A Note on Avowed

SPOILERS AHEAD: If You Haven’t Beat the Main Story Yet, Stop Reading Now! You Have Been Warned!

Screenshot By Me: Xbox Series S

Discovering the source of the mysterious voice in my head was a heart- breaking experience. I have read some of the things gamers are debating in Avowed. I am here to address those as well as an observation I haven’t seen mentioned.

Avowed Isn’t Skyrim

And thank the universe for that because I do not enjoy Bethesda games. They drive me up the wall with their inconveniences. Overlooking the fact that there is a fifteen year gap between the release of Skyrim and the release of Avowed, this comparison just breaks my brain.

Avowed is more like Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning and the Fable games. It is nothing like Skyrim. In fact, everything I hate about Bethesda games, Avowed addresses and streamlines!

If it’s lootable, it’s useable.

I can buy and sell literally anytime and anywhere.

One button press and my extra loot is sent to camp for storage.

No more going through my inventory and wondering I have six wooden spoons, five tattered shirts, four mixing bowls, 3 forks, 2 spoons, and a partridge in a pear tree. That literally no one will buy. If you can find a vendor that is open. Not to mention, it has to be the right vendor. Which takes away from my time to adventure.

No more being encumbered! One press of the X button and it’s sent to camp, so I do not lose my exploration flow. Or forget where I was headed. What I was doing. Or worse yet, I am in the middle of a puzzle. It’s just annoying at this point. I hope more games like Avowed show up on the market.

Don’t get me wrong — Bethesda absolutely has an audience. The Fallout series is an iconic piece of gaming history. There isn’t any taking that away from them. However, I am not their audience. I am much more linear in that aspect. There is a such thing as “too much” open world. Avowed fits a lot into a small map. I like a small map full of stuff. Versus empty planet after empty planet.

I did enjoy cataloguing the different plant/life forms on inhabited planets in Starfield. However, the idea of doing all of that over and over and over again was exhausting to me. I went through one evolution before I just stopped playing. I did not enjoy it at all.

What makes Avowed replay-able is the different dialogue options based on your character’s background alone. I enjoy the different companions and interacting with them. They all have their own backstories, their own traumas that I can choose how to handle. Callously or compassionately. They make remarks as we adventure. Marius comments on Pargrunen Ruins as we explore them. Kai will offer fun facts in different areas.

None of these things match my Skyrim experience. At all. My Skyrim experience was mostly crafting potions that I could not sell and taking on a quest that gave me a permanent vampire chick that was fighting with her parents. She always alerted enemies anytime I did any kind of stealth mission. So I gave up and focused on her questline. Because my character was not a magic user, I did not have enough mana to summon the mount in The Cairn. So I had to do all of that…on foot. I finally make it to the final boss.

That throws ice spears that immediately drain my stamina. Which I need to fire power attacks from my bow. Even dropping it down to the easiest difficulty, it was hard. I simply uninstalled. No game is worth all of that nonsense. I play fantasy games to escape reality. So, to see real world consequences in my escapism is quite jarring.

And that was the end of my Skyrim experience. I never revisited. Mainly because I visited a cave before I received the quest. But the quest was permanently broken. And it was one of the earliest quests. So yeah. That was really annoying. All the annoyances added up and I was done.

Xaurips: Are We Committing Genocide?

This is a common conversation among Avowed players and my answer to this is simple: Avowed is a role-playing game. The better question is does the character you are playing consider it genocide? Does it fit into your character’s background/personality to consider it genocide? My current Envoy has the Vanguard Scout background. In my own mind, she is clearly an introvert/lone wolf type. The deeper she is sucked into people’s problems and politics, the more she shuts down. Until she becomes callous to the point of ruthlessness.

I am still in the first area and I chose to slay The Chief in the side quest, Cabin Fever. My character thinks it is a ridiculous idea. Despite the documentation she found on soul fragmentation upon entering The Wheel. (Reincarnation.)

