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

[fantadomat]

What kind of person thinks The Outer Worlds is a great game?

Cucked fat blob that plays with toys for 8 year old children.

Whoah mate,that is very bigoted. What if you are fat blob that plays with toys for 8 year old children and somebody told you that you like Outer worlds???? How would you feel about it,ah? That is very rude mate.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Well, I tried...

This game is... just bleh.

First of all, it suffers from the same shit as Divinity games, too much fucking pointless humor. Humor is OK in games, it can even be great, but when the game refuses to take itself seriously and injects cheap humor into EVERYTHING, it marginalizes the time spent in it by the player. Why the fuck should I spend tens of hours in your dumbass game if the game itself thinks it's a fucking joke? Every single character is straight out of a cartoon, and everything has the depth of some cheap budget movie. Fallout was never like this, and New Vegas was a much more serious game.

Then there are the everpresent quest compasses, even worse than in Bethesda games, since they are actually displayed in the game world (in bethesda games it was a compass). So just turn your brain off, and follow the cue. Absolutely kills any kind of exploration, if there was any to begin with, with the pseudo-linear maps.

The character development and perks are also pretty retarded. 3 tiers of this shit, and I think I could see like one or two I was interested in. Fallout 1 and 2 had a ton of awesome perks, and Vegas had some.

Well, the "old master" shitshow continues unabated.

 

[Nano]

https://www.reddit.com/r/theouterwo..._am_jonathan_jt_silver_actor_voice_actor_and/



Edit: Goddamn, Felix's voice actor is a hottie.

 

[ItsChon]

The other part not so much. Helen Hindpere wrote a lot of Disco Elysium and her work is top.

She's actually gorgeous though. DE brings many forms of incline.

 

[Fedora Master]

Tl;dr Is this game worth getting right now?

Get GOTY version for 20 bux on Steam.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Then there are the everpresent quest compasses, even worse than in Bethesda games, since they are actually displayed in the game world (in bethesda games it was a compass).

Skyrim quest markers were in game.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

https://www.reddit.com/r/theouterwo..._am_jonathan_jt_silver_actor_voice_actor_and/

Felix interview is pretty funny.dude seems so cool.

 

[Hellion]

This Jonathan Silver guy might be the best dude in the world for all I know, but Felix might easily be one of the most forgettable NPCs in the game for me. I didn't even bother to do his personal quest on my first playthrough.

PS. The GPS markers can be turned off from the Settings menu. You can also get rid of the compass altogether by turning off the entire HUD. They should probably have added more options that allow people to selectively turn off HUD components rather than "everything on/everything off".

Edit. Just checked and saw that turning off the HUD even removes your crosshair lol.

 

[aweigh]

Which one looks better? Found a "Neutral colors LUT" file for the game that someone made, it's on the Nexus:

Default game colors:

"Neutral colors" LUT table file for Reshade, downloaded from Nexus:

EDIT: here's another scene

Default colors:

Neutral:

 

[Adon]

I've only made it to Groundbreaker so far, and did a few side quests there and these are my impressions so far:

Good:

- Environments are visually distinct, and they stand out among other games from which TOW is consistently compared to. It's distinct yet unified as there's consistency with the way everything looks.
- As far of companions go, Vicar Max and Parvati seem to be well-written, and their backgrounds are deeply embedded into the world of TOW. In this sense, the Vicar is the best one currently. I've only just met Felix and Ellie. As other have mentioned, it is nice to see them interject into conversations with NPCs.
- I don't see the constant jokes that people claim to be seeing. There's a certain amount of dry humor which stays in line with the cold, stern and cynical backdrop of being in corporate-run colonies that they're trying to portray, but I think people are conflating the one-note VA delivery from most characters with snark and sarcasm. Point being, I don't think it's overdone as it's part of the tone.
- Groundbreaker has been excellent so far. There was an immediate noticeable change in the variety of the quests in here compared to Edgewater.
- Dig that locations are hubs instead of doing a big, open-world.

Bad:
- RPG systems are just window dressing. There's barely any difference in the builds you're able to do because you can already pretty much do everything with your character. This would be okay if they didn't bother doing a perk system that seems more of an after-thought than anything.
- Basic, generic perks
- Skills that don't have big enough of an impact on gameplay i.e. Defense is useless unless you use melee. The abilities you get from skill thresholds don't seem to be all that interesting either.
- Loot is bad, and I'm amazed that anyone would think this RNG type of loot is anything that fans of New Vegas would want. Even Fallout 4 was better about it.
- Weapons that utilize the light ammo seem useless thus far, the only weapon to be worth any salt seems to be the light machine gun.

