Wormerine

FromSoft comes to mind that did actionRPG combat far far better. Also Arcane be with with Messiah of Dark and Magic, or Dishonored/Prey (I wouldn't call none of those games RPGs, but neither would I Avowed. The issue I have with "combat is better than Skyrim" is that Skyrim (and other RPGs) offer much much more beyond combat. You don't play those games FOR combat, while you have to play Avowed combat. So to me the question isn't "is Avowed combat better than those games that offer a wider range of experiences", but "is Avowed combat good enough to carry what seems like a very long game". And I think it is just ok. If you want a game to be carried by a single gameplay loop it can't be just good - it has to be exceptional. Avowed combat would be amazing if it was a smaller part of a more rounded game. As a main feature though? It's ok. The games need variety or depth to remain compelling. You either create a simple system and a lot of variety (FromSoft games) or you create a very deep system that can be interacted with and mastered to a high degree (fighting games, DMC, Dooms etc.). Avowed is none of those, and that's fine. But that also limits how engaging the system is in the long run. Progression system is just not very compelling. You gather materials and upgrade your weapons by exploring and killing Xourips, to be able to explore area and kill Xourips of a higher level. As far as I am concerned the progression might as well not be there - except that in this case Avowed would need to have more of actually compelling things to find, rather than scattering chests in random locations around the map and calling it a day. I am sounding very negative right now, and I don't mean to. Avowed is fine. It's a gamepass game. Pay couple quid, download it, play it every couple few days when I don't have brain power to play something more demanding. It's a time killer rather than an experience. edit. When I say “fine” I mean American fine. I am happy with it. Not British “it’s fine” which is quite often has derogatory connotations.

Yes, Third Person is the "accessibility mode" here. The game was designed with First Person in mind, and third person is made to match First Person Movement - as such it is more clunky, and game wasn't designed with it in mind. I wish there was a seperate button for dodge (and perhaps that we could dodge if we are close to the ground). As it is I find dodging a bit clunky, and it doesn't always fire - though often due to me not letting "forward" go in time. I don't have issue with jumping - ledge climbing is perhaps a bit too generous and feels goofy at times, but otherwise I think the game feels great to control. That said I don't find it "immersive" to begin with. It's very arcady experience, so to me jump doesn't stick out as unusual.

On RTX3070 it run fine enough for me to not investigate things further. It is a demo, so I am also not worried about optimisation at this point. If it used upscaling, I wouldn't mind anyway. I always turn it on anyway. I didn't finish the demo - couldn't figure out where to fine an NPC necessary to progress the story, and went back to playing Avowed. It... Well, from what I tried it plays how I remember Gothic playing. I certainly like it more than the pitch demo a while back, but I also wouldn't be opposed if they took some hinds from more modern action RPGs, like Dark Souls - afterall it's meant to be a remake not a remaster. As it is I am not sure how appealing Gothic Remake will be to new audiences. But hey, we will see once the game comes out.

Yeah, but I mean... none of those are not true. Avowed is fine. If you walk into it expecting the "Obsidian RPG" you will be disappointed. The world is static and uninteractive. Writing is... well, I wouldn't call it bad, but it is uneven and I don't think it's game's strength. The tricky thing is that while Avowed combat is surprisingly satisfying it is good compared to... what? Highly systemic Bethesda RPG? Previous more story rich Obsidian games? Sure, Avowed combat system is far more robust than Outer Worlds - but would I necessarily recommend Avowed over Outer Worlds as a package? If you argue that Avowed is actually just open world action adventure, focusing on combat and exploration - from that standpoint I also think the game isn't delivering on all cylinders . I am not very deep into 2nd area and combat already looses its luster - loot isn't interesting nor transformative, enemy variety starts running a bit thin. So yeah Avowed is fine. It is exceeding my expectations in some areas, but misses in others. It is enjoyable enough romp through Eora, but as PoE fan, I also bring investment with me, which others players might not have. At this moment I am not sure if I will ever want to return to it - the game feels to be spread a bit thin. Still, there is stuff one can appreciate and praise, which most reviews I looked at did.

I don't know, didn't try - even if it does might be tricky to use. Breaks grated just fine though. Edit. @Hurlshort I tried it and it works great actually. You can just walk on water while swinging the axe in front of you.

Yeah, unfortunately, I think you need to wait till weapon is reloaded before switching. No DOOM reload skipping. For a while I used spear and pistol - I though it complemented each other well, keeping enemy at poking and shooting distance. Switched spear for frost axe just to have more elements, though I am not in love with the axe - will look to switch it for something else later. I kinda wish we could doublewield Grimoires.

He left Obsidian for the competition, unfortunately. His work on PoEs and Outer Worlds was fantastic. I doubt Justin has any rights to music he has written for Obsidian, so his themes should be reusable if a game calls for it. It is not Pillars of Eternity game, so I am not sure Avowed should borrow from those series to begin with.

Uuuuuuu! Downloading it now. Hopefully it's better than the horrible thing they did a while back. Gothic Remake makes sense to me - it is a very unique game that had a lot of ideas which stood test of time, but is also dated to the point that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Live with movies not all Remakes are bad, though they can be cashgrabs.

Almost 20h in, finishing first area and I just realized that. And as I saw some reviewers complaining about lack of upgrade materials, I suspect they didn't figure that out either. Dang, I probably could have upgraded all my Grimoires to Fine quality if I knew that. Did you know that? Was there an obvious tutorial message, that I in my arrogance skimmed through?

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