Game News The Outer Worlds Released

[CyberWhale]

Everybody, Microsoft and Obisidan included, knows why the game isn't selling like hotcakes on Epic.

 

[Elex]

This game is going to be to Obsidian what Andromeda was to BioWare.

Nail in the coffin.

apparently is the nail on the bethesda coffin. (they gonna sell the nails 999$ each btw)

 

[Spectacle]

Downloading now!

Spoiler

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Of note: while the reviewer metacritic average for outer worlds is a respectable but slightly underwhelming 8.2, player average is 8.5, which is pretty high, considering how someone is always butthurt about any game to lower that one.

 

[Mustawd]

That's the same bullshit argument as used for piracy. Yeah, we will just "try" it, and then if we like it, we will pay. Who is being naive now?

A. This is a trial period for the subscription, which will go to full price after a month.
B. Not only does point A apply, but also consider the fact that it was the developers parent company who is choosing this promotion. So it’s not the same as piracy.
C. Companies put their games on sale or bundle it in deals all the time. Are you saying you never take advantage of sales? You never buy in a bundle?

I’m not being obtuse. You’re purposefully being dumb because you’re a fan of the studio and want others to help support it.

Newsflash: Just because studio fanboys want to give Feargus or other Obsidian execs bonuses doesn’t mean the rest of us have to stop acting like consumers.

What’s next? You start triple folding your toilet paper to go through rolls faster because you love the feel of Charmin Extra Soft TP and you want the parent company to do super well so “we can ensure our great toilet paper company can thrive”?

 

[Kyl Von Kull]

Leonard has said repeatedly that it’s great for them if you play TOW on Gamepass. If Obsidian demonstrates that it can drive new subscriptions, Microsoft will reward them with more funding.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

That's the same bullshit argument as used for piracy. Yeah, we will just "try" it, and then if we like it, we will pay. Who is being naive now?

A. This is a trial period for the subscription, which will go to full price after a month.

It's going to take you more than a month to play a 30-40 hours game?

B. Not only does point A apply, but also consider the fact that it was the developers parent company who is choosing this promotion. So it’s not the same as piracy.

I didn't say this is the same thing as piracy, I said the argument is the same, implying you are only doing it to try it out.

C. Companies put their games on sale or bundle it in deals all the time. Are you saying you never take advantage of sales? You never buy in a bundle?

I do at times, but if I like what a company is doing, and want to encourage those types of games, I am happy to pay full price.

I’m not being obtuse. You’re purposefully being dumb because you’re a fan of the studio and want others to help support it.

You are being obtuse yet again, Mustard, because if you know anything about me, it's that I don't particularly like Obsidian, and have shat on most of their games. New Vegas is the only one I like. But this is a different team than most Obsidian games, so it remains to be seen...

 

[Prime Junta]

I love it how people are piling on on this game, while loving Fallout New Vegas at the same time. While they are basically the same style of game, same "quality" writing and just better gameplay.

This. This is FONV. In space. But woke. And lesbian. It's not shit, this is comfort food. It's the smooth well-paced RomCom your girlfriend makes you rent on Friday night. You order take-out, you watch it, then you have a good fuck. Then you forget about the RomCom, but the take-out and the fuck got you a little closer.

Also, is there an official drunkposting thread on the Codex? Asking for a friend.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Imagine getting butthurt over someone trying out a trial offer of a legit gamepass service.

It is not like the whole strategic idea of msoft marketing to promote the store and leech in customers with a help of loss leader in this case, and see how many of them will stick, now is it?

Retardation. Retardation never changes.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Imagine getting butthurt over someone trying out a trial offer of a legit gamepass service.

It's a slippery slope isn't it? First we're getting a mediocre game for $1 for the first month, and next we're renting our entertainment at $10 a week and games are designed pure for their addictive quality and not for their ability to make the player pause and read and think. It's obvious that this is a loss leader from Microsoft in order to suck people in, but it points in a very worrying direction for anyone who wants to play a game rather than consume pre-packaged entertainment.

