There’s loads to like about The Outer Phrases 2. It is acquired phenomenally humorous writing, lovely environments, a compelling story, and companions with precise personalities. However I’ve barely heard anybody point out one in every of its finest options: the shortage of an encumbrance mechanic.
Anybody who is aware of me is aware of I’m a pack rat. In any RPG, I pour all my factors into abilities like stealth, lockpicking, and pickpocketing. If it is price a good sum of money and is not bolted to the bottom, it is coming with me. This usually results in issues.
In Oblivion, for instance, my stealth archer has an ungodly quantity of Power factors, as a result of the Power stat is tied to the player-character’s carrying capability, and I used to be sick of my weak-armed sneak-thief clearing out a cave filled with enemies solely to should make a number of journeys backwards and forwards to unload all of the loot inside. Starfield was one other offender, with restricted carry weight and distributors with restricted funds. A post-launch replace now permits gamers to extend each carry capability and distributors’ on-hand money… however it comes at the price of participant XP, as if not eager to fast-travel a number of occasions and await distributors to refresh their funds is a few kind of ethical failing deserving of punishment.
However I’ve no such issues in The Outer Worlds 2, as a result of Obsidian appears to share my opinion that coping with encumbrance is A. annoying as hell, and B. extremely immersion-breaking. Given my tendency to loot each container, unlock each secure, and pickpocket each NPC in your entire colony of Arcadia, one may understandably assume that my stock is a bloated mess stuffed with duplicate gadgets and ineffective junk. However surprisingly, it is not. As a result of like each good little thief, I promote most of what I steal. That is in all probability the case for lots of pack-rat RPG gamers. It appears Obsidian understands this too, particularly given the truth that 2019’s The Outer Worlds truly did function a carry weight/encumbrance mechanic that forestalls sprinting and quick journey.
As a result of the sequel has carried out away with encumbrance, I can really take pleasure in exploring each inch of the sport’s giant, detailed maps, which have loot lurking in each nook. As a substitute of regularly stopping to examine how a lot room I’ve left in my stock, or having to repeatedly fast-travel to unload the whole lot I’ve gathered, I can truly keep targeted on the sport, not compelled to pause in the course of a significant quest to dump the metric crapload of loot I’ve picked up.
Whereas I perceive limiting stock house for survival video games by which assets ought to be scarce (or for technical causes, if a bloated stock may negatively have an effect on the sport’s potential to run), I feel extra RPGs ought to take a web page out of The Outer Worlds 2’s e-book and put off encumbrance altogether. Most of us are promoting off our extra loot, but when somebody needs to fill their pockets with 100 packing containers of Purpleberry Crunch, what is the hurt in letting them?
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