The Outer Worlds Analysis | So Much Potential

[@ramblelime]

Hey everyone, just wanted to leave this comment acknowledging some of the stuff I left out of the video and some of the stuff I messed up as a bit of an addendum, before someone points it out here in the comments. Firstly, I messed up ADA’s name a few times, calling her AVA. My bad. I left out a discussion of Scylla entirely because it was underdeveloped and I didn’t have much to say about it. Same goes for the science weapons, which were advertised heavily before launch, but I found to be pretty underwhelming. The section of the video on monarch is a little more underdeveloped than the rest of the video because if I went into more depth on Monarch’s main quest I decided that it would sound too much like the section on edgewater, because their main choices are so similar. Finally, I want to apologize for any stuttering or low resolution footage throughout the video. Midway through the recording process I decided that my computer wasn’t beefy enough to record the game steadily, so I upgraded, but the old footage is still in this video in parts. Hopefully it doesn’t ruin your enjoyment of this or anything like that. Thanks a mil

[@alexmacsugar7448]

You left something important out concerning the endboss fight. You can hack it. So you don't have to fight it

[@allenpate4515]

oh hey if you get this talk about the dlcs int he future

[@nicholasruiz7277]

You said there's no reason to join the faction of bad guys because they're clearly evil, and they kill people, and, blah blah blah, that's literally what the bad guys were like Fallout New Vegas. Ceaser legion hello. Like tf?

[@dwightd.eisenhower2031]

@@nicholasruiz7277He has the same opinion on them

[@nicholasruiz7277]

@@dwightd.eisenhower2031 that's a dumb opinion there will always be murderous freak at any point in time and any point in the world to hold that against the game is dumb.

[@DJPeachCobbler]

Don't mind me, I'm just passing through and driving engagement up. Actual comment to come later

[@Prinny.]

So uhhhh when’s the actual comment? it’s been months

[@innoclarke7435]

@@Prinny. Bro, don't worry. It's coming. Later.

[@henrycrabs3497]

Lmao, it video ain't that long bid

[@faux4780]

why the fuck are you here lad? also kudos to your Crackdown, abyss boi best boi.

[@danytalksmusic]

they said the same about Jesus and we're still waiting 😂

[@GrimloxTv]

Outer Worlds seems similar to New Vegas dialogue and combat wise but the way you jump from colony to colony collecting various companions is more like Knights of The Old Republic

[@jehovasabettor9080]

Moreover, if you pay close attention to Outer Worlds, you might find Atton, Bao-Dur and Mira from KOTOR 2 among your companions.

[@megamike15]

this is why i always saw it as more of a first person bioware game like kotor then fallout.

[@jakel2837]

So imagine New Vegas dialogue and combat, but all the fun and interesting context is replaced with flat characters, mediocre writing, and little to no motivation. That's The Outer Worlds

[@jdcollins0805]

😂 no everything about it was terrible it’s like it was made by an edgey 12 year old virgin.

[@jeremiahrobinson3412]

You are definitely missing something with Ellie. The idea of Ellie in short, is that she had high expectations in life and she fulfilled them becoming a very good surgeon by trade in a world where she was given. No compassion or expectation of love. When she realized this, she set out to make her own fortune and pass on her parents way of life. Doing the quest with her. Shows the player how she became a mercenary. Larper, and I believe that by showing her compassion and caring that we actually end up changing her outlook on life

[@BreakdancePeach]

Fallout New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity had interesting backgrounds to towns and politics because they were colored by 'colonialism'. Funny part is Josh Sawyer is a big history buff and he directed both those games, so he has a lot of context about the kind of politics that'd exist in these settings. TOW is now colonialism but in space! Except now they don't have a history nerd directing the game.

[@laurenbastin8849]

at least we got Sawyer working on Pentiment instead!

[@BreakdancePeach]

@@laurenbastin8849 ikr I have Pentiment on my to-do list. At this point, I'm mostly following the Obsidian games that are directed by Josh Sawyer. Josh being a small gun nut is why FNV has so many interesting guns. Also, there's his _JSawyer mod_ (which he *_personally_* made after the game came out bc he wasn't satisfied w/ some parts). His patch notes have exactly the kind of neurotic detail fixation I want in game devs.

[@johnnyaguirre1912]

That explains why the story felt lack luster. Josh Sawyer really was the glue that held everything together. Unlike that windbag Chris

[@Rikard2k]

Fun that you added your list of top 3 when you said that you where super hyped about the outer worlds but it did not even show up there. I played Disco Elysium short after playing The Outer Worlds and weirdly enough playing that it made me realize that I only THOUGHT I had been having fun. It actually made me angry playing Disco Elysium because all of the dialogue options and how smart all the characters where and how I also had to be smart instead of just selecting "good option" I was being spoon fed. Disco Elysium basically undid all the damage 10 years of bad RPGs had done up until that point. It was honestly like waking from a dream. It made me realize I had started skipping through dialogue just to look at what I could anwser and Disco Elysium would not let me get away with that. Up until then I had rated The Outer Worlds a 10/10 but today I would say it's maybe a 5/10 tops. After I beat it I started it again, did a character with different stats, played for 10 minutes and then never played it again. I have since played Fallout 1&2 for the 5th time. That should tell you something.

[@dw4484]

I had a similar experience to this on release. Disco made this look like child's play.

[@Scorch052]

you broke the crpg glass ceiling. congrats, now you get to cry at your lack of quality games to play.

