I would point out that the ending would not "have happened either way, regardless of whether or not I did anything". Firstly: Had you done nothing, the universe would have been stuck on a time loop for all infinity Secondly: Had you stopped the time loop, but not entered the eye, the universe would have died completely shortly thereafter and all existence would come to an end

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Originally I had meant that had your character not had existed at all (or just gotten stuck in the time loop) the outcome would've been the same (i know Gabbro was already stuck in the time loop but i feel like eventually he would've found the eye as well) However I didn't know about your 2nd point. Is that true? I legit thought that the new universe would've been born with or without me going to the eye.

@Hom2610

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician I don't think I understand your point then? Surely in most games had the PC not existed, someone else could have stepped up and done whatever it is the PC does? As to the second point, yes absolutely. Quantum objects are affected by conscious observation. When you meet her in the Quantum Moon, Solanum ponders what happens when a conscious observer enters the eye. This concept is further reenforced by dialogue given throughout the final sequence especially by Solanum. After the travelers finish their song, if you speak with Solanum she more or less spells out for you what the Eye actually is: The Eye is actually every single possible universe in existence, in a state of quantum uncertainty. Only when a conscious observer observes it, does the function colapse and a single universe emerges. It's a bit like Schrödinger's cat, that exists in an uncertain state of life/death untill observed, at which point he either becomes alive or dead. This is further evidenced by the fact that the nature of the new universe changes slightly based on what you experience throughout the game. If you don't meet Solanum, there won't be aliens gathered around a campfire at the end. If you do the DLC and meet a certain other character, more elements will appear as well.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@Hom2610 ohhhh ok i see now, yeah i guess that make more sense then. If anything, it changes my feelings towards the ending a bit more. I guess, originally, it just felt bittersweet to me. I wanted to explore more or see what the solar system would be like past the time loop. I understand why people like the ending, but, at the time for me, it just felt... weird. Like this thought of "it's nice that it all ended, but is there really nothing more" if that makes any sense

@deaj8450

7 ай бұрын

The ending for your character is that they died. Isn't that all that matters? I don't care about a new universe I care about me. Like if your character died before ever interacting with the Nomai mask then there would be no difference. They are dead either way.

@Hom2610

7 ай бұрын

@@deaj8450 If you want to see it that way. But most people aren't that self-centered

UPDATE: kzread.info/dash/bejne/eo2htrazpa2poNY.html So first off I just want to say thank you to everyone from the Outer Wilds community that came and talked with me about this. I was honestly a little worried that I was going to get a lot of hate for this video, but you all have been nothing but understanding and nice to me. So thank you for understanding my opinions with this game. Also, after talking with a lot of you I feel like I'm starting to understand more now why people love this game (and it's ending) so much. I wish I could replay this game again, but sadly I cannot. So.... The next best thing is to play the DLC, with the new mindset you guys have given me. I'm thinking about live-streaming it so you all can see my initial reactions in real time. If that sounds like something you would be interested in, let me know!!

@Nikzzza

Жыл бұрын

Where would this be streamed? I'd also like to say something about the DLC that has nothing to do with spoiling the story or what to do in the DLC, just a reminder I feel like alot of people need, when tackling the DLC, would you like to hear it?

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@Nikzzza I would stream it here on KZread, if enough people want me to do it. I'll set up a time and let everyone know when with a community post. Also yes! I welcome any advice you may have about the DLC! :)

@Nikzzza

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Just like the base game, it's not meant to be hard. Mechanically speaking. It's not an action game, it's not survival horror game, it's not First person shooter, it's a a puzzle game. If something doesn't work after 10th try, what ever that you're doing is probably not the solution to the probelm at hand. Depending on the schedule I wouldn't mind watching

@DeathsInBottles

Жыл бұрын

I'd be into it! Maybe some fresh mysteries would reframe your experience of the base game too.

@alexlowe2054

Жыл бұрын

I'm definitely interested in watching if you're streaming! The DLC is a special ride. It also contains a lot less text, which might make the story easier to follow if you're not a fan of reading large walls of text.

Glad I am not the only one that felt this way. Even if this type of game really is not for me, it still had many negative aspects that made completing the game a chore. I was also even comparing it to Subnautica in my head. Also glad to know I was not the only one comparing the two :)

@Etienne.6329

5 ай бұрын

"Chore" is the keyword here

as someone who loves this game very much, i disagree with a lot of what you said but appreciate the fact that you made a video even though it’s an unpopular opinion. for me, most of the things you listed as “flaws” aren’t really that at all and are just game mechanics. like, having the game tell you when the sand is all gone or when the interloper crashes into the sun etc takes away a lot of the meaning behind the game, which is curiosity and experimentation. if you want to know that, you have to spend a few loops timing it for yourself. all of the people i have watched play the game read the scroll about a time loop potentially lasting 22 minutes and they get very excited because they timed their loops early on and saw it was also 22 minutes. another thing you mentioned was wishing the game had side quests or the ability to upgrade or something or the sort. this game can get super frustrating if you don’t understand a puzzle so i get if people got sick of the main story and wanted to do something else. but the story of this game is the whole point. adding side quests would just distract from that and wouldn’t even work in canon because of the time loop (everything would be reset when you die). you could argue the quantum moon plot line is something of a side quest because it is not required to complete the story (though i and many other people consider it integral). for me, the novelty of each planet never really wore off. it was more like i got used to it and was able to traverse it familiarly which just added to my exploration. nothin feel better than using a cyclone on giants deep to launch myself into space because my ship got destroyed or something. i do agree that just reading things over and over can get tiring, but it also is incredibly rewarding when you finally connect pieces together. i think it’s intended that you don’t really focus on the story at first and it isn’t until you’re knee deep in it that you realize how much you know and how much you WANT to find out. as for the ending, i think the stealth section totally feels in place for the game. i mean, you dance with anglerfish to find feldspar in the dark bramble, giving you a taste for how they operate, and later you need to find out how to evade them which leads you back to the bramble. the dlc also expands greatly on this stealth front. additionally to what i was saying early about the story, i love how the museum at the end reflects the things you learned. only read half the things in the universe? the updated plaques will reflect that instead of giving you full closure for whatever the exhibit is. seeing the stars turn into fireflies in a forest was so beautiful the first time i got to the ending sequence. the ending means different things to different people. i get what you mean by saying it felt almost useless because the end of the universe would happen anyways, but that’s sorta the point in a way? it connects to how you said it felt like stuff was occurring in the universe even if you weren’t there. you ARE just a small speck, a cog in the machine. the universe will end no matter what, but you were the one to consciously end the time loop and kickstart the end by entering the eye. it’s all about facing the inevitable with strength and love and curiosity, not with fear and anger. the story was never about stopping the supernova or entering the eye to save the universe. it was about finishing the nomais journey and doing so with the most important people surroundin you at the end. the end is worth the journey to me because i spent hours reading about the nomai, learning their names and how they grew up and had failures and successes. i talked to other hearthians and we discussed what i had learned. to finally put everyone to rest was emotional and also felt like i was crossing the finish line with all of them at my side. i definitely suggest watching video essays or explanations on it if you want to understand better because im sure i didn’t elaborate well here lol. but im not gonna fault you for not enjoying the overall game because sometimes it’s annoying to have to watch additional content to understand it. it definitely helped to have someone who could give me hints if i got stuck without spoiling anything major or taking out the feeling of discovery. and YES, the music is fantastic. it’s been on replay since i first played the game. sorry to leave such a long comment! i love this game and love to expand on the ideas within it. would love to further have a conversation if you are up to it.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I love having conversations like these! So first off, thanks for leaving the comment! I do see where you're coming from when it comes to experimentation. Maybe this is just a case of I wasn't patient enough for this game. I feel like in the beginning, I definitely did have fun experimenting with it all (going inside the interloper, discovering the sunless city) but I think when it came to the more complex riddles, that's where I started to get annoyed. Like finding out how to get inside the ATP. I guess it felt similar to how some people feel when you die to a boss that you almost defeated, but now you have to start all over again. I had to restart, go back to Ash Twins and wait for the right moment again. I know that I can wait at the campfire, but I guess, again, it goes back to the fact that I'm not patient enough to time myself. And the fact that I had the option for freezing time when you talk to NPCs and read scrolls turned on. I guess I could've turned off but I didn't want to have to rush reading all of that stuff or risk being cut off mid sentence by the time loop. Maybe instead of having a device that tells you the times for a bunch of specific events, you could at least have a device that tells you how much time until the loop is over (and obviously the time would freeze whenever you read or talk to other people) I did try timing myself but since I had the option to freeze time turned on, I could never get the timing right unfournately As far as side quests go. I guess I can see your point on that. I think the story overwhelming me as well as some of the difficult puzzles just made me bored of it all. I wanted something different, even if it was just a small side story. Maybe it could've been about the nomai, or a backstory on some of the other travelers. I feel like maybe having some of the dialogue (not all, mainly just the important parts) being voiced could've been one solution for me. Maybe you could download a wall scroll to your translation device and it can be read back to you while you explore around. I feel like that would've been much more engaging (this is something that Subnautica did that I really liked) The reason I say the novelty of the planets wore off for me is I feel like for a lot of the riddles (save for maybe a few) I didn't feel like I was using the knowledge to help me solve these riddles, instead I knew how to avoid these features so I could solve the riddles in time. Like getting to the cave with quantum rock on ember twins or accessing the observatory on Brittle Hollow. I do feel like this is probably my most opinionated point though The only thing I don't like about the stealth section is how time is always of the essence, but since you have to go at the slowest speed when passing by the anglerfish I always felt like I was wasting time. It created suspense the first few times around but after that... I don't know, I guess I just felt more annoyed. I was thinking like "oh man I'm not gonna make it in time and I'll have to start this whole part over" The ending... I don't know how best to put my thoughts into words here. In a way my problem with the ending was my expectations were something else completely. I thought maybe I would get to explore a whole new planet or that maybe that I could break the loop and explore the stars to my hearts desire. It's weird, because at the same time I completely understand why others liked it, it's an emotional ending to a journey. Maybe since the characters didn't have as much of an impact on me (except feldspar) it didn't hit me as hard at the end. I think I will definitely watch other videos about this game. I don't know whether they'll convince me on the gameplay, but I would like to see how others viewed the ending and the story itself. It's just a shame because I know how well beloved this game is and as I said in the video, I really wanted to like it. Thanks for commenting, I really love talking about these kind of things!

@dompan9169

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician about the annoying riddle part: because of how the entire game is constructed, some of these puzzles had to be has difficult as they are, or else people would solve them much earlier than they are meant to. This is especially true with the ATP, the text found inside the ATP explain so much about the time loop.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@dompan9169 yeah it definitely is tricky. Because on the one hand I became annoyed with the late game puzzles, and honestly I think that was the main reason for why I checked out of the story so much. I became more and more focused on solving the puzzles, so anything that didn't relate to how I could solve it was something I just skimmed past. This meant I kind of forgot to stop and take in all the details of the story. But on the other hand, I understand that making them too easy would've resulted in a much shorter playthrough and a lot of stuff being skipped over by the player. Perhaps if the answers to the puzzles were presented to you differently (either more visually, through audio, or something else) Maybe certain wall scrolls are green instead of blue, these could be the "science scrolls" or something that focus more on talking about the technology of the nomai, and maybe some scrolls are colored purple that are named the "planet scrolls" that talk about the features of a planet Basically making it so that players know which scrolls to read for the specific answers they're looking for, and which scrolls to take their team and read for the story and characters aspects. I feel like that would've kept my interest a lot longer and meant I could've connected with the story better. I'd be interested to hear your opinion on the idea!

@dompan9169

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician could work,

@saebelorn

Жыл бұрын

​@@wiremagician But that's still wrong. To mechanically separate 'important' dialogue from 'fluff' is to deny the significance of the game and the journey to begin with - it immediately puts a stake through the heart of the thing. You're supposed to gather clues to progress mechanically at the exact same time as you learn about the people who lived before you, it's an entwined process for tons of reasons - empathy with the Nomai, seeing things from their perspective, building up a cultural and historical understanding that actually helps frame solutions to the puzzles, etc. There's no way to 'solve' your problem with it, you just didn't find it interesting. It would have harmed the game for many more people than it would have helped to have told the player 'here's what you can ignore so you can get the game over with'.

