Path: ...!npeer.as286.net!npeer-ng0.as286.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Tahitian pearl 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 Lines: 146 Message-ID: References: <5d52bc66c912df18d514ed54eb1979b0cf3d394f@i2pn2.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: individual.net AUTSQoSuoXdxBnqiwhahggY0nM7kfQrVY/ogxxGYCAkFKJkz/z Cancel-Lock: sha1:LisWkW0mj/eDx+DoRGfUnIIoNz0= sha256:/cU1cmuA+6aWUP7Etl1DlDUymdq1rsymEpv1u6ycGYk= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:128.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/128.0 SeaMonkey/2.53.20 In-Reply-To: Bytes: 8803 Rin Stowleigh wrote: > On Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:43:31 -0800, Justisaur > 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