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Starfield | Review Thread

What scores do you think StarfieId will get?

  • 40-45%

    Votes: 3 0.5%
  • 45-50%

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 50-55%

    Votes: 1 0.2%
  • 55-60%

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 60-65%

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 65-70%

    Votes: 2 0.3%
  • 70-75%

    Votes: 5 0.8%
  • 75-80%

    Votes: 15 2.3%
  • 80-85%

    Votes: 81 12.5%
  • 85-90%

    Votes: 241 37.3%
  • 90-95%

    Votes: 243 37.6%
  • 95-100%

    Votes: 55 8.5%

  • Total voters
    646
  • Poll closed .

damidu

Member
I think they are just really used to this engine, and don't want to have to learn a new one before they retire.
why would they change, they just got themselves a braindead army of fanatics after becoming first party,
who would defend anything and everything for them, do free damage control and harass reviewers, who dare to point any issues.

we are pretty much stuck with this archaic shit of an engine i'd say.
all you can hope for is bandaids on top of bandaids.
 

bitbydeath

Member
What games do Bethesda stuff better do you think? I know balders gate 3 is literally incredible and launched this year, but is there anything else? Outer worlds is a great game, that's similar.
Souls games took the crown from them IMO.
Since Skyrim released From got busy and released Dark Souls 1,2,3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring.
 

JTCx

Member
Share with me a single game from 2012 that allows you to explore hundreds of diverse planets, with different biomes, stories, conflicts, and lifeforms, immerse your character into virtually endless adventures, jobs, and roles, engage in both tight first/third person shooter gameplay alongside deep ship-based space combat, allow you to fully build/customize your ship or purchase new ones, build your own home or colony or outpost on a ton of different planets to live and gather resources, join different factions/institutions and help fight for their cause in a meaningful way, etc.. etc.. etc..


Like seriously, stop lying to yourself. It's a dumb argument that holds zero weight if you think about it for more than 10 seconds. There are little-to-no games in 2023 that have ever done everything that Starfield is doing, let alone in 2012.
This shit sounds like a design doc for Starfield that never made it.
 
What games do Bethesda stuff better do you think? I know balders gate 3 is literally incredible and launched this year, but is there anything else? Outer worlds is a great game, that's similar.

It's not about other games that do Bethesda stuff better. It's more about other games that do their own thing so good that they make Bethesda's stuff seem antiquated or not as interesting.

It's been over a decade since Skyrim and lots of innovations and changes in open-world gaming have occurred. Many games have put their own spins onto the action-adventure open-world space, whether they're RPGs or have various RPG elements. For many people "the Bethesda way" simply may not be the gold standard anymore, so it wouldn't matter if other games are doing open-world similar to Bethesda games or better than them.

A family member of mine has an Xbox & Game Pass so I'll borrow their system for a few days and play the game that way (dunno if I'll finish it) the next time they swing by. So everything WRT my own commentary is just as an observer. However, I've seen more than a handful of streamers, as one example, basically not really like the game very much, including some bigger-name ones. Their chats seemingly thought the game looked boring, for the most part. And some of these people are big Skyrim fans and play predominantly on PC, so in theory they should be some of Starfield's biggest fans.

There is definitely interest in the game out here beyond the most hardcore Bethesda fans, but I don't think Starfield has the appeal of a Skyrim for many others, in a post-GTA5/BOTW/TOTK/Cyberpunk (post-patches)/Elden Ring etc. world. Even this early on I can tell it doesn't have the drawing power of those and arguably even other open-world games, like Spiderman and HFW. I mean this in terms of the game appealing to the majority of potential fans, beyond just the hardcore and into the core, casual and mainstream spaces.

So I think overall reception may be a bit more muted than some are expecting, but in some circles the game will have solid "slow burn" appeal, particularly on PC once modders take to it with a lot of content. But anyone expecting anything close to Skyrim numbers from this game need to temper those expectations.
 

lefty1117

Gold Member
I think some people prefer more organic exploration. Just walk out into the world and stumble upon interesting landmarks, random events etc. Menu hopping takes away from that

but ... lol ... that is literally what I just did for the last two hours ... I ran around on a habitable planet scanning resources, plants and animals. I found some unique structures like hot springs and a spore cloud that was paralyzing animals. Then I lifted off and landed on another part of the planet in a different biome, this time mountainous instead of coniferous forest ... and I found a pirate hideout there and ran through it. Then I landed in another part of the planet looking for the last fauna to scan and came upon a hillside cave that I explored. I mean, it's all there dude...
 

