Star Wars: Outlaws (Ubisoft)

[Max Peck]

Is is a seeable timer or just a wait and pray timer?

IIRC, there is an icon at the bottom of the UI that shows whether or not the stun mode is charged.

[Daehawk]

Is is a seeable timer or just a wait and pray timer?

IIRC, there is an icon at the bottom of the UI that shows whether or not the stun mode is charged.

Thnx Ill look for it next time.

[Max Peck]

Dev Update 1

From before launch and continuing into post-launch, we have been gathering data from and listening to you. This takes place not only formally through our analytics, user tests, reviews and media feedback, our Star Wars Outlaws Bug Reporter, crash reports, and other mechanisms, but also informally when we see your YouTube videos and Reddit, Discord or other social media posts. We deeply care about your experience with the game, and use all the data and feedback possible to see the friction points you are encountering, what you're enjoying, and where we can further improve certain elements that matter the most to you.

Your feedback has already resulted in three Title Updates in which we've focused on fixing some of your biggest concerns such as bugs, reducing major friction points in some key missions particularly around stealth, adjusting the speeder camera and collision, and much more. That being said, there are three key areas in which we're looking to improve the game even further.

The first key area of improvement to the game is combat where we see a real opportunity to add more depth and excitement to the experience, further rewarding your tactics and precision. Our second key area is stealth which is not only about improving the readability and consistency of enemy detection, but also providing choice in how you want to approach each encounter. Finally, our third key area of focus is centered around the character controls, which means improving the reliability of cover, increasing the responsiveness of climbing and crouching, and generally improving the consistency of the controls overall.

You can expect to see more details about how we will be celebrating and embracing player choice more than ever before, whether it's sneaking through encounters, going in blasters-blazing, or everything in-between. We will provide more specific details about the changes to these areas and more in the upcoming weeks as we provide further updates to you. All of this will culminate in the release of Title Update 1.4 which will release on November 21st alongside the Steam launch and first story pack, Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card.

[jztemple2]

Dev Update 1

All of this will culminate in the release of Title Update 1.4 which will release on November 21st alongside the Steam launch and first story pack, Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card.

Hmm, releasing on Steam? Good choice. I wondering if this game will also get a deep discount on Steam to lure players in like AC Mirage did.

Of course, this is releasing the day after S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl so good luck with that

[Daehawk]

Well now Im lost as to what to do...I need to get into that casino on the new planet but have no quest help leading me there.

[Scoop20906]

Well now Im lost as to what to do...I need to get into that casino on the new planet but have no quest help leading me there.

It sounds like you are stuck at a story beat sneaking into the Pike's backroom in the bar. There are two ways to get in there and they aren't that hard to figure it out. Here is a hint, look for a technician to bribe so you can hack the elevator. There is a 2nd way which involves vents as well. I think its a fun scene too. Have fun.

[jztemple2]

Hadn't played this in a couple of months, but with the new expansion this week plus the big upgrade I decided to give it some time. I ended up going through Fort Sunfire, an Imperial outpost. I did fine (since I'm playing on Story mode ) except for one "treasure" that eluded me . It turns out there was nothing wrong with the game, I was literally staring at the thing I needed to manipulate to get the final item, but I wasn't seeing the forest for the trees

[Max Peck]

A little info about upcoming changes to combat:

Dev Update #2 - Aiming Down Sights

One of the key pieces of feedback we hear is that there is a desire for a deeper and more engaging combat loop. In Title Update 1.4, releasing on November 21st, we are bringing big updates to enemy AI and your freedom of approach, allowing you to go silent or loud in all scenarios - more on the latter in a future update. Along with these improvements, we also revamped the feel and utility of weapons and core combat.

First, we've updated the stats on all weapons and enemies, making headshots more rewarding and tuning armor and health for all enemy types, to differentiate archetypes and make them more distinct. We've also added weak points to enemies which allow you take down tough opponents with a well-placed precision shot at the right moment. To bring it all together, new defeat animations and hit reactions have been added to make sure hitting enemies is as rewarding and gratifying as it can be.

