Support NeoGAF

[Heisenberg007]

so you got me curious & I checked on Metacritic, HFW has the following 9.5/10s from PlayStation sites (I may have missed some, I had to Google a few I wasn’t sure to see if they were PlayStation focused or not such as Sixth Axis)

100s - PlayStation Lifestyle, PSX Brasil
95 - PlayStation Universe
90 - Push Square

in contrast for Starfield you have the following

100 - Xbox Addict
99 - Generación Xbox
98 - SomosXbox
97 - XboxEra, & MondoXbox
90s - True Achievement, Pure Xbox, and Windows Central (+ Xbox Achievements with an 89)

To add to this, HFW is a 90 game. It's 88 on MC and OC if I'm not wrong. So Push Square giving it a 9 is literally in line with every other reviewer.

On the other hand, the top 4 Xbox reviews you mentioned are going ~17 points above the average.

 

[SportsFan581]

Okay, fair enough.

But I think it's okay to talk about reviews -- positive or negative -- in the review thread. I don't believe criticizing people, or the entire thread, just because people are talking about reviews is the right thing to do.

If review scores are going down (from 88 to 83 now in 15 days), the major discourse will of course be negative.

Of course, of course. It is a discussion board.

I don't think it should be a problem to have some levity about the obvious motivations given the users involved either though. We are all relatively familiar with each other and our respective posting histories after all.

 

[CosmicComet]

Well Sean apologised, fixed that shit and then kept improving the game upto now to the point where it far outweighs the promises he made.

Todd blames you, makes sure to mod scene still know how to fix their shit and moves on to the next bag of lies.

This is mostly true, except I won't say NMS in current state is better than its initial promises. He was saying some biblical, genesis level stuff about how revolutionary it would be.

Still it's a great game in its current form.

 

[Roufianos]

4 hours in, I actually don't think I've hated a game as much as Starfield in years. Part of it might be the fact that I really want to like it.

The constant loading is killing me. The gunplay is mediocre at best. The animations are 10 years behind, as usual. There's no reason this shouldn't be 60fps with these small gated off areas.

The quests finding pieces of the artefact have been outright trash. More time in the menus hoping back and forth than actually doing anything meaningful.

It feels like there's a load of trade offs i.e. clanky shooting, which you usually expect with an open world game, except this game has none of the benefits because there's not really an open world.

Only good parts are music and art direction.

Maybe it's just time to accept Bethesda have lost their magic for me. I loved Oblivion and Fallout 3, Skyrim was ok. Hated Fallout 4 and now this.

 

[Die Namek Ability]

I think internally MS/Xbox have an issue with thier evaluation of games. They were pushing/hyping this as a 10/10, then there was that statement by Phil Spencer about thinking RedFall was going to score way higher and thought it was a good game. Then the shock that High Fi Rush was a good game. And who could forget when they marched out Halo Infinite originally as if it was going to wow the audience, instead Craig was born.

This is worrying for MS fans as it appears they just dont get gaming.

 

[Fools idol]

4 hours in, I actually don't think I've hated a game as much as Starfield in years. Part of it might be the fact that I really want to like it.

The constant loading is killing me. The gunplay is mediocre at best. The animations are 10 years behind, as usual. There's no reason this shouldn't be 60fps with these small gated off areas.

The quests finding pieces of the artefact have been outright trash. More time in the menus hoping back and forth than actually doing anything meaningful.

It feels like there's a load of trade offs i.e. clanky shooting, which you usually expect with an open world game, except this game has none of the benefits because there's not really an open world.

Only good parts are music and art direction.

Maybe it's just time to accept Bethesda have lost their magic for me. I loved Oblivion and Fallout 3, Skyrim was ok. Hated Fallout 4 and now this.

fully agree and exactly what I said in the thread earlier. And yet, there are people here absolutely lapping it up. Baffling really.

Bethesda has become far too stuck in their tree. It needs a damn good shakeup to get some real fruit dropping.

