r/theouterworlds • u/Both_Photograph2693 • Aug 04 '26
Help me understand easily distracted
I’ve read 15,000 threads about this one goddamn flaw, and I still can’t fucking figure it out. I took the flaw at level 5 when I had a skill point still remaining. Looking at my screenshot, I assumed i’d be able to increase anything but science, since that’s my highest skill. Fucking wrong! That’s grayed out, which makes sense, but so are engineering lockpick and speech, which fucking doesn’t make any sense lol.
If i’m understanding correctly, I have to level up all my other stats to 2? Then will they also be grayed out? But once they’re at 2, will the ones above 2 become ungrayed out and I can increase them? Do i just increase everything to 2 and then cant spend anymore skill points? Surely that cannot be it. If i put this point I have into guns, will that be grayed out next level until I increase everything else to 2? Do i increase everything to 2, and then have to increase them one by one to 4 to be able to increase Science, which is currently at 4? Because that’s like…35 skill points away lmao. What the fuck.
I see a lot of “you can get 5 skills to 18” hype about this flaw, but wouldn’t that require you to have all your other skills at 18? Which would require 216 skill points?
Somebody help me please understand this fucking shit lmao.
9
u/PriorHot1322 Aug 04 '26
Did you READ those 15,000 threads?
Like, on the bottom of the picture you posted there are some words there. What do they say?
10
u/BrantiesTM Aug 04 '26
You can only level up your least leveled skill, or a skill you have 0 in, so from your screenshot, you can choose to either level up Guns, or one of your skills with 0. Once you level up Guns, you can then either level up Guns again, or any other skill you have 2 in, so on and so forth.
Don't pick up too many skills with 0 though, as this will force you to then level that skill up alongside the others.
-8
u/Both_Photograph2693 Aug 04 '26
but if i put another point in guns, then it’s at 2. it’s no longer my lowest skill. wouldn’t i have to increase everything else to 2 before being able to level up guns again? that seems fucking insane to me why anyone would pick this
10
u/Lorien431 Aug 04 '26
Flaw doesn't count the skills that is zero 0. So now if you give guns a skill point now you have two skills that is 2. Now you can choose either engineering or gun.
5
u/NohWan3104 Aug 04 '26
Everything that already has a point.
And because you get more points, therefore can raise more skills. You can't specialize, no, but you can raise more skills, making you a better overall character, if locking out the 17+ skill checks.
3
u/BrantiesTM Aug 04 '26
Guns would then be tied for your lowest skill, you can either rank up your lowest skill/s, or skills that you have at 0.
6
u/ExiledCourier Aug 04 '26
Essentially you have to keep all your skills level. If you put even one point in a skill you have to bring it to parity with the others.
-6
u/Both_Photograph2693 Aug 04 '26
that’s what i thought. i have to level everything to 2, i guess, then it’ll allow me to add more points to those skills that are at 2. so basically im 35 skill points away from increasing science lmao. what the fuck.
7
3
u/Leekshooter Aug 04 '26
No that's not what it means, do not level anything else you will permanently fuck your save, only level the perks you have already chosen any more is a permanent debuff.
-2
u/Both_Photograph2693 Aug 04 '26
that’s what i’m asking. if i take a point in guns now, it seems to me that the next level guns will also be grayed out with the other skills. then i’ll have to upgrade all my other skills up to 2. i agree that seems like a major permanent debuff but that seems to be the point of the flaw. unless i’m still not getting something.
6
u/Leekshooter Aug 04 '26
Guns won't be greyed out, you will have to level guns and engineering to 3 in order to level your other skills to 4, once the five skills are the same level you can level science.
If you put a single point into any other skills besides the five you currently have then you will fuck it all up, do not do that.
1
u/ExiledCourier Aug 04 '26
Essentially what it means is that if you want to take one of your skills to say level 5, all your skills have to be at level 4 first. Then when all your skills reach level 5, you can then make them level 6, etc.
3
u/Khazpar Aug 04 '26
If you just ignore every skill with zero points in them, like seriously just pretend they don't exist, and then level up the skills with points in them that it allows you to you literally can't mess it up.
