Giving Avowed it's chance

 

I have been very skeptical about everything that Avowed has shown off ever since that initial reveal trailer built up expectations to a product that was never really in the works. Not just to the scale they seemed to be implicitly implying by the frame of the game, but even on a visual artistic level that original vision seems almost unrecognisable to the game we're seeing nowdays. That being said I am a huge fan of Pillars of Eternity and find the promise of the franchise expanding out a bit, particularly towards the direction of The Living Lands, a place I was always interested in since playing the original, peaks my interest quiet a bit. Of course it's not the game I wanted it to be, but I think we're all starting to come to the realistation that Obsidian are never going to be the company to make those kind of grand visions come to fruition ever again. They're happy how they are, and that's just the way things are.

Avowed promises to do something actually pretty stark in the gaming world- they want to create a satisfying first person melee combat focused game which isn't a heavy medieval simulator. In fact, the question of 'Gamefeel' seems to be something the team kept going back to try and improve for knowledge of just how integral that would be. That's how we're getting the quick switch magic system with it's dual wielding beams of magic for all the flash and pomp you could possibly want as you cut down the country side! Of course, many of the core rules of the universe are being scuppered in order to make the more action-RPG crowd happy and in doing so expanding this universe out into more than just a digital TTRPG. Whether it comes together is nigh on impossible to determine from an outsider's glance. I would need it in my hands. But it looks good, at least.

What the team are now trying to insist is that common war between showcases and marketing we always see brought up whenever RPGs go to bat- that there is player agency and consequence to the actions that you take. Avowed already had a gameplay event from a year ago touching on a little conversation with branching conclusions, but what we've seen recently is a more dynamic example of the same sort of thing. A colony of dangerous creatures you are required to infiltrate throughout which the slaying of the inhabitant enrages their queen mother inspiring an unavoidable boss fight, whereas successfully sneaking past and around them opens up the possibility to negotiate. Now sure, this is literally taken note for note from Deus Ex Mankind Divided- but it was a great idea then and that remains now- I love that level of intentional consequence you can stumble upon by just being a dumb careless gamer!  

Another addition to the way this world works is that of weapon improvement. That sure existed in the first game, albeit in static tiers that were supposed to represent + 1, +2 and so on - were we to use DnD parlance. Essentially this creates a power creep throughout the stages of the game where enemies will start to become resistant to your lower area weapons requiring improvement. I've never been a fan of this kind of scaling for how easy it is to screw up and make it all feel excessively contrived- but there are ways to make this work. Visual and audio cues, different classes of enemies, different species of enemies- I think a smart enough game designer can pull this off without breaking immersion- and Obsidian tend to have a reputation for housing smart artists.

I also have to say that visually I'm really starting to come around on the game. It's still not quite as gorgeous as that reveal trailer had led us to believe, and I still think that Aumaua look downright ugly up close, there's a pleasing gentle stylisation that retains the spirit of true-to-life fidelity whilst seeking a more evergreen balance that it sure to still impress in years to come like The Outer Worlds still does. I also notice the lighting appears to veer towards the more cinematic Spacer's Choice school of design. For somewhere as supposedly vibrant as the Living Lands I'm really starting to buy that this was actually a really appropriate choice in direction and scope.

Remixing the Unreliable from The Outer Worlds, Avowed allows you to interact within a camping environment which evokes sensations of  Baldur's Gate 3 in the best way. It's always nice to have that special little space away from the action and carnage to mingle with your close group of allies- and having them all interact and live together really amplfies that sensation of being 'part of a unit. I really hope they lean into this more than just in the surface level manner, allowing party mates to move about and have interactions with one another in way that makes them feel alive. That was one of the problems with Mass Effect in my opinion, your team never left their set areas of the ship and thus felt separated- which is why Andromeda was so wise to update that and have people pop up all over the place to go visit each other! Another careful concept I want them to take their time with.

And lastly there is general game-feel- not just in the moment to moment action- but in the actual way it feels to move around the world. There's a weight here that seems all but absent in Bethesda games, regrettably, and I envy the connection to the game world that imbues. Simply feeling the weight of a short hop down a small cliff face feedsback in that natural way you expect, rather than the stiff and stilted way that Bethesda Creation Engine games feel like they have to. But of course, Game-feel does extend to combat. Feedback looks effective, I'm seeing actual honest-to-goodness recoil from sword slaps. Some people might be umming and ahhing about sponginess- but I consider that a non-problem in games like these. I'm genuinely vibing with the offerings so far.

This might be the first time I've given Avowed the time of day and to be honest- I still can't get myself hyped about the thing- not to a level of "imagine the possibilities!" But I can appreciate what's there and see the game at it's own level and pick up some cool little factors about it that sound like they're coming together. A great game is just one where all the pieces slot together in something of a satisfying manner and Avowed- well, that's what I think it's shaping up as. It may be the ultra-realistic gritty game that most of us were seemingly sold from the reveal, but it is seemingly a title somewhere up my alley to some small degree. It really depends how much they lean into the 'Immersive Sim' angle. I'm hoping a lot. Never had a fantasy Immersive Sim before (outside of Dishonoured) could be cool.

Finishing off The Outer World

 

As I've grumbled about quite often in the past few years, The Outer Worlds failed to land with me the way I wanted it to, which has grown into something of a dichotomy for me considering it has become readily apparent that the excitingly revealed 'Avowed' was going to be another game in that exact style. I ummed, and ahhed, pulled at my teeth, tore out my hair- but nothing could get to summon up that same level of wonderment I felt when first viewing that trailer all those years ago- this with little else to turn to I have to rely on- bleargh- hope to fuel my wanton ambition. At least that was until I decided to bite the bullet and finally finish of The Outer Worlds the way I had failed to do several times across the years. Over the past few days I finally bit fully into The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition.

You see, the one aspect of The Outer Worlds I had somehow managed to miss were the two DLCs that Obsidian released while the game was still in a support cycle- and considering some of my most favourite moments in previous Obsidian games came from their DLC, I really wasn't giving myself the full picture. This grinding my way through The Outer Worlds so that I can reach the DLC and give the full experience a fair shake was the only thing that made sense to me- plus it would give me an excuse to replay through everything I did like about The Outer Worlds, rather than dwell on that disappointing main narrative which had left such a sour taste in my mouth all these years. And I am glad to report that there has actually been a shift on my feelings and thoughts regarding the game.

First, I totally forgot how sarcastic the game was. Largely in it's characterisation of the Player Character- but pretty much every character has a dry retort packed away somewhere in their unhinged diatribes aside from, probably, Felix- because he is the most boring character. There are so many delightfully inconsequential dialogue trees you can hop down with characters that exist simply to screw with the peace around you- and I really like that unique level of flippancy which is indicative to how the general feel of The Outer Worlds' worldbuilding is. I'm pretty sure every single terminal entry in the entire game has at least one 'corporate hell' joke or pun stuffed in there somewhere. It's like the team committed themselves to only writing lore entries when they thought up a joke to slip in there for prosperities sake.

I also totally missed how decent the game's straightforward levelling system is at allowing you to go crazy with a custom build. Whereas I tried to do my stealth assassin routine for the original game, specialising in pretty much anything I thought that I would need, totally lowballing how much space the game would give me to max out everything. (There is no possible way to max out every stat, I would later learn) This time around I picked a direction congruent with the character I was roleplaying and stuck rigorously to it, a loud violent handgun expert with a healthy heaping of scientific knowledge to make the most out of all those unique science weapons. And with that vague direction in mind, I quickly ended up making a character who was broken pretty much at the start of Act 2 and only got more devastating as the game went on. The final boss of the game, whom I spent 25 frantically desperate minutes carefully whittling down in my original playthrough? I melted it in 15 seconds this time around. Same difficulty. (I guess picking a trade really helps sometimes.)

Peril on Gorgon actually reminds me vaguely of a much more exploration-friendly version of Dead Money from Fallout. Exploring a dead and deserted facility whilst you pick through the corpse learning what secrets were buried when the asteroid was abandoned, all whilst fighting through hoards of Marauders who seem to infest the planet. There are no unique enemies to the DLC, rather disappointingly, but there are some interesting new revelations about the world space that justify such a direction. I actually really love the mystery Gorgon presents and think it's concise but consequential narrative and ultimate choices were honestly superior to the core game- even if the twist was nicked wholesale from Mass Effect Andromeda.

Murder on Eriandos, on the otherhand, feels like Obsidian stretching their chuckle muscles once again to let everyone know that they haven't lost their touch. I'd call this the 'Old World Blues' of The Outer Worlds, with the added stipulation that this is no where near as hilarious as Old World Blues. Eriandos is practically dripping with snark and farce as you investigate the murder of famed starlet Halcyon Helen. Flirting with Noir at times before the sheer weirdness of the meta plot cuts through all that and by the end of the adventure there is no pretense left- the story goes into full silly mode and abandons the veneer of serious murder mystery they teased- which would be a faux-pas if it didn't match the tone so acutely. I definitely laughed the most during this quest mod and though Gorgon had me more invested, Eriandos is a must play for anyone sailing through The Outer Worlds.

I must admit that The Outer Worlds saved their best content for these DLC snippets, and perhaps that is aided by the fact that this arguably flimsy setting works best in bite-sized snippets, rather than stretched across an entire system of people we're supposed to care about. It's kind of like imagining Pillars of Eternity if the entire world was just the Dyrwood and you had to wrestle with the moral weight of bad things happening to those various factions of awful people- who cares! But when you take a small community out of them, such as for The White March, and flesh them out- I can care a bit more about the horrors that befall them. And maybe, taking that feedback into account and learning from it, Obsidian can do what they did with Pillars 2 and make the world of The Outer Worlds 2 feel more real and worthy, thus empowering the weight of the tales they wish to spin. They've done it before, and seeing this formula work in The Outer World's DLC- I'm a little bit hopeful they can do it again.

