Starfield

[TurboR56Mini 967]

On 9/7/2023 at 12:14 PM, J4MES OX4D said:

I managed to secure a refund in the end. Disappointed but massively relieved!

 

Biggest issue I had was the lack of exploration - go to ship > cutscene > sit down > cutscene > loading screen > press space > cutscene > map > click > cutscene > loading screen > exit seat > loading screen > resume within points of interest areas.

 

Comparable indie titles such as No Mans Sky and Outer Wilds - go to ship > sit in cockpit > activate manual controls > manually fly to destination > land anywhere > turn off engine > exit seat > leave ship manually > walk anywhere.

 

Bethesda's design formula just looks so limited and outdated for me. I honestly thought I wouldn't mind it being a fan of their previous works but it's just got too old and archaic for my liking as is the basic interactions which are quite frankly pathetic compared to Baldur's Gate 3 which was made in less time. 

 

Starfield is basically a fragmented open world game where you visit scaled down areas under the illusion of this unlimited universe which is merely made up of menu screens and tiresome loading and cutscenes. The immersion just died every time I walked into a building and I was met with yet another loading screen. Nowhere near as seamless as the developers initially portrayed.  They are either deluded or as dishonest as they've always been. 

 

I've seen similar comments from the same folks who shit on NMS when it was launched. It was too open, not enough detail, too much RNG, blah blah. Not a shot at you at all but it feels like nothing will make everyone happy. As a lover of space games, I'm enjoying it for what it is, a massively large single-player game with no mico transactions, which is all but a dead breed. We should all want this game to do well because if it doesn't, we will all be stuck with the 34th iteration of the same shit with COD, FIFA, whatever bullshit Destiny is up to, and all the same from mind-numbing MMOs.  As always, some will love, some will hate, and some will just appreciate the time, effort, and overall skill involved with producing a game like this. I love this game, No Man's Sky, and Elite Dangerous, space is always the hardest genre to do because of its expansiveness. Appreciate the pov and remember, we are all living in an illusion. 

[phil bottle 9,761]

The weather in London has been incredible the last week or so. I've not touched my PC at all but can't wait to get back on this 🙂

 

[Bluebear 336]

I've been told off for my lack of Starfield discussion, sorry daddy Garratt 😔😂

@TurboR56Mini @phil bottle No review yet because I honestly feel like I've not played the game enough at... *looks at Steam* nigh on 70 hours!

As always with a BSG game, the UI on PC is absolutely gash, but there's been mods coming out to fix the massive inventory items taking up all the screen space etc already.

On the whole, I'm enjoying it! I had always tempered my expectations with regards to the 'space' part of the game, knowing that it was still running on Creation engine, and it's pretty much what I expected (you load into a 'cell' in orbit, and fast travel into a different planet's orbit 'cell' if you go to another planet etc). There have been some people playing around and it does look like that the cells on the planets are linked together at least, but from all accounts it's literally a cell per PIXEL of the planets surface and the game does not like it when you start going past boundaries, probably floating point errors the further you get away from the centre of that starting cell.

Not played too much of the main story, but the sidemissions are very good in terms of writing/quality. Having fun with some of the individual location ones but have also just started the Rangers storyline, so I'll report back with wot I think later. I've actually been genuinely interested in finding out about companion's backstories (just the people at Constellation so far from what I can tell), which is rare in a Bethsoft game! They're not just pack mules after all (Well they are, because inventory management is awful in this game at the moment but I digress).

