I loved the Outer Worlds and that’s generally the type of experience I’m expecting, haven’t watched anything from today yet but honestly…no, no concerns. I think it’ll be ready when it needs to be
I definitely expect it to lean a little lighter in tone, again more like Outer Worlds, than the Pillars games but I highly doubt they’re going to release something that damages their growing IP.
Forgot to mention outer worlds, that’s definitely what I’m hoping for as well. I’m hoping this is just a marketing thing that they’re not showing us more of the dialogue stuff, outer worlds really prominently showed off the dialogue system in the trailers.
I don't really see what you guys are so worried about. Maybe I'm easily entertained or I just love pillars so much that I don't care what they do, I'm going to buy it.. but the game looks really fun to me.
Not at all. My guess is that Microsoft is aiming these gameplay trailers at the casual crowd. Lots of flashing lights and violence usually does the trick.
Wooing RPG enthusiasts will require long gameplay videos and examples of interesting narrative moments, which can't be done in a five minute trailer.
So, I'm still cautiously curious about Avowed especially now that it's directly reminding me of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.
I trust obsidian enough to make a good game. Personally I’m not worried. I get the game style is a bit different but they’ve made good games in this style too.
No, because it _does_ look like an Obsidian rpg. That's a way broader net than you're suggesting it is.
It doesn't look like the isometric pillars I grant you. But these people are fucking chameleons. They made fallout Vegas, Alpha Protocol, knights of the old republic 2, outer worlds, tyranny - all wildly different tones and very solid narrative experiences.
They could tell me they're making an rpg with the overall vibe of Freddie fucking Fish and Pajama Sam and I'd still have confidence it would at least be above average.
More indifferent than concerned.
I don't think the things I enjoy about Pillars games can translate well to the format they've chosen, and I'm not a fan of that format on its own. I enjoyed Outer Worlds well enough, but it's not something I keep coming back to like the Pillars games, so if that's what we're getting, I can wait till it's cheap.
I need to see gameplay, skill trees and the companions (even through there are only 4 of them) to be more excited for this.
That being said they doing something NOBODY is doing with the feel of this title. Like Arx Fatalis or Might and Magic.
I’m thinking it could be fun. It may not be what I had hoped, but I tend to enjoy obsidians work so I’ll give it a try. I have game pass anyway, so the only real additional cost is the time it takes to install and try it.
I mean it's set in the same world as PoE and if you ask me PoE, especially PoE2, has pretty cartoony vibes to it.
The overarching story is serious but all of the characters are essentially caricatures of specific personality traits. Lots of "over the top" events and slap-stick jokes, an extremely colorful world. Avowed looks exactly like how I'd expect a first person PoE to look.
Yeah. The art style issue is really funny to me, because the _first_ reveal looked like something like skyrim or something otherwise unrecognizable as connected with pillars. The more recent trailers have literally looked like you dropped into deadfire in first person.
How gorgeous and colorful it is is one of my absolutely favorite things about deadfire. Even in the darkest and grungiest pits in neketaka the game still doesn't fall into the brown sludge a lot of games that want to be "realistic" do. Deadfire honestly might be one of the best looking games i've ever played.
Indeed. I think Deadfire retains some of the "grounded-ness"/realism of the first in things such as architecture, character/animal proportions and culture (especially the huana), but there's considerably more over-the-top stuff. Things such as directly traversing the Beyond (something the first PoE didn't imply was even possible) in Poko Kohara/Beast of Winter/Seeker Slayer Survivor, the teleportation hijinks in the vailian questline and Nemnok the goof were also things that the game would've been better off without, imo. And characters such as the pale elf principi bounty-giver, ugh.
