Avowed - 6/10 GS, 80 MC

@R4gn4r0k:

All that aside, I thought it should be available 2-18-25 at 12:01 AM USET. ;o

Lol, anyway, I'm sure it will be ready to go when I get home this afternoon. ;)

It is releasing later I feel.

Like before a game release would literally be flipping a switch.

Everything goes right > flip the switch > game launches early for everyone

Dev hits a last minute snatch > delay flipping the switch > game would launch late

But now with these advanced access, I dunno it feels like they are delaying games on purpose.

You could watch some Auralnauts on youtube to make time go faster ;)

You made me go look that up...

Good stuff!!! lolol :D

@SecretPolice: C3PO's voice is hella funny. I've been watching one episode each day before going to sleep. Good stuff :p

nailed the prediction.. 8/10 meta, 6/10 from 6Spot..

i'll be giving it a try via Game Pass..

I have to say, I'm enjoying roleplaying a spiritual priest-style character in this game. It's such a contrast to the Watcher from the Pillars games, who...uh, isn't on great terms with the gods.

Seeing as digital foundry is gospel around here..

"Ultimately, though, Avowed mostly impressed me. I really didn't expect much going into it but walked away having had a great time. It's beautiful, plays surprisingly well, features great characters and story telling and, quite frankly, has all the markings of a future cult classic. Obsidian did a fantastic job with this one.

Of course, as noted, it's not perfect. It's still demanding, there are visual issues at lower settings and some bugs are certainly possible but it still feels like a step in the right direction for Obsidian when it comes to technical performance. Give it a shot - I think it may just surprise you!"

John linneman DF

@Planeforger:

Good advice IYO?

9 Tips to Help You Start Avowed, Obsidian's Next Big Action RPG

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/9-tips-to-help-you-start-avowed-obsidian-s-next-big-action-rpg/ar-AA1yZ430?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=DCTS&cvid=026fb66f06fe4733a24f99fc7f67b7a3&ei=31

On a side note, in the RPG category...

You Can Donate To Make-A-Wish For A Chance To Design An Elder Scrolls 6 Character

The current high bid is more than $11,000.

You Can Donate To Make-A-Wish For A Chance To Design An Elder Scrolls 6 Character - GameSpot

Any big spenders here willing to donate? lol :P

I wanna be a voice actor because we all know Bethesda only needs a few :p

I'd like to voice 50 different characters hehe

@R4gn4r0k:

Venmo me 50K and I'll make it happen for you. ;o

lolol :P

@SecretPolice: I haven't had to mess with any of the technical or volume settings. The other stuff is just standard RPG advice.

You'll want to explore everywhere for loot and XP. There are a bunch of quests that don't have quest markers (like treasure maps and the god totems), and I've stumbled upon at least one important story location that wasn't highlighted in any quests so far.

And sure, upgrading gear is important. It's an RPG.

Oh, and I'd never consider playing in third person. Ew.

Lmao

Will play it at some point not sure on series s might wait until I upgrade to series X later this year.

Still enjoying the game, btw. I'm about 20 hours in and haven't finished the second region (just got the third companion), so it sounds like it's tracking to be a 40-50 hour game in total.

@Planeforger:

That's me...I got of the boat at the first main port and just explored....I'll get to the main quest sometime soon.......maybe lol

Great game

Also in gaming news, Todd Howard changes his name to Make-A-Wish

I chuckled. ;o

For real!! ;)

Avowed is a solid 9/10 but now with this it's a 11/10 GOAT!!! ;o

https://x.com/i/status/1892273448879001842

Make Your Own Dreamthrall Elder Bear With This Avowed Mushroom-Growing Kit

It's shipping out later this month.

