I remember playing it for the first time and my jaw just dropping at the art and the lighting and the voice acting. PoE 2 is, IMO, as close to "classic" CRPG perfection as you can get.
@@stardragoon9250 that's incorrect, CRPGs have always relied heavily on art design and dialogue/narrative. Even baldurs gate 1 & 2 have great art and it enhances the experience, same with the old final fantasy games. Its very common to refer to some visual settings in games to be art or artistic as a compliment. Nothing to grow up over, art design is timeless.
Fungus, death, decay, maybe represents the death and decay of the gods and you (and the "God" you are associated with) are the instrument of transformation into something new.
@@imshail Rymrgand is more like the god of utter death/non-existence and Berath is a goddess in charge of the cycle. But a god of decomposition might be decomposing the gods and souls to create something new, in a different way from the wheel. It might be a god of transition, from the old world order to the new one.
To me fungus sounds like "Life from death". Not just a representation of death, nor of life, but the cyclical nature of it. Mushrooms are no less alive than animals or plants, after all. Since the cycle of reincarnation is the big thing predating the Engwithan gods, it seems like this kind of personification of that process, or driving force behind it, would be a kind of ur-god of the world. Of course that doesn't answer why Engwith couldn't find it. Was it already "sleeping" by their time? The fact that the Engwithan pantheon created both Berath and Eothas to represent rebirth and cycles (and arguably some other gods may have aspects of it as well) they presumably saw a force in need of a god to explain it. And looking at it somewhat realistically, yeah, there would kind of *have* to be something supernatural to explain the various creatures and races of Eora. Of course this then begs the question... if this thing predated Engwith, why was it silenced? And by whom? Something about the name "godless" sounds a bit... ominous. What if it was representing life out of control and it needed killing so as to avoid the whole world turning into a planet-wide The Last of Us mushroom hive mind? Or if they were trying to achieve immortality by destroying the aspect of death? What if the godless weren't simply called that by Engwith for lacking gods, but it was a title they bore with pride because they were the ones to get rid of the gods in the first place. Maybe this being was responsible for kith splitting into various different races and subraces as it induced a bunch of crazy mutations, and it had to be shut down before procreation became literally impossible? I mean probably something else entirely, but man am I excited for this game now.
And since many of the gods were based on existing mythologies, maybe this thing is the Bewnen i Ankew / Ankew i Bewnen of the Glanfathans or Kohopa and Tangaloa of the Huana and so on... the myth that Berath was based on was in itself based on an ancient and forgotten God? Or maybe it's all just Wael fucking around. You know he would.
I can't tell you how nice it is to have a games critic/youtuber that is also as into the Pillars games as I am. Feels like those games (both, but Pillars 2 especially) got such short shrift for how fantastic they were.
Okay I like idea of there being some kind of entity like the Gods that actually predate them, something that was woken up by Eothas' fuckery. That sounds really fun.
there is always a chance that this new rot god went through something like what abydon did, ondra buried them it may be that abydon wasn't the first god that was "erased" or made to be "forgotten", but in their case the process was much more final and complete i didn't play it so i don't know for sure, but maybe these godless may just chosen to not follow the engwithan pantheon, they knew them, but chose to be atheistic the pantheon, once it was formed, basically went old testament and cleaned the slate of the world, they persecuted and subjugated all cultures that didn't worship them, ondra making sure that they were all very much forgotten after it also, the living lands is quite the special place, it was always wild like that apparently, maybe that is because of a titan? a titan can have influence on its surroundings even while it is dormant, if this rot god was beaten and subjugated before abydon first death, maybe his titan is buried somewhere in the living lands, maybe his prison is flawed and this god power leaks, causing the wild phenomena of the region, and maybe, because the wheel was broke, the prison lost its energy source and it is now much weaker, hence the rot god waking up too the question than is "why", why would this god be erased? as well reminded, rot is source of death and life, end of the old, fertiliser for the new a god of revolution, a god that would embody the revolutionaries of the enwithans, the ones that came up with the idea of creating a new systems, that is something that the pantheon clearly lacks, it has no god of change, berath is of cycles, of status quo, woedica of law, skaen of slaves and rebellion, but there isn't any god that represents progress, that represents renewal and revolution, one that would be the first to bring an end to the status quo created by the pantheon, who would advocate for a new system long before eothas that may also be why they are waking up, because they are needed, the other gods are preparing the stage for this new god return, so they can fix the lack of the wheel
I do appreciate how ambiguous things are at the end of Deadfire. Eothas did some sort of an accelerationist action because the way things were set up forced entropy would eventually make all these souls break down so much that they wouldn't be viable for any kith. The engwithans took what was a natural cycle of the world and completely ruined it, taking souls and stripping parts from them to fuel the constructs they created. Yeah, things are bad but the way Eothas can either pity or inspire all of kith gives them an edge that no one else had and one over the constructs that care little for kith and only see them as fuel. It's a bittersweet and awesome ending, much like the whole rest of the game.
I was cautiously optimistic from the previous previews but the latest one looks so much more refined. Definitely looking forward to it now. The art direction looks really good.
I'm getting pretty pumped for this game. Just started a new playthrough of PofE2 last week after the latest round of previews for this came out. Also, I definitely think you're close to the mark with your lore speculation.
Found your channel after I got obsessed with BG3 and figured out how much I like CRPGs even if it’s not the genre I lean towards the most. Really impressed with the quality of your vids. Unsure about Avowed rn but still planning to check it out. Will be sure to watch your content on it tho.
Great vid. Would love more content like this (lore speculation specific vids), perhaps with some of the other games you have played as well, to give your theory/hypothesis to "unsolved mysteries" in games you have 100%-ed or where you think/would like the story to go next.
I really hope this game ends up doing well. I would rather for Obsidian to stick with CRPGs but I think it would be an absolute shame to not have more people learn about Eora and its amazing worldbuilding.
Great vid! I finished Deadfire last night and am excited to see how they will move forward! I do think that to be able to take the world in a new direction, create some interesting new lore, and engage new and old fans, some kind of primordial deity that pre-existed the Engwithan-created pantheon makes a lot of sense. These theories could probably somehow coalesce, but I also think it could be something in connection to Wael’s body (or the other Titan bodies for that matter). I’m not entirely sure if it would make sense, but I just played Forgotten Sanctum and noticed how much of the stuff they did with fungi and Maura being infested with spores. My understanding is that the spore infestation isn’t necessarily due to Wael, but interestingly, if you choose to destroy Wael’s body, you get the following ending: “As the corpse decays, it putrefies into a nest of hungry fungal monstrosities…. Vessels that anchor off the Black Isles tend to go missing, only to end up ship-wrecked months or even years later against distant shores.” 🤔 On top of that, it stands to reason that Wael wasn’t the only God who secretly left his Titan form hidden away because none of them really trust each other, and now, especially with the wheel being destroyed, those old bodies are full on dying and rotting more than ever before. It would be really cool if those old remnants of the Gods’ titan forms are somehow creating this new, magical fungi-based life. In this case, it might not be a deity that preexisted the Engiwthans, but one, or multiple, that are being created from the remnants of the old. I’m probably missing something, but I think there could be something there!