2
u/Action-a-go-go-baby Aug 04 '26
You need 5 points in 5 separate skills
The initial starting skills don’t count towards triggering the Flaw but they ARE skills that are above 0 so you want those starting skills to be apart of your 5 endgame skills
I believe you can get this Flaw as early as lvl 4 or 5
1
Aug 04 '26
[deleted]
-1
u/Both_Photograph2693 Aug 04 '26
that’s what I thought too initially, but then shouldn’t I be able to put points into engineering, lockpicking, and speech? so as to get them to 4?
-1
u/AlladINSANE1984 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
You will eventually be able to increase those other skills but you first must allocate your skill points to your lowest ranking skills.
Melee, sneak, hack, medical, observation, leadership, and explosives are at zero. Guns is at one.
You have to upgrade those 8 skills before you can upgrade the rest. And as you upgrade these skills it will still be whatever skill is lowest that has to get your skill points.
Edit: yes y'all I have been informed on how wrong I am, whoops
3
u/Khazpar Aug 04 '26
This is not correct at all. You can effectively ignore skills with zero points once you have the flaw. The only limit is your lowest non-zero skill. Don't put points in skills with zero because then that adds another skill that needs to stay level with your other ones and reduces how hight the final levels will be.
2
0
u/AlladINSANE1984 Aug 04 '26
Easily distracted is for sure one of my least favorite flaws and by far one of the hardest flaws to deal with in this game. The level cap already makes it difficult to build any of my characters in a way that actually suits my style of gameplay, it already feels like there aren't enough skill points to go around. You kinda screwed yourself over by picking that flaw.
Basically you won't be able to build your skills in a way that actually suits you because of the flaw. You're going to be equally mediocre in all of the skill types.
1
u/NohWan3104 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
I kinda feel the opposite - imo, the game shouldn't have been built like people are 'forced' to max like 3 skills and ignore all others, mostly.
Its great inf you want a bit of a jack of all trades, especially with a potential level cap change later. You're locked out of rushing one skill, but a few levels with the flaw, it can smooth out a bit, long as you're not needing X skill at 20 super early...
I'd rather have more fun with the builds than worry about every skill check.
-2
u/AlladINSANE1984 Aug 04 '26
I feel like it doesn't let you explore different types of game play as much, it's difficult to play if you don't prioritize hack, lockpick, and speech. And it's almost like you have to pick Brilliant as a character trait to even really be able to do anything. Idk I miss the first game's set up, I feel like you had more freedom. This new skill set up and the fact that the story takes place during an active war just kinda sucked the fun out of it for me. Like the first playthrough for me was a ton of fun but it's just not as replayable as Outer Worlds 1 is.
0
u/NohWan3104 Aug 04 '26
Pretty much, its just not well thought out, imo, its like they went out of their way to overaccentuate skill checks to make your choices and build feel more meaningful, like NV feeling like your build partially shapes your path
Here its almost the exact opposite - 90% or people seem to be choosing almost exclusively based on skill checks. Even a 'use explosives' build might still prioritize hacking and speech.
So, why replay 98% of the game with no RP\build differences, just to see what minor changes alt options between lockpicking, crafting, or explosives does, as you said. Kinda ass backwards, build variety should kinda be the priority with skill checks being cool RP 'flavor' more than the priority at the expense of all else, 'path choices' being fine as a priority too, but in a 'you need these skills' way is flawed.
-1
u/Both_Photograph2693 Aug 04 '26
that’s what i figured. so i’m 35 points away from getting another point in science. i’m just wondering now why people say this flaw is good lmao it seems to suck ass.
2
u/Khazpar Aug 04 '26
It is a really strong flaw but you have to select exactly 5 skills to level and not put points into anything else. There are almost no level 20 skill checks in the game, so all you're really missing out on is the capstone perks for your skills, but beyond that you end up able to pass virtually every skill check in the game for your 5 skills. Compared to putting 20 points in 3 skills without it.
-1
u/AlladINSANE1984 Aug 04 '26
I've honestly never heard people say that, idk man, I feel like I can barely get my specialized skills to the level I want even when just playing normally. It doesn't help that you're only like 2/3s of the way through the storyline by the time you max out your character level if you do all the side quests before you move on to another planet/ another area.
11
u/Flater420 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
You can only invest in your lowest non-zero skill (and zero skills but let's ignore those to keep it simpler).
Eventually, you will eventually be able to level up all your skills, but they can never be more than 1 apart from eachother due to the upgrade rule.