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

[Infinitron]

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/113377-the-outer-worlds-soundtrack-is-now-available/

Greetings employees of Halcyon,

We are thrilled to share with all of you that The Outer Worlds soundtrack is currently available to listen to on Amazon Music and is being made available on multiple streaming services over the upcoming weeks! We are so excited to be able to get this out to all of you and hope you enjoy listening to the soundtrack outside of the game.

Soundtrack Locations (will be updated with links as the soundtrack is released on these platforms):

• Amazon Music
• Google Play
• Spotify (coming soon)
• iTunes/Apple Music (coming soon)
• Amazon On Demand (coming soon)
• Deezer (coming soon)
• iHeartRadio (coming soon)
• Pandora (coming soon)
• Napster (coming soon)
• TikTok (coming soon)
• Tidal (coming soon)
• Shazam (coming soon)
• Gracenote (coming soon)
• ToucTunes (coming soon)

Thank you, everyone, for your continued support, and we hope you all enjoy listening to The Outer Worlds wherever you are!
Now we would like to allow Justin Bell, Obsidian's studio Audio Director and the composer for The Outer Worlds, to share a message with all of you:

Almost every day since The Outer Worlds' release, I've received messages of appreciation from folks who played the game and enjoyed its soundtrack. Many have wondered where they can listen to it online. Many more have sat on the main menu, volume full blast, unable to start the game because they have been transfixed by the title theme. To all of you who have been moved by TOW's score, I want to say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart. Your support is incredibly meaningful and is a continual source of inspiration for me.

I'm so happy we're finally able to share the soundtrack to The Outer Worlds with you. Thank you for your patience and enjoy your musical journey throughout the Halcyon Colony!

 

[Roguey]

As meh as Bell is, I always approve of the distribution of the soundtrack to anything, especially when it's free.

 

[Tommy Wiseau]

So is this game worth a punt or not? Can I kill all the annoying characters?

 

[Zarniwoop]

You mean ALL the characters? No.

 

[DalekFlay]

So is this game worth a punt or not? Can I kill all the annoying characters?

It's okay.

 

[Immortal]

for those too lazy to look it up but still curious, fluent was banned for calling infinitron a jew lord.

If this was a bannable offense, half the forum would be gone.

 

[Parabalus]

Very disappointing game, quite short (20h for everything) and barely feels like an RPG.

It's more like a Borderlands/STALKER style shooter with weak RPG elements. The character building/system feels more bland than Bethsada stuff, especially due to all checks being super low everyone can do everything.

Coolest part was you can play both sides right up until the very end, usually games put the cutoff a bit earlier.

 

[Infinitron]

I also finished this game the other day. I think it was ultimately...pretty okay! Tonally, it's Obsidian's KOTOR1. You have to have a heart of stone to hate it.

(It's absolutely superior to KOTOR in terms of gameplay and generally superior in terms of quest/area design of course.)

It just doesn't have as much good stuff in it as Fallout: New Vegas. Not as dense with factions and not as impactful thematically. In the Mojave, everywhere you go is a faction. On Monarch, while there is some of that, in general everywhere you go is Marauders. It just can't compare.

Narratively, I thought it was sort of clever in its simplicity how in the end:

Spoiler

While Phineas wants to recover the colonists from the Hope, the Board wants to stuff everybody into the Hope.

also:

Spoiler

While Fallout starts with the premise that the Vault is running out of water, The Outer Worlds ends up being all about running out of food (a recurring motif throughout the game including the backstory of the Hope's crew).

 

[Riddler]

I pray to Allah everyday 5 times to see obsidian crash and burn.

Mashallah, brother.

 

[Infinitron]

It's more like a Borderlands/STALKER style shooter with weak RPG elements. The character building/system feels more bland than Bethsada stuff, especially due to all checks being super low everyone can do everything.

IMO a lot of criticisms of The Outer Worlds are true, but I don't get where this is coming from. I think the people who say stuff like this aren't noticing the breadth of options that many of the game's quests provides, the non-linearity and reactivity it affords.

Those ridiculously low skill checks are only at the beginning of the game and clearly meant to be tutorialization. They become normal later on. In fact I'm pretty sure that there are more 100 skill checks in TOW than in New Vegas because the game can rely on you having companions who can boost you up to that level.