Second, we took a step back to review what we would call "weapon feel", to really upgrade gameplay mechanic aspects like recoil, fire rate, ammo and accuracy for every weapon, and we updated feedback in terms of audio, VFX and UI. The goal was to create weapons and blaster modules that feel distinct and rewarding to master. On some weapons, such as the Ashiga ABR-2 Zato Blaster Rifle, we had the opportunity to completely redesign the shooting pattern to bring out the weapon's unique gameplay style.

Next, we reviewed and improved the utility of weapons. For Kay's blaster, we added the ability for the Power module to hit cover and knock out enemies that were hiding behind it. We also updated the Ion module to stun enemies for longer and make them vulnerable to damage while they are stunned. Our intention is to give you more freedom and to make using the different modules during combat even more fun.

For weapons that Kay finds in the field, we made sure that you get to hold onto them longer, even when climbing and traversing the environment or interacting with enemies and the world. This change, that was highly requested, means you can now make longer term strategic choices, get more rewarded for turning enemy weapons against them, and have more varied combat encounters.

Lastly, we've taken a new approach to how cover works. The camera will no longer try and predict which shoulder it should be on, it will now be more comfortable and stable around cover. To facilitate this, we've added the ability to shoulder swap when aiming, giving you greater control and precision. Add to that a host of improvements to the animations around and reliability of using cover and we hope this will let you focus on tactics and action, rather than thinking about the cover mechanics.

[naednek]

That would have been a perfect time to change the speed bike and the stupid decision to not be able to freely shoot back as you are being shot at.

Doesn't matter, I'm on the last mission and hoping to beat tonight. Then I wait for the dlc

[Max Peck]

It'll be interesting to see how the revised combat feels when it goes live later this week. Massive made my favorite cover-shooters (The Division series) so anything that moves the pew-pew in that direction that will be welcome.

[naednek]

Just beat the game.

Despite my complaint, this is my game of the year. Truly loved the atmosphere. It was so immersive. They did an incredible job. I thought the story was fun. I didn't think the stealth was too difficult. There were a couple of spots that have used more checkpoints but it wasn't really any more difficult than other similar games.


Kay was very likeable, not in a Daehawk way. I wished the crew was used more. When they were involved it took the immersion to the next step.

Truly a fun game to get lost in. I'm hoping the dlc has some meat to it.

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[jztemple2]

Despite my complaint, this is my game of the year. Truly loved the atmosphere. It was so immersive. They did an incredible job. I thought the story was fun. I didn't think the stealth was too difficult. There were a couple of spots that have used more checkpoints but it wasn't really any more difficult than other similar games.

Agreed. I've found so much of the game has a "cool" factor to it, interesting places and people. I did find some of the locations where you had to do a lot of following the mission on rails due to the level design got a bit old, but there really wasn't too much of that.

[Scoop20906]

I just reached Tatooine in my Star Wars: Outlaws playthrough (saved it for last), and I have to say I didn’t dislike the combat as it is now, but I’m optimistic about the promised improvements. The devs have mentioned vague upgrades like being able to hold onto special weapons longer and NPCs having weak points to make headshots more satisfying. They’ve also hinted at better ways to approach encounters, but I’d really like a concrete example of what that means. I rarely used Nix to grab a big gun before, but if I can keep it now, that feature might actually become useful to me.

One thing I’m puzzled about is the upcoming DLC, Wild Card. There’s been almost zero advertising for it since the initial reveal, which is surprising. All I know is that it involves Lando and a Sabacc tournament, but not much beyond that. I really enjoyed the Lando cameo in the base game, so I’m excited to play the DLC—but the lack of promotion worries me. It makes me wonder if it’s going to be a short experience. This game has so much potential for DLC and sequels, it’d be a shame not to take full advantage of it.

