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[Draugoth]

The idea was dropped, almost certainly for the better, and Avowed became the thoroughly singleplayer experience we've seen in its showcases. But in a recent chat with Windows Central, Obsidian shed a bit more light on the decision to go solo, particularly in the wake of the stonking success of Baldur's Gate 3 (and its co-op mode).

"It was a very big creative and technical challenge to find a way to build multiplayer while also fulfilling the things that we are strong at as a studio," said game director Carrie Patel. The things that Obsidian is good at, as you might have guessed, consists of stuff like "a really solid campaign and crit path story," that lets players make "impactful decisions, [while] really shaping the world and the characters around them."

Source

 

[YuLY]

I swear the more you hear about this game since announcement the more mid it sounds, at least in scope. We thought that since they now have MS backing them they will go bigger, people thought this was going to rival Skyrim initially.

Then we found out it isnt open world, at least not fully like TES games. Then they downgraded the graphics from more realistic in the initial trailer to cartoony. Then they said no romances, although people kinda expect them nowadays in RPGs and since they are no longer limited by budget, why the hell not. Now we see they also wont support coop. Like the more you hear about this the more AA it sounds and I have no idea what is happening with this project.

But then again, this Obsidian is Obsidian in name only so what can you expect, it's hard for those purple haired activists to implement technical features such as coop.

 

[Varteras]

 

[Mister Wolf]

Good decision.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Off my radar now, oh well.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Playing BG3 in coop, some of the choices and consequences can truly be hilarious.

My favourite co op rpg has to be Wasteland 3. Their writing and quest design is excellent and leads to some debates on which way you wanna go.

With that said, this is right way for Obsidian to do it. Maybe when in future they are feeling much more ambitious, they can take the step forward and do it the right way.

It will be a lot more complicated in 1st person/3rd person games.

 

[Topher]

That's the right call. Nothing wrong with sticking to what you know and focusing on making the best single player experience you can.

Baldur's Gate 3 is cream of the crop when it comes to RPGs (coop or otherwise). Very few measure up to that standard.

 

[Damigos]

First time i m happy Series S exists

 

[intbal]

But then again, this Obsidian is Obsidian in name only so what can you expect, it's hard for those purple haired activists to implement technical features such as coop.

Nonsense!

Carmack? Sweeney? Engel?
Mere children compared to the technical wizards of Obsidian!

 

[adamsapple]

Off my radar now, oh well.

 

[GymWolf]

First good news i hear about this game.

 

[lh032]

Series S strikes again

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

mmm I think the Game pass effect is real guys

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

 

[adamsapple]

No, you're not joking. But clearly you didn't read the article either.

The MP was dropped a long time ago, this is not new news They already talked about it over a year ago.

Avowed was going to be multiplayer till the devs realised they wanted to make 'an Obsidian game and not something different'

"When you're asking for 50, 60, 70, 80 million you've got to have something interesting to talk about."

www.pcgamer.com

Avowed was going to be multiplayer till the devs realised they wanted to make 'an Obsidian game and not something different'​

 

[clarky]

I swear the more you hear about this game since announcement the more mid it sounds, at least in scope. We thought that since they now have MS backing them they will go bigger, people thought this was going to rival Skyrim initially.

Then we found out it isnt open world, at least not fully like TES games. Then they downgraded the graphics from more realistic in the initial trailer to cartoony. Then they said no romances, although people kinda expect them nowadays in RPGs and since they are no longer limited by budget, why the hell not. Now we see they also wont support coop. Like the more you hear about this the more AA it sounds and I have no idea what is happening with this project.

But then again, this Obsidian is Obsidian in name only so what can you expect, it's hard for those purple haired activists to implement technical features such as coop.

Whos We? Because 99.9% of the western world didn't expect half the shit you just made up.

 

[Kydd BlaZe]

People really wanted/expected co-op in this?

 

[begotten]

We thought that since they now have MS backing them they will go bigger, people thought this was going to rival Skyrim initially.

Pretty hilarious if people still think this. MS don't do management and hands on game-development well.

