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[Teslerum]

Yeah that looks superb but that's not what Avowed looked like in the trailer so now I'm confused.

One of those shots is exactly in the trailer. (Aside from time of day)



0:51

 

[Riky]

No, it really isn’t.

Screens say it is.

 

[Badlucktroll]

I wished Obsidian cranked out a Fallout which is what the people want

 

[Balducci30]

The graphics ain’t great but it’s giving me some old school pc rpg vibe which I kinda dig

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Screens say it is.

Shit fire and mid-tier asset pack quality stuff with overblown exposure, that impresses you? Seriously? What fucking games do you play?

Also getting a chuckle out of this in general… game looks like pancake ass in motion, so you guys say ”but the screens look great”

 

[EDMIX]

​

Hype trailer! Day 1, fall 2024 it is lol

edit. while I agree with most on how dated and last gen (like last, last gen) the game looks, its by a trusted developer and the focus should be on how great they are with these types of games, so I think any fan of RPGs should give them a pass on this, better to have a fully functional and fleshed out RPG.

Banjo64 Truth, you can see Skyrim's influence (and in a lot of the industry) heavy on this.

 

[Banjo64]

I love these type of games, so i will play it, i spent over a thousand hours in Skyrim, which i assume Avowed will be similar to, but it didn't look that good and a bit jerky and the trailer wasn't great to be honest, but Starfield's traler last year wasn't received well either, i still want to play the game though.

Studio head has just said that it started as Obsidian’s Skyrim but they’ve pivoted away from that concept. He’s done a full interview.

Link here;

PC Gamer just dropped this interview tidbit with Obsidian

Exclusive: Avowed started as Obsidian's Skyrim, but evolved to focus on depth over breadth, 'where Obsidian really shines'

"We backed up and said again: What are we good at? What's our lane?"

www.pcgamer.com

 

[EddieVanHelgen]

Shit fire and mid-tier asset pack quality stuff with overblown exposure, that impresses you? Seriously? What fucking games do you play?

Also getting a chuckle out of this in general… game looks like pancake ass in motion, so you guys say ”but the screens look great”

Lot of cope here.

 

[Riky]

So the money-bags bully method didn’t work, so now they feign weakness and play the victim? Yikes.

Shit fire and mid-tier asset pack quality stuff with overblown exposure, that impresses you? Seriously? What fucking games do you play?

Also getting a chuckle out of this in general… game looks like pancake ass in motion, so you guys say ”but the screens look great”

Checked your post history, not going to bother.

 

[adamsapple]

Checked your post history, not going to bother.

You weren't kidding lol

 

[Germuso]

Looks generic and after the awful RPG the outer worlds...new vegas team left long time ago.

 

[Laptop1991]

Studio head has just said that it started as Obsidian’s Skyrim but they’ve pivoted away from that concept. He’s done a full interview.

Link here;

Well i liked the Outer Worlds anyway, so i'll see at the time, but i think i'll still like it even if it's not as big as an Elder Scroll.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Nah Riky, it would be much better if you actually explained your frame of reference for thinking that this is ”really good looking,” instead of trying to weasel out of it. I mean, do you come from the past?

 

[Calverz]

I realy liked the art style and the colours seemed to pop in the trailer. I’m also looking forward to the ghostwire hand spells thing. Looks cool

 

[Banjo64]

Nah, it would be much better if you actually explained your frame of reference for thinking that this is ”really good looking,” instead of trying to weasel out of it. I mean, do you come from the past?

I’m a simple man, I see something and pretty quickly decide if it looks good or bad. I think the game looks good. I’m not seeing all of the ‘this looks last gen’ talk at all, but even if you want to bring it to that level I’d happily just point out out that 99% of current releases look like last gen games anyway, but pushing 4k instead of 1080p.

And then I’d come to my second point which is fuck graphics. The game looks like it will be fun to play, and that’s what I care about.

 

[Negotiator101]

One of those shots is exactly in the trailer. (Aside from time of day)



0:51

Yeah, it looks 10 times better in this version, loads of detail was lost in the stream and I thought the stream was pretty good. Actually pretty excited for this now.

 

[Dutchy]

Outside of Starfield, I was most excited for this. Those first snippets we saw a couple years back painted an incredibly dark and intricate world. This looked cheap in almost every way.

 

[Phase]

Wow, I'm actually pretty disappointed. Those animations looked pretty bad, like Morrowind or something. That was very underwhelming.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Screens say it is.

This looks totally fine to me.

From this :

To the above. Since i loved both PoE, Avowed if it's even anywhere close or better in writing and world building as PoE but in first person? So in.

 

[Varteras]

Holding out hope for Perfect Dark because this was disappointing.

 

[BrutalTruth_]

Nah Riky, it would be much better if you actually explained your frame of reference for thinking that this is ”really good looking,” instead of trying to weasel out of it. I mean, do you come from the past?

