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

[soulburner]

Obsidian have proven time and again after FNV that they are a lame horse. If you give them all the resources they ask for they will still fuck up and get lost in their own overconfidence in how great ideas they have.

How many developers who worked on FNV are still at Obsidian? I think they reached their peak with FNV and then people started leaving or be pushed aside, like Avellone.

 

[Yosharian]

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

Fallout New Vegas counts, it is at least a very good game.

 

[cvv]

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

Fallout New Vegas counts, it is at least a very good game.

Have you tried to replay it recently tho? I did, a year ago, and I uninstalled in a few hours. The world and writing is still fine but I just couldn't stomach the combat anymore. Sure, it's not really Obsidian's fault, it's a problem of the shitty Bethesda engine and mechanics but regardless, New Vegas is p. much unplayable for me nowadays.

 

[Haplo]

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

They have.
MotB (despite the sucky engine), Pillars of Eternity (particularly White March) and PoE2: Deadfire.

Each of them has some issues, they don't quite reach the excellence of Kingmaker, but I'd still classify them as "great" - if flawed - gems.

 

[Nano]

How many developers who worked on FNV are still at Obsidian?

↓

MCA made a post last year where he listed all of the New Vegas devs and whether or not they're still at Obsidian: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/has-your-opinion-of-obsidian-changed-after-avellone’s-revelations-and-deadfire.123110/page-5#post-5728891

52 out of 70 of the devs are not at Obsidian anymore (74%). The 18 devs still at Obsidian (bolded are my additions):

Still There: (~19 18)
Mikey Dowling - Producer
Matt Singh - Producer
Brandon Adler - Producer
Brian Menze - Artist, Interplay/Black Isle vet
Scotty Everts - World building lead, Interplay/Black Isle vet
Daniel Alpert - Character/weapons artist
Sean Dunny - Environment artist
Seth McCaughey - Animator
Shon Stewart - Animator
James Melilli - Environment artist
Anthony Rogers - Tester/additional animation
Adam Brennecke - Additional programming
Justin Bell - Sound designer
Dini McMurry - World building/additional area design, but disregard since she left Obsidian in June
Josh, obviously
Charles Staples - Lead area designer
Jesse Farrell (left, then came back) - Area designer
Jeff Husges - Area designer, Interplay/Black Isle vet
Jorge Salgado - Area designer

Leads - 3/7 (they no longer have the lead artist, lead programmer, lead animator, and lead writer)
Designers (excluding leads) - 3/15
Artists/animators/world builders (exc. leads) - 7/14
Programmers (exc. lead) - 1/14 (lol)
Writers (exc. lead) - 0/5 (but we all know that part already)

Not all of Obsidian worked on New Vegas, of course; for instance, I know that Tyson Christensen (the lead area designer on Alpha Protocol) didn't work on NV and he's still at Obsidian.

The above post is from 2019, things are probably more dire now.

 

[Fedora Master]

I am genuinely upset about this one. What could have been vs. What was.

It could never have been anything except shit, which people predicted correctly.

 

[Sannom]

Seeing what the Earth is like would be cool since I'm assuming the people there aren't all starving braindead morons like in the colonies.

Well, Earth is apparently gone, so, you know. I guess we could be going to the colony from which the gun with ricocheting bullets came ? It seemed to be a one-company colony though.

 

[KVVRR]

Seeing what the Earth is like would be cool since I'm assuming the people there aren't all starving braindead morons like in the colonies.

Well, Earth is apparently gone, so, you know. I guess we could be going to the colony from which the gun with ricocheting bullets came ? It seemed to be a one-company colony though.

The earth going dark was an obvious sequel hook, they'll probably do something with it.
Were there ricocheting bullets? I can barely remember the weapons in this game at all.

 

[Zombra]

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

Fallout New Vegas counts, it is at least a very good game.

Have you tried to replay it recently tho? I did, a year ago, and I uninstalled in a few hours. The world and writing is still fine but I just couldn't stomach the combat anymore. Sure, it's not really Obsidian's fault, it's a problem of the shitty Bethesda engine and mechanics but regardless, New Vegas is p. much unplayable for me nowadays.

There is a difference between "They made a great game" and "They made a flawless game that will never ever be dated". Mind your goalposts.

 

[Bad Sector]

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

Fallout New Vegas without mods.

 

[Vormulak]

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

Fallout New Vegas counts, it is at least a very good game.

Have you tried to replay it recently tho? I did, a year ago, and I uninstalled in a few hours. The world and writing is still fine but I just couldn't stomach the combat anymore. Sure, it's not really Obsidian's fault, it's a problem of the shitty Bethesda engine and mechanics but regardless, New Vegas is p. much unplayable for me nowadays.

I'm in the same boat as far as vanilla fallout nv goes.

