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

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, Theonlygarby said:

I think unreal engine games are hard to mod... but i dont acutally know if thats true, just what it seems like.  If you can have companions, maybe there will be classes.  In the end i just hope its good.

You are correct; the unreal engine is notoriously locked down.

I suspect we'll get to pick archetypes, similar to Tyranny, then build our character based on backgrounds and expertise. But I'm not willing to bet the farm on that

[Sven_]

Teaser looks actually fairly "generic" overall, which then again were what they may have been aiming for. There's no actually big reveal, except for the First Person (which tons of game have) and bits of Eora lore. Faergus has been going like "Imagine Skyrim..... in Eora" for years. So far Sawyer's project still sounds the more intriguing one to me.

 

4 hours ago, Wormerine said:

That all sounds great, at least on paper. Looking at specs it seems a bit high for me, but I might give it a go once I finally deal with Pathfinder and see how it runs. 

 

I had completed KCD with an old Core i3 (from 2011ish), basically below the official specs, and it was mostly surprisingly fine. As an open world, and as sort of an AA/A/RPG, it's a lot more interesting a game than the action-adventury Witcher, for instance. Quests are also more open. However, yeah, it may not be for everyone (which is a good thing). I had also spent a good amount of time just hunting in the woods to upgrade my bow skills, which I personally enjoyed.  Speaking of skills, the game too has a skill system proper.

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Sven_

[Aeryx]

Two things; 
First, I'd love for Avowed to be highly moddable. PoE had only a few mods, and none that made a huge impact, like Skyrim's Falskaar or Enderal. If Obsidian can design the game to be highly moddable, it'll be a treasure for decades to come and a superior competitor to Elder Scrolls 6. And I fully expect Bethesda to make it less moddable and load it shortly after release, with microtransactions and paid mods.

Second, I'd really like for the protagonist in Avowed to be leaning towards dark and evil. Perhaps playing as Thaos before he rose to power as Woedica's favored, would be a great idea. And can we have Engwithians as a playable race? Imagine playing as Thaos and being persuaded by Woedica to be her champion would be sick and immersive, especially if written well.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Aeryx

[Boeroer]

Josh is working on a non-violent, small project besides his duties as design director. 

The TTRPG rules he's writing and playtesting are pretty nice - and classless. Would be nice to see them in this game, but maybe it's too early for that and also maybe Obsidian wants to keep mechanics that players know from PoE->Deadfire. I would like to see afflictions and inspirations having a comeback. 

I personally struggle a lot with melee combat in first person view. I couldn't do it in Skyrim (I mean in a way that it was fun) which severely limited the type of character and gameplay I could utilize to enjoy that game. But as stealthy assassin it was a blast for me. 

I hope there's some mechanic that helps with melee fighting of there's no third-person option.

[Humanoid]

I'm not picky. Give me an RPG which doesn't involve babysitting party members and I'm happy to accept any camera perspective.

[Sven_]

Weirdest thing, just two days ago I had a dream of ending up at Obsidian office somehow (dream logics), and them announcing another Pillars related project via a teaser trailer thing of sorts. Immediately when the trailer went live it seemed obvious what was going on, and I was like "So Faergus got his wish (Skyrim RPG set in Eora)". I don't usually dream about games, or anything like that. Like, at all. 

Though, the longer the trailer went on it hinted at a possibility of an actual party based RPG (closer to Dragon Age) rather than a first person one. I remember talking to Josh about the possibility of an optionally tactical 3d camera, and whether that would be a design challenge and he agreed it was.

Tonight I had a dream where I ended up at either Tim Cain's or Leonard Boyarsky's house (can't remember which), where over dinner they talked about that new Fallout game they had in the oven. I tried to convince them why quest markers are evil, and even the missus (dunno which one it was) got involved in the debate, but then I woke up.

So, if that comes to pass as well, you heard it here first.  

Edited July 24, 2020 by Sven_

[Chinz]

Really excited about this, only thing is I hope this plays after Poe. I don’t like prequels at all.

[Maf]

I was hopeful this is what the Microsoft deal would lead to. So many good games to look forward to :)

Looking forward to it.

[Guard Dog]

If the description is correct, Skyrim clone in the POE setting and if it will get a PC port just shut up and take my money.

