Outward - open world RPG where you are an ordinary adventurer and survival is harsh

[deama]

Man, I just cannot really get into this game. Some of the premises seem very nice, but the absolutely retarded combat system just kills my enjoyment.

1. What is up with with horrible animations? I don't mean aesthetically, I mean functionally. After you swing a weapon, it takes forever to bring it back up to block, shields too in some cases. Considering most enemies often attack non-stop, any time you attempt to attack them, they get a hit in, because your attack doesn't stop them either. Also, half the time after blocking, your weapon doesn't attack when you click it, unless you delay yourself.

2. The target lock doesn't work at all with the enemy AI. As soon as you lock in, the other enemy (since they are often in groups) runs around and starts massaging your back with his spear/fangs/whatever. So you gotta lock/unlock constantly like a retard. Would it have been too much to design some kind of an auto locking system?

3. A fucking roll as a basic defensive move? How annoying is this? Nobody rolls in melee combat as a regular thing... So to one up themselves, the other basic move is a kick? They took 2 niche things that might happen rarely, and made the whole combat system revolve around them...

4. Actual skill moves (like Pommel Strike and Counterstrike) which require timing have ridiculously long cooldowns (something like 2 minutes), making them relatively useless in most combats. They also seem to not work according to description.

Anyways, between all this shit and death causing you to respawn half the world away without your stuff, it doesn't seem like a fun game.

P.S. Inb4 some retard goes: "Oh, you are doing it wrong, if you drink these 4 teas and eat this food, and apply this rag to your weapon before the fight, and then attack using this special dagger with the kick ability, then you can defeat anything..."

Yeah, the game has problems for sure, hoping they fix it in the sequel, especially since they should have a bigger budget the next time.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

P.S. Inb4 some retard goes: "Oh, you are doing it wrong, if you drink these 4 teas and eat this food, and apply this rag to your weapon before the fight, and then attack using this special dagger with the kick ability, then you can defeat anything..."

Well if the system is indeed built to have heavy emphasis on preparations, then yes you are doing it wrong

 

[General Disarray]

Yeah it's a buff combat game, like BG2.

 

[Ontopoly]

Sounds like you want a hack and slash popamole. You can't just Dodge or block right after attacking, you need to time things and attacking will make you vulnerable. And of course the enemies are going to surround you. This isn't some honorable duel

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Sounds like you want a hack and slash popamole. You can't just Dodge or block right after attacking, you need to time things and attacking will make you vulnerable. And of course the enemies are going to surround you. This isn't some honorable duel

This is the kind of mindless response fanboys make. What does it even mean? If you can't attack after blocking/dodging, or block after attacking, when CAN you attack or block? What does timing involve then? Because in Outward, enemies have no stamina concerns or stagger, they keep attacking non stop in many cases.

And the point isn't that they surround you, it's that the shitty targetting system makes it extremely unfun to deal with them surrounding you while still fighting.

 

[Ontopoly]

They absolutely have a stagger meter and the fact that you don't understand it means you failed at being good at the game and instead of asking for advice or learning you just came here and bitched. You can block when you're not already in an action. When you perform an action you have to commit to the full action before being able to do anything else which is where the timing comes from. You need to make sure you have enough time and attack at the right moment so that you don't get punished.

Why not just ask for advice rather than complain that the game is shit without understanding it?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

You are the one who is not understanding anything I write:

"They absolutely have a stagger meter"

Stagger meter is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, because it's an accumulative thing, you need to land multiple hits/abilities to get it to kick in. Which is retardedly hard/boring because your individual attacks do not stagger the enemy, meaning any attack you do, they just attack right back through it.

"You can block when you're not already in an action."

Thank you, captain obvious, but once again, that wasn't what I was talking about. What I am saying is that AFTER your attack is done, there is a huge delay before you can block, and AFTER your block is lowered, there is a delay before you can attack. Which is terrible implementation for any action combat system.

Tbh, fanboys like you are amusing, it's patently obvious to anyone with half a brain that the combat is Outward is atrocious (much more to someone like me, who has played many different aRPGs, but you can also check out all the gam reviews, pretty much everyone agrees it's horrible), but you guys keep trotting out some weird rationalizations for why it's so horrible: oh, it's meant to be like this to make the player more careful in their actions, bla bla bla. Yeah, ok.

