Evaluating The Outer Worlds - Obsidian's Aggressively Average Adventure

[@auronward2809]

The most powerful and memorable moment for me from playing The Outer Worlds was about 30 hours in while looking at the star map after completing my last available side quest before going to the point-of-no-return-planet, and realising that all of the planets that I thought were going to become available to me as the game went on were actually just decoration on the star map to make the game seem bigger than it actually is. 3 years later and THAT'S the most powerful experience I recall.

[@John-gm8ty]

yea, this one shit me off too.

[@Dj.MODÆO]

Each of The 3 DLC packs unlocks a new world.

[@9r0t0typ3]

Same

[@John-gm8ty]

@@Dj.MODÆO by the time the fist DLC came out, I was completely over the game and had no interest, they took too long.

[@Mikalent]

@@Dj.MODÆO you have to stick the landing to have people actually care enough about the game to come back for the DLC. Outer Worlds failed in it's initial premise, one playthrough is enough for people to get the games fill, especially with how much of a slog the game is. Contrast this with a decade old Bethesda game, Skyrim, and by typing those words Todd Howard will now attempt to sell Skyrim "extra Special edition" for only $80. But in all seriousness, Skyrim stuck the landing for the game's initial premise, it hooked you with Dragons, and while they got old, the dungeons, side quests, Civil War storyline, and various Guild lines all kept the player invested enough. Combined with the fact that Bethesda releases their design tools alongside their game, Bethesda was able to increase the value of Skyrim exponentially by allowing mods. There where a record number of Mods when the first DLC came out, the game was still dynamic enough that multiple playthroughs where still fresh and enjoyable. Outer Worlds, had none of this, the game was linear, while the skill system was new, most skills didn't matter, and you where pushed hard by the game to go down a specific path.

[@a.e.5923]

There’s actually technically a THIRD ending to the game, which requires minimal intelligence. when you choose where the hope gets sent you can override the autopilot and accidentally fly it into the sun, giving you the absolute worst possible outcome

[@zacorycoward2658]

I loved getting that ending I laughed my ass off, i recommend a dumb run if you're only playing this game once

[@tacioob2337]

@@zacorycoward2658 dude i cant recommend this enough

[@Val.Kyrie.]

That’s hilarious.

[@Serahpin]

Worst, or best?

[@ericamborsky3230]

Well, they're frozen, so you gotta heat them up.

[@ProcyonDei]

Outer Worlds is like Fallout and Borderlands decided to have a child together, but rather than end up with the best traits of both parents, the child ended up with the positive traits of one parent cancelling off the bad traits of the other and vice-versa so the child came out just painfully average with some good traits here and there...

[@aintnomeaning]

You really nailed the analogy 💪

[@ZigealFaust]

That's like... actually accurate as fuck.

[@MrPronGogh93]

Meh: if we talk about borderlands 3,sure,you are right and I can see is (br3) even more no sense than this. But if we talk about bl2 and the pre sequel, I disagree since yes, the game use irony and joke a lot, but as a mean, often, to hide what's beneath the surface of a story. Just as an example: pickle in the prese quel is an annoying kid, follow is quest and you find out why he is like this and is sad.

[@hunter_0221]

​@@MrPronGogh93 Don't pick on my boi Pickle. He was legitimately designed to be an annoying, but sort-of bright kid, so the expectations weren't high to begin with - until you delve into his quest line and suddenly ask yourself the question "Why would a 10 year old boy even live all on his own on an icy, hostile moon in the Borderlands?", and then it dawns on you. The unfortunate counterpoint to him is Ava from Borderlands 3, who was basically supposed to be a funny little kleptomaniac kid similar to Pickle - so, comic relief in a sense - and I actually had high hopes for her after that Athenas quest to steal back her shit. Granted, it's a quest also made memorable by the fact that the planet is possibly the most visually stunning location in the Borderlands franchise yet, so it was an actual treat to go back there. But, no, she had to go and turn out to basically be what Walter Jr. is to Breaking Bad (you know, that award-winning documentation about the American health care system), only moaning and complaining about literally everything in the most annoying way conceivable, though all without putting in any effort on her own, only to then being basically forgotten about until the very ending. There's no "screw this shit I'm gonna do this now" type of energy. Lilith, as an example, has that - never forget the ending of the Pre-Sequel where she just portals into Eleseer, burns the Vault mark into Handsome Jack's face, refuses to elaborate and then leaves. Ava, though, she has none of that resolve and yet keeps on throwing temper tantrums after repeatedly not being allowed to do a thing. Her "evolution" into a Mary Sue (or, as the game calls them, "Sirens") didn't help her character in the slightest, to the contrary. An attempt to rescue her character in the Designer's Cut or Director's Cut or Whatever The Crap Cut by giving her an own questline didn't have the desired effect either. Thus, in a game full of strong characters (excluding Mary Sue Nr.1, the main villain whose name I already forgot), she simply went under. Speaking of Borderlands 3 and The Outer Worlds, to stay on topic, I believe we do have to acknowledge something of potential significance to the discussion that also went under a bit: Borderlands 3, after all an FPSRPG game with a similar - albeit less pronounced - space-western, open world setting, was released only roughly one month before The Outer Worlds. Now that, that is just bad timing to come around with your own, brand-new IP. Of course, that's not the sole reason it is "aggressively average" (a great description), but it works in combination with reasons already mentioned. I think, however, chief among these reasons ranks the lack of the...fantastical, the grandiose. Something that may not threaten the world, but gives you an actual motivation to continue regardless: A villain that stole something vital from you, a son or father to search for, a family member to avenge, a mystery to explore, a vault full of loot to open. It all a bit wishy-washy, there's no drama and no real tension. Think that might be the essence of what this game lacks. The Outer Worlds 2 is in development, however. I believe that, since we're looking at a new game franchise, The Outer Worlds 1 might work better as part of it, rather than individually. Remember, Borderlands 1 - in comparison with newer entries - isn't exactly a groundbreaking experience. It definitely was back then, in 2009, as it introduced a whole subgenre of a genre that was itself pretty recent, having been established only two years prior: The open-world FPS with role-playing game elements. In case you were wondering, the first FPS of that persuasion is often considered to be 2007's STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl, which was created the Ukrainian studio GSC Game World and published by good ol' THQ. Mass Effect 1, to name another space sci-fi game, is also not particularly strong on its own, as it was created in the image of the classic, already-established Bioware role-playing game Dragon Age and thus had certain mechanics in place that were heavily altered or even scrapped entirely by Mass Effect 2 (which is generally considered to be the best entry into the franchise). We can see a pattern here: First games in a newborn franchise are usually the ones that are still searching for their identity. Often, only a second and third title can grant them that with the power of hindsight. On that note, I shall finish this excessively verbose rant. I appreciate anyone who has read until this point.

[@Deadsnake989]

I once explained the game to my friend as "Scuffed Deus Ex: Human Revolution wearing a Fallout skin suit." The gameplay, menus, and most mechanics of the game just felt like "not quite good enough, but not terrible" version of Deus Ex. The world felt like Fallout, dreary and bleak, but not quite a serious grim dark story. Overall I'm glad I borrowed the game from a friend, rather than bought it myself.

[@Scornfull]

The best way to sum of this game is "Obsidian relentlessly and consistently stole losses from the jaws of victory over and over"

[@vergilsparda8431]

Less losses and more draws. A loss can be interesting but a lot of this game’s shortcomings are just dull like most draws

[@boozybaby8220]

​@vergilsparda8431 I think if it's still interesting at all, it's a draw, once it's so badly designed that it's not even interesting or funny, then it becomes truly bad. Bad is when it's not even so bad it's good anymore, it's just so bad that it genuinely doesn't give you any reason whatsoever to continue or finish the experience

[@richardkenan2891]

It feels like the game was made by Spacers Choice.

[@modestestmouse4820]

I remember beating the final boss and feeling shocked when I realized it was actually the final boss because it genuinely felt like that was only the halfway point of the game.

[@jmjedi923]

I remember I just used the mund control gun and mind controlled the final boss. I think it killed the smaller enemies but yeah I just remember it was a cakewalk

[@Texelion3Dprints]

Same, the game ends kinda abruptly, as if it was not complete. But I guess it's just some kind of intro to the sequel.

[@captainscience2732]

@@Texelion3Dprints It's Tyranny all over again, but in space!

[@wellthismachinekills3809]

@@captainscience2732 KOTOR 2

[@r.higgins4521]

Of all the criticisms of Outer Worlds, this is the one that resonates with me most strongly. When someone, I think it was either ADA or another NPC, warns the player that traveling to Tartarus is the "point of no return" and to make sure to complete all the side quests and everything first, I was so disheartened. I think a large part of it was that some of the planets on the map hadn't been visited at all, so I assumed that they had content on them (when they were probably being saved for the DLC or just used as window dressing). The world felt so small, like only the locations and factions immediately relevant to the main plot were allowed to be shown.

[@benmasta5814]

Obsidian seemed afraid to do anything special for this game. The stats, equipment, guns/weapons, even the enemies all seemed like a first draft choice, before they added the bells and whistles.

[@yourehereforthatarentyou]

it’s why i’m cautiously optimistic about outer worlds 2. hopefully it’s an improvement but i likely won’t be buying it day 1 like i did the first one

[@alecseusalec3418]

For some reason it seems to me that they simply could not come up with anything other than a first draft choice.

