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

[Mortmal]

... seriously sisters and bröthers ...

This is the very definition of mediocre. There's really nothing rage-inducingly wrong about it, it's just continuously failing to do anything at all interesting, exciting, thought-provoking, emotion-provoking, or surprising. It's carefully anodyne, calibrated not to offend anyone except maybe people who are offended at the very existence of women with short hair (let alone queers), runs well, pretty much bug-free, recycles tried-and-true systems, mechanics, and tropes anyone who's at all familiar with the genre knows like the back of their hand.

It's painfully one-note: that zany Brazil-inspired premise of corporate dystopia with retro aesthetics is the only thing it has going for it, and it keeps hammering at it with the subtlety of a pneumatic drill. I'm hoping there will be some development around that theme at some point but so far I got squat. As that Polish review said, this is GOTY 2012. But shit's moved on since then and 2012 wasn't a great year for RPGs anyway.

Am disappoint, Cainarsky. I was hoping for something a bit more creative, especially as Cain at least has been going on about how he wants to innovate and reinvent the RPG genre and what have you. Are the old masters really ALL complete burnouts?

What does asexual angst have anything to do with the themes of The Outer Worlds? Seems like a quest they put in there just to educate/lecture/social-signal. Additionally, it's a peculiar thing to angst about given the existence of Lesbian Bed Death. It'd be more believable if it was about two guys.

It's not even about asexual angst, that could actually be interesting. It's completely banal teenage relationship angst, if she wasn't angsting about her asexuality she'd be angsting about her nose, or her thigh gap, or something else that's equally banal. Again, maybe there will be some giant twist to it later but so far, nothing.

You play disco and then you feel disappointed by anything else... Game is nowhere near as bad objectively, its just after something so original a classic Xbox game doesn't cut in anymore.

 

[cvv]

Bethesda and Obsidian are two of the very few who make games like this, and Obsidian is way better at it. Since New Vegas we've had what... Skyrim, Fallout 4 and...?

You what mate? What "games like this"? What kind of uber-narrow criteria are you using? The only thing Skyrim/Fallout have in common with TOW is character customization. But what the fuck does some retarded customization matter if you never see your dude after the character editor anyway?

Eh.. Witcher 3 isn't that type of game. For one , your character is voiced , has a backstory , dialogue is much limited etc.

So your PC being voiced is bad? And what good are dialogues when the writing is dangerhair female intern fanfic level? I for one much prefer a few dialogues where one line can completely change the game (Iorveth vs. Roche in TW2).

 

[Wulfric Pinewood]

Actually im busy blowing up npc's in modern warfare




[great btw real cod 2 Times returned ! ] but The Outer Worlds it's great game, having so much good time with it.
Havn't felt so good in a long time like when i murdered 3/4 of Saltuna factory personel and managers.

 

[Riddler]

To be fair, they don't have the staff of the days of yore either.

Numanuma and PoE1 did have the staff of yore, yet we know how that turned out.

Haven't played or even really followed numanuma but with PoE MCA was largely sidelined and Ziets interesting concepts were butchered for unknown reasons.

I'm still a believer in Ziets and partially in Avellone (if he ever decides to participate in game development again).

 

[Dishonoredbr]

This game doesn't use unvoiced character that well believe me.

Let me not believe you because from what i experienced so far , say otherwise.

 

[Xeon]

I like the stats better than PoE, yeah, not that deep but not too bad. Skills are grouped up until they reach 50 then you need to up them one at a time. This way tho kinda makes it easy to pass almost any skill check with ease, I probably wouldn't complain much if passing skill checks didn't always mean a better outcome. So far nothing bad happened after using skill checks and there is no reason not to use them since it gives you extra exp.

Only problems I have with the graphics is sometimes its kinda of hassle to find what is intractable and what is not. I kinda like the simple look or whatever its called of new Fallouts, you can immediately see a corpse or loot box or anything at a glance.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Skills are grouped up until they reach 50 then you need to up them one at a time. This way tho kinda makes it easy to pass almost any skill check with ease,

IMO they should've made the skills grouped until reached 30 points. That way , it would more balanced.

