When I spoke to Obsidian region director Berto Ritger about Avowed earlier this month, the conversation mostly focused on the game's excellent level design and exploration . But he also touched on how drastically Avowed's early game changed in development. While that was probably for the best, a great Elder Scrolls gag in Avowed was originally even better.
"Initially, we didn't have the prologue and you started on the docks in Dawnshore," said Ritger. "It was a bit linear, and we wanted to open it up more. But it also wasn't really introducing the world and combat quick enough.
And all the mechanics being tutorialized weren't really happening in the rapid, predictable fashion that you want in the early game." That led to the creation of Avowed's prologue island, which Ritger had a large hand in designing. In the initial version of Avowed's start, crucial bits of the tutorial were scattered around the western portion of Dawnshore, a bounded, but still very open area.
"The very first version of the Grimoire tutorial and introduction [to magic] was the fellow that blows himself up on the cliff," said Ritger. "I implemented that, which was a very fun little thing that I was happy to get into the game." Ritger's referencing a point of interest early on in western Dawnshore, a crater with the charred remains of a wizard in it.
The deceased pyromancer is carrying a unique spellcasting grimoire in the final version of Avowed, and you can also find his notes outlining plans for an aud.
