Avowed, a TES-like game from Obsidian

[WhiteShark]

Inventory management is a sufficient minigame for me, thanks. A variety of challenges is good, though, so puzzles and secrets are nice.

[Roguey]

so-called 'minigames' and similar are palette cleansers. Essential for a good game, but destroy it when overused.

"Minigames are a waste of time" - Chris Avellone
"Josh Sawyer spent too much time on caravan; time that would have been better spent elsewhere" - also Chris Avellone
"I don't care for minigames" - Tim Cain
"I like well-executed minigames" - Josh Sawyer

[Mondain]

so-called 'minigames' and similar are palette cleansers. Essential for a good game, but destroy it when overused.

"Minigames are a waste of time" - Chris Avellone
"Josh Sawyer spent too much time on caravan; time that would have been better spent elsewhere" - also Chris Avellone
"I don't care for minigames" - Tim Cain
"I like well-executed minigames" - Josh Sawyer

They're all wrong except Sawyer.

[Ratcatcher]

And yet they all wish they had a fraction of the brillance possessed by the minds that gave us arcomage.

[Anon]

Minigames and puzzles are stupid, if I want to play a minigame and/or a puzzle I'll just fucking go play these genres, I don't need my RPG game pushing me that. Throwing puzzles at you like a you're monkey (and worse, you solving them like you're really one) shouldn't be what an RPG is about.

Secrets and challenges are nice

[WhiteShark]

It depends on how the puzzle is integrated. If it's just a random Tower of Hanoi, yeah, that's not very good, but if it's something that can be solved by environmental interaction, that really adds to the game.

[Anon]

Yeah I can see it in a occasion where I'm solving a puzzle when I didn't even know I'm solving one because of how well integrated it is.

But when you're put somewhere you explicitly know it's the "puzzle section", it fucking sucks and makes me google the solution ASAP

Still, if I could choose, I'd pick no puzzles at all, only focus on writing and combat.

[maidenhaver]

My rpg maker pokemon hack would outsell this trash.

[rusty_shackleford]

Minigames and puzzles are stupid, if I want to play a minigame and/or a puzzle I'll just fucking go play these genres, I don't need my RPG game pushing me that. Throwing puzzles at you like a you're monkey (and worse, you solving them like you're really one) shouldn't be what an RPG is about.

Secrets and challenges are nice

[Shillitron]

The director then goes on to explain how the footage we saw during the Developer Direct is actually "a few weeks behind" where the team is currently, in terms of its development.

Oh that's a relief, the footage was THREE WHOLE WEEKS old. Surely the game is perfect now.

This really isn't the "own" that Coping Patel thinks it is. Obsidian seriously needs a PR manager to hide these turds-masquerading-as-games better.

[Segata]

I like minigames when they're well done. Americans just hate fun.

[Acrux]

And yet they all wish they had a fraction of the brillance possessed by the minds that gave us arcomage.

Play to your heart's content.

https://github.com/arcomage/arcomage-hd

[rusty_shackleford]

And yet they all wish they had a fraction of the brillance possessed by the minds that gave us arcomage.

Play to your heart's content.

https://github.com/arcomage/arcomage-hd

It's not the same, it's like telling someone to eat a bowl of rice. It's alright, but it's not the same.

[wndrbr]

Remember how, ages ago, Obsidian's engineers were proficient enough to learn how to use someone else's engine and develop games in less than two years (kotor 2, fnv)? Judging by how long it takes for them to release Avowed, current day Obsidian can't even learn how to use Unreal engine, even though it's heavy documented and was deliberately made to be idiot-proof.

And now they are porting their project to a new version of the engine. Nothing good will come out of this.

[rusty_shackleford]

Remember how, ages ago, Obsidian's engineers were proficient enough to learn how to use someone else's engine and develop games in less than two years (kotor 2, fnv)?

To be fair, these were engines designed to be easy to learn & use. Unreal Engine isn't the same kind of engine, it's not even similar to UE3/UDK in that sense. UE4/5 is just a bloated mess with zero direction.

Tooling programmers, which are also designers, are probably the most underrated role in the video game industry.

[wndrbr]

Yeah that doesn't change anything. Obsidian used to have good tooling programmers, they've made their own engine from scratch (dungeon siege 3), and they've made a lot of custom stuff for Pillars. Why can't they build something on top of Unreal to make it more user-friendly?

[rusty_shackleford]

Yeah that doesn't change anything. Obsidian used to have good tooling programmers, they've made their own engine from scratch (dungeon siege 3), and they've made a lot of custom stuff for Pillars. Why can't they build something on top of Unreal to make it more user-friendly?

Because they probably replaced their tooling programmer with a black woman

Anyone got that soyer tweet about diversity in hiring?

[Roguey]

Obsidian always had difficulty with Unreal. Alpha Protocol was a mess (it has unmarked points of no return because they couldn't figure out how to reload those areas in a non-buggy way).

[Oyster Sauce]

Obsidian always had difficulty with Unreal. Alpha Protocol was a mess (it has unmarked points of no return because they couldn't figure out how to reload those areas in a non-buggy way).

There were a few spots where I was able to run as far into the level as possible to deload enemies then go back and explore freely. Pretty funny that the game couldn't save properly, so if you loaded a file where you were originally crouched behind cover you'd suddenly be standing up and get caught.

[Vergil]

so if you loaded a file where you were originally crouched behind cover you'd suddenly be standing up and get caught.

I'm glad Obsidian decided to make a stealth game despite having a pre-3D era understanding of the genre.