The Outer Worlds 2 Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Summary

The Outer Worlds 2 Review – Kinda Funny Gamescast

Podcast: Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast
Episode: The Outer Worlds 2 Review
Date: October 23, 2025
Panel: Andy Cortez (host), Greg Miller, Blessing Adeoye Jr., Parallax Stella (Stella Chung), Paris Lilly
(Note: Skip ad reads and housekeeping. Timestamps use [MM:SS] format.)

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers an in-depth, panel-style review of The Outer Worlds 2, exploring the game’s mechanics, narrative, replayability, and comparisons to both its predecessor and Avowed, another recent Obsidian title. The conversation blends Kinda Funny’s signature humor, energy, and candor, offering perspectives from multiple playthroughs and player archetypes.

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Key Review Topics & Insights

[06:41] Quick First Impressions & Play Styles

• Stella: Played 5 hours on PC/Steam Deck; praises storytelling, lore, and modern Obsidian narrative depth, also currently playing Fallout: New Vegas for comparison.
• Paris: ~30 hours across 2 runs (PC, Xbox Series X, Rog Ally X); calls it “a bigger and better sequel in every way,” highlights tough decision-making and deep RPG systems.
  • Quote: “The Outer Worlds 2 is fantastic. A bigger and better sequel in every way. A classic RPG that doesn't hold your hand and forces you to think as you make tough decisions as you build your character and travel the Arcadia system. Point blank: I love it.” – Paris [09:43]
• Greg: Two playthroughs (~22 hrs “questionable” run, 11+ hrs “good” run, various platforms); loved the divergent outcomes, but feels overarching story under-delivers.
• Blessing: 17 hours in, not as engaged; likens experience to making a “bad Subway sandwich”—feels responsible for choices, but also unsatisfied by the options.

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[12:40] Divergence, Replayability, and Playstyle Consequences

• Greg: Discovering “wildly different” content between playthroughs, especially via character builds and traits; first run felt underwhelming, but the second as "Stevie Rogers" brought new environments, quests, companions.
  • Quote: “I have been shocked by how different the playthroughs have been and how much fun I am having... it feels like a different game.” – Greg [13:53]
• RPG Elements encourage (almost require) a defined character role. Choosing dialogue traits and flaws deeply affect outcomes and gameplay rhythm.
• Paris & Blessing: Stress the importance of intentional skill investment. First runs can feel scattered; focused builds (e.g., engineering, science, or speech) lead to more distinctive experiences.
  • Quote: “Your first run is going to kind of be all over the place... but I think a lot of people... are probably going to be all over the place.” – Paris [24:33]
• Stella: Choosing Rustabout background can lock out signature skills—recommends against it on a first play.

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[19:42] Character Creation and Role-Playing

• Blessing: Expresses tension between wanting to “play as myself” versus building a specific archetype; finds the world’s tone and systems make that difficult compared to other RPGs like Fallout or Mass Effect.
• Stella: Mirrors Blessing's complaints, especially when pairing “dumb” Rustabout background with high speech—a contradiction left underexplored by the game’s writing, leading to dissonance.
  • Quote: “Funny doesn’t make up the playstyle that I want, you know?” – Stella [31:36]

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[34:50] Player Questions & Accessibility

• Question: “Is the game good for those with limited time (5–10 hrs/week)?”
  • Panel: Yes, each session can be productive, with manageable objectives and a clear quest log; however, the overall experience is wide and deep.
• Multiple panelists stress that how you approach missions—rushing, exploring, or specializing—will shift the game’s length and variety.
  • Quote: “In 22 hours, I was able to see the credits, but Travis from IGN did a completionist run and it took him 65 hours.” – Greg [36:08]

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[37:41] Outer Worlds 2 vs. Avowed (Obsidian Showdown)

• Paris: After Avowed, finds Outer Worlds 2’s quest and companion complexity superior. Factions, mission structure, and build flexibility leave Avowed feeling less sophisticated.
  • Quote: “If I had to re-review [Avowed], I’d probably drop it down to an 8... with Outer Worlds 2, I’m in that 9ish range.” – Paris [39:31]
• Greg: Outer Worlds 2 is "head and shoulders" above Avowed, especially in companions and gameplay depth, although both suffer from weak faction identity.
• Consensus: Combat in Avowed is praised, but Outer Worlds 2 wins for systemic depth, narrative permutations, and NPC interactivity.

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[43:06] The Companion System & Moral Choices

• Blessing & Paris: Praise how companions’ morality and relationships with the player and each other can dynamically shift (and lead to betrayals). Moments where “your crew” gives attitude or departs feel meaningful.
• Stella: Loves that companions can be missed entirely, based on your decisions—a strength for replayability and personalization; feels these choices evoke “real relationships.”
• Greg: Dismissed companions who didn’t suit his “evil” run, tailored party to character’s worldview.
  • Quote: “I'm not playing this game like I gotta collect them all. I'm playing... ‘Let’s meet first and are we gonna end up fighting?’” – Greg [48:09]

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[49:44] Choice Consequences & Quest Permutations

• Paris: Shares anecdotes about making different choices in identical quests and seeing dramatically different outcomes (i.e., sneaking into the Vox Relay quietly vs. causing chaos) [49:44].
• Greg: Praises the “botched quest” system—making mistakes is both possible and meaningful, urging players not to safescum for “perfect” runs [50:04].
• General Panel: Game is clearly designed for replayability; no single save will reveal all content or permutations.

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[55:01] Writing Quality, Decisions & Narrative Critique

• Greg & Paris: Writing is consistent in quality, but sometimes consequences can feel slight or superficial—occasional “traffic cop” dialogue choices.
  • Greg’s Critique: “Writing in terms of quality? No [issue]. In terms of consequence? Yes.” [55:01]
• Panel: Consequences generally matter more than prose; micro-stories and NPCs are frequently witty, dark, and memorable (Obsidian’s strength).

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[58:43] Worldbuilding & Environmental Depth

• Stella: Compares favorably to New Vegas—NPC density and environmental storytelling feel richer than Outer Worlds 1; world feels “more alive,” bolstered by small, strange encounters and dark humor.

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[59:24] Gameplay, Skills, and Combat Approaches

• Show & Tell Section ([59:24]):
  • Stella: Typically a “melee queen” but found herself adapting to ranged due to easy gunplay. Finds melee more challenging and rewarding.
  • Paris: Focused on engineering, hacking, and science with some guns and medicine—enjoys accessing computers/locks and exploiting synergies in gear.
  • Blessing: Guns, medical, and speech build; finds combat punishing due to “sickly” flaw, prefers efficient victories, dislikes flaws system as implemented.
    • Quote: “The flaws for me have outweighed the pros for most of these.” – Blessing [65:07]
  • Greg: Multiple flaws “for the roleplay”; likes perks that create emergent play, but is frustrated when some stealth approaches are arbitrarily blocked. Wants photo mode badly.

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[75:11] Faction System, World Reactivity, and Reputation

• Audience Q: “How reactive is the world to your decisions?”
  • Greg: Only mildly; big-picture world states don’t change dramatically. Factions lack strong, differentiated identity; reputation meters barely matter and don’t result in drastic consequences.
  • Paris: Agrees; mostly leads to missing out on certain quests or being attacked, but lacks the dynamic reactivity of, e.g., New Vegas’s mob-style faction vendettas.
  • Stella: Misses moments where, like New Vegas, factions actively pursue or hunt you due to your choices.

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[80:07] Replayability: Is It Worth Multiple Playthroughs?

• Panel is split:
  • Greg & Paris: Enthusiastic YES—so much is locked behind radically different builds and major decisions, worth at least two runs.
  • Blessing: Unlikely to replay; core gameplay (while polished) feels “well-worn,” not compelling enough to see again right away.
  • Stella: Will replay at launch with a different build; warns that choices like Rustabout can limit first-time enjoyment.

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Panel’s Final Scores & Summary

• Greg: 8/10 (“great,” possibly up to 8.5 after more play)—loves it despite flaws, especially for fans of Bethesda-style RPGs.
  • Quote: “The highest compliment... I’m done... I could play something else, and tonight I’m gonna go home and play more Outer Worlds 2. That’s how much I love this experience.” [83:47]
• Paris: Not scored (pending completion) but “in the 9ish range.”
• Stella: 8/10, could rise to 9 with a new build.
• Blessing: Enjoying it, but less glowing; feels it's “good/fine,” but not must-play twice.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “[Outer Worlds 2 is] fantastic. A bigger and better sequel in every way... Point blank: I love it.” – Paris [09:43]
• “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.” – Greg [15:18]
• “It pays off to make a character and go from [background], I love the backgrounds they give you to set up your own headcanon.” – Greg [28:17]
• “Your first run is going to kind of be all over the place... I think a lot of people that aren’t going to watch this and just go in, they're probably going to be all over the place.” – Paris [24:33]
• “I love when RPGs give you the option to take a companion, or you could completely fuck up and never get them on your crew. And I love that because that’s how real life works.” – Stella [46:28]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [06:41] – Quick Impressions & Play Styles
• [19:42] – Piggybacking: Character Build Frustrations
• [34:50] – Audience Q: Is the game good for players with limited time?
• [37:41] – Avowed vs. Outer Worlds 2 Discussion
• [43:06] – Companions, Choices & Morality System
• [49:44] – Consequences, Save Scumming, Replayability
• [55:01] – Writing Quality vs. Narrative Consequence
• [58:43] – Worldbuilding & Side Stories
• [59:24] – Show & Tell: Character Builds, Perks, and Combat
• [75:11] – Faction System & Reputation Discussion
• [80:07] – Replayability: Multiple Playthroughs?
• [83:06] – Final Scores & Summary

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The Kinda Funny Verdict

The Outer Worlds 2 is a substantial, classically-nuanced, and highly replayable RPG. Its moment-to-moment writing, rich companion system, and the freedom (and consequences) of wild playstyle diversity are lauded, even as its factions and main story are critiqued as lackluster. The panel recommends it most for genre fans seeking depth and experimentation—and for those willing to play more than once to see all it has to offer. The average score hovers strongly around 8/10, with potential to rise for those who invest in more characters and routes.

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Hosts & Guests:

• Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy)
• Blessing Adeoye Jr. (@BlessingJr)
• Andy Cortez (@MaximumCortez)
• Stella Chung (@ParallaxStella)
• Paris Lilly (@vicious696)

Listeners with questions? Members can superchat live, but panel questions included how time-friendly the game is, the significance of player choices, and if it offers something truly new. Panelists’ insight: Mastery and satisfaction come from bold builds, luck, and living with your in-game consequences—no matter how weird your “Subway sandwich” turns out.

Transcript

[A]

John 117 in the YouTube chat asks, when does this stream start? Seriously? It's starting right now, John 117. All right? So relax, sit back, get yourself a. Get yourself a tall boy.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

I don't care what time it is. Get yourself a little Miller.

[B]

Yeah. Five Hour Energy.

[A]

Maybe a five hour energy, Greg. That is a great point. Welcome to the kind of funny Games cast for Thursday, October 23, 2025. Blast through the Outer Worlds 2 in style with an exclusive skin for your raptodon in game pet. Brought to you by Five Hour Energy. When you purchase a purple berry punch or mock Melon Brew five Hour Energy products, you'll receive a unique code to unlock exclusive the Outer Worlds 2 in game content. And we will tell you more about that later. For now, I am Andy Cortez and I am joined by some real cool gamers. Of course, blessing Adio Jr. And Greg Miller are here. Good day, Andy.

[B]

Hi.

