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

[InD_ImaginE]

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, deluded or mean 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.

Isn't it... usually the other way around? That man is less emotional and more rational? At least that is still the stereotype where I am in.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

a reflection of real life trends.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/...ny-thought-shed-kissed-goodbye-conflict-.html

Such competance. Much no nonsense. Wow.

 

[Infinitron]

It's a common observation, made by people such as Tucker Carlson, that in the 21st century West women increasingly "have their shit together" more than men. They goof off less, they're more likely to earn a university degree, they seem more well-adapted to succeeding in bureaucratic structures where the most important thing is to follow instructions and get along to go along. Think of the stereotype of the corporate HR lady.

Not everything you see in a video game made by people from California is there to piss you off. Sometimes it's just the writers writing what they know.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

It's a common observation, made by people such as Tucker Carlson, that in the 21st century West women increasingly "have their shit together" more than men. They goof off less, they're more likely to earn a university degree, they seem more well-adapted to succeeding in bureaucratic structures where the most important thing is to get along to go along. Think of the stereotype of the corporate HR lady.

Not everything you see in a video game made by people from California is there to piss you off. Sometimes it's just the writers writing what they know.

It's just standard male flattery. It's the same attitude towards children. When a kid throws a ball ineptly and you say, "WOW! that was great! Good job!" Always praise everything they do, no matter what.

Did you know male puppies will "go easy" on female puppies when playing around? They won't wrestle as hard and will even allow the female puppies to bite their neck. They fight way more aggressively with males. It's a mammal thing.

Guys like Tucker say "women have their shit together" because it's flattering, not because its true.

 

[Sòren]

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, stupid or mean but they're also more likely to be inspirational leaders and thinkers.

the only male npcs in the game that aren't depicted as being completely incompetent, insecure or mischevious are the guy that looks like out of that retard shit rick and morty and the indian from monarch (and even that is only mentioned in the ending screens, where he is described as a slightly capable businessman). i do not care much about politics in western artistic outputs, i made my peace with the fact that it's mostly hopeless rubbish, but i haven't played a game where the agenda was that obvious and insulting like in outer worlds.

 

[Daidre]

They goof off less, they're more likely to earn a university degree, they seem more well-adapted to succeeding in bureaucratic structures where the most important thing is to follow instructions and get along to go along. Think of the stereotype of the corporate HR lady.

I do not know about western corporate HR ladies, but ones in Russian IT already reached meme status at their often demonstrated hilarious incompetence.

 

[Jick Magger]

I mean from what I recall three of the more notable non-player female NPCs were a nutjob hippie who wanted to let an entire colony starve solely to spite a single person, a complete mental case who thinks pigs are self-aware and wants you to murder an innocent person because she believes aliens are real, and arguably the main villain of the game who wants you to murder an entire colony and unlike her male counterparts is far less likely to compromise with the protagonist even after you explain how untenable her position is (and is thus the most likely to get killed out of the two) in the non-board ending.

The male chief of security at the toothpaste factory is also presented as a far more competent and morally sound person than the female leader of the raiders (who's basically just presented as a grand-standing weasel), there's that female insurance agent who explains how you can't collect your companion's life insurance plan, and then literally explains how to commit insurance fraud to your face because she so believes her company's motto of honesty that she doesn't think you'll do it. There were plenty of female NPCs who were depicted as being just as incompetent, stupid, or outright insane as male ones.

 

[fantadomat]

It's a common observation, made by people such as Tucker Carlson, that in the 21st century West women increasingly "have their shit together" more than men. They goof off less, they're more likely to earn a university degree, they seem more well-adapted to succeeding in bureaucratic structures where the most important thing is to follow instructions and get along to go along. Think of the stereotype of the corporate HR lady.

Not everything you see in a video game made by people from California is there to piss you off. Sometimes it's just the writers writing what they know.

And that is why western society is dead,even if doesn't know it yet.

 

[Quillon]

Not everything you see in a video game made by people from California is there to piss you off.