I commented previously as i subbed to your channel years ago for poe1 lore. It is my favourite crpg ever. Happy to see this sentiment being echoed in the comments!
Something to consider, it is presented in Pillars 2 that the Gods of the Engwithens were not made from whole cloth but based on extent myths at the time the Engwithens found acceptable. I wonder if this entity was a prototype based on the "Godless" culture and beliefs. It would also be good to know the timescale as to when this prior fungal Godlike appeared in relation to the Engwithen apotheosis project. It does stand that the prior fungal Godlike could have been a freak of natural circumstance, which the Gods took inspiration from, just as much as they (the Godlike) could have been intentionally created. Anyways thank you for posting, I am psyched for Avowed and overjoyed to be getting more experiences in this setting.
Thanks for making this one! It's interesting to get an early look at what the devs have been writing for this game. I had previously thought that the breaking of the wheel would transform the Watcher of Dyrwood into a new god, and that this new unknown god would be the parent of our new player character. It seems I was wrong in that regard. I don't have anything to add to the speculation of who this unknown god truly is, but I'm interested in the story of this godlike child born in the godless civilization. In the footage you showed, we see that the player has some control over the backstory of this long-dead person. It reminds me of the way the Watcher's memories of their past self are up to us to interpret/control. When Thaos asks the Watcher what their relationship to Iovara was, the player gets to answer. And that makes the conversation with Iovara in the final act of the game much more meaningful. I hope that the story in this game hits just as hard for me as PoE1 did, and Obsidian's use of familiar writing tropes has me optimistic.
I wonder if the Engwithan gods needed something from The Voice, in addition to all the kith souls, to jump start their ascension into divinity. Or maybe they've been consuming some of its' essence this whole time too, and now they're too weak to keep whatever it is asleep. It'll be cool if it's out for revenge against all the gods we met in PoE & Deadfire. I'm stoked to find out!
Man the photage you talk over looks f'ing awesome, that fight at the end looked so cool. So many enemies, a boss that's fairly hard in your face and it's likely on an easier difficulty. I was wondering if 70 is worth it, but this game looks better and better.
I think the dream scourge/plague has reached Mortismal's channel because I'm gladly hyping myself up quietly, consequences be damned. Eora is an awesome world to expand.
I’m very much an elder scrolls nerd I absolutely love the world and the intricacies of it. I am certainly interested in playing Avowed but I’m worried that I won’t be into the lore so I really hope I can find at least some of the lore interesting. Being the chosen Demi god of what is likely an unknown elder god/anomalies entity sounds very cool. Now that I think about it reminds me of how in the Elder Scrolls there are forgotten or “dead” gods. Like Shor or Ebonarm, heck Hermaeus Mora straight up emitted that the role as a “god of fate” wasn’t actually his. He had killed a fellow deadric prince who held the domain of fate because they were constantly messing with it After words he used his power as a god of knowledge and memories to make literally everyone and everything to forget their existence.
Hey there Mortismal, how are you doing? Thinking about The Voice speaking to Avowed's playing character, have you seen Tim Cain's video titled "My Favorite Sci Fi Novel"? The novel in question also speaks about a pantheon of (self-)created gods, when the protagonist of the story is a renegade former member of said pantheon who "woke up" after a long sleep... Food for thought? Thanks for your videos!
@@MortismalGaming I knew that Tim Cain isn't involved in Avowed's development directly. But I find it hard to believe there was no talking/consultation with him, at the very least informally, when the game is developed by the same company of Cain's latest published game (The Outer Worlds), and he was part of the development team for the original Pillars of Eternity series. Also the book I was referring to, "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny, is a pretty important and influential novel for its genre. The pantheon of gods it recreates in its story is also based on Hindu and Buddhist tradition. For example, as you show in your video the reincarnation wheel, the cycle of samsara, seems to be pretty prominent in Avowed and in PoE. This literary material might very well have been baked into PoE's world at root level, at least as inspiration. Anyway, the book's topic sounds intriguing to me. After leaving my hotel receptionist job last year, I now need to keep my English exercised, one way or another. So I'm currently waiting for its original language version to be delivered at my door. Hopefully Tim Cain's taste in reading is as good as his cRPG preferences... LOL! Thanks for the answer!
What if the mechanism by which the gods became gods was by yoking the slumbering being? And the "machinery" we break in PoE 2 was the yoke itself keeping the slumbering being asleep. I'd bet it's a primordial being that represents the cycle as it was before it was tamed.
Seems like a real possibility. However Engwith supposedly created the gods because they were searching for gods and found none. If this godlike being, capable of interacting with mortals and willing to do so (although we don't know that it always was as it is now), and leaving it's mark upon the world existed back then, would Engwith really not have found it? If yoking it was an intentional part of creating the gods then they must have known about it. If it was unintentional surely the god-thing could have acted before being yoked? Of course there are still tons of possibilities. Perhaps it was just a primordial force of life with no real mind or intentions, but two millenia of being shackled to the wheel has shaped it into a more kith-like mind. Or maybe the Godless *did* have a god and literally killed/silenced it for some reason before Engwith reached their zenith and thus there weren't any gods when *they* were looking. I mean if we're being *realistic* a world like Eora couldn't exist on it's own by any understanding of evolution or biology. Like how do we get a bunch of dominant races that are so surprisingly similar, so near-equal in physical and mental capabilities and so on, and yet somehow... not related? At least not closely enough to be able to procreate. How do Aumaua fit in? Primate-like bodies but shark-like features? That's a hell of a leap if it's just natural evolution. Now being realistic in fantasy may be a fool's errand, but Obsidian keep impressing me in how good they are at it, so like... *something* supernatural and powerful pre-dating the gods feel pretty likely. It'll also be interesting to see if we learn more about Yezuha and their monotheism. What if the god they've been worshipping all this time is this god, and they've simply been worshipping a memory, or the forces of life that they see in the world around them.
And here I thought all the mushrooms were because our character just didn't shower much, though I guess being the godlike of an ancient entity sounds more likely.
During the dialogue with "The Voice", I noticed two of the people there were red-headed. This along with the contents of both the Clay Tablet found in Sargamis' flooded lab, and the hidden book of History of the Living Lands [Redacted], perhaps there's a connection to "The Voice" and the god mentioned by Rekke (Deadfire sidekick) of his people??
Galawain is the god of Nature and technically, Godlike that are tied to him do have plantlike appearance do they not? And the "living land" seems like a very natural place for a God like him (hunt, animal, etc...) . So, I don't understand when Obsidian is saying that the PC of Avowed is a Godlike of an unknown god. The fact of having nature's like apparence doesn't by default make the PC one of Galawain child?