The Outer Fields

Very many years ago, when the moons were still young, I remember remarking about how strange it was that the two best Western open world RPG makers in the industry were both striking out to start their space-game franchises in the same moment; as though the stars were aligning. Obsidian's The Outer Worlds was going to be their grand return to action RPGs after the seminal Fallout New Vegas totally rocked our worlds, and although Bethesda had yet to officially announce that Starfield was in development- this was back in their 'leaky ship' days when we knew practically every move the studio was going to do several months in advance. (In fact, it might very well have been those leaks that led to Starfield not being unveiled during that one star-themed Bethesda conference they did at the time. Remember that?)

And, fool that I was, I remember gawking at the fact that The Outer Worlds was going to be with us so soon. "Too bad, Bethesda!" I remember thinking (and maybe writing, but that is far too vague a sentence to go scrubbing through my early years of this blog to prove.)  "Obsidian got you beat!" Because after living with New Vegas bouncing around my head rent-free, knowing how much it ran circles around Bethesda's home grown sequel, I was all in my fandom feelings- celebrating the space opera that was to come. I couldn't imagine a world where the future of these beloved companies wasn't creating vast and impressive space games that brought back all those wonderous emotions of their heyday in a totally expansive playspace unlike any they had made before. And now I kind of wish they went back.

The Outer Worlds was a good game, I attested to such at the time, but it wasn't the classic sequel to Fallout New Vegas that I desperately wanted it to be. Starfield too was a good game, I very much enjoyed my time with it- but to call it a pale imitation of the kind of roleplaying grandeur Skyrim, Oblivion and even Fallout 4 brought to the table feels like a no brainer. (Can't believe I'm calling Fallout 4 superior at roleplaying! God, that hurts!) So now that both those games are out there, I'm starting to feel like maybe I just don't like space games because neither did it for me. Although I am trying, largely because I want to know what was so good about The Outer Worlds that it deserved a sequel and what is so apparently enduring about Starfield that so many people play it day in and day out. I would love to slide into either one of these head spaces. Which is probably why I'm playing both of them.

Yes, I'm finally going through the Spacer's Choice Edition of Starfield (which will be my first time experiencing the DLC packs that came with the game, despite having bought them.) and I'm picking at Starfield's newest update and gawking about just how much more I'm enjoying what was ostensibly a tiny systems update. Both games have some sort of hold on me, it would seem- I just need to decide which is the better all around experience- and therein lies the conundrum. Of course I wish success on Starfield's DLC which is getting revealed in the coming couple of weeks and if The Outer Worlds 2 can really leapfrog my expectations I will be a thrilled as anyone else; but neither will dissuade my opinions on the here and now.

Much has been said about how Spacer's Choice Edition does a number on the original game, and I don't know if any fixes were implemented but personally I don't seem to be having many problems on my end regarding performance. (There's some truly odd stutters in the Groundbreaker, but that's about it.) Most noticeably on my end, however, is the changes to the visuals done with lighting and though there are some sceptical comparison screenshots online, when the set-up is done contrast and gamma are done right, (instead of just set to defaults like I'm sure most people automatically do) Spacer's Choice The Outer Worlds looks darn gorgeous! Too dark in some areas, to be sure- but like a dream in those twilight/dawn hours. Starfield looks good too, in the right instances, but I've never seen a sunrise and paused to take it in like I do for Outer Worlds. Maybe that's the benefit of being able to tailor-make your background for the environment, but The Outer Worlds visually holds up better.

In terms of gun and gameplay there's a bit more nuance here. Both games try at first person shooting in a decent stab, pulling tricks of the trade and giving a satisfying combat experience. I genuinely have no serious qualms about either. Both feel good to shoot, offer satisfying guns that sound and kick great- The Outer Worlds generally has a much more sensible TTK, but with Starfield's newest update that can be totally within the hands of the player with the best adaptive difficultly set of features I've ever seen! (Speaking of- did you know Starfield just added a survival mode secretly in it's difficulty settings? Seriously, they went unexpectedly hard with that update!) In terms of raw shooting gamefeel, I think Starfield just about edges it out for simply how versatile you feel as well as the sheer range of weapons you can collect which are all so much fun to use- although The Outer Worlds still gets points for having actual Legendary weapons instead of the mess that Starfield goes for! 

Story is a bit more nuanced, especially since I don't think either game does an outstanding job here. Both create stories tailor made for their style of game, meaning Starfield's is more open-ended allowing for free exploration and The Outer World's is a bit more hyper focused on it's singular thread. I'd argue both work to the detriment of the overall scenario and though I personally like Starfield's twist after chewing over it a bit, The Outer Worlds does certainly feel like a lot more of a coherent narrative with substantive plot threads and set-ups with arguably satisfying resolutions. Still think neither studio was exactly working with their 'A-game' so-to-speak; but The Outer Worlds certainly leans closer towards my personal preferences with an open world game narrative.

So though it absolutely confuses me to say this, I might think of The Outer Worlds as the better game, when comparing the two in their raw un-DLC state. Seeing everything that Bethesda put into the update for Starfield actually really slapped me around the head and said "Hold on- they are actually paying attention to what people are saying!" Seriously, if Bethesda work a bit more on improving the feel of space travel and improving world generation as well as providing satisfying DLC content- Starfield may have more legs to stand on then I thought. And The Outer Worlds has been keeping me invested in my current playthrough again, not enough to care about the world but just enough to recall how great most of the character writing is. Except for Felix. Felix is boring. I really hope neither one of these studios prematurely throws in the towel and we get to really see the pinnacle of Western Space action RPGs at some point down the line. Any game that can make me feel as many butterflies as Rogue Trader would do me just fine!

IS Avowed allowed to be exciting?

 

With a release date late this very year and more than enough build up to start a fan club rubbing our hands together for it- why am I not excited about Avowed even so close to launch. At this point this really isn't a case of 'wait until I see more and then it'll hit me', I just don't seem to be feeling the game at all and that's both a reflection of what the game actually is and what the fool version of myself wanted it to be so very badly. Obsidian are not a company I hold in any small regard, I consider them some the great RPG creators of the modern age and will die on several hills to defend the absolute majesty of 'Tyranny'- rest in peace for what was an evocative world that could have spawned a absolute cracked of a series! Outer Worlds practically had me frothing at the mouth when it came up to launch! So what is Avowed just making me sigh?

Unfortunately I think The Outer Worlds might have had something to do with it. As much as I enjoyed the game at the time, The Outer Worlds  just didn't manage to live up to everything I wanted it to be at face value- lacking the malleable RPG dripped world and story which made Fallout New Vegas unforgettable to me. There is choice, to be sure, and significant paths towards finishing the main story- but nothing that is a patch on what New Vegas offered. No complex factions that balance against and around each other as they struggle over the narrative, no ability to play an evolved game of cat-and-mouse with all the leading factions as you play them off one another- No ultimate pathos between you and your companions as you reach the apotheosis of your journey. The Outer Worlds was a good RPG, don't get me wrong. But I expected something great.

For everything we see of Avowed the more it looks like something on an almost identical path to what The Outer Worlds was- and indeed the studio themselves have even evoked it's name to give people an idea of what to expect and, more importantly, what not to expect. Avowed has no interest in giving us a simulation of a world to live and explore in at our own past, like the Elder Scrolls series does. Avowed does not want to bother translating it's complicated Tabletop inspired gameplay systems faithfully over, like Baldur's Gate 3 did. Avowed isn't even going to give us an open world. And I'm just... not feeling a game produced to the exact same standards that The Outer Worlds was. And what makes that especially strange, is the fact that I think the Pillars universe has some crazy potential!

Pillars 1 and 2 are kind of dark fantasy verging titles that are made special and unique by the bizarre relationship the player character has with the various gods that rule the world and the how they work with the idea of souls. Pillars 1 really put the mechanics of the world at the forefront of the narrative you worked through how the universe functions on the metagame and the way in which theological divides shape, develop and destroy lives amidst even that, the armpit of the Eora. Pillars 2 put you in direct contention with the personalities of the gods themselves, hearing them bicker, forging their favour, splitting hairs over philosophical diatribes. It really did offer an experience like no other. 

The universe that Avowed is entering has so far teased itself tantalisingly over the years but now- maybe I'm just finding my first glimpses at the so called 'Living Lands' underwhelming. Deadfire wowed with it's incredible isles dripping with culture and character, and if Avowed actually manages to follow that framework for storywork we could have a suitably spongy narrative to play around with at the very least, which at most might give us hints of what we could get if Obsidian ever put their backs into a New Vegas 2, but I can't see this meeting them at their best- which feels a bit odd after all these years. If working under Microsoft with their money, and stepping on the best franchise to get a leg up, isn't enough resource for their best effort yet- are they ever going to get there? I get that Obsidian pride themselves on great smaller games, but they have the talent punch above their weight too, don't they?

