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

Yosharian

Arcane
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May 28, 2018
Messages
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Grand Chien
I still remember when people were praising this game as the "game that's going to topple Bethesda" and "do the Bethesda formula but good!" and here we are 3 years later. People still talk about Bethesda games (for better or worse). Fallout 76 still has players. Fallout New Vegas is widely beloved. People are looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6 (for some crazy reason) and Starfield (for some even crazier reason). Nobody talks about The Outer Worlds.
That's because people still thought Obsidian had talent, we were expecting FONV but in a new setting

:despair:
 

Cpt. Dallas

Learned
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Dec 15, 2020
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Keep on the Borderlands
Funny that this far out and the steepest discount is still only 50%, not that anyone paid full price for it, given the subscription promotion. NV must have been 10 bucks at this point. Shameful, that.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
I still remember when people were praising this game as the "game that's going to topple Bethesda" and "do the Bethesda formula but good!" and here we are 3 years later. People still talk about Bethesda games (for better or worse). Fallout 76 still has players. Fallout New Vegas is widely beloved. People are looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6 (for some crazy reason) and Starfield (for some even crazier reason). Nobody talks about The Outer Worlds.
To be fair, nobody was talking about Alpha Protocol either. Only many years later there were a few shy articles about how it is perhaps a good game and deserved some attention, but nobody was interested much. You can't even buy it anymore.

I don't think this is the case with Outer Worlds, but there is a chance that even it was good nothing would have changed. It didn't have a giant Bethesda PR machine behind it and believe it or not FNV is still a Bethesda game and they still profit from its success.
 
Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
17,897
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大同
I still remember when people were praising this game as the "game that's going to topple Bethesda" and "do the Bethesda formula but good!" and here we are 3 years later. People still talk about Bethesda games (for better or worse). Fallout 76 still has players. Fallout New Vegas is widely beloved. People are looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6 (for some crazy reason) and Starfield (for some even crazier reason). Nobody talks about The Outer Worlds.
To be fair, nobody was talking about Alpha Protocol either. Only many years later there were a few shy articles about how it is perhaps a good game and deserved some attention, but nobody was interested much. You can't even buy it anymore.

I don't think this is the case with Outer Worlds
It's definitely not. For all of its faults, Alpha Protocol was innovative and the devs were willing to take risks (and it's a travesty that we'll never get a sequel to it). Outer Worlds is just Mediocrity: the Game, playing it safe in everything from narrative design to gameplay mechanics and all that you end up with is the blandest product imaginable.
 
Joined
Jan 5, 2021
Messages
402
I still remember when people were praising this game as the "game that's going to topple Bethesda" and "do the Bethesda formula but good!" and here we are 3 years later. People still talk about Bethesda games (for better or worse). Fallout 76 still has players. Fallout New Vegas is widely beloved. People are looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6 (for some crazy reason) and Starfield (for some even crazier reason). Nobody talks about The Outer Worlds.
To be fair, nobody was talking about Alpha Protocol either. Only many years later there were a few shy articles about how it is perhaps a good game and deserved some attention, but nobody was interested much. You can't even buy it anymore.

I don't think this is the case with Outer Worlds, but there is a chance that even it was good nothing would have changed. It didn't have a giant Bethesda PR machine behind it and believe it or not FNV is still a Bethesda game and they still profit from its success.
I never played Alpha Protocol. Is it actually any good?

I might have to sail the high seas if I want it, I guess.
 
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
4,099
Location
Chicago, IL, Kwa
I still remember when people were praising this game as the "game that's going to topple Bethesda" and "do the Bethesda formula but good!" and here we are 3 years later. People still talk about Bethesda games (for better or worse). Fallout 76 still has players. Fallout New Vegas is widely beloved. People are looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6 (for some crazy reason) and Starfield (for some even crazier reason). Nobody talks about The Outer Worlds.
To be fair, nobody was talking about Alpha Protocol either. Only many years later there were a few shy articles about how it is perhaps a good game and deserved some attention, but nobody was interested much. You can't even buy it anymore.

