Outer Wilds

[NecroMorrius]

On 16/09/2022 at 15:39, JoeK said:

 

I'm still utterly baffled as to how the game is going to come out on the Switch. I know graphically it can make a fair stab of it, but I'd have thought all the maths and stuff that goes into making the game's galaxy tick would make a Switch explode...if they pull it off, it would possibly be the greatest Switch port ever. Possibly the most impressive port full stop.

 

 

 

It runs OK on Steam Deck

[JoeK]

10 hours ago, Moz said:

 

It runs OK on Steam Deck

Steam Deck has got a fairly decent cpu running in it though, whilst I thought the Switch one is now more of a potato these days?

[instasis]

On 16/09/2022 at 17:20, Monkeyspill said:

Even the PS5 60fps version runs choppily so I can't see it working at all on the Switch.

 

edit: Maybe I've been running the PS4 version on PS5 by mistake. It wouldn't be the first time I've done that!

 

Loaded up the PS5 version on my PS5 and it's choppy from the very start in places.

[BubbleFish]

Yup. The frame stuttering on the PS5 is still pretty bad unfortunately.

[Rayn]

Sad to hear it doesn't run smoothly on the PS5. Any word on the Xbox performance?

[NecroMorrius]

It's a bit stuttery on Xbox Series X from time to time. It's still a bit stuttery on a beefy PC though, that's just down to the frankly insane way the simulation works and their philosophy of "the truth in the system". Other than reducing rendering and physics complexity for far away objects, the whole simulation runs in real time. Spoilers abound in the vid, but the Noclip documentary has some great tidbits in. e.g.

 

• When you jump, you're not jumping, the entire world is moving away from you.
• On Brittle Hollow, the pieces that fall onto the crust of the planet aren't randomised but they're not scripted either. They're a physical simulation built in such a way that the correct pieces fall in the correct order.
• The anti-gravity training area on the tutorial planet has no gravity because it's at the center of the planet, it's not a tweak of the gravity/physics engine.
• The best way to absolutely tank performance is put yourself, your probe and your ship on three different planets and watch the game engine try to render visuals and collisions for all of them simultaneously. They wanted to include an achievement for crashing the game but Annapurna wouldn't let them 😅

 

I'm sure given enough resources they could keep engineering away at it forever but they're a small studio working in Unity on a limited budget, working from code which started as a university project ten years ago. They did say they're working on performance issues in certain areas though I wouldn't hold too much hope.

 

 

 

[Rsdio]

How did people who played the main game a while back approach the DLC with this? Can you just go in super rusty and expect to find your way?

 

Looking back in the thread it's over three years since I played the main game, part of me would be up for replaying it and part of me thinks it won't be anything like the same second time around.

[Alan Stock]

Yeah you can pretty much just load up your save and go for it. Maybe just familiarise yourself again with the tools at your disposal, but other than that, happy hunting! It's a brilliant DLC.

[therearerules]

Yeah, the game drops the smallest of hints as to what's changed, and then that's it. Wonderful DLC, I did complete the game again after as well.

[NecroMorrius]

https://www.theguardian.com/games/2022/nov/25/i-didnt-get-my-sons-favourite-video-game-but-it-got-me

 

Slightly weird praise from Dominik Diamond, but OK.

[Ketchup]

Replayed this again the past week and enjoyed it nearly as much as the first time. Half of it I’d forgotten and the other half helped fill in details I knew in the random order before.

 

The world felt smaller this time now I knew where everything was, especially the hanging city area which felt huge the first time. I finally managed to land on the sun station (pro tip, aim up by going horizontal around the sun to get into orbit than trying to aim forward at the station) and one thing I always wondered finally clicked, the canon explosion at the start is always different and for good reason.

 

The only under baked thing I noticed on this playthrough was the teleporters, a couple are must use whilst others don’t really have a need to use them and that could have been hammered home a little bit more.

 

Still it’s an amazing game and even better with the update, playing it at 30 fps on the ONEX really showed me how much the upgrade changes things. Oh and the slightly updated ending due to the dlc is nice too.

 

Maybe I’ll try the DLC again in a few years, it has a completely different feel I think to the main game and where as the main game is a 10/10 the dlc to me was maybe a 7/8 out of 10.

[merrychan]

8 hours ago, Ketchup said:

 I finally managed to land on the sun station (pro tip, aim up by going horizontal around the sun to get into orbit than trying to aim forward at the station) 

I knew it was possible but man that's good going!