It was definitely the ambition of The Outer Worlds that soured me so much. The story they decided to tell within their worlds space felt so ludicrously tiny that I just couldn't accept being told the universe was any bigger than the confines of the playspace I was navigating. It's like the polar opposite of Starfield's problem, where the scope of the world building is so grand nothing you ever explore feels of consequence or immediately interesting- The Outer Worlds felt so tiny I genuinely bawked when I see The Outer Worlds 2 announced as I said "Really? What more story is there to tell?" Which really shouldn't be the case with an RPG! Perhaps their DLC really picks up the slack in that area, I haven't had the pleasure yet. (But I intend to, at some point.)

I'm trying to ignite my fandom, every few months I come back on this topic. I'm trying to extract all the positives, put myself on the road, but I just come away hollow. Maybe I've lost the capacity to love. Other Obsidian fans are getting there, rising up the hype train, getting on the band wagon, and I'm cold to it all. The good ending is that I'm off base and when the game drops it's that special brand of Obsidian that has me hooked and laughing and loving once again, but that's everything I wanted out of their last game. I think it's myself to blame for expecting so much out of this studio that clearly aren't interested in the same things that I am- but I still want to hold on hope that the Obsidian I love is in there somewhere.

Pillars is on the back burner following the under performance of 2, Tyranny never got off the ground because people brushed by one of the best RPGs of it's time, Fallout is a maybe depending on how desperate Bethesda gets. I guess I just thought Obsidian were in a healthier position than they are, and Avowed isn't their big stab into the AAA world, but more another gentle hop on the road they've been on for over a decade now. And to be fair, looking at how the industry is eating itself around them, maybe it's better they aren't sinking triple A budgets into triple A games and turning over triple A numbers of staff in the process.

A smidge of hope in the Wasteland

 

It hasn't exactly been a fun couple of days to engage with the Xbox ecosystem, and by extension engaging with Bethesda has felt a little awkward. Theirs was the home to the award winning studio that Xbox callously murdered for no discernible reason before immediately coming and declaring they needed more studios just like the one they destroyed a few days earlier. Incredible. And within that debris questions have been asked about who would be next, what other legends would find themselves jobless for the foolhardy whim of having worked with Microsoft? How much more grandly could Xbox damn themselves before a seemingly inevitable exit from the console market that seems all but confirmed at this pace- regardless of whatever, increasingly futile, lip service the team constantly feeds our way. But through it all, I hear that Fallout seems to be doing okay.

I mean it should be, right? Fallout is the face of video games breaking into the mainsteam right now and the surging player count's for the entire franchise are a startling example of that. Fallout 4 is getting updates again, that break all current mods but it's the thought that counts, people's twentieth New Vegas playthroughs are kicking off with gusto. Fallout 76 is actually seeing a rise in players that are somewhat galling about all the hate the game received back in the way, blissfully unaware of all the actual pain they missed getting involved so many years down the line. They don't even have to experience the dead Wasteland before the 'return to Appalachia' update. Truly they are the winners of the Fallout fanbase. But all of that only really goes so far, now doesn't it?

When The Last of Us dropped it's series the creator's were ready with a rushed and messy port of the iconic game finally coming to PC after all these years that people absolutely wharfed up with abandon- rocketing the game up the charts despite it's shoddy QA work. That is a tangible boost in profits that can be traced directly back to the show. And Fallout? Well, I'm sure they've made a pretty penny from people catching up with the games- but there isn't anything new in the Fallout world, is there? You can't really get away selling even Fallout 4 for full retail after all this time, so people are picking up inexpensive collections for a fraction of 60$ and filling themselves up on all the Fallout hype. I would call it an unexploited marketing opportunity.

What Bethesda really needs is a fresh product they can sell the heck out of. A remaster would be nice, but what they need is a fresh new game that soars in the spotlight- a great game that is rocketed into superstar status by merit of association. What they need is Fallout 5.  Which is ironically the only thing that they can't have. Fallout 5 isn't on the docket until after The Elder Scrolls 6, as probably Todd Howard's last game before retirement. Which means we won't be seeing the Wasteland again until at least the 2030's. What we need is something in the interim to keep people busy. An in-between game. A 'Fallout 4.5' so to speak. And whole could possibly be employed to create a little something like that? Oh yes, the rumours have started once more.

Obsidian have been sitting patiently on the sidelines for what feels like half their lifetime. Gone are the days when they were pushing the boundaries of the Classic RPG genre, reviving it with a gusto- now are the days when it feels like they're pushing what's possible from a AA perspective- proud work, to be sure, but not enough to get their name in lights for the new generation. And dammit, they deserve to be! Obsidian have yet to put out a bad game, even if I think The Outer Worlds wasn't really what I wanted, it's still a cracker of a title! Whatsmore, they've always demonstrated a deeper understanding on what makes Fallout special than Bethesda ever has- we need them back around again!

Fallout New Vegas was their last go around, given the tools that made Fallout 3 and given a little over a year to smash together those elements into something new, Obsidian put out the single best game the franchise had ever had, and still has ever produced. The created an RPG of choice and consequence, a world of purpose and weight and value and the tools to destroy it all as much as you wanted. New Vegas put Bethesda to such shame that they attempted to ape it's systems with Fallout 4, to honestly somewhat amateurish (in comparison) results. Give them the Fallout 4 engine and who knows? Obsidian might even be able to make a real RPG out of it! And what a way to send up the Fallout franchise, than giving it back to the people who made it to begin with!

Of course there's nothing real in the works yet. Xbox have declared that they're aware of the feelings about Fallout, particularly given the popularity of the TV show, but playing it coy is the name of the game so that no hopes are drawn up. However, I would say that recent happenings may end up expediting the process a bit. Xbox is desperate, looking for a way to justify itself underneath a parent who is placing ever more attention on their goings ons. In fact, following the surprise layoffs of Bethesda award winners, one might say that the next few projects might end up being influential in deciding whether or not Xbox even makes it to the next console generation or not. It's times like these, you need to start cashing in the chips at your disposal.

The stars seem to be aligning. Xbox is too desperate to say no, Bethesda are too busy to multidevelop, Obsidian are reaching the end of work on their current RPG and Chris Avellone has been cleared of all those misconduct allegations he had thrown his way. This is the time to bring the band back together for one last go around, smash out a Fallout game like the world has never seen before and give this franchise the absolute rocket high it deserves! And if ever it was going to happen, it's going to be now! I usually don't fan the flames of speculation, I'm usually the first to douse cold truth over it all- but today of all days I'm daring to dream. Bring us back to Fallout, Obsidian- I know you have it in you!

Pillars of Eternity 3? Yay or hell yay?

 

When we think about the revival of the CRPG brand a few choice games get brought into the conversation, and let me just start by saying that before you say 'Baldur's Gate 3'- nope, that game was long after the revival kicked off. CRPGs really came back into vogue with the dropping of two big titles that re-awoke the world to the possibilities of systems heavy RPG titles based on the rigors of the table top. I'm talking the well received Larian Divinity games and POE. That is 'Pillars of Eternity', not 'Path of Exile'. (Though I've made that mix-up somewhere close to one hundred thousand times.) Pillars was an example of the greatness the CRPG style of development could achieve, whilst Divinity was a more accessible take on the brand that went heavy on the dynamic moment-to-moment gameplay opportunities. Yet both are on the backburner in this modern CPRG enlightened age.

Pillars of Eternity in particular was a critical darling upon it's initial drop, commanding an entire genre's worth of support upon it's initial release- and then Pillars of Eternity 2 just belly flopped out of nowhere. I suspect it was because of the lack of marketing, because in content I consider POE2 to be wildly more engaging and worth playing than the first game. Opinions on the quality of main story aside (I prefer 2 though I know many fans are staunch supporters of 1) there's little denying that Pillars 2 had a more visually and culturally interesting world, better companions, prettier and smoother gameplay, more endgame challenges and oodles of choice atop of consequence carried over from the first game. The only thing I think Pillars of Eternity 2 is missing- is a sequel of it's own!

Obsidian's fantasy world of Eora, writhe with stories about the passage of souls in the constant cycle of rebirth that fuels the universe- feels like it's yet to get that big blow-out fully immersive game which fans have been waiting for. (We though Avowed might be that game, but it has turned out to be more of another 'Outer Worlds' instead.) I think in the void of that wish fulfilment entry people have taken it upon themselves to simply assume that Pillars has yet to find it's core niche- but they're wrong. Pillars' first two RPGs had as much effort put into constructing a fundamental set of world rules, gameplay systems and complexities as has been put into Dungeons and Dragons. Pillars could very easily be turned into a tabletop roleplaying game. (Avowed seems to be wiping it's ass with those foundations a little, however.)

Which is why it is insane to me that although Obsidian seem fully committed to Eora, there's not been hide nor hair of a Pillars 3 announced at anytime! Now sure, this might just be a bluff made from a people cottoned on to the fact that years long waits for games that have been announced are sucky and nobody likes them- or it could be that they're not sold on whether or not Pillars needs another sequel. Which- I think it pretty much does. Just like (Here I go...) just like Obsidian's best CRPG world- that of Tyranny. Another game which hit every note it needed to in order to work but just failed to find it's audience. Something to which I can double attest to given that I found the game by complete accident! I didn't even know the thing existed in Obsidian's catalogue until I booted it up and saw their developer credit! What the hell is wrong with this company's marketing?

Avowed was very much supposed to be the new kid on the block that would swoop us up in a crazed frenzy, but the fact it's going for a style similar to The Outer Worlds has slightly snuffed that flame out for me. Don't get me wrong, I love Obsidian projects and I think Avowed is going to be great- the mere association with The Outer Worlds comes with a slight impression of 'Oh, that's a shame'. The Outer Worlds was a fine game, but it lacks the staying power of Obsidian's previous hits. It also features honestly pitiful worldbuilding for a career RPG studio which made me wonder what on Earth the writing team were distracted by. That interstellar adventure felt absolutely tiny- and I don't think it was on purpose. Hopefully The Outer Worlds 2 will pick up some slack there.

