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Starfield has 'Mixed' reviews on Steam (Up: 'Recent' reviews are Mostly Negative)

Astray

Member
But the foundation of the game must be super strong in that case, and the negative reviews must be primarily due to performance issues - which is not the case with Starfield.

The overwhelming majority of the negative reviews are mad about the core of Starfield - not the missing QoL or performance issues.
It's hilarious how people are acting like all of the game's flaws will be patched away in a matter of months.

You can't simply patch in an engaging story or a new and improved art style. That shit has to be there from day 1. Maybe in a few years you can figure out how to improve some gameplay loop stuff.
 
Bethesda actually attempted to add some fantasy to Starfield with the powers obtained from the temples. Kind of half-assed it though. Either way, I've always been a bit of a spaceship nerd so this kind of game was right up my alley. Having said that, how Bethesda implemented the space travel aspect of it was one of my many early gripes about the game. Plenty of other space games have done it better than Starfield, including Everspace 2 which came out earlier in the year. I'm guessing those guys didn't tied themselves to a decade+ old engine though.

Can't see them doing an engine revamp frankly. Like you said starfield has starfield issues and exposed the engine for how shit it is, but for Elder Scrolls and Fallout it still does the job and it's sort of part of the identity.

Depends on if they want to revist Starfield
 
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Fess

Member
That they continue to be far behind industry standards when it comes to things like combat systems, character animations and modeling, and release games that are plagued with bugs that will largely go unfixed, even when they've released a title for the umpteenth time.
The animations has been improved a lot and they use some lip sync tech that makes the praised GOTY awarded BG3 I’m playing right now look bad. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re behind. And the combat is better than ever from the studio, don’t say much I guess but personally I think the combat in particular is one of the highlights of this game.
Bugs? Sure, but there are less than expected, I was there at the Skyrim launch when mammoths were falling from the sky.
Modelling? Boring NPCs is a design problem more than modelling, there are good looking ones too, and the creatures and props and general scenery look great.

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bender

What time is it?
The animations has been improved a lot and they use some lip sync tech that makes the praised GOTY awarded BG3 I’m playing right now look bad. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re behind. And the combat is better than ever from the studio, don’t say much I guess but personally I think the combat in particular is one of the highlights of this game.
Bugs? Sure, but there are less than expected, I was there at the Skyrim launch when mammoths were falling from the sky.
Modelling? Boring NPCs is a design problem more than modelling, there are good looking ones too, and the creatures and props and general scenery look great.

DwO6Nf3.jpg

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I'm not saying they aren't improving but that they lag far behind contemporaries. If I had to guess, it's not a talent problem or at least not the majority of the problem but rather the engine/tech being used and being set in their ways/unwilling to change. Screenshots are also where Starfield at its' best, it goes a bit off the rails in motion.
 
The animations has been improved a lot and they use some lip sync tech that makes the praised GOTY awarded BG3 I’m playing right now look bad. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re behind. And the combat is better than ever from the studio, don’t say much I guess but personally I think the combat in particular is one of the highlights of this game.
Bugs? Sure, but there are less than expected, I was there at the Skyrim launch when mammoths were falling from the sky.
Modelling? Boring NPCs is a design problem more than modelling, there are good looking ones too, and the creatures and props and general scenery look great.

DwO6Nf3.jpg

VfCVFSx.jpg

W6UXYmO.jpg

mPN0Jy0.jpg

dHS3M15.jpg

TSbhRE8.jpg

It's like you people want me to review bomb starfield
 

Fess

Member
I'm not saying they aren't improving but that they lag far behind contemporaries. If I had to guess, it's not a talent problem or at least not the majority of the problem but rather the engine/tech being used and being set in their ways/unwilling to change. Screenshots are also where Starfield at its' best, it goes a bit off the rails in motion.
I haven’t played it on consoles but it certainly don’t look better in pics than in motion on PC. Everything moves with the wind and the lighting engine is great, it’s difficult to capture the beauty of it all.

