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

[Quillon]

The Outer Worlds was one of the better games to come out lately.

Wrong thread.

Post it here: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/trigger-the-codex-with-a-statement.112015/page-79

 

[Infinitron]

Oh it's out early:

In the third video exploring the design of The Outer Worlds, we talk to the level design and writing team about how they crafted some of the game's most complex quests & areas.

 

[fantadomat]

Infinitron ,do you honestly like this tripe and mediocre game?

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Infinitron ,do you honestly like this tripe and mediocre game?

He doesn't like games. He likes shilling.

 

[DalekFlay]

The Outer Worlds was one of the better games to come out lately.

This is actually true, which is sad.

 

[RNGsus]

In a few rebirths you will be able to pay everything.

Wow, it even dumps the consequences on succeeding generations.

 

[Zibniyat]

After some 29 hours of playtime I have finished this game. I've played on the "Hard" difficulty, which is the second-highest one. The highest difficulty has stuff I find bothersome: the player character has to satisfy their physiological needs (eat, drink, sleep) and companions die when they reach 0 health points (HP), which is pretty often in this game; sure it's more "realistic", not that I necessarily care, and whilst most encounters I could easily have done successfully alone, it still bothers me to lose my companions in a game as a rule.

Now that's out of the way, and with some very minor spoilers, a few thoughts on this game. Since I don't want to drown everyone with a huge tl;dr, I will for now only mention what I think of:

Companions

Companions are mostly designed according to some archetype. So we have Felix who is a "shoot first, ask questions later" type of guy, Ellie who is some bored high-status girl thirsty for some "real action", Parvati who is just a confused person all around and a nerd good with fiddling with mechanical and electrical things, Nyoka whom I did not care much to get to know her so whatever, an S.A.M. robot with the expected/usual humorous "personality streak" (same with ADA - the Unreliable's AI; the Unreliable is the name of the ship the player uses) but who also employs deadly weaponry, and Vicar Max who is - I presume - supposed to be the usual theologian-philosopher type (and he fails at that). However, and this is good, these companions feel as actual real persons; yes, there's a lesbian and who knows what else in there, but despite that they feel real and are sort of endearing (except Vicar Max, fuck him).

The game is a futuristic/sci-fi corporate dystopia and has a lot of... not quite realistic things going on, although seeing our clown-world of today, they don't seem quite as implausible as they might have been seen before. Now, whilst whatever the player character does in companion-related quests does not bear any real consequence, and whilst there really isn't much depth to interacting with them (for example, you can't make them dislike you so much that they will betray you and leave you, at least not that I have seen, but then again I was trying not to be a total asshole so that may have had some significance, I don't know), traveling with them was sufficiently fulfilling, and dare I say realistic, that these issues did not bother me. They were my crew, they were there with me out of their free will and choice, and it felt like they didn't try to influence or change me in order to satisfy some agenda of theirs, which actually felt refreshing because it felt like there's some mutual understanding and pretty normal and realistic relationship between persons who are both friendly but also tied together by some concrete work.

I feel as if too many RPGs force some types of characters to obviously influence the player character and to make their relationship "bigger than life" or similar. Here, we have pretty normal-behaving persons traveling together for their common benefit, and that is almost all; I say "almost", because there is still some room for relationship growth, but not too much, which considering the scope and length of the game felt realistic and proper. Proportionate I may say as well. Some companions may not be "normal-behaving" though, I do not view lesbianism as "normal", just as I view hot temperament as a kind of affliction, but at the same time I see these things as normal in the sense that they exist and some people are like that, and since these things weren't "in your face" and there was a sense of (ironically) normalcy and composure to these characters which went beyond what they "identify as", I found them mostly likeable. Good, in fact.

So, congratulations to Obsidian for making realistic-behaving companions who have sufficient dignity and composure despite whatever affliction (or "orientation" or whatever word you would like to use here) they may have. A big plus in my book.

 

[Infinitron]

Short:

In the forth video exploring the design of The Outer Worlds, we talk to studio audio director Justin Bell about the process of writing the score, voicing the characters and making every sound trigger at the correct time.

 

[welly321]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

How to design Outer World's music.

 

[DalekFlay]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

New Vegas with dramatically reduced scope and budget and kitschy Whedonesque writing, that is way too easy due to horrible balancing.

