I don't normally like PatritionTV, but his OW video was good iirc. There was a bunch of good multi-hour long deep dives on it. Better than the game tbh.
I disagree, his video is garbage and one of the few I don't like. Salt Factory made one that is more in-depth and actually addresses the core issues the game has.
I say that because he mentions one of the areas (Roseway? The one where you do the diet toothpaste quest.) was the first area made as a test bed for various, and it shows some unique elements that don't appear in the rest of the game. Like options for quest outcomes instead of corpo, worker, or correct compromise. Key among them is the writing, while satirical, is more serious and less reddit. Making it seem that the reddit tier writing was a late addition to the game.
Correct, at one point the vertical slice was changed to Emerald Vale, and writing was completely different. I recall the reason being was that the original atmosphere was too "depressing", so they added "humor" to almost every conversation and bit of dialogue of the game. Obsidian did the same thing with Old World Blues DLC but at least there it thematically made sense. The worst offender is the space pirate quest, you ever wonder why towards the end the grounded, ruthless, cold and calculating boss goes full conspiratard about aliens? The redditor QA team didn't like playing as the "bad guys" so the devs made her quirky and relatable, making the impact of what was otherwise one of the best questlines in the game(and one that actually connects to the main plot line) be that of a wet pillow. We can't have bad guys winning unless they're stereotypical mustache twirling villains so you are given a reason to work with the reasonable glowie scientists instead. Let's be vague about what they're doing while we're at it so we don't make anyone feel uncomfortable, just trust the science, okay? We also can't have actual effective bandits you can side with, they have to be QUIRKY and HILARIOUS so that the players can laugh and forget they're working for the bad guys! Look at this, Lilya is now going to buy a golden toilet to shit in, nowthat the she hijacked a monstrous government experimental program to sell on the black market and make billions of bits, so funny! Almost makes you forget that you could be responsible for some quack using these notes and equipment to experiment on god knows how many people in the future thanks to you, it's not like you already have one rogue scientist doing god knows what that you're supposed to side with in the main quest!
In the words of Doctor 0 from Old World Blues, since I already mentioned it "Vivisect me, please". Thankfully, the writing for the DLCs seemed much better, especially in Peril on Gorgon, altho the "silliness" remains(The assassins that are send after you at one point are corporate football players that got fired, so now they all became bounty hunters that run at you with tossball sticks. Isn't that HILARIOUS?)
I doubt it. While he has some interesting commentary. My understanding is he's woke AF and thus would likely still hire based on diversity. He also sold out to epic and microsoft first go around, so he'd immediately cave the second any ESG money was waved at him. I don't think there's much, if any ESG money left, but still...
Tim made several videos specifically calling out his employees as incompetent retards, as a warning to other leads to tard wrangle theirs better. I dunno if he is "woke", but he is an oldschool liberal, ie "I want to make a good, nuanced product first and shove my politics in second". It's clear the final product isn't anywhere close to what he wanted, so I hope this resentment is enough to drive him to fix the mistakes of the first game.
Huh. I might have to give it another shot then. Steam says I have 5 hours in it, but I reached Groundbreaker I think? I wonder if it's worth putting on easy and focusing the main quest.
Emerald Vale and Groundbreaker are glorified tutorial levels. Once you leave Groundbreaker is when the game really picks off. If you have DLCs, once you get to a certain point in the main quest they trigger as well. You can't sequence break and head to one of the high level DLC areas right off the bat like in Fallout games, I'm afraid, but they're easily the best content the game has. Worth at least one playthrough, Peril on Gorgon specifically plays a lot like Old World Blues with the humour turned off so you can see how fucked up the entire corporate setting and the experimentation they do is at face value. The "humour" is at minimum in this DLC, I have a feeling this is a lot like what Tim originally envisioned the game as.
Not to mention it's probably one of the ugliest games I've ever played. Monarch gave me a headache every time I tried to play through that because everything was so washed out and gross looking. Which is the aesthetic they were going for...I guess, but I'd assume they wouldn't want the players to feel physically ill while playing.
This is one of the more common complaints: Places where you spend the most amount of time(Monarch and Emerald Vale) are ugly as sin and boring to look at. This, I think, is the biggest filter for most players, especially since Emerald Vale is a mandatory tutorial level and can easily take you 2-3 hours. I would not blame you if you think the game isn't worth your time and quit right there.
As for ugly NPCs, I can actually look past that. The game takes place in an industrial setting, long hair and beauty products aren't allowed for the working class. In fact, hygiene products like shampoo are straight up banned outside Byzantium and can get you thrown in prison just for owning or using them. I can actually accept many NPCs being ugly, neon hair included since most of them that look like this are either security or outlaws. I guess you can cope that this is the fashion in Halcyon for the spacer or bouncer. Doesn't bother me since not like anything else looks better in the entire solar system. At least the DLCs add in some color outside the hair spray the NPCs use.