They really should have made Meditate a default feature. And i don't really like video game puzzles; searching for a single contrived solution is not my jam. Building up my own solutions like in subnautica, that's what satisfies me. However... I found myself growing charmed by both the hearthians and nomai. For once there was no political backstabbing or grey and grey morality. It's just good guys, curious and enthusiastic to develop themselves and claw back the darkness of the universe. So young, as a species. So much potential. And it's up to you to save them, maybe even bring the nomai back with this magic quantum eye thing. Typical video game ending, right? But then the ending sequence, where it slowly dawned on me that you CAN'T save them... that hit me like a freight train. That's against the rules of media, man! Instead, you say your goodbyes and sacrifice yourself and everyone, so that existence would continue and others would get their shot, even if none of you would... Man after that big bang, i cried

This is my favorite game of all time, which is why it's really confusing to me why most people I know in real life who tried it out quit halfway through. I've been trying to understand why this is, wondering if I presented it wrong, if there's some intrinsic motivation necessary, or if you just have to be real into space. This video helped shed some light on my question, thanks for sharing your experience :)

@pelgervampireduck

8 ай бұрын

I quitted after a few hours, I don't know why I didn't like it, I can't explain why, I didn't feel immersed in it, it was uninteresting, boring, like "so... when is the game going to start?". I tried it after watching Resonant Arc's analysis of it, they loved it and praised it a lot. I was curious, tried the game, and I can't understand what's amazing about it. I think the best games ever made are Deus Ex, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Final Fantasy 6, 7, 8 and 10, Doom, Disco Elysium, Diablo 1 and 2, Zelda Link to the Past and Majora's Mask, Super Metroid... I guess if somebody said "I don't like Deus Ex, I don't get it" I'd be surprised like "what's not to like? it's amazing!".

@deaj8450

7 ай бұрын

This game is just not for everyone man. I can't stand it personally.

@GoofyAhOklahoma

4 ай бұрын

​@@pelgervampireduckWell, those games are all sort of more action oriented and just tell you a good story. Outer Wilds has very little action and is more about exploration and the story isn't handed to you on a silver platter. You have poke around and piece things together. That might just seem to monotonous for you and you prefer the less tedious and more guided gameplay experience, but for others, they love trying to piece together this solar system mystery.

@fxstreamer238

4 ай бұрын

cause you never played KSP and you are still a kid.

@ronthorn3

18 күн бұрын

@@GoofyAhOklahomaYeah I guess if the story was actually interesting? It’s not bad, I guess I just really could care less about what happened to any of these characters. I love environmental story telling, Fromsoftware is my favorite game studio, I’m nearing the end I feel like of outer wilds and I’m just not pulled in, like the space physics are really fucking cool, but that’s where the praise ends for me.

everyone talks about how the storytelling is life-changing and unbelievably good but I was waiting for it to get to that level

@yourgameisstupid

19 күн бұрын

It just ended up being pretentious and poorly told.

even though i liked the game quite a lot, i cant deny that i felt slightly underwhelmed compared to what i imagined it would be (judging from all the reviews and praise). I guess i am not that good at puzzle games, because i struggled with some of the puzzles in the game (couldnt for the life of me find a way inside the Southern observatory, inside the Sun station, Ash Twin Project, how to move inside Dark Bramble), i had to google all this stuff up, and after you start googling stuff most of the fun disappears, i literally was finishing the game looking at a guide online. And especially the ending, i didnt quite get it exactly when i first experienced it. In hidsight i appreicate the game a lot, and watch other's lets plays. The structure of the game is stellar, its just that i didnt take my time to properly explore and solve the mysteries of the game in my own playthrough, i got impatient and started rushing to the end.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I can definitely understand that feeling. I think some of the late game puzzles really got me annoyed and because of that I wasn't enjoying the story as much. I was just trying to search for the one wall scroll that told me the answer of how exactly to get inside the Ash Twins Project, or how I access the tower of quantum knowledge. I think that combined with the time loop resetting while I was in the middle of experimenting with a hard puzzle, all led to me just kind of checking out more and more on the story side and instead focusing more and more on ONLY the answers to the puzzle. I'll definitely have to check out a let's play of someone else experiencing it, maybe then I can appreciate the story more

I am playing it at the moment and i'm 10 hours in, and I feel the same way. I searched "I don't like outer wilds" just to find this video, because i felt crazy i was the only one feeling this way. I really wanted to love this game, but i find myself frustrated by the time mechanics, and having to get back to a difficult to reach places in order to finish getting the story that is locked away there, or messing something up because of some random janky interaction or misstep. I was full of wonderment and awe in the first 5 hours, and I loved discovering new things, i felt giddy as i explored and saw more cool things. But as time went on, I found myself more and more frustrated. I understand that's sort of the point, with the feeling they want to give the player being one of dread, or some similar feeling, but I feel there's a better way to do that. To top it off there are some mechanics that are just essential, that some players may never find, or find way too long into their playthrough, for me it was the resetting ability. I still havent found it, but had to google "is there a way other than killing yourself to reset?" and found an answer that i need to go to a planet i havent really explored all that much. It's just overall a frustrating experience, and i'm going to stick it out (i intentionally didnt finish the vid to not spoil the ending, but i feel better knowing there's someone else that feels the same)

@noureldin6388

Жыл бұрын

I am a bit late but I felt the same way as you. I liked the game sure but it didn't affect me the same way it seemed to affect everyone else. Many times where there were supposed to be moments of wonder, I was simply just frustrated. Many of the puzzles I didn't understand and had to search up eventually, due to me being impatient at the end and deciding that I just wanted to get this over with and go on to something else, so I really didn't take in the experience and focus on many of the story elements. I didn't know how to feel about it after playing it at first and I still really don't know now, but all I can think is that it is a good game and it made me think a little, and when I do not compare my experience to the experience of the majority I don't feel so disappointed or confused as to why I didn't feel like everybody else while playing it.

@PuppeteerNG

9 ай бұрын

I had the EXACT SAME experience, hell just like you I googled "I don't like Outer Wilds" just because I also felt like I was cray not liking a game LITERALLY everyone says is the best game they have ever played, I definitely see that it's a well made game but maybe not for me and that's ok

@LukasJampen

7 ай бұрын

It is a very specific experience that most people playing it are looking for but I absolutely get why that won't work for some people. It is all about immersing yourself in this solar system full of mystery and strange things but if that doesn't happen to you for one reason or another, that will definitely prevent you from fully enjoying this "experience". (I know how cringe this usually sounds but it's true) I for example never cared to much about having the "skip to next loop" ability as I always enjoyed watching the super nova from different parts of the solar system or just sitting next to a traveller while it explodes.

@Etienne.6329

5 ай бұрын

@@LukasJampenI’d argue the game prevents you from immersing yourself because of the constant ticking clock. It tries to be 2 opposite things

@LukasJampen

4 ай бұрын

@@Etienne.6329 I'd say that's more depending on the person. I never felt stressed because if you miss something you can always be back in 3 minutes tops. Sure the few times i did particularly time sensitive things I felt the pressure but the timeloop should only bother you if you see it as a fail state or as an enemy. I was just going along with the ride. In that aspect it feels similar to the soulsborne series in a way. Restarting is not a punishment but a part of the experience similar to dieing to a boss in the souls game. You always get a bit better/learn more and always make a little bit of progress.

I think you'll enjoy the DLC more because you'll probably be more scared than bored, since the DLC does horror extremely well, and one of the pretty cool things about the DLC is that you don't read anything (at all from what i can remember), you get to see it before your eyes, and the game encourages you to experiment more aswell. It is sort of even more repetitive than the base game but, as i mentioned, you'll likely be more scared than bored. I'll also say this, do NOT turn on reduced frights, it makes the game terrible, the game gets less scary when you start to know how to get around.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I'm really considering playing and live-streaming the DLC! So many people have told me that it's something that I would like

I loved the game too, and I think most of your critiques, taken at face value, land pretty well. But a lot of the things you found to be 'bugs', were 'features' to me. For instance, the lack of any kind of "base building, home decorating, crafting" type activities, as well as the periodic "hard resets" forcing you to start from home base and retrace your steps, I see how those can be irritating. But it seemed to me that these omissions were part of the lessons this game has to teach. Notably, that "progress" is illusory and ephemeral, and that the only thing you can be sure of retaining from one episode to the next, is yoursef. (And, mercifully, your ship log because it would suck to try and remember everything.) It seems to me like everything in this game is trying to get you to abandon this traditional gaming idea of what "progress" is. The most satisfying gameplay moment to me was the transition from mid- to end-game, when the remaining puzzles in the game kind of clicked together and I had the "Ohh, I know what I have to do" moment, of realizing what a "last run" would have to entail. And that was a really cool feeling. It's very rare in an adventure game that your final mission isn't given to you, it just follows logically and naturally from what you've done and what you learned. For me, I think the game's ending also tapped into some "apocalypse grief" which a lot of people are feeling these days, with looming climate catastrophes and all that. The usual "you have to save the universe" adventure-game script was flipped into a "the end is inevitable and it always was, but you still have a few moments together with your friends" situation, and this is the same lesson that the frustrating 22-minute-reset gameplay was trying to teach: that the here-and-now is all we have. That's a big part of what made if so poignant to me.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Wow, not gonna lie. That actually got me to think differently about the ending. I guess some people can relate to the ending with a lot of things going on. Yeah I think I didn't phrase it right when I talked about base building and crafting. My main issue was that the main story was A LOT and at times made me feel overwhelmed. But there was really no reason to explore the planets past that. I wish I just had something else to do (it could even be as simple as maybe taking pictures of certain places around the solar system that get uploaded to your ships computer. Because I am in LOVE with the art style, not even gonna lie. Maybe then if you get all the pictures, it could unlock a hint) Honestly I think the amount of wall scrolls just overwhelmed me and I wish I could've gotten information in a different way at times, rather than always having to read it. (maybe some of the really important stuff could've been voiced by your translator, or maybe some of the nomai took pictures/videos that showed little hints for certain rumors) Maybe it just comes down to me not having the patience for it, but I really felt like I was so close to really liking this game. It's just those little things that held it all back for me

@unic0de-yvr

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Maybe eventually there'll be a Super-Archaeologists' Edition will come out one day which has all the little tweaks and improvements! Thanks for your insights and for listening :)

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@unic0de-yvr that'd be so awesome! thanks for talking with me about it, and thanks for watching the video!

@unic0de-yvr

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Oh the other thing i thought of and forgot to mention: For me the pain of having to retrace my steps so often, was almost totally mitigated by how ultra-fast it was to get around. It might've taken me hours of headscratching to work out how to get into some places in the first place, but once I knew where I was going, there weren't many destinations I couldn't get to from the launch pad in a minute or two, excepting a couple endgame areas. I think maybe a lot of other players experienced your 'first 5 hours' and 'next 5 hours' more in parallel, than sequentially. So as they were starting to access the juicier secrets in the more difficult mid-game areas, they were learning to navigate more efficiently and have fun whizzing around planets at breakneck speed at the same time.* Their first visit to the sunless city via the escape pod trail was hard won against time and clumsiness, and after a couple more visits they're speedrunning the same tunnels with ease, and then they notice the 'secret entrance' and smack their foreheads, and thereafter it's a breeze to get there while they're grinding on figuring out the fossil and the energy lab and whatnot. If you were already a smooth, experienced pilot and jetpacker by the time you even approached those midgame navigation puzzles, then the progression of "this place is hard to get to -> now i'm good at it -> now i know the secret easy route" might not have felt like much. * in fact, in the absence of any base-building etc. activities to take my mind off the big mysteries, whipping around in the jetpack, learning orbital mechanics and just going wheeeee zooooooooom, was kind of what I did instead. So being able to get places faster and faster, that was a type of progress that I got to keep from run to run. Going from tiptoeing over fragile bridges on brittle hollow in the first explorations, to just flying straight inside the planet and parking upside down on the wall and not giving af by the end of the game.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@unic0de-yvr i will say that brittle hollow was my favorite just because of how easy it was to navigate (except for getting in the observatory, took me a while to figure that out) also, i think i'm just slow to finding those "secret entrances". I found the sunless city one a lot later than i should've and used the escape pod route for most of my playthrough, and i didn't even know about the sun station one for a long time and kept trying to manually land on it lol

Finally someone that actually talks about the sheer aimlessness, confusion and boredom of the last 5-10 hours (it took me 20). It's a great game but unlike Subnautica, Rain World or Hollow Knight and other indie games there runs out of new places to explore very early on, and you get stuck on the puzzles you skipped earlier because you found them too difficult (particularly the white hole, parts of the ash twins, the item you pick up I already forgot the name and the final part of the quantum moon,) and are just left scratching your head after enjoying the amazing puzzles that was Giants deep, landing on the quantum moon l Interloper and a few more. That is what I enjoyed from this game, but after that it slowly went downhill.

