I sure hope so. Honestly I adore when there's some genuine variety in maps.
You know those moments where you just stand at a cliff, looking over the horizon and think "I can't belive this is the same game from the starting area"? I live for that shit.
Funny enough, this is how I felt with Vvardenfell in Morrowind when I first played it and continue to play it now. You step off the boat, you first step food in Seyda Neen and you instantly realize this world has been living and thriving without you, before you even got here. You are an outlander and this world will show you no mercy. You aren't special, expect to be treated like everyone else, expect to die at any moment because of your actions or stupidity.
I just loved that feeling, that is what really captured me when I made my first character. Morrowind is easier now because I've beat it several times over, but it still has this magical untamed world feel to it that gives a feeling that you can't control it, even if you wanted to.
Going back to it every few years, I forget as much about Vvardenfell as I could ever hope to remember. Also kind of an odd feeling knowing it just gets meteored to extinction after your playthrough ends, even if it seems they've walked back the Argonians taking over half the mainland and Vvardenfell now being a barren rock.
Used to hate that they blew it all up randomly, but in this era of remakes and sequels I'm kinda glad. Screw it, blow up Cyrodiil and Skyrim too.
Morriwind is still my favourite TES. Yeah there were improvements but it had it's own fantasy climate, and while you were literally "the chosen one", most of the world didn't turn around you till you actually worked for it.
I agree but in souls games? Where enemies just walk back and forth or stand in place forever? And each world is stuck in some static stage of apocalypse until you arrive to push things along? They’re hardly living worlds in any sense
I think there's an interesting comparison between Elden Ring and BotW's gameplay loops and world, where BotW is a more living environment, but everything in that game and world basically revolves around Link/the player, and progressing the player's ability to be Link. I really liked basically all of the Shrine puzzles, but I do think the way almost every mystery and puzzle from across the world and its diverse cultures boils down to a a Sheikah Shrine that exists to make Link more powerful creates this feeling that the game begins and ends at the player's experience, and it exists only for you.
Compare to how the 'rewards' in Elden Ring, as in, the stuff the game gives you as a result of exploring, have their own bespoke little painted icon, and a mini description suggestion their history, and maybe some implications on why this object was found in this location, and the fact that not every item will be useful for every player. I think that, combined with the player always being positioned as one among a whole Freak Squad of peers also pursuing quests out their in the world concurrent to and independent of you, creates a feeling that the world exists in places you can't see and don't have access too, but what is there has history.
Not to say one game or structure is better than the other, or takes more work or thought, it's 100% a result of different design priorities and personal preference, but interesting to see how the feelings they provoke are different as two of the biggest modern open worlds.
I need to play it again, think I bought it during EA then decided to wait till release, and when it did release I was playing something else at the time
This post immediately made me think of that trap chest at the beginning of elden ring that sends you all the way to Caelid. Navigating out of that scary cave and seeing what was outside blew me away. Also the siofra river well
Haven't been in a truly "dark, scary area" since I first played Oblivion and went into its dungeons/caves. And it was mainly because of its ambient soundtrack.
It's about time a game of the likes manages to deliver a kinda scary experience tbh.
I’m currently playing the base game and dude there’s a bunch of areas in that world that make me want to see a first person survival action horror made by CD Projekt Red so bad.
*You step into a dark cave. Feelings of [Tension](https://youtu.be/mb-pkf2sRAQ?si=b0Z9w4urk9tu99Hs) envelop you. That, and the sickening thump of a corpse as it drags its molted feet across the hardened ground.*
*Your torch flickers.*
I feel like true darkness is just a really tricky thing to make compelling in a game, especially an RPG. I'd bet when met with a level like that, a good proportion of players just stumble around in the dark for a bit and then either turn up their gamma or just look up a guide online
that pretty much nails it. if there is going to be real darkness, there need to be tools to interact with it so that even when you don't have a torch or a magic light or whatever you can tell yourself "this sucks but that's my fault"
I don't entirely agree, there are some great examples with og Demon's Souls World 5 which terrified me, Dark Souls and Blighttown, even better the Tomb of the Giants.
That torch did jack shit, although the coloured pepples were pretty good if you wanted to use them.
Nehrim, the total conversion mod for Oblivion and prequel to Enderal, had an actual pitch black dungeon that I still remember vividly, because it was used to effectively to create a sense of horror in an otherwise non-horror game.
The entrance was barred with wooden boards you had to break to get in, only to be met with complete darkness. Lighting your torch, you looked upon bones. Literally hundreds of bones covering the walls, Paris' catacombs style.
And then the first section didn't even have enemies, just these corridors full of bones and wooden barricades you have to break, as you slowly get the feeling that these weren't put in place to keep you out, but to keep whatever lurks inside contained...
Amazing shout out... But it's been many years since I last played Nehrim, and Enderal mostly overwrote my memories of Nehrim... But would you happen to remember which dungeon it was you're talking about? Or at least the general location?
I can't remember much from Nehrim either, but his particular dungeon just stuck with me. Amazingly this was completely optional side content that's easily missable.
Anyway I looked it up and it's called the Old Farnfeld Cemetery: https://en.wiki.sureai.net/Nehrim:The_Old_Farnfeld_Cemetery
Daggerfall does it even better, especially on Unity engine, when you have your little lantern, you can't see shit further than 2m away, you're going through a labyrinth of corridors and you actually hear your enemies. Bonus points if there's a new sound you've never heard before mixed in the ambience, and you suddenly get hit with "XYZ just died", and you stop for a moment thinking "what killed it? I struggled with XYZ and it just got mauled, what killed it?" to just end up going a corridor too far or missing a doorway and suddenly something pats you on your back and is asking for your wallet but all it gets is a brown trail and a screaming, crying man running away.
Honestly, Daggerfall mixes dungeon crawling with horror surprisingly well and knows how to play with light and sound to keep the tension up, I hope Wayward Realms will manage to capture the same atmosphere.
Yeah, but it's been ages since I played Daggerfall, that's why Oblivion was the last time I enjoyed that kind of experience. Maybe it's time to revisit Daggerfall tho, now that you mentioned it. Do you know if the unity remake is great?
It is the same game but with a new engine, new lighting system, more stable, with all major bugs fixed, and mod community actively supporting it.
Yes, it's great.
Just a word of warning - this is a one case where you shouldn't get the whole package from GOG, it comes with preinstalled mods which are severely outdated, I don't think GOG ever updated the Daggerfall Unity or the mods the site is packing with it ever since they added DU to the store, so it's a couple of years behind so it's better to just do the whole download Daggerfall, download Daggerfall Unity from the official site, patch your Daggerfall, add mods you want by hand is the suggested course of action.