ByWatterson

Member
It's not about other games that do Bethesda stuff better. It's more about other games that do their own thing so good that they make Bethesda's stuff seem antiquated or not as interesting.

It's been over a decade since Skyrim and lots of innovations and changes in open-world gaming have occurred. Many games have put their own spins onto the action-adventure open-world space, whether they're RPGs or have various RPG elements. For many people "the Bethesda way" simply may not be the gold standard anymore, so it wouldn't matter if other games are doing open-world similar to Bethesda games or better than them.

And honestly, in design, Skyrim is ahead of what Starfield is doing. Elden Ring and TOTK/BOTW are channeling Skyrim so hard (the intrinsic motivation of "What's over there?") because Skyrim was so advanced for its time and remained that way until 2017, really.

But since 2017, a few of the best open world games ever have come out, full of emergent storytelling (RDR2), advanced traversal (Death Stranding), and environmental storytelling that rivals Tolkien (Elden Ring, and no, not hyperbole).

A regression from Skyrim - fast-travel bubbles full of decent-to-good storytelling - isn't good enough to be in that elite category.
 
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RickMasters

Member
Souls games took the crown from them IMO.
Since Skyrim released From got busy and released Dark Souls 1,2,3, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring.
All of those games are great. But none of them have people playing their one play through for hundreds of hours past the end game. I live the souls games and have yet to start Elden ring or sekiro though they await me in my backlog….. and have been pushed back even further by armoured core, now!…… but those are one-and-done games. Unless you enjoy replaying games. I don’t…. Limited time and too many games…. Never mind too many things to do besides play games let alone play a 60 hour game twice, where I revisit a lot of things I already done. Atleast with Bethesda RPGs there is always end game stuff and mods to keep things interesting for years after release. Few other devs can say they have a single player game that’s bent played by as many active users as say, Skyrim all fallout a decade plus after release. Takes a lot of game in your game to keep a player interested for that long…. Give ceasar his due. Bethesda games are good at what they do and nobody really does it better. Only GTA 5 has been played as long as Skyrim or fall out. Anything else where people have logged more hours is a full on MMO, not a single player RPG.
 

RickMasters

Member
Haven’t really read much of the reviews. But I’m loving it. I feel like I should finish some of my other games before I dive in too deep though. Plus I’m racking up my last few achievements on forza M.Sport 7 before the new one comes out. Can’t believe I been playing FM7 for all these years…. But yeah…. I’m ready for the ‘23 model…. In car speak terms 😅😅
 

bender

What time is it?
but ... lol ... that is literally what I just did for the last two hours ... I ran around on a habitable planet scanning resources, plants and animals. I found some unique structures like hot springs and a spore cloud that was paralyzing animals. Then I lifted off and landed on another part of the planet in a different biome, this time mountainous instead of coniferous forest ... and I found a pirate hideout there and ran through it. Then I landed in another part of the planet looking for the last fauna to scan and came upon a hillside cave that I explored. I mean, it's all there dude...

I think that is what people are taking issue with as it isn't as seamless as they'd hoped.
 

EDMIX

Writes a lot, says very little
Elden Ring and TOTK/BOTW are channeling Skyrim so hard (the intrinsic motivation of "What's over there?")
I agree. Imagine if this game had space exploration to the point of just traveling from point A to B and you come across a old space station and try to loot it only to find people are in a deep sleep and went off course to find a new world, now your choice is to either wake up the captain and tell them they are off course and its not 2007 anymore or loot the ship and allow them to go to their doom lol. So much has been left on the table based on how this game was sadly designed.
Fast-travel bubbles full of decent-to-good storytelling isn't good enough anymore to he in that elite category.

Truth.

