The Outer Worlds: Spacer's Choice Edition - Obsidian's first-person sci-fi RPG set in a corporate space colony

[Child of Malkav]

And doing 'Board errands' for main quest nets you a free navkey to Monarch - letting you complete Phineas' request - so net gain of 200k EXP and 10k+ bits over a few talking and a single kill quest.

Congratulations you hit level 15 (cap is 30) without killing any more than 10 dudes tops under 1 hour.

Where does one find those "board errands" ? I've explored Groundbreaker and haven't found those, did I miss them?

Think he's referring to the quests in Byzantium, as there are quite a few.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Mod the AR damage type to electricity (or plasma if you want). Note also that most bots are weak to electricity and most critters are weak to plasma.

Damage type is already plasma, isn't it? Red balls shoot out of it. I noticed it's decent against armored automechanicals but not entirely ideal, but you can take down an armored sentry bot in less than a full clip at least. With the AR it was taking clip after clip, I needed to mod damage type to electricity apparently.

 

[Paul_cz]

I felt ambivalent about the Board first, in terms of good and evil. I thought that was the moral grey area and layers of subtexts and motivations that made choosing sides a rather complex decision until Obisidan removed all doubt and threw in two particular quests in their path.

Spoiler

One being to exterminate Emerald Vale residents/dissidents taking a page out of Spacer's Choice insurance claim plot on the geothermal plant; hacked automechanicals. The other one being almost a throwaway mission dealing with early retirement in Byzantine.

The early retirement quest is so weird. I expected being able to confront someone about it, talk to someone about it - eventhough it was super obvious and telegraphed, it seemed like one of the most important "discoveries" in the game, but nothing at all came of it. So bizzare. Lack of dev time I guess.

 

[JDR13]

Take Underrail's Protectorate vs Free Drones factions. Who are the good and who are the evil? You are allowed to judge, but the game doesn't judge them for you.

The free drones are evil though.

protectorate is evil too, i mean they literally gas people.

Is it evil to gas evil people?

Only if they're not Jews.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Playing as a diplomatic thief (basically sneak, hacking, lock picking, persuasion) with Felix and Parvati (for their bonuses) while doing a no kill/no detection run is....... actually fun. Level design really shines in some places and many if not all quests can be solved using one of the dialogue skills. Although I'm missing out on xp by not doing quests which require killing. But still, quite fun after the boredom of the first playthrough.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Playing as a diplomatic thief (basically sneak, hacking, lock picking, persuasion) with Felix and Parvati (for their bonuses) while doing a no kill/no detection run is....... actually fun. Level design really shines in some places and many if not all quests can be solved using one of the dialogue skills. Although I'm missing out on xp by not doing quests which require killing. But still, quite fun after the boredom of the first playthrough.

Most of the quests are actually pretty well designed(not to be confused with well written)
The game almost feels bipolar with how it switches from good content to shit content so fast.

 

[Infinitron]

Here's the transcript: https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-...nteractive-software-inc-ttwo-q2-2020-ear.aspx

On October 25, Private Division launched The Outer Worlds for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, The Outer Worlds marks the reunion of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the original creators of Fallout, who have introduced an entirely new single player sci-fi RPG experience, a critical and commercial success, The Outer Worlds is exceeding our expectations and reviews have been outstanding, with GameSpot giving the game 9 out of 10, Game Informer 9.25 out of 10, and EGM a perfect 5 out of 5. In early 2020, The Outer Worlds will be released for Nintendo Switch.

The Outer Worlds expected to earn more than Borderlands 3 in Q3 2020:

Now I will review the highlights of our fiscal 2020 financial outlook, starting with the third quarter. We project net bookings to range from $860 million to $910 million. Tthe largest contributor to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K20, Grand Theft Auto Online, and Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, The Outer Worlds, Borderlands 3, and the WWE 2K-series. We project recurrent consumer spending to grow by approximately 5%. This growth is affected by the difficult comparison due to the allocation from the Red Dead Redemption 2 premium editions last year. Growth is expected to be driven by Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, excluding last year's allocation and NBA 2K.