@naruroGCS

15 күн бұрын

every puzzle other the ash twin is pretty straight foward and with a lot of clues so idk, fill the ship log and then try it again?

Personally I love this game, but the one thing I hope everyone can agree with…the soundtrack in this game fucking slaps soo hard

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

yooo the soundtrack is sooo good!

@fxstreamer238

4 ай бұрын

another overrated thing about this game is the sound track.

@singlereedenjoyer

5 күн бұрын

@@fxstreamer238it might not be the most listenable to some people but the usage of instrumentation and leitmotif to convey story elements is extremely well done.

I just finished this game and this summarizes my thoughts really well. As curious I was for the first 10 to 15 hours, I stopped caring about the story when the gameplay frustrated me. I became completely uninvested in the world, story and characters that by the end I just wanted it to be over and I felt nothing honestly, but frustration and annoyance. For example, when I got finally ready to do the final sequence of events, I was hyped, only to find that I had to do that STUPID stealth section again to get there. That completely destroyed all my enthusiasm because I had died like 20 times trying to do that section before and celebrated so much when I succeeded, finding out I had to go there again DESTROYED me.

@solsystem1342

7 ай бұрын

I'm curious, did you miss the anglerfish cave writings? Because I know I took an unorthodox strategy to get through but figured out a particular boost that would consistently make it past before my final run. I wish the game let you carry more momentum into the seeds because then I wouldn't have had to use such a silly strategy 😆

@EdreesesPieces

7 ай бұрын

@solsystem1342 its been a while but i do think i missed those

@Etienne.6329

4 ай бұрын

Same. And the solution is just... to put the controller down and look at the screen while the ship travels at a breakneck 2mph speed. I was like "that's peak video game experience there. wow" Also, when you pick the core, the SAME MUSIC as the supernova music start so.... I thought I ran out of time and rushed back to put the core back to its place.

@user-ie2vn5hb2q

Ай бұрын

Wow. Not using hints that game gives you and than saying that game is stupid and hard

@singlereedenjoyer

5 күн бұрын

@@Etienne.6329the music when the warp core is removed is a different song that uses the same motif with more layered on

It is overrated due to the fact that some fans attach their whole philosophical identity to this game, to the point that they have to fondle its analog stick everywhere, even in discussions of genres that it doesn't belong to. And they don't bring up preferences or things that people might find annoying. Though it is an impressively made game, there are lots of things about it that doesn't make it for everyone, and some of those are the game's own fault. They could have made it better without losing artistry. However, toxic fans will never accept criticism, and can even bully your skills and intelligence if you mention any of them.

@uthergoodman401

Ай бұрын

I think if you actually read how Outer Wilds fans have been reacting to this youll see that we actually dont really mind the criticism

@Grizzlise

21 күн бұрын

I completely agree with that and I'm relieved that someone points it out! When you say that you don't like the game, even if you explain and argument your opinion, a lot of people just won't accept it. They will either encourage you to it try again or just insult you and call you stupid. You're simply not allowed not to like it. And in my case it just made my dislike of this game bigger.

@naruroGCS

15 күн бұрын

@@Grizzlise i mean if you get 100% of the lore and just falls flat, thats it, there is nothing for you to gain or enjoy anymore, and thats why this game comunity dont spread spoliers to new players. The whole expecience is there, well crafted and done, is up for the player to discover and enjoy it (or not idk, there are people with 10k hours in bad games, so you do you i guess)

@singlereedenjoyer

5 күн бұрын

I don’t know what outer wilds fans you’ve been interacting with, but literally every post on the subreddit complaining about the game is filled with replies saying completely civilly that the game just might not be the game for them and that’s ok. The outer wilds community is one of the most accepting and open-minded communities when it comes to accepting criticism of the game in my experience.

@uthergoodman401

2 күн бұрын

@@singlereedenjoyer Lol best game ever made also creates best most wholesome game community. Shows you how truly special this game is.

That comparison between Subnautica and OW encapsulates my own disappointment with OW. Dammit, now I have to go replay Subnautica again, lol.

I played it for around 5 hours and i was just not trying to find similar oppinions to mine because the game was boring to me It wasnt really anything i hadnt seen before (or atleast in an interesting way) flying in space and exploring planets that dont have much on them isnt that interesting for me

I think its ok for people to have different opinions on media but I do kind of disagree about people not finding their own way in the game. Some examples would be people using the black hole to slingshot themselves around brittle hollow or landing on the black hole forge instead of teleporting there. There's a lot of lets plays or reviews of people playing where people come up with pretty different methods or paths. I do understand the point about beating the game and not really getting the hype others felt. I think when I first played I felt pretty ok about beating the game and figuring everything out its was like. "Ah nice you did it" but then I started thinking about my journey and what it had meant to me I found myself thinking about how we might be remembered or how things might end for humanity. I think there's a lot of areas for introspection and I think part of the beauty of the game is finding that maybe the journey did change you. Then when other people talk about the journey its like a uniting experience that we're all bound by this one experience that we all completed in our own way and found our own answers to the meta questions of the game. I feel like outer wilds is like a warm memory that only grows as time passes and you think about the beauty of it and the tragedy that no matter how much you might have enjoyed it that you can't go back so you should appreciate your own life moving forward and enjoying the present. I know you already made a different video (that im about to watch because the way people think about things like this is so interesting) and might have changed your mind on some things but I just wanted to share what the game meant to me since you had asked and assure you that there's nothing wrong with not liking someone else's favorite game :P there's nothing wrong or it doesn't mean that "oh you don't get it you didn't understand" it's totally fine not everyone sees the same colors in a sunset it doesn't make one person good or bad or better or worse.

I love outer wilds, but I enjoyed someone elaborate why he didn't enjoy it. The only problem I have is the comparison with Subnautica, they have some similitudes, but not enough to spend so much time explaining Subnautica's mechanics. It's like comparing Doom and fallout 4, both are FPS, but the second one have survival mechanics that changes a lot the game loop and the target audience

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

yeah the games are definitely not the same, it was just kind of the vibe that I got while playing it around the halfway point. I think it's mainly because of how big the map is in this game, there's 7 planets, and a few space stations that each have their own unique vibe and features to them. I guess when I started to compare it to subnautica I just felt like the map was a little empty. I guess I just wish there had been some side content. An idea I said, in another reply, was a side mission where you took pictures around the solar system that could be uploaded to your ships computer (because I'm obsessed with the art style) and if you collected all the pictures it could unlock a hint for the main story

First off, fair play for releasing this and going against the grain. Gotta respect that. And I do see where your coming from with some of the points and I felt the same way at times. I didn’t fall in love with the game till I reached the ending really and that’s when it hit me. I guess it was just an emotional connection and deeper thinking that kinda branched out from the game and into our reality. Like it made me feel like no other game has, questioning my own existence and how crazy it is we are even here to think about it. And that in itself makes it one of the best games ever - it gave me entirely new perspectives on my life in this universe and my actual existence and if that isn’t something special I don’t know what it.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Gotta say, after reading so many comments about the appreciation for the story, I'm starting to warm up to it a bit more now. There are still some things that I wish were different (mainly how the story is actually presented to you, with the overabdunce of wall scrolls) but I now see and understand why people love it so much

@yoloswaggins4614

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician ye I get where your coming from for sure. Have you played the dlc for it? It strays away from the text stuff probably for that reason

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@yoloswaggins4614 I've actually really been considering playing it now and live-streaming it for everyone to see my initial thoughts! I think with the new point of view all the comments have given me I might actually really like it!

The game is a masterpeice, however, it was not for you. This game envokes the feeling of existensial dread more than any other. However, the game relies on the player to invest in its world. When the Sun explodes, it wants you to think "Why is this happening" and "What about all my friend at home?" - then those emotions to push you to try find the answers. Each discovery getting you closer to a solution - maybe an answer - but in the end you learn that no, this is not a story of you saving the world, you and your friend are simply living at the end of the lifespan of the universe and there is nothing else to do, but atleast you can help a new one to be born from the ashes. The children playing hide and seek will never grow up to explore, your race will never travel between stars, but that is ok. If you dont have an emotional connetion and only see the game for the game it is, puzzles and exploration, then this game will become boring very quickly. So, to your question Why, try watch other people playing this game that have that emotinal connection to the world, and see how they react and see things that they discover and happends, and you will realise that this game was probebly just never ment for you.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

that's a really fair point. I do think, for me, the emotional connection just wasn't that strong with the other characters. i've talked to others in the comments about this and I think it might just be because of the fact that most of the story is told through the wall scrolls, which for me was just hard to get more emotionally invested in than others

@TheRichader

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician I agree that the game would have benifited with more personality from the characters you meet to easier create the connection between player and world. But for some that plays just for the gameplay it will allways be tricky, for them its just a puzzle game. If you are a story enjoyer that likes to get immersed it will be easier to enjoy the game. Game is not for everyone, and that is ok.

@ShadowDancer1000

Жыл бұрын

I completely played through the game (save for echoes, still trying to build up enough guts for that lol), and I’ll be honest I didn’t get it right away. I thank RTGame for introducing me to the game, but in doing so I accidentally spoiled the game for myself which I don’t think helped so much with the emotional part. It took me watching 2 playthroughs for things to finally click and I thought “wow this game is beautiful” (granted it was amazing before but I feel like it could have been so much more if I didn’t accidentally spoil it for myself)

@deaj8450

7 ай бұрын

Okay as someone else who didn't like this game, this is the problem for me. It's the end of the universe, so why even play the game? I don't care about the new universe, I care about my character. I care about having fun, cause it's a video game. I don't want to go through puzzles I don't like to watch something I don't care about happen.

@TheRichader

7 ай бұрын

Then the game is simply not for you, if you cant be curious and engage in the story, then go and play Call Of Duty or some other game that might suit yourself better.@@deaj8450

For me, outer wilds has topped all my other like 'spiritual' gaming experiences. ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, these sorts of gems that i so want to 'live in' and soak up, but OW does something extra special. I'm compelled to bring the gift of this game to friends in the way i try to pass on books like Siddhartha or introduce them to 2001 A Space Odyssey. This game is freaking important for the medium! We're very lucky that someone poured this much love into a game. I feel Outer wilds should be played in the way you would read an extensive novel, where you jump into that world when it feels right, maybe even take notes, and if you get stuck, just put it down. You won't flow with the game if you play with the intent of finishing it, you're there to learn the language of the world and solve the puzzle which requires rest, shower thoughts, lots of non-game time thinking it through. I think it took me 30-40 hours to finish it.

@aktchungrabanio6467

15 күн бұрын

lol

I've recently watch "ow is not a video game" and I think it's the best way to view this piece of artwork. Seeing design flaw as other video don't work because it's literally a simpler star system simulation.

I watched Resonant Arc's episodes about it, they praise it and are so enthusiastic about it that I tried the game, I wanted to like it, I didn't want to miss out on a masterpiece... but after some hours I felt nothing. It wasn't grabbing me, it was boring, uninteresting, it didn't click with me, and I felt frustrated and "stupid" for not getting what was so amazing about something so loved and praised. I guess that's how it feels for people that don't like Deus Ex, Chrono Trigger, Majora's Mask, Diablo 2, Final Fantasy 7 or any other beloved game.

you've got balls uploading a video like this, I disagree with a few points but at the same time I understand sometimes you just dont click with something, and thats okay. and i think talking about these experiences only betters us all, a big theme of the game IMO is the sharing of knowledge

Provocative. Will Duff in real life has done it again.