Make Your Own Dreamthrall Elder Bear With This Avowed Mushroom-Growing Kit - GameSpot

lol :P

lol, I'll keep my 11K and just mod myself into the game

PSA... GS Rereview... 11/10. ;o

Lol, Well, it's almost April 1st. :P

Avowed's huge 66GB update includes major improvements for the game's whole progression system, along with key bug fixes and buffs for companions

Here are the full patch notes:

Community-Requested Fixes

• Updates to Equipment Tier difference feedback and penalties/bonuses:
  • Changed Tier penalty system from a hard tier to tier system and made it dynamic based on players equipment and the tier (and sub-tier) of the enemy. Tier difference rules now only apply when there is a +/- 4 level gap.
  • Tier II enemies will now play a small reaction animation when struck by lower-tier weapons, instead of not reacting at all.
  • Reduced damage reduction when player weapons are closer in tier to an enemy.
  • Significantly decreased how often companions comment about player needing better armor and/or weapons.
• Upgrade materials can no longer be sold to merchants to inadvertently make upgrading difficult. We have a longer-term fix involving buying back from merchants in the works.

Missing NPCs

• In specific situations, some NPCs weren’t where they should be. Saving the game, and re-loading will put them back where they should be. We will have a fix soon that fixes the situation completely and doesn’t require a save and load.

Quest & Exploration Fixes

• The brambles in the Delemgan Glade will now vanish when the Adragan Heart is acquired, preventing players from getting stuck inside.
• Grysca (the apothecary) now correctly speaks with the player to advance An Untimely End, even if they previously encountered a bug with Thalla the Ogre spawning twice.
• Added a system to respawn key characters when loading a save if they were previously missing and blocking quest progression (including Ambassador Hylgard and The Watcher Runyd).

Companion & NPC Improvements

• Reviving companions in combat now restores them to 75% of their maximum health instead of 50%.
• Starting health of companions has been increased to help with their viability in combat.

Merchants & Economy

• Merchants at the Dawnshore docks now offer 'Fine' gear in addition to 'Common' gear.

Crashes & Major Issues

• Removed chance to crash when casting Corrosive Siphon on destructible objects.
• Optimized resource handling of VFX while the game is paused via radial menus to prevent rare leaks and crashes.

Quest & Area Design

• Fixed invisible collision blocking the player in Strangleroot.
• Prevented players from charging into unintended areas in Strangleroot, avoiding quest progression issues.
• Enemies now navigate the bridges of the lava tubes more consistently.
• First Contact with the Enemy quest now progresses correctly if all badges are collected before speaking to Nauki.
• Players can now complete Steel Resolve after the main quest in Emerald Stair if they had completed enough objectives beforehand.
• Kowha now responds correctly if the player returns to them after starting One Last Drink.
• Dialog with Giatta upon leaving Naku Tedek now triggers consistently when loading saves before the conversation.
• Updated Mapping the Living Lands quest conditions to allow starting from future regions before talking to the quest giver in Dawnshore.
• Updated A Lady Never Tells quest flow so it correctly completes in the quest log when starting via the courtesan, getting the shipment, then speaking to Giuliana.
• Governor Ignasi’s option to turn in the spy can now only be triggered once instead of being repeatable.
• Conversations with leaders in the final area no longer end prematurely when choosing the Let me reconsider option.
• Made an additional ending option for the leadership conclave available to players who initially backed out but wish to reconsider.
• Adjusted environment art near the Trantons bounty in Emerald Stair to prevent bounty loot from becoming unobtainable.
• Previously missing voice-over lines in ambient content now play correctly.

Systems & Gameplay Improvements

• Seeds of Vengeance summons now scale correctly with health and damage.
• One-handed weapon Parry enchantments now function as intended.
• Party buffs from the player now correctly target companions only, instead of summoned creatures.
• Kai no longer gets stuck if using Unbending Defense while mid-air with Leap of Daring.
• Improved frame rate when rendering damage numbers on multiple enemies at once.
• Improved item randomization when restocking shops.
• Blast ability for wands now plays the correct visual and sound effects.
• Improved logic for animations on companions at the end of combat.
• Improved transitions on the top of Mt. Forja.
• Fixed interaction inconsistencies with objects and NPCs obscured by other characters.
• Controllers no longer rumble when loading a save before the final boss fight.
• Fixed issues with pond coin interactions.
• Added error codes for save game failures.
• Improved where characters are looking during certain conversations.

