Outer Worlds, a mediocre Fallout

[Reffy]

When this game was released, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked like a combination of Fallout and Mass Effect.
But after a few hours of playing, I started to see the mediocrity that Obsidian is known for.

My biggest complaint is that the main character is an emotionless husk. Why spend all my time at the character creation, making a human being, while I can only act as an eunuch?
No flirting, no camaraderie (besides fetch quests for your team), no romance and barely any friendship. Why surround me with characters, if I can barely interact with them anyway?

Whatever I can do in Outer Worlds, I can also do in Fallout 4 and more. And I know Fallout 4 doesn't have the best dialogue in the Fallout series. But Outer Worlds isn't better either. That and Fallout 4 has so many mods, and isn't Epic Store exclusive.

When I compare Pillars of Eternity 1 to 2, I can see so many improvements. Maybe Outer Worlds 2 would be better, but currently I see more roleplaying in GTA online, and I don't even own that game.

Outer Worlds. 4/10 

[ndakota79]

That's just like ... your opinion man. But I'm sure everyone here is greatful for your critique. 

However, my opinion is that it's the best Fallout like game since Fallout New Vegas. My opinion is that the writing is brillant. My opinion is that Obsidian is not known for mediocrity but for some of my favourite games ever. 

[algroth]

2 hours ago, Reffy said:

But after a few hours of playing, I started to see the mediocrity that Obsidian is known for.

[Selnor1983]

2 hours ago, Reffy said:

When this game was released, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked like a combination of Fallout and Mass Effect.
But after a few hours of playing, I started to see the mediocrity that Obsidian is known for.

My biggest complaint is that the main character is an emotionless husk. Why spend all my time at the character creation, making a human being, while I can only act as an eunuch?
No flirting, no camaraderie (besides fetch quests for your team), no romance and barely any friendship. Why surround me with characters, if I can barely interact with them anyway?

Whatever I can do in Outer Worlds, I can also do in Fallout 4 and more. And I know Fallout 4 doesn't have the best dialogue in the Fallout series. But Outer Worlds isn't better either. That and Fallout 4 has so many mods, and isn't Epic Store exclusive.

When I compare Pillars of Eternity 1 to 2, I can see so many improvements. Maybe Outer Worlds 2 would be better, but currently I see more roleplaying in GTA online, and I don't even own that game.

Outer Worlds. 4/10 

Your entitled to your opinion. But it's definately a minority viewpoint. 

Obsidian are not known for mediocre ganes. Obsidian are known as one of the best RPG devs in the west. 

 

Something tells me more than likely your a very sad Bethesda fan. Who is so upset that Bethesda have gone so downhill that many don't want to support them anymore. 

 

TOW is so much better than Fallout 4. The RPG mechanics are better. And the slow Mo is far superior to Vats. 

 

But the biggest problem with Fallout is the writing. Obsidian writing is superb. 

 

Please Obsidian don't be like Fallout. TOW is far superior as an RPG. 

 

IMO the OP is either a PS fanboy or Bethesda Fanboy. What gives it away is the line that Obsidian are known for mediocrity. When that statement is totally false. Obsidian is synonymous with top drawer quality RPGs. 

 

Either he's Annoyed that from here on all Obsidian RPGs will be Xbox exclusive or he's annoyed that so much hate is being piped on Bethesda lately. And people are much happier with The Outer Worlds. 

 

90% of reviews say it's better than Fallout. 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Selnor1983
To add more. Grammar.

[Katarack21]

You're entitled to your opinion, but I *strongly* disagree.

1) Obsidian isn't known for mediocre games. They are a very successful RPG studio that has made some of the best games out there, and are widely acknowledged as such.

2) There's a *LOT* of companion interaction. No, there's no "romance", but so what? There's a cubic ****ton of interaction and comradeship.

