The Outer Worlds

PaxVenire

PaxVenire

Wasteland Peacemaker
It’s been out for over a year now, Jesus. What’s NMA’s general consensus? Personally it was kind of forgettable for me, sad to admit.
 
Yup I agree with the world being too cartoonish for me to get into. Fallout 1 was the perfect blend of parody and immersion. The soundtrack alone for Fallout 1 is more memorable and immersive. I don’t think I remember a single track from TOW. Aside from even the story, the whole aesthetic of it is just so bland. The ship designs, the armors, fuck even the weapons, they are all so bland and unforgettable. The game was good for a few laughs but I didn’t even finish it and I don’t think I will any time soon.
 
The only place that felt like an actual RPG or Fallout esque was the Sublight Salvagers and the station they were on. It felt like an early draft of a sci-fi version of The Hub from F1, but it was ultimately narratively underdeveloped and the entire place felt like a potemkin disney village pretending to be way larger than it actually was. Which applies for most game locations generally but it was particularly bad at hiding it.
 
The scientist — uhhh ummm — I forgot his name and don’t really care to Google it, I didn’t really care for him honestly, and the fact that the game boils down to either side with him or the South Park-esq corporations really made me not want to complete it, I dunno.
 
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I enjoyed him mainly because he was a 1:1 mad scientist stereotype and I enjoy those. But yeah didn't give a single shit about the main quest unfortunately.
 
I liked it but it isn't really close to Fallout New Vegas. I give it a 6.5 or 7/10, it had some really good quests and moments, but the obvious limited budget vs cost of production (Everything being voice acted for example) really put a damper on it's potential.

In general it was a better experience quest to quest than Fallout 4, Fallout 3, Mass Effect and Cyberpunk but the main quest feels a lot like it got cut down from something much larger, I remember how the endgame quest starting really took me by surprise, which is something that never happened to me in New Vegas.

I enjoyed the themes a lot, less about the consumption part of corporativism criticism and more about the exploitation, other things like the non existence of aliens being also an interesting spin on what these Sci Fi space games usually do.

Skills system was very good. A lot of ideas on it for streamlining Fallout style character build were really interesting and I actually took notes of them for my own take on an RPG leveling system... but...

Perks were bad, just bad. All of them just generic buffs, being able to choose the perks of your companions is a neat idea.... but the simplistic perks hold it back by a lot.

The Phobias system was interesting in concept but in practice it wasn't that great, specially if you are doing a diplomatic character as all of the phobias will affect those skills and stats and the trade off is just being able to pick one of the aforementioned bad perks, they should've made like Special perks only accesible by getting a phobia or something. I think they are only interestign when playing in Supernova as a layer of challenge because you don't have a choice. And I say I THINK they are because I am not sure, I didn't play on supernova because it decided to include the horrible element of not being able to save normally when on that mode, which I just can't afford at this point in my life.

A sequel could work to refine these points. I haven't played the DLC yet, I will give it a shot tho.
 
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I quit at the second area. Just wasn't grabbing me. I'd been playing for hours and none of the characters had begun to standout neither did the games setting or lore start to take a unique or interesting enough shape for me. I'll probably give it another shot some time later in life. What I played wasnt terrible or anything but it definitely wasnt something special either.
 
Pissing on a full latrine here, but yeah it was pretty shit compared to what you would expect from the studio that made New Vegas. The story and the characters were uninteresting, the writing was very uninspired, the aesthetics and design where too over-the-top silly for you to take anything seriously (and they didn't compensate by making the thing actually funny either), your choices didn't matter for jack shit and changed almost nothing, the corporations where dumb as bricks and there were 0 reasons for you to join them, the RPG system was some dumbed down bullshit even worse than the post-Oblivion Bethesda stuff. It was altogether a very shallow and dull experience.

I strongly disagree with @Walpknut on it being better than Cyberpunk by the way. With all of it's flaws, Cyberpunk is still a great game with very good story telling, mission and level design and an amazing open world for you to explore. I definitely recommend it instead of TOW.
 
Cyberpunk has terrible storytelling tho, and the plot is terrible even if was told well. Most quest were fetch and kill quests with very few ones actually having any substance, and the world was mostly empty and everything was closed off, a completely shallow dioram of an open world, it was worse than PS2 GTA games.

Outerworls, for all it's flaws at least delivered on quests with multiple paths and dialogue choices with actual effects, and while the worlds are small it at least lets you explore what you find. Not to mention you aren't barred from attacking important NPCs worse than FO4 like you are in CBP where even generic mooks will randomly be immortal.
 
Cyberpunk is foreign territory to me. Glad I never got excited for it or Frontier. I don’t think I could handle getting two Ls after another. VA-11 Hall-A is the only Cyberpunk game I need.
 