 

[MajorMace]

You know guys, at some point, it'll be pretty much impossible to keep on pretending some of these revered designers of old have nothing to do with the games they work on being meh.

 

[Inehresa]

I'm trying to convince myself to write a short piece on how tow attempts at critique of societies of control and fails at it (hence the woke vibe), stay tuned for some unnecessarily long post about vidya fluff.

For now I'd like to point out how differently tow and de treat explicit political content - Elysium whackinnes shows itself via skimming the actual stances and school of thoughts to warhammer-esque caricatures/clear cut figures and absurd renditions of our own world's meems (ie. blood for the blood god commies, larping fascists, ultralibs and so on so on). I believe this serves as at the same time as a map for audience to get rough idea about disposition of certain ppl/factions and as a tool to establish end-of-history discourse in game world (politics is simply stupid, let's focus on actual work - sounds familiar doesn't it?) and - more worryingly - inform us there wasn't single non-hierarchical democratic/anarchistic project in the Elysium's political history, we're clearly acting in a world more akin to postcolonial Africa where various powerful parties took the power one after another (and as real world African dictatorships served the interests of ruling class of both Africa and West, in Elysium this seems to be presented as more metaphysical political project [we simply don't know if its the history we want to remember and cherish or just truth <vide suicide of Kras Mazov>]).
Most of interesting bits is hidden in a way how narratives are presented, how discourses function both in-game as on meta level, this makes imo disco for enjoyable pasttime.

Tow on the other hand strikes us from the get go with vision of ultimate society of control - humanity in Halcyon is presented with endless possibilities of virgin globes under the guidance of array of huge corps. Here comes the big difference between two titles - what's important in disco is hidden and left for a willing player to uncover, tow does all its political narrative on a surface layer - company slogans aren't analogies of appropriation of public space in real world (as it's too crudely done imo to be treated as such, infiltration of language and it's subjugation to capital is more subtle), they are clear cut signs of the state of society (and humour standards in obsidian ) - in Halcyon power to punish is so decentralised that it leads to 24/7 policing of oneself in fear of being watched, even if stranded in a cave and facing death - this to me is a hallmark of developed society of control - you can go every where you want (whole stellar system of possibilities dude!), but you should always be mindful of being watched, checked for compliance with enforced code, you are never relieved from duty, even after death.

So uh to sum up since this got a bit out of hand and I'm writing this post on a bus - disco subtely explores the themes of end of history and hierarchy, tow attempts at uhhh something related to s o c i e t y (I'm hesitant to give them credit of talking explicitely about societies of control, since we are living in one so this might be transparent enough for the writer to accidentally frame the tone as some deleuzian critique). Anyways - disco man good, rickmorty man bad.

 

[toro]

I'm starting to ponder the question: if I only play one popamole RPG during the remainder of 2019 should I pick this or Greedfall?

go play elex

 

[Jrpgfan]

This was supposed to be Cain and Boyarsky's dream game

 

[just]

fever dream game

 

[Roguey]

Problem with your analysis is that we're not drowning in a sea of these games. Bethesda and Obsidian are two of the very few who make games like this, and Obsidian is way better at it. Since New Vegas we've had what... Skyrim, Fallout 4 and...? So the complaint about it being the same old thing again rings pretty hollow when we rarely get said "same old thing." And since Obsidian is ten times better at making these types of games feel like RPGs, it's almost like it's the first good one outside of Morrowind and New Vegas. Also I disagree the story/writing/setup is any more mediocre than other successful games in the genre.

How is it compared to Greedfall though?

 

[ArchAngel]

My guess is that you all would replace these females by Amiries and Valeries without thinking twice right about now :D

 

[Nines_Anarch]

I will keep playing Elex. Since then I am still waiting for a good non-isometric RPG

 

[toro]

So, how bad is the SJW infestation? So far my impression is that between the writing and forced epic/microsoft stores, I can safely ignore this one.