3) You cannot do all the same stuff between those two games. You can't throw grenades in TOW, but you can't shrink people in Fallout 4. You can't enslave people in TOW, but you don't have any "dig through rat ****" quests in Fallout 4, either. Etc. etc.

[Silverdragon]

I do disagree: I think Bethesda's Fallout is the "cheap knockoff". 

Simply because Bethesda isn't smart. They do not do smart design, they do not write smart things. They themselves stated "You can either fill a large world with cheap content or make a small game with handcrafted stuff". This was true until CD Project Red showed them a pretty large middle finger. Bethesda-games do one thing right: Large, cheap worlds. It's McDonalds, sometimes I like it, but it's just "cheap, low-quality stuff, lots of it". Nothing the Bethesda-makers so far have said or done over the years made me think "Yeah, cool! That is smart!"

If you want a piece of their actual abilities to plan, design and execute a game you need only to look at Fallout 76, the writing that lead to that fiasko has on the wall for all their previous titles, just they worked as moddable (!) single player titles, so we did not mind and got our fun out of them (I played Oblivion, Skyrm, Fallout 3 and 4 and enjoyed them for what they were - but always wished they were done smarter in basically all regards).

Here's the actual issue: Even though they seem to look similar and are basically the same genre, Fallout 3/4 and The Outer Worlds are *very* different game with very different goals and basic ideas. Both studios want different things and do these "fairly well" when measured against their own goals (note that neither is actually perfect; Bethesda lacks in being smart, Obsidian often has lacked in funding to actually finish a large project and make it as good as it could be (Kotor2, anyone?)). 

So to be honest: I take "Obsidian-Fallout" over "Bethesda-Fallout" anytime. Simply because I like "smart" better than " incredibly lots". Do you know what I hope for? An Obsidian-Game made with the development effort and money that Bethesda could afford!

Edited October 27, 2019 by Silverdragon

[Jozape]

If you don't like EGS you can do what many of us have done is pay $1 for Xbox Game Pass. Personally I prefer an emotionless husk as it makes it much easier to role-play. I'm not sure how good the game is relative to Fallout 3 or New Vegas yet, but it is definitely better than Fallout 4 since I actually feel like I can role-play.

[D. Fuller]

6 hours ago, Reffy said:

When this game was released, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked like a combination of Fallout and Mass Effect.
But after a few hours of playing, I started to see the mediocrity that Obsidian is known for.

My biggest complaint is that the main character is an emotionless husk. Why spend all my time at the character creation, making a human being, while I can only act as an eunuch?
No flirting, no camaraderie (besides fetch quests for your team), no romance and barely any friendship. Why surround me with characters, if I can barely interact with them anyway?

Whatever I can do in Outer Worlds, I can also do in Fallout 4 and more. And I know Fallout 4 doesn't have the best dialogue in the Fallout series. But Outer Worlds isn't better either. That and Fallout 4 has so many mods, and isn't Epic Store exclusive.

When I compare Pillars of Eternity 1 to 2, I can see so many improvements. Maybe Outer Worlds 2 would be better, but currently I see more roleplaying in GTA online, and I don't even own that game.

Outer Worlds. 4/10 

Playing a few hours isn't going to do it. You obviosly have not progressed as far as I have to see the dialotgues among the crew. Outer Worlds is a story-based RPG heavy on PC and NPC interactions with combat, and not vice-versa with lots of combat and less story and interctions. Interactions are quite complex. In other words, it is not Borderlands 3 Lootsplosion with some story elements.

 

The only complaint I have so far is:

 

1. I can murder the entire crew of Spacebreaker and can't find a quest item - a certain helmet - I need as it won't drop. Need Black Market that trades in other things than Corporate wares/

 

[Mister Holdout]

Where this game really shines is in its commitment to choice. Obsidian has allowed players to create and develop characters the way they want.  I don't feel like my character is an empty husk because the game allows me to make tons of choices (and a lot of these choices are complex).  So when ever I explore different places I always know exactly who my character is.

