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[rofif]

I've played 1 hour. 3700x/3080
Ultra, 4k, 75% fsr2. Runs like shit. I mean, stable, no stuttering. Just around 40fps.... well, that's ok. I didn't optimize and it's expected from ultra.
Graphics are great. I don't really get the complaints. Playing in SDR and I understand the complaints about the contrast but it's clearly artistic intent. I see what they are doing and I get it.
The writing and story is not grabbing me yet but I barely started. The writing especially seems a bit stupid.

One thing that is just bad is UI. holy crap it makes it seem more complicated than it is.... or maybe it is. There are quite a few systems and research stuff and so on.

 

[adamsapple]

So I guess you can't romance more than one person at a time even in the future

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Don't tell me this game is not jaw dropping.

(that planet and rings are also spinning and at crazy pace, it's just so surreal)

 

[adamsapple]

Well ... this is awkward ...

just divorced Sarah and popped the question to Andreja ...

yeah we're probably gonna need some different crew on this ship now.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Yeah I went with that choice too

Spoiler: Story spoiler

didn't plan it but UC lured me into that world with their undercover plan and by the end I had bonded with some of the CF guys and it felt absolutely bizarre to go out assassinating them all if I choose the UC.
I don't role play a pirate though but I'm in the gray area kinda like Han Solo and then strictly following rules is difficult.

I went the other way, mainly because

Spoiler

I couldn't wait to turncoat on Naeve, who was incredibly unpleasant, rude, condescending, unworthy, indignant, and all-around awful the entire time. She was the only pirate I actively hated, and in the end SHE'S THE ONLY ONE WHO GETS AWAY. I was so mad. I'm really hoping she pops up later and we get some face-to-face time so I can really rub my treachery in.

A lot of the other pirates I ended up liking and felt bad about wiping them out. You're able to persuade Delgado to turn himself in, which I did. And you can save the chest-bomb dude, which I also did. I wish I could've spared more of them.

 

[Danknugz]

i didn't do any factions just ran through the main quest.

Spoiler

anyone know if new game+ with skipping the main quest would prevent me from any of the faction missions? i tried it and all i seem to have is the temple missions.

 

[Isa]

Yeah even in the night clubs people wear mostly the same clothes and everybody has boring standard bodytypes. There are so many possibilities in an IP like this so this is highly disappointing. Hopefully modders can do something here.

I agree. I think they've seen what modders have accomplished with Skyrim especially, very unique bodies and variety, along with very attractive faces and styles. Even moving parts(breasts etc) and actual full on seggs. Whole quest lines built around it and even proximity interaction with npcs. It used to be my main complaint about Bethesda back in the day, they'd make the base game and let the community do the rest of the work(assets, systems/features, quests etc). At least with Starfield, it should be quite impressive and supported for decades to come I assume.

I think they were just trying to play it very very safe across the board. Its like a themepark, or Westworld/Futureworld. It works well enough and the fundamentals are solid but it could've used a more unique and bold touch for sure.

 

[SJRB]

Really vibing with these Ryujin Industries aesthetics. Reminds me of Deus Ex Human Revolution and Cyberpunk's Arasaka. Their logo goes hard too.

Their missions however are peak Bethesda jank. Absolute trash-tier. I'll give an example:

The mission is to plug a usb stick into a competitor's computer to upload a program. I go to the competitor's office, wearing a Ryujin suit. Nobody stops me from entering, there's no checkpoint. I casually walk into the office, which is basically one room with a bunch of cubicles. Again nobody stops me, or asks me questions. The employees look at me while I walk to the marked computer. Then I crouch to get out of sight, hack the pc, upload the program and stand up and they all look at me again. Then I walk out.

Mission accomplished.

Just the absolute barebones braindead AI. It's all just smoke and mirrors and these missions really bring out the worst in Bethesda's decaying game design. It's not fun, not challenging, not clever and not satisfying.

This game reminds you that you're playing a videogame every step of the way. It can't help itself.

 

[EviLore]

Personally Ive never expected sexual appeal from any Bethesda game. At least in this game it kinda fits the Star Trek vibe, which was always the sexless branch of sci fi. I'm into Farscape / Battlestar Galactica sexy sci fi too but sterile futurism is not new.

