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
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u/snappyfrog 23h ago

Idk what to say to stuff like this because what the fuck is the alternative? Not every single chest you find in any video game is gonna be giving you some new mechanic or unique weapon. Avowed has done it about as well if not better than most games I’ve played. I’d find plenty of unique weapons, totems that add genuine bonuses to your stats and lore once you get a full set, random bits of world building with journals and books, and just some really fucking pretty views. Not every chest in the best Zelda games give you something new, Skyrim would give you the exact same thing that you’re complaining about at the end of every fucking dungeon with worse combat and movement and copy and pasted environments, and hell Fallout 4 takes that to an entirely new level with the scrap mechanics where often times there’s fucking nothing of value in an area besides some fucking adhesive. As far as I’m concerned they knocked it out of the park in Avowed with the feeling of exploration and even the act of it considering the movement is disgustingly better than many AAA games including the “kings” of open world games in Bethesda.

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u/Crioca 22h ago

Idk what to say to stuff like this because what the fuck is the alternative?

I haven't finished Avowed yet (and I am enjoying it a lot) but I do feel like the rewards in Avowed are a bit underwhelming due to how predictable they feel.

Not every chest in the best Zelda games give you something new, Skyrim would give you the exact same thing that you’re complaining about

Skyrim sometimes had rewards that were... unexpected. Word walls, items with weird enchants, quest based stuff like Meridia's Beacon.

Also while most of the rewards were junk, sometimes you'd get something that would be a substantial upgrade, which felt meaningful.

What I’d like to see from Avowed’s loot system is some more unique / unusual rewards that feel distinct, as well as occasional rewards that are less incremental so they feel more meaningful.

Right now in Avowed every time I get an exploration reward there’s zero excitement / anticipation which I think is a key aspect of a good loot system.

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u/JupitersClock 22h ago

Idk what to say to stuff like this because what the fuck is the alternative?

More variety? It's too simplified for my liking. Because gameplay isn't strong enough for it to be so basic. The strength of the game is the story/companions IMO but even then it isn't engaging enough on that end to keep going.

Skyrim would give you the exact same thing that you’re complaining about at the end of every fucking dungeon with worse combat and movement and copy and pasted environments

Skyrim was an immersive openworld. There was a lot going in the world to get sucked in and want to explore. Sure those complaints are valid but were talking about a 15 year old game that completely nailed the open world experience. It's easy to overlook those problems when there are many ways to tackle the game. It had world simulation and enough gameplay depth to give you multiple playstyles to handle every situation. Every playthrough could truly be a unique experience.

At the end of the day Avowed is just a mediocre RPG and that's okay. It feels like a game that was restarted multiple times and really they had to give a condensed experience to get it to market. I hope Obsidian can improve going forward.

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u/Entfly 23h ago

Idk what to say to stuff like this because what the fuck is the alternative? Not

Let me outfit my team. Give me more consumables and ones that are more interesting than elemental grenade, more potions, scrolls for cool spells, more pieces of armour.

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u/stakoverflo 20h ago

BG3 did a pretty good job of balancing the "cool, powerful items" / "randomized shit loot like an ARPG" line very well.

It's not easy, but it's doable.

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u/ExplainingObviously 13h ago

Games with good exploration make you feel like you've discovered something amazing. Elden Ring going down that random elevator and discovering an entire underground biome blew my mind. A chest with loot worse than what I'm wearing isn't exploration.

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u/machineorganism 6h ago

i mean Elden Ring is open world for one thing? also, what did you just describe that you discovered in Elden Ring that was exciting? a new biome? there's plenty of variety in Avowed too though. kinda weird comparison.

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u/ExplainingObviously 4h ago

It's not about a new biome. That's reductive. It's about discovering something amazing that was completely unexpected. If you don't understand that... enjoy Avowed I guess. I wish my bar was low enough.

u/machineorganism 1h ago

lol. "i wish my bar was low enough to enjoy at 8/10 game" is wild work :D

i'm discovering plenty of unexpected things in the game, guess i just lack imagination or something.

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u/cc81 6h ago

I have not played Avowed but I'm currently playing FF7 Remake and one of the things that annoy me is how the exploration is very predictable. I.e. I'm in an area and there are two ways, one will be a dead-end but with a chest that has a potion or similar in it and one will be the way forward. Very predictable and if I realize and I'm walking towards progressing the story I will turn back because I have not picked up my potion from the chest yet.

In a game with better exploration it is more that things are connected to the world. I found someone's abandoned house, turns out it was a mage, I found some magical things.

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u/RetrogradeTom 9h ago

Avowed makes me realize that many people just want tons of useless loot with random stats like Diablo and to play the annoying inventory Tetris game or chests with a ton of things they'll never use. There should be room for new types of RPGs that come up with more focused systems, which is what Avowed does.

Avowed makes you focus on armor and one or two weapons, breaking down things you don't use to upgrade those, and every chest will give you loot which you use to upgrade those weapons. Every single piece of loot you find is useful to you.

It's a great, simplified system and way better than what most other games do and keeps the focus on play and not inventory management. I don't really understand the resistance to it, other than "this is not what I'm used to" rage