Also if they were going to use their money to employ and lure full-time talent, they should have done that instead of their dumb practice of constantly hiring contractors and wondering why the shit they publish is shit.

 

[LordCBH]

That’s fine with me. Looking forward to it and I’m glad it’s a single player game.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Had no idea it was ever planned or mentioned.

 

[diffusionx]

They have been trying to lower expectations on Avowed since last year. We've heard more about what the game is not and does not have than what it is and what it has. And everything so far outside of the environments looks bad.

If Larian can do it with Baldur's Gate 3, then there are no excuses.

 

[Raven117]

This is not Obsidian that did FO4 or Alpha Protocol.

That company no longer exists.

Edit: Fallout New Vegas

 

[Topher]

This is not Obsidian that did FO4 or Alpha Protocol.

That company no longer exists.

You mean New Vegas?

 

[Raven117]

You mean New Vegas?

Yes. Sorry. Not through my first cup of coffee yet

 

[adamsapple]

This is not Obsidian that did FO4 or Alpha Protocol.

That company no longer exists.

Neither of those games had any kind of MP or co-op component.

 

[clarky]

Avowed - Is not Skyrim

Feargus Urquhart tells PC Gamer what type of game Avowed is: Avowed started as Obsidian's Skyrim, but evolved to focus on depth over breadth, 'where Obsidian really shines' "We backed up and said again: What are we good at? What's our lane?" When Avowed was first announced with a CGI trailer...

rpgwatch.com

Avowed started as Obsidian's Skyrim, but evolved to focus on depth over breadth, 'where Obsidian really shines'
"We backed up and said again: What are we good at? What's our lane?"

No romances:

No romances = No buy :: Avowed General Discussions

Title

steamcommunity.com

VERY Disappointed No Romance Option in Avowed per IGN Interview

Just read in IGN that AGAIN you are not having Romance Options just like in The Outer Worlds and I have to say THAT SUCKS! I own POE 1 and 2, The Outer Worlds & The Outer Worlds (Spacer's Choice Edition), Neverwinter Nights 2, Alpha Protocol on GOG and I "Had" wish-listed Avowed but after thi...

forums.obsidian.net

Avowed Doesn't Have Romances Because It Focuses On Platonic Relationships

With friends like these, who needs romance?

www.thegamer.com

From thegamer article:
Even though it might not be the rival to Skyrim that many of us were hoping for, Obsidian's Avowed is shaping up to be one of the most exciting games of 2024,especially now that we know it's taking a lot of cutes from The Outer Worlds. As excited as most RPG fans are for the game, there is one thing that has seen a bit more of a mixed reception - the lack of romantic relationships.

But yes, please tell me again how 99.999999% of the western civilized world! didnt expect half the shit I MADE UP, when there are articles written about them. Fuckface.

Sorry didnt realise "we" meant you and a dude off the steam forums my bad. Crack on being disappointed.

 

[balls of snow]

We love Redfall now apparently.
Let sp dev make single player games.

 

[Raven117]

Neither of those games had any kind of MP or co-op component.

I know that.

I’m just not very optimistic that this turns out well… after that very mid-outer worlds.

 

[Sentenza]

On one hand I don't particularly care.
On the other one, it's starting to feel like every time this game gets mentioned is to talk about something it WON'T include.

 

[CamHostage]

No, you're not joking. But clearly you didn't read the article either.

The MP was dropped a long time ago, this is not new news They already talked about it over a year ago.

Avowed was going to be multiplayer till the devs realised they wanted to make 'an Obsidian game and not something different'

"When you're asking for 50, 60, 70, 80 million you've got to have something interesting to talk about."

www.pcgamer.com

Seriously, what's with the baity headlines today misinterpreting small quotes that were never intended to play into console wars?

Co-op is not a regular feature of Obsidian's RPG design style, even though a few like NWK2 and DS3 do have co-op. Outer Worlds, Fallout NV, South Park SoT, even Pillars of Eternity, not co-op. There was no expectation that there would be co-op in this until this article mentioning why it doesn't have the feature we already knew it doesn't have.