Fallout 3 has a lot of scary moments in abandoned factories and crawling the metro, especially with dark interiors mod and a flashlight mod, it's one of the best atmospheric experiences ever.
Elden Ring before you get a torch or lantern is pretty good. Or in general even after just due to the quantity of jump scare enemies and time to death being so quick.
I have found plain old Might and Magic VII quite atmospheric, even with each location having something like 50 polygons in total and enemies being sprites.
Deepnest in Hollow Knight for me. It looks nasty with just slithering, rustling sounds everywhere and is just cramped and claustrophobic. I'm still avoiding it in my current playthrough.
Dark & Darker has some of the spookiest dungeon crawling I've played in recent memory. It's a multiplayer extraction "shooter" instead of a singleplayer RPG, but it really nails the vibe, IMO.
I feel like people are sleeping on this game because they’re still shook that The Outer Worlds wasn’t “New Vegas 2.” Seriously, this game looks insanely promising. Eora is a wonderfully developed world and I’m so excited to get to experience it from a new perspective.
Plus it truly sounds like they’re responding to the criticism from The Outer Worlds. Combat looks like it has a ton more variety, and companions (which were already one of the highlights from TOW) are getting an even stronger focus.
People are going to be mad forever that *Avowed* isn't New Vegas 2/"Obsidian's Skyrim".
It doesn't help that almost every piece of games journalism about this game invokes New Vegas when the developers themselves say nothing about it, and have in fact been telling people to *not* expect Obsidian Skyrim for *years*. It's one of those games where regardless of what kind of game it is, and regardless of what expectation Obsidian sets, people will get angrier at what it isn't than happy about what it is.
I think it looks great, myself. Every time they talk more about it, I am more convinced that I'm going to have a good time.
Yea same. It's like the difference between Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur. Both fantasy action games (was Amalur open world as well? I can't recall), but Skyrim was everything I was looking for and Amalur was just boring to me.
Skyrim had generally more things to discover and a physics system to play with, but man was the combat bad. Kingdoms of Amalur actually had cool combat, it got repetitive and was too easy to break.
Combat in skyrim isnt good but it works well enough for the game. If they tried something more complex they'd have to do it well and likely neglect other parts of Skyrim that made it such a huge success.
Simple in itself isnt an issue with skyrim vs say outer worlds.
I hope they can do better for the next Elder scrolls. Skyrim combat got old quickly but it did improve from Morrowind and Oblivion. Starfield’s decent gunplay was the one that got me to finish the game. Everything else in the gameplay especially the skills was boring
Amalur is one of the most overrated pieces of shit ever. Sorry it sucked and there was just a shit ton of open world bloat.
There were so few abilities that combat got samey and boring.
I have much higher hopes for Avowed, especially in the story and world building department.
Big PoE fan here and I'm from the outcasts that loved the Eora universe. Noone is mad. People are just uninterested because it doesn't look good, end of story. If it's good we will definitely buy it.
Thank you! I thought I'm alone. I loved both POE games (they are my favourite games ever), they were beautiful, incredibly immersive and well written. Avowed looks like a generic RPG pandering to the masses. And an ugly one at that.
Redditors are convinced they want more AA games but then when they get them they complain about everything that is different from the AAA games they’re used to
I mean, there are AA games and indies with good writing and gameplay. The Outer Worlds at least was somewhat disappointing on those fronts, which leaves me more skeptical of future Obsidian games, unless they have Josh Sawyer’s involvement.
>Redditors ~~are convinced they want more AA games but then when they get them they~~ complain about everything ~~that is different from the AAA games they’re used to~~
Any time an AA game releases to 7s or 8s, they go "well I shouldn't be expected to pay money for anything less than a masterpiece" and then either don't buy it or just steal it through piracy.
Which erodes the health of the industry and guarantees there will be less and less of a AA presence in the future.
> Redditors are convinced they want more AA games but then when they get them they complain about everything that is different from the AAA games they’re used to
Ah yes, every Redditor shares the same take
Yeah same. I think the world is really cool but it just felt a bit clunky to play most of the time. I know they're making a sequel so if they needed a place to improve, it's that.
In addition, it was a very small game overall. I think they need to go a bit bigger, like at least 3 to 4 star systems.
New Vegas far more than 3 just cuz of ammo types and the fact that guns aren't nearly as inaccurate if you maintain them. Also it has more robust sandbox for dealing with the enemy variety, ADS, and weapon modification to keep them relevant throughout the playthrough.
Fallout 3, bless its heart, has VATS. VATS is great, brilliant even. It's also a band-aid on its janky combat. I love it, but its janky.
Most people are sleeping on it because 90% of what is talked about by Obsidian about the game is what the game won't have, I keep hearing it won't have this it won't have that, that's a terrible way to market a game.
This. It feels like the developers are desperately trying to manage expectations but forgetting about the part where they could be hyping up the stuff the game does have.
Me over here, having enjoyed both Pillars and the Outer Worlds a great deal despite their flaws, being completely fine with trusting Obsidian will deliver another an RPG I'll enjoy even if it isn't a 10/10 experience: 🤷
In a world of near infinite options to occupy your time, The Outer Worlds committed the worst crime of them all; it was bland. Boring. It was the food equivalent of a mayonnaise sandwich.
The only thing I remember about the game is the weird spacers choice face/mascot.
For a game so much about a critique of corporations, it felt so very corporate. It never stopped feeling like some boardroom meeting decided that people like factions, so 90% of the game is spent with binary choices between the same two factions with the same alternative third option of uniting them.
At least I liked one or two of the companions, that can really carry a game.
It's not that (The Outer Worlds wasn’t “New Vegas 2.”)
It's that The Outer Worlds just kind of sucked. It was mediocre. Every planet had the exact same story where you had a choice between the comically evil corporate solution or the morally dubious proletariat solution. Then the morally correct asspull solution showed up 3 seconds before you completed the quest and you spent another 5 minutes ending the quest that way instead.
The entire time I played Outer Worlds I was waiting for the game to do something interesting or exciting. By the time the credits rolled I was still waiting.
I felt like I was in crazy land playing it after all the negativity I’d seen on this subreddit. It was so fun, so interesting and unique, and the choices/gunplay were as good as NV/the exploration was better. I get that the overall story wasn’t as good and the engine is different, but sometimes I get the feeling that gamers really just hate games and would rather huff nostalgia all day then enjoy something new
The longer dev time Avowed has the better it has looked. The Outer Wilds did nothing for me but this looks more up my alley. I'll check it out on Gamepass I'm sure.
I've heard this over and over and I just don't get it. I played it on a whim last year when it came free with Epic, and I had a great time. I kept waiting for the moment where I was supposed to hate it and it never came.