Finding her own country men slain in Xaurip camps does not help her attitude toward them. She often refers to them as “pests” that need to be “controlled.” If not outright exterminated. My suggestion to players that are struggling with this debate is to examine their own Envoy and the kind of person they are to determine their attitude toward Xaurips. In my humble opinion, it is a matter of perspective. And the most important perspective is our Envoys. As they are the ones that are deciding the fate of The Living Lands.

The Missable Quests

I cannot lie — I was furious that I missed one quest. All because I cleared out the cave behind the waterfall. I completed all the bounties and such. So when this particular achievement did not pop, I turned to Google. And that is how I found out that I missed this quest. I started a new playthrough and decided to tackle the rest of the achievements. I currently have 28/50 so I am more than halfway there.

Still, it really sucks that we are locked out of this achievement because we chose to take pre-emptive action to save a fucking city. Now, isn’t that some shit. They should have different quests for both options. I do have to be honest though. If I did not discover that I missed this quest, I may not have considered going for the rest of the achievements. I typically do not care about achievements. So, this is new territory for me.

I am a bit anxious to play Hollow Knight though. But that is another article for another day.

The Mysterious Voice

One thing I noticed is “the voice” constantly refers to themselves in the plural. Either it suggests they do not have a gender identity or…they suffered a psychotic break. Or both. I like to think it is a mixture of both. My take-away from it is this: all sentient creatures have the potential and ability to nurture life. It doesn’t matter how you identify.

I would also like to point out that nurturing life does not begin and end with having/raising children. Contrary to popular belief, nurturing life can be in the form of raising animals/pets or plants. I love my succulents, and I do nurture them to the best of my ability. They bring me so much joy.

However, there seems to be this myth that unless you have/raise children, you do not have the instinct to nurture. Nothing could be further from the truth. My instinct to nurture lies more with nature than it does people. That is the only difference.

As for the psychotic break, I think all of us would suffer a psychotic break if we suddenly burst into existence and were immediately imprisoned. It is clear that the mysterious voice does not have any kind of emotional regulation and suffers from repressed memories. The deity that chose us as their vessel is deeply traumatized.

Do we show them grace, empathy and help them heal?

Or do we teach them to be cold, callous, and ruthless?

Everywhere we go, everything we do, they are watching us. They visit us in our dreams with questions fairly often. They admit they are learning from us. They admit they are watching our every move. The political tensions between the empire and the paladins are stressful enough. The different areas we visit, the different cultures we come across only adds to the tension.

Now, we have a traumatized deity watching our every move and learning by watching us. The decisions we make. But there’s no pressure. I think this game is worth the completion. It think it is worth the multiple playthroughs. And I think it’s one of the best stories that I have come across in a long time.

The Priests of Avowed

Specifically, the skeleton priests that heal their skeleton friends. Why is this a problem? Because it breaks a cardinal rule of fantasy land:

Casting any kind of cure/heal/revive on the undead hurts/KO’s them.

That has always been The Rule. It is a bit strange to see in Avowed and it is something that I haven’t seen discussed. It’s a minor thing and I understand the reasoning. I only mention it as an observation. I feel pretty neutral about it. The first time I realized the boss was being healed, I was kinda annoyed. From that point on, I find “The Priest” and take them down. Followed by the long-range attackers.

I prefer to take out all the adds before focusing on the boss. But that is just personal preference. I honestly find it a bit silly.

“Excuse Mr. Skeleton but you are supposed to be dropping dead.”

I tried to tell them but they do not listen. Then again, how can they hear without ears? If that is the case, how do they know I am there? Inquiring minds want to know…

Not really. It’s fantasy and a reminder not to take it too seriously. It’s meant to be a fun ride with a powerful message. A message that is left to the player’s interpretation.

But I think we can all agree that encountering someone that doesn’t know emotional regulation should not be imprisoned and forgotten. They should have the opportunity to prove they are willing to learn, grow, and understand.

We could all use a little understanding, a little validation from time to time.