Could they have fleshed out some of the relationships more? Sure, there's a lot of things the devs could have done. But I've learned that you can't expect everything.

Also, this game is way better than Fallout 4. TOW is an actual RPG. 

[D. Fuller]

10 minutes ago, Mister Holdout said:

Where this game really shines is in its commitment to choice. Obsidian has allowed players to create and develop characters the way they want.  I don't feel like my character is an empty husk because the game allows me to make tons of choices (and a lot of these choices are complex).  So when ever I explore different places I always know exactly who my character is.

Could they have fleshed out some of the relationships more? Sure, there's a lot of things the devs could have done. But I've learned that you can't expect everything.

Also, this game is way better than Fallout 4. TOW is an actual RPG. 

This is perhaps the most in-depth PC/NPC intteractive game I have ever played since I programmed Moon Lander in Basic on a PCjr. A decision I made yesterday ended up costing me a story option today. It is no Mass Effect yet O.W. beats out the likes of Fallout 4 and others.

Finally found a hat that would work to complete the mission.

Edited October 27, 2019 by D. Fuller

[Hurlshort]

These games aren't competing with one another, people. They are all coming out years apart, so I am pretty sure they can all exist and be enjoyed in the same marketplace. We aren't exactly saturated with these types of games.

[D. Fuller]

3 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

These games aren't competing with one another, people. They are all coming out years apart, so I am pretty sure they can all exist and be enjoyed in the same marketplace. We aren't exactly saturated with these types of games.

Comparison, not competing. Each game has its strengths and weaknesses. Compared to other games, O.W. is in my opinion a more laid back, slower paced game than something like Borderlands 3, with emphasis on story.

Edited October 27, 2019 by D. Fuller
Additional explanation.

[VaultBoi2077]

10 hours ago, Reffy said:

When this game was released, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked like a combination of Fallout and Mass Effect.
But after a few hours of playing, I started to see the mediocrity that Obsidian is known for.

My biggest complaint is that the main character is an emotionless husk. Why spend all my time at the character creation, making a human being, while I can only act as an eunuch?
No flirting, no camaraderie (besides fetch quests for your team), no romance and barely any friendship. Why surround me with characters, if I can barely interact with them anyway?

Whatever I can do in Outer Worlds, I can also do in Fallout 4 and more. And I know Fallout 4 doesn't have the best dialogue in the Fallout series. But Outer Worlds isn't better either. That and Fallout 4 has so many mods, and isn't Epic Store exclusive.

When I compare Pillars of Eternity 1 to 2, I can see so many improvements. Maybe Outer Worlds 2 would be better, but currently I see more roleplaying in GTA online, and I don't even own that game.

Outer Worlds. 4/10 

Well you're entitled to your one man's opinion. I've rated it 8.5/10 so far.  Not just for storyline, but LACK OF GAME ENGINE BREAKING BUGS WHICH BETHESDA IS REKNOWN FOR.

Thankfully this time around, Obsidian devs WERE NOT under any contractual pressure from Bethesda to rush out another buggy New Vegas. Which is why the game is so polished. And understand that this game is NOT open exploration sandbox that Bethesda games are known for. So no Skyrim/FO4 wide as the ocean & deep as a puddle sand box questing. And the possibility for mods is still a possibility in the future.

IMO, imagine what Obsidian would've been able to do had they had the budget of an alpha release game like Star Citizen. Or AAA budget that Howard had to make FO4. Would they have been able to produce an open world space driven sandbox the likes and scale of New Vegas? Very likely. A Newtonian flight model with PvE exploration and PvP spaceship combat? Possibly. Even more detailed NPC interaction and RP story line? Most definitely. 

That being said, I plan on taking my time to enjoy all the side quests and not blindly rush through the MQ. Just to beat the game in 10hr or less for bragging rights and/or the achievements. 

