Companions within the unique Outer Worlds have been sort of stiff. You could possibly construct up your relationships with them. They’d inform you once they have been sad. However none of it ever led wherever. They amounted to a fire-suppressing peanut gallery that helped you find out about and mirror on the world round you however little extra. The Outer Worlds 2 will attempt to repair that. You continue to can’t romance companions within the sequel however not less than they’ll attempt to kill you this time for those who actually piss them off.
You’ll have six optionally available companions in Obsidian’s upcoming sci-fi RPG, many related to explicit in-game factions. Niles is an engineer from the Earth Directorate. Valerie is a robotic from the identical faction. Aza is a cultist from the Superb Daybreak. Inez is a area medic from Auntie’s Selection. Marisol is an murderer from the Order of the Ascendant. Lastly there’s Tristan from the Protectorate who has an enormous hammer. Damage their mates or break their guidelines they usually’ll activate you.
“One of the things that was really important is we wanted these characters to feel like they’re their own people,” design director Matt Singh mentioned on the latest episode of the Xbox Enlargement Move present (through Gamesradar). “They have their own goals, their own motivations, and if the player’s aligning with them, that’s great. They’re going to be there for you. They’ll fight alongside you. But if you go against their interests, they’re going to have something to say about it. That might break out into a conflict, that might mean they leave you or you have to fight them to the death. But if you do build that relationship with them, they’ll be there for you in the end.”
This sounds neat and builds off some of the memorable moments from the unique Mass Impact by which two of your squadmates conflict, leading to an unreconcilable showdown. Over a decade later I nonetheless bear in mind what selection I made throughout that a part of the sport and why (fuck you, Ashley). I don’t count on The Outer Worlds 2 to rise to the identical degree since these confrontations don’t sound like pivotal scripted moments a lot as procedural penalties.
Singh additionally suggests you’ll be able to form of skate by the friction when you’ve got a adequate relationship with the NPC. One thing like, “Uh, sorry I wiped out your clan, remember that time I finished your second loyalty mission though?” I hope that’s not the case. I hope we have now some actual friends-to-enemies journeys on the market in Halcyon this time round. One in every of my largest complaints with party-based RPGs is that the individuals you’re with by no means appear to fairly have a thoughts of their very own outdoors of sassy retorts and dissatisfied scowls. It seems like The Outer Worlds 2 is making an attempt to evolve the components past that.
“We still wanted to make sure that the player has choice—meaningful choice—here,” Singh told RPGSite in another interview. “Companions are completely optional. If you don’t want to engage with them, you don’t have to. But you can take them along and see how that changes your story. Same thing with factions, right? The factions are there. They have their goals. They have their motivations. You can try to side with them. You can try to bring them together. Or you can say, ‘F it. I’m going my way. I don’t care about you. We’re going to do it the way that I would like.’ We’re all trying to figure out how to give the player as much player agency as possible and respond to it in interesting ways.”
