SzabiK

Voicing them one time with one specific voice and tone is not the issue. Fallout 4 did it, Mass Effect series did it... The issue is, that only one tone and voice option is immersion breaking for the majority of the builds and character lookalikes. The devs would need to record sever times all the dialogue to cover all the different type character just to let them stay in character.

TOW is a classic RPG, you should not compare to the Bethesda looter shoter - RPG hybrids. This game is not about roaming endlessly a map with one character and grinding for better gear and doing radiant quests after you beat the main story. It has more or less the same play trough time like any other game of it genre (25-40 hours). In my first play-trough with an actual "good leader" character I finished in 20 hours willingly saying "no" to quest what did not fit to the characters personality. In my second play-trough I went with a "sneaky merc" who did anything for money. I ended up with 32 hours game-time on a completely different arc. Now I doing my 3rd one with a "high charisma anarchist scientist" guy. I found already quest what I did not encounter in the first two. I have plans for a "lone renegade" (no companions), a "moron" (low in) and for the last a "pacifist diplomat" That is 5 char with an estimated 120-150 hours....

In TOW you will get the quest regardless of your actions. You can finish them with more or less the same outcomes with some varied dialog choices. And your companions are never going to be mad at you, doesn't matter what you did. Maybe a disapproving one liner.... maybe... Getting them to leave is your choice, and not they own decision reflecting your characters and the companion personality. I was expecting similar companion system (quests, dialogues and affinities) like it was in Kotor 2. It had much more depth. That game worth to reply several times just see your buddies reactions in different situations and the changes in their affinity towards you and alignment on the light or dark-side. You could turn them evil or good. In TOW they are good to get some XP with their stories, but I don`t think they will bring to much of a replay value like those in Kotor 2. In previous Obsidian games you had to think about how to behave to get the companions approval. It could produce some tension... getting into arguments with them... or make them leave you... It looks like an industry trend to me. The companion quest in the current games feels much more flat compared to some of the really complex ones 10-15 year. Recent games does not want to lock you out from content based on the choices you make, only 1 or 2 in the Main quest level at the end of the game. So naturally side quest and companion quest are paying the price with being more flat and accessible (you will get them regardless of your actions triggered by locations or time with slight outcome variations and no long lasting consequences)

I was not talking about companions. In my second point I was talking about NPCs in general. The guys who give the quest and those who you have to interact with outside of your party. They feel static by today's standards. There is a bit of a sand-boxing here and there, but it feels immersion breaking to find the NPCs (more or less) in the same position every time you approach them. Like when you need to talk to the MSI guys in Stellar Bay. They are always there facing each-other in the same position regardless of the time. And in my first point I was talking about the static events. MSI vs. Iconoclasts: You give the stuff to MSI, Iconoclasts turns hostile, they leader shows up outside Stella Bay and the MSI boss gives you the task to kill them, "because they are going to attack before the defenses are ready". If you chose not to attack, the Iconoclasts leaders are going to stay there till you show up. The attack will never happen. The devs "try to imply" that the stuff is urgent, however it is not implemented like that. Breaks the flow of the story and the immersion too. This quest design element damaged Fallout 4`s main quest. "You urgently have to wind your 1 year old son", but technically you can do everything else before it. So it is not urgent by implementation... An thx for mentioning party members I haven't thought about that aspect... Lets think about these: - (2004) Obsidian and Kotor 2 where you can "influence" them to approve what you have done regardless of their affiliation. It needed some effort, some talking to them, but you could drag them to the light or dark side. They are essential. They give missions, if you dig deep enough. - (2007) Mass Effect 1 is same as TOW, but you have to sacrifice one of them at some point, what has an effect on two more titles in the franchise. They are essential, no missions. - (2008) In Fallout 3 you need certain karma to hire them, nothing more. Permadeath... - (2010) In Mass effect 2 you HAD to do their loyalty missions to give a better chance for them to survive at the end. That one felt forced. They are essential in most part expect at the "random death end". - (2010) In Fallout New Vegas the companion leaves you if you do to much thing against his/her taste. They permadeath based on settings, they give missions if they like your actions. - (2012) Mass Effect 3, same as TOW. They are essential. - (2015) Fallout 4 companions behave same as Fallout New Vegas with less depth and you can talk them out of leaving, they give missions if they like your actions. - (2019) In TOW, you might get a couple disapproving comment, but they affinity towards you not going to change. They permadeath based on settings and they give you missions in time. I would vouch for the Kotor 2 system with configurable permadeath....

