Avowed: Obsidian is releasing a first-person RPG, set in the "Pillars of Eternity" world. I have no idea how open world it is.

[NewNinetyNine]

Quick question:

I picked the nerdy/scholarly background but find myself enjoying guns and bows. Would I be penalizing myself or making the story odd if I was to continue with a ranger build and scholar background? E.g., flavor that makes no sense or INT checks in dialog?

(I don't remember the exact character creation choice names or attribute names on mobile.)

 

[NewNinetyNine]

Would like to play this (I have game pass) but the nvidia driver mess has me hesitant to update.

Which mess? Running fine on the latest driver with a 4080S.

Only game that is odd right now is Indy stuttering on my current driver, but that's on the back back burner.

 

[NewNinetyNine]

Lots of people reporting black screens after updating. Only fix is to force safe mode and uninstall the driver.

Interesting! I saw a bit of minor graphical corruption at one point (like a targeting reticle in from of me on the ground) that was fixed with a restart.

 

[NewNinetyNine]

Really enjoying this so far! I haven't followed the plot beyond a first visit to the main city, and have enjoyed just exploring and clearing the map.

After trying magic and pure guns I've settled on a ranger Sword/Shield and Long gun setup. I have no idea what I'm doing, and it's glorious.

Found a mod to set respec costs to zero, because there's no way to know what works well without experimentation.

Gorgeous game, and I enjoy the world. My only gripe is that the AI can be easily cheesed in combat.

 

[NewNinetyNine]

The respec costs end up being extremely cheap once you start amassing any steady amount of coin. And it never gets very high at all - the respec cost at level 30 is less than 3000.

Understood, but I got respecs up to 250 when my total gold was a few thousand (after probably spending a couple thousand on respecs).

I'm going to give the second level grimoires a try to decide once and for all between ranger sword/board/gun and mage.

 

[NewNinetyNine]

I switched from Sword/Shield/Gun (which itself was very fun) to caster with the Greater elements grimoire and Grimoire mastery level 2.

Tier 1 spells were quite lackluster and involved far too much proximity to enemies that love to swarm and kick you in the face. Whereas the Tier 2 spells really make me feel like I'm playing with awesome forces that can level a battlefield. Currently Wand/Grimoire 1 and Pistol/Grimoire 2, and it's a rollicking good time. I just cleared the "Skeleton Challenge" for the unique sword in the second zone with both methods. The sword/shield were quite powerful, but it felt quite repetitive versus slinging different massive spells at a horde.

The only odd element of casting is how potion dependent mana is, but I assume that will be addressed once I get the upgrades to essence per purple orb.

The plot and characterization have been very ho-hum so far, but I'm enjoying wandering the world, clearing out the map, and finding secrets. My biggest wish is respawning or random enemies, as the world really empties out once you clear it.

Edit: It's also amusing that I'm a royal envoy with the ear of the emperor and I'm running around stealing potatoes. The game unabashedly ignores repercussions for gamification and loot.

 

[NewNinetyNine]

There's also a unique wand that adds frost to its basic attacks, which also has the side benefit of creating ice sheets on water without the need for appropriate grenades.

Although it's not like grenades are in short supply. As usual, I always forgot that I had them and thus I think I finished the game with close to 300 in my inventory. Probably should have just spammed them in the end since the stacking effect doesn't seem to care.

Once I got blizzard, it trivialized "freeze a path through water" sections. It's ALL ice.

Currently planning a play 1 on Hard with mage, followed by play 2 on hardest sword and board ranger or 2H bruiser.

 

[NewNinetyNine]

Once I got blizzard, it trivialized "freeze a path through water" sections. It's ALL ice.

Currently planning a play 1 on Hard with mage, followed by play 2 on hardest sword and board ranger or 2H bruiser.

Update - already dropped my first playthrough to do POTD from the start on a sword and board war hero. The mage route just felt too easy/spammy, and I had already sold or dismantled all of the melee items I found. It's shocking all of the extra secrets I'm finding the second time through.

Trying to decide between the fiery 1H sword or the frost axe. The sword feels better and heals me, but axes seem to be inherently better weapons.