[A]

Hello. Good morning. And from Twitch TV, Parallax Stella and YouTube.com forward/parallax Stella. It's Stella Chung.

[C]

Thank you. That was so sweet. Thank you.

[B]

She's my co host, Dice Awards.

[A]

I'm just trying to get out of the crosshairs and just leave the. The, you know, I mean, the first

[B]

super jacket is Red Hudson 8. Hi, Stella. Please. Bully Greg. Thanks. Yeah, well, I doesn't want to do this. All right? Every time she does it, I then get all these text messages. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. They made me do it. It's the bed. I have to do it. And I say I get it. So it's fine. You can be mean to me. I don't mind.

[C]

After. After the first time I did it to you, I was like, oh, hey, like, we're good, right? You're like, oh, that's fine. And after that, I was like, okay, you know what? It's fine.

[A]

He did go home, like, fuming that

[B]

one day Jake came out on punch in the side of the house.

[A]

I was like, hey, Greg, can you. Greg, can I talk to you real quick? He's like, not right. Joining us from YouTube.commarcelo 696, you know, Ms. Vicious, 696 on the Internet, it's Paris

[D]

Lily, Andy, I love that you know my URL better than I do because I never could tell you what it is.

[A]

Gotta shout it out.

[D]

Always happy to be here.

[A]

Gotta shout it out. Super, super stoked to have you all here so we could talk about the Outer Worlds 2 review. But first, this is the kind of Funny games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services the Globe. You love what we do. Support us with the kind of funny membership thing.

[B]

We don't do that here.

[A]

I made a decree that like it's a. You know, I don't care. Separate church and state.

[B]

You know, I appreciate that. Every show's got to look different.

[A]

Yeah, you love what we do. Support us with a kind of funny membership on Patreon, YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcast to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show for chance to be a part of the show. Submit your thoughts and opinions as YouTube super chats as we go. Housekeeping. We're an 11 person business all about live talk shows. KFGD was about Microsoft pushing its Xbox division to hit higher profit margins. And after this is finally getting back to a Pixar movie in review. Talking all about Leo and you're not going to want to miss this one. Actually, you know, let me just. Everybody should think about watching Elio. I know nobody talks about Pixar anymore. They make like $7 at the box office and let's say inside out too, but Elio, pretty decent movie I would say.

[B]

Oh wow.

[A]

No stream today so that the team can prep for Roger and Mike's insanity tomorrow. Game show. Oh, oh, sorry. We're talking about the programming changes. There's no stream today after in review because we are streaming for the. We're prepping for the big stream tomorrow and tomorrow.

[C]

Oh Jesus.

[A]

Game showdown will be after.

[B]

Oh Jesus. That's listener. If you ain't watching, you ought to see the art they made for this thing.

[A]

Yeah, Silent Hill F. And the F stands for friends. Two bros, one controller.

[E]

Do we have two different assets? Cuz there's. There's like a GIF asset, isn't there? That's like.

[B]

Yeah, it's out there somewhere.

[A]

It's out there somewhere on the Internet.

[B]

I know you're out there somewhere out there.

[E]

Roger, did you make that gif?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

Okay, cool.

[E]

And you, did you make it in an app?

[B]

Don't worry about it.

[A]

Don't worry about it. Yeah.

[E]

All right.

[A]

This kid loves AI asking how the software is made, you know.

[C]

All right.

[E]

Feels up to him. This whole company would be. We'd be crafting. That's a K reference to tomorrow.

[A]

Game showdown will be after.

[B]

Wait a second. We're gonna save me a lot of money.

[A]

Game showdown will be after Kind of Funny games daily tomorrow. And after showdown, we'll go right into the marathon stream.

[E]

There it is.

[A]

And a special games cast will post in the afternoon. If you're a kind of funny member, Today's Greg Ways, 21 minutes on. If Greg ever thinks they'll sell Kind of funny. Whoa.

[C]

Oh. Don't flex. Don't flex. That's. That's just sad.

[B]

Sorry.

[A]

Might have to listen.

[B]

I was wearing the bulky sweatshirt. I thought I could, you know, try to make it.

[A]

Thank you to our Patreon producers. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Carl Jacobs, Omega Buster and Delaney the Psalm twining. Today we're brought to you by Shady Rays.

[E]

But we'll tell you all about five Hour Energy.

[A]

Five Hour Energy.

[B]

And which is worth pointing out too, we do the five and we'll tell you about it later. We're not doing the thing now. But if you're not paying attention, it's not the Outer World sponsoring the Outer Worlds review. It's five Hour Energy Drink.

[A]

Five Hour Energy. Drink it now. That's my.

[B]

No, you don't. You don't have to do the ad. I'm just saying they have a skin in the game so they wanted to sponsor it.

[E]

Only invent slogans.

[A]

Time to take a sip. You know what I mean?

[E]

I don't think you sit here.

[B]

That's not bad though. 5 hour energy.

[A]

Take a sip.

[E]

It's not like a sip drink, is it?

[A]

For now,

[B]

this is going to be a review that this review is going to be off the rails.

[E]

You said 30 minutes at a time. Like how do you sip a 5 hour energy?

[B]

I found it a half empty 5 hour energy on his station.

[D]

Was it in the lab?

[A]

Yeah, I was in the lab. I was wondering where that was.

[B]

I was like, I was like, who sips one?

[A]

Can you bring that back to me? I don't know where it is.

[B]

Oh, get one. You know, put it on autopilot when you need to and then go get it from Tim's desk. He's got 900 over there.

[A]

For now, let's start with topic of the show. It's time for the Outer Worlds to review gamers. The Steam Description The Outer Worlds 2 is the sequel to the award winning first person sci fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment. The Outer Worlds 1 came out in 2019 and had a Metacritic score of an 85. Developer on Outer Worlds 2 is Obsidian, published by Xbox, currently sitting at a metacritic of 84. I have a full cast of gamers here who have dabbled here and there with the outer worlds too. I would like to go around our cast, get a quick little just top level thoughts. Think of this as just like, you know, your back of the box quote. Maybe it needs to be a little bit longer. Maybe they make a bigger box for like more words or whatever.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

But tell me what platform you played on, tell me how long you've played, whether you've beat it or not, and what you think about the outer worlds too. I would like to start with blessing Adioia Jr.

[E]

I would like you to start with Greg. Damn. Because I'm going to bounce off of something I'm pretty sure Greg is going

[A]

to talk about here.

[B]

Okay.

[E]

So I think your review is going to contextualize my review.

[B]

I'm just doing the back of the box here. So.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

If I actually get to what it is.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I would actually like to start with Paris Lilly then.

[B]

Jesus.

[A]

Wow,

[D]

my dog's barking. Don't start with me.

[A]

I would like to start with Parallax Stella. Twitch TV Parallax Stella.

[C]

Why, Chad, is this. This is what you deal with every day? I'm so sorry.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Goodness. Okay, okay, so it's. I played on Steam, so I played on PC and I also played on Steam Deck, even though it's not officially graded for Steam Deck yet because I've been traveling. I went to TwitchCon literally the week of Greg being like, hey, do you want to be on this? I was like, yeah, sure. Great. Got to play it a little bit at home. Then immediately I had to travel for TwitchCon, then immediately went from San Diego to Seattle for a very secret thing and then I came back. So I have not had a lot of time in it. I've had maybe like 5ish hours and. But I played it on the Stew deck, which was really cool. And it runs really well for not being optimized for it yet. So. Yeah.

[A]

Awesome. And what are your thoughts so far on the Outer Worlds too?

[C]

I want to play more. It is very fun. I have more thoughts on my character specifically, but I really like it. It's so interesting too because I just started playing New Vegas for the first time, which is also Obsidian, and I was like, oh, yeah, right. This storytelling, it can go really deep. And I do appreciate that. There's so much lore in Outer worlds too. Like immediately out the gate, even if you haven't played the first one, you're like, oh, there's this like little journal entry thing that tells me A bunch of other stuff. I love it. It does feel like it's like modern day Obsidian storytelling and I love it.

[A]

Awesome. Is. How's that dog? Barking dogs.

[D]

Oh, we're good now. We're good now. FedEx might be coming in a second too, so I might have a second. But I played this and I have a whole story we might get into. But I played this on PC via Steam. I also played this on the rogue Xbox Ally X. And I played this briefly on the Xbox series X. I have not completed The Outer Worlds 2 due to technical issues, which you saw me panic about two days ago in Slack. But I was pretty close to the end in my first run. I actually started a second run. I probably have a grand total about around 30ish hours combined with. With the two runs. But the main run I was maybe 22, 23 hours.

[A]

Okay, and what are your thoughts so far on the video game Top level?

[D]

Thought you asked for a back of the box quote, so I'm gonna read exactly.

[A]

Please do, please do.

[D]

Oh, it almost moved. There we go. The Outer Worlds 2 is fantastic. A bigger and better sequel in every way. A classic RPG that doesn't hold your hand and forces you to think as you make tough decisions as you build your character and travel the Arcadia system point blank. I love. I think it's fantastic. Thank you. See, you do it better than I do. At this point. We're going to do.

[A]

We're going to do a T shirt. I'm going to make a T shirt for Paris. Just point blank, period. Okay, fantastic. And you said that you've kind of done multiple playthroughs, right?

[D]

Yes, because, you know, when I had my little technical issue.

[B]

Talk about the technical.

[D]

Oh, my God. Okay, I'm just going to briefly say my save was corrupted, for lack of a better term, and I could not access it. And I told you that. You knew that a couple days ago. So I was like, you know what? Instead of me troubleshooting, screw it, I'm just going to start over because I honestly, this will be part of the conversation. I wanted to do a second run anyways, so I started a second run like I said. Got about a good seven or eight hours into that and got back up to level 12. And then I think Stella just told me how to resolve my issue. So I will jump back in and finish it because like I said, technical problems.

[B]

Paris Lily can't figure his way out of a gosh darn PC like. Greg Miller.

[A]

Greg Miller, what are your thoughts? Unless Paris had more to say, no, no, no, no.

[D]

I was just going to make a dumb joke.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

So yeah, I am in my second playthrough of the Outer Worlds 2 right now. First playthrough I did was 22 hours and it was, if you haven't been following, I did a whole gamescast solo where I built my two characters. I would play through in this game, of course, Lee Everett, my questionable character. Stevie Rogers, my good character. Okay, I did. I was hopeful originally when we pitched this idea on the gamescast that I would go back and forth between the characters playing. But with the way it all shook out, I just was like, you know what I'm going to do one person than the other. So I did my questionable playthrough first, which is the 22 hours one. So that was Lee Everett, right?

[A]

Where did you play on?

[B]

Oh sure, I played on everything. I am doing Xbox game anywhere. So I played on my Xbox series X. I played on my Rog Ally, my Rog Xbox Ally X and I played on the razor blade 16 out there all the time too. So I've seen it in ultra wide screen. I've seen it down on this. I've done everything in that way. So anyways, I did the 22 hour playthrough there and now I'm 11 hours into my Stevie Rogers playthrough. My Back of the Box quote is The Outer Worlds 2 is a wonderful video game playthrough to play through. Things are wildly different and that just makes me want to play more. Dash. Dash. Even though I think the overarching story doesn't live up to its true potential.

[A]

Okay, Greg Miller, what would you give Data Worlds to on the kind of funny scale?