Maybe godlikes or something like them existed before the gods of Engwith? Expressions of primordial soul powers into children. They did say that soul maladies used to be more common, and most instances of godlikes certainly seem pretty unpleasant for the people involved. Maybe the Engwithan gods standardized and utilized the proto-godlikes just as they did with the Wheel. I mean isn't it weird that Galawain seems to mostly be about animals yet his godlikes are all like... trees and moss and flowers and shit? I mean sure he may be the god of *all* kinds of evolution, but it's weird how he always seems to favor evolution through violent conflict *except* in the case of the shape his godlikes take. I mean there's probably some other explanation I haven't guessed. My point is that any explanation or theory you could come up with would *still* be more likely than the gods having told the Watcher the full truth about these things. The gods always lie. I don't even think they can help it. They were built for the specific purpose of deceiving the entire world, after all. But why does Ondra have at least two different types of godlikes? Why do we never see a Wael or Skaen godlike? If it's just a matter of creating soul batteries why do we not see the most ambitious god, Woedica or the cruelest god, Skaen create a whole fuckton of them? There are so many questions surrounding the godlikes that I wouldn't take anything we've been told about them so far for granted. There's not a single reliable narrator in PoE. Except maybe Ashley Johnson.
Fungi are very different from plants, not the same thing at all. We as humans often associate them generally with plant life but thats not really accurate, and all of Galawain's godlike have plantlike features. Not to mention those godlike were one of the most common and everyone would recognize that immediately. It's not impossible, Ondra is known to have made two different kinds, but its very unlikely.
Thanks for the video. See, even though I probably won't pick this title up, videos like this are still great because they organically affirm that gaming itself is a culture. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.
There's really not much to say about it, there's so little info in the games about the place. I mean its possible they expand on it more but there's really no way to speculate on the how given the scarcity of information. The deity they worship and whether or not it matters here would be the most interesting part.
@@MortismalGaming could be that it's tied into the dreamscourge/mystery fungus godlike, though admittedly idk that any of the hints we've gotten about them before had any sort of... 'fungal vibes' or anything hinting that their deity would be about decay
I think its going to be eothas' predecessor. A god that found the wheel to be tyranny and moved against the other gods. Their imprisonment might have had something to do with the wheel itself.
This god could have been part of the process of The Wheel from before the other gods existed. Maybe they refused to do their job or something happened that caused them to sleep, causing The Wheel to not function properly, hence why it was regulated by a machine. Perhaps older forces of the world are waking up and this god of rot and decay is part of that process? Maybe a whole new pantheon is being awoken or reborn? Perhaps the gods are being transformed into something new?
Is the narration in Avowed also done by Ashley Johnson, and in the same style? I know there was a lot of it in PoE 1 & 2 (and some of it rather confussing, esspecialy until PoE2 got that lore-update) but I really enjoyed the esoteric dream-like style they went for.
Do they allow you to make a "world state" or something like that? Because I'm pretty sure you can send Governor Alvari to the Living Land in "Vote of no confidence" - from what I've seen, like the Inquisitor Lodwyn, much of the choices will be presented like Schrodinger cat? (Lodwyn was killed and then somehow comeback).
A bunch of cool info here, Mort, but there's one thing you talk about that I disagree with. The world of Eora being in a catastrophically broken state at the end of PoE 2. It certainly seems like it is, but you have to keep in mind that The Wheel was pretty much forcing an ARTIFICIAL form of after-life on the whole world. That means that there must have been a time before it existed, when life did work in some manner without all children being soulless. With the Wheel gone, the world may now be returning to the pre-Wheel state. Also, by constructing the wheel, the Engwithans have pretty much globally disrupted the natural flow of souls to empower their own pantheon, but was the Engwithan pantheon the first gods on Eora ever? Or did they just suppress and replace a god or multiple that already existed before? My theory is that the world of Eora is now recovering from the wheel breaking. I would certainly expect soulless children to be born during this recovery period. But at some point the world will return into a state it was in before Engwithans started meddling with it, and whatever primordial gods existed back then may be roused back into existence. And we will probably see people getting born with normal souls again. What I think is really interesting about all of this and what I would love to find out in Avowed is why Eothas wanted to return the world to this old state. Like (big personal theory time starts now), I think the world of Eora is a living planet and Adra is its blood. The statue of Eothas was made of Adra, which is why he may have wanted to save Eora by breaking the Engwithan order of things.
All of that is already answered in the games and kind of in this video, but we arrive at the same point (something existed before this) The wheel of reincarnation always existed it was just chaotic and uncontrolled which led to a much higher rate of mishaps (hollowborn and the like) it was shackled and controlled by that engwithan machinery for so long it can no longer function properly according to the gods at the end of poe2. The gods also state they looked for their creators as the engwithans but ultimately found there was nothing out there, but that of course begs the question of whether they are lying or just straight up wrong. As for your last question that's all answered in 2 as well, Eothas had many problems with the status quo and the deception at play & yeah adra is often referred to as the veins of the world and it literally ferries souls from the material world into the metaphysical
@@MortismalGaming I see I have forgotten a lot about the lore, thank you for reminding me. Like how we already did get some information on how the things were before the Engwithans started changing things. I could never really trust any information we get from the gods in PoE2. They felt like a group of manipulative scumbags and I almost always addressed them in the most defiant manner I could get away with. I also often feel like your views of the lore are colored by how you do like/trust the pantheon to some extent. I don't want to come across as if I was criticising, it's fine to have different views and stuff. Either way I can't way to play Avowed.
I'm guessing the player character is a godlike of Rymrgand and you are actually the villain, trying to stop whatever is restarting the natural wheel of reincarnation to ensure the world decays and dies.
Definitely more hopeful for this game now after your last video. Loved PoE 1 and 2, never really liked godlike characters though so I'm a bit bummed you have to play as one. Would prefer to play as an Orlan.
The interesting thing about the Gods in PoE is that they are artificial and that they were essentially "programmed" to think and act certain ways, thats why Eothas needed the watcher, to be his token of true reality
I hope with the success of bg3 and if this is treated well they go back to the crpg style or if they continue this add alot of what they cut from the previous games.
From what I remember, all you learn about the Gods and their creation is from the big bad of the 1st game and the Gods themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if they left out the part where they used an older pre-existing God in the process... which is probably not too pleased if he's waking up, reborn or came back from who-knows-where. I would gladly play the harbinger of the destruction of those horrible "Gods" - except Eothas, the only decent one but still an agent of destruction for mortals
I agree that Thaos and the gods are almost certainly lying or hiding information. Like... doing so is their whole thing, after all. Still, it seems odd that they'd lie about there not being any gods and that being what fucked Engwith up. "The god was a tyrant" or "the god was a threat to all life" or whatever else would've worked just as well. If you want to lie convincingly making up a bunch of extra flair for your lie should be the *last* thing you'd want to be doing. If anything I'd imagine that the god in question was already dead/sleeping by the time Engwith started searching for divine beings. My money is on "the godless" earning their title way before the Engwithan pantheon was made, but we'll see! Also FWIW Abydon is the only real bro. Eothas keeps causing mass murders for "the greater good" and is a perfect example of what happens when good intentions are used to pave roads. *One* lethal plan might be excused, but by the second one we've gotta ask if the problem isn't more than just accidental. As the god of rebirth he always carries an aspect of death with him. His inner Gaun, if you will. Even if he means well, his kill count outpaces almost any other god we know of. Like sure he's definitely better than Woedica or Ondra but if that bar was any lower it'd have to be dug out of the ground. Meanwhile Abydon *personally* caught the falling moon *with his face.* Gotta respect that. Even if he didn't do it for Kith but rather for preservation in general, he's like the one god who's actually *saved* lives, not to mention preserved knowledge. Abydon is the only real one among them.