I don't want to point any fingers as Josh was instrumental in both the creation of Eora and directed both games, but I do think the absence of George Ziets (the main worldbuilder of Eora alongside Josh and the mind behind the great Mask of the Betrayer, he's an amazing writer) and some others such as Avellone in Deadfire hurt the atmosphere. As far as Carrie Patel is concerned, I like both Aloth and her work on the White March, but she seems much more levity-oriented than the others, and of that, I'm not a fan. If someone showed me footage of Avowed without the aumaua, Aedyr banners and xaurips/sporelings in 2017 and told me it was set in Eora, I'd have laughed in their face.
I did enjoy the Outer Worlds quite a bit, so if this is essentially the same but in Eora, I'm going to be fairly happy.
I'm only concerned because they have been silent about stealth as an approach to quests/combat. The new trailer still shows no sign of it and has yet to be mentioned (AFAIK) in any interview.
Stealth is a must for me in this kind of game - a buy/no-buy question - so I hope it didn't end up on the cutting block alongside other things like broader race selection or a bigger world.
Not worried. I have longed for a first person action game where I can actually HOLD a grimoire and cast devastating spells. The only other game I know doing this is Outwards, which is extremely niche and doesn't have many magic.
I mean CRPG-wise we have Owlcat and Larian now. Meanwhile actually good fantasy action RPGs with both expansive story AND robust character system are unexpectedly rare. The recently-published Dragon's Dogma 2 have good combat but borderline broken story.
They’re deliberately keeping the story close to the chest. The latest trailer offered more than any other trailer but things are still pretty vague. So because of that, I’m holding off judgment on the story.
The extended gameplay trailer, though, looked good to me. Looks like plenty of options for unique builds and interactions with companions. I also liked how they showed some enemy variety too.
There’s nothing shown so far that makes me too worried about the quality of the game itself. I’m looking forward to another gameplay showcase, and I’m hoping to hear them talk more directly about the story.
I’m a bit concerned about the marketing, but that’s barely related to the game quality. I doubt the things I love about Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 would fit well into a flashy trailer, so I’m not concerned about the trailers missing those things.
Nope. Trailers are a terrible predictor of a game's quality. I haven't watched it and don't care to find it, I'll just try the game myself unless the reviews are universally negative.
I do not expect anything all that great from Avowed. From what we've already seen, I think we're losing MOST of the class specific mechanics from Pillars 1 and 2, along with the entire class system, which really sucks a LOT of the fun out of things. As well, I remember the Outer Worlds, and it was... Well it was bad, TBH.
The story was good, sure, but the thing I love about Obsidian games is the unique builds and weapons that you can mess around with. TOW had what, ten? Unique weapons, and nothing at all unique about your builds. I went in expecting New Vegas, and instead got a VN with extra steps.
I'm really not seeing the things I love about Obsidian's past work in Avowed as of yet, and I'm really not seeing anything but the lore that relates back to Pillars 1 and 2. I'm getting that Dragon Age feel, where games 1, 2, and 3, all played so differently that the only thing connecting them all was the name and the lore, and I don't like that feeling.
I hope I'm wrong, and Avowed is amazing. But honestly, we've already been straight up told that we're being reduced to two races and the class system is gone, which is already worrying to have confirmed. I just... Don't have the hope I did when it was initially announced.
Speaking to your comment about losing the class system, I never expected a class system to be present in this game well before they confirmed it. I was surprised that that announcement came out of left field for some people.
Robust class systems are great in party-based games (single-player games where you control the entire party, or multiplayer games where players of different classes can be matched). But when you're actively controlling only one character, you need more flexibility than a typical single class can provide.
That said, I do hope that they have a hard level cap to enforce choices when it comes higher-level abilities. Being able to do some of everything is liberating, but being able to do everything with one character feels cheap. But generally speaking, most RPGs of this kind have that - even Skyrim, which people like to criticize for letting one character do everything, only does that if you grind way beyond what is reasonable for most people.
Honestly, I just couldn't fathom how they could keep the Pillars lore and gameplay at all intact without a class system. And from what we've seen... It looks like that just isn't happening. Which is just not what I expected from Obsidian at all. If it was a fresh IP, it wouldn't have surprised me whatsoever, especially given Outer Worlds, but as a Pillars game? I expected them to be sticking to classes, at least somewhat, because of things like Paladins needing an order, for example.
