Just finished the game and honestly I am underwhelmed papitos
The game start strong but the last third is just so generic and uninspired. The narrative and the dialogues are very weak and it shows very much in the last part of the game. It feels like they put tons of effort in the beginning and at some point they stopped caring or they didn't know where to go. The combat is really good although repetitive because of the fact that you fight basically the same enemies over and over. The exploration is great, the level design although not very deep, it's really good thanks to the artistic direction. I liked the graphics as well very much, its quite beautiful at times although (as it has been discussed before many times) word reactivity is non-existent which makes the world feel dead and static
For me Alpha Protocol remains the best Obsidian game, yes it's a game with flaws but the writing, choices and gameplay are fun even by today's standards.
I'll probably play The Outer Worlds 2 but in gamepass, I dont see myself paying for their games at launch if this is the level of quality they can deliver
27 hours in.
Pure mage and found a decent wand, 3rd area on the 2nd Challenge in what I assume is the final area/dungeon.
The ice "level" loved the design and visuals, really felt a step up plus weird swimming.
Found a new wand, so switching from fire to ice...
Companions just keeping Kai, switch the others in and out when needed. Giatta is a whiner and gets on my nerves... So barely used her.
Does the game reward well those who play Pillars of Eternity (in terms of lore, returning characters, etc..) or does it feel pretty separated from the rest of the franchise ?
27 hours in.
Pure mage and found a decent wand, 3rd area on the 2nd Challenge in what I assume is the final area/dungeon.
The ice "level" loved the design and visuals, really felt a step up plus weird swimming.
Found a new wand, so switching from fire to ice...
Companions just keeping Kai, switch the others in and out when needed. Giatta is a whiner and gets on my nerves... So barely used her.
Unless you’re playing on the easier difficulties, as a pure mage you’re going to want to suffer through Giatta’s whining. She is the second best companion (behind Kai as a tank) to have as a pure mage because she’s a far better healer than any of the Godlike abilities you’ll get and gives you a form of damage mitigation to compensate for the loss of block.
In the final full zone, her damage mitigation shield and regeneration healing skills are almost required.
Does the game reward well those who play Pillars of Eternity (in terms of lore, returning characters, etc..) or does it feel pretty separated from the rest of the franchise ?
I feel like it's not as lore heavy as Pillars, but still connected. It's only a few years after Deadfire, so references to that and goings on in the first game.
I’m rocking a shield (that slows down attackers with webs) and flaming sword build as my primary loadout, and an ice axe and shock pistol as my secondary. I also equip an amulet that makes all my weapons deal additional poison damage.
When the mood takes me, I swap out my secondary for the two-handed ‘horsecutter’ sword (with a great dripping blood effect), or a rifle.
I’ve also put a fair few points into spells so I don’t need to equip a grimoire to cast them.
Keeps me happy!
So many untouched weapons/perks/spells that will make a second playthrough in a few years interesting.
I feel like I need to play this game repeatedly already. Melee, ranged and magic are all sick as hell. This is possibly my favorite 1st person RPG combat ever. Possibly. The combat director deserves a raise.
I feel like I need to play this game repeatedly already. Melee, ranged and magic are all sick as hell. This is possibly my favorite 1st person RPG combat ever. Possibly. The combat director deserves a raise.
Same! At first I was going more hybrid, but the more I played the more I wanted to focus mainly on one style (melee) and save ranged/mage for another playthrough so I could dedicate full attention to them.
I'm about 40 hours into it. Gameplay wise, it's incredibly solid. Some of the best 1st person RPG combat out there. My biggest gripe is the RPG and itemization elements. It's incredibly simplistic and bland. Simple skill tree and 5 qualities with 3 ranks for each, and a simple enchant picking one. Gear is limited. Whoever designed the combat should get promoted. Whoever worked on itemization should be fired.
I'm about 40 hours into it. Gameplay wise, it's incredibly solid. Some of the best 1st person RPG combat out there. My biggest gripe is the RPG and itemization elements. It's incredibly simplistic and bland. Simple skill tree and 5 qualities with 3 ranks for each, and a simple enchant picking one. Gear is limited. Whoever designed the combat should get promoted. Whoever worked on itemization should be fired.
I'm about 40 hours into it. Gameplay wise, it's incredibly solid. Some of the best 1st person RPG combat out there. My biggest gripe is the RPG and itemization elements. It's incredibly simplistic and bland. Simple skill tree and 5 qualities with 3 ranks for each, and a simple enchant picking one. Gear is limited. Whoever designed the combat should get promoted. Whoever worked on itemization should be fired.
Just wait for Outer Worlds 2 at this point I guess.
I find Avowed to be much better game than OW and maybe OW2 will feel the same.
You could however, check out Fallout 4 if you want. That I finished right before Avowed. Feels very similar in terms of gameplay. Choose a weapon, explore, upgrade…. Similar gameplay loop.
