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

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Perhaps they needed to run over it with a fine tooth comb to avoid accidentally having anything particularly novel or interesting squeeze through.
 

DalekFlay

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Played a couple hours and fought nothing. Like Old World Blues it starts with a ton of exposition and dialog. New area looks nice enough, has a little salvager bar so it's not all wilderness. There are BioShock style audio logs now. Setup works well for an in-it-for-the-money scoundrel. Writing seems like more Outer Worlds, nothing special to report there yet. Yes the two biggest characters I've met so far were women. Oh and a lot of the women have long hair now (pinned up mostly), it would be amusing if that was a criticism they actually cared about.

For some reason the patch/DLC breaks the .ini file edits, so I've got companion HUD shit and chromatic aberration back and editing them again doesn't seem to work.
 

RapineDel

Augur
Joined
Jan 11, 2017
Messages
423
10 months to make a 6 hour DLC? What took so long?

Probably had a skeleton crew working on it since it's likely a contractual obligation they're fulfilling for Private Division and a low priority compared to future Microsoft stuff.

Time will tell if that was the case or if Microsoft actually think its worth investing in and doing more Outer Worlds in the future.
 

DalekFlay

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Outer Worlds wasn't a 100+ hour Bethesda game. I am pretty slow at these games and do everything and I think my final time first run was like 30-something. So a 6 hour DLC... which will likely take me twice that... isn't some shocking thing.

Played a couple more hours. If you were hoping it was a Fallout 4 situation where Far Harbor was better than the main game in a lot of ways then no, it's not that. It's more Outer Worlds in every way. The Joss Whedon writing, the women all being geniuses and the men all being idiots, the supplies being fucking everywhere so they don't matter at all, shooting marauders with your weapon of choice with zero difficulty involved, etc. They said it was basically another Monarch and that seems to be roughly the case, though without the towns. Also they upped the max skill points to 150 for each skill, but if you're starting the DLC at level 30 like me then the new level cap of 33 doesn't give you enough points to max any of them. There's 150 level locks everywhere, too.
 

jf8350143

Liturgist
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
1,277
I have the XGP and tried to bought expansion pass from windows store. And for some reason it didn't charge me anything, despite ask me for a payment method. I tried it and were being able to start the DLC with no problem.

So is the expansion pass part of the XGP?
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
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Messages
35,660
Probably had a skeleton crew working on it since it's likely a contractual obligation they're fulfilling for Private Division and a low priority compared to future Microsoft stuff.

Time will tell if that was the case or if Microsoft actually think its worth investing in and doing more Outer Worlds in the future.

DLC typically has nothing but skeleton crew working on them. It shouldn't take 10 months for six hours though. 10 months is enough for expansion-sized content. Dead Money was released two months after New Vegas, Honest Hearts five months after that, Old World Blues two months after that, Lonesome Road two months after that. It took the Perils of Gorgon team the same amount of time to make one six hour DLC as the time it took the New Vegas team to make four five-to-six-hour DLCs.

Oh and lest you think this is a "Chris Avellone is a fast writer" thing, Bethesda released five 3-5 hour Fallout 3 DLCs and one five-hour, one fifteen-hour, and one seventeen-hour Fallout 4 DLC in the same amount of time.
 
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Sigourn

uooh afficionado
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I'm a leftist but extreme SJW writing has been ruining quite a few games because the writers think everyone cares about the same issues they do.
Many of us don't need to have ugly women shoved in our faces to understand that videogame women tend to be very attractive.

I heard one of the writers said that in this #MeToo world some aspects of a certain quest had to be rewritten altogether.
 

DalekFlay

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I'm a leftist but extreme SJW writing has been ruining quite a few games because the writers think everyone cares about the same issues they do.
Many of us don't need to have ugly women shoved in our faces to understand that videogame women tend to be very attractive.

I heard one of the writers said that in this #MeToo world some aspects of a certain quest had to be rewritten altogether.

Funny thing is there's basically zero commentary on race, sexuality or trans issues to my memory. Also the left/right political divide is pretty jumbled with criticisms of all aspects. It's just VERY focused on feminist ideals. I'd assume a bunch of the writers were Jezebel readers or actual cucks.

Edit: Infinitron you know I'm not an anti-SJW crusader like some here, but there's just no way not to see a constant message of female superiority in this game. It's everywhere.
 

Sigourn

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Funny thing is there's basically zero commentary on race, sexuality or trans issues to my memory. Also the left/right political divide is pretty jumbled with criticisms of all aspects. It's just VERY focused on feminist ideals. I'd assume a bunch of the writers were Jezebel readers or actual cucks.

Yeah, this is a big problem for me. I like political commentary but not when the political commentary is not something I'm particularly interested in, and if the female characters in TOW do nothing but reinforce feminist ideals, I can't say I'll find them interesting. Likewise if I have the only faction composed of white guys be a KKK-equilvanet, or the only faction composed of black guys be a commentary against slavery and shit.
 