Really interesting great job. I was guessing something similar since all "godlike" options are fungal related and the main antagonist is a fungus sickness. I guess the emperor sent us because we are indeed quite equipped to interact with the problem. My question is... is this a new god? If not we have to be by defauld a Galawain godlike... after all plant growth is not new to the game.
@@MortismalGaming I know but visually speaking i believe the 2 overlap too much. static.wikia.nocookie.net/eternitywiki/images/3/39/Nature-godlike-males.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140901190210
Maybe the power before the engwithens created new souls for new life but the souls of those who died just ended forever , and because pf that the engwithans created the wheel so they would reincarnate and be immortal in some way rather then simply dying and ceasing to exist
I bet Eothas is the God that made your character a Godlike. Not necessarily the voice you hear in game. I think that's possibly someone/something else. But I assume your character is the last Godlike of Eothas. All of Eothas that's left.
I would really like to play this, but I don’t have a good PC or XBOX, just a PS5. I am sad about it’s excessive nature. I can only hope it comes to PlayStation in the future 😵💫
I thought the godlikes were still kicking around at the end of PoE2? I mean, I understand that the gods can revoke their souls whenever they want, but that means that must have happened *after* PoE2 epilogue slides.
That is not how I understood the lore of the previous games or at least not exactly. There was a natural cycle before the gods were created. The difference was that the natural cycle did not allow previously existing souls to reincarnate. In the game the gods explain that as a soul looses its mortal identity gained from experience through out life, these shards of the soul are what the gods are living off of. And previously these shards were what created new souls. Think about it even logically. Before the gods existed for tens of thousands of years the Kith lived on Eora. In other words mortals have now the chance to either acknowledge the existence of gods and their influence on them and restore the cycle, allowing reincarnation and the meddling of gods in mortal lives, or let the cycle end and loose the reincarnation cycle, but allow souls to replenish from the soul shards, and loose the opportunity of gods making death more meaningful than just non-existence. The difference then is, do you want your soul to resurrect as a blank slate for new life, and you living experience to become food for the gods, or are you ok with your soul ceasing to exist and your live experience becoming a new blank soul for new life. ALSO THIS IS A SPOILER DO NOT CONTINUE UNLES YOU ARE OK WITH SPOILING LORE In Pillars of eternity one, Ondra explains that The Godlike are a way to preserve high amounts of energy, by imbuing an individual with the essence of a god binding them to the god. When in need, the gods have the power to pull on the souls of all godlike and instead of absorbing just their shards, they completely absorb the whole souls of the godlike, instantly killing them and destroying their body. I am starting to think that the Dreamscourge is the natural cycle of souls, not one entity but the collective of souls.
I wonder if there is some meta commentary here about if the game is not successful, there are wont be more games in this universe around, ie dead world where people born without souls
Gods this and gods that... I prefer a relatable story on a human scale. These games tend to mistake massive loredumps with engaging storytelling, I hope Avowed is different.
I’m leaning towards it being an entity that the Engwithans bound or used as a base for the artificial wheel and it was freed when eothas did his thing. Could maybe have been the natural cycle and fungus represents the decay part of that cycle. Not sure. Either way, eora and Thedas fans are eating good :)
Well the humor and absurdity was the point in Outer Worlds, here you might see someone who is a little snarky or the occasional joke but its not the same tone at all.
Mort + Avowed = neuron activation
Damn. I forgot how good PoE 2 looks. What a gorgeous game.
I remember playing it for the first time and my jaw just dropping at the art and the lighting and the voice acting. PoE 2 is, IMO, as close to "classic" CRPG perfection as you can get.
its art. Best looking classic crpg in my opinion.
Such a goddamn shame we're not getting PoE3 anytime soon, possibly ever
@@ronusscrpg is not for looking.....grow up
@@stardragoon9250 that's incorrect, CRPGs have always relied heavily on art design and dialogue/narrative. Even baldurs gate 1 & 2 have great art and it enhances the experience, same with the old final fantasy games. Its very common to refer to some visual settings in games to be art or artistic as a compliment. Nothing to grow up over, art design is timeless.
"nah baby, that fungal growth down there is a gift from the gods i'm telling you" damn no wonder they didn't go for romance scenes in this game
Fungus, death, decay, maybe represents the death and decay of the gods and you (and the "God" you are associated with) are the instrument of transformation into something new.
death and decay are already associated with Berath and Rymrgand respectively
@@imshail Rymrgand is more like the god of utter death/non-existence and Berath is a goddess in charge of the cycle. But a god of decomposition might be decomposing the gods and souls to create something new, in a different way from the wheel. It might be a god of transition, from the old world order to the new one.
that sounds exactly like Nurgle. Warhammer crossover confirmed
To me fungus sounds like "Life from death". Not just a representation of death, nor of life, but the cyclical nature of it. Mushrooms are no less alive than animals or plants, after all.
Since the cycle of reincarnation is the big thing predating the Engwithan gods, it seems like this kind of personification of that process, or driving force behind it, would be a kind of ur-god of the world. Of course that doesn't answer why Engwith couldn't find it. Was it already "sleeping" by their time?
The fact that the Engwithan pantheon created both Berath and Eothas to represent rebirth and cycles (and arguably some other gods may have aspects of it as well) they presumably saw a force in need of a god to explain it. And looking at it somewhat realistically, yeah, there would kind of *have* to be something supernatural to explain the various creatures and races of Eora.
Of course this then begs the question... if this thing predated Engwith, why was it silenced? And by whom? Something about the name "godless" sounds a bit... ominous. What if it was representing life out of control and it needed killing so as to avoid the whole world turning into a planet-wide The Last of Us mushroom hive mind? Or if they were trying to achieve immortality by destroying the aspect of death? What if the godless weren't simply called that by Engwith for lacking gods, but it was a title they bore with pride because they were the ones to get rid of the gods in the first place. Maybe this being was responsible for kith splitting into various different races and subraces as it induced a bunch of crazy mutations, and it had to be shut down before procreation became literally impossible?
I mean probably something else entirely, but man am I excited for this game now.
And since many of the gods were based on existing mythologies, maybe this thing is the Bewnen i Ankew / Ankew i Bewnen of the Glanfathans or Kohopa and Tangaloa of the Huana and so on... the myth that Berath was based on was in itself based on an ancient and forgotten God?
