The Expanse: Osiris Reborn — Owlcat Got Mass Effect In My TV Show!

[Bertram_Tung]

It takes place in space and has guns. That's about where the similarities end.

And that's all it needs!

Needs less DEI

[gerey]

Needs less DEI

If this game lets me fire Naomi out of an airlock I will shill it until my dying breath.

[KnightoftheWind]

A good 80% of the trailer was just a cinematic, but the gameplay looked alright. I just wish it was first person instead of the claustrophobic OTS camera. I didn't mind it when it came to RE4 and RE5, but after using FOV mods I've never gone back to the stock camera.

[Nessa]

the only non-human race that shouldn't be exterminated or subjugated are the turians, which proved to be equals to humans

The hoomans were abject fools who were taken out almost instantly by the stupid talking toasters. Turians at least fought back. Turians > Hoomans.

[Atlantico]

Unfamiliar with The Expanse universe, is it really interesting enough to make a game around?

It's basically Mass Effect, but not. It depends on how much you like Mass Effect and if you wanted Mass Effect to be more grounded and without aliens.

It takes place in space and has guns. That's about where the similarities end.

Mass Effect is space magic, chosen-one hero fantasy with 1000s of aliens and blue sex slaves and galaxy-saving drama.

The Expanse is “what if space travel sucked (it does) and everyone was broke, mad, and dying of radiation." And hardly any aliens.

Not really, there's also the politics, intrigue, sociopathic scientists, the looming unknown alien threat that travels through mysterious gates. It's Mass Effect, only even more human centric.

[Bertram_Tung]

The Expanse is as much like Mass Effect as Game of Thrones is like the Witcher.

Sure if you zoom out enough and squint your eyes, they're similar. But it's a poor way to describe it to someone.

[Bertram_Tung]

Basically this image sums up the Expanse perfectly:

[gerey]

We want to focus on other aspects of the game and make the game as great as possible, so we don’t have plans for the ship combat, sorry. It would be a completely different mechanic.

Pack it up folks, this game is gonna be trash.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

We want to focus on other aspects of the game and make the game as great as possible, so we don’t have plans for the ship combat, sorry. It would be a completely different mechanic.

Figure as much. Slightly disappointed but than again Owlcat mini games are **** so this is a blessing in disguise.

[gerey]

Slightly disappointed but than again Owlcat mini games are **** so this is a blessing in disguise.

It was gay when Mass Effect didn't feature ship combat, and it's ******* gay now. If the devs of Star Control could implement ship combat 30 years ago, then so can these lazy *******.

Expanse ship fights are a great spectacle and it would be **** easy to replicate the cinematic feel while keeping the action simple. Just do what FTL did, cut the screen in half, the left showing your own ship (with graphics to give the illusion it's moving), right screen with the enemy ship doing the same, maybe include a third screen to display the relative distance between the two ships and the position of the incoming missiles.

The rest is just all about determining how many missiles you're gonna shoot, your point defense systems and how much ammo they have and whether you're in range to use them. Maybe throw in **** like ECM as a power on cooldown and a railgun that requires X number of turns/seconds to get a firing solution and presto, you have a mechanically simple ship fighting mechanic that can look visually appealing but won't require you to turn the thing into a space sim.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

Slightly disappointed but than again Owlcat mini games are **** so this is a blessing in disguise.

It was gay when Mass Effect didn't feature ship combat, and it's ******* gay now. If the devs of Star Control could implement ship combat 30 years ago, then so can these lazy *******.

Expanse ship fights are a great spectacle and it would be **** easy to replicate the cinematic feel while keeping the action simple. Just do what FTL did, cut the screen in half, the left showing your own ship (with graphics to give the illusion it's moving), right screen with the enemy ship doing the same, maybe include a third screen to display the relative distance between the two ships and the position of the incoming missiles.

The rest is just all about determining how many missiles you're gonna shoot, your point defense systems and how much ammo they have and whether you're in range to use them. Maybe throw in **** like ECM as a power on cooldown and a railgun that requires X number of turns/seconds to get a firing solution and presto, you have a mechanically simple ship fighting mechanic that can look visually appealing but won't require you to turn the thing into a space sim.

Very reasonable points however Owlcat is incapable of making satisfying combat of that scope and it’s attempt in Rogue Trader the ship combat was slow and painfully dull, with the added benefits of not properly communicating it’s ship combat mechanics. Many people complain of this ( including many YouTubers who make of build guides )were have trouble with the ship combat and was bad enough that Owlcat posted a video tutorial on YouTube 6 months after the games released


Edit: video in question.



Slight correction four months after release but the point still stands.

[gerey]

is incapable of making satisfying combat

How could they **** up a concept as simple as "broadsides in space"? Battlefleet Gothic nailed it right out of the gate - you fire one broadside, then do a turn to present the other line of guns to the enemy. If your shields are weak on one side, you turn onto the other side to tank the hit, or just boost out of the way.

It's such a simple concept, especially if you limited ship movement to a single plane, that anyone should have been able to implement it, or in OwlCat's case, copy it from Battlefleet Gothic.

******* subhuman shitlib *******.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

is incapable of making satisfying combat

How could they **** up a concept as simple as "broadsides in space"? Battlefleet Gothic nailed it right out of the gate - you fire one broadside, then do a turn to present the other line of guns to the enemy. If your shields are weak on one side, you turn onto the other side to tank the hit, or just boost out of the way.