 

[Slicker than your average]

Or they liked the game. Shocking huh?

Enjoying a game is one thing but ignoring it's many flaws to score it a 100 is clown world.

 

[Yoboman]

Started out as GOTG/GOTY now merely GOTW with recent releases

Unfortunately BG3 released the same day

Starfield wasn't even the highest scoring Star based RPG of the week, with Sea of Stars collecting a 90 MC score

 

[SEGAvangelist]

.

 

[Gambit2483]

Starfield has to be the biggest regression by an established AAA publisher. The game simply doesn't even deserve to be in discussion with Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, FO3, or heck even FO4. After 50 hours I can't even force myself to continue playing, the sense of wonder and excitement that previous games had is simply not here, huge disappointment.

Yea, I figure I'd force myself to Neon and if it doesn't click by then I'm out. I've more or less seen everything necessary by then anyway.

 

[Madflavor]

What comes after Starfield? Are there any other big exclusives for Xbox on the horizon? I think it's Fable 4 right?

I think internally MS/Xbox have an issue with thier evaluation of games. They were pushing/hyping this as a 10/10, then there was that statement by Phil Spencer about thinking RedFall was going to score way higher and thought it was a good game. Then the shock that High Fi Rush was a good game. And who could forget when they marched out Halo Infinite originally as if it was going to wow the audience, instead Craig was born.

This is worrying for MS fans as it appears they just dont get gaming.

I'm honestly mad for Xbox fans. It's such bullshit they can't catch a break when it comes to getting great exclusives. What is going on over at Microsoft?

 

[SlimySnake]

What comes after Starfield? Are there any other big exclusives for Xbox on the horizon? I think it's Fable 4 right?



I'm honestly mad for Xbox fans. It's such bullshit they can't catch a break when it comes to getting great exclusives. What is going on over at Microsoft?

Forza, then Hellblade in 2024. Fable is likely 2-3 years away.

And starfield is great. Its divisive but has some great moments. 82 is nothing to scoff at.

 

[Humdinger]

What comes after Starfield? Are there any other big exclusives for Xbox on the horizon? I think it's Fable 4 right?

In addition to the ones SlimySnake mentioned (Hellblade and Forza), there is also Obsidian's next one, Avowed, supposedly releasing in 2024.

 

[adamsapple]

What comes after Starfield? Are there any other big exclusives for Xbox on the horizon? I think it's Fable 4 right?

These are the games with dates or windows in 2023/24

Forza Motorsport
Avowed
Flight Sim '24
Hellblade 2
Towerborne
Ara: History Untold


Then there's a few which don't have release date/windows yet.

Fable
Indiana Jones
South of Midnight (compulsion)
Everwild
Perfect Dark
State of Decay 3

And then there's some studios like Coalition, Double Fine etc which are working on things that haven't been revealed yet.

 

[Topher]

so you got me curious & I checked on Metacritic, HFW has the following 9.5/10s from PlayStation sites (I may have missed some, I had to Google a few I wasn’t sure to see if they were PlayStation focused or not such as Sixth Axis)

100s - PlayStation Lifestyle, PSX Brasil
95 - PlayStation Universe
90 - Push Square

in contrast for Starfield you have the following

100 - Xbox Addict
99 - Generación Xbox
98 - SomosXbox
97 - XboxEra, & MondoXbox
90s - True Achievement, Pure Xbox, and Windows Central (+ Xbox Achievements with an 89)

Looks about right except for MeuPlayStation also has a 96 for HFW. Both are being boosted by branded sites, but Xbox definitely has more. I'm just saying this is an old argument that has been thrown around every time a first party game is released. If the response is "well yeah, but Xbox benefits more" then fair enough. I've argued against making a big deal about these branded sites in the past when it was PlayStation games and I'm not going to reverse course on that. I'll say the same thing next month when it comes up yet again with Spider-man 2. Actually, I'll bookmark your post just for that occasion.

