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From: Tahitian pearl <j63480576@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: I bought Avowed at full price, for feks sake
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2025 16:16:15 -0600
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Rin Stowleigh wrote:
> On Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:43:31 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> On 2/20/2025 5:20 PM, Rin Stowleigh wrote:
>>>
>>> And the real shocker is, no regrets so far.  In terms of action combat
>>> in a single player fantasy setting like this (which isn't really my
>>> genre), I really haven't seen something like this in quite a while.
>>>
>>> First I want to say I had no intention of paying full price for this
>>> game, I can wait forever for single player games since
>>> matchmaking/lobby filling is not even a consideration.
>>>
>>> I bought it mostly because [1] I found out someone I knew reasonably
>>> well wrote the entire soundtrack for it, and [2] it looked kind of fun
>>> and combat-mechanics focused which will draw me in much faster than a
>>> game where a few tens of millions of dollars have been spent on
>>> "story" that's been out-woked to Sweet Baby Inc or whaever.
>>>
>>> About [1] I've never met him in person, he's quite a bit
>>> younger/greener/less experienced than me in all aspects of life, but I
>>> have had enough conversations with him to know that I've had
>>> substantial influence on the choices made in his music career
>>> (especially regarding gear purchases which I know he struggles with
>>> financially).. , and I've learned a great deal from him (as I always
>>> do from music buddies), so there was absolutely no way I was not
>>> supporting him by purchasing the game whether I liked playing it or
>>> not.  He does tend to be a bit of the type to talk because he loves to
>>> hear his own voice, and there is a YT video out there where he is kind
>>> of giving himself attaboys...  but in terms of the soundtrack itself,
>>> the appropriateness for the game (and what I always look for, the
>>> production value), I think he recognized the value of the opportunity
>>> early on and stepped up to the plate appropriately, so kudos to him on
>>> a job well done!
>>>
>>> About [2]... I guess going into things with the expectations of the
>>> kind of changes we've seen over the last few years sets us up for
>>> going "wow" when we see something better than the usual crap?  I
>>> definitely got a nice surprise here.. where I really feel the
>>> difference is simply combat that's actually fun.  I'm not going to
>>> tell you it's necessarily as fun or impactful as Dark Messiah of Might
>>> and Magic back in the day, but it reminds me of that in the sense of
>>> the overall immersiveness of the combat itself.
>>>
>>> It's not a perfect game by any means.  It comes in woke very quickly
>>> with the character creation thing (He/She/They pronouns), and very
>>> early in the game makes sure that every female or female-like being
>>> you might encounter is so far from sexy or fuckable, that it seems
>>> like an intentional-yet-subliminal libido passiviation mechanism,
>>> designed to be sure you never get distracted from anything but the
>>> game.  Did they hire Kim Belair to design the female characters?
>>> Rodney Dangerfield used to joke that if you want to look fit, make
>>> sure all the friends you hang around are only fat people.  I think
>>> this is Kim's strategy to game design -- to downplay her own
>>> unattractiveness by making sure everything else has trouble meeting a
>>> lower standard.
>>>
>>> It also has bugs..  pretty severe if you go wandering about the map,
>>> climbing rocks and such.  You get into bad terrain clipping shit that
>>> quickly lets you know the game patches aren't ready for that.
>>>
>>> Mack from WorthABuy is correct that the world feels "too clean" and
>>> (my description not his) too Avatar-Movie-Like.  But I got used to
>>> this much faster than I thought I would... and I remembered from the
>>> Zelda games on Switch, not everything needs to look realistic to be
>>> fun.  The art in this game is fun, you just have to be willing to let
>>> your eyes adapt to it.
>>>
>>> So there ya go.  I'm now a chump who has spent full price for a game,
>>> with absolutely no chance of refunding it. :)  Most of you should
>>> probably buy this game too, if your machine can see it in all its
>>> glory and at a nice framerate.
>>
>> First impression from watching the trailer on the steam page is it seems
>> to be a Skyrim type game.  We could sure use more competition there.  I
>> might pick it up on sale eventually.
>>
>> To compare to Skyrim from the reviews,
>>
>> [x] bugs
>> [x] mostly boring quests
>> [x] mostly boring npcs
>> [x] mostly pointless dialog choices
>> [x] simple skill tree
>> [x] mostly attack by left clicking
> 
> There are some similarities to Skyrim I guess but the art style alone
> makes it not feel anything like an Elder Scrolls game.  Overall combat
> is probably better I'd say?  I'm adding a question mark because I
> haven't played Skyrim in a long time -- and it is an old game by now
> so maybe not a fair comparison in some regards.
> 
>> Of course I haven't played it yet to verify.  Most of the negative comes
>>from people expecting it to be like Path of Exile which are the same 
>> makers, or like some other games with more action combat instead of RPG
>> combat. If you take those out the reviews are pretty positive.
>>
>> I don't see much mention of the 'woke' bits, certainly not in the
>> negative reviews, so it's not getting review bombed for that (unless
>> it's because I'm not seeing those due to Steams algorithm which is a
>> distinct possibility.)  I looked up the female NPCs, at least half of
>> them look o.k. to me, but yeah the other half look manly.  I didn't
>> really notice to begin with but after taking a close look, I can't unsee
>> it.  I don't know that it would bother me.  Have to wait to see if
>> modding will be available.
> 
> I can't say it bothers me during gameplay.  Games were never a source
> of tits and ass for me in the first place.  If all the females were
> homely because it was an accident or just an art style specific to
> this game, it wouldn't even be an issue worth talking about.  But it's
> that undercurrent... the feeling that you know why it's the way it
> is... that's annoying.  Not annoying enough to not play it if the
> other aspects of it grab you, but it's there.

There were some relatively hardcore games for the Amiga, but on the ibm 
pc it's like how fucking long do I have to play this game before someone 
shows some skin?

>> I like the art for the cover for it, the in game stuff looks pretty
>> enough, but nothing special.
> 
> Playing at 1440p with visual quality maxed out and framerates of
> 150-ish, I will say it's definitely a visually appealing game.  It's
> just that it's very over-the-top fantasy... stylistically it kind of
> reminds me of Avatar (the movie, not the game, only ever saw the
> movie).  I generally find things that are relatable to the real world
> to be more immersive, but that's just me.  For those with an
> imagination that does well with fantasy themes I'd say yes, it's a
> pretty game.
> 
>> I've been keeping an eye on it, I'll probably pick it up if reviews get
>> better, or it's mod-able, eventually if it gets a discount.  As usual
>> with almost every single player game (or even many multi-player) give it
>> a year and see if they manage to iron out bugs and improve content, and
>> state of modding.
> 
> It will eventually go on discount, and honestly I wouldn't have paid
> $70 for a single player only game like this if it weren't for the
> personal connection to the soundtrack creator.

So you said...
             What enormous self-control!
-- 
No heebies, creepies or hallucinogenics It's the height of paranoia
Male, white, mid-to-late thirties