." In a way, there's also a strong similarity to Pandora from Avatar. Wild and strange plants, rich colors and contrasts, and beautiful panoramas. But "Avowed" also offers more than just the colorful nature of the first area, the Twilight Coast. In the second area, the colors are rather muted, and the environment is rather gloomy, swampy, and foggy. In the third area, we experience a lot of sand and a dry steppe with little greenery and heat haze in the air. The more water in the environments, the greener, more colorful, and denser the vegetation. This creates a lot of variety and a realistic look. In the fourth area, we experience a dead and hostile volcanic area with lots of rock, magma, and ash. I find "Avowed" subjectively beautiful and diverse. With its many rich colors and contrasts, it created a very cheerful atmosphere for me while exploring like few other games. So, the only criticisms you can have are the outdated animations and outdated graphics, which are hardly noticeable because the game is still beautiful. What can also be criticized is the game's staging and presentation. It's not as dynamic or as impressive as, say, The Witcher 3 or Mass Effect 1-3. Avowed remains much more "wooden" and simple in its presentation, but you can't expect AAA presentation from a AA game either. You have to consider the production budget somewhere. You can't compare an indie game with a AA game, for example, because that would be unfair. In any case, the minimalist presentation didn't bother me, because I expected nothing less. Rating: 9/10 Controls (Mouse + Keyboard) "Avowed" is excellently controlled with a mouse and keyboard. There are only a few buttons and functions; in terms of operation and the complexity of the action buttons, "Avowed" is far removed from complex games like Star Citizen, GTA, or Red Dead Redemption 2, which have an incredible number of buttons and actions. This kind of thing really annoys me. When I look at the control menu for "Avowed," I'm immediately relieved by the small number of buttons the game uses. It reminds me pleasantly of "Gothic 1 & 2," which also had very few buttons. The controls in the game are also incredibly direct and smooth. Even in combat, it's very easy to distinguish between the commands, whether dodging, blocking, jumping, drinking potions, or triggering skills. The parkour system, with running, jumping, climbing, and sliding, also works flawlessly. However, there is one bug that bothers me: I have jump assigned to the "Num Lock" key, but if I sprint while pressing "Right Shift," I can't jump with "Num Lock." It seems like the game doesn't allow this combination. Luckily, you can assign an alternate key. I have this key on my mouse, so I can dodge in combat with it, too, because dodging and jumping are dual-purpose keys, which I really like! But every now and then, the alternate key just doesn't work, and I have to save and reload the game so that the jump action works again with the alternate key. Otherwise, I don't have much to criticize about the controls, but there are a few points: The fact that you can get stuck on flat objects like steps or rocks is a bit annoying, especially during combat. But it doesn't happen too often, so it hardly bothered me. I would also like to criticize the dual-weapon combat. You can attack much faster with two weapons and literally shower your enemies with blows, but I find it annoying that you have to click both mouse buttons continuously and quickly at the same time. I don't get along well with that. And you can't perform a power attack with both weapons at the same time, which calls into question the purpose of dual-wielding combat. I would have preferred it if, when dual-wielding, you only had to press the left attack button to perform a double attack with both weapons. And with a power attack, both weapons should also be used simultaneously, of course at twice the stamina cost. And then I had another bug that kept occurring: When I opened and closed the map, I often had to press the "Run Forward" button twice in a row immediately afterward to get the character to start running. The first time, the character very often didn't respond, even recently with the latest patch. Another annoying bug, even if it's not particularly dramatic. Rating: 8/10 Soundtrack / Music I quite like the game's soundtrack. Each individual piece is distinctive and evokes a certain mood and emotion in me. The areas all have individual themes, which always sound quite appropriate to the environment. The music is never distracting or intrusive, but often reminds me more of atmospheric background music than loud and pompous orchestral music that pushes itself to the foreground. I'm very happy with the music, but it doesn't quite match the brilliant soundtracks of, for example, "Mass Effect 1-3," "The Witcher 1-3," or "Morrowind" and "Oblivion." Still, it's very pleasant music. Rating: 8/10 Other Thoughts In the game world, you can only unlock various secret rooms or passages with a specific spell, grenade, or ability. Rusty bars can be blown open with an ice grenade or an ice spell, vines can be exposed with fire grenades or a fire spell, old energy nodes can be activated with electricity, and illusions can only be removed... with