IMO The Outer Worlds is VASTLY SUPERIOR in the storyline/RPG/player choice aspect of anything Bethesda added to FO4 to date. And don't get me started on that cancerous macro transaction, PvP wannabe, BR virus infected dumpster fire that is F76 to date. 

[VaultBoi2077]

4 hours ago, D. Fuller said:

Playing a few hours isn't going to do it. You obviosly have not progressed as far as I have to see the dialotgues among the crew. Outer Worlds is a story-based RPG heavy on PC and NPC interactions with combat, and not vice-versa with lots of combat and less story and interctions. Interactions are quite complex. In other words, it is not Borderlands 3 Lootsplosion with some story elements.

 

The only complaint I have so far is:

 

1. I can murder the entire crew of Spacebreaker and can't find a quest item - a certain helmet - I need as it won't drop. Need Black Market that trades in other things than Corporate wares/

 

^^ 

This 100%

Bethesda's single player Fallout 3 & 4 = 20% LINEAR STORY LINE with ZERO PLAYER CHOICE, FORCED character builds, shallow MQ/side quests + 80% pew pew in an open world sand box.

Obsidian's single player Outer Worlds = 80% NON LINEAR RP with 100% PLAYER CHOICE, CUSTOMIZED character build (that can change as story progresses) + deep MQ/side quests + 20% pew pew. In a world constrained by loading screens. 

[Wormerine]

10 hours ago, Reffy said:

When this game was released, I was pleasantly surprised. It looked like a combination of Fallout and Mass Effect.
But after a few hours of playing, I started to see the mediocrity that Obsidian is known for.

My biggest complaint is that the main character is an emotionless husk.

I am waiting for OW to download, so can’t comment on game itself, but Obsidian in general:

Obs strives to create roleplaying games. Unlike modern fallouts, Bioware games or Witcher you don’t get a premade character with goals, personality and personal objectives. It is what made me bounced off Bioware titles years back, when I transitioned to Obs. This is what also what made me love their games. 
 

come up with a character. Who is he/she? Her ideology, personality, goals. See what game will allow you to do, and work with that. You might be surprised how much you get to work with. Naturally, there is a limited range to what you can do, but I usually find Obs games accommodating enough to warrant several playthroughs. 

[DekarServerbot]

11 hours ago, Jozape said:

Personally I prefer an emotionless husk as it makes it much easier to role-play. I'm not sure how good the game is relative to Fallout 3 or New Vegas yet, but it is definitely better than Fallout 4 since I actually feel like I can role-play.

Second, Nathaniel Hawke maybe a sarcastic jerk/grumpy moron/yes man but only that, nothing else. Also, what were his achievements in life before the bombs drop out? oh yes, manufacturate ammunition at atomatoys factory and giving a speech about how war never changes. What were his achievements AFTER the bombs drop out? Being everyone's pawn, and achieve absolutely nothing except vengance middle game. He did not touched anyone's lives, he was just a handyman/hired muscle for any pet peeves other people had, nothing but a puppet of either idiotic Desdemona, lazybum Preston Garvey, Con Artist Porter Gage or that tall clone of Ulfric Stormcloak that leaded the brotherhood (btw had you noticed that Ulfric is shorter than other nords).

He will never achieve what 1 int Carlos bloodline had done like sending supermutants to the vault that rejected him after he got the water chip, having a grandson that wanted to purify the water and almost destroyed the entire brotherhood of steel, and the last of the line was a courier that made New Vegas an independient nation under the king's flag (and blew out the Van Graffs... this is not cannon, just my headcannon)... I had to mod and age the courier into fallout 4 to have "depravity" and continue the legacy with the pack and the atom cats to at least achieve something (gunning down the minutemen, commiting genocide in the institute and rebuilding only the good parts of the commonwealth plus turning goodneighboor into a New Vegas like city.

