AVOWED - Obsidian's Skyrim clone set in the Pillars of Eternity setting

[Undecaf]

11 hours ago, WDeranged said:

Skyrim in Aedyr would be my dream game.

 

Only if they managed to pull off broader systems for characterprogression and interactivity. Better narrative design is almost a given.

[TheisEjsing]

So this sub forum is already going strong. Great to see. Super excited about Avowed. Guess it's time to become an active community member again. Nice to be back ya'll.

[Madscientist]

3 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Nothing much else in known, and is agree that the game could be many things. The “skyrim” comparison comes from Fergus who wanted to make game like that for a while now. We just assume it is that project, but what “skyrim-like” means is still to be revealed. 

OK, 4 years ago ( shortly after announcing PoE2) he said he wants a sci fi game and something like skyrim. Now we have the outer world, so maybe you are right.

He also said “I can make more profit from two Pillars of Eternitys than I can from one [Knights of the Old Republic 3].” OK we have no Kotor 3, but especially PoE2 sold not as good as he hoped. But I can understand his point that using an own IP is better than paying someone else tons of money just to use the name. On the other hand, Larian makes BG3 and the stuff I have seen so far looks great.

[araj123]

Man this is a dream coming true not gonna lie. A skyrim like rpg from Obsidian? In the PoE Universe? Here please take my money!

I am more hyped for this than i am for cyberpunk and that is saying something given that ive only seen a few minute trailer.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Huh, honestly surprised at this. Hopefully it turns out well and is fun. 

Of course I'd still like to see a PoE trilogy (isometric and turn-based/rtwp) that takes place in three different eras (industrial revolution, modern, and spacefaring future) and is only linked with the implication the protagonist is the reincarnation of The Watcher so there isn't any import funny business. One can hope.

[GinaC]

On 7/23/2020 at 3:07 PM, Dodo00d said:

We need romances, Outer World had none and the ones in POE 2 were bad.

Very important do not remove the race option and the firarms!

Or at least a way for modders to create romances.

[the_dog_days]

On 7/23/2020 at 2:07 PM, Dodo00d said:

We need romances, Outer World had none and the ones in POE 2 were bad.

[TheisEjsing]

[Restoni]

7 hours ago, KaineParker said:

Huh, honestly surprised at this. Hopefully it turns out well and is fun. 

Of course I'd still like to see a PoE trilogy (isometric and turn-based/rtwp) that takes place in three different eras (industrial revolution, modern, and spacefaring future) and is only linked with the implication the protagonist is the reincarnation of The Watcher so there isn't any import funny business. One can hope.

Would be so cool to expand Eora-lore to "moderntimes" and/or "scifi". It would ne cool to any setting. If done well, of course. But i dont like idea stretching the Watcher any more, they should have created new protagonist to Deadfire too. 

 

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

The next Obsidian RPG will be a romance-centric game where you navigate the intricacies of the Minneapolis music scene after the death of Prince.  Purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.

48 minutes ago, Restoni said:

Would be so cool to expand Eora-lore to "moderntimes" and/or "scifi". It would ne cool to any setting. If done well, of course. But i dont like idea stretching the Watcher any more, they should have created new protagonist to Deadfire too. 

 

 

Yeah, I meant that the protagonist is at most implied to have the same soul as the Watcher. It should be a new character everytime imo, it was weird to go from a badass who killed dragons and an archmage to a wimp in deadfire.

[Wormerine]

26 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

Yeah, I meant that the protagonist is at most implied to have the same soul as the Watcher. It should be a new character everytime imo, it was weird to go from a badass who killed dragons and an archmage to a wimp in deadfire.

I think one would need very Planescape-like meta narrative to make it work, or a Bioshock-style late game twist. Why would all the things happen to one soul only? I also feel it would be good for Eora as the setting to move away from awakened souls, adra, gods and watchers for a while. There must be more to life in Eora then metaphysics.

[Taevyr]

16 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

I think one would need very Planescape-like meta narrative to make it work, or a Bioshock-style late game twist. Why would all the things happen to one soul only? I also feel it would be good for Eora as the setting to move away from awakened souls, adra, gods and watchers for a while. There must be more to life in Eora then metaphysics.