[@AVerySillySausage]

Obsidian is just not a very innovative studio. It's full of passionate people who grew up playing RPGs and who want to make more RPGs, but they don't seem to have a very strong vision beyond that. Their games just come across as really bland to me. They never feel as large in scope as NV did. One thing is clear, Obsidian is not good at designing large 3D open worlds and they don't really care about that anyway. The one downgrade Fallout NV had over 3 was the open world design, and none of their subsequent games without relying on Bethesda's gamebyro engine have come close. Like everyone else, I still hold out hope that Microsoft brings the studios together to collaborate on a game that has the strength of both studios.

[@danielyanezgarrido]

I think they created a framework with the first game, they can build from here on.

[@Darkworldxl]

@@AVerySillySausage I’d argue that Fallout NV’s open world is better than 3 but the key thing I feel I should mention, Fallout has tons of lore they were able to use to make NV. The Outer Worlds is a brand new series. In that respect it is more similar to the original fallout.

[@loganknox7]

The only thing I really remember when I played it a few years back was when the side quest of that family you have dinner with I remember saying to myself “oh another cannibal quest”

[@Ooffoop]

Every game needs one

[@AdonisOuranios]

I'd really like to see this "nice family that's SeCrEtLy cannibals" trope just once where you discover a series of evidence that seem to definitely point to a very nice, wholesome family being cannibals, and then it turns out each piece of evidence is a weird misunderstanding and they are just genuinely a nice, wholesome family with nothing sinister underneath.

[@EvanOfTheDarkness]

I though of it as a reference to the cannibal family in one of the Resident Evil games. The game is full of them (Spacer's Choice = Amazon's Choice, right?), but some are more obscure then others.

[@yungoldman2823]

@Adonis Batheus but you only realize they’re innocent right after theyve been hanged for their crimes, at least if thats the route you took on the quest. See thats another thing missing from this game is variability when it comes to quest outcomes, everything was so binary

[@avalonjustin]

Oh no Andale flashbacks!

[@sirweasleton8344]

My favorite thing was making my character have the phobia of robots and then having the dialogue option to just scream when first encountering the robot companion found on the ship😂

[@schizoidmeme5470]

My fave is when you have to hype yourself up to interrogate a robot to solve a murder mystery.

[@cendresaphoenix1974]

These aren't your favorite parts these are the only enjoyable parts... That's the problem here.

[@chance_hollow]

And that's what the game is all about

[@WeezyOld]

@@cendresaphoenix1974 L take

[@MrJesus4132]

@@cendresaphoenix1974 Lmao such an L take dude. trying to tell someone what they like just makes you look like an arrogant child

[@reapfield8687]

I put 200 hours into this in 2019 when it launched and I remember virtually nothing about it. Really strange how little of an impact it made on me

[@Ghostface6]

I recommend the dlcs

[@Darkworldxl]

Not even the diet toothpaste that is one slight change away from rocket fuel?

[@cheezburgrproduction]

Sounds like Dragon Age Inquisition for me

[@chiiloutbro]

I grinded the game on the hardest difficulty, most ppl wont do that but it made the game hard asf and it wasnt that good anyway. Not surprised I never beat it, fallout3 is much better than this dogshit

[@arszene4129]

@@cheezburgrproduction Inquisition was worse lmao

[@tutorialsandstuff3349]

Patrolling the outer worlds almost makes you wish for a meteorite winter

[@Katyamuffin]

There's nowhere to "patrol" even the world is so empty😭

[@MacAndSheeeeesh]

Stop giving me Hoover Dam flashbacks!

[@williamyoung9401]

Loved this game. And keep in mind, this isn't a AAA title. Obsidian's last game before The Outer Worlds was crowd-funded, so cut em' some slack. They hit a home run with this game, creating an entirely new series. There's a reason Microsoft bought them out and they're working on a sequel.

[@danieljohnson3320]

​@@MacAndSheeeeesh yes man still haunts my dreams

[@cynicalgold9992]

​@@WakeUpEternals that's not how things work lmao

[@Katyamuffin]

All I remember from this game is being super angry and disappointed that the biggest decision at the endgame was "Be a horrible piece of shit and side with the corporations or be the hero". Truly a thought-provoking and difficult choice, thank you Outer Worlds

[@petrsukenik9266]

There should at least be good and bad corporate and good and bad separatist endings

[@exploertm8738]

To this day people fight which faction is best to join in NV, fuck, people fight which faction best to join in F4. TOW? Yeah, be a bad for the sake of being bad or be good for the sake of being good.

[@thatrandomcrit5823]

@@exploertm8738 I hope you´re not saying "Fallout" 4 is better than TOW

[@exploertm8738]

@@thatrandomcrit5823 it is. TOW is garbage. I played once, said okay and never came back. F4 was replayed at least like 15 times, and each playthrough alone was like double of my single one in TOW.

[@chrissimon3790]

@@thatrandomcrit5823 it is. Fallout 4’s writing is terrible and the story isn’t good but the overall game is better than the outer worlds in my opinion. Also fallout 4 has a fuck ton of content

[@JerdMcLean]

I put these videos on at least every couple of months just to have some background noise at work or while I play. Really is a testament to the quality of your videos because I seldom do this with other videos. For some reason I feel like im listening to them for the first time every time.

[@goodwholesome2787]

This game feels like the most "game I've already played" ever.

[@PopeGoliath]

I felt that way about Dying Light. Every single thing in it made me go, "Oh! Like [Insert Game Here]?"

[@talullah1065]

@@PopeGoliath okay but dying light has like fun gameplay to support that, ow was just the diet version of fallout nv combat (which isn't even that games strong suit)

[@PopeGoliath]

@@talullah1065 I'm not saying that Outer Worlds was any better. I slid right off that game, despite being a New Vegas fan. So many useless weapons, armors, items and stats. I never figured out what half the consumables did and it never mattered. Got off world, went a couple of other places, then stopped playing without ever choosing to quit.

[@GlizzyGoblin757]

@@PopeGoliath dying light is extremely overrated. the final boss was a fucking quick time event lmao

[@talullah1065]

@@GlizzyGoblin757 so? The gameplay up to that was fun enough to play over and over, dying lights story sucks but the gameplay is godlike

[@orangelighting5633]

I remember the entire time I was playing all I could think was "the sequel will probably be really good" because this felt more like a demo than a game to me.

[@i0npath]

My thoughts exactly. It's like the have some semi decent ideas floating about, they're sure to make them work in the sequel.

[@EnduringArts]

It's like you can see the walls all around you. It looks like you just going from large hallway to large hallway out in the world.

[@luhso7552]

This game seems like it fell victim to "Single Playthrough Syndrome." As in the devs initially designed the game around mutually exclusive choices that encourage multiple playthroughs. Then, they deliberately sabotoged their own design halfway through; worried that players would complain if they made a choice that locked them out of some of the content. I think Salt made the same critique in his Skyrim video. Maybe "Skyrim Syndrome" is a better name?

[@stuglife5514]

Yea, that’s the exact reason I quit this game after only a few hours.

[@vjbd2757]

Skyrim though is still going strong after 10 years. Everybody seems to have forgotten about OW after 2019.

[@Grobut81]

Skyrim syndrome would be very fitting. Skyrim went out of it's way to ensure you would never need to roll a new character. You can join every faction, nomatter how mutually exclusive their goals might seem, level up and master every combat style, do every quest, and then continue doing infinately respawning radiant quests for all of eternity (not sure why you'd want to, but technically you could), and all on the same character. Skyrim's success pretty much ensured we'd see others try and follow in that mold, so yeah, Skyrim syndrome.

[@bugjams]

I think a big part of that problem comes from having the end goal of the story explained to you at the beginning. "Oh, we have to save the colonists! It's VERY URGENT that we do so!" ...And then you spend dozens of in-game days fucking about and helping your companions dress up for dates. Ah, yes. Urgency. This problem also exaggerates the annoyance of side-quests and fetch-quests. "Oh, we have to save the colonists... to do so, we need a McGuffin, which we can get by trading another McGuffin to Captain McGuffin the 4th." It would be much better if, for example, Phineas didn't know what to do next once we landed. Instead he seems to have the entire thing planned out. It would be more interesting to have the plot adapt _with_ our character. Even better, have the end goal change with the story. Maybe we were originally supposed to save the colonists, but whoops! Something changed, now they all have to die. Or whoops, they woke up, but they're all evil cyborgs now and are hunting you down. _THAT'S_ interesting. Of course I'm exaggerating for the sake of my point, but still. Telling the character _exactly_ what the end goal of the story is in the first 5 minutes of the game... is bad. It's basically a spoiler for the ending, AND it restricts how far off that path the story can go at any given point.

[@davidos8760]

Wait oh my god I just realized Skyrim is just like this there is no choice just the illusion I am an idiot

[@MrTombombodil]

Part of me feels like one thing that made me bounce off this is they lent TOO hard into the ridiculous satire as an *aesthetic* and it prevented me from taking the moral dilemmas as seriously as I needed to to be invested. Games like Pillars of Eternity and New Vegas have a sense of humor when it serves the story, but they take their stories seriously and thus so do you because the writing is so strong. Outer Worlds just doesn't take itself that seriously, and so when the game wants to try and give you branching quests with nuanced choices you just kind of don't feel the pressure as much, which makes it hard for you to be emotionally I vested, regardless of the quality of the writing.

[@gh0rochi363]

I love it because it doesn't take itself too seriously. In two life high pressure situations aren't just dark brooding scenarios. Soldiers in fix holes still laugh you know? But I just like comedy a lot and I think they balanced serious and funny very well. Like they are people who are unintentionally funny but it was fine intentionally.

[@trustytrest]

@@gh0rochi363 If you just want to laugh at random nonsense, then sure. If you want to actually have a compelling narrative, then it fails. It's like trying to have a dramatic scene but it always devolves into Three Stooges slapstick levels of comedy. You can't even pretend to care because theyre not people, theyre punchlines.

