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[MinnMax] 175 Rapid-Fire Questions About Obsidian's Avowed (with Game Director, Carrie Patel)

Astray

Member
You can side with the villains of the game in the narrative.

Obsidian is always pretty good at quest design and variances.
It's facing stiff competition with KC2, MH Wilds and Yakuza, but I think this game has a good shot at taking some of that disgruntled Dragon Age audience.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
From Reddit thread someone made a list

  1. The world size is comparable to The Outer Worlds (which we already knew).
  2. Enemies do not scale with your level.
  3. Our beloved skeleton was designed by the Skylight team.
  4. On dialogue choices: "You can be a pretty sassy little jerk." Whatever that means.
  5. The same method and software for structuring dialogues is being used as in previous games (I don’t think this is the most important news, but it’s still good to hear)
  6. You can command companions—choosing who and how they attack.
  7. Companions have talent customization, but not gear. Appearance customization is limited to the Premium Edition only.
  8. You cannot continue playing after the game's ending, but there is a point of no return.
  9. "You are not the Watcher in this game."
  10. Caring about your own soul is a factor in the story (no idea what that means).
  11. It matters to history which god you belong to.
  12. You can wield both a magic wand and a weapon simultaneously.
  13. DLCs might happen.
  14. There are bosses (obvious, but worth noting).
  15. The environment is partially destructible.
  16. "Technically, there are six companions... maybe. But four."
  17. The largest city has up to 100 NPCs. (She mentioned this very offhandedly from memory, so the number could be lower.)
  18. You can side with the antagonists.
  19. Can you betray the empire that sent you to explore these lands? Yes. (Just like betraying your bosses in Tyranny, hehe.)
  20. No romance in Avowed. :(
  21. There are many books and lore entries to help explain the world.
  22. The team working on Avowed is slightly larger than The Outer Worlds, but not by much.
  23. About a third of the Pillars of Eternity team is working on Avowed.
  24. "Path of the Damned" difficulty mode exists.
  25. The Outer Worlds 2 will release in 2025, and the Avowed team will help after launch
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
2. Enemies do not scale with your level.

Good.

4. On dialogue choices: *"You can be a pretty sassy little jerk."* Whatever that means.

Good. I liked DA Veilguard but as Skillup put it, all dialogues were written like HR was in the room with you.

7. Companions have talent customization, but not gear. Appearance customization is limited to the **Premium Edition** only.

Not good. But other big games also do this so can't fault them exclusively for following a trend.

8. You **cannot** continue playing after the game's ending, but there is a point of no return.
Ehhh .... not sure about this.

13. **DLCs might happen.**

I reckon one or two self-contained story packs ala Outer Worlds.

18. You **can** side with the antagonists.

19. *Can you betray the empire that sent you to explore these lands?* **Yes.** (Just like betraying your bosses in *Tyranny*, hehe.)

Renegade runs, sheeat !!!

20. No romance in *Avowed*.

Sucks, but we already knew this.

25. **The Outer Worlds 2** will release in **2025**, and the *Avowed* team will help after launch.

Hmm, not sure if Carey can make a definitive statement about another games release date, but Obsidian do have a good release record.
 
60 fps, nice. Our resident gold journalists should be extremely happy, they were so worried in that other thread about it being 30.
 

Metnut

Member
This looks really cool. Probably the last of the Microsoft games not confirmed for PS5 that I’d buy for full price if it comes over. Hope it reviews and is received well. Gaming is better when Obsidian is cooking.
 
From Reddit thread someone made a list

  1. The world size is comparable to The Outer Worlds (which we already knew).
  2. Enemies do not scale with your level.
  3. Our beloved skeleton was designed by the Skylight team.
  4. On dialogue choices: "You can be a pretty sassy little jerk." Whatever that means.
  5. The same method and software for structuring dialogues is being used as in previous games (I don’t think this is the most important news, but it’s still good to hear)
  6. You can command companions—choosing who and how they attack.
  7. Companions have talent customization, but not gear. Appearance customization is limited to the Premium Edition only.
  8. You cannot continue playing after the game's ending, but there is a point of no return.
  9. "You are not the Watcher in this game."
  10. Caring about your own soul is a factor in the story (no idea what that means).
  11. It matters to history which god you belong to.
  12. You can wield both a magic wand and a weapon simultaneously.
  13. DLCs might happen.
  14. There are bosses (obvious, but worth noting).
  15. The environment is partially destructible.
  16. "Technically, there are six companions... maybe. But four."
  17. The largest city has up to 100 NPCs. (She mentioned this very offhandedly from memory, so the number could be lower.)
  18. You can side with the antagonists.
  19. Can you betray the empire that sent you to explore these lands? Yes. (Just like betraying your bosses in Tyranny, hehe.)
  20. No romance in Avowed. :(
  21. There are many books and lore entries to help explain the world.
  22. The team working on Avowed is slightly larger than The Outer Worlds, but not by much.
  23. About a third of the Pillars of Eternity team is working on Avowed.
  24. "Path of the Damned" difficulty mode exists.
  25. The Outer Worlds 2 will release in 2025, and the Avowed team will help after launch