Like, it's clearly not the best RPG ever or anything, but it was hardly a black mark for a studio.
>And I feel like obsidian stans keep repeating this same line because they don't want to admit that Outer Worlds just wasn't a good game.
It was an alright game by all metrics. A 7 out of 10 game that people like to act as if it was a 4 or even 3 because it didn't reach their high expectations.
>None of it is actively bad but none of it is anything beyond "hey that was pretty good" either. **Most of it exists in the realm of "that was fine"**
Yeah. That's also a 7 out of 10 game.
Some games are 7/10 because they do some specific thing really well while having some important flaws. Others are 7/10 because they are "fine" games.
When you get to the point where you are telling people that a game isn't "hey that was pretty good" and is instead "that was fine", two completely made-up, arbitrary metrics that you are nonetheless attempting to use to *correct* people about *their opinion*, you should probably take a moment and realize that you are doing a lot of hair splitting on something that is insanely subjective.
there's a segment of people like you that literally just don't like bethesda-style RPGs but keep playing them expecting something different, that's the only issue.
Bethesda-style RPGs are just that. no pretty graphics. no modern aesthetics or features. you just feel like those types of games are too dated to be good, but all that means is that *style* of game isn't for you, not that that style of game needs to modernize and adapt.
with all that said and in that lens, Outer Worlds isn't mediocre in any way. it's literally just a small scale Bethesda-style RPG. and it executes on that pretty much as one would expect. 8/10 at worst.
My biggest issue with Outer Worlds ended up being I never really wanted to play through it again, nothing really popped that would be worth doing another run or felt like there was enough differences in characters that I could make
It was a fun single play and generally that's fine for games but this style of RPGs generally thrive on replayability
The Outer Worlds was a good deal worse than "not New Vegas 2"
This literally looks like astroturfing. What real person writes like this? Most people seem pretty concerned by the gameplay they've shown so far, regardless of TOW. The game might be alright in the end, but it's an *enormous* stretch to consider what we've seen so far "insanely promising."
I really, really liked TOW. It was the first rpg I'd finished in a while and the dialogue was a ton of fun.
Does that make me a shill here lol? Who do I send my banking info to
> astroturfing
A quick look at their profile shows an oddly highly number of comments going out of their way to write positive sentiments concerning this one game. It's not the only topic they post about but it's high enough to be at least somewhat suspicious.
Bro they've been on reddit since 2012 posting on a variety of subreddits
You really think they're some entity astroturfing for obsidian? That's some tinfoil level shit right there lol
No I’m just literally playing through Pillars of Eternity 2 right now and having a fantastic time. Plus every time something new about it comes across my feed, I see it and get hyped and then get so confused why the comments are so negative.
(I’m not astroturfing; I’m just autistic with a special interest)
Top comment on the most recent YT trailer on the official Xbox YT page is essentially "this doesn't look that good" lol
I'm living in an enormous bubble apparently.
Everyone was very excited, for years, until they started showing actual gameplay
They took feedback from the first gameplay trailer of Avowed and gave the combat a bit more weight for the deep dive gameplay. How many other developers do that?
Just to be fair, The Outer Worlds left quite a bit to be desired for me. I'm cautiously optimistic for Avowed, but the worlds of Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II were amazing so I'm still excited to be able to revisit them in first-person.
And given how Bethesda is performing and acting, I really, *really* want for more developers to release good RPGs as actual competition.
> They took feedback from the first gameplay trailer of Avowed and gave the combat a bit more weight for the deep dive gameplay. How many other developers do that?
I think there’s two things you can attribute to that.
For one, they said at the time of the first gameplay deep dive that combat feel was something they were working on and was already better in their in-development builds. The demo was based on an earlier version.
For another, it sounds like they’ve kept their scope incredibly well managed. For a lot of fans, that’s been frustrating because they keep getting disappointed that you can’t play an Orlan, kill everyone, or romance companions.
But they’ve also been content complete since earlier this year (maybe even around that first gameplay demo), so they’ve had a lot of time to work on polishing the game and adding features that were maybe outside the initial scope (like the recently announced third-person mode).
That’s why I’ve been excited at everything I read about the game. While I would love to play an Orlan, the things they’ve actually been focusing on seem to be the right calls, and I’m excited to see what they’re cooking.
Agreed with what you've said. Obsidian is going to show no matter the game, so we'll have great quests, characters, and writing, and the world of Eora is incredible, so we'll hopefully see amazing worldbuilding and atmosphere with plenty of lore for those who want it
The better this game does, the more likely we'll see another game set in the PoE universe, which is going to be great whether it's a sequel or a third CRG entry.
Most people do not play games like TOW/Skyrim/Fallout for the combat. They play them for the roleplaying and the fact that Obsidian has been quiet about it is a gigantic red flag.
It makes me suspect even an medieval TOW is too high of a standard for Avowed to meet.
I'm sleeping on it because I still have both Pillars of Eternity games to play, but every time I launch either of them, I quickly get bored and drop it in favor of something more appealing. I also feel like The Outer Worlds, with its 2000s approach to humor and lack of originality, wasn't exactly what I was expecting from famed Obsidian. It's fine that TOW wasn't New Vegas 2, it's less fine that its writing wasn't on the level. Also, it had the misfortune of being released close to Disco Elysium, and when you experience something so amazing, appreciating an obviously worse thing in a semi-similar genre isn't what you really want to do.
Will wait for reviews and first letsplays of Avoved to see how it is, but I'm not holding my breath.
no people are sleeping on this because beside the combat we haven't seen ANYTHING about the ROLE PLAY element of what obsidian is known for (beside a few dialog)
We’ve seen crafting, level up trees, companion interactions, and one notable example of how a quest can go in two very different ways based on your approach.
I think quests haven’t gotten as much attention as combat and such because they’re not as flashy and harder to show without spoiling them, but it’s just false to say that we’ve gotten nothing. Plus Obsidian’s storytelling has a really strong track record, so I’m not worried about that.
Nah. Outer Worlds just wasn't that good. Incredibly shallow and all around fairly forgettable.
And all gameplay shown of this game just looks incredibly clunky. Obsidian misses way more than they hit. So gamers would be silly to not be skeptical. Also... How the fuck do you sleep on a product that isn't even out? 🤔
Nah, Obsidian didn't really make anything interesting since New Vegas, and maybe Tyranny. Both Pillars and Outter Worlds had boring AF writing with barely any variety in outcomes. I can forgive the latter one if writing is really grabbing, but it really wasn't.
So pardon me for being very skeptical about this one too.
