One is a space station, and the other is the same planet I started on.  So…

The larger change is that I am now level 18 and have 4 companions, which means generally more options to resolve the various tasks at hand.  Where the tutorial planet gives you a taste at quest variety (like choosing between Persuade, Lie, or Medical responses), as you progress the requirements to execute those options are higher.  Tutorial wouldn’t need much, say 20 points.  Now, I’m seeing requirements in the 50-60 range, which means that players need to focus on a specific skill set.

My character is a focused primarily on long guns and stealth skills, so I’m using companions, equipment, and meds to boost other skills as needed.  And as a general rule, any optional way to resolve a quest is more rewarding (story wise and actual rewards) than the vanilla version.  One let me solve two quests at once, and avoid having to botch/fail another.  The inter connectivity of the quests isn’t all that obvious to start off, since the quest text is rather high level, but as you get closer to the goals you can see that there are choices to be made that push you in one direction rather than another.  Time will tell what the long-term impacts of those decisions will mean.

One small gripe I have so far is with how pickpocketing works.  In both Fallout 1 &2, pickpocketing was a great way to fill in inventory, and complete some quests.  Simple mechanic, either it worked and you were good, or it didn’t and you ended at the end of a barrel.  Fallout 3/4 had a bit of this, but it included the stealth portion from Elder Scrolls – only worked if you weren’t seen.

Outer Worlds has NPC placement in such a way that you’re almost always in line of sight from someone else, a few times through what are physical walls.  People who lockpick in down, or just try to steal some items thinking they are isolated have seen this.  When you pickpocket, it takes both time (about 5s at medium skill levels), everyone sees you, and you don’t pick from an inventory – the stuff just gets dumped into your bag.  One quest requires you to pay 10,000 credits to get a pass.  There are minor quests to get the money for it, and they can also help apply a discount.  In the meta space, you would think there would be a way to steal this pass (though certainly a convoluted way).  Even when I did get the skill to work, the rewards were less credits than if I had looted a random box in another room.  I am pretty sure the skill is broken… and I’ll see by the end of the game if there’s any use for it.

A note for those who are acquiring flaws in the game (a permanent negative effect that gives a permanent perk point) – since this is a skill stat-based game, unless you are actively trying to build an oaf, don’t take any flaws that reduce your stats.  Taking more damage is much easier to manage than -1 intelligence.

A good point here is that I am having a really hard time putting the game down. The only downtime is when you leave/ land on a new planet and are trying to find out what to do.  Otherwise, there’s always that cabin on the hill to explore.

Also, today is the start of Blizzcon.  Making a big batch of popcorn!