Windows The Outer Worlds (PC, Console)

[Huntn]

Having played both FO4 and TOW in past year I actually fid the companions in Outer Worlds better written than Fallout 4 (well, Obsidian vs Bethsoft, so pretty much a given). Pavarti I would put as the best character in either game - but everyone has stuff to say throughout most of the game and each have multi-stage personal missions like in FO4 ... for me I actually felt the FO4 companions were more utilitarian than in Outer Worlds, but TOW is also a smaller game - I tend to be very completionist, so really got impressions from all my companions throughout.

I’ll report back as I get farther into TOWs. The relationship aspect, I forget if is a mod in F4, but I liked when companions approved or disapproved in my choices, and a like rating appeared. I knew who to leave at home and who to take depending on the type of mission and who it involved. At least one companion was anti-Synth so I never helped them when she was with me. Granted these relationships are very shallow from a content perspective. My favorite was helping Cait shake her drug addiction providing aid and emotional support to her, a close second was helping Curie find her humanity.

 

[txa1265]

I forget if is a mod in F4, but I liked when companions approved or disapproved in my choices, and a like rating appeared.

That is (at least somewhat) part of base FO4 - sometimes it really works for me and other times is just 'RPG math' as you'd expect ... in The Outer Worlds your companions are very vocal about what they like or don't like and you can definitely get them to leave (but the lack of a morality system means not knowing exactly what triggers it).

My favorite was helping Cait shake her drug addiction providing aid and emotional support to her, a close second was helping Curie find her humanity.

Definitely - honestly one of the best parts of the game for me. (aside from wandering around my old hometown of Boston and screenshotting the sights!)

 

[Huntn]

That is (at least somewhat) part of base FO4 - sometimes it really works for me and other times is just 'RPG math' as you'd expect ... in The Outer Worlds your companions are very vocal about what they like or don't like and you can definitely get them to leave (but the lack of a morality system means not knowing exactly what triggers it).

Definitely - honestly one of the best parts of the game for me. (aside from wandering around my old hometown of Boston and screenshotting the sights!)

I think there was a visible affinity mod for companions in F4, but honestly I don’t remember them smiling or frowning… 🤔

 

[maflynn]

So I did another play through and its been very entertaining. I decided to do an evil run through, and every chance I could get, I would side with the board. I didn't rat out Phineas immediately but I let it play through.

I tried to customize my character as a gun slinger, but truth be told, the game seems very slanted against that. I was better off as a sniper. I did reset my character's build, if you put too much into the offensive capability, you'll not have any for sneak, or persuade, lock pick and hacking skills. You miss out on a lot if you can't pass speech checks, or open doors/terminals.

I think I'll do another playthrough shortly with that in mind. I also found out if you don't pick up companions, then you don't see what happens to them during the epilogue. For instance I killed Ellie's parents, and while she left, I saw what happened to her in the ind, where as I didn't agree to include Parvati nothing was said.

 

[txa1265]

I tried to customize my character as a gun slinger, but truth be told, the game seems very slanted against that. I was better off as a sniper.

I tend to favor melee, but on my guns run I did pistols with a focus on TTD and close-up shots ... you can 1-2 shot kill nearly everything that way.

 

[Huntn]

So I did another play through and its been very entertaining. I decided to do an evil run through, and every chance I could get, I would side with the board. I didn't rat out Phineas immediately but I let it play through.

I tried to customize my character as a gun slinger, but truth be told, the game seems very slanted against that. I was better off as a sniper. I did reset my character's build, if you put too much into the offensive capability, you'll not have any for sneak, or persuade, lock pick and hacking skills. You miss out on a lot if you can't pass speech checks, or open doors/terminals.

I think I'll do another playthrough shortly with that in mind. I also found out if you don't pick up companions, then you don't see what happens to them during the epilogue. For instance I killed Ellie's parents, and while she left, I saw what happened to her in the ind, where as I didn't agree to include Parvati nothing was said.

I'm currently playing and enjoying it. A build I read about said to concentrate on guns, sneak, and dialog skills. I also notice that there are skills involving "determination" I forget what the category is but it's at the bottom of the perk list where your companions gain combat skills.

I'm liking some of the conversations, I'm currently helping Parvati in her endeavors to romance the GroundBreaker's Captain and Head Engineer. But I want someone I can romance! My understanding is no romances for you!

Roseway Spoiler- Quest: Doom Came To Roseway. I went and found some research for a scientist named Anton. And in my first attempt I told him I found them and was going to keep it, and he attacked me. I ended up having to kill everyone in the close vicinity. So I rewound and tried a second time, and told him "I could not find them" and he attacked me again! and I and my 2 companions had a gunfight with everyone in the vicinity, I assume the entire colony instantly turned hostile, which is not very realistic, but this is a game...
I've decided that the major corporations are on my **** list, so I act accordingly.

My link: https://www.ign.com/wikis/the-outer...ds#The_Best_Overall_Build_in_The_Outer_Worlds
Having knowledge in the Long Guns category is also a great skill to have, as you will find that enemy encounters will be a real breeze.


Must Have Attributes

• Intelligence: Very High
• Charm: High
• Perception: Good

Must Have Aptitude
We highly recommend going with

• Cashier, Sub-Grade, Non-Supervisory Aptitude as it provides a bonus of +1 in the Persuade skill.

