Talk:Outlaws

Finally Complete

After years of this page being tagged as incomplete I have finally done the deed and finished it up. I've added screenshots for every weapon category, even including weapons that aren't usable in-game/are only useable in multiplayer by certain characters. There are more screenshots I could grab, sure, but they aren't exactly necessary to label this page as complete, at least for the most part. The only weapons I didn't include are dynamite and knives. Don't think it's really necessary to include those, since they aren't firearms. I will do it though if anyone tells me to. I think it's safe to say this page is now at least done enough that I can take the "incomplete" tag off of it. I will likely improve on the page as I go along, as will anyone else I'm sure who plays/has played this absolutely magnificent game. This was a labor of love for me, considering this was my first video game ever and was a major influence on my love for the Western genre. I acknowledge that the weapons are depicted in a horrendously inaccurate manner and that the old 90s graphics leave a lot to be desired from a modern gaming perspective, but as someone who grew up playing it, the sentimental value wins out for me. Plus it's just such an awesome, classic FPS game with an absolutely stellar soundtrack and an awesome voice cast with beautifully drawn cutscenes and awesome level design. Aaaanyway, I'll stop being a nerd now xD big thank you to whoever originally started this page. Saved me quite a bit of extra work believe it or not. And huge thanks to the mods for not deleting it. -- -Jared (talk) 19:07, 28 September 2023 (UTC)

Thank you so much for completing the IMFDB page for this underappreciated game. I'm of the opinion that if LucasArts had capitalized on Outlaws, they could have had a major competitor to the Red Dead series of games long before those were ever a twinkle in Rockstar Games' collective eye. But sadly that didn't happen, and LucasArts faded away. --Mazryonh (talk) 01:13, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

Oh I concur! This game was (and still is) awesome and was WAAYYY ahead of its time in a lot of ways, and I really wish it had gotten the appreciation it deserved. It was absolutely worthy of a sequel at the very least, and I think you're right, if they had capitalized on it, it very well could have given Red Dead a run for its money and with a major head start to boot.....and I'm saying that as a huge fan of the Red Dead series (I played Red Dead Revolver on PS2 as a kid, and Redemption 1 and 2 are—in my opinion—two of the greatest games of all time). I honestly feel the same way about GUN in that it too could have been a huge Red Dead competitor, but that's a whole different rabbit hole that I won't go down right now. It does my heart good to know that someone else here appreciates Outlaws for the classic, underappreciated, criminally overlooked game that it is just as much as I do, and that my work here hasn't gone unnoticed. Like I said, this was a labor of love for me. I absolutely adore this game. -- -Jared (talk) 10:42, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

I'm glad you finally completed this page. It's still too bad that LucasArts is gone (they were so much more than just Star Wars games) and the Outlaws IP is still in limbo. Then again, the release of the fully-3D Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II the same year as Outlaws was released may have sealed the fate of 2.5D FPS games like Outlaws as "too old-fashioned" even for the later years of the 1990s. By the way, if you like Outlaws so much, maybe you could tell me exactly what the Sheriff's Badge pickup does in the game? I never found out for myself, and the YouTube videos showing gameplay of Outlaws don't seem to show that powerup having much of a noticeable ingame effect. --Mazryonh (talk) 02:06, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

The Sheriff's Badge, believe it or not, actually gives you a temporary damage boost and also gives you some protection from the outlaws' bullets by causing them to be less likely to hit you and/or the hits they do land dealing less damage. It's a pretty negligible power-up if you're playing on the "Good" (Easy) difficulty setting, but do a playthrough on Ugly and you'll see the difference when you pick one up and will be thrilled when you come across one. They have the same effect in multiplayer matches as well (which is where the damage boost really shines). I've noticed a lot of people—especially those who have only recently discovered the game since it was rereleased on GOG, but even several OG players—mistake the Sheriff's Badge for a useless trinket and nothing more, and I suspect that's because they mostly play on Good, where the in-game enemies are hardly a challenge anyway. I'll be honest, even I dismissed it as such when I played Outlaws growing up, but it was later explained to me by someone else what its purpose actually was in-game and I realized it after doing full, strategic playthroughs on Bad and Ugly. I think the game's manual explains that as well, but I can't remember. I'll have to dig out my original 2-disc copy and check lol. -- -Jared (talk) 16:51, 9 October 2023 (UTC)

(I may add gameplay captures later, but the graphics are pretty bad and don't provide a good view of the guns at all. These were what I could cull from the excellent animated cutscenes.)

Question about adding bonus material to this page

It happens that I have a promotional photo for this game back when it was still upcoming, featuring some of the key developers of Outlaws posing in Wild West clothing and with what look to be replica firearms from the Wild West era. Can I post that to the wiki page for this game as "bonus" material? I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable users here could tell me if it's possible that the replica firearms seen in that old photo were used as the basis for the ingame firearms. --Mazryonh (talk) 01:13, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

Don't see why not, if it's official promo material - plenty of pages have official trailer/promo stuff in a separate "Other" or "Unusable" section, or at least on the talk page. Pyr0m4n14c (talk) 01:48, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

Here's the promo photo below:

The cover of "The Adventurer" magazine from Summer 1996.

According to the inside cover of this magazine, these "scary looking varmints" are, from left to right, Stephen Shaw, the lead programmer for Outlaws; Adam Schnitzer, lead background artist; Daron Stinnett, project leader; and Charlie Ramos, lead animator. The Western wear apparently came from Roger Bubel of Amusement Concepts located at Marine World Africa USA in Vallejo, California. Can anyone identify the long gun held by Stinnett, at least? Could it be the reference the dev team used for the "Winchester Rifle" in the game? The other firearms are too dark and blend into the background too well to make out much if any detail on them. --Mazryonh (talk) 13:15, 30 September 2023 (UTC)

That looks like it's most likely a replica of a Winchester Model 1873 to me. More than likely it's a toy or non-firing replica of some sort, but the lighting in the image is too dark for me to tell really. As for whether or not they used it as a reference for the rifle in-game, I suppose it's possible, because as I stated in the section for the rifle on the page, the receiver definitely has aspects that resemble that of a Winchester '73 (i.e. the receiver and the shape of the side plate), but has the brass frame of a Winchester Model 1866.-- -Jared (talk) 15:19, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

So if it's possible that they used the replica long gun in that photo as the reference for the ingame "Winchester Rifle," should that photo be posted up on the wiki page for this game as "bonus" promotional material? I'd like that to be the case, at least. --Mazryonh (talk) 02:08, 8 October 2023 (UTC)

Sure, dude. Go for it! :) -- -Jared (talk) 16:55, 9 October 2023 (UTC)

I think it looks suspiciously like a pump operated toy that has a few lever gun aesthetics ~~

What makes you think it's a pump-action toy? --Mazryonh (talk) 17:52, 1 October 2023 (UTC)

The front grip just looks like it moves to me. VladVladson (talk) 04:20, 11 October 2023 (UTC)