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

Duraframe300

Arcane
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Messages
6,395
If they write good shit then I don't care how retarded they are on Twitter, the problem is when the line between activism and game development becomes blurred.

More importantly (imo) if they give you a choice. I don't care if a charachter or a quest are SJW inspired as long as I can disagree on it. If that is not the case I lose drastically interest. Worse if my protagonist is written to agree with it.

Mentioned earlier in this thread but still one of my main Zero Dawn critisisms.
 

Vityaz

Augur
Joined
Oct 7, 2014
Messages
169
Carrie's and Starks' writing is alright (or at the very least passable). I am not too worried... for now.

EDIT: fantadomat Her writing in White March was not bad IMHO. And of all the companions in PoE1 only Aloth and Sagani were somewhat interesting. Granted, they're not winning any awards but I'd say it's serviceable at least.
 
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fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
Joined
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Bulgaria
EDIT: fantadomat Her writing in White March was not bad IMHO. And of all the companions in PoE1 only Aloth and Sagani were somewhat interesting. Granted, they're not winning any awards but I'd say it's serviceable at least.
Mediocre/decent writing is not good writing,the thing Obsidian was known.
 

Kyl Von Kull

The Night Tripper
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Jamrock District
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that people only started to complain about the quality of Obsidian’s writing in their more recent isometric games. Maybe it’s easier to write cinematic dialogue, maybe budgetary concerns force you to write tighter dialogue in a first person perspective game, or maybe full voice acting plus facial animations elevate writing that would be a lot less compelling as pure text.

Losing MCA was obviously a real blow, but even if you hated the writing in POE/Tyranny/Deadfire, those were qualitatively different experiences from New Vegas or Alpha Protocol or KOTOR2 or MOTB. Talking heads vs voiced text in an isometric view.
 

Vityaz

Augur
Joined
Oct 7, 2014
Messages
169
EDIT: fantadomat Her writing in White March was not bad IMHO. And of all the companions in PoE1 only Aloth and Sagani were somewhat interesting. Granted, they're not winning any awards but I'd say it's serviceable at least.
Mediocre/decent writing is not good writing,the thing Obsidian was known.

Sure. But I just personally found her writing to be pretty consistent for the most part (which is more than I can say compared to some other games today) and it even had its good moments.

What I am trying to say is, that I am still willing (and curious) to see what can they do, now with Cainarsky hovering above them as well. Could go either way, really.

I mean in the end: If it's good, then great. If it's shit, then meh and we get 200 more pages of laughing stock material.:dealwithit:
 
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fantadomat

Arcane
Edgy Vatnik Wumao
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Bulgaria
EDIT: fantadomat Her writing in White March was not bad IMHO. And of all the companions in PoE1 only Aloth and Sagani were somewhat interesting. Granted, they're not winning any awards but I'd say it's serviceable at least.
Mediocre/decent writing is not good writing,the thing Obsidian was known.

Sure. But I just personally found her writing to be pretty consistent for the most part (which is more than I can say compared to some other games today) and it even had its good moments.

What I am trying to say is, that I am still willing (and curious) to see what can they do, now with Cainarsky hovering above them as well. Could go either way, really.

I mean in the end: If it's good, then great. If it's shit, then meh and we get 200 more pages of laughing stock material.:dealwithit:
I do agree with you,i would have nothing against a good game from Obsidian. Still i doubt it will be something above mediocre,it will not be super terrible,it will be playable,but not something i will give money to.
 

2house2fly

Magister
Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Messages
1,877
Nickelodeon.
oh, like Nickel Odeon? Like an Odeon cinema but cheap? I just got that, or at least just assumed it.

You people are fucking morons. You'll shit on games like Mass Effect to no end but when Obsidian releases something along the same lines it's totally fine. Oh, but if FPS games do the same thing (they don't, considering those games primarily have appeal for multiplayer) there's no issue. The only way this could possibly be justified is if they only charge a measly price for the game, which I doubt will happen.
Mass Effect 2 was about 20 hours and sold pretty well for $60

I agree,you could finish it in around 40 hours on first playtrough,in later replays you could do it in 20ish hours,skipping sewers and all that jazz. They talk about being less that kotor2,which means that either they are really slow/bad players or it will be around 15-20 hours on first playtrough.
KOTOR2 is a good 35 hours, I got over 40 out of it my first playthrough but I'm a completionist.

