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The Outer Worlds |OT| Fully Automated Hysterical Killer Galactic Capitalism

I'm just going to come out and say it. The writing is absolutely fucking shit in The Outer Worlds. It makes Pillars of Eternity's writing look like a masterpiece. I swear the writers probably all watched rick and morty and decided to make a game about it. Rick and Morty is absolute shit. The writing is so bad.

What struck such a nerve? Something must have really rubbed you the wrong way.

I think the writing is decent - to good, with a little goof and charm thrown into it. I don't really mind the slight silly tone of some aspects, it doesn't permeate through the entirety of the writing, it is serious wen it needs to. There are video games with better writing, but very few recent ones of the same ilk as The Outer Worlds. For example, let's say we take Fallout 4 - the writing in Fallout 4 was the reason why i couldn't complete that game (allthough it does have its merits, don't get me wrong; it's a fun game with great exploration, better than The Outer Worlds in this regard) - it was abysmally awful, in general, the characters, the main plot, the exceptionally awful dialogue system. The Outer Worlds is leaps and bounds above in terms of overall writing quality (plot, lore, characters), with far better quest design and reasonably good combat - about as good as in Fallout 4, arguably better because Time Dilation is more satisfying to perform than that gutted VATS system from Fallout 4.
 

Stuart360

Member
So, the choices you make determine a lot of what kind of quests you're going to get to do. I finished a side quest, and it made me immediately hostile to one of the main factions. That made any of the quests in that area hard to complete without a constant firefight. I feel like I missed some quests because of that action.
I know someone said that if you side with 'the company' in a lot of the decisions you make in dialogue, it can cause you to skip whole chunks of the game. That sounds to me more like it would involve the main plot, not the side quests though.
I dont know bud, but like i said, i did 8 or 9 side quests on the first planet, and got at least 10 side quests on the big spaceship (i always forget its name).
You really have to explore and talk to everyone, exhaust all their dialogue. Even talk to them again as soon as you stop talking to them as that can open up new dialogie, just like in the Fallout and Mass Effect games. Also did you do all the companion quests?, you get them by talking to your crew often, just like in Mass Effect.
 
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Lanrutcon

Member
So for loot: around the middle of the game you'll start finding "mark 2" versions of weapons. They're much better, sometimes with an additional mod slot as well. I've also found a crap ton of unique weapons and weird armor that have bonuses you can't get otherwise. Like, a helmet that gives +25% damage to creatures. A coat that gives +10 to all social skills and can be modded for more. The most important loot is...money. You need to tinker your guns. You keep them up to date and combat is a joke. You don't and it's a chore to fight large enemies.

My total playtime was 17h 22m at the save before the credits. I didn't finish some of the companion quests, and I might have missed some of the corporation faction quests.

How the shit, dude? I think you missed a ton of quests. I keep finding more in places I've already swept clean.
 

bilderberg

Member
The UI is maybe the worst i've ever seen in a game. Why are the item descriptions blocking half my inventory? They even block the button prompts telling what buttons do what. If you want to see your full inventory, you have to find an empty spot to highlight. That's awful. Why is it such a pain in the ass to equip and swap weapons? I don't know if this was a bug or not, but the game simply wouldn't let me unequip my starting pistol. I wanted to swap it out for an exact one with higher condition, but the game just wouldn't let me.
 

Grinchy

Banned
Ok, the whole "sell ammo for tons of money to buy cool guns" plan is NOT going to work :messenger_tears_of_joy:

Maybe ammo sells for less on Supernova or something. Light rounds only sell for 0.13 and heavy for like 0.38. Selling off all the ammo I've collected up to this point wouldn't even be as much money as you get from a single quest.
 
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how to can it be best game ? if you play frst hrs you go to areas where enemies are and you just shoot everyone like in shooter game. thats it they dead , you loot them, move to another location and same enemies again , they can run between couple houses but thats it , they dont do nothing more there. you dont feel any real danger from them kinda.... so hmm . its good game , but i had more fun shooting enemies in games like division. And i had more cared for game world in fallout 4 kinda. Maybe it will become better later sure, but for now its very good game but nothing special, and sure nothing new.
im sure you are only running from one quest marker to another without really exploring the world and without reading the texts..........
 
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Siri

Banned
Something weird’s happening with me. I’ve been gaming literally for decades, and really good games have always left me feeling euphoric. But lately, for no reason I can discern, most games are leaving me depressed, regardless of their quality. This is one such game.

