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

[JDR13]

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.

Lol. I literally said I was the one who felt like I was taking crazy pills. What baffles me is the complete contradiction of my experience by the apparent experience of others.
I would genuinely like to enjoy this game. Tim and Leonard have been (and still are) some of my heroes for the work they've done.

Allow me to attempt to illustrate:

The quest to sober up Nyoka. This quest is part of the main story line and a way to get a new companion, so it's fairly major.
First of all, getting a hangover cure is a pretty contrived quest, but that's not a huge point.
Here's how the quest went for me:

1. Nyoka says she needs Caffenoid pills.
2. I go to the dispensary and talk to the lady.
3. She says Nyoka can't have any more Caffenoid pills.
   
4. She also literally tells me (a complete stranger) that she has a key to the storeroom and that there is a computer terminal upstairs that controls how many drugs people can have.
5. I walk upstairs to the terminal, hack it, up Nyoka's limit, go back downstairs and get the Caffenoid.
6. End of quest

Now, I also had enough intimidate to force her to give me the pills through dialog, and I may even have had enough lock-picking to open the storeroom.

In Fallout 1, in contrast, I would have been told to fuck off by the dispensary lady.
Then I could have intimidated her (if I had the skill),
or I would have had to look around the building and maybe notice the computer terminal and try to hack it (if I had the skill),
or maybe try picking the lady's pocket (if I had the skill),
or I could have searched around town and asked about Caffenoid and whether anyone knew where to get some or how to get into the storeroom.

But in TOW, 0 thinking was required to both advance the main story line and get a new companion. It may have even triggered a level up, I can't remember specifically, but it sure happens often enough.
The most I could have done was decide the scent of the air as a breezed through this, because I had 2 - 3 separate major options for completing the quest open to me without even planning for it, and it took 5 minutes.

Welcome to 2019.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Wasn't gonna say anything, yes. What Fluent fails to consider was your last paragraph. Zero thinking required. All your options are in your face, presented by an option in the "diaogue box", and there is no more than just that.
You are not required to do anything than click your preferred option it's over.

I don't understand what you're saying about options being presented in a dialogue box and not being more than that.
If you played Fallout 1 and 2 and if you invested into speech, a speech option would appear during dialogue. Now, the only difference between FO1/2 and FONV (in dialogue) is that the speech option is marked as such in NV but not in FO 1/2. In the latter, you need to pay attention and read carefully but even then the option becomes evident as it's simply the best one from all the options, the one that gives the best quest resolution.
Also, if you have the skill, you have the option. If you have enough lock picking then you can simply unlock the door. Do you want a minigame for it? The same thing with hacking. Or if you have high strength, you can break/kick the door open. Etc.

Do you not see the giant arrow pointing you from A to B as you shoot a thousand bandits on your way to talk to a guy so you can talk to another guy?
In fact, this is kind of irrelevant to the fact that it is simply not my kind of game. It is game foremost and RPG second. A toddler could play this "RPG".

You went from options being presented in the dialogue box to quest markers. Which can be turned off. Or so I've heard. The number of marauders should be reduced by at least 70%. And you don't need to kill them, you can sneak past them or just YOLO it and dash through.
This game pales in comparison to NV. It has good parts and bad parts. Worth 1 or 2 playthroughs.
Also, a toddler can play many games. They're not rocket science nor quantum physics. Games are made to be finished. Even the most obscure hints in various difficult games can be understood or noticed, it just depends on how much time you need to figure it out. After you finish a puzzle in a game and you replay it, when you reach that puzzle again you know how to solve it. Does it somehow diminish the value the game?
And if it's is not your kind of game, why are discussing this?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

What Fluent fails to understand is every thing

ftfy.

 

[Hot Coldman]

Wasn't gonna say anything, yes. What Fluent fails to consider was your last paragraph. Zero thinking required. All your options are in your face, presented by an option in the "diaogue box", and there is no more than just that.
You are not required to do anything than click your preferred option it's over.

I don't understand what you're saying about options being presented in a dialogue box and not being more than that.
If you played Fallout 1 and 2 and if you invested into speech, a speech option would appear during dialogue. Now, the only difference between FO1/2 and FONV (in dialogue) is that the speech option is marked as such in NV but not in FO 1/2. In the latter, you need to pay attention and read carefully but even then the option becomes evident as it's simply the best one from all the options, the one that gives the best quest resolution.
Also, if you have the skill, you have the option. If you have enough lock picking then you can simply unlock the door. Do you want a minigame for it? The same thing with hacking. Or if you have high strength, you can break/kick the door open. Etc.

Do you not see the giant arrow pointing you from A to B as you shoot a thousand bandits on your way to talk to a guy so you can talk to another guy?
In fact, this is kind of irrelevant to the fact that it is simply not my kind of game. It is game foremost and RPG second. A toddler could play this "RPG".