Fallout 3 was like the ToRtanic, too many missed opportunities, several discrepancies with supermutants and crappy ending. Fallout 4 was literally dragon age 2 with many bonuses to avoid it being as bad as dragon age 2, the only fallout content in fallout 4 was Grognak game... and it was more like wasteland than fallout. Heck Dragon Age Inquisition feels more like a fallout game than Fallout 4

[Zafar1981]

14 hours ago, Selnor1983 said:

Your entitled to your opinion. But it's definately a minority viewpoint. 

Obsidian are not known for mediocre ganes. Obsidian are known as one of the best RPG devs in the west. 

Something tells me more than likely your a very sad Bethesda fan. Who is so upset that Bethesda have gone so downhill that many don't want to support them anymore. 

TOW is so much better than Fallout 4. The RPG mechanics are better. And the slow Mo is far superior to Vats. 

But the biggest problem with Fallout is the writing. Obsidian writing is superb. 

Please Obsidian don't be like Fallout. TOW is far superior as an RPG. 

IMO the OP is either a PS fanboy or Bethesda Fanboy. What gives it away is the line that Obsidian are known for mediocrity. When that statement is totally false. Obsidian is synonymous with top drawer quality RPGs. 

Either he's Annoyed that from here on all Obsidian RPGs will be Xbox exclusive or he's annoyed that so much hate is being piped on Bethesda lately. And people are much happier with The Outer Worlds. 

90% of reviews say it's better than Fallout. 

Mate can't disagree with you, my first impression was also same that either this guy is a PS fanboy or die heart Bethesda lover.  

 

[Daidre]

I played TOW for a couple of hours and just could not force myself to proceed. I never touched Fallout 3-4, but TOW has the worst writing I have seen in Obsidian game ever. Not technically bad, but utterly mediocre and hopelessly tryhard in its attempts to be snarky and funny in every sentence (and always fails). 

It is so meh so soon after brilliant Disco Elysium.

I never thought I'd see the day when Spiders (Greedfall) would make more enjoyable game than Obsidian.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Daidre

[rainharder]

Unfortunately I do agree with OP. I had so much hope for TOW, yet what they delivered is a mediocre game designed with old formula and nothing innovative.

Even the writing is bland.They tried so hard to make conversation "humorous" it's just too deliberate. NPCs are boring, too many fetch quests offering insane amount to XP. Too many resources lying around evey corner. The whole "exploration" is more like a chore offering reductant resource you never would need. Whole game offers little challenge.

 

In fact, I'd prefer Greedfall than TOW. Pity, I was hoping it could be another amazing game like Arcanum. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by rainharder

[Mikeymoonshine]

I don't understand how you can say this game lacks roleplaying compared to games like fallout 4. Seems like you think roleplaying is having a character who is already a well defined character to some extent like Shepard or Hawke. 

They said ages ago that there wouldn't be romance, it's a low budget game and they didn't want to half ass it. You can befriend at least one of your companions in their personal quest. Idk about the others because I've not done much of them yet. 

Not liking the humour is an opinion but it's an incredibly meaningless critique to say it's "try hard". There's no way to argue with it, I just don't agree. You can also be of the opinion that the writing is bad but it's a minority opinion. What is specifically bad about the writing compared to other games?

Like pretty much all obsidian games it starts slow, the first area is a little slow and the story hasn't really gotten going yet. I'd say New Vegas did that part better but then Kotor 2 was a lot worse when it came to the first area not being as good as the rest of the game. So maybe play it some more? Or go play a bioware game and just accept that this isn't for you. These kinds of games with this level of stats, dialogue options, customisation ect aren't made very much anymore. I'm glad Obsidian is still making them, stop asking them to make their games more like Bioware and Bethesda games. They are just dumbed down compared to this.  

Edited October 28, 2019 by Mikeymoonshine

[Daidre]

Why you insist on dragging Bioware and Bethesda games into comparison?

My main point that TWO is boring and sporting some Tumblr-style writing comparing to Obsidian's own games - it is lacking next to PoE, Tyranny and NWN 2 original campaign. And completely embarrassing after Mask of Betrayer, KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol.

