Summary
WithAvowed’slong-anticipatedrelease finally here, Obsidian fans and fantasy RPG experts alike are immersing themselves in the sprawling, incredible world first penned by Obsidian writers in thePillars of Eternityseries. There are so many things about this game that sets it apart from other RPGs without necessarily reinventing the wheel. Combat, exploration, and the opus of many Obsidian titles, the writing, are all here in full force.
Crafting and equipment in this game are fairly lightweight but by no means simplistic, and it strikes a good balance between rewarding players who invest in their gear without turningAvowedinto some sort of ultra-hardcore survival sim.Merchants, in particular, sell many items orunique armor piecesthat can be essential to players' builds. However, in the living lands, there is plenty that can be found within the bounty of the wilds, and while merchants sell some essential items for adventuring,they also sell some things players should focus on acquiring or crafting rather than buying.
5Upgrade Materials
Save Money By Harvesting And Deconstructing
Upgradingisan essential way of bolsteringthe power of one’s equipment inAvowed, and there are several tiers within each upgrade level to focus on acquiring. In practice, this means that upgrading weapons is a game-spanning journey, not something that can be finished just by scrounging up a few materials. Plenty of merchants sell upgrade materials as part of their stock, and while this might seem tempting, especially in a pinch, in general, there are more efficient ways to acquire upgrade materials.
Many upgrade materials can be found on the corpses of slain beasts, with pelts, in particular, being a staple among equipment upgrades, alongside bear claws and other ingredients procured from animals. Softwood Branches and Paradisan Ladder plants are similarly vital for those early game equipment upgrades, but rather than spending 100 gold to acquire some, they can be found in droves in the wild or by breaking down common weapons.
4Cooking Ingredients
There Are Plenty Of Free Ways To Gather Ingredients
Recipes can provide somelife-saving food and drinksinAvowedfor a fraction of a health potion’s price. The best part of the cooking system in this title is how modular it is, often requiring “fruits” or “vegetables” but rarely asking for a specific instance of either. Alcoholic beverages can even be made with spoiled produce, making them a great way to clear out the some inventory space without letting anything go to waste.
Many of theingredientsused to make these items can be found at merchants' stands, but that money would be better spent elsewhere. Miscellaneous food items are a common drop or loot reward inAvowed, and when freshness isn’t even a requirement for making some of the best meals in the game, why spend money on food when it can simply be scavenged?
3Common Weapons
Often Found As Loot Or Drops
Common weaponsare a great find inAvowed.While unique weaponswill of course, be more appealing to use for the player, those early-level starting weapons provide an excellent amount of crafting materials when deconstructed and can be funneled into gradually upgrading those more reliable, high-tier weapons that are more commonly used in battles. Enemies like brigands or the early-level grave robbers encountered outside Paradis can drop these common weapons.
The frequency of these weapon drops—and their prime purpose as compacted crafting ingredients—means that buying them from merchants is often not worth the money. They are not good enough in combat to warrant the purchase, and as mentioned above, the ingredients their deconstruction produces can usually be found elsewhere for free.
2Grenades
Simple To Craft And Find
Grenadesare a staple inmany of the merchantinventories inAvowed, despite being one of the biggest money sinks in the game. Grenades require one of three common crafting materials plus an alcoholic beverage of any kind to create—a paltry crafting requirement. Magran’s Fury, an interesting grenade that is actually a volatile, explosive fruit, is one of the most common resources found in the starting areas of the game.
Grenades are an exceptional tool in the early game when players don’t have many stat points or skills to their name, as they dish out potent AOE damage and can keep those more persistent enemies (cough coughXaurip gankers) from surrounding the player. However, Grenades are so common that it’s more worth the player’s time and money to find or craft them than it is to purchase them from merchants.
1Cooked Food
Cooking At Camp Is Cheaper And More Rewarding
Among the most prevalent loot available inAvowediscooked food. Similar to titles likeMonster Hunter Wilds,Avoweddoes an incredible job creating a tantalizing array of foods for the player to consume, ranging from meals that can help players out in a pinch, all the way to meals that surpass even healing potions in terms of their effectiveness. Buying food from a merchant is often a waste of time, as the ingredients players have picked up from adventuring are often enough to make meals in almost every situation.
Beyond this, cooked items are often found in chests or as ambient items that can be picked up across the map, and the same merchants selling food are often also selling potions, which on average are more effective and can be purchased at a similar price.