[B]

This is an interesting one that I alluded to a bit both in conversations privately with all you at the desk and then a bit in the social video that went up today, right. Of like playing through Lee Everett's story, my questionable playthrough. I decided the way I want to tackle this game based on everything they had said about The Outer Worlds 2 and how it's going to be a shorter RPG. If you want want it to be, it's going to be very customizable with all the different perks and traits which I cannot wait to get into and talk about the permutations. I said, okay, then I'm going to play this more role playing than I've ever played an RPG before, where I'm going to sit there and decide what I do with every one of my characters and as them. Right. So as this questionable character, this ex convict who's been thrust into this directorate lifestyle, right? As a just to get out of jail and try to clear their name kind of thing. I got going and I was like, clearly this woman is motivated by revenge. That is what's going to push me through the narrative of this game. And I'll base all my answers and choices and things around that. And I made her. I stuck to what I said on the thing, right? Lee Everett is suave and I chose suave and witty to be her traits, which then since I chose two positive ones, I had to take a negative one. So I was sickly, where I'm getting sick all the time and I could only use my inhaler once or I'd die if I use it again. Like there's all these different things in it all. And she's this very stealthy, sneak around, stab you in the back character. That was my 22 hours initially. And playing through it that way, I was like, damn, this isn't living up to the expectations I had for this game. I had been very adamant based on previews like this, I think is going to be Obsidian's best rpg. I think this could be my. It's my most anticipated game, could be my game of the year, that kind of thing. And in those 22 hours, like, oh, it's not hitting the way I want it to. I don't know. And by the end of it, when I rolled credits, it's like 10:30 at night. The first thing I did was run back. New game, made Stevie Rogers and started playing again. And I have been shocked by how different the playthroughs have been and how much fun I am having. I had originally, but now is a brain. Like, at the risk of too much hyperbole here, it feels like a different game. I'm playing now. I came in and I'm like, you know what? I ran the 22 hours here. Being sickly and doing that and doing it in first person. I'm going to run this Stevie Rogers character, if you're joining me too. Stevie Rogers, she's a lawbringer, so she's like, you know, good to her soul and then brawny, right? Was the one trade. I did it. I didn't do another one, so I didn't have to do it.

[E]

Did you Photoshop this?

[B]

What is it? I. I printed off the photo we referenced on gamescast and stapled it in.

[A]

Oh, I love that.

[B]

Players. Captain America. Same one here. Remember, remember for so much happening for Lee Everett I did Rachel Lee Cook from the your brain on drugs ad. That's what I was going for.

[A]

No, he mentioned this is a solo games cast.

[E]

Yeah, I remember him doing it. I just didn't listen to it. So, yeah, when I see the picture,

[B]

Stevie Rogers, super into her, she's got the guns thing, she's got the observation thing in terms of her traits. So that. And like the permutations of what I'm seeing playing it in third person, the characters I'm meeting, the abilities that I never saw in my first playthrough. Like, it feels like a different game of how I did. And I think there's even playing it the second time. I'm sitting there going, man, but what if I do a third run and I choose I did these traits and I did this thing and da, da, da. The Outer Worlds 2 excels at being an RPG for nerdy RPG players. If I'm asking. You're asking me to score it right now, Right now, my score would be that it is an 8. It is a great game. I think it's a flat eight right now. I think it could, as I continue to run Stevie Rogers and continue to do this, move to an 8 5. And I know at that point we're splitting hairs. What are we really talking about? What are the point fives for? But I think it's in that first playthrough, I lost the. I lost the plot of the narrative because I just don't think it lined up with what my character was doing. And so by the end, to run roll credits and this, that, and the other, it's like, okay, here as Stevie Rogers, it is the thing of I'm going up to all these different characters and finding people. I never saw sections of the map, I never saw environments, you name it, where they need my help and they're asking me thing and it's like, okay, this Earth Directorate agent would help those people. So that's why it's happening. And I'm doing this completionist run now, where I'm helping and engaging and yada yada. And the game is so much. I don't want to say richer because I had a rich experience the last time I. I role played this game. This is what my character would do. The companions I picked were picked for a specific reason that led to specific choices that led to specific enemies. Like, I love that first playthrough, and this one is showing me so much more of the game in a way that I'm like, damn, this game is truly something Special. But again, when I finish that playthrough, will I still feel the same of, okay, you really make a big deal about factions, but none of the factions are that great. There's not a faction I'm glomming onto and saying you've got it right, nor is there a faction. I'm not saying you're anything but comedically wrong. Same thing with the narrative. I think, you know, you dropped me into a game I love Andy, right? And you could name them Uncharted, Starfield, Fallout. I can tell you what my character was doing in the main plot and what. So this character did X, Y and Z and that's why at the end we had to kill this guy or do that thing. This one. I rolled credits and I'm like, I don't really. I mean, we were doing this to stop that, but how that was connected, I don't even know. And so maybe playing through it again and investigating more and talking to more, it'll be there. But I don't think it's a failing of me as much as it is. Like, this story is just this story. But as always in these kind of games, right, it's not the destination, it's the journey. And I can just keep. I could have one man reviewed this, but like to jump in on tossing a comparison to Avowed, another Obsidian RPG this year that I really liked but didn't love. I love the outer worlds too, because not of the overall thing that they. I think they missed a bit because of these one to one character interactions. The companions here, I think are so good and again are so varied where the companions I'm using in the Stevie playthrough, the good playthrough, are so different than the companions I used there and the choices I made and the people I dismissed and the choices that liking this one person led to and even playing that evil playthrough that it turned out to be where it was. I'm dealing with a person and they gave me the out that I normally would take in a video game of like, let's, you know, okay, companion. Like, it wasn't that bad. I'm like, you know what? No, they would say this because we want fucking blood. Like, I'm really thrilled with what they did here for the outer worlds too. Even though I don't think it reaches the heights it could have reached.

[A]

I think it says something to want to start a new playthrough as soon as you're done with. With one playthrough. I think that a lot About a video game. Bless. You mentioned that you wanted Greg to go first so you could piggyback off of some thoughts. What are those thoughts you'd like to piggyback?

[E]

So I'm 17 hours into Outer Worlds 2. My PlayStation puts it at around like 60 something percent of the way through the game. And the part I want to piggyback off of because Greg talked about in his. I was going to say rant, but Rant not the right word.

[B]

I was trying to get it all. I've been wanting to be uncorked for a while.

[A]

Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

But in his speech.

[A]

Right.

[E]

Talked about that first playthrough and how he was kind of like on that. I don't know if this is doing it kind of place. And that's where I'm at right now. I'm enjoying it. I think it's a fine game so far. I kind of want Greg to therapize me a little bit and get me to the place where he's at. Because as I've been playing this game, I've been thinking about Subway, the restaurant. Right. And how you go to Subway and you pick the ingredients and that kind of dictates. All right. The sandwich you get is the sandwich that you make.

[A]

And I feel like it smells terrible. Yeah, smells.

[E]

I like the smell. Something.

[A]

I hate the smell. What?

[B]

Really? The bread.

[C]

What are you talking about?

[B]

I mean, it's asbestos, but it smells good. Whoa.

[A]

Remember when we went.

[C]

What do you mean?

[A]

We went to Vegas one time and, like, we walked. I forget what hotel we were at, but it has, like a shopping mall underneath. It was the mgm. But, like, as we're walking down there, we were like, there's a Subway somewhere in this building. Oh, yeah, it infected the building. All right. Keep on going.

[E]

Sorry, but I say that because I. There's like the meme online of, oh, you went to a Subway and you were hating on the sandwich, but motherfucker, you made that sandwich.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

And to some extent, that's how I feel with my playthrough of Outer Worlds 2, where I look at my build, I look at, like, the choices I'm making. And Greg's talking about how he's fully role playing these characters. Right. And seeing the differences is doing so much for him. And for me, I think it's a combination of the story not really hitting as much for me, the faction is not hitting as much, which is accurate. Which is like, yeah, this is kind of some of what Greg was touching on there. And then even my. My role in the world and what I'm giving to the game. I think doing something that's a bit more specific, that's just not resonated with the way that I built my character at the beginning to where now I'm, like, going into things and I'm like, okay, well, I, I, you know, I specced into guns, I specced into speech, and I specced into medical, and I'm sure we'll get into more of what our character builds.

[B]

Jump in, keep, keep going.

[E]

Yeah, but, like, the way that I've specced out my character and the decisions I made at the very beginning, I'm looking at it and I'm like, well, maybe I just didn't make the right decisions. And maybe, like, maybe there was a menu item I should have looked at or something. I was not really liking where I'm at.

[B]

Not even that as much. I think there's definitely. You could, you know, make choices that you don't like or things that don't add up for you.

[E]

Yeah.

[B]

I think based on the previews and the, the showcase they did.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And all this stuff and talking about flaws and all that, from an early onset, I was like, this game feels like it wants me to be specific because again, they, like, if you haven't looked at it, they've boiled down the traits and how you level up and how you're investing your skills. Like, it's not the minutia of outer worlds. One, it is like a broad guns thing rather than. They used to be like, long guns and melee and this or whatever. So what I did with, you know, the character sheets I built. Right. Was I went in and I said, I'm only going to invest in these two skills. So rather than have a spread of skills, because most the time in RPGs, I feel like it is, hey, you get your work, you're working up your lock pick, but you're always too behind where you need to be. Yeah, like that. Right. So I was like that. I'm going to, you know, for Lee, I invested in sneak and I invested in speech. Boom, that's it. Every points are going in there, and I went one and one, one and one every time. Right. And then for Stevie, I did guns and observation. And for me, that has led to the characters being fiercely different and the conversations being fiercely different. Where it is, like, I get to those things. And oftentimes in this game, you see either, you know, your thing of, oh, you have lawbringers, so you have this option you can say, or your sneak is at this point. So you could say this. You also see a lot of that are grayed out and don't work. I think investing in that has made the experience richer. Paris.

[C]

Lily, call on Paris. Thank you.

[B]

Yeah, let me finish the statement, everybody.

[E]

I'm still halfway through my.

[D]

I want to piggyback on the piggyback because this is where I think I technically have three different runs through the game because I had an early run when I was at the studio, then I had when I got home, and obviously the. The do over that I'm doing right now. So it gave me perspective on exactly what you're saying, Greg, where I was all over the effing map at first. I'm putting points in everything, and I'm. I'm always feeling like behind. Whereas this build. Now I know I'm focusing on engineering, hacking, science. Those are my three majors. And then I. I was like, let me put a little bit early into medical and into guns just because I had perspective on the early run through the game. But when I get closer to the end game, everything's going to be more science, engineering. And why am I blanking on science, science, engineering, and hacking? Right. So that's where I do think. Sure. Your first run is going to kind of be all over the place. And talking with Brandon a few times,

[B]

I would urge you not to.

[D]

What would you urge? Not.

[B]

Not to be all over the place.

[D]

And that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. But I think a lot of people that aren't going to watch this and just go in, they're probably going to be all over the place. Right. But Brandon, the game director, talked to him a few times leading up to launch, and he's very specific about they want kind of like what you're saying, Blessing. They want that. He wants that f up to be a part of your. Your. Your character, a part of who you are as you traverse through this. Because you cannot respect any of this stuff. The decisions that you make, you're stuck with them for that run unless you just completely give up and. And start over. So I. What I would encourage for you, Blessing, is continue to play through it, even though you're like, damn, maybe I shouldn't have done this. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Because that also goes into some of your. Your dialogue choices as well, and the companions that you either do bring on board or you dismiss or like I might have did sacrifice for the greater cause.

[A]

You know what I mean?

[B]

And I didn't know you could do that.

[A]

That.

