#avow

[captainjonnitkessler]

Sometimes I wish we would start calling out the performative radicalism on this site for the poser bullshit it is. "Remember, it's always morally correct to kill a cop!" "Don't forget to firebomb your local government office!" "Wow, it sure would be a shame if these instructions on how to make a molotov cocktail got spread around!"

Okay. But you're not killing cops or firebombing government offices. You are posting on a dying microblogging website to a carefully-curated echo chamber that has radicalized itself into thinking that taking the absolute most extreme position on any subject is praxis but that anyone discussing the most practical way to effect actual change is your sworn enemy. You do not have the street cred OR the activist cred to be talking about killing cops, babe.

[onlyhurtforaminute]

PORTAL-EYE

[marmett]

gaming controversies are always a tossup btwn two different kinds of controversies.

1. you are abt to read an article abt the most heinous violations against employees imaginable. it gets swept under the rug and gamers are like, "stop talking abt it, its distracting from the game!"

2. gamers are mad abt pronouns and woke again. a developer saying the phrase "crusty white men" is the worst thing that has ever happened in the history of gaming and we need to talk abt this for two weeks straight.

[fyeahobsidian]

Apparently Obsidian had the opportunity to give Ryoko Kui (Delicious in Dungeon) a care package with some PoE Merch✨

[fukutomichi]

Avowed developed by Obsidian Entertainment

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

Avowed Backgrounds

spoilers below if you wish to go in completely blind

Arcane Scholar:

After graduating with honors from Bragganhyl Academy, you published a treatise on soul lineages that threatened the legitimacy and drew the ire of a local lord. When he had you arrested, the Emperor intervened and recruited you into the archives of the imperial court. Your mind is a bottomless well of occult knowledge, legal precedent, historical observation, and poetry. You have forgotten more than most people ever learn.

Court Augur:

When your village's crops failed, your strange insights and unsettling manner earned your neighbors' suspicions. You foresaw the torches and pitchforks and fled to Highcrown, where the Emperor recognized your talents and elevated you from back alley fortune teller to his personal mystic. You have learned to wield power from the shadows; all it takes is a dash of influence and a pinch of deception.

Noble Scion:

You were born to a noble house of great influence, middling wealth, and questionable morals. When scandals and succession disputes saw your family cast down, you threw yourself on the Emperor's mercy, and he shielded you. Canny yet refined, you have become a formidable force at court and an invaluable ally to the Emperor.

Vanguard Scout:

Born to humble beginnings and driven to desperation by famine, your life was destined to end on the executioner's block until the Emperor spared you. More at ease in wilderness than at court, your cleverness and observant nature has made you one of the Emperor's most trusted operatives. Whether tracking prey or spying on enemies, your skills are put to work both inside and outside of the throne room.

War Hero:

You distinguished yourself on the field of battle fighting a violent Skaenite uprising. The Emperor honored you with a place among the elite Tall Grass Spearmen. Some of your scars are more obvious than others, but you wear them with pride. The Emperor values your loyalty, your grit, and your martial prowess.

info courtesy of this preview from WesNemo.

[vaguely-concerned]

having seen at least the rough outlines of all the romances now I have to say that I think emmrich's is probably objectively the best in terms of coherence and completeness of story arc (with the understanding that ultimately the 'best' romance is whichever one makes YOUR heart sing anyway so objectivity is a silly thing to claim that way, it just felt like it's the arc with the most well-paced focused content and the least dangling threads)... but lucanis' is my favourite haha. just. the whole kneeling before your beloved full of reverence but without any of the distance that usually implies??? his complete undramatic certainty and calm in every scene with rook after this, having spent the whole game caught between fear and longing???? mr. lives in a pantry but it says nothing about my psyche don't worry about it it's purely for tactical reasons that I keep myself contained in a small dark room not entirely unlike a cell, love among the parsnips -- finally coming to rook in their room and it's so comfortable and comforting???? after all the times rook supports and comforts him through the game he's finally able to return the same to them when they need it while being so calm and steady and it's so fucking sweet and feels so effortless and with no price attached?????? he basically assigns himself the role of your bodyguard and he WILL stab a god over it??????????????? the turn to protector (which was in his heart all along longing to get out and find a place) of it all????? he sounds like he's found himself unexpectedly stumbling into such a soul-lightening state of revelatory existential relief, full on 'you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves' mary oliver style, and he goes and he shares that with rook and protectively envelops them in it when they're hurting??????????????????????????? hello for the maker's sake hello can anyone hear me?????

[txttletale]

i realize that my last post might be a bit overwhelming and doesn't give a starting point, so here's a truncated version of the highlights in a vaguely recommended reading order:

friedrich engels, principles of commmunism

karl marx, wage labour & capital

friedrich engels, socialism: utopian & scientific

rosa luxemburg, reform or revolution?

vincent bevins, the jakarta method

v.i. lenin, the state & revolution

v.i. lenin, what is to be done?

walter rodney, the russian revolution: a view from the third world

michael parenti, blackshirts and reds

v.i lenin, imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism

eduardo galeano, the open veins of latin america

walter rodney, how europe underdeveloped africa

frantz fanon, the wretched of the earth

kwame nkrumah, neocolonialism: the last stage of imperialism

zak cope, the wealth of (some) nations

karl marx, the german ideology

edward herman and noam chomsky, manufacturing consent

elaine scarry, the body in pain

michel foucault, discipline and punish

ed. stuart hall, representation: cultural representations and signifying pratices

christian fuchs, theorizing digital labour

[edeer]

AVOWED

[tekehu]

Adra Pillars in Avowed (Obsidian Entertainment, 2024)

[eruscreaminginthedistance]

Haven't seen anyone breaking down this article yet so here's the sparknotes:

After the opening main mission, the MC is sent to find a missing Aedyran expedition team

Companions will chime in with banter during exploration

Interactable environments are a thing; the author could blow up walls to find new paths

Companion commands will be accessed through a radial wheel

Mage is apparently "the most difficult class to use"

Can switch between two weapon sets

NPCs: Caedmon, a member of the expedition you have to rescue, and Sargamis, a "gold-skinned deity-like creature" that acts as a quest giver. Might be a godlike.

Presented without context:

[rpgchoices]

Avowed new trailer

[solas-backpack-mug]

ok so apparently in avowed the main character will be a godlike!!!!! it's explained in this here gameplay trailer at 17:38

"(...) for you it's a mystery"

!!!EXCITED!!!

[dandylion-virtual-adventurer]

Third person!!!!

AVOWED!!!!!!!!!!

[fyeahobsidian]

Avowed Companions | Giatta and Kai

[communistkenobi]

really been enjoying this guys videos