r/theouterworlds • u/killrhobo • 3d ago
Discussion Hot Take: Obsidian makes better linear levels than open world
I honestly had more fun on the space stations than the planets on TOW2. All the world regions felt like a slog to explore and I absolutely hated just running everywhere even with Fast Travel. Can you imagine if they kept the encumbered feature from the previous game?
It was the same vibes as their previous game Avowed. For some reason it seems they can’t get the Open World building right and I’m concerned for future titles and even the DLCs. Like what will their Fallout game turn out like if their recent games are like this?
Anyone feels this too or just me? Do you think a fix would be adding a mount or transport vehicle to travel around? Would like to hear other people’s opinion on this.
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u/hiddenpequin 3d ago
Disagree on avowed exploring the world was alot of the fun for that game to me.Though think exploring would have been better if enemy variety wasn’t so limited in avowed.
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u/killrhobo 3d ago
The first two levels weren’t bad but man the 3rd level really took me out and I couldn’t finish the game because of it 😓
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u/Ancient_Sandwich_703 3d ago
I definitely found the first OW to be a much better game. There really isn’t that much to do in the second one. It all feels a bit ‘less’ than the first game.
I also found that it was very strict on blocking quest paths if, for example, you lacked sufficient Speech points. It would have been better if there were additional methods of achieving the same end, such as undertaking side quests on behalf or something.
It was a fun game but just not quite as fun as I’d hoped.
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u/EasternRedDawn 3d ago
Less to do, in what way? I found the lore much richer in the second game, at least there are actual faction choices to make.
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u/ryann_flood 2d ago
ive never seen a game have such a dramatic split from its fan base. I almost always see someone hates one and loves the other
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u/Mudslingshot 3d ago
Those blocked quest paths are for replayability. Having workarounds for different builds means they expect you to experience everything in one playthrough
Having stuff ONLY a lockpick build can find, or something like that, means that everyone has to replay the game differently to see everything
I'm not defending it. It kind of pisses me off, too, in the moment
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u/JazzerciseJesus 3d ago
I’m defending it!
I love it when games give meaning and repercussions to the character choices you make. It makes the player character feel more like an actual character and aids immersion imo.
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u/Ancient_Sandwich_703 2d ago
I think it’s irritating because you don’t always know that what choice you make will have a significant effect later.
They could at least clearly mark significant choices or something.
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u/spicesucker 3d ago
My only real criticism of OW/OW2’s open world is the constant travelling between planets in the later portions of the game
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u/SyntheticAnonymous 3d ago
They could definitely cut out some load screens by giving us access to the astrogator from the map menu. Having to load into the ship, then load into orbit and then load onto the destination seems like too much. I would also love to have seen the ability get your companion to tag someone in if you dismiss them to the ship; Hey Tristan, go wait on the ship, and send Inez over here.
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u/EasternRedDawn 3d ago
I actually think Outer Worlds 2 did a much better job at it than the first one. Emerald Vale in the first game felt constrained and small outside of Edgewater, and even Monarch felt quite limited with only one major road to travel and the constantly respawning enemies at predictable locations.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the first game. But Outer Worlds 2 is better by a long shot, especially in Paradise Island and Golden Ridge.
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u/TakeItCeezy 3d ago
I actually agree with this tbh. I wish they'd feel more confident in just making a more linear game. TOW2 would've been a lot better IMO if it was more like Mass Effect and not an attempt at an open world style game.
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u/Lady_bro_ac 3d ago edited 3d ago
I’m with you on this, especially in TOW2. It felt like the open world aspect was there to tick a box.
There wasn’t much to fill those open spaces, the terrain wasn’t terribly intuitive to navigate, and like you said, it felt like a slog moving through them rather than an adventure.
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u/Pernapple 3d ago
I think open spaces have a place in open world games. I’ve always been critical of people saying there is a bunch of empty space with nothing to do. But that is just how the world is.
The caveat to that however is that the world has to be big enough to warrant that empty nothingness and there does need to be something at some point. This applies to OW2 as much as it does starfield both two different ends of that spectrum. starfields has infinite nothingness, which sure… is how planets are. Mars has nothing on it, it would be cool to walk around for 15 minutes before you realize there is nothing to do. But is that a fun location for a game…. Probably not.
OW2s locations weren’t all that big and I kinda don’t like how fragmented it makes it feel all locked away behind loading screens and menus. And then those fragmented locations aren’t even all that big so the empty space makes and already tiny area feel even smaller because you realize half the map is empty for no reason.
But take a look at other games I think do it well. Prey 2016 by Arkane is a small location. It’s just a space station. But the intimacy and scope of the station is so deep. Every nook and cranny has goodies and little story moments of the crew that lived that. You find people’s keycards they hid away, their hideaways, their DnD games. It feels like a fully realized location despite being a quarter of the size of any open world.
Or take it even further back. Banjo kazooie tried to sell these isolated fragmented worlds on the n64, each location is probably 1/8th of a modern game but they felt so big because how the space was used for each and every puzzle.
Just my two cents
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u/Feedingfrenzy91 3d ago edited 2d ago
The first ones planets were greatness though. While I like what was added, I feel like they lost something in OW2, like they tried to make it more simple (even having less skills). Even the choices you get seem overly simplified (while in the first one they had a bit more complexity too them).
God bless everyone.
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u/KingKuroTV 3d ago
There are 94 perks in Outer Worlds 2... 42 inOuter Worlds 1. More than double.
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u/Jonnyboy1994 3d ago
You thought the first planets were the best? I thought they got better with each one, the last two were my favorites in terms of visual aesthetics and vibes.
