Outward (PC/Xbox/PS4 Survival RPG Mar-26)

I went to the Forest region tonight and learned some Bow skills in Berg. I also picked up some kind of boon spell called Mist that’s supposed to increase my ethereal damage while also decreasing the ethereal damage I receive. The NPC that trained me said to combine the spell with a Spiritual Varnish and I’ll make easy work of ghosts.

This is definitely a nostalgia trip for classic EQ. I was reminded of the first time I went to Erudin looking for new mage spells. It was so big and opulent and... empty. The cities at least have lots of NPCs, but the outdoor areas are pretty sparse.

Decided to check out a few dungeons in the forest this morning before heading on to the desert. Went to the Cabal of Wind Temple. It was guarded by this big “Immaculate” creature with an awesome looking halberd that hit pretty hard. I was struggling with my claymore enchanted with a fire rag since the halberd attacks were a huge circle with a long reach so I switched to dodge rolling in and out of a fire circle and using spark. That spell is surprisingly effective in most encounters. Of course this thing looked like it was made of wood so fire is probably very effective.

Inside the temple itself was a bunch of those horror beasts. I had to resort to magic again, but I managed to kill one. Seems like it drops the parts to make “Horror” weapons.

I’m resisting the temptation to google anything about this game, but I have shamelessly bookmarked a recipe list. I figure all that really does is save me silver on recipes. If the devs wanted to force us to spend silver on recipes they wouldn’t have implemented a way to experiment with combos, right?

I also found an “ice torch” in a supply chest. The description says it keeps the wielded cool even in the hottest of weather. Guess I’ll be making a few of those before heading into the desert.

eXarc said:

I like how every poster here has basically had a unique version of events and cool stories to tell pertaining to their in game tribulations and experiences.
I was interested in the description of this game and kept an eye on it and after seeing some videos (and starting to slow down on Sekiro) I think I’m going to go pick this up.
Anyone doing split screen co op have any insight on if it’s done well? Going to see if I can get the wife interested, even if it’s just to goof around and acquaint her with this style of game.

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I’ve been doing split screen with my six year old. It’s done well. The game is charming but it’s graphically quite dated, so don’t expect much “wow” factor. There’s lot of self lead exploration with some bread crumbs to take you to points of interest (for example, there’s dialogue with a merchant where he says he made the perilous journey through the Ghost Pass to see the hermit at the Cabal of Wind tower).

I’m enjoying it quite a bit.

pharmakos said:

If you want to visually wow someone with this game, take them through the mountain in the middle of the first map with all the purple grass / foliage. Definitely "wow" material. The landscapes and architecture in general are pretty well done, mainly just the character models suck.

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That grass is pretty cool. I’m playing on PS4 and the textures are standard mid 2000s quality at best.

I happened upon a manticore in the Enmerkar forest tonight. It destroyed me in a few hits. I went back with a plan to range it down and cheese the fuck out of it. I felt kinda dirty about it after it fell, but it dropped a lightning enchanted claymore that is ridiculous OP. If I lead with a special attack (square on PS4) it one shots bandits and troglodytes lol

I sided with the heroic kingdom faction and while following that quest line I found an even more ridiculous OP weapon. It’s a 2H axe with a baseline decay enchant. It’s roughly the same damage as the claymore I mentioned previously, but the move set on the axe is much better imo. I can hit special attack one time and it does two consecutive attacks - one vertical slash and then a lateral slash. If the first connects with a block the second almost always goes through block. You pay a high price in stamina though. Four or five special swings is about all I can do before I’m completely out. Fortunately I’m filthy rich and can afford to buy mats or just buy stamina pots outright.

This may sound crazy to those of you just starting out, but I’m finding the game way too easy now that I’ve got a bunch of skills and consumables. There wasn’t any real middle ground between ball bustingly hard to almost no challenge. My routine is basically: before entering the dungeon cast Warm Boon, cast infuse weapon (requires and subsequently removes Warm boon), drink water for stam regen, enter dungeon. Once Warm Boon comes off cool down (30-60 sec, I forget) I recast it for the 20% damage perk. I do so much damage that the only way I’ve been killed is by lazily button mashing and getting stunlocked by a Horror Beast.

Anyway, I took a peak at the achievements and I think I’m about done with the second of four quests for this faction. If the game looks remotely interesting to you, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed for $40. I saw a random YT comment that said the dev team is just 10 people, and it definitely shows, but what the game lacks in polish it more than makes up for in character and design. I’m hoping we can funnel enough money to them to get a much bigger budget for Outward 2 (and/or picked up by a major publisher).

The Effects tab tells you what all the icons mean, though as Calian said, the one you’re talking about eventually stops displaying

There is a way to pay back the debt without coin. The innkeeper will tell you rumors about the local area.

My experience so far has been that timers only start when you trigger them via quest progression. I could be wrong, but I spent 90+ days between Ciervo and the next main story quest. After I committed to a faction, it looked like pretty much everything had an implicit timer (eg Xyz city is under siege from bandits and will fall if someone doesn’t lend aid, and We have enough food for a month and a half then people will starve).

I beat the game today. Understanding that it’s not AAA polish and is very rough around the edges at times, I’d give it a 7/10 for the general population and 8.5/10 if you are a fan of EQ style, “you’re in our world now, good luck!” no hand holding type games.

They made some ballsy design choices. Some of them were more successful than others, but it’s impossible to analyze them in a vacuum since the whole experience revolves around the sum of the game’s systems. As far as bugs, I was surprised that I only encountered a handful in about 30-40 hours of playing. There was one potentially game stopping bug where my son’s character would fly up to the top of the skybox as soon as it joined my game. We ended up transferring all that characters stuff onto a new character so he could continue to play with me. It was a small hassle, but I wouldn’t say it hurt my opinion of the game. In fact, I think I’ll throw some items at a new character and check out at least one other faction.

If you have a buddy you can start a two player game with, I highly recommend that. So much of this game is about exploration and discovery and it’s a real treat when you’re sharing that with someone else.