I don't think people generally professed love for each other and got married without even kissing first in Star Trek. Even Data was going around making out with girls. The romance questline I just did here with Sarah is literally one of the most awkward ones in gaming history. This middle aged lady who was a military commander and is head of Constellation reverts to an insecure, wallowing child who you need to act supportively of as if she's about 3 years old every step of the way, then she decides to finally relent to your romantic advances and immediately wants to commit to you.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Really vibing with these Ryujin Industries aesthetics. Reminds me of Deus Ex Human Revolution and Cyberpunk's Arasaka. Their logo goes hard too.

Their missions however are peak Bethesda jank. Absolute trash-tier. I'll give an example:

The mission is to plug a usb stick into a competitor's computer to upload a program. I go to the competitor's office, wearing a Ryujin suit. Nobody stops me from entering, there's no checkpoint. I casually walk into the office, which is basically one room with a bunch of cubicles. Again nobody stops me, or asks me questions. The employees look at me while I walk to the marked computer. Then I crouch to get out of sight, hack the pc, upload the program and stand up and they all look at me again. Then I walk out.

Mission accomplished.

Just the absolute barebones braindead AI. It's all just smoke and mirrors and these missions really bring out the worst in Bethesda's decaying game design. It's not fun, not challenging, not clever and not satisfying.

This game reminds you that you're playing a videogame every step of the way. It can't help itself.

They should go full Deus Ex and make 4-digit numeric passcode the universal standard for computer security and access control. And have everybody pass their passcode around via unencrypted emails that get printed out on glowy e-paper and left sitting around in the open.

Also every room in every building should be connected by ventilation ducts with hinged, human sized grates at floor level for convenient access.

 

[cormack12]

Really vibing with these Ryujin Industries aesthetics. Reminds me of Deus Ex Human Revolution and Cyberpunk's Arasaka. Their logo goes hard too.

Their missions however are peak Bethesda jank. Absolute trash-tier. I'll give an example:

The mission is to plug a usb stick into a competitor's computer to upload a program. I go to the competitor's office, wearing a Ryujin suit. Nobody stops me from entering, there's no checkpoint. I casually walk into the office, which is basically one room with a bunch of cubicles. Again nobody stops me, or asks me questions. The employees look at me while I walk to the marked computer. Then I crouch to get out of sight, hack the pc, upload the program and stand up and they all look at me again. Then I walk out.

Mission accomplished.

Just the absolute barebones braindead AI. It's all just smoke and mirrors and these missions really bring out the worst in Bethesda's decaying game design. It's not fun, not challenging, not clever and not satisfying.

This game reminds you that you're playing a videogame every step of the way. It can't help itself.

Looks like Atari

 

[Gavon West]

If you find one let me know, I'm getting tired of companions having a hissy fit whenever I don't choose the most boring goody two shoes option.

Next run I'm picking the introvert trait + that one perk that gives you bonuses for going solo.

You can suggest to a companion to stay behind or simply dismiss them entirely.

 

[Draugoth]

Well boys, the YT algorithm is giving me what I wanted.

Don't read this as flame war nonsense, let's just appreciate good ol' Bethesda situations.

Companions are only useful as cargo mules in this game.

 

[Freeman76]

I haven't done that ryujin one but why are there such varying opinions on it? A bunch of people seem to either think it's incredible or not great

Its really tough, and if you dont dismiss your companion it borders on impossible to get through without having to pull out the guns.

I fucked it because I went in with Sarah and couldnt get rid of her due to not having finished some mission. In the end i gave up and let loose with the Kraken.

Played an insane amount of this over the weekend, I was starting to think im done with Bethesda formula but this has well and truly grabbed me now.

 

[Clintizzle]

Just finished Ryujin faction. Not my favorite, but next play through I may go more stealth which is what this one really requires. Probably make it a bit more enjoyable.

I did it with a power pack that made me invisible if i was standing still. Didn't give me too much trouble going full stealth. Reconstims also helped.

I agree it's not the best questline and is probably the most stealthy mission in this game so far

 

[Punished Miku]

I don't think people generally professed love for each other and got married without even kissing first in Star Trek. Even Data was going around making out with girls. The romance questline I just did here with Sarah is literally one of the most awkward ones in gaming history. This middle aged lady who was a military commander and is head of Constellation reverts to an insecure, wallowing child who you need to act supportively of as if she's about 3 years old every step of the way, then she decides to finally relent to your romantic advances and immediately wants to commit to you.

I guess. I don't think anyone really wants to see creation engine kissing though and I never expected that. Its one of the most difficult things to animate in a game.