Or maybe it's all just Wael fucking around. You know he would.
I really like the combat animations here. They feel surprisingly fluid
Me too. Dual-wielding shannenigans has been something I craved ever since Skyrim.
I've started pillars 1 again after watching the last Avowed video 😁 Eora is such a great setting
I can't tell you how nice it is to have a games critic/youtuber that is also as into the Pillars games as I am. Feels like those games (both, but Pillars 2 especially) got such short shrift for how fantastic they were.
Okay I like idea of there being some kind of entity like the Gods that actually predate them, something that was woken up by Eothas' fuckery. That sounds really fun.
there is always a chance that this new rot god went through something like what abydon did, ondra buried them
it may be that abydon wasn't the first god that was "erased" or made to be "forgotten", but in their case the process was much more final and complete
i didn't play it so i don't know for sure, but maybe these godless may just chosen to not follow the engwithan pantheon, they knew them, but chose to be atheistic
the pantheon, once it was formed, basically went old testament and cleaned the slate of the world, they persecuted and subjugated all cultures that didn't worship them, ondra making sure that they were all very much forgotten after it
also, the living lands is quite the special place, it was always wild like that apparently, maybe that is because of a titan? a titan can have influence on its surroundings even while it is dormant, if this rot god was beaten and subjugated before abydon first death, maybe his titan is buried somewhere in the living lands, maybe his prison is flawed and this god power leaks, causing the wild phenomena of the region, and maybe, because the wheel was broke, the prison lost its energy source and it is now much weaker, hence the rot god waking up too
the question than is "why", why would this god be erased? as well reminded, rot is source of death and life, end of the old, fertiliser for the new
a god of revolution, a god that would embody the revolutionaries of the enwithans, the ones that came up with the idea of creating a new systems, that is something that the pantheon clearly lacks, it has no god of change, berath is of cycles, of status quo, woedica of law, skaen of slaves and rebellion, but there isn't any god that represents progress, that represents renewal and revolution, one that would be the first to bring an end to the status quo created by the pantheon, who would advocate for a new system long before eothas
that may also be why they are waking up, because they are needed, the other gods are preparing the stage for this new god return, so they can fix the lack of the wheel
I do appreciate how ambiguous things are at the end of Deadfire. Eothas did some sort of an accelerationist action because the way things were set up forced entropy would eventually make all these souls break down so much that they wouldn't be viable for any kith. The engwithans took what was a natural cycle of the world and completely ruined it, taking souls and stripping parts from them to fuel the constructs they created.
Yeah, things are bad but the way Eothas can either pity or inspire all of kith gives them an edge that no one else had and one over the constructs that care little for kith and only see them as fuel. It's a bittersweet and awesome ending, much like the whole rest of the game.
Quite cool to be able to play the Pillars story from a different genre.
Not gonna lie seeing this wand + gun gameplay is really making me interested in this game.
I was cautiously optimistic from the previous previews but the latest one looks so much more refined. Definitely looking forward to it now. The art direction looks really good.
I'm getting pretty pumped for this game. Just started a new playthrough of PofE2 last week after the latest round of previews for this came out. Also, I definitely think you're close to the mark with your lore speculation.
Found your channel after I got obsessed with BG3 and figured out how much I like CRPGs even if it’s not the genre I lean towards the most. Really impressed with the quality of your vids. Unsure about Avowed rn but still planning to check it out. Will be sure to watch your content on it tho.
I really like the juxtaposition of a backdrop of metaphysical cycle of life/death and the forefront of a physical cycle.
Great vid. Would love more content like this (lore speculation specific vids), perhaps with some of the other games you have played as well, to give your theory/hypothesis to "unsolved mysteries" in games you have 100%-ed or where you think/would like the story to go next.
I really hope this game ends up doing well. I would rather for Obsidian to stick with CRPGs but I think it would be an absolute shame to not have more people learn about Eora and its amazing worldbuilding.
Great vid! I finished Deadfire last night and am excited to see how they will move forward! I do think that to be able to take the world in a new direction, create some interesting new lore, and engage new and old fans, some kind of primordial deity that pre-existed the Engwithan-created pantheon makes a lot of sense.
These theories could probably somehow coalesce, but I also think it could be something in connection to Wael’s body (or the other Titan bodies for that matter). I’m not entirely sure if it would make sense, but I just played Forgotten Sanctum and noticed how much of the stuff they did with fungi and Maura being infested with spores. My understanding is that the spore infestation isn’t necessarily due to Wael, but interestingly, if you choose to destroy Wael’s body, you get the following ending: “As the corpse decays, it putrefies into a nest of hungry fungal monstrosities…. Vessels that anchor off the Black Isles tend to go missing, only to end up ship-wrecked months or even years later against distant shores.” 🤔
On top of that, it stands to reason that Wael wasn’t the only God who secretly left his Titan form hidden away because none of them really trust each other, and now, especially with the wheel being destroyed, those old bodies are full on dying and rotting more than ever before. It would be really cool if those old remnants of the Gods’ titan forms are somehow creating this new, magical fungi-based life. In this case, it might not be a deity that preexisted the Engiwthans, but one, or multiple, that are being created from the remnants of the old. I’m probably missing something, but I think there could be something there!
I commented previously as i subbed to your channel years ago for poe1 lore. It is my favourite crpg ever. Happy to see this sentiment being echoed in the comments!
Something to consider, it is presented in Pillars 2 that the Gods of the Engwithens were not made from whole cloth but based on extent myths at the time the Engwithens found acceptable. I wonder if this entity was a prototype based on the "Godless" culture and beliefs. It would also be good to know the timescale as to when this prior fungal Godlike appeared in relation to the Engwithen apotheosis project. It does stand that the prior fungal Godlike could have been a freak of natural circumstance, which the Gods took inspiration from, just as much as they (the Godlike) could have been intentionally created.
Anyways thank you for posting, I am psyched for Avowed and overjoyed to be getting more experiences in this setting.
I really hope to see Pallegina and Eder again in Avowed. And if possible, though slim, the Devil of Caroc and Maneha.
Duncan and Grieving Mother. The problem being, those two were the Avalon characters. But also way above anyone else in either Pillars game
In Terms of Fantasy Setups this really Sounds good to me.
As a big fan of the POE setting and lore, this seems like a fantastic setup for the next story in that world. Thanks for this video.
Thanks for making this one! It's interesting to get an early look at what the devs have been writing for this game. I had previously thought that the breaking of the wheel would transform the Watcher of Dyrwood into a new god, and that this new unknown god would be the parent of our new player character. It seems I was wrong in that regard. I don't have anything to add to the speculation of who this unknown god truly is, but I'm interested in the story of this godlike child born in the godless civilization. In the footage you showed, we see that the player has some control over the backstory of this long-dead person. It reminds me of the way the Watcher's memories of their past self are up to us to interpret/control. When Thaos asks the Watcher what their relationship to Iovara was, the player gets to answer. And that makes the conversation with Iovara in the final act of the game much more meaningful. I hope that the story in this game hits just as hard for me as PoE1 did, and Obsidian's use of familiar writing tropes has me optimistic.
