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[Luckett_X]

For some reason I suddenly got reminded of this gem, and of course find myself 200 miles away from my 3 copies of it.

1) I thought I lost it.
2) a copy I got on ebay, turned out to be all in german.
3) oh look finally a new copy, hm i just found the first copy :/

Anyway, pretty pictures:

One of the first fantastic Action RPG's! A really immersive world and a pretty good plot amazingly. Graphics were shit hot for the time (NURBS ARE NEW AND AWESOME), and I was just blown away back then, especially by the water. Fully orchestral soundtrack as well, awesome.

The alien dudes were funky, with their culture and 'alien' words and terms. Had a Stargate feel to the whole thing as well (main character reminded me a lot of Jack O'Neill), and the fact it actually has things that look like Stargates in it certainly helped! Quite a moving ending, and all in all a fantastic game.

"Sequel? Oh yippee, yes please!" I said back then. "I would like that sir!".

"Hot pockets! PS2?! surely not!", since back then I was a Sega thing, and it was listed as a Dreamcast title for a while. Then... it got canned. If anyone can shed light on why in the name of Cutter Slade this got axed, then please do so.

Converge GAF, and release your nostalgia or long-distant hate of this game!

 

[Suikoguy]

Those outcast 2 graphics for PS2 sure were impressive back when they came out, but not so much compared to what came out.

 

[Arcticfox]

I loved Outcast. No discussion about it is complete without a link to the soundtrack.

 

[dark10x]

Yep, Outcast remains one of my favorite PC games of all time. It's an amazing adventure. The fact that it wasn't all that playable on PCs back around the time of release was a real problem, though.

Still looks really nice even today!

 

[BenT]

Outcast is fucking amazing. I loved it so much, even a few years late to the party.

I had the fortune of meeting one of Atari's European producers while visiting France for a Kya: Dark Lineage press thingy a few years ago. Of course I asked about Outcast and why its sequel was unfortunately canned. My memory is foggy, but the main thing I remember him saying was that Appeal (Outcast's dev) was extremely, extremely unreliable. I have the impression the company had a sort of demo scene coder history, but I could be misremembering. Anyway, I guess Atari wasn't going to shell out for another torturous dev cycle on the sequel. It's everyone's loss.

 

[Mejilan]

Yikes. Does that soundtrack exist at a higher bitrate, by any chance?

 

[Blazyr]

If someone just has to have one game from me when they ask for a favorite, Outcast is my answer.

As for the sequel, one aspect that really caught them was technology. Outcast was built in voxels. That allowed them to do the big outdoor spaces with all the detailed terrain, but it cut them off from supporting hardware accelerated 3D.

 

[dark10x]

Yikes. Does that soundtrack exist at a higher bitrate, by any chance?

On the net? Probably.

The game uses CD audio (you totally install the game from disc 1 while disc 2 contains all of the music in redbook audio format...yet the game still manages to use smooth crossfades between music) so it's obviously very crisp and clean. Find the game and you've found the soundtrack.

 

[Luckett_X]

It was perhaps one of the only western RPG's I ever enjoyed. Sad to hear that they were an erratic dev team, the games humour was subtle and delightful. A very adult feeling game actually.

Push for a XBLA download or something would be nice! Its a great game that I imagine lots of people missed at the time due to it being strenuous on hardware, and then most people let it go when it was a bit too old.

Ah! Heres an in depth reason as to where Outcast 2 went:
http://www.outcast2.net/?show=show&id=544

First of all, sorry guys, but this must be done in English, since my German isn't good at all...
Second, the answer to the question posted by Anton is yes, I don't work for Appeal anymore.But that's not quite recent news. I mean, after all, I stopped working for Appeal in February.

Now, my departure was a sad thing for me, because it left a lot of work uncompleted, although the plot of the game was finished indeed, and I think that Outcast 1 fans would have enjoyed it, just like they would have enjoyed the gameplay of Outcast 2 the way we were creating it, in spite of the fact that we were making a PC-PS2 game (something that, apparently, many players feared).

So, what happened? I guess that many of you must have been wondering... As far as I'm concerned, I'm working on a new project. New project, new company, but some old friends, since I work with part of the crew who was creating Outcast 2. Anyway, for the moment I can't anticipate anything about this, although you will hear more about it as soon as possible.

