Outward very early impressions

TheMadGamer said:
The game is often compared to Gothic.
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Eh? I find that a strange comparison personally, but I'm guessing it's due to the PC being very weak in the early-game and needing significant time and effort to grow stronger.

Other than that, the only thing they have in common are some basic fundamentals like 3rd-person camera, etc.
 
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The progression of character power is very Gothic-esque, i.e. every weapon upgrade makes a big difference, there is no level scaling, every armor piece can mean the difference between life and death and so on. I got a lot of Gothic vibes while playing for the 50 hours I have so far, and others have reported the same.
 
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Like I said, they share some basic fundamentals. If those things are enough for some people to make a comparison to Gothic, good for them. :)

I can't imagine many people are getting the same "vibe" from a game that looks and sounds more like a JRPG than a Western/Euro RPG. It's more likely the comparisons are due to the shared mechanics. The setting, visual style, atmosphere, music, etc couldn't be much more different.
 
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I don't think it looks like a JRPG at all. Sounds like one, yes.

Gothic also has weapon skills tied to becoming stronger, just like Outward. The visual style is not all that different to me, just higher resolution and more vibrant.

Edit - I guess now thinking about it it does look kind of JRPG-ish. But it doesn't feel like a JRPG. It just uses a lot of color and vibrant design in the towns. But Cierzo could easily be a port town like Khorinis in my opinion.

The game has a unique blend of JRPG and western graphical design.
 
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I think when people make comparisons they aren't suggesting the game is exactly like the thing they are comparing it to. Even sequels to games in the same series are often not even very alike and can bring lots of discussion about whether they are even alike or not. To say that Outward is comparable to Gothic is not a huge stretch IMO, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the developers took a lot of inspiration from Gothic.

GameTyrant headlines it's article on the game with "Outward is a solid, Gothic-esque RPG romp" and then in the body of the text wishes to inform us with this highly ironic sentence "Outward reminds me more of the Gothic series than anything at the moment and that is definitely a welcome thing in a world full of tired retreads and soul-less, bloated games."

http://gametyrant.com/news/impressions-outward-is-a-solid-gothic-esque-rpg-romp
 
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I've seen the comparison a lot on the forums and in reviews and videos, too. I know from playing it it felt like a Gothic game to me. It's the closest I would compare it to while still being unique from pretty much every RPG ever made.
 
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Considering there isn't anything like Gothic at the moment, and hasn't been for quite some time, it's not surprising that some people would make a stretch comparison to a game that shares some mechanics with it.

I think that gives people the wrong impression though if they're looking for something with a similar style and atmosphere.
 
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henriquejr said:
Posted yesterday (see post #109)
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Sorry, I don't really follow this thread in detail as I don't care about coop games at all thus I didn't notice. ;)
lackblogger said:
GameTyrant headlines it's article on the game with "Outward is a solid, Gothic-esque RPG romp" and then in the body of the text wishes to inform us with this highly ironic sentence "Outward reminds me more of the Gothic series than anything at the moment and that is definitely a welcome thing in a world full of tired retreads and soul-less, bloated games."
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GameTyrant could also say Outward is similar to Skyrim. Which would also be an utter fail.
Gothic is not coop game.
JDR13 said:
I think that gives people the wrong impression though if they're looking for something with a similar style and atmosphere.
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A game with inventory tetris, being it Outward or NMS, cannot ever be a similar style with Gothic where inventory has no limit.
Atmosphere? Erm… I didn't think Outward and Gothic are happening on airplanes or space ships.
 
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1. It's singleplayer with co-op.
2. It's nowhere near Skyrim, totally opposite end of the spectrum.
3. Inventory is such a minor detail to compare. In Outward inventory limit is everything, you can only carry so much so you have to be smart on what you decide to take.
 
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Co-op feels like a tack-on really. The game plays very well as SP only. I gave it up after awhile because even once you join a faction, the quests are extremely bare bones. There just isn't enough stuff to do in the HUGE areas. I got my $$$ worth though and will likely load it up again.
 
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Let's make a list. Similarities to Gothic:

- Camera perspective
- A somewhat clunky combat mechanic that you need to get used to
- Three settlements/factions to join
- There is a swamp, including a swamp settlement
- A quite easy enemy at the beginning is some type of large walking bird
- No access to magic at the beginning
- Equipment makes a strong difference in terms of power
- At the beginning, everything is dangerous to you
- You can mine stuff from ore nodes, with a pickaxe (not sure if this is true for G1, but definitely for the later ones)
- You learn skills from specific NPCs, and you need to pay them

In my opinion it's a different game of course, yet it intentionally makes references to Gothic, especially Gothic 1.

Oh and about co-op: The only thing where I notice it is a small subset of the magic spells, which seem to be designed with a second player in mind. To take the heat while you cast them. Otherwise, it's a pretty solid single player experience.
 
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Yeah I don't get the Gothic feel either. Gothic had no survival mechanics like Outward. The world feels too different also.

Both games make me want to punch somebody early on with how bad I'm at combat. On a side note, I was really good with the combat in Elex, even early on. Maybe because you could get a henchman and use the rocket pack early on.

The no load system in Outward sucks because I do fights over early on to see what works and get better at combat.
 
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More impressions are that there is just a huge variety as to how you play the game. What options you use in combat, specifically, as well as some out-of-combat decisions on tents, backpacks, armors, weapons and items. But combat specifically, there's a ton of unique builds and you're going to create your own unique build when you play. Almost nothing is cookie-cutter here, everything boils down to you creating a tight package of combat skills and preferences. Very neat. Been reading a lot on the Steam forums about other people's builds and there's some really interesting ones. Don't forget you get to choose from 8 classes and can have any 3 of those classes, plus mutually-exclusive skills within the classes themselves (you'll have to choose one out of a few skills usually and can't get the others), and also faction armors and all that inventory/equipment stuff. Crazy this game was made by 10 people.
 
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We are just desperate for a new gothic game. That's all. Really desperate.
 
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JDR13 said:
I'm sure it can be as.much like Gothic as you want it to be. ;)
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I was not really trying to make a statement on the issue of "how much". For that, I'd also have to try to list elements that I feel distinguish the two. Probably a longer and quite tedious list. For whatever that is worth.

Rather, I was trying to explain where the comparisons to Gothic come from.
 
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