ThePunishedSnake: I neverplayed Outcast, is the game good? I mean, there are a lot of positive reiews, but just looking at some videos it seems a common tps to me :S
I think Marko's post still does not at all convey the magic of Outcast. Outcast is one of those games that can cast a spell on you almost the moment you launch it. You instantly start caring about the world and its inhabitants, you instantly feel important. It's also a game with a fantasy/sci-fi world that you really want to explore and learn about. During the first couple of minutes you may not understand a word the alien natives are saying, towards the end of the game you know their entire mythology and all of their weird words by heart.
Also Outcast is a game that doesn't let itself get limited by genre definitions. It's a third person shooter (with optional first person perspective including free aiming and a visible weapon hand), it's an action adventure, there's also some stealth thrown in but ultimately it's an incredibly epic and modern RPG. The most organic RPG I've ever played, on top of that. There's no experience points, there are no "quests" - you find out about the different tasks just by talking to various NPCs, there's no clear separation between optional and mandatory tasks in a quest log, it all blends together, it's just your common sense that tells you what will get you ahead. You don't get a "du duuuuum - QUEST COMPLETE!" when you do something, you just know that you just did something for someone in the world and are (sometimes) rewarded in a believable way. You don't have a hero who is a wimp early on and magically unlocks new skills and eventually goes OVER 9000, instead you upgrade and find new weapons and weaken the enemies by sabotaging their war machinery. And you don't have NPC markers on a map, you ask NPCs if they know / have seen someone and they give you directions or point at him with their friggin' hand. That's the kind of game Outcast is.
In my eyes Outcast shows what action adventures, RPGs and sandbox games should have been but never became. And shockingly aside from the graphics (which are still gorgeous IMO) it hasn't aged almost at all. It's highly accessible, has solid combat, is fully voiced, has a genuine orchestral soundtrack etc.. It's pure awesome.