UrbaNebula

Yeah, I agree that there is a lot more to this game and a lot more aspects than what we were shown in the reveal trailer. Hopefully we will see a more in depth gameplay presentation this year, prior to release. I have more faith in Obsidian than I do a lot of other studios out there right now, but after putting The Outer Worlds down after the second play through (which I forced on myself in order to experience the DLC) I'm a little wary.

As we roll into 2024, full of festive chocolate and stodgy fruit pudding, I find myself wondering more and more about Avowed. We've heard barely a peep about the game and its development since the Xbox showcase back in June 2023. The game's release date is currently listed as the ever so vague "2024" and I would assume, so long as the project is still on track, we will be looking at a Q4 release. That puts us somewhere between nine and twelve months from getting our hands on it, likely with a more detailed look at the gameplay around the midpoint of the year. So, how are we feeling? I've noticed the forums here are fairly quiet and I can only assume that is down to the lack of any real, solid information about the game. After spending most of 2023 stating that I was "cautiously optimistic" about Starfield, I was VERY badly burned when September came around. Thankfully, Baldur's Gate 3 delivered the goods in my opinion. A reactive RPG and well presented world that only occasionally came apart at the seams, mainly in Act 3. However, I am still itching for a solid first person RPG with some real depth to it. Could that be Avowed? I'm certainly hoping so.

Coming back to this thread two months after Starfield's release, I have to say: Yes, I certainly DO hope this game is the opposite of Starfield AKA not utter ****. Give me the smaller playable spaces of TOW1 but with more reactivity and a proper sense of a living world.

Whilst I'm sure there are lore implications that explain why we can only be a human or elf, I can only assume that the main factor is a case of the other races being a little more challenging for a first person title. Aumaua and Orlans vary greatly in height compared to Humans and Elves and would require a bunch of animation variants if we see any first person interactions with the world space at any point. Level design in a first person game you are constantly mindful of scale, making sure that the dimensions of environments and assets make sense. I can only imagine the nightmare that would be trying to get this right while also factoring in different camera heights. Shorter players would be able to fit into smaller gaps. Larger players could surmount obstacles that other races shouldn't. You'd be tripling the QA team's work.

Well yeah, I've played it a number of times with one or two other players and we DID have a blast. Just don't ask me (or them) to recount any story beats or name any characters. We skimmed the dialogue and basically fast tracked to the fights or just murdered everyone we encountered.

Honestly I'm not unhappy with what I heard in the interview. However, what I do NOT want is The Outer Worlds with swords and magic. I hope that the playable spaces at least offer the occasional random encounter or have some interesting places to explore off the beaten path. I'd like the world to feel more dynamic, with NPC schedules and some intermingling/infighting amongst the enemies. Not the bizarre sub-MMO style we had with TOW.

The online multiplayer developer could have been a new position on the Grounded team to be fair, since they also had a position for first and third person combat animator, which could also be Grounded. Also, I note the co-op RPGs you mentioned are mainly top down, tabletop style games. I don't deny that those are suited to co-op play, but it seems obvious given their D&D roots. A more action oriented, story driven, first person RPG would not benefit from co-op in my eyes. Even though I've enjoyed myself, I've never been invested in the story of any co-op game since my mates are always there to pull me out of the experience by generally dicking around.

Something definitely looks off in the trailer. The opening shots look fine, but something about the areas with the mushrooms and the purple sky. I suspect that there's something going on with the mushrooms and plants all acting as a light source, but it makes everything look completely flat. Those still images from the xbox site look MUCH better, but every single shot looks to be at twilight. I wouldn't say that it looks "cartoony" as some people say, but it does look oversaturated and lacking depth. I will remain optimistic about the game itself and I hope to see the aesthetic getting some more attention before we see more.

Vapourware until proven software.

Allegedly being the key word, yeah. Apparently everything shown last year was scheduled for release within the next twelve months, but Starfield at least has slipped back to September. Really hoping it does come soon though. There's not a lot on my radar right now, but Silksong definitely is. As for Avowed, if there is still no news at this years Meh-3, then I'm pushing it back to 2025 in my mind and finding something else to be excited about for a bit. I don't expect Starfield to have any real degree of depth as it widens its play space to ridiculous levels, but it might at least tide me over for a few months with it's various systems if it actually lands in September... Baldur's Gate 3 lands around the end of August too, and that's my online co-op game covered for a nice long while.