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

outer worlds isnt that bad bro lmao atleast a 7.5 out of 10 maybe even an 8

[@danytalksmusic]

This felt more like a spiritual successor to borderlands than Fallout

[@WiseOwl_1408]

Yes. Extremely cringe

[@drakep.5857]

I personally believe that borderlands 2 is a really well made and well written open world game, with a cool story and gameplay set in a really intresting "rural cyberpunk" dark souls style hub world with intresting enemies and weapons. As a lover of fallout, I think borderlands is actually a pretty good series, and I don't mind if outer worlds borrowed some things from it, but what they borrowed just wasn't for the best at all. It didn't even have the intresting world building or dynamics of BL2's evil corporation, because BL2 had the benefit of you always opposing the obvious bad guys and dealing with the consequences of a tight linear story, while outer worlds was both too open and too constraining to match either end of the rpg spectrum. [Edit: sorry that emoji was a mistake, lol]

[@johnnyaguirre1912]

The 2 do tend to have similar humor and story tone

[@1RoundInTheChamber]

I have to semi disagree with the skills starting off as groups. While I think the cutoff point for when you start investing in single skills is too high, I think the idea over corrects with something I almost always dislike in RPGs. That being both how easy, and how often you're pigeonholed into being a specialist right out the gate. A lot of these make a lot of sense. Of course if I know how to shoot a type of gun well, that'd translate into a general competency with firearms up to a point. The solution, I think, would be to have the cutoff point for general aptitude being lower, and some allowance of points you can put into single skills that raises a little as you work toward that cutoff point. That way, you aren't just really good at everything, and have some ability to express a specific skill without always having to be absolutely horrible at everything outside the things you're godlike at.

[@noirekuroraigami2270]

I personally didn't understand intimidation., because intimidation isn't a trait about one physical size. Its more about charisma than anything

[@porkerpete7722]

​@noirekuroraigami2270 someone can be small, but intimidating. It's on the look they give.

[@jamescalvert4471]

Agreed. Starting with categories I loved, but they could have diverged earlier. I do like being very persuasive and only pretty good at lying, for example.

[@flames_fan_328]

The biggest problem with this game is how incompetent the board is. Not only are they objectively evil, but the world building doesn’t even make sense. They could’ve had an interesting message about the growth vs exploitation that happens under capitalism, but like you said, they don’t even add a compelling reason to join the board. Caesars legion is at least as evil as the board, but New Vegas at least gives you some reasonably compelling reasons to join. Joining the board is just dumb, because the game literally explains that they’re running the system into the ground. Even the most selfish, shortsighted character couldn’t justify siding with them

[@karlismymiddlename]

What are the reasons given that would make you want to join the legion

[@flames_fan_328]

@@karlismymiddlename I don’t think it’s really possible to justify them as the best option for the Mojave, but they keep the roads safe, and don’t tolerate the corruption and criminality that runs rampant in the NCR. Also Caesar is very charismatic and clearly knows how to run an efficient military, so you can at least make the argument that your courier could see him as a lesser of two evils. They’re a brutal faction, but one could argue that the brutality of the wasteland justifies it, and we only get to see how they operate under conquest. Legion controlled lands could very well be safer and more prosperous than the NCR ever could be. They’re still obviously evil, but the game can at least justify why they’ve found success, and how there’s at least some good that comes with all the bad. The board is literally all bad, and is so incompetent that it ruins the world building of the game.

[@-........]

the board was a puppet installed by among others spacer's choice in order to monopolize iirc

[@TheOfficialButthead]

One of the things I really hated about this game was the horribly generic raiders, I never heard ANYTHING about them besides the typical, "OH the bandits took our things!" or the "Bandits killed our people!", they all had masks covering their face so they were both nameless and faceless, like they were all just grunts who had no lines or dialogue, just orcs who shoot at you and die

[@petercselik5674]

Yah. I thought it wil lspiral to that you can get along with them or switch factions (blind anarchy vs blind order) or at least make ballance between them. It was hinted through the gameplay sometimes it could be a case but its never really happened and the marauders just left there as shooting targets. In Edgewater there where some marauder with actual name and history and I hoped there will be a way to deal with them other way than jsut straight murder.

[@LordGame2222]

The first DLC is all about the marauders, and actually manages to justify who they are and what they do in a satisfactory fashion. Spoiler: it's all a result of amoral corporate greed

[@TheNamesDazza]

I actually enjoyed outer worlds it has a place in my heart

[@concept5631]

That's good

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

same here i dont understand the hate. its not a game id replay persay but with the dlc and the different planets and dialogue i had alot of fun. the combat got boring towards the end

[@PureEvil1138]

I really liked it

[@wateriswet9301]

Same; just wish it had a better end-game.

[@TheNamesDazza]

@@wateriswet9301 I wish there was more dlcs they were amazing

[@Heyoka86]

I played it first at the end of 2019 and thought it was overrated, then played it again recently and really enjoyed it, now thinking I was too harsh on it. There's a sweetness to this game.

[@tiy-ee1075]

I thought so too played it for a week and sold it for a statue of a buff psyduck.

[@LikeAFoxStudios]

It's crazy that you don't have more subs! Your videos and analysis are so good!

[@scribeslendy595]

The concept of Earth going dark three years ago with no explanation is such a neat sci-fi concept; its a shame they didnt introduce it earlier.

[@lauriesather5282]

I always felt like this game is much more comparable to kotor 2 than new vegas. Like the way the companions, planetary travel, and even how it's more black and white (light and dark side) than new vegas which is VERRRRY grey. And what solidifies it for me is SAM, he's definitely not Hk, but come on he serves the same purpose, all that said I still see kotor 2 as at least a better written game.

[@a.o.skurtt]

I was thinking exactly this too, especially with how black and white kotor is, i find it much more entertaining when everything is a shade of grey and morals are up for debate, makes you think

[@Spellweaver5]

Sadly, the similarities are only surface-level. Perhaps that's what they wanted to imitate, but didn't have Chris Avellone this time.

[@TheAPTGamer]

It is but they didn't market it like that which gave everyone a false idea for what it was gonna be and, more importantly, its nowhere near as good as that. It's a poor man's KOTOR crossed with Borderlands.

