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

[Reinhardt]

I am in state of doubt, what are the goods and bads of the game?

I finished it twice, didnt even like it that much. You can try.

You played through it twice in less than a week?

If you are fast enough you can do it twice in less than a hour.

 

[HoboForEternity]

further elaborating greedfall comparison, all the nameless marauders hurt the game too in TOW. in greedfall, aside from wild animals, most of the human enemies aren't nameless mooks. they are still in essence mooks to be killed, but the backgrounds makes them belong at least in a certain faction (even if it's fully antagonistic factions you can never join in the first place) and it does carry more weight than just bethesda style raiders. picking few example on greedfall, you fight against the shadow coin guard division, enraged native tribe that have leaders you interact with, the inquisitors, rogue scientists, etc. hell the random bandits you fight from quests are actually rare and you only find them near cities or in cities at night.

TOW pits you too much against nameless marauders that all the quest feels like fallout 4 fetch quest with extra steps, especially in monarch.

again i haven't done with the game. i got to the point where UDL spaceship or something crashed on monarch last night and i stopped there to go sleep.

there are also companions who IMO greedfall also did better. both the companion and their quests are tied to the overarching faction quest and their existence became hook for you to be involved in the faction quests. Kurt and coing guard is because the death of his protege that got involved into a company conspiracy. it is a small hook but made the escalation into the conspiracy smooth. the same with petrus and the church, and aphra with the mad scientist.

what greedfall did excellently is its gradual, clever hook and escalation. all the conflict imo progress naturally as it gets tenser and tenser every time a quest open after a story quest. imo, it even superior than underrail quests and faction system because they drip it to you bit by bit naturally.

 

[Daidre]

weird because i enjoyed greedfall more than this so far.

I completed Edgewater and Greedfall at this point seems a more decent game in comparison.

All NPC in TOW are so... bland. They are so dumb, one-note and over-top in their brain-washedness that it is really hard to treat them as anything other than talking ugly-pixel-heads. I never had such indifference to a NPC characters in the game. And world does not helps them either. This whole cannery town with its Vegan conflict seem to exist in some pocket universe - no roads, no (cosmo-) port beside one tiny landing pad, no mentions of another settlements on the planet.

And fetch quests in TOW are so fetchy. There is no fetch quests in Greedfall beside ~5-6 mini-tasks on boards in whole game. Everything else is linked to factions lines, main quest or companion. Main fault is, in fact, that some of them are too crammed with artificial "steps" that often feel like busywork.

It is a bit funny that main "good" feature of TOW is a same for Greedfall - companion reactivity. Yes, Greedfall actually has companion interjections, cross-interjections and quest dialogues completely changed by their presence, usually for all affiliated faction business.

There are also small nice things in Greedfall as getting task for spying on Natives and auto failing it after minute-long scene of listening to their gibberish (and technically successful sneaking) because companion who could translate it is not with you.

 

[HoboForEternity]

one-note and over-top in their brain-washedness that it is really hard to treat them as anything other than talking ugly-pixel-heads.

oh god this too so much. one of the biggest reason why the setting really feel off. it doesn't feel like genuine world, it feels like a parody sketch. it's literally retarded. even in late stage capitalism (which is just authoritarian beraucracy) the corporations are retarded. like in edgewater allowing employees to die to portray people are dispensable. it's retarded in a colony that needs 10 years for human craft to reach and if you kill your people it would be expensive and hard to replace human resources. they behave like some 13 years old image of what "evil corporation" is.

 

[Whisper]

Wow..

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Goods: addictive core gameplay loop, ticks all the boxes

No not really. Gameplay quickly becomes boring, even with the people who lauded it at launch, and it certainly does not tick all the boxes - it only looks like it does on the surface.

 

[Zerginfestor]

Wow..

Not surprised, the guy must've went 100 Science/100 Melee weapons to have that hammer to shove up alien asses and one-shot them.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Goods: addictive core gameplay loop, ticks all the boxes

No not really. Gameplay quickly becomes boring, even with the people who lauded it at launch, and it certainly does not tick all the boxes - it only looks like it does on the surface.

it ticked all boxes and addicting gameplay in the first 5 hours at the very least

 

[ItsChon]

It has clearly been established that the game is bland as fuck, and there is no reason at all to care about the story or the setting. With that being the case, I see no reason to play a game like TOW when there are plenty of FPS alternative games with better core gameplay loops that are actually challenging and fun. There is literally no reason to play something like TOW when other games have better gameplay. I've seen people here praise the companions and reactivity, but who gives a fuck about the companions when the setting and story of the game make them obsolete?

 

[Reinhardt]

Ded gaem.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

it ticked all boxes and addicting gameplay in the first 5 hours at the very least

Like I said, the biggest smoke and mirror show of all 2019.

 

[HoboForEternity]

It has clearly been established that the game is bland as fuck, and there is no reason at all to care about the story or the setting. With that being the case, I see no reason to play a game like TOW when there are plenty of FPS alternative games with better core gameplay loops that are actually challenging and fun. There is literally no reason to play something like TOW when other games have better gameplay. I've seen people here praise the companions and reactivity, but who gives a fuck about the companions when the setting and story of the game make them obsolete?

at least these games made me break out of my denial that the old devs now are just old decrepit has been. i used to defend this game "c'mon give tim and leo a chance" yet every turn shit they produce are outdone by bunch of russians and eastern european with 2 vodka/day budget.

they're all dead. even avellone and most of his freelancing gig. vampire the masquerade 2? assume shit. george ziets new studio? assume shit until proven otherwise. glory to the kocjos developers.

 

[just]

only bitches crossed the ocean and it shows on their games

 

[laclongquan]

Bow to your Russian overlord~!

Red Menace 4evar!