The story, especially the ending, is full of meaning for me. When I first finished the game, it's all I could think about for days. For me, the story taught me about coming to terms with the fact that all beautiful things will inevitably end, but when it all ends, we can still gather around a campfire and celebrate that it ever happened. As for the point you made about the game lacking a mechanism to keep you engaged when you can't make progress with the story, during my playthrough, I'm constantly amazed by the unique perspectives the game gives you. Especially the contrast between your warm little Hearthian civilisation and the surrounding universe operating under unforgiving physical laws. If you start your spaceship during the day when it's sunny and bright sky, the instant your spaceship breaks through the stratosphere, you are enveloped by total darkness, and loneliness immediately kicks in. Then later on, you will get used to this and know that you are still bringing a little piece of home with you-your spaceship. When I have no clues where to explore next, I simply enjoy parking my spaceship in deep space, unfastening my seat belt and take a walk inside. There isn't much room, but the spaceship's beautifully designed wooden inside with tons of details makes you feel snug and safe, while at the same time you also get a view of the outside through the front windshield and side portholes. It's the same magical feeling that I had when I parked my RV in the middle of nowhere in Iceland, and simply admired the view all around me while in the comfort of a moving home. Then lastly, I loved that you get to become essentially a space archaeologist in this game. In the Hanging City, you are fighting against time to save as much knowledge as possible of an ancient civilisation whose story is crumbling into oblivion right before your eyes. That urgency as well as the thrill of discovering a new piece of history and saving it from being lost is so masterfully implemented. I personally love reading history (of the real world), and in certain moments you find historical characters are so relatable. You cheer for their success, and it pains you to learn how they came to their end. You develop the exact same kind of sympathy for the Nomai. And in Outer Wilds, you get the satisfaction of completing what they started and came so close to finishing. Nowadays when reading news, sometimes you can't help but feel our civilisation is all doomed. After playing Outer Wilds, I've found some comfort in thinking that if we do our best, maybe it's not all in vain. Even if our efforts won't save our own civilisation, maybe 281,042 years later, another alien race will learn from our achievements and our mistakes.🙂

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

That's a really nice view on it all :) I will say I adore the art style and the soundtrack to this game. If I ever did get frustrated, I would also do something similar to just walking around my spaceship or the village in Timber Hearth. It made me feel comfortable. I think for me the story and it's ending did have me thinking for a few days but more of a "what did I miss? Why does everyone say it's so great?" Comments like yours have helped me discover that answer, and I think I'm coming to like the ending more now, than I initially did. If I could go back and give myself advice before playing this game, I think I would tell myself to be more patient and that while it might be an open world game, it's not like any games I've played before in the genre. Definitely thinking of giving the DLC a go with this new mindset

@alexlowe2054

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Patience is definitely one of the big keys to enjoying Outer Wilds. Trying to rush through the entire game just ends up making the whole experience worse. I think that some people didn't engage with the time loop in the way the developers intended. For me, having the time loop in place was a guarantee that I could try as many times as I wanted, without any fear that I'd die or end up losing upgrades or currency or anything. I think one of the major reasons that you can die so easily is to emphasize the meaningless of death, and also the inevitability of death. Meanwhile, it seems that some people found the fear of death to never leave, which ends up making the end-game far more stressful and far less relaxing. Losing your fear of death is also part of the expectations of the ending. By the time you're ready to start the ending sequence, you fully understand that what you're doing will end the time loop, even if you don't succeed in your mission. That's part of the reason that the music that plays when you leave ATP has so much impact. It's the realization that what you're doing cannot be undone. One streamer took the core from ATP before he knew what to do with it, and when he heard the music he panicked and put it back. That's the kind of personal experience that very few games can give you. The other part of Outer Wilds, is that you need to realize that the game is still a metriodvania game. Except instead of being gated by abilities, you're gated by knowledge. That's a very different way of approaching the game. Once you know that, you realize that all the seemingly meaningless story is actually the upgrades that allow you to finish the game. Learning how Outer Wilds works gave me the confidence to leave and explore other areas, because I knew I was missing the knowledge I needed to solve the problems. Once you have all the knowledge to solve a problem, it should be pretty obvious how you should solve the problem. The last puzzle I solved was how to get into ATP, ironically. I hadn't played around too much with the towers, so I went to explore the second to last place I hadn't visited, and ended up finding a new piece of knowledge. Since I had every other piece of knowledge, I immediately understood how to solve the puzzle to get into ATP. But knowledge, patience, and death go hand in hand. If you don't know how to solve certain puzzles, it's never a bad idea to start a new loop and go patiently explore around that location for a whole loop. Several puzzles punch you in the face with the solution if you're patient enough to sit around for an entire loop. Those moments of downtime also give you the ability to sit and think about the knowledge you've gained, which can help you make realizations you hadn't noticed before. Other puzzles can be "feldparred", where you brute force your way around the intended solution if you're persistent enough and willing to die enough. Brute force is never the intended solution, but it gives less patient players a way to solve puzzles if they aren't able to understand the knowledge based solution. This is probably also why so many streamers have trouble with the game. Most streams aren't designed around forcing the audience to be patient, and chat can quickly spoil the knowledge puzzles of the game. Which makes it a hard game to stream. Which is probably why there's such a large amount of chat engagement on this video, in spite of your channel being so small. Hello from the Outer Wilds community!

This will be fun

I liked this video, because you were careful to explain that you didn't enjoy Outer Wilds for personal reasons, and not because it "was objectively bad" or something. But I do think that as a video essay, it could be improved. You described how your enjoyment of the game went down as you played more of the game, but I never got a clear understanding of how Outer Wilds could be designed differently, or what could be done to allow you to engage with the game better. You were clear to point out that you didn't like it, and other people did, but I felt like something was missing from the video. You didn't really leverage any specific complains about the game, rather, it was a general feeling of disappointment and frustration. I think this video could have been two videos. There's really two different main themes inside, which makes it a bit disjointed. A big part of the reason that many people love Outer Wilds so much, is that it doesn't follow the same game design tropes as every other game out there. When you look at "similar games" you find that there's nothing quite like it. You pointed out that part of the reason you didn't enjoy Outer Wilds is that it's not like other games like Subnautica, but there's no way to adopt the usual game tropes without removing what so many people loved about it and turning it into another experience we've seen a dozen times. Part of the reason many of us loved Outer Wilds is because we could always solve the puzzles just using our knowledge. The only reason you're unable to do something in the game is that you lack the right knowledge of how to solve the puzzle, not because the game designer decided you needed a red laser instead of the blue laser. Once you know how to do something, you're able to do it. No one is stopping you but yourself. That's a unique experience in the modern gaming landscape, and many of us loved that experience. Having the wrong expectations is a sure fire way to end up disliking something. But that's the cost that Outer Wilds pays for being unique and different. I don't see any way to preserve what makes Outer Wilds great, while still appealing to people who expect it to be similar to the rest of the games on the market. I think that if Outer Wilds was like other games on the market, people would treat it like Outer Worlds, and forget about it in a few years. You mentioned needing to sleep at the bonfire to pass time, but as far as I'm aware, only the hourglass twins have a set specific schedule that requires you to sleep to solve puzzles. Every other puzzle can be solved without sleeping or waiting for time to pass. More puzzles require you to start a new loop to solve them, than require waiting. I don't think that adding one tool would solve your complaints with the game. In fact, the game DOES give you a tool to help control time. You learn meditation from Gabbro if you talk to him on two separate loops. The tool the game gives you to deal with time puzzles is a reset button to the start of the loop. You mentioned that most games have other activities you can do in your down time. But Outer Wilds isn't trying to be an "everything" game. It's not trying to monopolize your time for weeks. If you want some down time or different mechanics, go play another game. Part of the charm of Outer Wilds is that it knows exactly what it wants to be, and it's not afraid to do things differently. I think the focused game design is what makes it stick with the people who enjoyed it. That narrow appeal is a good thing, I think. No one will make an essay about why the crafting mechanics in Outer Wilds were worse than the ones in another game. I think the problem is once again, expectations, not that Outer Wilds is deeply flawed. The trick to solving feelings of boredom is to go play something else, not to try and keep making the same game better. The fact that you proposed collecting things shows that you didn't engage with the main mechanic and narrative device of the time loop. There would be little point in collecting things for someone who wouldn't remember it the next time loop. You talked about how Subnatica gave you multiple different experiences through gameplay, but so does Outer Wilds. My experience taking three loops to get into the interloper and being flung into almost every planet in the solar system is probably different than your experience of getting inside. For me, the ATP was the last thing I visited, which made it seem like such a secret, impressive, and carefully crafted location. I spent time at the end of the loop, carefully combing over the protective shell, and going back to the projection stone pools and staring at the inside, trying to figure out what I was missing. That buildup made the payoff of getting inside all the more amazing. Other people accidentally entered very early on in their game, so the experience of going inside was confusing and strange. Yes, both of us ended up reading the same text on the wall, but for me, it was a confirmation of all the things I already knew, and the final bookend of my journey. For someone else, that same wall full of text might be full of confusing jargon and point them to a dozen places they need to explore to figure out how to get to the end of the game. We both had very different, even though we solved the same puzzle. I genuinely don't see how Subnatica can tell unique stories and Outer Wilds can't. I've watched several lets plays, and people have many different experiences exploring the solar system. I think derailing the video about Outer Wilds to talk about another game is fine, but only if there's a meaningful comparison to be made. But in your case, I can't see how Subnatica does anything Outer Wilds can't, except be a basic crafting survival game. The fact that Outer Wilds can give a different experience through the same story, is an indication that it's doing something special. Subnatica could be turned into a book, but I don't think Outer Wilds can. I think you also missed that if you're careful enough and perceptive enough, you can name almost all of the Nomai skeletons in important locations, which adds a whole new level of depth to the story. More interesting than the things you said, were the things you left unsaid. The biggest thing I think is missing from this video is your feelings. You described a lack of enjoyment, but not the feelings you experienced while uncovering certain truths in the game, or feelings of fear when exploring the planet that caters to your personal phobias. Outer Wilds covers the largest number of fears I've seen in any game, but you didn't even mention any of the feelings you had when exploring space. You touched on some of the feelings of happiness, wonder, and novelty in your first 5 hours, but not any feelings of dread, fear, anxiety, or sadness in the later parts of the game. Those are important feelings that Outer Wilds goes out of its way to evoke. I even noticed how you pulled up a picture of Dark Bramble when you mentioned what you disliked about the late parts of the game (4:00), but you never really explored the feelings of being in Dark Bramble. You mentioned being overwhelmed about the story, and that feeling leading to boredom. Boredom isn't the normal feeling associated with being overwhelmed. Were there other feelings to had, but weren't willing to discuss? Or were you able to effectively block out those negative feelings so quickly you didn't notice? That happened to me during the DLC, where I couldn't handle my feelings, so I put the game down for several weeks. The only other feelings you mentioned were feeling "cheated". I'd definitely recommend going back and talking to Chert multiple times through a single loop. It's a small story beat that some people might have missed, but I think he had similar feelings. Talking to him might help you understand your own feelings about the ending of everything. For me, the ending of the game is more about the feelings than it's about carefully understanding the story. Ultimately, I think Outer Wilds is a game about feelings, not an experience meant to be mechanically engaged with. Which is why this game lives or dies based on it's soundtrack, which is amazing. That's probably one of the largest but most unsaid reasons why people loved Outer Wilds. It simply has one of the best soundtracks of all of gaming. The Soundtrack gives feelings of acceptance or fleeting panic when you feel when you hear the supernova music. There's a tense dread that overcomes you when the "Final Voyage" theme starts the first time, repeating those same notes from the supernova song, for a full several minutes as you navigate the most tense areas of the game. That feeling of triumph and melancholy when you finally complete the last warp, sitting in silence, realizing that you've only been successful because of an entire civilization before you, and that your journey is at its end. Sound is used to great effect to evoke feelings. But there's also the fleeting feelings in the ancient glade, when you are presented with a small snapshot of who each traveler was, and what they cared about. Those feelings are built on the hope you had that you could "fix" things, which turned to hate and ultimately acceptance that you weren't able to do the typical video game trope and find a happy ending. Outer Wild is a master at pulling on people's expectations, setting up a story beat, only to subvert it and send you somewhere else. That's what makes the game special. Those emotional moments stick with people, which is why there's so much more conversation around Outer Wilds than there is around Subnautica. It's not that Subnautica was a bad game. It was quite good. It's just that Outer Wilds is truly a masterpiece.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

You are 100% right that I didn't convey all of my feelings in this video. This script was difficult to write, because I knew that I had a bad expierence with the game, but I could never truly figure out why. For a while I tried looking for people who had a similar opinion to me to try and put it into words more clearly. But since the overwhelming majority consider this game to be a masterpiece, I couldn't find much. What I was left with was the surface level feelings. When I released the video, I thought I conveyed my feelings pretty well. However, after speaking with so many people in the community and watching the videos they've recommended to me, and hearing why they love this game so much, I'm finally able to explain it all. Which is why, I'm making another video. I already have the script all written out, and it does a MUCH better job at conveying my feelings (and a possible change of heart I may or may not have had). I won't say too much as to not spoil the video, but a lot of it is centered around expectations like you said. I'm hoping that people will understand my point of view a lot more with this new video as well as maybe convince some people who were on the fence with the game (like me) to see the Outer Wilds for the experience that it was.