As Karl said, the outpost building is bloody annoying. I've been absolutely raging at not bring able to place smaller items on the right rotation that I want (apparently there's an option to turn down the speed in menus @TurboR56Mini!). And then we get to stuff like the storage containers that are massive, only being able to store 75 units worth of material. Bizarre. Also those like to snap to everything but where you're trying to put them. The way the transfer of items between outposts works is a bit opaque at the moment too, I need to have an experiment with those but I keep running out of storage space for materials because building in your base only considers resources in your personal inventory OR in the big storage containers. Ship inventory or anything in small storage chests etc do not count, which is bloody annoying when you had to dump everything into them only to find the titanium that you needed to build more containers is in a bloody chest on your outpost but not part of the accessible inventory AUGH 🤬

There's also a strange lack of choice with hab modules and air locks, and even stuff like a lack of foundations to put stuff on (maybe I need to put points into outpost building to see them, but odd they wouldn't be a basic item if so).

The game itself looks beautiful, despite running everything on a GTX1070 and all settings on Low. I just can't wait until I can splurge on a new card and I can finally see this and CP2077 in their full glory. I have noticed the game is very CPU demanding, as a few mates of mine have been having issues with stutters with their older CPUs (4th gen i5s etc). Luckily I had upgraded earlier this year to an i5-12600k (from the venerable i5-3570k no less, godspeed 🫡), so I've not been having any issues.

[Bluebear 336]

21 hours ago, phil bottle said:

The weather in London has been incredible the last week or so. I've not touched my PC at all but can't wait to get back on this 🙂

 

Tell me about it. I am burnt.

[TurboR56Mini 967]

Glad you're enjoying it! I did a lot of the ranger story but now seems bugged for me. I can't turn in the third tablet to the guy to progress. It shows up that I can press "e" but then just doesn't work. I've tried multiple things and nothing, so I moved in to the mantis story which was cool and now I'm at the end of the UC/Crimson fleet story. I've not progressed the main line really either. Since base building pisses me off right now, I focused on ship building! I'm now able to fly class C and built a sweat destroyer ship along with a few others.

[Bluebear 336]

6 hours ago, TurboR56Mini said:

Glad you're enjoying it! I did a lot of the ranger story but now seems bugged for me. I can't turn in the third tablet to the guy to progress. It shows up that I can press "e" but then just doesn't work. I've tried multiple things and nothing, so I moved in to the mantis story which was cool and now I'm at the end of the UC/Crimson fleet story. I've not progressed the main line really either. Since base building pisses me off right now, I focused on ship building! I'm now able to fly class C and built a sweat destroyer ship along with a few others.

I've just gotten to that section of the Rangers questline so I'll let you know how I get on!

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New updates coming soon to Starfield! Good news for you and your resolution Karl!

• Brightness and Contrast controls
• HDR Calibration Menu
• FOV Slider
• Nvidia DLSS Support (PC)
• 32:9 Ultrawide Monitor Support (PC)
• Eat button for food!

Starfield Updates and Mod Support – September 13, 2023

BETHESDA.NET

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Thank you to all of you playing Starfield and your support. We are absolutely blown away by the response and all you love about the...

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

@Rumelyladystarted playing the other day.  She's been enjoying it, but it hasn't been really sucking her in.  We'll see if she sticks with it.  I'm gonna start soon, honest, I swear!!!

[TurboR56Mini 967]

10 hours ago, Riff Machine said:

@Rumelyladystarted playing the other day.  She's been enjoying it, but it hasn't been really sucking her in.  We'll see if she sticks with it.  I'm gonna start soon, honest, I swear!!!

It takes a few hours which is good. Then stuff starts opening up and you start figuring out the mechanics. 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Ok.  I'm probably in the minority here.  But, I'm really not liking this so far.  I'm not really hooked on the story at all.  I'm not a fan of the menu/inventory system.  Disappointed with the starship control, and star map.  Ship combat sucks.  The 30 fps lock on series X is sad too.  I hope it picks up, but I had more fun with The Outer Worlds then this.   

[phil bottle 9,761]

I'm only 6 hours in, and I'm only getting about 45fps on average but I'm enjoying it so far.

[phil bottle 9,761]

9 hours into the game now.

 

Negatives first:

 

The star map could be a lot better, I'm glad it can mostly be circumvented.