your companion Yatzli. You can overcome all of the first three obstacles yourself or with the help of a companion. Kai can remove vines with fire, Marius can blow up rusty bars with ice, Giatta can activate energy nodes, and Yatzli can dispel illusions. Illusions, however, cannot be removed by yourself; only with Yatzli. This really bothered me several times, because you always have to travel back to the group camp, take Yatzli with you, travel back, dispel the illusion, and then jump back to the camp and take the other companions you want with you, then travel back again and collect the treasure that has been freed from the illusion or explore the secret passage. You also can't reach some energy nodes yourself with the electricity spell because the range isn't great enough. Even then, you absolutely need Giatta. This could have been handled better or differently. I'd like to see a patch to fix this. Unfortunately, money and resources are a bit too much from area 4 onwards. I sold all my unnecessary equipment and ended up with over a million Skayt. I'd also like to praise the fact that I think it's great that, without mods, you can simply skip any video or pop-up when starting the game by pressing the spacebar. I always find that awesome. It's a small thing, but it has a big impact, because it always really annoys me with other games when the game takes forever to start because six or seven videos start playing each time. Bugs Apart from the bugs already mentioned, I haven't noticed any other bugs. I didn't experience any sound or graphical errors, I didn't experience any quest bugs, I didn't experience any plot-stopping bugs, and the game only crashed once in 111 hours. What still seems to be buggy, however, is the frame generation/multi-frame generation. For me, this feature causes severe tearing and various image errors, even when I limit the fps to 140. Unfortunately, it's unusable compared to, say, Star Wars: Outlaws or CP2077, where FG/MFG runs incredibly well. Performance My Hardware: GPU: RTX 5080 CPU: Ryzen 5800X RAM: 32 GB DDR4 3200 MHz CL 14-14-14-34 SSD: 2 TB m.2 SSD PCIe 4.0 My Settings: Resolution: 3440 x 1440 First-Person Field of View: 80 Motion Blur: 0 VSync: Off Ray Tracing: On Upscaling: DLSS 3 (Quality) DLSS Image Generation: Off Nvidia Reflex: On Graphics Quality: Custom All on "Epic" Benchmark results of a 4-minute session without changing loading zones on the Twilight Coast outside and inside Paradis: Average frame rate: 66.5 fps Minimum frame rate: 44.9 fps Maximum frame rate: 91.2 fps 1% Low Framerate: 34.4 fps 0.1% Low Framerate: 6.3 fps I consider the performance to be good. The game runs fairly smoothly, except for a few reload stutters in some places, for example, when entering the city of Paradis. I have to say that the Twilight Coast and Paradis are the most challenging areas. The game runs even better in other areas. Conclusion My first playthrough took me 111 hours, according to my last save. I explored every area 100%, vertically and horizontally. As far as possible, I left no blank spots unexplored. I completed every quest that presented itself. I engaged in every dialogue I could. I also listened to every dialogue between NPCs and companions in the camp until I couldn't speak any more. I earned 36 out of 50 achievements on Steam (without loading for specific decisions). I played the game continuously on "Hard" without changing the difficulty. I didn't regret a single hour of the game or find it "torture" or "work." I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute of the game. Aside from "Drova - Forsaken Kin," I can't say that about any other game in the last five years. Almost every game had its slow, boring, and drawn-out hours, or moments where I longed for the end. Either the gameplay became too monotonous and tedious or too repetitive. I didn't feel any of that with "Avowed," not once. And even now, after 110 hours, I'd immediately have the desire and motivation to play it again. Only a few games in the last 20 years have achieved that for me—maybe ten or fifteen. Most games, even the good ones, start to bore me after 60 hours at the latest. In conclusion, I can only give "Avowed" huge praise and a heartfelt recommendation. For me, "Avowed" is one of the best games I've ever played. It absolutely deserves a place in my personal top 20 list. For me, it's an outstanding gaming experience, like few others. The word "adventure" is truly capitalized in "Avowed," because that's exactly what it feels like. For me, "Avowed" compares very well to "Gothic 1 & 2" because it shares many of the same great features that made "Gothic 1 & 2" so great for me. Magnificent level design, a good game world divided into medium-sized hub levels, extremely rewarding exploration, great and distinctive characters, a good progression system, and other great features. Despite the simplicity of some of the game systems, the game perfectly suits my taste. I love it! Thank you, Obsidian, for this incredible and fantastic game! If there's an add-on or DLC, I hope they improve the game a bit on all levels and address some of the criticisms I've raised. In any case, I'm looking forward to every expansion that comes along. Subjective overall rating: 9.5/10

