The Outer Worlds - 'Outperforming Expectations' & an Interview

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@VentureBeat According to publisher Take-Two The Outer Worlds is 'outperforming expectations'. Additionally Gamespot interviewed narrative designer Nitai Poddar and co-game director Leonard Boyarsky about making interesting NPCs.

...

It was the No. 3 most downloaded PlayStation Network game in October, according to Sony. It's also a huge part of Xbox Game Pass for both Xbox One and PC. So anyone who has a subscription to those services can play the new game at no additional charge.

Finally, Take-Two said The Outer Worlds is coming to Switch before March 31, 2020.

[...]

Are there any traits or tropes that are off-limits?

Boyarsky: Stuff that feels overdone, but sometimes taking something that's overdone and doing it in a new way can be more interesting. You know, subverting player expectations. We always like to do things that feel a little different, that feel off-center, that you're not going to see anywhere else. I would think anyone trying to tell good stories or create good characters would avoid flat characters--characters that just exist to get you to the next plot point.

Poddar: Yah if there is, I haven't found it yet. The sign of a successful character is that people tend to like it or see the value in that character. Like you said, the characters we try to avoid are just RPG characters that have nothing to say and no real investment outside of their quest. I don't really think we tend to think of our characters as tropes. We are more interested in motivation and what they have to say, their dialogue, and their personality.

[...]
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Thanks Couchpotato!

More information.
 
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Good news. I'm sure having Microsoft money behind advertising helped a bit.

I hope they will expand the formula for the inevitable sequel, and I especially hope they spend more time with game balance.

But it's a very good first step - and I'm glad to see another open world CRPG franchise out there.

I'm also gratified that it's not yet another post-apoc setting, because I never actually liked those.

If I have one primary issue with the future of this game, it's the tone and writing. While the anti-capitalism satire is mildly amusing - it's so overdone that I can't immerse myself in that world properly.

From my point of view, a more mature and subtle take on that kind of narrative would have improved the game tremendously.

Lord knows we need all the anti-capitalism we can get these days, but let's at least be serious about it :)
 
Very happy the game is successful.

Also, the world needs more capitalism. Thanks.
 
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I found the anti-capitalism kind of funny when taking it to such obvious extremes, and reasonably balanced by the fact there were very few times in the game were the opposite factions were "good" choices. Few choices felt black or white which I appreciate.

I also really liked the setting in general in regards to it being both more colourful and more humorous than what we see in the AAA open world segment of the market.

I finished it yesterday at a little past the 25 hour mark, with no quests remaining unsolved (although I could have missed some of course), and although that sounds short it didn't feel that way. Perhaps because I can't play through a 25 hour game in two days any longer, it still took me two weeks to reach the end.
 
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IMO it was not a hard job to outperform expectations as the market is hungry for storydriven singleplayer RPGs without random generator nonsense.

All they had to do was:
- make a game, not a job
- make funny trailers
- polish the game so it isn't a broken piece of shit on release like RDR2
- don't suck up to reviewers by adding mmo idiocies
- release the game before Cyberpunk appears

And they did all of that.
 
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Hm, and that's despite a delayed Steam release. Well, good for them if it is true.

Have to say: this is my first epic store buy. I was considering to wait for the Steam release, but then I remembered I'd cave in anyways, for Mechwarrior.
 
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TomRon said:
I found the anti-capitalism kind of funny when taking it to such obvious extremes, and reasonably balanced by the fact there were very few times in the game were the opposite factions were "good" choices. Few choices felt black or white which I appreciate.

I also really liked the setting in general in regards to it being both more colourful and more humorous than what we see in the AAA open world segment of the market.

I finished it yesterday at a little past the 25 hour mark, with no quests remaining unsolved (although I could have missed some of course), and although that sounds short it didn't feel that way. Perhaps because I can't play through a 25 hour game in two days any longer, it still took me two weeks to reach the end.
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I too liked most of the bigger choices, though some of them were pretty stupid.

For instance, towards the end of the game - "The Board" suddenly became a thing you could support, even though nothing in the entire game suggested they were anything but complete scum, so - to me - that was a non-choice.

As for the tone, I found it pretty similar to the humor in the other Fallouts (except 76, which is actually very dark for the most part, and the first Bethsoft game with genuinely good writing) - and I never found it a good match for the setting. Then again, I tend to prefer games that I can take seriously - rather than games that don't go all the way.

To each his own.

It's interesting about the playtime, though. I've seen several people talking about how they've all but exhausted content at around 20-25 hours.

I think I finished it at 35 hours - and I skipped almost everything in Byzantium and rushed through the final mission (I think that lasted all of 10-15 minutes), because I was sick of the game by then.

I'm pretty sure I'd have reached at least 40 hours if the game had kept my interest, which is a very nice length for this sort of game.
 
Sadly, it seems i had high expectations for the game. I loved FNV and i was sure i would get the same experience.

