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A critical Bethesda design flaw: Mistaking obstruction for challenge and content for fun

I played it for a week before dropping it and haven’t had the slightest urge to go back.

I think I was convincing myself that going home to dump all my shit constantly was fun at first. But when you realize it’s all completely useless and there is no real point that fell apart quick. The combat was decent so I’m sure I’d have a decent time if I just went through all the main quests but I’ve heard the story payoffs aren’t great, so I really just can’t be bothered.

Fallout 3 is one of my favorite games ever, Fallout 4 is one of my most disappointing games ever. Their game design just isn’t up to par anymore imo. They got me to get the early access though, so congrats. That Starfield Direct was the most fun I’ve ever had consuming Starfield. Oh well.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I enjoyed the game, I had a fun 60 hour run and felt like I got my fill. Might go back for another one with some mods in a year or two.

I agree with almost all the criticism of this game. So much of it feels very safe, same-y, and shallow. It does so many things but it doesn’t do any one thing extraordinarily well.

I think if it did at least ONE thing that was truly great, gamers would’ve been a lot more forgiving. E.g. if it had a really great and compelling story, or if it had companions with tons of personality and were super memorable, or it had almost limitless role playing opportunities with tons of depth and variety of outcomes, or if the gunplay were on par with Destiny, or exploration like NMS…. Etc

As it is, it just feels like a by-the-numbers Bethesda RPG designed by a big woke corporation to be as safe as possible.
 

Roni

Member
There are people in this thread who are actively listing better forms of encumbrance that are present in other games. The game design argument is no longer a good enough excuse for Bethesda’s outdated encumbrance system.
Oh, I don't particularly think Bethesda is doing a good job either. But any RPG trying to have a serious, long lasting design that is fun and meaningful will eventually have to deal with encumbrance. Weight, volume, bytes, stamina, injuries, time and etc.
 
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Oh, I don't particularly think Bethesda is doing a good job either. But any RPG trying to have a serious, long lasting design that is fun and meaningful will eventually have to deal with encumbrance. Weight, volume, bytes, stamina, injuries, time and etc.
I feel like this is mostly contained to western, especially PC RPGs. Older western console RPGs and most eastern RPGs(even modern ones) didn’t deal with encumbrance at all and quite a lot of them were highly rated and celebrated.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
I feel like this is mostly contained to western, especially PC RPGs. Older western console RPGs and most eastern RPGs(even modern ones) didn’t deal with encumbrance at all and quite a lot of them were highly rated and celebrated.
Honestly I think the only reason for encumbrance is because it’s one of those games where every single object in the game can be picked up and interacted with. They need some mechanism to prevent you from just running around and vacuuming up everything that isn’t nailed down.

It adds nothing to the game. I’d be totally fine if they made it so only gameplay-relevant objects can be picked up, in exchange for an inventory system that isn’t designed around encumberance.
 
I love the game but I agree about the carrying items and shuffling them between characters. But I also rarely have a companion, so I mostly just don’t pick anything up.

I also think they put too much shit into the game. There are too many gadgets and weapons and outfits. I have like 80 hours or so in the game and I’m still running around in the Mantis suit because I haven’t found anything better 🤷‍♂️ Weapons are also rarely seemingly any good. That said, I know I have barely scratched the surface on weapon and suit mods.

There is some learning curve in some areas, especially space combat. I’ll be very interested in seeing how the game plays once I am high level and have unlocked all the space and combat and mod perks. I spend most of my time exploring. But I see sizzle reels from people of amazing combat and I just think, where is that in my Starfield? It’s very cool that you can build up to that. Or not, if you choose not to.
 

Roni

Member
I feel like this is mostly contained to western, especially PC RPGs. Older western console RPGs and most eastern RPGs(even modern ones) didn’t deal with encumbrance at all and quite a lot of them were highly rated and celebrated.
One can design a game that is fun, but teaches nothing. The key term in what I mentioned is serious: games can be a tool for communication, not just entertainment. I, for one, want my games to pack some substance, not just style.
Honestly I think the only reason for encumbrance is because it’s one of those games where every single object in the game can be picked up and interacted with. They need some mechanism to prevent you from just running around and vacuuming up everything that isn’t nailed down.

It adds nothing to the game. I’d be totally fine if they made it so only gameplay-relevant objects can be picked up, in exchange for an inventory system that isn’t designed around encumberance.
Games in the future will have the best aspects from all games today. Every game would let you pick anything off the ground if it didn't require an entire software architecture to allow that. In the future, that will not be the case. For those games, having a way to deal with these situations will be required.
 

tommib

Gold Member
The character design though. I just uploaded a video when I go through Neon. I don’t understand how a character artist can be proud about this. Some quest NPCs looks fine but random citizens are just plain ugly. Sorry to be so blunt but it’s true. And as a Scandinavian I feel like I should go to Twitter and complain about representation because there has clearly been some questionable cleasing in this universe.

Love your YouTube channel. Very wholesome.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
For real how big of a deal is this?
It is a big deal as it breaks exploration, there is a lot more content (a lot of it is procedural) and a lot of activities, but between each there are several of loading screens some a few seconds long and some more (on top of of unskippable cutscenes sometimes like launching off a planet).

The universe feels broken down in a lot more and yet smaller fish bowls.
 

Fess

Member
It is a big deal as it breaks exploration, there is a lot more content (a lot of it is procedural) and a lot of activities, but between each there are several of loading screens some a few seconds long and some more (on top of of unskippable cutscenes sometimes like launching off a planet).

The universe feels broken down in a lot more and yet smaller fish bowls.
Well for me the loading is a nothing burger, haven’t played it on console though so don’t know if it’s worse there.

I feel like it’s a bigger problem that I barely have to use my carefully built spaceship. I find it very odd that I can fast travel from inside an office on Neon to the streets of Akila and then back again without putting my feet inside my ship or even knowing which ship I used.

I understand why they’ve done it that way, would be lots of annoying walks since quests send you back and forth. But maybe they could’ve done the space flights more of an adventure? And maybe they could’ve had quests taking place in the same area instead of all over the universe?

There are lots of things like that I find strange with this game. But I’m still playing it and enjoying it.
 
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BlackTron

Member
Yeah, I could see these aspects of the game before I started playing it which is why I skipped it. I even installed it first (gamepass). This just isn't my type of game and I don't need it. Funny enough, installing, and then uninstalling Starfield, from my PC, is what finally convinced me Series X was really not necessary in my life and let it go.
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
This game is also totally ignores the invention of communications. What happened to smartphones or dumbphones? What happened to televisions? What happened to the postal service? What happened to personal radios? What happened to webpages? What happened to newspapers? All those things could've been used to eleminate at least some woes in universe-friendly manner.

The game is simply undercooked both in gameplay and setting departments. They don't work in tandem even at the basic level. The local Night Club on Neon is the most pathetic attempt at 'adult' establishment I've saw in AAA. You can't even bang a hooker in this game, because Sarah will presumably kill you with the long, uninspiring and boring lecture afterwards.
 
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