Dissapointing ending

[metalworks]

What an anticlimatic ending

Until tartarus I was seriosly invested in the game, after those two reveals in bizantium, things were shaping to be pretty interesting to the real conflict of halcyon; it kind of pushes you in a situation were you have to make a serious choice that will impact the future of halcyon. But I kind of vaporises into a really rushed ending, kind of wrapping things up fast, and then that epilogue hits you and your told all the things that you probably wanted to actually do or make choices about.

Spoiler

And the allies coming to help you out of the blue, felt specially cheap

It felt like they run out of money or something

Spoiler

 

 

[Ommamar]

You can get different epilogues based of what you had done in the game and who you had sided with.

As to them running out of money I believe they did as well as ran out of time projected that wolud let them polish the ending as much as they had the rest of the game.  It is also common for games in general to have a poor ending that is a let down.

Edited January 2, 2020 by Ommamar

[uuuhhii]

end game does have some design problem

pretty much the same run out of budget syndrome like poe series

can only hope dlc have enough content

[Achilles]

On 12/31/2019 at 12:09 PM, metalworks said:

It felt like they run out of money or something

It felt like they wrote a game that they were leaving open for sequels, then got bought out and had to tie things off (knowing they would never work with that publisher again), but didn't have the greenlight to go back for major revisions.

[Wormerine]

2 hours ago, Achilles said:

It felt like they wrote a game that they were leaving open for sequels, then got bought out and had to tie things off (knowing they would never work with that publisher again), but didn't have the greenlight to go back for major revisions.

Doesn't Outer Worlds IP stay with Obsidian though?

I don't think the game is unfinished. There isn't a major drop in quality, and just like in PoEs I assume the finale was delivered with what was planned. I wouldn't explain shortcomings, with some conjured conspiracy theories. 

I found Bizantium disappointing, not because it was of lesser quality then other areas, but because it didn't feel like a major city - nothing of that kind was attempted earlier in the game, so relatively empty Edgewater didn't bother me because of the nature of the place. I get that Bizantium is more run down, then it is advertised as, but it just didn't work for me. 

As to finale itself - I thought it was fine. The gameplay didn't have enough depth to allow for satisfying combat encounters, but it is something one can throw against entire game. Companions showing up was fine - a budget approach, but that's expected. I doubt they had anything bigger planned. Perhaps, if one would initiate the attack (call for allies to join the fight), like it was in New Vegas it would be more effective. 

EDIT. As a side note, it is foolish to assume that because final stages come last, they were the last to be worked on. I remember Josh saying that it is usually the beginning of the game which gets designed last, as designers need to know what actually is in the game to set it up and teach players the mechanics. I would expect that the later the stages where developed the better they get, as devs get the feel of mechanics, world, and engine. It is for that reasons that DLCs and expansions tend to be the best content in the game, if they are not a pure cash grab. 

Edited January 2, 2020 by Wormerine

[Ommamar]

8 hours ago, Wormerine said:

Doesn't Outer Worlds IP stay with Obsidian though?

I don't think the game is unfinished. There isn't a major drop in quality, and just like in PoEs I assume the finale was delivered with what was planned. I wouldn't explain shortcomings, with some conjured conspiracy theories. 

I found Bizantium disappointing, not because it was of lesser quality then other areas, but because it didn't feel like a major city - nothing of that kind was attempted earlier in the game, so relatively empty Edgewater didn't bother me because of the nature of the place. I get that Bizantium is more run down, then it is advertised as, but it just didn't work for me. 

As to finale itself - I thought it was fine. The gameplay didn't have enough depth to allow for satisfying combat encounters, but it is something one can throw against entire game. Companions showing up was fine - a budget approach, but that's expected. I doubt they had anything bigger planned. Perhaps, if one would initiate the attack (call for allies to join the fight), like it was in New Vegas it would be more effective. 