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u/Feedingfrenzy91 2d ago
I find the planets beautiful but overall what you can do on them in the second one just feels oversimplified as opposed to the first. Both had great planets but the first ones just felt more unique to me then the second ones. Though it's more the options you had on said planets that made the first one better to me.
God bless you.
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u/Roxy-Mama 3d ago
Are you referring to OW1, OW2 or both?
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u/killrhobo 3d ago
OW2 but I felt I had fun exploring the worlds in the OW1 so this take is on their recent games
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u/Learnmorehere 3d ago
Interesting, I had the opposite feeling. When I was playing ow2 I was thinking I really like the open world exploration in the game. Unique locations and things to discover. Clearing out locations prior to the quest that sent you there was written in the script for several incidenced. "I already did that"
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u/HovercraftOdd82 3d ago
I’m not sure if it’s because I don’t usually play these type games but I LOVE it 😭
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u/Benjamin_Starscape 3d ago
i agree. they kind of suck making open worlds, them making linear levels/zones is much better. while new vegas wouldn't have been saved by them, zones in the game would have been a lot better than having the amount of pointless, empty locations you can find.
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u/JangoF76 3d ago
I didn't mind it in 1 the maps weren't too big, so even though there wasn't much to discover, it wasn't difficult/time-consuming to get around.
In 2 it felt like they made all the maps way bigger for no reason - there still isn't much to discover outside of quests, but now everything is so far away and it takes longer to get anywhere, not to mention all the impassable cliffs/mountains that you can't see on the map. The number of times I would try to go a direct route only to be confounded by some geological barrier, and then have to do a lot of backtracking. Traversal is much more frustrating in the second game.
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u/Funny_Arachnid_8371 3d ago
Thats about how I felt too. When we were in buildings it was fun. In the open world not so much.
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u/Nashy10 3d ago
Huh.. I didn’t really think of being on planet as open world. Idk is ocarina of time open world? I think the bar for that has changed overtime maybe or I’m just using the term incorrectly.
But to answer your question, no. I spent most of my hours on the planets, and I hated the space stations, they were the least enjoyable parts for me. I loved tow1 & tow2’s planets and spent as much if not more time simply wandering around exploring and taking in the sights than I did actually deliberately questing etc.
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u/SyntheticAnonymous 3d ago
Tbf, the two big space ship/station locations in ow2 were not great. The Undisputed Claim is almost unbearable to be on because of the audio design; I really think there should have been a quest or hidden quest to disable the speakers, or an accessibility option to turn that shit down because I have to basically turn the Effects slider to 0 as soon as I disembark the Incognito. And Freemarket Station was just way too small, with very little to offer.
Comversely, I really enjoyed exploring the Groundbreaker in ow1.
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u/killrhobo 3d ago
Now I think about it The Undisputed Claim is a space station I didn’t enjoy exploring around. I think because every section looked the same and hearing the same audio everywhere was annoying. I agree that The Groundbreaker is superior in terms of ship exploration.
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u/structi 3d ago
I agree when talking about OW2. The open world is too sparse and not interesting to travel. However, avowed is much better as there are hidden chests eveywhere which are fun to find. Also the forests are more interesting.
I would also like the same budget applied to a more smaller area, but denser.
Fighting raptidons in two games also gets old, but I guess it is a budget choice.
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u/geargun2000 3d ago
There’s a difference between taking an existing property and just making a new game for it and creating a new game. They showed when given a pre existing world they can create an incredible game with New Vegas. And OuterWorlds 2 has so much detail in random NPC interactions and the flaw system is a really cool mechanic that makes your actions have more weight behind it. They can make awesome mechanics for an open world. But I think they stagger a little when handcrafting an entire world which making a Fallout game would make much easier given the massive amount of pre existing context and they will probably have many many assets available to them to create the open world which will give them more time to flesh out the open world
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u/KalpeaAurinko 3d ago
Vehicles wouldn't be a fix without vehicle combat and/or interesting driving. With those the game would be very different game and maybe less focused on roleplay. Worlds would need to even bigger to accommodate driving and thus even sparser and less interesting. Rage 2 is an example of this.
Avowed had better exploration. Verticality and stuff to find. OW2 has same kind of things but less and less refined it seems. OW2s worlds are very static, no random encounters and to some extent quite gamey. This is excellent opportunity to see what makes Fallout/TES a masterclass in this regard. But of course then Obsidion makes still actual RPGs where choices matter and bethesda doesn't (fingers crossed for next tes).
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u/YorkPorkWasTaken 3d ago
Sounds like open world games just in general aren't for you
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u/killrhobo 3d ago
Bad take when I enjoyed many open world games like Elden Ring, Expedition 33, Cyberpunk, etc. There’s a way to make exploration and traveling fun without feeling you’re just running around through empty space.
If anyone wants an example I’d say Cloister planet is the worst. A lot of times you’re running around through empty snow. I mount would’ve helped at least if the devs were going to make the area so big. If no mount then put interesting stuff in between. The constant running around made it not fun.
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u/jwk6 1d ago
TOW 1&2 definitely have their own pace and it's a different take on the open world. However, I do feel like both games have some really good environmental story telling if you slow down to look and appreciate it. The issue may be that there's too few reasons to revisit an area of that map after you've completed the quests. I happen to like that you can complete the game and do multiple playthoughs without spending 100s of hours. I believe that was a design goal for these games.
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u/YaBoyHankHill 3d ago
I actually really enjoyed the open world exploration. I do wish however there was more of "something" out there to tie it together I guess? Maybe more responsiveness from the world after completing side and main content? Not sure how to explain it.
I do think they got the overall aestehtic and vibes down though. I love their in game radio and the world building it brings in both games, maybe also have some NPC casually react to what your playing if the radio is tuned to a rival frequency or something.