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GameInformer: Avowed is the same length as Outer Worlds (13- 40 hours)

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
Literally impossible that this has been in development for 7 years, its being made on unreal engine 5, developers haven't even had the kits 4 years, also obsidian has released grounded and pentitment within that time as well as the outter worlds 2
The game has been in development since early 2018. Xbox saw Avowed and decided to purchase Obsidian.

The Lead Area Designer also mentioned that he started in late 2018, though the game was in development even before that:
 
As long as it's good I don't care.
Exactly.

What is it with this obsession with playtimes? Most of the time it results in bloated hunks of average that could have bee fun if it was half as long.

Without sounding like too much of a twat at this point in my life my time is a lot more valuable than the price of a game so I'd much rather games be shorter and better made. The whole playtime thing I assume is a big deal for teenagers and the unemployed who are low on cash and high on free time.
 

YeulEmeralda

Linux User
that's another can of worms.

The length discussion is meaningless. the game has to be great AND it should be marketed accordingly.
Nice anecdote:

I remember reading a review of Baldurs Gate 2 in a Dutch gaming magazine called Power Unlimited. They were complaining that the series was too long. Its one of those reviews that I'll never forget.

And it is true some games are simply a massive investment. Must have spent months of my life on the Baldurs Gate trilogy.
 

ungalo

Member
I guessed it was the case so i'm not really disappointed and i'm not a TOW hater, but i still believe since this is a game that resembles TES or the new Fallout it would have been better if it had more magnitude, like New Vegas.

I like TOW but the main problem is that it lacks depth, in how the different factions interact, in the progression of our character, and in the world itself, it feels like half a game. If New Vegas is considered a masterpiece it's also because of the content.
 
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ungalo

Member
Outer Worlds 40h? Maybe if you take a nap between quest and quest and leave the game running. It took me 16h with all the sidequests.

16h of my life I will never recover.
I think it can stretch to 30 hours if you want to do everything, but most likely 25 hours for most people. 16 hours to do everything seems bullshit (40 too).
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
Anyone who says "durr its ok for the game to be shorter" has implicitly bought into the whining after BG3 came out about it being impossible to expect other devs to live up to it. This game was announced in 2020. Even if it didnt even start development when it was announced, that's over four years. RPGs are typically long because they are full of content, stories, C&C, etc. A 15 hour slopfest is not good enough from a dev who has made a few great ones including at least one all-time classic.

And also, so far, the game looks bad.
 
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Anyone who says "durr its ok for the game to be shorter" has implicitly bought into the whining after BG3 came out about it being impossible to expect other devs to live up to it. This game was announced in 2020. Even if it didnt even start development when it was announced, that's over four years. RPGs are typically long because they are full of content, stories, C&C, etc. A 15 hour slopfest is not good enough from a dev who has made a few great ones including at least one all-time classic.

And also, so far, the game looks bad.

Or we have experienced numerous games that are stretched too thin. Who complained that other devs can’t “live up to” BG3? Is that one of those weird corner of the internet things that people try to turn into something big? There have always been games that separate themselves from the rest and are much better.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
Or we have experienced numerous games that are stretched too thin. Who complained that other devs can’t “live up to” BG3? Is that one of those weird corner of the internet things that people try to turn into something big? There have always been games that separate themselves from the rest and are much better.
You say this like the only two options are "15 hour game" or "40 hour stretched too thin". How about, you know, a good 40 hour RPG? They exist. Obsidian has even made a bunch of them.

It seems like this game had major issues in development, probably got scrapped, and this was what they could cobble together.
 
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So a 13-hour RPG after almost 7 years of development? Wow.

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Yeah, I'm disappointed by the small scale of the game, as well. After such a long development cycle. It's clearly been heavily scaled-back since 2019. That much is obvious from what's been shown and what they're shared.

It was never realistic this would be a 150+ hour open-world RPG, given Obsidian's size and how there's only so many teams in the world who could build something that big in a reasonable amount of time.
 
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would you have rather played an awesome RPG that was 30 hours? Or is it good you oplayed a POS because it was "only" 16?
I wouldn't have played it at all if I knew how bad it was. I finished it because it was 16h and sunken cost fallacy won. I wouldn't have finished it if it was 30h.

But I like my RPGs girthy as long as they're good. I just finished Fallout 3 with dlcs for the second time and it took me 47h and I'm somewhat disappointed. Even though I shaved some hours since I already knew how to go round some of the worst roadblocks.

I don't think I will be playing Avowed even if reviews say it's the best game forever. They also gave OW like 20 points more than I would have.
 
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You say this like the only two options are "15 hour game" or "40 hour stretched too thin". How about, you know, a good 40 hour RPG? They exist. Obsidian has even made a bunch of them.

It seems like this game had major issues in development, probably got scrapped, and this was what they could cobble together.