Enough of it is. The writers doesn't even hide that they are in it to push their agenda, not for passion for games/RPGs. Woke movies easily tank hard these days so movie industry will have stop this trend soon enough but it won't be so easy for games cos there are more to games than an agenda driven writer can shit on

 

[Nano]

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

Were you not on forums before 2015, or...? BioWare vs CD Projekt comparisons were a big thing in 2011 after Dragon Age 2 and Witcher 2 were released. "CD Projekt doesn't dumb down their games", "CD Projekt games have actual C&C", "CD Projekt is a PC-centric developer that doesn't let consoles dictate the quality of graphics", etc.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

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

Were you not on forums before 2015, or...? BioWare vs CD Projekt comparisons were a big thing in 2011 after Dragon Age 2 and Witcher 2 were released. "CD Projekt doesn't dumb down their games", "CD Projekt games have actual C&C", "CD Projekt is a PC-centric developer that doesn't let consoles dictate the quality of graphics", etc.

I bet you can find plenty of people on this website calling Witcher a popamole clickfest. I could be wrong though.

Although, everything about Witcher 2's design was changed to make it more appealing to console, mainstream, non-PC gamers. That's pretty obvious. CD projekt almost went bankrupt trying to remake Witcher 1 for consoles. Outer Worlds is already designed to appeal to console gamers, seems to be working alright for them.

Another example: Greedfall. Standard Spiders game but the momentum from prior titles coalesced into a big sales bump for them after four games. Outer Worlds vs Mars War Logs? Yeesh, Outer Worlds is like a mega-smash in comparison.

 

[Nano]

So the answer is no.

Although, everything about Witcher 2's design was changed to make it more appealing to console, mainstream, non-PC gamers.

Witcher 2 was a PC exclusive for a year, you dingus.

 

[StrongBelwas]

Don't be daft, the only reason there wasn't a console version on day one was because Cd Projekt was broke and couldn't split its efforts. The gameplay and UI were obviously drastically redesigned to suit gamepads and resemble multiplatform ARPGs

 

[Latelistener]

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

Were you not on forums before 2015, or...? BioWare vs CD Projekt comparisons were a big thing in 2011 after Dragon Age 2 and Witcher 2 were released. "CD Projekt doesn't dumb down their games", "CD Projekt games have actual C&C", "CD Projekt is a PC-centric developer that doesn't let consoles dictate the quality of graphics", etc.

It's hard to forget because this is probably one the most braindead moments in the history of the video gaming industry for me.

CD Projekt nearly went bankrupt at that time, so they decided to make a paid alpha test of a console game (Witcher 2) on PC (how buggy and unoptimized it was), simply because they didn't have money anymore to put it on Xbox 360 where it belonged. I mean, they didn't even bother to make visual settings in the game, they just slapped a launcher on the top of it and it felt much better playing it on gamepad instead of KBM. Yet, they became "PC centric" simply because they released it earlier on PC.

Now, when they finally made the game and called the release version "Enhanced Edition" they became "holy" for releasing "free" content. I assume any developer who's releasing their games out of Early Access should have that status by this logic. Just to continue this idiocy they cut some content from Witcher 3 and started releasing it as "free DLC" before the release.

And they actually released it on Xbox 360 later, spending a fortune on the port and it flopped.

 

[Latelistener]

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.

Those new Obsidian writers.

 

[Diggfinger]

Any news on actual sales figures?

 

[Duraframe300]

Any news on actual sales figures?

What does that even mean here?

Simple answer: None and you won't. As the game had an additional revenue stream that ate into the classic one (subscription vs hard sale) you won't get an accurate approximation unless you get hard revenue numbers. Which again, you won't.

Till then, PS4 numbers are the closest you'll get to reality.

 

[Diggfinger]

Any news on actual sales figures?

What does that even mean here?

Simple answer: None and you won't. As the game had an additional revenue stream that ate into the classic one (subscription vs hard sale) you won't get an accurate approximation unless you get hard revenue numbers. Which again, you won't.

Till then, PS4 numbers are the closest you'll get to reality.

Guess what I'm sayin' is:

Was the game a (big) fucking success or not

 

[Infinitron]

Any news on actual sales figures?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...leonard-boyarsky.130421/page-223#post-6530900

 

[Diggfinger]

Any news on actual sales figures?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...leonard-boyarsky.130421/page-223#post-6530900

Holy cow it sold 2 million units!!

Way to go Leon and Tim

 

[Roguey]

Holy cow it sold 2 million units!!

2 million shipped to stores, which meant that actual sales would be less than, but more than a million.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Sometimes it's just the writers writing what they know.

Let's be honest, the only thing they know is their woke social bubble where people address each other as comrade.