@alexlowe2054

Жыл бұрын

​@@wiremagician That sounds awesome. I'm looking forward to that video. Expectations are definitely a great way to trip people up, especially since Outer Wilds doesn't really have the same AAA game design that is built to throw you into an enjoyable game loop every five seconds. Outer Wilds is more about the long term payoffs of the setups earlier in the game. And for obvious reasons, the buildup and payoffs often happen on a 22 minute cycle. of It's a far more cerebral experience than most modern games. Which explains why so many people loved it, and why some people never could engage with it effectively.

See this is probably just me but I didn't finish Subnautica because I got so tired of the endless inventory management The museum collection idea reminds me of the wildlife photographs in Beyond Good and Evil though. That woulda been fun

Oh, and one last thing... if this game is so much about "inevitability of death" and leaving stuffs behind... but the game doesn't even let us try to save our species. There's already 4 others stuck in a time loop, so it would be logical to try and find more masks and/or a way to protect the heartians before realising it's impossible and the only solution is going into the eye. Because in the current state of the game, the protagonist is really selfish : he just wants to see something fancy and leave everyone to die despite having infinite time to find a better solution.

I think that the source of your distaste for the game might come back to the way that you differentiate story and gameplay. You say that the gameplay became boring over time, and that you found yourself increasingly disinterested in the story. That makes sense if by "gameplay" you mean "exploring cool new planets with weird mechanics and jetting around in space." From that angle, sure, the gameplay is lacking. There aren't crafting systems; there are no collectibles; with the exception of meditation, there aren't any new skills to acquire. But that's not the point of the game, right? The point is figuring out what happened to the Nomai, explaining why the time loop exists, discovering the Eye, and so on. The "gameplay" - flying, exploring, puzzling - is in service of narrative and discovery. If that stuff doesn't captivate you - if you find yourself skimming the text - then the gameplay will only ever disappoint. No judgment here, btw: if you didn't like the story, no big deal. Not everything is for everyone. But given the game's intense focus on its story, I think you're wrong to suggest that adding some incidental extras (crafting, collectibles, skills...) would "improve the gameplay" by "giving the player something else to do." Those additions would detract from the developer's thematic focus on finitude and acceptance.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

It's interesting because I do love story games like this (Firewatch, What Remains of Edith Finch, Journey, Stanley Parable, Oxenfree, etc.) but I think the reason I didn't like this game was because I saw an open-world and thought (in terms of gameplay) it had so much more. That combined with the fact that so many reviews said to go in completely blind... I guess I just hyped the game up to be something it wasn't. Which is a shame because after talking with so many people about this, I wish I could've gone into the game knowing that it was pretty much a story game, with some light (but interesting physics-based) gameplay

@DeathsInBottles

Жыл бұрын

@WireMagician Yeah, that makes good sense. I always describe it as "a space exploration game," but it would before accurate to put "narrative-driven" in there.

I respect OW as a steller game and i get how many people find it to be the best, but simply put its not my genre of games, so i just cant put it in my top 10

upgrades and collectibles entirely defeat the purpose of the timeloop mechanic. the entire premise of the timeloop is that the only possible form of progression is knowledge, because anything physical will be lost. I also don't agree with your opinion on the ending, given that you are literally responsible for the creation of a new universe.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I put in the idea of an upgrade, that progresses through the time loop, mainly because your ships computer had kept the knowledge of all the rumors and secrets you discovered. So I thought having 1 upgrade for something like your spacesuit wouldn't be that much of a stretch, maybe it could even be made from nomai technology to help give a decent explanation for why it can continue to exist throughout all the time loops. Though in all honesty, I mainly just wish that either the ships computer, or even just your spacesuit, came with a timer function that you could start whenever you wanted and it would say pause whenever time freezes (if you have that option selected like I did). I felt like when I tried timing it myself I could never get it right and I was always cut off mid-flight or even mid-discovery As far as the ending goes, I think it all comes down to my emotional connection with it. For some reason, I just didn't feel that emotional with the new universe being born. I'm not entirely sure why, if I had to guess I would say that it might be because a lot of the story is presented through the same wall scrolls, which I got tired of after about halfway. That's not entirely the game's fault, I recognize that a lot of that comes down to my personal preference. Which is why I, personally, just didn't care as much for the ending. Maybe if the story was presented to me through more ways (like voice, video, pictures, etc.) rather than just the wall scrolls I might have made more of an emotional connection to it. Objectively the ending is not bad, and I can understand why people like it (especially now after talking with people from the community about it)

@acowthatflewby621

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Given how didnt enjoy the story because of the style in which it is told (I'll give you it does become a lot of reading) I think you'd probably have a better chance of liking the dlc if you haven't played it. Without spoiling too much, the story is told much more through exploration and visuals, and the puzzles are more complex, yet were much more (in my eyes) satisfying to figure out.

I honestly can see this as the most two sided game ever made. I personally LOVE this game. I beat this game is 30 hours over only 4 days, but I can really see how people would see this as boring. You I either really get enthralled, or just quit. And thats fine, were all different

I had the same experience, enjoying the first part and exploring, even though the time loop thing was an anomaly event at first and it was cool and mysterious, then I found the time reset a bit annoying but I was still having fun, until it became a chore and boredom. I dont like being forced to wait and read text to progress, I wanna keep exploring not repeating. Many fans seem to say you missed the point, but the thing is that it wont magically remove the flaws for me that prevent me to enjoy my time. Still a good game though, gameplay, audio etc.

Thankfully, they fixed so many issues in the dlc. I truly think Echoes of the Eye is a huge improvement, and closer to the masterpiece everyone thought the main game is. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

"Wild goose chase while being lit on fire"…. It’s perfect

100% agreed with this video. I was even bored exploring for the first 3 hours. And yes, I read everything

@RandomGuy-du7wd

4 ай бұрын

Im in total shock at how many people love this game and say its the best thing since sliced bread......ive played many different types of games....this was by far the worst and most boring game ive ever attempted to play

@Karim-ik5ij

4 ай бұрын

@@RandomGuy-du7wd I thought I was going crazy!

@RandomGuy-du7wd

4 ай бұрын

nah all good....game sucks@@Karim-ik5ij

@whenthehowisandmebutthedot8493

2 ай бұрын

​​​@@RandomGuy-du7wdThis game really depends on the person. If your own curiousity and interest in studying an ancient alien race to understand why everything is how it is, isn't enough to keep you enjoying the game, then it will be very boring. The game is almost 100% storybased, and on that it delivers with the best story i've ever experienced in a game, which the player pieces together entirely on their own, with their only motivation being their curiousity. I just don't think you had the attention span to play a game where gameplay is the most insignificant aspect.

Late reply, but honestly this game dissapointed me so much. My friend recommend this to me, and therefore my expectations were high. I thought that cause I like games like Hollow knight or zelda, where you can just run around for 30 min and still have fun, i would have a great time with outer wilds. Instead, i got this hot garbadge and frustrating gameplay.super clunky and the 20min loop just removes relaxing exploration cause i felt stressed to explore out of fear to repeat this boring process again. Story is fine but people seriously undermine how bad this gameplay is, as much as ive tried to like it.

@whenthehowisandmebutthedot8493

2 ай бұрын

What's frustrating about the gameplay? You study text and technology from an ancient alien race in a unique solar system with realistic physics. It has some of the best feeling space travel in any imo. Also, the time loop doesn't make you repeat anything, as it gives you a chance to catch up on your log and try following new leass, there's no reason to be stressed about running out of time. It's also crucial to the story, themes, and many of the puzzles.

@scod3908

2 ай бұрын

@@whenthehowisandmebutthedot8493 Even things as basic as default controls are hot garbage on the Switch and you have to change them to make it playable. Taking your finger off the joystick in order to jump? WHY!? The one-button dialogue means you can't easily skip though to the end without accidentally looping back and having to repeat it. The exploration is ruined by the limitations, and extremely frustrating especially in the first few hours. The time loop is annoying; I don't want to have to repeat the same task the same way over and over The game lags, paused several times making me restart it, and I kept getting stuck. It almost felt like the time loop was designed because the game kept crashing in development so they just wrote it in to the storyline. Coming from BOTW and TOTK, it's unbelievable how badly other games run 2/10 gameplay experience in the first few hours lost it for me. If it wasn't a recommendation I wouldn't have played more than 1hr

@singlereedenjoyer

5 күн бұрын

@@scod3908I think your experience might have been ruined by the fact that the switch port is kinda ass, the game runs fine on everything else.

@scod3908

5 күн бұрын

@@singlereedenjoyer i think controlling with a mouse would have been easier than via joystick The game is over-hyped tho, very "love it or hate it", and there are a lot of flaws that shouldn't have made it to release. I reckon a lot of people who don't gel with the gameplay simply don't bother finishing it

@hellonrld2508

4 күн бұрын

@@scod3908@scod3908 It worked superbly on my PlayStation, and I had a lot of fun flying around. I feel sorry that the control on the switch is not working well for you. It's okay if you don't like the gameplay or whatever, but garbage is really a strong word. You see, I find it interesting how supporters are almost always able to see why some people might hate it, and say it's okay, but some haters just can't stop talking trash about the game and acknowledge maybe the game is just not right up their ally, and that is fine.

Time loop anxiety killed it for me

@naruroGCS

15 күн бұрын

What anxiety? is a time loop, it loops... you have all the time in the world lol

I don't mean any of this in any kind of mean way I just wanted to point out things I noticed about how you felt about the experience and give ideas to where/why your experience about the game could be as they are, as someone who has been watching every and any outerwilds stream and youtube video I've found. To me, based on the few things you said in the video it sounds like you enjoy games more as a list to complete, in a "give me a thing to do and I'll get it done" way. As in, you mentioned wanting to collect stuff for the museum, usually those kinds of "quests" have a easily defined end, once you've completed the whole list of objectives for it, it's done, and you might feel a bit content on a job well done. And second part that came to my mind I would put under fomo. Fear of not finding the things that all the other people who have played have found, that made them call this game a masterpiece. "did I see everything there was to see in the game" kind of way. Very recently there's been a pretty big OW playthrough by one youtuber, who constantly keeps wondering about what he might miss, did he find everything, I don't want to get to the end of the game incase I missed something. In few comments I read from your responses it kind of felt like that, where once someone had given their view on something, like the ending, in your response you mention how, now that you've heard what the other person got out from it, you can also understand how that could be the case and you appreciate the ending a little more. It's the problem with this "metroidbrainia" where it's nearly impossible to say anything else but "It's good, go play" to a friend. Once you know a thing, you can't unknow a thing, and expanding your knowing is kinda of a key component in this game. Atleast that's how it seems to me, and outsider who only happened to come across this video because KZread recommends me anything and everything Outer Wilds. A little example about Subnautica for the first point I tried to make, almost everything that has to do with the story in subnautica, you're given a heading to go to, find out what happened to the other escape pods, get a new radio signal and exact location to go to, Sunbeam landing on that one island in X time, go there to get help. I would guess that one escape pod on the red field without direct coordinates and just the image had you slightly frustrated, if you didn't happen to find it quickly. There's been so many comments I skimmed through bunch of other people's responses to you and since alot of things that I find so amazing and fun about OW has already been said, but I kinda wanted to mention something I thought I'd just put out what I kinda noticed from your video and your responses in comments to maybe give a different view on what could've made you not appreciate the game as some other people did. I know the game isn't for everyone and I have told a bunch of people I know to not play it and just go watch a playthrough of it as I knew they wouldn't enjoy the game, and some people I've told to go play it and don't look up anything about it as I had a feeling they would love the game

