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

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I believe Wesp was referring to AP, not TOW, in reference to a fan patch. For my part I don’t think the game’s core problems (janky combat and stealth, mini games) are really fixable by a fan patch though; they’re in need of a total overhaul.


Still a good game though.

 

[vortex]

If you would get the chance to fix TOW, what would you do? I mean not he bugs but all things together, story gameplay...

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I believe Wesp was referring to AP, not TOW, in reference to a fan patch.

Oh, my bad. Then definitely, Wesp5. Alpha Protocol is a rough gem, same as VtMB.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Alpha Protocol's reputation for being buggy is way overblown, it's janky but always was playable. Nowadays games come out 5 times more fucked up on launch.

 

[Sannom]

Yeah, Alpha Protocol isn't buggy but janky. It also has some under-the-hood tricks that can feel like bugs with the right ability. For example, the fact that a level's enemies are loaded in a full 2 or 3 seconds after the level itself wouldn't be noticeable if it wasn't for the perk that allows to have all enemies marked with an arrow.

 

[Silverfish]

If you would get the chance to fix TOW, what would you do? I mean not he bugs but all things together, story gameplay...

Just off the top of my head (I've been playing off and on for the last week or so),

1. Cut out redundant items. There are 20+ food items that boost HP regeneration for example. It's retarded to be halfway through a game and still picking up every random consumable you come across because you're not sure what it does, only to find out it's a reskin of something you've already got. Like if I'm playing Fallout, I know what Psycho of Buffout do because their effects are unique.

2. Party selection is pointless. Since every party member barring one can be outfitted with whatever gear you like and boast only one unique ability each (some of which overlap anyway), party makeup is a joke. There's no reason to mix and match unless you really want somebody's bonus to hacking or speech (you never will). Unique gear or more abilities would have been a Godsend.

3. Dump the leveled gear. Instead of "this pistol is 2 dps better than that one because it's a level higher", just balance the weapons relative to each other and use the already in-place weapon skills to boost damage.

4. Like most sjw games, the story and setting are unbelievably confused. I've joked about this in the threads for some of the more recent Arkane games, calling them accidentally based and right-wing. TOW is no different. It's criticism of out of control capitalism is populated by danger hairs, mystery meats and strong women who don't need no eggs, implying (accurately) their necessity to these systems going forward. It's a "funny" game that rips from Futurama and Rick and Morty with gusto, but applies their style to a rough, downbeat setting that could have done with some gravitas. There was nobody thinking the setting through at all, which is funny since that was one of the major things New Vegas was praised for.

 

[Bad Sector]

If you would get the chance to fix TOW, what would you do? I mean not he bugs but all things together, story gameplay...

Some quick things from the top of my head since i only played the game once back when it was released....

1. Make the perks something that you'd want to get (which would also require major rebalance) - the flaw system is a nice idea but it relies on perks being something you want to gain a flaw for and by themselves the perks aren't interesting even if there wasn't a flaw.

2. Make the slow-motion system or whatever it was called an actual pause. I get that they probably didn't want to have something way too similar to VATS, but personally i never found the slow-motion mode any useful.

3. NPCs and the PC should work with the same rules and have the same abilities - like having a proper inventory as mentioned previously.

4. I do not remember details right now but i remember that you collected a bunch of stuff (items, weapons, mods or whatever - again i don't remember the specifics, i only remember the annoyance :-P) which were similar but not the same and only had minor differences in terms of stats... but at the end of the day they didn't really feel any different when playing the game. Well, i'd either remove those (be it actually remove them and replace them with a single or just make them functionally the same just with different icons for the flavor) or reduce them and try to have items that have obvious benefits and/or drawbacks

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

TFW you realize that the real spiritual/design successor to FO:NV is not TOW, but Deadfire:

 

[Wesp5]

If you would get the chance to fix TOW, what would you do? I mean not he bugs but all things together, story gameplay...

Remove 90% of all items lying around and make critical items like lockpicks and the hacking equivalent only available in illegal shops or in places in which it makes sense to find them.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

If you would get the chance to fix TOW, what would you do? I mean not he bugs but all things together, story gameplay...

