Outer Wilds

[BitterToad]

7 minutes ago, Vorgot said:

 

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

You can! I could! Just don't think of it as having to fully complete everything every run. If anything, finishing with a few places left to explore is the best feeling in the game. Let's say you get 70% through an area and then the time runs out. You might think "Ah fuck I'm going to have to go back there!" For me it was always a case of getting back into my ship, loading up the computer, going back over everything I've learned and then thinking "right, let's work out what the fuck's going on there then." The repeating does mean you see the same bits a few times but it also means you learn the same lessons enough that they sink in, and in a game as open as Outer Wilds having a bit of a direction to go in the next time you load the game up is if anything a good thing!

[Vorgot]

26 minutes ago, BitterToad said:

You can! I could! Just don't think of it as having to fully complete everything every run. If anything, finishing with a few places left to explore is the best feeling in the game. Let's say you get 70% through an area and then the time runs out. You might think "Ah fuck I'm going to have to go back there!" For me it was always a case of getting back into my ship, loading up the computer, going back over everything I've learned and then thinking "right, let's work out what the fuck's going on there then." The repeating does mean you see the same bits a few times but it also means you learn the same lessons enough that they sink in, and in a game as open as Outer Wilds having a bit of a direction to go in the next time you load the game up is if anything a good thing!

 

I got pretty far, I just think some of the sections were too time limited, I remember drowning in sand a lot. Might give it another go

 

[NecroMorrius]

You can do it for sure. There’s not loads of rushing about! 

[NecroMorrius]

That's the DLC done. Stunning stuff.

 

It's really put my mind at ease about whether or not they can capture lightning in a bottle again for their next game. This DLC lives within and alongside Outer Wilds, but it's quite separate in most respects. It uses the 22 minute loop structure but it doesn't rely entirely on it, instead it forges another path with a different method of storytelling, a different focus, different mechanics and a different vibe.

 

I must confess I found myself missing a few things here and there and needing to use a walkthrough, but it was only to find the next breadcrumb on the trail a couple of times. Usually when I'd had a break for a few days and forgotten what I was doing. 

 

One big thing I missed, which cost me a few hours of messing about, was:

 

Spoiler

Dying in the fire right at the end to stop the bells from waking you in the real world (because you're dead!) I saw the clip of the stranger inhabitants dying and not being woken up, but I didn't make the connection that the alarms in the other world were connected to the alarms in the real world - I never got caught by them and saw them going off in the real world.

So I ended coming at that bit back to front by following a walkthrough, which I didn't really understand, and then eventually understood after the fact. Not really a big problem, it's a genius bit of puzzle design either way, but I could have done with an extra shove in the right direction. Lord knows I prefer this method to being spoonfed answers like I'm an idiot before I've even identified the puzzle (Ragnarok, cough). 

 

My favourite moments were:
 

Spoiler

• Finding the stranger, getting on board, and seeing the inner geometry for the first time. 
• The moment of understanding when the dam breaks and whizzes round the inside of the stranger affecting the layout and accessibility. 
• Discovering the other place exists - holy shit!
• Uhh, Outer Wilds is a stealth horror now. And a better one than most. Yikes.
• The understanding that water in real life knocks you out of the other place, so you need to plan where you doze off carefully and backtrack as needed. 
• Piecing together the sad story of the stranger inhabitants and the nature of the other place (a sort of VR-Matrix reminiscence of the planet they destroyed to build the stranger and chase the eye)
• My jaw genuinely dropped when I realised that Matrix mode existed however, and that I could have done it at any time by dropping the artifact (and saved a good deal of frustrating stealth). That's a wild gambit right there from the devs.

 

I'd argue it's still as emotional as the base game, but about 50% of your emotional reaction is fear this time around, haha. I was not expecting that at all.

 

I'm ashamed I left it so long, if it's been sat in your pile I strongly recommend it.

[merrychan]

15 hours ago, Moz said:

That's the DLC done. Stunning stuff.

 

It's really put my mind at ease about whether or not they can capture lightning in a bottle again for their next game. This DLC lives within and alongside Outer Wilds, but it's quite separate in most respects. It uses the 22 minute loop structure but it doesn't rely entirely on it, instead it forges another path with a different method of storytelling, a different focus, different mechanics and a different vibe.

 

I must confess I found myself missing a few things here and there and needing to use a walkthrough, but it was only to find the next breadcrumb on the trail a couple of times. Usually when I'd had a break for a few days and forgotten what I was doing. 