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

That's a very good way to describe how I play games, I usually like completing as much as I can before I finish the story. I'm the person who tries to do almost every side quest available before I continue/finish the main quest. With Subnautica, I did find the beacons very helpful. But even for the times there weren't beacons, like certain life pods or finding the entrance to lost river, I wouldn't say I got too frustrated. Because if I was having trouble with it, usually I could go back to base build a couple upgrades to help me explore better/easier, and give it another go. I touched on this in another comment as well, I think my main problem was that I went in to OW thinking it would be like most other open world exploration games I've played. I do love playing story-centered games such as What Remains of Edith Finch, The Beginner's Guide, Life Is Strange, Emily Is Away, Firewatch, etc. However, most of those games are much more linear in design so my brain goes "oh this game can really only go in 1 direction, so I should focus more on the story than the gameplay" When I played the Outer Worlds, as soon as I realized it was a fully explorable open world I guess I had the thought of "the gameplay will keep changing the more and more I play" Which is why, I think, I liked the first 5 hours. I kept discovering new planets and the rules that went with them, so in that sense the gameplay had changed. But after that my brain kept waiting for change that obviously never came. I wish I had known before I had started playing that this was so very story heavy. Maybe then I could've viewed the game from a different point of view. I guess if anything, the Outer Wilds taught me to seriously not judge a game by it's genre

Same, i loved the first 8 hours, exploring the village, giants deep, getting to the core of giants deep, etc. But then it just got really repetitive, id have to spend a while getting somewhere and before i could finish exploring it id die because of the loop reset, and going back again would feel tedious and not so worth it because all ill get is a few more clues to a story that isnt even really that interesting or unique (atleast by that point). I dont understand how people think this is the best game theyve ever played either, games like DS3, HK, ER, etc. have much more interesting mysteries to discover, but also actually fun (imo) gameplay. Its unfortunate that i didnt see the masterpiece in this game that so many others saw, but oh well :/

I 100% agree. Thanks for this video!

You missed the point. The point is: You don't save your universe. It dies around you. Just like we all die. But in the end, you create a new universe that's populated with your character's experiences, just like we have to do when we create the world our friends and loved ones will inhabit when we're gone. We do that by exploring and being friendly. That's the point.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I guess for me the ending felt bittersweet, mainly just because it ended. I wanted to explore so much more and hoped that the eye of the universe would let me do that. I guess, similar to what you said, the point is that you can't and it's more about acceptance of the situation, but it still leaves me with that weird feeling of it all. I definitely didn't hate it, I just wish there was more to explore

@SystemBD

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Maybe you haven't yet played the DLC? It is a different type of experience from that of the main game... but I am not sure it would be a good idea for you to play it as you are now. If you found the main game "boring" (sacrilege!!!), you are clearly not ready to enjoy it.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@SystemBD do you think I'd be better off experiencing it from just watching a let's play of it? also I've heard people say it leans a lot more heavily on stealth, like with Dark Bramble

@ALTAI38

Жыл бұрын

@WireMagician its a bit tedious because of the horror elements, i'd recommend watching a letsplay of EOTE. Particularly materwelonz's videos, because she gives good reactions and gets a good grip on the story, unlike most of the letsplays ive seen. She is full efficient detective mode basically. The dlc is in the same playlist as her main playthrough: kzread.info/head/PLAIcZs9N4170xIhZHYaBPSpi9ZzaSW84k

@AninoNiKugi

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician Play it. You finished the base game in spite of not liking it, so why not? 😄 The DLC is actually closer to a conventional game than the base though it's still not. More linear and game mechanics that 's common in other games.

I'm a huge fan of the game but I understand why it can be frustrating at times. In fact, there were some moments where I was frustrated too, but definitely not for the same reasons. After watching your review, I feel like your main argument about Outer Wilds is that the time loop was not your thing. To me it never was that much of an issue because, basically, if I was too late for something on one planet, I could just check that other puzzle on another planet, where I knew I had to go later in the loop. Overall, this game is about making the most out of the time you have. It's also supposed to make you feel small in the chaos of outer space, yet significant enough that you can change things by just using your knowledge as a tool. You might think the loop is just an obstacle more than anything, but to me it's what illustrates best that feeling that every action and decision you take matters. That being said, yes, some puzzles (especially once the key elements of the story start to click) are harder than others and it's never nice to feel stuck... But again, it wasn't that much of an issue for me to the point I would dislike the game for it. The answers were right here under my nose, I just had to read my ship log, check my theories where and when I thought it made sense, then adapt to what I had just learned from the new results. I guess what made this game not for you is exactly that: it uses the same process as scientific experiments, i.e. trial and error. With that in mind, the time loop is more of a blessing than a curse because you can solve everything by being smart, rather than being a skillful gamer. It basically glorifies thinking outside the box. Being stuck once or twice doesn't make the game bad in any way though. The game mechanics are great, it's a game like none others, it's beautiful both visually and with the lessons it's trying to teach... I understand what some people don't like, but I don't think these issues are enough to dislike the game or even stop playing before the end. Outer Wilds has many little things that make it unique. It's a masterpiece, which doesn't mean everyone will like it or that it's for everyone, but it's pretty obvious the devs put a lot of love in designing the game and making it an experience rather than a "fetch quests festival" like so many AAA games nowadays. If we had a way to circumvent the time loop, there would be no point in this game at all. The point was to make the best out of having nothing, so comparing Outer Wilds (a mix of science and philosophy) to the gameplay of Subnautica (a mix of crafting, survival, etc. like many other games before) seems unfair. I like both games but they don't go in the same direction. Outer Wilds is meant to be an oddity, you don't go there expecting it will be anything like any other games out there. Maybe that's what the thousands of reviews should have mentioned too, because YES it's a masterpiece, but NO it's nothing like any other game so you should be ready for it.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I think you summed up a lot of why I had issues with this game. At the end of the day I went in expecting a certain type of game, when in reality it was a lot different. I guess the fact that reviews saying it was a masterpiece and that I shouldn't know anything about the game at all before going in, made me feel kind of weird for not liking it. That's why I say that I really wanted to like it, because it seems like it's had such an impact on everyone else. I wonder if maybe I had been told that it's a game I need to be patient with, a game that has exploration but nothing like the exploration games I've played before, would I have liked it more? Because I do actually like puzzle games (Portal 1, Portal 2, Superliminal) or games where you have to solve a mystery (Ace Attorney, LA Noire) but most of the times those games are much more linear. I've never really played an open-world, exploration puzzle game. I also wonder (and this is something I've said in other comments) if the scrolls were separated into categories, say green scrolls for nomai technology, purple scrolls for planet features, and blue scrolls for just general story stuff, would I have connected with the story more? Because I feel like I was skipping past all the story stuff in the wall scrolls just so I could find the answer to some of the more difficult puzzles in the late game. But if I knew more specifically where to look for answers, and where to stop and take my time to connect with the characters, I might've looked on the ending and story more fondly. A few people have told me to give the DLC a try as well, because it has more visual storytelling when it comes to the puzzles and story. So I'm considering trying that out

@ShmuPixel

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician If the pressure from the time loop was too much for you, you probably won't like the DLC either. It's even more present in the DLC (for reasons I won't spoil). The puzzles are also harder IMHO, although they are indeed based on pictures rather than text. The DLC follows the same guidelines as the base game, everything can be found right from the start but you have to unfold the story bit by bit to know what can be done and when... The only thing I can tell you without spoiling (because the game spoils it for you right when you open it after installing the DLC) is that it's a bit scary. Not quite a horror game (don't expect Alien Isolation ^^) but it's slightly offset compared to the original mood.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@ShmuPixel Interesting, a lot of people have told me about the DLC, and I think even with the time loop mechanic, I'll like it. I feel like a lot of the comments have done a good job at persuading me into giving this another shot (and since I can't replay the main game itself, the DLC is the next best thing) Plus I love the horror genre, so I think that will be fun. Might even live-stream it if enough people want that

I think this game is a very specific experience (that works for many people) and if that doesn't click for you it doesn't work. For me repeating a loop or waiting for the right time never felt like a chore. I loved the exploration and sense of discovery when you manage to figure something out or connected the dots to one of the mysteries. Because of the time loop I never felt like death was a punishment or that I wasted a loop even if I didn't figure anything out. There is so many cool and beautiful things in the game and it's dripping with atmosphere that I even tried to end most loops at a campfire with one of the travelers and just waited for the end of the loop. I'm always sad when I hear this game didn't click with a person but not everybody will have the same experience. I know the game isn't perfect but for me at least it's achieved what it set out to do better than any game I've played and the few issues I had with the game seem irrelevant in comparison. Ps: Also the soundtrack knocks it absolutely out of the park and gets me emotional every time I hear it.

Im really trying but i just cant . Stopped

@CygnusLaboratorys2056

5 ай бұрын

why's that? what's wrong?

@dgayle2348

4 ай бұрын

​@CygnusLaboratorys2056 for me there's no payoff. You do all this exploring and dying just to find a log telling you about the nomais shenanigans. There isn't a lot of environmental storytelling regarding the nomai so I don't really care about their story. Maybe if the logs went deeper into the personalities and motivations of the nomai on a individual level it would be better.

@RandomGuy-du7wd

4 ай бұрын

its really just not a great game....its a game for people that like books with pictures imo

@jimjohnson6944

3 ай бұрын

​@@RandomGuy-du7wdperfect description. I would WAY rather read a book than play this boring arse game

@naruroGCS

15 күн бұрын

@@RandomGuy-du7wd new AC is about to lauch, go there, a lot of shinny things to get and braindead side objetives to fill!

Great video, and thanks for sharing! This is crazy. Earlier today I watched a video made 3 days ago explaining why a person struggled at first to like Outer Wilds, and came to fall in love with it. Then your video comes up and essentially is the reverse! Instead of recommending you watch a playthrough right away, I would point to that video (kzread.info/dash/bejne/iIahltKjkrDMibw.html ), which is almost a direct response to the issues you seemed to present having with the game, including a breakdown of the issues you presented here. If anything could change your mind on the game that isn't just more praise, I think this video might be it. Having read some of your comments suggesting that you're considering the DLC, I'd say wait to play it until (unless) you are convinced that you actually DO like Outer Wilds, as the DLC doesn't change any of the issues you present, but almost doubles down on them in most cases. Its good to so many people precisely because it does more of what people generally loved about the base game.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Oh great! Thanks for the video, I'll watch it and let you know what I think! As for the DLC, I definitely feel like I understand the love people have for this game more than I did when I first played it. I think if I play it with the mindset that I have now (that being that I know this is more of a story-centered exploration game rather than a sandbox one) then I feel like I'll enjoy the experience a lot more (I've also heard it has a lot more visual storytelling, which I'm a big fan of)

@SeekerOf7ruth

Жыл бұрын

Funny enough, I came back to this video to share Daryl's video as well! He has put out one of the better videos about Outer Wilds that doesn't touch upon any spoilers whatsoever. Highly recommended.

@Caleb_Plehn

Жыл бұрын

@@SeekerOf7ruth The timing of these two videos was crazy!