[B]

I haven't seen a change. I haven't even met all the companions. Andy. Like, I was so specific.

[D]

I haven't either.

[B]

In the. In my I Want Blood run, I didn't even meet. I was very focused. I dismissed people who were too good. I was like, you don't. You don't belong here. I'm with these psychopaths. And then this one, meeting these people and bringing them in and do that. But then to try to find the fun. I know this is a weird one of, like. I think it is about leaning into the skills and then the perks you're picking and really basing the character on that. Because having the character right of Lee, who's this sickly one, combat was so defensive for me, where it was like, okay, cool. Like, I'm gonna hide behind this thing. I'm gonna pop out, do this. I never had an overshield. I never. You know, it's like, I was. I had to use my companions in a different way. And then now with Stevie bringing them in and doing that, and then it is like, this kind of is a shitty answer, I think. But it is the idea that, like, I. This is fun. And I'm so excited to finally be reviewing it. I'm excited to eventually talk to everybody as they play more. Because there's, like, in the second playthrough, the person who helped me do this thing with a boss in the second playthrough, right? That person is just like, I'm going to fucking fight you right now. And I have no. I had no way to get them to help me. And it's like, wow, that's cool. What a permutation.

[E]

Yeah. I think to piggyback off the piggyback, which piggyback off of me originally.

[C]

Right.

[E]

Like, I think what I'm experiencing is me not liking my character. And then also, like, the context of my character within this world. Like, the world not give me enough to then try to express my character within it. Right. Maybe that would change if I went back and rerolled stuff. Because right now my character is a Space Ranger and also a Rastabout. Right? And so, like, I. There are. There are dialogue options I get in this game where I'm kind of like, I hate that they're at odds with each other. They're at odds with how I play this game. Right. Where I expect into speech, specifically, because I really like the idea in RPGs of being able to talk myself out of situations. And I've had major Moments where I've been able to talk myself through a situation. And those moments are cool, but they weren't as cool as I would have liked. You know what I mean? Like, it's this thing where I. I think for the way I play RPGs typically, is to just put myself in this world.

[A]

Right.

[E]

I want to be Blessing in the outer worlds to world. I want to make the decisions that I would make. But I don't think this game wants me to be me in this world.

[B]

Well, I think this world is so foreign and weird with this corporate takeover of the galaxy, it's hard to start a real person, which is why I found this so freeing.

[E]

But it's also weird because I think Fallout does that. Fallout is also, like, a really weird world, and I'm able to do it with Fallout. Like a mass Effect is all. Is like, I guess also kind of aligned with it being a space RPG and all this.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Oh, sorry.

[E]

Oh, yeah. There's something about Outer Worlds too, where it's been weird for me to integrate in this game as me just doing my main RPG thing that I do in every other rpg. And so if I was to re roll this game, I think I would do the Greg thing of being like, all right, I'm gonna go all in on Space Ranger and do that.

[B]

Stella, my one thing. And I think, again, that is the thing. I think that this game, you. I think it pays off to make a character and go from. I love the backgrounds they give you to set you up to set up your own headcanon. Please go.

[A]

Stella, do you agree or disagree with Blessing that maybe you found yourself during your plate there going, these aren't choices I would be making.

[C]

Yes, I. It's. Dude, I'm so Blessing, I should have talked to you. I didn't realize you were playing it because, like, we chose the exact same thing. I chose Rust about because I was like, oh, this is dumb. I want to be like, big, strong and dumb. But I also specked into speech because my biggest thing when I play Fallout and RPGs, I either want to be able to convince people to do things, or I want to be able to punch them into doing things. Right. So those are the two things that I always do in Fallout 4. I feel like that was really well done even in, like, New Vegas. Right. But in Outer Worlds 2, which I also think in Outer Worlds 1, obviously combat there wasn't all that great.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I feel like melee was never really focused on or like strength specifically. There are a few choices. You can do where you're like, oh, yeah, I can tear this door open. Cool. But with Rust about specifically, I didn't realize it really nerfs you. I think it's like five trait or five specs, you can never level up again. Which. Okay, that's fine. I think for a first playthrough, it was definitely a mistake because I felt so behind in so many things. I felt locked up out of so many different choices. I was like, well, this sucks. I feel very shoehorned into, I don't know, playing these. This specific character. But also I'm really high in speech, but I can still choose the really dumb option. That feels really weird.

[E]

Yeah, so that was.

[A]

And that's my thing.

[E]

Yeah. Because my character is also like, okay, so my character is a Ross about. He's also sickly. He's also brilliant. And so it's like, this doesn't make.

[B]

That's you. You made a bad sandwich.

[E]

Yeah. But like, I feel. I don't know, I feel like the game gave me the option to do that. Right. And so like, if I. 100% and I'm making those. Honestly, I'm making those decisions based off of, oh, okay, this gives me this stat. I like that stat. Okay. You're doing this. Like it's not just. These aren't just aesthetic. Right. The choices that you're making influence the gameplay. So I made those choices as gameplay choices.

[B]

Let me jump in and just read because we're talking about a lot of backgrounds and we keep talking about Roustabout. It's one of the ones you can book right up from the six here. Roustabout, you're not quite sure what happened. You simply wanted to find a job that used your particular set of skills, which would be none. Yet one accidental death of a well known villain later, and now you're the gunslinging Earth director agent not to be trifled with. You often find yourself wondering if this Earth Directorate has any good cashier openings. Yeah. So again, kind of a listless, you know, backstory to why you would do it.

[A]

Funny.

[B]

Chose that for yourself. Like, I don't know.

[E]

I think it's because I didn't like the other options either.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

But it's not very clear. Once you start playing, you're like, oh, you do kind of need. You kind of need hacking, you kind of need medicine. Like, you kind of need observation. Like, all these choices that you end up taking. I think Rosterbat is good for a second playthrough or at least Like a second character, just because you really need to know what you're getting into. It's kind of like when you first play Baldur's Gate, you have no idea what you're doing. Right? Especially if you're new to that genre. After your first playthrough, you're like, oh, I know what I want this time. I know what I want to do. And you kind of play it that way. It's not like gaming the system, but it's really just optimizing the playthrough for your specific character and what you want to do because it's still an rpg. And I feel like I was like, oh, yeah, I want to be this dumb, stupid character. Which, don't get me wrong, the choices are really funny. But, like, funny doesn't make up the playstyle that I want, you know?

[E]

And I think sometimes I'll read the dialogue for Sickly, or I'll read the. I'll read the dialogue for, like, half the thing my character is. And I'm like, that doesn't feel like it's contributing to the story more so than it feels like it's contributing to the bit of, oh, my character's sick. And so it's like I'm. I'm just reading a sick joke over and over again in this and that.

[B]

And that is accurate as well. I do think that there's plenty of times on the second playthrough here where I choose my Lawbringer option. And I remember to a degree, I remember what I picked before, and it's like, oh, this is us. As I always talk about with Telltale Games, Dispatch, and even RPGs, we all have the same coloring book page. We're just shading it differently. And so this choice shades my character differently, but it still gets the NPC to say the same thing. That leads to the next thing. To the MacGuffin, to whatever.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And I can't wait to find out how all of those coloring book pages have been shaded in. And I also want to find out where everybody's at where, you know, with The Outer Worlds 2 versus Avowed Conversation, which came. Which was another Obsidian RPG from earlier in the year. But we will have to wait to hear about that after a word from our sponsors.

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[D]

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[A]

Reminder to get your Super Chats in Get all your questions in for our panel of reviewers. I have a question here from Colin berry with a $5 super chat. Thank you for your support. Who asks? I only have five to a hopeful 10 hours a week to play due to a little one at home. Would you recommend Outer World based on my time?

[B]

Oh, interesting question. Well, what are you trying to accomplish? I think if you're looking for that everlasting gobstopper of like gameplay and checking in and like kind of doing things episodically because, you know, bless it, when you were talking yesterday, no spoilers for sure obviously. And he's like where am I in the story? I'm this. And I was like well this, that and the other. He's like I'm not to any of that yet. I was like oh, like, like the game is kind of broken up into, I would say three or four big objectives you need to do, but each one of those has like, well you need to get into this place so you need to talk to these two people, but you need to do these two. Like there's Like a whole.

[E]

Dude, you. The other day when you beat your first playthrough, you had messaged in slack, like beat Outer Worlds 2. It took me 22 hours and I was like, oh, let's go. I'm gonna. I can finish this game. And then I realized that I was just playing in a different. I was taking my time.

[B]

Yeah, as you should.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, and the game gives you a

[E]

lot to do, like, within missions. Like, every main mission has so many submissions to it. Not even side missions submissions.

[B]

And so to the question, yeah, five to 10 hours, like, you'll be playing a lot. And I. We haven't even talked about how good the gameplay, I think is in gunplay and all that jazz. We can get to that later. I would say, yeah, if you just keep it all straight in your head, you can look at your quest log at any point and see what you did last and where you are and what you need to do next. And. But to this idea. Yeah. Of like, there's so much to do in the game.

[D]

Right.

[B]

And so many different permutations in 22 hours. Versus I was listening to Travis Northup's review and conversation with Tom Marks on ign and he, he. He's doing a completionist run and did like 65 hours. And it's that idea of like, I want to make it clear I didn't rush credits like we often do on the embargoes coming up. I was just like, I'm. This is what my character would do. And again, that led to so many. I was like, holy. That happened. Like, it was like, all right, you know, you could go to this thing, but you really should go get this to get that to do the third. And I was like, you know what? Fuck that. We are on a mission. And I ran and did the thing and then it was like the fucking horrible things that happened because I rushed it. I was like, fuck, that's cool. Like, I like that idea a lot.

[A]

I want, I want to jump into the avowed conversation about HIT earlier this year. It's a game that I was really, really close to beating. I just, you know, other stuff kind of came around and I wasn't super loving the experience. I think I put 20 something hours into Avowed and Avowed being kind of the new school look at what an Obsidian RPG can be, which is primarily, in my opinion, on the. On the great side of things. How awesome the combat is, how awesome the feel is coming from Outer Worlds one and feeling the dated mechanics and dated controls and maybe just dated implementation of what an RPG combat system could look like. I want to ask, I want to ask Paris, what are your thoughts coming from Avowed One and where do you see the improvements? Where do you see the maybe drawbacks?

[D]

So actually I'm very glad that, that you brought this subject up because if you go back to when we did the Avowed review, I was probably the highest on the panel. I'm pretty sure I gave it a 9 out of 10. And playing this now and some other games through the throughout the year, it gives me perspective on Avowed and what it could have done better. There's a lot here in the Outer Worlds too that I look back at about and I'm like, damn, I wish, I wish they would have done this in a Vowed. Like I really feel the mission structures to and Blessing alluded to this a little bit earlier. It can get very complex as far as the different people that you have to talk to, the different things that you have to do, the various ways you can accomplish something in the game. A Valve did not necessarily do that. I also think the companions in the Outer Worlds 2 their missions and how that factored in and like I mentioned, there's a betrayal you can do with one of them and they're the fact that the companions can be beefing with each other. You know what, while you're playing in Outer Worlds too, some of that was in a Vowed, but not to this level. Right. I do think the combat and Avowed was good, being more of a fantasy game. Right. In comparison to the Outer Worlds too. So I don't really have a complaint there. But then when we get to the actual RPG of it, as far as your skill, when we talk about these skills and the traits and the perks and how you can kind of synergize those for your build, Avowed was not on that level with that. So when I think about it overall, if. If I had to re review it, I'd probably drop it down to an eight for Vowed. Whereas. And I know I have not completed the Outer Worlds too, so I'm not giving an official score. I'm higher than Greg where I'm feeling. I'm in that 9ish range with the Outer Worlds too. But obviously I'll need to see how they stick the landing with it before I can 100% say still.