[@Prinny.]

I had a friend hype this up because and I quote “Bro they made New Vegas this is gonna be the next New Vegas” easiest bet of my life

[@jadetortellini6150]

Parvati was one of the reasons I figured out I was ace, she’s definitely my favorite companion

[@lobiankk77]

Obsidian be like: >Make a game about corporations & capitalism bad >Is bought by a 2.5 trillion dollar corporation (second biggest company on the planet)

[@NissenFundoplication]

damn go woke go broke

[@AmySavage6]

What has been interesting about Tim Cain becoming a youtuber is that he cleared up the hang up that we all apparently had about Outer Worlds. It's not a successor to Fallout, spiritual or otherwise. He doesn't enjoy sequels and would rather make new settings. After hearing that as directly from the horses mouth as it is possible I replayed OW and honestly enjoyed it more. This one really suffered from the marketing focusing on dev pedigree.

[@mjmarzo3444]

I think you're a little too hard on the Edgewater quest in terms of there being an option that is far and away 'better.' Yes, there is a third option where you can put Adelaide in charge of the town--but doing this leaves Reed Thompson to die. He's not exactly the most likable person, but in my second playthrough where I sided with Edgewater I found that he's actually very willing to make amends with the deserters and do his best to fix the town's problems. When you put Adelaide in charge he even steps down willingly, even though he knows it will kill him. Contrast this with Adelaide, who will absolutely refuse to do any sort of compromise and chooses to stay in the botanical garden and die regardless of anything Thompson does. It's totally understandable, but the fact is one person is willing to compromise and admit when they're wrong and one isn't.

[@everinghall8622]

I just killed everyone in both camps

[@MrDoorChime]

Vicar Max was my favourite companion, if only he could read French... Nice video btw you just got a sub

[@sandorszekely588]

Y-yeah TOW always makes me sad. I bought it on release, spent my entire autumn break in uni playing it, and I was initially really invested, then I started doing less sidequests, started skipping through more and more dialogues, and then just rushed through the main story. Wanted to go back to see the other ways the story could play out, but never got around to it. Hoping the sequel will bring the improvements this game needs. Keep up the good work, would love to see your opinion on Darkwood, now that it's out of early access.

[@badboje6040]

y tf you stuttering in a comment lol?

[@everinghall8622]

After I got to the second planet and everything was more of the same. I just started killing everything in sight, including NPCs and quest giver. Everyone is so stupid in this solar system my headcanon is that I genocided the entire system and then thawed out all the same people.

[@AC-hj9tv]

​@@badboje6040bro thinks he an irl anime character

[@pixel_glitched]

Completely right with the Stat/Perk system. The roleplaying system has great ideas with poor implementation. One _good_ rebalancing mod could potentially clear some of this games missed opportunities. Make the stats able to be individually specced immediately _(instead of after 50 points);_ Better perks; Flaw buffs in addition to a perk point, to add more incentive to take Flaws. Boom. Already a more interesting and possibly challenging playthrough with that one mod.

[@Achaerion]

It's strange, because I genuinely love Nyoka as a companion, not only just because I think I empathise with the fact that you can understand why she has become a drunk, but also you gotta think all people who grew up on Terra 1/ Monarch, you have to have that backbone because they were straight-up abandoned by the board. But she just has some good dialogue throughout the game and it feels like you genuinely give her purpose after her "Survivors Guilt". But I totally understand your reasoning why you do not have anything particularly notable because she is unlocked rather late and with such a strong character in Parvati it is quite hard to top! I defo think that The Perils of Gorgon does add more to the companions and it does do very well to add on to the story. But for an IP that was straight up made by obsidian. I found myself somewhat addicted considering it didn't have the massive Fallout name to be behind it and a lot of people did expect it to be New Vegas 2.0. I guess overhype kills games sometimes! Just look at Cyberpunk :) Great Video though!

[@johnnyaguirre1912]

I couldn't disagree more about nyoka. If anything I wish that old man Ash took her place because he would make the most sense for drunken survivalist with survivors guilt. Nyoka is a very sassy young black lady with a very sour attitude. I couldn't even stand to look at her and her period blood hair(so I put a helmet on her). She doesn't look nor sound like a survivalist. More like the HR lady everyone hates

[@catpurrito5586]

While the Legion is too cruel, Caesar actually have a reason to do the thing he does, he exists to criticizes the US democracy. Which makes him a better villain

[@zennim125]

there is a side quest where you go to a satellite that was supposed to be getting news from earth and you figure out that twist way earlier even before going to monarch not the only one either, i remember a few written notes in the game alluding to that

[@tincano-beans2114]

Did you record your footage by slamming the screenshot button? My god it hurts to watch sometimes.

[@ramblelime]

Half the footage was recorded on a weak system. Apologies

[@willbellamy590]

I thought it looked great 🤷‍♂️

[@Gum_goo]

Great video! The comparisons with borderlands and the phantom menace made me laugh

[@toxicch.6739]

why does this only have 778 views? Why do you only have 530 subs? This is an amazing video, and you can tell effort has been put into it. Good job!

[@ramblelime]

Thank you so much. Means a ton!

[@burgermind802]

@12121331 1334424 yo mama

[@Wondering_Ghoul]

I actually really love this game for what it is. I can't wait for 2.

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

same here

[@littlepardue4125]

I totally agree with your assessment of siding with the board. I made my board playthrough character have low intelligence, and I like how they gave a speech option for that being the reason it got them on their side with Purpleberry Crunch

[@kessler_could_not_care]

I’m surprised to hear it didn’t run well for you because for me it’s one of the few modern releases I can play at an acceptable degree of graphical fidelity and performance

[@DagothDaddy]

Outerworlds fits into a certain category of media I call the "Good because X is bad" genre. It's by no means bad I enjoyed it that said it wasn't a fraction of the quality people said it was. It was called great because fallout76 was bad. If 76 had come out and was Fallout Dust but online no one would have even mentioned this game. It was a solid 7/10 but I saw people tripping over themselves to lavish it with praise. I say the same thing about Path of Exile PoE is amazing I have hundreds of hours in it but it's not the perfect "true sequel to diablo 2" people claim it is just because they were extra pissed at Diablo 3 and Diablo Immortal.