You know why it's actually like this? Because they are a tiny company without resources, and they made some terrible design decisions when it comes to combat at least.

 

[Ontopoly]

Thank you, captain obvious, but once again, that wasn't what I was talking about. What I am saying is that AFTER your attack is done, there is a huge delay before you can block, and AFTER your block is lowered, there is a delay before you can attack. Which is terrible implementation for any action combat system.

You just described it. You didn't say how it is bad, just that it is. Just sounds like you wanted a hack and slash without commitment and didn't do your research before buying the game. You're citing reviewers for whether a game is good or bad? Where are we. It's obviously just not for you. Do more research next time or waste your money. That's how gaming goes. The combat is enjoyable to plenty of people, it's just a niche game. Sounds like you're just shit at the game and aren't willing to get any better. I had trouble with it when I first started but now that I understand it's a lot more rewarding than a lot of other arpgs. It makes sense to me physically and from a gameplay perspective why you wouldn't be able to block immediately after. There are plenty of games that let you cut animations before they are over, this just isn't one of those games.

Your posts just come off as being a cry baby because you had a hard time and refused to get better or ask for advice

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

No, you sound like a cry baby, because someone objectively points out a major flaw about a game you like. This is not even up for debate, bro, google Outward and combat, the first 5 million results are about how it sucks.

 

[fork]

Man, I just cannot really get into this game. Some of the premises seem very nice, but the absolutely retarded combat system just kills my enjoyment.

1. What is up with with horrible animations? I don't mean aesthetically, I mean functionally. After you swing a weapon, it takes forever to bring it back up to block, shields too in some cases. Considering most enemies often attack non-stop, any time you attempt to attack them, they get a hit in, because your attack doesn't stop them either. Also, half the time after blocking, your weapon doesn't attack when you click it, unless you delay yourself.

2. The target lock doesn't work at all with the enemy AI. As soon as you lock in, the other enemy (since they are often in groups) runs around and starts massaging your back with his spear/fangs/whatever. So you gotta lock/unlock constantly like a retard. Would it have been too much to design some kind of an auto locking system?

3. A fucking roll as a basic defensive move? How annoying is this? Nobody rolls in melee combat as a regular thing... So to one up themselves, the other basic move is a kick? They took 2 niche things that might happen rarely, and made the whole combat system revolve around them...

4. Actual skill moves (like Pommel Strike and Counterstrike) which require timing have ridiculously long cooldowns (something like 2 minutes), making them relatively useless in most combats. They also seem to not work according to description.

Anyways, between all this shit and death causing you to respawn half the world away without your stuff, it doesn't seem like a fun game.

P.S. Inb4 some retard goes: "Oh, you are doing it wrong, if you drink these 4 teas and eat this food, and apply this rag to your weapon before the fight, and then attack using this special dagger with the kick ability, then you can defeat anything..."

TL;DR: The game is shit.

 

[Ontopoly]

"Guys, I need people to tell me that combat sucks, which is why I do a quick google search about combat to make my feelings feel validated"

If you search up outward combat obviously all the posts are going to be about people complaining because it's a unique hard game and most gamers just aren't willing to put time or effort into these things. I don't need people to tell me whether something is good or not, and I'm certainly not going to get my opinions from random people on reddit or the steam forum about gameplay.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Lol, you should just give up.

"If you search up outward combat obviously all the posts are going to be about people complaining because it's a unique hard game..."

How come it doesn't work like that with unique hard games like Dark Souls, Sekiro, Nioh? Oh, that's right, because those are GOOD combat systems.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

Sekiro

those are GOOD combat systems

Porky, you don't even know what you know

Anyway
From the little I played Outward's combat has major flaws, but it wasn't has aggressively bad as you're making it out to be
They seemed to be going the Requiem route of: "we might not have the resources to make the combat the most engaging experience by itself (ie. has a action system) but we can make it immediately engaging in the resource managment field and therefore in the players sense of risk/reward"
In fact most of the game's systems seem to be geared towards the survival element rather than anything else
Plus I get the impression any character should dabble in some form of magic, as not only that early game gives alot of opportunities for it, and reading the wiki they seem to have good to great lengths to make a kind of "spell synergy" system of all available abilities

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

The combat is utter shit. Using the "survival" excuse is disingenuous. You CAN say that combat is not so important in this game because the focus is more on survival and resource management and so on, but to act like the combat system is not utter shit is just... sad.

