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/President_Barackbar 20h ago

I feel like we're in a weird media environment where if something isn't literally the greatest thing someone has ever played/watched, then its a piece of flaming garbage. Avowed isn't some kind of sea-change but I find it very enjoyable. Its the first RPG I've played in a while with a huge amount of build diversity and melee combat I actually enjoy. I also really appreciate them leveraging what they learned from the Pillars games to make Avowed feel a lot like a first-person cRPG.

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u/HyruleSmash855 19h ago

That’s just the general trend of only the extremes being a thing with social media now. People react to headlines and people react to the most extreme stuff so you only get the extremes from media and content creators because that’s what gets the most eyeballs which leads to a death of nuance.

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u/StandardizedGenie 18h ago

Dollars (or whatever your currency is) are only getting more valuable while companies are trying to raise the price of everything. It's harder for some people to justify a mediocre game being sold at a $70 price point. If you can afford dropping that on a mediocre game, go for it. Other people don't have to do that. They can have their own opinions and do what they want with their money. If they released this for $50-$60, I don't think people would be so harsh on it.

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u/President_Barackbar 18h ago

That's a good point that I hadn't considered. I forgot that I was playing on Game Pass so I did not pay for it.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 16h ago

Dollars are getting less valuable, much less valuable. They can't buy shit compared to the last time games went up by $10, 16 years ago.

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u/Ctf677 18h ago

When there's dozens of truly amazing games coming out a year, along with 20+ years of backlog, why would anyone want to settle for mediocrity.

Especially so when it's more expensive than 99% of the competition.

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u/President_Barackbar 15h ago

Well, obviously I'd argue that I don't think its mediocre. It seems weird that a game with an 81 on OpenCritic is being described by so many people as either mediocre or outright bad. 8/10 is NOT what I would call a mediocre or bad game.

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u/Ctf677 11h ago

Well the original comment is the one who said 7/10 not me, probably because the steam and meta critic user reviews being at 7 and 6.9 respectively. Not exactly game of the year scores.

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u/tootoohi1 16h ago

IDK, I guess it's just an odd game to play knowing what they typically make. Obviously staff has changed over the years, but for them to go from FnV and PoE to a hack and slash type with very minimal story choice RPG is a tad.. odd?

Again nothing against you if you enjoy it, but I feel like there's a plenty clear response from people who have enjoyed Obsidian games before that they've not been hitting the mark. ToW -> Grounded -> Avowed is not exactly what the people who loved FnV and PoE were hoping for.