 

[jf8350143]

It won't be on steam for another half a year, and with the DLC coming, it's too early to say whether you should buy it on steam or not. You might want just buy the XGP instead.

 

[Wesp5]

A DLC is coming? Who said that?

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

A DLC is coming? Who said that?

that is way too easy due to horrible balancing.

Josh Sawyer did nothing wrong

 

[TT1]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

It is a good game, better than fallout 3 and 4, for sure.

Pros:
- Companions are nice. Parvati is one of the best companions ever, very human and sweet.
- Visuals are gorgeous;
- Good options for roleplay;
- Setting is nice.

Cons:
- The itemization is very limited and weak.
- Game have WAY TOO MUCH loot. Its absolutely absurd. This is the main cause of game being so easy.
- Game is very easy. No challenges whatsoever in normal difficulty.

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

better than fallout 3 and 4, for sure.

As if it was difficult.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

better than fallout 3 and 4, for sure.

As if it was difficult.

If its easy, why noone is doing it?

 

[Quillon]

Gameplay-wise FO4 is better, way more varied than TOW. Gfx-wise TOW can be beautiful but at the same time it is eye-melting, highlight must be enabled to be able to see all the crap loot lying around.

 

[jackofshadows]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

In one word - mediocre, many posters agreed on this and so am I. It's not necessary terrible but it's not good either by any means. As a looter-shooter it sucks because there's too little enemies/veapons variety, AI is too predictable and challenge is non-existent in general (maybe patches will fix that by the time of steam version but it was true for the highest difficulty on release). And it has the the most broken loot system I've ever seen (shit is just all over, it's crazy).

As for RPG part... Systems are looks somewhat promising at start but then you see that majority of checks are too easy to pass, even if you don't bother to raise specific skill, you can always take companions which gives you insane bonuses to it just by having guys around. Moreover, sometimes checks're plainly ridiculous - I remember 30 (you can raise up to 100 and have bonuses on top of that) speech check for a very tight and supposedly intence negotiation where the fate of many people was at stake. And it wasn't some mindblowing argument either, more like "come on guys, let's be nice, alright?". So all that goes out of the window, basically.

C&C are the strong suit of the game - player have quite a freedom to resolve any matter, you can kill any NPC for instance. And it would be very nice if not the next problem: the game's world doesn't treat itself even remotely seriously, thus it impossible to sunk in, to "suspent your disbelief" if you like, to surrender yourself to the magic power of the escapism. Very little in this world make sence, it's not F3 bar but still very, very low.

Also it's a product of its time, so it's packed with considerable amounts of sjw-diarrhea, there's no other way to put it. For me it was not a deal breaker but it's annoying as fuck and kills any remains of immersion.

That said, the game is still can be enjoyable if you do not think too much and play next to a case of beer: you're walking around, shoot stuff, talk to NPCs, chukle from time to time out of occuring absurdity, going back to your ship and take off to the next planet. But I'd not recommend to support that regardless.

 

[Haplo]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

New Vegas with dramatically reduced scope and budget and kitschy Whedonesque writing, that is way too easy due to horrible balancing.

As if New Vegas was any more difficult...

 

[TT1]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

...As a looter-shooter...

Its not a looter-shooter, by any means. I am surprised you even consider it as a looter-shooter.

 

[Roguey]

As if New Vegas was any more difficult...

Does TOW have the equivalent of deathclaw and cazador areas? Vault 34?

 

[Duralux for Durabux]

Does TOW have the equivalent of deathclaw and cazador areas? Vault 34?

Strange, Sawyer didn't get on hand in those. They ain't

enough.

 

[jackofshadows]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

...As a looter-shooter...

Its not a looter-shooter, by any means. I am surprised you even consider it as a looter-shooter.

You're suppose to walk aroung and shoot/loot stuff a lot in this game and combat dynamic is pretty fucking fast. The presence of "time dilation" doesn't make it pure RPG all of a sudden.

 

[Wunderbar]

Whats the verdict on Outer Worlds? Is it worth buying when it comes out on steam? I dont feel like reading through 238 pages.

...As a looter-shooter...

Its not a looter-shooter, by any means. I am surprised you even consider it as a looter-shooter.

You're suppose to walk aroung and shoot/loot stuff a lot in this game and combat dynamic is pretty fucking fast. The presence of "time dilation" doesn't make it pure RPG all of a sudden.

looter shooter means shooter with a focus on looting randomized equipment.