Audio Improvements

• Cutscene in Naku Kebel now properly plays sound effects.
• Eating food from the radial menu now provides audio feedback.
• Increased volume of Woedica’s voiceover audio.
• Player voice now plays more consistently for abilities with vocal components.
• Improved transitions between music intensity levels when exploring.
• Music during the end slides now plays at the intended volume.

Visual & Art Fixes

• Updated Banner Dwarf’s outfit LODs to reduce clipping during animation.
• Captain Ngunu’s neck is now properly merged with his head.
• Steel Garrote Soldiers have re-grown their missing hands.
• Improved shadow quality on Xbox Series X Performance Mode.

User Interface (UI) & Controls

• Cloud transfer prompt is now properly centered on ultrawide displays.
• Xbox cloud transfer dialog buttons no longer shake rapidly when hovering over the bottom part of the button.
• Initial splash screens now properly support Chinese characters.
• Interaction prompts pop up more reliably.
• Opening a radial menu after leaving and returning to the game no longer triggers the pause menu.
• Removed unintended English characters in the One Last Drink quest journal for non-English languages.
• Cloud save UI now defaults to selecting the recommended option.

@SecretPolice: How's the game mate?

I am as well. After the Outer Worlds which was great, I had hopes for this.

Of course Im not basing this off of JUST Gamespot. I've been following quite a few reviews of Avowed and they say the same. At best its a FAIR game.

I will say, things have changed. GAMEPLAY imo must be the priority in this medium. Most of the complaints about Avowed are to do with story, characters. Combat and gameplay are said to be pretty good so I'm still gonna play it.

@R4gn4r0k:

Seems great so far but TBH, I'm only about an hour or two in so really, dunno yet. lol :P

:P

@Heil68 said:

@SecretPolice said:

@R4gn4r0k:

Seems great so far but TBH, I'm only about an hour or two in so really, dunno yet. lol :P

:P

lolol ;)

@Heil68 said:

@SecretPolice said:

@R4gn4r0k:

Seems great so far but TBH, I'm only about an hour or two in so really, dunno yet. lol :P

:P

Okay, wasn't expecting some Australian political propaganda turning up in this thread, but I guess it is an election year.

Meanwhile, it's fun seeing the YouTube grifters move on, and people are actually forming their own opinions about the game now.

Lots of threads online like "I'm playing it now and it's great - why the hate?" and "What about this was supposed to be woke?".

Their hate stems from something one of the devs stated on social media. It got them all triggered.😂

Weird, for a game on gamepass as well as on steam there seemed almost no traction at all on social media platforms. I search twitter and found many liked post from days to a week ago, indicating newer tweets not getting traction (usually a hot game or topic, if you search on twitter or facebook, hot posts from hours or within a day is recommended first).

Did I miss any boycott news about the game? Unusual cause the recommended tweets is people enjoying the game a lot.

Maybe people are busy playing it?

It was the same for KCD 2 aside from the posts of reviews.

Avowed is also very popular on Twitch right now

I'm only a few hours in, but a 6/10 has got to be one of the greater injustices in recent memory.

The game is amazing.

I think scoring a game this good as low as they did is a sort of sign that maybe we've become spoiled. We say "All games must be as good as Baldur's Gate 3, that is the standard" when maybe we should treat Baldur's Gate 3 as the excellent exception, the outlier.

All the complaints from various outlets are super nitpicky. OK, I get it, you wanted more story out of this short quest you did for this NPC and were disappointed when all you got after fetching them a necklace or whatever was a "Thanks, here is some gold, We're all done now". That's not a big failing, tbh, that's just you setting demands too high.

You can play, as well as share the experience online. Its just weird the tepid response of the game.

KCD2 got a lot of buzz and was trending on twitter. For good and bad reason of course some loud minority questions historical accuracy of certain things. For Avowed not even console hardcore accounts fanwarring moved numbers. Probably on xbox side no point the fanwar its going multiplat and PS side its coming on PS5 eventually no need to be that combative.