I'm doing the Serah mission now. I'm not blown away by it or anything but I havent hated it as much as you. Its about on par with the very sterile romance between Carter and O'Neil on Stargate SG 1. Gives some back story on her character. I'm not done with it though. I've also spread these out over like 70 hrs so I didnt rush it. I dont know if that makes any difference.

I actually didnt know Bethesda ever did romance options so I wasnt expecting much. Didnt see that in Morrowind or Oblivion. Maybe theyre in the newer games.

 

[Chuck Berry]

 

[GnomeChimpsky]

Here's another interesting mod that let's you zoom in on planets when choosing a landing spot. Default zoom makes it impossible to pick two adjacent tiles but this fixes that. Author claims that tiles do indeed line up properly and that the whole planet is rendered this way. Just like with the supercruise mod only a tiny minority of players will ever bother with this stuff but it's interesting to see how the tech works.

Increased Starmap Zoom for More Precise Landings

Increases the maximum zoom on the star map, allowing for more precise placement of landing zones.

www.nexusmods.com

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Board an enemy ship with Sam Coe. Sam to Cora (who isn't with the party): "You see that, Gumdrop? We're home."

This game.

 

[TheUsual]

Thanks for the heads up! Gonna give this a go later. Instructions for installation look straight forward. Never used a mod to use DLSS before...can't wait!

Follow up on this one : I didn't like this mod and uninstalled. Game definitely looked sharper but also was producing very notice jaggies everywhere. It is noted as a work in process so maybe I will wait a bit and see how it goes.

Note I don't have 4 series Nvidia card so no frame generation.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Board an enemy ship with Sam Coe. Sam to Cora (who isn't with the party): "You see that, Gumdrop? We're home."

This game.

His daughter is automatically added to your party/ship as long as Sam is in it. He even mentions that before you recruit him.

Edit: ahhhh, I've misread your post!

 

[CrustyBritches]

Wrapped a fairly long distress call mission. It was good for being a minor quest. Then immediately afterwards finished Sam's Constellation quest. Glad to see him gone, although, I'm assuming most of the companions would 'dislike' how I behave like a sarcastic psycho

Sarah has gone full vigilante...

I saw a companion mod on Nexus. Can't wait to get new sexy companions and characters with custom voice acting and quests.

Samantha Lang Starfield Edition

This is a follower named Samantha Lang

www.nexusmods.com

 

[Draugoth]

 

[Ammogeddon]

As if there wasn't enough distractions, now I'm taking photos every 2 minutes.

 

[Topher]

I don't think people generally professed love for each other and got married without even kissing first in Star Trek. Even Data was going around making out with girls. The romance questline I just did here with Sarah is literally one of the most awkward ones in gaming history. This middle aged lady who was a military commander and is head of Constellation reverts to an insecure, wallowing child who you need to act supportively of as if she's about 3 years old every step of the way, then she decides to finally relent to your romantic advances and immediately wants to commit to you.

"This is so cringe"
~Hallmark Channel writer playing Starfield

 

[EviLore]

I guess. I don't think anyone really wants to see creation engine kissing though and I never expected that. Its one of the most difficult things to animate in a game.

I'm doing the Serah mission now. I'm not blown away by it or anything but I havent hated it as much as you. Its about on par with the very sterile romance between Carter and O'Neil on Stargate SG 1. Gives some back story on her character. I'm not done with it though. I've also spread these out over like 70 hrs so I didnt rush it. I dont know if that makes any difference.

I actually didnt know Bethesda ever did romance options so I wasnt expecting much. Didnt see that in Morrowind or Oblivion. Maybe theyre in the newer games.

Doesn't need to be shown if the engine can't handle it. You imply it. Countless games and TV shows and movies have operated that way. Starfield doesn't even imply anything off-screen. You fall in love and get married without any romantic interactions.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Do I need to just continue the main quest to meet andreja?

So I guess you can't romance more than one person at a time even in the future

Oh pants

Well ... this is awkward ...

just divorced Sarah and popped the question to Andreja ...

yeah we're probably gonna need some different crew on this ship now.

Hahaha, oh shit. Ice cold. Sarah knows what's going down. I'd sleep with one eye open.

I wonder if in new game plus you can just keep switching wives.

 

[twilo99]

Don't tell me this game is not jaw dropping.

(that planet and rings are also spinning and at crazy pace, it's just so surreal)

Its a bipolar game in terms of visuals lol I think it looks great more often than not, but you can always find place where it doesn't look all that great.