 

Spoiler

I had to teleport there

 

[Ketchup]

Yeah i think most people do, the achievement for it is like 0.72%.

[Sane]

I find this quite difficult to get into. I played until the first launch, I flew around space for a while, landed on a planet, scanned some ruins, continued flying in space, went into some kind of portal and got stuck there. 

 

I think the problem was that I couldn't find the place it said I had to go. Maybe I should start from scratch... 

[Alan Stock]

I saw someone today had liked my final post about the DLC earlier in the thread. I just wanted to add that since then they have patched the DLC a few times, making a few of the puzzles clearer, some level design tweaks and mechanical tweaks to make it a smoother experience. I watched a Youtuber play it and the original game recently (his name is Macocolops, its a really good playthrough), and he didn't get hung up as much thanks to these improvements. There are still flaws in the DLC but its good they listened and overall its an even better experience than it was before. Can't wait to see what this team does next, watching playthroughs is the closest you can come to reliving the discovery experience and the original game plus DLC is still one of my favourite games ever. I might recommend that anyone who really bounced off it might appreciate watching a playthrough like Mapocolops, then you can just enjoy the adventure without worrying about flight controls or frustrations yourself.

[NecroMorrius]

On 16/12/2022 at 15:56, Sane said:

I find this quite difficult to get into. I played until the first launch, I flew around space for a while, landed on a planet, scanned some ruins, continued flying in space, went into some kind of portal and got stuck there. 

 

I think the problem was that I couldn't find the place it said I had to go. Maybe I should start from scratch... 

 

Theres no need to start from scratch, everything except the clues on your computer completely reset every time you die. Think of it like an experiment, you know what happens when you go through the portal now. But maybe you’re not stuck there once you figure a few things out. (Or maybe you are, I’m not sure which bit you’re talking about). 

[Sane]

8 hours ago, Moz said:

 

Theres no need to start from scratch, everything except the clues on your computer completely reset every time you die. Think of it like an experiment, you know what happens when you go through the portal now. But maybe you’re not stuck there once you figure a few things out. (Or maybe you are, I’m not sure which bit you’re talking about). 

Ah ok. I guess I just ended up somewhere I shouldn't go yet. Can you give me a hint as to what the first thing to do is when you launch? It said I had to go somewhere but I couldn't find it on the map.

[Vorgot]

Forgot about the DLC until I saw this yesterday. My eldest is back from Uni and he completed the original, today the DLC has gone on sale. Little extra Christmas present for him

[Isaac]

52 minutes ago, Sane said:

Ah ok. I guess I just ended up somewhere I shouldn't go yet. Can you give me a hint as to what the first thing to do is when you launch? It said I had to go somewhere but I couldn't find it on the map.

 

There are three main paths you can take when you launch, there's not really a set order to do things initially.

 

The computer on your ship will give you clues as to where to investigate next.

[BongoInferno]

2 hours ago, Sane said:

Ah ok. I guess I just ended up somewhere I shouldn't go yet. Can you give me a hint as to what the first thing to do is when you launch? It said I had to go somewhere but I couldn't find it on the map.

My none spoilery advice would be to start by exploring places that are near to you first rather than setting a course for planets that are a long way away. This will also give you more time to get a hang of flying the spaceship and practicing landing. 

[Paulando]

6 minutes ago, BongoInferno said:

My none spoilery advice would be to start by exploring places that are near to you first rather than setting a course for planets that are a long way away. This will also give you more time to get a hang of flying the spaceship and practicing landing. 

Yeah, this. Explore everything on the planet you start on. I missed a lot of that so spent a lot of time fucking around in places I wasn’t ready to go. It didn’t all fall to place until I properly explored the starting area.

[Sane]

Ok, thanks for the guidance everyone! I'll dive back in tonight.

[BitterToad]

I'd say starting again might not be the worst thing in the world if it's been a while. The opening is a good intro to the game story wise and mood wise and doesn't take long at all to get to if you know what you're doing. It also very subtly says "GO TO THE MOON FIRST" which is easily missed but is also the piece of the puzzle that started me off on the journey to Outer Wilds being one of my favourite games of all time. 

 

So yeah, counter to a lot of people in this thread I'd say start again and go to the moon first. 

[NecroMorrius]

7 hours ago, Sane said:

Ah ok. I guess I just ended up somewhere I shouldn't go yet. Can you give me a hint as to what the first thing to do is when you launch? It said I had to go somewhere but I couldn't find it on the map.

