The Outer Worlds: Ever wished Fallout 4 was more like New Vegas? Here ya go... in spaaace

Greetings, traveller, and welcome back to The Register Plays Games, our monthly gaming column. This time we're heading spacewards again, to The Outer Worlds to be exact, otherwise known as Halcyon, a corporate hellhole colony at the arse-end of the galaxy. There has been quite the buzz around The Outer Worlds (trailer) since …

[Luiz Abdala]

Bucket over head of Bethesda.

Are "buckets over heads stealing tatics" included? Inquiring minds want to know. Not a Bethesda engine, so we might get confused.

I heard that with min-maxing, you can exploit the game's engine (in a non-glitched manner) with ludicrous results, if the youtuber "The Spiffing Brit" is somewhat reliable on his findings.

On another topic, Bethesda made themselves redundant, because I heard nothing but praise for this title, specially when compared to FallShort76, er... Fallout76, at a fraction of the cost, and a fraction of the bugs as well.

Icon, because the Developer pulled a "Hold My Beer" game right there.

[NoneSuch]

You Missed The Elephant in the Room

The Epic Games year long monopoly.

I'll be waiting for it to come on Steam. I have impulse control. Many today do not.

[Excellentsword]

Re: You Missed The Elephant in the Room

Might be something to consider: It's also on the Microsoft Windows Store, which means you can play it in its entirety for £1 right now with the Xbox Games Pass. I haven't completed it yet, but I don't think it's a crazy long game so you could probably polish it off within the month then cancel the subscription.

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: You Missed The Elephant in the Room

Also note that you need Windows 10 for that to work

[mio-the-mad]

Re: You Missed The Elephant in the Room

or a full weekend, the game main story is short. may have missed a ton of side stuff I know I did not pick up one of the companions.

[nkuk]

Re: You Missed The Elephant in the Room

You know AAA gaming is really in a mess when buying something from the Windows Store is the preferable option.

[Avatar of They]

Re: You Missed The Elephant in the Room

Getting sick of the lock ins by Epic.

[MJI]

Fallout games

I prefered NV to 3, but the frame rate, I only did one ending because of it.

How does this run on a PS4?

Two interesting games this month.

[juice]

Re: Fallout games

NV was a pain on consoles - as you progressed through the game, the engine had to track more objects, which in turn meant it used more memory and was more likely to hit some sort of memory allocation error and crash.

This was made worse if you had all the expansion packs - and was even worse on the PS3, as that had a fixed 256/256mb RAM split between the system and GPU.

As a result, NV is a game I've sadly burned out on. Started on the PS3, crashing got to be too much. Switched to Xbox, got a lot further, but then the crashes started again. Switched to the PC, hit a bug when I got to Hoover Dam which meant I couldn't progress my preferred plotline.

Started again with a bunch of mods to try and make things more interesting... and large swathes of the Strip vanished into thin air. At that point, I pretty much gave up altogether...

[Sorry that handle is already taken.]

Re: Fallout games

NV desperately needs a remaster, even simply using the FO4 version of the engine would be a good start. I'm fairly certain the licencing (e.g. voice actors) won't allow that, but a man can dream.

[Chz]

CRPG reviews

Can we get a review of Disco Elysium for comparison?

[Excellentsword]

Re: CRPG reviews

I really want to play that, and I will, so expect something at some point maybe?

[Jay 2]

Am slowly plodding through this at the moment. I haven't platyed a proper RPG since FO4 (and FO76 is a complete different kettle of fish), so it's took a while to get used having to speak to people (and listen to their answers) as well as keeping your companions under control. I'm really enjoing it and some parts are laugh out loud funny. I've heard it's a bit short, but I may try another slightly different playthough.

I'll echo what some reviewers/players have said in that it's refreshing to have a fairly decent single player game realeased without stupid limited edition versions and microtransactions etc. Like how things used to be.

[Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse]

Lol, that sounds familiar...

"And if you're anything like me, the main story will take a backseat until every other available side plot has been exhausted."

I'm more of a sofa based console gamer, but I have big a thing for open world games and usually spend most of my time exploring every nook and cranny of the landscape rather than actually playing the game. I spent about 200hrs in Assassins creed Odyssey last winter of which I believe a major proportion was me just muppeting around enjoying the views like some crap instagram tourist.

I did eventually finish it though... eventually.

[Mephistro]

Re: Lol, that sounds familiar...

AC:Odyssey is an outstanding game in many ways, and the landscapes and buildings are top work even when compared with other games in the same franchise, that have often been described as true works of art.

The game balance, playability, interface design, maps... everything is effing perfect!

And an advice: If you haven't played AC:Origins yet, do it, because if you enjoyed Odyssey you'll also enjoy Origins.

[baud]

Re: Lol, that sounds familiar...

I've got a few gripes with the Outer Worlds, but I recognize there's a lot of very good-looking vistas. Just don't expect the same kind of virtual tourism as in Assassin's Creed.

[Anonymous Coward]

The view that greets you after landing on Terra 2 is...