As for Appeal, I saw that there has been a lot of commotion around lately. Well, in first place, after my departure, many people left as well (not just one programmer).
Then, the shape of the Outcast 2 project was changed radically. In fact, this "revolution" was one of the main reasons for my departure. Inside Appeal, there were strong divergences regarding what Outcast 2 should have been. Let's just say that I was not in favor of making a too arcade-styled game, something too distant from Outcast 1. Anyway, I was not the one who could make the final decisions, and I prefer not to talk about this any more, because it would make me even more sad.

But then, this lasted only one month, more or less, after which came the "undefined suspension" of the Outcast 2 project. I guess you read a lot about this, and that some of you drew their own conclusion. For those who didn't, know that nowadays Appeal doesn't exist anymore. To be more precise, it exists, but only for as long as it is required by the closure of the bankruptcy process. No rumors, no speculations. Just plain info that everyone can verify.
So, I hope that this brief message of mine helps in avoiding misunderstandings and making things clearer to everybody.

To conclude, I'm really sorry for what happened to the Outcast 2 project, and for the fact that nobody will ever know the work that we've done for the 2 years during which I directed the Outcast 2 project. But that's life, and now it's time to move on, to try to make new things capable of satisfying enthusiast players and fans like you.
I thank you all for the support and the sympathy that you showed in the past.
Yours,
Carlo Fabricatore

Always very sad to hear a talented dev team imploded. I wish in cases like this, a main producer would release the games script and stuff onto the net, so fans could enjoy what could have been. Much like the case seems to be currently with Shenmue.

 

[::FIXXXER::]

Guys

I read this post a while ago and rembered that I had bought this game way back but never played it. So two days of routing and ive found it. Late to the party but what the hey thought i would give it ago.

Now it installs just fine but once the first movie is done it askes for cd2 and I get:

WRONG CD INSERTED. now I know its not hte wrong cd coz it plainly says Outcast cd 2 on it.

Anyone else had the problem and know how to solve it.

I really want to play this game but i cant find information on how to fix it anywhere.

Help.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Graphics were shit hot for the time (NURBS ARE NEW AND AWESOME), and I was just blown away back then, especially by the water.

Nurbs? The game used voxels.

 

[dark10x]

Guys

I read this post a while ago and rembered that I had bought this game way back but never played it. So two days of routing and ive found it. Late to the party but what the hey thought i would give it ago.

Now it installs just fine but once the first movie is done it askes for cd2 and I get:

WRONG CD INSERTED. now I know its not hte wrong cd coz it plainly says Outcast cd 2 on it.

Anyone else had the problem and know how to solve it.

I really want to play this game but i cant find information on how to fix it anywhere.

Help.

Heh, I've always had the same problem. Never knew exactly why, however. What I had to do was actually use a no-CD crack. It was the only way around it, from what I recall. Thankfully, the CD audio still functioned.

 

[Tunesmith]

Probably my favorite PC game of all time. The whole experience was just so good.

 

[ram]

i loved the game and the ending. its a shame that the sequel got canned.

 

[Luckett_X]

Heh, I've always had the same problem. Never knew exactly why, however. What I had to do was actually use a no-CD crack. It was the only way around it, from what I recall. Thankfully, the CD audio still functioned.

Man! I thought I was just the only one. Damn, any idea where to get the no-cd crack these days? Disc not playing was a major reason as to why I haven't replayed it in a while.

Oh and yeah, voxels.

More people need to experience the PC's best action rpg!

 

[Furoba]

Appeal was Belgium's one and only pride concerning game development... Fucking shame for them to go bust... Sure there's Larian now with Divine Divinity, but considering what OutCast was and OutCast 2 could've been...

 

[::FIXXXER::]

I got it working thanks

 

[ImNotLikeThem]

just a quick note, you said "OMG NURBS" up there, but this game actually used VOXELS, volumetric pixels that were essentially like building the terrain out of tiny little lego bricks.

 

[jooey]

outcast? you mean super stalagmite world?

 

[BenT]

outcast? you mean super stalagmite world?

The game that stars black Bruce Willis, yes.

 

[Pimpbaa]

just a quick note, you said "OMG NURBS" up there, but this game actually used VOXELS, volumetric pixels that were essentially like building the terrain out of tiny little lego bricks.

I already said that! People ignore me

 

[Wafflecopter]

This thread makes me sexually happy. The fact that there will never be a sequel.....makes me sad.

 

[ImNotLikeThem]

aww sorry man, i didn't see that. but i remember THINKING about it when this thread first popped up soo... yeah.