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

[lukaszek]

game is way to clunky to consider perma death. Also wait until you reach one of the game bosses and die because you have no experience figuring out attack pattern. Or because controls were clunky

 

[Zombra]

Hardcore shouldn't even be an option for a first playthrough, but hey, more options is always better right?

 

[Ontopoly]

game is way to clunky to consider perma death.

Skill issue

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I did what I do best and ignored everyone's advice. It just doesn't feel right to play a survival game without perma-death, to me it'd be like playing an MMO all by myself.

This is gonna end horribly.

Just cleared the bandit camp and the trog cave without any trouble. Cheesing every encounter I can, of course, as that's what the game encourages. The cave was pretty fun. Dark, disorienting. Didn't take any chances with the master trog, it was all done with traps and arrows, and I had an escape plan if necessary(he didn't get close). At its best the game feels like Gothic, bettter in some ways. The overworld map though is just pure MMO, with none of the interesting Piranha Bytes area design. At least I haven't seen it yet.

The worst part of the game by far is the time spent going back to town to sell loot, but even going from your house to the vendors takes too much time. I thought about getting a second bag just for loot runs, but then I'd leave all my stuff just laying around in the map. I'm afraid it'd simply vanish when I got back. I suppose that never happens, RIGHT?

 

[lukaszek]

This is gonna end horribly.

depends on your goals really. Game is really good in first area and if thats your scope then permadeath should be fine.

 

[Ontopoly]

I did what I do best and ignored everyone's advice. It just doesn't feel right to play a survival game without perma-death, to me it'd be like playing an MMO all by myself.

This is gonna end horribly.

Just cleared the bandit camp and the trog cave without any trouble. Cheesing every encounter I can, of course, as that's what the game encourages. The cave was pretty fun. Dark, disorienting. Didn't take any chances with the master trog, it was all done with traps and arrows, and I had an escape plan if necessary(he didn't get close). At its best the game feels like Gothic, bettter in some ways. The overworld map though is just pure MMO, with none of the interesting Piranha Bytes area design. At least I haven't seen it yet.

The worst part of the game by far is the time spent going back to town to sell loot, but even going from your house to the vendors takes too much time. I thought about getting a second bag just for loot runs, but then I'd leave all my stuff just laying around in the map. I'm afraid it'd simply vanish when I got back. I suppose that never happens, RIGHT?

I still wouldn't recommend hardcore mode, but fair enough! Hope you have fun. Have you decided which path you're going to take? 3 came with the original and 1 came later on in dlc.

Bags used to never disappear if placed on the floor in town but they changed that with the DE update. The floors refresh after some amount of days now. I used to use it for free storage all the time. You'll have to make due with home storage unless you're willing to cheese the game by abusing multiplayer to store things.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I did what I do best and ignored everyone's advice. It just doesn't feel right to play a survival game without perma-death, to me it'd be like playing an MMO all by myself.

This is gonna end horribly.

Just cleared the bandit camp and the trog cave without any trouble. Cheesing every encounter I can, of course, as that's what the game encourages. The cave was pretty fun. Dark, disorienting. Didn't take any chances with the master trog, it was all done with traps and arrows, and I had an escape plan if necessary(he didn't get close). At its best the game feels like Gothic, bettter in some ways. The overworld map though is just pure MMO, with none of the interesting Piranha Bytes area design. At least I haven't seen it yet.

The worst part of the game by far is the time spent going back to town to sell loot, but even going from your house to the vendors takes too much time. I thought about getting a second bag just for loot runs, but then I'd leave all my stuff just laying around in the map. I'm afraid it'd simply vanish when I got back. I suppose that never happens, RIGHT?

I still wouldn't recommend hardcore mode, but fair enough! Hope you have fun. Have you decided which path you're going to take? 3 came with the original and 1 came later on in dlc.

You mean the factions? No idea about any of that. I'll put off any major decision for as long as I can. I'm basically treating it as a Piranha Bytes game with extra features.

I know there are timed quests and one in particular that puts Cierzo at risk of destruction, including your home. I'm trying to avoid all of that for now.

Bags used to never disappear if placed on the floor in town but they changed that with the DE update. The floors refresh after some amount of days now. I used to use it for free storage all the time. You'll have to make due with home storage unless you're willing to cheese the game by abusing multiplayer to store things.

