Wormerine

I never had any issues with navigating Control. I am pretty sure the game heavily points to you that you should use elevator to access new areas.

True, but so far it is unknown if Avowed will in any way try to continue plot of PoE1&2. Eora has couple other things it's been leaning on - including it's more "modern" setting then your average D&D like, focusing on politics, colonisation - arguably already PoE2 had more interested in those, then souls and Gods stuff. What if we get a watcher companion to give new player glimpse into metaphysical aspect of the universe, to introduce that stuff? Or one of the old companions will return, introducing us to secred discovered by the Watcher - acting as a continuation for series fans, and "What happened in PoE1&2" in game source for newcomers? At this point direction Avowed could be taking are endless. And even if PoE1&2 were laser focused on Gods, souls and reincarnation Avowed could be a way of fleshing out different aspect of the world.

I don’t think we will be a Watcher, and I disagree that Watcher identity has been key to Eora’s appeal. While our role as a Watcher was key to PoE1 narrative, I didn’t feel that way in PoE2 - our identity was surpassed by Herald of Berath identity - and sure, while being a Watcher has been use as a plot device I feel it’s role could have been replaced by any other plot convenient excuse.

I don't know what trailer you are refering to, but I think it is rather amusing that you post that at Obsidian's forum - a company that has a long history of releasing unfinished games.

It diffenitely had a nude mode. When I played Oblivion I found modern underwear to be "unimmersive" so nude mod was one of the things I unstalled. It.... didn't have the effect I was looking for.

Considering it's not even a CGI trailer, I wonder how many years way it is exactly. 10+? Move to Unreal Engine is interesting. RDPR liked developing it's own engine for their own needs. I suppose that Suggests that Witcher4 will be open world - which is hardly a surprise. I imagine W3 fans would be in uproar if CDPR would reduce scope for the followup. A bit side subject but I wonder what will FromSoftware future is. Will they be able to released more focused title in the future, or will everything "less" then Elden Ring be met with disappointment by wide audience?

I am more weary of their business practices, which is true of all AAA publishers. Maybe it’s because WB actually releases games I am interested in. That reminds me, I should play 2nd Shadow of War now when microtransactions were removed and game rebalanced.

Honestly looks good, but: 1) It's WarnerBros's game 2) With how widely popular HP property is/was I imagine HL will aim to appeal to as wide non-gamer demographic as possible, being all spectacle and no substence 3) It's WarnerBros's game

I definitely spent more time modding Skyrim/Oblivion then playing the games.

Finished Guardians. A short pitch is, that if you liked Gunn's two Guardians movies, and have gamepass, I think you will like this one. For what it is, it's well written and has a good understanding of popcorn film writing, with simple lessons to learn, predictable but not uncompelling thematically tied arcs, some great set-ups and payoffs and personal stakes in the story. Overall it's all fine, with some high comedy peaks, and some awkward lows. Gameplay wise it is half Telltale game (mostly dialogues with choices that pretend to have consequences) and half weird jRPG thingy, with some puzzles on the side, that even with hints turned off are hardly puzzles. Honestly, nothing gameplay wise is even remotly good, but never stops the narrative from flowing. It has a bit of Arkham games feel to it (although even with weaker gameplay) - it's not precicely a compelling game on it's own, but adapts very well a characters that you most likely are already attatched to. The choices quite blantandly don't matter, but every once you will pick what game wants you to pick and have satisfying "this happened because you did this!" moment. Of course, I didn't replay to see how much of it it's true, but I have good reasons to believe that it is all smoke and mirrors. Oh there are also instant death QTEs and conversations for a good measure.

I am glad you did. Did you ever tried Phantom Doctrine. I was kinda excited about that game until I learned that it was made by same devs as Hard West. I think I have it somewhere, but mixed review turned me off trying it. Hard West I remember was received rather well, though as I mentioned personally I didn't dig it.

Hard West (not to be confused with upcoming Weird West) is getting a sequel. The original was a more story driven XCOM wanna-be, and it was rather crap. That is led by another studio (good!) but the new studio didn't do many games, and I am unfamiliar with any of them. Oh well.