 

[Haplo]

Arguably Borderlands have more character development mechanics/classes/impact

However the quests' depth, variety and options for quest-solving cannot be compared...

 

[orcinator]

It's more like a Borderlands/STALKER style shooter with weak RPG elements. The character building/system feels more bland than Bethsada stuff, especially due to all checks being super low everyone can do everything.

IMO a lot of criticisms of The Outer Worlds are true, but I don't get where this is coming from. I think the people who say stuff like this aren't noticing the breadth of options that many of the game's quests provides, the non-linearity and reactivity it affords.

Those ridiculously low skill checks are only at the beginning of the game and clearly meant to be tutorialization, they become normal later on. In fact I'm pretty sure that there are more 100 skill checks in TOW than in New Vegas because the game can rely on you having companions who can boost you up to that level.

A lot of people's issue is that when it comes to gameplay they have some form of standards and aren't satisfied doing endless fetchquests and shooting the same handful of retarded bulletsponges.

Some others heard of a game called Fallout New Vegas and would prefer to play that(likely with mods that add more content, tits or improvements) instead of something trying to recreate all it's flaws.

 

[Infinitron]

A fetch quest in Stellar Bay: https://nightlygamingbinge.com/the-outer-worlds-the-grimm-tomorrow/

Get Grimm’s Tossball Poster

To get the poster, you have several options:

1. You can bribe Velma with bits.

2. If your Intimidate is high enough, you can force her to give it to you.

3. You can choose the Persuade option, and she will want you to finish The Secret People side quest first. Once you finish the quest, return to Velma and show her the item from the quest as proof. Use the Persuade option again, and she will give you the poster.

4. If your Lockpick is high enough, sneak into her office and steal it from her container.

5. Kill her and take the container key from her corpse. Use the key to open the container.

6. Pickpocket the container key off her if your Sneak is high enough. Use the key to open the container.

7. Talk to Nell at Left Field Bar. If your Lie is high enough, you can get her to give up the poster for Grimm.

8. The other option here would be to ask her if she would trade for the poster. She says she only wanted the poster because her shipment of tossball jerseys got lost near Amber Heights. If you find the jerseys, she will let Grimm have the poster. If you choose to look for the jerseys, head out the Stellar Bay Ruins (South) gate and follow the objective south to arrive at a crash site up in the hills near the Amber Heights Crossroads. Take out the marauders camped there then enter one of the storage containers to find the jersey in a bin. Grab it and return to Nell to hand it over. Return to Velma and tell her that Nell no longer needs the poster to receive it.

9. Return to Grimm and tell him that Nell is buying the poster and there is nothing he can do about it (you monster!).

The breadth of options available for this simple task is cool and worthy of our respect. (I like to think the area designer who created it had some free time and decided to show off)

 

[Luckmann]

Tonally, [tHe OuTaR wArLdS xD] is ... KOTOR1.

This might actually be the most retarded thing you've ever said throughout an entire career of attempted shilling.

 

[orcinator]

A fetch quest in Stellar Bay: https://nightlygamingbinge.com/the-outer-worlds-the-grimm-tomorrow/

Get Grimm’s Tossball Poster

To get the poster, you have several options:

1. You can bribe Velma with bits.

2. If your Intimidate is high enough, you can force her to give it to you.

3. You can choose the Persuade option, and she will want you to finish The Secret People side quest first. Once you finish the quest, return to Velma and show her the item from the quest as proof. Use the Persuade option again, and she will give you the poster.

4. If your Lockpick is high enough, sneak into her office and steal it from her container.

5. Kill her and take the container key from her corpse. Use the key to open the container.

6. Pickpocket the container key off her if your Sneak is high enough. Use the key to open the container.

7. Talk to Nell at Left Field Bar. If your Lie is high enough, you can get her to give up the poster for Grimm.

8. The other option here would be to ask her if she would trade for the poster. She says she only wanted the poster because her shipment of tossball jerseys got lost near Amber Heights. If you find the jerseys, she will let Grimm have the poster. If you choose to look for the jerseys, head out the Stellar Bay Ruins (South) gate and follow the objective south to arrive at a crash site up in the hills near the Amber Heights Crossroads. Take out the marauders camped there then enter one of the storage containers to find the jersey in a bin. Grab it and return to Nell to hand it over. Return to Velma and tell her that Nell no longer needs the poster to receive it.