It’s weird because I can actually feel the depression coming over me as I play. A decade ago I would’ve been enthralled by a game like this.

It’s weird because a few games (like Control) are still ‘working’ for me - but it’s increasingly becoming the case that games are just leaving me low.
 

BigBooper

Member
Something weird’s happening with me. I’ve been gaming literally for decades, and really good games have always left me feeling euphoric. But lately, for no reason I can discern, most games are leaving me depressed, regardless of their quality. This is one such game.

It’s weird because I can actually feel the depression coming over me as I play. A decade ago I would’ve been enthralled by a game like this.

It’s weird because a few games (like Control) are still ‘working’ for me - but it’s increasingly becoming the case that games are just leaving me low.
Play some Red Alert 2.
 
How the shit, dude? I think you missed a ton of quests. I keep finding more in places I've already swept clean.
I don't know, maybe I missed a bunch? I think I finished all the quests I could find on Terra 2, Monarch, and Groundbreaker. I'm sure I missed some, but my quest log only had one side quest and two companion quests left on it when I finished the game. I'm going back through my second playthrough now; I'll reply here if I find a few I missed.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
In a way the Unreal engine might just be part of why the game doesn’t stick for me. It’s a shooter engine. I get that is often used for other things but at heart it’s built for shooters and any art form is influenced by the medium in which it is created. Changing engine can have a negative effect, as we’ve seen with BioWare (albeit they have other problems too - ones that I think also seem to have beset Obsidian but that’s a matter for another post).

One of the things the Gamebryo engine does which people underrate is that it creates a world that feels lived in, interactive. Maybe it’s the engine, maybe it’s how the tools encourage the creators to work, but it never feels like a shooting gallery but that’s exactly what Outer Worlds feels like to me.It’s a shame to waste such an exquisitely crafted world, but just as others alludeto Mass Effect I too blame its influence. This year I have played KOTOR 1 & 2, then the Mass Effect trilogy and thus charted the decline from RPG to FPS, and honestly it hurts to see it become so dumbed down (perhaps that’s why Kingdom Come Deliverance was such a joyful experience for me). Outer Worlds is a logical progression along that path and for some that’s fine but for me, I’d rather have something with a bit more of that old KOTOR 2 spirit, no matter how many bugs, no matter the awful controls, because that game has a soul.
I could not disagree more with anything you said. The Gamebryo engine is complete and utter garbage. Sure it can do the things you mentioned, but that comes at a massive cost of stability. The constant crashes, freezes, etc. No thanks. The engine has improved drastically, but I'd still get things like broken quests in each game.

As for your world criticisms, it's important to note that The Outer Worlds was not developed with the budget, team size and/or resources that Fallout/Skyrim etc. had. It was made on the cheap and it is absolutely incredible what it accomplishes in that regard. It was never promised to be a 100+ hour adventure along the lines of New Vegas.

I could not be more excited to see what Obsidian does with the universe they have created with MS backing them.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
I'm just going to come out and say it. The writing is absolutely fucking shit in The Outer Worlds. It makes Pillars of Eternity's writing look like a masterpiece. I swear the writers probably all watched rick and morty and decided to make a game about it. Rick and Morty is absolute shit. The writing is so bad.
tenor.gif
 

Stuart360

Member
15 hours in now, just got to Stella Bay. Man this place is huge, with a ridiculous amount of side quests and stuff to explore. Er yeah people finishing this game in like 12 hours, they havent been exploring, and they certainly havent been doing all the side quests lol.
 
You know what, this is Fallout only in structure.

This game has revived my inner Mass Effect fanboy, it SCREAMS Mass Effect while having Bethesda gameplay

Wow... just wow

You are right, it's interesting because at the same time Outer Worlds is the polar opposite of Mass Effect in key ways.

For example Mass Effect in tone is dark, serious and sexy.

But Outer Worlds (based on what I've played so far) in tone is.... literally the opposite. It's cartoonish, goofy and ... it's almost like they intentionally made sure there's nothing even remotely sexy in it ... at all.

So far I am enjoying it.
 

Grinchy

Banned
I wish dead bodies were easier to spot in the more lush areas of the outdoor environments. I've gotten to the point where I just expect to only loot 75% of the things I just killed because I can't spot the damn bodies and there's no visual indicator other than when you mouse over it (in which case, you've already found it).
 