Local maps are coming I believe... but it's very poor they launched without them. Same with FOV slider and lack of Nvidia support.

 

But on the whole:

 

I've found some weapons I really like and the gunplay and combat has gone from passable to very enjoyable.

 

Ship combat is fine for me, it helps that one of my traits started me off with that particular skill. 

 

I like the way you can gather side missions simply by being within the vicinity of two NPCs talking.

 

I read somewhere that it's recommended to do the main quest up until a particular mission and then branch off, so that is the plan 🙂

[Luseth 1,954]

This game's blowing hot and cold for me, it does not feel very story driven, it feels more like a big open world esque game with lots of little stories, however because of my low level it feels somewhat disjointed because I can't complete a storyline or a faction line all in one go.

 

The gameplay is fine and I am enjoying exploring the worlds etc. I have not even touched the outposts yet.

 

I think because I am after something a bit more story driven my interest is waning a little bit in this at the moment, I jump on for an hour here and there but I am not sinking myself into it like I do with some RPG's.

[Riff Machine 2,105]

I progressed through the main quest just before the final mission, so I decided to try and find the rest of the temples and do some side quests.  The halfway point kind of got me interested in the main story, and my buddy Adrian's spoilers from the podcast the other week also helped.  I'll probably finish it up over the weekend. 

 

Good, but not great.

[phil bottle 9,761]

I'll likely sink a lot more hours into it but I get why many are not blown away. 14 hours and I've barely scratched the surface but I find myself constantly wishing I was either playing a new elder scrolls or fallout. Doesn't have the charm of those games, at least not yet for me. But it's got enough to keep me playing 🙂

[TurboR56Mini 967]

1 hour ago, Riff Machine said:

I progressed through the main quest just before the final mission, so I decided to try and find the rest of the temples and do some side quests.  The halfway point kind of got me interested in the main story, and my buddy Adrian's spoilers from the podcast the other week also helped.  I'll probably finish it up over the weekend. 

 

Good, but not great.

 

I'm 75 hours in, and I've barely done the main mission lol

[TurboR56Mini 967]

I'm really enjoying the ship building, I've built some really neat ones for different purposes. An auto turret exploration ship, a massive cargo ship for base building, a battle frigate, and a mining ship. Takes a lot of skill points to get all the cool shit, still unlocking high end parts as I go, lvl 40 now, 100 or so hours in. 

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

I managed to play Starfield again upon borrowing an Xbox for a couple of weeks recently and the more I played, the more I actually think this is shockingly bad game from Bethesda. I did try and give it a chance this time in the comfort away from a refund prospect but if anything, it just exposed even more woes I didn't like. 

 

Firstly, I think they got the entire design wrong - they should've had 5 varied planets the size of New Vegas and focused on them with galaxy wars, internal factions and interplanetary travel. This would've provided a much more focused experience especially for a Bethesda RPG. Starfield was ultimately built off the back of No Mans Sky's hype and ambitions and it's clear Bethesda didn't capacity or philosophy to pull this off anywhere close especially with an outdated engine, developer skill and a lack of algorithmic depth. 

 

The story is absolute shite and it is so unbelievably safe and uninspired. NPC's and factions merely exist to provide exposition and narrative continuation but other than that, the NPC's stand still in the same places morning, noon and night. In Obsidian's New Vegas, NPC's had routines and if you had to speak to one, you actually had to locate them - they could be shopping, socialising, working, asleep, in a battle or just wandering the land. In Starfield you see the same characters sitting in the same chairs or standing around doing nothing 24/7. 

 

NPC interactions not having facial animations is utterly pathetic especially if you're coming from Baldur's Gate 3 which has over 170 hours of cutscenes and houses every possible dialogue outcome and character emotion imaginable. Starfield took a year longer to produce and it's just lazy and outdated in such crucial aspects like this. Even the character models look dreadful. The dialogue itself carries as much depth as Fallout 4 and is about as dull as the story.  This design style is beyond unacceptable now especially for a game in development for 7 years like RDR2. 