It can't be fixed without creating an entirely new game.

 

[Nano]

If you would get the chance to fix TOW, what would you do?

Go back in time and make sure Obsidian goes bankrupt in 2012.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

In the noble brightness of the far future, there is only Todd.

 

[santino27]

So has anybody tried to fix it with an Unofficial Patch

Are you offering?

No, but from Bloodlines I know that you can get rid of some of the technical problems by patching it for years .

Just getting rid of the hacking minigame would go a long way for those of us who can't see for shit.

 

[koyota]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com...as-been-rated-for-ps5-xbox-series-x-s-and-pc/

Is it a simply a game of the year edition with graphics settings turned to high for PS5/Series X or might some outer worlds 2 engine improvements be arriving?

 

[orcinator]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com...as-been-rated-for-ps5-xbox-series-x-s-and-pc/

Is it a simply a game of the year edition with graphics settings turned to high for PS5/Series X or might some outer worlds 2 engine improvements be arriving?

The modus operandi here is to make the textures higher rez and maybe add raytracing if it wasn't there before.

 

[Fedora Master]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com...as-been-rated-for-ps5-xbox-series-x-s-and-pc/

Is it a simply a game of the year edition with graphics settings turned to high for PS5/Series X or might some outer worlds 2 engine improvements be arriving?

Who gives a shit

 

[Baron Dupek]

Wonderful... they make this bland banal shit boring game more pretty!
Even if they make better animations it would not help sell the game. Wouldn't touch whole package (base+DLCs) for -75%, ain't worth our time.

 

[Ryzer]

Usually when a game with average gameplay doesn't manage to be heap and bound in the writing category or in originality, there is nothing worthwile in it.

 

[Gargaune]

Wonderful... they make this bland banal shit boring game more pretty!

That doesn't need a remake, just turn the screen off.

 

[wishbonetail]

Well, maybe now it will be less painfull to look at. Graphics in this game look like there's some Blueish Gooey Soap Filter is aplied. Skyboxes are worse than Might and Magic 6. Color palette is atrocious. It just tasteless. I couldn't stand it.

 

[GamingConnoisseur]

I remember playing this game, and like halfway through I just became a murder hobo and started killing all annoying characters (so like 70% of the cast). This game does a bad job at keeping you interested. It's not fun picking up the same kind of weapons in the late game that you had at the start, just with an "MK2" tag in its name.

 

[Yosharian]

I remember playing this game, and like halfway through I just became a murder hobo and started killing all annoying characters (so like 70% of the cast). This game does a bad job at keeping you interested. It's not fun picking up the same kind of weapons in the late game that you had at the start, just with an "MK2" tag in its name.

Dude it does a bad job at everything

 

[CyberWhale]

Well, maybe now it will be less painfull to look at. Graphics in this game look like there's some Blueish Gooey Soap Filter is aplied. Skyboxes are worse than Might and Magic 6. Color palette is atrocious. It just tasteless. I couldn't stand it.

Chromatic aberration. It can be disabled.

 

[GamingConnoisseur]

I remember playing this game, and like halfway through I just became a murder hobo and started killing all annoying characters (so like 70% of the cast). This game does a bad job at keeping you interested. It's not fun picking up the same kind of weapons in the late game that you had at the start, just with an "MK2" tag in its name.

Dude it does a bad job at everything

I liked the amount of skill checks in the dialogue. Althought I'm not sure if they had some sort of consequence behind them. And the first planet had a main cool quest.

 

[Gargaune]

Well, maybe now it will be less painfull to look at. Graphics in this game look like there's some Blueish Gooey Soap Filter is aplied. Skyboxes are worse than Might and Magic 6. Color palette is atrocious. It just tasteless. I couldn't stand it.

It won't be any less painful to look at because, as you've correctly pointed out, the problem was one of taste, not pixel shaders. Funnily enough, the first time I laid eyes on TOW's art direction was when I realised it was going to be shit. Yes, I did judge the book by its cover. It's almost like there's a reason we have an entire commercial segment called "cover art."