Lanrutcon

Member
I wish dead bodies were easier to spot in the more lush areas of the outdoor environments. I've gotten to the point where I just expect to only loot 75% of the things I just killed because I can't spot the damn bodies and there's no visual indicator other than when you mouse over it (in which case, you've already found it).

Don't sweat it, the world is packed with stuff. Too much, in fact. Normal loot becomes a non-issue pretty quickly. Also, enemies respawn. You wanna farm? Go nuts. Missing a few corpses when looting (unless it's a named enemy) won't matter in the long run.
 
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You can beat Morrowind and Oblivion in under 5 minutes. In New Vegas you can run straight to the Strip and knock off a handful of quests, then get an ending in less than an hour.

I'm sitting at 22 hours, and I'm not even 1/4 of the way through and 150/1000 cheevos. Mind you, I turn off quest markers because I actually want to play the game, not have my hand held the whole time of just race from cutscene to cutscene.

When I'm done, I'll do another run in a few months with different party members along for the ride.
 
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imsosleepy

Member
15 hours in now, just got to Stella Bay. Man this place is huge, with a ridiculous amount of side quests and stuff to explore. Er yeah people finishing this game in like 12 hours, they havent been exploring, and they certainly havent been doing all the side quests lol.
yea, often times u can talk to random people and get a fun quest, there are tons of sidequest u might not discover if u dont talk to random people
 
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Freeman76

Member
This game is so good. First game in a long time that I think about the gameworld when I'm not playing. The writing is brilliant in places, and I have pissed myself at a few things, especially "its in fucking French? I cant read fucking French". I cant wait to see what they do with this universe if they continue it, and with MS behind them, even better.
 

Lanrutcon

Member
Its miles better than New Vegas in my opinion. You just seem like one of those stupid kids who dont like something and just shit on it at every given moment, and sound like a plank while doing it.

Or he's right. I like Outer Worlds, but it's got a lot in common with FO3. Lots of ideas that need tweaking, lots of systems that need a rethink, not a lot of depth or difficulty, etc. It deserves a sequel in the same way FO:NV was a more mature, developed FO3. I hope it sells well (sounds like it's doing fine).
 

Teslerum

Member
Or he's right. I like Outer Worlds, but it's got a lot in common with FO3. Lots of ideas that need tweaking, lots of systems that need a rethink, not a lot of depth or difficulty, etc. It deserves a sequel in the same way FO:NV was a more mature, developed FO3. I hope it sells well (sounds like it's doing fine).

Hm, I agree and disagree somewhat. I agree in the sense that Outer Worlds is something less fleshed out than it could be (Which makes sense for obvious reasons). But as for how the game feels on a design level and how it handles itself its closer to New Vegas than F3 (Which weirdly also makes sense).

That's of course from an objective standpoint. Subjectivly, as I mentioned before, I think you're going to see widely varying opinions on the game, If it's your jam I can easily see it as a personal favourtie whereas if its not the game can really rub you the wrong way as well.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
You can beat Morrowind and Oblivion in under 5 minutes. In New Vegas you can run straight to the Strip and knock off a handful of quests, then get an ending in less than an hour.

I'm sitting at 22 hours, and I'm not even 1/4 of the way through and 150/1000 cheevos. Mind you, I turn off quest markers because I actually want to play the game, not have my hand held the whole time of just race from cutscene to cutscene.

When I'm done, I'll do another run in a few months with different party members along for the ride.
That is correct. At least as far as New Vegas. I, myself, used a quick method to get the Hardcore trophy in New Vegas that involves running to the Strip, recruiting Veronica and I finished the game in less than 2 hours. A main story that lasts 10 hours is actually quite long.
 

TagZ

Member
Was laughing and thinking "fucking disgusting" when I checked out the Spratwurst vendor on Groundbreaker. Especially as the npc was giving me the breakdown of Spratwurst making and seeing the Sprats on the hooks drying next to the mincing machine :sick::ROFLMAO:
 

dorkimoe

Member
I wish the game had better gun loot and armor slots. While they have a lot of choices and story stuff, the actual gameplay pieces seem lacking. That being said, I am still having fun.
 

magnumpy

Member
can't get enough of these fallout style action RPGs. I mean it isn't fallout, but it has some real similarities. in a good way! bethesda better look out because they're getting surpassed and lapped over here! xD
 

Helios

Member
I wish dead bodies were easier to spot in the more lush areas of the outdoor environments. I've gotten to the point where I just expect to only loot 75% of the things I just killed because I can't spot the damn bodies and there's no visual indicator other than when you mouse over it (in which case, you've already found it).
The worst is if you use a plasma weapon and than you have to find their ashes in the grass. Not that it usually matters, like others
So why does nobody in until game look like they have a cunt?
Hey, that medic you find on groundbreaker is cute as fuck.
 

