Today I remembered why I prefer isometric CRPGs...

[Boeroer]

The reason is: I get motion sickness after playing like 30mins of this (and similar) games. I then have to stop, else...

Farewell, Avowed - and the lunch I had.

[thelee]

Have you tried 3rd person mode? That helps my wife.

[Boeroer]

Yes, it helps - but not enough to make it go away completely. 

In addition to that I also struggle with the controls - or how combat plays in general. I mean not in a way that I couldn't progress (I started on normal and I managed to win all fights so far) - more in a way that I don't find it fun to play.

I never liked first-person shooters etc. in the first place because of motion sickness, but now I guess I'm also too old for that "action" and skill stuff.

In Skyrim I could circumvent most of it with a bow, maxed stealth, sneak attacks and some illusion magic. 

But so far this doesn't seem to be an option in Avowed. When I shoot enemies with a ranged weapon they like to leave the melee distraction and come right at me - and then the dodging and running starts, which drastically worsens the motion sickness. Hmpf...

Maybe getting the right abilities such as Shadowing Beyond and Steady Aim will improve things for me, we'll see. 

 

[Lonlon]

You should def go for steady aim and dual pistol (and maybe weave a bit of magic for CC). Steady aim rank 3 will drastically slow the pace of combats (while allowing you to land very deadly headshots)
I'm sure you can dispatch most of the mob with very limited movement in Normal difficulty with this base setup.

Also I found 1st person much less "nauseous" than 3rd person but maybe it's just me.

You should also use heavy armors, this will limit the amount of movement you have to do in order to stay alive, and honestly ranged builds dont really need endurance (compared to melee).

Hope it'll help

Cheers

[saeran]

As someone who also gets motion sickness in first person view games, what has worked for me so far is armor combined with arcane veil and high constitution. This, at least on normal difficulty, has made my mage "tanky" enough that she can cast spells in melee range without having to dodge. I think this could work with just about any type of weapons, or even perhaps weapon & shield for an even tankier character.

ps. I hope Obsidian does not patch arcane veil, at least on lower difficulties. Because I really cannot play any fast paced combat with free range camera.

[Grimo88]

I like crpgs better because it is cheaper for them to make monsters. I am so. Sick. Of xaurips and bears. Honestly, finding it hard to continue. 

[bigfatdan]

Just a suggestion that helped me:  Turn off head bob and raise the FOV.  

[Boeroer]

20 minutes ago, bigfatdan said:

Just a suggestion that helped me:  Turn off head bob and raise the FOV.  

I already started with head bob turned off.

[thelee]

15 hours ago, Grimo88 said:

I like crpgs better because it is cheaper for them to make monsters. I am so. Sick. Of xaurips and bears. Honestly, finding it hard to continue. 

oddly this is a common criticism that i don't share. perhaps i'm just too used to playing FPS's where you frequently find endless amounts of one of like a handful of enemy types (if you're lucky) [e.g. wolfenstein, far cry series, call of duty series, even like bioshock infinite]. if this were a top-down RPG like poe1/deadfire i'd find it extremely annoying (and did find the lack of enemy variety in Tyranny very annoying) but once i'm in first-person mode my brain suddenly switches and it's no biggie.

[Boeroer]

I can joyfully report that the motion sickness problem is much better now. 

What is helping are the many sensational views in this game, holy moly.

The combat is still too wild for me, but level 2 of Steady Aim improved it a lot. I also learned to find spots where enemies usually don't go - so I can camp and shoot them relatively unbothered. In confined spaces it's still a panic-induced dodgefest where I (very) often throw random grenades because my nervous index finger slipped.  

I prefer the bow because I can spend a lot more combat time in slow motion. But the guns sound and feel awesome, especially the arquebus. So I often use it for an opening shot.

I'm thinking about adding Shadowing Beyond to get out of tight situations, but I have to say it's hard for me to use active abilities - because my index finger needs to find the fitting number key blindly - and when it returns I throw a grenade instead of moving forward. I thought I could profit from Arcane Veil's projectile reflection - but I almost never use it because I have to look at the keyboard to reliably hit the right key.

So I usually restrict myself to Binding Roots (which is great). Now I wonder if I would use Shadowing Beyond at all. 

Maybe using a gamepad would improve things? I think I have an old PlayStation Controller lying around somewhere. 

Besides the controls I am starting to really enjoy this game. If it would do exploration etc. in first/third person (the views! ) and zoom out to top down/isometric style TB or RTwP combat it would be THE game for me. 

Cheers!

[Grimo88]

On 2/22/2025 at 2:47 AM, thelee said:

oddly this is a common criticism that i don't share. perhaps i'm just too used to playing FPS's where you frequently find endless amounts of one of like a handful of enemy types (if you're lucky) [e.g. wolfenstein, far cry series, call of duty series, even like bioshock infinite]. if this were a top-down RPG like poe1/deadfire i'd find it extremely annoying (and did find the lack of enemy variety in Tyranny very annoying) but once i'm in first-person mode my brain suddenly switches and it's no biggie.