To be fair to Larian, you don't HAVE to play their games in Co-op. Although I actually had a Hell of a good time with my friends in Divinity, but it's a very different gameplay loop to a first person action RPG.

OK, I dunno why my text isn't appearing in my post:

Currently playing a number of things on different days: Disco Elysium Pillars of Eternity 2 Skyrim (Seriously though, fighting dragons in this game after Elden Ring...? Yeesh) Civilization VI with friends Phantom Fury technically, but that's very much for work more than play

Yeah, I dunno what I was thinking... Of course it's a completely different engine.

Yeah, OK. In that respect, I agree that a pre-rendered trailer inspires a lot more confidence than say: "Hey! We're working on a AAA RPG... More news soon!" and then two years of radio silence.

This is the problem I have with pre-rendered announcement trailers. They announced the game with no gameplay and no real indication of what the game is besides "First person RPG set in the world of Eora." Until they had a vertical slice and knew exactly what they were building, they should have kept everything under wraps. Moving team members around and rebooting the project after the announcement suggests that things weren't working out. Had the game not been announced it may have been cancelled outright. Having announced the game, it may be that they feel obligated to produce something to avoid canning it publicly. We pushed back an announcement AND reveal trailer an entire year because things weren't quite ready to be shown off. In those 12 months we scrapped/introduced a lot of new features that were/were not shown in the initial trailer plans respectively.

I understand that this is a shot from VERY early in the development. Honestly that makes sense to me. It kinda looks like the ground level loading screen shots you would see in Pillars 1. Probably using assets they already have to blockout the world map. I have to wonder if they will have an open world like an Elder Scrolls game or if they will stick with the smaller hub based areas as they had in Outer Worlds and the Pillars games.

I suspect you can pitch your ideas anywhere you please. They're not going to make it.

Assuming being a watcher is going to be as simple as having the ability to see and interact with the souls of the deceased, it could even be an ability that you can acquire, most likely through a side quest. It wouldn't be too different to say Pet Pal in Divinity in terms of the A) The missable content and B) Alternate means of solving quests. Imagine a murder mystery side quest where a regular player character would need to interview witnesses and gather evidence. A watcher character can just speak to the victim and confront the guilty party. I don't think the player character NEEDS to be a watcher, but it would be cool if we were given the option in one way or another.

Likewise with me. It was the first time any of us tried a Larian game. My friend and I played it through in coop, then immediately restarted with another friend and we're about to wrap that up. We're considering starting another. In addition, my friend and I are playing through a solo campaign too. Needless to say, we are ridiculously hyped for BG3, but we're holding out for the full release

Roll on June 2022... probably, maybe

So, based on the extremely limited information we have regarding Avowed, one thing we know for certain is that it will be played in first person. No information on whether third person will be an option. Personally I hope it will be, but it's not a deal breaker for me like it is for others (Those who suffer from motion sickness, etc) One thing I'm most curious about is whether or not we will still get the option to play as the same races as in Pillars 1 and 2. This obviously includes races of varying stature, with the Aumaua, Dwarves and Orlans. From a first person perspective alone this will have a number of things to consider. The height of the camera above ground level, the movement restrictions and combat in general. It also has to take into account the racial and political agendas throughout Eora. Personally, I'm not a big fan of games with conflicting information. Skyrim for instance, makes a point to mention that the Khajiit race are not trusted in Skyrim and are not allowed inside the cities throughout the region. However, if the player is a Khajiit, nobody bats an eyelid. If you're going to push the narrative that certain races don't belong, at least enforce that on the player as well, right? Obsidian has a reputation for considerable player freedom, but I have to wonder if making Avowed specifically a first person RPG will restrict this sort of thing. Perhaps we can only play as a human. Maybe we even play a predetermined character this time around, and the player freedom comes in the form of that character's history and how their choices change them going forward. I'm curious. What are your expectations in terms of the player character or the playable races in Avowed.

Currently I'm wrapping up a Divinity Original Sin 2 coop campaign with a couple of friends. I've also just started Pillars of Eternity 2 and I'm loving it. Playing a lot of Civ6 with my friends these days as well. I'm also regularly playing two games that are currently in development and I can't talk about... as well as my own Half-Life mod and any others that release and take my fancy. Phew

I've only worked on FPS games, but I the main story is one of the first things to be completed, on paper at least. My understanding based on previous Obsidian interviews is that after the vertical slice is completed, a horizontal slice is worked on. The story would need to be basically complete before the main questline (or one of the potential paths through it) could be properly blocked out.