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

Dandai · Apr 4, 2019

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.

Dandai · Apr 4, 2019

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 · Apr 4, 2019

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.

Dandai · Apr 4, 2019

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.

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.

eXarc · Apr 4, 2019

Dandai said:
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.

Rad. Thanks for the input. Picking this up next payday then.

pharmakos · Apr 4, 2019

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.

Dandai · Apr 5, 2019

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.

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

Dandai · Apr 6, 2019

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).

Randin · Apr 6, 2019

So I'm sure most of you who are playing know that the first region in the game has a simple season system, where every X days the region will go from summer to winter, then back again. I figured that the season switchover would be something that happens when you leave and reenter the area; turns out I was wrong.

I just went to Chersonese and found it was still winter, then as I was going by the mountain, I noticed that I could see a little more of the purple through the snow than I remembered, but didn't think much of it, but then a couple minutes later looked up and saw that the hill in front of me was now green. The game changed seasons in real time, with no loading screen and subtly enough that I didn't spot it until it was almost done. In any game, that would've been impressive, but in this--which is graphically and technically last-gen at best--that was downright amazing. So, kudos Outward devs, that was well done.

Talenvor · Apr 6, 2019

Just getting started. Love not knowing where to go or what to do. I’m feeling pressure though since I have a 5 day timer hanging over my head to raise 150s. Explored the first town and just headed out the main gate with whatever time I have left on my house quest.

Few questions:
- Is there a way to see how much time has elapsed on the house debt quest?
-I’ve been selling all the random machetes, pitchforks, quarter staffs, etc that I find for the silver and also weight concerns. Should I be saving them?
-I get this little icon in the left corner that looks like a piece of paper or cloth. I can’t tell what it means. It went away when I used bandages to heal some health, so does the icon just mean I’m injured? I thought maybe it meant I was bleeding but my health didn’t seem to be dropping when I stood there watching it.

Caliane · Apr 6, 2019

opening up the map shows the date. there is no relative timer though.

for the most part yes, sell all that junk your stash in town, does not decay for food, and has unlimited storage. but you can lose access to it, if you screw up a few quests..
Weight management is important on the go.
you may wish to keep crafting items.
there is some value in breaking down items instead of selling them. Meaning. a machete sells for 6s. weights 2lbs. A worn halberd weighs 6lbs and also sells for 6s.
Both can be dismantled for iron bits. While iron bits don't sell for much. like 1 or 2s at most. They also weigh .1lbs.
So might be better to break that shit down, instead of crawling back to town constantly to sell shit.

Also, can be used for crafting traps, arrows, etc.

yeah, that confusing icon just means your injured. it stops showing you that after like day 1. Bleeding icon is a very clear blood drop.

Dandai · Apr 6, 2019

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).

Talenvor · Apr 7, 2019

Man this game is brutally hard at the beginning. I started exploring the first area. Just a bit outside the main gates I came across 2 bandits who destroyed me. I woke up in their camp. No idea where my pocket items are or my backpack. I don’t see any icons in my map where I died so no clue where my backpack is. I even went back to where I died but found nothing. I found a few things in the bandit camp but none of it was my stuff. So here I am a day away from losing my house and I have absolutely nothing to my name except a little junk I found in the camp. Am I missing something here? If I die is all my stuff pretty much gone if I didn’t store it in my stash in town?

Randin · Apr 7, 2019

Talenvor said:
Man this game is brutally hard at the beginning. I started exploring the first area. Just a bit outside the main gates I came across 2 bandits who destroyed me. I woke up in their camp. No idea where my pocket items are or my backpack. I don’t see any icons in my map where I died so no clue where my backpack is. I even went back to where I died but found nothing. I found a few things in the bandit camp but none of it was my stuff. So here I am a day away from losing my house and I have absolutely nothing to my name except a little junk I found in the camp. Am I missing something here? If I die is all my stuff pretty much gone if I didn’t store it in my stash in town?

Check the compass on the top of the screen; when you drop or lose your backpack, there'll be a backpack icon showing you what direction it's in.

Talenvor · Apr 7, 2019

Randin said:
Check the compass on the top of the screen; when you drop or lose your backpack, there'll be a backpack icon showing you what direction it's in.

Thanks! I didn’t even think to look for compass icons. I just opened my map and saw nothing.

Caliane · Apr 7, 2019

Most of the time, when you die, your backpack will be within feet of you.

there are a few times, where I personally think they moved the respawn location, but forgot to move the backpack location as well. as you spawn in one spot, and your bckpack is just away, in some bizarre location.

Other times, like the various bandit ones, its a bit more "organized" where you spawn in a cage, and your backpack+items are away from you, in a chest guarded.

I assume the bandit camp, you were taken to was the north fort, Montcalm bandit camp. in that case, yeah, your gear is going to be inside, in a tent, with 2 chests in it. it will have multiple bandits in the way. you might be able to sneak to them. killing/kiting with bows is very easy.

Would you like an easy, well known, way to save your home with almost no effort at all?
as dandai said,

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

Talenvor · Apr 7, 2019

Caliane said:
I assume the bandit camp, you were taken to was the north fort, Montcalm bandit camp. in that case, yeah, your gear is going to be inside, in a tent, with 2 chests in it. it will have multiple bandits in the way. you might be able to sneak to them. killing/kiting with bows is very easy.

Would you like an easy, well known, way to save your home with almost no effort at all?
as dandai said,

Yep that was the camp. Thanks for the info. I’ll go chat with the innkeeper too.

Dandai · Apr 7, 2019

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.

Talenvor · Apr 8, 2019

This might be an obvious question, but I can’t find the answer anywhere. Do mob have rare drops? Like if I grind my 100th chicken or bandit, could they drop really good stuff? Or is there at least a chance for a mob to spawn as “named” (ie the chicken king in place of a chicken ) and have a better drop table?

Caliane · Apr 8, 2019

yes, there are rare drops.

and, im sure there not all known yet.

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

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