Walpknut said:
Cyberpunk has terrible storytelling tho, and the plot is terrible even if was told well. Most quest were fetch and kill quests with very few ones actually having any substance, and the world was mostly empty and everything was closed off, a completely shallow dioram of an open world, it was worse than PS2 GTA games.
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It's like we are playing different games. Because I'm playing a game with amazing open world design. From a level design and worldbuilding perspective, Night City is by far the most interesting, intricate and complex open world in any video game; there is just so much verticality and density to every single area, there are buildings that have up 8 unique access routes, elevators that take you to 6 different levels, nightclubs located several levels underground below skyscrapers, shanty towns with cobbled-together and densely packed residential buildings with accessible roofs that serve as mission areas, a hidden casino under a pier accessible from rudimentary bridges over a sewage drain, areas where it is possible to travel several hundred meters exclusively through roofs, highways that pass over overpasses that pass over roads that pass parks, etc... And all of the missions take advantage of this meticulous level design, there are multiple access routes to all objectives, I actually counted 9 unique access routes to infiltrate a secret club inside a warehouse on the first mission with the Rivers guy.

As for the story telling, I think it was actually very good. There are plenty of characters who get their highlights, such as Goro on the rooftop reconnaissance mission and Jackie, well... any time he showed up really because he just was that cool. There is also so quite interesting dose of subtle symbolism going on if and it's really worth it when you get some of the references, like (spoiler alert!)
the Myth of Er on the Arasaka ending
and other tidbits. Anyways, I really think the story was one of the high points of the game and the endings in particulars definitely improved my opinion of the game.
 
VA-11 Hall-A is pretty good. Cyberpunk 2077 can't even accomplish what one day in VA-11 Hall-A accomplishes with the entire story and photo realistic graphics and expensive actors.

Eumesmopo said:
It's like we are playing different games. Because I'm playing a game with amazing open world design. From a level design and worldbuilding perspective, Night City is by far the most interesting, intricate and complex open world in any video game; there is just so much verticality and density to every single area, there are buildings that have up 8 unique access routes, elevators that take you to 6 different levels, nightclubs located several levels underground below skyscrapers, shanty towns with cobbled-together and densely packed residential buildings with accessible roofs that serve as mission areas, a hidden casino under a pier accessible from rudimentary bridges over a sewage drain, areas where it is possible to travel several hundred meters exclusively through roofs, highways that pass over overpasses that pass over roads that pass parks, etc... And all of the missions take advantage of this meticulous level design, there are multiple access routes to all objectives, I actually counted 9 unique access routes to infiltrate a secret club inside a warehouse on the first mission with the Rivers guy.

As for the story telling, I think it was actually very good. There are plenty of characters who get their highlights, such as Goro on the rooftop reconnaissance mission and Jackie, well... any time he showed up really because he just was that cool. There is also so quite interesting dose of subtle symbolism going on if and it's really worth it when you get some of the references, like (spoiler alert!)
the Myth of Er on the Arasaka ending
and other tidbits. Anyways, I really think the story was one of the high points of the game and the endings in particulars definitely improved my opinion of the game.
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I don't know if you are playing with mods but most buildings in the game are locked, only quest locations have different access points and most elevators except the one that takes you up to your apartment (that you have literally zero incentive to return to) close off the different floors after the ones quest the ywere used for is done. And even if you climb up every building there is no point in doing so, most of the time you just get junk to scrap or just find a rando cluster of rando generic enemies.

The story is pretty poor, Jackie is a lame character that has death flags the second he opens his mouth in the prologue and Goro just calls yo to tell you he is gonna kill himself if you don't pick the Arasaka ending on the ONE mission you even itneract with, and even then he is just a stereotypical "HONOR!" type of character because that's the only way to write japanese characters obviously.
In fact the plot of this game has the exact same issue as TOW with it just dropping the endgame quest suddenly with very little indication that you were that close to the ending, altho in the case of Cyberpunk 2077 is because the story was so shallow and poor and you start wondering if maybe it glitched out and skipped over another 4 quests because there are still no stakes stablished at all, and at least TOW has multiple endings for each character and location while CBP just has Skype calls at the end for some characters and Night city remains unchanged as a location in every single one.
 
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Walpknut said:
I don't know if you are playing with mods but most buildings in the game are locked, only quest locations have different access points and most elevators except the one that takes you up to your apartment (that you have literally zero incentive to return to) close off the different floors after the ones quest the ywere used for is done. And even if you climb up every building there is no point in doing so, most of the time you just get junk to scrap or just find a rando cluster of rando generic enemies.
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Yeah, most buildings are locked in a game that depicts a giant metropolis with literally thousands of buildings in it. Ok. It's truly a shame that only the mission areas for the hundreds of different missions in the game are intricate and complex explorable environments.