There is kind of a path you can follow, but the game is nonlinear and you can genuinely go anywhere from the start. You haven’t done anything wrong or gone the wrong way. It takes a bit of time to understand how open the game really is and get to grips with the structure. Often pieces of the puzzle won’t make sense to you until you gain some new knowledge, information or context and then you’ll see areas in a new light. It’s a Metroidvania, but the only upgrade is knowledge. That’s part of what makes it so magical, you can only really experience it once.

 

Having said that, I would recommend you explore the whole of Timber Hearth and its moon, the Attlerock, first. From there, you can really go to any part of any planet and start pulling at threads. I’d suggest trying to find the source of each different instrument on each planet. Setting yourself a goal  like that will lead you down all sorts of rabbit holes.

The most important thing is not to worry if you die, or feel lost. It’s all part of the process.

[therearerules]

I wouldn't explore all of the Attlerock first. Start at the moon, then go elsewhere. Exploring all the Attlerock can be difficult and exhaust you before you've really experienced space.

[Ravern]

18 minutes ago, therearerules said:

I wouldn't explore all of the Attlerock first. Start at the moon, then go elsewhere. Exploring all the Attlerock can be difficult and exhaust you before you've really experienced space.

 

I assume you mean Timber Hearth - exploring the Attlerock is a great way to get used to the feel of exploring with lower gravity. Timber Hearth is hard work to navigate and explore and was probably the last major place I thoroughly looked around!

[therearerules]

1 hour ago, Ravern said:

 

I assume you mean Timber Hearth - exploring the Attlerock is a great way to get used to the feel of exploring with lower gravity. Timber Hearth is hard work to navigate and explore and was probably the last major place I thoroughly looked around!

Yes! Forgot the Attlerock was the name of the moon. Definitely do that first, and don't try to do all of Timber Hearth until you've visited a few other planets at least.

[TomCGCG]

21 hours ago, Alan Stock said:

I saw someone today had liked my final post about the DLC earlier in the thread. I just wanted to add that since then they have patched the DLC a few times, making a few of the puzzles clearer, some level design tweaks and mechanical tweaks to make it a smoother experience. I watched a Youtuber play it and the original game recently (his name is Macocolops, its a really good playthrough), and he didn't get hung up as much thanks to these improvements. There are still flaws in the DLC but its good they listened and overall its an even better experience than it was before. Can't wait to see what this team does next, watching playthroughs is the closest you can come to reliving the discovery experience and the original game plus DLC is still one of my favourite games ever. I might recommend that anyone who really bounced off it might appreciate watching a playthrough like Mapocolops, then you can just enjoy the adventure without worrying about flight controls or frustrations yourself.

Yeah this was me!  Having just finished the DLC (without looking anything up, which I'm particularly proud of, took aaaages as I would put the game down and come back to it) I popped onto this thread to see if I had reached the end etc. and to get other's opinions and your post nailed my thoughts.  Just the achievements to get now, which I will absolutely do, as prior to the DLC I had 100% of them, including landing on Sun Station.

[NecroMorrius]

The DLC is so good. Playing for the first time now (had a baby...) and loving it.

 

The new environment took my breath away when I got in there. It looks so alien to human eyes and sensibilities and yet it make sense on every level.

Spoiler

The river water is even flowing at the same rate as the spin, thanks to the pull of the rotational gravity. Technically the water isn't moving, the world is. Then the dam breaks and the water slowly travels around the circumference of the ring like a minute hand, wrecking everything and creating new opportunities.

It's a stunning bit of game design, I'm in awe, again. Just like The Expanse, you can eke out some fantastical geometry and mechanics precisely by sticking to the rules of gravity (albeit in a miniaturised form here) rather than eschewing it for convenience.

[Vorgot]

19 hours ago, Moz said:

The DLC is so good. Playing for the first time now (had a baby...) and loving it.

 

The new environment took my breath away when I got in there. It looks so alien to human eyes and sensibilities and yet it make sense on every level.

  Hide contents

The river water is even flowing at the same rate as the spin, thanks to the pull of the rotational gravity. Technically the water isn't moving, the world is. Then the dam breaks and the water slowly travels around the circumference of the ring like a minute hand, wrecking everything and creating new opportunities.

It's a stunning bit of game design, I'm in awe, again. Just like The Expanse, you can eke out some fantastical geometry and mechanics precisely by sticking to the rules of gravity (albeit in a miniaturised form here) rather than eschewing it for convenience.

 

My son is playing the DLC and it looks stunning. Wish I could have coped with all the rushing about in the main game, this looks great