Outcast: Second Contact - Outcast remake

[Paul_cz]

My vote is on the remake. Yes the original has a certain charm, but personally I could not get immersed in its giant textureless voxels and Cutter's "stick in ass" running animations.

But they redone the cinematics and the voiceovers, which is a dealbreaker for me. They were not amazing in the original game, but they are even worse in the remake. And it just feels wrong hearing the new voices, after the original burned into my brain.

The voiceovers are identical as in the original game. As is the music.
It was a major point of criticism because they are very low quality (audio-wise) and they were not able to re-record nor restore them.
Only the intro cutscene is different and you can watch that on youtube (I did).

 

[Paul_cz]

I wonder if there is still the "game breaking oversight" in the remade version because it was still present in the 1.1:

Pratically, when you enter Okaar (the forest zone) you will se a red dot on you radar and while it looks like an enemy it's actually a NPC necessary for the main quest.
If you kill it like I did, you will have to respawn it by using the console or persist in the doomed world you have created.

I do not remember this issue and I was able to finish the game fine, so I would say it was most likely fixed.

Outcast ending cutscene:

Spoiler

Fuck, that hit close to home :D

 

[J_C]

My vote is on the remake. Yes the original has a certain charm, but personally I could not get immersed in its giant textureless voxels and Cutter's "stick in ass" running animations.

But they redone the cinematics and the voiceovers, which is a dealbreaker for me. They were not amazing in the original game, but they are even worse in the remake. And it just feels wrong hearing the new voices, after the original burned into my brain.

The voiceovers are identical as in the original game. As is the music.
It was a major point of criticism because they are very low quality (audio-wise) and they were not able to re-record nor restore them.
Only the intro cutscene is different and you can watch that on youtube (I did).

Really? I swear to god I listened to it last week and it sounded very different. I will check it again when I get home. (This is for the voiceovers, I know the music is unchanged.)

 

[Nevill]

Pratically, when you enter Okaar (the forest zone) you will se a red dot on you radar and while it looks like an enemy it's actually a NPC necessary for the main quest.
If you kill it like I did, you will have to respawn it by using the console or persist in the doomed world you have created.

Was it Kyuran, the hunter? The map highlights Fae/fire essense with red, and seeing how 99% of fae talans are guards...

I killed him too on my first run (I don't even remember how - must've been caught in the blast), but the game was still beatable. Granted, I couldn't talk to him and get the related quests, but I still was able to do whatever was required of me and get the Mon. Had to solve the music puzzle by bruteforcing it, though. No walkthroughs in 2000.

 

[zapotec]

Yes it was the hunter :D

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

This game! THIS FUCKING GAME MAN! I never actually played it all that much. Controls were a ballache and I was already balls deep into Unreal Tournament and the women who would become my wife. That dude was right. Do something more productive with your time than waste away fragging reprobates on Facing Worlds or complaining on a forum full of edgy 15 year olds trapped in the bodies of 40 year old neckbeards.

 

[SniperHF]

Finished the game.



The game is way too damn easy even with the damage resistance increased. But it's a joy to play for the most part. The world is creative, the quests while almost exclusively fetch are dressed up well enough. I liked all the little breadcrumbs (wall drawings, objects laying around) helping tell the story of the various characters. Figuring out the shirt's meanings is great and has no impact on the game at all. The time situation was an interesting twist. The game's internal vernacular is woven so seamlessly it's easy to pick up but still adds flavor.
I do wish the Second Contact version cleaned up some of the annoyances in the game though. Clipping on objects, the stupid twon-ha's could be made way more useful, I think they should have made warp points at all found Daoka's instead of just using f-links. There is a lot of back tracking and that little thing would fix so many problems.
I was also hoping for a bit more of the "reactivity" you see today, there is some of it but more would have been welcome. I'd like to talk to the Guardians about stuff that's going on. Why does Marion just disappear completely all the time when it would be better if you could go talk to her and get additional backstory (which there is a lot of in the manual).
I think a few of the areas could have been more fleshed out as well, Okaar and Motazzar were a little lacking. They talk a lot about the Oggobar for example but they really aren't all that important and were under utilized.
It's perhaps overstated how much you have to "pay attention" to the quest givers, though it certainly helps. If you're a map-clearer it's not really necessary. It is nice that the world is thought out though in that there are expert Talans who you came come back to and ask about later quests.
I particularly liked the initial puzzle to get the first mon. Some of the others were well done too but not quite as good, those you could complete doing the previously mentioned map clearing method. But the first mon requires some thought (or a ton of trial and error).