[@kevinblack8500]

Honestly what ticked me off was people saying that the 20 hours of gameplay was a plus. I’m not against short games if they are good, but if you are going to name drop new Vegas to get me to buy it, it better give me new Vegas levels of content

[@iamsatanjr]

Funny thing is, TOW and FO76 is a false comparison, because the games are ultimately different genre. One is a single-player story-driven game, the other is online exploration-driven live-service game with perpetual updates. In one you play a story campaign, sidequests and so on; in another you explore, engage in PvP and grind seasons/events. They aim to acomplish different things, so it's pointless to compare them. And when compared to other Fallout games that are also single-player and story-driven - TOW loses every time, no matter if you compare it to FO3, FNV or even FO4. I played countless hours and enjoyed multiple playthroughs of every major single-player Fallout game, starting from FO1 all the way to FO4 - TOW failed to interest me enough to finish a single playthrough. All the way through it felt like "you can copy my homework, just change some stuff" meme - starting from VATS counterpart, suspiciously-falmiliar-but-different skill system and time-freeze dialogue from older games; and all the way to "muh retrofuturism" aesthetic and "capitalism/colonialism bad" undertones. The latter was so thicc, that instead of Fallout it unironically felt like Borderlands - which is not great whe you're expecting Fallout vibes from all the promo talk. Tl;dr - they promised FNV but better, delivered poor man's Borderlands but with (kinda dated) FNV gameplay.

[@robzs8388]

While I appreciate your perspective and the consideration you've given the game, and even think you brought up some decent points about things it does well, the horribly bland combat (which while I'm aware is superficially similar to FO3/NV, feels somehow less impactful and UNDENIABLY more mindless) in combination with the absolutely moronic treatment of its themes (corporations bad; but like, to a ridiculously cartoonish degree) made it just IMPOSSIBLE for me to take the game on its own terms. Where the humor or roleplaying worked just reminded me of the mountain of times it failed miserably to either engage or entertain. I ended up quitting the game after monarch and i NEVER quit RPGs iv put that much time into. What initially delighted with all of its superficial similarities to games i loved ultimately legitimately repulsed after I realized everything was only skin deep and so much of the game felt what I have to call just poorly considered. In the end I felt like the game was pandering to my nostalgia, and poorly, as a means of cheaply winning my affections, while not actually having a drip of passion. I'm kind of embarrassed to say it, but I feel real antipathy for this game.

[@petercselik5674]

Can feel you. Just recently finished the game and expected a better set of clash. I lost my interest after Byzantium as there this 'corporate bad' like super caroonish level is the most morronic. But played as I was curious how it will end and well. It ended relatively quickly after that as they jsut ran out of idea so there where not too much choice to go. Until that point (Byzantium) it looked like the colony is really struggling and there is no real riches of the situation and these corporations not even have local leadership jsut a headless marketing machine driving a lot of clueless middle manager. Edgewater was the faint hearted idiot vs the cold geniuous sociopat is the better leader and couldn't wait to see the end in a short and the long run... but Byzantium just made no sense to me as its introduce the actual management and its just a make no sense evil stupidity. From that point I really expected its either just missdirection or there will be a twist which justify the corpo pullout from the settlements. But nope. It was all straight from there...

[@Local_commentor]

The outer worlds makes me feel like a pro csgo player even on a harder difficulty it's easy to take out a camp singlehandedly

[@r.rodriguez4991]

"Game presents an option that's clearly the best option so why would you choose either of the other options?" Immediately followed by "I chose one of the other options because I felt it was best for me."

[@Spirit47373]

Just adding to the chorus here mate, but I you've found a really intresting niche and I'm enjoying you exploring it, keep it up!

[@nonyabisness6306]

I think the biggest Issue with Outer Worlds is both the setting, which is...very specific as well as the expectations. Performance was fine for me on day1. game just felt a tad short.

[@FranknKitty]

it's a better space Bethesda-type game then starfield!

[@gabby3036]

I gotta admit, the whole "I was the closest living person, relative to him - I found his body, so I have to pay" just makes me think no one would've reported him dead. And I think that would've been a more interesting setup. You show up and as you get closer to the body, you start complaining about the smell but no one who works there seems to care. "Oh, it's just the cannery. You get used to it." Then you find the body. It's rotting, it smells horrific, people are gagging but pretending not to notice. You ask some people, "What're you talking about? I don't see anything." Then you go to the boss. He's shocked. "What? Let me see." Of course he never goes down there, otherwise. He sees the body, turns to you, gagging, "I don't see anything." Realizing what "discovering" the body would mean. Now we get some choicing and consequencing: YOU can "discover" the body and give this person a proper burial but then YOU'RE on the hook for the cost. And by that point in the game, you don't have much money so you either have to make the money or leave the body there like everyone else. I know it would probably impact the story a bit more than it does now (probably turning you more against the corporation than you already were) but it would also make you a part of the system and it's flaws and exploitation.

[@FEDEXLuchs]

only reason why outerworlds wasnt butchered on reviews was cause 76 was released Outerworld is avrg at best

[@jazmindodds]

Honestly, I know there are much better games, but I really enjoyed it.

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

same i loved it

[@Fantafaust]

You didn't pay much attention to Edgewater if you think Adelaide taking over Edgewater was the best option.