I wonder if the Engwithan gods needed something from The Voice, in addition to all the kith souls, to jump start their ascension into divinity. Or maybe they've been consuming some of its' essence this whole time too, and now they're too weak to keep whatever it is asleep. It'll be cool if it's out for revenge against all the gods we met in PoE & Deadfire. I'm stoked to find out!
Man!! It still triggers me that such a great game(POE2) was not popular! It was so fun.
Man the photage you talk over looks f'ing awesome, that fight at the end looked so cool. So many enemies, a boss that's fairly hard in your face and it's likely on an easier difficulty.
I was wondering if 70 is worth it, but this game looks better and better.
That was on normal I was a bit overleveled by that point, last thing I did in the area
I hope the story is good. I loved ❤ pillars
Loved to listen to your speculations.
Thank you so much. I'm really hooked and I want to play it so badly...
Awesome. Thank you! Halfway through PoE2 too right now
I think the dream scourge/plague has reached Mortismal's channel because I'm gladly hyping myself up quietly, consequences be damned. Eora is an awesome world to expand.
Deadfire was one of the best RPG I played, can't wait for Avowed!
Never played Pillars of eternity, but after hearing you talk about the story, I might have to try it
I’m very much an elder scrolls nerd I absolutely love the world and the intricacies of it. I am certainly interested in playing Avowed but I’m worried that I won’t be into the lore so I really hope I can find at least some of the lore interesting. Being the chosen Demi god of what is likely an unknown elder god/anomalies entity sounds very cool. Now that I think about it reminds me of how in the Elder Scrolls there are forgotten or “dead” gods. Like Shor or Ebonarm, heck Hermaeus Mora straight up emitted that the role as a “god of fate” wasn’t actually his. He had killed a fellow deadric prince who held the domain of fate because they were constantly messing with it After words he used his power as a god of knowledge and memories to make literally everyone and everything to forget their existence.
I have been watching all new gameplays and really liking so far, game looks way better now.
Thanks, Mortym! New to this world.
Hey there Mortismal,
how are you doing?
Thinking about The Voice speaking to Avowed's playing character,
have you seen Tim Cain's video titled "My Favorite Sci Fi Novel"?
The novel in question also speaks about a pantheon of (self-)created gods,
when the protagonist of the story is a renegade former member of said pantheon
who "woke up" after a long sleep...
Food for thought?
Thanks for your videos!
Maybe so, as far as I know he's not working on Avowed but I suppose we shall see
@@MortismalGaming
I knew that Tim Cain isn't involved in Avowed's development directly.
But I find it hard to believe there was no talking/consultation with him, at the very least informally,
when the game is developed by the same company of Cain's latest published game (The Outer Worlds),
and he was part of the development team for the original Pillars of Eternity series.
Also the book I was referring to, "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny,
is a pretty important and influential novel for its genre.
The pantheon of gods it recreates in its story is also based on Hindu and Buddhist tradition.
For example, as you show in your video the reincarnation wheel, the cycle of samsara,
seems to be pretty prominent in Avowed and in PoE.
This literary material might very well have been baked into PoE's world at root level,
at least as inspiration.
Anyway, the book's topic sounds intriguing to me.
After leaving my hotel receptionist job last year,
I now need to keep my English exercised, one way or another.
So I'm currently waiting for its original language version to be delivered at my door.
Hopefully Tim Cain's taste in reading is as good as his cRPG preferences...
LOL!
Thanks for the answer!
Great video, sir. Subbed.
What if the mechanism by which the gods became gods was by yoking the slumbering being? And the "machinery" we break in PoE 2 was the yoke itself keeping the slumbering being asleep. I'd bet it's a primordial being that represents the cycle as it was before it was tamed.
Seems like a real possibility. However Engwith supposedly created the gods because they were searching for gods and found none. If this godlike being, capable of interacting with mortals and willing to do so (although we don't know that it always was as it is now), and leaving it's mark upon the world existed back then, would Engwith really not have found it? If yoking it was an intentional part of creating the gods then they must have known about it. If it was unintentional surely the god-thing could have acted before being yoked?
Of course there are still tons of possibilities. Perhaps it was just a primordial force of life with no real mind or intentions, but two millenia of being shackled to the wheel has shaped it into a more kith-like mind. Or maybe the Godless *did* have a god and literally killed/silenced it for some reason before Engwith reached their zenith and thus there weren't any gods when *they* were looking.
I mean if we're being *realistic* a world like Eora couldn't exist on it's own by any understanding of evolution or biology. Like how do we get a bunch of dominant races that are so surprisingly similar, so near-equal in physical and mental capabilities and so on, and yet somehow... not related? At least not closely enough to be able to procreate. How do Aumaua fit in? Primate-like bodies but shark-like features? That's a hell of a leap if it's just natural evolution.
Now being realistic in fantasy may be a fool's errand, but Obsidian keep impressing me in how good they are at it, so like... *something* supernatural and powerful pre-dating the gods feel pretty likely.
It'll also be interesting to see if we learn more about Yezuha and their monotheism. What if the god they've been worshipping all this time is this god, and they've simply been worshipping a memory, or the forces of life that they see in the world around them.
And here I thought all the mushrooms were because our character just didn't shower much, though I guess being the godlike of an ancient entity sounds more likely.
During the dialogue with "The Voice", I noticed two of the people there were red-headed.
This along with the contents of both the Clay Tablet found in Sargamis' flooded lab, and the hidden book of History of the Living Lands [Redacted], perhaps there's a connection to "The Voice" and the god mentioned by Rekke (Deadfire sidekick) of his people??
Its certainly not impossible, there's so little info on that its hard to say for sure though
Galawain is the god of Nature and technically, Godlike that are tied to him do have plantlike appearance do they not? And the "living land" seems like a very natural place for a God like him (hunt, animal, etc...) . So, I don't understand when Obsidian is saying that the PC of Avowed is a Godlike of an unknown god. The fact of having nature's like apparence doesn't by default make the PC one of Galawain child?
Maybe godlikes or something like them existed before the gods of Engwith? Expressions of primordial soul powers into children. They did say that soul maladies used to be more common, and most instances of godlikes certainly seem pretty unpleasant for the people involved. Maybe the Engwithan gods standardized and utilized the proto-godlikes just as they did with the Wheel. I mean isn't it weird that Galawain seems to mostly be about animals yet his godlikes are all like... trees and moss and flowers and shit? I mean sure he may be the god of *all* kinds of evolution, but it's weird how he always seems to favor evolution through violent conflict *except* in the case of the shape his godlikes take.