EDIT. As a side note, it is foolish to assume that because final stages come last, they were the last to be worked on. I remember Josh saying that it is usually the beginning of the game which gets designed last, as designers need to know what actually is in the game to set it up and teach players the mechanics. I would expect that the later the stages where developed the better they get, as devs get the feel of mechanics, world, and engine. It is for that reasons that DLCs and expansions tend to be the best content in the game, if they are not a pure cash grab. 

I am not sure but the feel I had was that Private Division  had something to do with how the IP would be developed.  I could see Microsoft paying PD if they felt there was enough interest in seeing the universe expanded.

That is true about the design (or at least that is what I get from watching videos about game developments) but it seems what often happen is that what is developed first is often not polished as the content in later stages.  This could explain why endings in a lot of games seem to be done poorly as they where initially developed but the designers ran out of time to make things equally polished.  It could be false but it would also explain  some of the poor endings I have seen while gaming. 

[GammaReagan]

On 12/31/2019 at 8:09 PM, metalworks said:

What an anticlimatic ending

Until tartarus I was seriosly invested in the game, after those two reveals in bizantium, things were shaping to be pretty interesting to the real conflict of halcyon; it kind of pushes you in a situation were you have to make a serious choice that will impact the future of halcyon. But I kind of vaporises into a really rushed ending, kind of wrapping things up fast, and then that epilogue hits you and your told all the things that you probably wanted to actually do or make choices about.

  Reveal hidden contents

And the allies coming to help you out of the blue, felt specially cheap

It felt like they run out of money or something

  Hide contents

 

 

 

Spoiler

if factions come to your aid at Tartarus it is not because Obsidian/Private Division ran out of money but because you've actually played well enough to earn their help. This only goes for the main factions, Groundbreaker, MSI, Iconoclasts and SubLight Salvage. It's the same thing as in Fallout: New Vegas, if you've played that. Be nice to the not-directly-opposing factions and those who matter will be nice to you in the end.

Many (including myself) have complained that TOW is a far too short/small game but the fact is that Obsidian did not have the resources to blow all their fuses on something that perhaps would not work out for their audience.

Indeed the Byzantium part of the game is a bit swift and concentrated but I believe that it has rather got to do with trying out the idea of TOW than being sloppy.  Luckily enough,  we'll have at least one DLC to look forward to this year. 

 

 

[Wormerine]

24 minutes ago, Ommamar said:

I am not sure but the feel I had was that Private Division  had something to do with how the IP would be developed.  I could see Microsoft paying PD if they felt there was enough interest in seeing the universe expanded.

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/12/14/take-two-announces-new-publishing-label-private-division.aspx

“I think it has all the strengths of the traditional publisher relationship but because we get to retain ownership of the IP, it's one of the things where I don't think we're worried about our goals aligning with the publisher goals,” says Obsidian Entertainment’s Tim Cain, who has reunited with fellow Fallout co-creator Leonard Boyarsky to develop a new RPG under the Private Division label. “We both want to see the IP be very successful because we are both vested in it.”

https://trademarks.justia.com/877/69/the-outer-87769046.html

[Achilles]

2 hours ago, Wormerine said:

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/12/14/take-two-announces-new-publishing-label-private-division.aspx

 

 

Yeah, I have no idea then.

Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed the game quite a bit. I just felt like the tone of the ending went one direction and then the tone of the end-game slides immediately went in the opposite direction. Makes sense if you're trying tack on some gratification for players who are never going to get the sequel you just finished teasing them with.

Thanks for posting the quote and links!

[Wormerine]

8 hours ago, Achilles said:

I just felt like the tone of the ending went one direction and then the tone of the end-game slides immediately went in the opposite direction.

Interesting. I didnt feel anything of that kind. Are you referring to:

the game setting up potential hooks for the sequel, but definitely wrapping up our character in the ending slides? I just assumed that they would change the protagonist in the potential sequel, ala. Fallout 2.