 

[Zanzoken]

Been interested in this game for a while and GOG just e-mailed me a coupon for the base game + all DLCs for $20. Worth it?

For reference my favorite RPGs are Morrowind, Gothics, ELEX, Age of Decadence, Deus Ex, KOTORs. Also really like Mount & Blade and Kenshi.

 

[Ontopoly]

Been interested in this game for a while and GOG just e-mailed me a coupon for the base game + all DLCs for $20. Worth it?

For reference my favorite RPGs are Morrowind, Gothics, ELEX, Age of Decadence, Deus Ex, KOTORs. Also really like Mount & Blade and Kenshi.

Lots of walking. The last dlc is shit. First dlc is great. Other than that it's a fun game. Has some interesting and cool dungeons spread out a bit and a decent amount of variety of enemies when it's not bandits.

 

[Zanzoken]

Been interested in this game for a while and GOG just e-mailed me a coupon for the base game + all DLCs for $20. Worth it?

For reference my favorite RPGs are Morrowind, Gothics, ELEX, Age of Decadence, Deus Ex, KOTORs. Also really like Mount & Blade and Kenshi.

Lots of walking. The last dlc is shit. First dlc is great. Other than that it's a fun game. Has some interesting and cool dungeons spread out a bit and a decent amount of variety of enemies when it's not bandits.

All right, sounds like it's worth a try. Here goes!

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

You have to have the right mindset to enjoy Outward. If you go into it wanting good stuff, you will probably be disappointed. The combat system sucks, the writing is bleh, the exploration is not that great either. But if you go into it as a challenge, trying to survive in an inhospitable world with tons of various difficulties and obstacles, then there is some enjoyment to be had I suppose.

 

[Zanzoken]

I can handle a certain amount of pain if the underlying gameplay is good enough to redeem it. Some games are just janky, or strict in how they want to be played.

I have a feeling I am either going to love Outward, or hate it immensely. Installing now so we'll find out soon enough.

 

[Ontopoly]

I have a feeling I am either going to love Outward, or hate it immensely. Installing now so we'll find out soon enough.

This sums it up. It's very divisive and everybody seems to feel strongly for this game, either for it or against it

 

[hello friend]

You have to have the right mindset to enjoy Outward. If you go into it wanting good stuff, you will probably be disappointed. The combat system sucks, the writing is bleh, the exploration is not that great either. But if you go into it as a challenge, trying to survive in an inhospitable world with tons of various difficulties and obstacles, then there is some enjoyment to be had I suppose.

lmao you sound like you didn't even play the game past 10 minutes. The combat isn't great - real time melee combat rarely is, and Outward is not a particularly egregious example. As others have pointed out, it doesn't seem like you understand the system at all. Which is strange, as it's not very complex, and yet you've managed to not pick up on any of it. You can stagger enemies fairly often, by the way. Weapon choice matters. Some weapons work better for certain enemy types. If an enemy is too fast, get a longer weapon, giving you more time to react. Use poisons. Use traps. Use something more than just spamming the attack button. It's funny you talk about survival as one of the selling points of the game. Survival outside of combat is trivially easy, food or temperature is never a problem after the very very early game. It's a neat enough system, but tuned much too generously.

The writing is nothing to write home about, but on the plus side it's sparse enough that you can spend your gaming session on actual gameplay. Most games these days have terrible writing, lots of it, and will push it on you at every opportunity. Being able to just get right into it can be refreshing, in a way.

The walking is what gets you, in the end. There are no carriages, no boats, no mounts, no way at all to quickly get from point a to point b. The tedium of it eventually starts sucking all the fun from your bones until you realise you're just going through the motions and quickly uninstall.

You should be ashamed Porky. I'm not even good at playing games.

