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

Madflavor

Member
Those are from two generations ago when open world games were still new and fresh.

RDR2 was boring for a very long time for me and it ended up being one of my favorites of all time.
Forbidden West was a slog and I ended up dropping it, and I finished Zero Dawn.
Cyberpunk was another boring one for a while and I ended up really liking the game.

To me it doesn’t really matter what era a game was made. If it’s boring, uninspired, and dated in its design within its first two hours, I’m gonna lose interest.
 

yazenov

Gold Member
I don't think they'd stop people at Bethesda getting bonuses from a blatant set of platform weirdo fanboys willing to buy a game to leave a negative review then refund it.

I've never seen anything like this. Some proper micro penis energy.

You act like this phenomenon is somehow exclusive to Bethesda or MS. Review bombing is nothing new and doesn't affect the overall score as these people are in the minority.

I don't seem to recall you being concerned over other game reviews being review-bombed. And again, it's not exclusive to MS games.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
Why are people playing a game for dozens of hours and then not recommending it?
... because a massive, sprawling, open-world RPG can take time to digest? Do you think everyone who finishes a game is required to give it a positive review because they played it till the end before forming their opinion? Isn't someone taking their time to make an informed statement a good thing?
Why are you saying they are "very happy", when you only know if they recommend or not?
I see we're down to playing semantics, which - given the nature of your dismissals being "Sure, it's 11% on paper, but it's actually more significant!" - is sadly ironic.
 
Only played it for about 4 hours. If you are expecting No Man's Sky 2.0 or Elite Dangerous style game, you'll be disappointed. If you are expecting a standard Bethesda game, you'll enjoy it.

Performance is a little arse but not as bad after installing the DLSS mod, get between 50 to 60 in crowded areas and 75+ in closed areas or in-space.
 

Gideon

Member
Why do people stomp down any criticism of starfield by saying "it's a Bethesda game" ?? It makes no sense...IMO I feel like if this game didn't have the bethesda logo, there wouldn't be this many 9/10+ scores, it's really weird.
 

zeldaring

Banned
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He this about the pronouns lol. I mean come I'm against the woke shit but this is ridiculous. As long as they don't shove down your face but these people are really getting extreme.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I see we're down to playing semantics, which - given the nature of your dismissals being "Sure, it's 11% on paper, but it's actually more significant!" - is sadly ironic.
I agree with your comment in principle that 79% like the game, which is a net overall positive, and a good thing.

However, the 21%, while being the minority, kind of carries more significance just because of how review scales usually work. Otherwise, if a game has a 51/100 score, it'd be considered a critical success. We don't usually consider that though.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
I don't think they'd stop people at Bethesda getting bonuses from a blatant set of platform weirdo fanboys willing to buy a game to leave a negative review then refund it.

I've never seen anything like this. Some proper micro penis energy.
I think everyone is grossly overestimating the impact of an overwhelming minority of Steam users who would purchase the game only to review-bomb it, and refund it.

Remember, those are not PS fanboys who are salty about the console exclusivity. If they have a PC, they can play the game.

Besides, user reviews are pretty much in line with other platforms, including Game Pass.

While Starfield has been released with positive reviews on Steam, the same can't be said for the Game Pass/Xbox App version.

Weighting 140.8 GB instead of 116 GB and with low peformance, the game is currently 2.5/5.0 on overall user scores, and going lower, the vast majority of complains due to it's very poor peformance.

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ZehDon

Gold Member
... However, the 21%, while being the minority, kind of carries more significance just because of how review scales usually work...
All user reviews carry equal significance, which is why we sum and average them - to provide a high-level view of the reception of a game. This is a useful guide for potential buyers, rather than a bludgeon to force people to like/dislike things. Within that context - the context the extreme vast majority will apply - the idea that the negative 16% carry "more significance" doesn't really hold. If you're trying to conflate the discussion of the game's aggregated user reviews with the fundamental nature of weighted distributions and statistics, I'd really question why.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
You act like this phenomenon is somehow exclusive to Bethesda or MS. Review bombing is nothing new and doesn't affect the overall score as these people are in the minority.

I don't seem to recall you being concerned over other game reviews being review-bombed. And again, it's not exclusive to MS games.

I have never seen someone review bomb steam for console exclusive games. Do you have any examples?
 

Xenon

Member
This has gone far beyond playstation fanboys who are salty that they can't play the game. This has gone into what i would consider insanity of playstation fanboys that can't stop talking about the game in a negative light, and are doing everything in their power to create and continue the narrative that Microsoft does not have any stellar games.