I have been mulling over why Avowed missed a mark for me. 1) Combat - I think Avowed suffers from lack of unique encounters. While combat is satisfying, vast majority of enemies comprise of the same template - be it Xourips, undead or Dreamthralls, they are all essencially the same thing. Than there are couple monster enemies: bears, spiders, Wraths, etc. which are all ok, though they don't exactly shake things up too much. Where Avowed really lacks IMO is lack of proper bosses. Bosses in this game (including the final one), mostly feel like a bit more spongy basic enemies. As such the game really lack spikes in excitement. If you find a dungeon you know there will be no unique enemies to find in there - if you get lucky you will get a bit buffed up generic enemy, and that's about it. Which leads 2) Exploration - like combat exploration is done well. While artificial, finding chests and items usually requires deliberate input from the player - the sound alerts to loots existence, and it is up to the player to analyse surroundings and figure out where it could be hidden. Fun! Rewards, while not too exciting, tend to be also universally helpful. Upgrades are welcome for majority of game's runtime, and ability to scrap/sell spare weapons and armor, means that any old rusty sword is still of some value. Still, I think exploration suffers from the similar issue as combat: lack of surprises. You KNOW more or less what you will find in each chest. You know a quest is likely to reward you with unique item. Generic exploration will grand you upgrade materails, in one form or the other. If you are REALLY lucky, you might run into one of the totem fragments, which while you are unlikely to ever turn on and use, at least will reward you with story tidbit at the end. What this design lacks is an element of surprise. I don't think you need to hide something new and exciting behind every corner, but if every once in a while you allow player to find something surprising they will be more motivated to keep looking for more. And masterful example of that is, of course, the Elden Ring - which while predictable in most cases, occasionally hides a real surprise to treat the players for exploration. While of course it is tough competition, I think Avowed would be better if it had few more cards hidden in it's sleves. Small narrative quests hidden around the map? Perhaps, items that will help you in resolving main story quests in different ways? Unique items to be found by exploration only? Maybe a hidden dungeon or two? Avowed has so little special content, that it feels that game can't efford players to miss it - maps guiding to special items, all dungeons have easily findable quests that lead to it. That unfortunately, in my mind creates a clear distinction between "quality content" and "filler junk" which is not great considering how much more filler there is in Avowed. If core appeal of Avowed is to just walk around collect stuff and kill enemies, I think this core experience would need to be more varied and rewarding. Edit: For a sequel: 3) voiced protagonists - I am a bit fan of silent protagonists, but only if they are highly customisable and definable in-game. Which how it is, Envoy is remains a player Avatar, devoid of connection with the world or personality. Considering how little players can interact with the world and story, I think Avowed would be better of with more defined and compelling protagonist to drive journey. Choices in the game meant little to me as a player, as I barely had an opportunity to interact with the world and characters (beyond slaughtering everything that looked at me, and stealing everything that hasn't been nailed down), but perhaps those choices could mean something to the Envoy.

