First Impressions

[Glenn Soltes]

I bought this game but in its current state I can't really play it  yet  .... I played it up the the first major decision.

I don't want my money back and will keep it to see if it gets improved or gives me the modding tools to improve it myself.

There is a lot to like about the game but I won't discuss that as its already been done.  Obsidian is the only dev I am even remotely interested in currently, but perhaps CDProkect might get CyberPunk right.  I mostly play SkyrimSSE but only because I am a modder who can change just about anything in the game.  

So why did I stop playing and wait?

The first chapter set the stage for the game and the first chapter ends in a huge fake forced choice.  Forced choice is the trickiest aspect of developing a game for discerning gamers.  To describe why the 1st chapter has a fake forced choice I will need to compare it to a masterful forced choice done also by Obsidian.  In New Vegas early in the game it is easy to see Mr House as the most viable faction to throw your support into.  Slowly Mr House's real intentions and personality surfaced through excellent dialog ...... until eventually the player it forced to confront what Mr House probably is  ,,,,,,, and there is a forced choice that needs to be made.  IMO this was done masterfully.

The forced choice in the first chapter of OW is hamfisted, not well thought out, and depends on many coincidences  .... it is a fake forced choice.  What are the chances that the power generator breaks just at exactly the right time as the ship lands?  What is the probability that there are EXACTLY 2 power generators and to get either one involves supporting one group at the expense of the other .......   I know the ship is called the Un-relaible but still ....   There needs to be a third choice if the player simply doesn't want to play.  Choice is good ..... forced choice needs a lot of thought and buildup to work.

The second issue is the culture and setting of the game is too depressingly real ...... but it seems the dialog and choices offer don't have enough bite for the player to adequately express their feelings about it.  The first DLC Obsidian should make is one where you can display your angst properly.  They should probably get a independent group of modders  access to the voice actors so they could actually have bite.

Why would I want to be in such a boring twisted corporate world?  Why would I ever want to please some mysterious board of directors?  That just sounds way too much like real life.....  For this world to be playable the devs have to give me much more than shooting someone in the face.

The other issues are more technical aspects:

The monsters just are not very  scary looking and are hanging out right next to NPCs and cities.   You need to go right up for them to notice you and then if you run away they just stop at exactly the same stop and run all the way back.  I wanted to lure the monsters to the marauders but their boundaries are carefully set so you can't...... this makes the ape monsters just a bunch of pixels.   Same is true for the marauders.  They don't feel real at all.    You could take all the marauders and apes out of the first chapter and the game would be better for it.   Ironically the little critters are done very well and give life to the game.  Monsters are like caviar,  not soy product filler ....... the player should be alone and vulnerable not a stones throw from a city.  The encounter should be intentionally planned and unexpected ..... it should be believable why the monsters are there. They should do more than run at you in a homicidal or suicidal fury. 

You may say  .... well that is only the first chapter  ..... the first chapter is the most important chapter .  Only Beth can get away with horrid first acts and that is only because their games can be modded to remove for example,  the first act of Skyrim which was the worst for roleplay in AAA gaming still.   Ya ... I want to support the empire after they intended to murder me even though may name isn't even on the list ..... I'm a good dog.

The best way to fix the 1st chapter is to introduce a new NPC who can fix your existing Power Generator if you can engage them enough in dialog to win their trust and convince them you will get them off this crappy planet.  Preferably they will also give the player  some juicy tidbit on how corrupt and malformed this particular part of the galaxy is at the same time.  If you must have violence then make it an offense for him/her to leave the planet so you have to hack their explosive collar (using their guidance and some tech you need to buy/steal) and then shoot your way out.  The climax will be when some corporate person presses the button to blow the collar and they blow up instead ......  This would be very easy to implement so don't say it can;t be done ......

 

 

  

Edited November 14, 2019 by Glenn Soltes

[Ommamar]

Spoiler

Supporting Edgewater doesn't have to be the end of things as there is a way to get a play nice ending that is really only a negative for one person.  Of course if you do go with the Botantical gardens you can close of several quest lines out of Edgewater.  I found things a little contrived but since you where kidnapped/rescued by someone with their own agenda involving the disruption of the board to put you next to a board run town makes sense.  The first chapter was done well enough to get me interested in continuing the game, there is some things that didn't make immediate sense.  The whole marauders who use to be workers in Edgewater being mindless beasts took a bit then I put it down to a mental degradation caused by the environment they where forced to live in.   I would of liked the quest to hunt down the wanted people to be handled differently with at least some dialogue to handle their point of view.

The tethered enemies is kind of an odd touch and it does limit your tactics to sneak by (that gets you no experience) or just attack them where ever they are, you can implement a modified kite tactic where you draw them out then wait for them to start back to spawn point.  I do recall seeing this in FO4 although I think the range they would chase you was longer. 

[Glenn Soltes]

PS  .... Obsidian's dis-topic world is in some ways interesting ...... but not half as subtly oppressive as I could envision even with current 2019 tech levels....

As one example, every NPC could have a sound device that cancels out any non-approved words or phrases and replaces them with approved ones ... all the player would see is a lipsync mismatch and some audio artifacts.   A very interesting minigame would be trying to figure out what they are actually saying and having the NPC mime subjects that are not approved.

You could also spin this off as why the Raiders are raving lunatics ..... the removal process for the device has nasty side effects unless you can pay $$$$$$$ for a professional to remove it.

Missed opportunity.....

Edited November 15, 2019 by Glenn Soltes