No scale is good, and TOW2 in 25!? fantastic!
 

Loomy

Thinks Microaggressions are Real
This game went from "eh, not really interesting" when it was first unveiled to "damn, can't wait to play this" for me. The length is a big part of it for me, but everything they've unveiled since - especially the 3rd person camera - keeps getting me me more excited.
 
I know there is an ability that lets you turn invisible.
6lvKx6e.gif
 
  1. The Outer Worlds 2 will release in 2025, and the Avowed team will help after launch
I feel like this might be the wrong call. If Avowed has good reception, it will end up having an upwards trajectory in sales and be this year's sleeper RPG hit. That type of game would stretch out sales throughout the entire year, like BG3 or Elden Ring (This is all assuming the game ends up good).

If that happens, it should not be under threat of being kneecapped by another big Obsidian RPG during the fall/winter of the same year.

This would be like Bethesda releasing ES6 in 2028 and then Zenimax Online Studios releases ESO 2 the same year. It would massacre ESO 2's numbers, especially if they build a co-op mode within it.
 
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I feel like this might be the wrong call. If Avowed has good reception, it will end up having an upwards trajectory in sales and be this year's sleeper RPG hit. That type of game would stretch out sales throughout the entire year, like BG3 or Elden Ring (This is all assuming the game ends up good).

If that happens, it should not be under threat of being kneecapped by another big Obsidian RPG during the fall/winter of the same year.

This would be like Bethesda releasing ES6 in 2028 and then Zenimax Online Studios releases ESO 2 the same year. It would massacre ESO 2's numbers, especially if they build a co-op mode within it.
Thats seems like Microsoft’s decision.

Am assuming Obsidian is under some pressure to deliver these many titles since they are not making sprawling, huge games or something.

Their release schedule doesn’t make any sense. I was under the impression OW2 will start production in 2025.
 
Thats seems like Microsoft’s decision.

Am assuming Obsidian is under some pressure to deliver these many titles since they are not making sprawling, huge games or something.

Their release schedule doesn’t make any sense. I was under the impression OW2 will start production in 2025.
It just seems odd, but then again Microsoft as a publisher has been making some odd decisions lately. They have put themselves in a position where, due to low first party output for the past few years, nearly all of their big projects have unfortunately all aligned in terms of readiness window.

Now all of these titles they announced during different years in the past are coming out within months, or at worst, weeks apart from each other.

This is going to give them a great year this year, but makes me worry about their 2026 and 2027 output.
 

Elginer

Member
Hyped for this even did the premium upgrade on game pass. Obsidian always has a lil bit of jank but are enjoyable games.
 

Astray

Member
I feel like this might be the wrong call. If Avowed has good reception, it will end up having an upwards trajectory in sales and be this year's sleeper RPG hit. That type of game would stretch out sales throughout the entire year, like BG3 or Elden Ring (This is all assuming the game ends up good).

If that happens, it should not be under threat of being kneecapped by another big Obsidian RPG during the fall/winter of the same year.

This would be like Bethesda releasing ES6 in 2028 and then Zenimax Online Studios releases ESO 2 the same year. It would massacre ESO 2's numbers, especially if they build a co-op mode within it.
I think its ok, they help out with the launch while putting together their plans for the DLC etc if the game hits a certain success point.

This is the kind of efficiency we've been demanding on western devs for a while now.
 
As we can see in kcd 2 which is as far from woke as you can be, no romance is definitely the best choice.
Also, that video sold me on the game.
 

Ozriel

M$FT
Thats seems like Microsoft’s decision.

