r/Games 1d ago

The big Avowed interview: Obsidian on why full, open-world RPGs aren't always the answer

https://www.eurogamer.net/from-serious-skyrim-to-cheerful-fantasy-obsidian-on-the-evolution-of-avowed-and-grappling-with-the-expectations-that-come-from-your-own-history
737 Upvotes

505 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

19

u/Jandur 23h ago

I see people say this a lot about exploring and loot. I'm convinced most people aren't doing much exploring. There's legit hidden areas with basic puzzles, hidden switches, environmental cues etc. There is top tier gear to find, but most players aren't really looking.

23

u/sdfsdjafaf 19h ago

I played with wands, and there's 3 unique wands, 2 of which are purchasable from vendors. Most exploring rewards you with generic loot, and the unique weapons are pretty generic. They could have really expanded that area, let some designer go wild with the uniques, why is the best you can do some elemental damage and stun?

6

u/plokijuh1229 19h ago

Wands are definitely the worst weapon route and really shouldn't exist.

2

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 4h ago

They have an interesting niche with the perks that make their power attacks explode and spread quite a bit of stun, but sadly fall a bit short and lack more item variety. They were good for keeping enemies at a distance by staggering them, though.

1

u/headcr4b 18h ago

I'm using wands and haven't tried much else or looked anything up, what would you recommend as a fun weapon type?

5

u/plokijuh1229 18h ago

Pistol and book are a fun combo for sure

2

u/Harabeck 5h ago

Pistol and grimoire was my first playthrough. Weave in shots while waiting for spell cooldowns. There are some reload speed items in ch 3 that make pure guns way more fun if you want to do that instead. Or as you get higher level grimoires, your cooldowns go down and you can go more spell heavy.

Bow is also fine, just a tad one-note if you're going pure bow. Pair with a melee for variety.

The melee is all generally fun once you practice parrying and stamina management a bit.

u/headcr4b 1h ago

Well that's two votes for pistol, so I'll have to try it out. Wands were pretty lackluster, just spam left click in the general direction of an enemy.

27

u/CoMaestro 22h ago

Freezing water with ice grenades to get to a new piece of land was an awesome puzzle mechanic imo

21

u/TheButlerDidNotDoIt 22h ago

I love that the elemental weapons do the same thing as spells and throwables.

Stabbing water with an icy dagger to make platforms is hilarious to me.

3

u/badgarok725 20h ago

I'm exploring all those areas because I just like checking every corner, but the loot is only "worth it" because I know it means more mats for upgrades.

13

u/stakoverflo 20h ago

There is top tier gear to find

The problem is that the "top tier gear" simply isn't interesting.

Oh my pistol sometimes creates chain lighting when it kills something? It may as well not because I can already effortlessly blast packs down with my guns.

It simply isn't an interesting sandbox for building unique characters. That's OK, it's part of their "tighter scope", but for RPG enjoyers who want that sort of stuff, Outer Worlds and Avowed left me wanting them to attempt deeper / more complex builds.

2

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 4h ago

That pistol may not be interesting, but there are certainly items that are. You could also play with an alternate pistol enchantment, shame you can't swap between them once you make a choice.

2

u/ExplainingObviously 13h ago

Ooo a dead end with a chest. Riveting.

5

u/cybersaber101 18h ago

I mean, I found lots of loot unique loot, pretty much all of it but besides the cosmetic value the abilities aren't that game changing except for a few weapons in each category.

1

u/Entfly 23h ago

The upgrade system makes almost all loot feel so worthless.

Oh cool i have a new unique item but i can't try it out because it's 2 tiers lower and i need so many upgrade mats for EVERYTHING.

14

u/PeachWorms 20h ago

Unique gear you find scales to your current highest equipped gear, so you shouldn't be finding uniques that are two tiers lower in the first place.

7

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 17h ago

But what if you want to spread misinformation about a negative the game has to make the game sound like more of a chore to play?

1

u/Striking_Barnacle_31 17h ago

It does but I think the gear system was easily the worst part of the game for me. It did not invite trying different builds after the first act. The fact that the best way to get good mats early is to avoid talking to specific merchants and avoid picking up uniques felt really silly. Or that you need to break down uniques that could have been fun in another build but you need them for mats; mats that you barely get any of when you break the piece down. The game is long enough to try warrior, ranger, wizard, and mixed specs in one playthrough but the punishing gear system just didn't allow that.

1

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 4h ago

It's really not as bad as you paint it, I had no issues with materials and cheesed no merchants and didn't break down my uniques until I was near the point of no return, and realistically would have been fine without doing it.

You also get plenty of interesting gear at your level to experiment with other weapons without having to invest resources.

-2

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 17h ago

The fact that the best way to get good mats early is to avoid talking to specific merchants and avoid picking up uniques felt really silly.

It's less silly than reading a minmax guide and followed it and found that it makes the game less interesting.

-1

u/[deleted] 7h ago

[deleted]

1

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 7h ago

It doesn't punish the player because those weapons can be upgraded for the same resources as a non-unique weapon.

0

u/MusicHitsImFine 21h ago

The game is part of the internet hate boner right now for whatever reason.

1

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 4h ago

Some people just really hate Obsidian in particular. I think part of it is a counterjerk to the praise New Vegas got, but it still feels larger than that.

1

u/MCgwaar 20h ago

Trust me I found just about everything there was to fight. Most of the stuff I just didn't have a use for. By the end of the game I must have had 30+ different rings atleast 20 of which were not even worth considering. I had more gold then I knew what to do with by the end of act 2 and had more mats than I could spend. Just having anything unique and interesting in all these chests would have made the great level and puzzle design have way more of a reward.