Outward very early impressions

[Al3xand3r]

Time to go back to Sekiro for a while, Outward had pulled me away. I turned this off when a deer (!) was about to finish me off, I'm not ready to see the outcome of that just yet xD

 

[purpleblob]

LOL XD my hubby got killed by a deer as well but he decided to play on

 

[TheRealFluent]

We know you love the game Fluent

I mentioned other people like it too, and advised him to read some of the Steam reviews so it's not just me spouting its praises. My point is that 5 minutes with a game to make some sort of conclusion is ridiculous.

 

[you]

Gotta watch out for those deers - they have a mean kick. Now if you had a rifle

I turned this off when a deer (!) was about to finish me off, I'm not ready to see the outcome of that just yet xD

 

[you]

Please fluent - we appreciate your feedback but when you've stated your opinion and someone states a opinion that differs can you please just skip the reply button if you already stated a contradictory view. I haven't played the game yet but from the reviews I've read there are a few people that feel as you do but plenty of people who have the same view as Todd.

I mentioned other people like it too, and advised him to read some of the Steam reviews so it's not just me spouting its praises. My point is that 5 minutes with a game to make some sort of conclusion is ridiculous.

 

[JDR13]

I put a few more hours into it last night before switching to No Man's Sky. Overall, I think it's "ok". It's definitely not going to appeal to everyone.

There's a certain blandness about the environments. I'm not sure if it's because there's not a plethora of of creatures and NPCs roaming around or if it's more due to the art style. The world is very colorful, but there's not a whole lot going on most of the time.

Speaking of the art style, I'm not fan. I don't know anything about the development team, but I'm pretty sure they played a ton of JRPGs growing up. From the color palette to the monster and NPC design, I get a strong JRPG vibe.

The music is especially JRPG-ish. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that if you like that style though. Personally, I find the BGM pretty weak.

I suspect it's a game that most people will either really like or not care for at all. While I don't dislike it, it didn't pull me in enough to keep playing with so many other games calling my name right now.

 

[TheRealFluent]

Please fluent - we appreciate your feedback but when you've stated your opinion and someone states a opinion that differs can you please just skip the reply button if you already stated a contradictory view. I haven't played the game yet but from the reviews I've read there are a few people that feel as you do but plenty of people who have the same view as Todd.

Todd played 5 minutes, lol. But whatever. I just find it funny that whenever I say I like a game I get the usual responses, but someone plays for 5 minutes and it's time to take that opinion seriously.

Todd didn't have to respond to me like he did. All I said was to check the reviews and opinions on Steam, they are positive. And I get hit with the "we know you like it Fluent, blah blah blah" that everyone responds with when I post I like a game. It's stupid.

I'm the only poster here who as soon as I say I like a game, people tell me I'm fanboying. You guys are dumb. I guess I have a lot of fans though. Hate on.

 

[Zloth]

Arg, I can't keep the games straight. We've got this. We've got Outer Worlds from Obsidian. We've also got an interesting exploration game called Outer Wilds coming out from Mobius.

2019: The Year of the Out.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Fluent I did only play for 5 minutes but I also said the combat seemed OK for the brief fight I was in whereas plenty are reporting it as clunky. But I also observed a whole ton of empty landscape to run around in. It’s pretty clear to me in just 5 minutes that the game is going to have lots of running around doing “not much” as part of adventuring. So not a lot of playtime true but that’s what I observed and I really don’t think I was being unfair. For the record my nephew (also at PAX) who has some experience with the game laughed when I mentioned all the walking around and said basically you have to play for an hour to accomplish basically anything in Outward.

 

[TheRealFluent]

Well that's simply not true. It's evidenced by the 77% Positive reviews on Steam. But hey, whatever floats your boat. The world is big because there are survival elements and you have to use campfires, gather ingredients, use alchemy, etc.. No, it's not a play 5 minutes and accomplish something game (who wants that?). But I could never play a game 5 minutes and think I'm qualified to say that the game seems empty or make any conclusion at all about it in that time.

A lot of reviews on Steam are saying you have to play at least 5 hours to start to appreciate the game. It's true. But plenty of people there are saying they love the game and that the devs nailed it. Some say if you play the first 2 hours of the game you won't understand it at all and that's right. This is a game that takes some time to understand, which is exactly what the developers promised it would be.

I'm just advising anyone on the fence to read the user reviews on Steam of which there are many. Many of those reviews put in words well what the game is about.

I'm not even saying you'd like it or not, or trying to make you like it. Just saying that a) 5 minutes is not enough to evaluate it at all and b) check out some Steam reviews to get a better idea (or just play the game).

 

[TheRealFluent]

Here's a detailed one:

This is by far the most fun RPG I've played in years. This game is entirely carried by its brilliant system design. It's not a pretty game. The story isn't that great. It's not overly polished. All of that is instantly overlooked by the pure joy of playing a game that absolutely cleans house when it comes to every tired old system that RPGs rely on. No pointless leveling, the only reason you learn new things is to refine yourself into a specific build, not to simply increase numbers. Death isn't made cheap by saving and loading, every defeat has consequences, and the story keeps going. Challenging combat, but you can tip the scales in your favor by coming well prepared. Survival aspects and low inventory space never let you get past that point where you have so much stuff that finding more is no longer exciting unless it's a legendary uber item. The quest for power is real, you don't just progress because you're chasing a carrot on a stick, but because you have to become formidable to challenge the worst enemies you encounter.