We're gamers bro, why are you so angry and triggered? By your post history you just come off as a huge warrior.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

We're gamers bro, why are you so angry and triggered? By your post history you just come off as a huge warrior.

It’s pretty simple, honestly. Having low standards keeps the effort low, and we should all expect better from the platform providers. Gameplay over visuals mantra of old be damned, there is no reason we should expect anything but excellence in ALL fields when it comes to first party output.

 

[Shiny Pepe]

Definetly downgraded looks like xbox one game now.

 

[Gambit2483]

A lot of these games are starting to blend together....if you told me this was another game I wouldn't have any reason to disbelieve you.

Edit: for those disappointed by the graphics you guys have to remember these games have to also run @60 on a Series S too. I'm no longer looking to be "blown away" by MS 1st party anymore.

 

[Dibils2k]

thought it was inconsistent in its visuals but overall looks really nice, certainly has next gen density in its environments

 

[Phase]

Holding out hope for Perfect Dark because this was disappointing.

This has had a troubled development. I wouldn't hold out too much hope.

 

[Rat Rage]

nothing original in that trailer

Welcome to the AAA gaming industry in 2023.

 

[Gorgon]

My "issue" with Avowed isn't so much the somewhat dissapointing graphics but the art direction and vibe. The original game made me think they were going into dark fantasy territory, while the art direction here makes it feel like Monkey Island: the RPG. And it looks generic as hell. Not feelin' it. The gameplay looked ok and the focus on the NPC companions sounds about right.

It will be on Game Pass, so nothing lost. We'll see.

 

[M1chl]

Where is my Alpha Protocol 2, fuck fantasy, looks bad.

I wish MS would be more hands on with these projects, I guess this would be good enough for early access on Steam, but not as a release.

 

[Banjo64]

It’s pretty simple, honestly. Having low standards keeps the effort low, and we should all expect better from the platform providers. Gameplay over visuals mantra of old be damned, there is no reason we should expect anything but excellence in ALL fields when it comes to first party output.

It’s fine to expect it, but none of the 3 are delivering that.

 

[Schmendrick]

I feel like I'm looking at the next Redfall...
Super generic mediocrity.

 

[DarthPutin]

It's not just that graphics are meh, but artstyle does NOT make up for it. Even creatures looked boring.

I like everything they say about the game, but I am not sure I'll want to look at it, and first person is also big minus for me... Too bad, since I am a big ho' for fantasy RPGs, and might not live long enough to see Fable!

I'll still give it a chance as at least it's supposed to be story-heavy. Hopefully with voiced lines, moral ambiguity and everything.

ETA; Rewatched the trailer. Really though, guys, it's fantasy. So many possibilities, how do you manage to have creature design so dull and charmless.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Sometimes it looks like the CG backgrounds from PoE brought to 3D. It can look so good.

Adra

Xaurip from PoE:

It's Pillars of Eternity 3

Looks so good sometimes

 

[simpatico]

Needs a palette swap and professional reshade. Otherwise interesting.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

A lot of these games are starting to blend together....if you told me this was another game I wouldn't have any reason to disbelieve you.

Edit: for those disappointed by the graphics you guys have to remember these games have to also run @60 on a Series S too. I'm no longer looking to be "blown away" by MS 1st party anymore.

Well I certainly hope they never go with the power narrative for future consoles. One of the biggest cons in recent years is Series X. A glorified 1X with a half hearted controller amendment.

 

[IllegalLemon]

Extremely interesting. TL;DR - this game isn't going to be a Bethesda-like any more.

And yes, it turns out that was the plan—at least at first. "Originally we were pitching, in essence, our Skyrim," confirms Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart in an exclusive interview with PC Gamer.

But that is not what Avowed, as it currently exists, is going to be. "I think over the course of time as we worked on it… Bethesda makes an awesome Skyrim. Mojang makes an awesome Minecraft, and Turn10 makes awesome racing games," says Urquhart, referencing a handful of Obsidian's sister studios at Microsoft. "What we do is we make our awesome RPGs, right?"

The feeling, then, was that Obsidian were better served not following Bethesda's example of a grand, open world, but instead staying true to what an Obsidian game should be. "That's when we backed up and said again: What are we good at? What's our lane?" That core, for Urquhart, is Obsidian's dedication to storytelling. "Outer Worlds is the greatest, latest example of that, and even Pillars. Pillars is less linear than Outer Worlds, but it's still a game that has you go through a story. And [Pillars of Eternity] 2 was even less linear, but still again you have this core story as you're going."

For Avowed, the focus is going to be specifically on your companions, and how their story relates to the driving narrative of the game. "We could go off and create an 8km x 8km open world and then deal with all the consequences of that—because that makes it a different style game. But we want to tell more confined stories that the player can experience with their companions, and then move from part of the world to part of the world. And, like I said, in the end, that's us."