DalekFlay

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Yeah, this is a big problem for me. I like political commentary but not when the political commentary is not something I'm particularly interested in, and if the female characters in TOW do nothing but reinforce feminist ideals, I can't say I'll find them interesting. Likewise if I have the only faction composed of white guys be a KKK-equilvanet, or the only faction composed of black guys be a commentary against slavery and shit.

Yeah, bad or simplistic writing is just bad or simplistic writing. Even the "SJW" example everyone loves to use with Beamdog and Siege of Whatever with the tranny witch... a mage using magic to change gender is actually a decent concept, the problem is they wrote it poorly, like a Huffington Post advert. Outer Worlds feels like all those "dumb husband" commercials where the wife has to teach him a lesson by the end of it. It's like a "future is female" shirt wrote a game.
 
Self-Ejected

Kazuki

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Aug 11, 2014
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850
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Indofood
There's serious issue in this game that have been raised by many user, they can't based the game succes based on sales which is mostly because microsoft gamepass and external factor (bethesda fuckup).

And based on new dlc so far, they learned nothing which is very disappointing.
 

Infinitron

I post news
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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
Edit: Infinitron you know I'm not an anti-SJW crusader like some here, but there's just no way not to see a constant message of female superiority in this game. It's everywhere.

The game's two most important characters: A tough-as-nails woman at the head of a corporation, and a befuddled male scientist. Which one of these is the good guy again?

Yes, The Outer Worlds has many female characters who are portrayed as hypercompetent and in charge. What many people don't seem to notice is that what these women are competent at is climbing the career ladder in a parodically malevolent clown world corporation. The idealistically goofy guys - the Phineas Wellses, the Sanjar Nandis, even the misguided ones like Graham Bryant the leader of the Iconoclasts - they're the real heroes of this setting.

An exchange from Shoutbox last week:

Sep 1, 2020 at 12:29 PM - @Kev Inkline: i think saying 'engineering' is pushing it, i find it hard to believe like game writers have a set conscious agenda of re-educatiing, i agree with 'tron that it's just the way they think "this is the story i want to tell" and they're so deep in their worldview they might not even realize it
Sep 1, 2020 at 12:31 PM - @Infinitron: Kev Inkline: P much. I mean usually. These people aren't so sophisticated, it's not hard to tell what's authentic and what isn't
Sep 1, 2020 at 12:35 PM - @Infinitron: For example, The Outer Worlds' setting full of no-nonsense career women middle managers and idealistic goofball male leaders struck me as being pretty authentic to how society actually looks like in certain fields in the 21st century
Sep 1, 2020 at 12:35 PM - @Infinitron: I resist that being described as "forced SJW agenda"
Sep 1, 2020 at 12:36 PM - @agentorange: outer worlds is more soy and poz than it is sjw
Sep 1, 2020 at 12:36 PM - @Infinitron: I can agree with that

(the "soy" part, at least)
 
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DalekFlay

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The game's two most important characters: A tough-as-nails woman at the head of a corporation, and a befuddled male scientist. Which one of these is the good guy again?

Yes, The Outer Worlds has many female characters who are portrayed as hypercompetent. What many people don't seem to notice is that what these women are competent at is climbing the career ladder in a parodically malevolent clown world corporation. The idealistically goofy guys - the Phineas Wellses, the Sanjar Nandis, even the misguided ones like Graham Bryant the leader of the Iconoclasts - they're the real heroes of this setting.

An exchange from Shoutbox last week:

I think it goes beyond the corporate types, even the head of the rebel faction is a doofus and his female second in command is actually the brains behind the operation. In the DLC the head of the facility was a woman whose daughter took over and the father is barely mentioned, you quickly meet a woman who is running things on the ground, then your first side quest in the wilderness is from a crew whose male captain is an idiot and fucking up and the smart female pilot belittling him asks you to help. It invades every aspect of the game in my opinion, not just the corporate politics. I do agree with your chat log though, I don't think they set out with a clear agenda really, and if I asked them on Twitter about it they'd probably be baffled by the idea in general. I think it's just default California liberal arts major female writing that doesn't examine itself. I'd still say that's poor, surface level writing though.
 

Infinitron

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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
I think it goes beyond the corporate types, even the head of the rebel faction is a doofus and his female second in command is actually the brains behind the operation.

Which rebel faction, the Iconoclasts? Like I said, he's the heart of the operation. If you arrange peace between MSI and Iconoclasts, his female second-in-command (Zora Blackwell) will mourn his fate and admit that she never would have been able to bring the group together like he did.

In the Outer Worlds, whether doofuses or not, it's the men who have the most soul. That's why I believe the game's writing isn't intended to be mean-spiritedly agenda-driven. It's just millennials writing about the gender archetypes they're familiar with in real life: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...s-boys-even-stem-subjects-study-finds-n912891
 

111111111

Guest
Funny thing is there's basically zero commentary on race, sexuality or trans issues to my memory. Also the left/right political divide is pretty jumbled with criticisms of all aspects. It's just VERY focused on feminist ideals. I'd assume a bunch of the writers were Jezebel readers or actual cucks.

