The Outer Worlds information overload

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So the Obsidian announcement yesterday revealed a trailer for the Tim Cain + Leonard Boyarsky helmed The Outer Worlds and gave us the first few glimpses of the game.

Today, a preview embargo was lifted, so now we get a million previews from lots of outlets, based on a brief demo of the game and interviews with the developers.
GameInformer was nice enough to upload that demo and provide some of the answers from their Q&A session as commentary, which is pretty good as a TL;DR of all the preview articles.

If you want to dive deeper, some of the articles below also contain facts not mentioned or shown in this video, such as names for some of the skills and various other small factoids.

Steampage: https://store.steampowered.com/app/578650/The_Outer_Worlds/

Previews and interviews:
The first two here have some direct interviews with some of the designers and developers. Presumably some of the bigger sites are saving such things for later.
https://www.mmorpg.com/previews/the...new-ip-for-the-premier-rpg-company-1000013259
https://www.rpgsite.net/interview/8...enior-narrative-designer-kathryn-megan-starks

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-outer-worlds-looks-a-lot-like-fallout-but-that/1100-6463757/
https://www.gameinformer.com/video-...018/12/07/new-gameplay-today-the-outer-worlds
https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2018/12/07/six-big-takeaways-from-the-outer-worlds
https://nordic.ign.com/xbox-one-gam...orlds-is-bringing-fun-back-to-science-fiction
https://www.pcgamer.com/obsidians-t...nd-fallout-into-a-bold-open-ended-sci-fi-rpg/
https://www.gamereactor.eu/previews/715893/The+Outer+Worlds/
https://www.shacknews.com/article/108855/the-outer-worlds-preview-flaws-in-the-system
https://www.rpgsite.net/preview/806...breaking-new-ground-at-the-edge-of-the-galaxy
https://www.polygon.com/features/20...worlds-obsidian-entertainment-new-rpg-preview

People of the internet seem to like it. Here's a reddit post that reached the front page with 60k+ upvotes: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/a3vrpa/obsidian_is_certainly_not_pulling_punches_with/
And it has a very relevant comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/com...s_certainly_not_pulling_punches_with/eb9wmoi/
Seems like everyone is channelling their hatred for Fallout76 into excitement for The Outer Worlds.
 
Was actually going to post the gameplay shown off, looks decent (or at least better than than the trash Bethesda is putting out), though I can see why you guys seem so mixed on this.
 
The PC Gamer stuff's pretty revealing as of what kind of aa game to expect. It sounds like a pulpy science fiction game.
 
Wot I think:

- Liking actual dialogue trees with skill checks. Dialogue choices seem real, as opposed to the "yes - fuck you but yes - no - bye" thing of modern RPGs. The lines are fun too.

- The fear system is cool. Giving up a skill to get a reward toward another skill will allow for unique character builds, sort of like the perk/trait system.

- I like what humor I've seen so far. Silly but not forced/cringey like Borderlands, as some suggest, and not as awkward as Bethesda's humor. Decent writing so far.

- The atmosphere and art style don't draw me in tbh. Not quite cartoony, not quite realistic, a little odd. The colors really put me off. Reminds me of No Man's Sky a little.

- Love the little art touches though in form of logos, banners, etc.

- Combat is extremely basic so far. No worse than Fallout 4 but nothing I've seen makes it look better. I hate how that gun is floating there almost motionless.

- Only 2 years of development for a first person RPG like this... by Obsidian no less... Wondering how big/non-linear/finished it is.

My biggest concern/disappointment so far is the atmosphere and uneven art direction. Combat is meh, I can deal with it. Like everything else. A buy for me so far.
 
This interview with Megan Starks (she's a cutie btw) looks too good to be true.

Hell, it is Fallout New Vegas 2, clear and simple.
 
<3 Tim and Leonard, love the art and world building, love the Iggy Pop tune. Take my money, now! And this was the first thing my son sent me when he woke up, on the other side of Europe, and he isn't the hyped type, so kudos.
 
So they are doing a Bethesda style Fallout and we call this improvement? *considers hanging self*

It isn't elves and dragons at least.
 
TorontRayne said:
So they are doing a Bethesda style Fallout and we call this improvement? *considers hanging self*
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Wasteland 3 seems like the last best hope for something actually Fallout like. Gotta hope it sells and M$ allows the series to continue without turning it too into a first person shooter.