But...but some of us like metaphysics. And there are dozens of us. Dozens!

On a more serious note: Deadfire's plot could've used a bit less metaphysics, or at the very least clearer metaphysics. A look at the amount of threads trying to figure out what exactly happened in the end, dissatisfaction over the main story, and the writers having to add an explanation to the finished game in the form of Woedica's book, all point at that. I had a lot of fun thinking about the impact on Eora's metaphysics in Poko Kohara, the Wheel, and everything else, but even I have to agree that it was a bit much, and could at the very least have been handled a bit better.

For the trilogy though, I at least want to see them finish the story they started. It'd be a shame not to at least tie off the existing meta(physics)plot, but perhaps tie it in with the general world/factions a bit more; Deadfire often felt like the main quest just hung in the background, leaving the factions to do their unconnected thing as the meat of the game. But Deadfire, to me at least, is a clear "mid-story" game, mostly setting up for the last part; it'd be a shame not to do something with that, and the characters who've been part of it from the start.

 

58 minutes ago, KaineParker said:

Yeah, I meant that the protagonist is at most implied to have the same soul as the Watcher. It should be a new character everytime imo, it was weird to go from a badass who killed dragons and an archmage to a wimp in deadfire.

I always felt Deadfire handled it pretty well with the "lose your soul" thing, considering it lines up perfectly with the metaphysical "all power comes from developing your soul" idea, though they could have made "reclaiming" it a bit more meaningful.

That aside, is it really that hard to start again with a 1st level character, especially when a reason is given? I've had plenty of tabletop characters whose backstories implicated that they ought to be less or more capable than their mechanical level, and it's not like the levels of companions tend to differ depending on their life experience in most RPG's. Not to mention that mechanically, it'd be boring as hell to play through a game that doesn't have you properly growing in power.

[the_dog_days]

1 hour ago, Taevyr said:

But...but some of us like metaphysics.

Here here!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

52 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

I think one would need very Planescape-like meta narrative to make it work, or a Bioshock-style late game twist. Why would all the things happen to one soul only? I also feel it would be good for Eora as the setting to move away from awakened souls, adra, gods and watchers for a while. There must be more to life in Eora then metaphysics.

Truthfully I don't really care, at most it would be an easter egg like remembering how you were an inquisitor in a past life. I just want my magical western with magical train robberies and magical gunfights.

17 minutes ago, Taevyr said:

I always felt Deadfire handled it pretty well with the "lose your soul" thing, considering it lines up perfectly with the metaphysical "all power comes from developing your soul" idea, though they could have made "reclaiming" it a bit more meaningful.

That aside, is it really that hard to start again with a 1st level character, especially when a reason is given? I've had plenty of tabletop characters whose backstories implicated that they ought to be less or more capable than their mechanical level, and it's not like the levels of companions tend to differ depending on their life experience in most RPG's. Not to mention that mechanically, it'd be boring as hell to play through a game that doesn't have you properly growing in power.

The lack of scale for reclaiming your soul is a big reason why it failed in Deadfire, for a setting where souls are treated as extremely important the main character does relatively well without theirs. 

Yes it is hard. The abstraction of levels aside, it was weird to have gone from the events of PoE back to doing low tier adventuring stuff in Deadfire, especially considering the overarching thing where a giant statue is walking around with your soul in it. I think Deadfire would have worked better with a new protagonist for this reason alone.

[Wormerine]

10 hours ago, Taevyr said:

But...but some of us like metaphysics. And there are dozens of us. Dozens!

So do I, but we are in danger of running into StarWars problem. If EVERYTHING revolves around Skywalker and Palpatine the potentially big and rich universe becomes very, very small. I want my PoE3 with all the soul'y and sociopolitical glory - Yehuza and their singular god is what I am more curious about after PoE2 - but I think it would be for the best for the IP as the whole if Avowed was something different. Let's see Eora from a point of view of a bloke, who doesn't get to chat with Gods on regular basis. 

