You know, I've heard some of the things about this game, and I never realized it could come to this state. How did one of the most prominent developers, capable of making great RPGs shill this one out? It's missing things, janky to play, and underwhelming sense of drive.
I don't think I've played a lukewarm RPG since...oh no, Alpha Protocol? That one usually cites that even if their games are underwhelming, there are elements there to appreciate. Avowed has qualities, it is after all a spin-off game from Pillars of Eternity series. I just thought they'd get more right, yet I question every minute spent playing.
Over the past few years, it had a lot of troubled development, and signs shows back and forth with ideas being there, but never able to be presented in the most prominent form. This isn't a case of missed opportunity, it's a grave disappointment. Anyone still remember Starfield?
Yeah, there's an overarching narrative that relies on a giant pile of text-based lore. If you're a fan of the Pillar of Eternity series, this will be super familiar to you. The game lets you plays as a Godlike, someone who came from the Aedyr empire as an envoy to the Living Lands.
Unfortunately, my ship got wrecked, the docking station is plagued by an infection turning all the crews against one another, and you're left with the survivors while investigating all that's happening. It's a tutorial level, and after that, we leave with a ship to the city of Paradis. That is undergoing civil unrest due to my arrival along with the Aedyr's imperial law.
I do like the character creator, but ah, pretty useless with all the mushroom stuff around my face. Which I can hide for myself, but the NPCs will nonetheless see. There's a lot of lore dropped, and they present a world I really want to get into. But also involves lots of reading.
Boy, do I mean so much reading. The dialogues, codexes, logs, like there's a world of its own in here, and the other parts of the game should make it immersive enough to get into, right? Right? Well, here's where the problems start. Just to preface, I do like the visuals, UE 5 is used very well here, and it's optimized with very little technical problems. I say little, not nonexistent mind you.
Combat is really fun, it's about mixing attacks with spell-casting as well as managing stamina, without dying a lot. Best part is having to ambidextrously handle weapons; I can equip a wand with a grimoire on the other hand for quick spell casts, or use it with a pistol or dual wield them. Same with daggers, while switching to a two-handed weapon at the press of a button. These are impressive to use in combo, creating various status ailments and damage modifiers.
Companions also have their own abilities, which I can select from the wheel access. There's even grenades to throw there as well. A few problems tho, I don't like how they are implemented. There's so much jank here, my abilities don't cast well and hit target right, not even the companion's.
They're also missing tooltips info, like I unlocked the shield bash ability, yet what's the command for it? What's the ability damage scaling for elemental damage? Comparisons to make even? After long hours of playing, the main mechanics and combat design starts to feel inept and cookie cutter at most. This is Alpha Protocol level of bad. But wait, it gets worse, progression is stupidly slow, you level up, and don't even get enough points to unlock stuff.
Missing features for inventory like dropping items, you just stash them in the safe instead, no dual quest markers for doing side quests as well. Exhausting enemies bring out combo finishers, but they also seem unimpressive too. Ok, just who is this game for? Enemies are no slouch either, they do have broken A.I.s at times, but damn, this game is super difficulty if you're not careful.
I get a second life, but if not careful, I can easily be killed again and this time I'll stay dead. The stamina bar early on is irritating to manage for that reason alone. Well, at least I can upgrade weapons and increase their rarity stats. Craft food items, and materials too.
Ok, there has to be other positives, right? Well, like I said, the world-building, the lore as taxing as they are, very impressive and actually gives Dragon Age: Veilguard run for its money. If only the experience was well worth enough to get into. I digress, there's a lot still to like.
The companions have different colorful personalities, my favorite is Kai so far, their dialogues are what really sells them too. Every choice you make is commented on, and sometimes either encouraged, criticized, frowned, or celebrated for. Heck, you'll even get rewards if you do well. What, that's crazy. Suffice it to say, they work complimentary to the entire narrative experience.
Choices you make conversing with NPCs don't have seriously consequences, you get what you want if you have enough character points as well as the background class. Mine is a scholar, so he's going to go on in great detail about a myriad of different things. Funny enough, it's not always helpful. This woman got pissed when I explained what her practice was about.
She was hiding it for a reason, and since I'm an envoy, I had to choose whether to call the authorities, take the bribe, or just come to an understanding. Here's the thing, tho, that's just the end of it. I get items, rewards, and that's it. You know how dated that sounds?
Oh yeah, there's a voice in my head since that island, talking in perplexing yet poetic dialogue. I kid you not, it's some of the best writing involved. Exploration is rewarded as well, even implores you to think in order to get access to certain areas out of reach. Look how big the map is.
Which is why it bothers me that there are major parts of the game that are half-baked. I heard this one was supposed to be an online game, yet was salvaged as a single-player title.
People are even defending this game online, it's so pitiful. 70 USD price for a broken title? I don't care if it's in game pass. Would suggest this gets a rework, like Cyberpunk 2077, but I doubt that. It's not getting enough sales money to speak of. Which is seriously disappointing to see.
Most of the NPCs also look the same, the progression system is slow, and just holds back the fun, and it need seriously needs more quality of life updates. If you want, there are mods that do fix most of these. It doesn't also help that my game crashed a lot before updates.
I wish there was a system that affect my presence more in the world. NPCs don't even die unless you decide to kill them through the dialogues. More issues as such all over the place. KCD2 just arrived, little over 2 years ago, Baldur's Gate 3 came out. Not even sure I can even call this an RPG, after the 10th or 12th hour, you've seen everything.
