Outer Worlds getting boring

[#22]

While New Vegas was great, I've always regarded Obsidian a little bit as the B-movie developer. More often than not the Outer Worlds 'feeling' is what stays with you: not great, not terrible, hardly special. Almost never have I played an Obsidian game where I was really hooked, though I've played many and finished more than one without being bored or annoyed... Its a bit like that same ish meal you eat every week, good to keep you fed, doesn't get boring, and that's about it.

I agree with B-movie part. They are just secound league, AA or oldschool kind like most of devs was twenty years ago. But if we talk about the rest, probably due to different likings or just titles played my impression about them is totally different. I understand yours as them being "nothing special kind", but I see them opposite. They have great ideas and seem to have really high standards of what their games represent in every aspect they consist of. E.g. overally good Pillars of Eternity with simply all of the quests being superb or having no gameplay Pentiment being nice to play at and having absurdly good audio nobody asked for. Kind of dev who maybe isn't master of code, so won't give you e.g. the best shooting mechanics, but one being from league higher than majority aims for. Totally opposite to typical garbage like Hangar(something) who just desecrated Mafia franchise with only obviously bad decisions and nothing left to praise. And most of the industry being somewhere between. Outer Worlds feels missed, but to me Obsidian are ones representing level being likely to create masterpieces. What I find e.g. New Vegas; Pillars of Eternity or Pentiment.

 

[crlogic]

The Outerworlds is one of my favourite games! I recently started a 4th play through

I've tried Fallout 3, 4, Borderlands 3, Starfield and didn't enjoy them as much. I haven't given them all a real chance but I'm probably nearly at 200hr in The Outworlds across Steam and Game Pass

I'm very excited for The Outworlds 2

 

[LifeOnMars]

I made it to the third location when it first came out but by then, I was done and it was not fun. Then, one morning, I went to fire it up, let out a big sigh and promptly uninstalled it. I've never gone back.

I can replay New Vegas and Fallout 1/2 and 3 to this day and still enjoy them. Fallout 4 and Fallout 76...not so much, but I did at least complete FO4.

 

[dirtyferret]

While New Vegas was great, I've always regarded Obsidian a little bit as the B-movie developer.

I agree with B-movie part. They are just secound league, AA or oldschool kind like most of devs was twenty years ago. But if we talk about the rest, probably due to different likings or just titles played my impression about them is totally different. I understand yours as them being "nothing special kind", but I see them opposite. They have great ideas and seem to have really high standards of what their games represent in every aspect they consist of.

Because they so often handled other people's IP they simply were not as profitable as other developers. They almost went bankrupt not that long ago, hopefully with MS money and Avowed and/or Outer Worlds 2 taking off they can start creating the games they have always wanted to make but had to cut corners in order to meet smaller budget constraints.

 

[#22]

Because they so often handled other people's IP they simply were not as profitable as other developers. They almost went bankrupt not that long ago, hopefully with MS money and Avowed and/or Outer Worlds 2 taking off they can start creating the games they have always wanted to make but had to cut corners in order to meet smaller budget constraints.

Money usually determines capabilities Another thing is, I have never been into their situation, so wonder how many of them are still in the company since NV or PeE. I used examples of great games being not so fresh. Not counting Pentiment, but it's a game simplier, so easier to make great. Possibly my opinion could be closer to @Vayra86 's, but with surnames we come to foggy area of never really known sizes of responsibility and influence on the rest of the crew.

 

[Sithaer]

I've briefly tried it since the spacer's choice was free on EPIC and idk but I kind of liked it I just don't have the time to play it now but I do plan on playing the game properly at some point. 'its still installed and I've modded DLSS into the game via Nexus'
Last similar game I've played and finished was the base edition of Fallout 3 when it was new. 'tried 4 but for some reason I've droped it pretty fast'

 

[Frick]

It requires the right mindset for sure. If you go in expecting deep stories and charachters in a deep world you'll be dissapointed. This is basically pulp sci-fi, and as such I think it's a great success. It's not deep or meaningful, and that is fine because it isn't trying to be. Personally I like the world and the the silly corporate slogans, in all their cringeworthiness.