Lastly, I hope the patch with the Steam launch irons out all the crash and asset-loading issues I’ve been dealing with. They don’t ruin the experience, but they’re frustrating and should’ve been fixed by now. I’m rooting for Ubisoft to keep supporting this game—it’s a winner in my book. With the Steam launch coming right before the holidays, it could really give Outlaws the boost it deserves. Here’s hoping for a strong end-of-year push!

[Grifman]

I am very I interested in this game after all the changes they’re being made. Very likely I will pick this up over the holidays.

[Smoove_B]

Yes, I'm feeling the same. Looking forward to playing it with all the updates, but even now it still seems to be getting positive reviews.

[jztemple2]

I've been playing a bit more to get off the rust and ended up spending an hour playing sabacc at several tables. I managed to get myself banned from a Hutt table because of my cheating but I found another table and tweaked my cheating skills to avoid detection.

[Max Peck]

It'll be interesting to see how the Steam user reviews shake out once the game launches there. I suspect there will be a strong review bombing campaign, but perhaps the anti-woke mob has moved on to other targets.

[jztemple2]

It'll be interesting to see how the Steam user reviews shake out once the game launches there. I suspect there will be a strong review bombing campaign, but perhaps the anti-woke mob has moved on to other targets.

I think companies like Ubisoft seem to automatically get a lot of negative reviews just from folks wanting to give them a black eye. To me Outlaws is a contender for GOTY and with the expansion and update it's going to get even better.

[Max Peck]

This change (failing a stealth segment means going loud instead of forced save-scumming) seems good to me. While the forced stealth missions were doable, failing them was never not annoying.

Star Wars Outlaws is dropping 'forced stealth,' so instead of being reset when you get caught sneaking around, you can just start blasting

As part of the ongoing overhaul of Star Wars Outlaws that Ubisoft hopes will turn it into the must-play Star Wars game it should've been right from the start, new creative director Drew Rechner has announced that "forced stealth" is being removed from the game almost entirely.

The extent to which Star Wars Outlaws is a stealth game came as something of a surprise, given how much the pre-release promo materials (and Star Wars itself) focused on the joys of blasting stuff. But in an update posted today, Rechner acknowledged that some people just don't dig it, and that missions requiring players to avoid detection "could feel frustrating or unfair." Those feelings were exacerbated by the game's sometimes "unpredictable and inconsistent" stealth mechanics.

And so, it's out: Stealth requirements are being removed from "almost all" quest objectives. Sneaking around will remain an option, and the best way to approach some missions, but the change means that if you're caught, you'll be able to start shooting instead of being reset to the previous checkpoint.

Rechner said the change is "our first step in expanding player choice," a point he touched on when he was announced as the new creative director of Star Wars Outlaws earlier in November.

"First step in expanding player choice" could be seen as hopeful for those want full-on pew-pew while zipping around on their speeder, but I haven't noticed any comments from the devs addressing that issue one way or the other.

[jztemple2]

I think this is a bit of a shame, those "forced stealth" missions required a certain skill level that make the game a challenge.

[Max Peck]

Save scumming is still an option, it's just that it's apparently a manual option now instead of being mandatory. I suppose in an ideal world they could enforce the OG stealth requirements via a granular difficulty setting that allows the player to opt in/out. They already do that for the various minigames, allowing you to select easier or auto-success versions of each subsystem.

[jztemple2]

I will agree about the minigames, I opted out of those after a while because they were tedious and not fun.

[Scoop20906]

Not disagreeing with anyone’s fun but i loved the miniganes especially when i was sneaking behind a baddies back and trying to slice a door before they return on their patrol. Can be really intense!

[Max Peck]

Yeah, I didn't have any real issues with the slicing or hacking minigames once I got a feel for them.

[naednek]

This change (failing a stealth segment means going loud instead of forced save-scumming) seems good to me. While the forced stealth missions were doable, failing them was never not annoying.