Hmm, it wouldn't take days normally. My idea was to switch to a new bag, carry all the loot to town, then return to get my stuff. From what you're saying, I'm assuming there are risks in doing even that.

It sucks because every other inventory management simulator in existence has ways to make this process more streamlined, even those that are extremely anal about realism.

 

[Ontopoly]

I think their goal is to make you return to town frequently so it can act as a hub, and encourage you to make decisions about what to keep and what to drop. The dungeons refresh after 7 days so if you think you can make it there in time, then that's something you can try. Keep in mind deaths and resting takes up large amounts of time.

I think you're over thinking everything. It becomes less of a problem later on when you go for more rare items and get bigger bags. I never really found the need to return to a dungeon to loot after I beat it. Although, I've left some stuff behind before.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I just got the bag with 110 storage, so I'm far less constrained now. It's much easier to make money. I also move much faster with the Master Trader outfit and the bird head.

As for overthinking everything, no way around it! I've narrowly avoided death several times now and always come to the conclusion I didn't prepare enough.

This is reminding me of my first playthrough of Kenshi, just figuring things out as I go along. But this one actually forces you to think about what you're doing, unlike Kenshi. It's been pretty fun so far.

I need to figure out enchantments next. I have pretty decent gear, but still can't confidently take on anything stronger than a shrimp.

 

[Ontopoly]

As for overthinking everything, no way around it! I've narrowly avoided death several times now and always come to the conclusion I didn't prepare enough.

I just meant specifically in regards to inventory management. It's always good to be prepared, whether it's traps or elemental damage. The further you go, the more you'll need to prepare.

 

[Raghar]

Is it reasonable to play Hardcore the first time? I don't usually mind starting 50 characters until I get it right, but I found the early game town stuff quite tedious and the prospect of doing it again is putting me off. It feels like this game should've been purely sandbox, instead of a traditional action RPG hybrid.

My first character got killed by one of the Final Fantasy chickens I assumed was a basic one, but instead it killed me in 2 seconds, lol. Apparently there's a 20% of perma-death and I got it the first time. My second got captured by bandits and I woke up in some camp. I tried interacting with the bandits, but they just attacked. Reminded me of Mount & Blade for a second.

Isn't Hardcore about building a wall of fame of people who got run over by random 2 wolves out of village?

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

My char is still kicking, despite a few more close encounters with death. Closest of all was with that big mecha feline in the Foundry in Harmattan(thought I could finish it off after my traps did most of the job)--it hits so hard I got knocked down almost immediately and my HP wheel must've gotten lower than 1/8th at some point--thankfully I managed to scramble away through an opening which the critter couldn't come through.

Second closest was probably getting hit with Crippled and Extreme Bleeding by a pack of assassin bugs I got a bit careless about. I almost couldn't get enough distance to apply a bandage before running out of blood.

Most important factor in staying alive so far was movement speed. I always have Master Trader gear(w/ Pearlbird hat) on while exploring or Entomber if I'm expecting a fight. Anything heavier I probably would've died as soon as I met one of those desert sharks, or any other very fast creature. Obviously, an experienced player would know what creatures to avoid, but when you go blind you must always be ready to run.

I'm also pretty glad I took the Wild Hunter path for the extra 40HP, as that alone is a huge boost to survivability and it definitely saved my ass more than once. I'm still undecided about what other disciplines to take for my melee character. Unfortunately, having to make plans for this, as well as for the armors and enchantments, meant that I started using the wikis. I kind of wish I didn't, although there are certain cases where the game makes it almost mandatory. There's very little ingame info on enchantments and the game doesn't tell you the characteristics of the special armors made by the blacksmiths in each town. Am I supposed to gamble precious resources that take hours to gather just to find out?

Having explored all the main areas, although with many dungeons still to clear, I'd be pretty satisfied with my playthrough even if it ended here. Like Kenshi and Morrowind, this is one of those "knowledge RPGs" where learning the game is the primary challenge and source of fun, and I believe it's best to go blind, except perhaps for some starter tips like "get Fang gear" or "manage your stamina". I agree with others that the game isn't "made for permadeath", in the sense that there's a lot of unfair challenges thrown at the player which are very likely to lead to KO unless the player is exceedingly paranoid and willing to run away on simple tactical calculations. For me this actually made it MORE fun, as it forced me to think outside the box and carefully consider all my options, much like one does IRL when faced with an unfamiliar situation.