But New Atlantis can look flat, maybe the light and shadows are somehow scaled down there to handle citizens? Or maybe I’m always there the wrong time of day idk.
Akila City usually looks much better, great texture work and lots of stuff littered around making it look lived in, one of my favorite areas.
Tbh I don’t think the engine is holding it back unless we talk about how it’s loading in new zones. The physics and interactivity makes most games seem static and the new light and shadow tech looks great and textures are often super hires for no reason like food and the weigh lifting bench and papers and whiteboards etc, even NPC faces are oddly highres like that first girl I posted which was a regular side mission npc in Cydonia.

Not saying it don’t have issue though… I can post pics with that stuff too, I too have fun with bugs, it’s why I didn’t want to miss the early release period 🤓
 
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The animations has been improved a lot and they use some lip sync tech that makes the praised GOTY awarded BG3 I’m playing right now look bad. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re behind. And the combat is better than ever from the studio, don’t say much I guess but personally I think the combat in particular is one of the highlights of this game.
Bugs? Sure, but there are less than expected, I was there at the Skyrim launch when mammoths were falling from the sky.
Modelling? Boring NPCs is a design problem more than modelling, there are good looking ones too, and the creatures and props and general scenery look great.

DwO6Nf3.jpg

VfCVFSx.jpg

W6UXYmO.jpg

mPN0Jy0.jpg

dHS3M15.jpg

TSbhRE8.jpg

Agree with your assessment. Started RDR 2 after Starfield.

Internet told me its a much more polished game. Was surprised by jank. Shooting, traversal etc feel way better in Starfield.
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
The animations has been improved a lot and they use some lip sync tech that makes the praised GOTY awarded BG3 I’m playing right now look bad. I don’t think it’s fair to say they’re behind. And the combat is better than ever from the studio, don’t say much I guess but personally I think the combat in particular is one of the highlights of this game.
Bugs? Sure, but there are less than expected, I was there at the Skyrim launch when mammoths were falling from the sky.
Modelling? Boring NPCs is a design problem more than modelling, there are good looking ones too, and the creatures and props and general scenery look great.

DwO6Nf3.jpg

VfCVFSx.jpg

W6UXYmO.jpg

mPN0Jy0.jpg

dHS3M15.jpg

TSbhRE8.jpg
I love how you can see the clashing art styles between assets and very dated parallax landscapes even on those cherry picked screenshots.

It’s the typical Creation Engine stuff like underlying rendering and stiff low fps animations with rough phases that those screenshots won’t demonstrate. You can see flat ground and poor PBR though.

Personally, I think at this point TES VI has far better chances with ESO team and ESO engine.
 

Astray

Member
Also it's deeply, deeply funny to me that certain posters who have gone months without posting jackshit are religiously giving upboats in the background to people who defend this game or Bethesda like we don't have eyes or something lmfao.

You know who you are.
Add to this people who somehow managed to find ways to shit talk far better games in order to make this game look better.

Like now we're supposed to believe RDR2 is "jank" compared to the latest fiasco of the most memed game studio of all time.

Your shit is transparent as fuck.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Agree with your assessment. Started RDR 2 after Starfield.

Internet told me its a much more polished game. Was surprised by jank. Shooting, traversal etc feel way better in Starfield.
As clunky as some find RDR2, which was done on purpose for gameplay design with what they were aiming for being a cowboy simulator in most ways (slow and laid back), the characters/npcs and how they reacted to said terrain was far more realistic and believable. Hell, the storyline and characters were far more engaging and one of the best written in gaming. Arthur Morgan is one of the best protags ever. Especially the duality of him and the world between honorable or outlaw.

And that was last gen. Something Starfield reeks of possibly being designed for originally (and probably cancelled internally midway or more through) with all those HDD-esque loading screens and not taking advantage of the ultra fast I/O pipelines.
 