Considering the size, and the hardware it needs to run on, I think they've done a great job.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Well shit

There goes another 30 hours

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

It is weird they even Neon, the "sin city" has no sexuality in it at all. Everybody just goes out to party hard on a bender filled with booze, hallucinogenic drugs, dancing, and platonic camaraderie.

Feels especially weird after Cyberpunk where everything is so overly sexualized that people are numb to it and it feels like just another cheap commodity entertainment product.

 

[8BiTw0LF]

25 hours in and only doing main missions now. Sidequests feels like labor work and has some of the worst voice acting I've heard in many years. Hoped Bethesda would optimize the combat system from earlier games - but it still feels like jank-hell on controller.

Activated god mode through terminal and will just run as fast through the game as possible and wait till better mods comes out, to do a new game+ run in the future.

 

[R6Rider]

Hmm, after being really pleased with the first few hours I'm kinda losing interest.

The story, characters, cities, and universe just aren't grabbing me. It all feels disjointed and incohesive. The writing seems pretty bad, everything is so stilted and one dimensional.

The combat feels off. Not the smoothest and a bit clunky. I don't really like any of the other systems so far.

I'll continue playing and hope it improves. There's good things here but it's just …I dunno. I feel like I'm fighting the game most of the time just hoping things get interesting

I'm overall still enjoying it, but I still only have around 25-30 hours in it compared to for example Elden Ring (as a recent example) where I would already have double that.

The combat is probably the biggest hit. Bad AI and not enough enemy variety. It really needed to have a VATS like system. Just imagine targeting boost packs of enemies, their mask apparatus, etc.

On top of that nearly all the reward and loot have been generic tiered things instead of unique items.

EDIT:
Also, just found the Red Mile and was excited because of how unique the place was and how it was talked up.

One of the most underwhelming experiences in all of gaming.

 

[Luipadre]

Sidetracked - the game. Went to paradiso to marry sarah, got sidetracked for 4 hours. I guess the wedding is delayed until tomorrow

game is so fucking good

 

[Little Chicken]

Its a bipolar game in terms of visuals lol I think it looks great more often than not, but you can always find place where it doesn't look all that great.

Considering the size, and the hardware it needs to run on, I think they've done a great job.

Yeah it looks fantastic more often than not, but can look off in some instances, especially when the lighting isn't flattering.

It's the engine. Feels like they're squeezing blood from a stone at this point lol.

 

[adamsapple]

Do I need to just continue the main quest to meet andreja?

Yes, all the primary companions that can be romanced are members of Constellation and are obtained via the main story.

You can meet other companions too but only the core 4 from the main story, the ones who are members of Constellation, can be romanced.

Andreja is in the story pretty early on so I'm surprised you don't have her in your party.

 

[twilo99]

 

[Darklor01]

Sidetracked - the game. Went to paradiso to marry sarah, got sidetracked for 4 hours. I guess the wedding is delayed until tomorrow

game is so fucking good

Honestly. I swear one day I'll continue the main story. I've only done two missions of that. Sarah is noting more than a pack mule to me. I got sidetracked stealing things from everywhere (no pickpocket), began the Freestar stuff towards getting the Star Eagle and got wrapped up in corporate espionage once I hit Neon.

 

[mortal]

 

[Thanati]

I really, REALLY hate the oxygen/co2 mechanic. There's so many places to walk and when you have to pause to "take your breath", it just sucks.

Also, the no mini map thing is another pain in the arse.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

So after 60 hours I finally realised you can just hire certain people to as crew.
Had this really nice living area on my ship

In fact I had two of them

What does my crew do? hang out in the captain's quarters...

These suckers thought it was a good idea to park this giant thing right in front of this greedy ship stealer

Mine now


Absolutely massive though, like 3 levels of giant rooms and then the cockpit on top

This thing's value is as much as my main ship, even though it's only B cert.

 

[Arsic]

Beat the game earlier. Am I missing something as far as this hype and buzz over new game plus ? Like I don't get it ? Doesn't seem interesting at all. To the point I don't recommend doing it at all. Just keep playing main first save forever instead.

Overall game is a 8.5.

I can't in my right mind give it GOTY after spending 70 some hours with it. Especially when Zelda, BG3, and AC6 exist.

The game starts off "ok/bad" in the first 12 hours, the sinks its teeth into you for 40+, but the longer you play the more you see the flaws rear their head. Bugs, pc performance , lazy copy paste even in main story/faction quests, a complete throwaway faction quest with ryujin, and nothing to ever challenge you even on very hard. I recall being challenged far more in fallout and elder scrolls games.

