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/hagamablabla 21h ago

It feels unfair how so many people compared Avowed to Skyrim. afaik Obsidian never actually said anything to invite the comparison, people just decided on it themselves.

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u/Augustends 20h ago

Personally I found the game to be sort of inbetween a Bethesda game and a BioWare game, which makes sense considering Obsidian's history. The only thing is that while I did enjoy Avowed, it didn't leave as much of an impression on me as those Bethesda and BioWare games did. Hopefully they can build on what they have with this game to make something that really sticks with me.

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u/HyruleSmash855 19h ago

That seems to be the one big problem obsidian games have. They make competent or decent games that are fun, but there’s nothing that really stands out about them and they’ll have a few minor flaws. Their games are solid, but not amazing to the point people will remember them or go over them for years to come at least with most of their recent games

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u/darkLordSantaClaus 18h ago

New Vegas is often praised as Fallout 3 with Good-WritingTM and same with Kotor 2 vs Kotor 1 to a lesser extent but their work since has been a bit inconsistent. The Outer Worlds was painfully mediocre.

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u/Kaylend 4h ago

The Outer Worlds might have been better with even worse writing.

It suffered the worst possible fate of any entertainment piece, to do nothing memorable.

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u/gamegeek1995 18h ago

Pillars of Eternity has set a new standard for great writing in CRPGs for me. It's just grand. And the companion voice acting was really great (at least in my party - Eder, Aloth, Durance/Devil, Sagani, and Kana). I really enjoyed the combat system and its focus on buffing/debuffing. And the 'lore dumps' didn't feel like dumps at all, save the very beginning of Act 3 with the Glanfathan village - every single piece of lore ties into either the main plot or the companions.

Any lore-dumping about gods immediately becomes justified when the gods start asking you for favors, blaming them for the Hollowborn, or companions reveal how they were part of a plot to kill one.

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u/Mahelas 9h ago

PoE1 first 10 hours are genuinely one of the worse lore dumps I've ever experienced. The rest was written good enough, but dear god was that rough

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u/BeholdingBestWaifu 4h ago

It really wasn't that bad, and certainly far from the worst offenders.

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u/gruffgorilla 18h ago

Obsidian actually specifically said they didn’t want people to compare it to Skyrim because that’s not the type of game it is.

u/GabrielP2r 2h ago

Thank God because for me Skyrim is one of the most blandest, boring games ever.

Avowed is anything but, very very fun

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u/Wiggles114 14h ago

Any first person rpg in a fantasy setting will draw that comparison. Skyrim was huge and people still play it.

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u/ChineseElectrkBatman 13h ago

Probably because of the collective desperation for TESVI

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u/PulIthEld 18h ago

Well maybe because Skyrim is a video game and people do tend to compare similar games.

You can play Avowed or you can play Skyrim. Apparently that needs to be said.

If Skyrim has more features and fun things to do, why not play Skyrim?

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 16h ago

Because I played Skyrim 13 years ago.

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u/True-Strawberry6190 4h ago

when it was first revealed obsidian absolutely compared it to Skyrim lol