Avowed's Merchants Are More Than Mindless Vending Machines

Summary

Avowed's merchants have unique personalities, breaking the stereotype of bland RPG vendors.
Each merchant in Avowed has a personal story and dialogue, adding depth to the game world.
The game ensures its vendors feel like real people, not just faceless sellers, enriching the player experience.

There's somewhat of a stigma on RPG merchants (or at least a recurring stereotype) for a number of reasons, including their suspicious wealth during times of crisis and even their ability to show up in some of the strangest places, thereby giving off supernatural vibes. In a sense, merchants are often featured in RPGs as anything but real individuals, and are essentially little more than glorified vending machines present in a game's world to benefit players who have the coin to spend. Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed, however, approaches its merchants in a refreshing way, leaving very little room for that stereotype to present itself.

While it might not have the most living RPG world to date, Avowed still places a special emphasis on its NPCs, and that is especially true of its merchants. Rather than being the mindless vending machines that vendors are in many other RPGs, Avowed's merchants have been designed to actually feel like real people. Their dialogue is not merely a copy-and-paste version of every other merchant's, and their personalities and backstories help further distinguish them from one another to help Avowed's Living Lands feel more alive and full than it might have with a bunch of faceless vendors waiting to sell things to players.

Avowed Review

Avowed's first-person combat and respect for player choice make it a journey worth having, but flaws in its story and design make it a one-way road.

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By Josh Cotts

Avowed's Merchants Actually Feel Like People

Avowed's Merchants Each Have a Unique Personality

The standout feature of Avowed's merchants is their unique personality. The lack of personality in RPG merchants is a fairly common issue, especially in older or more mechanically focused RPGs. This is likely due to merchants being more utility than unique character, meaning their only job is to sell and buy items. Since they generally don't impact the story, developers don't always invest in making them anything special. This issue is especially prevalent in games like The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, where the economies are so large that their vendors need to be faceless in order to streamline their services.

RPG merchants often show their lack of personality in their dialogue as well, repeating the same one or two lines forever, thereby making them feel lifeless.

Avowed's merchants, on the other hand, each have a unique personality that ultimately makes them feel more like a standard NPC or even a real person, for that matter. In fact, no two merchants in Avowed's Living Lands are the same, with personalities ranging from charismatic to dull, and from lovable to filled with disdain toward the game's protagonist. This approach to merchants in Avowed leads to a world that feels more alive and diverse than other RPGs with robotic vendors.

Avowed's Merchants All Have Their Own Personal Stories and Dialogue

To complement their unique personalities, Avowed's merchants also have their own personal stories and dialogue. Unlike most RPG vendors, every merchant in Avowed has their own backstory, some of which even take a considerable amount of time to tell. On top of that, some merchants in Avowed will even give players unmarked side quests if they take the time to exhaust every dialogue option, making those merchants useful for more than just the wares that they sell. It's an excellent method for ensuring that Avowed's merchants are simply useful but also add to the life of Avowed's vibrant world.

Avowed's merchants each have a unique personality that ultimately makes them feel more like a standard NPC or even a real person.

Avowed manages to avoid the usual RPG merchant stigma by giving its vendors a real sense of identity. Instead of feeling like hollow storefronts, these merchants come across as actual people, each with their own quirks, personalities, and even small storylines that players can engage with. This approach makes the Living Lands feel more like an actual place rather than just a backdrop for the story. While many modern RPGs are happy with letting their merchants blend into the scenery, Avowed ensures that they feel like a natural part of its world.

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