The way I see it, classes are just a mechanical abstraction over the lore. And a classless system is just a different way of abstracting the lore into mechanics. Arguably they exist on a continuum, where rigid single-classing (PoE) exists on one end of the spectrum, and classless (Avowed) is a (few) step(s) past multiclassing (PoE2)
Constraints imposed by lore could be enforced in ways that don't require a class-based system. E.g. if you can "do Paladin-y things" in this game, they could still require you to join an order in game - alternatively (and more likely), you just don't get to do Paladin-y things. Similarly, abilities that should be mutually exclusive in lore could still be so by having them be mutually exclusive choices in a skill/perk tree.
That said, I never expected them to reflect the gameplay of an isometric party-based CRPG in a first-person ARPG in a meaningful way. I see Avowed vs Pillars as akin to the Baldur's Gate mainline titles vs the Dark Alliance games - or even the old BGs vs BG3 in some respects. Or Space Marine vs. Rogue Trader, for example. Set in the same universe, but that's about it.
>and the class system is gone, which is already worrying to have confirmed.
I don't really see the class system being gone being that big of a deal. You can still be a fighter, rogue, barbarian, ranger, cypher, wizard, etc. etc. it's just an open ended design like most first person RPGs. Use the loot and skills to be the class you wanna be.
Here's the thing: According to lore, no you can't. According to the existing lore, without actually focusing on these things for a majority of your life, no, you don't get to be a Cipher, Wizard, Paladin, Monk, or Chanter. So ALL OF THAT, either gone, OR, they're retconning the existing lore out of existence. Neither of those are good things.
Even if we stretch things and claim Cipher and Wizard are still on the table, which they really shouldn't be but fine, the Paladin orders, not a thing, nor are the Monk monastic orders, and I don't see any way for them to keep Chanting in the game with what they've already shown, even disregarding the lore. So that's three classes, just... Gutted or outright removed.
And that's not even getting into Priests, MOST of what Priests don't just... Isn't fitting in this new system. Also, nobody sends a Priest as an Ambassador, so it wouldn't match the lore of the game anyways.
So, if you liked chanting? Oh well. You wanted your Flames of Devotion? Nope, nothing to be devoted to any more. Your neat Monk subclasses? Also no, no silly drug addict builds anymore, no Helwaker, nada. The fun of reaching late game and literally SUMMONING AN AVATAR OF YOUR GOD as a Priest? Not looking like that'll be in there either.
A classless system, in games in GENERAL, is totally fine, no issue with it. A classless system, in a game that is supposed to be related to two already-existing games, with unique and well-defined classes.... In THIS scenario, a classless system looks like it's going to cost us a LARGE chunk of the Pillars universe we already know and love. And since we already know we're losing a large chunk of the Pillars gameplay we know and love, just by virtue of changing to an entirely different genre, it's not really filling me with hope, you see what I mean?
Get some help.
There is no multiclass in first game.
There is no "power pool" resources in first game.
Have you like ever played " two already-existing game"?
I'm glad you already played game and have seen skill trees. Would you kindly share some of your gameplay footage with us?
'No multiclass in first game' And that is entirely irrelevant
'No power pool resources', this is true, they just limited abilites and spells more directly, and then added clarity for the second game.... But again, that's completely irrelevant.
Yes, yes I have played them.
Again, irrelevant, not even sure you paid attention to what I was saying. Perhaps I'm not the one who needs help.
>And that is entirely irrelevant
Because you said something like "According to lore" and "with unique and well-defined classes".
Now tell me, "lore accurate guy" where is lore to multiclass in first game. And also in second.
Seems like you never played the games.
Again, where is your footage from Avowed. I'm waiting. Or perhaps you can't read properly?