But the point I'm trying to harp on is that Avowed keeping in that wheelhouse, particularly as we explore what are meant to be the wild open plains of 'The Living Lands', feels like a wasted opportunity. I had hoped the Obsidian we knew were big enough to shore up their resources for one damn decent go at a full open world adventure game, but as Avowed appears to be their best effort it seems I overestimated their resources. And compound that with the fact that Avowed appears to be dumbing down the complexity of it's systems in order to cater for a more arcade-style combat: I'm sorry but I just can't gel with this direction for the Pillars universe. I'm sure it'll make for a fine enough companion piece- but not the slam dunk defining media piece it needed to be to fill the Eora void in my life.

Of course, Pillars of Eternity 3 would be in an insanely difficult position to be in where it made, simply for the breadth of choices available for the ending of 2. Without spoiling anything specific, you have the chance to alter the very fabric of the universal cycle through your choices, and taking that into account for a sequel would require extraordinary amounts of reactive alternatives- particularly if the game was to remain close to the theme of mortals playing about in the realms of gods. That doesn't mean I don't want it though- I absolutely want to see what became of the world that my bumbling Warden screwed up with his impulsive side switching. (I betrayed actual gods- just imagine how screwed he is come a theoretical third entry!)

Of course I was going to land on support for a Pillars 3- that was never really up for debate here. More poignantly, I want to impress that Avowed probably doesn't have what it takes to pick up the slack for the CRPG world of Pillars, and we shouldn't let off gently nudging the Obsidian team to remember us CRPG lovers out here! Hell- Baldur's Gate 3 showed us that the audience is still there, and with Microsoft about to literally kill itself on the gaming front Obsidian might as well forget about keeping itself clear for a crossover-game with Bethesda. So let's not ask if there's going to be Pillars 3, but rather when are they going to realise that there is no other way this can feasibly end? Obsidian, you know what you must do- you just need to ask yourselves if you have the strength to do it! 

Matthew Perry- how I remember him

 Regretful respects

So is Pillars 3 never happening then?

 Seems not

Avowed might have lost me

I see it in my dreams everynight

In the many years it has been since the hey day of Bethesda and the release of Skyrim, it's been like sitting on a bed of needles waiting for the next aspirant to seize the throne of western action RPG king. Sure, we get all of those ceaseless faux-RPGs that stitch together a sad levelling chart and call that 'Role Playing Mechanics' (Looking at you; Assassin's Creed) but no one really has what it takes to match up with Bethesda, which I guess tracks given how simply huge Bethesda is. Of course, some of us remember the majesty of Fallout New Vegas, a game which took the engine Bethesda built for 3 and reshaped it into a compelling world with rich factions and fertile conflicts- and that's what put Obsidian at the top of our list for the next Bethesda competitor. The Outer Worlds felt like their warm-up to one day making a proper open world RPG and the reveal of Avowed sold the world on the fact that this was it- the blow-out Obsidian game we've all been waiting for!

And it isn't. A full blown open RPG, that is. Avowed is an adaptation of the Pillars of the Eternity world and systems to an RPG more in the vein of The Outer Worlds; and to be honest that kind of sucks the excitement I had built for this game right out of the window. And I know- it's my fault for getting so worked up, but what do you expect? The pedigree of Obsidian is well know, they've been getting more and more ambitious with their games, Avowed was announced with a grand sweeping cinematic of a trailer that purposefully employed sweeping land-covering shots as though to imply our play space would be grand and open... but it seems that was all a red herring. Avowed is constrained, act based, focused with choice and consequence- nothing bad at all, to be clear- just oddly safe for a company that seems keen on pushing itself in so many aspects.

That is to say, we know they can make games like this! The Outer Worlds is already out and we know The Outer Worlds 2 is in the pipeline; so what new facet of creation will Avowed push? We've seen Obsidian cover long dead RPG subgenres and bring them back into vogue, get experimental with smaller internal projects that both saw some commercial success and pushed one simplified CRPG which to this day I argue is criminally underrated. (Justice for 'Tyranny!') Avowed kind of reminds me of Bioware or Telltale games when they were entering their 'rut' phase. It's an instance of- "Oh, it's another *insert studio here* style game. I pretty much know exactly what experience I'm going to get here, so I'll base my expectations accordingly." And no, I'm not ever going to compare such a phase with whatever terminal malaise that Ubisoft is going through right now-  these studios still have some creative spirit left.

Out of everything we've heard since the gameplay trailer, none of it excites me or sells the idea that this is Obsidian's biggest project yet- if that's even an idea they want to sell to begin with. We know that the narrative isn't going to focus around a Watcher, but we're still going to be following some sort of soul-themed malady that has afflicted the living lands. Maybe it's my misgivings tainting my perception, but instinctually I hear that and roll my eyes. "Another soul-based plotline? Does anything not soul-themed ever threaten this damned world?" It's like how 'Bad Daedra' is the cause of most Elder Scrolls evils past Morrowind, or how the bad guy in every 'original' LOTR adaptation is always some incarnation of Sauron- it's taking a wide and open fictional world and limiting it down to the same few reoccurring plotthreads.

We will have companions on our journey but, curiously, they won't be optional members of our journey but mandatory appends to the adventure. In their defence Obsidian have claimed that this allows these characters to be central to the narrative, but lacking any comparative for companions so essential they can't be optional it's hard to know how to take these. Do they mean this is like Dragon Age: Inquisition wherein each companion was significantly tied to a major world faction? Or maybe like Mass Effect 2 in which the entire first act was dedicated to finding and recruiting specialists for some sort of job? Because neither of those two options preclude going solo whatsoever, although I will acknowledge that later Bioware games really did nail how to have companion interactions reinforce the idea of a familial unit. But then again, Tyranny wasn't so bad at that either and companions were still optional in that game. Strange news, I'm still processing.

But the most troubling news we've heard on the game so far comes down to the class system. Much ado was made about an action adventure based off the surprisingly in-depth character building of Pillars, but it seems that is going to serve as merely a base template for Avowed's 'flexible class' system. Yes, it's another one of those games where you build a class by picking as you go, slightly betraying the cohesion of the world space. Spell casters no longer require a lifetime of study, you can pull that off with a mild fancy to magical talent. I know several DnD adaptations over the years have played it fast and loose with classes and level building, but I really did kind of hope a property looked over by a single caretaker would have a stauncher backbone for keeping it's world sensible.

It's not that a flexible class system can't work, it's that the replay value of these fundamentally different styles of playing defined classes always feels more significant than deciding half-way through a game that you're sick of a wand and starting to beat people around the head instead. Typically this manifests as underbaked class architypes that aren't quite all-around satisfying to mainline, necessitating players to become a sort of 'jack of all trades' and for every 'build' to essentially end up roughly the same. Just like how every Fallout or Elder Scrolls character ends up with the same rough stats at some point. Cyberpunk did prove me wrong with it's more constrained approach to this ideal, but that game has some of the best action RPG combat ever made, I struggle to see a world where Avowed matches that.

I don't want to be pessimistic about Avowed, I really wanted to love this game: but it isn't what I was looking for out of a studio I expected the world from. Now to be fair, I thought the same thing about Starfield and have recently performed a full 180 on my feelings there- but I just don't think Avowed is as ambitious in the areas I wanted Obsidian to push in.  I suppose it's my own fault, expecting Obsidian to expand into becoming a AAA studio out of nowhere when at this point I'm starting to see that's not only not where they're at, that's not even what the studio wants. I expected them to pick up after an infirm Bethesda flounders or bloats itself too large, but Obsidian have their hearts elsewhere, which is probably why they're reticent to take on a Fallout project. Avowed will probably still be a solid game, just like The Outer Worlds was: I just hope it leaves more of an impact on me than that game did.

We've seen Avowed!

 Were we wowed?

Given the all-covering shadow of a gameplay dive as robust as Starfield's, it's quite easy to forget literally everything else shown off around it even when some of those other projects were the type we'd been waiting literally years to see. As much as 'adventures in space' might be our call to action, the RPG lovers who have dwelled with Bethesda all these years harbour still their crushes for that fantasy halcyon paradise- mythical adventure through mystical environments, reality bending or simply just face scorching arcane spells and grand world-defining epic narratives where the fate of all the world is at stake. We ain't gonna get that from Bethesda this year, which is why it's so very nice that Obsidian have stepped up to the plate to feed our empty bellies with the dropping of Avow- oh wait, it's not this year? They haven't given a release date at all? Seriously? Oh... okay then I guess I might as well go sell an organ and get Final Fantasy XVI then. Still, at least we got to see Avowed.

A single player action RPG to fill the void left behind in the universe once Bethesda finally leaves the well flogged horse called 'Skyrim' to fester in the valley- the title pushed to and beyond it's limits. RPG enthusiasts like myself still remember that hot flush of excitement for that Avowed reveal trailer all that time ago- not just for the promise of beautiful first person magical fantasy adventure but the idea of it bringing the increadibly rich and vast world of 'Pillars of Eternity' to a new sub-genre of RPG. Anyone who had the joy to play through the Pillars games knows that a world that deep rarely has the chance to be depicted to any main-stream-appeal style of game- there's just too much needed to process. Pillars is a fantastic fantasy world rife with increadibly interesting living deities, heady and complex world factions swathed in vast weaves of political drama and a fascinating unique grasp on the nature of the world's reality and the magic that lives within. Pillars' universe alone carries a promise of quality with it.