But not for the full fiscal year:

Turning to our outlook for the full fiscal year, we are raising our operating outlook as a result of our better-than-expected second quarter operating results and improved net bookings outlook for the balance of the year. We now expect net bookings to range from $2.75 billion to $2.85 billion, up from our prior outlook of $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion. The increase beyond the second quarter beat is driven primarily by improved expectations for Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V and Borderlands 3, partially offset by the move of Karbel Space Program 2 into fiscal 2021.

The largest contributor to net bookings are expected to be NBA 2K, Grand Theft Auto Online and Grand Theft Auto V, Borderlands 3, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online, The Outer Worlds, Sid Meier's Civilization VI, and the WWE 2K-series. We expect the net bookings breakdown from our label to be roughly 60% 2K, 30% Rockstar Games, and 10% Private Division, Social Point and other. And we forecast our geographic net bookings split to be about 60% United States and 40% international.

Eric Handler -- MKM Partners -- Analyst

Good evening and thank you for the questions. Two quick things. First, with Outer Worlds, I believe you said it was track -- it was selling ahead of expectations. Wonder if you might be able to put some actual numbers to that, if you don't mind?

Strauss Zelnick -- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Hey Eric. It's Strauss. On Outer Worlds, we're not releasing any specific numbers yet, it's outperforming our expectations handily, got amazing reviews we're super excited about it, but it's very, very early. So as we learn more, we will disclose more.

 

[Van-d-all]

Playing as a diplomatic thief (basically sneak, hacking, lock picking, persuasion)

This is actually somewhat interesting, because nowadays virtually every review & gameplay video I've seen mentions this same exact play style.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Just visited Scylla. Cool place. They really outdid themselves with the graphics and environment art. Found a science weapon, do I need to show it to a scientist?

 

[Child of Malkav]

Scylla is the best looking one, true. That skybox.

 

[Van-d-all]

Scylla is the best looking one, true. That skybox.

Ridiculous that it's also the least used one.

 

[Orma]

Scylla is the best looking one, true. That skybox.

 

[Infinitron]

I find it interesting that Tim Cain would say this:

"This is the form of a game I love to play," he says. "It's not necessarily open world, because we get tighter control over what kind of narrative we tell. Hub and spoke, is what a lot of people call it. First-person gives us a cool immersion.

That sentence: "First-person gives us a cool immersion." One could interpret that as Tim saying: First-person is just for the "coolness" - it's not crucial or critical to my vision of the game.

If The Outer Worlds is a successor to both New Vegas and games like Mass Effect, perhaps Tim sees it as more of the latter?

 

[Quillon]

I find it interesting that Tim Cain would say this:

"This is the form of a game I love to play," he says. "It's not necessarily open world, because we get tighter control over what kind of narrative we tell. Hub and spoke, is what a lot of people call it. First-person gives us a cool immersion.

That sentence: "First-person gives us a cool immersion." One could interpret that as Tim saying: First-person is just for the "coolness" - it's not crucial or critical to my vision of the game.

If The Outer Worlds is a successor to both New Vegas and games like Mass Effect, perhaps Tim sees it as more of the latter?

And he doesn't seem to think NPC schedules' worth implementing/finds it annoying cos shops are closed at certain times

https://youtu.be/6CrX9B3HQAw?t=2733

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Gears of Soy released about the same time as Greedfall and was consistently below it in top sellers on Steam.

You mean Queers Of War 5?

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I find it interesting that Tim Cain would say this:

"This is the form of a game I love to play," he says. "It's not necessarily open world, because we get tighter control over what kind of narrative we tell. Hub and spoke, is what a lot of people call it. First-person gives us a cool immersion.

That sentence: "First-person gives us a cool immersion." One could interpret that as Tim saying: First-person is just for the "coolness" - it's not crucial or critical to my vision of the game.

