Obsidian reveals The Outer Worlds

[frivolousam]

For years people wanted a New Vegas sequel and Bethesda didn't allow Obs to make one. Now it seems Obs had enough and making its own Fallout; different engine & setting but feels very similar, and the fact that its also a space RPG is another blow to Bethesda(Starfield) and there are strong hints that their first MS-exclusive game will be their take on Skyrim, its like Obs vowed for Bethesda's blood

Anyway there are now 2 games to look forward to at least. This will probably release before CP77 tho.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

its like Obs vowed for Bethesda's blood

Lot's of memes about that around these days too.

Obsidian knows how to make a "Bethesda-game" and twist it with their own touch (systems, narrative, reactivity). And now's probably their chance. It is even probable that if they do make "their take on Skyrim", they'll use the Pillars of Eternity setting (I remember one of the studio heads talking about it a year or so ago).

Post automatically merged: Dec 11, 2018

Someone found a semi-interesting snippet about if TOW is in competition with CP2077.

It's google translated, so it reads a bit clumsily, but if there's a someone Germanspeaking here with spare time s/he could see for a better translation:

https://www.gamestar.de/artikel/cyb...-als-cd-projekt-keine-konkurrenz,3338138.html

Is The Outer Worlds Better Than Cyberpunk 2077 ? It's definitely different: Developer Obsidian Entertainment does not even see itself as a competitor to the highly anticipated role-playing game by the The Witcher 3 makers at CD Projekt Red. That revealed developer legend Tim Cain (the inventor of Fallout ) in a Germany-exclusive interview GameStar .

"I play their games and I'm a big fan of The Witcher, but we want to do something different than theirs, they have an incredibly big world in their game and a pretty dense storyline with a particular protagonist Play Geralt. "

Asked about the upcoming release of Cyberpunk in 2077 and how Obsidian assesses its own chances in the role-playing genre against such a mammoth work, Game Director Tim Cain gave up. In his opinion, his new project, The Outer Worlds ( now GameStar Plus Cover Story ), is "an open-ended sandbox RPG" in which, among other things, you can kill any NPC and still finish the main quest . This is different from The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077.

So you go through the character of the new CD project role-playing game , but you still play a predefined character with your own voice. Not so in The Outer Worlds, here's no setting for the hero and thus more freedom for the player:

"With us, everyone can be a hero, no matter if male or female, regardless of the background story and the strengths or weaknesses you choose, which is our strength compared to a particular story in a particular world."

In the end, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Outer Worlds are talking to two different camps of role-playing fans - there is no reason to be competitive. The Outer Worlds will be released in 2019 - when the Cyberpunk 2077 release will be released is still unknown. But we have our assumptions .

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

 

[sv3672]

I do not think there is really a direct competition between The Outer Worlds and Cyberpunk 2077, or at least not more than between Fallout New Vegas and the Witcher series. On the other hand, CP2077 could very well take a fair amount of market from Bethesda, especially if it releases a few months before Starfield (e.g. May 2020 vs. November 2020).

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

I Agree, the outer worlds is a problem for bethesda, not for CDP.

 

[sv3672]

I would not even say TOW is a major problem for Bethesda (while in my opinion CP2077 very much is, possibly to the extent TW3 was to BioWare), the games are too different and probably released too far apart. Of course, hardcore Fallout/Obsidian fans were always going to prefer TOW, but it is still a game aimed at a relatively smaller audience.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

TOW looks exactly the same as bethesda's games, in particular if I think that starfield will be fallout 4 in the space. I mean, obsidian knows that as well, that's why they focused that much on being the original creators of fallout in the trailer, they're telling everyone "hey, have you seen the shit bethesda is doing with F4 and F76? Buy our game, we know what you want".

CP2077 on the contrary has nothing to do with bethesda's games, it'll be a story driven RPG with good narrative and meaningful side-quests.