I find it hard to believe this is Cain and Boyarsky's dream project when it's such an obvious attempt to bank on the positive reputation of Fallout: New Vegas, an Obsidian game neither of them had any involvement with. Yet for some baffling reason, they decided that what people really must have liked about New Vegas and that they had to recreate were the terrible combat and VATS. Even the laughably awkward killcam looks like it came straight out of a Bethesda game.

The focus on companions is also much more characteristic of Obsidian games than it is of Troika games.
VATS is originally from Fallout 3, and I believe Tim Cain has praised it in the past.

"My opinions are not theirs. Not even a little"? Faith in Obsidian: restored.
As of about a month ago, Alex Scokel's labour is not Obsidian's even a little either. Shame, as the Deadfire DLC writing was decent
 

Nano

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2016
Messages
4,648
Grab the Codex by the pussy Strap Yourselves In
Latest vid now on youtube



From the comments section:
ikEQtfJ.png


Whoa. Never noticed that till now.
 

Infinitron

I post news
Staff Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
97,236
Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth

Text-based update:

The Wildest Weapons In The Outer Worlds

tow_shrinkgun_sheet.jpg


The Outer Worlds isn’t exactly a serious or believable game, but it generally adheres to its own internal logic. Except when it comes to science weapons. These unique items are difficult to find, but thorough explorers who amass a collection of them are treated to a variety of outlandish and entertaining effects. During our time at Obsidian Entertainment, we talked to the team in detail about one of these weapons – the shrink ray – and about how the science weapons in general are implemented in The Outer Worlds.

The Shrink Ray

According to co-director Tim Cain, science weapons are designed to have “inexplicable effects that we thought would be funny, and we didn’t care in any way if they were realistic.” The shrink ray is a perfect example of this philosophy: It collapses the space between atoms, causing creatures hit by its continuous beam to grow smaller (and stay that way as long as the beam remains focused on them).

The concept came from an unexpected place: huge monsters. Out in the wilderness of The Outer Worlds, you may encounter “mega-fauna,” which are especially large versions of specific creature types. Visually, these beasts are scaled up from their regular counterparts – but the technology that produces that effect goes in both directions.

shrink01.jpg

Take one normal-sized enemy, and then...
shrink02.jpg

use the shrink ray! The result is...
shrink03.jpg

a tinier, squeakier version of the foe.

“The scaling can be used for a lot more than what the artists were using it for,” Cain says. “The artists didn’t want to use extreme values on it, because then things can’t move around, then can’t get through doors.” So what happens when you experiment with those extreme values in the form of a handheld gun? A shrink ray.

In addition to making enemies very small, the shrink ray also increases the pitch of their sound effects and deals a small amount of damage. But the more practical benefit comes from reducing their damage threshold; in other words, enemies that are normally resistant to damage are much more susceptible to it the smaller they get.

“It changes effectiveness based on your science skill,” says lead designer Charles Staples. “As you gain a higher science skill, it shrinks them more. It reduces their damage threshold more.”

You might assume that an effect that powerful will not work on more powerful foes – that they might have immunities to shrink ray. That assumption is incorrect. If you want to use it on one of the formidable mega-fauna, go for it; you get what Cain refers to as a “mini-mega.” But what about the final boss? “Right now, yes,” Staples says. “But then it will just be a matter of making it balanced enough where it still feels like a meaningful end to the game for most players.”

shrinkray.gif


What Can Other Science Weapons Do?

The team at Obsidian isn’t currently sharing any specific of science weapons beyond the shrink ray. However, we do know that one of the melee options is internally referred to as “the Ugly Stick,” so that hints at some interesting effects. We also know that the threshold for craziness is pretty high – you can’t just add some goofy ammo and make the cut. “We had one science weapon that didn’t go far enough, and now it’s a regular weapon in the game,” Cain says. “The Force Ultimatum. It was originally going to be a science weapon because it shot out bouncing fireballs. It’s fun! But it’s not crazy enough.”

