The unconventional design of healing and consumables in The outer worlds

Talking about the Heal and Consumable mechanics of The Outer Worlds from Obsidian entertainment, together with some other adjacent and miscellaneous topics. Because I can. And I wanted to. Yes.
The outer worlds is available for purchase for Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo switch and PC.
Do i recommend it? Yes, yes I do.
Further reading about some of the topics mentioned in the video.Loss aversion: repub.eur.nl/p...
www.researchga...
Scarcity value:ecommons.corne...
Self determination:
www.neshaminy....
edisciplinas.u... Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function - PMC / 699118.helplessness Wealth disparity, fairness and inheritance:www.researchga...
www.ifn.se/med... Elizabeth holmes sentence:www.justice.go...Samuel Bankman-Fried sentence:www.justice.go...

[@jurassicderp3012]

I feel like the system was made with players like me in mind. Those that don't use consumables and end up with an inventory filled with anything that isn't the basic heal. Strapping a "bonus" to it makes it so the secondary items get some use. Overall great vid, loved your take and I'm looking forward to the next one. My only critique is the video itself is quiet.

[@dexterdextrow6035]

That's a good point I hadn't considered. Bundling mechanics, especially when done with a ubiquitous one, such as healing, is likely to increase the use probability and frequency of the one that's likely to be more selectively engaged in depending on player and playstyle.
Thanks for watching and appreciate the feedback.

[@Covolsky]

It's been a while since I've played the outer worlds but from what I remember I've always used to visit kiosks to buy protein and carbohydrates foods to give myself a kind of "Premium Heal" which especially helped me since I tend to avoid getting combat skills and perks... Since credits were very plentiful, I always overstock my medicine and buffs. It made me more active with using the world of Outer Worlds.

[@dexterdextrow6035]

That's interesting, I'd have two questions if you'd care for that.
One, do you think that you wouldn't have done this if the heal and consumables were separated/do you believe it likely if you in that case wouldn't have bothered with consumables?
And two, if there was two ways to use the inhaler, do you think you'd just use it the standard way each time anyways for the sake of convenience and simplicity or alternate as not to waste consumables when you're already affected by them?

[@Covolsky]

@dexterdextrow6035 For the first question I remember games like Fallout New Vegas (survival) and Skyrim I would not care to use buffs unless an encounter either scares me or I keep losing to a difficult fight. Except for Fallout 4(survival,) because of how limited the inventory is and how overpowered some foods are I'd regularly use food like Grilled Ragstag for 125hp and 25 extra carrying capacity.
For the second question I believe I already answered it because I prefer "Premium Heals" since adreino were the only Stimpack/medkit item I had ease of access to, adding buffs to the inhaler kind of made sense... I did feel bad a few times but only because I was afraid of running out of buff items. Which only happened once. But in the end I would not care or reach for two separate heal keys for buffs and heals separately.
Also the inhaler could be fixed by "Hold Heal Key for buffs" and "Tap Heal Key for adreno..." It's just developer oversight to why this is frustrating...

[@dexterdextrow6035]

@@Covolsky Thanks for the input.
And yes, you're a absolutely right, if desired the heal button could certainly be configured for a hold/press action, that would have been a easy solution even when limited to the input options of a controller. Good point.

[@beefstewstudios9509]

I never thought of it this way! loved the vid

[@dexterdextrow6035]

@@beefstewstudios9509 hey, appreciate it.

[@katietree4949]

'Boosted healing and defense' on the inhaler.
Go into inventory for everything else and use direct from there.
Not the best system however, and could be dramatically improved were there a second game.
Controller 'limitations' is a poor excuae for lack of additional hotkeys. Case and point, Path Of Exile.