Is the game with its issues, yes. But, these Sony fanboys you mention have leveled up to a level of mental sickness I never thought we would get to. It's not just twitter, it's invading here and all corners of the internet.

We have them buying a game on steam just to refund it and leave a negative review.

It's disturbing.

It's pathetic
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
This has gone far beyond playstation fanboys who are salty that they can't play the game. This has gone into what i would consider insanity of playstation fanboys that can't stop talking about the game in a negative light, and are doing everything in their power to create and continue the narrative that Microsoft does not have any stellar games.

Is the game with its issues, yes. But, these Sony fanboys you mention have leveled up to a level of mental sickness I never thought we would get to. It's not just twitter, it's invading here and all corners of the internet.

We have them buying a game on steam just to refund it and leave a negative review.

It's disturbing.
My point is there may be a few of them, but there is no way that the score is meaningfully influenced by them. Steam has over 33,000 user reviews now. Even if 1,000 users went to this extreme length (which I SERIOUSLY doubt), it'd not shift the average from, say, 90% to the current 79.43%.

There are currently 1,488 reviews with a playtime of less than 2 hours. As you can notice in the following image, some of these reviews are actually POSITIVE (1st). While others are still playing the game (2nd), which means they do not belong to the group whose plan was to refund the game and review-bomb it. They spent their hard-earned money but just didn't like the game.

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Would there be a few people who review-bombed it? Sure.

Would it have a meaningful negative impact on the average score? No. That's not mathematically possible based on the above stats.
 
Why do people stomp down any criticism of starfield by saying "it's a Bethesda game" ?? It makes no sense...IMO I feel like if this game didn't have the bethesda logo, there wouldn't be this many 9/10+ scores, it's really weird.
Absolute nonsense Starfield is an excellent game and one hell of an achievement simple as that. It's not perfect of course and has issues but to disregard everything it does is the height of stupidity. The wealth of systems and level of detail throughout the planets and its characters is incredible. If anyone buys this and puts in under 10hrs going in knowing its an expansive RPG then I have no sympathy for them, it's not the new COD for crying out loud 🤣
 

zeldaring

Banned
This has gone far beyond playstation fanboys who are salty that they can't play the game. This has gone into what i would consider insanity of playstation fanboys that can't stop talking about the game in a negative light, and are doing everything in their power to create and continue the narrative that Microsoft does not have any stellar games.

Is the game with its issues, yes. But, these Sony fanboys you mention have leveled up to a level of mental sickness I never thought we would get to. It's not just twitter, it's invading here and all corners of the internet.

We have them buying a game on steam just to refund it and leave a negative review.

It's disturbing.
Honestly anything is possible but maybe people just actually just don't like the game.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
You really dont need a local map, especially when certain cities have more than one floor. If you are lost, just go to scan mode and click on the quest marker. Arrows will lead you to it.
I mean, yeah. But the fact this game doesn't have a map for cities is a genuine flaw. How are you suppose to know where shops are etc. Needs sorting ASAP. I think that's my only main flaw with the game.
Honestly anything is possible but maybe people just actually just don't like the game.

Oh definitely, the games not for everyone. If you don't like Bethesda games I'd stear well and truly clear. Love those games though? This is an amazing one of those.
 

Roberts

Member
I mean, yeah. But the fact this game doesn't have a map for cities is a genuine flaw. How are you suppose to know where shops are etc. Needs sorting ASAP. I think that's my only main flaw with the game.
This is something that I discussed with a friend yesterday who was baffled by the idea of not knowing where to go and find stores. OK, I get it and perhaps they could have added street signs and info screens that guide you. But I kind of like it, though - it makes me memorise city layout and where everything is instead of just rushing through.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
He this about the pronouns lol. I mean come I'm against the woke shit but this is ridiculous. As long as they don't shove down your face but these people are really getting extreme.

Where do you see anything about pronouns here?
 

Gudji

Member
This has gone far beyond playstation fanboys who are salty that they can't play the game. This has gone into what i would consider insanity of playstation fanboys that can't stop talking about the game in a negative light, and are doing everything in their power to create and continue the narrative that Microsoft does not have any stellar games.

Is the game with its issues, yes. But, these Sony fanboys you mention have leveled up to a level of mental sickness I never thought we would get to. It's not just twitter, it's invading here and all corners of the internet.

We have them buying a game on steam just to refund it and leave a negative review.

It's disturbing.
Holy shit what did I just read. Lmao
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Some people were saying that why it getting review bombed and some are saying it's ps fanboys but it just doesn't add up. Buying a gme paying it on a credit card then putting 2 hours in just to review bomb it.