If you like hard RPGs that keep you thinking long after your computer is turned off, if you think an RPG is at its best in those first few hours where every item is a treasure and every enemy is a boss, if you want to play through the consequences of failure instead of just rewinding time - do not miss out on this game!

This is exactly what the RPG genre needed. In a day and age where everyone tries to pretend the thing that makes a roleplaying game fun is finding the biggest possible numbers on a piece of gear and the worst thing that ever happens to you is casually slaying a demigod and not finding the thing you wanted in his pockets this game comes in swinging and says "F*** your loot, your character is freezing, tired, starving and diseased at the bottom of a slave pit, and I dare you to do something about it!"

 

[Al3xand3r]

Wait, I have also said my opinion, was I supposed to stop posting after that first post? Is my experience after that no longer a developing early impression and therefor not relevant to the thread (but post whining is?)? And where were the complaints when various people independently commented positively on Outward news and someone was confronting every one of said comments with recycled talk about how it's an overhyped random shitty looking failed kickstarter game that can never be good in some kind of personal vendetta over it as if any of that is an objective quality metric? Lol? It's a discussion forum.

Who even says "we" like he speaks for more than himself just to sound more worthwhile than the individual he confronts? Or try to twist a 77% (edit: 78% already actually) and apparently growing recommendation rate out of a sizable pool of opinions as "a few" people that feel like a guy who likes it and "plenty" who feel like the guy who doesn't? Wha is even going on here, haha.

The game's not for everyone, not even the most highly regarded rpg is for everyone. But to twist personal dislikes like someone who will never even touch anything with a multiplayer option or with a combat system that isn't turn based, or a game with more down time (where in this game you still need to consider how to prepare for and spend said down time so it's not just empty padding) between actual quests and goals reached or combat, as objective inferiority of anything with such elements in its design, is silly…

Shit, I could grow to hate the game after I see more of it (like the flaws of Kingdom Come became more apparent and annoying the more I played so I didn't even finish it despite liking it early on and finding it similarly Gothic-esque in some ways) but I guess I shouldn't discuss it more anyway!

Moving on…

My one dislike so far is that despite all the talk about not being the chosen one in this game it seems the quest lines want to make you someone pretty important to whatever faction. Not out of story based character traits like a dragonborn but still, I was thinking quests would be more slice of life deals and exploration based than saving your home town from a bandit leader and likely even more world critical quests as you progress. I expected more side quest style adventuring being the meat of the available tasks but it seems I was mistaken. Still, I was happily ignoring joining a faction until now...

 

[lackblogger]

Hi there Alexander, I'm sorry to hear some people aren't enjoying this survival game with very light rpg elements. I can't say this game appeals to me in anyway whatsoever, so you'll be delighted to know that I shan't be posting any negative feedback to this early impressions thread for a brand new game series that noone has any experience or histoy of. I'm delighted that you have found 100% love for the game after playing it for a few hours.

 

[Al3xand3r]

Wait, I respond negatively on people telling others not to discuss their opinion further (a positive opinion in that case) and your straw man argument against me is to pretend I'm telling you not to post if you don't like it? And pretend that I love the game unconditionally right after posting my primary gripe and explaining I could easily hate it later (hence posting things in an early impressions thread as I keep playing, I still only have a few hours under my belt after all) just as it happened with another game I initially liked? That's novel, lmao. Some people just want this place to turn into Codex Redux or something, I guess.

 

[lackblogger]

I just had a look at the codex thread for this game. It seems that on that thread there's also 2 or 3 people providing a blow by blow let's play of the game full of unadulteeated praise at a very early stage and they are also already bitching about some guy posting negative comments about the game.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Fluent why are you quoting stats to “disprove” my observation that there is a significant of empty space & walking around? I never said I disliked the game or that I wasn’t going to buy it. I complimented the combat. I was making an observation not an indictment. Going back to the start of the thread there are a few posts mentioning essentially the same thing. For the record I plan to purchase this game.

 

[TheRealFluent]

Fluent why are you quoting stats to “disprove” my observation that there is a significant of empty space & walking around? I never said I disliked the game or that I wasn’t going to buy it. I complimented the combat. I was making an observation not an indictment. Going back to the start of the thread there are a few posts mentioning essentially the same thing. For the record I plan to purchase this game.

Because 5 minutes isn't enough to say "it's empty". It is not in fact empty, there are mining nodes, enemies, plants to gather, hidden supply caches. I don't know where you were running but there's stuff to find everywhere, I have a backpack exploding with cool loot that I can't even carry all of it. Try playing the game first before declaring after 5 minutes that it's empty. It may have seemed empty in those 5 minutes but it's not really.

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Well CouchPotato says its got lots of empty space and if you combine his time with my 5 minutes then you have a more unassailable observation Fluent. I never said the game was empty. I said there is going to lots of tedious walking with nothing happening. Sure there will be plenty of walking with stuff happening too. But then there is also walking with nothing happening. See?

 

[TheRealFluent]

So what? Every open world game has walking. What's your point? Actually walking in this game is important as you have to manage your health, stamina, food, thirst, warm/cold as you walk, so something is always happening. I almost just froze to death on my last adventure, I barely trudged into the Cierzo city inn and restored myself. So no, there is no point in the game where "nothing is happening".

 

[ToddMcF2002]

Wait. I get it now. Something was in fact happening. I was getting thirsty!!!!