Yeah, this is a big problem for me. I like political commentary but not when the political commentary is not something I'm particularly interested in, and if the female characters in TOW do nothing but reinforce feminist ideals, I can't say I'll find them interesting. Likewise if I have the only faction composed of white guys be a KKK-equilvanet, or the only faction composed of black guys be a commentary against slavery and shit.

Man, I really do not understand how people are so very engrossed in the lore let alone `political commentary` of this IP. The game's universe is like some whacko Rick n Morty fanfic. The towns like Byzantium and Edgewater are populated by less than half of an average Bethesda city. Every NPC has cartoonish personalities that I frankly can't bring myself to care about.

Funniest thing was the ending said the colony would thrive by my hand even after I played as a STRICT murderhobo that gunned down every single thing in my path
 

DalekFlay

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Which rebel faction, the Iconoclasts? Like I said, he's the heart of the operation. If you arrange peace between MSI and Iconoclasts, his female second-in-command (Zora Blackwell) will mourn his fate and admit that she never would have been able to bring the group together like he did.

In the Outer Worlds, whether doofuses or not, it's the men who have the most soul. That's why I believe the game's writing isn't intended to be mean-spiritedly agenda-driven. It's just millennials writing about the gender archetypes they're familiar with in real life: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...s-boys-even-stem-subjects-study-finds-n912891

I understand what you're saying and don't even necessarily disagree with it, I just think it pervades the game's writing to the point where it harms the quality. I just played another couple hours of the DLC and the pattern continues... hunt down two scientists, one is a smart and logical female and the other a drug addict weirdo male. Walking through a merc camp and the guy shooting a target is an idiot who can't hit anything while the female crack shot of the team mocks him. Whether it's based on real life social gender changes or not, it's just too on the nose and repetitive to feel well done IMO. Obviously it doesn't turn me off the game or anything like it would for many drama queens, but I do think it harms the writing. Which is a shame because the corporate satire is done pretty well I think.
 

Avarize

Magister
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Nov 17, 2019
Messages
1,504
Location
Handmaid's Tale
Maybe all the male characters are different versions of Sawyer.
Many of us don't need to have ugly women shoved in our faces to understand that videogame women tend to be very attractive.
At least as men we can play a game see characters that look like us instead of some unattainable standard of beauty that women have to compare themselves to. Characters like Kratos, Duke Nukem or the entire Gears of War cast being some of the best examples. As we all know, even the most diminutive codexer has 24 inch pythons.
 

KVVRR

Learned
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Apr 28, 2020
Messages
594
Which rebel faction, the Iconoclasts? Like I said, he's the heart of the operation. If you arrange peace between MSI and Iconoclasts, his female second-in-command (Zora Blackwell) will mourn his fate and admit that she never would have been able to bring the group together like he did.

In the Outer Worlds, whether doofuses or not, it's the men who have the most soul. That's why I believe the game's writing isn't intended to be mean-spiritedly agenda-driven. It's just millennials writing about the gender archetypes they're familiar with in real life: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heal...s-boys-even-stem-subjects-study-finds-n912891

I understand what you're saying and don't even necessarily disagree with it, I just think it pervades the game's writing to the point where it harms the quality. I just played another couple hours of the DLC and the pattern continues... hunt down two scientists, one is a smart and logical female and the other a drug addict weirdo male. Walking through a merc camp and the guy shooting a target is an idiot who can't hit anything while the female crack shot of the team mocks him. Whether it's based on real life social gender changes or not, it's just too on the nose and repetitive to feel well done IMO. Obviously it doesn't turn me off the game or anything like it would for many drama queens, but I do think it harms the writing. Which is a shame because the corporate satire is done pretty well I think.
Now that you mention it I don't think I can recall any female characters which acted as morons within the game. Some quirky, some stoic, some weird, but none stupid, and it's weird because I do recall a few male characters that acted that way.
There certainly were no female characters as annoying as fucking Felix, or as dumb as the guy who hated automatons.
 

Sigourn

uooh afficionado
Joined
Feb 6, 2016
Messages
5,625
Man, I really do not understand how people are so very engrossed in the lore let alone `political commentary` of this IP. The game's universe is like some whacko Rick n Morty fanfic. The towns like Byzantium and Edgewater are populated by less than half of an average Bethesda city. Every NPC has cartoonish personalities that I frankly can't bring myself to care about.

Funniest thing was the ending said the colony would thrive by my hand even after I played as a STRICT murderhobo that gunned down every single thing in my path

People think I'm just being edgy when I say it, but I genuinely mean it: the reveal trailer for The Outer Worlds was everything I needed to know the game was going to be 1) Mediocre, 2) Disappointing (naturally), 3) Cringe. You already got the tone of the game and the basic gameplay (which hasn't really evolved since New Vegas). But none of the elements that made Fallout genuinely interesting, and without the budget that makes Bethesda games somewhat interesting to explore.
 

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