 

Exploration is a joke - each planet having a few points of interest and the process in between is littered with immersion breaking loading screens and cutscenes. Every 'unexplored' planet has clearly been explored and houses evidence of life and even life itself so what is the point in going to all these places if they are all the same and you do the same stuff? Loot, shoot, rinse and repeat. They would've been far better off across the board sticking to 3-5 planets in one galaxy for a more crafted 'world'. 

 

In the end I had to stop playing. The game was beyond boring and turning into a chore. I love Bethesda but they got this spectacularly wrong right off the bat and it clearly impacted their design. I think this is their worst title to date and I fear for any future games until they radically change their approach and update their internal architecture. 

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

Starfield only managed one nomination and it doesn't stand a chance in that category. Only seemed to get nominated because of few candidates too. 

The Game Awards 2023 Nominations See Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2 Leading With 8 Nods Each - IGN

WWW.IGN.COM

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Nominees for The Game Awards 2023 have been revealed, with Alan Wake 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 leading the way with eight nominations each.

 

Starfield's been left out to dry at The Game Awards—and even dedicated fans are 'not terribly surprised' | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Shooting short of the stars.

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Yea, I think the day one game pass release really hurt its chances.

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

Bethesda developers have been working overtime all week responding to negative reviews and telling people they were wrong and how they didn't play the game right. Some of the responses seem really unhinged and remarkably out of touch. 

 

Here's one infamous take:-

Some of Starfield’s planets are meant to be empty by design - but that's not boring. “When the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. They certainly weren't bored." The intention of Starfield's exploration is to evoke a feeling of smallness in players and make you feel overwhelmed. You can continue to explore and find worlds that do have resources you need or hidden outposts to look through.

 

Comparing a real-life moon landing which was one of the biggest achievements in the history of humanity to their shitty procedurally-generated copy and pasted planets to justify their emptiness is one of the most insane things I have ever heard from a developer. It's just one of many really weird responses. Surely they would thank the players for their feedback, understand the critique and take on board what has been said for future titles but no, they have to tell the players that they should not be bored because the game is 'realistic'.

 

It's also a damning insight into their design philosophy through development. 

[phil bottle 9,761]

Bethesda are seriously making me worry About Elder Scrolls 6. They're going to fuck it up aren't they 😭🤣

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

3 hours ago, phil bottle said:

Bethesda are seriously making me worry About Elder Scrolls 6. They're going to fuck it up aren't they 😭🤣

They certainly can't be turning up in 2027 with the Creation Engine, 2D character interactions, visuals from 2012 and no facial animations again🤣 ES6 is probably still another 5+ years away - I get the impression from interviews that they announced it way too early and then let it take a backseat whilst they were halfway through Starfield development. After the reception this game got especially from a technical and outdated standpoint, they may go back to the drawing board because releasing another archaic and unambitious game later this decade will not sit well. Their reputation is beginning to wane and people ain't as forgiving.

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

 

[Riff Machine 2,105]

Man, when they showed him on camera during the segment with the cast from the Fallout TV series, he did not look happy to be there at all.

[J4MES OX4D 10,035]

Another Bethesda developer goes off on a 15 Tweet tirade against customers

Starfield design director calls out unfair game criticism: 'Don't fool yourself into thinking you know why it is the way it is' | PC Gamer

WWW.PCGAMER.COM

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Emil Pagliarulo says an awful lot of outspoken critics are "disconnected" from the realities of game development.

 

Apparently as gamers aren't qualified developers, they have no grounds to complain. So basically people that go to restaurants and are sold cold, raw or poor quality meals aren't allowed to complain because they aren't qualified chefs🤣

 

Bethesda really need to take the hit and learn from it. The amount of damage control against credible criticisms of paying customers is insane along with the disrespectful remarks and approach. People are really gonna tire of them at this rate.