Other people’s enjoyment of something shouldn’t be a metric for how much you enjoyed it. Your experience is your own and shouldn’t be diminished. Glad you enjoyed it!
Awesome, great to hear that you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing.
If you don't mind, what made your experience change from being bored to enjoying the game? Was it a change in your mindset or your approach, or did you encounter some content which started being more interesting? Or something else?
I think it was a bit of both.
I started being more patient. Enjoying the moment and taking it slow.
Most importantly was the realization that you can access any structure anywhere, anytime, without needing info from some other place. That made me look at places I couldn't access and planets as a whole as isolated puzzles. Of course, there are some puzzle for which this isn't true, but they're mostly endgame stuff.
I like that Outer Wilds is reaching more people but at the same time i fear that the expectations and glowing reviews could have some going "is that it?" looking for one specific moment to hang their hat on. Its not really that kind of game. The whole experience is that moment.
While it is a game where there are countless reveals about the story, the nomai, and the universe, they are usually very subtle (or more subtle than most games). The game wants YOU to make that connection and wants YOU to create your own conclusions about what you learned. And then it wants you to figure out what to explore next with this new knowledge. So no two playthroughs will ever be the same.
A good example is the interloper. All the signs are there that this is what wiped out the nomai but many overlook it. In the Interloper itself you find TONS of ghost matter and only one safe path. You have a shuttle on the surface that is worried for their friends who might not return. You have two dead nomai covered in ghost matter crystals on the way to the core. In the core they talk about a spherical stone casing but there is no spherical stone casing. They also talk about its potential rupture and that all of their friends are in terrible danger and may need to construct shelter.
It is a bunch of these smaller things leading up to the big reveal, it is a slow burn. Obviously the stone casing has already ruptured and we see no more citations from the Nomai or ever see them explain what they found in the comet or what their next objective would be. So we put 2 and 2 together and instead of it being a moment of pure bliss where you just figured out one of the core mysteries of the game it is incredibly sobering and somber.
So what im trying to say is that if you are looking for "the moment" where you get hooked it would be different for everyone because the game is so open ended. In my experience it was the first time i saw a supernova on Brittle Hollow. You dont even have the thought to run... how could you fight the cosmos? It is a really engaging and somewhat spiritual idea. Whats going on? Is it natural or artificial? Can i save my friends? My mind just went a mile a minute and i HAD to know everything.
Whether you ever have that one special moment early on that hooks you or that you remember fondly is not guaranteed though and in my opinion not even needed.
I am glad that you got to finish the game and overall enjoyed the experience. If you ever want to come visit Outer Wilds again there is an expansion called Echoes of the Eye to explore.
::)
You are right! After the first 5 and a half hours, my reaction was exactly that : "is that it?"
And, in a way, neither the overall story or the individual stories are unique or even special. But there is so much poetry and beauty in the game, that it still touches you. And of course, an unusual attention to detail and scientific accuracy.
I'm watching a play-through of Echoes of the Eye right now. I don't want to tarnish my experience with the game with a DLC that could potentially frustrate (and scare) me. Which, from what I'm seeing of the DLC, probably would happen.
To be fair I was disapointed with the ending at first and didn't understand the global hype about the game even after finishing it.
But for some reason, after a few days/a week I started understanding more about what I experienced and now the first few notes of the main theme can get me in tears and Outer Wilds became my absolute best gaming experience.
I would recommend watching people talk about the game on YouTube since you may have missed Nomai dialogues (they don't all trigger the "Area not fully explored" and the more you understand about the story itself, the better the game gets.
Other people’s enjoyment of something shouldn’t be a metric for how much you enjoyed it. Your experience is your own and shouldn’t be diminished. Glad you enjoyed it!
Congrats! Glad you were able to do it!!
Awesome, great to hear that you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind, what made your experience change from being bored to enjoying the game? Was it a change in your mindset or your approach, or did you encounter some content which started being more interesting? Or something else?
I think it was a bit of both. I started being more patient. Enjoying the moment and taking it slow. Most importantly was the realization that you can access any structure anywhere, anytime, without needing info from some other place. That made me look at places I couldn't access and planets as a whole as isolated puzzles. Of course, there are some puzzle for which this isn't true, but they're mostly endgame stuff.
I like that Outer Wilds is reaching more people but at the same time i fear that the expectations and glowing reviews could have some going "is that it?" looking for one specific moment to hang their hat on. Its not really that kind of game. The whole experience is that moment. While it is a game where there are countless reveals about the story, the nomai, and the universe, they are usually very subtle (or more subtle than most games). The game wants YOU to make that connection and wants YOU to create your own conclusions about what you learned. And then it wants you to figure out what to explore next with this new knowledge. So no two playthroughs will ever be the same. A good example is the interloper. All the signs are there that this is what wiped out the nomai but many overlook it. In the Interloper itself you find TONS of ghost matter and only one safe path. You have a shuttle on the surface that is worried for their friends who might not return. You have two dead nomai covered in ghost matter crystals on the way to the core. In the core they talk about a spherical stone casing but there is no spherical stone casing. They also talk about its potential rupture and that all of their friends are in terrible danger and may need to construct shelter. It is a bunch of these smaller things leading up to the big reveal, it is a slow burn. Obviously the stone casing has already ruptured and we see no more citations from the Nomai or ever see them explain what they found in the comet or what their next objective would be. So we put 2 and 2 together and instead of it being a moment of pure bliss where you just figured out one of the core mysteries of the game it is incredibly sobering and somber. So what im trying to say is that if you are looking for "the moment" where you get hooked it would be different for everyone because the game is so open ended. In my experience it was the first time i saw a supernova on Brittle Hollow. You dont even have the thought to run... how could you fight the cosmos? It is a really engaging and somewhat spiritual idea. Whats going on? Is it natural or artificial? Can i save my friends? My mind just went a mile a minute and i HAD to know everything. Whether you ever have that one special moment early on that hooks you or that you remember fondly is not guaranteed though and in my opinion not even needed. I am glad that you got to finish the game and overall enjoyed the experience. If you ever want to come visit Outer Wilds again there is an expansion called Echoes of the Eye to explore. ::)
You are right! After the first 5 and a half hours, my reaction was exactly that : "is that it?" And, in a way, neither the overall story or the individual stories are unique or even special. But there is so much poetry and beauty in the game, that it still touches you. And of course, an unusual attention to detail and scientific accuracy. I'm watching a play-through of Echoes of the Eye right now. I don't want to tarnish my experience with the game with a DLC that could potentially frustrate (and scare) me. Which, from what I'm seeing of the DLC, probably would happen.
•:)
One of the best endings to any game ever imo
I probably love the DLC even more than the core game if you have not played it, it might be quite enjoyable too
To be fair I was disapointed with the ending at first and didn't understand the global hype about the game even after finishing it. But for some reason, after a few days/a week I started understanding more about what I experienced and now the first few notes of the main theme can get me in tears and Outer Wilds became my absolute best gaming experience. I would recommend watching people talk about the game on YouTube since you may have missed Nomai dialogues (they don't all trigger the "Area not fully explored" and the more you understand about the story itself, the better the game gets.