 

[sv3672]

From what I have seen, TOW is not an open world game, it is probably smaller in scope than Bethesda's titles, and I think it was also already confirmed that mod support is not planned. Again, it looks great for the hardcore RPG enthusiast and is focused on Obsidian's traditional strengths, but it is likely still a relatively niche "cult classic" type of game that I would expect to sell in the range of a few million copies. Or perhaps something like Kingdom Come Deliverance could be a good comparison.

I get that there is a lot of community outrage over Fallout 76 right now, but it is a multiplayer spin-off made largely by a "B" studio (rebranded BattleCry) in a short amount of time, and with a lot of reused assets. Although it was also said that the game is planned to be improved and updated over a long time, so the current state may or may not be representative of what it will be like in a year or two. In any case, it is not realistic or fair to assume that Starfield, an actual mainline single player release made with much more effort (full production from 2015 to likely 2020) will be just like Fallout 76. Also, Fallout 4 was not "shit" by the standards of the mainstream market and critics, having sold probably about 20 million copies and reviewed typically at 8-9/10 by journalists.

In my opinion, CP2077 is very much a direct competition to a game like Fallout 4, being an open world action RPG with a semi-predefined and voiced protagonist in a "modern" city environment, and aimed at a wide audience (tens of millions of lifetime sales). It may lack some niche features and the level of player freedom offered by BGS titles, but these are outweighed by higher production value, better written and acted quest content, technical advantages (graphics, physics, animations, vehicles, etc.), and features targeted at some of the most common FO4 related complaints (e.g. having traditional skills in addition to perks, no yes-no-question-sarcasm dialogue wheel, more non-linear quests with multiple paths and outcomes, and so on). The Witcher 3 was already a kind of a "Skyrim killer" in ways similar to what I described above, but CP2077 is in a better position because of how the popularity and reputation of the developers changed over the years.

 

[Garrison72]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1078403374578462720

They said it's not open world but then Avellone makes this claim.

 

[4RM3D]

They said it's not open world but then Avellone makes this claim.

Quality over quantity. A lot of open world games feel empty with nothing but copy-paste encounters. Heck, even The Witcher 3 suffered from this. Monster nest here, treasure chest there; gets boring real quick. The world map was literally too flat. Where are all the intricate multi-layer dungeons like the ones in Dark Souls? Point being: size does not matter (believe it or not).

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

size does not matter (believe it or not).

Your girlfriend might not agree and neither do I. I believe a big map can give you the idea of a real world, when traveling from point A to point B I want to feel like I'm actually moving and not just turning the corner (e.g. RDR2). A big city must be big, otherwise it'll feel like a small village and I prefer a (relatively) empty "kilometer" to full 100 meters, given the same amount of activites. Now, it really depends on how the game is structured, but if I can choose I'd rather have a big map.

Anyway,

The Outer Worlds

, which has been in development since late 2016, is published by Private Division, a label of Take-Two Interactive (parent company of 2K and Rockstar) designed to make “AA” games.

They’re not indie, but they’re not big-budget “AAA” RPGs like The Witcher 3 or Fallout New Vegas, either. So don’t expect The Outer Worlds to be quite as vast, with a massive open world in which you can get lost for hundreds of hours. This will be a very different experience.

There are two planets in the game, Obsidian says, although they’re not open worlds—they’re compartmentalized. Each of them contains several areas to explore, and Obsidian says there will be plenty to do, but the scale will be very different than New Vegas.

https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/12/d...worldsto-be-as-gigantic-as-fallout-new-vegas/

The Witcher 3 was already a kind of a "Skyrim killer" in ways similar to what I described above,

sorry but I really cannot see anything in common between TW3 and skyrim if not them being both RPG in a fantasy setting. TOW has the exact same RPG/gunplay mechanics as fallout 3 and NV (the good ones), a very similar graphic (better actually), same (shitty) animations, same dialogue system.

CP2077 will be so much better than all of this (at least from the impressions, but CDP is a guarantee of succes) that will play in a complete different league, like comparing GTA and watch dogs, if you know what I mean.

 

[Sardukhar]

Your girlfriend might not agree and neither do I.