Time for the quests. I'm going with the Levant faction as I believe it's good for melee characters and I kind of like its vibe. I'm still undecided on specializations. I'm not going with magic, unless it's for buffs, and want to be as strong as possible with melee, with good offense and defense. Rune Sage looks pretty interesting, but I'm afraid I simply don't have enough hotkeys to make it work. I already have a bunch of cool skills that I never use, it's one of my main gripes with the game.

 

[Ontopoly]

Gilius Thunderhead

Pleasantly surprised you managed to stay alive this long with perma death on and blind. There's still a lot more content that gets a lot more difficult as you go, especially the optional content. Curious to see how far you will get. I hope you at least get to the dlc content this run.

 

[Spike]

Gilius Thunderhead

Pleasantly surprised you managed to stay alive this long with perma death on and blind. There's still a lot more content that gets a lot more difficult as you go, especially the optional content. Curious to see how far you will get. I hope you at least get to the dlc content this run.

I never did beat the optional guys...Nor played the DLC. I will have to make a new character. Not HC though, I am not that crazy.

 

[Ontopoly]

Gilius Thunderhead

Pleasantly surprised you managed to stay alive this long with perma death on and blind. There's still a lot more content that gets a lot more difficult as you go, especially the optional content. Curious to see how far you will get. I hope you at least get to the dlc content this run.

I never did beat the optional guys...Nor played the DLC. I will have to make a new character. Not HC though, I am not that crazy.

The

Optional Bosses

Liches

are fun smaller fights from the base game, where as the Soroboreans DLC and the three brothers DLC each come with entire new areas and some interesting bosses. Three brothers has a lot of cool new enemies and a jump in difficulty. I would highly recommend both, although the three brothers can be tedious because you need to grind for materials. An update apparently made it better since I played it though.

The Soroboreans DLC has a really cool optional Mega dungeon that I would highly recommend. Best part of the game for me. If you haven't done it then I would definitely recommend you do another run. It also comes with an alternate main story path so you'll be seeing new content rather than having to go through old content again just to get to the new stuff.

If you haven't played the game for a long time, you should know at some point they added in a lot of end game optional encounters (That you will probably have to google how to find them), a couple new harder dungeons in the old maps, and increased difficulty of some of the older dungeons so there will be a lot of new stuff for you to do. If you only played it at release like I did then there is a lot of new stuff for you to do since.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Gilius Thunderhead

Pleasantly surprised you managed to stay alive this long with perma death on and blind. There's still a lot more content that gets a lot more difficult as you go, especially the optional content. Curious to see how far you will get. I hope you at least get to the dlc content this run.

Well, I did die my first playthrough against a Cutthroat Pearlbird, lol. That was a valuable lesson: if you find something different, let it fight other stuff first and see what it does. And always make sure you can run faster than it.

I'm voraciously consuming the wiki now, so I'm officially not blind anymore. I'm still trying to avoid anything related to quests and story, though.

I believe I'll go Wild Hunter + Rune Master + Cabal Hermit for maximum tankiness, while still being pretty versatile(i.e a fast tank who hits hard).

 

[Spike]

Gilius Thunderhead

Pleasantly surprised you managed to stay alive this long with perma death on and blind. There's still a lot more content that gets a lot more difficult as you go, especially the optional content. Curious to see how far you will get. I hope you at least get to the dlc content this run.

I never did beat the optional guys...Nor played the DLC. I will have to make a new character. Not HC though, I am not that crazy.

The

Optional Bosses

Liches

are fun smaller fights from the base game, where as the Soroboreans DLC and the three brothers DLC each come with entire new areas and some interesting bosses. Three brothers has a lot of cool new enemies and a jump in difficulty. I would highly recommend both, although the three brothers can be tedious because you need to grind for materials. An update apparently made it better since I played it though.

The Soroboreans DLC has a really cool optional Mega dungeon that I would highly recommend. Best part of the game for me. If you haven't done it then I would definitely recommend you do another run. It also comes with an alternate main story path so you'll be seeing new content rather than having to go through old content again just to get to the new stuff.