A lot of great story telling can be had stumbling across something randomly in real time.
 

bitbydeath

Member
All of those games are great. But none of them have people playing their one play through for hundreds of hours past the end game. I live the souls games and have yet to start Elden ring or sekiro though they await me in my backlog….. and have been pushed back even further by armoured core, now!…… but those are one-and-done games. Unless you enjoy replaying games. I don’t…. Limited time and too many games…. Never mind too many things to do besides play games let alone play a 60 hour game twice, where I revisit a lot of things I already done. Atleast with Bethesda RPGs there is always end game stuff and mods to keep things interesting for years after release. Few other devs can say they have a single player game that’s bent played by as many active users as say, Skyrim all fallout a decade plus after release. Takes a lot of game in your game to keep a player interested for that long…. Give ceasar his due. Bethesda games are good at what they do and nobody really does it better. Only GTA 5 has been played as long as Skyrim or fall out. Anything else where people have logged more hours is a full on MMO, not a single player RPG.
We must play ES games differently then, I restart ES games with new builds all the time, same with Souls games.
 

Flabagast

Member
All of those games are great. But none of them have people playing their one play through for hundreds of hours past the end game. I live the souls games and have yet to start Elden ring or sekiro though they await me in my backlog….. and have been pushed back even further by armoured core, now!…… but those are one-and-done games. Unless you enjoy replaying games. I don’t…. Limited time and too many games…. Never mind too many things to do besides play games let alone play a 60 hour game twice, where I revisit a lot of things I already done. Atleast with Bethesda RPGs there is always end game stuff and mods to keep things interesting for years after release. Few other devs can say they have a single player game that’s bent played by as many active users as say, Skyrim all fallout a decade plus after release. Takes a lot of game in your game to keep a player interested for that long…. Give ceasar his due. Bethesda games are good at what they do and nobody really does it better. Only GTA 5 has been played as long as Skyrim or fall out. Anything else where people have logged more hours is a full on MMO, not a single player RPG.
You are forgetting Witcher 3 pal. It has had higher active users than Bethesda games for years now
 

RickMasters

Member
We must play ES games differently then, I restart ES games with new builds all the time, same with Souls games.
Different strokes for different folks! And with the DS games they are so challenging the first time round I dare not put myself through it a second time. I can understand replaying to get a different class but that ain’t worth a whole other 60 hour playthrough. The experience won’t be as fresh as the first time and you have to do the frustrating parts all over again….. and then there are just so many games to play and so little time. I don’t want to waste time playing the same 60 hour game twice. I just move on to something new. Unless the game has new experiences to offer after the end game.
 

RickMasters

Member
You are forgetting Witcher 3 pal. It has had higher active users than Bethesda games for years now
Yes. I love that game too, now that you mention it…. My bad for forgetting that one! What makes these RPGs worth playing past the end game is the worlds too. But as I mentioned in a previous post there always comes a time to say goodbye. And the next game and the next adventure awaits!
 

bender

What time is it?
Honest question, but what are people doing in The Witcher 3 for hundreds of hours? I put 70 hours into the game when it launched and did just about everything (even ran into the glitch that would reset your gold after you got past 70-some-odd-thousand). The content in that game seems relatively finite.
 

Yoboman

Member
but ... lol ... that is literally what I just did for the last two hours ... I ran around on a habitable planet scanning resources, plants and animals. I found some unique structures like hot springs and a spore cloud that was paralyzing animals. Then I lifted off and landed on another part of the planet in a different biome, this time mountainous instead of coniferous forest ... and I found a pirate hideout there and ran through it. Then I landed in another part of the planet looking for the last fauna to scan and came upon a hillside cave that I explored. I mean, it's all there dude...
So what you described is that it's there in segmented pockets rather than being open and seamless.

Structurally we had Elden Ring before, now we have Demons Souls. How big of an issue that is will vary per person

And a lot of people aren't going to find much fun in procedural content compared to hand crafted as
 

hlm666

Member
If your not happy because this is more of a bethesda rpg than you expected, spaceborne 2 might be closer to what you want. May not quite hit the visual peaks and it's still in early access but the price is fair.

 

bender

What time is it?
If your not happy because this is more of a bethesda rpg than you expected, spaceborne 2 might be closer to what you want. May not quite hit the visual peaks and it's still in early access but the price is fair.



That song choice.

beavis-and-butthead-headbanging.gif
 

killatopak

Gold Member
I don’t want to waste time playing the same 60 hour game twice
Is it really time wasted when it is time you enjoyed playing? I replay games all the time and those games that I do replay, I am certain that I'll have more fun doing it rather than some other mediocre game I have no idea of what I'm getting. Besides in the specific case you pointed out, difficulty does change things up a bit especially in the early game on NG+ Elden Ring. The latter portion being a bit more of a marginal upgrade. The game doesn't stop being enjoyable just because you finished it especially in games where gameplay is at the forefront. I would agree with you if a game is more story heavy and only if the gameplay itself isn't much of a draw.
 