[@gh0rochi363]

@@trustytrest it's not random but ok. Just ignore everything I said.

[@tobiwonkanogy2975]

@@gh0rochi363 ghorochi is saying the juxtaposition of normal and chaotic can lead to unique humor while xianxia prefers a more serious overall tone. Where it feels grim and can feel the dread.

[@caimantroup6986]

@@trustytrest Maybe to you, but to me this is what reality feels like now. It genuinely feels like we are not far off from a Outer Worlds level of corporatism and as someone who uses humor as a coping mechanism, this game was great for me. Maybe you aren't as cynically jaded as I am, but it's just a difference in taste. However I will say that salt factory droning on and on complaining about how the game was presenting the quests got older than he claims the story did. He literally acknowledges the tone of the game in the opening, showing he understands it, then spends most of the next hour of the video complaining about a satirical comedy game making jokes. Like bro, that's the whole point. Then he keeps comparing it to New Vegas like that means anything. This isn't a fallout game, why are you trying to hold them to the tone of a completely different series when the game shows you what it's about from the opening cutscene? If you don't like that, fine say that and move on, but don't go on several 5 to 10 minute tangents about how "comedy game make joke, joke bad, me want not joke, make not joke like other game me like"

[@maxreis9534]

During my entire time with the game I had that "Why am I not playing Fallout right now?" - feeling.

[@FluffySylveonBoi]

Because it's a different game and it is good too :3

[@smergthedargon8974]

6:00 I like the way Underrail handles things, where increasing one skill gives you a smaller increase in related skills, i.e. being better at persuasion also increases your barter skill, increasing your lockpicking skill also increases your general mechanics skill, etc.

[@darrencharlie]

I played this game. The DLCs make it alot more interesting and action packed. I even discovered the secret ending where you can fly the ship into the sun lmao

[@woefulfisher]

WAAAAOOWW!!1 SO QUIRKY AND WHOLESOME!!

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

@@woefulfisher But it actually is. It's a unique ending tied to a low-intelligence run, one of the best damn things about these games.

[@vojtechzahry9022]

Seeing you mention Kingdom Come: Deliverance, made me think it would be a great choice for your next analysis. It is one of my favourite games that came out in a last few years and I would love to see someone analyse it as thoroughly as you do.

[@rottenburrito7277]

I love that game, you can literally play it however you want and the amount of things to do is astounding.

[@bsils6213]

Same

[@GHOSTTIEF]

@@rottenburrito7277 the combat was so good honestly until you get to a high level and can just bonk people in the head I hope they make a way for modding if it gets a sequel

[@rottenburrito7277]

@@GHOSTTIEF Yes, I actually like the combat even though you need to get the hang of it because it can be challenging for some people if you play it the first time.

[@EmperorSigismund]

Kingdom Come is one of the few games that actually gives the respect deserved to medieval history. The clothing and armour in that game is absolutely gorgeous. I think the story, though, has an identity crisis. It wants to have a linear main story with a reliable protagonist, Henry, just like the Witcher games with Geralt. But it also wants us to be able to go around robbing and murdering people and going to jail like an Elder Scrolls game but expects none of this to impact the main story. Still I'd love to see another historical game like this set anywhere, anytime, so long as it looks and feels as good as Kingdom Come.

[@That1CrappyGuy]

1:38:38 If I remember correctly, the reason there are Asteroid Gorillas on Scylla is because there was a traveling circus and their spaceship got raided or shot down and crashed into Scylla, causing all the gorillas to escape and run free on the asteroid

[@erikgonzalez928]

The ship that was carrying the circus is literally right behind where you too, land you just have to explore.

[@alezarde211]

I remember being so excited for this game. A major part of my life in gaming was attributed to New Vegas and its intricate design, something I still think about and cite as a fantastic example of player choice and agency in an RPG. I saw this game be revealed and thought it would be the New Vegas like I had been wanting for a while. So I got it and played it. And liked my first play through. Up until the end. When getting told that I was at the end of the game, not even after 15 hours, I was so, utterly gutted. I literally remember nothing else about the game years later.

[@kokichibestboi]

the thing that really got to me and made me drop the game was how fucking boring exploring was. every explorable area on every planet just felt so small and cramped, and they were all filled with the same copy pasted enemies, and they all gave the same boring copy pasted rewards, it was just unbearable after a while

[@FluffySylveonBoi]

Exploring Outer Worlds is fun, just not for everyone, I loved it :p

[@hub_1.15]

@@FluffySylveonBoi yep only u

[@FluffySylveonBoi]

@@hub_1.15 It is funny when people lie trying to joke, like u :)

[@hub_1.15]

@@FluffySylveonBoi 👌cool i aint gonna believe anyone sane "loved" exploring in this game Enjoyed? Sure loved? Hell fucking no

[@johnfree2833]

Felt like a fckng rat in a lame ass maze with no treats!Bogus AF.looked Ok but dropped the GD game 4 hrs in.

[@Verlurion]

Outer Worlds had its flaws, extended playability being the biggest one, but it was a very enjoyable experience and more than that a very promising framework. And with its success and The Outer Worlds 2 on the horizon I have a lot of hope for the future.

[@zezex3116]

Same i enjoid it and currently playing the dlcs

[@ghostofuchiha3807]

I agree with the first part, but hope is really misplaced in these times. We are in some sort of dark age of entertainment. Movies, shows, video games have a very slim chance to be good these days. You will just be disappointed trusting in the future.

[@AdminAbuse]

Pure copium

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

​@@AdminAbuse It's not copium to trust that developers that made something you enjoyed can listen to feedback to make their next game better. That's how most developers work with some very rich exceptions.

[@johnroache6012]

34:54 You can learn this BEFORE shutting off the power, and it’s great! It made the initial 29:00 good vs evil impression into something more grey. TLDR: You find files of her talking about farming with bodies. The Edgewater gravedigger complained Marauders were digging up corpses and stealing them. The player then investigates what happened to the “Company Property,” and learned a ring had been stolen. I believe You find this ring in the soil of the farms. Hacking a terminal then documents the whole scheme.

[@lyisim]

37:40 is the best point you made so far in the video obsidian has to remember that they’re not standing on any real past work having to do with the new IP so if they had a stronger hook it woulda made the world of a difference

[@DarkStarInsomniac]

The funny thing about Monarch is that I remember leaving without making a choice at all. May not have actually happened, but it would be funny if it did; I basically told them they could fight over the planet if they wanted and left.

[@whytho5607]

Its been a while but Im pretty sure that was an option, like once you get what you want its up to you if you wanna stay and sort out their shit or not

[@scalebreaka7596]

I always thought different gravitational pulls depending on the planet you're on was a missed opportunity in the game.

[@farisakhtar4824]

It makes sense for them to all have the same gravity if the were all terraformed. Having varying gravities would no doubt create mechanical and physical challenges between different planets.

[@crimsonlanceman7882]

​@@farisakhtar4824they had different gravity, but it didnt affect gameplay very much. The only noticeable differerence is on Scylla

[@larryblake842]

Reed was supplementing the fish with odd bits and ends. He was packing sawdust and other unsavory items to the canned fish. Then he was feeding it to his own people and that's all they ate. They weren't suffering from a plague rather from lack of nutrition. Reed then forced them to work extra hard under these circumstances. At least Adele was using the dead bodies as some of our ancestors did in a morally grey way.

[@themagnus2919]

I can describe this game in six words: "Not worth playing a second time."

[@notchedbandit]

Not worth playing at all.

[@phildicks4721]

Pretty much sums it up. I enjoyed playing it once, but had no desire to replay it or buy the DLCs to replay it. For some strange reason I still have it on my PS4. Its almost mocking me like its saying, "You know you want another playthrough!" and I'm like "Nah, I'm good!"😉

[@FluffySylveonBoi]

I replayed it 3 times, you guys just can't enjoy certain games, that's okay, but the game is good. Not great, but good :3

[@cbou713]

@@FluffySylveonBoi i’m glad you enjoyed the game but there is definitely a lot to turn many people off, i see you in a lot of the comments lol i played the entire game twice along with the dlc, once on normal being the generic good guy and 100%ing everything, and another board route where i tried to do everything corporate in mind, first time on normal, second time on supernova it got so bland in every way so fast, i can see how some may like the game but me personally i never want to go back, and i’m the kind of person who loves doing every little sidequest that a game throws at me

[@TheSectric]

@@FluffySylveonBoi why would anyone want to waste their super limited and valuable time playing a game that does nothing great? Everything in it can be found elsewhere done better. This game isn't worth playing even once.

[@jackenyoff7820]

I’ve always felt like this game was more of an extended demo instead of a full fledged game. It felt like Obsidian was trying to say “Hey, remember us? Here’s a taste of what we’re still capable of, give us a chance”. I think a lot of issues with this game come from people assuming it would be a 100 hour New Vegas experience. The game is a little bare bones and “demo-y”, but I really think the success of this game will give Obsidian the resources to make Outer Worlds 2 into a truly fully-fledged experience. Criticism of this game is fair, but Outer Worlds 2 is definitely something worth being excited for, and should meet the high expectations that Outer Worlds 1 didn’t quite reach

[@nathanlevesque7812]

People wanted them to aim way too high and put out a hot buggy mess that cut half of its content, on the off chance that it recreates the old magic.

