This is the complete antithesis of the original game.

[outcast]

I just want to say that I will be very critical in this post but by laying out all that I feel is wrong with this game I still hope it can be seen as "constructive criticism" as I truly wish for nothing more than to get a follow up to Outcast that is really true to the original instead of something that feels like a tired copy paste of other games.

Just finished the game and almost feel physically ill.
This is the complete reversion and Antithesis of everything that made the original Outcast so great.

You can't find a bigger fan of the original Outcast than me (just look at my username) and it is my most favorite game of all time. I have preached about it to everyone I know for the past 25 years since I played the original and it has followed me like a dead lover that can't be replaced by anything else as nothing compares to it. And while that game is still ahead of many games even today with features that still no other game has replicated this sequel rips all that out of it to instead take everything that is wrong with games today to cram that into one single package.

In the original Outcast you where dropped in an alien world that immersed you into it like no other and it felt magical, dynamic and like a REAL ADVENTURE with a sense of internal logic and explanation for every feature and game element where you had to find your way by talking to its inhabitants and learning about the world and its interesting lore. It truly felt like a real adventure where you where exploring a mysterious alien world.

In the sequel all that is gone and it is the most bland generic cookie cutter handholding game you can find with the same tired mmo style dull formula we have seen a thousand times before. Just disconnect your brain completely and follow that breadcrumb "magic arrow" to its next destination. The game could essentially play itself if you could just program it to follow the marker. You could skip every single conversation in the game and it would not matter as you don't need to actually learn or think in any way. Just be dragged by the hand with the "quest" plastered on the screen to "kill x amount of this enemy" or "pick x amount of that plant". Or do some stupid isolated nonsensical minigame that feels ripped out of a mobile game. Again while the original game felt real, logical and immersive this does everything to throw all that out the window and feels artifical and fake at every turn. Like everything is just a theme park version of Adelpha where you fly to the 25:th iteration of the same dull task that you have done innumerable times before doing some parkour race with glowing lights or fighting the same copy paste battle that you have done before. It is the most lazy copy paste "quests" and activities you can think off and if you have played any number of games you have done the exact same thing to death untold times before. Then you enter a city and go to the static signposts NPC with big "!" signs over their heads. Again it just reeks of fake and artificial with zero inclination of even trying to feel immersive. Compare these NPC:s and "AI" that behaves as signposts to the original which still 25 years later has features that not even new games have. You could ask NPC:s for the location of other NPC:s and they would tell you where they saw them last, or even point at them if they are close. They would not want to gossip about other NPC:s if that NPC actually was near them and if you talk to a Talan other Talans will often stop and eavesdrop etc. And converations could even be interrupted by enemies mid dialogue if they got to close. Everything was made to feel real, immersive, dynamic and authentic. This time it is the complete opposite and to call this even a "downgrade" in terms of these system would be an insult. It is like the game is constantly trying its best to drag you out of the illusion of its world and to remind you that you are just playing a game.

Speaking of the Talans they don't even look like the original design where they actually looked like aliens, now they look more like humans in rubber suits. Even the dialogue and voices often sounds really off and is filled with inconsistencies where they sometimes use words that does not fit at all to how they normally speak. Some use words like, "dude" and "cool" and even use some of the human expressions that normally they would take litterary and not understand like "busting my balls" or "taking a raincheck". It all feels very sloppy and not at all as involving, interesting or consistent like the original. Many times the dialogue like the rest of the game feels like it is full of pointless filler. And while the original also had a big dose of humour it felt fitting while here often the Talans come across as cartoonish and silly. Like something out of a kids show.

If there is anything positive I can say about the game it would be that the graphics and environment are actually quite beautiful. The environment is lush and has a great deal of verticality. I do think things look a bit too colorful and cartoonish and more like something out of the Avatar than the original Outcast that felt more gloomy, unique and mysterious, and some of the Talan buildings also look "off" to me somehow like they are not as throughout and consistent with the original style of the game, but it still looks nice to look at and if the rest of the game actually was faithful to the original I would be content with this new direction. Though the vast environment also makes me sad since it all just reminds you of all the wasted potential. I imagine how it would be like to actually explore this world if the gameplay and immersion was even anything close to the original. But there is zero purpose to even exploring the world as all you have to do is look out for the "markers" and all is just a fake purposeless backdrop to fill with dull copy paste filler content.