That's a good point, and it probably doesn't help that I don't really play FPS! 

[Lonlon]

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I can joyfully report that the motion sickness problem is much better now. 

Yeay ! Good news.

To get the enemies off of you you should try to invest in one/some of those :
- Kai's gun/taunt ability, I think this is one of the best abilities in the game period.
- Frost spells like Blizzard or Freezing Pillar (didn't try the spray thing yet, maybe it's good) to make the enemies CHILL a bit. In general, the freeze status effect is really really good for control (and shatters), and along with the shock effect is the only affliction that really matter in this game I think.
- Charge is kinda cool to knock back a grp of enemies that are rushing you (also improve you mobility while exploring)
- Pull of Eora. Requires investment to be efficient but is f***ing OP when you do.
- and of course Tanglefoot is really good too.

I didn't try gamepad but I guess it should be quite bad for ranged builds (I just cant play FPS with a gamepad :') ). Also remember you can change your action bar's keybinds for more convenient ones (like X,C,F,..., maybe mouse buttons ?)

Regarding Shadowing Beyond I think the skill is strong because it enables sneak attacks which are deadly, but it also requires a lot of movement/good positionning to make good use of it.

Edited February 23 by Lonlon

[thelee]

On 2/23/2025 at 5:13 AM, Lonlon said:

Frost spells like Blizzard or Freezing Pillar (didn't try the spray thing yet, maybe it's good)

i can say that blast of frost (aka cone of cold) is also really good, just a boatload of damage, albeit over time. but nothing quite compares to how they implemented freezing pillar in this game, nothing quite like seeing from just a few meters away how you insta-kill a batch of enemies with a gigantic block of ice that falls from the sky. makes me want to roll with an SC Tekehu or frost wizard in Deadfire again.

Edited Monday at 06:45 PM by thelee

[Lonlon]

17 hours ago, thelee said:

i can say that blast of frost (aka cone of cold) is also really good, just a boatload of damage, albeit over time. but nothing quite compares to how they implemented freezing pillar in this game, nothing quite like seeing from just a few meters away how you insta-kill a batch of enemies with a gigantic block of ice that falls from the sky. makes me want to roll with an SC Tekehu or frost wizard in Deadfire again.

tested "cone of cold", really strong indeed ! Freezing Pillar is so overtune I respeced into it as soon as I cast it for the first time 

Also I like the synergy between frost spells and Charge, I'm still trying to figure out what are the conditions for an enemy to shatter but.. yeah quite fun !

[derzufallsfogel]

A lot

On 2/21/2025 at 6:30 AM, bigfatdan said:

Just a suggestion that helped me:  Turn off head bob and raise the FOV.  

Exactly THIS. Helped me in so many games that I got motion sickness.

 

Also higher FPS help, so consider lowering the graphic settings, where it does not hurt your eye too much

[Frak_the_2nd]

On 2/23/2025 at 9:02 AM, Boeroer said:

I can joyfully report that the motion sickness problem is much better now. 

What is helping are the many sensational views in this game, holy moly.

The combat is still too wild for me ...

Cheers!

Shadowing Beyond is great for a breather, but using the radial wheel with "prepare" option is also a good thing. I would recommend to hotbind the radial wheel for more strategic play. Also You want to use Kais taunts A LOT

[Silvaren]

On 2/25/2025 at 1:21 PM, Lonlon said:

tested "cone of cold", really strong indeed ! Freezing Pillar is so overtune I respeced into it as soon as I cast it for the first time 

Also I like the synergy between frost spells and Charge, I'm still trying to figure out what are the conditions for an enemy to shatter but.. yeah quite fun !

Charge deals explosive damage, so maybe this is the reason to shatter foes. Try grenades or wand's AoE Bast with heavy attack, Grimoire's Snap, Spirit Lance AoE Blast attacks or rank 2 Freezing Pillar.

[Boeroer]

I found that Showing Beyond with the first Godlike ability (Divine Thorn) is a pretty cool thing. The weapon you carry doesn't matter, so I can shoot at incoming attackers, turn invisible with Shadowing Beyond to avoid getting mauled - and if the attacker already suffered enough health loss while he was approaching me, I can deal the finishing blow from safety with the Thorn. 

Also Shadowing Beyond's cooldown is pretty short and the overall essence cost is low (especially at rank 3). I even retrained out of Arcane Veil because I didn't use it anymore once I got SB. 

What you cannot do well is power attacks straight from invisibility. The invisibility breaks as soon as you press the left mouse button unfortunately. But you can remove yourself from combat while you are invisible, so enemies are unaware of you - and then deal a power attack from range.

All in all Shadowing Beyond improved my personal combat experience as an archer a lot. 

[saeran]

I find the shadowing beyond visual effect too much strain on the eyes.

My mage now uses the brittle frost aura, with all upgrades anyone approaching in melee gets frozen. She is wearing medium armor and that is sufficient for normal difficulty, dodging not required. :D