If it's X-Box only... well I wish you well but it's not for me

[Wormerine]

10 hours ago, Aeryx said:

Perhaps playing as Thaos before he rose to power as Woedica's favored, would be a great idea. And can we have Engwithians as a playable race? Imagine playing as Thaos and being persuaded by Woedica to be her champion would be sick and immersive, especially if written well.

That came to mind to me yesterday "Ooo! What if we play as Thaos!". Here where it seems unlikely to me (we could meet him though if it's a prequel!). Thaos predates gods, and if it is a relatively recent or contemporary (to PoE series) Thaos would already be immortal and in service of Woedica. Supposively, in the time when Thaos would interact with gods for the first time Aedyr wouldn't exist yet as such. As Aedyr (or whatever country it is) is already very dedicated to Woedica Inquisiton must have taken place already, so Thaos has been active in his role for some time. 

[algroth]

Very wary of this from what I've seen so far. Nothing about the teaser struck me as an interesting or unique hook, mostly as a load of very generic standard fantasy fluff appealing to the gamer's typical power fantasy and so on; a far cry from the other recent settings by Obsidian games which rather cleverly and *meaningfully* defied the archetypical settings they emulated right from the get go. The fact that it's set in Eora makes me a little concerned that they'll be pivoting the IP towards a much more generic Elder Scrolls-like fantasy, effectively filing away the elements that made the setting stand out in the first place.

[algroth]

17 hours ago, Theonlygarby said:

What's everyone thinking as far as pre POE or post POE?  I guess the obvious answer would be pre.  Though we really have no idea anything other than its based in eora.

 

I kind of loath prequels in general but it seems much more likely

Unless it is super far back prequel... Then I'm down

By 

The teaser feels a lot more medieval to me in aesthetic than what we've seen in Pillars, so I'd guess earlier. With all the burning forests and stuff I could see the story being based around the War of the Black Trees or the Dyrwood's independence, though some also suggested Aedyr as a setting.

[LordInsane]

13 hours ago, Theonlygarby said:

I was thinking about how they will do the watcher, and also the ciphers.  I wouldn't be entirely surprised if it turns out you are technically the same watcher... just a long time ago... as in, the same soul.  I doubt there will be class bases... but hopefully there are way more RPG elements than skyrim.  Are soft classes a thing?  Having a level cap is important to RPGs so maybe its a situation where you dont have enough points to do everything well. I always laugh when i see "skyrim builds".  Because never in that game did I need to think about how i was building my character.  Also I'm awful at character building, so that says a lot.

Soft classes are a thing, yes. Just look at Oblivion or Morrowind, and compare with Arena.

[Theonlygarby]

3 hours ago, algroth said:

The teaser feels a lot more medieval to me in aesthetic than what we've seen in Pillars, so I'd guess earlier. With all the burning forests and stuff I could see the story being based around the War of the Black Trees or the Dyrwood's independence, though some also suggested Aedyr as a setting.

I really really hope this isn't the case.  It's too directly connected to the POE story.

 

I did notice there were thunderstorm in the hills during the trailer which made me think rauatai

[LeoAugustina]

Aedyr is my favorite area, my watcher is from here so I'am very excited.

 

[Wormerine]

47 minutes ago, Theonlygarby said:

I really really hope this isn't the case.  It's too directly connected to the POE story.

I did notice there were thunderstorm in the hills during the trailer which made me think rauatai

Like? So far I see no indication that it’s connected in any tangible way to PoE. 
it’s definitely too lush for rauatai I would say.

[Theonlygarby]

40 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Like? So far I see no indication that it’s connected in any tangible way to PoE. 
it’s definitely too lush for rauatai I would say.

I was responding to someone saying "With all the burning forests and stuff I could see the story being based around the War of the Black Trees or the Dyrwood's independence"

 

i think it's probably aedyr based on the woedica stuff... But the storms did make me think rauatai.  At this point no one really knows anything.

 

that arrow went so far maybe it started in Aedyr and fell in rauatai 

Edited July 24, 2020 by Theonlygarby

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, Theonlygarby said:

that arrow went so far maybe it started in Aedyr and fell in rauatai 

yeah, the biggest take away from the trailer is that Aedryan bows have a 750 pound draw weight

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Achilles said:

that Aedryan bows have a 750 pound draw weight

And they keep going after penetrating an enemy. And they say that PoEs are overbalanced...