I have waited 25 years for this and it feels sad to think now that I wished this game was never made. It taints and corrupts everything that was so great and special about the original game. Replacing it with the complete opposite of what made that game so magical with the most tired generic Ubisoft style mmo gameplay there is. It is truly sad beyond belief.

I don't know if this was the nail in the coffin for Outcast. The original game recieved great reviews (about 90% on metacritic) and I know many people who played it still also put it at the top of their all time favorites, and the only reason it did not get better reviews was because of some issues with bugs and possibly also the voxel graphics (which I absolutely love). Unfortunately it did not sell well enough but it had nothing to do with the quality of the game which was stellar and probably more a mix of bad luck and perhaps lack of marketing (the trailer made it look like a stupid action game, instead of the great adventure game that it was with a deep world and interesting lore to explore.) I don't know how this game will sell and it seems many mistakes where made again with the marketing (really bad idea to release it on the Steam Spring Sale for example) and it will not get near the same appraisal as it has nothing original or groundbreaking in it. I think Appeal really could have resurrected the franchise with this game if they had only stuck to what made the original game so special. If there ever was a third one I don't know if there is any chance that they could go back to that and make it justice and make something truly special. I don't even know if the people who made that game the genius it was are still on the team anymore as I only recognized a couple of names from the credits and judging by this game they don't seem to understand what actually made the original so special. Or they where afraid and tried to "play it safe" by doing a copy of other games. I had no hope that there would actually even be a sequel to the original Outcast so perhaps there can still be a miracle. I can wish for it, but by judging by the complete wrong direction of this game it feels really dark.

As I wrote at the top this game truly feels like the complete antithesis of the original. The original felt authentic, mysterious immersive and dynamic and this just feels like the complete opposite of being fake, gamey and artificial.

[Skylers Meth]

Not knowing what to do or where to go without reading or speaking to every NPC and deciphering what it all means is one of the many things making me not purchase Dragons Dogma 2. I found that kind of thing an absolute pain in BOTW and TOTK particularly when paying attention to those things as you're supposed to, misleads or is inaccurate. I simply end up going to youtube to have something obvious pointed out to me. It's like not knowing the rules, finding out the rules and then the rules change for something else. If this didn't have waypoints or quest markers i simply wouldn't have bought it. My only complaints about the game besides the lack of framegen is the groan i make when talking to NPC's and seeing 8 conversations i have to go through to find the one that progresses the quest.

[outcast]

Originally posted by legaiaflame:

I get it, it feels like a fake, arcade-like, unrealistic, challenge run to you. Sorry, but it's a new gameplay system. And it's 10 times better than walking on foot in slow motion for the entire game, like the original. You have such a problem with the temple trials being "fake" or "artificial", and I say they aren't. You follow a Fae Essense orb, it's part of the lore and spirituality of the world. It IS authentic. The temples are a major part of their religion and what they use to recharge the Codex's each year so they can properly revert. Whether you think each temple looks similar fine (In a sense the gameplay loop can be copy and paste in its setup). But each region has different designs. You're just reaching. You don't like the gameplay loop fine, but to say it's not a part of the world or lore is wrong. You need something to do in the open world that's tied to the traversal/gliding mechanic and this is it. It doesn't need to be some realistic lore bending event. Some things just need to change to complement the gameplay.

And concerning the Talons, you're talking about like 3 or 4 characters in the entire game that broke the 4th wall. Out of how many? Come on now. I'm not so pedantic that a few lines here and there UTTERLY DESTROY the game world for me. Mostly every other Talon in the game sounded fine and like they were from an alien world/dimension. Same Adelpha speaking Talon's from the original. You still have them spouting all of their cultural phrases and lingo with dozens of translations on the side of the screen. Talking just like they did in the first game, minus a very small, handful of phrases. No one is straight up talking 100% in Earth lingo. Again, you're cherry picking very small examples.

