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Starfield Shattered Space |OT| Is that the Great Serpent or are you just happy to see me?

avin

Member
I'm going to say this is good. The artwork was always fantastic, but at least some of the writing now seems better. You're on a different world with a different culture and you know it. Some of the new enemies pack a punch, it's a challenge for me even just playing normal difficulty. I know it's early days, but I'm having fun with this right now.

avin
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Thoroughly enjoying this so far. Love the premise of the story. Interesting characters. Like getting the lay of the land and the political landscape of Va'Ruun. Definitely the most interesting faction which is probably why it got its own expansion.
 

John Marston

GAF's very own treasure goblin
I'd assumed it would be better to take Andreja on this one, but from what I've played - the Oracle, down to the home planet, a main quest, a side quest - I can't see that it mattered much. She's returned to her home world, shouldn't it mean more than it seems to? Maybe it'll get better, but for now it seems such a very obvious missed opportunity.

avin
I'm about to restart a new walkthrough and was thinking the same thing as Andreja was my favorite.

Oh well thanks for answering my question 🙂
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I need to give it a go sometime this week but the takes are all over



Steam reviews are saying it isn't worth $30. Seems they were expecting a lot more new weapons, enemies, companions etc. Not sure why. Bethesda didn't advertise this as anything but a story expansion from what I can tell.

But there has been a spike in Starfield players so I'm wondering if a lot of folks are trying to level up to play Shattered Space. That level 35 recommendation is going to deter a lot of folks.

cFDEOu9.png
 
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Mephisto40

Member
$30 for a mission pack smaller than the nuka world DLC in fallout

Zero new game mechanics, no new companions, barely any new enemies

Yeh, i'll pass

And this is coming from somebody that has actually paid for the DLC already because I bought the super edition at launch

Overpriced garbage
 
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This is so bad. Writing is terrible and it is putting me to sleep - so bland and dull, and it still has all the flaws of the main game with its laughably bad UI, weight management, load screens etc.

Only playing because I stupidly bought the premium edition at launch. I want to see how terribly they wrap this up, I have high hopes that I'll at least get a good laugh out of it. Otherwise it feels like time already wasted.

If you didn't enjoy Starfield there's zero reason whatsoever to play this. This is possibly even more dull.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
This is so bad. Writing is terrible and it is putting me to sleep - so bland and dull, and it still has all the flaws of the main game with its laughably bad UI, weight management, load screens etc.

Only playing because I stupidly bought the premium edition at launch. I want to see how terribly they wrap this up, I have high hopes that I'll at least get a good laugh out of it. Otherwise it feels like time already wasted.

If you didn't enjoy Starfield there's zero reason whatsoever to play this. This is possibly even more dull.

Agree on the poor UI and the weight management. A bit of a pain. I'm enjoying the story and the characters, but yeah.....if you didn't like the base game then you won't like the expansion. Don't find it dull at all myself, but to each their own.
 
How are people already giving it negative reviews for being too short? I'm only 4 hours in and I doubt it's about to end soon.

Too early to tell whether I like it or not but artstyle is still great. Probably the best thing about the base game.

Agree on the poor UI and the weight management. A bit of a pain. I'm enjoying the story and the characters, but yeah.....if you didn't like the base game then you won't like the expansion. Don't find it dull at all myself, but to each their own.
Weight management ain't so bad with the custom difficulties that let you adjust how much you can carry. UI can be modded but I'm not sure if that's available for consoles.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Weight management ain't so bad with the custom difficulties that let you adjust how much you can carry. UI can be modded but I'm not sure if that's available for consoles.

I'm on PC, but yeah....I'm just talking about the non-modded game. I had some mods in my first playthrough that improved the UI dramatically but I've had a fresh Windows install since then so need to go back and find them again.
 
I'm on PC, but yeah....I'm just talking about the non-modded game. I had some mods in my first playthrough that improved the UI dramatically but I've had a fresh Windows install since then so need to go back and find them again.
I wasn't sure if those mods are avaible through creation club so consoles might have access to them too. I know that for Skyrim and FO4 for the Steam Deck I was able to download the unofficial patches through the creation club. While the base UI could be better what really made a difference for me was the mod that made the UI more responsive and removed that ridiculous 30 fps cap. Like, come on Bethesda, they're just menus, surely even the XSS can handle menus with more than 30 fps.
 

ebevan91

Member
Been playing Cyberpunk and loving the shit out of it.

I re-downloaded SF and the DLC but I’m reluctant to try it out. I’m far from level 35.
I played like 2 hours so far probably.