 

[DJOGamer PT]

The combat isn't great - real time melee combat rarely is,

Only thing I disagree about your post
Meele action is difficult to pull off in a very good manner sure, but it's not rare to see good games at it

 

[toro]

You have to have the right mindset to enjoy Outward. If you go into it wanting good stuff, you will probably be disappointed. The combat system sucks, the writing is bleh, the exploration is not that great either. But if you go into it as a challenge, trying to survive in an inhospitable world with tons of various difficulties and obstacles, then there is some enjoyment to be had I suppose.

lmao you sound like you didn't even play the game past 10 minutes. The combat isn't great - real time melee combat rarely is...

i stopped reading right there...

 

[Decado]

Man, I just cannot really get into this game. Some of the premises seem very nice, but the absolutely retarded combat system just kills my enjoyment.

1. What is up with with horrible animations? I don't mean aesthetically, I mean functionally. After you swing a weapon, it takes forever to bring it back up to block, shields too in some cases. Considering most enemies often attack non-stop, any time you attempt to attack them, they get a hit in, because your attack doesn't stop them either. Also, half the time after blocking, your weapon doesn't attack when you click it, unless you delay yourself.

2. The target lock doesn't work at all with the enemy AI. As soon as you lock in, the other enemy (since they are often in groups) runs around and starts massaging your back with his spear/fangs/whatever. So you gotta lock/unlock constantly like a retard. Would it have been too much to design some kind of an auto locking system?

3. A fucking roll as a basic defensive move? How annoying is this? Nobody rolls in melee combat as a regular thing... So to one up themselves, the other basic move is a kick? They took 2 niche things that might happen rarely, and made the whole combat system revolve around them...

4. Actual skill moves (like Pommel Strike and Counterstrike) which require timing have ridiculously long cooldowns (something like 2 minutes), making them relatively useless in most combats. They also seem to not work according to description.

Anyways, between all this shit and death causing you to respawn half the world away without your stuff, it doesn't seem like a fun game.

P.S. Inb4 some retard goes: "Oh, you are doing it wrong, if you drink these 4 teas and eat this food, and apply this rag to your weapon before the fight, and then attack using this special dagger with the kick ability, then you can defeat anything..."

These are all valid criticisms, imo. I bounced off this game a few times before like the third try, and then it got its hooks in me good. I don't know why.

Because the combat is janky and annoying. My recommendation for a first-time player is to roll a vanilla tank. You can upgrade your blocking skill and health/stam, as well as get some really good armor (Blue Sand armor) in the starting area.

The other aspects of the game are quite cool and are done very well -- open world with no fast travel and a limited map, difficult enemies, weight limits, food/drink requirements, weather interactions, etc. All of that stuff is fucking cool. There's a great feeling of accomplishment after you make it to a city after walking through the night, fighting off a pack of wolves, getting diseased, using your last bandage, bag is too fucking heavy, and you can barely walk. They nailed the combination of desperation/accomplishment.

But yeah, combat is really tough and not in a carefully-balanced kind of way. For a beginner I'd say your best bet is tanking, or using a high impact weapon to knock enemies prone. But once you get the hang of it, you can have some fun. I did gunslinger playthrough where I relied on four different pistols and just blasted enemies so by the time they got to me, I could finish them off with a sword stroke. Felt pretty fucking swashbuckling.

Anyway, they do need to fix combat in the sequel. And the last DLC is shit, nobody should buy it.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

lmao you sound like you didn't even play the game past 10 minutes. The combat isn't great - real time melee combat rarely is, and Outward is not a particularly egregious example.

That's funny cause I can think of a ton of games with excellent melee combat systems off the top of my head: Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Dark Souls 1-3, Sekiro, Dragon's Dogma, Mount & Blade: Warband, Breath of the Wild, Severance: Dark Blade, Nioh, etc.

As others have pointed out, it doesn't seem like you understand the system at all.

It seems to me as though you don't understand me. I understand quite well that if you do certain things, you can be successful in Outward combat, in fact I end my original post with that exact statement. But doing those things doesn't make for a good combat system. A real time action combat system has to meet certain criteria when it comes to animation quality, timing, fluidity and dynamism. Outward combat fails at all of these, and just because it can be mastered in terms of in-game success via using various approaches doesn't invalidate the fact that it still sucks.