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As clunky as some find RDR2, which was done on purpose for gameplay design with what they were aiming for being a cowboy simulator in most ways (slow and laid back), the characters/npcs and how they reacted to said terrain was far more realistic and believable. Hell, the storyline and characters were far more engaging and one of the best written in gaming. Arthur Morgan is one of the best protags ever. Especially the duality of him and the world between honorable or outlaw.

And that was last gen. Something Starfield reeks of possibly being designed for originally (and probably cancelled internally midway or more through) with all those HDD-esque loading screens and not taking advantage of the ultra fast I/O pipelines.

Not talking about slowness. It can be graceful, though its not entirely in RDR2.

Crosshair movement when shooting, encounter design in some of the missions, cover system where enemies can’t hit you even after flanking you ….

There is just so much stuff that feels pretty janky.
 

Fess

Member
I love how you can see the clashing art styles between assets and very dated parallax landscapes even on those cherry picked screenshots.

It’s the typical Creation Engine stuff like underlying rendering and stiff low fps animations with rough phases that those screenshots won’t demonstrate. You can see flat ground and poor PBR though.

Personally, I think at this point TES VI has far better chances with ESO team and ESO engine.
What do you mean by parallax landscapes? Anyhow it’s not cherry picked photo mode magic, I just use photo mode for the perspective and zoom. The game looks great.
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Fess

Member
Lol. You're joking right? -- You're comparing it to Baldur's Gate 3, where the interactions are acted out and mo-capped.
No there are missing frames or something and bad sync in BG3, maybe it’s just fps drops during talks but I don’t think that’s it since I have a 4090, idk what’s the deal I just notice it being a bit off. Go look yourself.
Starfield have it’s own issues with emotions looking weird etc but the lip sync looks great nontheless, smooth and synced.
 
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Solidus_T

Banned
No there are missing frames or something and bad sync in BG3, maybe it’s just fps drops during talks but I don’t think that’s it since I have a 4090, idk what’s the deal I just notice it being a bit off. Go look yourself.
Starfield have it’s own issues with emotions looking weird etc but the lip sync looks great nontheless, smooth and synced.
I can't take what you're saying here as good faith commentary. This has to be a bit.
Neil Newbon won best performance for his portrayal of Astarion - a performance which was shown 1:1 in the game, VA and mocap. I find it unbelievable to say Starfield's engine generated expressions and robotic blank stares that are often terrifying make Baldur's Gate 3 interactions, performed by excellent actors, look bad.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I can't take what you're saying here as good faith commentary. This has to be a bit.
Neil Newbon won best performance for his portrayal of Astarion - a performance which was shown 1:1 in the game, VA and mocap. I find it unbelievable to say Starfield's engine generated expressions and robotic blank stares that are often terrifying make Baldur's Gate 3 interactions, performed by excellent actors, look bad.
And bringing up RDR2 which till this day has better mocap than most games. Almost ND level.
 

Gtafans93

Member
I like starfield when it shines it truly does, when it falls however it does that just as well. But Bethesda listens to there fans and will fix what they can. give me more ship customization, mods, and buggies on planets and I am more or less fine. But well see I think in a year or so the game will be mostly positive. Though I do wish bethesda would go more adult with there games. Gore, Grit, The cesspools of live with no filters. Thats what the sci finess of starfield needs I think.
 

Fess

Member
I can't take what you're saying here as good faith commentary. This has to be a bit.
Neil Newbon won best performance for his portrayal of Astarion - a performance which was shown 1:1 in the game, VA and mocap. I find it unbelievable to say Starfield's engine generated expressions and robotic blank stares that are often terrifying make Baldur's Gate 3 interactions, performed by excellent actors, look bad.
Talking about the auto lip sync tech not the acting and I haven’t seen Astarion yet so no idea if those conversations are of higher quality than less important early game characters. I’m still on the first map. I would record a 60fps video and post what I mean if my computer room wasn’t occupied over Christmas.
 

Thirty7ven

Banned
Agree with your assessment. Started RDR 2 after Starfield.