@Caleb_Plehn

Жыл бұрын

@@wiremagician I sincerely hope you enjoy it! But totally get if you don't.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@Caleb_Plehn Wow! I just finished the video, and I have to say. He nailed it. I think with this video, a lot of it was me struggling to say why I didn't like this game. I could list a few reasons, but I couldn't understand it this feeling I had deep down. But it's because this game is not really a game, it's something else. Honestly after reading all these comments and watching that video... I think I might make a follow up video, explaining my thought process better and how I've come to actually appreciate this game now for what it is

95% of folks love this game. You just happen to be that 5% and that's okay.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I guess that's true. Though, this is one of the first games that I wish I liked because I see how passionate the devs were about the game as well as everyone who played it and liked it. I loved the whole vibe and atmosphere. I just wish I could've liked the gameplay and story a bit more is all

I don't really relate to your criticism, but I don't think the game is perfect either regardless of how much I like it. For example the quantum moon. When I got to the Quantum Moon, it was awesome to meet a nomai. However, they literally told me nothing I didn't already know from other clues in the game. It's very clear that the quantum moon is designed to be a place where you "catch up on your knowledge", but considering I had explored everything surrounding the quantum moon before going there I literally already knew everything that was on the quantum moon. So why did I even visit? Sometimes the game has poor structuring. Someone could also completely bomb their own playthrough by accidentally walking into the ash twin project right away, revealing a lot of story to the player that is supposed to be discovered organically. Etc.

yeah any game that makes you read pages upon pages of text for the "story" is not doing a very good job at storytelling, it's just a worse book. If I want to read a good book I will, if I want to watch a good movie I will, if I want to PLAY a good game, I won't play this.

@RandomGuy-du7wd

4 ай бұрын

THANK YOU! Finally someone with my exact thoughts....no idea what the hype behind this game is about....i commented earlier "this is a game for people that like books with pictures"

@kuzirareo

2 ай бұрын

This. A good portion of this game is reading texts and making guesses about the next moves. And it isn’t enjoyable at all. Mildly uninteresting Nomai dialogues mixed with Indirect (but almost direct) directions on what to do next. I don't deny there was some great revelations when reading them but 99% of the reading was boring af

@juicedgoose

2 ай бұрын

"It's just a worse book". Perfect

@yourgameisstupid

19 күн бұрын

Getting the story through journals was fine when System Shock 2 did it. 25 years ago. Hasn't been fine in 15 years.

To be honest, I just like hearing people talk about outer wilds, and your opinion gave me some more variety than video essays just talking about the story and their experience. Good job.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Luckily for you, I'm going to be releasing a sort of part 2 to this video essay (talking about how i feel about the game now after talking with so many people from the community)

I've finally finished it... and I cannot understand why it's so overwhelmingly praised. It has qualities, I really enjoyed some parts of it... but it really doesn't flow well... and I doubt most player will care to see the end of it. I suppose that those who do are the most passionate and that's why we have that impression of "BEST GAME EVER" on the internet. On top of that, the game is way more interesting for the many details you don't see than for it's actual core gameplay... which is typically the type of art piece that tend to create a devoted (to a fault) fan base (think Lynch fans for example). But yeah, objectively it is not the best game ever : it has a great story, a gameplay with some fascinating elements, it's a great space simulation... but the puzzles are mediocre, the time loop constantly clashes with the rest of the game, it's frustrating for the wrong reasons and the ending is... bad to meh.

It’s interesting that you say you feel the world is just “waiting for you” and doesn’t feel like it “exists on its own”. I felt the exact opposite. Some places won’t be accessible at certain times because it’s a real place with things happening irrespective of what you’re doing. The sun goes supernova at inopportune times because it won’t wait for you to finish whatever you’re doing at that moment.

Yup. Enjoyable first 5 hours and then the rest is a repetitive slog

Here's how I hook people into playing: Outer Wilds is not a game with a rich story. It's a rich story with game mechanics attached. If you're not interested in a story, you will just dislike the game. All its physics aren't based on real physics. They ARE real physics. It's not bad controls when you're used to goofy physics that exist in all other games. It's a great game because it subverts expectations. I'm one of the legion of people who were floored by the game.

@thonato.G

6 ай бұрын

So it's a movie with a game, got it

There is plenty of videos praising this game and very little of thoughtful critiques at least not that I've seen. So I appreciate you making this because its always interesting to hear other people's opinions especially those different from mine. I love this game and I think its a masterpiece and as close to perfect as can be. But I also wonder "what if its just different ". And it is. So different in fact that i would say its more of an experience then just a game but that's only if you get fully immersed into the world and the story. So I think that may be the main reason so many of us consider it a masterpiece. And the fact you can only experience it once. I also want to add that Noclip made a documentary about the making of Oute Wilds of you'd be interested, perhaps it could shine a new light on the game and answer some questions you may have. EDIT: I also just found this video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/iIahltKjkrDMibw.html and I think it's just the thing for you.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I'll definitely check out the Noclip documentary! Many people in the comments have gotten me to see a different perspective for this game, which is why I'm debating playing the DLC (I can't replay the original game, so that's my next best thing)

I just finished it and this was pretty much my exact experience. I liked the unique world and the music, but the gameplay loop became very tiresome and frustrating, I’d finally make a breakthrough only to be reset all over again. I also kept making the same comparisons to my experience with subnautica, which I adore. A key difference for me is that in SN, making new discoveries often rewarded you physically with new technology and the environmental story telling was top notch. In OW, a new discovery mostly just left me more confused with more questions. Also, while SN equally doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to progression, it does have a few pointers to nudge you along the right chronological direction. The complete open and disordered experience of OW is it’s biggest feature but also flaw for me, there were several moments when it would have been much less frustrating had I made certain discoveries or learned certain things in a better order than I did naturally. It was all too chaotic for me which just led to confusion and frustration. I can see why people love it though as it’s certainly a unique experience, but it’s probably a tad overhyped with the ‘lifechanging’ descriptions…

Well, at least you made it to the end. I was VERY hesitant to even get this game, considering the almost cult-like fanbase jumping on anyone who dares to criticize this so called "masterpiece". I gave up after 2 hours of struggling with those AWFUL PC controls. I might have persisted had the story actually grabbed me, but yet another extinct ancient alien mystery didn't do that for me. 🙁

Now Riven, THAT'S a GOOD game That's probably one of the biggest influences for Outer Wilds. it's getting a remake and I am SO excited i didn't really get the hype for Outer Wilds as well...I'm not saying it's a bad game, I'm just saying it's overrated.

I disagree with pretty much all of your critiques, i'm sorry. I kind of have the opposite pov to yours. I love that there is no collection, i love that there is no base building or anything like that. I love that this game doesn't care about me. I see it as a crime scene and im the investigator, not as much as a fantastic world to explore in my own way. The world is such that there is a 22 minute time loop and that's just how it is. It never bothered me that i had to retrace steps sometimes at all, i am in that world, i am not playing a game, i am not looking for a fun gameplay loop or something. I am the hatchling explorer, and things are just the way they are. You know? Nevertheless, a well done video!

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

First off, thanks for watching the video! I've had a lot of conversations with people in the comments from the community, and they've been really nice and understanding. So I have to say that alone has me respecting the game a lot more. Also in talking with people from the community, I feel like I'm starting to understand why people like this game a lot more now. I still have some things I wish that were different. Like, how the story is presented to the player. Maybe if there had been more visual storytelling or even just having 3 categories for wall scrolls (one for technology, one for features/discoveries of the planet, and one for general story stuff) then I might have connected with the story more, or would've been less bored/overwhelmed with it all. I feel like I would want to give the DLC a shot now that I have a better perspective on things. I was even thinking of live-streaming it, so that people who watched this video could see my initial reactions. Still debating it though, either way thank you for commenting!

The comparison to Subnautica is an interesting one as I found Outer Wilds to be an amazing life changing game (mostly for the reasons that you didnt like it) and all the things that you like Subnautica: I hate. Different strokes for different folks :)

This game SUCKS and it annoys me how people act like it's the greatest game ever made. I tried getting into it I don't even know how many times, 5 at least and every time I just end up tapping out after 1-2 hours.

This Video is so True. Outer Wilds is in no way a great game. The last 5 hours are boring as hell.

Very overrated game. It's just a puzzle game. I think people liked it a lot because for a lot of folks it's one of the very first games they played where there weren't quest markers or other things holding their hands. If you're familiar with puzzle games, it's not bad, but it's only okay. All of the same complaints you had, I had too, even more so for me likely since I didn't find the dude that teaches you how to meditate until pretty far into the game, so when I missed the timing on something I'd get frustrated and have to figure out how to best SD, and several times I didn't have a good way so I just had to wait for the sun to explode (ended the play session one of those times.) And yeah, the ending isn't "deep" or new. This kind of "twist" has been much better done in other media. So yeah, it's not a bad game. I didn't think it was a particularly "good" game either.

To me it sounds like you played outer wilds like a sandbox / survival game and ended up skipping through the story. That happens to some sadly. E.g. you visited the planets to see all the good stuff not to learn more about the nomai. It is more an archeology simulator than a typical sandbox/ survival game. I wonder if you manage to get interested in the story if you watch a popular play though? Edit: maybe compare Outer Wilds to Disco Elysium instead of subnautica

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I think that's exactly what happened. I actually have a follow-up video to this one coming out soon, and most of what I talk about is how I ended up going into this game thinking it would be a certain way (because of past open-world exploration games I've played) when really it was meant to be a much different experience. Hopefully, I can give the DLC a better shot at least!

@michaelandrews117

11 ай бұрын

To be fair though, the story about the nomai is pretty damn dull, and the story itself just is not engaging in its approach to narrative storytelling. The game desperately needed good dialogue and text writing, much like Disco Elysium has, but it fails so fantastically.

@alexandrucalitescu5822

11 ай бұрын

​@@michaelandrews117I respect your opinion but disagree wholeheartedly

@sonofkabisch

9 ай бұрын

@@michaelandrews117 I agree with your opinion wholeheartedly.

I strongly disagree, but appreciate the view this presents. In my opinion, this game itself is a strong case as to why we need more games like Outer Wilds. Something where curiosity drives you and the only thing you have are a few basic tools to help with your only weapon moving you forward is knowledge based on environmental storytelling and observation. The current sphere of gaming is just so out of focus on what makes something truly an "experience" that holds aand presents a profound and poignant message.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

I will say, I could 100% feel the passion the developers had for this game, and I really respect that. Even though the game wasn't for me, I do agree we need more games that push the boundaries of what we can do and experience in a video game

Thanks for making the video! I deeply love Outer Wilds, but know that it's not for everyone. But since you asked - to me Outer Wilds is about grief and processing loss. Early on, I was committed to saving the solar system, stopping the super nova, etc. Then I realized it wasn't the sun station, and it the universe ending. Feeling hopeless, I made my way to the eye, leading to the rebirth of the universe. That outcome gave all the effort and sacrifice meaning. Sometimes you just have to say goodbye. This is rather personal, but the games emotional journey mirrored that of my own as my dad fought and eventually passed from brain cancer. While sometimes all you can do is say goodbye, this game helped remind me that life moves on. That new universes can be born.

After listening to your arguments, it seems to me that the only problem is that you didn't get hooked by the story. Which would explain why you started glossing over Nomai records and why you think the ending would have happened whether you got to the Eye or not. When in fact the Eye needed you to be there. That's actually the entire point of the story. This would also explain why you were excited by the first few hours of exploration but not the following hours after having visited all the planets. This is when your motivation should have switched to "I want to visit places" to "I want to get to the bottom of all this". Which was only going to happen if you had been hooked by the story. The fact you got overwhelmed by all the information that was thrown at you is normal. That was the point. In fact, many things in Outer Wilds are specifically made to make you feel overwhelmed : the menacing black hole of Brittle Hollow, the raging storms of Giants Deep, the ominous core of Giants Deep, the immensity of the sun when you stand on one of the Twins, the ridiculous size of the Anglerfish, the emptiness of space, etc... The list of overwhelming things is quite long. In the face of the overwhelming amount of information, you should have switched your attitude to "Alright, let's calm down, let's take things one at a time, let's go step by step.". This would have prevented boredom from setting in I think. This game truly is a masterpice, and there are a few reasons for that. I believe the main one is that the game is exceptionnally clever at communicating its overarching message. Indeed the theme of Outer Wilds is the "inevitability of death", and through clever world design and story telling, Outer Wilds manages to make you feel that concept instead of exposing it. And since it has a 95% positive reviews score on Steam, I assume this idea was successfully conveyed to most people, and maybe it just failed to be conveyed to you. And that's fine, no game can work for everyone. I would suggest you to watch this great video if you are not too sure of what I mean : kzread.info/dash/bejne/eqZquamuY9LThaw.html

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

After reading so many comments (including yours) I do feel like that this was a case of the story not being for me. But I think this was mainly because it was almost all presented to me in the style of wall scrolls. Maybe if it was presented to you in a more visual way or through audio like voiced dialogue for really important and longer scrolls, I might've been less likely to get bored. Maybe if even the scrolls had been separated into different categories (one for technology, one for planet features, and one for general story and characters) would I have been more likely to connect with the story? I wish I could replay this game again and give it another shot. I suppose the next best thing would be to try out the DLC, which I'm told is also quite good. Perhaps maybe even live-streaming it so people can understand my initial reactions to everything, or even help keep me immersed in the story

@michaelandrews117

11 ай бұрын

Yeah the story itself just does nothing for me, and it's pretty rote and poorly told. Really needed a stronger narrative hook or mystery to be honest.