[@vullord666]

Frankly I don't blame them for playing it safe. It was a new IP and at the time Obsidian wasn't yet under Microsoft. They really didn't have the cushion to reach for the sun and risk burning. And it worked. The outerworlds has great reviews and a good reputation. Most criticisms are that the game was just "okay", which isn't bad for negative press. Considering the dumpster fire Watchdog legions and Cyberpunk were PR wise, clearly their strategy wasn't the worst. As far as "forgettable" goes, I wonder how many people are talking about the outer wilds or the other hundreds of indie rpg games? Under Microsoft Obsidian has the financial cushion to do whatever they want and take risks and with the reputation Outer Worlds ended up with they have the name recognition cushion. Plus launching on Xbox Game Pass they can ensure people know and will play their game no matter what they do. There's a lot more pressure on the sequel, but I don't see making the first game average/okay was a bad decision in the long run.

[@peppyrobo7049]

The thing is that the outer worlds is in a premise that is already done. Space and travelling an alien planet. Fallout is an anomaly in that it’s such a unique and cool premise that you just want to know more and more despite certain features being not so good

[@wdf70]

The worst part is, the Edgewater choice that the devs think is the best choice, isn't even the best choice. If you put Adelaide in charge, she runs Edgewater with an iron fist and kicks out all of the Corpo loyalists anyway into the wastes to face their fates. Reed Thompson later dies as well. If you keep Reed in charge he actually does a lot better. Now with those mistakes under his belt, he learns from them and eases up greatly on his workers and even the plague gets taken care of. The only person to die is Adelaide because she refuses to come back to town. She dies of Natural causes and a garden is grown around her grave. Reed even visits her from time to time to pay respects.

[@LFielding07]

@Vermouth but that's a strange point to make. In a dystopia, the correct choice (looking at outcomes) is perpetuate the system and hope that it somehow changes? Why would the person who welcomes everyone end up being a tyrant, and the corporate middle manager who lacks power suddenly becomes able able to save his people? It doesn't jive with the game's themes of corporate greed and antipathy

[@toomanybrews7123]

@@LFielding07 Because the person who "welcomes everyone" secretly hates the town and all of the corporate drone in it because they killed her son. She will mention this in her dialogue and there are hints that she isn't going to be the nice hippy tree lady she presents herself as. On the other hand, the corporate middle manager is just kind of in the dark about what is happening. He actually wants to do what is right for the people but he is bound by the stupid policies of Spacers Choice. He becomes willing to bend the rules when he learns that they are directly killing his people. If you let him know that the saltuna is what is causing the plague and explain that Adelaide is killing it in her colony and should take over in his stead, you can convince him to resign in shame and leave the town (basically ensuring his own death). There are a million things to criticize this game for, but the fact that the right choice isn't immediately obvious is not one of them

[@LFielding07]

@Vermouth Its fine to give the situation nuance, but then we need more information so we can decide who to back based on their moral character not their current roles. We need to see actions to get an idea of what each side would do if they "win". Show us that Adelaide is a bitter hypocrite who is dangerously radicalized. Show us Reed is willing to step outside the role of company man, which few dare to do, to help his people. Otherwise the nuance will be lost on many players

[@LFielding07]

@@toomanybrews7123 Do Reed and Adelaide have any actions that show these elements of their character, or is it just dialogue? Actions speak louder than words, and the game's actions (mission rewards) speak loudly as to the "correct" decision. It may be argued this is intentional cognitive dissonance, that the Spacers Choice reputation reward is them "paying off" your character for making their Clearwater problem go away... but in this video it makes Reed appear to be an ineffectual tool, so why would we think he could make things change with Adelaide gone?

[@toomanybrews7123]

@@LFielding07 I don't mean to be rude, but have you actually played the game? There are several hints that the situation isn't what it seems that you learn through talking to them and through environmental storytelling elsewhere. I was able to make the right decision based off of those elements and I wasn't really blindsided when I found out later that Adelaide would be an asshole to the survivors of the town if you cut off their power. I'm not sure what you mean by actions. Your interactions with these characters take place over an incredibly short amount of time. You can talk to them and read about them. And doing so will give you the info you need to make the right decision. You might stress over whether it will actually be the right decision at the time, but that is a good thing. There should be emotional weight to your decisions, not just "I'll pick what is clearly the good, bad, neutral choice this time."

[@Amaterasu772]

"My guy was a cashier before he came here and then he picks up a 40 pound megaton hammer and starts swinging it around with absolutely no prior training" On the one hand, yeah. On the other hand, retail really does things to you that just make you wanna grab the hammer with the fury of 1000 suns and smash.

[@RileyEdges]

Still feels more alive than Starfield

[@AdminAbuse]

True but also a very low bar

[@MultiSpeedMetal]

I at least fucked around in Starfield longer than this boring as fuck game. Something about outerworlds is just so mid that it becomes bad.

[@mada505]

the companions in this game made me want to take lone wolf perk and the rest of the npcs made me want to play something else.

[@asherdorshimer3602]

I think it's important to know that this game was a medium-ish production, without a massive budget. Which I think explains how smaller everything about this game feels. Hopefully now that they are under Microsoft umbrella, they can create a bigger experience.

[@jayjaybob2]

I don't think that's valid. As a game designer, you need to know what your budget is both in terms of time and funds and adjust your scope accordingly. If they didn't have the budget to make something massive and in depth, then they should have narrowed their scope. Instead they chose to try and make a fallout sized game with a fraction of the budget which screwed them over, hard. If they had made something smaller scale it would have been a lot better, have one or two less companions and reallocate that towards the companions that were less fleshed out.

[@Turamwdd]

Then they shouldn't have pushed the hype machine as much as they did. This game was given the No Man's Sky treatment by people and, similar to NMS, it disappointed. Now we are using the same excuses that Hello Games gave in order to defend the disappointment.

[@blueprint7]

@@jayjaybob2 you sound like a hater

[@blueprint7]

@@Turamwdd you don't know what you're talking about. they came out and said that the game was going to be smaller. it's not their fault you didn't listen

[@educprof2160]

@@Turamwdd that wasnt obsidian's fault tho, they clearly stated that outher worlds wasnt supposed to be this "fuck you bethesda, we will show you how to make A REAL GAME" that fans were talking about.

[@schizoidmeme5470]

It's a shame the writers will never come back. Chris Avellone's statement on why: “I think the most important thing is just communication on all levels,” Avellone explained. “There might be two owners who might actually really know what was going on with a certain project, with a certain issue, and the others might be in the dark. And that would happen at all levels.” An example he gives is with the art director not being informed of a change to art, which creates a situation where people’s toes end up getting stepped on. Someone would radically alter a piece of art, but the art director had a specific goal in mind that is then ruined.

[@doctorbrown5957]

Just gotta say man, ive watched you for about 2.5 years now I think. Whenever I moved and got my new job and needed something to listen to at work. It's awesome to see your scripts and delivery improve over time. Always a delight to find your videos in my feed!

[@ValdVincent]

To be fair, it's not so much that they don't want you to miss content, and more so that they cant make more content because Feargus Urquhart will personally come behind you and punt you in the balls if you try to add anything unnecessary, and then tell everyone their not getting paid for those hours of work.

[@nothere413]

The world and combat in this game reminded me a lot of the Borderlands series, and I don't mean that as a compliment.

[@timgreen6072]

That was the impression that I got the first time I saw the Doctor's antics in the beginning of the game.

[@wisdomcoffee]

Just started this game and I’m enjoying it so much. It’s got the dialogue, story, and style that’s been missing from fallout latest entries

[@happysocialmoth1197]

So… not much really lol

[@column3005]

i rarely get excited when i see new uploads on youtube anymore, the salt factory is an exception.

[@williamsaturno3818]

I don't usually comment on videos but I must say I have watched a few of your videos - usually deep dives or introspective reviews - and this one was such a great watch. I love this game but it did feel like it had a superficial hollowness to it. Pretty to look at and a toybox for imagination that just amounts to barren lands with a less than desirable immersion to complement. You constantly introduce elements to these games I often overlook or don't come across and always give me lots to think about. For that, you have my respect and thanks. 2 1/2 hours of analysis is no joke so I do appreciate your work!

[@harvey_birdman4455]

the funniest shit for me was that i was willing to give the game another chance on ps5 only to find out you need to buy the game again for ps5 even if you have it on ps4 and with a full game price?! just no Obsidian

[@varogoth]

Game was bland, gunplay was boring, rpg elements were lacking, and had almost no character that I cared about.

[@vahlok1426]

I remember feeling so elated to play something new and original in a generation filled with similar games when Outer Worlds came out, at least at first. Nowadays, it just feels so bland and boring. I am so sad to admit it, but Outer Worlds is at best a 7/10, compared to how New Vegas is a 10 at best and maybe a high 8 at its worst.

[@Ghostface6]

What about the dlc? If you include the dlc it's an easy 8. And comparing it to fnv is just unfair imo. They don't have half of the Maine writers that wrote the Maine quests and world building in that game. Look it up.

[@TheCocomunges]

Hell I’d put Fallout 4 over outer worlds , the exploration of the Commonwealth just shits on Outer Worlds exploration

[@cyberninjazero5659]

I remember trying it out, thinking to myself "Borderlands 2 had the same type of humor and burned me out from it" and finding the game had nothing else to offer. I didn't even finish it that's how bored I was with it

[@V-Jes]

@@Ghostface6 Comparing it to New vegas is very fair when the devs piggyback right from that games reputation to sell this game, also number of writers doesn't change anything considering 1 good writer can write a much better game than 10 bad writers...

