As I was playing through Avowed ahead of release, probably my least favourite element in an otherwise very charming RPG was the tier system. Basically every weapon or piece of armour has a tier, and so do enemies—and this is what determines relative power, rather than levels, almost like a simplified form of Destiny's gear score.
As it was, using a piece of equipment lower tier than a foe meant that blows practically bounced off them, even if you'd already given it several upgrades. The result was an annoyingly stop-start progression, where you'd suddenly hit a wall of feeling completely powerless (often after moving into a new area) and either have to swap your gear around with whatever random higher tier equipment you'd found, or scrabble around for rare upgrade materials to get yourself back in business. In an otherwise smooth and accessible action-RPG, it was an unwelcome wrinkle.
The good news? They've already fixed it, or at least made serious improvements. The newly released patch, 1.2.2, softens the whole system, making the jump from one tier to another much less severe and better accounting for how close your weapon is to the next tier. Where before enemies at a higher tier would receive a huge defence bonus against you and have no reaction at all to your attacks, now those bonuses only kick in if there's a major gulf in upgrades between you, and enemies at least flinch when hit with a lower tier weapon instead of ignoring it altogether.
I've not been able to test the changes exhaustively myself yet, but I had a go at exploring Shatterscarp with lower tier weapons, and it did feel much better. My "Fine" pistol still does noticeably lower damage to "Exceptional" enemies, but it doesn't feel completely useless anymore, and I can win fights with it just with determination and good tactics rather than a backpack full of grenades and healing potions.
That's a huge boon to respeccing, too. Previously after a certain point in the game, switching up your build became a pain, because you'd often lack the materials to get your new gear up to snuff. Now even if trying out a new style means going down a tier, it's not a dealbreaker, and you can still have fun even when you're saving up for upgrades. I think tonight I might be giving Rob's Dishonored rogue-mage build a try after all…
It also helps that the patch is giving companions a bit of a buff. Previously, they could feel a bit paper-thin, going down too easy in battle. Obsidian's tweaked their health up, and also made them gain back more health when you revive them—both welcome changes that will make them a bit better at compensating for any weaknesses in your loadout.
Beyond that, there are lots of bug fixes, particularly for broken quests. Anyone who's been stuck in Delemgan Glade for example can rejoice, as the bramble doors will now open properly for you instead of leaving you to spend the rest of the game in the queen's throne room. It's a pretty extensive list, though I will say several issues I've run into seem to remain untouched—I still can't turn in the spider bounty in Dawnshore for example because the trophy never spawned, and the captive ranger in Emerald Stair with a conspicuous exclamation mark over his head still refuses to give me his sidequest. But given how quickly this pretty major patch came along, it seems like Obsidian's moving fast—maybe they'll get to those sooner rather than later.
The fixes also include a look at the Blast ability for wands, which thanks to a lack of visual or audio effects had previously appeared to do nothing at all. Turns out it was giving you those explosive attacks all along, but now you'll actually be able to see them happening, which is definitely a bonus.
I will say, it would have been nice if players in the advance access period had been given a bit of a heads up that this patch was on the way. Paying extra to play a less polished version does rather come with the territory with these dumb collector's edition play early perks, but I do sympathise with anyone who put nearly a week into the game already only to find out the launch day patch overhauls the whole progression system. Us games journalists are used to that kind of thing, but it's a bit uncomfortable seeing it happen to regular players too now.
Still, the important thing is that the game's already changing for the better. Now I just need an update to deal with the out of control bear population.
Here are the full patch notes:
Community-Requested Fixes
- Updates to Equipment Tier difference feedback and penalties/bonuses:
- Changed Tier penalty system from a hard tier to tier system and made it dynamic based on players equipment and the tier (and sub-tier) of the enemy. Tier difference rules now only apply when there is a +/- 4 level gap.
- Tier II enemies will now play a small reaction animation when struck by lower-tier weapons, instead of not reacting at all.
- Reduced damage reduction when player weapons are closer in tier to an enemy.
- Significantly decreased how often companions comment about player needing better armor and/or weapons.
- Upgrade materials can no longer be sold to merchants to inadvertently make upgrading difficult. We have a longer-term fix involving buying back from merchants in the works.
Missing NPCs
- In specific situations, some NPCs weren’t where they should be. Saving the game, and re-loading will put them back where they should be. We will have a fix soon that fixes the situation completely and doesn’t require a save and load.