Finished it. I enjoyed it better than the reviewers I watched I think. Weirdly, most of them listed the strength of the game as combat and I actually didn't find the combat all that great. Certainly miles better than Skyrim, but still repetitive. I thought the world was really cool and the lore and quests. It took longer than I expected considering how quickly many people beat it, but I did every quest. Game had a lot of bugs, more than the reviews let on. I encountered SEVERAL and many were quest breaking and I needed to reload an older save to fix it, merely saving and reloading the current save did not fix it.
Finished it. I enjoyed it better than the reviewers I watched I think. Weirdly, most of them listed the strength of the game as combat and I actually didn't find the combat all that great. Certainly miles better than Skyrim, but still repetitive. I thought the world was really cool and the lore and quests. It took longer than I expected considering how quickly many people beat it, but I did every quest. Game had a lot of bugs, more than the reviews let on. I encountered SEVERAL and many were quest breaking and I needed to reload an older save to fix it, merely saving and reloading the current save did not fix it.
I’m on the XSX, performance mode, 40 hours in (finishing up 3rd area), and I honestly haven’t seen one bug yet. No quest issues, nothing weird happening, no crashes. Making good use of quick resume too.
Probably the most stable new release I’ve played in a long long time!
Useful for health boosts, I don’t think I’ve used a single health potion since I brought her along.
Marius is useful too for his arrow in the heart and roots to hold enemies in place. Annoyingly negative though, he’s grumpy like Cloud.
I’m on the XSX, performance mode, 40 hours in (finishing up 3rd area), and I honestly haven’t seen one bug yet. No quest issues, nothing weird happening, no crashes. Making good use of quick resume too.
Probably the most stable new release I’ve played in a long long time!
XSX. I encountered so many bugs. At least 6 quests were messed up for me and I had to reload an older save. I fell through the environment one time and was just floating and couldn't die, so I had to reload a save. One time my companions stopped following me. Usually they'd find their way to me but this time they just permanently got stuck no matter how far ahead they got.and I couldn't use their skills until I reloaded my save. I was unable to open certain chest because bugs prevent the NPCs from giving you unique keys to the chests.
I couldn't get into Outer Worlds.. but plan to try again sometime in the future also.
Had less time to play this week than I hoped, about to wrap up the third area. Loved exploring this zone almost entirely - great area, wish the "Shark's Teeth" part was bigger than it is, loved that.
The thing I'm absolutely most hyped about for finishing Act 3 is being able to take Yatzli out of my party. Can't stand her!
Tried this on gamepass for about 2 hours.
I am a fan of Obsidian, however, this game ain't it chief.
The world is bland, graphics are bland, combat/gameplay is bland, things animate in a bland way.
It's not bad by any means, but it's also not exciting in any way. I find myself skipping dialog as it's boring as hell. I liked Outer Worlds much more.
Also, I dislike how many bears I have to fight.
Uninstalled, let's see if Indian Jones is fun.
Also as far as action oriented RPGs go, Veilguard is MUCH better across the board (even the writing, show me a cool character like Solas in avowed).
Tried this on gamepass for about 2 hours.
I am a fan of Obsidian, however, this game ain't it chief.
The world is bland, graphics are bland, combat/gameplay is bland, things animate in a bland way.
It's not bad by any means, but it's also not exciting in any way. I find myself skipping dialog as it's boring as hell. I liked Outer Worlds much more.
Also, I dislike how many bears I have to fight.
Uninstalled, let's see if Indian Jones is fun.
Yeah, sounds like the game just isn't for you. I'm kind of in the opposite camp - couldn't handle Outer Worlds for whatever reason (do want to try it again at some point in the future, though).
Sadly, I tried Indiana Jones and my GPU is too old, so it doesn't support hardware raytracing.. I wanted to try it bad.
If you become incapacitated before falling off of a ledge into an area that would normally void you out (dead zone), you will revive and be able to walk around in these areas that are normally not accessible. Surprisingly, some of these areas actually have collision in them when you'd expect they wouldn't! Seems like the killzone is more of a horizontal plane and if you vertically pass it while incapacitated, you will be fine and can exist underneath, making it even farther out of bounds (lower) because there are no rechecks on being out of bounds after that first horizontal slice. Very interesting.
Halfway down the giant chasm in Act III, still just as far to go down though:
I thought I had to just keep defeating the waves of enemies... they just spawned forever and ever.. went through 50 healing potions and they just kept coming.. didn't realize I just had to run out the door..
And somehow my game bugged out after making a decision on what to do with the ruins.. it left me standing there and I could talk to either one, but if i chose to all it did was take to a blank screen with the subtitle "sharp breath" no matter who I talked to and nothing happened! lol.. I'm shutting this off, will toy with this tomorrow.
I've still barely gotten to play this, in the first city area. Combat is still the highlight so far. Every fight has been fun. Dialogue and story has not really impressed me yet, but its early. Opposite of what I expected.
There is zero doubt this is a AA game. Some odd graphical moments and some stuff is a little rough around the edges at times.
I thought I had to just keep defeating the waves of enemies... they just spawned forever and ever.. went through 50 healing potions and they just kept coming.. didn't realize I just had to run out the door..
And somehow my game bugged out after making a decision on what to do with the ruins.. it left me standing there and I could talk to either one, but if i chose to all it did was take to a blank screen with the subtitle "sharp breath" no matter who I talked to and nothing happened! lol.. I'm shutting this off, will toy with this tomorrow.