9. Return to Grimm and tell him that Nell is buying the poster and there is nothing he can do about it (you monster!).

The breadth of options available for this simple task is cool and worthy of our respect. (I like to think the area designer who created it had some free time and decided to show off)

This basically follows the standard boring RPG formula of "go to x, pass skill check to win, otherwise go kill things" but you can check one of several skills. It has bread if you count every available option allowed by the mechanics and ignore how the mechanics are shallow as fuck and the skill checks are easy, but what it's critically lacking is depth.

 

[Parabalus]

Those ridiculously low skill checks are only at the beginning of the game and clearly meant to be tutorialization, they become normal later on. In fact I'm pretty sure that there are more 100 skill checks in TOW than in New Vegas because the game can rely on you having companions who can boost you up to that level.

That's the core of the issue - I had 1 charm attribute, but made every persuade check. I spent maybe 40ish points into it.

At the end of the game my char felt as an avatar of the Skyrim good-at-everything meme. The flaws and perks are also banal.

A fetch quest in Stellar Bay: https://nightlygamingbinge.com/the-outer-worlds-the-grimm-tomorrow/

Get Grimm’s Tossball Poster

To get the poster, you have several options:

1. You can bribe Velma with bits.

2. If your Intimidate is high enough, you can force her to give it to you.

3. You can choose the Persuade option, and she will want you to finish The Secret People side quest first. Once you finish the quest, return to Velma and show her the item from the quest as proof. Use the Persuade option again, and she will give you the poster.

4. If your Lockpick is high enough, sneak into her office and steal it from her container.

5. Kill her and take the container key from her corpse. Use the key to open the container.

6. Pickpocket the container key off her if your Sneak is high enough. Use the key to open the container.

7. Talk to Nell at Left Field Bar. If your Lie is high enough, you can get her to give up the poster for Grimm.

8. The other option here would be to ask her if she would trade for the poster. She says she only wanted the poster because her shipment of tossball jerseys got lost near Amber Heights. If you find the jerseys, she will let Grimm have the poster. If you choose to look for the jerseys, head out the Stellar Bay Ruins (South) gate and follow the objective south to arrive at a crash site up in the hills near the Amber Heights Crossroads. Take out the marauders camped there then enter one of the storage containers to find the jersey in a bin. Grab it and return to Nell to hand it over. Return to Velma and tell her that Nell no longer needs the poster to receive it.

9. Return to Grimm and tell him that Nell is buying the poster and there is nothing he can do about it (you monster!).

The breadth of options available for this simple task is cool and worthy of our respect. (I like to think the area designer who created it had some free time and decided to show off)

I did 4.) without even knowing about the quest (I landed elsewhere and walked to Stellar). Looking at the list every option was available to my char, except maybe 7.

Would AoD be an RPG if you started with 5000 SP and all 10s?

That's what TOW felt like, everything on autopilot.

 

[LudensCogitet]

...That's what TOW felt like, everything on autopilot.

Yes! There is a difference between multiple ways to complete a task and not being able to fail at a task.

In TOW the options didn't seem like multiple approaches as much as the developer making sure no player would ever be locked out of anything.

If there are 8 ways to complete a task, I don't think "oh I'm glad I invested in X". I think "oh, it doesn't matter what I choose. I'll always be able to succeed".

 

[Infinitron]

That's the core of the issue - I had 1 charm attribute, but made every persuade check. I spent maybe 40ish points into it.

Fair enough, that's a different thing than the skill checks being low though. (I thought you were extrapolating from the checks in Emerald Vale to the rest of the game which I've seen other people do)

At the end of the game my char felt as an avatar of the Skyrim good-at-everything meme.

Sure, I guess so. When I hit the level cap I was a bit sorry I hadn't built my character differently because I was spread a bit thin - I'd prefer not to have to reconfigure my party and dress up to pass all those skill checks. It's true that the game gives you more flexibility in this respect than New Vegas where you just have those temporary skill-boosting magazines (although you can generally get pretty good-at-everything there too).

I mean, you also never to have use consumables. And you get more money than you'll ever need. And the combat is generally easy even on Hard difficulty. Welcome to mass-market mainstream RPGs! When criticizing the game, probably more productive to focus on things that they might actually fix in the sequel, because I don't think that stuff is going away.

