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Okay, I know this will just be filed under another random complaint post, but now after about 10 hours in I can't see myself finishing the game anymore and I simply need to vent. The TL;DR version is that I think the game doesn't live up to the hype and I'm disappointed. You can move on now if you like. Otherwise, CW for boomer mentality. Now the long version. First the good: If you manage to get the game installed (Gamepass/Windows Store didn't work for me, Epic finally did) it runs beautifully, bug free and seems very well polished. The times of "bug-ridden, unfinished Obsidian games" are obviously over. It also looks better than on the screenshots, it's absolutely no ugly game and I like the art style, not even sure what this 1900's postcard design is called but I like it. I also have no problems with gunplay and all that, it's not what I care for the most but on the technical side there's really not much of an issue dispite some clunkiness in the UI that could've been a little better and minor nitpicks. As for the gameplay... it's handholding to the max, you can't possibly go wrong no matter how hard you try. Yeah, it's a "follow the marker" game... sad, but I can live with that when there's a good story to follow, that's what I play for. But as a looong long fan of Obsidian and the guys working there, having played so many flawed gems that barely worked but had such good storytelling and potential for more, I can't get over the mediocrity of this game now and how safe, unoffensive, easy and boring it is. Okay, let me take a step back - After I initially, a few months ago, tried and failed to get the game with the XBox game pass for PC because I was curios about the reviews, I gave up trying to install it until 2 days ago. I finally played and finished Vampire - Bloodlines for the first time (yeah, that late I know, I had it in my pile of shame since 2010) and frankly thought "come on, Leonard Boyarsky made this, made Fallout with Tim Cain, Arcanum... there MUST be something to my liking in Outer Worlds and I need it NOW! Screw that Epic boycott. Okay, I know those can't be compared, but I was definitely not looking for the Fallout in space, I wanted something quirky with great writing and that sense of humor and sarcasm I got to know from those games. And I wasn't prepared how flat TOW falls in that regard. It plays everything so safe, maybe in an attempt to offend absolutely nobody, that there's nothing left. The corporate/capitalism critique: Easy to get behind, who wouldn't. But it's getting old after half an hour really, and the only joke that put a slight smile on my face at all was the landing pot's arrival, probably the only time the game hurt someone. The NPCs and companions are so utterly boring, I'm sorry, but I found myself wanting to avoid dialogues, and this is new to me from this company. None of them are relatable, they all look and feel flat, have nothing interesting to say or I just don't get it. There was sooo much praise for Parvarti and how cute/lovely she is and her companion quest. I'm a sucker for lovely characters. And I love Ashly Burch's voice acting too, so I looked forward to reaching that point hoping I'd get somewhat emotionally attached to her and the game. Halfway there I even watched that Noclip documentary about writing compelling characters.... boy was I flabbergasted when her whole quest got drama-exposition-dumped on me only minutes after we actually visited the "quest marker", the timing alone was so bad it ruined it completely. And the amount of social media-drama... I never felt so old and disconnected before. That timing was so incredibly bad, there should actually be a patch that makes sure the whole thing takes a little more time, enough at least that it's believable that she spent a few days on her iPhone, but even then, it was so forced, one dimensional, trying so hard to grab me with a problem that really isn't a biggy that it completely fell flat and I was left with "okay, if this was that emotional highlight everyone is talking about I can stop playing now". Because even if I can't connect to Parvarti at all, she's STILL the most unique character/companion, the only likable I met so far. (Edit: I overthought that next (spoilered) part, I don't want to be the guy who sees "that stuff" everywhere, so after writing I hopped into the game once more to confirm the impression. No, not everyone looks like that, I might've gotten that impression mainly from some very colorful quest NPCs. Maybe my issue is simply that there's only a very small variety, the only stand-out ones that look like that, the rest forgettable? I'll leave it spoilered but in to get flak if necessary.) Yeah, sorry, optics and individualism play a part in games for me. It's not about making or including some sexy Skyrim-modded supermodel clichées, it's about a believable variety of different characters, I miss that here. As for the writing, there's a good example for what I think in the Noclip documentary about characters at minute 11.10 onwards, about Celia and how her script was changed, which left me speechless - and I think that script change is exactly my problem: Why wasn't she kept creepy and the story actually addresses that creepiness instead of making it all cute and nice? There is creepiness in the world, and that's how you write excellent stories - not by avoiding but by addressing it, giving players something to think. Games like FO and VtMB are full of creepiness and hard hitting topics, from thought provoking to gut wrenching. Putting a creep in the game doesn't equal supporting creepiness, but to create an opportunity for deep storytelling - like a... likable creep? So far I haven't seen anything like that, besides something outlandish like . I've experienced the same in the last Bioware games (I played), the absolutely non-offensive content, the bland, boring, avoid-pretty, life-and soulless characters with their tumblr-problems(*), an avoidance of any real social commentary, controversial topics or stuff to think about. I repeat again, including these topics doesn't mean supporting them. But leaving out everything that could possibly offend someone somewhere in a game means that there's really nothing left anymore, and this is exactly what happened to TOW I'm afraid. Despite that, I'm all for "woke" (maybe I'm even misinterpreting that word) content, if it's packed in great writing that's actually thought provoking and sometimes hurts a bit. But the no offense/just pretend it's normal route I think is the death of storytelling. Sorry for that rant, I know that's the point where people usually stop listening because I'm outed as a boomer or something. Anyway, as I said I'm only 10 hours in and this is my impression - if someone tells me now "hey, you got it all wrong, wait until XY!", I might play on and change my mind, but otherwise I'm afraid I can't finish the game because I'm so disappointed in it's writing. (*)I know this kind of language sounds like the typical hate-Youtubers, believe me I don't like them either, but at least everyone knows the meaning.