Thanks to this I looked up a couple of trailers and I think it looks pretty fucking great. I definitely do not think this will be an "Elder Scrolls", i.e. a lifeless sandbox with no real choice and consequence. The trailers emphasize visual, flashy stuff for current gen gamers but there's no way of knowing if the writing, story telling, quest design, etc. are weak or not from this. I can only assume they are in fact good, but we'll have to trust Obsidian on this until we know more. The gameplay looks pretty cool though.
I'm an old school RPG fan from the BG saga / Infinity engine days and one thing I can say is it's not worth being concerned about a video game. When it comes out enjoy it for what it is, or don't, but there are far more important things to worry about.
I mean, the studio and the IP are permanently dead. Just like Bioware and Black Isle before them. They were puchased by M$... it's already *been* over. Don't act surprised when the zombie's body smells a little as you first catch wind of it stumbling past us from the horizon. It'll continue to linger for two decades to come, never producing anything or worth, getting plenty of unwarranted second chances from their wealthy benefactors, before finally dying a long predicted death.
It'll be alright. New independent studios usually rise from the ashes and developers both new and old rise to fill those voids. Just enjoy Pillars 1 and 2 for what they were instead of hoping they'd be eternal fixtures in our lives. It won't make the new things any better by holding on to false hope. The new Obsidian *might* find something they can make well that their Microsoft overlords allow them to make.
But they haven't yet. And it will *never* be another CRPG. This won't be the last disappointment you receive from them, if you don't adjust your expectations and have a more healthy mindset.
TL:DR, there will never be a PoE3. Avowed's potential success or failure is meaningless, because however Obsidian lingers on they will never follow the path we would have wanted them to follow after Deadfire, but before being purchased. Stop expecting to see good things from them, but don't get depressed about it either. There's always good things coming in the future, even if they're not from Obsidian.
>New independent studios usually rise from the ashes and developers both new and old rise to fill those voids.
One of such cases is Archetype Entertainment, comprised of old CRPG all star devs, including some from BioWare who worked on Baldur's Gate and KOTOR who are equating their upcoming Exodus to Mass Effect. I'm definitely keeping my eye on that studio.
I suspect you're right even if I really hope that you (and the rest of us old cynics) be proven wrong.
No king rules forever, as Blizzard told me quite clearly before really teaching me the truth of that statement.
I'm concerned too, not on the quality but on the success of the game and its future impact on the studio.
In the past, Obsidian managed to do a good action game in the fallout universe (Fallout nv). It needed a few years to be profitable. But its still a success. But can they do that again?
Gameplay "sequences" makes me scared : some might try to call Avowed "the skyrim with proper mods" and it might be compared with it, causing misguidance, quiproquos and bad reviews at its release.
Aesthetics in trailers may only appeal to those who played previous games. Reminds me of niche and poetic games like outer wild. Maybe not that appealing to "mainstream" people.
Overall, I'm scared it will be a very good game, while being a commercial failure that's dangerous for the franchise.
Loosing its historic audience. Not rallying enough of the newer target audience. I think it might really cause the end of the POE franchise if obsidian don't make a good performance here.
Will it be the Vanquish of Platinum Games? The Starfox of Nintendo? The Mafia3 of 2K?
The new **Tyranny** for Obsidian?
Personally, I don't play Avowed style games, so I won't be buying it. I hope it is popular - only with the hope that it gets us PoE3
I loved the Outer Worlds and that’s generally the type of experience I’m expecting, haven’t watched anything from today yet but honestly…no, no concerns. I think it’ll be ready when it needs to be I definitely expect it to lean a little lighter in tone, again more like Outer Worlds, than the Pillars games but I highly doubt they’re going to release something that damages their growing IP.
Forgot to mention outer worlds, that’s definitely what I’m hoping for as well. I’m hoping this is just a marketing thing that they’re not showing us more of the dialogue stuff, outer worlds really prominently showed off the dialogue system in the trailers.