[@mikelooksatstuff]

Obsidian/Black Isle are best at sequels/spinoffs so maybe The Outer Worlds 2 will be fucking awesome. I really wished there was a ghoul like alien race in the game, hopefully there is one in the sequel

[@DovahFett]

They're good at sequels when they aren't the ones that made the original. Both KoTOR 2 and New Vegas had predecessors made by other companies that Obsidian could look to for guidance and examples on what worked, what didn't work, and what should be expanded on. In both cases, Bethesda and BioWare are the ones who broke ground, and I think they are owed more credit than they usually get for making the templates that Obsidian followed with their sequels.

[@SecuR0M]

​@@DovahFett Obsidian's writers on FONV wrote Fallout 1 and 2 what are you talking about? Bethesda only "broke ground" on making a mediocre looter shooter game. Bioware is bad and so is Bethesda. Bethesda can't make a competent game, much less a competent narrative, and Bioware can't do anything well that isn't just copying DND. Mass Effect is bad unless you played it when you were 12 and it was your first RPG I guess. The reason FONV is so well received is because it continued the story after Fallout 2 after a 12 year hiatus, from the same writers, who followed the same documents that they had when they were making the original Fallout 3. The Outer Worlds is bad writing because it's a generic Obsidian RPG without the moral ambiguities of Fallout. Fallout was fairly fresh and new when it released and the continuation New Vegas is probably heavily distorted towards positive reception because Fallout 3 was just that bad. The reason TOW isn't morally ambiguous or even willing to entertain either side equally is mostly because it isn't written by the same people who did Fallout. The only well written RPG on the market today is Disco Elysium and that's because it's made by a guy who writes books as a job rather than the Hollywood style of taking the same tired tropes and same tired calques and smushing them into the cookie pan. It's pretty decently written and has a perspective on morals that isn't the all-pervasive American monoculture calqued into the future. Rather it's the post-Soviet, post-Communist splinter cultures calqued into a noir. So I guess that makes DE different enough to win massive praises from Americana poisoned RPGamers. DE's critiques of liberalism's genocidal excess is pretty good. The Outer Worlds would be better if it were set in modern day Guatemala and the United States portrayed as genocide fascist and invaders who overthrow a democratic president, impose corporate rule, and enforce this with Marine invasions and death squads. Or an RPG set in Abu Ghraib. This would probably merit it the same lauding of good writing as DE since DE's goodness lies mostly in its edginess and critique of Americana framed in a generic post-Soviet melancholy. The fact that this is similar to the United States Rust Belt's melancholy probably helps too. Conversely, TOW is at best a rehash of generic talking points of liberal murderers of the U.S. Democratic Party recycled in spaaace, with a dollar store Rick Sanchez to boot, which makes it perfect for mass Americana consumerism. It's practically a Marvel movie at that point, scientifically crafted to be devoid of any deep meaning or particularly edgy means. But it's merely checking boxes rather than being particularly edgy. It even has the happy Hollywood/Disney fairy tale endings lol. tl;dr Obsidian is the reason Bethesda and Bioware exist, or rather Tim Cain and Chris Sawyer are, who directed Fallout New Vegas and wrote it. TOW is bad because it's written by a gaggle of randoms who decided that people who played recent or old Obsidian games, like New Vegas or FO1/2, really really dislike moral ambiguity, and Tim Cain isn't competent enough to improve on Bethesda's godawful gunplay. Cyberpunk 2077 is the real TOW in that it's a decently written character driven action-adventure game that is fun and good to play. This is shocking because Cyberpunk is half-baked Slavjank.

[@Drasshyre]

You are doing a great job! I have been watching all your videos back to back. I like all aspects of your video. Light humor, great voice, great content and interesting videos. I have played alot of the games you cover and want more content on fallout 2 sequel ideas. What could someone make modern day with the fallout lore and or world. I feel like wasteland 2 and 3 were freaking great but I'm just hoping one day someone can either get the rights to make an isometric fallout game or something similar to the fallout vein. With videos like this and fans like this we can make it happen. What kind of game would you make if you were in charge of a fallout game or a falloutish game. Like wasteland or a whole new world that took inspiration from the fallout world. Thanks for all the great content keep it up!!!!🎉🎉

[@2782Jack]

I'm going to give this a watch but I just needed to say, they put Hephaestus in the game as a planet that was supposed to be DLC then just didn't make it. There's locked planets that never unlock because they were never made. They only made 4 planets and put imagined ones on a map to trick you. and the ones they did make are the size of goodsprings from new Vegas. even the "big" capital Byzantium made up of 4 NPCs who give quests and 55 generic guards and civilians.

[@crazygreek6341]

Great video ngl, I don't agree with some points of you, but overall good analysis, fantastic breakdown of the choices and philosophie of the game and yeah nice. I would love a video about Cyber Punk from you with the same kind of analitical writing

[@johnnyaguirre1912]

I agree with everything you said about the skills and perks Side note: I think everyone who loves this game should take the dangerous long trek to stellar bay. I remember accidentally doing that on my first playthrough. It was hell dodging and shooting the creatures left and right. Covering so much ground and seeing I still had miles to go. Losing all my companions, it hurt me emotionally to see vicar max die at my arms half way through the journey. But my last save was an hour ago so I had to live with it. To make matters worse I was playing on supernova difficulty with all 5 flaws and I really felt the corrosive weakness here. But when I finally got to stellar bay it felt like a breath of fresh air after drowning for so long. This took me a month in real time but damn do I remember this part of the game fondly 😊

[@PR0MAN01]

For all the problems I had this game, theres an equal amount of things i loved. And even the things i didnt like, i could very easily see them being ironed out in the sequel. I think Obsidian is gonna take all the feedback from this game and make a masterpiece with 2.