Star Wars Outlaws is dropping 'forced stealth,' so instead of being reset when you get caught sneaking around, you can just start blasting

As part of the ongoing overhaul of Star Wars Outlaws that Ubisoft hopes will turn it into the must-play Star Wars game it should've been right from the start, new creative director Drew Rechner has announced that "forced stealth" is being removed from the game almost entirely.

The extent to which Star Wars Outlaws is a stealth game came as something of a surprise, given how much the pre-release promo materials (and Star Wars itself) focused on the joys of blasting stuff. But in an update posted today, Rechner acknowledged that some people just don't dig it, and that missions requiring players to avoid detection "could feel frustrating or unfair." Those feelings were exacerbated by the game's sometimes "unpredictable and inconsistent" stealth mechanics.

And so, it's out: Stealth requirements are being removed from "almost all" quest objectives. Sneaking around will remain an option, and the best way to approach some missions, but the change means that if you're caught, you'll be able to start shooting instead of being reset to the previous checkpoint.

Rechner said the change is "our first step in expanding player choice," a point he touched on when he was announced as the new creative director of Star Wars Outlaws earlier in November.

"First step in expanding player choice" could be seen as hopeful for those want full-on pew-pew while zipping around on their speeder, but I haven't noticed any comments from the devs addressing that issue one way or the other.

Lame. It's a stealth game. What were people expecting

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

[Max Peck]

They aren't getting rid of stealth, they're getting rid of the instant-fail followed by reload mechanic used in a few of the missions. I get that some of us didn't have a problem with it, but it was definitely one of the most common complaints I saw about the game early on, and the comments from the devs make it sound like they didn't like what the metrics were showing them. At a guess, I'd imagine they were seeing a lot of people hitting that first stealth mission, failing repeatedly, then quitting and never playing the game again.

[Skinypupy]

Is there a timeline for these changes?

I'd like to give this another shot (bounced off it pretty hard when it came out), but want to wait until some of these things are implemented.

[coopasonic]

Is there a timeline for these changes?

I'd like to give this another shot (bounced off it pretty hard when it came out), but want to wait until some of these things are implemented.

Star Wars Outlaws' stealth changes will be rolled out as part of the big title update 1.4.0, which will also see significant rework to the game's combat and controls. It's scheduled to go live on November 21, which is also when Star Wars Outlaws comes to Steam.

[Max Peck]

I downloaded the 1.4 patch this morning but haven't taken it out for a spin yet.

In other news, I completely forgot that this is also happening today:

[Scoop20906]

New patch and DLC is live. I've played it. Most noticable change so far is you can keep the pick up guns with you longer (climb ladders, ride speeder bike), some enemies now have armor where blasters will defect off so you have to aim for weak points or headshots, and now when sneaking if an enemy notices you they get a little eye icon over their heads. I haven't tried much combat yet. No crashes so far but had a few seconds of odd 1 to 2 second freezes. Wild Cards DLC is accessible (basically a mission).

My progress:

Spoiler:

I just made it to Jabba's palace and now I'm stuck on Tatooine (cause Jabba is at pissed me and locked my ship down) so no DLC for me right now. OMG! The Star Wars feels are strong.

[jztemple2]

I downloaded the 1.4 patch this morning but haven't taken it out for a spin yet.

I'm downloading it right now but it might be later before I try the game and especially the new expansion.

[Grifman]

This change (failing a stealth segment means going loud instead of forced save-scumming) seems good to me. While the forced stealth missions were doable, failing them was never not annoying.

Star Wars Outlaws is dropping 'forced stealth,' so instead of being reset when you get caught sneaking around, you can just start blasting

As part of the ongoing overhaul of Star Wars Outlaws that Ubisoft hopes will turn it into the must-play Star Wars game it should've been right from the start, new creative director Drew Rechner has announced that "forced stealth" is being removed from the game almost entirely.