"Every game development process for every title is this chain of ideation, iteration and polish," says Avowed director Carrie Patel, reflecting on how the scope of Avowed has changed over the years. "Sometimes you realize the way you're building, it is not quite living up to the experience you want to create. And so, in iteration and refinement, you say, 'Well, how do we create the experience that we want to deliver to players, and particularly as a studio? How do we deliver on what we're really good at specifically?'

"I think where Obsidian really shines as an RPG maker is with this really evocative nuanced world building, stories that are more focused on depth and breadth, and really thoughtful quest design that rewards experimentation and exploration from players—that gives them a sense of agency. And that gives them a meaningful set of options with how they interact with the world and characters."

The upshot, then, is that Avowed won't be as large, open and freeform as an Elder Scrolls game, but maybe that's for the best? Given the enduring popularity of the studio's RPGs over the years, staying true to that spirit feels like a sensible choice. "As we looked at the Avowed we're building, we wanted to make sure that we were really fulfilling those strengths and creating something that felt like a true Obsidian RPG," says Patel.

Honestly, when reading that interview piece, I never expected for the rumours of Obsidian downscaling significantly from their original plan and vision to be true. I can't describe the disappointment I felt, when the trailer itself, in addition to the interview proved me wrong. Avowed was my most anticipated game from all of Xbox's lineup. This made all my excitement fall completely off the edge of a cliff. I expected so much more, since this is Obsidian and they had a proven track record. The screenshots they shared looked really nice though (quite colourful too). Hope Obsidian delivers. Honestly at this point, I don't know what to think anymore.

 

[Grizzled Ghost]

Will I need to have base Skyrim installed to play this?

 

[Banjo64]

Honestly, when reading that interview piece, I never expected for the rumours of Obsidian downscaling significantly from their original plan and vision to be true. I can't describe the disappointment I felt, when the trailer itself, in addition to the interview proved me wrong. Avowed was my most anticipated game from all of Xbox's lineup. This made all my excitement fall completely off the edge of a cliff. I expected so much more, since this is Obsidian and they had a proven track record. I just don't know what to think anymore.

I understand. Especially considering Obsidian and Xbox sold this as the game that Obsidian were destined to make, the pitch of which convinced Xbox to acquire the studio. Big weight.

That being said, doing what you are good at is an infinitely better option than releasing a bad clone. So I applaud them for recognising and reverting to their strengths.

 

[IllegalLemon]

I understand. Especially considering Obsidian and Xbox sold this as the game that Obsidian were destined to make, the pitch of which convinced Xbox to acquire the studio. Big weight.

That being said, doing what you are good at is an infinitely better option than releasing a bad clone. So I applaud them for recognising and reverting to their strengths.

I agree. I am being a bit harsh on purpose, considering that this is Obsidian we're talking about. The screenshots they shared were really good though. I'll reserve judgement until I've seen enough stuff from the game.

 

[VN1X]

I said to my girlfriend "this is Elders Scrolls Online, right?"

It looks like shit. No better than a 2011 game.

Shameful stuff

Yes, the creators of this "game" should commit Sudoku!!

 

[Varteras]

Yes, the creators of this "game" should commit Sudoku!!

Spoiler: Dishonor!

 

[DenchDeckard]

Looks incredible!

 

[Gaelyon]

Visually it's low tier especially for a 2024 game, hopefully the gameplay will be great.

 

[Kacho]

Looks good. Hope the RPG stuff is up to snuff. That’s the most important thing.

Excited to explore the world of Pillars in first person.

 

[93xfan]

disappointment of the show. Hopefully is still fun, but they need to at least tweak that art style.

 

[Captain Toad]

I hope they improve it significantly. Otherwise, Avowed will have its own Redfall moment.

It didn't look great, but nowhere near Redfall levels.

 

[93xfan]

Looked kinda bad IMO. Maybe trailer gave the wrong impression, because I'm so fed up with the new wave edge.

Rewatching it: it looks okay until they start showing the spider looking thing. Then it’s about a minute of off-putting lighting and colors.

 

[mrabott]

Looks like it could be fun but pretty underwhelming graphically.

edit: looks much MUCH better than Fable

Graphics are nothing without good gameplay and a good story.
Give me good acting and a game worth playing and I'll play even with PS2 graphics.

 

[xrnzaaas]

The visuals were pretty bad and the combat looks rough. I'm predicting a cold reception from most RPG fans like several years ago with The Outer Worlds.

 

[Gambit2483]

Well I certainly hope they never go with the power narrative for future consoles. One of the biggest cons in recent years is Series X. A glorified 1X with a half hearted controller amendment.

We all knew this day was coming sooner or later. Games usually get better in visuals as the generation continues, but when you have to constantly design around weaker hardware....well, we are now seeing the results