[@mattlukethompson]

The lack of content in the base game is what drove me nuts. That being said I cannot wait for 2

[@LomographyTromography]

Oh so you partnered with the ones desecrating graves and eating corpses? - "Best option" - "aligns with my beliefs most" Ok Armie Hamer 😂

[@nagger8216]

"Benny's law" lmfao

[@PancakemonsterFO4]

What in the goddamn...

[@army2207]

Great video man. Back when this game came out i had super high hopes it would be amazing since NV was pretty good. Sadly the game came out half baked and still after all these years full mod support hasnt been delivered. Also this game is just we happy few but in space

[@snokey1153]

I think a good way to make multiple skills, is to have different stats affect them, so like intimation is affected by charisma and strength

[@ZeSgtSchultz]

I really wanted to love this game. But it never hit right for me. Maybe I'll go back to it sometime.

[@ZeSgtSchultz]

7:30 Ok, if I do play again, I might try a run where you accept every flaw you can

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

play it bro it really is good. play on a hard difficulty and get the dlc.

[@willmakesfilms]

It doesn't sound so bad.. maybe I'll play it sometime

[@Catharsis10]

They should’ve had an iconoclast companion. Would’ve been interesting with Vicar Max

[@rickmisnich2097]

13:43 Oh man that 3 fps makes me want to hurl.

[@tyler9004]

Next analysis gonna be called “So Much Kinetic”

[@cloudybird5787]

I like the part when you talked about fallout new vegas! Overall awesome video fam.

[@leaffinite2001]

I should leave a real comment i guess. I like outer worlds, but even after a 40+ hour playthrough, i feel like ive played the demo for the real game coming soon. That one line actually summarizes more of my critique than i expected. I also feel some disdain for its name just because the outer wilds is a brilliant, incredible game, one of the few games to make me feel something beyond the surface, and gets confused with this game a lot. Im so glad my introduction to that game was walking in on my dad opening the game for the first time and then getting to play it entirely blind. Outer Worlds really does have so much potential unrealized. Great vid

[@petercselik5674]

I only missed the variety of choice and mix things up at the end missions. When Akande ask me to clear out Egewater you have no choice but go along with her or get instant hostility between you and the Board. So as I played double agent already I decided to move on that route but they really dont gave me the option to play double agent. I cant tell my companions to chill we no gonna do this stupid idea jsut as we didnt the previous ingenious request from them. The only option is just to ignore the quest and move on while Felix bitching to me. Here an option like: "I don't know why you think we will going to do this nonsense." + maybe a choice to tell Adelaide the Board is about to kill them, or maybe even a route where you can sabotage the entire mission with the robots would be great. The ending could be uplifting when you go to rescue Phinias from the prison and the factions all come to aid you... except the devs didn't expected the player might play with my charisma and mostly stealth. In this case their charge against the guard was an unncessary sacrifice. If I help them I get my reputation and my cover blown up and without them I would be able to snake through the entire base. It was so sad to see some of the known faction members die becuse of this. Would be great if there is other support I could get from the factions in case I didnt killed a soul, or can talk with them to hold back. This last part of the game can be done without shooting out a single bullet. With good charisma and knowledge about the situation you can talk down anybody, including Akande who secretly support you effort in the epilogue. Most of the quests are not jsut that simeple as I hought first. So in Edgewater you can choose not jsut between corp and deserter but who runs the town. You can dig up and see Adelaide is a revenge filled sociopath coult set the course to a good direction while Reed is a wannabe good incompetent corporate idiot running the place to the ground. Expected the Monarch settings the same. So Sanjar is a nice but incompetent guy with a great sense for playing the burocracy game, while Graham is an idealistic and out of touch guy and Zora is a cold calculated zealot ready to take action. The two ballanced eachother well. With Graham on its side Zora can't directly assault the city but he also blocking to talk about peace between the two factions. What I expected is to Zora will took over the city and the peace was just a cover to breach the walls.... But nope. They just sticked together after (good ending consider). I liked the ending. This narrated small summary about the impact of each places. I wish they make the two faction less obviously good vs evil. Akande and the corporate could show some sense or maybe the only path to save Halcyon and Phineas could show some overly optimistic nonsense wich eventually doom Halcyon. The problem is Akande was not just the evil side but also the make no sense, badly infored one as well so you would realyl only take side with her if you want to see that rollout. Overally both ends the same. The colony survie one way or another, the nutrition problem get solved...etc.

[@swagpyro47]

You forgot to mention Sam caused all the events he caused everything he was behind the board

[@arthurofalsen2110]

speaking of skill systems, I actually love the Mount and Blade Bannerlord system, hopefully other games will copy it or do something similar

[@fatterguy8443]

Theory This is a test on how the now generation will accept the characterization of certain npc's and if players like the diversity of a game considering the last time the world was as colorful with characters was 10 years ago New Vegas. Despite that outer worlds was great but not really the type to have much replayability. And now that part 2 is coming heres me hoping this time they went all out considering outer worlds was a positive step forward.

[@ravleow9748]

Most correct take on Outer Worlds I’ve seen.

[@Furrnox]

The directors trying so hard to hamper people's expectations (due to all the hype) before the game came out is pretty funny.

[@DavidSantos-ix1hu]

Tbh the perks and skills matter at the beginning after you get to like level 30 you can really go anywhere you want ex,: i started off in some companion damage and 50 science with everything else inlong rifles later,i was almost able to cap all 3 in 100

[@inurokuwarz]

I feel like the commune is kind of worthless because I totally bypassed it and didn't go anywhere near it on my first playthrough. When I did go talk to them, they barely were anything. I still sabotoged Edgewater. The alternitive didn't matter, Edgewater is the worst. I also killed Father Max, Tobson, and the Constable. I really, really, did not want Edgewater to recover.