I don't think this is the case with Outer Worlds, but there is a chance that even it was good nothing would have changed. It didn't have a giant Bethesda PR machine behind it and believe it or not FNV is still a Bethesda game and they still profit from its success.
I never played Alpha Protocol. Is it actually any good?

I might have to sail the high seas if I want it, I guess.
It's an amazing clusterfuck, but yeah, it is worth playing.

The fact that it's dev was basically a Free-for-all WWE match between Mitsoda, Parker, Avellone, and Feargus seems to have resulted in equal parts jank, popamole, and genius. Frankly it's bizarre that SEGA didn't cut its funding long before they actually did (especially since you just know Feargie was doing some creative accounting to supplement the budgets of other projects).
 
Joined
Jan 14, 2018
Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
I still remember when people were praising this game as the "game that's going to topple Bethesda" and "do the Bethesda formula but good!" and here we are 3 years later. People still talk about Bethesda games (for better or worse). Fallout 76 still has players. Fallout New Vegas is widely beloved. People are looking forward to Elder Scrolls 6 (for some crazy reason) and Starfield (for some even crazier reason). Nobody talks about The Outer Worlds.
To be fair, nobody was talking about Alpha Protocol either. Only many years later there were a few shy articles about how it is perhaps a good game and deserved some attention, but nobody was interested much. You can't even buy it anymore.

I don't think this is the case with Outer Worlds, but there is a chance that even it was good nothing would have changed. It didn't have a giant Bethesda PR machine behind it and believe it or not FNV is still a Bethesda game and they still profit from its success.
I never played Alpha Protocol. Is it actually any good?

I might have to sail the high seas if I want it, I guess.
It's a decent idea for a game that gets ruined when you actually try to play it. Better to leave it to imagination.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
I never played Alpha Protocol. Is it actually any good?

I might have to sail the high seas if I want it, I guess.
Back in 2010 I was calling it innovative for its narrative work and people were laughing at me, because all they could see are mediocre production qualities, which were objectively worse than Mass Effect.

But what Mass Effect didn't have is a strong non-linearity / reactivity. You won't know about many of its narrative possibilities in your first walkthrough.

On top of that it has an actual stealth and you can complete it almost without killing anybody. A few characters will be considered killed, but your in-game meter of kills will stay at 0. The game rarely judges you for that, it was just a personal achievement.

I will probably have to sail the high seas for Outer Worlds at some point considering its price, so it's okay. I doubt I will want to buy it after playing for an hour or two, which actually happened a few times.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
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Messages
35,653
The fact that it's dev was basically a Free-for-all WWE match between Mitsoda, Parker, Avellone, and Feargus seems to have resulted in equal parts jank, popamole, and genius.
I get the impression Feargus didn't care about Alpha Protocol at all. It's not a fantasy game so he doesn't care. :) (Avellone never would have lasted as lead writer otherwise) Other devs have alluded that there were multiple factions within the team itself who wanted to pull it in different directions though.
 

cvv

Arcane
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TOW is a mediocre product made by mediocre people
Greedfall is mediocre. Not a great game by any means but not bad either, you can finish it and have some fun with it.

OW is not mediocre, it's just a turd - the unbearable all-permeating wahmenism, the typical inane Californian anti-capitalism written with iPhone in one hand and a Starbucks decaf in the other, the eye-damaging color palette, the butt ugly character models, the unimaginative levels, annoying gunplay, dull-as-dishwater intemization and chardev do I fucking have to go on?

What in the fuck is mediocre about this game? How low do our standards have to be to label something like this mediocre. What does it take for an RPG to be mediocre - that it actually launches when you double click the icon on your desktop and then responds to your MK inputs correctly? That's all it takes?

OW is a piece of garbage produced by people with zero talent, vision or clue. And if you played it even halfway through your brian is irreparably damaged.
 