The extent to which Star Wars Outlaws is a stealth game came as something of a surprise, given how much the pre-release promo materials (and Star Wars itself) focused on the joys of blasting stuff. But in an update posted today, Rechner acknowledged that some people just don't dig it, and that missions requiring players to avoid detection "could feel frustrating or unfair." Those feelings were exacerbated by the game's sometimes "unpredictable and inconsistent" stealth mechanics.

And so, it's out: Stealth requirements are being removed from "almost all" quest objectives. Sneaking around will remain an option, and the best way to approach some missions, but the change means that if you're caught, you'll be able to start shooting instead of being reset to the previous checkpoint.

Rechner said the change is "our first step in expanding player choice," a point he touched on when he was announced as the new creative director of Star Wars Outlaws earlier in November.

"First step in expanding player choice" could be seen as hopeful for those want full-on pew-pew while zipping around on their speeder, but I haven't noticed any comments from the devs addressing that issue one way or the other.

Lame. It's a stealth game. What were people expecting

Sent from my Pixel 9 Pro XL using Tapatalk

Maybe other options rather than being forced back to the very beginning of a segment? That's just asking for player frustration. And there are ways of doing a stealth game without immediately dumping you back to the beginning of a a section. That's what's lame.

Seriously, if Han got caught, did he get forced back to the beginning? No, he fought it out for a bit and then found another way to escape or evade the enemy.

[Scoop20906]

I played a bit longer tonight and noticed some improvements. The NPC animations during conversations are much better now. Previously, their lines were delivered stiffly, but now they gesture and emote appropriately with the dialogue. It’s something that probably should have been there at launch, but I’m glad they added it.

I’ve been in a few fights, and while I didn’t notice any improvements to enemy AI, the fight effects and sounds are definitely better. The bigger guns feel like they have more kick, and the blaster bolts give off more sparks than before. Oh, and still no crashes so far!

[jztemple2]

Oh, and still no crashes so far!

Oddly, after several dozen hours, I've never had a crash.

I'm part way through the new DLC right now. It has a sampling of all the different types of gameplay I've seen from previous playing, investigative, stealth, run and gun and platforming. And a significant dose of Sabacc with a lot of little twists and surprises, which is cool

The only thing I'm a bit disappointed with is the new location, which I won't spoil by describing it except to mention that it's a little bland compared with some of the really cool locations in the game. However, this is a really minor point, otherwise the new expansion is a lot of fun.

[naednek]

I'm on gaming overload right now...

Finished the main game of Outlaws. While I was waiting for DLC which was like 4 days...

The following happened
Saw an ad for Diablo 4 expansion for $29.99 and bought
Call of Duty MP is a guilty pleasure
Microsoft Simulator 2024 came out on gamepass
Stalker 2 game out on gamepass
City Skylines 2 has been releasing new geographical asserts.


I need to focus on 1 game. Stalker 2 is frustrating, Flight Simulator is fun, but time consuming

The 1.4 patch seemed to have improved the graphics or it was a result of changing my Ray tracing to medium. It feels so smooth than before. I haven't tried any stealth or melee yet as it's been mainly ship orientated at the beginning of the DLC.

[jztemple2]

And finished the Wild Card DLC just now. I estimate about eight hours of gameplay. A little weak early on but it picks up with some unusual and interesting platforming and then a slam-bang finish. Fun.

[Max Peck]

Update 1.4 even comes with a trailer.

[Jaymann]

Late to the party. But patch + Black Friday sale = taking the plunge for me.

[Jaymann]

Got past the tutorial mission. Works well with a controller (except when you mash the wrong buttons). On the lockpicking I couldn't tell what it wanted me to do, so I just randomly hit R2 until it worked.

[jztemple2]

Got past the tutorial mission. Works well with a controller (except when you mash the wrong buttons). On the lockpicking I couldn't tell what it wanted me to do, so I just randomly hit R2 until it worked.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I opted out of the lockpicking and spiking mini-games as they were harder for me and I didn't think they added to the game experience for me, but YMMV.

I used keyboard and mouse and found they worked fine with the game, in case you find the controller doesn't work out.