[@kane6351]

My first time playing TOW in 2020, I thought I was really enjoying the game up till around midday through Monarch then I stopped and didn't play again for about a year and a half. Seems to be a common theme with current "RPG" games. Played the first chapter of ac odyssey then stopped for 3 years

[@MirroredIMG]

Imagine they lost communication with earth because of the great war of 2077

[@limbobilbo8743]

The best moment for me with the companions is ada having sam clean the bridge while she says very…weird…things

[@Youtube_is_Trash]

I don't know man, I would have preferred having distinct categories too but I understand games put limitations on you. Not to mention that higher level NPC have higher checks so you won't be able to intimidate them. Whereas others you'll be able to by "bluffing" them. You're walking around with guns and an armor, you don't need to be Hulk to be intimidating.

[@ThisBirdHasFlown]

I barely even remember this game.

[@TheBlopster]

Great analysis, thank you

[@StapleCactus]

You actually fought in the final battle? I felt bad all the factions would try to help, only to have a futile death because I didn't need them. If they asked, that'd be nice so I didn't have to feel like it's my fault they ran to their deaths. Seriously, you just need The Board ID card and you can walk all the way to the end without firing a shot. Got to president, said to chill while I fix everything, continued to "final battle". Convinced crazy B that her plan was stupid, she surrendered. Second play through, she didn't have none of that, so I hacked the bot, walked to her, and let her "try" to kill me for a minute before one-shotting her. For the final section, Tartarus was very disappointing. I guess you could say that about a lot of the game. It was disappointing. It honestly felt like an episodic game for how short it was and how little content each area had. They had entire planets to colonize and you get two tiny specks on each one. Did they forget how big planets were?

[@petercselik5674]

Felt the same. Played the same way. The prison assault (well the last part of the game) as a diplomat/sneak through gamer was super dissapointing and felt bad for each faction. Especially as these come to my aid parts could be super uplifting cinematic moment if they use it properly, other than just throw 5-6 soldier mindlessly ran and attack everybody on their way until reach a point and get killed, but instead the game could acknowledge I don't alerted anybody so the aid comming from a different way. Like the Groundbreaker come with some silly distraction arguing with the guards while Junlei says good luck it will take a while for them and you freely sneak through the gates in the undertunnel etc. The whole thing felt just a quick job to close the game.

[@a.o.skurtt]

I agree with you about the artstyle, honestly fallout 3 and 76 have adopted this same kind of cartoony style that I really dislike, its anti immersive to see something be so clearly not realistic, and I was mad about the graphics and cutting in and out but wasnt going to say anything cause I figured you just had an older computer, but upgrading your computer to top of the line SPECIFICALLY for this video and it still being bad is wild

[@keiser1188]

Fallout 3 isn't cartoony at all, maybe you are thinking about 4.

[@a.o.skurtt]

@@keiser1188 yeah for sure must have hit the wrong button I like 3/nv

[@a.o.skurtt]

i havent played this game yet as i wait for things to come to a really cheap price, but it looks to me like they wanted to most of the time take the safe route by offering the third everyone wins option so as not to make the players feel bad, as with mass appeal there will be some buyers where bad feeling is bad and they dislike it, BUT i think that the sequel they make to this, theyll have an established fan base already and wont need to play it safe anymore

[@NoOne-hr9ti]

Potential means nothing under the weight of its own apprehension. Hope the sequel doesn’t play it so safe like this.

[@Robert-rw5lm]

I remember that this game's hype just died the second it was released. I still play it because its the closest thing to Fallout on the Switch

[@StapleCactus]

What do you mean "Imagine it's September?" We still can't get 3080's.

[@Eckendenker]

Hm, I think the game wasn't perfect either, but my reasons are pretty different from yours. To me it feels like you missed things by playing a less smart character and blame the game for it. For example I knew about the earth contact being lost before the final confrontation. I am a very casual player, that plays along a wiki, and I liked the decisions in this game. I liked that I got to see what skills do in game before specializing further. Yes, maybe 50 was too high. And yes the perks definitely suffered from drain from skills. A lot of fun for me was in optimizing items and companions to get certain checks I wanted. The crafting was the most underutilized imo and I was definitely disappointed in Byzantium (too small and too little to do, while keeping you there for way too long). But what I really liked as a an avid sci fi reader was the deep dive into cannibalism. Every location and every plot plays into it somehow. Maybe the Corps were a bit silly but they actually just fit the theme of the game. You get eased into it by choosing the best option in Edgewater. To get this option you have to accept that the settlers use corpses as fertilizers. You also learn that the colony has a serious problem. Time and time again you meet people facing a problem where they have to choose one life over another and often a choice between starvation and cannibalism. The player can often intervene and provide information to key characters, that lets them take a less gruesome resolution. You get used to being able to avoid dealing with that question yourself. You might even condemn and kill Dr.Chartrand for using experiments to find a solution to the bigger problem in Halcyon. You certainly kill the disgusting pig factory boss. And then the game serves you a curve ball by making you either kill test subjects or dooming your fellow colonists. The Board is not just Capitalism bad, but also a reminder, that deep down, it is nothing more than Cannibalism with clowns makeup. If you talk to Akande and certain other characters enough you see that they are kinda desperate, not just to keep profits, but also just keep the colony from collapsing. You might not like the solutions they came up with, but without the "smart people on the Hope" Deus Ex Machina solution that most players pull out of the hat at the end of the game, there are no good solutions to save Halcyon. It's fucking doomed. The DLCs sucked though. I guess they had some good story to them, but imo it didn't mix well with the rest of the game. Overall the game would have just needed more variety in locations, enemies, items etc. The story was goofy but still great if you made an effort to look at it closely. The companions were probably the best part about the game and aside from their decent quests and Raul they were better than NV in every way. You could switch them easily, they gave interesting and usefull abilities, they helped you playing out different routes and challenges, they had extremely funny dialoque for each other. I really felt like a part of a crew or of a band. I loved every bit of antics I happened to witness them doing on the ship on their own. I got a shitton of Hopium for TOW 2

[@MCraven120]

Ugh yeah, the performance in this game killed me. My pc is above the recommended specs. Game ran fine on ultra for a while, then it started getting choppy when there more than 2 enemies on screen. Large open areas like Monarch and Roseway also stuttered a lot. Had to lower graphics settings to high to make it playable.