To add to this, HFW is a 90 game. It's 88 on MC and OC if I'm not wrong. So Push Square giving it a 9 is literally in line with every other reviewer.

On the other hand, the top 4 Xbox reviews you mentioned are going ~17 points above the average.

We should just look at the Starfield PC reviews on metacritic then since it is the least influenced by Xbox fans sites.

 

[alphachino]

Forza, then Hellblade in 2024. Fable is likely 2-3 years away.

And starfield is great. Its divisive but has some great moments. 82 is nothing to scoff at.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

"88 is an amazing score!!"
"87 is a still a REALLY great score"
"86 is Awesome! I'm really happy with 86"
"85? HEY!!! That's the year I was born! Now I'm happy"
"84?! Sweeeeeet! Still mid-80s! MY GOTY!"
"83? What you on about?, it's still a great game IMO!!!"
"82 is nothing to scoff at."

 

[Topher]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

"88 is an amazing score!!"
"87 is a still a REALLY great score"
"86 is Awesome! I'm really happy with 86"
"85? HEY!!! That's the year I was born! Now I'm happy"
"84?! Sweeeeeet! Still mid-80s! MY GOTY!"
"83? What you on about?, it's still a great game IMO!!!"
"82 is nothing to scoff at."

 

[alphachino]

I hope the score drops to 82 with the edge review

That would require one of these:

 

[freefornow]

These are the games with dates or windows in 2023/24

Forza Motorsport
Avowed
Flight Sim '24
Hellblade 2
Towerborne
Ara: History Untold


Then there's a few which don't have release date/windows yet.

Fable
Indiana Jones
South of Midnight (compulsion)
Everwild
Perfect Dark
State of Decay 3

And then there's some studios like Coalition, Double Fine etc which are working on things that haven't been revealed yet.

Party Animals is next week.

Spoiler

I'm serious

 

[adamsapple]

Party Animals is next week.

Spoiler

I'm serious

Not a first party published game sadly

 

[alphachino]

Wow, I just read the Eurogamer review. I haven't played the game myself but the comments on the review (800+) and on the related Reddit r/PCGaming thread (1800+) posts are absolutely demolishing this games at every seam with comments from most who actually have played the game. Nothing hyperbolic... just well-reasoned arguments about why this game just utterly fails at almost everything it was intended to do as a video game. The comments inspired me to come up with a little meme of my own:

 

[Flabagast]

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

"88 is an amazing score!!"
"87 is a still a REALLY great score"
"86 is Awesome! I'm really happy with 86"
"85? HEY!!! That's the year I was born! Now I'm happy"
"84?! Sweeeeeet! Still mid-80s! MY GOTY!"
"83? What you on about?, it's still a great game IMO!!!"
"82 is nothing to scoff at."

Yeah I can guarantee you if Spider-Man 2 or FF7 Rebirth scored at 83 or below it would be fucking disapointement.

But here, no, it’s fine. As usual Xbox fanboys have bottom of the barrel standards, and thus MS does not do anything to up their games. Fanboys need to understand they should ask for more

 

[touchfuzzy]

Yeah I can guarantee you if Spider-Man 2 or FF7 Rebirth scored at 83 or below it would be fucking disapointement.

But here, no, it’s fine. As usual Xbox fanboys have bottom of the barrel standards, and thus MS does not do anything to up their games. Fanboys need to understand they should ask for more

This is worse, this would be like the next big Naughty Dog game or Zelda scoring an 83, it’s a disaster. The copium is real.

 

[sainraja]

4 hours in, I actually don't think I've hated a game as much as Starfield in years. Part of it might be the fact that I really want to like it.

The constant loading is killing me. The gunplay is mediocre at best. The animations are 10 years behind, as usual. There's no reason this shouldn't be 60fps with these small gated off areas.

The quests finding pieces of the artefact have been outright trash. More time in the menus hoping back and forth than actually doing anything meaningful.