Xbox studios obsidian brings their version of ES oblivion while Sony studios gives cows a 5-10 days gone remaster,a game so poorly received that Sony said NO to a sequel ....of course Sony fanboys are gonna deflect.

https://gamerant.com/days-gone-remastered-pre-orders-strong-sales/

And whats even funnier cows are lapping this 5-10 pig swill up for $50 or $10 if you have already bought it

@mrbojangles25: Same thing happened with Pentiment, a really great and unique game that got a 6 here. Incidentally also from Obsidian.

If triggering people is more important than selling copies then the dev has done a splendid job.

I definitely agree with this part.

The game is 100% coming to PS5 so that's probably why fanboys arent bashing it like they would before MS made the multiplatform pivot.

Fanboys bashed Sea of Thieves and Grounded for YEARS and then ate it up. Same with Forza H5. The negativity around these games are definitely shifting since its almost guaranteed that they will come to PS5/Switch 2 at some point.

I now have about 20 hours in. It's not the Elder Scrolls Killer it was rumored to be, but it's better than Veilguard. I give it a 7.5/10. It's definitely worth your time, but your not going to walk away thinking its a GOTY contender.

6/10 is a little low, GS, Be better.

upgrading gear to approach new challenges, a straightforward story, and a lack of memorable allies are what constitutes a 6/10 from 6Spot..

except when it doesn't..

Yeah, I don't get the gear gripe. I haven't played an RPG where getting better gear wasn't a big part of being able to fight harder enemies. And, the gear leveling in Avowed is not broken.

clicks rule the internet world.. which one gives more clicks: an 8/10 or a 6/10?..

6Spot is a joke.. if it wasn't for my nostalgia for this forum, there wouldn't be any reason to come to this website..

@Antwan3K: GS reviews has been trash for over a decade. This has caused the alignment to metacritic for the "I need someone to tell me how I should think" crowd. 😂

I haven't played the game yet so I guess I can't give it a score, but from everything I've seen it looks like a 6 or 7 to me as well (with a 5 being average). I still want to play the game, but it appears extremely static, scripted, and non immersive. That doesn't mean it isn't a good game, but when people are trying to put it in the same league as Elder Scrolls games, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, The Witcher 3, or GTA... yeah, I'm not seeing it.

It looks like a perfect $40 Gamepass game to get 40 to 60 hours out of, and there is nothing wrong with that. Either way, KCD2 only scoring an average of 8 points higher out of 100 is crazy, so Avowed must have something else hidden within that justifies an 8. Avowed 80 and KCD2 88... its just not adding up.

To me this looks in the league of games like Two Worlds, Outward, or Elex.. but that's ok because i liked all those games as well, but they are a cut or two below the big dogs.

If this game is a 8 or a 9 then what are average open world games that deserve a 5-7? Someone give me a list, I'm just curious to see it and compare to anothers thoughts. It just seems like 7-10 are the only scores that exist these days unless a game is absolutely atrocious.

Obsidian is reportedly happy with the sales and would like to do a sequel, so that's good to hear.

I'd like to see them widen the scope and embrace more of the weirdness in a sequel. Also, we need Eder back.

@WitIsWisdom: I mean, it's not an open world sandbox RPG like those games, so the comparison is always going to be a bit wonky. It's more of a structured thing like Mass Effect. The land is carved into distinct zones that are unlocked through story progression, and while they're large and complex zones full of hidden stuff, they're not one great sprawling continent like Skyrim.

Like in Mass Effect or any of those structured RPGs, you can't just randomly attack people in town or have them react to you stealing their stuff. The game wasn't designed for that - and honestly, that doesn't really detract from the immersion for me. It's just a genre convention.

I love the Kingdom Come games and Avowed has COMPLETELY stolen my attention away from it.

Also, try not to think of it as "better than". I wouldn't say Avowed is better than an Elder Scrolls game, nor is it worse than Elder Scrolls.

It's just a different approach. It's true that it is more scripted and static, but it also works better and makes for a more fulfilling meal. So while Elder Scrolls is like a giant burrito filled with bland rice and beans, with occasional bites of good meat, Avowed is like some really nice tacos; not quite as satiating, but a richer experience and in some ways better than a giant burrito because now you don't feel all bloated lol.