[@Ghostface6]

@@V-Jes new Vegas was much more inspired and most of that game got it's influence from a game that was discontinued 10 years before. So the writers had 10 years to sit on their ideas and then 18 months to work with them. If the outer worlds had the ambition and time put into it could have been "fnv 2" but that didn't happen. Only 20 percent of the fnv teamed worked on this game and most of them didn't work on the story. The creators of this game were the makers of fallout 1 not 2. Fallout 1 is quite bland compared to any other fallout game. So I'm just saying that don't be mad cause they stuck to a business exploit and then critique there game on it. Comparing fnv to outer worlds is bias. Just because it's in the marketing doesn't mean it's in the formula 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@MimiRAM0NE]

I remember Sterling trying to convince everyone the game was an opus for a week because it must be so deep to criticize CaPiTaLiSm, then never talking about it again. I forgot it existed.

[@THISISLolesh]

I was going to comment about him haha.. He literally tried to portray this as something truly one of a kind and a big fuck you to bethesda or some shit as well. I think he also put a shit ton of marketing into it propping it up as a Skyrim/Fallout killer that he had to double down when it came out.

[@rhyswhittington8759]

i used to watch jim sterling when i was younger but then got older and realised that hes a giant hypocrite, he is always bashing on capitalism whilst directly benefitting from it in his self made job. hes a capitalist through and through bashing capitalism.

[@A_B_1917]

@@rhyswhittington8759 "You have some critism, yet live in society, what a hypocrite!". Washington was a monarchist, until he wasn't. That's how life works.

[@rhyswhittington8759]

@@A_B_1917 thats completely different. he is literally making money being self employed.... he is a capitalist, and im willing to bet a fairly successful one at that..... he has the money to move to a socialist country if he wanted to but he doesnt. wonder why...

[@A_B_1917]

@@rhyswhittington8759 Washington could have just moved to a democratic country, or start his own (this was the one time in history where that was technically possible, a lot of land was not owned by western powers) instead of robbing the british of their rightful property. And he wouldn't get into position allowing him to start the revolution if he refused to engage in monarchist society. Maybe Sterling could move, but this is his home and civilization. Most people prefer to change their home for better, instead of leaving it behind. If everyone who could just left then governments would never change, since everyone that could start in elections as opposite side in democracies, or anyone capable or starting protests/rebellions in authoritarian nations, would have left already.

[@AniGaAG]

... I miss F.E.A.R.'s goal-oriented AI. _That_ was AI that really, by its _actual programming,_ wanted to survive and actively tried to trick you.

[@hal900x]

I remember Jim Sterling's gushing praise, then playing it and realizing all the gushing was primarily motivated by the anti-capitalist morale, and he was blind to the actual gameplay. It's so bland. You absolutely nailed the description.

[@LOKITYZ]

Exactly. I got the game on his recommendation when I used to follow him. But I was really disappointed. It had no real perspective or depth to add aside from "capitalism bad" which just made it boring and predictable, especially when it comes to the jokes. And the game is generally very wacky in tone which means you'll be experiencing a lot of similar jokes taking a jab at capitalism. The first world already delivered that anti-capitalist message perfectly, having it stretched across the whole game just made it so boring.

[@lintecassidy206]

Yeah, me too. And the kicker is it’s not even a decent critique of capitalism. It doesn’t understand the flaws in capitalism that make it what it is, just the end results. Very disappointing.

[@Ritchian]

I liked Outer Worlds when I played it, but it never really felt like something I wanted to replay. I tried starting a survival mode run (or whatever it was called) where you lose fast travel and everything is more difficult, but never got very far. Looking back, it was a lot more shallow than I thought it was while I was playing it. Watching your analysis made me wonder if I'm misremembering some of the events. For instance, I'm pretty sure Parvati and Felix bailed on me when I briefly accepted the wipe out Edgewater mission (mostly because I was trying to get out of the room without mass murder. I played anti-Board that playthrough, so the right hand woman invited me there and telling her no meant a fight). But maybe it's because she was with me at the time? My standard group was Parvati and Ellie because I liked their bonuses and they played off each other well. As far as the difficulty, yeah. It was not that tough. it felt like the difficulty curve once you get a bit of gear was a plateau while you kept getting stronger. I played mostly a stealthy sniper build, but even then stealth never ended up being too important. And I never messed with science weapons, which as I understand (and evidenced by the prismatic hammer shenanigans), was flat out busted. But even without it, I was rocking insanely powerful weapons by the end game. The last mission... It may be the first time I was ever angry NPCs decided to come help me all Battle of Hoover Dam style. I wanted to stroll through there all stealthfully, but every time my friends showed up, if I didn't babysit them, they'd all get slaughtered. And I just spent the entire game trying to save as many people as possible, so I kept having to blow my cover to kill all the guards I was more than happy to waltz past. It really needed a way to let you call them in optionally instead of automatically. Hopefully now that they have the basics down, they can make a far better sequel going forward.

[@BLK_MN]

I just find it particularly insulting, that a game called “The Outer WORLDS” You only get these laughably small maps to explore. Like seriously, how disappointing.

[@TheDelinear]

Yeah, I was picturing dozens (or even just a handful would have been fine) of New Vegas sized worlds to explore. Instead, some of them are genuinely tiny and _still_ somehow mostly empty and repetitive.

[@_lizziee]

Urgh that early retirement mission was the first time in a long time I was actually shocked from a video game 😞 Should've expected it in hindsight but it was so gruesome

[@JM-mh1pp]

Seriously you have not see it coming?

[@_lizziee]

@@JM-mh1ppI had a slight inkling but wasn't expecting the doors to just open and the scene to be..how it was. Like, just a huge room, bodies, blood everywhere..I guess I was expecting something tamer like the rest of the game 😅

[@Maryanchyk]

I started playing the DLCs and find them much more enjoyable and challenging then the base game. Im sure that many of your fance would love you to do a separate video on those two packs, in anticipation of the second game.

[@Agent789_0]

The main way I look at this game is like it's this series equivalent of Fallout 1. The core of the game and set up for the universe is all there, but there are a lot of ideas that they can improve on or could have done better due to lack of time or money or because they just haven't figured out where they want to go with them yet. I personally had a lot of fun with it, but I hope that since Obsidian is now owned by Microsoft they'll be able to step things up with the sequel and make something that lives up to what they set up here.

[@IAmDaDumb1]

Honestly the solution to making the main choice between Welles vs. the board have more depth was staring them right in the face the whole time. Literally the point of the conflict is that the colony is running out of resources and can’t afford to feed it citizens anymore. His whole plan is to awaken a bunch more colonists, a.k.a. introduced a huge population surge, on the hopes that any of them will actually be useful in finding a solution. Meanwhile the board, While shady, has a much more pragmaticSolution that doesn’t rely on luck in chance. But then when you get to the end the slideshow establishes that there’s no negative consequences to awaking the hope colonists and they just find a cure and everything is fine. They had such an opportunity for an interesting conflict where one side is a potentially more humane and long-term solution but may not be practical and relies on chance where is the other sidesSolution may seem more barbaric but may also be more feasible and realistic

[@Gravy_Master]

I was so amped for this when it came out. I’m a cheapskate so I usually wait for games to get old and buy em for 15 bucks, but this I bought when it was released. I made it maybe halfway through or so and then just fizzled out, and I’ve never even returned once. It had some pretty cool features but ultimately it didn’t do any one thing well enough to be special, or memorable.

[@dragonshipva]

I just couldn't bring myself to care about the world, probably because there wasn't much that felt like it was worth saving. New Vegas made me want to save humanity and Mr. House was the best compromise to achieve that.

[@UrBoiEd]

I remember playing the game and choosing (imo) the best ending for edgewater, where the power was giving to the city, but the deserters were put in charge and now controlled it, letting them push out the corporations and continue to farm and feed themselves without their help. Thats cool and all but for whatever reason the game decides the outcome on a single key event, so although i helped the deserters and screwed over Spacer's Choice, the game simply decides that because I technically "ruined" the deserter's original plan, it raised my reputation with the corporation and slapped a big spacer's choice logo in my ship as a reward.

[@ramenbomberdeluxe4958]

I got buyers remorse for this one recently... I do think Obsidian can do better than this, and given the lack of greed and delusion on Bethesda's part, their magnum opus could have been New Vegas by a country mile. Lets just remember that this is an example that Obsidian is still a HUMAN company with the capacity to make an average smoke puff instead of a real winner sometimes. EDIT: Well crap, most of what I say still stands, but the fact that only 20 percent of the NV dev team worked on this one says a lot to contextualize it. My apologies!

[@ilovesmw2]

Isn't the team at obsidian that worked on this game entirely different from the one that worked on new vegas?

[@alsaiduq4363]

@@ilovesmw2 20% of the people that worked on fnv worked on outer worlds.

[@MultiDarkII]

@@ilovesmw2 almost yes

[@ramenbomberdeluxe4958]

@@ilovesmw2 ....Well shit, thanks for correcting me!

[@formy52]

This felt like an aggressively okay game to me and its sad it was only that and nothing more. Hoping this was just a proof of concept type game (like Borderlands 1 was) and the next game they make will be great.

[@sol5916]

I think the problem was how cheesy the story was. It’s like all the characters were teenagers

[@jtaco4101]

Tbf, the setting kind of explains people's naivety

[@chrismarple]

yeah millennial writing is awful

[@giorgialadashvili4771]

It's a far cry from the likes of Mass Effect: Andromeda, though.

[@michaeltelson9798]

I found Outer Worlds very bland, the different factions weren’t that different from each other and had the same type of radiant quests.

[@TacticusPrime]

What? If anything, the factions too colorful and cartoony.

[@sofabored2150]

I really hope the second game is bigger and has a new game+ or playable after completion.