Obsidian are the stooges for Microsoft's conquest strategy. As a studio producing RPGs they are essentially dead, and it'll be interesting to see what Zeits gets up to and how long Cain and Boyarsky stick around.

 

[Kev Inkline]

If you check the catalogue though, I don't think many codexer will get hooked, tbf.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

If you check the catalogue though, I don't think many codexer will get hooked, tbf.

But the principle, the principle... Are we just commodity?

 

[Kev Inkline]

If you check the catalogue though, I don't think many codexer will get hooked, tbf.

But the principle, the principle... Are we just commodity?

Codexers are like any other machine: they're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my problem.

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Codexers are like any other machine: they're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my problem.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Does that mean you think Outer Worlds is complete shit? Cause, otherwise, we should be sponsoring relatively decent studios as much as we can.

Obviously, the recommendation is to save everyone here money. If you play the game and see yourself pouring hundreds of hours into it then you can pay $60 full price. If you play it and it sucks, you’re only out $1. Not sure where the issue lies for you.

That's the same bullshit argument as used for piracy. Yeah, we will just "try" it, and then if we like it, we will pay. Who is being naive now?

Again, I don't know if Outer Worlds is good or bad yet (will try to play it tonight), but if you want certain types of games developed (other than Bethesda/Bioware crap), put your money where your mouth is.

The game is already paid for. You're just recouping Epic's cost if you buy it from them.
There's no reason to buy the game unless you want to line Epic's pockets with money.

And if you really, really want to buy it — you can buy it on Microsoft's store directly, no game pass needed: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/the-outer-worlds/9mwd2z8l1fbq

 

[Bumvelcrow]

Wait... you can BUY games?

Only until the powers convince you that renting is easier, more efficient, more seductive. What are games these days but mayfly attractions until the next new shiny comes along?

 

[Bumvelcrow]

PIRATE EVERYTHING

When anarchy reigns, what does the sane man do? In this case he plays Bloodlines for the umpteenth time.

 

[Spectacle]

Imagine getting butthurt over someone trying out a trial offer of a legit gamepass service.

It's a slippery slope isn't it? First we're getting a mediocre game for $1 for the first month, and next we're renting our entertainment at $10 a week and games are designed pure for their addictive quality and not for their ability to make the player pause and read and think. It's obvious that this is a loss leader from Microsoft in order to suck people in, but it points in a very worrying direction for anyone who wants to play a game rather than consume pre-packaged entertainment.

Obsidian are the stooges for Microsoft's conquest strategy. As a studio producing RPGs they are essentially dead, and it'll be interesting to see what Zeits gets up to and how long Cain and Boyarsky stick around.

I'd rather see games designed to sell subscriptions than games designed to sell mtx.

 

[The_Mask]

I'm not sure if this is relevant information to anyone, but if you're a level 2 Alienware "person" (not sure), you can get a pass for free. 1 month.

 

[selkin]

So is it a good FPS or not?

 

[Bohrain]