A huge moon about to catastrophically disintegrate at any moment as it's now well past its Roche limit.

[ILLQO]

Re: The view that greets you after landing on Terra 2 is...

The board would like you to know that the Roche limit was proven false by their own Internal Science team (tm) and you have nothing to fear. Continue working and providing valuable monetary income to the company.

In other news the board has relocated its main settlement housing to another more centralized planet to continue pushing the way forward for a better tomorrow. Remember you didn't chose a better choice, you chose Spacers choice.

(I think they know that moons about to break up)

[Mephistro]

I finsihed the game a few days ago...

...and enjoyed every minute. Top quality.

And regarding Bethesda, I hope they learn from their error, cause they have made also many nice games and I'd hate to see them vanish.

[croc]

Welll, at least it is not too buggy...

And that is not a bad thing. However, I paid pretty good money for this, enough to make me think that it was going to be a AAA title. What I got was a smalld-world game with game play seemingly aimed at the ADHD stricken, acne infested mid teen crowd.

The concept is sound, the mechanics are there, but for the money it needs more story, more quests and deeper characters. Think of this as buying a book, but only getting chapter one. Pretty disappointing, really.

[Jellied Eel]

Re: Welll, at least it is not too buggy...

The concept is sound, the mechanics are there, but for the money it needs more story, more quests and deeper characters. Think of this as buying a book, but only getting chapter one. Pretty disappointing, really.

Sadly, that seems to be the way the games industry is going. Sell a game, then milk fans for DLC. I tend to steer clear now of any games offering a 'season pass' because it's usually easy to spot the holes that will be filled by DLC later. Given this one has non-Steam 'exclusivity', it'll be interesting if Steam gets a GoTY version, or it'll release at full price there in a year's time.

[jason 7]

Hey...

...I loved the crafting and settlement building in Fallout 4! It added so much to the game for me anyway.

I'd love a Fallout settlements game.

[Excellentsword]

Re: Hey...

ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS OUR HELP ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS OUR HELP ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS OUR HELP ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS OUR HELP ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS OUR HELP

[Miguel Vieira]

Re: Hey...

Let me mark it on your map.

[PaulR79]

Honestly, not a fan of it - spoilers below first line!

I've tried to enjoy the game while playing it but it's missing something and I can't quite put my finger on it. I finished it last night and (SPOILERS AHEAD)

the ending was very underwhelming with it basically being what New Vegas did - still images with narration covering what happened. I can't accept that as an ending.

The game was ok but nothing spectacular

The pacing felt off throughout

The combat was a step up from New Vegas but clunky - a number of times I'd click and nothing would happen because I clicked too fast apparently

With most conversations I just wanted them to end ASAP as the majority felt slow and drawn out featuring lengthy..... pauses........

The talking heads of New Vegas were not a welcome sight - by that I mean where you talk to someone and your view is pulled into zooming on their head and chest

I didn't feel anything with the companions I met and I didn't care about any of their issues even if I completed the quests

The Hope - your colony ship with 100,000ish people on it - is practically ignored the entire game except for a tiny bit right at the end

I don't hate the game but having completed it I don't see why it's getting such massive praise. It's far more complete than either Failout 4 or that bad joke Failout 76 but it doesn't feel like it knows what it wants to be for me. Is it a space opera ala Mass Effect? Is it a survival RPG game like Fallout? It's both but at the same time neither.

[batfink]

Re: Honestly, not a fan of it - spoilers below first line!

Put the subtitles on. Then hit the space bar when someone starts talking and it jumps to the end of their dialogue piece.

Same as the ME series IIRC. Saved me hours of my life when I discovered that.

Obvs it cuts out some of the voice acting, but up to you what you value more.

[Giovani Tapini]

But it's nothing like fallout..

Although a great RPG there isn't really ope world exploration and little storytelling outside the mission sequence. It's behaviour is more like call of duty than fallout or Skyrim.

One of the features that makes this more unique is the interaction with your partners which is more involved than the brief statements of fallout followers.

[jospanner]

Good game. Better than Fallout. Bethesda needs to go away now, please.

If you don't like Epic, then buy on Windows store.

[scrubber]

Value

Barely started, but can already tell I'll be playing through on "OCP Dick-mode" second time round to see how the story changes, so add another 50% on to play time. That makes it incredibly good value. And good fun.

[baud]

Re: Value

You can even side with the corporations instead of working with the doc Brown look-alike, or so I've heard.

[scrubber]

Re: Value

I see my Robocop reference went over your head, maybe I can make it more relevant by using septuagenarians: I'm currently playing like Bernie, but want to try it again like Trump.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice review

And nice to see El Reg comment on some really promising video games.

But as was already commented, some (many ?) of us can't play it yet, before one year,

unless we install yet another gaming platform, and not a good or nice one: EGS.

As far as I'm concerned, I already have 3 of them, and they are creating issues (disk space), and I sure as heck don't need another one !

[Rites]

Impressive, but.....

