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

[IHaveHugeNick]

I love it how this game is now but a dwindling memory

I am very intelligent so I'm posting in a thread about this game to tell you that I forgot about this game.

 

[Daidre]

There is something really disturbing in the fact of Cleveland Mark Blakemore spending his hard-earned Grimoire bucks on The Outer Worlds...

Decline born from incline, truly.

 

[Lord_Potato]

It proves that even when you know what incline is

You're very optimistic if you think modern Obsidian theoretically knows how to develop incline games.

Well, they had Cainarsky on board, and also some people left from the team who made New Vegas. Quite a potential for massive incline.

Oh well, maybe next time it will happen.

 

[Nano]

I am very intelligent so I'm posting in a thread about this game to tell you that I forgot about this game.

Saying that the general public forgot about this game =/= saying that you, yourself, forgot about this game.

 

[fantadomat]

This game sold that well because of how shit fallout 76 is,lol casuals don't care about NV as codexers do.

 

[Latelistener]

So, what's the general consensus?

I heard the game is a complete SJW garbage and Leonard should've probably wrote everything himself instead of letting Megan Starks and Kate Dollarhyde near to anything. Chris L'Etoile left early and that's probably when it went to shit.

 

[Bonerbill]

I'm confused. Are you saying that Obsidian would never make a sequel unless it was a guaranteed top seller? Or are you complaining that they might make a sequel that doesn't sell well but turns out to be really good?

At least you're sincere. What I'm saying is that Obsidian would be terribly misguided to make any sort of sequel, because The Outer Worlds is a mediocre game that people don't strongly care about one way or the other. For this reason, a sequel would generate a small fraction of sales of the first game. Sequels that perform extremely badly are normal in the AA RPG space; The Outer Worlds would become its next example.

Microsoft will make them make a sequel regardless. The current game has a decent metacritic score and M$ is doing whatever they can to push more high rated exclusvies for the xbox game pass. M$ is trying to go all in on the xbox game pass to make it more appealing.

 

[Zombra]

So, what's the general consensus?
I heard the game is a complete SJW garbage and Leonard should've probably wrote everything himself instead of letting Megan Starks and Kate Dollarhyde near to anything. Chris L'Etoile left early and that's probably when it went to shit.

I've only played through the first "episode" (planet), but this seems like conservative hysteria to me. Obviously the big joke is that corporations exploit their workers - if that's a frightening, radical concept to you, then yes, stay away. Other than that it seems like a very undercooked New Vegas.

The main conceit of the first section (minor spoilers):

Spoiler

You need an engine part for your ship, and the only way to get it is to destroy one of two towns by shutting off their electricity permanently so you can steal their power converter. Both towns are kind of bad - one is a status quo corporate slave town and the other is a super reactionary* hippie commune.

*Well, reactionary is completely the wrong word here. They're not conservatives. If anything they're super liberal, overreacting to a bad situation by pushing for the total destruction of the former status quo. What's the word for that? Lunatics?

No matter which you choose (I tried both) you are treated to a huge guilt trip about screwing over the other one. The corporate leader is the brainwashed, loyal type, and enforces dehumanizing policies, but is portrayed within that framework as a kind and thoughtful person. The hippie commune is obviously a less oppressive lifestyle but the leader is a vindictive bitch who wants to torture and punish the corporate people. There's no good answer as you're either literally killing the innocent corporate workers, or convincing the hippies to go back and be wage slave corporate workers again. Either way it seems super extreme for your character to kill a whole town for an engine part. The entire planetary operation depends on this thing and there's no way to get a replacement?

So I'm not super impressed with the plotting so far, but I would hardly describe it as SJW propaganda.

 

[Terenty]

In fact, once you get past the garish graphics and awesome visuals

Sorry, what? You must have time traveled from 2003 to call this graphics awesome

 

[Wesp5]

The main conceit of the first section (minor spoilers):

You know that with high speech stats you can get a better solution which basically is a combination of both? And you can do the same for practically all major decisions as far as I know, only now and then a NPC will die, but otherwise there is always some optimal middle ground. Except for the ending of course...

 

[Daidre]

There is always some optimal middle ground. Except for the ending of course...

You can also get ending where

Spoiler

MC co-rule colony with one villain and second villain is on the run but secretly helps good guys with the money.

 

[Jick Magger]

There is basically only one really major potential consequence to a decision that comes near the tail end of the game.

Spoiler

That being if you side with the corporations and you installed the hippie commune leader as the new boss of the first town (regardless of how you did it), you have to basically nuke the town.

Otherwise barring one or two exceptions basically every single 'choice' in the game is between two clearly sub-optimal outcomes and one clearly superior one that requires a little bit of extra leg-work. There isn't a lot to it.

 

[Nano]

I don't think you know what "reactionary" means, Zombra. Just FYI.

 

[Zombra]

You know that with high speech stats you can get a better solution which basically is a combination of both?

Interesting. I played through twice, once with a high speech "good" character and I didn't find a good solution

Spoiler

after shutting down the corp town. My more "evil" playthrough shut down the commune and there were some dangling threads I might have pursued to try to get the two towns to reconcile, but I didn't pursue them.

I don't think you know what "reactionary" means, Zombra. Just FYI.

Sorry, you're right, I completely misused that.

 

[gestalt11]

So, what's the general consensus?

