Avowed lets *you* make the meaningful choices, rather than telling you what to think

[hrafnskald]

Avowed takes a nuanced approach: it shows you conflicts, but it lets the player decide what to choose, and how to think about this.

In the first act, you see conflict between the more disciplined, law and order over everything else approach of the Aedyran Empire vs the loose and chaotic culture of the people who have come to the Living Lands to find freedom and escape their pasts. You decide how your character will react, and act. Do you drag every lawbreaker off to be interrogated? Blackmail at every opportunity? Show mercy? Work to find better resolutions to their problems?

You Decide.

In the second act, you see conflict between the "progress and stretch the bounds of what is possible" Animancers and those who think soul magic should have rules and restraint. Again, you get to decide who you side with, and what your character thinks.

And that's just the first two acts/settlements.

In each conflict, your companions will weigh in on different sides. Do you kill all who oppose you, to remove threats to your safety? Or do you try to show mercy when possible? Your companions, and the people you work with in the Empire's government, each have differing takes. Some will agree with you, some will be impressed, some will be horrified, but the choice rests with you.

This game lets you decide who is right or wrong. Your power as the Envoy, and the connection you discover, gives you the ability to steer how this land will change, and how its society will grow. That's why I love it: the attitude towards choices mirrors Pillars 1 and 2, the Mass Effect Trilogy, or Dragon Age Origins and Inquisition, where you have meaningfully different choices, and you decide which ones are right.

I'm glad the game does not tell me "this is what you should of done". Instead, it shows the consequences of my choices. Which can and should be different from yours.

In this game, you decide.

[Janthis]

Yep, I'm glad to see they continued the tough moral decisions and choices-with-consequences approach of Outer Worlds.

[Black Hammer]

You almost decide, except the writing is too clumsy to support the ambition. They put more energy into their favorite topics than into making sense, so you get the same tired and implausible tropes trotted out again and again.

[TruePandaKnight]

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

Yep, I'm glad to see they continued the tough moral decisions and choices-with-consequences approach of Outer Worlds.

Yeah, I'm also glad that it's not a 'suck with this choice or suck with this other choice' approach like TW3

[patrick68794]

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

You almost decide, except the writing is too clumsy to support the ambition. They put more energy into their favorite topics than into making sense, so you get the same tired and implausible tropes trotted out again and again.

Incorrect.

[hrafnskald]

Originally posted by Black Hammer:

You almost decide, except the writing is too clumsy to support the ambition. They put more energy into their favorite topics than into making sense, so you get the same tired and implausible tropes trotted out again and again.

Could the writing be better, especially in the first city?

Definitely.
And I would argue the writing and dialogue is 100% better when you're in the second city, dealing with the Vailians, who are freaking hilarious sometimes with the shenanigans.

There's one quest where you get sent off to find a pair of lost young recruits in the wilderness, only every line in the dialogue is dripping with double entendre, if you choose. The captain hints that the recruits might have snuck off to bang each other, your companions suggest you give them a few more days of fun before you bring them back, the captain says they need to learn to come when they're called, and I'm rolling on the floor laughing.

And that's just one quest.

Some of the details in how your "benefactor who speaks in dreams and visions" communicates are really interesting and filled with nuance and multiple meanings that say a lot about who they are, and how interacting with you is changing their views.

They saved a lot of the best writing for the second act and the vision-friend.

There are definitely clunkers, especially early on, but there are also some real gems in the rough.

[Pyro3000]

Except you don't decide what happens. You decide how your character feels, but you don't decide. Whatever is meant to happen, will happen. Very very few side quests have multiple end results. The only thing that impacts the ending is the very last quest.

You rarely ever have anything more than the illusion of choice.

[hrafnskald]

Originally posted by Pyro3000:

Except you don't decide what happens. You decide how your character feels, but you don't decide. Whatever is meant to happen, will happen. Very very few side quests have multiple end results. The only thing that impacts the ending is the very last quest.

You rarely ever have anything more than the illusion of choice.

I choose who lives, and dies. I choose if a couple gets a new start in life in a safer community, or gets dragged off to be brutally killed by the Steel Garrote.

I choose what trades are allowed, and what will be punished.

I choose if a rebel dies by my hand, or is shown mercy, to become an ally.

I choose if animancers are free to practice their art, or are hunted down and killed as blasphemers.

And that's just some of *my* choices in the first act.
Your choices will be different, as they should be. That's what makes this game fun.

It's not about the ending, it's about the choices you and I can make along the way, and seeing the real consequences of these.

[hrafnskald]

Originally posted by TruePandaKnight:

Originally posted by Johnny_B_80:

Yep, I'm glad to see they continued the tough moral decisions and choices-with-consequences approach of Outer Worlds.

Yeah, I'm also glad that it's not a 'suck with this choice or suck with this other choice' approach like TW3

Or the

"We are all friends, and I love and support you no matter what choices you make, because you are so special.
-Morrigan"

approach of Veilguard.

I like it when companions disagree with my choices, and push back against them. I like it when they snark, banter, flirt, complain, and point out options they would prefer.