I mean there's probably some other explanation I haven't guessed. My point is that any explanation or theory you could come up with would *still* be more likely than the gods having told the Watcher the full truth about these things. The gods always lie. I don't even think they can help it. They were built for the specific purpose of deceiving the entire world, after all.
But why does Ondra have at least two different types of godlikes? Why do we never see a Wael or Skaen godlike? If it's just a matter of creating soul batteries why do we not see the most ambitious god, Woedica or the cruelest god, Skaen create a whole fuckton of them? There are so many questions surrounding the godlikes that I wouldn't take anything we've been told about them so far for granted. There's not a single reliable narrator in PoE. Except maybe Ashley Johnson.
Fungi are very different from plants, not the same thing at all. We as humans often associate them generally with plant life but thats not really accurate, and all of Galawain's godlike have plantlike features. Not to mention those godlike were one of the most common and everyone would recognize that immediately. It's not impossible, Ondra is known to have made two different kinds, but its very unlikely.
Thanks for the video. See, even though I probably won't pick this title up, videos like this are still great because they organically affirm that gaming itself is a culture. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.
Fungus? Wasn't one of the archmages or someone like that a living fungus colony in PoE2 DLC?
YOU DEMON! How dare you play that beautiful game before I do 😭😂 I hope it was as great as it looks.
i saw mentions of Yezuha in some of your preview footage and I'd want to hear your thoughts on that plot thread
There's really not much to say about it, there's so little info in the games about the place. I mean its possible they expand on it more but there's really no way to speculate on the how given the scarcity of information. The deity they worship and whether or not it matters here would be the most interesting part.
@@MortismalGaming could be that it's tied into the dreamscourge/mystery fungus godlike, though admittedly idk that any of the hints we've gotten about them before had any sort of... 'fungal vibes' or anything hinting that their deity would be about decay
With all the path of exiles 2 hype, I thought he was refering that..😅
Lmao same
Id like to think that this entity is one of the OG gods of Eora, the ones who The Ancestors of the Engwithans worshipped
Fungal growth on your god chosen character?
Getting Gods of the Wyrdwood vibes.
Very good, POE lore is amazing
I think its going to be eothas' predecessor. A god that found the wheel to be tyranny and moved against the other gods. Their imprisonment might have had something to do with the wheel itself.
Finally, someone who has actually played POE
i'm still pissed about choice of location for that experiment but since it's there i wonder when will they present local weather
This god could have been part of the process of The Wheel from before the other gods existed. Maybe they refused to do their job or something happened that caused them to sleep, causing The Wheel to not function properly, hence why it was regulated by a machine. Perhaps older forces of the world are waking up and this god of rot and decay is part of that process? Maybe a whole new pantheon is being awoken or reborn? Perhaps the gods are being transformed into something new?
Looking forward to this and Kingdom 2.
Is the narration in Avowed also done by Ashley Johnson, and in the same style? I know there was a lot of it in PoE 1 & 2 (and some of it rather confussing, esspecialy until PoE2 got that lore-update) but I really enjoyed the esoteric dream-like style they went for.
Not that I heard at least
Do they allow you to make a "world state" or something like that? Because I'm pretty sure you can send Governor Alvari to the Living Land in "Vote of no confidence" - from what I've seen, like the Inquisitor Lodwyn, much of the choices will be presented like Schrodinger cat? (Lodwyn was killed and then somehow comeback).
Lodwyn is confirmed to have actually died and came back somehow (Woedica prob), no to the world state as far as I am aware
A bunch of cool info here, Mort, but there's one thing you talk about that I disagree with. The world of Eora being in a catastrophically broken state at the end of PoE 2. It certainly seems like it is, but you have to keep in mind that The Wheel was pretty much forcing an ARTIFICIAL form of after-life on the whole world. That means that there must have been a time before it existed, when life did work in some manner without all children being soulless. With the Wheel gone, the world may now be returning to the pre-Wheel state.
Also, by constructing the wheel, the Engwithans have pretty much globally disrupted the natural flow of souls to empower their own pantheon, but was the Engwithan pantheon the first gods on Eora ever? Or did they just suppress and replace a god or multiple that already existed before?
My theory is that the world of Eora is now recovering from the wheel breaking. I would certainly expect soulless children to be born during this recovery period. But at some point the world will return into a state it was in before Engwithans started meddling with it, and whatever primordial gods existed back then may be roused back into existence. And we will probably see people getting born with normal souls again.
What I think is really interesting about all of this and what I would love to find out in Avowed is why Eothas wanted to return the world to this old state. Like (big personal theory time starts now), I think the world of Eora is a living planet and Adra is its blood. The statue of Eothas was made of Adra, which is why he may have wanted to save Eora by breaking the Engwithan order of things.
All of that is already answered in the games and kind of in this video, but we arrive at the same point (something existed before this) The wheel of reincarnation always existed it was just chaotic and uncontrolled which led to a much higher rate of mishaps (hollowborn and the like) it was shackled and controlled by that engwithan machinery for so long it can no longer function properly according to the gods at the end of poe2. The gods also state they looked for their creators as the engwithans but ultimately found there was nothing out there, but that of course begs the question of whether they are lying or just straight up wrong. As for your last question that's all answered in 2 as well, Eothas had many problems with the status quo and the deception at play & yeah adra is often referred to as the veins of the world and it literally ferries souls from the material world into the metaphysical
@@MortismalGaming I see I have forgotten a lot about the lore, thank you for reminding me. Like how we already did get some information on how the things were before the Engwithans started changing things.
I could never really trust any information we get from the gods in PoE2. They felt like a group of manipulative scumbags and I almost always addressed them in the most defiant manner I could get away with. I also often feel like your views of the lore are colored by how you do like/trust the pantheon to some extent.
I don't want to come across as if I was criticising, it's fine to have different views and stuff. Either way I can't way to play Avowed.
PoE 1/2? You got some kingdome hearts in my pillars of eternity 😂
I'm guessing the player character is a godlike of Rymrgand and you are actually the villain, trying to stop whatever is restarting the natural wheel of reincarnation to ensure the world decays and dies.
Damn thought mort was gonna talk about Path of Exile 1/2 lolol
i wonder how is the watcher is in avowed...any idea or speculation?
No telling, and I doubt they'll address it
@@MortismalGaming it'll be sad if the devs ignore the watcher...i hope they at least mention his fate when game releases...
Definitely more hopeful for this game now after your last video. Loved PoE 1 and 2, never really liked godlike characters though so I'm a bit bummed you have to play as one. Would prefer to play as an Orlan.
You know what would be funny? If Mort did build guides for POE2 for the sake of it.
God I want to play this game.
Good show sir
The interesting thing about the Gods in PoE is that they are artificial and that they were essentially "programmed" to think and act certain ways, thats why Eothas needed the watcher, to be his token of true reality
I think eothas woke something up. Like, maybe things are becoming like how it was in ancient times.
I hope with the success of bg3 and if this is treated well they go back to the crpg style or if they continue this add alot of what they cut from the previous games.