[WDeranged]

I'm still in a state of mild shock from learning about this.  Skyrim in Aedyr would be my dream game.  Though, the Unreal Engine gives me concerns, it's bloody awful at open world stuff, constant stutters and janky asset streaming.  Fingers crossed they're using a more recent version that's tooled up for the new consoles, seems they're really pushing for ultra fast asset streaming this gen.

Anyone know if any of staff from Tyranny are involved?  I loved the world and characters in that game, it veered into the weird and I appreciated it.

[Taevyr]

On 7/24/2020 at 4:10 AM, Achilles said:

Interesting. It just occurred to me that if they go far enough back, we'll be pre-animancy, firearms, large scale sea-faring, etc. That'll definitely add a twist to some things.

Eora, but "standard high/dark fantasy". I wonder how they'll manage it, as even with rediscovery of animancy and such out, there're still quite a few special aspects to play around with.

To me, much depends on how Skyrim they go with the combat and attribute system: If they don't go beyond morrowind in simplification, I'll be.... content, at least. Some variety in weapons with actual differences between'em, some spellcrafting, proper perception of "being a living character" in first person rather than a camera with floating hands & weightless weapons.... oh, and actual attributes. For the love of Engwith, give us actual, meaningful attributes to develop. I've been missing those in first-person RPG's for way too long.

Something else I noticed: the teaser magic, specifically drawing that symbol to create a specific effect, seemed reminiscent of Tyranny's magic system to me. If they find a way to adapt that system in a first-person RPG, I'll be hooked before I know it.

EDIT: as for setting, considering Aedyr's supposed to be a Feudal/Byzantine rainforest, it should be both familiar and exotic enough to provide plenty of interest.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Taevyr

[Taevyr]

3 hours ago, WDeranged said:

I'm still in a state of mild shock from learning about this.  Skyrim in Aedyr would be my dream game.  Though, the Unreal Engine gives me concerns, it's bloody awful at open world stuff, constant stutters and janky asset streaming.  Fingers crossed they're using a more recent version that's tooled up for the new consoles, seems they're really pushing for ultra fast asset streaming this gen.

Anyone know if any of staff from Tyranny are involved?  I loved the world and characters in that game, it veered into the weird and I appreciated it.

I checked  Paul Kirsch's website, and it has him as a Narrative designer on Avowed, which is a good sign in my book. He did a lot of work on Tyranny and various characters and side quests in Deadfire, notably the Waidwen sequence in BoW, so with him on the team I'm cautiously optimistic concerning narrative.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Taevyr said:

To me, much depends on how Skyrim they go with the combat and attribute system: If they don't go beyond morrowind in simplification, I'll be.... content, at least. Some variety in weapons with actual differences between'em, some spellcrafting, proper perception of "being a living character" in first person rather than a camera with floating hands & weightless weapons.... oh, and actual attributes. For the love of Engwith, give us actual, meaningful attributes to develop. I've been missing those in first-person RPG's for way too long.

Something else I noticed: the teaser magic, specifically drawing that symbol to create a specific effect, seemed reminiscent of Tyranny's magic system to me. If they find a way to adapt that system in a first-person RPG, I'll be hooked before I know it

I'm really hoping they look to Tyranny for the character building system in this. To me it seems like a good mix of what we've seen of Josh's TT RPG and the multiclass options we grew accustomed to in Deadfire.  Though it might not have actual attributes, depending on how you define them

[Madscientist]

Is there any info outside this video?

At the moment I would say its too early to call it "skyrim clone". OK, in the video we can see a first person perspective, you have a sword in one hand and cast a spell with the other. I did not see mentioning "open world", "levelling up by skill use" or "join every faction at the same time".

I really hope they do not use the level scaling from TES, it killed any feeling of progress. I love gothic1+2 or risen1. Enemies stay as they are, but you start very weak and you grow stronger over time.

[Wormerine]

10 minutes ago, Madscientist said:

At the moment I would say its too early to call it "skyrim clone". OK, in the video we can see a first person perspective, you have a sword in one hand and cast a spell with the other.

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.