It feels like there's a load of trade offs i.e. clanky shooting, which you usually expect with an open world game, except this game has none of the benefits because there's not really an open world.

Only good parts are music and art direction.

Maybe it's just time to accept Bethesda have lost their magic for me. I loved Oblivion and Fallout 3, Skyrim was ok. Hated Fallout 4 and now this.

I am still hoping to find something that will click, and Starfield, being the first Bethesda-made game that I am playing, hasn't clicked yet. I see everyone saying you have to play for 10–12 hours before it really gets good, but that seems like a huge ask as of right now. Some games do have a slow start, and this might be one of those games. I am not giving up on it yet... but what you are describing is kinda where I am at.

 

[Edmund]

This piece of shit I'm eating is so bad. Maybe if I shovel a few more mouthfuls of shit in my mouth it might taste better.

 

[NikuNashi]

I think internally MS/Xbox have an issue with thier evaluation of games. They were pushing/hyping this as a 10/10, then there was that statement by Phil Spencer about thinking RedFall was going to score way higher and thought it was a good game. Then the shock that High Fi Rush was a good game. And who could forget when they marched out Halo Infinite originally as if it was going to wow the audience, instead Craig was born.

This is worrying for MS fans as it appears they just dont get gaming.

They dont have a good user testing system in place. Its crucial to user test games, get feedback, refine, repeat until the feedback from users is positive. Obviously their understanding of quality doesnt match users / reviewers and this is down to either not user testing correctly, not listening to the feedback of user testing or just blind arrogance to think they are correct.

Either way it must be frustrating to xbox fans looking for quality experiences.

 

[Topher]

fully agree and exactly what I said in the thread earlier. And yet, there are people here absolutely lapping it up. Baffling really.

I don't get what is so baffling. I get you and Roufianos don't like that game. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend this game is being universally dumped on and only negative takes are valid. Simply not the case. We are talking about a game that has been favorably reviewed and is currently in the top 5 games being played on Steam.

 

[GHG]

I don't get what is so baffling. I get you and Roufianos don't like that game. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend this game is being universally dumped on and only negative takes are valid. Simply not the case. We are talking about a game that has been favorably reviewed and is currently in the top 5 games being played on Steam.

Uh oh Topher , you know how this works right?

Now that you've posted this it will fall out of the top 5 in the next couple of days and never return.

 

[Topher]

Uh oh Topher , you know how this works right?

Now that you've posted this it will fall out of the top 5 in the next couple of days and never return.

 

[Varteras]

I don't get what is so baffling. I get you and Roufianos don't like that game. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend this game is being universally dumped on and only negative takes are valid. Simply not the case. We are talking about a game that has been favorably reviewed and is currently in the top 5 games being played on Steam.

Can you stop being an Xbot for, like, 5 fucking minutes? Please? Christ you're insufferable. Always running to their defense...

Uh oh Topher , you know how this works right?

Now that you've posted this it will fall out of the top 5 in the next couple of days and never return.

He's basically the Don Mattrick of GAF. Somehow responsible for someone else's failures no matter what.

 

[Topher]

Can you stop being an Xbot for, like, 5 fucking minutes? Please? Christ you're insufferable. Always running to their defense...







He's basically the Don Mattrick of GAF. Somehow responsible for someone else's failures no matter what.

Or maybe everything is going exactly as planned....

 

[alphachino]

I don't get what is so baffling. I get you and Roufianos don't like that game. Nothing wrong with that, but let's not pretend this game is being universally dumped on and only negative takes are valid. Simply not the case. We are talking about a game that has been favorably reviewed and is currently in the top 5 games being played on Steam.

It genuinely feels like Starfeld is currently living off of pre-release hype and momentum, and it appears like the vast majority of opinions out there from legit media outlets and players-alike are that the game is a dud. While it's not an absolute unmitigated disaster, history will absolutely not be kind to Starfeld if things keep playing out as they are as hundreds of thousands of gamers are starting to realise that they have been duped.