Walpknut said:
most elevators except the one that takes you up to your apartment (that you have literally zero incentive to return to) close off the different floors after the ones quest the ywere used for is done. And even if you climb up every building there is no point in doing so, most of the time you just get junk to scrap or just find a rando cluster of rando generic enemies.
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Everything here is not true. Your apartment is an area you have to return to for several quests and it is a good place to store equipment in. There are also a lot of elevators in the open world, specially in the very verticalized spaces like Japantown.

Walpknut said:
The story is pretty poor, Jackie is a lame character that has death flags the second he opens his mouth in the prologue and Goro just calls yo to tell you he is gonna kill himself if you don't pick the Arasaka ending on the ONE mission you even itneract with, and even then he is just a stereotypical "HONOR!" type of character because that's the only way to write japanese characters obviously.
In fact the plot of this game has the exact same issue as TOW with it just dropping the endgame quest suddenly with very little indication that you were that close to the ending, altho in the case of Cyberpunk 2077 is because the story was so shallow and poor and you start wondering if maybe it glitched out and skipped over another 4 quests because there are still no stakes stablished at all, and at least TOW has multiple endings for each character and location while CBP just has Skype calls at the end for some characters and Night city remains unchanged as a location in every single one.
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You are not even making sense here, frankly. No stakes established when it is already long established since the meeting with Goro on Tom's Dinner that V is dying and that they will have to make a choice about who they think can help them remove the biochip? Everything Goro set's the player up for in the dinner meeting after the prologue is exactly what happens, it's a very clear development of events.
 
Eumesmopo said:
Yeah, most buildings are locked in a game that depicts a giant metropolis with literally thousands of buildings in it. Ok. It's truly a shame that only the mission areas for the hundreds of different missions in the game are intricate and complex explorable environments.
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Hundreds of quests of just stealing a random suitcase and leaving. It really tells yo ua lot when I completed most missions without problem without exploring the buildings and I didn't put a single point im Stealth, just made people kill themselves with quickhacks.


Everything here is not true. Your apartment is an area you have to return to for several quests and it is a good place to store equipment in. There are also a lot of elevators in the open world, specially in the very verticalized spaces like Japantown.
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Never had to return once after Keanu Reeves gives V Brain Aids. THere were a few quests that I did in one sitting and everytime I returned there there was nothing new, the vendors aren't even good. Stash items? For what? I just scrapped everything I picked up and had no problem defeating the final boss with a Hammer I picked up from a random boss in the Voodoo Boys shitty sequence. Specially since the game apparently just corrupts your save file if you pick up too many things. Most elevators in the game are locked and others only work during specific quests, several floors becoming inaccesible later or even during the quest.


You are not even making sense here, frankly. No stakes established when it is already long established since the meeting with Goro on Tom's Dinner that V is dying and that they will have to make a choice about who they think can help them remove the biochip? Everything Goro set's the player up for in the dinner meeting after the prologue is exactly what happens, it's a very clear development of events.
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So, there are no stakes for the game. The only thing it's stablished is that your generic thug character is dying from Mcguffin cancer and the choice is entirely in how you are gonna go inside and get told you can't be saved in anyway. There is nothing in this game that makes you feel like siding with anyone is gonna change anything, hell the "main villains" literally tell you they don't give a shit about the McGuffin anyway. The only incentive you are given to not side with Arasaka is that Keanu Reeves won't think you are cool and legit, choomba! V as a character is not interesting. There is no development of an interesting plot, everything that happens with Goro feels like a queater of a second act in a halfway decent story but then it just drops you on the ending.


At least The Outer Worlds has like actual endings for every location you meet, skill checks are more than just filler options with no effect (THey are literally highlighted in Blue to show you they are pointless). Also no rando NPCs that you are barred from attacking, you can even pick pocket people in The Outerworlds, which is more than what you can do with eve the most important characters in CBP2077 who even in combat are a non-entity, which doesn't really matter much because the AI of enemies in CBP2077 makes even Fallout 4 seem like the most tactical game of all time in comparison.
 
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So you just spedrun through the game in Rambo mode and completely ignored the existence of stealth, exploration, sidequests, story, etc... Ok, got it.

Walpknut said:
So, there are no stakes for the game. The only thing it's stablished is that your generic thug character is dying from Mcguffin cancer and the choice is entirely in how you are gonna go inside and get told you can't be saved in anyway. There is nothing in this game that makes you feel like siding with anyone is gonna change anything, hell the "main villains" literally tell you they don't give a shit about the McGuffin anyway. The only incentive you are given to not side with Arasaka is that Keanu Reeves won't think you are cool and legit, choomba! V as a character is not interesting. There is no development of an interesting plot, everything that happens with Goro feels like a queater of a second act in a halfway decent story but then it just drops you on the ending.