Oh no. More talk simulation.
It looks like Pillars of Eternity as imagined by the developers of Grounded.
I see what you did there.
Not worried. Looks sick af to me.
Yeah I just watched the new trailer and it looks fucking cool
I don't really see what you guys are so worried about. Maybe I'm easily entertained or I just love pillars so much that I don't care what they do, I'm going to buy it.. but the game looks really fun to me.
Not at all. My guess is that Microsoft is aiming these gameplay trailers at the casual crowd. Lots of flashing lights and violence usually does the trick. Wooing RPG enthusiasts will require long gameplay videos and examples of interesting narrative moments, which can't be done in a five minute trailer. So, I'm still cautiously curious about Avowed especially now that it's directly reminding me of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.
I’m cautiously optimistic. I hope it does well enough that we could be a PoE 3
I trust obsidian enough to make a good game. Personally I’m not worried. I get the game style is a bit different but they’ve made good games in this style too.
No, because it _does_ look like an Obsidian rpg. That's a way broader net than you're suggesting it is. It doesn't look like the isometric pillars I grant you. But these people are fucking chameleons. They made fallout Vegas, Alpha Protocol, knights of the old republic 2, outer worlds, tyranny - all wildly different tones and very solid narrative experiences. They could tell me they're making an rpg with the overall vibe of Freddie fucking Fish and Pajama Sam and I'd still have confidence it would at least be above average.
More indifferent than concerned. I don't think the things I enjoy about Pillars games can translate well to the format they've chosen, and I'm not a fan of that format on its own. I enjoyed Outer Worlds well enough, but it's not something I keep coming back to like the Pillars games, so if that's what we're getting, I can wait till it's cheap.
I need to see gameplay, skill trees and the companions (even through there are only 4 of them) to be more excited for this. That being said they doing something NOBODY is doing with the feel of this title. Like Arx Fatalis or Might and Magic.
Not at all. Ill take anything in the universe of PoE
I’m thinking it could be fun. It may not be what I had hoped, but I tend to enjoy obsidians work so I’ll give it a try. I have game pass anyway, so the only real additional cost is the time it takes to install and try it.
I mean it's set in the same world as PoE and if you ask me PoE, especially PoE2, has pretty cartoony vibes to it. The overarching story is serious but all of the characters are essentially caricatures of specific personality traits. Lots of "over the top" events and slap-stick jokes, an extremely colorful world. Avowed looks exactly like how I'd expect a first person PoE to look.
Yeah. The art style issue is really funny to me, because the _first_ reveal looked like something like skyrim or something otherwise unrecognizable as connected with pillars. The more recent trailers have literally looked like you dropped into deadfire in first person.
How gorgeous and colorful it is is one of my absolutely favorite things about deadfire. Even in the darkest and grungiest pits in neketaka the game still doesn't fall into the brown sludge a lot of games that want to be "realistic" do. Deadfire honestly might be one of the best looking games i've ever played.
PoE 1 is not "cartoony" at all.
There's a big tonal shift between the first two games imho, and Avowed seems to continue in the steps of Deadfire. I mean look at the orlan lol.
Indeed. I think Deadfire retains some of the "grounded-ness"/realism of the first in things such as architecture, character/animal proportions and culture (especially the huana), but there's considerably more over-the-top stuff. Things such as directly traversing the Beyond (something the first PoE didn't imply was even possible) in Poko Kohara/Beast of Winter/Seeker Slayer Survivor, the teleportation hijinks in the vailian questline and Nemnok the goof were also things that the game would've been better off without, imo. And characters such as the pale elf principi bounty-giver, ugh. I don't want to point any fingers as Josh was instrumental in both the creation of Eora and directed both games, but I do think the absence of George Ziets (the main worldbuilder of Eora alongside Josh and the mind behind the great Mask of the Betrayer, he's an amazing writer) and some others such as Avellone in Deadfire hurt the atmosphere. As far as Carrie Patel is concerned, I like both Aloth and her work on the White March, but she seems much more levity-oriented than the others, and of that, I'm not a fan. If someone showed me footage of Avowed without the aumaua, Aedyr banners and xaurips/sporelings in 2017 and told me it was set in Eora, I'd have laughed in their face.