Bethesda feels like a studio that is on the throes of death. Similar to Telltale right before their demise. Outdated tech being the anchor that brings the ship down. Some people might find it laughable to think Bethesda could go under, what with MS's infinitely deep pockets... but I don't mean they'll just disappear overnight. They'll saunter along, being a shadow of their former selves, dishing out sorry excuses for games living off of franchises from their heyday. There is no greater killer of creativity and drive than a daddy who gives you everything, and expects absolutely nothing in return.

 

[GHG]

It's the Xbox fan way of life. Every time they celebrate something it always backfires.

You'll get used to it.

 

[Heisenberg007]

We should just look at the Starfield PC reviews on metacritic then since it is the least influenced by Xbox fans sites.

Go with the non-console platform that also has the fewest number of reviews? That'd be cherry-picking, my friend.

When it comes to Xbox games, Xbox-based reviews are taken for discussion because (1) it's an Xbox game on an Xbox console so it makes more sense and (2) the console version usually has the most reviews, presenting a more accurate picture.

It's the same reason I (and most others here) have always referred to Halo Infinite as having an 87 MC score (xbox) and not an 80 (PC). I've always been consistent with that.

Yeah, I'm totally expecting a 80-85 MC just because.

Halo Infinite has an 87 MC and got a 10/10 Perfect score from outlets like Windows Central.

No publication wants to piss off Microsoft.

Another good direct example would be Halo Infinite at 87. Many people liked the game, but it didn't win GOTY or change things for the Xbox brand.

It's fair to say that only a handful of games do that for a console or a company, and those are usually in the high 90s, e.g., Zelda, Mario, TLOU, God of War, RDR, GTA, Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, etc.

 

[Raven117]

It genuinely feels like Starfeld is currently living off of pre-release hype and momentum, and it appears like the vast majority of opinions out there from legit media outlets and players-alike are that the game is a dud. While it's not an absolute unmitigated disaster, history will absolutely not be kind to Starfeld if things keep playing out as they are as hundreds of thousands of gamers are starting to realise that they have been duped.

Bethesda feels like a studio that is on the throes of death. Similar to Telltale right before their demise. Outdated tech being the anchor that brings the ship down. Some people might find it laughable to think Bethesda could go under, what with MS's infinitely deep pockets... but I don't mean they'll just disappear overnight. They'll saunter along, being a shadow of their former selves, dishing out sorry excuses for games living off of franchises from their heyday. There is no greater killer of creativity and drive than a daddy who gives you everything, and expects absolutely nothing in return.

They will have one more crack at it. Elder Scrolls VI is going to make or break that studio.

Also, you are underestimating just “normal” folks (not a bunch of gaming goobers on neogaf) don’t see AS many of the flaws. Spaceship… lasers… pew pew. That’s all most folks will want. That and the story quest lines don’t actually stuff. There is enough there to keep a normal person who enjoys a game every once in awhile occupied.

 

[alphachino]

They will have one more crack at it. Elder Scrolls VI is going to make or break that studio.

I do realise that they're going full-steam ahead on ES6, but that is likely to be about 5-6 years out. A LOTTTT of shit can happen in this industry before then. As of right now, to me, Bethesda are a zombie studio - still moving and active, but braindead.

 

[solidus12]

Karma?

 

[Varteras]

Karma?

Careful now. Spider-Man 2 ain't out yet. Don't tempt that same karma by acting like someone already has egg on their face when breakfast isn't quite done yet. Every bit the possibility that it shits the bed.

 

[Topher]

Go with the non-console platform that also has the fewest number of reviews? That'd be cherry-picking, my friend.

When it comes to Xbox games, Xbox-based reviews are taken for discussion because (1) it's an Xbox game on an Xbox console so it makes more sense and (2) the console version usually has the most reviews, presenting a more accurate picture.