At some point a game has to come out. I think given another 2 years we would've seen their opus magnum, but as it stands it's my second favorite title from them after Skyrim.

I'm glad Skyrim will go back to open world. This was a very fragmented experience.

Fun game and easy recommend though. Worth the $, and one of the best games of 2023.

 

[Draugoth]

Last day of posting news regularly on gaf and playing this game, clocked in around 100 hours.

Spent most of my time gathering resources and managing my ADHD with the infinite chest at the constellation headquarters, it's time for Bethesda to make a better inventory system management in their games, it's so weird they still relocate basic mechanics like weight carrying to skill unlocking.

Most of the systems in the game are overcomplicated at first, specially ship building, i never got the hang of it, but at least managed to make some ships. The procedural generation is nearly compeltely pointless other than loot farming and for 100% completion maniacs, as it only waste player's time with repeated envrioments.

Still stand by my initial Pre-Release criticism, game starts super slow and gets better the more you play it, but there are many issues hard to ignore that makes the game feel super dated. Really interesting NG+ but it's no game changer,

Hopefully the expansions will address these issues, and the weird peformance. Increasing my personal score to 7.5/10.0 because Sarah is horny.

 

[Neff]

Also, just found the Red Mile and was excited because of how unique the place was and how it was talked up.

One of the most underwhelming experiences in all of gaming.

Yeah it should have been some sort of gladiatorial Running Man shit considering what it hinted at. And it's symptomatic of how deliberately mundane the game can be outside of its admittedly incredible and constant feeling of exploring the stars. My only real criticism of the game is that it lacks the same level of unhinged eccentricity of Fallout and even Elder Scrolls. Everyone is an ultra-sanitized Henry Normal in space, even the villains. I can see what they were going for- they're trying to literalise the fantastical reality of going into space by actively steering away from the comic book excess of their past titles (the Juno quest is the wackiest thing I've come across yet and that was basically just a big HAL rip-off), but a little more of an exotic flavour here and there would be nice.

Still dangerously close to being my GOTY and almost certainly would be if not for Resident Evil 4.

 

[sainraja]

Has anyone made a Firefly ship yet?

And, can you buy ships from other players using in-game currency?

 

[Arsic]

Last day of posting news regularly on gaf and playing this game, clocked in around 100 hours.

Spent most of my time gathering resources and managing my ADHD with the infinite chest at the constellation headquarters, it's time for Bethesda to make a better inventory system management in their games, it's so weird they still relocate basic mechanics like weight carrying to skill unlocking.

Most of the systems in the game are overcomplicated at first, specially ship building, i never got the hang of it, but at least managed to make some ships. The procedural generation is nearly compeltely pointless other than loot farming and for 100% completion maniacs, as it only waste player's time with repeated envrioments.

Still stand by my initial Pre-Release criticism, game starts super slow and gets better the more you play it, but there are many issues hard to ignore that makes the game feel super dated. Really interesting NG+ but it's no game changer,

Hopefully the expansions will address these issues, and the weird peformance. Increasing my personal score to 7.5/10.0 because Sarah is horny.

Our review is almost the same and I agree with everything here.

I could probably list too long a list of shit wrong or I don't like, but if Todd takes one thing away from this game into ES6 is it is time to let go of this archaic weight inventory system. It is not immersive, it isn't fun , and all it does is create a chore and shit user experience. No one wins here.

 

[EviLore]

And it's symptomatic of how deliberately mundane the game can be

I'd go as far as to say that it's lacking humanity.

 

[twilo99]

I really, REALLY hate the oxygen/co2 mechanic. There's so many places to walk and when you have to pause to "take your breath", it just sucks.

Also, the no mini map thing is another pain in the arse.

That's indeed a poor aspect of the game.

Low gravity planets are kinda of ok because you can out the jet pack to a better use but the game needs ground vehicles

 

[twilo99]

https://x.com/synthpotato/status/1701012362181140864?s=46&t=aVYUpRYzg-bv2n8am2mMAg

Wut

 

[adamsapple]

Still dangerously close to being my GOTY and almost certainly would be if not for Resident Evil 4.,

My man.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Our review is almost the same and I agree with everything here.

I could probably list too long a list of shit wrong or I don't like, but if Todd takes one thing away from this game into ES6 is it is time to let go of this archaic weight inventory system. It is not immersive, it isn't fun , and all it does is create a chore and shit user experience. No one wins here.

The weight/inventory management and UI in general is just atrocious and really brings down the experience