The Outer Worlds Pre-Release Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[toro]

What gameplay are you expecting?

I know what the gameplay is like in general. We’ve seen it.

I’d want details on how it works. Skills, stats, their effects on gameplay. The stuff that matters and tells me if there’s anything salvageable there, because some story choices just don’t cut it.

It's Fallout 3 gameplay. Probably not as bad because you need special talents to be as bad as Bethesda but that should be it.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

What gameplay are you expecting?

I know what the gameplay is like in general. We’ve seen it.

I’d want details on how it works. Skills, stats, their effects on gameplay. The stuff that matters and tells me if there’s anything salvageable there, because some story choices just don’t cut it.

This has definitely been covered in some of the interviews. Also, you can see parts of the stat sheet in the gameplay footage.

Six attributes, then six families of skills that contain multiple skills each. So the dialogue family has lying, persuasion, intimidation, and IIRC charm.

They’ve talked a lot about the leadership skills, which buff your companions and let you derive bonuses from their stats.

They’ve said that you can raise a whole family of skills at once, up to a certain level (50 maybe?). After that level, you only raise one skill at a time.

They’ve talked endlessly about the flaws system.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Six attributes, then six families of skills that contain multiple skills each. So the dialogue family has lying, persuasion, intimidation, and IIRC charm.

Lying , persuasin , intimidation , charm , dumb and there's some skill checks for engineering and other skills in the gameplay that they shown.

They talked a lot but they didn't show almost anything in real gameplay. But it's probably because they don't much to shown that we aren't know , it's Fallout New Vegas but better gameplay.
I think the only unique thing about the gameplay will be flaws and leadership skill.

But they HAVE to show us at least the god damn character creation screen before release tho...

 

[Roguey]

Fuck me that is some awful writing.

I wouldn't buy it, but I find it charming. Perhaps I'm biased because my opinion of her has improved.

 

[Shadenuat]

Sounds cool but PoEs also had all the skill checks and it didn't make games that impressive.

 

[Yosharian]

Fuck me that is some awful writing.

I wouldn't buy it, but I find it charming. Perhaps I'm biased because my opinion of her has improved.

It's charming in the same sense that a 5-year-old who begins writing their own poetry is charming.

Except this is a grown adult. I think the word 'embarrassing' is more apt here.

 

[Roguey]

It's charming in the same sense that a 5-year-old who begins writing their own poetry is charming.

Except this is a grown adult. I think the word 'embarrassing' is more apt here.

Some people never stop being childish.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

No, I think that's an error. One of the game's wikis has Berke erroneously listed as a companion. Den of Geek just copied that into their article without verifying.

He was the only one that looked interesting. Fucking hell, it's like they purposely made the companions as shit as possible.

 

[AW8]

Drink soda! Drink it up! Drink soda! The whole cup!

Drink it up! Chug it down! You'll feel better! Lose that frown!

Open your mouth! Open it wide! It's time to taste Uncle Tim's pride!

You liked it? Well lucky you! Uncle Leo's got a drink for you too!

Sponsored by Spacer's Guild of America

 

[Sannom]

This has definitely been covered in some of the interviews. Also, you can see parts of the stat sheet in the gameplay footage.

Six attributes, then six families of skills that contain multiple skills each. So the dialogue family has lying, persuasion, intimidation, and IIRC charm.

They’ve talked a lot about the leadership skills, which buff your companions and let you derive bonuses from their stats.

They’ve said that you can raise a whole family of skills at once, up to a certain level (50 maybe?). After that level, you only raise one skill at a time.

They’ve talked endlessly about the flaws system.

I think they've mentioned that their VATS-like system is also upgradeable to some extent.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

 

[Infinitron]

Press tour eh? Guess there's gonna be some new gameplay soon.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Last month on discord Mikey said they have a plan for showing off character creation!

 

[Modron]

I don't think my mind is prepared for all the different shapes it will see.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Last month on discord Mikey said they have a plan for showing off character creation!

Finally we gonna see those sexy geometric shapes.

 

[Nano]

Might be possible that the Codex's whining at Tim a while back convinced him to scrap his shape plans.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Sounds cool but PoEs also had all the skill checks and it didn't make games that impressive.

Yeah, but why? POE had a totally different design philosophy. For skill checks to matter, you need to bake them into the quests so that they give you different ways of accomplishing your objectives. and ideally also different outcomes.