Yes, they took all that mysterious lore, religion and spirituality that was so carefully built and crafted in the first game and made a series of small quick parkour minigames out of them to race on a clock timer. It is honestly disgraceful. And you calling this "authentic" or how it does not feel fake and artificial is just laughable. And that is just one example of this in the game that is fake and artificial, the whole game is completely built around just putting in filler content for the player to consume one after the other at the expense of the believability or authenticity of the world that was the true main focal point of the first one, to try to build a believable world with internal logic for the player to explore. It is perfectly clear that you don't understand at all why the first game had such a special place among many people, even decades later so there lies the problem and why this is just a complete waste of time.

I actually read another review just recently that pretty much sums it up: "It is amazing how outdated, repetitive, and generic most settlement quests are, falling short of similar games and making a mockery of the alien world."

That last word really nails it, the whole game really feels like it is making a complete mockery of everything that was built up in the first game. Like taking a remove beautiful island with a distinct culture and religion and turning it into a theme park with shopping centers and fast food restaurants for the dumb fat lazy masses. The worst thing though is then how guys like you come in and just stuff yourself full on it while exclaiming how amazing and "authentic" and true it feels to what was before. It is one thing if one actually acknowledges it for what it is but still enjoys it. That is completely fine. But to say that it is something it is clearly not is truly grotesque and it is almost worrying how completely out of touch some can be to what they consume.

[Skylers Meth]

" It is honestly disgraceful. "

They've made a game to appeal to the masses. How dare they! How dare WE like it! We are monsters! We mock you! Look at your stupid faces! Harping on about an old failure of a game that appealed to a select few! If it was exactly the same you'd all complain about outdated mechanics then too! I hope they make a new game with even more of same mechanics, twice as big, just to see the old fans turn to stone. Blah blah blah

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by outcast:

Originally posted by legaiaflame:

I get it, it feels like a fake, arcade-like, unrealistic, challenge run to you. Sorry, but it's a new gameplay system. And it's 10 times better than walking on foot in slow motion for the entire game, like the original. You have such a problem with the temple trials being "fake" or "artificial", and I say they aren't. You follow a Fae Essense orb, it's part of the lore and spirituality of the world. It IS authentic. The temples are a major part of their religion and what they use to recharge the Codex's each year so they can properly revert. Whether you think each temple looks similar fine (In a sense the gameplay loop can be copy and paste in its setup). But each region has different designs. You're just reaching. You don't like the gameplay loop fine, but to say it's not a part of the world or lore is wrong. You need something to do in the open world that's tied to the traversal/gliding mechanic and this is it. It doesn't need to be some realistic lore bending event. Some things just need to change to complement the gameplay.

And concerning the Talons, you're talking about like 3 or 4 characters in the entire game that broke the 4th wall. Out of how many? Come on now. I'm not so pedantic that a few lines here and there UTTERLY DESTROY the game world for me. Mostly every other Talon in the game sounded fine and like they were from an alien world/dimension. Same Adelpha speaking Talon's from the original. You still have them spouting all of their cultural phrases and lingo with dozens of translations on the side of the screen. Talking just like they did in the first game, minus a very small, handful of phrases. No one is straight up talking 100% in Earth lingo. Again, you're cherry picking very small examples.

Yes, they took all that mysterious lore, religion and spirituality that was so carefully built and crafted in the first game and made a series of small quick parkour minigames out of them to race on a clock timer. It is honestly disgraceful. And you calling this "authentic" or how it does not feel fake and artificial is just laughable. And that is just one example of this in the game that is fake and artificial, the whole game is completely built around just putting in filler content for the player to consume one after the other at the expense of the believability or authenticity of the world that was the true main focal point of the first one, to try to build a believable world with internal logic for the player to explore. It is perfectly clear that you don't understand at all why the first game had such a special place among many people, even decades later so there lies the problem and why this is just a complete waste of time.

I actually read another review just recently that pretty much sums it up: "It is amazing how outdated, repetitive, and generic most settlement quests are, falling short of similar games and making a mockery of the alien world."