[@GANGSTA2285]

I like the story in games. This one is like a 2 out of 10. After 20 hours I got to a point where the story/plot was finally starting, and it was the last couple missions of the game. The climax is an interesting story idea that never happened. It's disappointing.

[@McMannis85]

This was the most disappointing game I’ve ever played. I’ve been gaming for more than 30 years, and have been along for pretty much the whole gaming ride. I think it was disappointing because of my own expectations based off of Obsidian promises and my past experiences with Obsidian projects, and not necessarily because it’s just crap. For example, I’m incapable of being disappointed by ANY EA title. Any of them. I expect them to be garbage off the bat, and unlike my experience with Obsidian, it’s more rare for EA to release a title that’s not complete garbage. While I think it does have some amazing highlights and gameplay mechanics, overall the story is abysmal and it seems as though they were on a run to create it and just ran out of time and published it with an insanely rushed bunch of mechanics and an ending that rivals The Sopranos in terms of most disappointing ever. Overall I felt as if this game played more like a tech demo rather than a full release, and it was the the last straw in a long stream of disappointments that’s largely led me to other hobbies aside from games.

[@miroslavzima8856]

First time it was blast and enjoyed it. The second time I played after 2 years on hard difficulty. Third time I played with all DLC´s and it was still fun! Of course, this is PERSONAL opinion and I see why it was average for you or other gamers.

[@memedealermikey]

I know Parvati’s storyline was done right when I wanted my character to get with Parvati. Then, when Parvati starts getting her massive crush, there was an option to flirt with Parvati as a means of confessing as well…truth be told, I was heart broken but the prospect of helping Parvati land this chick made me smile, agree to help and see it through. In the end, I cared about Parvati’s pursuit to an extent to get this immersed and I think that was one of my favorite moments in the game for me

[@Vaasref]

The reputation is less a "system" and more like a log. I see it as only there to help you keep track of what you did, like a kill counter. The fact that it nudges the prices of the traders is more of a "why not ?" idea, IMO.

[@KarmicKnight97]

One of the things I liked about this was the feel of it, especially if you ignored the "capitalism bad" thing and just went off to be a space captain with a ragtag crew of ne'er-do-wells hanging out on the Unreliable. I got so attached to the ship that I'd hoped something would be done with it, it gets shot down near the end, it gets boarded by space pirates/the Board, could have been so much better but it wasn't bad

[@kommandantvhs4994]

Yah it's definitely a high-school level critique of capitalism, and a collage girl style of feminism. Almost like someone who just got into punk rock but has little understanding of the genre.

[@doctorbrown5957]

Yeah I don't mind critiques of capitalism, or critiques of anything. But it has to be done well? Like sometimes the dialogue in TOW feels like a parody of a critique of capitalism with how half-assed it is.

[@mr.b89]

@@doctorbrown5957 there is an inherent difficulty in trying to make a story for a game that critiques capitalism while your studio is owned by a giant corporation. You can't really have good and profound criticism, nor give concrete alternatives or solutions while everything you do is corporate approved and checked to make sure it isn't too subversive so as to have people actually look outside of the status quo

[@mina7572]

The whole game world is a one trick pony. All the same zany corporate satire joke. It does by natue have to be omnipresent but the humor constantly draws attention to itself. They really needed to have the confidence to have it be a subtler background joke and not have most characters constantly reference it.

[@janvesely1087]

I like to imagine that The Outer Worlds is where Fallout would go after the Mr. House ending in New Vegas

[@ianwalker2259]

I'm a harder or hardest difficulty type myself. Anyway, I was also underwhelmed by TOW. My saddest moment was when I was on Monarch and I heard the scientist's being threatened. My instincts kicked in and I instantly slowed down time, I hauled ass to the scene and got inside and started shooting. All I saw was a body or 2 on the floor and the enemies standing around. The wall suddenly blew up, as i there was a grenade inside. The whole scene was essentially faked, nothing but a VO and a single explosion effect. Maybe it's a lot to ask, but if you're gonna give the player the ability to slow down and move quickly through time, which I do know is intended as a combat gimmick, actually have that able to do the impossible and really something at a superhero level and essentially "alter the timeline". At least a few times. Also, have people acknowledge the ability. In a sentence The time system feels completely tacked on and an afterthought on almost every level. I love Obsidian and I hope they learn a lot from this first attempt at an original IP in the same vein as Fallout NV.

[@Slender_Man_186]

You mean like how VATS is completely tacked on and only gets a passing lore reference in the 3D fallout games? At least the slowed time effect feels useful, by Fallout 4 the gunplay has gotten good enough that VATS had no real purpose, even in 3 and NV it only existed to circumvent the stiff and janky aiming controls (especially on console).

[@ianwalker2259]

@@Slender_Man_186 Yeah kind of, they do suffer from similar issues but the distinction is VATS alters your perception of time and TTD literally turns you into The Flash. In all fairness though it's not like TOW invented taking narrative control from the player and they do a lot of things well, skills were pretty cool in TOW for example, espicially since FO4 lacked them entirely. That being said, imho VATS still feels a lot better as a whole. Like you said, it at least reinforces/crutches certain game play styles and builds, it gives a stat like perception a major combat role in 3D fallout, espicially 3, and it allows luck to do the same in 4. That being said, imho Fallout can stop worrying about combat and feel now. They really need to do everything they can to bring back uniqueness to a playthrough of fallout, whether that be by bring back skills, leaning into stat checks, or having perks unlock more options either on their own (i.e. your understanding of robotics starts out with you having bonus damage and eventually hacking, but it also gives you solid understanding of electronics and allows you to occasionally create a unique shortcut, remove a hazard, repair a unique item or npc or something. Or your understanding of nuclear fusion gives you a damage bonus and power cell bonuses but also unlocks the occasional opportunity to demonstrate and use your deep understanding of physics, or repair the occasional engine. Gun nut and or lockpicking perks end up translating into having some pretty sweet fine motor skills and you repair something most people wouldn't even be able to know was there, let alone broken, Etc...) or as little baskets of perks that add up to unlocking tiers (i.e. 1 perk point in hacking, energy weapons, and robotics each add up to 3 points in "electronics" and you unlock the "adept tier" of dialogue options associated with "electronics". Further "dialogue/skill baskets" could be things like; mechanics, medicine, politics/diplomacy, physics, combat/war/intimidation, survival, and deception.) Sorry, I got pretty lost there. If you're still reading, my point is VATS at least reinforces a style of gameplay and build and is pretty crap if you ignore those stats, and it does have that kind of self-refential thing going on, like u said. On the other hand, TTD can be used strategically and I suppose it could be argued it in itself provides a necessary crutch alongside the difficulty option for players who want to just build a character with no real combat threat, but it is just always good. Any character can opt to abuse the heck out of it, since perks are pretty much pick and choose in TOW. Assuming you can see your target and your weapon is appropriate for the range, its basically impossible to not annihilate something when you turn it on. My first TOW playthrough was full of TTD and then I played it again and used it much much less and put my points elsewhere. Neither playthrough was really hurt by how much TTD was used but in the end the whole thing felt like it was much more of a action mechanic than an RPG mechanic and 99% of the galaxy ignoring its existence just cemented it for me as "tacked on". A few narrative beats with TTD as an optional part of it would have been a great start. A simple gag where you keep moving something and a character ends up questioning their sanity, leading to a favorable or unexpected conclusion. Or a moment during a quest where you need/have the option to do something normally impossible while an npc looks away for only a couple seconds, like while they turn toward a window and say a single word, you spend the next couple "seconds" scouring their desk and perceptive players can spot a sticky note hiding on the underside of their desk or search a nearby trash can for a note and then read it and discover a password or the time and place for a secret meeting and then quickly make their way back to the safe side of the room. Things like that. All that being said I do tend to shy away from "bullet time" style options on the whole when I'm deciding where to put my points while playing an action-adventure with RPG elements so take from that what you will. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea.

[@FezZuchini]

This video doesn’t answer why new vegas is beloved, while outer worlds is seen as average

[@jordanadams7168]

I had some fun in the beginning, getting high and playing the game because the visuals were cool and it felt immersive, but after a couple days of playing it I just couldn't get back into it

[@LuxTheori]

I remember the exact moment this game lost me, it was one achievement. One achievement killed any interest in finishing this game and that was the achievement for finishing all of your companion's missions. After I got that I realized that the companions were the only reason I wanted to keep playing.

[@RoastMePls]

I finished this game... I know I have. Outer Worlds if definitely a game. It's one of the games ever made... - that would be my review of it. It's so weird now for it to be compared with Fallout titles. Even the "flawed" ones (3/4) kept me hooked and immersed for hundreds of hours. This one came and went without leaving a lasting impression on me. Yet another title that teaches gamers to stop buying into marketing hype.

[@SpadeDraco]

I absolutely despise Fallout 4, but somehow managed to clock twice as many hours (80ish) as I did into OW. Hell I occasionally still go back and mess around with mods for short periods in F4 before giving up on it again. Meanwhile I've just got zero interest whatsoever in giving OW another chance.

[@corndawgins1102]

I hated all the companions in this game

[@FussyPickles]

i did my best to try and like it and nothing about it was bad so yeah.. it's almost infuriating how average it was

[@pacmaneatsballs]

Aggressively average is exactly how I have always explained this game to friends lol

[@Patterrz]

The Outer Worlds was great for the first playthrough, but I had no urge to go back for another afterward like I always did for Fallout

[@dizzydial8081]

That was my very same experience. Anything I missed I felt wasn't worth replaying. I loved the setting.