Ugly:

- Edgewater isn't the greatest starting area, but I can certainly think of worse ones. So far my biggest gripe with Edgewater is that all the sidequests were nothing but fetch quests. I was delivering more mail than the courier in New Vegas.
- The voice acting is a mixed bag. Sometimes the deadpan delivery works for some characters, sometimes it doesn't. There was a moment with Adeilade where she mentions she doesn't want her flock to see her in anger and the proceeds to every so slightly raise her voice, and for a second, it's almost as if she was about to emote.
- Colors. Now this is kind of mixed because I think their art direction and use of color is nice, but (at least on Edgewater) it can be really hard to sometimes see. It's difficult to explain, but certain areas lack a certain sense of depth because of how colors bleed together. I don't know if there is a technical art term for it, but it is as if they didn't contrast their colors well enough to make the environment pop in the right way.

 

[HoboForEternity]

So far my biggest gripe with Edgewater is that all the sidequests were nothing but fetch quests.

this dont get better later either. the gameplay loop are basically fallout 4's that "go there, take this / kill that then have several dialogue choices to who give the items too" and tbh the quest givers are one note characters that are basically quest dispenser with few lines to their characters.

it have better choices than F4 sure, but it isn't really something they seem like put too much effort on either

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Am I just going to have to keep repeating that the USSR dystopia was state-capitalist, not communist?

People, and politics, need scapegoats to justify their misery.

 

[aweigh]

Man, the frequent stutters/hiccups that happen whenever you're walking around and some new asset or texture is streamed is really killing the fun for me.

:/

 

[Tweed]

Seems really horrible all the way around. I'm not sure why I would ever spend money on this versus just playing New Vegas again.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Man, the frequent stutters/hiccups that happen whenever you're walking around and some new asset or texture is streamed is really killing the fun for me.

:/

It's a known issue with the engine and i wouldn't expect a fix.. ever.

 

[TheImplodingVoice]

Speaking of companions. Parvati. Thought it started out good and I kinda liked the character at first. Engineer woman, ok, why not, I've dated one in real life. When it was revealed she is asexual I was like what, tripling down on the minority stuff here. Engineer woman, minority check, kinda pretty engineer woman, double check, pretty asexual engineer woman, triple check. Who then meets another engineer woman at the first pit stop we make after leaving the starting zone who also happens to be a lesbian/whatevs. LOL. Give me a fucking break. Who writes this shit.

People who have never met anyone that's not part of their echo chamber.

 

[Riddler]

The biggest strength is the core gameplay - level design, exploration and C&C are excellent

What are you talking about? The exploration is dogshit! Some of the environments are nice looking to be sure but there is nothing to find! No interesting loot, no interesting stories, no interesting lore, no side bosses; nothing.

Compare this area to FNV or Deadfire it's a horrendous amount of decline

If someone competent started writing her, and some untalented hack finished her, I wouldn't be surprised.

This is exactly what happened. Chris L'Etoile(sp?) Started writing but then his wife got cancer or something and he had to move back to Canada, while Dollarhyde took over the writing.

- Edgewater isn't the greatest starting area, but I can certainly think of worse ones. So far my biggest gripe with Edgewater is that all the sidequests were nothing but fetch quests. I was delivering more mail than the courier in New Vegas.

Welcome to the rest of the game.

 

[Riddler]

Riddler talked about how these people write without understanding the themes they are writing about (can't understand the opposing view etc). MCA surely understands how important this is, his writing is the proof. I just don't get how he allowed them there.

I thought she was responsible for the writing in WM and I thought that was largely solid.

Again calling on Roguey to bless us with his insight.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

What are you talking about? The exploration is dogshit! Some of the environments are nice looking to be sure but there is nothing to find! No interesting loot, no interesting stories, no interesting lore, no side bosses; nothing.

The exploration is indeed dogshit. No good loot, no decent secrets, very little hidden c&c, nothing.

 

[Fredward]

This game is the apogee of adequate.

With the exception of MotB and New Vegas Obsidian feels like the bureaucratic box-ticker of RPG devs. Like someone made a master list of what a good RPG entails and the development process is about meeting the minimum time and cost threshold to cross it off the list. Which may or may not be how development in general works but.

 

[hexer]

With nothing better to do at nuObsidian Josh decided to slide into Kate's DMs

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I think I'm nearing the end, might finish it sometime this week. So far I'd rate it a 7.5/10, not the worst game ever but it has a lot of glaring flaws.

Good parts:

• Lots of varied skills. Not as much as I like, but more than most FPS-RPG games. I like the idea of cross-training between groups of skills up to a certain proficiency level.
  
• Companions are quite strong and a leadership-based build is entirely viable.
• Most quests that aren't small side-quests have multiple ways to finish them, if you're relying entirely on your quest tracker you'll probably miss out on a lot.
• To add to above, essentially everything about the UI can be turned off if you wish. Lots of options in the game menu.
  
