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Outer Worlds, a mediocre Fallout


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57 minutes ago, Daidre said:

So maybe this is why game does not work for me. I had expected some layer of drama under comedy and something more than lighthearted pew-pew boom-boom corporation is bad theme park, something with nuance, insight and in-depth characterization, like an older Obsidian games.

You just proved my doubts that there is nothing more to find in TWO if your sense of humor is not on par to truly appreciate the writing.

 

There *is*. There absolutely is. There's a quest that involves finding the dead bodies of on your companions friends, who abandoned her sister to a hard scratch life on Monarch only to find out she'd been lied to and ended up getting murdered and *eaten* by Marauders. There's so many more. There absolutely *is* real drama in TOW.  And you can have long conversations with people about what they want out of life, how they're happy in the position their in, how they don't need you to come and "save" them from the corporations. There's all these things and more.

Playing four hours of a 30-40 hour game, just through the opening area before the main quest even *starts*, isn't going to tell you **** about the depth and nuance of character and writing.

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1 hour ago, Daidre said:

So maybe this is why game does not work for me. I had expected some layer of drama under comedy and something more than lighthearted pew-pew boom-boom corporation is bad theme park, something with nuance, insight and in-depth characterization, like an older Obsidian games.

You just proved my doubts that there is nothing more to find in TWO if your sense of humor is not on par to truly appreciate the writing.

I need to finish game before discussing story, world and writing. Elysium for example was brilliant to me for the first 15 hours, and turned out mediocare after that. I found PoE1 average until it tied everything together with a very clear point at the end of the game. 
 

Any trailer you look at present game’s tone faithfully. Chris Avellone isn’t behind this project (nor at Obsidian) and he is the one usually associated with subversiveness. As leads (people who will set the tone and direction) we have Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky. Fallout1&2 were also very cheeky and deceptively lighthearted. Macabre humour seems to be still present in OW, though so far it’s been more focused on how corporation mindset could affect living, if they completely took over as government. I found little details, and corporate religion sounds like an interesting idea. Personally I found the world and characters quite compelling so far. 

I am confuses as to why one would expect anything different then what was advertised. 
 

Few things I really appreciated: opening hook feels natural and engaging. Opening is something Obs often struggles with, one worked well, setting the tone, putting your characters into the world without knowledge of it, giving you reason to go on, no matter what motivations your character had. 
 

two companions I recruited so far joined very naturally. I often feel that companions are such an expected part of an RPG games don’t properly explore why they would join you. OW so far has been first game in a long time, where companions just make sense. I hope this will continue. It seems they use a bit of reactivity system they worked on for Deadfire with NPCs recognising NPCs and talking to them. Works well so far. 

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4 hours ago, Daidre said:

I played Fallouts back in high school. I prefer Arcanum in the terms of setting, but fairly enjoyed both of them nonetheless.

There is something really really wrong in the claim that TOW somewhere near on the shelf. Fallouts are many things, but they were never boring in attempts to be smart, funny or cute. And I don't remember them. Abusing dots. After every couple. Of words. 

I call BS. 

If you're fine with what passes as humour in Fallout 2 then there is no reason to feel so irritated about TOW. 

Fallout 2 was filled with references to Monty Python's, direct quotes from movies and so many different pop culture references including Elton John and so many other things that broke immersion. 

If you don't remember that then you should stop posting and go back and replay Fallout 2. That will be educational. 

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24 minutes ago, gloomseeker said:

If you don't remember that then you should stop posting and go back and replay Fallout 2. That will be educational. 

It is actually a good advice. I would definitely be more entertained than proceeding with TOW.

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1 hour ago, gloomseeker said:

I call BS. 

If you're fine with what passes as humour in Fallout 2 then there is no reason to feel so irritated about TOW. 

Fallout 2 was filled with references to Monty Python's, direct quotes from movies and so many different pop culture references including Elton John and so many other things that broke immersion. 