Which is probably why I still find myself enthused with the prospect of Avowed even after that gameplay trailer tease we saw seemed to do it's utmost best not to leap-frog off the excitement of that initial announcement. Of course I fully understand that the unabashed expectations of the community do own some blame here- the original visually popping CGI demonstration, whilst not visually impressive enough to definitely imply it would be unrepresentative of the final product, was still obviously not gameplay at the time. Still, it built a mood and spoke a visual language that this real-life gameplay reveal just doesn't. Avowed looked like Obsidian's very first AAA video game under the guidance and resources of Xbox, now it looks like another decent quality AA title that's going to impress but maybe not print that lasting impression we know this company is capable of when they're given the time. I wanted another New Vegas out of Obsidian, but it seems we're getting another 'Outer Worlds' instead. And 'The Outer Worlds 2' as well- I guess we're getting both.

It's not just that the visuals aren't what the original trailer promised, to be honest when I saw that original trailer I wasn't all that impressed with the way it did not resemble the lavish oil-like frescoes which make up the isometric game's backdrop. I think Pillars looks gorgeous, even as it depicts one of the grubbiest and most visually-dull fantasy worlds ever imagined, and Pillars 2 looks practically jaw-dropping in it's most lavish sections. But Avowed doesn't even match up to Pillars. Whereas Pillar's visual style was smooth and weaving, blurring colours and effluent light in an almost dream-like pulse and mix- Avowed seems static and jarringly popping- like a increadibly thin-lined cell shaded game. Honestly, along with the lacklustre facial animations and impact-lacking melee combat we saw glimpses of- it doesn't look all that appealing.

And then there's the simply bizarre fact that for some reason Obsidian seemed to have gone out of their way to make Avowed's trailer sound as generic as humanely possible. The narration started it out by talking about investigating a 'plague', literally the most overdone beginning plotline of any fantasy game ever (Warcraft 3, WOW, Wasteland 2, Neverwinter- the list goes on) and then moved onto some impressively vague affirmations of power. 'You're so powerful!' 'You're either here to save us or kill us!' 'We're all super scared of you!'. Its sounds like the ultra common guff of any RPG game which goes no length to demonstrating the amazing pantheon of personalities, the sprawling geopolitical state of the world- or even show off some of the more interesting DnD style spells. I mean sure, lifting a bunch of people into the air is real interesting to folk that haven't played Pillars and don't know about calling down bolts of light from the heavens or erecting giants Wall of Many Colours'. Is that higher level mage stuff even going to make it into the final game?

But of course I haven't lost my spark of excitement for the game, but now it's driven by what I know of the source material rather than for the marketing Obsidian has provided. I know how great of a universe this can be and how brilliant a title an immersive open world title could be in this world... even if my hope in the ambition of this game is slightly diminished. In a naïve sense I hoped that with the backing of Xbox this was going to be Obsidian's tighter and more to-the-point answer to Skyrim, but according to the team themselves it's going to be more like their other games. Isolated play spaces that we travel between on little problem solving gallivants. Which isn't all bad, I endeavour to clarify, but it's not quite the 'open world' we hoped for. 

Avowed is still going on the list of games to watch, but I fully admit this wasn't the best showing of the game and fully understand the freshly blossomed doubtsince the gameplay reveal. At the very least they were by no means the most underwhelming of the year, nor the most talked about- Which I guess brings this to a question of 'which is worse': to be mocked or to be ignored. I want Obsidian to be the best they can be and stretch out their capabilities, and maybe in that regard it's for the best they save off their best until they get the rights Fallout New Vegas 2: then they can really spread their creative wings once again. Until then Avowed seems to be another stepping stone on the road to what Obsidian was destined to become- the successors of the Western RPG.

Fallout Remastered Vegas

 This wasn't a part of the deal!

Yes, I'm still madly and hopelessly in love with Fallout New Vegas, no I don't believe this irrational and frankly embarrassing obsession will ever truly be free of me and I absolutely have enough fuel to go nutso about the game itself once more. Because with the recent shifting of the gaming world that placed the creators of that masterpiece within the same conglomerate that owes the rights to making sequels, I can't help it if my little monkey brain keeps doing involuntary backflips of excitement. Every little sneeze out of Obsidian is now code in my head slowly unveiling the hexadecimal coordinates whereupon stands a buried box containing a geo-cache treasure hunt to the source of the river Amazon in order to find the prospective release date of a theoretical New Vegas 2 spray painted on the wall of a rainforest cavern. I can't help myself, I'm fully lost to total conspiracy nut mode.

Of course, it doesn't help my gentle sensibilities when Obsidian themselves are haphazardly waving around their intentions and suppositions about the many things they could do if the got the go ahead to make a New Vegas 2. Buzzing with the enthusiasm of a eager developer but unfortunately dripping with the candour of a team that most certainly aren't under any contract to keep a bubbling Fallout game under any sort of wraps. Still, with every slipped message into the internet ether the powers over at Obsidian ignites the dormant New Vegas fanbase like an electric whip across the snout of the slumbering dragon, and we cause enough of a stir with each awakening to remind Microsoft how much money they could be squeezing out of us if they just smooshed Bethesda together with their playpen partner for a little impromptu date. The sooner the better, Phil Harrison; none of us are getting any younger over here!

As such it was obviously going to become the topic of a blog when some off-handed comment thrown off the cuff of a speeding train impressed Obsidian's willingness to create a New Vegas remaster if permitted. Of course, I have some thoughts. Firstly: they're still thinking about us! Ain't Obsidian a bunch of softies... and secondly: Huh? What about New Vegas 2? The deal always was, at least as far as the world was aware, that Obsidian were ready to make one more new Fallout title within their trademark West Coast setting, reminding Bethesda once again about what makes this franchise special. New Vegas 2 was shorthand, such a game would obviously not be set in Vegas but somewhere else up the Golden Coast. Maybe San Francisco. But the point is that we were supposed to be getting excited for a new game, not a pampered up and repacked slug at ol' faithful.

The dark cynic bumbling away at the corners of my soul, prepped to wage his forever war against the optimism and hope to drag me back into that crushing pit of slick, suffocating despair, tells me that this is the product of tempered expectations. This almost sounds like the 'settle scenario' of a studio who vied for the contract to make a full blown Fallout game and were fobbed off, leaving them to seek this much more meagre consolation prize. Of course, I have nothing but my own paranoia to evidence for that, and perhaps such comments are more just the idle thoughts of another direction Obsidian could frame their relationship with modern Fallout; but it's all got me wondering nonetheless. Which means I'm also worrying. There's no reason Microsoft or Bethesda would straight turn down an absolute PR win like a Fallout New Vegas 2 announcement- is there?

Now the obvious question that is brought up with a topic like this is why on earth do we even need a remaster when we have mods. Since time immemorial Fallout New Vegas has boasted graphics enhancement mods and 2k retexture packs and ENB filters and Project Nevada and whatever the modern successor to Project Neveda is these days. The point is, you could totally spruce up New Vegas in a hundred different ways in order to get it looking spic and span for the modern hardware of today. I may be the only person in the history of man that likes the vanilla look and gameplay of New Vegas, but let me tell you I am in the extreme minority. Most New Vegas fans these days are playing builds of the game that look better than anything Obsidian could have dreamed of cooking up back in 2011. The players have already remastered the game.

However a Remaster could be an opportunity for the team to go to some of the weak points of the actual code behind New Vegas and patch up the ship. Improve the application beyond it's paltry RAM limit, improve general stability to reduce crashing frequency, and maybe throw a little foundation across the general visual aesthetic so that players who aren't me won't vomit everytime they load up the vanilla EXE. A Remake could go even further, building the game on an updated engine that could take advantage of the play features of modern Fallout. Sprinting, proper iron sights, snap corner aiming, hotbutton throwables- all the features that make Fallout 4 the best shooter in the franchise. Bringing that quality of gameplay to the quality narrative of New Vegas would be incredible! So incredible, in fact; that some fans are already trying to do that with the 'Fallout 4: New Vegas' mod. (Which I suppose would receive a swift 'cease and desist' if this idea gets the green light.)

In such a world, one where New Vegas is re-released and becomes the new 'most recent' Fallout in the franchise, we would see a vast recontextualization of what it means to be a Fallout fan. Know that the Fallout fandom of 2011 is a mere shadow compared to what it currently is today, and many modern fans have never engaged with any game before 4 to really understand what it is about the Fallout setting which makes it so fruitful and worth revisiting. Everytime Bethesda touch the franchise they focus on the least interesting part of the world most; the wasteland, whereas since Fallout 2, Black Isle Studios (Now Obsidian Game Studios) knew to make Fallout about the post apocalyptic society which has blossomed out of the fires. If you want gritty nuclear survival stories, play Wasteland. If you want quirky and bizarre fun-house mirror branches of post-world 'society' which run the gambit from utterly farcical to horrifyingly despotic and cruel- come to Fallout. With New Vegas thrust once more in the spotlight, I think a whole bevy of relatively recent franchise fans will endure their abrupt 'coming to Jesus' moment for Fallout.