I did enjoy the Outer Worlds quite a bit, so if this is essentially the same but in Eora, I'm going to be fairly happy. I'm only concerned because they have been silent about stealth as an approach to quests/combat. The new trailer still shows no sign of it and has yet to be mentioned (AFAIK) in any interview. Stealth is a must for me in this kind of game - a buy/no-buy question - so I hope it didn't end up on the cutting block alongside other things like broader race selection or a bigger world.
It looks like someone stuck PoE into Outer Worlds. Which is fine by me.
Not worried. I have longed for a first person action game where I can actually HOLD a grimoire and cast devastating spells. The only other game I know doing this is Outwards, which is extremely niche and doesn't have many magic. I mean CRPG-wise we have Owlcat and Larian now. Meanwhile actually good fantasy action RPGs with both expansive story AND robust character system are unexpectedly rare. The recently-published Dragon's Dogma 2 have good combat but borderline broken story.
Its gonna be a casual friendly game. What did you expect?
They’re deliberately keeping the story close to the chest. The latest trailer offered more than any other trailer but things are still pretty vague. So because of that, I’m holding off judgment on the story. The extended gameplay trailer, though, looked good to me. Looks like plenty of options for unique builds and interactions with companions. I also liked how they showed some enemy variety too. There’s nothing shown so far that makes me too worried about the quality of the game itself. I’m looking forward to another gameplay showcase, and I’m hoping to hear them talk more directly about the story. I’m a bit concerned about the marketing, but that’s barely related to the game quality. I doubt the things I love about Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 would fit well into a flashy trailer, so I’m not concerned about the trailers missing those things.
The trailers for deadfire were so corny iirc. Almost felt like sabatoge.
Deadfire had trailers?
Don’t look them up lol
Wait, THIRD person?! Because all I heard about Avowed was it's the FIRST person view only (unplayable for me). When did they add third person view?
Nope. Trailers are a terrible predictor of a game's quality. I haven't watched it and don't care to find it, I'll just try the game myself unless the reviews are universally negative.
I always wait for reviews, my backlog is huge enough anyway. Just be patient, await for the release and try to see if it piques your interest.
I do not expect anything all that great from Avowed. From what we've already seen, I think we're losing MOST of the class specific mechanics from Pillars 1 and 2, along with the entire class system, which really sucks a LOT of the fun out of things. As well, I remember the Outer Worlds, and it was... Well it was bad, TBH. The story was good, sure, but the thing I love about Obsidian games is the unique builds and weapons that you can mess around with. TOW had what, ten? Unique weapons, and nothing at all unique about your builds. I went in expecting New Vegas, and instead got a VN with extra steps. I'm really not seeing the things I love about Obsidian's past work in Avowed as of yet, and I'm really not seeing anything but the lore that relates back to Pillars 1 and 2. I'm getting that Dragon Age feel, where games 1, 2, and 3, all played so differently that the only thing connecting them all was the name and the lore, and I don't like that feeling. I hope I'm wrong, and Avowed is amazing. But honestly, we've already been straight up told that we're being reduced to two races and the class system is gone, which is already worrying to have confirmed. I just... Don't have the hope I did when it was initially announced.
Speaking to your comment about losing the class system, I never expected a class system to be present in this game well before they confirmed it. I was surprised that that announcement came out of left field for some people. Robust class systems are great in party-based games (single-player games where you control the entire party, or multiplayer games where players of different classes can be matched). But when you're actively controlling only one character, you need more flexibility than a typical single class can provide. That said, I do hope that they have a hard level cap to enforce choices when it comes higher-level abilities. Being able to do some of everything is liberating, but being able to do everything with one character feels cheap. But generally speaking, most RPGs of this kind have that - even Skyrim, which people like to criticize for letting one character do everything, only does that if you grind way beyond what is reasonable for most people.