Am assuming Obsidian is under some pressure to deliver these many titles since they are not making sprawling, huge games or something.

Their release schedule doesn’t make any sense. I was under the impression OW2 will start production in 2025.

They aren’t really under pressure. These games are made by multiple sub teams. Nothing wrong with being prolific.

Outer worlds 2 development was announced years ago, so not sure why you’d assume full production in 2025.

It just seems odd, but then again Microsoft as a publisher has been making some odd decisions lately. They have put themselves in a position where, due to low first party output for the past few years, nearly all of their big projects have unfortunately all aligned in terms of readiness window.

Now all of these titles they announced during different years in the past are coming out within months, or at worst, weeks apart from each other.

This is going to give them a great year this year, but makes me worry about their 2026 and 2027 output.

2026 still looks really robust. Gears, Clockwork Revolution, FH6 (likely), State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark…and there’s stuff like Contraband that should really be relatively close.
 

KungFucius

King Snowflake
Outer Worlds was very meh in both I found. Fingers crossed that Avowed is actually good.
It was good for what it was though, an AA game. Writing is hard and really nailing it takes a lot of rewrites, you don't have that luxury on a smaller project. It was better than Dragon Age - "We should have made it GaaS because that's why it failed" Veilgaurd
 

Buggy Loop

Member
I feel like this might be the wrong call. If Avowed has good reception, it will end up having an upwards trajectory in sales and be this year's sleeper RPG hit. That type of game would stretch out sales throughout the entire year, like BG3 or Elden Ring (This is all assuming the game ends up good).

If that happens, it should not be under threat of being kneecapped by another big Obsidian RPG during the fall/winter of the same year.

This would be like Bethesda releasing ES6 in 2028 and then Zenimax Online Studios releases ESO 2 the same year. It would massacre ESO 2's numbers, especially if they build a co-op mode within it.

I think it’s likely it will be delayed to Q1 2026 like what happened with Avowed, we were supposed to play that last fall.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
2026 still looks really robust. Gears, Clockwork Revolution, FH6 (likely), State of Decay 3, Perfect Dark…and there’s stuff like Contraband that should really be relatively close.

FH6 as in Forza Horizon 6?

Darn I didn't even think about this game being on the Horizon cuz of Fable.
 

Buggy Loop

Member

After BG 3’s all companions wanting to fuck you every 5 mins I think actually this is refreshing. This means it will be true companions on an adventure and won’t be afraid to go all BRO in, unlike BG3 where Gale wants to show you a magic trick and then frowns when you say no…

But that’s imo. No romance has been known for a while for Avowed.
 
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Ozriel

M$FT
FH6 as in Forza Horizon 6?

Darn I didn't even think about this game being on the Horizon cuz of Fable.

Different dev team. They made up a new sub studio for Fable.
Last one was in 2021, so we’re due a new one. Probably 2026 and not 2025 as speculated since it allows FH5 to sell well on PS5 and Switch 2, then probably a day 1 multiplatform release next year for FH6
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
It was good for what it was though, an AA game. Writing is hard and really nailing it takes a lot of rewrites, you don't have that luxury on a smaller project. It was better than Dragon Age - "We should have made it GaaS because that's why it failed" Veilgaurd

Yep.

But I think we're in the minority on GAF who liked the game. I enjoyed the two DLC episodes as well.
 

Zacfoldor

Member
"Appearance customization is limited to the Premium Edition only."

That's just for companions, correct? Surely you can change your main char's appearance in the standard edition?
 

Humdinger

Gold Member
This looks really cool. Probably the last of the Microsoft games not confirmed for PS5 that I’d buy for full price if it comes over. Hope it reviews and is received well. Gaming is better when Obsidian is cooking.

I'm in the same situation, a curious PS bystander. I wouldn't pay full price for it, but I'm looking forward to seeing the reviews and impressions.
 
"Appearance customization is limited to the Premium Edition only."

That's just for companions, correct? Surely you can change your main char's appearance in the standard edition?
Yup.

Companions get some extra skins. For MC there is character creator.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
We can't be informed before purchase?
Didn't say whatever the answer is you have to care about it.

Why does it matter to you? 🤔

You've already said you're not gonna touch this game anyway.

Avowed and South of Midnight devs being openly racist is why I won’t touch their games or any of their future games. For once SBI isn’t the worst thing about these companies.
 
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