The Outer Worlds - Impressions and Interview @MMORPG

Some more impressions of The Outer Worlds from MMORPG and Matthew Singh (Senior Producer) and Charles Staples (Lead Designer) were interviewed.

Charles: As an RPG company we always like playing with things. One of the new systems we put into this game is the Flaw system. That's a really neat new thing that we're doing where over the course of the game it's kind of monitoring what you're doing and will give you an opportunity at certain points. Say you've been fighting robots a lot and you've taken a lot of damage, so it'll be like hey you've been fighting these guys a lot and been taking a lot of damage, maybe you want to be afraid of robots? It offers you a flaw of Robophobia and you get an opportunity where you can weigh that in your mind and you can take this flaw to get another perk point to bolster your character. But you're taking an actual flaw that will hinder you in those battles.

Matthew: It helps define your character a little bit. In our play tests we've sort of noticed that it makes the person playing the game trying to stay away from those fears.

Charles: we're always trying to take opportunities in roleplaying to build out your character. And that's just one example, there's lots in this game. But that is one that I think will set us apart, make for an interesting choice for the player.

MMO: Any last words for everyone reading?

Matthew: I think anyone that is an Obsidian fan will really enjoy this world. It's something that I think a lot of people have been clamoring for from us. We have a pedigree with Tim and Leonard at the helm here. We get to finally make this kind of game that we've been wanting to make for a long time with the partnership with Private Division we're getting the chance to make. If you like the style of classic RPG Obsidian experience that we tend to create, you're going to love The Outer Worlds

[…]

Thanks Farflame!


More information.

Another great interview so thanks for posting it silver.

(Oh yes and thank you Farflame for providing half the news on this site)

I don't get this flaw system. If I were having a problem with a particular enemy type, the LAST thing I'd want is to get worse at fighting them. I'd rather see a balancing mechanic of some kind that helps if you are bad, or hinders you if you are too strong.

Well, that depend on the advantage the new perk would give you. If that's balanced well, it's an nice feature.

But still it looks like it can be exploited. If there's a fight where you know that having problems with it might result in a flaw and a perk, you could intentionally fight inefficiently so you'll barely win. You get the flaw and the perk. The flaw wont be a big deal because the enemy type aren't a problem if you fight efficiently.

There's some good information in this, thanks for posting the interview.

Originally Posted by Philistine
I don't get this flaw system. If I were having a problem with a particular enemy type, the LAST thing I'd want is to get worse at fighting them. I'd rather see a balancing mechanic of some kind that helps if you are bad, or hinders you if you are too strong.

Not everything has to be about balance. Introducing quirks based on your past decisions adds ROLEPLAYING. I only hope that game paths are divergent enough so that the potential flaws available are not available to everyone due to the same paths/experience. If that makes sense.

Originally Posted by Morrandir
But still it looks like it can be exploited. If there's a fight where you know that having problems with it might result in a flaw and a perk, you could intentionally fight inefficiently so you'll barely win. You get the flaw and the perk. The flaw wont be a big deal because the enemy type aren't a problem if you fight efficiently.

It depends a lot on the impact of the phobia. Presumably it'll be enough to make you think twice, even if you do fight efficiently.

Yep.
I don't think it'll be only phobias. I can think of greed when the protagonist acts accordingly and a lot of other things.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Another great interview so thanks for posting it silver.

(Oh yes and thank you Farflame for providing half the news on this site)

You are welcome. Half the news is too much, but thanks and its good for you that you noticed otherwise farflame could become quite "near-flame" in your case.

Originally Posted by Drithius
Not everything has to be about balance. Introducing quirks based on your past decisions adds ROLEPLAYING.

I agree. It makes hero more distinct and it would make possible encounter with your disliked enemy more tense and interesting.
It would be even more interesting if some tasks or quests or NPC would take your phobia into consideration so there would be some unexpected results… I dont mean it would make some tasks impossible just little different, or more surprising etc.

BTW: Dark Eye system (Drakensang RPGs) uses special negative traits as well as positive ones.

Sounds a bit like Fallout traits/Arcanum backgrounds, but more circumstantial. To me it feels ( like this) a bit gimmicky ( and probably exploitative, especially on replays), extra perks seem way more useful.
Would be more interesting if they were added automatically, based on player performance, with in game internal, consistent logic. ( well, as close as it can get)
Though I could see that frustrating to a lot of players.

The flaw/perk system is giving me happy GURPS flashbacks from the 90s. There was a guy in our group who always tried to take the brain-in-a-jar flaw, thus earning enough perk points to become massively OP as a mentalist. We had brains in jars in space, brains in jars in elfland, brains in jars in the Wild West….