And also, Series S is not the reason Avowed doesn't have co-op. The Xbox line can handle online co-op just fine, it's just specifically the rarely-offered split-screen, full-roam co-op mode seen in BG3 (and also cut from Halo Infinite for possibly the same reason, although that game had plenty of other issues which would have led to cuts; the hacked unfinished co-op even ran on Xbox One.) That's a particularly memory-dependent feature, and is hard to simplify for the lower scale of Series S. (It'd be a pain to develop on any platform, this is just It's also a feature not usually used (or ever?) in first-person RPGs, as it doesn't have the screen real estate to use the way a top-down RPG does. Even Obsidian's own Grounded doesn't have it, that's all multiplayer and would have been a nice match for family-style co-op on the couch. And on top of the technical issues, it's rarely used. People these days generally play online co-op, which is just as common now as it has been in the online gaming generation even with Series S because Series S poses no challenges to implementing this online feature.

If Obsidian wanted to have a co-op mode, nothing major was in the way to stop them. But it was not a priority to work out for the game they chose to make.

 

[adamsapple]

On one hand I don't particularly care.
On the other one, it's starting to feel like every time this game gets mentioned is to talk about something it WON'T include.

You can thank our lord and savior Draugoth for that.

The actual article headline doesn't say that, the original interview it's from doesn't say that. The MP was abandoned a long time ago and Obsidian are saying they wouldn't have been able to do it like Larian did.

That praise for Larian has somehow been turned into "cooperative mode was abandoned due to implementation", something that's not even remotely close to anything in the article(s).

There's clickbait headlines and then there's changing the actual headline of the article to turn it into click bait, this is the later.

 

[poppabk]

mmm I think the Game pass effect is real guys

I think this is the Redfall effect. Force single player devs to make a co-op title and you get a dud and a dead studio.

 

[clarky]

On one hand I don't particularly care.
On the other one, it's starting to feel like every time this game gets mentioned is to talk about something it WON'T include.

Yep when i found out there was no space dogfighting i was surprised and saddened they reduced the scope so much.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

I think this is the Redfall effect. Force single player devs to make a co-op title and you get a dud and a dead studio.

The Redfall effect is also the game pass effect:

"we don't want to spend another year or two making the best game possible because we are going to give it away on Game Pass anyway"

 

[MadchesterManc]

As I have no friends the lack of a coop mode is a boon, means more time for other things to be worked on with the game.

Gotta take the positives...

 

[adamsapple]

The Redfall effect is also the game pass effect:

"we don't want to spend another year or two making the best game possible because we are going to give it away on Game Pass anyway"

How's it going Choro? Y'all good?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

How's it going Choro? Y'all good?

game pass is my PASSion

 

[Ozriel]

I swear the more you hear about this game since announcement the more mid it sounds, at least in scope. We thought that since they now have MS backing them they will go bigger, people thought this was going to rival Skyrim initially.

Then we found out it isnt open world, at least not fully like TES games. Then they downgraded the graphics from more realistic in the initial trailer to cartoony. Then they said no romances, although people kinda expect them nowadays in RPGs and since they are no longer limited by budget, why the hell not. Now we see they also wont support coop. Like the more you hear about this the more AA it sounds and I have no idea what is happening with this project.

But then again, this Obsidian is Obsidian in name only so what can you expect, it's hard for those purple haired activists to implement technical features such as coop.

Hard to believe this is the same place where Arkane was clowned for making Redfall (outside of their usual wheelhouse) and where people constantly blast Rocksteady for making multiplayer Suicide Squad.

A single player studio mentions that they thought about multiplayer and dropped the idea early enough and this is being spun as a negative?


Lol @ you arguing as if multiplayer is an RPG staple. Are you new to gaming?

 

[simpatico]

Remember in the PS360 era when damn near every game released had some form of a multiplayer component? I'm not asking for that to come back, but rather showing how inefficient and poorly managed the big studios are now.

 

[Moriarty1889]

Nonsense!