Siri

Banned
LOL... thanks, Helios... I was wondering why some NPCs turn to dust after you kill them.... because of plasma weapons of course... I thought it was because having dead bodies lying around was a resource hog so the devs made them vanish... LOL.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I wish dead bodies were easier to spot in the more lush areas of the outdoor environments. I've gotten to the point where I just expect to only loot 75% of the things I just killed because I can't spot the damn bodies and there's no visual indicator other than when you mouse over it (in which case, you've already found it).
There is a perk called "The Collector" (tier 2) that highlights dead bodies and other lootable containers at a greater distance.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
There is a perk called "The Collector" (tier 2) that highlights dead bodies and other lootable containers at a greater distance.

Oh, it highlights bodies, too? I'll have to grab that perk next, then. Finding corpses in the wild is an exercise in frustration.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
The writing definitely does feel too self-aware/tongue-in-cheek a lot of the time. I think someone called it Reddit humor earlier in the thread, but either way, the dialogue more often than not does not sound like something I would expect to come out of the mouths of characters in the circumstances shown/described in the game world itself.
 

Teslerum

Member
The writing definitely does feel too self-aware/tongue-in-cheek a lot of the time. I think someone called it Reddit humor earlier in the thread, but either way, the dialogue more often than not does not sound like something I would expect to come out of the mouths of characters in the circumstances shown/described in the game world itself.

For me its pretty much exactly the type of speech that'd (be) popularize(d) in the setting. There's writing quality differences of course and some lines that are a bit too much of a refrence, but the style is pretty close.

The power of indoctrination.
 
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HotPocket69

Banned
So I fucked myself in kind of an interesting way that I’m going to have to worm my way out of.

All those scientists that Gladys wanted their info/projects from in Roseway, I didn’t give to her. I ended up siding and helping the scientists instead. Now, I need the 10 grand to get the nav key to Stellar Bay and another (optional)
8k to get the ball rolling on turning in Phineas.

No idea how I’m gonna get that kind of scratch. I can’t persuade the old lady to part with the key either.

I did everything I could on Scyllus (which was only a couple quests) and now I’m on Monarch getting my ass kicked by that Mantis Queen. Hopefully I can scrape this cash together. I need about 9,500.

I have over 8k bits. I want that grand total. My persuasion is at 67 so I have no issues being a coaxing, manipulative bastard and getting higher rewards.

Im hoping that exploring and doing a bunch of stuff around Monarch will get me the dough I need.
 

Teslerum

Member
So I fucked myself in kind of an interesting way that I’m going to have to worm my way out of.

All those scientists that Gladys wanted their info/projects from in Roseway, I didn’t give to her. I ended up siding and helping the scientists instead. Now, I need the 10 grand to get the nav key to Stellar Bay and another (optional)
8k to get the ball rolling on turning in Phineas.

No idea how I’m gonna get that kind of scratch. I can’t persuade the old lady to part with the key either.

I did everything I could on Scyllus (which was only a couple quests) and now I’m on Monarch getting my ass kicked by that Mantis Queen. Hopefully I can scrape this cash together. I need about 9,500.

I have over 8k bits. I want that grand total. My persuasion is at 67 so I have no issues being a coaxing, manipulative bastard and getting higher rewards.

Im hoping that exploring and doing a bunch of stuff around Monarch will get me the dough I need.

You can walk to stellar bay.
 

GymWolf

Member
The game is kinda great but even on hard if you explore a little become (or became) such a cakewalk, devs really don't know how to balance action rpg for shit...
 
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Teslerum

Member
Are you serious? That’s amazing.

Edit: Why wouldn’t I just do that on every play thorough?! I’m always short of bits, thanks to tinkering.

Yeah, the game generally has at least two options to do something. If you're stuck just think of the next most likely one.
 
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Siri

Banned
So on Normal the game is turning out to be too easy - can I bump it up even though I’ve already started?
 
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