You went from options being presented in the dialogue box to quest markers. Which can be turned off. Or so I've heard. The number of marauders should be reduced by at least 70%. And you don't need to kill them, you can sneak past them or just YOLO it and dash through.
This game pales in comparison to NV. It has good parts and bad parts. Worth 1 or 2 playthroughs.
Also, a toddler can play many games. They're not rocket science nor quantum physics. Games are made to be finished. Even the most obscure hints in various difficult games can be understood or noticed, it just depends on how much time you need to figure it out. After you finish a puzzle in a game and you replay it, when you reach that puzzle again you know how to solve it. Does it somehow diminish the value the game?
And if it's is not your kind of game, why are discussing this?

Yes, I went from dialogue to quest markers. The meat of the matter, what I and other people like LudensCogitet have said, is that it requires 0 thinking and we didn't enjoy that. FFS. Are you purposely dense?

 

[theremin]

Played up to Roseway and decided Obsidian had earned my my 60 bucs. Finished it. Feel kinda swindled. 45 would've been more appropriate, I think. But, hey, what game lives up to its (that) price tag nowadays?

Just wasn't a fulfilling experience for me. From Byzantium's Twin Elms-levels of incompleteness, the down right direct lifts from Firefly (Pavarti and Vicar being essentially plagiarism), the clunky, hook-less opening (from one pod to another pod ; A Tale of Two Pods), to the downright unforgivable lack of a main villain (was I supposed to know who that Sophia woman was?) it all just felt... shallow, a sentiment already expressed here. In the end, for a game marketed to me as "Bethesda ARPG, but with a good story!" I found the story woefully lacking.

The silver lining, I guess, is that competition is good, right? Free market and all that (lulz). Perhaps (and, I know how stupid this is going to sound) TOW will spur Bethesda's next endeavor to greater heights? Please? I like shooting/stabbing things, but I also like being motivated to shoot/stab things beyond "They're crazy, or whatever. Who cares? I, the hypothetical game developer in this already overly long post sure don't! Now collect your 10 bits, raptidon hide, and move the fuck along! We've got another fucking slideshow to get to!"

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I love how Metacritic score on the Codex are simultaneously worthless and of utmost importance when the scores feed people's agenda.

 

[Crichton]

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.

Lol. I literally said I was the one who felt like I was taking crazy pills. What baffles me is the complete contradiction of my experience by the apparent experience of others.
I would genuinely like to enjoy this game. Tim and Leonard have been (and still are) some of my heroes for the work they've done.

Allow me to attempt to illustrate:

The quest to sober up Nyoka. This quest is part of the main story line and a way to get a new companion, so it's fairly major.
First of all, getting a hangover cure is a pretty contrived quest, but that's not a huge point.
Here's how the quest went for me:

1. Nyoka says she needs Caffenoid pills.
2. I go to the dispensary and talk to the lady.
3. She says Nyoka can't have any more Caffenoid pills.
   
4. She also literally tells me (a complete stranger) that she has a key to the storeroom and that there is a computer terminal upstairs that controls how many drugs people can have.
5. I walk upstairs to the terminal, hack it, up Nyoka's limit, go back downstairs and get the Caffenoid.
6. End of quest

Now, I also had enough intimidate to force her to give me the pills through dialog, and I may even have had enough lock-picking to open the storeroom.

In Fallout 1, in contrast, I would have been told to fuck off by the dispensary lady.
Then I could have intimidated her (if I had the skill),
or I would have had to look around the building and maybe notice the computer terminal and try to hack it (if I had the skill),
or maybe try picking the lady's pocket (if I had the skill),
or I could have searched around town and asked about Caffenoid and whether anyone knew where to get some or how to get into the storeroom.

But in TOW, 0 thinking was required to both advance the main story line and get a new companion. It may have even triggered a level up, I can't remember specifically, but it sure happens often enough.
The most I could have done was decide the scent of the air as a breezed through this, because I had 2 - 3 separate major options for completing the quest open to me without even planning for it, and it took 5 minutes.

I don't have any opinion on this directly since I'm waiting for a Steam release (and a substantial) discount on Outer Worlds, but I can't help but notice that your critique is an almost 1:1 match for JarlFrank's critque of Age of Decadence. There may be some people who simply can't stand the CYOA system of laying everything out in dialog.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

I don't have any opinion on this directly since I'm waiting for a Steam release (and a substantial) discount on Outer Worlds, but I can't help but notice that your critique is an almost 1:1 match for JarlFrank's critque of Age of Decadence. There may be some people who simply can't stand the CYOA system of laying everything out in dialog.

