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

[AwesomeButton]

I'll be up front with you. I hate asking for help. I hate it. Every time I give someone the opportunity to disappoint me, they seem to make it their most immediate goal. But this, what I'm thinking - it's dangerous.

 

[Abu Antar]

I didn't expect stellar shooting in a game from Obsidian. FNV is a game that I enjoyed very much but it has less than stellar shooting. The thing is, it's not just Obsidian. Most fps rpgs don't have great combat. VtMB2 and CP2077 seem to have the same problem. Hell, even many tps rpgs don't have great combat. Some may argue that Borderlands has good shooting. That series focuses mainly on combat, but the biggest thing here is that the developers have a lot of experience with fps games in general. But their rpg elements aren't exactly prioritized. Sure, it has loot and leveling, but the story isn't exactly the selling point of the series.

What other fps rpgs do we have with great combat?

 

[Quillon]

Get a fucking grip codex: On one hand gate keeping RPGs; demanding CP77 out of RPG forums etc on the other hand: Borderlands is an RPG now... I guess all hypocrisy is valid when its against aRPGs/popamoles.

There aren't many FPS RPGs to begin with, last (bad) one was Fallout 4, which is why Obs' been trying to convince publishers for years and finally succeeding with Private Division.

ed: Last one was KCD tho it isn't FPS, just FP

 

[AwesomeButton]

Really? Here I was steeling myself for inevitable rejection.

 

[anvi]

Press C or F to win the game.

 

[anvi]

It would all be understandable on any other forum, but the codex?! In the RPG section no less I swear the future of RPGs is Crysis 1.

Says the one who thinks a shooting game counts as Fallout clone.

Cuz it is. The only difference between Fallout 3/4 and Crysis is a bunch of token meaningless stats, redundant dialogue trees, and inventory sorting that 99% of the players of those games don't want in the first place. Fans of these modern so called RPGs are just pining for a fantasy sci-fi Call of Doody, they just don't even realize it yet.

 

[Zombra]

Now then. I finally watched one of those previews and ... I am indeed underwhelmed.

There seems to be a LOT of "center the waypoint on your screen, press W, and left click on some things on the way". AwesomeButton's comparison to Borderlands gameplay turns out to be quite apt.

I wish I could see some of this decision making they were talking about, and I wish I could see some multiple mission solutions. I hope it's not "press this button for the good guys, or press that button for the bad guys".

I don't see any "choose how you play" so far. Possibly you can choose to shoot everything in your way or walk around it. To me that is a less than compelling decision to make.

Also keeping an eye on possibilities for nonviolent play - not impressed with "quest NPC is in a safe room with cameras, and he'll only unseal the door after you kill 20 guys. No other option". I get that most games are mass murder simulators but I look for something more nuanced in a game of this type.

I wonder if cranking the difficulty to a higher level would make the kill kill kill gameplay any more interesting. I suspect it would simply make everything take longer.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I wish I could see some of this decision making they were talking about, and I wish I could see some multiple mission solutions. I hope it's not "press this button for the good guys, or press that button for the bad guys".

In both PS4 exclusive preview , we saw or learned something about that quest to get energy to your ship.
In the first one , the player choose to side with a desearts of Edgewater and we actually saw the consenqueces. Reed is disappointed you and him then he says that the guard have a order to shoot you in sight , Space Choice going to close them and in arrest Reed. Also the workes of Edgewater go protest in front of thecompany.
.

Then in the second preview the dev said that if you go back to both Reed and/or Adelaide , you can complete the quest in another way.

both gameplays that i mentioned : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzFjwwkcL8g & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DlUWUGhCNg

 

[Infinitron]

Most of these videos were played by gamejournos. They were dumped on the open world monster planet and given an hour to do whatever they wanted. Some of them, like the Eurogamer previewer, ended up not doing anything too interesting.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I made the mistake to watch the first non-commented video in the list today: https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8

This gave me a chance to listen to the voice acting and take in the writing. Great Ceasar's Ghost! What in the nebula is this! I swear the companions are PoE level, I'm not even kidding. This one hour preview also manages to give us a blatant loredump showcase (Hiram):
Nyoka: https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8?t=16
Nyoka at Hayes' grave: https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8?t=373
Hiram https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8?t=906
Hiram: https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8?t=1169
Catherine: https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8?t=1920
Berthold: https://youtu.be/_f7aTonCcD8?t=2467

 

[Duraframe300]

Now then. I finally watched one of those previews and ... I am indeed underwhelmed.