It's surprisingly pretty ignoreable.

this is a blatant lie. sjw bullshit is in your face in almost all dialogues and quests.

after 2 planets there were like 5 neutered men characters for 20 strong independent women characters. feminist golden ratio.

it's woke. really woke. Prime Junta is right about this shit.

 

[ArchAngel]

This game seems to prove that West and East are going to be two different worlds from now on. USA developers have become way too different compared to the normal world and their entertainment will no longer click with us. Something like this is already happening in the movie world where many audiences are already rejecting shit stuff like new Star Wars or new Star Trek.

 

[Molina]

So, how bad is the SJW infestation? So far my impression is that between the writing and forced epic/microsoft stores, I can safely ignore this one.

It's surprisingly pretty ignoreable.

this is a blatant lie. sjw bullshit is in your face in almost all dialogues and quests.

after 2 planets there were like 5 neutered men characters for 20 strong independent women characters. feminist golden ratio.

it's woke. really woke. Prime Junta is right about this shit.

TBF, I don't mind about feminist agenda. It's bad, but bad for another reasons. Just that at no time I feel like I'm talking to human beings. To be in a coherent world.

This game really has no soul. I'm going to force myself to continue, but I'm really pessimistic about their future games.

 

[toro]

I am in Groundwork or something, for a second I thought this section is huge since it has several floors and map is big but it only highlights sections of the map.

Spoiler

Ship got impounded right away, kinda wondering if I should have tried exploring other locations before trying to advance the story.

Spoiler

read the consoles. Alex the former captain was gay and his lover impounded your ship

 

[flyingjohn]

Why would anybody make a good game when everybody pays your regardless of the game success?
This is what happens when epic/Microsoft throw money at devs.
Mediocrity,the worst thing you could possibly make.

 

[Molina]

If Bethesda hadn't fucked up two games, honestly, TWO wouldn't be so praised by the press.

 

[toro]

This is the very definition of mediocre. There's really nothing rage-inducingly wrong about it, it's just continuously failing to do anything at all interesting, exciting, thought-provoking, emotion-provoking, or surprising. It's carefully anodyne, calibrated not to offend anyone except maybe people who are offended at the very existence of women with short hair (let alone queers), runs well, pretty much bug-free, recycles tried-and-true systems, mechanics, and tropes anyone who's at all familiar with the genre knows like the back of their hand.

It's painfully one-note: that zany Brazil-inspired premise of corporate dystopia with retro aesthetics is the only thing it has going for it, and it keeps hammering at it with the subtlety of a pneumatic drill. I'm hoping there will be some development around that theme at some point but so far I got squat. As that Polish review said, this is GOTY 2012. But shit's moved on since then and 2012 wasn't a great year for RPGs anyway.

Problem with your analysis is that we're not drowning in a sea of these games. Bethesda and Obsidian are two of the very few who make games like this, and Obsidian is way better at it. Since New Vegas we've had what... Skyrim, Fallout 4 and...? So the complaint about it being the same old thing again rings pretty hollow when we rarely get said "same old thing." And since Obsidian is ten times better at making these types of games feel like RPGs, it's almost like it's the first good one outside of Morrowind and New Vegas. Also I disagree the story/writing/setup is any more mediocre than other successful games in the genre.

It's not even a Bethesda-like game. There's nothing immersive about it, and exploration is just about finding containers. There is no environmental history. It's Skyrim level, but much smaller. Yippee.

tbh it's Fallout 3 level of them park.

environmental storytelling is either absent or completely off in this game.

 

[Perkel]

Picked up character with no inteligence. Stat said i would get Dumb options in dialog. Got like 7 of them and all of them bring literally nothing and most of the time character just speak normally.

So, what was the fucking point of it ?

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Picked up character with no inteligence. Stat said i would get Dumb options in dialog. Got like 7 of them and all of them bring literally nothing and most of the time character just speak normally.

So, what was the fucking point of it ?

Spoiler

To get the dumb ending https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlb2LAhkEV4

 

[Trashos]

May guess that you all would replace these females by Amiries and Valeries without thinking twice right about now :D

Yes, but that is still a low bar.