Hey. -I- might be his girlfriend and I -do- agree! Size is less important than what you do with it.

A giant game like Just Cause 2? No thanks.

Witcher 3 could have used less space and much more content and depth in the (reduced) space it had.

There is lots in common between Skyrim and Witcher 3 - CDPR has even talked about how much they admired and enjoyed Skyrim. As they should, it's a great, open-world fantasy setting with a third-person perspective, a combination of melee and magic combat and a wide range of side activities.

Of course W3 is much better, but still.

Both games need less space and more fill I think.

 

[Garrison72]

I think CDPR was going more for a Rockstar open world feel with TW3 than a TES world. Which means you get maximum size and freedom at the expense of elaborate level design. For me, It mostly worked, but I do want more extensive interiors and 'dungeons' in Cyberpunk.

 

[Mybrokenenglish]

Hey. -I- might be his girlfriend and I -do- agree! Size is less important than what you do with it.

A giant game like Just Cause 2? No thanks.

Witcher 3 could have used less space and much more content and depth in the (reduced) space it had.

Wait, I didn't mean that a huge useless map is better than a small one full of activities. I meant that given the same amount of activities, if the map is big, it's preferable beacause it makes the world more realistic (imagine going from desert to forest in 3 minutes by walk, it makes no sense). We all agree that we prefer more content than more space, but I don't really see the space as a limit for content: instead of putting 10 activities in 100 meters you put the same activity with the same depth in 1 km.

 

[metalmaniac21]

I think CDPR was going more for a Rockstar open world feel with TW3 than a TES world. Which means you get maximum size and freedom at the expense of elaborate level design. For me, It mostly worked, but I do want more extensive interiors and 'dungeons' in Cyberpunk.

In an open-world first person shooter?

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

Skyrim map is bigger but also some time semi empty but same you can say for Witcher 3, big plus for both game is that you can go to few different city's change few different landscape, Cyberpunk will be all in one city and that can get boring really really fast.

 

[sv3672]

What map density is ideal, it depends on the type of the game and the setting, and even within the same game there can be variation between the regions (for example, Novigrad vs. Skellige in The Witcher 3). Obviously, a forest or tundra or desert with the occasional small village is an environment that lends itself to large but relatively "empty" maps, while a modern city is likely smaller in area but densely populated and more vertical.

Skyrim's map is actually not that large relative to the amount of content in the game, if anything, it is often criticized for the compressed map scale and finding a dungeon like every 100 meters.

I do not worry too much about the city in Cyberpunk 2077 being boring, as there are 6 major districts all with their own unique themes. What we have seen so far is mostly just Watson and Little China, but the final game will also have the city center (probably a more "cyberpunk" environment with all the tall skyscrapers and neon lights), outskirts, I think the region towards Santo Domingo and Charter Hill will be mountainous with elevation changes, the area around Orbital Air Space Center seems to be flooded, there are districts with very contrasting levels of wealth, some have large factories, others have high rate of crime and gang wars, and so on.

 

[Nikola_Nesic]

Maybe not at first, but after 20+ hours it will start to be little bit boring, it is after all a city not entire country.

I remember people almost burn Bioware for Dragon Age 2 because game is set just in one city, they did use one dungeon 100+ times, but game was not that long.

 

[sv3672]

On the other hand, people have played games like Fallout 4 for hundreds of hours, and that is a city focused map that is smaller and in theory more "boring" looking than CP2077, with all the dead plant life, decaying old buildings, and mostly grey/brown palette. It remains to be seen what Night City is like in game, the 48 minutes demo explored only a small part of the map. But even a few screenshots from the E3 trailer show a decent variety of locations:

Spoiler

And of course there should be many types of interior environments as well. In the end, it is possible to make an interesting game regardless of whether it is fantasy, futuristic, post-apocalyptic, urban, or other themed.

 

[Matchst1ckk]

Did anyone else think of Firefly when watching the gameplay demo? I did, and that made me want the game more