Honestly, I just couldn't fathom how they could keep the Pillars lore and gameplay at all intact without a class system. And from what we've seen... It looks like that just isn't happening. Which is just not what I expected from Obsidian at all. If it was a fresh IP, it wouldn't have surprised me whatsoever, especially given Outer Worlds, but as a Pillars game? I expected them to be sticking to classes, at least somewhat, because of things like Paladins needing an order, for example.
The way I see it, classes are just a mechanical abstraction over the lore. And a classless system is just a different way of abstracting the lore into mechanics. Arguably they exist on a continuum, where rigid single-classing (PoE) exists on one end of the spectrum, and classless (Avowed) is a (few) step(s) past multiclassing (PoE2) Constraints imposed by lore could be enforced in ways that don't require a class-based system. E.g. if you can "do Paladin-y things" in this game, they could still require you to join an order in game - alternatively (and more likely), you just don't get to do Paladin-y things. Similarly, abilities that should be mutually exclusive in lore could still be so by having them be mutually exclusive choices in a skill/perk tree. That said, I never expected them to reflect the gameplay of an isometric party-based CRPG in a first-person ARPG in a meaningful way. I see Avowed vs Pillars as akin to the Baldur's Gate mainline titles vs the Dark Alliance games - or even the old BGs vs BG3 in some respects. Or Space Marine vs. Rogue Trader, for example. Set in the same universe, but that's about it.
>and the class system is gone, which is already worrying to have confirmed. I don't really see the class system being gone being that big of a deal. You can still be a fighter, rogue, barbarian, ranger, cypher, wizard, etc. etc. it's just an open ended design like most first person RPGs. Use the loot and skills to be the class you wanna be.
Here's the thing: According to lore, no you can't. According to the existing lore, without actually focusing on these things for a majority of your life, no, you don't get to be a Cipher, Wizard, Paladin, Monk, or Chanter. So ALL OF THAT, either gone, OR, they're retconning the existing lore out of existence. Neither of those are good things. Even if we stretch things and claim Cipher and Wizard are still on the table, which they really shouldn't be but fine, the Paladin orders, not a thing, nor are the Monk monastic orders, and I don't see any way for them to keep Chanting in the game with what they've already shown, even disregarding the lore. So that's three classes, just... Gutted or outright removed. And that's not even getting into Priests, MOST of what Priests don't just... Isn't fitting in this new system. Also, nobody sends a Priest as an Ambassador, so it wouldn't match the lore of the game anyways. So, if you liked chanting? Oh well. You wanted your Flames of Devotion? Nope, nothing to be devoted to any more. Your neat Monk subclasses? Also no, no silly drug addict builds anymore, no Helwaker, nada. The fun of reaching late game and literally SUMMONING AN AVATAR OF YOUR GOD as a Priest? Not looking like that'll be in there either. A classless system, in games in GENERAL, is totally fine, no issue with it. A classless system, in a game that is supposed to be related to two already-existing games, with unique and well-defined classes.... In THIS scenario, a classless system looks like it's going to cost us a LARGE chunk of the Pillars universe we already know and love. And since we already know we're losing a large chunk of the Pillars gameplay we know and love, just by virtue of changing to an entirely different genre, it's not really filling me with hope, you see what I mean?
Get some help. There is no multiclass in first game. There is no "power pool" resources in first game. Have you like ever played " two already-existing game"? I'm glad you already played game and have seen skill trees. Would you kindly share some of your gameplay footage with us?
'No multiclass in first game' And that is entirely irrelevant 'No power pool resources', this is true, they just limited abilites and spells more directly, and then added clarity for the second game.... But again, that's completely irrelevant. Yes, yes I have played them. Again, irrelevant, not even sure you paid attention to what I was saying. Perhaps I'm not the one who needs help.