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

They have.
MotB (despite the sucky engine), Pillars of Eternity (particularly White March) and PoE2: Deadfire.

Each of them has some issues, they don't quite reach the excellence of Kingmaker, but I'd still classify them as "great" - if flawed - gems.

Yeah I didnt like Kingmaker it was cringe right off the bat.

Has Obsidian ever made a truly great game? and no fallout new vegas WITH mods doesn't count, they didnt make any mods.

Fallout New Vegas without mods.

I would give Fallout NV a 7/10 tbh, the combat is extremely bad with all of the bullet sponge enemies, the vast majority of the quests are pretty forgettable in spite of some of the massive set pieces and the unfinished state of the game is the real nail in the coffin for me, no Legion settlements and no post game.

 

[Yosharian]

So you think Planescape: Torment is not a masterpiece right? Because it has bad combat too

 

[Haplo]

So you think Planescape: Torment is not a masterpiece right? Because it has bad combat too

That is... not so obvious IMO.

Combat in P:T might be simple and lack variety, but its very fleshy (particularly when you use magic - things are far less interesting with a Fighter - good weapon variety though - and barely so-so with a thief - the outdated but sometimes fun backstab mechanic), stats have great impact (such as getting Fast Healing above certain Con threshold) and I've found it great fun at the time. Kinda like Fallout 1&2.
Also rather simple, but great equipment variety and awesome critical effects - unmatched till today - sold it for me and I consider original Fallout combat good - even if it lacks complexity of some other games.

 

[jackofshadows]

I also don't get this PS:T's combat is shit local meme consensus. I beleive it partially comes from the fact that majority goes with 16 char/16 int/16 wis 'muh dialogue options' build therefore gets quite clunky early game. That very majority also play with full stack therefore with lowest xp gain per member.

I mean, of course by comparison to some combat-dedicated party-oriented RPG like Icewind Dale or ToEE that still would be bad but for an RPG it was good enough. Similiar to the recent F2 vs UnderRail thread: F2's combat is way inferior but I wouldn't call it shit because of that.

 

[Nano]

I also don't get this PS:T's combat is shit local meme consensus.

It's D&D in RTWP format, of course the combat sucks.

 

[Rafidur]

It's RTWP, of course the combat sucks.

 

[Zombra]

To those holding up Planescape's combat as excellent: do the words 'confirmation bias' mean anything to you?

Honest, you guys: a game can be good without being perfect in every way. It's even possible for a great game to have flaws. Think about that even if it makes your head hurt.

 

[Haplo]

Not saying it's excellent. I'm saying its flashy (spells), fit for purpose and can be fun.

 

[Yosharian]

Not saying it's excellent. I'm saying its flashy (spells), fit for purpose and can be fun.

FNV's combat can be fun too, so you proved my point

 

[Vormulak]

So you think Planescape: Torment is not a masterpiece right? Because it has bad combat too

Planescape isn't a masterpiece for the gameplay I'll say that much.

 

[Kalin]

You're not zool change your avatard asshole.

 

[Roguey]

I also don't get this PS:T's combat is shit local meme consensus.

Encounter design and Torment-specific choices they made when it came to systems, as Lilura detailed on her blog https://lilura1.blogspot.com/2018/0...ctive-on-the-Original-Incarnation-Part-I.html

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I also don't get this PS:T's combat is shit local meme consensus.

It isn't that combat is terrible in Planescape: Torment specifically; it's that combat is terrible in Bioware's execrable Infinity Engine, which Planescape: Torment was unfortunate enough to be burdened with. Real-Time with Pause combat combines the worst qualities of both turn-based and real-time.

 

[Tigranes]

I also don't get this PS:T's combat is shit local meme consensus. I beleive it partially comes from the fact that majority goes with 16 char/16 int/16 wis 'muh dialogue options' build therefore gets quite clunky early game. That very majority also play with full stack therefore with lowest xp gain per member.

I mean, of course by comparison to some combat-dedicated party-oriented RPG like Icewind Dale or ToEE that still would be bad but for an RPG it was good enough. Similiar to the recent F2 vs UnderRail thread: F2's combat is way inferior but I wouldn't call it shit because of that.

I've played PST with all types of characters/parties, and the combat is thoroughly mediocre. It only feels OK because it's steeped in good old familiar D&D / IE mechanisms, but there's nothing particularly fun or interesting about any of its encounters, it is the definition of inoffensive filler.

(Except for the first time seeing the ludicrous JRPG-style high end spell animations, good times)

 

[LizardWizard]

Even then, Planescape combat is way worse than BG/IWD where you can roll multiple race/class combinations. I'm completely baffled by anyone trying to defend Planescape combat, it's absolutely intolerable, I'd rather play anything else. That includes Fallout 1, hell even the PC gamer Fallout 1 demo disc.