I have had a chance to do multiple playthroughs and have tried a few builds as well as doing all 3 endings. They were all a joy, and it was fun being able to tackle objectives in different ways. This game is entertaining.

But, I must say that Obsidian played it safe. There were no envelopes being pushed here. The game was made to make sure you could try every angle and succeed. Every stage kept your characters in proper alignment gear and money wise to play through without any problems. The companions, though entertaining and having their quirks, never really seemed to have their own mindset. Never do any of them really push you in one way or the other, and they really didn't care what you did. This made them a little hollow.

[Excellentsword]

Re: Impressive, but.....

Honestly, I wish I had time to finish it at least once before writing, though not for lack of trying with the PR folk. 33 hours in on first playthrough and not done yet.

[Anonymous Coward]

*capitalist* nightmare...?

One all powerful "board" with "a stranglehold on almost every facet of life in the colony" and which "owns literally everything, including all the corporations".

Oppressive superstate, which owns and runs all the industry, no freedom or property rights.

That's not capitalism. That's, ya know, the other thing. Begins with "S".

Looks like a cracking game though.

[Excellentsword]

Re: *capitalist* nightmare...?

You're not wrong, but worth playing to see what I mean. Maybe the logical conclusion of capitalism is...

[Loyal Commenter]

Re: *capitalist* nightmare...?

Haha, you crazy Americans with your irrational hatred of socialism. You do know socialism and totalitarianism aren't the same thing, right?

Uncle Joe isn't hiding under the bed waiting to brainwash your children into being nice to each other.

I know, I know, you think corporate free-market capitalism is the solution to all of life's woes. Come back and tell me that again when you don't have the highest per-capita prison population in the developed world (and most of the undeveloped world too), and a massive (rising) gap between the wealth of the richest and poorest.

Edit - I'll just add, from a historical perspective, the thing that most accurately describes what you are thinking of is the polar opposte of the "S" word, that one that starts with "F", and seems to be on the rise again.

[baud]

Re: *capitalist* nightmare...?

I'm pretty the one that starts with F was never big on state-owned industry or against property right.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: *capitalist* nightmare...?

It was the American right (to which I fail to belong on two counts) who first deliberately, and maliciously, conflated any attempt at welfare with Socialism, in order to discredit state welfare. But they are not the same thing, even though folks on both sides of politics now use the two terms interchangeably, through ignorance, laziness, or political motive.

But just as in engineering there are terms that mean very definite things, so too in economics.

Volts are not watts, power is not torque, redistribution and welfare is *not* Socialism.

[batfink]

Depends what you like in a game

I've just started and I'm really enjoying it - as the reviewer says, I've laughed out loud a couple of times already. I like the humour and the steampunk feel. +1 as well for making the ship interior as much like Firefly as they thought they could get away with.

Yes, the devs have played it fairly safe, but it seems a good all-round package to me. They do have some innovations, such as having "negative perks" - for example, when you're min/maxing, you can lower your intelligence to the point where you "gain" the "Dumb" attribute. The game is then flexible enough that you'll get appropriately thick dialogue options to choose, which can flummox people you're talking to.

Can't comment much on the Companions yet - although I disagree with @Rites above: Parvati actually expressed a clear opinion about which option she preferred in one of the quests, so they're not completely passive in that sense.

However, whether you enjoy it is going to depend on whether this is your kind of game (obviously). I've read criticism that it's not combat-heavy enough, for example - but if that's what you want, then don't buy this, go and buy COD or something. It's also not huge, which is a plus for me but obviously a minus for others (who I guess have more time on their hands).

So, it's personal taste of course. Read the reviews, work out whether it's for you. I'm loving it so far, YMMV.

[adam payne]

There has been quite the buzz around The Outer Worlds (trailer) since its announcement last year – and for good reason. Among gamers of a certain age, the studio behind the title holds huge promise.

A studio with huge promise that sadly deals with Take2, who then put it on Epic Store exclusively until next year. Well Take2 you know what you can do and it isn't pleasant.

[baud]

I've been watching a LP of this game and the writing vary from cool (rarely) to rather shite (often) with a solid middle of meh. I don't feel at all invested in the conflict with the corps, with the main character feeling more like a freelancer than a freedom fighter, mostly by the lack of credible alternatives. The corporations are more banal and stupid than evil and even then I don't feel their stranglehold, since a good chunk of the game time is spent beyond the corps' influence: I think the devs played too safe there, they should have been either further in the anti-capitalist arc or didn't try at all, by not featuring so heavily the corp angle. Companions are mostly unengaging with disappointing character arcs (except Nyoka, who successfully injected some emotion at the end of her arc).

It might be coming from the LP, but I doubt it since there's little to no commentary and just some backtracking and redundant fights are edited out.

[baud]

Then the tone of the writing is all around the place, sometime more serious like (for example Mass Effect), aka everyone's going to die if we do nothing to less serious (a bit more like Fallout), like "this super-secret research center? It's for toothpaste.". And it even happened sometime in the same dialogue!