If you haven't played the game for a long time, you should know at some point they added in a lot of end game optional encounters (That you will probably have to google how to find them), a couple new harder dungeons in the old maps, and increased difficulty of some the older dungeons so there will be a lot of new stuff for you to do. If you only played it at release like I did then there is a lot of new stuff for you to do since.

This sounds absolutely incredible. I grabbed all the DLC on a sale, but played the game before it came out. I loved the game, it's one of my all-time favorites. Looks like it's time to go back. But yeah, those optional mega-bosses destroyed me. I think I beat one or two. But there was some tough arena guy that I just couldn't beat with my build.
EDIT: I last played in May 2020.

 

[Ontopoly]

But there was some tough arena guy that I just couldn't beat with my build.

If you're talking about the "unknown arena" guys, those can be difficult and require a lot of planning and buffing. Me and my brother did a playthrough where we defeated them all and I'm not sure how I would go about defeating them solo, although they are a lot harder in Co op due to the co op buff. There are 3 for each area and the DLC ones are even harder. lol. If i were to play the game again I don't think I would worry too much about beating them all but it's worth seeing them all.

Outward is one of my all-time favorite games too and if you are like me you will love the mega dungeon. I don't want to spoil it for you but it is in the Soroborean area unlocked after some time, timed as soon as you start it so it provides that bit of extra stress, and very varied in the locations and enemies it will throw at you.

 

[Spike]

But there was some tough arena guy that I just couldn't beat with my build.

If you're talking about the "unknown arena" guys, those can be difficult and require a lot of planning and buffing. Me and my brother did a playthrough where we defeated them all and I'm not sure how I would go about defeating them solo, although they are a lot harder in Co op due to the co op buff. There are 3 for each area and the DLC ones are even harder. lol. If i were to play the game again I don't think I would worry too much about beating them all but it's worth seeing them all.

Outward is one of my all-time favorite games too and if you are like me you will love the mega dungeon. I don't want to spoil it for you but it is in the Soroborean area unlocked after some time, timed as soon as you start it so it provides that bit of extra stress, and very varied in the locations and enemies it will throw at you.

Yes, they take absurd planning! But it is very satisfying and fun to fight them. I must max my build out more...Maybe I can look at guides or whatever. Because what I had became very overpowered and good, but not for the secret bosses apparently. Really excited for 2, but before that, diving back in for a replay to experience the new stuff.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

I'm happy to annouce that my character, Mecha Jim, son of Bio Jim, is alive and well. Truly, I've had my share of luck this run. I already played Russian Roulette 4 times, once due to gravity(scumbag devs place loot on ledges you can't get down from, wtf), the others for getting in over my head with strong enemies. Most dramatic of all was my fight against the First Cannibal, where I realized only after returning to the cave, buffed up to the gills, that the beast had also perished in struggle.

That said, I'm definitely not a skilled player, and only now do I feel like I'm starting to become somewhat competent at melee.

Shield and mace is a pretty good defensive combination. I think Shield Charge is a great noob skill; if you have a good shield you can stun most enemies right off the bat and because it hits twice you can inflict a status change instantly. My strategy now consists of using a Marble Shield to inflict Confusion, then whack the enemy a few times with a Galvanic Mace to inflict Pain, after which I switch to the Red Lady's Dagger and hit them with Opportunist Stab(which is completely OP, btw). The Skycrown Mace is better by itself, but this Pain+Confusion with OS combination is awesome.

I kind of regret investing in bows, instead of getting Predator Leap from the Wild Hunter tree. Apart from that, I don't really regret my choices. Shaman + Monk + Wild Hunter is incredibly tanky, and now I have Blood of Giants from the Blue Chamber Collective quest line(I'm glad I took it instead of Heroic Kingdom) for an additional 40HP. I kind of want to try something a bit more daring next time, but I'm gonna stick with my char for now.

It'd be more rational to finish my faction quest line, or try to get to the remaining Legacy Chests before I inevitably perish, but I made the mistake early on of starting the Rust and Vengeance quest and I'm running out of time. It's not a big deal if I fail, but I have to try. The Harmattan dungeons are definitely a highlight of the game and show the developers' growing skill, imo.