Gotcha! I fail to believe that's why many people are actually reviewing this low. There's just no way.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Some people were saying that why it getting review bombed and some are saying it's ps fanboys but it just doesn't add up. Buying a gme paying it on a credit card then putting 2 hours in just to review bomb it.

Gotcha! I fail to believe that's why many people are actually reviewing this low. There's just no way.

The only reason it is being mentioned is that a user actually made a thread on the steam forums saying they wanted to buy the game and refund it just to leave a negative review.

Crazy, I know. But here we are.
 

Gp1

Member
You really dont need a local map, especially when certain cities have more than one floor. If you are lost, just go to scan mode and click on the quest marker. Arrows will lead you to it.

Yeah? Now try to find a shop or any other point of interest outside of a quest.

It's easily one of the worst UI in a triple A game that i remember. Specially when you consider that the game need a good UI because doesn't even have a traditional open world.

It's more like of a huge list of handcrafted hubs with some procedurally generated content on the planets, but without a "over world". And the "list" isn't well developed.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Yeah? Now try to find a shop or any other point of interest outside of a quest.

It's easily one of the worst UI in a triple A game that i remember. Specially when you consider that the game need a good UI because doesn't even have a traditional open world.

It's more like of a huge list of handcrafted hubs with some procedurally generated content on the planets, but without a "over world". And the "list" isn't well developed.

It's deffo got more of the feeling of large hubs that are a loading screen away than a full realised universe/galaxies. I wish that was better and the maps. We need maps.
 

Elysium44

Banned
Supposedly, unfortunately it doesn't.

Why unfortunately? It would completely skew the reviews if only people who liked it enough to keep it were able to review it. (There would still be negative reviews but far fewer.)

There will not be many people buying this with the premeditated intention to give a bad review and then refund. Not least because refunds aren't guaranteed, and even if you get one, it lessens the chance of getting one in future. Most people wouldn't take that risk I think.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Why unfortunately? It would completely skew the reviews if only people who liked it enough to keep it were able to review it. (There would still be negative reviews but far fewer.)

Because they can game the system but I guess that's the way it is. We've now officially reached a new low where its not just metacritic user reviews being affected...People are willing to game the steam system which is a pretty great system, that looks to be compromised.
 
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DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Why unfortunately? It would completely skew the reviews if only people who liked it enough to keep it were able to review it. (There would still be negative reviews but far fewer.)

There will not be many people buying this with the premeditated intention to give a bad review and then refund. Not least because refunds aren't guaranteed, and even if you get one, it lessens the chance of getting one in future. Most people wouldn't take that risk I think.

You think, but hopefully you're not a psychopath, even though your avatar alludes to something different!

😆
 

Helghan

Member
Because they can game the system but I guess that's the way it is. We've now officially reached a new low where its not just metacritic user reviews being affected...People are willing to game the steam system which is a pretty great system, that looks to be compromised.
Just only look at reviews of +10 hours played. At least then you know it was done by people that actually did it properly. It's at 88% for +10 hours played.
 

GHG

Gold Member
Because they can game the system but I guess that's the way it is. We've now officially reached a new low where its not just metacritic user reviews being affected...People are willing to game the steam system which is a pretty great system, that looks to be compromised.

So because the steam reviews are not trending in the direction you hoped you now think they are "compromised"?

Get a grip man. A lot of the negative reviews are being filtered out (negative reviews from accounts with low steam levels and negative reviews with really low play times) if not the score on the steam page would be identical to the one on steamdb which is currently under 80% positive. The filters and system are working as intended.

These are the 3 most recent negative reviews being displayed on the steam page at the time of writing:

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What exactly are you crying about? Should the guy who is having performance issues not be allowed to share his view on the product he's paid for?
 
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ljubomir

Member
Because they can game the system but I guess that's the way it is. We've now officially reached a new low where its not just metacritic user reviews being affected...People are willing to game the steam system which is a pretty great system, that looks to be compromised.
System which does not allow people to leave feedback about games they disliked (and have refunded) is a deeply flawed one. Its much better the way it is now, as Valve does usually detect review bombing and clearly marks it as such, and it doesnt affect the overall score by default. We've seen it many times before.
 

Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
Still debating the game with people who haven't played it? Time to hang it up, not a good use of your time.
 
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feynoob

Banned
Man, why are kids arguing over score?
The game is out, it's on gamepass, steam, Xbox.
If you want to play the game, you can play the game.

If you care about scores that much, don't play the freaking game.
 
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