 

[gestalt11]

It's a common observation, made by people such as Tucker Carlson, that in the 21st century West women increasingly "have their shit together" more than men. They goof off less, they're more likely to earn a university degree, they seem more well-adapted to succeeding in bureaucratic structures where the most important thing is to follow instructions and get along to go along. Think of the stereotype of the corporate HR lady.

Not everything you see in a video game made by people from California is there to piss you off. Sometimes it's just the writers writing what they know.

Except 50% of university degrees are complete scams. Maybe the women getting medical related degrees have their shit together, but the huge number of women getting the other worthless degrees and putting themselves into massive debt to do so are actually just complete rubes who delusionaly think they have their shit together and believe they are better than the men who chose not to get scammed and are actually better off when they do something smart like go to trade school.

 

[Hellion]

PC Gamer seems to have gotten onboard the "TOW's corporate humor isn't funny" wagon, taking things up a notch by claiming that this happens because "the evil corporations that the game tries to satirize also exist in real life, so jokes about them aren't funny but depressing".

https://www.pcgamer.com/corporate-satire-in-games-isnt-funny-anymore/

Corporate satire in games isn't funny anymore
Rather than laugh, now I just feel sad.

To those who believed that videogames can't be funny, 2019 proved them wrong. The nihilistic absurdity of What the Golf! and the mischievous avian bants of PC gaming's favourite honking monster in Untitled Goose Game made up for whatever Borderlands 3 was trying to do with its scatological script.

The Outer Worlds should've been up there for me, too. I love the dark humour of Fallout, but something about Obsidian's latest effort left me cold. I stopped playing way before finishing it, despite it being relatively short for an RPG. That was the case due to various factors, but it wasn't just down to my backlog forcing me into my nightly 9 pm paralysis, which invariably leads to Skyrim.

No, it was its attempts at humour that hindered my curiosity to explore the rich and colourful Halcyon system. I'm not referring to the hilariously 'dumb' character builds you can create, but the parody of evil corporations that characterises this troubled part of the galaxy.

Early on you encounter Spacer's Choice: the faction that runs the towering Saltuna Cannery in the first major settlement, Edgewater. Here, graves are leased to the deceased and the company are paid compensation by those closest to them in the event of a suicide. Sick leave requests take weeks to process.

I quickly found the 'aren't big companies bad, haha' brand of jokes tiresome. Meanwhile, Journey to the Savage Planet's jests rubbed me up the wrong way, in precisely the same way. Like the factory workers of Edgewater, the explorers scouring the galaxy for humanity's next habitable planet on behalf of Kindred Aerospace are also treated as expendable property. After a laundry list of potential risks its staff could contract, ranging from nausea, feelings of emptiness, and death, travellers are urged in the event of an emergency to "contact your Kindred representative as soon as possible" with the caveat: "current rescue times exceed six months."

I'm fairly certain that, had I played both games a few years ago, I'd have laughed along as intended. Perhaps I'm just older now. But, at the same time, the world has changed. The richest 1 percent on Earth own more than double the wealth of 6.9 billion people. Amazon factory workers, without time for breaks, resort to relieving themselves in plastic bottles. People need their Alexas the day after they order them, after all.

The late-capitalist hellscapes that The Outer Worlds and Journey to the Savage Planet try to ridicule are not hypothetical situations lurking in the future. They exist today. As a result this satire just bounces harmlessly off its targets; it no longer has bite, and therefore, it isn't funny.

Corporate satire in videogames is missing something: hope. Satire needn't be throwaway slapstick like 2019's not-golf game, and the anti-social goose game. It can be constructive; created with the idea that a better future is possible.

If you're anything like me, you'll feel the world is pulling you, unwittingly and inexorably, in the wrong direction. Most jokes designed to undermine the powers that make that possible merely remind me of that situation. At best, I just roll my eyes whenever videogames cheerfully present their working characters as company property or make light of inequality and injustice. Mostly, I just feel sad.

 

[DalekFlay]

"Megacorps" like Disney do exist, but they are in constant competition with other companies. The Outer Worlds presents a dictatorship-like future where one corporation rules in authoritarian fashion, which is quite different. As discussed a ton when the game came out, it feels almost more like communism than capitalism run amuck, because of how it's presented. Though lobbyists for corporations like Disney do allow for substantial government control on issues of mutual interest to all corporations, which could be seen as similar.