Still, if you asked me what I hope for out of the Obsidian acquisition; it's New Vegas 2. I honestly don't care if Obsidian immediately turn around and go independent again the second after that theoretical game releases, I just need another great Fallout in my life sometime before I die or geopolitics swivel off in a direction that brings up towards an actual Fallout. Fans have been yearning for years, Bethesda (bless their hearts) have their attentions occupied elsewhere (to the stars for now); there really is no better course of action than to bring back the grandfathers for one last shot at the gold. For all the guff and rolled eyes that the professional reviewing industry gave New Vegas on it's launch, I'd like to see some small level of schadenfreude when that very same direction they jeered and mocked rears back around to be the new golden age of western action RPG games. Give us that opportunity, Microsoft; We beg!

Can I just take this time to say: New Vegas is a beast.

 Fanboy time!

It's no great secret that I'm something of a fanboy when it comes to Fallout: New Vegas. I used to expand that to the wider Fallout universe, but after replaying New Vegas again earlier this year I was reminded how no other Fallout game really compares to what it had to offer. I mean sure, they may look the part and Fallout 4 has world's better gameplay and visuals, as one would expect; but New Vegas was something more special than the usual Fallout. It was the purest distillation of the Role Playing fantasy that this franchise has ever achieved. And no, when I say 'The Role Playing Fantasy' I'm not referring to stat sheets and special skills and all the mechanical hallmarks of the RPG genre, because those are all just the tools through which to facilitate how a Role Playing Game is supposed to make us feel. Like we've been transported to a new breathing world where who we choose to be and what we choose to do has genuine consequence in the space we travel.

Actions having consequence is like the rallying cry of the gaming industry these days, every game and their mother wants to present some form of 'consequence' in play such to the point where it's seen as rudimentary and disappointing to have a single ending to the main campaign. Even Call of Duty had it's hand at multiple routes for one game, before they remembered that their core audience never even loads up the campaign and subsequently came to their collective senses. Then there's the game's that believe having certain flags hanging from certain buildings depending on binary choices made at a specific time constitutes meaningful world reaction to the level of high concept RPGs. (Looking at you Saints Row 3 and Dying Light 2!) And then there are some games, the special few, that struggle painfully and exhaustively to create a malleable yet reliable world that any player can stamp their individual mark into, and that level of craft and dedication makes me giddy everytime.

Perhaps from an amateurish psychological view, we can see the appeal in this style of game by comparing it with the comparative lack of consequence and purpose in our own lives? I wonder, perhaps if a more fulfilled and professionally actualised human would have a harder time keying into the special essence of a well made RPG; because they feel that thrill of changing their world and circumstance so easily in the real world. (A difficult hypothesis to check as those people tend not to be video gamers.) Maybe my own lack of self worth is what drew me to games who's specific selling point was allowing me to be anyone other than myself, which is why I appreciate the freedom to change the world how I wish, yet the rigidity and push-back to feel the impact of fashioning the world that I want. Maybe psychoanalysis is best left in the hands of those with degrees and training in the field; I just know a great RPG when I see one.

What inspired me to really talk about this was a couple of Fallout New Vegas videos I found on Youtube which just slapped me silly for the ways they explored a game I still fool myself into thinking I know everything about. One was a person trying their hardest to get the worst possible selection of ending slides leading to the worst state of the Mojave; and the amount of choices that went into making that were just insane to consider. Siding with the Legion is a no-brainer, they're literal mysgonist slavers, but it was the many tiny choices inbetween the cracks; many of which with clever knock-on effects. Slaughtering all of Jason Bright's flock in order to prevent their journey to the 'Promised Land' also ends up dooming Novac to being overrun by Legionaries without any aid. Intentionally foul any chance the Kings have of reconciling with the NCR by murdering the Californian missionaries and assassinate their second in command to ensure that the Kings turn into brute thugs after the events of the game before being rounded up and executed by the Legion. Choice upon reaction upon reaction, spiralling all the way down.

Another video came across my feed no so long after that, more of a novelty sort of challenge vid then a serious exploration of the game's systems, but no less intriguing: "Can you beat Fallout New Vegas without breaking the ten commandments?" Now this goes back to the malleability of all the ways one can play Vegas, even in ways that I'm sure the developer's never intended. Because on top of the very obvious commandments; don't kill, don't steal, don't commit adultery etc. the key of the video revolved around never lying. Which essentially meant not just avoiding dialogue options with the [lie] tag, but also avoiding committing to any actions that you might later have to take back, or being misleading with the way you communicate, even just to save your reputation in front of someone potentially dangerous. One honestly perplexing challenge and fascinating to watch, and watching it really defined how truly massive the scope of player choice in Vegas is.

Now in comparison to this, Fallout 4 seemed to learn nothing from the scope of their beloved sister game developed by Obsidian and decided to sacrifice malleable scope for favour of spectacle. Every faction was wound tightly into the main plot in a manner that ensured all of their potential got squeezed into the exact same explosive ending slide, eliminating the branching consequence that players had become used and attached to over the years. During my last playthrough of Fallout New Vegas, I deftly danced around the favour of every faction to create a atmosphere unique to my specific playthrough, wherein I was considered a chaotic agent playing every side against one another until such a point where I could flip on the entire Mojave and drive out all the invading nations. In Fallout 4 I get told to definitively pick a side. No nuance to be found.

Bethesda's next game Starfield has some potential to learn here, because despite the fact that New Vegas was Obsidian's Baby and Fallout 4 was Bethesda's; the studio know well how their games have been compared and contrasted and recognise their own short comings as well as we do. We know that Starfield is aiming for a universe full of contrasting factions who weave together in some significant way to the overarching plot, which sounds like it could be touching on the same sort of merits that New Vegas rode on. However, Todd Howard has this supremely self-defeating mindset when it comes to directing consequence-responsible Role Playing Games. He pushes for Bethesda games to allow for all content to be playable to every player, which inherently disqualifies the possibilities of meaning choices with differing stories. If he can temper that desire, and recognise the give he needs to relinquish in order for Starfield to really meet the potential it has, we may have an exciting future rushing towards us. It's all a question of if.

But this isn't a blog to bite nails about the future; this is a blog to venerate the accomplishments of the past for one of the greatest games ever made. Fallout New Vegas is one of those titles that somehow stands the test of time and teaches salient lessons to everyone in the development industry, even today. Wild for a game that was burst developed in about a single year, recycling and cannibalising assets and cello-taping them together inside of a leaning tower of a game engine. Imagine what would happen if Obsidian had to the time to actually make a fully fledged game now, with everything they've learned, and without papa-Bethesda leaning over their shoulder and tapping their watch every few weeks. Well now that they're at Microsoft together- we'll still probably never know because both companies are off doing their own thing. Sucks to be a Fallout fan, sometimes. Guess I'm stuck with 76 for the foreseeable future.

Character Six

What do the numbers mean, Mason?

What do you think of the number six? It's just a number right- same as any other? Wrong! Six is regal, it's ascendant! Six is the number of heroes and protagonists! Or at least, that's what I've been led to believe by a very particular trend amidst entirely unrelated games that I may just be purely imagining. Am I the only one who's noticed this? The fact that whenever you're presented with a vague protagonist who's designation is a single number, the go-to pick appears to be Six? Why? It's one below the most common picked number in the world, I suppose; and calling a player 'Number one' would be too obvious, I guess. But still- Six? Is it the curve of the loop? Half an ouroboros, simulating the cyclical nature of gameplay systems designed to keep the player in a cycle of dopamine hits and craving periods? Am I conjuring a conspiracy out of nothing? No I am not- and let me prove it to you.

Do you remember the Aliens Vs Predator game? No- the one on the Xbox 360! I can only assume most people don't given the fact that it's often totally ignored in lists of prominent Alien-franchise games despite it easily being my favourite. (I haven't played very many, but I'm decently sold on my game's quality anyway.) It was a game consisting of three campaigns, one as a Marine, one as a Predator and one as an Alien. All featured wildly differing playstyles of which my favourite was the Alien playthrough. Not just for the hide-and-seek style of gameplay and the ability to climb up walls, but also for the curious insight into what it was like to see the world through the carapace of a Xenomorph. Of course, the problem with making a protagonist out of an Alien is that they're all designed to look the same so your character would be lost in group settings. Unless... unless the story begins with your Alien being birthed in a test facility wherein you're designated a test number which is burned into your skull for life!

Yes, as you've likely guess that number is Six and for the Alien gameplay campaign you play as 'Alien Six'. There's nothing especially unique or special about Six apart from the fact he's controlled by the player; the game hardly bothers to pay any lip service to the fact he was born in captivity. In fact, when it's all said and done; there's nothing personally unique about Six apart from his number on his head. We could have been placed in the skin of a totally different Alien for every mission and nothing of value would have been lost from the narrative. So why bother? Because we like to think there's narrative consistency, and that we're following one scrappy lad on his journey from captivity to bringing the Weyland-Yutani corporation to it's knees! And for some reason that hero can only be entwined with the player if he has a big Six on his head... apparently...

A much more famous example of this sort of trend that I'm sure most people are familiar with, is the very last all around good Halo game made before the franchise was sold off to it's slow assassins. 'Halo: Reach' is the game that slapped the action out of the hands of Master Chief as he floated through space and brought us instead to before the events of 'Combat Evolved' to the legendary fall of Reach to the Covenant. New locations meant a new protagonist, and this one would be placed in such a position as to be the avatar of the player character rather than another player in this Sci-fi universe. That Spartan would be inducted into Noble Team at the beginning of the story, and thus inherit the recently 'vacated' moniker of Noble Six.