I heard the game is a complete SJW garbage and Leonard should've probably wrote everything himself instead of letting Megan Starks and Kate Dollarhyde near to anything. Chris L'Etoile left early and that's probably when it went to shit.

Not exactly. Its brain-dead californian liberal trash partirally written by soulless SJWs. The funny thing is the main conceit of corporations being shit is shared by a large number of conservatives but the writers are so brain-dead and stuck in a californian delusion they can't even extend their main conceit to something more people would feel wasn't just something ripped from CNN. You can even see it in this forum where the criticism gets shallowly dismissed with a silly and wrong stereotype, again based on deluded bubble thinking.

Although there are clear SJW things in it that make you roll your eyes, in reality its just bland PC crap with a shallow premise that stays stupidly shallow throughout the whole game.

Ironically its exactly what most large corporations give you.

 

[DalekFlay]

seems like a very undercooked New Vegas.

That sums the game up perfectly, and this thread's reactions too. It's New Vegas with worse everything (writing, scope, quests, design), but it's not horrible. Actually combat might be better.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

I'm confused. Are you saying that Obsidian would never make a sequel unless it was a guaranteed top seller? Or are you complaining that they might make a sequel that doesn't sell well but turns out to be really good?

At least you're sincere. What I'm saying is that Obsidian would be terribly misguided to make any sort of sequel, because The Outer Worlds is a mediocre game that people don't strongly care about one way or the other. For this reason, a sequel would generate a small fraction of sales of the first game. Sequels that perform extremely badly are normal in the AA RPG space; The Outer Worlds would become its next example.

Counter example: Witcher games. They built momentum. Witcher 1, flawed but interesting. Witcher 2, same. Witcher 3, blows up. Series momentum is a thing, because people figure if a series is around long enough it must be good.

 

[gestalt11]

I'm confused. Are you saying that Obsidian would never make a sequel unless it was a guaranteed top seller? Or are you complaining that they might make a sequel that doesn't sell well but turns out to be really good?

At least you're sincere. What I'm saying is that Obsidian would be terribly misguided to make any sort of sequel, because The Outer Worlds is a mediocre game that people don't strongly care about one way or the other. For this reason, a sequel would generate a small fraction of sales of the first game. Sequels that perform extremely badly are normal in the AA RPG space; The Outer Worlds would become its next example.

Counter example: Witcher games. They built momentum. Witcher 1, flawed but interesting. Witcher 2, same. Witcher 3, blows up. Series momentum is a thing, because people figure if a series is around long enough it must be good.

I don't think this is a counter at all. Witcher 1 had a passionate cult following. Even the people who are positive about OW think its bland and undercooked. The only thing people have genuine strong feelings for is liking the Moon-head guy. The problem isn't that OW is flawed its that its mediocre and bland. Mediocre and bland means the sequel would most likely fall flat, there is no hype. A game with a cult following has built-in hype because of its set of passionate advocates.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

So I'm not super impressed with the plotting so far, but I would hardly describe it as SJW propaganda.

Agreed. The game is less "workers of the world unite" and more an attempt at Douglas Adams-style "lol wacky space bureaucracy" that mostly falls flat.

Although the "lesbian prom date" sidequest was retarded cancer.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Witcher 1 had a passionate cult following

Did it though? Sounds like historical revisionism to me. I never saw anyone hype Witcher until 3. The games were very forgettable.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

Witcher 1 had a passionate cult following

Did it though? Sounds like historical revisionism to me. I never saw anyone hype Witcher until 3. The games were very forgettable.

The Witcher 2 is turning point for the series.

 

[gestalt11]

Witcher 1 had a passionate cult following

Did it though? Sounds like historical revisionism to me. I never saw anyone hype Witcher until 3. The games were very forgettable.

I don't have screenshots and I don't care to find any but that was the way I always preceived it. Everyone thought it was clunky and I believe the last act wasn't liked that much, but there were a fair number of people who really liked various aspects of the game.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Witcher 1 had a passionate cult following

Did it though? Sounds like historical revisionism to me. I never saw anyone hype Witcher until 3. The games were very forgettable.

Witcher 1 was criticized for many things, but not for being "forgettable". It had lots of soul, which differentiated it from mass produced, safe western rpgs.

 

[Wesp5]

Although the "lesbian prom date" sidequest was retarded cancer.

Agreed. Parvati as such is a great character, but she isn't only a rare female mechanic, no, she is lesbian and asexual as well! And how convenient that at the first place you visit after meeting her, there is another rare female mechanic who is lesbian and asexual too. And it isn't only that! If you look at all the major NPCs, most of the females are strong independent women and most of the men are stupid failures. Or to come back to the optimal solution in Edgewater, if you follow it through, you have the constabulary occupied by two female sheriffs and a female deputy.

 

[Infinitron]

And it isn't only that! If you look at all the major NPCs, most of the females are strong independent women and most of the men are stupid failures. Or to come back to the optimal solution in Edgewater, if you follow it through, you have the constabulary occupied by two female sheriffs and a female deputy.

Here's a more accurate assessment: The women in The Outer Worlds are often no-nonsense and hypercompetent underlings, while the men are more soulful and genuine, for good or for ill. The men are more likely to be silly or deluded but they're also more likely to be inspirational leaders and thinkers.

You can call this woke, but to some extent it's also a reflection of real life trends.