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/94783-your-tiers-list-base-classes-subclasses/ My friends... It is time... The Return of the Tiers List. YOUR Tiers List. According to you, A) FUN. What Classes/Subclasses are fun to play ? Not fun at all ? B) EFFECTIVENESS. What classes/subclasses are enough Powerful, too much powerful, not enough powerful ? C) SUBCLASSES BALANCING. What penalties discourage you to take the class / are too strong compared to bonus ? D) CREATIVE BACKGROUND. What are concepts that you like / Dislike ? (Not to mention the raw power of the class) If you want, make a full tiers list, with or without Multiclass.

The purpose of this survey is to show whether you would like to deep relationships in the game or not. This survey relates to such things as romance, love, fear, recpect, frendship or pure hate. It is not about whether the individual components as will or will not apear like "Do you like romances in games" or "do you like friendships in game". It's about WHOLE influence system as one of the game mechanics. We not talk about adding romances etc. We talk about adding influence system even without romances. This topic is not written just to prove that you whant or don't like "romances" or "Sex" in P:E. It's about complex relationships, personal motivations and complexity of human nature. For a perfect example for this system is Alpha Protocol and in some ways Neverwinter Nights 2 system (but not so good in my opinion). In AP we have complex system where friendship or respect will grant you some benefits but also If someone HATE you it also will grand you some benefits (but completly diftent) My goal is to demonstrate Does the complicated relationship like "Enemy that respects you" or "Party member is planning to murder you". It's obvious to me that if you are playing as "lawful good" and you have party member that is "Chaotic evil" then his will always disagree with you and his hate for you will grow day by day will somday will betray you when you least expect thrusting a dagger where it hurts hardest. In other han if you play as "Chaotic Evil" a paladin from your team might jump to comclusion that "World is better without you" and atack you. Im waiting for you answers An please by nice

How important is lore fluff to you? Is it important? Do you feel it is unimportant? Personally, I love finding books and other such items that you can read to find out more information about the history of the realm, other nations and people. I feel it really adds to the polished feel of the game and depth of the environment. Having said that, I always collect books and think of it as a mini game in a way. I like having somewhere to keep my collection.