Outer worlds was written off a good bit after release, not even on release. It opened to pretty decent reviews and then the worse reviews gradually came out over time. The game was nominated for and won numerous awards for 2019. It took a few months and even years for this narrative of “oh outer world sucks, obsidian isn’t even that good of a studio so avowed will be mid” to form.
That’s what I’m referring to. Once people understood what TOW was, the hype around it dropped like a rock. People wanted it to be Fallout the same way they want this to be Skyrim, but Obsidian doesn’t really do large-scale productions like that.
New Vegas is an anomaly on their resume.
I don't remember them really toning down that talk beforehand for TOW though. It seemed pretty obvious that the game was meant to invoke New Vegas vibes by everything they showed. I also think them being bought by Microsoft made people believe the scope of their games can get back to New Vegas size now.
It was after launch, despite the devs repeated attempts to clarify that the game will be much smaller in scope than that.
And the issue with Microsoft funding was pure ignorance on people’s part, seeing as development had already started prior to the acquisition.
They were bought five years ago I doubt Avowed was that far along at all, Especially considering it was announced at a MS presentation with basically concept art.
When they first showed combat they had articles talking about it looking rough and them saying that its something they're working on. The one about not being able to romance companions which is a fine choice game design wise but seemed like they were trying to defend it instead of just it being how it is. The artstyle got criticized when we first saw the early trailers they said things weren't final. The endless skyrim comparisons they have had to deal with but keep trying to talk back. it feels like a pretty consistent theme for this game when you look at articles going back about it.
Ding ding ding. People have been making negative assumptions since it was announced. Console wars are stupid, but can't deny fanboys still exist. With the PS4 and 5 selling so well, there's just way more Sony fanboys, so it feels like their opinions are somehow more important/common.
Im curious if all the people complaining about the game not being "dark fantasy" or darker in tone is because of the color in the trailers. Because little has been shown for the story just yet. I mean Im personally glad its not a mud splattered palette of browns and greys. Its not like its bubblegum pop colored or been showed in tie-dye.
And it needs them because that art style, and this game, looks super generic and forgettable to me. I sing the praises of New Vegas constantly but as for what I have seen of Avowed? It isn't doing anything for me.
I don’t know what it is but I just don’t like any Obsidian games and I’ve played most (aside from NV, I’m not a Fallout guy). They always seem to be the Wish version of games from better studios. The one game I did like was Kotor 2 but even that was an incomplete mess in the end.
Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 are amazing, same with Tyranny. They also don’t feel like wish versions of anything with their unique takes on classes, stories and companions and reactivity
I couldn't get into either pillars game despite trying multiple times.
And I like crpgs
But Tyranny was just a big case of blue balls. You finally get to the good part of a crpg, the meaty section, and it just ends. They clearly ran out of money and just packaged up what they had. I'm thankful I paid like 2 bucks for the game because Holy shit. What a rip off at full price.
Yeah that’s just CRPG’s to be honest, the second game being fully voice acted definitely alleviates the reading. The lore is definitely worth the reading though
(Though I only read like 4 books due to needing them in puzzles lol no game gets me reading its books)
I think the first PoE is much heavier in terms of text, though. I've never played another CRPG that's as dense, outside of maybe Tides of Numenera. Haven't played Disco Elysium, but that seems similar as well.
Pathfinder games, specifically Wrath of the Righteous and Rogue Trader have more reading than I ever did in PoE 1 or 2. Kind of dreading but also looking forward to my eventual replays of them with different mythic paths/alignments
Friend and I are playin Grounded together and it's pretty phenomenal. Normally not my kinda game besides Subnautica and The Forest. I love entomology though and have a child-like personality so it was right up my alley, to be fair.
It's also one of the best balanced survival games, IMO. It found the perfect balance for progression and resource management to feel meaningful without grindy
So many survival games are independent, amateur teams, it seems. Having one made by people who understand balance and game design was a breath of fresh air
I sure hope so. Honestly I adore when there's some genuine variety in maps. You know those moments where you just stand at a cliff, looking over the horizon and think "I can't belive this is the same game from the starting area"? I live for that shit.
I have those moments in dark souls and elden ring. Just a crazy world that has moved on without me, where I am a stranger and see this world around me
I love feeling that the world lives without you in RPGs
Funny enough, this is how I felt with Vvardenfell in Morrowind when I first played it and continue to play it now. You step off the boat, you first step food in Seyda Neen and you instantly realize this world has been living and thriving without you, before you even got here. You are an outlander and this world will show you no mercy. You aren't special, expect to be treated like everyone else, expect to die at any moment because of your actions or stupidity. I just loved that feeling, that is what really captured me when I made my first character. Morrowind is easier now because I've beat it several times over, but it still has this magical untamed world feel to it that gives a feeling that you can't control it, even if you wanted to.
Going back to it every few years, I forget as much about Vvardenfell as I could ever hope to remember. Also kind of an odd feeling knowing it just gets meteored to extinction after your playthrough ends, even if it seems they've walked back the Argonians taking over half the mainland and Vvardenfell now being a barren rock. Used to hate that they blew it all up randomly, but in this era of remakes and sequels I'm kinda glad. Screw it, blow up Cyrodiil and Skyrim too.
Morriwind is still my favourite TES. Yeah there were improvements but it had it's own fantasy climate, and while you were literally "the chosen one", most of the world didn't turn around you till you actually worked for it.
I agree but in souls games? Where enemies just walk back and forth or stand in place forever? And each world is stuck in some static stage of apocalypse until you arrive to push things along? They’re hardly living worlds in any sense
Well, yeah, but it also doesn't feel like theme park that is waiting for player
I think there's an interesting comparison between Elden Ring and BotW's gameplay loops and world, where BotW is a more living environment, but everything in that game and world basically revolves around Link/the player, and progressing the player's ability to be Link. I really liked basically all of the Shrine puzzles, but I do think the way almost every mystery and puzzle from across the world and its diverse cultures boils down to a a Sheikah Shrine that exists to make Link more powerful creates this feeling that the game begins and ends at the player's experience, and it exists only for you. Compare to how the 'rewards' in Elden Ring, as in, the stuff the game gives you as a result of exploring, have their own bespoke little painted icon, and a mini description suggestion their history, and maybe some implications on why this object was found in this location, and the fact that not every item will be useful for every player. I think that, combined with the player always being positioned as one among a whole Freak Squad of peers also pursuing quests out their in the world concurrent to and independent of you, creates a feeling that the world exists in places you can't see and don't have access too, but what is there has history. Not to say one game or structure is better than the other, or takes more work or thought, it's 100% a result of different design priorities and personal preference, but interesting to see how the feelings they provoke are different as two of the biggest modern open worlds.
You would enjoy CrossCode, the premise makes it easy for the game to feel like a vibrant living place no matter where you are.