That's not the issue at all. You don't do these things in dialogue. The issue is that this pharmacist woman is the roadblock. You need to get around her. You can just persuade her to give you the pills--fine, good. But there are two alternative ways to solve the quest: you can break into the store room or you can hack the computer--both good! The problem is that the woman who's supposed to be the roadblock directs you to both of these options. You don't need to explore or sneak around. What's the point of having these systems if you don't use them? You just follow her directions, which is weird because she should be the person who's trying to prevent you from breaking into the storeroom or hacking the computer.

The thing is, TOW is not at all a dialogue mediated game like AOD. You actually have to act this stuff out in the world. But when the NPCs who should be trying to make your job more difficult instead go out of their way to hold your hand and make it easier, that takes a lot of fun out of the experience.

Edit: this is a pseudo open world game that rarely gives you the chance to be clever.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Wasn't gonna say anything, yes. What Fluent fails to consider was your last paragraph. Zero thinking required. All your options are in your face, presented by an option in the "diaogue box", and there is no more than just that.
You are not required to do anything than click your preferred option it's over.

I don't understand what you're saying about options being presented in a dialogue box and not being more than that.
If you played Fallout 1 and 2 and if you invested into speech, a speech option would appear during dialogue. Now, the only difference between FO1/2 and FONV (in dialogue) is that the speech option is marked as such in NV but not in FO 1/2. In the latter, you need to pay attention and read carefully but even then the option becomes evident as it's simply the best one from all the options, the one that gives the best quest resolution.
Also, if you have the skill, you have the option. If you have enough lock picking then you can simply unlock the door. Do you want a minigame for it? The same thing with hacking. Or if you have high strength, you can break/kick the door open. Etc.

Do you not see the giant arrow pointing you from A to B as you shoot a thousand bandits on your way to talk to a guy so you can talk to another guy?
In fact, this is kind of irrelevant to the fact that it is simply not my kind of game. It is game foremost and RPG second. A toddler could play this "RPG".

You went from options being presented in the dialogue box to quest markers. Which can be turned off. Or so I've heard. The number of marauders should be reduced by at least 70%. And you don't need to kill them, you can sneak past them or just YOLO it and dash through.
This game pales in comparison to NV. It has good parts and bad parts. Worth 1 or 2 playthroughs.
Also, a toddler can play many games. They're not rocket science nor quantum physics. Games are made to be finished. Even the most obscure hints in various difficult games can be understood or noticed, it just depends on how much time you need to figure it out. After you finish a puzzle in a game and you replay it, when you reach that puzzle again you know how to solve it. Does it somehow diminish the value the game?
And if it's is not your kind of game, why are discussing this?

Yes, I went from dialogue to quest markers. The meat of the matter, what I and other people like LudensCogitet have said, is that it requires 0 thinking and we didn't enjoy that. FFS. Are you purposely dense?

Wow ok. What a waste of time this was. Anyway your opinion is duly noted. You are entitled to it as am I to mine.

 

[Wesp5]

The meat of the matter, what I and other people like LudensCogitet have said, is that it requires 0 thinking and we didn't enjoy that.

I completely agree with that. All the options and stats are there, but they don't really matter because the game is much too easy! You get endless XP, weapons, ammo and items. And I guess this is all intended to get the usual Bethesda crowd to play the game, and maybe some others not into RPGs at all too. Which seemed to have worked fine...

 

[oregano12]

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/112403-patch-1110-coming-soon/

Greetings fellow spacers,

At this time, we would like to let you all know that we are looking at releasing a patch next week to implement some changes and bug fixes. This patch is currently in the testing phase and as long as no other issues occur during this time, we hope to release it to you all sometime next week. Please be aware that this can change, but we are working hard to make this timeline and things are looking good thus far.

Resolved Issues:
• The crashing issue in Tartarus
• Increase Font Size - Conversations/Subtitles
• Muffled sound effects occur at random times for players on the PS4
• Companions dying and failing companion quests on modes other than Supernova
• Unable to finish "Radio Free Monarch"
• Trophy "Not the Best Choice" fails to unlock properly

If you do not see your particular issue or suggestion listed above, please understand that we are continually reviewing and working on items that you are sharing with us. We will continue to work on updates and patches to see how we can make your gaming experience the best it possibly can be.

To continue to report issues and share suggestions, please visit our The Outer Worlds: Technical Support forums and search to see if a fellow player has already made a thread about it. If you find a thread with your issue or suggestion, feel free to comment in that thread with any details you would like to share. If you cannot find a thread with your issue or suggestion, please start a new thread detailing the issue/suggestion and then please contact our publishing partner, Private Division, at their website here. Doing so will help ensure that your specific issue or suggestion is in their queue, which allows us to prioritize requests to provide the fastest possible turnaround time.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding, and we are so grateful to have you all here with us.