[A]

Did you play any about?

[C]

I didn't, but I actually heard a lot of people were surprised with it. Like, I think when people are like, oh I can, yeah, why not let me try this out. And they're like, oh, wait, the combat's actually really good. The RPG elements are really good, even though there's no romance, which I know was like the biggest thing that people were concerned about. So I was curious and I do want to play it at some point, which, by the way, I can't believe that was this year. I thought that was last year. Yeah, that's been a long year.

[A]

I feel like anytime we get to

[B]

sit in third game this year, remember that, everybody.

[A]

When we get to the fall time, it's always like, oh, that game came out in February. That's absolutely nuts. Greg, where are you at with the Avowed comparisons?

[B]

I mean, I think this is Head and Shoulders better than Avowed. I enjoyed a vowed for what it was. I was the lower end of the scale. I forget what I gave it, but this is what we wanted, right? That was, if you remember when we did the review and you me talk dandy. It was like, man, Avowed is beautiful and the combat is cool, but like everything else, kind of weak. And I did not like any. I didn't. I didn't hate them, but I didn't connect with any of my companions. Whereas so far in Outer Worlds I haven't missed with any of my companions for different reasons, different characters to why I think you're awesome and I want you on the team or I got to dismiss you or whatever. Like I. That again, no spoilers. But like, I think the factions being kind of. I think even though it's gonna sound goofy probably, but kind of bland, they're all like, weird, but they're all the same kind of weird, if that makes sense. The overall story being like, okay, what am I? Why? What? But they. Okay, what? Like, that's what brings this down for me. But that's such a big picture. Step back versus when you're in the moment of man, the gunplay feels so fucking good in Outer Worlds 2. And then, oh, I got this new little device I'm going to use. Or there's this new plasma biomechanical pistol. Like when you look at the gameplay trailer and you see stuff in there again that I'm not even seeing that I'm not using. Andy, you'll love this. Like, so for Stevie, right? One of the things I did for Skills was guns, right? So because I didn't do that the first time, so I'm getting bonus damage which then led to different perks that I didn't see before, obviously, because your perks are going to be based on what skills you have and Your flaws and your traits. I ended up on Stevie. Right now I'm mid maxing, so I have a point blank artist, which gives me, when I'm using pistols or whatever, more damage, 10 meters close. And then I put on the crabble rancher one which is then further away. So all of a sudden it went from like, I was using cool guns before to oh shit in my 1 and 2 slots. I need a pistol and I need a ranged weapon. So now I'm actually sniping, I'm actually staying back. I'm actually tactically thinking in a way that I wasn't doing. And this might. You're like, what does this have to do with about. Combat was great. This is elevating it, I feel like. And layering on more of that rpg.

[E]

You gotta let me play on your save because I want to, I want to feel that about the content. Yeah, I'm not having that feeling about the combat, but I do want to. The, My biggest compliment to this game, I think is the, the companions though, because I've. I've had moments so far that where I'm like, I. I'm with you on the macro story of it, that micro story that you're talking about where I'm. I had committed to two companions early on because I'm like, all right, I did your quests, I've upgraded you. And so like, even if a new person comes through, it's going to be tough for me to let you go. I had a moment during the story where one of my companions kind of gave me attitude and was kind of like, okay, well now we're kind of beefing. And I was like, okay, you know what, stay on the ship. I'm taking this other person who's not going to fucking, fucking lip. And it felt great. Like the fact that I'm having those moments where I am role playing in that way and the fact that I've even found companions that I didn't think I've found in like unconventional ways. Right. Like not through main story where I was like, let me go off the beaten path and just happen to find somebody who I happen to do a quest with. And now it's like, oh, shit, okay, we're homies now. When did. That's cool.

[A]

When did this happen for you? Because I think I talked to you a couple of days ago and you

[E]

were literally 10 of the last 48 hours.

[B]

You came by. You like, this sucks.

[A]

You had mentioned being a little bit underwhelmed with the NPCs in Outer Worlds who are the companions. And that's. And I echoed, like, that's how I felt about. Aow. Like, I just never, ever fully connected. And even though I think shooting for the stars, it's always like, you know, can I find another Garrus, Ficarian or Liara Tony or just. Just Mass Effect NPCs? Can I ever hit that level of like, this is my squad. Right? Did you ever feel those moments blessed were like, you told that person, all right, stay on the ship, but now you're looking forward to bringing out other people and you're like, oh, I'm can't wait to bring you.

[E]

Literally, like, I. It's funny, I forget because I played Outer World. I played Outer Worlds 1. I really enjoyed Outer Worlds 1. I only remember like one or two of the companions that I really with. It was Parvati. Parvati. And then I think you had a robot in Outer Worlds one that I really with here. I think there is a range of. Of morality and things that motivate these characters to where I'm like, like, I don't want to spoil it. I'm not gonna explain anything.

[A]

Right.

[E]

But like, where I thought I was aligned with one character as I've played, I'm kind of like, actually, I don't care about this as much as you care about this. And this other character has like a thing that's totally like aligned with a. One of the factions where, like, I'm. I don't really with either the factions, but I'm learning about kind of his morals and. And I'm like, like, ah, maybe I do with this a little bit. Like, maybe I do kind of with the more gray area of what y' all got going on. And so it's been really neat to kind of make the transition through from what felt like, I guess, what's the DND chart? The good.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

Going from lawful to now being a bit like neutral or like, maybe even like that middle evil kind of area.

[A]

Paris, go ahead.

[D]

So just since we're on the companion conversation, one thing that I really love about this, this game is there's. There'. There's two specific contains. I won't. I won't spoil it. That. That's my crew. That's who I'm rolling with. Right. And one of them. I just. Depending on the decisions that you make in this one quest line, you can bring this person on board. When I. I'm doing it now, I was like, huh, I wonder if I do the other thing, what'll happen? I do the other thing, that person is not a part of my crew at all. And this companion in my. In my later run became very pivotal to. To things that I was doing, alliances and all that. So I. And then. And I think I know who blessings talk about. There's this other one that's very factual line that. Oh, yeah, we. We rolling. Because. Because I'm a dick. I'm. I always take all the bad things. So. So this, for me and this person, we're like this son. You know what I mean? So I almost want to see what happens when that person's not with me, and then just the inner conflicts that the companions have as well. And, you know, the fact that you might kick them off or they might say, screw you. I'm leaving. I don't want to be a part of this. I just think they nailed that aspect way better than they did and avowed in retrospect.

[A]

Go ahead, Paris. Oh, go ahead, Stella. Sorry, I was gonna say Paris.

[D]

I'll go again.

[A]

Paris lacks. Stella.

[C]

I know we're both ripped.

[A]

You know, I get it. It's okay.

[C]

Yeah. No, to that point, so I went back, and I was playing Dragon Age Veil Guard, which I still think that's a fantastic game, but it does fail in a lot of the RPG aspects. Right. So in that game, you have to accept the companions. I love when RPGs give you the option to take a companion, or you could completely fuck up and never get them on your crew. And I love that because that's how real life works. You might never align with this person, or you might end up doing something that, like, you know, maybe it pisses them off, or, like, maybe you don't agree with them and you don't want them on your ship. Totally fine. There was one companion that I really, really love that. It's really interesting that your actions specifically shape how they turn out too. And you're like, oh, God, right? I'm still this person that's very influential in the game. And that's something that. It's so weird, but I love it. It's this additional aspect of, like, oh, God, I have to really be meaningful with these choices. This will be remembered stuff. I love that so much. And it's. They really nailed it with. I think they really nailed it with the companions. And again, I can't imagine dismissing anyone, though. That's so mean.

[B]

Oh, dude. We'll have to talk offline because, yeah, it was, you know, this first playthrough. We had a mission. We had a goal. I met One companion who I will be very interested to see how I handle as Stevie the good character, right? But I met this one companion and I was like, oh, you got bloodlust, let's go. And yeah, this other companion was not down with that. And like, literally the first moment, that companion was like. But really I was like, you're gone. Like you're off the team. Don't go back to the ship. You're gone. And they were like, really? And I'm like, get the fuck out of here. That's why it's interesting to play this one and be like, I'm not playing this game. Like, I gotta collect them all. I'm playing this game and being like, what would you. Let's meet first and are we gonna end up fighting? Is that even a thing we could do? Because I feel like that's what we would do.

[A]

Paris, on your second playthrough, were you making or I'm not second playthrough, but on your second go at it, were you making massively different changes, like, and different decisions?

[B]

Yes.

[D]

And I'm so glad you brought that up because 1. And this isn't a spoiler in the sense that this came up during the previews that I did a couple weeks ago. There's something early in the game that you have to get to called the vox relay, right? And my first playthrough, it was like frickin Benny Hill trying to get into that. It was chaos. I had to sneak. Like all kind of stuff was going on, right? And I finally got in this time I. Because there, there, there's ramifications on how you get in there, right? Depending on what you choose. So this time I chose a different path. Damn near just walked right in. No, no problem, you know, to get in, but it comes at a cost. And, and I love that where it's just too deceptive. Distinctly different things happen post vox relay because of how I got into the vox relay. So to answer your question, yeah, I've definitely tried to do different things just to see, like, I brought up the one thing with the quest line with a companion. Whereas like I said, I look like damn near my favorite companion. I don't even get this companion because I aligned differently than I did the first time I played, right? So. And I was actually gonna ask this question and Greg, you would be probably be the one.

[B]

Can I time you out? Because one thing I want to jump off of just to throw out, there is a tidbit that I thought was so cool. It was the idea of like, you know, you have your quest log and it's like, you know, it's insane. It's like main quest, side things, tasks, collectibles. And then when the first time it ever popped up of botched and it was like, you botched this quest. I had that.

[E]

I reloaded the save.

[B]

Yeah, no, we're not doing that. No safes coming. Paris, I'm sorry you're question, but you,

[D]

you, you dove right into it. And that's, that's the whole point I'm bringing up is do you think, do you feel that they designed the outer worlds to. To be re for replayability? That one playthrough is simply not enough for this game. Because, Because I do think it's that perspective that you'll have this chaos. First run of, oh, maybe I shouldn't have done this, maybe I shouldn't have done that. Where now you go back with that perspective of man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna spec into this. I'm gonna choose this. Or maybe I'll choose that. Let's see how that goes. Oh, that didn't go the way I thought. Maybe I want to go play again. Actually, I want to bring up one other thing, and this isn't a spoiler in, in a sense, Greg and Blessing, you probably got to this already as well. Did you run into the quest where the Minotaur was the leader of this, this group?

[E]

Yeah, I, I didn't run into a quest, but I ran into a settlement that had some interesting.

[A]

Like that.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, to the point again, the first time I made one decision that I thought was the right thing to do. Chaos. Everyone's mad at me, shoot on site, all of that. Second time I chose what seemingly seemed like the wrong decision to make and everything was fine. Everything was great. So even in that way, everything, just thinking you're doing the right thing can have consequences. And I love that aspect as well.