From what I remember, all you learn about the Gods and their creation is from the big bad of the 1st game and the Gods themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if they left out the part where they used an older pre-existing God in the process... which is probably not too pleased if he's waking up, reborn or came back from who-knows-where.
I would gladly play the harbinger of the destruction of those horrible "Gods" - except Eothas, the only decent one but still an agent of destruction for mortals
I agree that Thaos and the gods are almost certainly lying or hiding information. Like... doing so is their whole thing, after all.
Still, it seems odd that they'd lie about there not being any gods and that being what fucked Engwith up. "The god was a tyrant" or "the god was a threat to all life" or whatever else would've worked just as well. If you want to lie convincingly making up a bunch of extra flair for your lie should be the *last* thing you'd want to be doing. If anything I'd imagine that the god in question was already dead/sleeping by the time Engwith started searching for divine beings. My money is on "the godless" earning their title way before the Engwithan pantheon was made, but we'll see!
Also FWIW Abydon is the only real bro. Eothas keeps causing mass murders for "the greater good" and is a perfect example of what happens when good intentions are used to pave roads. *One* lethal plan might be excused, but by the second one we've gotta ask if the problem isn't more than just accidental. As the god of rebirth he always carries an aspect of death with him. His inner Gaun, if you will. Even if he means well, his kill count outpaces almost any other god we know of. Like sure he's definitely better than Woedica or Ondra but if that bar was any lower it'd have to be dug out of the ground.
Meanwhile Abydon *personally* caught the falling moon *with his face.* Gotta respect that. Even if he didn't do it for Kith but rather for preservation in general, he's like the one god who's actually *saved* lives, not to mention preserved knowledge. Abydon is the only real one among them.
Really interesting great job. I was guessing something similar since all "godlike" options are fungal related and the main antagonist is a fungus sickness. I guess the emperor sent us because we are indeed quite equipped to interact with the problem. My question is... is this a new god? If not we have to be by defauld a Galawain godlike... after all plant growth is not new to the game.
Fungus is very different from plants, fungi are actually closer to animals than plants
@@MortismalGaming I know but visually speaking i believe the 2 overlap too much. static.wikia.nocookie.net/eternitywiki/images/3/39/Nature-godlike-males.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140901190210
Maybe the power before the engwithens created new souls for new life but the souls of those who died just ended forever , and because pf that the engwithans created the wheel so they would reincarnate and be immortal in some way rather then simply dying and ceasing to exist
this game has my name all tf over it.
I bet Eothas is the God that made your character a Godlike. Not necessarily the voice you hear in game. I think that's possibly someone/something else. But I assume your character is the last Godlike of Eothas. All of Eothas that's left.
free comment!
So, which Ending of PoE2 do you think is canon?
I doubt they'll pick one or define it, they'll probably just pull from the stuff that happens no matter what
@@MortismalGaming I mean we can certainly rule out endings and then speculate on the ones left.
The world is certainly not destroyed.
Did someone say POE 2?? (Cant wait to see your first impressions of Path of Exile 2, hopefully its more to your taste than Poe 1)
I would really like to play this, but I don’t have a good PC or XBOX, just a PS5. I am sad about it’s excessive nature. I can only hope it comes to PlayStation in the future 😵💫
this sounds so much like Legacy of Kain - perhaps you'll review the remaster of Soul Reaver I & II
I want to, might take me a bit though
I thought the godlikes were still kicking around at the end of PoE2? I mean, I understand that the gods can revoke their souls whenever they want, but that means that must have happened *after* PoE2 epilogue slides.
Avowed takes place like 3-4 years after PoE2, so somewhere in that time frame they were absorbed back into their associated gods
@MortismalGaming Nooo my moon godlike priest of Eothas. 😭 Damn you ondra!
thanks
Love the gameplay shown. Though I dislike very much the over-reliance of immersion-breaking UI. I hope that it is toggleble.
[glare silently] dialogue options from Tyranny and PoE2 are back \o/
Mort hasn't 100%ed a game 4 months before the release day? He's getting complacent 😂😂😂
That is not how I understood the lore of the previous games or at least not exactly. There was a natural cycle before the gods were created. The difference was that the natural cycle did not allow previously existing souls to reincarnate. In the game the gods explain that as a soul looses its mortal identity gained from experience through out life, these shards of the soul are what the gods are living off of. And previously these shards were what created new souls.
Think about it even logically. Before the gods existed for tens of thousands of years the Kith lived on Eora.
In other words mortals have now the chance to either acknowledge the existence of gods and their influence on them and restore the cycle, allowing reincarnation and the meddling of gods in mortal lives, or let the cycle end and loose the reincarnation cycle, but allow souls to replenish from the soul shards, and loose the opportunity of gods making death more meaningful than just non-existence.
The difference then is, do you want your soul to resurrect as a blank slate for new life, and you living experience to become food for the gods, or are you ok with your soul ceasing to exist and your live experience becoming a new blank soul for new life.
ALSO THIS IS A SPOILER DO NOT CONTINUE UNLES YOU ARE OK WITH SPOILING LORE
In Pillars of eternity one, Ondra explains that The Godlike are a way to preserve high amounts of energy, by imbuing an individual with the essence of a god binding them to the god. When in need, the gods have the power to pull on the souls of all godlike and instead of absorbing just their shards, they completely absorb the whole souls of the godlike, instantly killing them and destroying their body.
I am starting to think that the Dreamscourge is the natural cycle of souls, not one entity but the collective of souls.
This is weird, but magic next to guns, and in first person, feels weird
A world before engwithans... So the original idea of Avowed being a prequel is somewhat still there? Interesting.
You know it didnt occur to me tbh, but yeah that might actually be where that rumor came from
I wonder if there is some meta commentary here about if the game is not successful, there are wont be more games in this universe around, ie dead world where people born without souls
I’m interested in continuing the story of eora. I’m not interested in a fps.
It's just me or the orlan race looks way to big in Avowed?
They look almost as tall as humans, but in PoE they're like 1 meter tall. 🤔
Fungal growths on your person means you are a godlike? My doctor said it was athlete's foot.
Both sound like an improvement over my sedentary ass
Gronk!
Gods this and gods that... I prefer a relatable story on a human scale. These games tend to mistake massive loredumps with engaging storytelling, I hope Avowed is different.
I’m leaning towards it being an entity that the Engwithans bound or used as a base for the artificial wheel and it was freed when eothas did his thing. Could maybe have been the natural cycle and fungus represents the decay part of that cycle. Not sure. Either way, eora and Thedas fans are eating good :)
You can't just put PoE1/2 in the title after the Thursday stream like that hahaha
Mort, can you please comment on the quality of the writing itself? Is it good? Is it full of stupid jokes like Outer Worlds?
Well the humor and absurdity was the point in Outer Worlds, here you might see someone who is a little snarky or the occasional joke but its not the same tone at all.
@MortismalGaming thanks for answering! I know it was the point, but it was too much overdone. At least for me.
Nerd 😂
Ayyyy