For unknown reasons i do not like the game. It feels blant and with no character.

Happy, though, for the people that are enjoying it
 
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I knew better than to think it would be on the same level as FO:NV. I could see enough in the pre-release stuff to know that probably wasn't going to be the case.

I think it's a good game on its own, but it's definitely a step back compared to NV. I hope Obsidian releases mod tools though, because I think some really cool stuff could be done with this game. I won't be replaying it unless someone makes a balance and loot system overhaul.
 
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I suspect the anti-capitalist satire would largely miss the mark for me. So much of what passes for "anti-capitalism" is really just anti-corporatism, and those are not the same thing at all.

That said, I'm glad the game seems to be doing well for Obsidian. Anything that makes game developers think there's money to be made in single-player RPGs is a good thing.
 
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hmm, I have 72 hours in the game, but I've started over a number of times and haven't made it much past monarch in my various play throughs. I don't really care if I ever finish the game because I'm mostly playing for loot hoarding rather than the story.
 
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It has certainly got plenty of loot :)

An absurd amount of 99% worthless junk.

I think the biggest sin is how all the unique weapons are utterly inferior to their normal counterparts, if you Tinker and Mod correctly.

A tremendously poor effort in that way. It's almost Witcher 3-level bad loot design.

At least to me.

Then again, I always found looting and scavenging to be half the fun in these games.
 
BriefDArt said:
It has certainly got plenty of loot :)

An absurd amount of 99% worthless junk.

I think the biggest sin is how all the unique weapons are utterly inferior to their normal counterparts, if you Tinker and Mod correctly.

A tremendously poor effort in that way. It's almost Witcher 3-level bad loot design.

At least to me.

Then again, I always found looting and scavenging to be half the fun in these games.
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Haven't gotten that far yet but so far I agree. I did however find a nice machinegun on the first planet that I'm still using. It wrecks!

Edit: It's called Ol' Reliable
 
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crpgnut said:
I don't really care if I ever finish the game because I'm mostly playing for loot hoarding rather than the story.
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Spotted the materialist. ;)
 
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Morrandir said:
Spotted the materialist. ;)
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And capitalist!

Good point about the anti-corporatism vs anti-capitalism, I thought I started disliking capitalism more and more the last few years, but I guess it is more the big corporates that get more powerful than governments.
 
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BriefDArt said:
I think the biggest sin is how all the unique weapons are utterly inferior to their normal counterparts, if you Tinker and Mod correctly.

A tremendously poor effort in that way. It's almost Witcher 3-level bad loot design.
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Agreed, the unique weapons are mostly trash. With a hilarious price mark if you buy them in a shop. Why should I buy a unique hammer for 4000 bucks, when it is worse than randomly looted items that I get in the dozens? (Here's another point: the only things worth buying seem to be mods. Maybe.)

Some of the "science weapons" are marginally better, but there's very little choice to be had there.
 
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Cacheperl said:
Agreed, the unique weapons are mostly trash. With a hilarious price mark if you buy them in a shop. Why should I buy a unique hammer for 4000 bucks, when it is worse than randomly looted items that I get in the dozens? (Here's another point: the only things worth buying seem to be mods. Maybe.)

Some of the "science weapons" are marginally better, but there's very little choice to be had there.
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Yeah, it's such a low-hanging fruit to fix that it boggles the mind they allowed for it.

I mean, it's incredibly simple to scale those weapons slightly above normal weapons at the same level - or add some effect to make them truly worthwhile.

I did find a few weapons with unique properties, like a pistol with reflective shots. But that was much, much weaker than a regular pistol. I never found a sniper rifle that came anywhere near my normal upgraded one.

Scaling or adding some neat effects would make finding those weapons actually satisfying, and it would make the reputation grind meaningful.

IIRC you can't even mod them - and they come with FEWER mods than normal versions do.

The entire concept of unique weapons is just utterly wasted, which is such a shame.

Oh well.
 
Thiraury said:
Haven't gotten that far yet but so far I agree. I did however find a nice machinegun on the first planet that I'm still using. It wrecks!

Edit: It's called Ol' Reliable
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Interesting. I thought I explored every nook and cranny, but I missed that one. :)
 
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Cacheperl said:
Why should I buy a unique hammer for 4000 bucks, when it is worse than randomly looted items that I get in the dozens? (Here's another point: the only things worth buying seem to be mods. Maybe.)
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Ok, I admit it. That's a funny and subtle bit of satire right there. Make an anti-business game with a screwed up economy. I wonder if it was deliberate?
 
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khaight said:
Ok, I admit it. That's a funny and subtle bit of satire right there. Make an anti-business game with a screwed up economy. I wonder if it was deliberate?
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Allright, I'd say there is some chance you are right. :biggrin:

Want to use a unique weapon? Well… it's not the best choice. It's spacers choice.

*whistles the spacers choice tune*
 
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