GHG

Gold Member
but ... lol ... that is literally what I just did for the last two hours ... I ran around on a habitable planet scanning resources, plants and animals. I found some unique structures like hot springs and a spore cloud that was paralyzing animals. Then I lifted off and landed on another part of the planet in a different biome, this time mountainous instead of coniferous forest ... and I found a pirate hideout there and ran through it. Then I landed in another part of the planet looking for the last fauna to scan and came upon a hillside cave that I explored. I mean, it's all there dude...

Here's the thing, you didn't land or take off anywhere. You just went through a couple of menus, sat through a loading screen and magically teleported.

So no, it's not "all there".
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Is it really time wasted when it is time you enjoyed playing? I replay games all the time and those games that I do replay, I am certain that I'll have more fun doing it rather than some other mediocre game I have no idea of what I'm getting. Besides in the specific case you pointed out, difficulty does change things up a bit especially in the early game on NG+ Elden Ring. The latter portion being a bit more of a marginal upgrade. The game doesn't stop being enjoyable just because you finished it especially in games where gameplay is at the forefront. I would agree with you if a game is more story heavy and only if the gameplay itself isn't much of a draw.
I dont get why people being so against replaying games, If enjoyed the game I fucking love replaying them.
 

knguyen

Member
The best thing about Starfield is that it does not have denuvo:messenger_grinning_smiling:.
Those who watch all devs interviews and "gameplay" videos prior to launch, they'll find themselves dissapointed with the game, because those videos filled your head with unrealistic expectations.
People who did not watch anything, you may find this game enjoyable after all.
 

Laieon

Member
Those who watch all devs interviews and "gameplay" videos prior to launch, they'll find themselves dissapointed with the game, because those videos filled your head with unrealistic expectations.
People who did not watch anything, you may find this game enjoyable after all.

This is me. Said it in another thread (or maybe earlier in this one), but historically I haven't liked Bethesda's games at all, so I didn't follow development on Starfield and a week or two ago couldn't care less about it. Upgraded my GPU recently though and got the premium edition for free, so I figured I'd try it out. I'm absolutely loving it so far, it's managed to do what New Vegas (I know they didn't develop that, but they published it), Oblivion, and Skyrim failed to do for me.
 
The game is so spectacular to play, the only big issues are the loading screens and would have liked some land vehicles on certain missions, I guess these are issues for a sequel to fix and address. Also really impressed with how well the weapons are handled/look and how good the firefights actually are.


It's also funny how so few people give any sort of credit to MS for how well this game plays on consoles or the lack of major bugs, when so many we ready to slaughter MS for it and how they couldn't handle a studio.
 
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And honestly, in design, Skyrim is ahead of what Starfield is doing. Elden Ring and TOTK/BOTW are channeling Skyrim so hard (the intrinsic motivation of "What's over there?") because Skyrim was so advanced for its time and remained that way until 2017, really.

But since 2017, a few of the best open world games ever have come out, full of emergent storytelling (RDR2), advanced traversal (Death Stranding), and environmental storytelling that rivals Tolkien (Elden Ring, and no, not hyperbole).

A regression from Skyrim - fast-travel bubbles full of decent-to-good storytelling - isn't good enough to be in that elite category.

That's been the fear for a while among a lot of Bethesda faithful, I'm sure: that the standard Bethesda formal won't be as impressive in the 12 years since Skyrim came out. It's a multitude of confounding factors, too: not just in how other games may handle elements of their open world, but even stuff like art style, musical score, in-universe lore/story elements and so forth. Everything can enhance or detract from everything else, one way or another.

The influence of Skyrim on all the games you just mentioned can't be understated, but, and again this is just from some impressions I've seen from a few online (those who seem like they should've liked it, FWIW), it doesn't seem like Starfield has taken enough inspiration from those games and added unto them. Part of the reason might be due to engine limitations, but there's also the possibility Bethesda got too insular during the course of the game's development.