If The Outer Worlds is a successor to both New Vegas and games like Mass Effect, perhaps Tim sees it as more of the latter?

If the next game is more like Mass effect and less New Vegas how the world works would be much better. Just like the worst part of both of New Vegas and now TOW was exploration and the open world. If smaller hub based world like Mass effect means the best part of this game can be done even better , reactivity, CnC and companions, i'm all in for it.

 

[Geisler]

So nothing but action garabge to come from Obshitian in the future. When will their section be cut from the "RPG" developer forum?

 

[Hot Coldman]

I find it interesting that Tim Cain would say this:

"This is the form of a game I love to play," he says. "It's not necessarily open world, because we get tighter control over what kind of narrative we tell. Hub and spoke, is what a lot of people call it. First-person gives us a cool immersion.

That sentence: "First-person gives us a cool immersion." One could interpret that as Tim saying: First-person is just for the "coolness" - it's not crucial or critical to my vision of the game.

If The Outer Worlds is a successor to both New Vegas and games like Mass Effect, perhaps Tim sees it as more of the latter?

If the next game is more like Mass effect and less New Vegas how the world works would be much better. Just like the worst part of both of New Vegas and now TOW was exploration and the open world. If smaller hub based world like Mass effect means the best part of this game can be done even better , reactivity, CnC and companions, i'm all in for it.

You have faith in another Obsidian computer RPG, say, TOW2, when their goal is to appeal to "normys" ? ,-)

 

[LudensCogitet]

Except for the Codex, all I'm really seeing is praise for TOW. Not only that, the praise they are giving it is exactly what I would want TOW to be. If I wasn't playing it myself I would be even more excited for it than I was before release.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here, because the game just doesn't seem to be the good things people are saying it is.

Every quest seems like equally generic dialogue choices, a shootout, and a fetch away from completion. No skill / perk / attribute / equipment choice seems to make a difference. The writing is flat. My character has no compelling reason to do anything.

Yet people are saying the opposite.

Baffling.

 

[Trashos]

Why would people complain the board is "too evil" in this game? Aren't siding with them suppose to be the evil path? Feels like complain a star war game to not have morally grey sith lords.

I don't know if they are too evil, but was it supposed to be about good vs evil?

Take Underrail's Protectorate vs Free Drones factions. Who are the good and who are the evil? You are allowed to judge, but the game doesn't judge them for you.

The current board is clearly evil, there is no denying that it's the purpose of Obsidian to show them in that way. The place where you can make your own judge here is whether the board's rule can work or not, when you change the current ones into some better and more capable people.

Well, that answers your initial question, then. Some people are complaining that the Board is too evil, because they wanted them more grey than that. While I haven't played TOW, Obsidian games often have grey factions against less grey ones, and they confuse people.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Except for the Codex, all I'm really seeing is praise for TOW. Not only that, the praise they are giving it is exactly what I would want TOW to be. If I wasn't playing it myself I would be even more excited for it than I was before release.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here, because the game just doesn't seem to be the good things people are saying it is.

Every quest seems like equally generic dialogue choices, a shootout, and a fetch away from completion. No skill / perk / attribute / equipment choice seems to make a difference. The writing is flat. My character has no compelling reason to do anything.

Yet people are saying the opposite.

Baffling.

Look, this game appeals to people who aren't enthusiastic about RPGs, tabletop or computer. There's your anwer

 

[Hot Coldman]

In other words, they don't know better and this is a GREAT RPG duuuuuude!

 

[Hot Coldman]

They sold out,. that's pretty much all that's going on.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Now Stick of Truth?
That was a real high brow RPG.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

You guys are the ones taking crazy pills. The game is awesome. Maybe you just secretly hate successful devs and people enjoying RPGs. You probably also hate RPGs if you don't like this game. Grow up. Adapt or be left in the dust. You're all too rigid. Weirdos.