Quest & Exploration Fixes
- The brambles in the Delemgan Glade will now vanish when the Adragan Heart is acquired, preventing players from getting stuck inside.
- Grysca (the apothecary) now correctly speaks with the player to advance An Untimely End, even if they previously encountered a bug with Thalla the Ogre spawning twice.
- Added a system to respawn key characters when loading a save if they were previously missing and blocking quest progression (including Ambassador Hylgard and The Watcher Runyd).
Companion & NPC Improvements
- Reviving companions in combat now restores them to 75% of their maximum health instead of 50%.
- Starting health of companions has been increased to help with their viability in combat.
Merchants & Economy
- Merchants at the Dawnshore docks now offer 'Fine' gear in addition to 'Common' gear.
Crashes & Major Issues
- Removed chance to crash when casting Corrosive Siphon on destructible objects.
- Optimized resource handling of VFX while the game is paused via radial menus to prevent rare leaks and crashes.
Quest & Area Design
- Fixed invisible collision blocking the player in Strangleroot.
- Prevented players from charging into unintended areas in Strangleroot, avoiding quest progression issues.
- Enemies now navigate the bridges of the lava tubes more consistently.
- First Contact with the Enemy quest now progresses correctly if all badges are collected before speaking to Nauki.
- Players can now complete Steel Resolve after the main quest in Emerald Stair if they had completed enough objectives beforehand.
- Kowha now responds correctly if the player returns to them after starting One Last Drink.
- Dialog with Giatta upon leaving Naku Tedek now triggers consistently when loading saves before the conversation.
- Updated Mapping the Living Lands quest conditions to allow starting from future regions before talking to the quest giver in Dawnshore.
- Updated A Lady Never Tells quest flow so it correctly completes in the quest log when starting via the courtesan, getting the shipment, then speaking to Giuliana.
- Governor Ignasi’s option to turn in the spy can now only be triggered once instead of being repeatable.
- Conversations with leaders in the final area no longer end prematurely when choosing the Let me reconsider option.
- Made an additional ending option for the leadership conclave available to players who initially backed out but wish to reconsider.
- Adjusted environment art near the Trantons bounty in Emerald Stair to prevent bounty loot from becoming unobtainable.
- Previously missing voice-over lines in ambient content now play correctly.
Systems & Gameplay Improvements
- Seeds of Vengeance summons now scale correctly with health and damage.
- One-handed weapon Parry enchantments now function as intended.
- Party buffs from the player now correctly target companions only, instead of summoned creatures.
- Kai no longer gets stuck if using Unbending Defense while mid-air with Leap of Daring.
- Improved frame rate when rendering damage numbers on multiple enemies at once.
- Improved item randomization when restocking shops.
- Blast ability for wands now plays the correct visual and sound effects.
- Improved logic for animations on companions at the end of combat.
- Improved transitions on the top of Mt. Forja.
- Fixed interaction inconsistencies with objects and NPCs obscured by other characters.
- Controllers no longer rumble when loading a save before the final boss fight.
- Fixed issues with pond coin interactions.
- Added error codes for save game failures.
- Improved where characters are looking during certain conversations.
Audio Improvements
- Cutscene in Naku Kebel now properly plays sound effects.
- Eating food from the radial menu now provides audio feedback.
- Increased volume of Woedica’s voiceover audio.
- Player voice now plays more consistently for abilities with vocal components.
- Improved transitions between music intensity levels when exploring.
- Music during the end slides now plays at the intended volume.
Visual & Art Fixes
- Updated Banner Dwarf’s outfit LODs to reduce clipping during animation.
- Captain Ngunu’s neck is now properly merged with his head.
- Steel Garrote Soldiers have re-grown their missing hands.
- Improved shadow quality on Xbox Series X Performance Mode.
User Interface (UI) & Controls
- Cloud transfer prompt is now properly centered on ultrawide displays.
- Xbox cloud transfer dialog buttons no longer shake rapidly when hovering over the bottom part of the button.
- Initial splash screens now properly support Chinese characters.
- Interaction prompts pop up more reliably.
- Opening a radial menu after leaving and returning to the game no longer triggers the pause menu.
- Removed unintended English characters in the One Last Drink quest journal for non-English languages.
- Cloud save UI now defaults to selecting the recommended option.
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