[B]

Yeah, to the point, like, yeah, I think this is definitely designed to be played multiple times, which is why it's surprising how meaty it was when they were talking about that openly. I was like, oh, okay, so we're still going to get something that's 20, 30 hours in that range. And so to hear Travis, I've done 65 hours, like, oh, shit. And then even now, as Stevie, at the speed at which I'm playing and doing everything, because that's what I think that character would do, it's like, oh, I'm going to be here a long time after the fact, which is Great. But then it is like, I wonder then, because, like, one of the things I usually am a hacker and a lock picker, and not having done that now it is such a bummer to run into those, and I want to do that. And then also there's so many times where they're like, oh, like, science would really help me out in this conversation. Or this thing I found and it's not there. And I'm like, if I went back as a science character, would it. Then would that character do every. Because I don't have 60 hours again, twice.

[E]

That's my thing. This is like my favorite thing, but also my least favorite thing, right? Where I remember doing this in maybe Fallout back in the day or like older RPGs where you'd hit a thing and they're like, you need to be this type of player. And I'm like, I'm playing this once. I'm playing this only one time. I don't know what. I'm going to get back to this. But it is really cool, though, in an RPG where it is like, hey, you, have we blanked out this message? Because you're like, you mentioned you're not a scientist, you're not XYZ thing. And as a player, half the time I'm a little bit frustrated, but then I'm also like, when I get the thing that is for my dumbass, sickly raps about character, I'm like, all right, cool, now I can make something work.

[B]

Or when I get something, yeah, that's the push and pull of it, right? Where it's like, again, I think for my character right now, it makes sense for her to want to help everybody. So I'm trying to do a little bit of everything. But if I. My next character doesn't have that vibe, I can get through the game faster, as I clearly did already.

[A]

I have a question directed towards Paris and Greg, since they are the ones who have kind of made more different choices across a couple of different playthroughs. When I. And I'm glad I keep what I. I've never called you Parallax tell in my life. Why do I keep on saying that? You say you're beginning. You said at the beginning the. I'm glad you brought up Dragon Age Vale Guard, which is a game that I also really, really loved. And it, you know, it's one thing to have a game that allows you to do different choices and allows you to kind of go different paths and all of that can make you happy. Of like, wow, that's so cool how different this is. But is the level of content behind those choices also of very high quality? And when I played through the Veil, when I played the Dragon Age of Elgard, I was like, like, whoa, I don't know what all these low scores are about. Like, I loved my time with it. My. And then I.

[B]

Smart man. That's why.

[A]

And then I tried another playthrough and made a bit different decisions and went, oof. The level of writing here is definitely not what I was experiencing with the choices I was making on my first playthrough. Where now this conversation leads here. And it's like, whoa, that you're just rushing this that way. Like, oh, that's a bad line of dialogue. And you kind of start to see where other people's experiences may have really varied from yours based on the decisions that you were making. Did you feel, Greg, through any of your different choices you were making and Paris, for you as well, that, oh, not only is this cool, that now this really cool thing can happen, then I'm. I'm choosing something else here. But did you ever run into a moment where you said, oh, and thank God the writing is still good, or am I experiencing this different choice and going, it's cool that this can happen, but, man, you are delivering this in a really kind of below average way that I would have hoped to experience

[B]

writing in terms of quality. No, in terms of consequence. Yes.

[A]

There.

[B]

I obviously wouldn't spoil it. There's a conversation I had at one point where it was like, this time I'm gonna say this. And I did it. And it was immediately like, well, we can't do that. I was like, so you're. And I was like, oh, I'm just back to work.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

The first time I picked this, and it led to this, but this time I picked the other thing. You're like, no, we still got to do this. And it's like, oh, okay. I don't think that happens often. Again, I think the majority of the time when I'm picking the things that color my picture, I feel different. I feel like it does it. I have seen the consequences of. Of different things that I didn't do here. I didn't act this way, like, how that nets out. And I do see those and feel that.

[A]

Paris, how do you feel about some of the different choices you've been making and. And the level of quality behind, like, the writing going into those decisions?

[D]

I. I thought the writing in the. In this was. Was fine. I thought it was Pretty good, I think. I think that narrative team over there. You did a fantastic job, but it is more about the consequences of your actions. And that's what. What I alluded to at the beginning of this conversation, that you really got to think about the dialogue choices that you make. Because even if you think you're doing the right thing, there's. There's going to be a reaction to that. There could be someone that's pissed off at you, a faction or whatever. There's all these different things that potentially could happen as a result. That's why I even just brought up the vox relay thing, because I've seen two distinct outcomes of that just in the two playthroughs. So. So, yeah, it's more about consequences, but. But I. I love the writing in this game. I think there's a nice. And I keep. Want to say sarcasm. Is that the right word I'm looking for? Where I love the humor in this. It can get a little dark at times. There's one quest line.

[B]

It's dystopian.

[D]

There you go. Yeah, that's. That's a better word for it. Where I thought the narrative team nailed it just on the dialogue choices that you have, what the NPCs are saying back to you. Where at point, I had to really think about, damn, do I do this or do I do that? Both of them are making a very compelling argument for this. Ah, screw it. I'm going to choose this. You know, damn it. I shouldn't have chose that.

[B]

Right?

[D]

It was one of those things. So, no, I. I thought it was really good.

[A]

Stella, go ahead.

[C]

Yeah, I was going to say there are a lot of choices in the game where you really have to think about something. And I think. Think there's a lot of NPCs in the world that give you more backstory and more references to things that kind of help shape your decision. And I feel like that's something I didn't really get in the Outer Worlds one, because you kind of just make your decision, you kind of deal with the consequence, whatever. And especially Since Outer Worlds 1, you kind of do a playthrough. You're like, okay, I kind of get it. I don't want to play through it again. But with this, because there are so many different reactions throughout the world that really make you think about, like, okay, this has to be a really pointed decision, because this doesn't just affect my character and my story. It affects all these other people. And I think that's a strength that Outer Worlds 2 really has is that it makes you feel like the world is way more alive. You run into a lot more NPCs just kind of fucking about in the world, which I don't know if you guys met this one, but there's this one dude who's like training one of the wild alien creatures to sniff out mines. Did you find that one?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Yes.

[C]

It was so funny. And I was like, oh, my God, this is so cool. It feels way more alive. And so it makes you really think about your decisions, even if it's something like, oh, hey, who do you want to side with? Who do you think is in the right or wrong here? And you're like, okay, it doesn't ultimately matter for me, but I'm leaving these people to this decision. So it's, it's, it's really well done how they wrote this. And I feel like Obsidian does dark and gritty really well, especially having played New Vegas for the first time. I'm like, oh, they tackle some really hard subjects.

[A]

Oh, wow. 126 month resubscription from game Over Greggy. Who says Stella should be nicer to Greg Craig?

[B]

You know, that's just the chat saying, oh, okay. No, but honestly, I want to compliment the writing as well. And I mean, Blessing can see it easily, but like, I have. This is my one drive of my screenshots from. And it's.

[E]

I personally got a one drive of screenshots.

[B]

You gotta. I mean, come on. That's a PC game number one. Yeah, I did. Nice. I was rocking this. Y' all should come by. You could hear the laptop. Oh, man, it's gonna take off anyways, though. So many of these are just screenshots of funny lines that these characters said that I just wanted to remember. And yeah, it made. And I think that speaks so well to what they're doing. Again on that micro level, let's get

[A]

into a quick little show and tell. Everybody has prepared some stuff that may take big Raj daddy some time to bring up, so I will. All right, awesome. I would like to start with Stella's character because Stella's also. She's a shooter. She's got that keyboard. She was keyboard mouse queen. And. And I don't know what your play styles may be, but I got to assume you're very much like, you know, sharpshooting. You like the long range weapons possible.

[C]

Actually, I haven't been. Okay, here.

[B]

As terrifying as Stella looks in real life, this character is the same psychotic.

[C]

She looks so mean and I love it. But the Thing is, this character's dumb, so she's like mean for just like real.

[B]

Stella got her, dude.

[C]

Okay, all right, whatever. So it's really interesting. So I really love melee builds because I think it's really funny to just punch someone in the face and then like keel over. But I feel like with melee you need to be so much more specific and more intentional with your, with your combat. I'm not gonna lie, the gunplay in this is really easy. So actually when I do use my guns, I have to bump it up a difficulty because I'm like, okay, this is a little too easy. Right. I do think that sometimes when you're stuck on the environment, it's really easy to hide behind a thing. And then the enemy NPCs don't know. Like the AI doesn't know where to go. So you can kind of like cheese it quite a lot. So for me I feel like melee makes it a little bit more difficult. It's a little bit more dynamic. You can have more fun with it because you actually have to be careful about like, oh, which ability should I use? And like, oh, should I go for this one first? Who, which enemy should I get my companion to target first?

[A]

So what abilities were you using?

[C]

Let's see. Well, like okay abilities or like perks.

[A]

Like whenever I see in the trailers people floating with anti graph stuff, I'm like, I want whatever that is.

[C]

I have been very like on the ground. But I do love the acid thing because it does help take down shields and then it helps me kind of like, you know, bash the shit out of people, but.

[A]

Awesome.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, and I have the perk where like if I run at someone I can just knock them down. So I just like run around the arena and knock people down.

[A]

Paris, what about your character? What were you sort of specking into? What was your combat? Melee, long range, sneak in abilities.

[D]

Yeah, so like I was mentioning before, I was mainly specking into engineering. Science. Science hacking. A little bit of gun medical as well. I was trying to take the. Oh, and. And I'm brilliant, of course. Gotta be brilliant. And yeah, just like real life, even though technical issues. But I was trying to take the approach of I wanna, if there's a auto mech, there's a door I need to get into or whatever computer terminal, I'm gonna be able to get out access to it. Right. To get more information. Because that's the other thing. If make sure you always go to these terminals and try and devour as much information as you can because you might find I find out something that you'll meet an NPC later that you're like oh, you discovered this and this will help you in the dialogue tree and get more information or get something out of that person. As far as my guns go, I really was specking more into using like, like the shock rifles. I just love the ability to be able to chain. That aspect we haven't really talked about yet is the crafting, finding recipes for stuff mods that you can put into your guns, put into your armor, you know, to I, I'll have more damage for this or I'll be resistant to, to poison or you know, all these various things that you'll have. And then there's going to be perks that you can get as well that can help synergize that you're asking. Off top of my head, I'm freaking blanking on on names right now. But they're more specific perks that'll help you with your gunplay, damage, resistance, things like that. So that's where I was leaning with, with my build. But yeah, I tried to take, yeah, I'm okay with the gun, but that's not my, my specialty. I'm more of, I want to tinker and get into getting into gadgets and computer terminal type things.

[A]

Bless. You mentioned telling you told Greg, you got to let me play on your character and your build because you haven't been having as much fun with either the gunplay or combat. What have you kind of been rocking in your playthrough? Yeah.

[E]

So as far as the skills, I put a lot of points into guns, medical and speech. Reason why I went medical is because my character is also sickly. And so I was like, okay, if I'm gonna be sick, I'm gonna need ways to heal here. But because they build my character, I go down easy. So that's kind of the thing that makes the combat sequences kind of tough to get into. I could take people out easy because my gun skills, skill, I got that the most leveled out of all my skills.

[A]

Right.

[E]

And so I'm kind of a gunslinger. That's kind of the character that I've been imagining that I've been, that I've been rolling with. Right.

[A]

But I gotta say this is the ugliest arm I've ever seen in my life.

[E]

Yeah, but it's the best. Like that's the, it's the stat thing again.

[B]

Like dude, this is an armor I carry with me and it's like, oh, this is a tough fight.

[A]

Suit up.

[B]

Take it off. Put back on my Earth director.

[A]

Is it like stained glass?

[B]

Is it supposed to look like. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty.