Also the fucker who implemented (not designed) the twan-ha hoti quest can take a long walk off a short pier.

I was somewhat disappointed there wasn't an after action ending back on Earth.

 

[toro]

Another one bites the dust.

In November 2018 they were advertising for C++ jobs but now they sold the IP to THQ Nordic which will probably do more with it than them.

Edit: Maybe they are developing a different IP.

THQ Nordic acquires the “Outcast”-IP from its original creators

Karlstad/SWEDEN, Vienna/AUSTRIA, Charleroi/BELGIUM, January 10, 2019: THQ Nordic today announced that the acquisition of the intellectual property “Outcast” has been finalized with the three original creators of the game.

The acquisition itself is being handled by THQ Nordic AB, based in Karlstad, Sweden, and daily operations (sales and distribution, evaluation of sequels & new content etc.) will be done via THQ Nordic GmbH in Vienna, Austria.

About Outcast

GameSpot’s Adventure of the year in 1999 puts you in the role of Cutter Slade, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, and right in the middle of the alien world of Adelpha. After a couple of things went South with a probe sent to a parallel universe, Cutter is given the job to escort 3 scientists, close the black hole and safely get everyone back to Earth. So one cakewalk of a job and he blew it... Damn it, Cutter…

END OF RELEASE

 

[:Flash:]

Another one bites the dust.

In November 2018 they were advertising for C++ jobs but now they sold the IP to THQ Nordic which will probably do more with it than them.

Edit: Maybe they are developing a different IP.

THQ Nordic acquires the “Outcast”-IP from its original creators

Karlstad/SWEDEN, Vienna/AUSTRIA, Charleroi/BELGIUM, January 10, 2019: THQ Nordic today announced that the acquisition of the intellectual property “Outcast” has been finalized with the three original creators of the game.

The acquisition itself is being handled by THQ Nordic AB, based in Karlstad, Sweden, and daily operations (sales and distribution, evaluation of sequels & new content etc.) will be done via THQ Nordic GmbH in Vienna, Austria.

About Outcast

GameSpot’s Adventure of the year in 1999 puts you in the role of Cutter Slade, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, and right in the middle of the alien world of Adelpha. After a couple of things went South with a probe sent to a parallel universe, Cutter is given the job to escort 3 scientists, close the black hole and safely get everyone back to Earth. So one cakewalk of a job and he blew it... Damn it, Cutter…

END OF RELEASE

Man that must feel shitty. Reaquiring the one thing you are known for after the Atari bankruptcy only to have the remake sell so badly you have to sell it again.

They should have taken the hint that the remake wouldn't fly when the kickstarter failed massively and look for some other way.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

is this worth playing?

 

[v1rus]

is this worth playing?

Fuck yes IMHO.

I only played it last year, but from what Ive saw the game seems to be utterly groundbreaking, doing many things that are so popular in modern game design, way before. Heck, its got a really deep, and wellcrafted 3d open world even before Gothic came out.

 

[Ismaul]

Anyone still holding out for this, it's back on sale at GOG for 10$.

I feel like a shill now.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anyone still holding out for this, it's back on sale at GOG for 10$.

I feel like a shill now.

Nah, promoting this game doesn't count as shilling. Barely a farthing, truth be told.

 

[Modron]

Anyone still holding out for this, it's back on sale at GOG for 10$.

I feel like a shill now.