If you don't remember that then you should stop posting and go back and replay Fallout 2. That will be educational. 

while i agreee with most of your post, the only thing i disagree is the "pop culture" references breaking immersion. Yes i did find annoying the monty python ones, but i thought that there were more coincidences than any of the characters having anything to do with such overrated piece of comedy, specially since the game is about finding the holly grail, literally. Also i don't remember any 80's/90's pop culture references so i am ok with the ones there. As long as it keeps "having a gay old time", I am ok with them in the fallout series.

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FO's and OW's to me have a very different gameplay vibe, the gameplay in OW to me is like an enhanced ME 1-3 gaming loop, multi-location, limited world scope. FO's to me felt much more like a isolated survival game in a wide open singular world, totally different in feel to me. I like both types, but the games to me are just different. The FO things to me are the terminals, the perks and the dialog pov.

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1 hour ago, DekarServerbot said:

while i agreee with most of your post, the only thing i disagree is the "pop culture" references breaking immersion. Yes i did find annoying the monty python ones, but i thought that there were more coincidences than any of the characters having anything to do with such overrated piece of comedy, specially since the game is about finding the holly grail, literally. Also i don't remember any 80's/90's pop culture references so i am ok with the ones there. As long as it keeps "having a gay old time", I am ok with them in the fallout series.

For the record, I love Fallout 2 despite the references but there are just too many of them. 

Quotes from numerous movies including Star Wars, The Terminator, the Blues Brothers, The Good the Bad & the Ugly, The Silence of the Lambs just to list a few. 

Elton John and the Rocketman song are explicitly mentioned but the list goes on and on: 

https://fallout.gamepedia.com/Fallout_2_cultural_references

 

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47 minutes ago, Horrorscope said:

FO's and OW's to me have a very different gameplay vibe, the gameplay in OW to me is like an enhanced ME 1-3 gaming loop, multi-location, limited world scope. FO's to me felt much more like a isolated survival game in a wide open singular world, totally different in feel to me.

Which fO? Bethesda (and New Vegas) took more of a wasteland route, but that's not how I perceived original games: they were always very populated and was more about societies then isolation.

As to game style: while original fallouts were RPGs based on consist mechanics allowing to tackle quests or even break quests as long as you adhere to overall rules. OW fits more into BioWare style story driven RPG with for the most part directed use of gameplay features (dialogue, exploration, combat). As such it's evolves from what Bethesda did, rather then Tim/Leon original work.

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13 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Which fO? Bethesda (and New Vegas) took more of a wasteland route, but that's not how I perceived original games: they were always very populated and was more about societies then isolation.

As to game style: while original fallouts were RPGs based on consist mechanics allowing to tackle quests or even break quests as long as you adhere to overall rules. OW fits more into BioWare style story driven RPG with for the most part directed use of gameplay features (dialogue, exploration, combat). As such it's evolves from what Bethesda did, rather then Tim/Leon original work.

FO3-FO4. yes this feels more like Bioware to me than Bethesda.

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On 10/27/2019 at 11:26 AM, 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 

OMG another troll! 

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3 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Chris Avellone isn’t behind this project (nor at Obsidian) and he is the one usually associated with subversiveness. As leads (people who will set the tone and direction) we have Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky.

I haven't finished the game yet, but just to chime in here, I'd say Cainarsky's approach to many of their projects has absolutely been subversive, and The Outer Worlds so far isn't any less so. This is a game that in its opening mission is already representing a late-stage capitalist Hell where suicide is depicted as "vandalism" for the destruction of "company property", i.e. a worker. It's a plague-ridden town because the entire community is being worked past the point of exhaustion and have been indoctrinated since birth to assume that to fight their exhaustion they must simply work harder. I see nothing here that isn't overtly combative and subversive, and likewise quite dark. The satire provides a dose of comic relief without a doubt, but much like Fallout it doesn't preclude the subtext (or overtext for that matter) being quite scathing and meaty, and having its own dramatic impact as well.

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My Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/alephg

Currently playing: Roadwarden

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3 hours ago, Daidre said:

It is actually a good advice. I would definitely be more entertained than proceeding with TOW.

Guy don't find enough drama in-game,  goes create drama on forum to satisfy his thirst for it.