• Weapon & armor modding. Not enough mods, though, they need to add more.
• Easily one of the most reactive RPGs I've played. It seems nearly everything you do is noticed by someone at some point. Lots of notable NPCs have new dialogues if you go back and speak to them.
• To add to above, companions comment on a lot of things and banter between each other a lot. Really well done.
• Pretty bug free, which is shocking considering it's obsidian.
• Tinkering, but it should have been more in-depth rather than just raising the level of the item.
• Lots of landmarks in the open-world parts to explore.
• The interior areas are generally well designed.
  
• The urban/interior environment art is great.
• Works great on Linux out of the box.
• No stupid lockpicking/hacking minigames.
• There's lots of armor with varied bonuses and most of it looks pretty good.
• Science weapons have unique effects and are cool.
• Shooting is fun and controls well.

Indifferent parts:

• I wasn't aware stats would be final at the character creation screen. Was this mentioned anywhere? I probably would have distributed my stats differently if I knew this.
• So much crap loot that you have to pick up just to scrap it. This isn't fun, skip the middle step and just have enemies drop scrap instead of crap loot and focus on interesting itemization.
• I've seen people complain about the AI but I had good experiences with it? AI didn't act dumb from what I saw, used plenty of cover, etc., Nothing to write home about.
• Sort of a plus and a minus, but the game runs great in most areas. Has some stuttering, texture popping issues, and I get framerate drops in towns.

Bad parts:

• Despite praising it in the 'good parts', I'll knock it here: The "open world" areas are the most boring part(especially monarch), just feels like running between points with lots of trash. Best areas are the ones like the abandoned space stations and Groundbreaker, if they make DLC I hope it's more like this.
• Most perks are crap. Zero of them are interesting or really add any niche utility. Perks are even worse because there's none that have downsides which adds to player agency/roleplaying(IMO.) Compare to FNV perks like Black Widow/Ladykiller/gay equivs(has both combat + many non-combat uses), cannibal, rad child, etc., etc.,
• Because most perks are crap, flaws are terrible. I picked up Robophobia before I even knew I'd have a robot companion and that essentially locked me out of using him.
• Most of the companions are shit. I think I've posted enough about interesting companions being one of my favorite part of RPGs, and they're terrible, Vicar Max excluded. Parvati started off decent then just went downhill from there, everything you learn about her in the first town is never ever brought up again and completely forgotten, and instead it becomes a stupid story about lesbian minority lovers.
• The story gives me no reason to actually do anything. Phineas wakes me up and sends me to the planet to do things for him, but… why? I don't know anything about him sans him being a wanted criminal. The game gives me no reason to embark on a journey that has a good chance of me ending up dead. Are my friends/family frozen on Hope?
• The holographic shroud is a bad mechanic and shouldn't have been implemented. To make it worse, it feels incredibly half-assed. Oh, my shroud fell down let me pass this piss-easy speech check and refill it. But wait, I can't just sit in the corner and let it recharge instead? …ok…
• Companions are incredibly squishy at the start of the game, trying to keep them alive on Supernova would be a nightmare.
• The open-world area environment art hurts my eyes
• It's stupid hard to find bodies after a fight, especially if they turned to ash.
• God damn the females are ugly.
• Where are my grenades and traps? Why can't I defuse enemy traps?
• Holy shit stop with the terminals full of banal bullshit. Haha yes so funny corporatism run amok terminal #327. STOP IT, I GET IT OKAY.
• No good side-content minigames.
• There seems to be no reason to not use heavy armor all the time. Just swap it out if you need to pass a skill check.
• Most weapons other than the assault rifles are crap.
• Lots of Fedex quests, especially as I (presumably) get near the end.
• I can't even remember if this game has a story. What happened to you, Obsidian?
• Repetitive enemies that get boring.
• Not enough companion abilities, and they aren't varied enough. All of them are essentially the same thing. If I put a surgeon on my team I expect her to be able to heal my party you dinguses. Parvati is an engineer, she should be able to deploy robots, etc.,
• The inhaler-thing is a terrible design, bring back consumables. I hate having to go rummage through my inventory just because I want to use a specific consumable. This shit feels consolized as fuck.

Probably forgot some stuff.

 

[Prime Junta]

I wasn't aware stats would be final at the character creation screen. Was this mentioned anywhere? I probably would have distributed my stats differently if I knew this.

There’s a respec machine on your ship.

Good summary, I agree about 90%. Didn’t expect that from you tbh.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I wasn't aware stats would be final at the character creation screen. Was this mentioned anywhere? I probably would have distributed my stats differently if I knew this.

There’s a respec machine on your ship.

Good summary, I agree about 90%. Didn’t expect that from you tbh.

It doesn't reset attributes, just skills and perks.

 

[Black]

Which one looks better? Found a "Neutral colors LUT" file for the game that someone made, it's on the Nexus:

Default game colors:

"Neutral colors" LUT table file for Reshade, downloaded from Nexus:

EDIT: here's another scene

Default colors:

Neutral:

This is just Nu Male's Sky but with more buildings.