[SPOILERS] Vicar Max - A priest looking for his faith and revenge. Felix - An orphan bouncer/handyman who got mixed up with the wrong people and wants a way out. Ellie - Medic with issues with her rich parents. Nyoka - A monster hunter with drinking problems who lost all his friends. Parvati - An engineer who lost her parents ending up in a lesbian romance with her mentor. All of these are legit life issues. Parvati's story is the only one what has to do anything with "romancing" and with the others kept in mind is not much. Btw... There was only one occasion, when I yelled out "No, don`t you dare to do this ****!" out loud during my first play-trough. It was when I called the ADA "it", and Parvati asked if "Isn`t it she?" All the Mass Effect Andromeda bull*** flashed in my mind and almost quit the game.... than I heard ADA`s response with "I am programmed to use this voice. You can call me whatever you want." and it was continuously stated by "itself" that the ship AI is not self aware and it is not a person. Instead of the game "educating" me about gender fluidity, one NPC told the other to "cut the c***" See... this is how far we went with years and years LGBT / Gender fluid / Representation topic in games. It made me jump on a shadow. Btw... on can sense the sudden change in the writing of Parvati story. But having two "parents issue" companion would have been too much and all the other good topics are taken by other companions (revenge, faith, getting out of trouble, alcohol and grief). Only the hot potato left.... "romance"... If the writers do it with a straight relationship, there would be called bigots in every blog entry / article title all around the internet.

Dear Obsidian and Forum Members! I was waiting for a game like this for such a long time, that I stopped counting the years. I am a gamer for 25 years, I saw some things during my time This title really is an outstanding example of RPG at its finest. - Writing: really good with full with surprises. After two play-trough I am still getting quests I didn't found (unlocked) previously and getting surprised by the outcomes. - Artwork: classic... immersive, with a lots of attention to details. I left Stellar Bay for the 20somethingTh time, when I realized that there are "re-branded" Terra 1 signs, just covered up... - Theme: Frontier (western) scy-fy. High-tech, low-life... Really good, and the humor is on spot. - Music: Brings back memories from the ill-fated Firefly... I simply loved it. -Combat: I don't care Really god, nice! As the title says: Game Of the Year! Now comes the but. (In this case everything before the word "but" IS NOT horse s**t) I started recently my 3rd character. There is a couple of thing what started to grow on me... The first two is feeling what is lingering there since KotoR 2. (2004) 1, There is nothing really happens without my character. My character is the "the unknown variable", this should not mean that life is in a stalemate without my actions. There is a starting status when you arrived to the location and based on my actions things are going to happen. It would be really nice if some bigger quests with several steps would proceed in case of my "inactivity". For instance: MSI vs, Iconoclasts. Let`s say I screwed the peaceful option and but I side with one of the parties, but don`t want to do the slaughter. I am going to get a quest if I sided with MSI to kill the Iconoclasts outside. Quest-marker is there. Actually I did not tried this and did not find any info. If I just ignore this, are the Iconoclast leaders going to stand in the church outside till the end credits? For days, weeks, months... Or should there be message popping up in my terminal on the ship after a couple of days saying that the "situation is resolved at Stellar bay" come visit and see the outcome. Fail the previous quest and give a new one about doing business with the "winner". Could be random winner, or favored based on the status with the player and the finished quests for the faction. Would be awesome. Waaaaaaay more immersive Just imagine staying out from the shootout and congratulate to the winner and offer your services. Or being late with a delivery of a quest after scavenging to much in some area... yes, we got some valuable loot, but f*** up the side quest, now we talk to a new boss in the town. I can bring up Mass Effect 2 as an example (2010 - still one of the highest rated RPGs out there. ), where the Bioware devs implemented a nice catch in the game, it was about saving your whole crew from the "suicide mission". If you did more than one quest between the suicide mission and the abduction of the Normandy crew, most of the crew was "processed" when you arrived to save them. It was 9 years ago. 2, Every NPC is waiting in a locked position for me to do something in the whole colony. Its like moving around in a painting or a photos. Feels static. They have no life... Yeas, I am talking sand-boxing. They should at least go to sleep sometimes. Or go to the pub... Ok, there are this occasional quest related "walking to another building", "sitting down in agony" or "drinking by the bar" motions, but it is not enough by today's standards. It is really breaking the immersion after a couple of hours. Especially when you have to run back and forth between two NPC, a couple of days passes and those are still "frozen" in the same position. It brought back the same "static" Kotor 2 felling I had 15 years ago. Bethesda GS with Oblivion (2006) implemented a day circle for the most NPC-s. They got some life.... it was 13 years ago and raised the standards. Since than it is in every of the ES and FO titles. The 3rd one is... 3, The "faction-less" factions. Marauders... Sentient human beings who are going to charge at you regardless of how many of them slaughtered already. You just can stop them to attacking you. I sense here a huge missed opportunity. There is already a faction system with good and bad reputations. You could group these Marauders per area and provide some opportunities to be neutral with them. Like encounters where you can save them from animals, fix their wounds and get them not to shoot at you every time they re-spawn or you walk that way. Intimidate them with high enough charisma (or gear). Make some business with them.... Or just make them run away if you killed enough of them, and be attacked only if the "feel confident" due to strength in numbers. But repeatedly killing them or sneaking around them is getting a bit boring. Could have been a nice quest line to "Become the raider overlord of the colony" without shooting one bullet. Could have been a brilliant move for those pacifist play troughs. For me this 3 things would make the difference between "The Outer Worlds - The Best Game of the Last 5 years", and "The Outer Worlds - The Timeless Classic"