As for Outer Worlds... I'm really not sold on the gameplay. FPS with bullet time... fucking hell... can a first person roleplaying game be anything else? Apparently not. Bethesda does it, CDPR's Cyberpunk works like that, this game works like that. Either the developers are completely bankrupt on ideas or they are dead afraid to try anything else.
 
World class writing but it plays like Doom. I can get behind this, but I won't praise it or beat around the bush - this is bullshit.

Yes, it appeals to this modern crop of RPG fans that were titty fed off Fallout 3, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They sold out you see. I know they had no choice but all hope has been lost for a true Fallout successor at this point.
 
It sounds really good all around.

The art direction on the wilderness zone does look like No Mans Sky, but I think No Mans Sky had a good visuals style (The game was shit otherwise) so that's a plus to me, see that kind of style applied to something that looks like it will be able to deliver on it's potential.
 
Whoa! This looks awesome. I've never pre-ordered a game before, but I'm ready now!

Beyond the modern graphics I feel some similarities in the narrative storytelling between this and the original Fallouts 1 and 2. Even more so with Fallout New Vegas, but I have gotten around to playing that one yet.
 
sesom said:
It isn't Fallout. So you can stop thinking about suicide.
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Sure isn't. It's also not the sci fi RPG many had hoped for (mainly on Codex). It's the same shit NMA got pissed about years ago, but now it's like "Do me yo-yo master!" since it isn't tainting the highly esteemed (yeah right) Fallout name? Plus fuck Fallout. I just want a good RPG. Fallout was only important to me since it stood apart from the rest. This is not what I had hoped for at all. Oh well. Back to RTS and survival games.
 
TorontRayne said:
Sure isn't. It's also not the sci fi RPG many had hoped for (mainly on Codex). It's the same shit NMA got pissed about years ago, but now it's like "Do me yo-yo master!" since it isn't tainting the highly esteemed (yeah right) Fallout name? Plus fuck Fallout. I just want a good RPG. Fallout was only important to me since it stood apart from the rest. This is not what I had hoped for at all. Oh well. Back to RTS and survival games.
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I don't think Obsidian will be putting out isometric cRPGs again. Pillars of Eternity 2 was a flop, if I recall correctly.
Unfortunately, gamers don't seem to support games of that style anymore. So developers will just stop making them.
Hopefully we will still have Indie studios making some from time to time. If they are any good though... That is the question.

There is also this thing that devs making isometric games will usually make fantasy games. I don't think we will be seeing any more good cRPG like the classics, unless they are fantasy (I heard good things about Pathfinder: Kingmaker, seems like a good game, although buggy). I don't think this vacuum will be filled anymore.
 
TorontRayne said:
Sure isn't. It's also not the sci fi RPG many had hoped for (mainly on Codex). It's the same shit NMA got pissed about years ago, but now it's like "Do me yo-yo master!" since it isn't tainting the highly esteemed (yeah right) Fallout name? Plus fuck Fallout. I just want a good RPG. Fallout was only important to me since it stood apart from the rest. This is not what I had hoped for at all. Oh well. Back to RTS and survival games.
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dude why are you getting so mad about a video game
 
mef said:
dude why are you getting so mad about a video game
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He's not mad. He's disappointed.
And I understand him quite well. My favorite gaming genre is cRPGs, the closer to P&P the better.
I also enjoy RPGs much less if they are first person. I also enjoy RPGs much less if the player has to do things the character is supposed to do.

Good story and characters allow me to like a game, but being first person and player have to aim to hit enemies, when the character should do that himself, detracts from the fun of cRPGs.
Basically, people like me have to be happy with a compromise, instead of having games made the way we really like.

I'm sure I will like this Outer Worlds, because of the story, writing, characters and dialogue. But boy, would I love it 2x or more if it was the way I like. A proper cRPG, no hybrid.
 
mef said:
dude why are you getting so mad about a video game
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Now I'm mad. Before I wasn't mad but morons being unable to discern the difference between sadness and anger should be purified by fire.
 
TorontRayne said:
Now I'm mad. Before I wasn't mad but morons being unable to discern the difference between sadness and anger should be purified by fire.
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Calm down Toront, take a few deep breaths and count to 10. This isn't the Order. ;-)
 
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