That last word really nails it, the whole game really feels like it is making a complete mockery of everything that was built up in the first game. Like taking a remove beautiful island with a distinct culture and religion and turning it into a theme park with shopping centers and fast food restaurants for the dumb fat lazy masses. The worst thing though is then how guys like you come in and just stuff yourself full on it while exclaiming how amazing and "authentic" and true it feels to what was before. It is one thing if one actually acknowledges it for what it is but still enjoys it. That is completely fine. But to say that it is something it is clearly not is truly grotesque and it is almost worrying how completely out of touch some can be to what they consume.

yeah or we just wanna have fun playing a video game, the era of complexity is mostly over lil bro. Companies make games to appeal to the largest majority and the only way your beloved franchise is going is either adapting or staying the same. Not enough people enjoyed the original for it to become a major franchise for a reason

[Dude]

Originally posted by Skylers Meth:

" It is honestly disgraceful. "

They've made a game to appeal to the masses.

So where are those masses?

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

yeah or we just wanna have fun playing a video game, the era of complexity is mostly over lil bro. Companies make games to appeal to the largest majority and the only way your beloved franchise is going is either adapting or staying the same.

So how did Elden Ring sell? Where is the "majority" of gamers? certainly not playing outcast 2


btw: after refunding this pos here i bought outcast 1.1 on gog for under a buck (i own a copy of the original on cd so i never bought a remake until now) instantly having a blast again. Right now i am going to zorkatraz to get the 5th booyat

[Skylers Meth]

Originally posted by Dude:

Originally posted by Skylers Meth:

" It is honestly disgraceful. "

They've made a game to appeal to the masses.

So where are those masses?

--

Playing other games due to lack of marketing and the fact a sequel to the original wasn't sweated on BY the masses. Do you really think a sequel similar to the utterly dated original would beat out DD2 or Helldivers?

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Dude:

Originally posted by Skylers Meth:

" It is honestly disgraceful. "

They've made a game to appeal to the masses.

So where are those masses?

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

yeah or we just wanna have fun playing a video game, the era of complexity is mostly over lil bro. Companies make games to appeal to the largest majority and the only way your beloved franchise is going is either adapting or staying the same.

So how did Elden Ring sell? Where is the "majority" of gamers? certainly not playing outcast 2

Elden ring was a hugely hyped game and just because one game was the perfect example of open world done right doesn't mean my point doesn't stand. When you take a look at the average triple a game most of them tend to be pretty casual.

The masses are currently playing cod or the new fifa etc. Franchises like Outcast are niche and have small communities for a reason. Hell the peak for the original game was a total 130 (half a year after release) in comparison to the new game having a peak of a little over 1k.

The average gamer just wants to have a nice fun time while the more niche community want complex games. (elden ring, baldurs gate 3 etc) It's better to pander towards the bigger number because it offers more potential profit than the whole 130 people on steam who had been playing the original game 6 months after release.

The main reason bg3 and elden ring got such an insane amount of numbers is because of the hype surrounding it and the companies behind them.

and congrats you enjoy the original game more, I for one find the new dragons dogma very boring

edit : apparently there was another remake called second contact, that also had a very low peak of 247 players

[Dude]

Dude the original was from 1999 steam came to existence in 2003. The original was bought retail and did not have any storefront. 1,1 numbers are no represantation for success of the original.

The original sold about 400000 copies which back in the day was quite good. You cannot directly compare numbers from 25 years ago with today the market was WAY smaller.

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Dude:

Dude the original was from 1999 steam came to existence in 2003. The original was bought retail and did not have any storefront. 1,1 numbers are no represantation for success of the original.

The original sold about 400000 copies which back in the day was quite good. You cannot directly compare numbers from 25 years ago with today the market was WAY smaller.

okay and second contact still barely reached 300? Your point? I don't think you get what I'm getting at

[Dude]

second contact was almost a carbon copy of the original with less content (the ending is missing) it just was not a good deal compared to simply playing the original. As stated above i did not buy any of the remakes. there was simply no sensible reason to do so.