The game needs more shilling. Was actually cheaper on steam a few days back I guess I should have bumped the thread then.

 

[Jinn]

I will join in on the shill train, because I love the original and just gifted this and received it as a gift. Very excited to finally play it.

 

[Konjad]

Today, 9 years later, I got the remake on humble bundle for 1€ and I'm giving it a try.

 

[luj1]

Konjad Fuck the remake mate, get the GOG version of the award-winning original

 

[Konjad]

Konjad Fuck the remake mate, get the GOG version of the award-winning original

But is it not the same thing? I mean:

By using a Unity plugin to keep the old game running in the background, Sauer's colleagues were able to build new assets and a new UI that could be layered over the old game.

From anyone else this would be an inflammatory comment, but here it comes straight from the horse's mouth - the Unity engine is merely a graphical layer over the original game

 

[luj1]

Konjad Fuck the remake mate, get the GOG version of the award-winning original

But is it not the same thing? I mean:

By using a Unity plugin to keep the old game running in the background, Sauer's colleagues were able to build new assets and a new UI that could be layered over the old game.

From anyone else this would be an inflammatory comment, but here it comes straight from the horse's mouth - the Unity engine is merely a graphical layer over the original game

Yeah that seems sketchy as fuck. They also changed some voice actors which ruins the feel imo (and cinematics too)

Get Outcast 1.1 off gog:

Outcast 1.1 has been recompiled from the original source code and improved to run smoothly on today's computers.The main improvements compared to the original version are: multithreaded voxel renderer for higher performances, software bilinear filtering on polygonal meshes, part of the HUD redesigned to match higher resolutions, new high-resolution sky paintings, new launcher, native support of xbox gamepad, user-friendly controller configuration, a lot of bugs fixed and improved stability.

Please note: Outcast Classic remains available for download as a bonus goodie.

Outcast was remastered by the original developers as Outcast 1.1, after they reacquired the IP in 2014.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

They also changed some voice actors which ruins the feel imo

Nah, they didn't even change the audio files.

 

[JDR13]

The original was great for its time, but it's clunky as hell by today's standards.

 

[Ismaul]

IMO the one terrible thing in-game about Second Contact is that they changed the face of the protagonist. It was supposed to be based on Bruce Willis, what we got is Generic Pretty Boy of Current Year, which doesn't fit the character very well or the voice acting (in French and German it's actually the guy that dubs Willis that does the voice). That's a shame. Even if they couldn't use Willis' likeness, they could've gone for the face on the box cover / original intro cinematic.

That leads me to the other place where they missed the mark: they changed the art for the intro cinematic (not the audio) to make it fit the HD format rather than 3:4. They original was a quite good 3D rendering, but the new version is a 2D paintery thing with static faces that have no expression. The old one is way better. But it's easy to replace. You can get the original (youtube for example), rename it Intro.mp4, and put it there: *Install path*\outcast_Data\streamingAssets.

But all that is pretty minor, all things considered.

 

[Carrion]

The original was great for its time, but it's clunky as hell by today's standards.

What's clunky about it? It plays perfectly fine. Today's standards suck.

 

[luj1]

Nothing, he is just retarded

 

[Dexter]

The original was great for its time, but it's clunky as hell by today's standards.

What's clunky about it? It plays perfectly fine. Today's standards suck.

It was clunky by then's standards too. It was like the only game using a Voxel engine, felt very experimental (ran at 512x384 resolution max, no 3D acceleration support, also lagged on my CPU) and the walking and jumping animations looked like your character was permanently constipated:


Outcast came out the same year as Unreal Tournament, System Shock 2, Medal of Honor, Quake III Arena, Aliens vs. Predator, Silent Hill etc.

I remember playing the Demo for a while and being somewhat disgusted by the whole experience and how everything looked and felt. The Remake is fine (haven't finished it yet though). The only thing I have an issue with is the changed videos.

Edit: Oh look, I said the same thing 2 years ago and didn't even remember it.