[C]

I think it's pretty.

[E]

I fucking hate it. But, yeah, I rock it.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

You know, listen, gameplay is king for me.

[A]

Yeah, of course I.

[E]

There's that. We haven't talked much about the flaws at all, but my character is flawed. I have the in radiated flaw, which basically, if I get shot, there is a chance that I'll take more damage. But if that goes, then I will go invisible for a small amount of time. That's the only flaw I've accepted because I think. I think a lot of the flaws are not great. It's one of those things where I've like, I thought about accepting flaws and I did. I was like, no, I'm reloading the save. I'm not doing this. Like, I. I don't really like the flaws in this game.

[A]

You mean like the.

[B]

The.

[A]

The cons of them are too high or.

[E]

Yeah, like it's like.

[A]

Or the pros aren't high enough.

[E]

The flaws for me have outweighed the pros.

[A]

Okay.

[E]

For most of these.

[B]

So, yeah. If you're unfamiliar when you're doing something in the game, if you do it enough. And there's other ways, but like a great one. Hold on. If you do it enough, you get offered a flaw that'll give you a buff to kind of what you're doing, but it'll subtract from something else. A great one that I really think's funny is. Is we all got the Deluxe Edition as the one. Oh, thanks to Xbox for game codes for review. Of course.

[E]

Go for it.

[A]

Go for it.

[E]

Maybe you did, because I don't think

[B]

I got the Deluxe. The Xbox Play anywhere version that I had is the Deluxe Edition. Whatever it gives. I mean, whatever it gives you like a moon man thing. But more importantly, that's why he loved it. It immediately gives you a flaw as soon as you start. Called consumerism. It's like, oh, you love spending money on dumb shit. It's like literally, like, you love spending money on dumb shit. So here's like the thing we'll offer that's funny.

[A]

The other one they also showed off in the preview for people interested in this game are like, if you look at the sun too much, then that becomes a. You know, your vision gets, you know, whatever the hell, you know.

[B]

Yeah. There's ones that are goofy like that, and then there's ones again that are based on. So like, for. I. Obviously, I Played way more with lee, I guess. 12 hours so far, I've accepted. I accepted so many flaws.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I did treacherous. You're not made for fighting fairly, of course. Your max health is reduced, but enemies lose track of you quicker. You deal bonus sneak attack damage.

[A]

Right.

[B]

For how I'm playing this character and radiated like we were talking about. Over prepared. Missing only a shot or two. Doesn't matter. You've already reloaded. If you ever let a weapon run out of ammo, you'll deal less damage for a short time. But all guns now hold more ammo. Because I'm a constant reloader.

[E]

That's the.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

And that's the one I accepted. And then after the next combat sequence, I was like, let me roll back too.

[B]

Really?

[E]

Before? Yeah, because I was like, wow. I feel like at least the flaws that I get it. I. I almost feel like they're pushing them on me. Of like, oh, we haven't given this guy a flaw in a second. Let's give him. Because I. I read that I'm like,

[B]

I reload all the time. Yeah.

[E]

I'm like, is that the way I play? And I do reload a lot. But then as I played, I was like, yeah, but I also let my ammo run out a lot. So this is not going to do well for me. That's how I just feel about all the flaws.

[A]

Let's bring up Kevin or Greg's companions as he's talking about his for.

[B]

Yeah. Again, for Lee Everett, I had bad knees. Years spent crouching. You've really done a number on your knees. They ache and squeak. But as long as you stay crouching, you can ignore the pain. Again. Right? Because I'm doing this crouch stealth walk the entire time. And then the final one was reckless leadership. Your leadership techniques leave a little bit to be desired. With your companions often finding themselves in harm's way, you are no longer able to revive your companions in combat, but whenever one does go down, your other companion will get a boost. They are fully healed and immediately fill their companion ability meters. Because, like, that sounds awesome. The way I was hiding because I had no fucking health and I would die if I breathed. Like, I had to hide so they would run out and just immediately die. And I was like, all right, him.

[A]

That's awesome. Let's continue to get some more super chats in as we kind of wrap up the show.

[B]

Show up Stevie Rogers, though.

[A]

I have a super chat here from Kenneth Fox. Thank you for the super chat. Who says, as someone who also reviewed the Outer Worlds, too. I thought the companions were much weaker than the first game. No one came close to Parvati or Vicar Maxed.

[B]

I didn't like Parvati in the first. First one, especially on the RE review when we reviewed Outer Worlds the first time, when it was you, me, Imran, like, I remember me, I felt like I was way more negative than everybody else. And I like negative to a. We didn't do scores, but, like, what I would have done like a six, five, whatever, probably. And then on the replay with all the DLC with Stella this year, I was like, okay, you know what? Like, I'm. I. I vibed with it more, but I didn't vibe with a lot of any companions. Maybe the robot was the only one I think I stuck with or whatever that, like, liked. So I was. I, I disagree. And I thought everybody here was way more engaging. I like theirs. I like their companion quests. I like their rewards. Again, it's a such a simple thing, the way they. It's so complex with the traits and stats and stuff. But again, how it's like, okay, just put all the points into guns, right? It's the same thing with companions of like, all right, cool, you've completed this thing for them. So, like, their tree for upgrades is really two options that each have two things. So it's like, do you want this or that? And do you want this or that? Cool, now you've made that person. I'm like, I like that in terms of moving quicker.

[A]

Paris, Stella, were y' all with the companions?

[D]

Yeah, I. I thought these companions were more fulfilling for me. I thought I got more out of them, you know, even from a character standpoint, as far as my interactions with them. And you take their quests and like, like Greg is even saying here at the end is just the simplification of their upgrades needs. Yep, I can do this. I can swap it back and forth, whatever. All right, now we're on our way. Pick the ones that I like for whatever encounter I'm about to go into, and, you know, that's it.

[C]

Yeah, I like them again. I think the best part is that if you don't like a companion, you can not work with them. You can dismiss them like Greg does. Very mean. But also you can maybe not recruit them, which I think is the beauty of it. Right. Like, you could technically dismiss everyone and play on your own or just not take anyone out at all. So I feel like it really does let you kind of play however you want. But for me, I do love the personal relationships I love knowing about, like how this person was affected by these events or like how they feel about things. And again, I feel like the companions do change how I play because what you do affects them directly and changes their personality, which I think is huge. And that's a huge part of an rpg.

[B]

Andy, can I jump in for one thing?

[A]

Go ahead, Greg.

[B]

I've been very, I love this game and I've been talking about the flaw of this overall story that I just don't think landed for me. Me, I wrote down a bunch of other stuff that were nitpicks for me, but I want to call out of things again. Like, well, if Greg loves it so much, why is he just saying eight? Maybe eight, five at the end of this, but eight for now. And it's like there's interesting choices in here that took me out of it in a lot of different ways. What? I'm the stealth build and I'm murdering people from behind the entire time. Just stabbing them in the butt. They drop their dead. You know what I mean? Put a knife in the prison wallet. You know what I'm talking about?

[A]

Oh my God. You don't have to ask me twice.

[B]

Shout out to everybody who listens and gets those ads. Sorry. Anyways though, like. But after I started going and I'd go deeper, deeper into the game, I started getting to situations where I'd walk up behind people like, oh, you can't stealth this guy. He's too powerful. This is too. And I'm like, I'm a stealth build. Like, what the fuck are you talking about? And at one point I wrote it down. I was doing 525% sneak damage and I would still get that. You can't do this now. I eventually upgraded the knife. I wasn't paying. I was using a low level knife. But at 525, let me kill him with whatever knife I fucking want to do. You know what I mean?

[A]

That is one thing I really enjoyed about, about the small amount of time that I spent with Assassin's Creed Shadows was the level of accessibility with, you know, really kind of getting into the nitty gritty with the difficulty.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And you know, I upped the combat difficulty and but I lowered the difficulty for stealth that way I don't have like the, I, I just, I really like the one shot kill. Like, yeah, reward me for sneaking around successfully and yeah, for sure.

[C]

Another, another curious because like I, I, I, I did that but like sometimes it would proc, like, oh yeah, you can stealth kill. So I wonder if It's a bug because like, well, no, it would be.

[B]

I walk up and they would have that red skull next to them of like, oh, they're a high level character. And you walk up and be like, no, you can't do it. But again, I might have been using an underpowered knife, but at 525 just, oh, this guy should be able to kill me. Then another one. This is. Again, we're well versed in these games. Yes, it's Obsidian, but it's also Bethesda. It's also whatever. And like, so you know the boundaries. There was one where I had to go sneak into a place and I killed a cultist and it's like, well, I got cult armor. Let me put on the cult armor and let that disguise me for this situation. Again, you're breaking my immersion there. I thought this was a really weird one that hopefully will be fixed in day one patches or whatever. But I was having this bug where I would especially going between so many different platforms. When you come back to the game after, you know, start restarting it, the Moon man comes out and gives you like a little update of like, oh, you did this and da da da, that's cute around. I had it twice or maybe even three times where the guy came out and started talking about stuff I hadn't done yet. Where I was like, I know this from previews that this is going to happen. But you're. I didn't do that. Why are you referencing that kind of thing? And in a similar section, there was one very specific thing where I came into an area, killed this NPC and then like picked up the thing and then I went to my quest log and it was like, oh, that NPC told you that you, you needed this. I'm like, no you didn't. I killed it. And then when I. I actually died and had to reload, came in, talked to that person than kill him and got the information that way. And then what a fucking bummer for a game that I do think, is this pretty? So colorful. A lot of the avowed purples and that neon greens. No photo mode. Like, what the fuck? Come on. Let me have a very basic photo

[A]

mode game is very, very pretty. That's one thing that really stood out to me during that preview. Like, oh, thank God there are shadows being casted on stuff.

[B]

So we have.

[A]

Oh, go ahead, Stella.

[C]

Sorry, I was just gonna ask because like I don't. Blessing and Greg leveled up guns. But like I felt like gunplay was so easy.

[D]

Yeah, that's Kind of how I felt

[C]

too with leveling guns. Does that change your gameplay at all?

[E]

I mean it made me strong.

[C]

My guns was at like two and I was. And I was using really low level guns and I was still able to like kill a bunch of people and

[B]

I upped the difficulty when I was the stealthy. The stealthy little shit Lee Everett. It was so hard to take. I took so many shots to take people down. My normal now as Stevie Rogers with my guns, I think it's at 10 now maybe 11. It is just like. But it's like now it's kind of like a power fantasy. Especially coming off of like being weak and sickly and all this stuff coming down. You're like Captain America feels pretty good.

[E]

I can go back in time. I wouldn't have specked into guns and I would have like put that into making my character not sickly or something like.

[B]

But I think that's.

[E]

I hate being the. Like I forget what they call it but I'm glass right. Like I get melted glass cannon. Thank you. But I melt other people.

[B]

I think it's. I think also though that might be differing from again they want you to craft it to your experience. Stick with me. Maybe that is. Then you've got to that point and now we should start investing. Me too. Investing in another thing. Investing in lock picking. Investing in whatever the problem is when I did that with lee, you know yeah 20. Is that the max for any of these skills you can invest in? So by the time I did that with her then it was like well I'll start putting in the lock pick. But I'm so late game. They want lock picks of like 11.

[E]

So at 6 my thing is that. Is there another stat that is. Is I get armor or like my defense is up Because I feel like that's more of a. Is it more of a perk thing because I tried scrolling through them. I couldn't find anything that was. That would toughen me up.