This one could have been good if they didn't drink the ubisoft koolaid and turned it into absolut ♥♥♥♥♥ that nobody wants.

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Dude:

second contact was almost a carbon copy of the original with less content (the ending is missing) it just was not a good deal compared to simply playing the original. As stated above i did not buy any of the remakes. there was simply no sensible reason to do so.

This one could have been good if they didn't drink the ubisoft koolaid and turned it into absolut ♥♥♥♥♥ that nobody wants.

well then it sounds like over the course of 25 years this game released itself 3 times and each of those 3 times never managed to successfully get a grip on the market. I wonder why

[Idreyvart]

I pretty agree with you, (and you didn't even mention the WORST part of this game...The story....or also the integration of female talan with lot of great sexist quotes against this stupids sh*tty males)
i'm sure there were forced to made a game with less risks as possible (even if the game seem to sell not really well, again bad time for the release, price too high and NO marketing)

But in the end, i must admit i didn't have a bad time on this game after all, maybe because i wasn't expecting a groundbreaking game like the first one (too much dissapointment for me in LOT of games/movies from years now, so i think i'm not waiting too much for froject i want to love, recently i discovered the future cancelled Timesplitters 4...and what a sh*t, Fable that scared me a lot, AND Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2...that also seems sh*tty as hell)
So maybe i wasn't expecting something amazing, but even if the activities on the map are pretty repetitive and useless, the main quests of the villages, the connections between them and the changes in the places afters quests remind me the first one, also i find it a lot more interessting like a LOT of other Open-world to have other gameplay even just for one quests, like mini game, it change from *Pew Pew* and take 10 flowers like you said.
But i agree with you, it could be a LOT better, and GOD i think the same, the original game make the world so much consistant and alive, speak to every NPCs, dialogue interruption, possibility to ask your way, or the point of view, asking who's who etc....Why even the big actual games like RDR2/Cyberpunk2077 never do that....

[Dude]

people are praising it 25 years later. so how did that happen? Honestly where you even alive in 1999? You seem to have absoluty no clue. Outcast was praised by media praised by gamers and DID sell quite good for the time. I am pretty sure any gamers nearing theire 40s knows the word ulukai

One problem it had was huge hardware requirement. iirc at release there was no cpu available that could run it fluently (pure software rendering). renting games was also still a thing and (quite similar to today) the marketing was pretty tame.

But what do you even build your point on? The numbers today are and absolute trainwreck the game got rejected by society and will be forgotten in weeks. While people will still talk about the original.

[Orkhepaj]

Originally posted by Dude:

Originally posted by Skylers Meth:

" It is honestly disgraceful. "

They've made a game to appeal to the masses.

So where are those masses?

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

yeah or we just wanna have fun playing a video game, the era of complexity is mostly over lil bro. Companies make games to appeal to the largest majority and the only way your beloved franchise is going is either adapting or staying the same.

So how did Elden Ring sell? Where is the "majority" of gamers? certainly not playing outcast 2


btw: after refunding this pos here i bought outcast 1.1 on gog for under a buck (i own a copy of the original on cd so i never bought a remake until now) instantly having a blast again. Right now i am going to zorkatraz to get the 5th booyat

exactly where are those masses???

when made for most people it means it made for none and is shows sadly :(

the gaming sector is overflown so anything to be successful needs to be very original or hyped by marketing, the first game was very original and different

[Orkhepaj]

Originally posted by Dude:

people are praising it 25 years later. so how did that happen? Honestly where you even alive in 1999? You seem to have absoluty no clue. Outcast was praised by media praised by gamers and DID sell quite good for the time. I am pretty sure any gamers nearing theire 40s knows the word ulukai

One problem it had was huge hardware requirement. iirc at release there was no cpu available that could run it fluently (pure software rendering). renting games was also still a thing and (quite similar to today) the marketing was pretty tame.

But what do you even build your point on? The numbers today are and absolute trainwreck the game got rejected by society and will be forgotten in weeks. While people will still talk about the original.

i havent played the original its graph was crap, i didnt get why people loved it so much until i played the remade version which was so awesome
it played very differently from every other game and brought freshness and excitement