As a fairly newly converted Trekkie just coming off from an over a year long Trek addiction, I must say that in spite of visual awkwardness and lack of gameplay it does appeal to me.

That was kept in secret I think. It's up to 4 players coop. I wonder how they will resolve team dialogues. I think this is valuable addition, especially with game's focus on community made campaigns.

https://jesawyer.tumblr.com/post/672850479483617280/hey-mr-sawyer-i-was-reading-lore-about-poe-and-i The sword, the narration about oaths, Woedica's emblems would support this line of thinking. I was wondering if we could play as Arcane Knight - Aedyr's elite mage/melee hybryd. That could allow for a more defined protagonist while keeping some flexibilty of player's build. That might not be the case as Windows Central preview stated that Avowed but of course what exactly that means is up to interpretation.

Big Solasta update: New Campaign DLC got a name and release date: Lost Valley, coming on April 14th. It is: Sadly no new levels, but I am curious how more "branching" this new content will be. While I liked how straightforward the original campaign was and wouldn't want to change it, I think it would be better with more choices and reactivity. Either way new content in Solasta is welcome. But that is not all. Multiplayer Coop will be coming to all Solasta owners as a free update on April 14th, and there will be Beta Weekend starting on March 17th for anyone owning Solasta and interested in checking it out. Edit: I had info from email, here is steam announcement, with additional details: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1096530/view/4689941763336775051

I think it is likely that Avowed will be set after the events of PoE2. According to the leaks Avowed will be taking place in Living Lands - it's not inconceivable as it sounds like a good setting for the game, and trailer could very much show Living Lands. Assuming the setting is correct, in the trailer we can see Aedyr's forces, which makes me think that The History of Eora, Volume XII: The Reclamation of the Living Lands book from the Forgotten Sanctum DLC has been teasing Avowed. It reads: That said if Avowed will be focusing on its own story the time period in which it is set would be irrelevant. If, however, Obsidian gave up completely on continuing Watcher's story in the future the aftermath of the event that took place at the end of Deadfire is a perfect opportunity to bring new audience up to speed, without them having to experience PoE1&2. Assuming of course they want to try wider audience with metaphysical aspects of PoEs, and won't try to craft something more... digestable.

Here you go: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/

Those are fundamentally opposed concepts.

Well, no, it is not isometric team based tactical RPG. GTA1&2 and Fallouts were single character games so jump into third/First-person is more natural fit. We really don't know much about Avowed outside the announcement trailer so it is difficult to say. Some claim that it is an attempt to salvage IP by moving to a different RPG subgenre after Deadfire flopped, but I don't buy it - Feargus Urquhart (Obsidian CEO) was talking about "Skyrim-like" project in PoE universe long long before Deadfire underperformed, so I find it likely that it was always intended to happen. By not using "Pillars of Eterntity" IP Avowed clearly sperates itself from it's isometric cousins. As such the game can tie as much or as little to PoEs games as it wants. I think the message it is sending is rather clear - it is its own thing, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some bones thrown to the fans of PoE series. While some might claim that Avowed is not using PoE IP to not humper it sales, I am not sure if I buy it. While clearly not that many people care deeply for PoE IP, I don't think it is widely hated either. Companies always pick existing IPs over new ones, so it seems to me like an artistic statement more then anything. According to Windows Central preview the game seems to be using more elements from PoE series then I expected. Hopefully, we are not too far from a gameplay reveal at this point. At any rate at this moment for us, fans of PoE1&2, Avowed is the only new installement in that universe that we can look forward to.

That's not a review, it's an advertisement posted on publisher's channel.

I always despised games with M&K that relied on autolock. It just never sit well with me. Any game where striking direction is different then camera direction is a gamepad game for me. But yeah, I am sure M&K control could be better then it is. FromSoft is a Japanese developer and idea of playing on PC seems to be foreign to them. They are incapable of creating a very good PC port, so I wouldn't hold my breath for a polished mouse control. I will join a choir of others encouraging you to get a pad. I didn't own pad until few years ago, and I discovered a new love for certain types of games. There really are title which simply play better with pad, even if they are perfectly playable with M&K.

Yup. That's a big no-no for all FromSoftware games.