3 weeks to finally release a patch and all we got was some minor bug fixes and nothing to adress optimization. Gee, thanks. And given the fact we are right near the holidays, theres a pretty big chance we are only getting our first major patch in 2020.

 

[GrainWetski]

Metacritic User Score is literaly useless. Even trash lik FO76 has 10/10 and good games 1/10. It's retarded. Open Critic is way better than Metacritic because it take in account all reviews across all system instead putting PC with 14 reviews then ps4 with 50+ then Xbox with 30. They let retarded journos but at least it much better than "Epic bad" 1/10 and "Obsidian good. Bethesda bad" 10/10.

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/fallout-76
User Score 2.8

Opencritic is literally useless because it's fucking gamejournos.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/fallout-76
User Score 2.8

Opencritic is literally useless because it's fucking gamejournos.

Because "players" opinion are much more trust worth, right? Especialy when you don't even have to actually play to submit a review.. yeah , no way people that are pissed about Epic Game could be drop negative review there or a fanboys could drop 10s when actually it's a 7-8 at best.

 

[Daidre]

Because "players" opinion are much more trust worth, right?

When it is Steam reviews from guaranteed owners with time-played shown than yes, they are more trustworthy - if you know infosphere around the game well enough to filter out some angry outcries from the fandom. At least I'd trust them more than Metacritic's dumpsterfire or ones from MS Store that look kinda fishy. And PS Store and Epic do not have them altogether.

Alas, companies figured out that precise info is bad for PR and hiding such basic things like sales, size of player base or even user reviews could improves their chances to persevere and keep investor's money between mandatory doom's days of quarterly reports.

Even figuring out what % of players decided to rent the game instead of buying it is impossible without leaks and scandals for all gamepass games because MS has a really good reason to count them together.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

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?

The fact that the design philosophy of TOW is based around terms such as "cool" says enough.

 

[DalekFlay]

Prime Junta is right, the game's not SJW its just written with a whole host of vapid commiefornian lefty assumptions. Some people think these are the same thing and while they do share a good amount of stuff, SJW has some extra crap and obnoxiousness added in, i.e there is a difference between being some vanilla commiefornian zombie and being a complete nutball in Portland. Kinda sad because the premise itself is fairly decent but the execution is really braindead.

The way I've made sense of the setting is to think of the colony as an owned object. It's not "the ultimate free market." In fact Andrew Ryan style anarchists are the enemy. It's more that the corporation bought the colony and it is now completely owned, like a slavery plantation. It's definitely still odd that the setting comments on the "evils of capitalism" by using Soviet style control and bureaucracy, but if you think of all the people you meet as owned slaves it makes more sense.

 

[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?

The fact that the design philosophy of TOW is based around terms such as "cool" says enough.

planescape_torment_marketing_document.pdf

 

[Heroic Liberator]

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?

The fact that the design philosophy of TOW is based around terms such as "cool" says enough.

planescape_torment_marketing_document.pdf

Touché, mon juif.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

planescape_torment_marketing_document.pdf

I actually searched for it and damn...

The brief story summary‟s below, followed by a list of all the cool shit we plan to include in the game.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

'Cool' is a perfectly sound adjective to use. Fuck the snobs. I use that word all the time so you know that it's good. Cool shit.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah the quest for stimulant pills was utterly bizzare. Like why do you take away from me the opportunity to figure out different paths for myself.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Yeah the quest for stimulant pills was utterly bizzare. Like why do you take away from me the opportunity to figure out different paths for myself.

But overall no big deal imo.

Can't wait to check out Monarch. From the lore I've heard in the game it's a very dangerous place (no spoilers please.) I am limiting my play each day since I'm recording my footage for a video Let's Play on my YouTube so I don't want to record all the footage at once. Just unlocked SAM as a companion too. I hope he's as silly as I think he is.

My favorite companions so far are Ellie (female gunslinger Han Solo type) and the very sweet and beautiful Parvati. <3

 

[jungl]

Beat it today games definition of mediocre. Doesn't really feel like a rpg Destiny 2 story and gameplay felt more rpg like.

 

[Wesp5]

Yeah the quest for stimulant pills was utterly bizzare. Like why do you take away from me the opportunity to figure out different paths for myself.

This is even worse on Monarch with Malin's boarst quest. She basically mentions all options during dialogue and you can ask for more details if you still don't get it!

 

[Quillon]

Yeah the quest for stimulant pills was utterly bizzare. Like why do you take away from me the opportunity to figure out different paths for myself.

This is even worse on Monarch with Malin's boarst quest. She basically mentions all options during dialogue and you can ask for more details if you still don't get it!

They gave it a tutorial treatment since they did numerous presentations with that quest so the journos would write that "you'll have a lot of options in this game". Unfortunately they didn't edit it later so we're tutorialized at about 2/3rds into the game.