It's the same reason I (and most others here) have always referred to Halo Infinite as having an 87 MC score (xbox) and not an 80 (PC). I've always been consistent with that.

Well, fair enough on your consistency. But no, I am not cherry picking at all. The difference is less than the number of Xbox branded site reviews on the console side. If we were talking about a difference of 70+ reviews then I'd agree, but that is not the case here.

 

[demigod]

LMAO at the 37% gaffers who voted 90-95 MC. Who are those people ?

I voted 95 but i did mention it would drop to the 80s when real scores came out. Honestly i thought it would be around 85.

 

[alphachino]

Careful now. Spider-Man 2 ain't out yet. Don't tempt that same karma by acting like someone already has egg on their face when breakfast isn't quite done yet. Every bit the possibility that it shits the bed.

There is absolutely no chance SM2 will be a dud. I'm basing this evaluation on:
1) The importance of Spider-Man to Sony [as a corporation]
2) It's a sequel to the most successful PlayStation Studios game of all time.
3) PS Studio game sequels often score higher than their original entries.
3) It's made by Insomniac, who have an insane recent track-record.
4) It's Spider-Man
5) Sony know how to produce good games and not afraid to delay a game to give it more time
6) Have I mentioned it's by Insomniac?

There is no egg-on-face to be had even if SM2 doesn't light up the charts, doesn't get rave reviews or sell multi-millions of copies, or get 90+ MC. It's not like anyone is proclaiming it to be some sort of saviour of anything.

 

[ZehDon]

... and it appears like the vast majority of opinions out there from legit media outlets and players-alike are that the game is a dud...

What an odd opinion on a game where the vast majority of professional and player reviews are both positive. Might need to step back from the clickbait for a while, friend.

 

[Varteras]

There is absolutely no chance SM2 will be a dud. I'm basing this evaluation on:
1) The importance of Spider-Man to Sony [as a corporation]
2) It's a sequel to the most successful PlayStation Studios game of all time.
3) PS Studio game sequels often score higher than their original entries.
3) It's made by Insomniac, who have an insane recent track-record.
4) It's Spider-Man
5) Sony know how to produce good games and not afraid to delay a game to give it more time
6) Have I mentioned it's by Insomniac?

There is no egg-on-face to be had even if SM2 doesn't light up the charts, doesn't get rave reviews or sell multi-millions of copies, or get 90+ MC. It's not like anyone is proclaiming it to be some sort of saviour of anything.

 

[alphachino]

You really think it's possible? Of course, anything is possible. It could fail, and it's a good thought-exercise to imagine the conditions that allows a failure like that to occur.

I personally cannot see how they can fail, but if it fails to live up to expectations as much as Starfeld, then yeah, it would be catastrophic for Sony.

 

[Heisenberg007]

 

[Topher]

I personally cannot see how they can fail

 

[GooseMan69]

Boy I’m really glad I didn’t buy an Xbox just for this. I ALMOST got baited by the honeymoon period. I was itching for a good RPG to play. Cyberpunk with the new patch and DLC seems like a better option.

 

[Nothing1234]

I think there is a very real risk of Starfield not being nominated for Game of The Year at The Game Awards now. Considering the weight of expectations on the game and the meta critic score seemingly dropping with every review thats not a good place to be in.

 

[Dcr1d3r]

I think there is a very real risk of Starfield not being nominated for Game of The Year at The Game Awards now. Considering the weight of expectations on the game and the meta critic score seemingly dropping with every review thats not a good place to be in.

Damn....what's the MC score atm?

 

[Topher]

I think there is a very real risk of Starfield not being nominated for Game of The Year at The Game Awards now. Considering the weight of expectations on the game and the meta critic score seemingly dropping with every review thats not a good place to be in.

That's a distinct possibility with the number of games released this year.

Damn....what's the MC score atm?

83 for Xbox. 87 for PC.