Internet told me its a much more polished game. Was surprised by jank. Shooting, traversal etc feel way better in Starfield.

RDR2 is a slow game and the A.I was never great. But it’s not jank, you just have to slow it down.

Starfield is a slow game too, but janky, and ironically the combat is fast paced with really bad A.I that never looks convincing. Bullet sponges. At least in RDR2 you can off people easily, again because the game is going for more realism. You can see it in the animation too. RDR2 has very advanced animation, and Starfield has “my first time animating a character” animation.

Trying to prop Starfield against RDR2 is hilarious in how unconvincing it is though. Good luck to the fanboys, it’s a tough gig defending this trash.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I like starfield when it shines it truly does, when it falls however it does that just as well. But Bethesda listens to there fans and will fix what they can. give me more ship customization, mods, and buggies on planets and I am more or less fine. But well see I think in a year or so the game will be mostly positive. Though I do wish bethesda would go more adult with there games. Gore, Grit, The cesspools of live with no filters. Thats what the sci finess of starfield needs I think.

Not so sure about the "Bethesda listens" part. Seems like most of the "listening" is done by modders who put in fixes or adds things people want. Bethesda has done some pretty good DLC in the past though.
 

Solidus_T

Banned
Talking about the auto lip sync tech not the acting and I haven’t seen Astarion yet so no idea if those conversations are of higher quality than less important early game characters. I’m still on the first map. I would record a 60fps video and post what I mean if my computer room wasn’t occupied over Christmas.
You meet Astarion right outside the nautulus after the tutorial area! Suddenly I can see how you made your 'comparison' - but the point is that it is not just his animations, but all of those in the game that are real people. Yes, every interaction with every person in the game is acted out with mocap alongside the voice acting. When you play Baldur's Gate 3, it will be apparent.
 

Fess

Member
You meet Astarion right outside the nautulus after the tutorial area! Suddenly I can see how you made your 'comparison' - but the point is that it is not just his animations, but all of those in the game that are real people. Yes, every interaction with every person in the game is acted out with mocap alongside the voice acting. When you play Baldur's Gate 3, it will be apparent.
Wow how about not accusing people of lying for a bit? I haven’t met him, playtime counter says 23 hours, stepped into the next map after the dragon rider githyanki and the demon thing that shadowheart push away with the artefact, met withers and the demon that talk in a dining room. Reloaded because Halsin died and went into the goblin camp instead. Companions, Shadowheart, Wyll, Karlach. Now you know where I am.
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Let’s hear where you are in Starfield now and your playtime counter since you think I’m full of shit.

I’ll record a video in a couple days.

Edit: Quick and dirty Steam Deck videos.

Random store owner in Neon City in Starfield:


Side character Wyll in Baldur’s Gate 3:


Again, not talking about the acting, just the auto lip sync. I think Bethesda did a good job there. I assume the modding tools will let us add whatever conversations we want to whatever NPC with similar results.
 
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JayK47

Member
Buy the game just to post a negative review. All the cool kids are doing it.

It definitely has been brutal the last few months. I am starting to wonder if I even played the game, as I was not supposed to enjoy it at all. One of the many reviews did make a good point though. For all of the resources that were thrown at the game, the results were pretty meh. Some smaller studio could have made the same game and I think we would have all been more forgiving. We do expect more from Bethesda, or at least we want to. I think their best days are behind them and the more I think about it the more I am agreeing with the negative reviews. The main story ending so poorly and was literally not an ending at all. Most factions were not that good. Once it wrapped up, I did have a "that was it" feeling. Like did I miss something? So I played it again to see if I missed anything and I guess I didn't. This is one of those games that is neither good or bad and the Steam review system is a poor fit for the game. I did recommend it, but it was a weak recommendation. It is more of a wait for patches, a sale, and community mods game. Maybe by 2025 or so, it will be decent if you can get it for $20.
 
