Talk:The Outer Worlds/GA1

GA Review

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Nominator: OceanHok (talk · contribs) 03:02, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

Reviewer: ProtoDrake (talk · contribs) 19:33, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

I'll do my best with this. If I'm not back with comments this time next week, please ping me. --ProtoDrake (talk) 19:33, 15 November 2024 (UTC)

Review

Some first comments of features that stood out.

Lead

• The second paragraph is a bit of a Sea of Blue, mostly because all the platforms and release regions are in there alongside everything else.

Gameplay

• There's a general feeling of wordiness for concepts that feel like they could be more simply worded. Some examples below for illustration.
  • "At the beginning of the game, the player creates their avatar. They are also given six attribute points to distribute across six categories (strength, dexterity, intelligence, perception, charm and temperament)." -- It feels like these two sentences could be easily merged, as it reads rather clunkily. Also, since there is not "Character" section later, probably best to add "dubbed the Stranger in-game" or similar to make sure it's clear the player and the Stranger are the same person.
  • "A spaceship named The Unreliable serves as the player's hub of operation. The player does not fly the ship directly, but selects destinations to fast travel to in order to access the different planets of the Halcyon system." -- This could be simplified a bit. For instance: "A spaceship named The Unreliable serves as the player's hub of operation. Instead of flying it directly, the player selects fast travel destinations on different planets in the Halcyon system." I admit I'm not up on the exact mechanics, but as it stands it's a chore to read through.
  • "layers encounter various NPCs who offer side quests and optional objectives and reward them with experience and "bits", " -- Bits aren't mentioned anywhere else. This feels like you could just say "in-game currency" or similar.
  • "and can enter a state of "encumbrance" if they carrying too many items or wear armor that is too heavy." -- "and can enter a state of "encumbrance" if they carry too many items or wear overly heavy armor."
• The Combat section switches from Player singular to Players plural. Choose one for consistency.

Synopsis

• "The game is set in an alternate future that diverged in 1901" -- You could start this sentence with the game's title without trouble.
• "Thousands of Earth residents, lured by the promise of a fresh start, sign up for the chance to travel to this new frontier. " -- Could be rephrased to sound less like back of box promo style.
• "On this frontier is Halcyon, a small, six-planet star system." -- Are there other systems to compare to? Otherwise the "small" feels redundant.
• The whole second paragraph of "Setting" feels like it needs rewriting or condensing somehow, especially with the switches between past and present tense.
• There's some repetition of exposition in the Plot of elements already covered in the Settling section.
• The whole final paragraph of Plot needs a rewrite. As it stands, it can be tiring to read through it.

@OceanHok: Pausing here. To me, it's a lot of relatively small but important tidying tasks. I'll move onto other sections once these have been addressed. --ProtoDrake (talk) 21:35, 16 November 2024 (UTC)

@ProtoDrake: - I have fixed the issues. OceanHok (talk) 16:06, 19 November 2024 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay. Some further stuff.

Development

• I feel like the tenses are also mixed up. If you're talking about what was in terms of development, the past tense is preferable. For example:
  • A chunk of the first "Gameplay" paragraph reads like a press preview rather than an account of development.
  • "Boyarsky said that the game provides options for how players wanted to shape their character, be it heroic, evil, or dumb." -- Maybe more of a choice thing, but this and other sentences pull one out of the record of development.
• "The game also features a number of "Science Weapons".[31]" -- How does this add to the development?
• "As player progresses in the game," -- "players or "the player" here. Plus this section about player discovery could be condensed into a single sentence.
• "Walter Bishop's performance" -- Either say it's inspired by a character, or an actor's performance as the character.
• "According to the team, the companions are "more involved" in the story of The Outer Worlds compared with Obsidian's previous games like Fallout: New Vegas. They had their own opinions and will react to player's choices and interject during conversations with other NPCs." -- This could easily be condensed a little.
• The second paragraph of "Story and characters" uses a lot of quotes. Maybe try paraphrasing a little.
• Similar to above, the "World design" section as a whole features a lot of quotes.
  • Also, "the game" is repeated a lot in the prose.
• Are the specific Anderson films direct influences? If not, it seems strange to highlight them above any Coen Brothers titles.

Release

• "In December 2017, Private Division, an independent publishing division under Take-Two Interactive, announced the project as their first slate of games to publish.[54] It was officially announced at The Game Awards 2018.[55]" -- So it was announced twice? Maybe "revealed" for the Game Awards one or something, because at the moment it just looks like needless repetition.

@OceanHok: These are things that stood out. Mostly a matter of wordiness and an odd combination of promo-style statements and development information. The more general points are based on things that were common enough that noting the, specifically would take up a LOT of space. --ProtoDrake (talk) 16:41, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

@ProtoDrake: - The issues have been fixed. OceanHok (talk) 03:06, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

Hopefully final round.

Reception

• There are links in Reception that are doubles of links earlier in the article, such as the one to Fallout.
• Seems okay, but given how much is already there (unless it's used elsewhere), the Guardian review doesn't seem necessary.

The Guardian is also used in the third paragraph.

Sales

• There's been a trend against incremental sales figures. You can trim it down to the first-week/first month sales by region, then the most recent total. The bit about Take-Two Interactive's comment seems sound, so that can stay.

References

• Ensure all refs are archived. Wayback seems to be working properly again now.
• Also, make sure where possible websites/publishers are linked.

@OceanHok: That's what stood out. --ProtoDrake (talk) 12:41, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

@ProtoDrake: -  Done OceanHok (talk) 13:04, 30 November 2024 (UTC)

@OceanHok: Pass. --ProtoDrake (talk) 19:51, 30 November 2024 (UTC)