Must Have Skills

Top Skill Priorities:

• Ranged Long Guns
• Dialog Persuade, Lie, or Intimidate
• Stealth Hack and Lockpick

 

[txa1265]

My understanding is no romances for you!

Yes that is true and unfortunate but also makes sense within the structure of the game ... you get lots of friends and loyal companions, but no romance.

 

[Huntn]

Yes that is true and unfortunate but also makes sense within the structure of the game ... you get lots of friends and loyal companions, but no romance.

Yet, you can help a crew member find romance... 🤫

 

[maflynn]

Yes that is true and unfortunate but also makes sense within the structure of the game ... you get lots of friends and loyal companions, but no romance.

Yeah, it makes sense, there are aspects of this game that seem more closed world then open world.

 

[txa1265]

Yet, you can help a crew member find romance... 🤫

You have companion quests, and essentially Pavarti and Junlie is just another multi-stage companion quest.

Whereas I always think about romance in RPGs are more of a math problem - get enough '+' and about too many '-' and you win the prize - Jaheira! Unless it is Alpha Protocol, in which case where you have one 'real' romance and a couple of 'chance encounters' ... which is also cool. (especially since one of the chance encounters can cost you the real romance if you didn't do everything else right!)

 

[maflynn]

You have companion quests,

The companion quests adds to the game, though it seems the Pavarti quests seem the most involved. I wouldn't call it romance, and tbh, I don't care about romance in the game and I don't know if its a big thing in the gaming world.

 

[Huntn]

You have companion quests, and essentially Pavarti and Junlie is just another multi-stage companion quest.

Whereas I always think about romance in RPGs are more of a math problem - get enough '+' and about too many '-' and you win the prize - Jaheira! Unless it is Alpha Protocol, in which case where you have one 'real' romance and a couple of 'chance encounters' ... which is also cool. (especially since one of the chance encounters can cost you the real romance if you didn't do everything else right!)

I had a brainstorm, replied to here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/ai-in-games-i-can-only-imagine.2397292/

 

[Huntn]

Although the core story is different, I think that whoever was directly involved in creating The Outer Worlds was a fan of Firefly. The music, the tone, your crew characters, a vicar, a somewhat innocent engineer, Felix , the way Parvati speaks in her western, country-ish manner.

Now that I have visited several locations, the styilized nature of The Outer Worlds wears on me a bit, like living in Candy Land.

I thought I was now any enemy (my choice) of The Board (of Directors ie Corporations) , but on Monarch, a planet, there is an underdog Corporation, that the quests lead me into helping, because their Leader did not follow the Board’s orders to abandon Monarch.

Spoiler: Slaughter House Clive quest on Monarch, there is a quest to take down the owner of a pork production facility, C&P Boarst Factiry. This quest seemed more outlawish, because one of the faction leaders does not like paying the high price for mutated pork which apparently is a monopoly.

There are several ways to undermine the factory, but they require high levels of hack or medical skills to perform acts of sabotage. It took me a while to figure this out. I has gotten a fake ID so me and my two companions could walk around the facility with impunity and the occasional ID check.

But at the terminals I visited the choices that amounted to sabotage where locked. Maybe I’m confused but it appeared like I needed a high medical skill (+55) to make a choice on a terminal I did not even have to hack into? 🤔 Another choice did appear to require a hacking skill (+55) which I was just under. So murder became the answer, I ended up making my way to Clives’s office and upon meeting him, it was an easy choice (in the framework of the game) to off him, the man appeared to be an evil psycho.

 

[maflynn]

I noticed that there's a remastered version available, which includes the DLC. I at one point played the DLCs but it appears that they were part of my xbox game pass. Since I don't subscribe to that anymore, if I want those DLCs, I'll need to buy them.

 

[diamond.g]

I noticed that there's a remastered version available, which includes the DLC. I at one point played the DLCs but it appears that they were part of my xbox game pass. Since I don't subscribe to that anymore, if I want those DLCs, I'll need to buy them.

Reviews of the remastered version, basically say it isn't worth the performance hit.

 

[txa1265]

I noticed that there's a remastered version available, which includes the DLC. I at one point played the DLCs but it appears that they were part of my xbox game pass. Since I don't subscribe to that anymore, if I want those DLCs, I'll need to buy them.

Reviews of the remastered version, basically say it isn't worth the performance hit.

The 'Spacer's Choice Edition' is the graphically updated version which includes both DLC and some fixes and increases level cap. To say the release was a mess is an understatement - it was outsourced, with predictable results. (if anyone else played the Nintendo Switch version on release, it was a similarly messy experience).

Since then there have been several patches and at this point I would totally recommend it. I finished it on Steam Deck while the first few patches were being released, and had very few issues in general and by the end it was really solid.

I like the subtle art direction changes (mostly character faces looking more 'gritty') but know not everyone does. I also like the way the environment colors pop more ... and there is actually less pop-in of textures than when I first played.

I especially love the level cap. Before it was capped at 30 for main game, 33 with one DLC and 36 with both. Now it is 99 (which is essentially infinite). On my last playthrough, I got to level 47 right before the end ... which is probably too much but allowed me flexibility in the end game.

 

[maflynn]

Since then there have been several patches and at this point I would totally recommend it. I finished it on Steam Deck while the first few patches were being released, and had very few issues in general and by the end it was really solid.

Thanks,
I'll see how much the DLCs cost vs. this bundle, I'm playing this on a PS5, so I think overall it may be a nice update.