Six has a very special place in the hearts of the community, probably because he or she was designed to quite literally be the player. Whereas Master Chief has a history and a cool voice and personal relationships (or 'relationship' to be more accurate.) Six was a purposefully designed enigma with a secretive past, very few voices lines, and now relationships outside the one's you form in battle throughout the course of the narrative. He or she was a blank puppet for the audiences hand to slip inside of, and thus that character became synonymous to them. And again, he or she just happened to be assigned the 'Six' call-sign. Now not just emblematic of a hero, but emblematic of a character who literally represents the player and community! How illuminating!

And finally there's my favourite example of this inexplicable 'Six' trope. The legendary protagonist of the greatest Fallout game ever made; Fallout New Vegas. This game follows the exploits of a courier working in the Mojave Wasteland, who found themselves tangled up in affairs above their station and being shot in the head and left for dead. Now an uninitiated player might go through the entire game and never connect the significance between the number 'Six' and the player character, but anyone even slightly ingratiated into the community would know that of the many couriers sent on the job that ended up getting you buried, the player was the Sixth. Thus they are forever known within the community with the immutable title; Courier Six.

Imagine having your name and identity totally supplanted by a job you used to do and the designation you just happen to have had assigned during your most traumatic on-the-job injury! And all because the Fallout creators constantly want to make the player character known as 'The Vault Dweller', despite that being the moniker of the original Fallout protagonist, leaving it up the community to decide their new name. Fallout 3 was 'The Lone Wanderer', New Vegas is 'Courier Six', 4 is 'The Sole Survivor'. Of course, Six's name goes a step further. Every single mod on the Nexus seems to have been brought so readily into the community name that in many mods the player is literally just referred to as 'Six'; over their chosen name. (Because some of these mods are voiced and that's a pithy away around addressing the player without using their name.) This time a 'Six' title dangled before, and widely adopted by an entire loving community.

Six is just a simple number, but to video game creatives it is so much more. It is the everything number, used to denote the most important commodity any entertainment venture can gain: it's audience. Whatever it is that is so special about Six, it is clear that the number resonates on a deeper intrinsic level with all who witness it, to the point many are proud to wear it on their chests and back as a symbol of pride and power! Six is a statement. A primalist cry into the unforgiving void that we are real and we exist, and that Six is our creed, Six is our designation and Six is our future. Inside of Six lies all of humanity, condensed into the point of a needle and spun into a whirling pool of dreams. Or this is all a coincidence and I'm crazy.

Tyranny deserves a sequel

 It needs one!

We all have those special little snippets of fandom we share only with ourselves, those unique pacts of loyalty we create towards properties that we believe are underserved or 'under-rated'; which is why 'fan sequel' requests are such a popular topic amongst entertainment fandoms. Whether we're talking a proper Dragon's Age Origins 2, or a Fallout New Vegas 2, or a Bloodbourne 2 or a Sonic Adventure 3; people love to throw down their hands about why their favourite games need to be continued so that the moment they felt when they first fell in love with that game can be magically resummoned. I like to think I'm more discerning with my fandom. Or at least, I try to enforce a more sensible and realistic grasp about what exactly a sequel is, what is can be and whether or not it's even really required. I love Metal Gear Solid 3, it's my favourite game ever, but do I need a sequel desperately? No... and yet Peace Walker came out anyway...

Which is probably why I've been so utterly back and forth about the topic of Tyranny and whether that game should have gotten a sequel. Just to be clear, the reality of the situation was that the game didn't financially perform to the standard necessary to warrant a sequel; so we never will see a continuation, but in the realms of our imagination anything is possible. Tyranny is, for me, perhaps the greatest of this modern wave of CRPG games, and in that I absolutely include Obsidian's other, much more popular CRPG: Pillars of Eternity. I love Pillars too, I think those games are great; but Tyranny did something I've never seen an RPG successfully pull off in a manner that doesn't strip out the soul of the genre, and in doing so helped patch one of the most enduring sore spots that the common player has with big RPG games. They trimmed the fat.

True role playing games are almost defined by their complexity and almost garish size and length. They will flood you with systems and numbers and lore and names and keep you juggling it all up until the hundreds of hours. It's just how they are. Now I'm not one of those games journalists who tips over a table and throws a strop when they can't fit their review into a neat time table because the game is too long for them; I actually love the sense of scale and the breadth of memories that a well designed and lengthy RPG can create. I also have no issue with a game that you start playing in January and chip away at for the next 12 months; I think some of the magic of gaming is having that extended adventure that can whisk you away to another world even for just a few hours a week, not everything needs to be rush-completed within a week so you can stay ontop of the trends. (Hell, I've still not finished Pathfinder Kingmaker and it's sequel is onto it's second season pass. By the time I'm done with that, the Owlcat Games have already dropped their Warhammer follow-up CRPG.) But having said all of that; what Tyranny does with the formula is like a breath of fresh air.

Many accusations were slung at Tyranny claiming it was dumbed down and simplified, when in reality all it did was give you an RPG experience, just as rich as Pillars, but without the overcooked and vast depth of systems required to birth a table-top game. You were given the class skills you needed to keep combat fun, provided with just enough gear complexity to not grow overwhelming, provided with just enough party members to not turn large scale conflicts in a messy chaos of screen effects. And the narrative was trickled down to it's most salient and important moments, so there was less time spent wandering the country side helping farmers rescue their plundered cattle and more time playing the factions of the land against each other in your bid to seize power, whether for your master or yourself. A decent playthrough of Tyranny can clock into about twenty to fifty respectable hours, tiny next to your typical RPG, but every one of those hours are crammed with the best moments of RPGs, where you're making the important choices and fighting the memorable battles and meeting the diverse NPCs. That playtime neatly condensed everything I could have wanted out of a stupidly long RPG; which makes Tyranny a master of concision in my book. 

But does it deserve a sequel? One of the huge factors I have to take into account whenever I consider a follow-up is how the first game leaves on something of a perfect open-ended note. The player is left on the precipice of action either rising to become the greatest of the Tyrant's generals or the biggest threat the Tyrant has ever faced, with everything the game needed to say about it's themes and premise having been neatly achieved. All the companions get their post-narrative text and the world almost feels satisfied. Whilst the air buzzes for what could happen next, in a way it's not even important. Hell, one of the big reoccurring tricks of Tyranny is that not only do we never see the titular Tyrant Kyros we serve under, but Obsidian even hides their gender or any identifiable and humanising information on them whatsoever. The mystery creates this monolithic god-like image which seems just unassailable. (Justified whole-heatedly by the plot.) Any follow up would have to shatter that anonymity; which in itself could be an incredible thematic evolution if handled correctly, but even in the best-case scenario it would inevitably end up devaluing some of the special elements that went into the first game, just by revealing anything about Kyros at all.

On the otherhand, Obsidian managed to tease one of the most interesting sounding fantasy worlds I've ever glimpsed at by sheer merit of making the invading armies you fight alongside a melting pot of cultures. You get to live alongside and experience the far vast edges of Kyros' empire merely by serving in the presence of their armies and what you learn about their way of life sounds so rich. I was also dazzled by the cultures of the people you subjugate in the prologue and the stories of the other nations between all of these points. I yearn to see more of this world, to interact with these people and influence the world just that bit more! And even more than that, I'm struck with curiosity to finally explore the depths of the game's biggest secret; the origin to the strange power that inhabits the land. I understand the metaphorical connotations between how the 'Archons' work in Tyranny, but there's some sort of 'elder magic mystery' buzzing inside of the mythos that makes my toes curl up in excitement to think about. There seems to be endless directions a follow-up could go and I want Obsidian to explore all of them! Maybe simultaneously!

The promise of a sequel seems honestly limitless; they could go one of a million directions with it. The obvious follow-up would be a direct continuation of the ending of the first game, but I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't jump another five or so years down the line into another tactically significant region of land only this time in a very different sort of role. Still the conquer but perhaps competitively inclined against another equal conqueror? Or we could take the story underground to the mystery of the people who came before, the race that would contain the secrets of Kyros. Or maybe we'll be thrown into the shoes of someone else entirely caught in the middle of a world torn between two rising super powers... although I fail to identify the thematically evil/selfish-inclined spin on the traditional set-up inherent there. There is so much that the Tyranny franchise has to give if only people would give it that chance!

But all this is moot dreaming as this point. The Obsidian teams have moved on to a balance of smaller projects and a Pillar's themed future, leaving this game to gather dust alongside their other masterpieces; which is just the fate of being an incredible Obsidian game I guess. Pillars will probably never get itself a follow-up after Avowed, if Outer Worlds 2 manages to nail the issues with the first game down and be the masterpiece that original wasn't, it will suddenly become the last of it's franchise. It really is a very English sensibility to reach you pinnacle and abruptly stop yourself on the spot, but it's one I begrudgingly respect, and at this point, expect. Perhaps it's better to dream of the perfect follow-up instead of being disappointed by a sub-par attempt. Perfection is unique, afterall.

Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords Review

 What is it you think you have done?

Having played Knights of the Old Republic through nigh on 5 times, it seems like a given that I'd have played KOTOR 2 in between those playthroughs; although for one reason or another I never did get around to completing that which existed of the KOTOR saga. (I don't consider The Old Republic a canonical continuation, on purely personal bias) So I've really left a hole of my knowledge on the Old Republic until today. One previous playthrough ended the second I came across a game breaking bug, which is notorious from a game that was infamously rushed to launch, but this time I was determined. I pretty much power-gamed my way through the campaign whilst completing as much as I could to get the best all around picture of the experience and picking up 'The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod' which is said to clean up the majority of the bugs. (I still had to completely reinstall the whole game in order to finish it because of unforeseen installation woes and the same gamebreaking bug coming back, but I finally managed to hit those credits.) So how about we touch on my thoughts on the game and see where exactly we can go from there? Of course this is going to be a review, but I'm going to refrain on specific story spoilers in case this is a game you want to experience for yourself, but I will proceed assuming that you know the story events of KOTOR 1 at the very least.

Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords (Which I'll refer to as 'The Sith Lords', henceforth.) was released a little more than a year after the first in December 2004. And as you can imagine, a turn around that quick would have been impossible from the Bioware team considering the many other projects they were juggling during that time, thus development was turned over to another legendary studio. Obsidian Games bought their talents to work on 'The Sith Lords', and to my amazement you can genuinely see the vast differences in how both companies approach RPGs nakedly on the face of two games built on roughly the same framework. Unfortunately, 'The Sith Lords' was rushed to launch meaning that a good deal of content and plans had to be stripped out or reworked in order to hit the December release date, which is also very clear to see for anyone playing the game. The Restored Content Mod does it's best at piecing together what was left over, but that just does a good job in showing you why some of this content was left out. (Unfinished half-baked ideas are resplendent.)

Gameplay differs little from the round-based real-time action of KOTOR 1, however one can see how Obsidian weren't quiet as married to the whole 'D&D in Star Wars' idea that Bioware was originally shooting for. (Which is surprising considering these companies' polar opposite stance of that design philosophy would completely switch in how they make their games today.) There are several reworked feats and a lot of cool new force powers, but Level 20 is no longer the level cap so all of that serves less as 'build variety' and more as 'over powered tools to tack onto your arsenal as you become helplessly godlike in the late game'. Still, there's an improvement in choice and variety which makes The Sith Lords a better base gameplay experience than it's predecessor, and yet there are caveats there I want to dive into later. Though just as with a lot of this game, my feelings on this approach to gameplay remained turbulent and murky until those final minutes of the credits screen.

Picking up 5 years after the events of KOTOR, The Sith Lords follows a new character called 'The Exile' coming back into Republic space after a long time in seclusion, only to find themselves as the last remaining Jedi in the Galaxy. That title is questionable and thrown about several times despite blinding obvious evidence to the contrary, but it drives at the heart of the threat: The Jedi are being hunted and assassinated by a mysterious threat of Sith Lords that are strikingly more interesting in design and premise than practically every other Sith in Star Wars history to date. Even now. The Triumvirate stand as some of the most distinct and unsettling antagonists I can think of within the Star Wars universe, and it's a shame that these weirdoes aren't better known by the community. They're practically JOJO villains for how wacky and wild they and what they do is. (I think all 3 of them carry tons more weight than 'angry-apprentice' Darth Malak ever did.)

In this brave new, Jedi devoid, galaxy, the Republic is teetering on the verge of collapse thanks to the collateral damage caused by the Jedi Civil war, and it's uncertain fate looms heavily over the narrative from start to finish. (Spoilers) Revan has fled known space to face some unknown dark force from his past and the spectre of his passing hangs over the entire breadth of the story too, as a dangling question mark that was never answered. (As long as we block out the existence of The Old Republic, that is. Really wish Bioware had kept those plotlines to themselves.) It is up to the player to decide both the fate of the Jedi Order and that of the Republic as they try to discover why the Sith are pursuing them whilst unravelling a mystery about their own past.

There is a lot that this game has to juggle from a narrative perspective, which is why it's so surprising how great a lot of the story turns out even when large swathes of it had to be cut out of the game, and I think it a testament to Obsidian's incredible writing prowess. It's something you can see from just about every dialogue snippet in the game, from the esoteric yet buzzing with intent rhetoric of Kreia, to the sternly passionate exposition-weaved argument between the Exile and Atris at the tail-end of the first act. There's a stunning command of character writing talent that shines through this burnished gem of a narrative so that each individual character jumps out and lives in front of you. Which is a blessing, because one of the casualties of the rushed development is companion storylines. Yep, you'll recruit an impressive team of personalities, talk with them, but there's no optional character-building adventure to deepen your connection and fundamentally change who that character is. Without the talent in Obsidian's writing room, these characters and this narrative could have fallen off a cliff so fast!

I do, however, mark the rushed development as responsible for the structure of the gameplay, which is a lot less consistent both with the example that KOTOR set, and within itself. The first world of The Sith Lords is a genuine slog to go through, a linear trek through an excruciatingly drawn out prologue packed with robots, a snail-pace mystery and a tiny bit of genuine suspense on the tail end of the 5-6 hours it'll take just to get onto the second world. Only to discover that the second world is also a railroad! It took me nearly 9 hours to finally get out onto the Galaxy map with some control over my destiny, all because of a first act in desperate need of a editor's hand swiping down to cut some of the fat. Especially considering how most of those initial 9 hours are spent wandering around gun-metal grey corridors and Telos' bland vision of a metropolis. At least KOTOR 1 gave us the fields of Dantooine to keep things fresh.

Even once out into the gameplay loop of visiting worlds to track down the Jedi, you'll encounter worlds with vastly differing levels of fleshed out quest lines. Onderon and Dantooine are straight forward and wrap up neatly, Nar Shaddaa is a gangly branching thing lacking in initial direction and resplendent with annoying heavily orchestrated set-piece moments which rob the player of agency and grate for their trying length and frequency. And then Korriban is a total after-thought. It's just a complete mismatch of development ideas and efforts indicative of a game not really near that harmonisation point which the development process longs for. Don't even get me started on the finale, which switches about fast enough to give you whiplash before giving up and throwing you in a facility brimming with enemies mindlessly standing around and staring at walls until the protagonist gives purpose to their lives by killing them. By every account this game should be an unplayable mess, and it a testament to the herculean talent of the Obsidian team that is all just about sticks together, even if it's rough.

In the absence of a consistent story to entice repeat playthroughs, The Sith Lords features a randomised loot system that keeps the things you pick up as totally random each time you play- and I hate it. Dictated by the level you are and filling nearly every source of loot from trader inventory to corpse looting, the random loot table takes all the fun out of exploration beyond quest completion, because no secret corner of the world is going to hold anything tailor-made which gives it value. You'll find Dark Jedi robes lying on the bodies of bounty hunters in Nar Shaddaa, several clones of Exur Kun's battle armour stuffed in a locker on a random star ship and apparently Darth Malak's armour is capable of randomly spawning, but I was never lucky to see it spat out of a slain Cannock or somewhere equally as undignified. By the late game I was just ignoring all lockers and corpses, because none of them would contain useful drops ever. It felt like a badly constructed looter-shooter drop system, weightless and ultimately inconsequential. Needless to say, I won't be drawn into a second playthrough just in hopes of getting another three random 'circlet of +5 wisdom' drops. 

But did I have fun? The most important question of them all. To which I think the answer is actually 'yes'. Despite the frustrations with the mission layouts, the random loot and the distinct lack of Sith enemies throughout the games. (Yeah, there were hardly any force users at all in the whole campaign until the last hour) I did manage to squeak out some fun from the content that is there as well as from the strength of the story. The direction that Obsidian takes the narrative is fraught with mysterious intrigue that seizes the imagination and even sets the pulse racing in some of the later moments. Kreia's back-and-forth with the player, and her key moments, are endlessly fascinating and I could have spent several more hours just listening to her corrupted teachings about the nature of the universe. And the relationship between the player and the main antagonist results in one of the most gut-wrenching and intriguing conflicts I've seen in Star Wars. And I know I keep comparing this narrative with wider Star Wars but it bears the comparison well, because at times this narrative is in an absolute league of it's own.

The shortcomings in development does effect the wider story too, however, and some lingering snippets of the narrative remain confusing, under explained or out-right ignored by the time the credits role. Including, most frustratingly, the force bond which serves as the impetus for the entire adventure to being with! That was one of the reasons why the finale was building up to be so tricky, only for it to be forgotten altogether by the credits! At least the team found a way to wrap a 'where are they now' section into the game before the credits, unlike in the first KOTOR, with a creepy, yet totally apt, twist of divination baked in there. But the real tragedy has to be the way in which the final 3 hours dedicate themselves to building up the Galaxy-threatening return of Revan in KOTOR 3, only for that game never to be made and the potential of it to be killed off thanks to The Old Republic MMO which squandered the idea, squandered the Galaxy and, eventually, squandered Revan. In my head and heart the cliff hanger of The Sith Lords stands to this day, unanswered and full with the same tantalising mysteries last left floating in the vacuum about the rocks and ruins of the massive space-rock once known as Malachor V.

'Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords' is a clearly troubled game that wears the scars of truncated development which tarnish a game otherwise set to be a powerhouse, and if you squint your eyes you can almost make out that masterpiece in all of the mess. However even with years of fan efforts trying to piece the vision that was, KOTOR 2 just ends up feeling like a game that bit off more than it can chew and barely managed to square up as a good game despite of it's ambitious rather than because of them. There was something special here, and I think the writing still holds some of that magic, but maybe we'll have to wait until the KOTOR 2 remake to feel that finally realised in the way it was always meant to. With all this in mind, I would award Knights of the Old Republic with a C+ Grade, so earned for it's fumblings as much as it's triumphs. In another world I could absolutely see a reality where this game is every bit KOTOR 1's superior, but circumstances tripped it up invoking those old iconic Miyamoto words. "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad." And a promising game which crumbles under the weight of it's own ambitions is perpetually and deeply frustrating.