Wormerine

I somewhat agree. Maybe. The problem with calling things "bad" and not explaining why something is "bad" is that it doesn't say much beyond you not liking it. It is not a traditional Obsidian game. It is also very, very light on RPG systems. That doesn't make a game "bad" though - just not something that one is used to getting from Obsidian (and let's be honest, between Outer Worlds, Grounded, Pentiment and now Avowed, I think what is an "Obsidian" game becomes more and more fluid). There is a reason why they kept pushing combat and exploration in all the marketing materials - those are indeed best parts of the game and game's main focus. Loot so far has been limited, but it's been ok, if not exactly inspiring. Map and level design, though, is pretty impressive though. I really like what Obsidian has done here. I especially like the balance they have between quest markers, and organic exploration. Edit. That said, I definitely wouldn't pick it up at the full price. On sale or GamePass it is a fun time.

I doubt it's anything beyond cutting features to save time and money. If I recall correctly even PoE didn't originally allow for editing character potraits and VO post character creator. So it's not that Obsidian blocks you from editing your character post character creator, but that they didn't implement editing your character post the character creator. It is not uncommon for games to launch without such feature, and add one during post launch support.

Well, it is more of an action game and RPG, so skills set from traditional cRPGs won't help you here. I am playing dodging wizard/ranger on hard, and I can't say the game has been hard (I have plenty of experience in action games though). Sometimes dodge doesn't fire off (character jumped before, and now isn't quite grounded well enough) - but in general I found it easy to use. I invested on perk in Ranger tree for dodge to consume less stamina. Some enemies have massive tracking, so it is not only about dodging out of the way, but also dodging at the right time, otherwise they will still hit you with the attack. The only general advice I would have when playing as a squishy character is to prioritize enemies. Healers and ranged enemies first, before tanky melee. I have been switching so far between light and medium armor - though I have enough essence that I don't find essence penalty to be noticable. Corrosive Syphon is great and regaining health - also gather food and cook recipies at camp - with so much healing I barely touched my reserve of healing and essence potions - I think I have over 30 of each by now.

I was going for something opposite (spellcaster with a gun), but skills points are far and few between (SkillUp might have not been kidding). I find myself relying more and more on spellcasting, as couple grimories offer just too much of a variety. The only spells I memories so far are Corrosive Siphon and Parasitic Staff for Health and Essence regen. Man, smacking people with a magic stuff is fun in this game.

That's a lot of downloading for a demo.

Obsidian's UI has been overall solid for a while now, no? Both PoEs were excellent and I can't recall having issues with Outer Worlds either. I can't think of anything specific Avowed does UI does, that other games don't, but I think it benefits from restrain when it comes to loot. Influx of stuff isn't as extreme as in Bethesda game, and itemisation is straightforward so it doesn't take much effort to figure out what you get and what you want to do with it - qualty system is just easier to judge at a glance, than pick up a weapon and compare minor difference in damage done. I wouldn't say Avowed has crafting - you have food recipies and occasional granades recipies. One one hand I like how items for recipies are interchangable (like any mean/veggie etc. will do) though it makes transfering collected items into more powerful versions a bit tedius - yes you can create 7 Mariner's Porridge but because all those recipies will use different items you will have to confirm and cook each one seperately.

Ha, no shame in that. Personally, I abused the hell out of Ancestor's Memory/Salvation of Time combo to get through DLCs harder content. I generally really enjoy the challenge presented in them, but it is a bit too much when rushing a playthrough for Avowed. Yeah, I still thing PoE1 and PoE2 DLCs are a glimpse at what Pillars game could be. White March is still my favourite bit of PoE content (though it's been a while since I played through it).

As long as you prevent her from casting Llengrath's Safeguard too often it's not too bad. In SSS the story requires doing relatively few combat encounters - most of them are optional. Backstory of SSS is quite interesting, I thought.

I have been mulling over that for a while - if PoE3 were to happen, would it be a Watcher game? Really none of the PoEs were about the Watcher, and while his unique skills were used as a crutch as to why we are a chosen one (more so in the sequel), narratively he is irrelevant to the games main narrative. the main story best I would want to be followed through on is dealing with the consequences of Eothas’ actions in the finale of the Deadfire - and that could take place generations after the events of those games. You could be “reborn” watcher or something like that - though without the wheel it should be possible anymore, though I am sure one can write around it.

Not too big. I think a bit over 10GB

That's all good. My favourite part of Mafia were the calm bits. Driving in town from and to jobs, having a train ride with Paulie and scauting bank before robbery. Combined with Untouchables it's been a bit thing in my teenage age. Also public service announcement: SOLASTA2 DEMO IS OUT. Download on steam and play! Edit. Solasta2 - hmm... much, much prettier, not sure about everything else. It feels like a lot of small things that made Solasta interesting and unique to me have been shaved off. My worry that vertical design has been greatly simplified seems correct, and there are some major options missing. I hope that it is pre-alpha problem, and not Solasta2 problem. While far prettier, it also feels more generic than the original.

Is it first person though, or just quality of presentation. Do people like first person over top down, or do they like game with nice modern graphics, and detailed models that talk at you. I think it is also important to acknowledge that marketing for Outer Worlds was very well done. I thought 2k did a great job presenting they game they sell. and priming the audience for it. I can't say the same about PoE1&2, Tyranny and Avowed. I am curious to see how Avowed will do comparably to Outer Worlds.

OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That's all one had to say to sell me on KCD, and you are first to do so. I think that is the last push that I needed to launch the game (after Avowed that is).

Yup, once I got to explore Paradis I started to enjoy the game much much more. It's is clicking with me. Also a lot more rooftops to climb. And I can cast fireballs now. And have a flaming dagger. And a pistol. Am I serving Woedica or Magran?

yeah it does. But PoEs were always more concerned about metaphysical/sociopolitical side of the story, than characters. It’s too early for me to see what Avowed is planning, but so far it seems more straightforward. Still, I actually thought Deadfire did well in creating scenarios that would engage you with local issues, rather than sitting down and talking at you. While it’s too early to me to see where Avowed is going, I don’t think I could tell apart Paradis locals from Aedyrians from Rautaians. So far factions feel far less defined and distinct. and even if they were equivalent in writing (I don’t think they are) the cinematic nature of Avowed does bring writing and delivery requirements, that top down PoEs didn’t have. Yes, but I would rather have NPC be hostile toward me, rather than using friendly, water cooler conversation while complaining about Aedyr (me), and how they are terribly afraid of Steel Garotte (uhm, thanks for telling me?). So far one NPC really raise my eyebrows - the Aedyr soldier lady near palisade to the first story quest. I felt as a character she really didn’t gel with the story she was saying and faction she is meant to represent - unless there is something I am missing. Anyway, those are my very first impressions anyway. Things are likely to change.

So Avowed. First impressions are mixed. Gameplay is indeed pretty good, and I like exploration so far. Writing has me increasingly worried. Conversation trees seem to be well below Obsidian's standard - there is a rather blatant "NPC has same response recorded for all of the choices offered to you", and character's just don't feel right so far. They speak casually, which is at odds with Avowed still being just of a lore whore as PoEs were. I also find NPCs to speak more to the player than a character. Multiple NPCs keep talking to the Envoy of Aedyr things they probably should keep to themselves. In first instance I thought it might be characterisation, but it keeps happening, so it seems like it's more of an exposition dump for the player, rather than a believable in-world interaction. Edit. So pwetty though

It's not the game we deserve, it's the game we need.

Also what is fashionable and what isn't is in constant flux - that's why chasing trends with a multiyear production cycle is dangerous in itself. I remember when it was difficult to come by a game that offered any challenge to the player. Console manufacturers were aiming at "casual audience" (aka. newcomers) and titles were designed to not dare to challenge your progress. Than stuff like Demon/Dark Souls and Super Meat Boy came out, and it turns out there was a sizable audience hungry for such titles, and the taste for it spread. I remember about 10 years ago, when IO was saying how tricky audience testing was for Hitman2016 - as players were so used to be lead by the hand, that most didn't know how to engage with systemic sandbox. I think a recent success of Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate3 and now KC:D2 show that general audience is more open to a more player driven experiences. Now of course, those are three rather good games, so it is no easy way to success. But I think those three studios prove a value of specialized, slowly developing studios. Very much different mindset than AAA's pick the marketable thing to do, buy/make/hire a studio with no experience to make it, and fire everyone when it underperforms.

To be fair, by most AAA publishers standards, 2 million would likely be considered a disappointment. Good on your Czech mates and I hope they will continue delivering bangers. Looking forward to adding my copy to the 2 million once it releases on GOG.

I agree about the Islands - I would much prefer fewer, but chunkier locations. DLCs are a great example of how much more effective content can be if it's more substantial. I suspect it is a result of amount of story they packed into Deadfire - less locations means less side plots - and between three factions, Eothas path, and side content there is a lot of ground too cover. No, I don't think there was any change to the ship - however, depending on what flag you fly, ships will treat you differently. If you use default Watcher flag, you will be left along by most ships but pirates, unless you piss a faction off. If you switch the flag for pirate one, though, for Fort Deadlight quest and leave it like that, more ships will see you as the enemy.

According to Mort, though, the hud is very scalable and customisable - how far one can remove it without impacting actual gamey, though, we will see.

At the moment I don't think much as I am yet to play either. I just have seen a lot of K:CD2 being mentioned under various Avowed videos. Any impression I have at the moment is 3rd party accounts. Will be diving into Avowed next week, and will probably finally start KC:D1 sometime after that.

I don't think I have seen an overwhelmingly positive review for Avowed. From what I have seen people invested in Eora, found a lot to enjoy in Avowed, while people not invested in the universe mostly found it underwhelming. So it seemed Avowed might have missed the marked in trying to bring in new audience, while the existing audience would likely prefer PoE3 to begin with. Eitherway, it seems that Obsidian is continuing playing it safe - which is disappointing. I was hoping that lesser player agency came with some unique upsides, and so far it doesn't seem to be the case. While Outer Worlds benefited from Bethesda creating a lot of goodwill for it with Fallout76, it seems K:CD2 created the opposite for Avowed. Which is a shame, A detailed, hardcore medieval adventure is kinda what first person PoE adaptation should be IMO. Fantastical powerfantasy, I think runs against the IP's nature. Alas Obsidian continues to pursue mainstream appeal with Outer Worlds and it seems, Avowed, producing simpler friction-free experiences. Still, looking forward to it. Based on what I have heard I should enjoy the game well enough.

Huh. Well done Obsidian.