[@ballisticus1]

Similar. I did a normal playthrough. Then faltered out of boredom on my second (kill everyone) playthrough

[@killa4hire]

I had a similar experience. Took time off. Got hyped up for another run. Made it 2 hours in. Stopped.

[@Caddynars]

There’s not just enough branches to choose between to warrant a second playthrough. New Vegas not only had multiple branches, but they were very fleshed out, and had consequences for choosing that branch.

[@derp195]

I loved it at first, but barely got past radio free monarch before deciding I had played enough of the game. Played it again on switch, and lost interest at about the same time, but after having suffered through a pretty awful switch port.

[@jackson4672]

Obsidian proved in Fallout New Vegas they can have comedic companions also have some of the best backstories. Arcade Gannon, Lily, Raul, and Veronica all act as companions that are more comedic but they all have deep backstories where your options in their quest impact their future life.

[@Charagrin]

A big thing to remember is most of the folk who made New Vegas so amazing left Obsidian. Obsidian is a company, not a person, and time keeps going.

[@DarthFhenix55]

@@Charagrin The lost of people like Chris Avellone really hurt Obsidian.

[@callumwoulahan7681]

@@_zigger_ haha. I'm so curious. Why?

[@kyyy8436]

@@callumwoulahan7681 it’s homophobia bruh, kinda what you’d expect from a Russian z pfp

[@callumwoulahan7681]

@@kyyy8436 oh oof, yeah fuck you’re probably right. I was imagining he had some amusing head canon / lore justification. But no. Just afraid of the gays. What a pleb

[@Nolaris3]

It's biggest legacy to me is that it will always get confused with Outer Wilds

[@mundanesalad]

Outer Wilds being a MUCH more memorable experience, too.

[@marcorc5167]

Outer Wilds was such a fun and unique game. The mechanics and the story were really good.

[@winycentaur2540]

Lmfao I thought this video was about Outer Wilds😂😂😂

[@RealLargeManTheGiantOne]

Outer wilds is genuinely a masterpiece, and I absolutely hate that whenever I bring it up people talk about it being a shit game and when they bring up the mechanics I realise they mean outer worlds.

[@Diremagic]

its the opposite for me I'm like wtf is outer wilds

[@FuzzyFiend]

All of the four main writers who worked on New Vegas had left Obsidian by the time of The Outer Worlds and it really shows.

[@jinmark9453]

Apparently weapons and armor designers left as well. For that matter wild life designers as well ......to be honest after thinking about it iit all sucked a lot mor then I remember.

[@antoniocastano7077]

Somebody may be going there soon who will turn things around

[@D0NU75]

it really, really fucking shows. People in the comments say stuff about Obsidian not pushing game mechanics further, that doesn't matter and it's the least of it's problems, but the writing... the writing is so bad it feels like produced by hipsters, too afraid to commit to any emotion other than goofiness or "love". Bad writing angers me so much it will make me stop playing even the most acclaimed game (looking at you Fallout 4) you can think of. Unforgiveable.

[@benito1620]

@Donuts The Outer Worlds writing is like Reddit, the game. Just haha funny quirky little marvel movie quips, can't have any serious moments last more than 2 minutes or else people might feel an actual emotion.

[@GlizzyGoblin757]

@@benito1620 and people are actually excited for this upcoming potential “fallout new vegas 2”

[@dungeonsanddobbers2683]

I've, honestly, never seen a game so positively praised and spoken highly of disappear off everyone's radar as quickly as The Outer Worlds did.

[@expendableround6186]

Everyone was a little _too_ eager to tell Bethesda to go and take it up the ass after 76 crashed and burned (Looking at *_YOU,_* Jim Sterling.)

[@sportsjefe]

@@anubis4695 Fallout 4 isn't the comparison point for Outer Worlds, Fallout 76 is.

[@doctorbrown5957]

@@anubis4695 Mods are awesome but too many people point to mods when speaking about the greatness of Skyim/Fallout. I agree with it to a point, but the games being carried by mods long term doesn't really speak to the core games quality. Vanilla skyrim is an absolute bore. Same with FO4 to a degree.

[@txivneebswafflesandshroom]

@@sportsjefe they both are lol wtf you freak

[@d2heffz231]

@@expendableround6186 I believe it's Jennifer sterling now or some shit 🤣🤣🤣

[@Zeiru]

34:58 This little thing here is SO EXTREMLY IMPORTANT because she's apparently the only person who's figured out how to make food grow in the Outer Worlds, a problem that becomes abundantly clear by the time you reach the credits.

[@michelphilippe193]

Which is strange. You would think with all of the scientists in this game that something so obvious would be known. They can manufacture drugs and change chemical compounds, but don’t know basic nutrition. Writers seemed to harp on “Company is evil” so much that company was also idiots

[@tainkirrahe]

the Roseway quest is likewise as important because it foreshadows that the Board is planning to murder all of the workers - it only appears to be a stupid quest on the surface.

[@CowToes]

It's kinda odd that even after discovering the crisis of "we have no food." You never go back and address it ever again.

[@Bjarmid]

It's only a stopgap solution, since she's essentially supplementing the soil with the nutrients stored in bodies, it's only recycling what's already there, and since you lose some nutrients every 'generation' you would still have a problem eventually without another solution. I'm guessing people have essentially been living off the stock of nutrients that have been brought into the system through trade and in their supplies and own bodies, and by the time of the game it's become too dilluted in the ecosystem to sustain people.

[@Lucky13Ravens]

​@@CowToesThat was a big issue i found in general. Things have no long term effect. Edgewater doesn't die or become a garden, there are no comments about how exports changed from Saltuna to Mockapple, which should affect other Saltuna facilities and could have had a knock on with Monarch. For all the connection, they are mostly superficial.

[@WowSuchGaming]

After playing this game I felt like going back to New Vegas. This felt half baked but still fun. But all ideas weren't quite enough to return to in the end

[@o-pitamask4698]

What's up my man

[@HeroFall]

I played this game thanks to gamepass and i felt robbed. Easily a 5/10 game. Was just average. Did the rpg checklist and while characters were stand-out, the universe was shallow. Your crew is just average caricatures. Your antagonist is faceless. Your reason for even going on said quest was bare bones at best. Best thing comes from dialogue but from the basic builds to dumb skill trees was another blow to what i would have enjoyed. Easily the worst of the obsidion games and worse than fallout 4

[@Dabadi4834]

I like it how you appeared right after I watched a fuck ton of zombie sins

[@Batchall_Accepted]

I actually went into this one blind and the fact that I didn't have even a hint it was an obsidian game till I read about it afterwards was telling

[@toomanybrews7123]

@@Batchall_Accepted Did you enjoy it more because of that? I went into this game after being told it wasn't what everyone hyped it up to be and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think most people were let down by the hype. Which, at this point, you would think gamers would stop doing to themselves. It literally never works out well.

[@Terminarch]

One of those little things that seriously rips me out of any RPG. There's a few dozen people in town and no trade. Just outside the non-existent walls is literally hundreds of respawning bandits. Who the fuck are they stealing from!?

[@FenniNordwind]

From each other

[@idrissb9742]

@@FenniNordwind ahhahahaa has to be

[@Slender_Man_186]

“No trade” they have space flight, so idk where you’re getting that from, the whole reason that the town is dying is because people don’t visit the space port right next to the city anymore. “Non-existent walls” did you even make it to the first town? There’s a massive wall surrounding most of it!

[@skeletonking2501]

If I remember correctly those bandits are actually just violent insane druggies

[@Slender_Man_186]

@@skeletonking2501 not even, most were just common people who said “fuck this corporate bullshit” and set off to do their own thing, I distinctly remember one of the bounties you get from the first town being the former doctor of the place.

[@HistoryScope]

I've never really been able to properly explain my feelings on this game, however, "aggressively average" is an absolute perfect description of this game. The only really memorable part of the game are the insults you can say "He is the least reliable crewmember on a ship called the unreliable" and that you have a companion who is ace and explains a bit what that means. I remember walking into a house that had cannibals and IMMEDIATLY knew this was the cannibal trope and I wouldn't be allowed to leave afterwards. Everything about this game, in my opinion, feels like it needed just a little bit of extra work to make it special.

[@toastedt140]

Imo there was a general lack of passion in environmental design that makes fallout unique and replayable. Bland 3d models repeated endlessly

[@deamongimli]

@@toastedt140 I agree with this, but also this entirely fits the setting. It's a system colonized by cheapskate corps so of course all the buildings are copy-paste.

[@D0NU75]

@@toastedt140 that is something when you take into account that every fallout game after 3 is built with prefab assets that repeat all over the world and still you can tell some places have personality of their own.

[@mushyroom9569]

It’s the problem with modern AAA games. You can’t make Doom without risking a Daikatana.

[@nathanlevesque7812]

@@mushyroom9569 Doom is trash anyway.

[@kareliask]

I think this game shows that when on a budget - either financial, time-wise, or manpower - trying to do a small but polished experience doesn't work for a game of this calibre in the same way it might for a tiny indie studio making something within its means - it just left people wanting more/wishing it was more fleshed out. Obsidian often seems at it best when pushing the limits of practicality.

[@rawn9234]

I feel you

[@BludPanda]

It actually does work but the game made itself out to be much bigger than it was. This could have been avoided.

[@chiiloutbro]

@@BludPanda it was lamely small asf, only reason it took me awhile is cause I played the mode with no fast travel. Game sucked never played it again, I also loved fallout 3

[@mikemcmullen5006]

@@chiiloutbro obsidian didn't work on fallout 3, just new Vegas

[@gpheonix1]

or at its best when they have decent writers

[@couguard]

"aggressively average" really is the perfect descriptor for this game.