Trithne

Erudite
Joined
Dec 3, 2008
Messages
1,191
Even if you just deleted Parvati and Junlei from the game and script entirely, and ejected any other 'woke'ness, you'd still be left with a sub-par RPG with trite writing, absolutely barren character progression, and locations you forget as soon as you aren't looking at them.

Fucking Fallout 4 manages to be a better RPG than TOW. That's how mediocre it is, even without wokeness.
 
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
4,099
Location
Chicago, IL, Kwa
The fact that it's dev was basically a Free-for-all WWE match between Mitsoda, Parker, Avellone, and Feargus seems to have resulted in equal parts jank, popamole, and genius.
I get the impression Feargus didn't care about Alpha Protocol at all. It's not a fantasy game so he doesn't care. :) (Avellone never would have lasted as lead writer otherwise) Other devs have alluded that there were multiple factions within the team itself who wanted to pull it in different directions though.
Yeah, I don’t think Feargus cared much about the game itself, but he definitely cared about keeping SEGA on the hook for a AAA budget and the prospect of having a brand new AAA IP.

And to be fair, SEGA brought their own brand of incompetence to the table when they insisted on delaying the launch until after ME2 while also refusing to pony up for further QA (although one can surmise they may have cottoned on to OES creative accounting by that point).
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,653
Yeah, I don’t think Feargus cared much about the game itself, but he definitely cared about keeping SEGA on the hook for a AAA budget and the prospect of having a brand new AAA IP.

And to be fair, SEGA brought their own brand of incompetence to the table when they insisted on delaying the launch until after ME2 while also refusing to pony up for further QA (although one can surmise they may have cottoned on to OES creative accounting by that point).

During this period of time, Obsidian's projects were AP and Aliens (both funded by Sega) and NWN2 expansions (funded by Atari). Unlikely they were taking money from the Sega projects and putting them into Mask of the Betrayer/Storm of Zehir. Just Obsidian incompetence.
 

cvv

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Fucking Fallout 4 manages to be a better RPG than TOW. That's how mediocre it is, even without wokeness.
Fallout 4 is way better because it's actually mediocre (although barely). I can see myself getting back to it if we're struck with a catastrophic open-world RPG drought at some point, just like I'd eat two days old stale pizza when I'm hungry and there's nothing else around.

Playing OW would be like running out on the street, picking up dogshit and shoving it into my mouth instead. I'd rather starve.
 

Percy

Cipher
Joined
Sep 17, 2009
Messages
628
Location
Cunt
Alpha Protocol was worth playing when it came out but not sure about now.

Some things are best left in the past.
 

Cpt. Dallas

Learned
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Dec 15, 2020
Messages
515
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Keep on the Borderlands
Alpha Protocol was worth playing when it came out but not sure about now.

Some things are best left in the past.
I disagree. Games like TOW, F4 and F76 are exactly why playing AP today is worthwhile, even with the jank. See also: Archolos vs Elex 2 or even the Russian sourced FO TC's. That isn't to say there isn't good content today but chaff content is high.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
Alpha Protocol was worth playing when it came out but not sure about now.

Some things are best left in the past.
There aren't many AA or AAA actual RPGs to ignore it. And these are dark times. Bioware cannot even produce a fucking game anymore and you'd wish Obsidian had closed its doors back in 2014.
 
Vatnik Wumao
Joined
Oct 2, 2018
Messages
17,897
Location
大同
So has anybody tried to fix it with an Unofficial Patch
Are you offering? :M

No, but from Bloodlines I know that you can get rid of some of the technical problems by patching it for years ;).
This game is just too bland as to justify the effort imho. This is no spiritual successor to FNV and I heavily, heavily doubt that it'll ever develop some sort of cult following akin to VtMB.
 

ferratilis

Magister
Joined
Oct 23, 2019
Messages
2,224
One does not fix an Unreal engine game with an unofficial patch, at least not anything post UE1. The engine has been less and less moddable with each new iteration. And UE5 just happens to be the worst so far in that regard, so Outer Worlds 2 can only be worse.
 

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