I feel like I have accomplished more in playing Avowed for an hour than I do playing Elder Scrolls for three hours. There's just less bullshit and fluff in it than other open-world games. I like being able to get from one part of the map to the other in a couple minutes instead of 20.

So if you prefer your fantasy action-RPG's to be in immense, freeform open-world settings where you get to wander around and you see occasional shows of brilliance, then maybe stick to Elder Scrolls. But if you want a smaller world that is more well crafted and consistently satisfying, but never quite get's all the way up to brilliant, then Avowed might be more for you.

Or do what I do and play both! :D

maybe try playing the game for yourself instead of making wild assumptions.. if you don't have the time or money to do so, maybe don't give an opinion until you do..

the game has a 80% metacritic (8/10) yet you think the game "looks" like a 6 or a 7.. based upon what?.. you literally have no experience with the game and the consensus of actual reviewers places it at an 8..

@Antwan3K: Gee... I didnt see this one coming.. lol. Give me a break. I've played dozens of games like this, and I already said im planning on playing this one soon as well, so get off the mountain top with that. I'm sure I'll like it, and even if I don't I'll find things to like about it.

Not having the time or the money? I have Gamepass and I already stated I'm going to play the game soon... I'm just playing through KCD2 right now. On top of that I'm retired, so those points aren't in play here.

Sure, I love Metacritic although I only use it as a curiosity rather than something that guides my hand. It's hillarious how for years people like me were told Metacritic doesn't come into play here and Gamespots review scores are all that matters until that is no longer the case... lol.

I'm not saying the game looks bad, and I don't really care what other people rate a game. The eye check and personal comparison of other games tell me it isn't an 8, but I'll be the judge of that when I play it and I would love to be wrong. Perhaps the gameplay, responsiveness, and quality of life are much higher than they appear, and I would love for that to be the case. I'm just doubtful. I have heard great things about the game, but when the best games of all time score in the high 8's or low 9's and a game like this scores an 8 to me that means that this game pretty much goes toe to toe with them, and I'm just not seeing it.

I was extremely excited and hyped up for this game, but after seeing how lifeless and scripted it was i just don't see it being an 8.. that's all, but like I said a few times now, I'll be my own judge after playing it, and hopefully it's one of those rare games that can't be described without personally experiencing it.

Look, when I see NPC's standing or sitting in place moving about like animatronics that never actually walk or say any words without a scripted event and pretend to be talking, swinging weapons through environments, free ability to take any lootable item without the threat of being seen or punished for theft, town guards that watch you being attacked, completely stagnant/unmoving water while swimming or leaping from a cliff, enemies who get stuck in a corner looking the wrong direction, hiding in a crowd to de-aggro enemies who can't reach you, and the illusion of openess without most doors and buildings being accessible just seem archaic by todays standards.

Other games get bashed for those things but this one apparently gets a free pass.. Once again, I'm not saying it's a bad game, and yes, I do need to play it, but the grading scales seem to be off to me. Seeing other people say an 8 feels about right though most obviously means there is more than meets the eye with this one, which could be the case, and I've been wrong about a game before.

You think I'm trashing the game and I'm far from that. I'd love to be wrong, and I hope that I am, but immersion is important in a game like this to me personally.

Either way I would love for you to list some open world games like this that you think deserve scores below an 8. Give me some examples of things this game does better than other games like it. I'm genuinely curious, and I'd rather hear from an actual person than a review site. I'm not hating or bashing, and I'm around 65 percent through KCD2, so when I finish that I'll experience this game first hand either way.

I’m about 6 hours in now and quite enjoying it. Game looks really good. Gameplay mechanics are solid. Story and characters are interesting. Exploration and getting/crafting better gear feels satisfying. It’s currently feeling like a pretty solid 8/10 to me right now.

Currently playing KCD2 and the immersion in that game is out of this world! The devs improved the interaction as I remember that in first game if ur a thief merchant will not be kind to you, selling goods at higher prices but now there more interaction as I been chased out of towns by guards and they remember me when I came back sometime after and even be more alerted.

I think its just unfortunate time for Avowed to be released as criticism for its lackluster world is amplified due to KCD2. If they release last year or somewhere in April or June the reception would have been much better.