They have their own vision and that's 100% respectable, but in this industry, especially for these big AAA games, you still have to make sure your vision is somewhat in sync with other games on the market. And I do feel extra pressure was thrust onto Starfield due to the acquisition, but those are kind of just the cards Bethesda were dealt to play. No helping it in a sense.

All of those games are great. But none of them have people playing their one play through for hundreds of hours past the end game.

Dude there are people who regularly replay Souls games multiple times with different builds just to experiment and get better at the game. Someone else said something like this earlier ITT. Bethesda games aren't necessarily unique in that respect.
 

J3nga

Member
Main quests, side quests, mission boards, factions, ship building, outpost building.........I think you are reading the wrong "impressions" my man. I'm already at 30 hours and I still haven't scratched the surface. This is very much a typical Bethesda game as far as content is concerned.
I would hardly call that a content. Building outposts on a lifeless generated planets? I'm not sure what's the point in that especially that there's no MP component but I guess everyone understands fun and quality content differently. I personally would have to be well compensated to do that.
 

Red5

Member
I would hardly call that a content. Building outposts on a lifeless generated planets? I'm not sure what's the point in that especially that there's no MP component but I guess everyone understands fun and quality content differently. I personally would have to be well compensated to do that.

Same as Fallout 4 outpost building which was very popular, people like to get creative, design the best settlements they can and share them on Nexus. That's why city management and theme park games exist with sandbox modes too.

Also building outposts on lifeless procgen planets is basically the whole shtick of No Man's Sky and people have been holding it as the standard to compare Starfield with.
 

Freeman76

Member
The sense of exploration. Imagine if you fast traveled to almost every major location or point of interest in Skyrim. This game has too many menus and loading screens instead of free roam exploration. That feeling you get in Skyrim when all of Tamriel is open for you to explore on foot or on horseback is missing here.

The feeling where you walk seamlessly between cities and villages in Skyrim discovering new points of interests, caves and amazing hand crafted scenery is pretty much gone in this game. Instead it’s replaced with loading screens into procedurally generated barren landscapes with random points of interests that actually repeat a lot, and aren’t related to each other.

The game isn’t bad if you look at it in a bubble but when compared to what was promised, it falls short. It’s definitely not a “Skyrim in space” experience, not at all.
Holy hell this is a bad take.

If you took the explorable area in this and compared it with Skyrim, there is way more in this.
 

Topher

Gold Member
I would hardly call that a content. Building outposts on a lifeless generated planets? I'm not sure what's the point in that especially that there's no MP component but I guess everyone understands fun and quality content differently. I personally would have to be well compensated to do that.

Outposts can bring in credits and extract minerals and do other things while you play missions. If building that stuff isn't for you then fine, but just because it isn't content you would enjoy doesn't mean it isn't content. It is. But put that outside and you've still missions galore that are going to stack up a ridiculous number of hours.

But if the game isn't for you then it isn't for you. Probably would be best do try Baldur's Gate 3 like you said.

Here's the OT:
 

J3nga

Member
Outposts can bring in credits and extract minerals and do other things while you play missions. If building that stuff isn't for you then fine, but just because it isn't content you would enjoy doesn't mean it isn't content. It is. But put that outside and you've still missions galore that are going to stack up a ridiculous number of hours.

But if the game isn't for you then it isn't for you. Probably would be best do try Baldur's Gate 3 like you said.

Here's the OT:
I might give it another go just not for a premium they are asking, it's just first impressions very pretty poor to me.
 
no, this is a loot and shoot game, i just use as exemple for dog fighting and space exploration.

if you wanna go down and really explore u can play NMS or Elite Dangerous

this is what gets me mad, look at Elite Dangerous, the feel of exploration, the size and scale. WHY a multi bilion dollar company cant pull something like this ll aways amazes me and how can ppl defend said company knowing that small studios are doing way way better ( i agree that bethesda RPG elements are good, but everything else is disappointing imo )





There is no loading screen and feels amazing, how can anyone prefers a loading screen over this in a space game ?



I feel like a crowbcat video is being made with similar footage right now
 
Holy hell this is a bad take.

If you took the explorable area in this and compared it with Skyrim, there is way more in this.
How much of Starfield’s explorable areas are seamless like Skyrim’s? It’s not just explorable areas, it’s areas you explore without meeting a loading screen. All the areas in the world don’t mean anything if you have to constantly load them in and break immersion.
 
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