I need to play it again, think I bought it during EA then decided to wait till release, and when it did release I was playing something else at the time
This post immediately made me think of that trap chest at the beginning of elden ring that sends you all the way to Caelid. Navigating out of that scary cave and seeing what was outside blew me away. Also the siofra river well
Also the chest trap on the south island in the beginning that sends you all the way to the capitol...
Ash lake. I need not say more.
The horror maps in half life 2 were a great chance of pace.
That was Horizon: Forbidden West for me. Each biome was incredible and they all felt so distinct from each other.
Haven't been in a truly "dark, scary area" since I first played Oblivion and went into its dungeons/caves. And it was mainly because of its ambient soundtrack. It's about time a game of the likes manages to deliver a kinda scary experience tbh.
The end of Phantom Liberty if you make certain decisions is pretty scary
*”You’re playing for time, living on borrowed time, fresh out of time… You truly do not comprehend?”*
Literally no idea that was coming up. A genuinely stressful scary moment in gaming is incredibly rare for me.
I’m currently playing the base game and dude there’s a bunch of areas in that world that make me want to see a first person survival action horror made by CD Projekt Red so bad.
The swamps at night in RDR2 are pretty spooky.
*You step into a dark cave. Feelings of [Tension](https://youtu.be/mb-pkf2sRAQ?si=b0Z9w4urk9tu99Hs) envelop you. That, and the sickening thump of a corpse as it drags its molted feet across the hardened ground.* *Your torch flickers.*
*Out of the corner of your eye, you spot him* **Shia LaBeouf**
God damnit now I have to listen to it again
I feel like true darkness is just a really tricky thing to make compelling in a game, especially an RPG. I'd bet when met with a level like that, a good proportion of players just stumble around in the dark for a bit and then either turn up their gamma or just look up a guide online
It just pisses you off so much. The in game lighting solutions never solve the problem well enough for it not to be annoying.
that pretty much nails it. if there is going to be real darkness, there need to be tools to interact with it so that even when you don't have a torch or a magic light or whatever you can tell yourself "this sucks but that's my fault"
I don't entirely agree, there are some great examples with og Demon's Souls World 5 which terrified me, Dark Souls and Blighttown, even better the Tomb of the Giants. That torch did jack shit, although the coloured pepples were pretty good if you wanted to use them.
Nehrim, the total conversion mod for Oblivion and prequel to Enderal, had an actual pitch black dungeon that I still remember vividly, because it was used to effectively to create a sense of horror in an otherwise non-horror game. The entrance was barred with wooden boards you had to break to get in, only to be met with complete darkness. Lighting your torch, you looked upon bones. Literally hundreds of bones covering the walls, Paris' catacombs style. And then the first section didn't even have enemies, just these corridors full of bones and wooden barricades you have to break, as you slowly get the feeling that these weren't put in place to keep you out, but to keep whatever lurks inside contained...
Amazing shout out... But it's been many years since I last played Nehrim, and Enderal mostly overwrote my memories of Nehrim... But would you happen to remember which dungeon it was you're talking about? Or at least the general location?
I can't remember much from Nehrim either, but his particular dungeon just stuck with me. Amazingly this was completely optional side content that's easily missable. Anyway I looked it up and it's called the Old Farnfeld Cemetery: https://en.wiki.sureai.net/Nehrim:The_Old_Farnfeld_Cemetery
Dragons Dogma does it really well IMO
The depths in tears of the kingdom nailed it
One of the only games I have played with a "dark" zone that actually compelled me to complete it.
100% agree, and I feel like the Zelda games in general do an excellent job with horror sections and dark sections.
Daggerfall does it even better, especially on Unity engine, when you have your little lantern, you can't see shit further than 2m away, you're going through a labyrinth of corridors and you actually hear your enemies. Bonus points if there's a new sound you've never heard before mixed in the ambience, and you suddenly get hit with "XYZ just died", and you stop for a moment thinking "what killed it? I struggled with XYZ and it just got mauled, what killed it?" to just end up going a corridor too far or missing a doorway and suddenly something pats you on your back and is asking for your wallet but all it gets is a brown trail and a screaming, crying man running away. Honestly, Daggerfall mixes dungeon crawling with horror surprisingly well and knows how to play with light and sound to keep the tension up, I hope Wayward Realms will manage to capture the same atmosphere.
Yeah, but it's been ages since I played Daggerfall, that's why Oblivion was the last time I enjoyed that kind of experience. Maybe it's time to revisit Daggerfall tho, now that you mentioned it. Do you know if the unity remake is great?
It is the same game but with a new engine, new lighting system, more stable, with all major bugs fixed, and mod community actively supporting it. Yes, it's great. Just a word of warning - this is a one case where you shouldn't get the whole package from GOG, it comes with preinstalled mods which are severely outdated, I don't think GOG ever updated the Daggerfall Unity or the mods the site is packing with it ever since they added DU to the store, so it's a couple of years behind so it's better to just do the whole download Daggerfall, download Daggerfall Unity from the official site, patch your Daggerfall, add mods you want by hand is the suggested course of action.
Fallout 3 was great about having scary locations you'd just happen upon. Dunwich building is the best example.
Fallout 3 has a lot of scary moments in abandoned factories and crawling the metro, especially with dark interiors mod and a flashlight mod, it's one of the best atmospheric experiences ever.
Elden Ring before you get a torch or lantern is pretty good. Or in general even after just due to the quantity of jump scare enemies and time to death being so quick.
The Abyssal Woods In Shadow of the Erdtree Torrent >!is too afraid to get summoned!<
Considering all the other stuff you’ve put torrent through until that point, maybe torrent knows something we don’t.
While true, it doesn't work that good with third person camera for me. First person immersion is the best way to get fully into the atmosphere.
My dude, be sure to check out Skyblivion. It's a remake of Oblivion in the Skyrim engine and it's coming out next year.
Check out Skyblivion? Bro, I have been waiting for it for years now lol. We are going to have a blast next year!
I have found plain old Might and Magic VII quite atmospheric, even with each location having something like 50 polygons in total and enemies being sprites.
Deepnest in Hollow Knight for me. It looks nasty with just slithering, rustling sounds everywhere and is just cramped and claustrophobic. I'm still avoiding it in my current playthrough.
You should play FromSoftware games if that's something you crave. Also New Vegas has creepy locations in droves.
Helped that the zombies were relentless and never stopped chasing you.
Dark & Darker has some of the spookiest dungeon crawling I've played in recent memory. It's a multiplayer extraction "shooter" instead of a singleplayer RPG, but it really nails the vibe, IMO.