[B]

I don't know. Off top my head.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Super chat here from Shaggy Sasquatch who says Stella should bully Greg more blessed too. Tech is already pushing Paris around enough. He's fine. Three KO with or it's echo with a five dollar. Super chat says how reactive is the world to your decisions? The world in a vowed felt so static despite my actions and conversations that it was a big letdown.

[B]

I mean I would say big picture. It's not that reactive. I can give you the granular, the big choices that you do stuff the you walk in Somewhere. And they are, oh, did you hear that this happened? And you know you did that. But in terms of, like, dramatic shifts. No. Again, one of the things I think that brings down this experience is this faction system they've put in here. Both the factions themselves, I feel not being that interesting or enamoring or like they're not as good as the companions. Right. And then kind of all being samey where it's like, yeah, all suck. So why would I do anything? They, on top of that, have a companion reputation system. And early on with whatever. I forget which one it is with Lee, I. I guess suave maybe is a trait that meant that I couldn't go below neutral with anybody. But I also have. I haven't even as Lee, who didn't do as much. I never really got out of unknown in terms of what it was. And now is Stevie doing more and I guess technically only out of the first area. It also hasn't moved the needle in a way where it's like, oh, these people really like me. So X, Y and Z's happen. So it's like, why is this system in there in a way that makes it call out? I feel like, well, this doesn't do what I feel like it should. That should be moving way more wildly to make me feel like, oh, this is.

[D]

Is.

[B]

This is the one where I'm with Auntie's choice. I'm gonna. I'm gonna ride or die with them, and they'll be with me.

[A]

Paris, do you agree. Disagree?

[D]

I. I mostly agree with. With what he's saying about that it there. The. The only thing that I found that came with the factions is if I just pissed off someone and coming back to I. I wouldn't be able to complete a certain quest or something because everyone in that area is just mad at me and they want to kill me or whatever. Right. I know there's. We wouldn't even talk about the bounties. There's the bounties that you can get on you. You can pay to clear those things like that. But as far as just this overwhelming shift because you align with a certain faction or you're. You're. Have favor with one and one's mad at you. I don't. I don't think that was hugely displayed again.

[B]

And so to drop in here again. Right. Like, I have it pulled up on the Lee Everett character right before the final boss, which, by the way, I haven't called out like, I went all in on speed. I only ever fought the first boss. Everybody Else I was able to talk out of it and not have to do, which I thought was fun and cool.

[D]

See, not me.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. But like Blessing. I'm not gonna name names here, but this group here. And first off, it's the witty thing that never lets me go below whatever I. Like, I basically gave them the keys to the kingdom. Yeah. Like, when you have to make a choice, I'm like, you're. I'm with you all the way. I could try. No, you. Here you go. And I'm still unknown to them. Like, I'm still unknown to them. What the fuck?

[E]

That was like one of the things I clocked as well, where I'm. Yeah, I'm like, I. You're right as far as like the. The faction system not feeling like it's pushing you towards like, okay, we're all the way here. I had that exact same thing and I'm like, I thought maybe if I played more like maybe toward the end of the game it's going to do something.

[B]

But that thing maybe again, as I invest in this character of Stevie and go and do so much more. But again, this is the thing. If you want me replaying this game and doing all the stuff, let's make them wildly different. Let's make it just swish back and forth of what's going on.

[E]

I also wish, like, I. I feel like as games have gone done or as RPGs have. Have progressed. Right. Like, I feel like we've moved away from, oh, this is like, this is the good, this is the bad. Like, this is clearly like the morally like, this is where this stands kind of thing.

[D]

It's great.

[E]

I. And like, I think it's cool. And I think, like, I think Witcher was really like a great kind of example of, oh, morally great choices are really interesting to make. And I agree with that. I feel like we shouldn't be afraid though, of like an objectively, this is evil faction. Because I think that can be fun. I think there's stuff to do there with that. When I look at both these factions is to your point, Like, I'm kind of like, okay, I don't like either of these. And so I'm sitting there and they're like, hey, choose one for a thing. And I'm like, I. I guess I'll choose this one. Like, for me it's not. I'm not questioning things and I'm not like having to weigh moral decisions between the two. I'm kind of just like, okay, well, you're both shitty. So I'M going with this guy. It's not even lesser.

[C]

It's really disappointing because in New Vegas, it's like they will literally hunt you down and then like, what is it? The ones that look like the Roman gladiators will. They'll come up to you, be like, like, oh, by the decree you, you are going to be put to death and you like fight them. Right. So it's like you build up this rep with the, with, with the different factions and I'm like, oh man, that could be really cool to add into outer worlds because I feel like, yeah, what if they chase you down to another planet? I feel like that could be really fun.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

Chris co with the final super chat asking a question that it's been answered a little bit, but maybe they, they hopped in late with the five dollar super chat. Thank you, Chris. Go asking does the game warrant more than one playthrough? What's a replayability factor factor?

[B]

Yes, it warrants more than one playthrough. I think you're. You don't have to. You could have your golden path playthrough and be happy with it and walk away. I know I do that with a lot of RPGs, but this one, no. I feel like I'm having so much fun seeing how the other half lives. Maybe, though, by the time you get your hands on it, you can go watch a stream where they're doing these two things or that thing or whatever and feel like you get the same experience.

[A]

Stella, any final thoughts on the outer worlds too?

[C]

Yeah, I mean, so I know people were asking. I think it was only Greg who gave it a score. I think so far I'd give it an 8. I think I'm going to try. I'm going to replay it when it officially launches so that people can watch it, but I'm going to replay it, change my character and I feel like it can go up to a 9 depending on how it goes. Because right now rust about. I don't play that on your first playthrough unless you're like, really sure of it because it does lock you out of a ton of things.

[A]

Paris, where Any final thoughts for the outer worlds too?

[D]

Yeah, final thoughts for me is I really enjoyed my experience with the game. I think Obsidian did a fantastic job really, really digging into the RPGness of what the outer worlds should be. I. I love the traits, the skills, the perks, how you can kind of combine those to come up with a build that works for you in this. Definitely recommend playing this multiple times. Because I think you will make decisions the first time that you're going I wonder what would happen if I did this and then seeing that other outcome. Because there's things in this game that you simply will not see depending on your choices. Right. And characters you won't meet, etc. So I loved it. I thought it was great. It'll be well worth your time. So you know, if you're interested in these Obsidian SL Bethesda style RPGs definitely go play the outer worlds too.

[A]

Blessing.

[E]

Yeah, I mean 17 hours in I'm enjoying my time with this fine, right. Like I'm going to. I'm planning on finishing this game. I don't know if I'm going to replay it though. Like I and this isn't to like the RPG conversation because I totally understand what everybody's talking about as far as oh yeah, go back, reroll, make different choices and all that stuff.

[D]

Stuff.

[E]

I think that stuff's good and awesome but I don't know if I'm in a place right, right now with it at least where the moment to moment gameplay is making me go, damn, I want to do all this again.

[A]

Right.

[E]

Like I that's one thing that one of the things I didn't bring up at the top of it when I was giving my initial impressions is that like there is a sense of been here, done that for me a bit with the gameplay of this game and

[B]

it feels like well worn territory.

[E]

It feels like very well, well worn territory. And I like this well worn territory right. Like I like outer worlds one. I love like a DX game and I'll compare that to. To this as well as far as what the game moment to moment gameplay is. That said, right. Like I think there is also a level of man the to bring it back to the RPG aspect. Obsidian I think really MIN maxed the numbers part of this as far as making this feel like you're making your build and doing all this stuff. But if that's the max, I feel like the MIN is like the all right. I don't feel like this is above and beyond as far as like gunplay or as far as the overall story or as far as like like what you're giving me as far as world building and stuff. It all is good, good slash, serviceable but it's not blowing me away. So all that said, I'm enjoying it. I think it's good, I think it's fun but I don't know if I'm going to come back for seconds.

[B]

Greg Miller, The Outer Worlds 2 is a wonderful game. I think it's a great game. I think it's an 8 out of 10. I think there's plenty of stuff we've talked about on that, which just brings it down a little bit because I want to call it amazing, but I wouldn't call the story amazing. Right. And some of the little squabbles I have not amazing. And again, the fact that, that, yeah, as somebody, this is my, these open world RPG Bethesda RPG's. This is what I love doing. But yes, this feels like many of them that I've played before. I think the gun plays better than a lot of them. The colors are better, the companion. You know, I mean, there's all that's.

[E]

But the only reason why I plan on finishing this is because it is another one of those. Right. Like, it is. I, I, I'm with you that I love those Bethesda things. But yeah, like, I feel like that's what's carrying me through more so than

[B]

the story here or anything, but the highest compliment I can give it, right? Why it's an 8 out of 10 right now. That could be an 8.5 at the end of the day. But more than anything, it' 8 out of 10 that I love, like a 9.5 out of 10 is the fact that I'm done. I'm free of the review shackles. There are other things I need to play for review and content in the coming weeks. Tonight I'm going to go home and play more outer worlds too. That's how much I love this experience, this game, and how much I want to see this character through Paris.

[A]

Character through Paris. Lily, where can people find you?

[D]

You can find me at the URL you said earlier because I never remember it. Something my name. Just search my name on YouTube. P A double R I S. You'll find it. And then obviously, you know, you can find me here every now and again on Kind of Funny and Gamertag Radio.

[A]

Stella.

[C]

Yeah, you can find me here. Not enough, Gregory. So hopefully I'm on five hours of the game.

[B]

Five hours. The game wants to be in all the content. You know what I mean?

[A]

She's Louise.

[C]

You caught me at the. Oh, my God. Here I was, I was gonna offer you an interview that I have for a very cool thing that's coming up out that I saw your people at. But you know what? Maybe, maybe I'll give it to someone else anyways. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll talk.

[B]

No, actually, we should talk about that, though.

[C]

Okay. Yeah, yeah, I think it's very cool. Anyways, yeah, you can find me at Twitch, TV, Parallax, Stella, YouTube as well, where I do a lot of like, video essays and news drops on gaming stories and developer interviews, which there's something really cool coming very, very soon. So keep your eye out for that, everybody.

[A]

This has been the kind of Funny Games cast. Each and every weekday we get together to talk about the biggest reviews, previews and topics in video games live on YouTube, Twitch and podcast services around the globe. That at the back end, you do it.

[B]

Oh, okay. I like that.

[D]

I like that.

[A]

If you love what we do, please support us with the kind of funny membership on Patreon or YouTube to get all of our shows ad free, watch us record them live and get a daily exclusive show. Up next is in review. We are returning to the world of Pixar. But until next time, take care of yourself, take care of each other, and we'll see you later. Gamers for the Protectorate.

[B]

No.

[C]

Are you dreaming of the perfect prom? But there's just one thing holding you back. Speak English, Mom. Welcome to Ethnosync Ethnic Modification. What is a speaker place?

[B]

We help you reach your true potential.

[D]

How are you feeling? It's good to be Hawaii.

[A]

Hey, new girl.

[B]

Hey.

[C]

Look at what you've done to yourself.

[D]

For a new plant to grow, the seed has to die.

[C]

Slanted Rated R Only in theaters March 13th. Side effects may occur.

[B]

This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Co. No matter how you do game day, on the couch, in the crowd or manning the snack table, Athletic Brewing fits right in in with a full lineup of non alcoholic beer styles you can enjoy bold flavors all game long. No hangovers, no buzz, no subbing out for water in the second half. Stock the fridge for tip off with a variety of nonalcoholic craft styles. Available at your local grocery store or online at athleticbrewing.com near Beer Fit for all times.