My main gripes with the game involve mostly QoL stuff. In fact, I'd be interested in finding out what QoL mods people are using, as so far my game is unmodded. Here are some of my complaints:

• the inventory is cumbersome to navigate. You can't sort out consumables(e.g. food from potions), you can't sort items at all when you're selling, you don't get enough info on the effects of each consumable, etc. It's infuriating to not find what you need when you're buffing before battle and losing precious time staring at the menu.
• you should be able to automate certain actions like placing a campfire, place cooking pot on top, etc. The same thing with buffing, it's really hard to keep track of everything you need. This games needs a system like, say, FFXII, where you create your own combinations which can be activated with the press of a button.
• extremely restrictive hotkey selection. I understand there may be balance reasons for this(even if the real reason is console controllers), but in that case you should get additional options by, say, joining a faction or quest rewards. In any event, there's no reason why you need to navigate a menu every time you drink water, which is all the time. It's certainly not immersive.
• this is one of those games that could really use a bestiary. How am I supposed to know elemental weaknesses and such. This leads me into the one of the design flaws of this and some other games: reliance on wikis.
• you HAVE to use the wiki to find lots of crucial information, such as which items have legacy variants, enemy weaknesses, what quests NOT to take early on because they're on a timer, how to not screw yourself out of unique rewards by choosing the wrong options in dialogue, etc. There's almost no information on enchanting and I suppose most people just look it up online. There's a quest I failed simply because I had to find some guy in the desert within 2 days, with no pointers whatsoever. "Just look it up, bro" is not good design. This is a game about discovery and looking things up in the wiki detracts from the overall experience.

I'm overlooking some stuff that I found a bit amateurish, because there are signs of improvement(just compare Harmattan with Chersonese), and they'll probably have a larger budget in the second game. The music is very hit or miss; sometimes it's really good and atmospheric, other times it sounds like you're in a theme park. The Harmattan town has this comically cheery theme, even though there's a guy hanging in the gallows in front of everyone and their world is being devoured by the Scourge. The world design is very MMO-like, in general, not nearly as good as in PB games. The total lack of markers does a lot to elevate the game, as do the dungeons.

 

[Losus4]

Loving the sense of adventure in this, I'm in Chernosese during winter, made it through the fort to the valley to the north, but I'm sick with cold and indigestion, getting chased by a beast who interrupted me while camping, as I'm running for my life I stumble into a hermits home. He provided me with warmth, food and provisions, and I slept there a few days until my diseases healed. I now feel strong enough to head back out into the harsh winter. If this was any other RPG, I would've fast travelled back to town with no concern for the things an actual adventurer would need to consider. Outward is in its vanilla state what I'd have to add dozens of mods for in other RPGs. I also love that I feel so remote in my current spot, so despite how safe I am in the hermits home, I still have a long, dangerous journey back to civilisation.

 

[Losus4]

Update on my previous post.... after leaving the hermits, I had to travel to a ruin that was filled with a poisonous gas called "corruption". I decided it would be safer to journey back to town to research any medicinals that might help combat this poison. The alchemist had a stock of 2 potions that would help me, but at a hefty cost. The only way I could afford it would be to sell some of my valuable items... but which one? I needed every last piece of gear in this unforgiving world. I decided on selling some arrows and potions, the arrows I could always craft later.

Armed with my poison protection, I ventured back to the ruins. Immediately on entering I saw swarms of huge beasts I knew would 1 shot me, but after a long scout from a dark corner watching their movements, they began to attack each other. I watched as they slew each other one after the next, leaving only the biggest beast standing. This allowed me to begin exploring safely. My task was to cleanse a holy alter for the church, and after doing so, I left the ruins to begin the epic trek back to town, feeling like I'd barely managed to survive those ruins.

But then as I'm crossing a bridge, I trigger a spike trap that leaves me with a "bleeding" condition. Blood is pouring from me at 1hp per second, and to my horror I'd used all my bandages in the ruin. I had no healing items and nothing whatsoever to help me. I had no choice but to watch helplessly as I bled to death. I collapse due to blood loss, and the screen goes black. I'm playing on "hardcore" which means there is a 20% chance the game will permenently delete your save if you die. My anxiety is going crazy as I await my fate, but then I get a message that a traveller had found me, and took me back to town... the very town I was heading to.

This game has a steep learning curve but each time I play I feel like I'm learning more. Don't let anyone convince you that this game isn't worth playing cos it's simply excellent.