Honestly I mostly agree with you if you include the DLC. IMO Outer Worlds is a game about moments. Each contained story arc in Emerald, Monarch, and the 2 dlc locations are so good. There’s a lot of different ways to approach them and different turns you can take. There’s also so many small moments like the woman in Byzantium who

But the over arching story isn’t there. It builds up to some cool points and then just sort of stops. If I didn’t play it with the DLC I could see how people would be disappointed.

Also like you said if you go into it expecting FO NV in space you’ll be sorely disappointed as there’s not much gear reward for exploring. There’s unique weapons but if you invest in the bare minimum into engineering you can craft much better weapons. It’s more about building something YOU want to run. Which is cool and fun , but if you’re expecting a loot game you’re gonna be disappointed. I think this part is less a knock on the game though and more of a lack of engaging with what the game wants you to do if that makes sense.

I agree with your general point, but I think the problem is OW1 didn’t stick the landing.

Not gonna lie if I didn’t buy it on sale and didn’t get the DLC I would have been disappointed. Emerald Vale and Monarch had really great self contained stories but once you get to Byzantium it starts to lose steam. The 2 DLC are also the strongest stories in the game.

Ooh yeah that’s a bit much.

Games are gonna copy major mechanics. Look at all the BOTW clones that came out after Breath of the Wild was successful. But you have to put a liiiittle effort into mixing up the art style and color palette.