[@LIITEMIES]

When a hype kills a title.

[@calebneff5777]

I really strongly disagree. It is wonderful and stands on its own. You just have to go in expecting what it is, not another New Vegas.

[@RunehearthCL]

@@calebneff5777 nah it sucks, incredibly they made a gameplay even worse than new vegas'

[@Maria_Erias]

@@RunehearthCL This is one thing that surprised me, given Obsidian's pedigree and how much I've loved their other games. I played through Outer Worlds once, and that was it. There was no real depth to the weapons (generic shotgun, generic sniper rifle, generic assault rifle, then generic shotgun mk2, generic sniper rifle mk2, generic assault rifle mk2), none of the companions were really interesting to me, the story was pretty flaccid, there really wasn't anything engaging. I kept playing, hoping that the good part was right around the corner... and then it was over. It really reminds me of that Family Guy episode where Brian's in a movie theatre, describing The Blair Witch: "Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. Nothing's happening. There's something about a map. Nothing's happening. The movie's over. A lot of people look pissed."

[@thechosenwon6762]

I'd give it a good rating

[@CityofButterfly]

When I played this game I had basically 3 thoughts: 1) Combat was ridiculously easy, especially after my gun-oriented character found plasma weapons. Not only are they OP, but you can find them as early as Edgewater. I could plow through the rest of the game in my sleep. 2) It's amazing how sparse and empty the open-world areas feel. There isn't a single thing you can find on your own that isn't related to a quest you get somewhere else. 3) Parvati was a far better character than this game deserved.

[@linksbetweendrinks7032]

Yeah, Parvati was delightful. It felt like every other character was somehow meta aware at how much players would love Parvati, and were trying to do cut-rate Parvati impressions.

[@t2av159]

Parvati was trash

[@chiiloutbro]

Did you play on the hardest diff? I played this game once on the no fast travel hard diff mode and I couldn't beat the game,towards the end I got stuck lol

[@t2av159]

@@chiiloutbro I beat the on supernova, no companions, gun high intelligence build (I believed I used handguns and Sniper rifles). I did die a few times on the end boss and on that planet with lots of those mantis aliens. Besides that, it's not too too difficult.

[@chiiloutbro]

@@t2av159 yeah I found out a minute ago the robot is the final boss fight and that's when I quit the game, I literally played through to the end on nova just to never finish the game 😭. I could prolly beat the thing but honestly I kinda knew at the time deep down the game was just forced for me up to that point. Good shit tho man I wish I woulda been able to have the patience for the last battle

[@pieceofgosa]

Playing The Outer Worlds is like going to see a really, really good cover band. They're tight as hell, they play all the biggest hits but there is something not quite right. At the end of the day, it's just not the same as the original artist. All the ingredients are there for me to love Outer Worlds: it's smooth as hell, looks great & has a healthy sense of the sardonic but I could never shake the feeling that the game was trying VERY hard to be what it was, rather than it just.... being.

[@skyrocketautomotive]

Couldn't agree with you more, every corner of the game seemed to be winking at you as if to say ''see? we did the thing you like when you play Fallout!'' even the vending machine jingles felt so put on rather than being an organic part of the world. When you play a fallout game you feel like the world has always been the way it has (the adverts for example) whereas the Outer Worlds feels like the paint is still drying when you show up. A would be great game, but paper thin throughout in my view...

[@umarb7325]

I think people underestimate the advantage NV had of not having to create new assets. They got to focus on adding writing and RPG mechanics to a Bethesda game

[@skyrocketautomotive]

@@umarb7325 I far prefer FO3 as a game, everything about it except for iron sights and hardcore mode is preferable to me (FO3 with those mechanics would be perfection for me), but Outer Worlds didn't need to have a tight deadline, and it was still skin deep through the bulk of it. A good point though, NV gets a lot of well deserved praise, and some that goes a little too far considering a lot of the components were already there!

[@Olker8]

I think it’s the trying very hard to be what it is is what killed if for me. It just felt off the whole time.

[@ntr5420]

Literally my exact feelings about it, thank you for putting it into words

[@TroopperFoFo]

I don't think a lot of people realize how much of the Fallout new Vegas team no longer works at Obsidian and went on to do other things some even left gaming all together. I don't think Obsidian is going to hit that Fallout new Vegas magic again with so many gone. Fun fact several former Obsidian employees work on Fallout 76.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

Which is funny considering how much garbage it was.

[@P4shaPlays]

Damn you’re right, how will Obsidian ever create another good game without the caliber and talent of Fallout 76 development team…

[@TroopperFoFo]

@@P4shaPlays Yet Fallout 76 is still in the top 50 most played games on Xbox where Outer worlds and grounded are not. We will see how avowed is but having been a tester for Obsidian I am not overly hyped. But then again I was a tester before Microsoft bought them.

[@Beyondqqq]

Do people not realise this studio made POE? They already hit the magic again.

[@Awesomewithaz]

@@Beyondqqq Path of Exile? That garbage mmo?

[@colddripgaming]

I can see the potential with outer worlds and they crafted a really interesting universe to explore but this first game did feel more like a test run than the full released game

[@Rig0r_M0rtis]

That's basically Tim and Leonard's MO

[@Esteban_907]

Yeah and the fact that obsidian didn't have a great budget and had to cut alot of content

[@dankbonkripper2845]

​@@Esteban_907always some excuse for them huh

[@lancerguy3667]

For me the whole 'cartoon character' issue was what destroyed my ability to fully immerse in the world. Everyone was just a little 'too' goofy and stupid... it made it impossible to fully see anyone as human, and while it 'did' make the worlds feel more alien... it didn't make it a place I enjoyed spending time in. It was less like a colony in the far-reaches of space and more like being trapped in some kind of surreal political cartoon. I played it to completion once, put it down, and never really thought about it again.

[@jeremyphillips3087]

if the story was more interesting and the quests were more interesting and the combat were more rewarding then the goofy characters might have worked.

[@gracekucienski3808]

Hi t

[@Anubis.6256]

100 percent agree, 1 playthrough and done forever. Stop making jokes every 5 seconds!!!!!

[@AintPopular]

Goofy characters what made me play this game ngl. Especially Parvati

[@wh8787]

Yeah, if people feel like people in a weird, goofy world, that's fine. If everyone feels like a two dimensional cartoon character, as you say, it's just hard to really engage with anyone. I also found a lot of the characters kind of babble on a lot in a way that I think was meant to be world building, but that I just found kind of annoying and meant that a lot the time I was like "oh shit, were they saying something relevant to a quest? I'd stopped listening!"

[@SourRobo8364]

I always remember in New Vegas where I had to get a guy out of prison, the guard didn't like me and told me to pay. So instead I shot him dead, took the key card, disguised myself to get in, and got the guy out. It was so fun. It's that kind of gameplay branching path that this game feels like it's missing.

[@motivateddad]

nearly a hundred hours on NV and I never knew about this quest. Where can I find this?

[@SourRobo8364]

@@motivateddad It's an early quest where you have to get a sheriff for a town.

[@motivateddad]

@@SourRobo8364 I was doing a science build so I got the robot working. Didn't knew about that branch.

[@SourRobo8364]

@@motivateddad Very cool.

[@ilcorvo9559]

@@motivateddad it’s the mission where you have to get myers from the NCR correctional facility (so he can become sherif of that town which name escapes me)

[@uberboomer8670]

I believe you can immediately turn Phineas in upon arriving on the Groundbreaker, you just have to loot his wanted poster off of a pillar and it gives u the option fairly early... My main complaint with this game was the lack of enemy variety and that the weapons start pretty cool, until halfway through when you realize the rest of the weapons are boringly "previous weapon 2.0"

[@Rig0r_M0rtis]

Yes, to me the combat was not ejoyable. But i think it's because it's just a boring FPS, so unlike Fallout NV with VATS or Mass Effect with telepathy.

[@srn7254]

late AF but you don't even need to inspect the poster actually - you can just hand him over right off the bat since Udom asks straightaway if Alex told you anything about Phineas' location.

[@albertzinger7132]

The issue with a common person instantly knowing ho to use weapons was already solved in Gothic. In that game you can't even equip high-level weapons at the start, but what's more important, until you learn (from a teacher) weapon techniques, you character is just waving it around like a dumbass - the animation itself is different. With the techniques your moves become clean, fast and effective.

[@FourDerpyPaws]

Gothic (at least the first...two, I guess) also had the problem of open worlds solved pretty well, I feel. You CAN, in theory, go almost anywhere right at the beginning of the game. You'll just get killed. It results in a much smaller world initially, and makes the early experience much tighter. You get that feeling of wanting to get stronger in order to be able to explore that ruined tower in the distance, not just checking off boxes and collecting the flags on the map, like in many other games (Witcher 3 has that a lot, even though it's otherwise a great game).

[@RyugaHidekiOrRyuzaki]

Reminds me of DS1. Yes you can technically go anywhere from the getgo, but your character really cant. Assuming new player skill level.

[@bruhvenant]

@@RyugaHidekiOrRyuzaki Elden Ring continues in this tradition except turned up to 11

[@doctorbrown5957]

@@FourDerpyPaws I'm realizing this with Divinity Original Sin 2, as well. Once you're off the tutorial island and in the first open world map, you can go anywhere, but I'm getting curbstomped by encounters 2-3 levels higher than me, which forces me to look for areas more around my level, or finish quests I've already acquired so i can get more buff.

[@jeffjwatts]

@@FourDerpyPaws Fallout New Vegas did the same thing. You start on the West side of the map, you can theoretically go North, East or South. Except that North you are definitely going to die, and East you will probably die. So, the game pushes you South.