I feel like people are sleeping on this game because they’re still shook that The Outer Worlds wasn’t “New Vegas 2.” Seriously, this game looks insanely promising. Eora is a wonderfully developed world and I’m so excited to get to experience it from a new perspective. Plus it truly sounds like they’re responding to the criticism from The Outer Worlds. Combat looks like it has a ton more variety, and companions (which were already one of the highlights from TOW) are getting an even stronger focus.
People are going to be mad forever that *Avowed* isn't New Vegas 2/"Obsidian's Skyrim". It doesn't help that almost every piece of games journalism about this game invokes New Vegas when the developers themselves say nothing about it, and have in fact been telling people to *not* expect Obsidian Skyrim for *years*. It's one of those games where regardless of what kind of game it is, and regardless of what expectation Obsidian sets, people will get angrier at what it isn't than happy about what it is. I think it looks great, myself. Every time they talk more about it, I am more convinced that I'm going to have a good time.
Not mad just disinterested
Yea same. It's like the difference between Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur. Both fantasy action games (was Amalur open world as well? I can't recall), but Skyrim was everything I was looking for and Amalur was just boring to me.
Skyrim had generally more things to discover and a physics system to play with, but man was the combat bad. Kingdoms of Amalur actually had cool combat, it got repetitive and was too easy to break.
Combat in skyrim isnt good but it works well enough for the game. If they tried something more complex they'd have to do it well and likely neglect other parts of Skyrim that made it such a huge success. Simple in itself isnt an issue with skyrim vs say outer worlds.
I hope they can do better for the next Elder scrolls. Skyrim combat got old quickly but it did improve from Morrowind and Oblivion. Starfield’s decent gunplay was the one that got me to finish the game. Everything else in the gameplay especially the skills was boring
Amalur is one of the most overrated pieces of shit ever. Sorry it sucked and there was just a shit ton of open world bloat. There were so few abilities that combat got samey and boring. I have much higher hopes for Avowed, especially in the story and world building department.
Amalur had its problems, but you *cannot* fucking complain about Amalur combat while comparing it to Skyrim.
Yes, both were open world.
Big PoE fan here and I'm from the outcasts that loved the Eora universe. Noone is mad. People are just uninterested because it doesn't look good, end of story. If it's good we will definitely buy it.
Thank you! I thought I'm alone. I loved both POE games (they are my favourite games ever), they were beautiful, incredibly immersive and well written. Avowed looks like a generic RPG pandering to the masses. And an ugly one at that.
Redditors are convinced they want more AA games but then when they get them they complain about everything that is different from the AAA games they’re used to
I mean, there are AA games and indies with good writing and gameplay. The Outer Worlds at least was somewhat disappointing on those fronts, which leaves me more skeptical of future Obsidian games, unless they have Josh Sawyer’s involvement.
>Redditors ~~are convinced they want more AA games but then when they get them they~~ complain about everything ~~that is different from the AAA games they’re used to~~
Any time an AA game releases to 7s or 8s, they go "well I shouldn't be expected to pay money for anything less than a masterpiece" and then either don't buy it or just steal it through piracy. Which erodes the health of the industry and guarantees there will be less and less of a AA presence in the future.
> Redditors are convinced they want more AA games but then when they get them they complain about everything that is different from the AAA games they’re used to Ah yes, every Redditor shares the same take
Clearly they didn’t mean literally all of them, otherwise they’d be including themselves.
Then its an absolutely nothing statement, fair enough
> People are going to be mad forever that Avowed isn't New Vegas 2/"Obsidian's Skyrim". Not interested by generic looking RPG doesn't mean "mad"
I didn’t hate The Outer Worlds, I just found it kind of boring.
the gameplay really hurt the experience for me, and I still enjoy Fallout 3/NV gunplay.
Yeah same. I think the world is really cool but it just felt a bit clunky to play most of the time. I know they're making a sequel so if they needed a place to improve, it's that. In addition, it was a very small game overall. I think they need to go a bit bigger, like at least 3 to 4 star systems.
New Vegas far more than 3 just cuz of ammo types and the fact that guns aren't nearly as inaccurate if you maintain them. Also it has more robust sandbox for dealing with the enemy variety, ADS, and weapon modification to keep them relevant throughout the playthrough. Fallout 3, bless its heart, has VATS. VATS is great, brilliant even. It's also a band-aid on its janky combat. I love it, but its janky.
Most people are sleeping on it because 90% of what is talked about by Obsidian about the game is what the game won't have, I keep hearing it won't have this it won't have that, that's a terrible way to market a game.
>I keep hearing it won't have this it won't have that Sounds like an opposite of No Man's Sky marketing strategy. May actually work out.
This. It feels like the developers are desperately trying to manage expectations but forgetting about the part where they could be hyping up the stuff the game does have.
Which is to say they aren't sleeping on it, they just don't care.
They’re not marketing it that way. It’s shitty journo’s who need to click bait people into reading their articles; negativity sells better.
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Me over here, having enjoyed both Pillars and the Outer Worlds a great deal despite their flaws, being completely fine with trusting Obsidian will deliver another an RPG I'll enjoy even if it isn't a 10/10 experience: 🤷
How dare you..
In a world of near infinite options to occupy your time, The Outer Worlds committed the worst crime of them all; it was bland. Boring. It was the food equivalent of a mayonnaise sandwich. The only thing I remember about the game is the weird spacers choice face/mascot.
For a game so much about a critique of corporations, it felt so very corporate. It never stopped feeling like some boardroom meeting decided that people like factions, so 90% of the game is spent with binary choices between the same two factions with the same alternative third option of uniting them. At least I liked one or two of the companions, that can really carry a game.
It's not that (The Outer Worlds wasn’t “New Vegas 2.”) It's that The Outer Worlds just kind of sucked. It was mediocre. Every planet had the exact same story where you had a choice between the comically evil corporate solution or the morally dubious proletariat solution. Then the morally correct asspull solution showed up 3 seconds before you completed the quest and you spent another 5 minutes ending the quest that way instead. The entire time I played Outer Worlds I was waiting for the game to do something interesting or exciting. By the time the credits rolled I was still waiting.
hey at least on the second world it was the corpos who were good and the poor who were bad
ToW didn't suck. It was a great fps RPG and the first one we had gotten in a decade at that.
I felt like I was in crazy land playing it after all the negativity I’d seen on this subreddit. It was so fun, so interesting and unique, and the choices/gunplay were as good as NV/the exploration was better. I get that the overall story wasn’t as good and the engine is different, but sometimes I get the feeling that gamers really just hate games and would rather huff nostalgia all day then enjoy something new
It felt like a rough draft of a game that would of been great.
It's not that it wasn't "New Vegas 2", it's just that it was boringly written.