Carmack? Sweeney? Engel?
Mere children compared to the technical wizards of Obsidian!

What a group that is……..

 

[Moriarty1889]

Remember in the PS360 era when damn near every game released had some form of a multiplayer component? I'm not asking for that to come back, but rather showing how inefficient and poorly managed the big studios are now.

That was hands down the best era in gaming imo. It all started to change last gen.

 

[YuLY]

Lol @ you arguing as if multiplayer is an RPG staple. Are you new to gaming?

No...if it was up to me every single game would only have single player. Doesnt change the fact that they said it will have coop and then they walked it back, like a lot of things they previously did. I've been a core gamer since 2001, when I was playing Gothic 2, some of the current Obsidian writers werent even born.

 

[YuLY]

Sorry didnt realise "we" meant you and a dude off the steam forums my bad. Crack on being disappointed.

Ah so we are ignoring the 2 articles from thegamer and rpgwatch where it is clearly states people were expecting a Skyrim rival? (including the romances thing in thegamer article). You sure are good at selecting only stuff that fits your narrative arent you.

 

[adamsapple]

No...if it was up to me every single game would only have single player. Doesnt change the fact that they said it will have coop and then they walked it back, like a lot of things they previously did.

- They never said the game will have co-op, just that there was some multiplayer component at some point in the early development
- We didn't know about the MP thing year(s) after the fact and the developers have said they shouldn't have pushed it in the first place
- The MP / hypothetical co-op was never a part of any trailer or announcement PR. Games go through concepts all the time which don't make it to the final phase

This ain't 'walked it back'.

Regardless, you should be happy that there's no forced co-op or MP here. Why would you say it 'sounds mid' if it's doing something exactly like you want every single game to do

Ah so we are ignoring the 2 articles from thegamer and rpgwatch where it is clearly states people were expecting a Skyrim rival? (including the romances thing in thegamer article). You sure are good at selecting only stuff that fits your narrative arent you.

'People's expectations' and actual announced features for the game are not the same thing.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

On one hand I don't particularly care.
On the other one, it's starting to feel like every time this game gets mentioned is to talk about something it WON'T include.

This is standard procedure for Xbox / MS.

They under hype their games.

Results in better engagement and focus is on playing game rather than dreaming about it.

 

[killatopak]

As a primary SP mode user, this is good.

Adding mp will somehow fuck up with the balance especially in an open world game. So many ways to break stuff if this got shoehorned. Tried it on Skyrim, shits broken.

 

[clarky]

Ah so we are ignoring the 2 articles from thegamer and rpgwatch where it is clearly states people were expecting a Skyrim rival? (including the romances thing in thegamer article). You sure are good at selecting only stuff that fits your narrative arent you.

What narrative? Never heard of nor read "thegamer" nor "RPG watch" and I think the game looks mid at best for what its worth, but id rather talk about what the game is rather than what it isn't.

Seems like they are going for a tight 20- 40 hour single player experience, hopefully with a great story and passable combat. Whats wrong with that?

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

Wait, so now it’s a bad thing that they are focusing on a SP experience? It’s the GamePass effect? Sorry, it’s hard to keep up with the shifting narratives.

This ranks right up there with no romances as the biggest fuck up this generation /s

 

[Ozriel]

No...if it was up to me every single game would only have single player. Doesnt change the fact that they said it will have coop and then they walked it back, like a lot of things they previously did.

when did they announce or reveal the game as a coop title? What exactly have they ‘walked back’ since the title was announced?

I've been a core gamer since 2001, when I was playing Gothic 2, some of the current Obsidian writers werent even born.

Aren’t you then a bit too mature to be making posts like this?

 

[Topher]

We love Redfall now apparently.
Let sp dev make single player games.

Wait, so now it’s a bad thing that they are focusing on a SP experience? It’s the GamePass effect? Sorry, it’s hard to keep up with the shifting narratives.

This ranks right up there with no romances as the biggest fuck up this generation /s

The general consensus of the thread is that this is a good thing except for mainly one guy who wants to make everything, it would seem, about "purple hair" people.