10 hours ago, Taevyr said:

On a more serious note: Deadfire's plot could've used a bit less metaphysics, or at the very least clearer metaphysics. A look at the amount of threads trying to figure out what exactly happened in the end, dissatisfaction over the main story, and the writers having to add an explanation to the finished game in the form of Woedica's book, all point at that.

In PoE1 lore and metaphysics were in service of the story, while in PoE2 I felt the story was in service of lore and metaphysics. Shame as there are some real gold nuggets in there.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Wormerine

[Infinitron]

Unconfirmed infodump at ResetEra: https://www.resetera.com/threads/xbox-game-studios-otx-you-had-me-at-halo.246538/page-252#post-40806123

Quote

 

As I previously mentioned before the announcement, Obsidian is working on Pillars (I assumed this regarding the info) game as back then I did get confirmation that game contains “spore-like” creatures with few other vague descriptions of The Living Lands.

So, I did get new informations about Avowed:

- fully open world, much much larger than Skyrim (very differently “larger”, more proper word would be “denser” and “more contrasted” at the same time)
- primarily set in the The Living Lands region of Eora (not sure if it’ll go like that as explicit later on, but that was starting point)
- big focus on world-reactivity, lighting and next-gen AI systems and physics (special focus on physics with magic systems - have no clue what would that mean)
- realtime whether system (don’t have full details but fog is very important as realtime element, rivers will have specific micro physics systems regarding this)
- very advanced character creation tool (didn’t get more info)
- mod support (for now PC is/will be very dominant as creation tool, but I’ll be playable fully on Xbox)
- very large number of fractions but very different approach than with Skyrim
- you’ll be able to have companions (different than Outer Worlds)
- storyset: fight against incoming threat of tyranny (independent from previous stories)
- game has bosses planned and some of them are very very large
- Gods will have special say in the game
- great focus on iconic landmarks, statues and buildings
- two large cities planned with many smaller ones with strong focus on contrasting wild-areas, rivers, mountains and desolated areas (yes, you’ll be able to swim)
- fully respecting POE creatures lore with new additions
- dynamic presentation of dialogue
- for now idea is to keep “you can kill everyone in the game” option
- around 100 people are on the project for 2y (smaller number for 7m of preproduction), in total 2y 7m
- full production is already a thing
- team will still grow
- target date: late 2022/early 2023

Keep in mind that some parts of this can change during the development process.

 

 

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, Infinitron said:

- target date: late 2022/early 2023

I had a feeling

[Infinitron]

TBH, what flusters me the most is the game being set in the Living Lands rather than in Aedyr like everybody assumed.

In retrospect maybe Aedyr never made sense, though. It would be unwise for Obsidian to set their first game of this size and scope in the heavily populated imperial homeland, rather than in another frontier zone like the Dyrwood and Deadfire Archipelago.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Infinitron

[kirottu]

I don't know. I just don't trust ResetEra posts.

[ForgeMaster Darvis]

Finally!!!!!! Obs have made a fat mans dreams come true!!!!! An rpg were i can play a dwarf!!!!!!!! And is open world!!!! So stoked!!!!!!!!

[kanisatha]

1 hour ago, Achilles said:

I had a feeling

Yeah, 2023?! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

I don't think I can survive until then. Why do they test me so?

[ForgeMaster Darvis]

I just hope the world wont end till at least 2025 so i can play all these wonderful games

[Infinitron]

Avowed is Project Alabama: https://www.resetera.com/threads/xbox-game-studios-otx-you-had-me-at-halo.246538/page-253#post-40814349

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, kanisatha said:

Yeah, 2023?! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!

I don't think I can survive until then. Why do they test me so?

Skyrim took between 4-6 years to develop depending on whose number you look at. Development on Avowed probably started in early-mid 2019. 4 years of development would put us early-mid 2023 (assuming that Obsidian's production schedule has parity with Bethesda's).

[kanisatha]

10 minutes ago, Infinitron said:

Avowed is Project Alabama: https://www.resetera.com/threads/xbox-game-studios-otx-you-had-me-at-halo.246538/page-253#post-40814349

Thanks.

Do we also know who is project/game director?