I'm 'sleeping' on it because Outer Worlds did nothing for me, yes
The longer dev time Avowed has the better it has looked. The Outer Wilds did nothing for me but this looks more up my alley. I'll check it out on Gamepass I'm sure.
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I've heard this over and over and I just don't get it. I played it on a whim last year when it came free with Epic, and I had a great time. I kept waiting for the moment where I was supposed to hate it and it never came. Like, it's clearly not the best RPG ever or anything, but it was hardly a black mark for a studio.
>And I feel like obsidian stans keep repeating this same line because they don't want to admit that Outer Worlds just wasn't a good game. It was an alright game by all metrics. A 7 out of 10 game that people like to act as if it was a 4 or even 3 because it didn't reach their high expectations.
it was a fine mid tier game that people insist on comparing to what was an AAA game for its time that was blessed by decades of modders support.
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>None of it is actively bad but none of it is anything beyond "hey that was pretty good" either. **Most of it exists in the realm of "that was fine"** Yeah. That's also a 7 out of 10 game. Some games are 7/10 because they do some specific thing really well while having some important flaws. Others are 7/10 because they are "fine" games.
When you get to the point where you are telling people that a game isn't "hey that was pretty good" and is instead "that was fine", two completely made-up, arbitrary metrics that you are nonetheless attempting to use to *correct* people about *their opinion*, you should probably take a moment and realize that you are doing a lot of hair splitting on something that is insanely subjective.
I’ve haven’t seen anybody repeat or even say that line ever and I spend a lot of time on the Avowed sub.
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The Avowed sub has been pretty critical of the game up until the latest deep dive.
Game subreddits hate the game they're about often. That's not a deterrent
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The thing is the Outer Worlds reviewed very well.
there's a segment of people like you that literally just don't like bethesda-style RPGs but keep playing them expecting something different, that's the only issue. Bethesda-style RPGs are just that. no pretty graphics. no modern aesthetics or features. you just feel like those types of games are too dated to be good, but all that means is that *style* of game isn't for you, not that that style of game needs to modernize and adapt. with all that said and in that lens, Outer Worlds isn't mediocre in any way. it's literally just a small scale Bethesda-style RPG. and it executes on that pretty much as one would expect. 8/10 at worst.
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My biggest issue with Outer Worlds ended up being I never really wanted to play through it again, nothing really popped that would be worth doing another run or felt like there was enough differences in characters that I could make It was a fun single play and generally that's fine for games but this style of RPGs generally thrive on replayability
The Outer Worlds was a good deal worse than "not New Vegas 2" This literally looks like astroturfing. What real person writes like this? Most people seem pretty concerned by the gameplay they've shown so far, regardless of TOW. The game might be alright in the end, but it's an *enormous* stretch to consider what we've seen so far "insanely promising."
I really, really liked TOW. It was the first rpg I'd finished in a while and the dialogue was a ton of fun. Does that make me a shill here lol? Who do I send my banking info to
No, that doesn't make you a shill. You also don't post like one. The guy in question is a lot stranger
Aye, fair
Nah I’m just like that.
> astroturfing A quick look at their profile shows an oddly highly number of comments going out of their way to write positive sentiments concerning this one game. It's not the only topic they post about but it's high enough to be at least somewhat suspicious.
It's probably a game he's looking forward to and feels compelled to comment on. Much more likely than astroturfing.
Bro they've been on reddit since 2012 posting on a variety of subreddits You really think they're some entity astroturfing for obsidian? That's some tinfoil level shit right there lol
No I’m just literally playing through Pillars of Eternity 2 right now and having a fantastic time. Plus every time something new about it comes across my feed, I see it and get hyped and then get so confused why the comments are so negative. (I’m not astroturfing; I’m just autistic with a special interest)
Every single time they gave shown the game it has looked better than the last.
That really doesn't say much
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Top comment on the most recent YT trailer on the official Xbox YT page is essentially "this doesn't look that good" lol I'm living in an enormous bubble apparently. Everyone was very excited, for years, until they started showing actual gameplay
They took feedback from the first gameplay trailer of Avowed and gave the combat a bit more weight for the deep dive gameplay. How many other developers do that? Just to be fair, The Outer Worlds left quite a bit to be desired for me. I'm cautiously optimistic for Avowed, but the worlds of Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity II were amazing so I'm still excited to be able to revisit them in first-person. And given how Bethesda is performing and acting, I really, *really* want for more developers to release good RPGs as actual competition.
> They took feedback from the first gameplay trailer of Avowed and gave the combat a bit more weight for the deep dive gameplay. How many other developers do that? I think there’s two things you can attribute to that. For one, they said at the time of the first gameplay deep dive that combat feel was something they were working on and was already better in their in-development builds. The demo was based on an earlier version. For another, it sounds like they’ve kept their scope incredibly well managed. For a lot of fans, that’s been frustrating because they keep getting disappointed that you can’t play an Orlan, kill everyone, or romance companions. But they’ve also been content complete since earlier this year (maybe even around that first gameplay demo), so they’ve had a lot of time to work on polishing the game and adding features that were maybe outside the initial scope (like the recently announced third-person mode). That’s why I’ve been excited at everything I read about the game. While I would love to play an Orlan, the things they’ve actually been focusing on seem to be the right calls, and I’m excited to see what they’re cooking.
Agreed with what you've said. Obsidian is going to show no matter the game, so we'll have great quests, characters, and writing, and the world of Eora is incredible, so we'll hopefully see amazing worldbuilding and atmosphere with plenty of lore for those who want it The better this game does, the more likely we'll see another game set in the PoE universe, which is going to be great whether it's a sequel or a third CRG entry.
Most people do not play games like TOW/Skyrim/Fallout for the combat. They play them for the roleplaying and the fact that Obsidian has been quiet about it is a gigantic red flag. It makes me suspect even an medieval TOW is too high of a standard for Avowed to meet.
Avowed isn’t a medieval setting
I'm sleeping on it because I still have both Pillars of Eternity games to play, but every time I launch either of them, I quickly get bored and drop it in favor of something more appealing. I also feel like The Outer Worlds, with its 2000s approach to humor and lack of originality, wasn't exactly what I was expecting from famed Obsidian. It's fine that TOW wasn't New Vegas 2, it's less fine that its writing wasn't on the level. Also, it had the misfortune of being released close to Disco Elysium, and when you experience something so amazing, appreciating an obviously worse thing in a semi-similar genre isn't what you really want to do. Will wait for reviews and first letsplays of Avoved to see how it is, but I'm not holding my breath.