 

[Infinitron]

oh god this too so much. one of the biggest reason why the setting really feel off. it doesn't feel like genuine world, it feels like a parody sketch. it's literally retarded. even in late stage capitalism (which is just authoritarian beraucracy) the corporations are retarded. like in edgewater allowing employees to die to portray people are dispensable. it's retarded in a colony that needs 10 years for human craft to reach and if you kill your people it would be expensive and hard to replace human resources. they behave like some 13 years old image of what "evil corporation" is.

That's what I said back in June but people seemed to think it was a positive then. :D

But I think you might be getting it partly wrong too. From what I've seen so far, I would say the key to understanding The Outer Worlds setting is that it isn't really a modern setting. It's a Space Western before it's a corporate dystopia game, and the behavior of the people in the game world is fundamentally pre-modern (or "early modern" if you will - 19th century). The fact that Edgewater's barber is also its surgeon should be a big hint.

Anyway, here are a couple of looting tips.

1) There's lots of garbage food items in the game, but they get put in the Consumables tab along with legitimate drugs and medicine when you pick them up. How do you distinguish between them? Simple - all food items (including booze) have a weight of 0.20 or more. All drugs and medicine have a weight of 0.10 or less.

2) What to do with garbage weapons and armor that you don't need? Sell them for money, or break them down for repair parts? Actually, you can do both! Merchants keep their "buyback" inventory for a very long time, so just sell everything. If you need to do any repairs, you can buy the cheapest weapons and armor back for the same price you sold them for, as many as you need.

 

[Reinhardt]

It's a Space Western before it's a corporate dystopia game, and the behavior of the people in the game world is fundamentally pre-modern (or "early modern" if you will - 19th century).

So frontier people were basically california hipsters?

 

[Grauken]

explains why I don't like the setting, I abhor space western

 

[Reinhardt]

It's not western. Even space. Western is dead.

 

[Daidre]

No not really. Gameplay quickly becomes boring, even with the people who lauded it at launch, and it certainly does not tick all the boxes - it only looks like it does on the surface.

Honestly, I had a really good time for a 3 hours or so in the beginning of game when instead of going to a first town I cleaned all map with lvl 2 character fighting over-leveled enemies, exploring and experimenting with available weapon types. Managing healing items and ammo on so tight supply was even fun.

As it turned out I ruined my own enjoyment down the line when I completed half of secondary quests in one step by giving quest item to quest giver. And other half was all about running between NPC for a tiny peace of dialogue and a skill check.

 

[HoboForEternity]

explains why I don't like the setting, I abhor space western

I think i would like it more if it wasn't written like the simpson episode.

Plus i do want space bounty hunter themed game kinda like cowboy bebop. It have western elements, but with realistic sci fi backdrop.

 

[Infinitron]

It's a Space Western before it's a corporate dystopia game, and the behavior of the people in the game world is fundamentally pre-modern (or "early modern" if you will - 19th century).

So frontier people were basically california hipsters?

I'm not talking about goofy companion banter (which is the same in any modern medieval fantasy RPG btw). I'm talking about the fundamentals of the setting. The people of Edgewater are not moderns. I mean think about it for a second. The game takes place in the 24th century and you've got what are basically peasants (excuse me, "workers") cowering behind city walls, stricken by a plague they don't understand and ruled over by a lord (excuse me, "factory manager") in a tower. Where's the Internet, where's Wikipedia? Why can't they call for an airstrike on the horde of marauders in the countryside? Pre-modern.

 

[Daidre]

It have western elements, but with realistic sci fi backdrop.

TWO scientific parts are so grounded and realistic that Mass effect looks like a prestigious Hard Sci Fi on Heinlein level in comparison.

 

[Van-d-all]

And yet every Eurojank shovelware is praised around here as long as it stays close enough to BG or Fallout templates from 25 years ago.

Honestly you just sound jelaous that these games made in Europe are well liked.

No, I'm mildly amused at internal inconsistency of posters who in one thread are champions of RPG innovation while in the other thread they furiously jerk off to "Fallout except with Russians".

Innovation is all fine and dandy, but the sad reality is that Pathfinder & ATOM are the best cRPGs of their respective sub-genres since IWD2 and F2 respectively. Beggars can't be choosers.

 

[Reinhardt]

It's a Space Western before it's a corporate dystopia game, and the behavior of the people in the game world is fundamentally pre-modern (or "early modern" if you will - 19th century).

So frontier people were basically california hipsters?

I'm not talking about goofy companion banter (which is the same in any modern medieval fantasy RPG btw). I'm talking about the fundamentals of the setting. The people of Edgewater are not moderns. I mean think about it for a second. The game takes place in the 24th century and you've got what are basically peasants (excuse me, "workers") cowering behind city walls, stricken by a plague they don't understand and ruled over by a lord (excuse me, "factory manager") in a tower. Where's the Internet, where's Wikipedia? Why can't they call for an airstrike on the horde of marauders in the countryside? Pre-modern.

And that's why they desperately need places to drink, fuck and gamble to blow off steam.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

No not really. Gameplay quickly becomes boring, even with the people who lauded it at launch, and it certainly does not tick all the boxes - it only looks like it does on the surface.

Honestly, I had a really good time for a 3 hours or so in the beginning of game when instead of going to a first town I cleaned all map with lvl 2 character fighting over-leveled enemies, exploring and experimenting with available weapon types. Managing healing items and ammo on so tight supply was even fun.

As it turned out I ruined my own enjoyment down the line when I completed half of secondary quests in one step by giving quest item to quest giver. And other half was all about running between NPC for a tiny peace of dialogue and a skill check.

Yeah that's what i've been saying. At a cursory glance (ie. couple of hours in the start) you think its great, and by the second location you've seen it all and the lies reveal themselves. The more closely you look at what's on offer the more you'll come to my conclusion.