I've noticed this merchant icon hours ago near the exit to Act III.. but there's no merchant here. I figured maybe they would show up later - anyone know what this icon is in reference to?
I've noticed this merchant icon hours ago near the exit to Act III.. but there's no merchant here. I figured maybe they would show up later - anyone know what this icon is in reference to?
Also, talking to the party just after enterting Galawain's Tusks..
Marius was getting all uppity, I lol at the dialogue options "if he comes after me like that again, I'll have to put him down".
Made it to Act IV, nice change of visual scenery with Death Mountain back there.
Also really love the step pyramid inspired design you can see in the various acts for the architecture:
The lava pouring out of this place is absolutely ridiculous, but I love it. Also love that at the center top the middle space is empty with effectively two flanking towers.
I found that every time I close the game, it doesn't save my preferred upscaling settings. It keeps reverting back to AMD Fidelity, but the TSR runs sooo much better for me. Drives me nuts that I have to reset it each time!
In Act IV early on, just did a sidequest that
involved talking to Woedica in the form of a broken statue of Maegfolk, interesting and while there is a lot of Pillars lore in this game, I do wish they had leaned even heavier into this sort of stuff!
Also kind of related, strangely there was a bug in the water purity quest -
I decided to kill the treefolk thing, but when I attacked it, it wouldn't respond to me though it was taking hits physically. I could hit it over and over, but combat wouldn't engage. Realizing there was a swimmable body of water nearby, I eventually just shield bashed and shield rushed her until I knocked her into the water, which killed her immediately and completed the quest. Strange though! Poor treefolk, like everything else in this game, allergic to water deep enough to swim in.
Interesting that in Act II Giatta is going on about bending the environment and island to her will to better humanity, but then I murder this treefolk and suddenly she's upset about it, "exploiting" nature.. psh.
I also stumbled upon a memory exploring here in Act IV, the first I've found since Act I.. made me realize I have missed two of them! Wow, and I thought I was exploring very thoroughly, but it shows there's just always more around the corner even if you think there isn't!
I don't normally take a lot of photos in games, but can't help myself here..!
I think a lot are passive, so that would be nice to have
Dream Touch is really good and the only healing spell I have so it’s huge if I don’t have healer in party
I also have one that’s like an AOE root effect which is pretty handy. It’s similar to the root skill on the rogue tree but does damage and hits multiple people
Really enjoying this. Switching between 1st and 3rd person works perfectly. Story is starting to kick in for me finally.
This is the most alien fantasy WRPG since Morrowind. It really does feel wild and untamed. Weird trees and coral growth, weird enemies natural, or spectral. Lots of lore depth. Its like an action RPG streamlined Morrowind.
Really enjoying this. Switching between 1st and 3rd person works perfectly. Story is starting to kick in for me finally.
This is the most alien fantasy WRPG since Morrowind. It really does feel wild and untamed. Weird trees and coral growth, weird enemies natural, or spectral. Lots of lore depth. Its like an action RPG streamlined Morrowind.
Yes, the "alien" look is really well done and enjoyable for me too. I love exploring and just taking in the environment and I'm not always excited to do that in a game. I think it's great really overall, despite flaws.
Past two nights and just before I got to the garden
I thought for sure I was done with that point of no return but hours later and a whole night spent, 72 hours in, still not hit the ending
imo the writing for companions is a step-up in the garden. Graphics of 4th zone was a bit underwhelming compared to the other ones but garden steps it up again.
They put so much details in the graphics and world craftsmanship, for sure they had to reduce scope. I'm surprised they sculpted a world like this to begin with to be honest. HUGE amount of work.
Finished completely. App says I have played the game for 77 hours. Second play through was on the hardest difficulty. It started out insane but by maybe the second half of Emerald Stair it got pretty easy. On my normal run I stick with Yatzli and Kai but on this one I did Yatzli and Giatta. If you upgrade Giatta’s healing abilities she gets super good. I think I finished the hardest run with like 50 health and 150 essence potions.
I did numerous combat builds in this one and they were all very fun. Ended sticking with dual pistols but with a completely different build than my first game. Found two uniques that together along with jewelry and other bonuses had my crit chance at like 60% with large crit damage bonus. Power shots from both pistols stunned the shit out of the target, anyone near, and put high accumulation of a random element on them. Just shredded through things until those Sentinel looking bastards in the Garden.
Might be the best combat I have ever experienced in an RPG. I really wish there was some sort of NG+ or something because by the time you are really powerful and have the best equipment, the game is over.
I had to get the achievement to be knighted by Ghost Rider on this play through and it was pretty awesome seeing how different the game and dialogue plays out. Kai gets so mad at you at various times.
Writing in the game is amazing in some parts and meh in others. Main plot drags in the middle but wraps up nicely. Combat and exploration really carry the game. My first play through was 40 something hours and in this second one I was still finding loads of places and situations I never experienced the first time.
Overall I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10, really great game. The best “full” game I have played in years. Games like this are why I was so excited MS bought Obsidian and they didn’t risk closure.