The current Obsidian rank and file are capable of doing this. Deadfire is way, way better about including meaningful skill checks than POE was, including arguably the best stealth system I've seen in an isometric RPG. But, at the end of the day, it was still a Josh Sawyer game, and Sawyer believes that role playing is about character expression. That's how you get so many dialogue options and disposition checks that don't really do anything. There's rarely much payoff because for Sawyer it's not about the payoff, it's about having options. I don't know how he arrived at this dumbass philosophy, but I think he bears an enormous amount of blame.

Just look at Tyranny, which also gave you tons of dialogue options that let you say the effectively the same thing in a slightly different way. Yet when Tunon puts you on trial at the end, you get some payoff: a spy has been watching you all along and you need to account for your actions. I know Tyranny's skill checks suck because they're too low and the game doesn't force you to specialize, but that's a different problem.

Anyway, I doubt any of this will be an issue for TOW because Tim and Leonard have a different approach. When they give you the choice to antagonize someone, there's a very good chance that person will immediately try to kill you. These are the speech/stealth/slay guys. They're not going to make a Josh Sawyer game.

 

[Shadenuat]

I mean, one can hope, but to give the player something, you also need to take something from them away. And modern design is afraid of this. Tim is a coder, Leonard idk. Sometimes I wonder if there was one unknown low paid low grade dude that actually made all these old RPGs great; since same people, but different results.

I mean, member Icewind Dale? It had unique Paladin dialogue in it. And IWD2 too.

 

[Haba]

ISometimes I wonder if there was one unknown low paid low grade dude that actually made all these old RPGs great; since same people, but different results.

I mean, member Icewind Dale? It had unique Paladin dialogue in it. And IWD2 too.

Great things are often created by accident.

Some young dude burns the midnight oil and makes something that slips into the game since no-one is paying attention.

But now we don't have that. Everything is planned and controlled. And that young dude now has a family, a mortage and his health is failing him. His passion has become a job.

 

[undecaf]

Guess there's gonna be some new gameplay soon.

Nah. They'll explain how the narrative and choices work, what the world and corporations are about, and that you can kill everyone and that dumb dialogs are in.

 

[jf8350143]

Sounds cool but PoEs also had all the skill checks and it didn't make games that impressive.

Yeah, but why? POE had a totally different design philosophy. For skill checks to matter, you need to bake them into the quests so that they give you different ways of accomplishing your objectives. and ideally also different outcomes.

The current Obsidian rank and file are capable of doing this. Deadfire is way, way better about including meaningful skill checks than POE was, including arguably the best stealth system I've seen in an isometric RPG. But, at the end of the day, it was still a Josh Sawyer game, and Sawyer believes that role playing is about character expression. That's how you get so many dialogue options and disposition checks that don't really do anything. There's rarely much payoff because for Sawyer it's not about the payoff, it's about having options. I don't know how he arrived at this dumbass philosophy, but I think he bears an enormous amount of blame.

Just look at Tyranny, which also gave you tons of dialogue options that let you say the effectively the same thing in a slightly different way. Yet when Tunon puts you on trial at the end, you get some payoff: a spy has been watching you all along and you need to account for your actions. I know Tyranny's skill checks suck because they're too low and the game doesn't force you to specialize, but that's a different problem.

Anyway, I doubt any of this will be an issue for TOW because Tim and Leonard have a different approach. When they give you the choice to antagonize someone, there's a very good chance that person will immediately try to kill you. These are the speech/stealth/slay guys. They're not going to make a Josh Sawyer game.

I actually half agree with Saywer's "character expression" idea, I like the fact that Deadfire gives me different ways to say the same thing and it has a personality meter to track it. And the idea that a skill check should not always be a "I win" button, some times it might actually make things worse.

But you do need some kind of way to blend the reputation and personality system into the game, instead of just a pure token.

 

[Grotesque]

Last month on discord Mikey said they have a plan for showing off character creation!

you're the female equivalent of Randal.
or maybe you're Randal after a sex change

Hey Perdildo Street Station was good.

I bet.

 

[Roguey]

you're the female equivalent of Randal.
or maybe you're Randal after a sex change

Randal was Sherry's old pet, they both claim to be women; one an older mother, the other a teenager.

 

[Eisenheinrich]

If Outer Worlds fails, what would that mean for the RPG market as a whole? I mean, we still get that Cyberpunk game, but that's not really where I would like the future of AAA RPG's to head.

 

[Nano]

If Outer Worlds fails

It won't.