The number of people here that does not get the point of OW makes me laugh tbh

The time limit to exploration was a big deal breaker for me. That as well as the incredibly bland environments.

I probably would have had the same experience with the game. Glad I could experience it through this review instead xD

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

it definitely requires a lot of patience. I just don't have that with most games haha

@SystemBD

Жыл бұрын

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, LET THIS VIDEO COLOR YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS GAME. Forget what you have seen and just let yourself grow patient and wise enough to enjoy a more... "advanced" experience than most games. You can thank me later.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

@@SystemBD that's true, what I say in this video only applies to me. I'm obviously in the minority with my opinions, so I definitely encourage anyone and everyone to try it out for themselves. I think this game requires a lot of patience, especially in the later stages of the game. I wonder if I had known that in the beginning, would I have liked it more?

@aidaninsua

Жыл бұрын

@@SystemBD It's not that deep bro haha. I wouldn't have played this game regardless.

@ZodiacEntertainment2

Жыл бұрын

@@SystemBD Least pretentious Outer Wilds fan

It's funny you ask people why they like the game at the end as if there isn't 100 video essays on this game already explaining why many have enjoyed it.

@pelgervampireduck

8 ай бұрын

I watched Resonant Arc's episodes, they praise it a lot, for them it's a masterpiece, they explained very well what they found interesting and amazing about the game... and I still don't get it. I cant' see what they see in it. It's like if somebody said there's something right in front of you and you can't see it.

Yeah, I just couldn’t get into it. I found the controls touchy, the music somewhat derivative, and the characters/lore uninteresting. Then again, I’m not into space stuff. I thought Interstellar was a boring, forgettable movie while all sorts of people loved it.

I thought it felt like unfinished shovel wear

I can understand your perspective. Your opinion doesn't invalidate my opinion, it only helps me to understand myself better. I was never bored playing the game. Figuring out the mysteries was always enough incentive for me to keep playing and I enjoyed the puzzles. It never takes more that a couple of minutes to get back to where you ended the last loop except in a few cases and eyeballing how long to wait at a campfire worked fine for me for the maybe 2 times that I used that feature. No progress except what is stored in your mind is at the core of the game. That means that some features that you would have liked could never be in this game. All progress is lost when the universe ends (or you die), this is what the game and real life have in common, it is an inescapable fact that we spend most of our lives ignoring. The game hit's you in the face with it in order to show you that it's not so bad, so stop being afraid. Any kind of upgrading or resource collection would be pointless and frustrating because it would reset, or would go against the games message because you wouldn't really be getting the full "end of the universe" experience (as far as a game can give you that experience). I thought it was nicely done and was better for fully committing as far as it reasonably could.

@wiremagician

Жыл бұрын

The Outer Wilds has my respect for being a game that subverts my expectation. I think it will always stand out in my mind because of that. I just wish I could've connected with the story better on an emotional like so many others had. I think I was too obsessed with solving the puzzles that I forgot to really take in the details of the story and characters. It's one of those experiences that I won't forget, but wish it could've been different

@ChristopherKDavis

Жыл бұрын

"No progress except what is stored in your mind is at the core of the game." I wish I could remember who called Outer Wilds a "Metroid-BRAIN-ia" because I find that a perfect encapsulation of the game's progress mechanic. You can only progress by thinking things through; you don't get roguelike perk points, you don't craft new items, you don't discover key codes -- it is quite possible to solve some of the game's hardest puzzles (like entering the ATP) completely by accident or "ha ha, wonder what happens if I do this?" I think that difference in "what is game progress?" may be an area where WireMagician's expectations and the game didn't sync up. Another KZreadr compared it to Prey, and said that they found the time loop mechanic more interesting in Prey because the combination of progress and RNG changes meant that each loop was different -- which is fine if that's what you're looking for, but Outer Wilds has a minimal amount of RNG and a maximal amount of "the change is in what you do". There's also a very minimal level of gamification reward and next to no hand-holding of the sort often seen in open-world games (objective markers, a map with icons to fill in/clear out, etc). There's no XP meter or stats screen; the only in-game progress meter is the Ship's Log, and when you don't know what you don't know it's a big black screen with a few things filled in. For me, once I started seeing the connections and deciding "okay, this one has a couple of rumors pointing to it, let me see what I can figure out" I found the incremental progress satisfying but I can see where someone else might not. (As with other commenters, I want to thank WireMagician for a thoughtful piece on why it didn't work for him; this was in no way a hit job, and gave me some interesting things to think about regarding what *I* look for in games!)

It's like the most boring game I've ever played

I consider this game art. I have never felt such a strong array of different emotions while playing something before. From all the twists and turns, and those "oh my god" moments of realisation (both good and bad) I love this game The DLC is pretty good too ;)

SPOILERS: At the final conversation after they all finished playing the song, when you talk with Gabbro he says " It’s the kind of thing that makes you glad you stopped and smelled the pine trees along the way, you know?” I think this phrase resume what im sure other people here already said about what this game intention. "the destination didn´t feel worth the journey" that hitted me just in my gemheart. its always journey before destination.

@Etienne.6329

4 ай бұрын

although... the journey is a clunky frustrating mess too so...

Game is aweful imo. Flight controls are ass. Uninstalled.

I fear that you missed the point completely (as stated in 11:00). *The destination was never the point of the journey.* Sure, what happens in the Eye of the Universe might be difficult to parse in the moment (by design), but it is the recontextualization of the journey itself what makes the ending so powerful. (Sigh) I sincerely pity you for not finding that meaning for yourself and letting your impatience take this experience from you. I can only hope you do better in the future.

@aidaninsua

Жыл бұрын

That is not something you need to pity someone for xD

@SystemBD

Жыл бұрын

@@aidaninsua In this case, it is. Not just because of what I feel, but because he has not found something really meaningful that almost every other player has.

@deaj8450

7 ай бұрын

I feel similar to this review, I hate the ending of this game so much. It's just pointless, might as well kill your character off immediately on starting the game. You would end with the same result. What does a new universe matter when you are dead? I'm really glad I watched streams of it instead of playing it because I wouldn't like this game at all. Also pitying someone over a video game is extremely pretentious and kind of pathetic. I'm sorry to say that, but it is.

I think this game is 100% not for everyone and it depends what your are looking for I can actually agree with one point about the ending which people might give me flak for is that the ending is bad more specifically only getting to the ending. The game keeps building tension and rising to the climax of your knowledge and when you finally know how to do everything the game forces to go through that fucking anglerfish section you have to do so much spoiler alert: wait for ash twin, get the warp core, go to dark bramble, do the stealth section, input the coordinates while you are on a clock this clock is not very short but you still feel as if your on a timer which will lead most people I think to do this challenge multiple times. I think on its own its not bad but it for me destroys the pacing but the ending itself is worth it 100%.

It's ok to not like things, saying you don't like it doesn't invalidate anybody else's experience.

I hate everything about Oter Wilds.

You’re right, the ending does kind of nullify all your efforts. But the entire point of the game is accepting that. Yeah, the universe is ending, and there’s no way to stop that, no matter how hard you try. But all that really matters is that you did try. That you and your fellow Travellers saw sights and wonders both beautiful and terrifying. You matter simply because you lived and you left your mark. I’m genuinely sorry you didn’t enjoy the ending or the gameplay, but maybe consider taking breaks from the game if you’re feeling overwhelmed. I won’t deny the game never felt like that for me, but it does tick a lot of my boxes in terms of game elements I like.

Outer Wilds is the most moving piece of digital media I've ever experienced, and my response to "like a wild goose chase while being lit on fire:" On point. No notes.

Everything you said is valid. And yet, I can't help but be shocked you landed at your end result. 10/10. And omg have you played the DLC?? Best games i played last year was Elden Ring and O.W. "Eye" DLC. 🎉

Good game, not that fun to experience.

It's a game for scientists, the curious, those that like to ponder. The philosophers in the world starving for anything meaningful to think about. (I tried to duplicate the scout in the energy lab, things definitely happened when i did that that took a half hour in the shower contemplating time travel paradoxes to understand) If you don't like movies like 2001:Space Odyssey, Or games like Myst You're not gonna like this. It isn't spatial puzzles like Portal. It isn't about the mechanics. It's a game that explores Apeirophobia, Ptophobia, Clausterphobia, (and in the case of the DLC, Diokophobia -being hunted in the dark-) A lot of your opinions on Outer Wilds, i have for Subnautica. I despise filler content and -do nothing- work. A Huge chunk of Subnautica is thoughtless -do nothing- grinding to craft things. But i get it. People get little dose of endorphins when they complete checklists.

@michaelandrews117

11 ай бұрын

I love Subnautica. I love 2001. I love Disco Elysium. I love Melancholia. I really just find Outer Wilds to be a dull video game, with a boring story. Just does not have the writing nous to hook me at all, with a story that's pretty predictable at best, and meandering at worst

@sonofkabisch

9 ай бұрын

lol, no

goomer

True its a game for 12 years olds. play KSP instead.

This video is fascinating! I’m among the people who consider Outer Wilds the best media experience of their life. What’s funny is that I actually got really bored with Subnautica. I’d like to address the “lack of sidequests” argument. I’d argue that there’s a ton of things to do, but - as is the case with the main story - you need to make your own fun and most things arise from how great the physics are. Some examples (spoilers): trying to land on the sun station using orbital mechanics, mastering the nomai shuttle, checking if you’d get sucked into the sun’s gravity by jumping off the interloper…

I always say that mindset is a big thing for this game. With the wrong mindset, the game can be really ruined for you. The lack of conventional game mechanics is one of the thing that made this game a masterpiece but also the usual reason why some people don't like it :)

personally i loved outer wilds, but i understand it's not for everyone

is this bait?

its a trash game....no idea why tf so many rave about it.....BORING

Same dude just can’t get into it. Shame too. Oh well

Arguably one of the most overrated games of all time.

@Harbin_07

5 ай бұрын

I smell some skill issue from this comment

@RandomGuy-du7wd

4 ай бұрын

it is by far the most overrated game of all time.....bc its garbage

@jimjohnson6944

3 ай бұрын

Zero skill required to play this game​@@Harbin_07

Your problem isn't that the game has flaws, it's that you don't like it. You say it correctly and clearly at first but then you shift to blaming the game anyway. You're not "bored of the gameplay". You would be bored if the game forced you to repeat the same pattern again and again. In the examples you give you're just lazy to write down stuff (and somehow unable to remember that such door gets closed early or such door gets opened late) or to discover stuff or to spend just 2 mins flying back to a given location. You shouldn't blame the game for not backseating you constantly. It's not meant to be telling you when and where to go. It's like an escape game. 10:20 What ?? Yeah you missed the whole point of the story. I didn't love how the ending was built gameplay-wise, but if you don't understand its meaning then it is disappointing for sure.

@Etienne.6329

4 ай бұрын

I'm a huge fan of escape game and it's nothing like it. Good escape games (or videogames) have a way to narrow down stuffs to do at any given moments so players always have a feeling of going forward. Bad escape games just gives you one big room full of everything and it's a chore. Outer Wild leans heavily on the second category (also it's entirely possible to understand the meaning of the ending and still feel it absolutely sucks. Everyone's dead now but it's okay because new species are born 14 billion years from now... it ties in with the longtermist ideology which really sucks IRL)

@EvilCherry3

4 ай бұрын

@@Etienne.6329 Nope, guided escape games are trash, because there’s only one thing to do at a time so there’s no teamplay and even some friends don’t get to play at all. The good ones are when everyone can search for something different to do and when efficient communication is key.