 

One big thing I missed, which cost me a few hours of messing about, was:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Dying in the fire right at the end to stop the bells from waking you in the real world (because you're dead!) I saw the clip of the stranger inhabitants dying and not being woken up, but I didn't make the connection that the alarms in the other world were connected to the alarms in the real world - I never got caught by them and saw them going off in the real world.

So I ended coming at that bit back to front by following a walkthrough, which I didn't really understand, and then eventually understood after the fact. Not really a big problem, it's a genius bit of puzzle design either way, but I could have done with an extra shove in the right direction. Lord knows I prefer this method to being spoonfed answers like I'm an idiot before I've even identified the puzzle (Ragnarok, cough). 

 

My favourite moments were:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

• Finding the stranger, getting on board, and seeing the inner geometry for the first time. 
• The moment of understanding when the dam breaks and whizzes round the inside of the stranger affecting the layout and accessibility. 
• Discovering the other place exists - holy shit!
• Uhh, Outer Wilds is a stealth horror now. And a better one than most. Yikes.
• The understanding that water in real life knocks you out of the other place, so you need to plan where you doze off carefully and backtrack as needed. 
• Piecing together the sad story of the stranger inhabitants and the nature of the other place (a sort of VR-Matrix reminiscence of the planet they destroyed to build the stranger and chase the eye)
• My jaw genuinely dropped when I realised that Matrix mode existed however, and that I could have done it at any time by dropping the artifact (and saved a good deal of frustrating stealth). That's a wild gambit right there from the devs.

 

I'd argue it's still as emotional as the base game, but about 50% of your emotional reaction is fear this time around, haha. I was not expecting that at all.

 

I'm ashamed I left it so long, if it's been sat in your pile I strongly recommend it.

This is brilliant to hear, I just presumed that it could never be close ot the main game since I felt I had done everything in that world and saw it through

[Mogster]

On 22/12/2022 at 17:25, Vorgot said:

 

I got pretty far, I just think some of the sections were too time limited, I remember drowning in sand a lot. Might give it another go

 

That area is probably one of the biggest. But!

 

(slight hint)

 

Spoiler

If you find don't have enough time, there may be a way to get inside a little faster...

 

[NecroMorrius]

3 hours ago, merrychan said:

This is brilliant to hear, I just presumed that it could never be close ot the main game since I felt I had done everything in that world and saw it through

I could see someone enjoying it less because it’s quite different. Luckily I like the horror element. 

[smac]

So I picked this up in the January sale. Slightly slow, charming start, with several deaths and restarts (actual, orange 'you died' text) but then, wow.

 

Spoiler

Walking back out of the observatory past the statue. 

Went to the moon and found some alien artefact, then

 

Spoiler

I died, but less permanently this time. This time I thought I would explore my own planet - ended up finding a small world within a plant, and then falling through to the centre of the world down a geyser, finding aliens had been there before me.

This is going to be a dense little game, isn't it? First hour or so of gameplay has had a lot of surprises! 

[smac]

OK, I am not reading this topic for a while. Spoilers are too tempting, and I suspect this game needs to be experienced blind.

[smac]

Yeah, this is intricate, intriguing and dense. Love just finding the stuff that's out there and piecing together what's going on.

[smac]

Man, this game gives you clues from the very first second, doesn't it?

 

I also found that 

Spoiler

Being on the dark side of a comet is insufficient protection when it passes through the heliosphere; thought it was worth a shot!

I have now died from

 

Spoiler

extreme sunstroke (i.e. falling into the sun. Twice), Giant Angler Fish attack, exploding reactor after a really rough landing halfway up a tree, asphyxiation in the depths of space/halfway up a waterspout, falling damage more times than I care to think - 'oh shit, I forgot to suit up and have no jet pa-*crunch*'.

 

[merrychan]

8 minutes ago, smac said:

Man, this game gives you clues from the very first second, doesn't it?

 

I also found that 

  Reveal hidden contents

Being on the dark side of a comet is insufficient protection when it passes through the heliosphere; thought it was worth a shot!

I have now died from

 

  Reveal hidden contents

extreme sunstroke (i.e. falling into the sun. Twice), Giant Angler Fish attack, exploding reactor after a really rough landing halfway up a tree, asphyxiation in the depths of space/halfway up a waterspout, falling damage more times than I care to think - 'oh shit, I forgot to suit up and have no jet pa-*crunch*'.