40 hours isn’t stretched too thin. People are talking like 40 hours is too short.
 

ungalo

Member
40 hours isn’t stretched too thin. People are talking like 40 hours is too short.
They're saying it's the same lenght as TOW so i suspect it's more 30 hours than 40 hours. And in TOW these 30 hours account for every single side quest in the game that would be more or less interesting (hence why he's saying "stretched too thin").

Sometimes for two different games devs say 40 hours and it means something entirely different. And let's say for Obsidian when they mention TOW i don't think it's a very good sign.

And again, it depends the genre and subgenre. Avowed will not be a very intense game you can bet on that.
 

clarky

Gold Member
They're saying it's the same lenght as TOW so i suspect it's more 30 hours than 40 hours. And in TOW these 30 hours account for every single side quest in the game that would be more or less interesting (hence why he's saying "stretched too thin").

Sometimes for two different games devs say 40 hours and it means something entirely different. And let's say for Obsidian when they mention TOW i don't think it's a very good sign.

And again, it depends the genre and subgenre. Avowed will not be a very intense game you can bet on that.
Did you just shit this out of your mouth?
 

Nydius

Gold Member
I don’t really care how long or short a game is, I care about the quality of it. My problem with The Outer Worlds wasn’t how “short” it was relative to others in the genre, it was that it was painfully generic with awful writing, horrid combat, and a completely forgettable story.

So far what they’ve shown of Avowed’s gameplay doesn’t inspire confidence, but one can hope.
 
I remember being impressed with The Outer Worlds for the first hour or two and then thinking it went downhill. Can’t recall what caused it to lose its enjoyment so quickly.

Same except the whole first world impressed me. After that I don't know I just lost interest bad. I went ahead and beat it but I just kind of kept rushing through it.
 

AGNT4SD6

Neo Member
I feel like this game is gonna come out and be overshadowed by the next “Dragon Age” and no one will be talking about it. Maybe it should be pushed till beginning of 2025, unless it’s ready to go in Aug/Sep but the rumors are Nov.
 

clarky

Gold Member
I feel like this game is gonna come out and be overshadowed by the next “Dragon Age” and no one will be talking about it. Maybe it should be pushed till beginning of 2025, unless it’s ready to go in Aug/Sep but the rumors are Nov.
If its anything like that trailer the only thing overshadowing Dragon age will be Dragon Age itself.

Besides this is on Gamepass, why would it need to avoid anything? It will sell like shit regardless of when its released.
 
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People getting concerned about this cause Outer Worlds, relax.

Its set in POE universe which means souls manifest in physical form and other whacky shit. It wont be lacking in story / writing and other interesting stuff.
 
This

PoE world was fascinating with even text boxes and sketch drawings, imagine in 3D.
To be fair, POE perspective allows for deeper and more interesting stories IMO.

With that said, I think it wont be as toothless as Outer Worlds. OW was new IP build from scratch, self funded. Likely they weren’t able to develop it as well as they could.

POE universe however is well established and pretty interesting. Even POE 1 had tons of great writing.
 
Personally I wouldn't make the argument that "still in development" and "not officially canceled but not working on it actively" are interchangeable terms. But we can only guess what has happened behind the scenes since 2008.

Some kind of comment like "we are actively working on it and have an internal roadmap for development and release" would sit better, in this situation.

Technically Starcraft Ghost wasn't "canceled" until 2014, but development ceased in 2006 for it. So the public confirmation really is meaningless in this situation.
 
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I find it hard to be excited about this game since it is getting compared to the disappointing and low budget feeling The Outer Worlds. But I hope to be pleasantly surprised. I find it pretty shocking that this game didn’t get a bigger budget under Microsoft and ramp up in scope.
 
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LastBattle

Member
Works for me. I’m getting burnt out on the gaming equivalent of war and piece. Most huge games are 60% filler anyway. I’m sure I’d get around 40hrs out of it as I like to take my time and see most of what a game has to offer in one play through, rather than speed run the main story.
 
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ChorizoPicozo

Gold Member
They're saying it's the same lenght as TOW so i suspect it's more 30 hours than 40 hours. And in TOW these 30 hours account for every single side quest in the game that would be more or less interesting (hence why he's saying "stretched too thin").

Sometimes for two different games devs say 40 hours and it means something entirely different. And let's say for Obsidian when they mention TOW i don't think it's a very good sign.

And again, it depends the genre and subgenre. Avowed will not be a very intense game you can bet on that.
time is relative, that's is fact. don't laugh


Edit: I was listening to the interview... oh boy. The length is the least of the issues with this game. It seems the scope and ambition are very limited. I remember when many people were saying that MS's money was going to unlock the full potential of the studios they acquired, if not level them up entirely... why this keeps happening?!?
 
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