Kinda. While a lot of talent HAS left (or was forced out), the game is ostensibly a brain-child of Boyarsky and Cain. You know, fathers of Fallout. However, this kinda shows that being awesome designers 20 years ago doesn't really mean much. Didn't help that although Boyarsky is credited as narrative director and main writer, in actuality the game was written by almost a dozen "narrative designers" that Obsidian has nowadays, who are, frankly, a bunch of mediocrities with political chips on their shoulders. And this isn't me being edgy, lot of them actually admitted it. I have no issue with touching on sensitive issues in games, just... you know... maybe consider first not being shit writers? Because "capitalism bad" and "aren't companies evil, look, they make fake tuna from peeeeeople!" and "you tried the best, now try the rest lololol!!!111" isn't funny, clever or interesting. It's cringy. And again, this isn't me taking things personally. Disco Elysium is a brilliantly written game and I have no issue with saying that, even though I am vehemently against the personal stances and politics of its writers. Shit writing is just always shit writing. And having SO MANY cooks in the kitchen is not helpful either. Planescape: Torment, arguably THE best written RPG ever, was mostly written by Avellone by himself. Sure, from his own words it was torture and burned him out quite a bit, but the result speaks for itself. Having coherent vision helps.

What sensitive topics does Outer Worlds go into?

And anyway I am yet to finish Disco Elysium but I'm on my third playthrough of Outer Worlds.

Setting wise yes, but really Outer Worlds is a whole other game, it presents a semi open world, where really you're just landing on different maps that have a somewhat open character, but are in reality very linear. So the scope of each area is... well. Weird.

It's more Knights of the Old Republic than Fallout 3 in that regard.

 

[Event Horizon]

I've just started a second playthrough as a charismatic leader. It seems to be way more fun than my first playthrough with a melee build. I highly recommend using fsrbridge to get dlss.

If you're familiar with mining corp owned towns or have worked for major corporations then the premise is quite plausible.

 

[phanbuey]

I've just started a second playthrough as a charismatic leader. It seems to be way more fun than my first playthrough with a melee build. I highly recommend using fsrbridge to get dlss.

If you're familiar with mining corp owned towns or have worked for major corporations then the premise is quite plausible.

If you make your character stupid, you unlock some of the funniest dialogue options in the game.

 

[dirtyferret]

Money usually determines capabilities

yeah, that's basically what I said but rather money allows talent to shine. No one considered CDprojekt red or Larian as major developers prior to Witcher 3 & BG3. Sure games like Witcher 2 and D:OS2 were very good games but only showed off a bit of their talent. Once those budgets expanded did their talents really shine. That said their are plenty of games out there with bloated budgets that are pure crap.

 

[Garyfrankfort]

If you make your character stupid, you unlock some of the funniest dialogue options in the game.

Yeah I discovered this aswell and I can say it's worth it

 

[Magician]

I personally think The Outer Worlds is absolutely brilliant. Not perfect, but remarkably enjoyable.

The dark comedy around company culture is better than it gets credit for, and the art style (somewhat influenced by art deco in some places) is really unique.

Sure, the difficulty levels are a bit of a mess (KOTOR 2-like: fine at the beginning, press W to win as you level up), and the teammates are very hit and miss. But I adore the core idea behind the universe they created in Outer Worlds.

 

[Flogger23m]

It was decent. I had a lot of fun with it. I enjoyed the smaller hub areas and shows how much better a game plays without the open world, which typically involves more time wasted holding the W key and being forced to do unnecessary boring activities.

The feel, setting, and gameplay felt like Fallout mixed with Mass Effect. I found the story to be decent enough, combat was okay. I wouldn't say it was an excellent game but it wasn't bad either. The first DLC I found quite bad, the second one was decent.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

I beat Outerworlds once with a Gunslinger type character and I broadly agree that the game was weirdly forgettable.

Obsidian is usually known for making really engaging games with interesting premises with a lot of big half baked ideas and often are chock to the rim with jank. Outerworlds was almost the opposite. It was an very well made game, performed well and never crashed. Didn't run into any major quest bugs or anything. But... the game lacked salt, it just sort of felt lifeless and lacked motivation. It felt like my character was just going through the motions, no real clear antagonist, and then suddenly I was at the very end of the game having to face down the head of the corporation and the chairman holding the scientist guy hostage.

I was like "who the hell are you people and why are you talking to me like we know each other?"

The companions outside of Vicar Max were just there. Nothing terribly interesting about them, their companion quests (outside of the Vicar) were pretty boring affairs. They could have leaned more into the subversion angle and really had your companions be committed to the idea of the corporation/board/whatever and really run with the hyper-capitalistic-company-town thing they were going for to pull the player in but they didn't.

In the end it felt like I was playing a Frankenstein's monster of Fallout 3 and Borderlands, without any of the charm of either.