RPG Elements
Fallout: New Vegas is a very direct RPG, and gives the player plenty of freedom to play around with. Your character levels up and gains new skills and with it becomes stronger with a host of ridiculous perks to carry you onward such as Friend of the Night where your character gains better vision in darkness. These perks are gained one every two levels and only get more wacky as the game progresses.
Leveling up in New Vegas means gaining points to put into skills directly such as leveling up small arms (pistols and such) or dialog things such as bartering. On top of this, when creating a character you are given the option to select certain traits that give a bonus on top of giving a negative, such as Built to Destroy, which gives a higher critical chance at the cost of weapon durability lowering at a faster rate.
The Outer Worlds follows a similar model as New Vegas with leveling up, but what it offers is a little more simple. While you still get perks every two levels, what is on offer is far more expected and far less silly, such as more carrying weight or increased health. However, there is a system that shares a passing resemblance to New Vegas’ traits: flaws.
A flaw can come about from, for example, being caught in too many explosions. These flaws offer a negative, like lowering stats, but you are instantly awarded a perk point that can change the tide in your favor if the odds are starting to stack up slightly. Fortunately, flaws can be declined, so you aren’t forced to punish yourself.
As strange as it is to say of an Obsidian Entertainment game, The Outer Worlds feels too grounded in comparison to New Vegas. Perks in New Vegas allow for silly occurrences, such as having the chance to fully obliterate an enemy on a critical strike. Perks in The Outer Worlds feels too rigid whereas New Vegas allows a loose freedom to grow your character in many different, and all weird, directions.