 

It is the absolute best game

[NecroMorrius]

Haha keep it coming @smac I love hearing people experience it for the first time. 

 

All those deaths taught you something - there's a bit of frustration here and there but generally treat each run as an experiment rather than a challenge and you'll get into the flow of it. You can always ask for very vague hints here if you get stuck.

[Ravern]

Vague hints like "put your suit on in space" 

[smac]

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe…
 

This is such a good game - the temptation for 'just one more run' is strong.

 

 

5 hours ago, Ravern said:

Vague hints like "put your suit on in space" 

 

I generally do, but run out of oxygen after getting stranded/separated or just through dawdling. I died on the water planet literally one step away from the ship entrance. D'oh!

 

12 hours ago, Moz said:

generally treat each run as an experiment rather than a challenge and you'll get into the flow of it.

 

That's exactly what I'm doing - following up previous hypotheses, seeing if I get any further. See, I made a comment earlier about dying because 

 

Spoiler

the comet doesn't give you enough protection from the sun. That was me experimenting, but it turns out that actually, I was on the right track. Had I been standing somewhere else…

So I'll try out pretty much anything. I got a very rare achievement today:

 

Spoiler

I chased a bright light across the home planet's sky; it turned out to be a low-orbit satellite, and the trophy was for 'de-orbiting' it (I.e. crashing into it and knocking it out of the sky)!

I was also chuffed to

 

Spoiler

retrieve and fly alien scout ships. I think I may actually have retrieved both - one from the ice comet, and one from the Quantum Moon.

This game reminds me so much of playing Mercenary and Damocles, back in the day.

[merrychan]

I love the stories from people's experiences with this game.

My favourite has to be when I crashed my ship (ridiculously hard, my fault entirely) into something, I got out of my seat and turned around and the rest of the ship wasn't there

[smac]

Oh, at some point I plan to go through the topic mining the old posts for laughs.

 

I'm still very much in the exploration and discovery phase - I have some ideas for a couple of locations that I need to get back to, to carry them out; and still more interesting things I've spotted but not yet visited.

 

Last night's big surprise was finding 

 

Spoiler

the black hole foundry. Then falling into it. D'oh!

 

[NecroMorrius]

2 hours ago, merrychan said:

I love the stories from people's experiences with this game.

My favourite has to be when I crashed my ship (ridiculously hard, my fault entirely) into something, I got out of my seat and turned around and the rest of the ship wasn't there

 

The first time, or the 100th time? 

 

[merrychan]

2 hours ago, Moz said:

 

The first time, or the 100th time? 

 

Haha I had many catastrophic crashes, mostly either fatal or wrecking the ship but not as completely as above

[smac]

Today I found 

 

Spoiler

Feldspar.

 

What's great is that I kinda suspected from day 1 what I would have to do, just not what I would find, and when I tried it out it worked. It's totally logical. In a mad SF kind of way.

[NecroMorrius]

Yep, the entire game makes complete logical sense in a way very few do. When I try to comprehend it in its entirety I can hardly believe it exists. 
 

There are a couple of big leaps in understanding that can happen at any time. Sometimes not even while you’re playing the game you might subconsciously make a connection or realisation and be a little floored by it. 
 

The main one for me was

 

SMAC DON’T CLICK THIS

Spoiler

Seriously don’t click this

Spoiler

The grand realisation that there’s no saving the solar system or your friends to be done. The project was built billions of years ago and it didn’t work. They couldn’t explode the sun. They died. They lived and they died and their work lied dormant for billions of years. You’re only trapped in the loop because the sun is dying naturally, triggering the dormant equipment, just as your species begins their journey into the solar system. There’s nothing you can do. Everything that’s ever going to happen has happened. All you can do is end the loop and let the universe die naturally to begin again anew. 

 

 

[NecroMorrius]

Just stumbled across this, wow! Spoilers. 

 

 

[Jamie John]

I've just started this at long last after hearing so many good things and I'm definitely finding it intriguing, although pretty opaque. I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing, but I've heard tell of 

Spoiler

something to be found on the south pole of Brittle Hollow,

 

so that seems like as good an objective as any to head towards.

 

Is there anything I should prioritise doing in order to get my bearings, or should I just throw myself in? To say that it doesn't give you much of a helping hand at the beginning is a bit of an understatement.

[Ketchup]

Go to the moon that orbits the starting planet first. I think that’s a good introduction to flying, the mystery and how to move around fairly safely.