[@daholyvagabond]

The cobbler sent me here. We got that sentient dessert to 200k in a year, gonna try to do the same thing here

[@AintPopular]

the whole corporate vs the people thing is what i love about this game

[@MrDoorChime]

Except the board make for shitty villains... They never justify their actions other then them being incompetent and greedy... Caesars legion are more likeable ffs, at least Caesar can justify his actions as horrible as they are. Honestly if they just added a bit of nuance to The Board I would have loved the game, but I have a feeling the devs are very biased when it comes to corporations and capitalism, so much so it gets in the way of writing a good story

[@yalkn2073]

That concept has been overdone to death already

[@EvandroLBL]

@@yalkn2073 yes i'm already sick of it

[@petercselik5674]

Would be better if both side has a point where morally challanging to choose from,

[@petercselik5674]

yeah. Almost like running a company take no skill or knowledge just curelty towards your minions. First I really expected this board not even exist jsut a bunch of middle manager serving stupidly a computer which only can provide old marketing materials for them and at the end you have a chance to break them out or change its way for better... but no its turned out they all just a bond villain and somehow there is plenty of people, even too much so they need to take them all out... wow. I mean even if their solution would be to freeze down the high-class but unproductive citizens and let the colony ran in the hard times by the workers on rations and stright rules while they hope they will find maybe a solution and wake them up one day, or die painlessly, would be a more interesting choice. Especially as many of them introduced to you as curel, evil or straight stupid person and Akande would pose more than an evil bitech but as someone ready to make a sacrifice as know no better and knwo they need workers and soldiers but no normal citizens without being a cog in the machine. Would you really make a genocide on those people or try to save humanity. And make them in a way where you really had to dig deep to be able to justify if not as Phineas have no idea really waht to do...

[@joshmann7587]

Why do no comments ever mention how EASY it is. It's too easy to ever be fun. There is literally no challenge to it at all. Maybe most people are just absolutely terrible at games so it doesn't feel that way to them.

[@saml302]

i liked the game a lot, but its got issues. hoping outer worlds 2 hits it out of the park.

[@poopoo7705]

I managed to accidentally bypass the groundbreaker and beat the game without ever setting foot on it.

[@peterzapfl7439]

why do you have to be a specialist in an rpg? What if your character has not the skills necessary to solve a quest? alrounders are more flexible.

[@cookieface80]

Then you don't do the quest. But a good RPG will have multiple ways to complete quests (sneak, fight or talk at the very least).

[@Frank_42]

The only inclination I got from watching this video is if I play it at all, I want no companions. They ALL sound unlikable.

[@himbourbanist]

gotta be honest, I really love the ultra-saturated color palette of this game. it's ugly in this puppy way that I so dig

[@scarletcrusade77]

19:10 reddit moment

[@trashketchum9782]

“this idea that the powerful in society can control the lower classes not only materially but spiritually” oh, you mean like Protestantism?

[@Leangareh]

Played it on ps4 and got stuck somewhere on Monarch. I didn't like the color pallet and I scratched my head when I realized there are no grenades (no idea if that's different on PC). But what really bugged me is that the game felt thin at varous points. Some character arcs wehere short to the point of pointless and some area's felt small after Edgewater. It never felt like you explored a whole star system and there was a lot of back and forth with long loading times. I'm still planning on finishing it.

[@benvictim]

video on the DLC to see if they fixed it?

[@JORDAN-CHRISTOPHERSPENCER]

the dlc is great

[@ZachariahJ]

You aren't really choosing between 'Edgewater' and the settlers around the greenhouse - you are choosing between Reed Tobson, and Adelaide. Tobson withholds medicine from sick people - he is a brute. There is no contest. Adelaide is right to hate him - even though her speeches (and the summing-up later) are supposed to make you feel a bit guilty, because she is so angry. Wish I'd known about the third option! Even Tobson said Edgewater was dying - what's the point of siding with him? They were going to be abandoned by the Board, even if they still had power. Far better to work with Adelaide's group to try and produce food for all, and not ship it off-world to be sold for a profit (a profit for the Board, not for the people of Edgewater). Working together was the obvious way forward. Can't believe I never spotted the peaceful option! Next playthrough, this is the way I will go.

[@chrissmith5832]

I'm just waiting for dlc.

[@ramblelime]

There is one DLC out (peril on gorgon) and i've barely started it. If it does enough differently from the base game i'll make a video on it. There is 1 more expansion on the way from what I know, and then they're doing the sequel probably

[@popupheadlights]

Coming here after starfield just changes perspective this game indeed was better then pretty much everything BGS put out since Skyrim.

[@cdubsb3831]

Felt the opposite tbh. Played and felt Obsidian was going the way of current BGS. The gunplay and RPG systems felt like poor imitations of what FO4 tried and struggled to improve on over New Vegas' approach to tweaking FO3s systems just enough to focus on the teams strengths. Got burned out coming across the grave collector quest which not only gave tonal whiplash between poignant commentary and absurd beyond the fiction established, but also frustrating because I had substantially less opportunities and roleplaying decisions when compared to the similar quest in Freeside. My friend burned out faster trying a murderhobo test of the systems and having Pervati immediately join him to show minor disappointment when he immediately offed the boss.

[@yalkn2073]

I hate the board. Its just so generic

[@acev3521]

The whole game apart from comapnions is super fucking generic

[@nagger8216]

@@acev3521 Nah, even the companions are forgettable and worthless