At least The Outer Worlds has like actual endings for every location you meet, skill checks are more than just filler options with no effect (THey are literally highlighted in Blue to show you they are pointless). Also no rando NPCs that you are barred from attacking, you can even pick pocket people in The Outerworlds, which is more than what you can do with eve the most important characters in CBP2077 who even in combat are a non-entity, which doesn't really matter much because the AI of enemies in CBP2077 makes even Fallout 4 seem like the most tactical game of all time in comparison.
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It really seems to me like you are hating on the game for the sake of hating it, jumping on the hatewagon so to say, but don't have a good reason to do so because you just hate it from gut feeling, hence you make no sense. It's far too easy to hate on a game's story when you just don't like it from the start, then you just don't pay attention to anything and ignore every bit of nuance and depth in the entire storyline, point at every character and say "he's dumb I don't like him", describe the entire plot in a stupid way to make it look silly, and then pretend that's actually a point.

Just look how you talk about the main character, for example, you are hating it for the same reason Fallout 3 fan's hated the Courier: "It's not an interesting character". When the reality is that it is a RPG main character and therefore not someone that is supposed to have a clearly define backstory beyond the one the player constructs for them to begin with. You hate V so much that you think the story doesn't actually even have any stakes, because you can't even realize that V's life is at stake so little you care for them.
 
Didn't know playing the game for 50 hours and reaching the level cap could be considered "speedrunning like rambo". Specially when I picked the skillset that is just sitting on a corner and clicking "Suicide" while scanning enemies.

No, I am not jumping the hatewagon. I literally defended the game when the initial hate wagon started because I was sure it was all overblown. To my surprise after waiting for the first patch and playing it myself I realized it was actually UNDERblown. The game is just a mediocre clone of the new Deus Ex Games.

V has no character and I can't even shape them with my choices. The choice of lifepath literally means nothing because after the prologue you are just given a montage to show that you are now friends with Jackie. I picked both a Corpo and a Nomad character and neither felt different. I couldn't roleplay as anything with them, which is somethign I could do with the Courier and The Stranger (TOW). And if all the story's stakes are about my character dying from a Mcguffin that nobody proceeds to give a fuck about after the Heist, what incentive do I have? I continued playing the main plot expecting to find something of substance and interest to the story, maybe a twist, maybe a development that made any of the boring drama with uptight japanese businessmen who just talk about honor feel like it was worth anything.... it didn't. The great development is that a character you met once before after taking a dip in a tub with ice has taken over a soul prison in cyberspace and Johnny Jerkoffhand either takes over your body or you go back to yours to just go die anyway after every single ending.

In The outerworlds I can change the status quo of every location I visit, and I can even kill every NPC. In Cyberpunk I just pick who is gonna tell me that there is no pay off to the boring last 15 hours of the game. The best ending is to let V die on the roof and it accomplishes about as much for the world of the game as all the other endings, and it saves you 2 hours of a boring action sequence with a 1 minute long boss.

What subtlety did I miss? The car that just quotes Portal and even making cake Jokes in 2020? Or maybe Johnny Jerkoffhand having awkward looking sex with a girl that dies immediately after and the game expects you to give a shit?
 
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I'm personally playing TOW right now (I've reached Byzantium, so I think I'm close to finishing the game)

Overall it probably deserves a 7, possibly an 8 in its best moments.

They really need to step the writing up a notch if they mean to make a sequel. None of the characters except Parvati or Ellie really impressed me, a lot of the dialogue is banale chit chat, lots of repeated information, little worldbuilding. The satirical message polarizes the game in manner where no character with a hint of moral decency could really side with corporations...so not much choice there, I guess.

Hedgewater and Monarch's quest really felt like Fallout (although the latter could have been better, perhaps?)
Side quests are a mixed bag. There aren't really any "beyond the beef" type of quests, but they aren't super bad (especially companion quests)

Skill system is fine, perks are bad and don't much allow for specializations. Flaw system suffers because of this.

Armor and weapons need more variety. Also, more or larger areas
 
TOW is similar to Fallout 3 in complexity and immersion. Except for lacking the Liberty Prime bit of course. I enjoyed it, and plan to give it a second play through, this time from the opposite angle I did my first to see what the ending credits show differently.

The game did strike me as either too easy, due to too many available upgrades and too easy to acquire money, or else I've gotten very good at games in general. I played on hard (not brutal hard). And as Sublime said, Perks system isn't very interesting; rather it shunts you to one playstyle or another, with none of the wacky wierdness of FO, like the perk that makes crits splatter enemies in a bloody mess.
 
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