The game is basically made for people who liked the general formula in New Vegas. B-grade fps, skill checks, factions and some C&C when it comes to quests.
FPS elements are serviceable, but nothing to write home about. Enemy types have weak points in slightly different spots and damage types matter since you'll only scratch the enemy if you attempt to kill everything with the same gun. But on the other hand, guns feel weightless and there isn't any environmental interaction save exploding barrels.
Primary attributes resemble S.P.E.C.I.A.L. There are 6 of them, you allocate them the same way as in Fallout, they affect the initial values of the skills they are tied to plus some other parameters like health and melee damage. They are also checked every now and then on dialogue.
Skill system is kinda interesting. The way it works is all skills are bundled up in groups of 2-3 skills. You get 10 skill points on levelup. When your skills are less than 50, you'll use the skill points to give the whole bundle one point each for example, leveling up guns means you get a point on handguns, long guns and heavy weapons. But once a skill reaches the 50 point mark, you have to allocate points to it individually, meaning that for example if you get handguns at 50 allocating points to it doesn't level up other gun skills anymore. Each skill also gives you a bonus at every 20 levels similarly how it worked in Oblivion and you don't get these bonuses if you buff your skill with consumables or equipment. It's an interesting take and while the 50 point treshold feels a bit too generous, it ensures that you can't max out everything, although you can basically pass every skill check in the first hub.
You get a perk every other level, but they feel really underwhelming and don't really support distinct playstyles apart from playing without companions or with them. You unlock a new tier of perks at every 10th level, but there are no perks that require skill or primary stats like in Fallout. I have no idea why they opted to do it this way.
The C&C aspect shows in a way that most of the quests that involve killing and fetching give you the option betray the quest giver one way or another, usually by selling the quest item to someone else. In terms of factions you have the central corporate entity going against whatever independent faction is on the current location. The corporations are basically shown as cartoonishly heartless and incompetent, which makes siding with them feel even more unnatural than Ceasar's Legion.
Companions are very bland and their main utility in combat is distracting the enemy. I haven't looked it up, but I'm willing to bet the first companion is written by Stark, since she seems to have trouble imagining the thought process of someone who isn't a California hipster. The companion in question is a pajeet woman who has trouble expressing her feelings towards her lesbian crush. The writing centers around too much on the over the top corporate satire, which you start to get tired of once you've seen the phrase "x will be reduced from employee salary" appear for the third time in some message log.

Overall the biggest hurdles are the quality of writing and garbage perk system. Latter could be patched to something better, but the former can't really be remedied. Still, if you like the formula and are willing to spare 1 dorra it's worth trying out.

 

[grimace]

After never playing The Outer Worlds, I present my review:

I’m not a few hours into The Outer Worlds campaign, but from the start, it is writing some exorbitant checks, and I’m not confident that it can cash any of them.

First, the obvious: The Outer Worlds demands your attention. It’s a play for shock and awe, shave your head, the developers telling you to put your damn phone away because they aren’t fucking around fuckaroo.

Fallout games have traditionally postured as if their brand of lone survivor thrill ride has something meaningful to offer outside of a white-knuckle action story, that depicting the realities of survival is a noble end in and of itself.

I’m not confident that an End will arise, because more than anything, The Outer World endeavors to be a post-Fallout game. If you know a little background, that alone tells you more about the story than any number of audio logs or cutscenes.

I mean, and don’t take this snidely, but it’s a bit hard not to give the game’s marketing credit when all I’ve heard about this game for months is “it does this terrible thing, and trust me it’s so terrible” in columns that pretty much make a lot of people go “it can’t really be all that bad” and then go grab it to have a look.

There’s a bit of nuance and a bit of subtlety at work here that I’m not in the least surprised that folks seem to be missing. When a series like Fallout tries to use the light touch, one can be forgiven for missing it among the epic headshot.

You definitely should give your companions a helmet, but boy howdy is some of the female-ness ugly. If you’d prefer not to see everyone’s beautiful faces, you can turn on helmet visibility in the setting menu. It’s a small thing, but it’s pretty nice not to feel like you’re being followed around by a bunch of Redditors.

 

[LeStryfe79]

 

[Black]

Not the recommendation Obsidian fans wanted.

 

[molotov.]

The Outer Worlds is available for purchase for $60 on the Epic Store and the Microsoft Store. However, if you have Windows 10, we recommend that you instead rent the game via Xbox Game Pass for PC, which costs just $1 for the first month. They're practically handing it out for free. If you ask me Epic got ripped off here.

I paid the $1. I've been, for the last 2 hours, trying to download the game but the microsoft store is giving me one new error for each time I try to download the game. Thank you Infinitron, I really appreciate the advice.