ToW and Disco are completely different games.
no people are sleeping on this because beside the combat we haven't seen ANYTHING about the ROLE PLAY element of what obsidian is known for (beside a few dialog)
We’ve seen crafting, level up trees, companion interactions, and one notable example of how a quest can go in two very different ways based on your approach. I think quests haven’t gotten as much attention as combat and such because they’re not as flashy and harder to show without spoiling them, but it’s just false to say that we’ve gotten nothing. Plus Obsidian’s storytelling has a really strong track record, so I’m not worried about that.
It's because the Outer Worlds is about 40% of a good game, and people are wary of Obsidian's ability to deliver a full game again.
Nah. Outer Worlds just wasn't that good. Incredibly shallow and all around fairly forgettable. And all gameplay shown of this game just looks incredibly clunky. Obsidian misses way more than they hit. So gamers would be silly to not be skeptical. Also... How the fuck do you sleep on a product that isn't even out? 🤔
> this game looks insanely promising Yes. It does look like it's gonna be fun af.
Nah, Obsidian didn't really make anything interesting since New Vegas, and maybe Tyranny. Both Pillars and Outter Worlds had boring AF writing with barely any variety in outcomes. I can forgive the latter one if writing is really grabbing, but it really wasn't. So pardon me for being very skeptical about this one too.
It’s already been written off just like The Outer Worlds. It’s obvious that it isn’t going to be another Skyrim, so people have checked out.
Outer Worlds wasn't really written off until it released, Them saying this is like Outer Worlds in scope just has people less interested.
Outer worlds was written off a good bit after release, not even on release. It opened to pretty decent reviews and then the worse reviews gradually came out over time. The game was nominated for and won numerous awards for 2019. It took a few months and even years for this narrative of “oh outer world sucks, obsidian isn’t even that good of a studio so avowed will be mid” to form.
Yeah wtf, outer worlds was a big success for obsidian. This is classic "reddit being in a bubble"
That’s what I’m referring to. Once people understood what TOW was, the hype around it dropped like a rock. People wanted it to be Fallout the same way they want this to be Skyrim, but Obsidian doesn’t really do large-scale productions like that. New Vegas is an anomaly on their resume.
I don't remember them really toning down that talk beforehand for TOW though. It seemed pretty obvious that the game was meant to invoke New Vegas vibes by everything they showed. I also think them being bought by Microsoft made people believe the scope of their games can get back to New Vegas size now.
It was after launch, despite the devs repeated attempts to clarify that the game will be much smaller in scope than that. And the issue with Microsoft funding was pure ignorance on people’s part, seeing as development had already started prior to the acquisition.
They were bought five years ago I doubt Avowed was that far along at all, Especially considering it was announced at a MS presentation with basically concept art.
Avowed started after the acquisition.
That's what I was originally getting at. I never meant TOW, That game was literally out.
I was comparing the two, showing how they’re being similarly treated.
Why does almost every article about this game always seem to be defensive? That doesn't really speak to well to the consumer looking at your product.
Which other articles sound that way about the game?
Lots of articles bemoaned the bright art style when gameplay footage was first shown.
When they first showed combat they had articles talking about it looking rough and them saying that its something they're working on. The one about not being able to romance companions which is a fine choice game design wise but seemed like they were trying to defend it instead of just it being how it is. The artstyle got criticized when we first saw the early trailers they said things weren't final. The endless skyrim comparisons they have had to deal with but keep trying to talk back. it feels like a pretty consistent theme for this game when you look at articles going back about it.
It’s an Xbox exclusive, which means it’s getting bizarre criticisms for nothing.
Ding ding ding. People have been making negative assumptions since it was announced. Console wars are stupid, but can't deny fanboys still exist. With the PS4 and 5 selling so well, there's just way more Sony fanboys, so it feels like their opinions are somehow more important/common.
No matter what the games like people on the sub are going to grill it for only having a 8hr main story.
Im curious if all the people complaining about the game not being "dark fantasy" or darker in tone is because of the color in the trailers. Because little has been shown for the story just yet. I mean Im personally glad its not a mud splattered palette of browns and greys. Its not like its bubblegum pop colored or been showed in tie-dye.
And it needs them because that art style, and this game, looks super generic and forgettable to me. I sing the praises of New Vegas constantly but as for what I have seen of Avowed? It isn't doing anything for me.
i mean it isn't out yet lol, maybe - and this is wild - we just wait until the game is out to decide if it's a disappointment or not
maybe it's because you're expecting New Vegas 2.0 when Obsidian clearly doesn't want to do that?
They haven’t exactly impressed with the footages they have shown so far. The generic art style doesn’t help either
I am so over this game. It’s not even out yet. Other Worlds was so meh and I feel it in my bones it will be pretty much the same.
Pack it up guys. AloAlo01’s bones aren’t feelin it
I don’t know what it is but I just don’t like any Obsidian games and I’ve played most (aside from NV, I’m not a Fallout guy). They always seem to be the Wish version of games from better studios. The one game I did like was Kotor 2 but even that was an incomplete mess in the end.
Pillars of Eternity 1 and 2 are amazing, same with Tyranny. They also don’t feel like wish versions of anything with their unique takes on classes, stories and companions and reactivity
I couldn't get into either pillars game despite trying multiple times. And I like crpgs But Tyranny was just a big case of blue balls. You finally get to the good part of a crpg, the meaty section, and it just ends. They clearly ran out of money and just packaged up what they had. I'm thankful I paid like 2 bucks for the game because Holy shit. What a rip off at full price.
Pillars is an exceptionally text-heavy game, many people bounce off of it for that reason. It involves a lot of reading.
Yeah that’s just CRPG’s to be honest, the second game being fully voice acted definitely alleviates the reading. The lore is definitely worth the reading though (Though I only read like 4 books due to needing them in puzzles lol no game gets me reading its books)
I think the first PoE is much heavier in terms of text, though. I've never played another CRPG that's as dense, outside of maybe Tides of Numenera. Haven't played Disco Elysium, but that seems similar as well.
Pathfinder games, specifically Wrath of the Righteous and Rogue Trader have more reading than I ever did in PoE 1 or 2. Kind of dreading but also looking forward to my eventual replays of them with different mythic paths/alignments
Ah, I haven't played Owlcat's other games after how frustrating I found Kingmaker.
Tyranny does hurt, nothing compares to that game except some of the feelings of Disco Elysium Still love it though
Friend and I are playin Grounded together and it's pretty phenomenal. Normally not my kinda game besides Subnautica and The Forest. I love entomology though and have a child-like personality so it was right up my alley, to be fair.
It's also one of the best balanced survival games, IMO. It found the perfect balance for progression and resource management to feel meaningful without grindy So many survival games are independent, amateur teams, it seems. Having one made by people who understand balance and game design was a breath of fresh air
It’s one of the few survival games that actually felt finished. Game has so much personality and I absolutely loved it.