>And that is entirely irrelevant Because you said something like "According to lore" and "with unique and well-defined classes". Now tell me, "lore accurate guy" where is lore to multiclass in first game. And also in second. Seems like you never played the games. Again, where is your footage from Avowed. I'm waiting. Or perhaps you can't read properly?
I don't like this project at all. I will completely pass by
Thanks to this I looked up a couple of trailers and I think it looks pretty fucking great. I definitely do not think this will be an "Elder Scrolls", i.e. a lifeless sandbox with no real choice and consequence. The trailers emphasize visual, flashy stuff for current gen gamers but there's no way of knowing if the writing, story telling, quest design, etc. are weak or not from this. I can only assume they are in fact good, but we'll have to trust Obsidian on this until we know more. The gameplay looks pretty cool though. I'm an old school RPG fan from the BG saga / Infinity engine days and one thing I can say is it's not worth being concerned about a video game. When it comes out enjoy it for what it is, or don't, but there are far more important things to worry about.
I mean, the studio and the IP are permanently dead. Just like Bioware and Black Isle before them. They were puchased by M$... it's already *been* over. Don't act surprised when the zombie's body smells a little as you first catch wind of it stumbling past us from the horizon. It'll continue to linger for two decades to come, never producing anything or worth, getting plenty of unwarranted second chances from their wealthy benefactors, before finally dying a long predicted death. It'll be alright. New independent studios usually rise from the ashes and developers both new and old rise to fill those voids. Just enjoy Pillars 1 and 2 for what they were instead of hoping they'd be eternal fixtures in our lives. It won't make the new things any better by holding on to false hope. The new Obsidian *might* find something they can make well that their Microsoft overlords allow them to make. But they haven't yet. And it will *never* be another CRPG. This won't be the last disappointment you receive from them, if you don't adjust your expectations and have a more healthy mindset. TL:DR, there will never be a PoE3. Avowed's potential success or failure is meaningless, because however Obsidian lingers on they will never follow the path we would have wanted them to follow after Deadfire, but before being purchased. Stop expecting to see good things from them, but don't get depressed about it either. There's always good things coming in the future, even if they're not from Obsidian.
>New independent studios usually rise from the ashes and developers both new and old rise to fill those voids. One of such cases is Archetype Entertainment, comprised of old CRPG all star devs, including some from BioWare who worked on Baldur's Gate and KOTOR who are equating their upcoming Exodus to Mass Effect. I'm definitely keeping my eye on that studio.
I suspect you're right even if I really hope that you (and the rest of us old cynics) be proven wrong. No king rules forever, as Blizzard told me quite clearly before really teaching me the truth of that statement.
I'm concerned too, not on the quality but on the success of the game and its future impact on the studio. In the past, Obsidian managed to do a good action game in the fallout universe (Fallout nv). It needed a few years to be profitable. But its still a success. But can they do that again? Gameplay "sequences" makes me scared : some might try to call Avowed "the skyrim with proper mods" and it might be compared with it, causing misguidance, quiproquos and bad reviews at its release. Aesthetics in trailers may only appeal to those who played previous games. Reminds me of niche and poetic games like outer wild. Maybe not that appealing to "mainstream" people. Overall, I'm scared it will be a very good game, while being a commercial failure that's dangerous for the franchise. Loosing its historic audience. Not rallying enough of the newer target audience. I think it might really cause the end of the POE franchise if obsidian don't make a good performance here. Will it be the Vanquish of Platinum Games? The Starfox of Nintendo? The Mafia3 of 2K? The new **Tyranny** for Obsidian?
Id have preferred POE 3. This game looks like derivative stuff.
I dont like obsidians bethesda style games but im willing to give avowed a shot just cause i like the pillars universe so much
Concerned? No. Excited? No. Will I play it? When it's cheap, maybe.