There seems to be a LOT of "center the waypoint on your screen, press W, and left click on some things on the way". AwesomeButton's comparison to Borderlands gameplay turns out to be quite apt.

I wish I could see some of this decision making they were talking about, and I wish I could see some multiple mission solutions. I hope it's not "press this button for the good guys, or press that button for the bad guys".

I don't see any "choose how you play" so far. Possibly you can choose to shoot everything in your way or walk around it. To me that is a less than compelling decision to make.

Also keeping an eye on possibilities for nonviolent play - not impressed with "quest NPC is in a safe room with cameras, and he'll only unseal the door after you kill 20 guys. No other option". I get that most games are mass murder simulators but I look for something more nuanced in a game of this type.

I wonder if cranking the difficulty to a higher level would make the kill kill kill gameplay any more interesting. I suspect it would simply make everything take longer.

Out of curiosity. Which gameplay did you watch? Because from the nyoka playthroughs I've seen there wasn't much effort to tackle the mission differently to begin with or explore. And you definitly didn't have to kill the 20 marauders from the looks of it.

 

[anvi]

New screenshots:

 

[Duraframe300]

 

[Zombra]

Out of curiosity. Which gameplay did you watch?

Ehmmmm, let's see. This one.

 

[Zombra]

What the hell, "Average" is the lowest a stat can be?

Can't even 'min-max' in this game, you can only 'max'.

 

[krilcebre]

What the hell, "Average" is the lowest a stat can be?

Can't even 'min-max' in this game, you can only 'max'.

Being average today is considered being pretty stupid tho.

 

[Infinitron]

Notice that the attributes affect critical hit damage, not chance. Like in Tim's 2017 talk: https://rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=10609

 

[ArchAngel]

Did anyone expect good shooting? The curse of the action RPG is that you can either make a good action game or a good RPG, but never both.

As far as I know, nobody’s ever done it. Maybe it’s theoretically possible. Sure, New Vegas can play like a second rate shooter (or third rate) after nearly a decade of modding, but think about how many thousands of volunteer man-hours that took. No studio’s going to pay for that kind of work in a new engine.

Maybe someday the curse will be broken, though that would be an extremely ambitious task.

Forget the action RPG, look at the top 20 entries to Codex top 70 and try counting entries with legitimately good combat. One hand should be enough to count them all, even if you had a few accidents with a chainsaw.

And most of those have miles better combat that action rpgs like this one, FNV or Witcher 3.

 

[moon knight]

I'm not feeling it, honestly. I hope quest design, char creation, dialogues and C&C are on par and the combat won't be a core mechanic to solve quest

 

[Eisenheinrich]

I got an Arcanum vibe from all this.

 

[Daedalos]

it's not like there's anything better out to play in october anyway. this gon b gud

 

[Roguey]

Notice that the attributes affect critical hit damage, not chance. Like in Tim's 2017 talk: https://rpgcodex.net/article.php?id=10609

Weapon swerve is a factor though.

 

[anvi]

Strength: +10% to all damage
Dexteriy: +10% to all damage
Int: +10% to all damage
Diplomacy: +10% to all damage

 

[Zombra]

One thing I find curious it the presence of at least two Perks that only work if you don't have companions. A +stealth Perk and a +diplomacy Perk! Interesting that lone wolf playthroughs are encouraged even though companion quests are supposed to be this big thing.

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

One thing I find curious it the presence of at least two Perks that only work if you don't have companions. A +stealth Perk and a +diplomacy Perk! Interesting that lone wolf playthroughs are encouraged even though companion quests are supposed to be this big thing.

Player choice, baby.