How Do You Get Them?

Explore. Finish optional tasks. Go looking for trouble. Some science weapons are easier to find than others, but most of them aren’t handed to you through the course of the main campaign. “They’re a little rarer,” says lead designer Charles Staples. “They’re off the beaten path sometimes. But if you’re exploring, these are some pretty big rewards for finding those side quests.”

Who Should Use Them?

Normally, a weapon’s effectiveness is based on your character’s proficiency with its category – handguns, for example. But because science weapons draw from your science skill instead, traditionally combat-focused builds won’t get the most out them. ““These are designed by scientists, for scientists,” Cain says. “Because we were worried, like, ‘are they going to be able to hold their own in combat with science, engineering, and medical [skills]? What are they going to do in combat?’ Well, they find weapons like this.”

Alternately, you can give science weapons to your companions. In that case, you have less control, because you're at the mercy of your allies' whims in terms when/how they actually use the weapons. But if your own science skill is abysmal, this might be a more efficient way to deploy them.

spacerschoice.jpg


Where Do They Come From?
Corporations are powerful in The Outer Worlds, and they like to put their logos and/or slogans on almost anything. “Everything else is branded, but the science weapons, not so much,” Staples says. “They’re sort of one-offs, and they’re not branded.” There’s a single exception to this. One weapon was made by a (currently unspecified) company as a prototype, but it proved too expensive to mass-produce – so it was hidden instead.

Can You Improve Them?

Yes. In addition to increasing your science skill to improve effects, you can also tinker with the science weapons (and other things). “Every item has a level, and if you tinker with it, you can make that level go up, and it makes its damage slightly increase,” Cain says. “So, scientists will almost certainly want to tinker with theirs and raise the level. These are just designed to make that sort of character super fun. So if you want to play Spaceman Spiff, we’ve got everything set up for you.”

How Many Are There?

Current plans include five science weapons – one for each category of weapon. Those categories are: light melee, heavy melee, handgun (this one is the shrink ray), long gun, and heavy gun. However, players may see more down the line. “If these turn out to be popular, we could easily put additional ones out as DLC, so instead of one of every category, maybe we’d have two or three,” Cain says. But at release, be on the lookout for those core five.

For more on The Outer Worlds, click on the banner below for more exclusive features during our month of coverage.
 
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Self-Ejected

aweigh

Self-Ejected
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Messages
17,978
Location
Florida
Nickel Odeon

oh wow. just got that. I know what an odeon is!!!

anyway, i WISH this game had vats. I much prefer the way that let you target body parts and queue actions that executed in order instead of just generic slow-mo.
 

glass blackbird

Learned
Patron
Joined
Apr 9, 2015
Messages
664
PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015
Yeah, a nickelodeon was basically a cheap single theater where they'd show a bunch of different stuff on a continual loop. You'd show up, pay five cents, and just go inside and stay for however long you wanted; maybe the show would be just starting or it'd be in the middle, or they'd be in intermission and some vaudeville chicks would come out and dance. They're a big part of how movies changed from being a novelty thing for the rich to something for everybody. Interesting stuff.


Not sure why they called the channel that, but their old logo was actually a picture of a 1920s guy looking at a nickelodeon box so it's definitely intentional.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,660
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that people only started to complain about the quality of Obsidian’s writing in their more recent isometric games. Maybe it’s easier to write cinematic dialogue, maybe budgetary concerns force you to write tighter dialogue in a first person perspective game, or maybe full voice acting plus facial animations elevate writing that would be a lot less compelling as pure text.

Losing MCA was obviously a real blow, but even if you hated the writing in POE/Tyranny/Deadfire, those were qualitatively different experiences from New Vegas or Alpha Protocol or KOTOR2 or MOTB. Talking heads vs voiced text in an isometric view.
Counterpoints: Storm of Zehir (all Annie), Dungeon Siege III (Feargus demanded blandness).
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
The combat system reminds me of modern VATS, but it looks like it can actually work well in a first person action game.

Overall combat is okay I think, but it's up to other things like story, writing and quest design to make it into something on the level of New Vegas.
 

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