It's such a simple concept, especially if you limited ship movement to a single plane, that anyone should have been able to implement it, or in OwlCat's case, copy it from Battlefleet Gothic.

******* subhuman shitlib *******.

As much as Owlcat like to taught there love for TTRP games there not actually good in developing them to be actually enjoyable or rewarding, serviceable yes but nothing more most of the time as much I dislike BG3 I have to admit that there combat encounter design is vastly superior.

I see the Expanse as way for Owlcat to double down on what there best at ( characters, story, narrative) and less emphasis on the complexity of its combat. Basically highly “cinematic games” with light gameplay that are a dime dozen nowadays.

[gerey]

Basically highly “cinematic games” with light gameplay that’s a dime dozen nowadays.

Seems to me they're speedrunning the BioWare experience just like CDPR are.

[J1M]

You never go full cinematic!

[Jordy]

Would spoiler tag this but doubt it would make sense to someone who hasn't watched it.

► Show Spoiler

Edit: Spoilered it anyway.

[KOS-MOS]

Basically highly “cinematic games” with light gameplay that’s a dime dozen nowadays.

Seems to me they're speedrunning the BioWare experience just like CDPR are.

If gameplay is such an issue to them, they could even speedrun the Quantic dream experience, make movies instead of games. Sometimes you can move your character around, sometimes you can even make a choice and it leads to another cinematic. GAMING.

[Norfleet]

Very reasonable points however Owlcat is incapable of making satisfying combat of that scope and it’s attempt in Rogue Trader the ship combat was slow and painfully dull

I mean, look, if you're not willing to wait minutes to hours between firing a weapon and something going boom, you're probably not cut out for anything close to realistic submarine or space combat. That's why most presentations of playable space combat are basically just Spacewar/Asteroids.

[MrTwinkls]

I still don’t understand why did they pick The Expanse for their new game's setting.

[Norfleet]

I still don’t understand why did they pick The Expanse for their new game's setting.

I'm guessing the license was cheap, and they wanted to piggyback on SOMETHING rather than trying to make their own.

[MrTwinkls]

I still don’t understand why did they pick The Expanse for their new game's setting.

I'm guessing the license was cheap, and they wanted to piggyback on SOMETHING rather than trying to make their own.

I doubt that someone except nerds and sci-fi fans knows what The Expanse is. So piggybacking is difficult with this franchise.
I don't say that it's a bad sci-fi setting just a bit boring. Any other even something as obscure as Outlaw Star would be more interesting.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

I still don’t understand why did they pick The Expanse for their new game's setting.

A semi well known IP that has brand recognition to due the recent TV series and probably far easier to get IP license for than other well known sci fi IP’s

Also Owlcat likes to pay it safe with IPs they can use rather than making original game that has far more room for failure.

[Jordy]

I still don’t understand why did they pick The Expanse for their new game's setting.

A semi well known IP that has brand recognition to due the recent TV series and probably far easier to get IP license for than other well known sci fi IP’s

Also Owlcat likes to pay it safe with IPs they can use rather than making original game that has far more room for failure.

Agree with both points in a way. Amazon tried to push The Expanse pretty hard when they purchased it but I doubt most normies got through more than a few episodes before dropping it. However, most people will at least recognize the name.

[Norfleet]

I doubt that someone except nerds and sci-fi fans knows what The Expanse is.

So, pretty much the core target audience for a sci-fi vidya game?

Any other even something as obscure as Outlaw Star would be more interesting.

Never heard of it. Must be pretty obscure.

[wndrbr]

Maybe it's the show creators who are trying to piggyback off of the famous developers of party-based rpgs???

[Norfleet]

Maybe it's the show creators who are trying to piggyback off of the famous developers of party-based rpgs???

Well, it's probably bit of both. Both sides, after all, are expecting to gain something out of a licensing deal.

[J1M]

Maybe it's the show creators who are trying to piggyback off of the famous developers of party-based rpgs???

I could see it as a point of pride that they wanted another season or two of the show to finish out the book series. They never got to the wild xeno stuff on the exoplanets that I learned about from reading the synopsis.

A successful game could make that happen.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Would spoiler tag this but doubt it would make sense to someone who hasn't watched it.

► Show Spoiler

Edit: Spoilered it anyway.

Already seen a bunch of Belter BS in the comments of the game’s trailer and youtubers doing previews and talking about it. BeltahLoduh! BeltahLoduh! **** sake, like clockwork, these shitlib posers find the ‘designated victim’ faction - much like the Elves in the Dragon Age franchise, or the Krogan and Geth in Mass Effect - and immediately identify with them. Heaven help you if you decide to play one of the civilized factions, ‘YoUre le EviL CoLOnIzeR reeeeeeee!’

I’m gonna play a Martian. **** the Belt.

[UltraFan123]

Belters being such terrible people unironically and being rightfully discriminated against because of that is both quite funny and also a good representation of real-life ethnic groups that get **** on because they deserve it, complete with their virtue signaling "dindu-notin" white knights.

[gerey]

Belters being such terrible people unironically and being rightfully discriminated against because of that is both quite funny and also a good representation of real-life ethnic groups that get **** on because they deserve it, complete with their virtue signaling "dindu-notin" white knights.

There's no faction you can actually root for in the Expanse - they're all terrible. Your choices are between UN globohomo, space ******* and civic nationalists, and Mars ceases to be a thing the moment the portal opens.