You've got it all wrong, you're currently entertaining TOW fans and developers being processed by it 😁

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This isn't a mediocre fallout because it's not made to be a fallout clone( bethseda fallout that is). In playing I've noted several instances where they could have used some of the same systems as fallout but instead blatantly dodged designs and mechanics that could be construed as copying them. Sure it causes us to come on here and say "You need to this this way and change this and that" . But that just goes to show that they tried to make something different. I always find it funny how we throw off on a game by saying its a clone and then complain about others because they don't have the mechanics and setup as another.  Also where do you get this from:

On 10/27/2019 at 6:26 AM, Reffy said:

No flirting, no camaraderie (besides fetch quests for your team), no romance and barely any friendship.

 There's several times when you can respond in a flirty way and friendship .... you run all round the place to help them with their personal matters aka companion quests. You can put them down and tell them they are great people.  But you mentioned that . Never mind when they chime in on choice your going to make and you either say I appreciate your opinion or dismiss their opinion. I know , I know you want your character to have a sex scene with some other character you've chatted it up with ala  Mass Effect, Witcher, Dragon Age....etc.  But Outer Worlds is trying to give us something else in a time of used up ideas.

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i mean fallout 2 has a joke about getting a boner in power armour, are we really gonna say the humour in that game was any more subversive than the outer worlds? I mean yeah, it's very funny to talk to mike tyson in fo2. but the fact that suicide is a form of vandalism in the universe of the outer worlds is both terrifying and slightly hilarious.

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Hello folk, I'm new here. I never played any Fallouts until 4 and loved it. 76 is another story for another forum. 

When I first started playing this, I was getting a tad bored. However, once you're able to start flying to other planets, that really got my interest going and I must say, I love this game. The galaxy (colonies) seem just the right size. I haven't finished yet so I can't say if the game is too short like I've seen in other postings. I have a ton of side missions to do but I did complete a lot of main quests. It's a gorgeous game, no question and to be 100% honest, I haven't crashed once unlike FO4 where you crash every couple hours without mods. 

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23 hours ago, JBerry0410 said:

Because Fallout 4 is known to be a deep, engrossing RPG, full of choices that matter and deep, meaningful interactions........

Fallout 4 is like Dragon Age 2 or Mass Effect 3 in the RPG aspect: you control somebody who did MORE FOR HIMSELF before you take control of him in the game. The nail in the coffin was that after exploring wilson's atomatoys factory and retrieving NATE'S KEY you get your last name too: Hawke. And if there were any doubts this was your or your husband's key, Nate is the last member contracted and they use his military background to help in the ammunition production, the only way to avoid this obvious cannon is to change your name, but since your character has totally a background (and even a name if you play as the girl) you are just dennying the truth.

I don't mention Life is Strange, because at least you can choose between saving chloe and forcing a ****ing character development for these two lesbians or get the biggest plothole ending that neglects facts even in the current game. Dragon Age 2 removed the option and just gave us plothole over plothole over plothole, like Fallout 4. Ghouls being the embodiment of what is wrong with dragon age 2 writting: children don't age but they do age if feral (or if they read), they no longer require food of water despite it has been declared THEY DO since the first game, also they do require food and water IN THIS GAME as the Slog and settlers say so. They are supposedly immune to radiation but it still turns them feral unless you shoot at them with gamma wave weapons that kill them.

The only good thing Fallout 4 did was the settlement building system, but just because it does what Spore did, and not all settlements are worth to build on unless you think like Oxhorn, Nuka world solved that issue at the expense of forbidding you to earn the endgame, but since the ending looks more like a trailer than an ending you are missing NOTHING.

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Sorry it's clear trolling. Everyone is saying including the reviewers that the writing is fantastic. One of the best written games in years. 

There are going to be trolls from Bethesda around here. The pure fact he compares it to Fallout in the OP says that. 

 

Every point he is trying to make is why TOW is so much better than Fallout 3 and 4. 

 

Just let him be. 

 

This won't be the last thread someone tries to downplay the game in comparison to Fallout. 

 

Bethesda is on the way down. Consumed by Corporate greed. The irony? That's what Fallout was actually about. 

 

Bethesda have become the very thing they wrote a story against. 

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