All the false penguins listed in a neat video:

With the current craze of turning everything into an open world survival crafting game, it may be better if they don't remember some old games.

I can't play Arcanum with magic. For me it's a game where I must wear a powered armor with top hat and a cool pistol / rifle.

Things to know about Arcanum: AoE works through walls. So the Jolt spell (if I remember the name) can clear most dungeons easily by walking along walls and killing the monsters on the other side. Generally magic is stronger than technology. The living one will be reborn on wings of fire. You can skip half the game by exploiting teleportation on the world map. You can't trust gnomes. Good and evil playthroughs are different enough to make a second playthrough worthwhile.

I decided to play Arcanum, its the last CRPG from that era I have never played Im loving it, there is something utterly compelling about these types of isometric games. I have only installed one mod which is UAP Its taken me time to learn the mechanics and skills advancement and whats effective but I'm comfortable with most of whats different about Arcanum Im only 7 hours in but great experience so far, lots of different quests and lore and very little map hand holding which I always prefer because I like to explore

Hey, fellow elder gamer here. It can be tough at first for sure. There are things that help a lot later on. Not sure if you're on PC, but maybe you could rebind your dodge button. Seemed a bit off to me at first, but am now great with it. Maybe you could bind it an extra mouse button. There are bonuses to increase your dodge distancing on rings and think I remember having boots that helped with that in the first area. If you find your losing a battle, no shame in running away till you're stronger. Some other thoughts: As some have mentioned, Arcane Veil is great as long as you level it up. If you have two points into it, but are using a grimoire with that in it, it works as the third point, so you can save points that way. Also, if you skills that are in your grimoire vs. on your hotbar, it will use less essence. I never used it, but if you are really struggling at the start, you could a point into Shadowing Beyond in the Ranger tree. Going invisible to get out of tough situations can be of great help. Also in getting to and reviving a downed team member. Frost skills can be good. You can freeze them and reposition. Blast of frost is good for that. Try to find a place you can be elevated. If you haven't figured it out yet, this game works differently. You need to upgrade your gear to compete with tougher enemies. If you see 1 or 2 skulls above an enemy's head, they have better gear and you will hit less and they will hit harder. 2 skulls will be tough, 3 will kick your but, at least early on. You leving up is only to add new skills. Make gear is leveled up before going into the 2nd area. Weapons and Clothing(except rings, gloves and boots). I think it found it necessary to upgrade a common set of clothes, but really, try to only upgrade unique items. Some can be upgrade thoughout the game and take you all the way through. When you are in came, get used to cooking at the cauldren. You don't keep just popping potions, it's better to have foods you use. Some will give you health and essence, or both and some will temporarily up your stats, like Intellgence, etc. Make lots of Grog. It heals poison, fire, etc. Some items, mostly necklaces will give you power to create a creature to join the fight, for as long as the cooldown is. You could get the Bear in the Ranger tree. If you put two points into it, he will roar pulling agro. It gets easier when you get your second teammate. Not sure if you have that yet, but all I'll say is, they have an ability to stop people coming after you. I don't really level up grimoires. You generally find and upgraded on while looting. I only ever bought one. I stuck with light armor. It's just works better with a Wizard if you can handle it. If you get heavy armor, you need to waste points to mitigate using it. Look for and target anyone enemy doing magic. They will heal everone and make the encounter tougher. Try and synergize your gear as you get farther in the game. I went with a frost mage with the Grimoire of Rime, which is all frost damage, so I only need to add two point to those skills in the skill tree to have the fully leveled. Other than that, most of what I learned was searching Avowed Tips and Tricks on YouTube. Legacy Gaming has some good videos. https://youtu.be/TyILIWFKd9s?si=uPzj6lRSwOME0gs9 and https://youtu.be/zG86yLpF9HY?si=QLc2L1inPLR7Y1gu . Get the lighting wand they talk about as soon as you get the 2nd area. Good luck!

O.k., just a feedback after some experimentation: I respecced my char from a Wizard to a heavily armored Spellblade with good con, might and resolve. I am mainly using Drawn in Winter together with chill blades and arcane veil. It's as different as day and night. This guy can take tons of hits and never has to dodge. If at all, I'm just blocking. Playing on normal is a breeze now and I can already increas the difficulty to "hard" in non-boss fights. Still a bit sad that I cannot play my usual wizard, but at least I can play the game at all now.