Y’all out here using RDR2 as an example to prove your point that Starfield is good and/or bad…mannn. When did we get to a point in gaming where 2 overrated ass games……

Ahhh, nevermind. Not even worth it. 🤦‍♂️
 

Astray

Member
Can we talk about the IGN guy who gave this a 7 and got roasted for it?

That man is a fucking precog or something.
 
And bringing up RDR2 which till this day has better mocap than most games. Almost ND level.

Read my post again. Never talked about Mo Cap. Or animations.

I am mostly talking about mechanics of the game, how you interact with it. You know, shooting, cover system, encounter design, enemy AI etc.

RDR2 is a slow game and the A.I was never great. But it’s not jank, you just have to slow it down.

Starfield is a slow game too, but janky, and ironically the combat is fast paced with really bad A.I that never looks convincing. Bullet sponges. At least in RDR2 you can off people easily, again because the game is going for more realism. You can see it in the animation too. RDR2 has very advanced animation, and Starfield has “my first time animating a character” animation.

Trying to prop Starfield against RDR2 is hilarious in how unconvincing it is though. Good luck to the fanboys, it’s a tough gig defending this trash.

I get a feeling people put RDR 2 on pedestal, just like Baldurs Gate 3.

Act of actual playing can be quiet disappointing if you expect too much. Was expecting RDR 2 to play like a linear SP game from what praise I have read about it.

In reality, i found it to be more janky than Starfield.
 
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twilo99

Gold Member
What are you getting at? Nobody ever said a Bethesda game was never going to sell on Steam. How it would be reviewed and received based on info we know now through those who bought and played it, is the point of this original thread backfire.

I mean they sold a lot of copies on hype..
 

twilo99

Gold Member
Clearly, the user reviews reflect that.

I’m surprised more people didn’t get refunds based on all tge reviews, or maybe it’s not reflected in their math.

It must have one of the highest negative reviews vs. sales ratios out there or it could be MWIII lol I have no idea how that’s there considering that a very small % actually use Steam to play it
 

Fess

Member
I’m surprised more people didn’t get refunds based on all tge reviews, or maybe it’s not reflected in their math.

It must have one of the highest negative reviews vs. sales ratios out there or it could be MWIII lol I have no idea how that’s there considering that a very small % actually use Steam to play it
Refunding a RPG is difficult. In less than 2 hours, which is required for refund, you will have created a character, walk slowly in a mining outpost, doing the tutorial and mined a few rocks, had one small fire fight, possibly tried flying the first space ship, if you’re a speed runner might’ve entered the first enemy base too, likely still level 1.

But when I look at playtime counters among negative reviews I ususlly see people with too high expectations jumping in because of hype and reacting and being cranky and giving a thumbs down while still keep playing the game and enjoying it for what it is.
You don’t spend 100 hours on a game you for real think is bad. That would be odd.
The only sub 2 hours reviews where a refund is likely is the 0.8 hours ”I’m doing my part” review bombings.

I made a score graph for myself, it started at 7.5, disappointment from not being Skyrim in space, climbed up to around 9 after pirate faction which I thought was awesome, then a dip down to 8 from NG+ hype disappointment around 80 hours in. Then I started another playthrough and has been playing it for another 130+ hours, currently sitting at 9 from being No Man’s Sky RPG.

I still have multiple factions left to do and can’t say where my final score would be when I’m truly done with it. But it’s my most played game of the year and my GOTY so it’ll likely be around 9 unless they mess up with some patch next year and break something I like.

It’s a divisive game. Possibly the most divisive since Death Stranding. Cyberpunk was similar but that was broken on console which added to the negativity, on PC is was great, my GOTY.

Oh well a lot can be said about this game, after seeing it on the Platinum lists on Steam and the Steam Deck Platinum I’m going to jump in again, I’ve had a break since early Dec when I started playing BG3 instead. Installing it on OLED Deck right now, says it’s not running well so we’ll see how that goes, can’t say my expectations are high right now but maybe it’s okay on a smaller screen who knows.
 
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