 

Worst thing about this game is how alike it is to Bioware and Bethesda games now.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Daidre

[Mikeymoonshine]

2 hours ago, Daidre said:

Why you insist on dragging Bioware and Bethesda games into comparison?

My main point that TWO is boring and sporting some Tumblr-style writing comparing to Obsidian's own games - it is lacking next to PoE, Tyranny and NWN 2 original campaign. And completely embarrassing after Mask of Betrayer, KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol.

 

Worst thing about this game is how alike it is to Bioware and Bethesda games now.

If you mean me the OP mentioned Bioware and Bethesda games, I responded to several points of criticism not you or anyone else specifically. 

"Tumblr style writing" as a criticism says more about you than it does about the game in my opinion. 

When I said I don't want it to be like Bioware and Bethesda I meant in terms of how much the game let's you roleplay/how much control over your character it gives you. That's all I was referring to. 

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by Mikeymoonshine

[Katarack21]

1 hour ago, Daidre said:

Why you insist on dragging Bioware and Bethesda games into comparison?

My main point that TWO is boring and sporting some Tumblr-style writing comparing to Obsidian's own games - it is lacking next to PoE, Tyranny and NWN 2 original campaign. And completely embarrassing after Mask of Betrayer, KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol.

 

Worst thing about this game is how alike it is to Bioware and Bethesda games now.

It's writing is superior to NWN 2 by *far* and significantly better than PoE 1. Also better than Alpha Protocol; KOTOR 2 is unique because the first half of the game is pretty bad but then it becomes absolutely *amazing*. KOTOR 2 also had the benefit of being a more-or-less direct critique and commentary on an already established franchise; it's basically a very long diatribe about what's wrong with the Star Wars good/evil hard dichotomy.

I'd say the writing in TOW about as good as PoE 2 and only slightly worse than Tyranny, which itself had the benefit of being in a unique position--there is no other game that I can think of that so directly questions what it means to be good or evil in relation to the society you live in.

[Daidre]

42 minutes ago, Katarack21 said:

I'd say the writing in TOW about as good as PoE 2

Well, Deadfire is game where it became painfully obvious that Obsidian team's combined writing talent went downhill, but good system was still keeping it afloat.

TOW writing is like somebody cloned Xoti and contaminated whole game with her. At least the part I have seen.

Edited October 28, 2019 by Daidre

[DekarServerbot]

3 hours ago, Daidre said:

Why you insist on dragging Bioware and Bethesda games into comparison?

My main point that TWO is boring and sporting some Tumblr-style writing comparing to Obsidian's own games - it is lacking next to PoE, Tyranny and NWN 2 original campaign. And completely embarrassing after Mask of Betrayer, KOTOR 2 and Alpha Protocol.

 

Worst thing about this game is how alike it is to Bioware and Bethesda games now.

I have no issues playing with beta starbound characters, graywarden, inquisitor or shephard... But with fallout 4, in some point i feel that i could not play as Nora Hawke (there is no way to know what her maiden's name was) making even the gender decision completely useless too ala Dragon Age 2 (Eventhough, in that game was more the mage/non-mage Hawke). I understand why Nate would kill Kellogg all the times, go hunt a Courser and accept the rank of general or being a member of the Brotherhood of steel. But Nora, being a lawyer with absolutely no knowledge in combat except from whatever Nate could had teach her between his reinsertion in the civil life working at wilson atomatoys as ammo expertise and any time he was not being a husband and dad of a baby... You can't expect i believe that she would not try to outwit and soft talk Kellogg into helping her after hearing his testimony or she not being able to excuse herself on why she can't be the general, the overboss or the silver shroud and tell those two lazybums and that con artist to MAN UP and stop being useless sissies. And while I understand why Nora would had mixed feeling when arriving the institute, I can't imagine Nate not commiting genocide or shooting his own soon without giving him a chance to explain himself unless he is working for the railroad