[Jamie John]

On 25/01/2023 at 23:20, Ketchup said:

Go to the moon that orbits the starting planet first. I think that’s a good introduction to flying, the mystery and how to move around fairly safely.

 

I forgot to say, but this was the first thing I did, luckily. 

Spoiler

I found the ruins and the sliding ball puzzle thing, and this then led me to the underground area where I learnt about the eye and the base on the south pole of Brittle Hollow, so that's where I'm going to head now.

 

[Jamie John]

I've come back to this after a break and am bang into it now, unravelling the mystery one thread at a time and having a wonderful time exploring. I do sometimes think, however, that the time limit gets in the way of the exploration, which can be irritating and forces you to rush. Case in point, question re. Dark Bramble:

 

Spoiler

I've found the escape pod, which then led me to the 'seed' portal that I've fired my scout into. I get that you have to then go to where the scout is to find the vessel, but I keep getting eaten by the stupid angler fish. I understand that you have to turn your engines off and move slowly by them so as not to attract their attention (I think, anyway), but is there a quicker way to get to where the scout lands without having to first find the escape pod, then the seed, then firing your scout, etc., navigating the angler fish all the while?

 

It's the same with the Sunless City in Ember Hollow. I understand that you have to follow the path through the cave maze to get there, but having to do it each time is a pain, especially when you're on a time limit anyway because of the sand.

 

Also, is there a watch or a timer or something that I've completely overlooked which tells you how long on the current loop you have left?

[Jamie John]

Right, I managed to find follow my scout and find the 

Spoiler

original crashed Vessel, but it's clear that I need a new drive core, so for that it's back to Brittle Hollow and the black forge controls, I believe. There was also some three-sided pattern puzzle in the Vessel that I couldn't figure out, either.

 

At the moment I've got a load of dead ends, so I'm going to have to keep scratching away until I can find a thread to unpick. It's terrific fun, though - the type of game you're constantly thinking about when you're not playing it.

 

[Ketchup]

11 hours ago, Jamie John said:

I've come back to this after a break and am bang into it now, unravelling the mystery one thread at a time and having a wonderful time exploring. I do sometimes think, however, that the time limit gets in the way of the exploration, which can be irritating and forces you to rush. Case in point, question re. Dark Bramble:

 

  Hide contents

I've found the escape pod, which then led me to the 'seed' portal that I've fired my scout into. I get that you have to then go to where the scout is to find the vessel, but I keep getting eaten by the stupid angler fish. I understand that you have to turn your engines off and move slowly by them so as not to attract their attention (I think, anyway), but is there a quicker way to get to where the scout lands without having to first find the escape pod, then the seed, then firing your scout, etc., navigating the angler fish all the while?

 

It's the same with the Sunless City in Ember Hollow. I understand that you have to follow the path through the cave maze to get there, but having to do it each time is a pain, especially when you're on a time limit anyway because of the sand.

 

Also, is there a watch or a timer or something that I've completely overlooked which tells you how long on the current loop you have left?

Answers to your questions.

Spoiler

For the sunless city there is an alternate entrance you can find with a bit of searching. When you’re done there find where some water is coming in.

 

For bramble I believe you just go straight to the ship if you know the way. I forget exactly now but I think the little red dots are seeds and aiming for a certain one will take you to the ship.

 

Finally, no clock but look at the pause screen map and see how big the sun is, it’ll start to expand and take over the sun station towards the end as well as the sound that plays when you have a minute or two left.

 

[Jamie John]

Right then, I've done pretty much everything now except finish the game, I think. I've...

 

Spoiler

- Landed on the Quantum Moon and found the Nomai pilgrim (what a great moment that was!)

 

- Found the coordinates for the eye from the centre of Giant's Deep after learning about the jellyfish.

 

- Discovered the secret of the Interloper.

 

- Explored the High Energy Lab on Ember Twin.

 

- Explored the Black Hole Forge.

 

- Found the Vessel.

 

I think the last think I need to do is...

 

 

Spoiler

Find a way into the Ash Twin Project to get the Warp Core, which, in turn, I can use to power up the Vessel and travel to the Eye. I'm not entirely sure how to get inside it, however. I think it's something to do with the warp towers on Ash Twin itself. Something about warping inside the planet, and therefore finding the Project at its core, but I'm not sure.

 

I've found a load of the Ash Twin projection stones and have seen what it looks like from the inside, but I need to find a way to get in there properly now. Hmm.

 

Anyway, adventure awaits!

[Jamie John]

I was right!

 

Muahahahaha.