 

[Parabalus]

In TOW the options didn't seem like multiple approaches as much as the developer making sure no player would ever be locked out of anything.

If there are 8 ways to complete a task, I don't think "oh I'm glad I invested in X". I think "oh, it doesn't matter what I choose. I'll always be able to succeed".

But it's even worse than that, since with the extremely generous skill system you can complete any of those 8 options. Even if there was only 1 option, every character would be able to do it. It's both of those things which kill any fun in the system.

For instance in Disco Elysium, there are < 2-3 options for a particular task, and pretty much every character can do one of them with some gear switching, consumables and thought cabinet shenanigans. If you want to do it with an unsuited character, it takes some effort to game.

In TOW, there are even more options for a task and it's extremely easy to qualify for all of them regardless of what your build is.

 

[Parabalus]

Fair enough, that's a different thing than the skill checks being low though. (I thought you were extrapolating from the checks in Emerald Vale to the rest of the game which I've seen other people do)

But it's not - the checks could be 1.5x and the game would be better for it immediately.

It's probably true that the game gives you more flexibility in this respect than New Vegas

The comparison to NV is pretty disingenuous, since there you don't get good-at-everything just by doing the MQ. NV has a huge map and sure, if you play 200h you will probably max out everything.

In TOW this happens naturally in the 20h game.

I mean, you also never to have use consumables.

They don't really affect skill checks, best I saw is +1 for attribute which is 3 SP.

And the combat is generally easy. Welcome to mass-market maisntream RPGs! When criticizing the game, probably more productive to focus on things that they might actually fix in the sequel, because I don't think that stuff is going away.

They should focus on the gunplay, headshotting stuff was the most fun part of the game.

 

[LudensCogitet]

When criticizing the game, probably more productive to focus on things that they might actually fix in the sequel, because I don't think that stuff is going away.

I'm not posting on the Codex to compromise my judgement in order to influence Obsidian's design decisions. Why would I even expect them to ever see this?

If the things that make the game bad aren't going away, I guess Obsidian will just make bad games. Sad, but there it is.

 

[Infinitron]

But it's not - the checks could be 1.5x and the game would be better for it immediately.

But then the highest checks in the game would be over 100. Let me clarify: I assumed you meant that the game's skill checks were all too low within the game's own relative scale - that there were 5 and 10 and 20 skill checks everywhere like in Emerald Vale.

BTW did you notice that there are sometimes "dummy" skill checks like [Lie 1]? I think in those cases they didn't want it to be a skill check at all and just added the tag so you'd know you were lying, like dialogue options in PS:T.

 

[Parabalus]

But it's not - the checks could be 1.5x and the game would be better for it immediately.

But then the highest checks in the game would be over 100. Let me clarify: I assumed you meant that the game's skill checks were all too low within the game's own relative scale - that there were 5 and 10 and 20 skill checks everywhere like in Emerald Vale.

BTW did you notice that there are sometimes "dummy" skill checks like [Lie 1]? I think in those cases they didn't want it to be a skill check at all and just added the tag so you'd know you were lying, like dialogue options in PS:T.

100 is way too easy to reach. Most checks aren't even 100 but 80ish, with how much skill points they throw around that's trivial.

They can't just cut SPs per level either, because the huge bonuses are what ruin it. Yet if they cut the bonuses, you get the Sawyerized PoE style.

E.g. imagine if there were 125 checks and you could only pop 100 skill points into a skill (but you have >100 with bonuses) that would already be a big improvement in this regard (obviously it has other issues, not recommending it) and have some semblance of character building.

There are a few of those [Lie 1] checks, can't recall any others?

 

[DalekFlay]

The breadth of options available for this simple task is cool and worthy of our respect. (I like to think the area designer who created it had some free time and decided to show off)

Problem really is that because the game is too easy/unbalanced, none of those options are hard to do. So you barely notice such things because you probably had the ability to do the easiest option immediately while first exploring the area, i.e. lockpicking her door. I think for that stuff to shine more you'd have to artificially limit yourself to a character with zero skills in half the options, though even that would be hard since levels boost a whole group until 50.

 

[Trashos]

Importantly, the "be good at everything" problem in New Vegas is fixed by mods. Mostly by the JSawyer mod, and you can also add to it the mods the increase the importance of the SPECIAL stats (which means that you are going to have to decrease your Intelligence and therefore your skill points).