I was only level 30 or 31 when I started the DLC and it hasn't been too difficult yet.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Damn shame that Steam thread has overtaken the primary discussion.

Only 1 review so far and it's a 9/10.


-


What Culture doesn't do scores but they seemed to have liked it as well.

They didn't get back to the game since launch so all the QoL changes are mostly new to them and their general overall impression is more positive now.


 
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clarky

Gold Member
Its a good containment thread.
Was just about to say the same thing.

The few opinions ive seen on YT and Reddit seem to be fairly positive. It sounds exactly like what i was expecting, A new quest line, location and a few side quests. Seems par for the course, 10 to 15 hours is fine.
 
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Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Was just about to say the same thing.

The few opinions ive seen on YT and Reddit seem to be fairly positive. It sounds exactly like what i was expecting, A new quest line, location and a few side quests. Seems par for the course, 10 to 15 hours is fine.
I havent started it yet. Been gearing up and doing main game stuff all day. I dont listen to any narratives about this game.
 
How are people already giving it negative reviews for being too short? I'm only 4 hours in and I doubt it's about to end soon.

Too early to tell whether I like it or not but artstyle is still great. Probably the best thing about the base game.


Weight management ain't so bad with the custom difficulties that let you adjust how much you can carry. UI can be modded but I'm not sure if that's available for consoles.
30$ for a DLC is quite expensive, especially when a large portion of the player base played it for free on gamepass. Elden Ring DLC was 40-50hrs and its 40$. A 10 hr DLC for 100hr RPG just isn't very much

Regardless, the Steam numbers are not good. I'm genuinely concerned, not only with future Expansions, but also with the commitment of modders. The player base just doesn't seem there
 
30$ for a DLC is quite expensive, especially when a large portion of the player base played it for free on gamepass. Elden Ring DLC was 40-50hrs and its 40$. A 10 hr DLC for 100hr RPG just isn't very much

Regardless, the Steam numbers are not good. I'm genuinely concerned, not only with future Expansions, but also with the commitment of modders. The player base just doesn't seem there
I'm just wondering how people have finished so fast when the game only came out yesterday. It's not like there was early access for the DLC.
 

gothmog

Gold Member
I'm just wondering how people have finished so fast when the game only came out yesterday. It's not like there was early access for the DLC.
It's only 10 hours long and it came out yesterday. You could have gotten a full night's sleep and beaten it in two 5 hour sessions by now.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
It's only 10 hours long and it came out yesterday. You could have gotten a full night's sleep and beaten it in two 5 hour sessions by now.

It is longer than 10 hours. I put seven hours in the game yesterday only doing the main quest line and I'm about a third done. Just not buying this ten hour nonsense folks are saying unless they are rushing through everything. 15 hours, maybe.
 
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gothmog

Gold Member
It is longer than 10 hours. I put seven hours in the game yesterday only doing the main quest line and I'm about a third done. Just not buying this ten hour nonsense folks are saying unless they are rushing through everything. 15 hours, maybe.
Some people skip every line of dialogue would be my guess.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I don't get the point of "creations" if most of them disable achievements. I installed the inventory UI mod and the load screen mod. Neither one of those are going to make achievements easier so why do they disable achievements.

Back to Nexus I guess. StarUI works great.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
I don't get the point of "creations" if most of them disable achievements. I installed the inventory UI mod and the load screen mod. Neither one of those are going to make achievements easier so why do they disable achievements.

Back to Nexus I guess. StarUI works great.
Yeah, I don’t get it either. There’s one that removes the weird lighting shaders, and that too disables achievements.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
It is longer than 10 hours. I put seven hours in the game yesterday only doing the main quest line and I'm about a third done. Just not buying this ten hour nonsense folks are saying unless they are rushing through everything. 15 hours, maybe.
Remember that Kotaku article about the Tracker's Alliance DLC taking "15 minutes?" Yeah, I remember.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Remember that Kotaku article about the Tracker's Alliance DLC taking "15 minutes?" Yeah, I remember.

I don't recall that one but knowing Kotaku, not surprised. Either way, not putting a lot of stock in content creators on YouTube who are racing through the game so they can say they finished it and post videos as quickly as possible to beat other content creators to the punch.
 
I paid for the DLC and play early package so I gave this a try.

The content is good so far but I have the same complaints as before. The menus are frustratingly clunky to use, the star map is horrendous and space travel is unfun.

Fortunately once I got to the DLC everything has been inside - so far.

If I hadn’t already paid for the DLC I would never have bought it.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
On second house quest. A bit lame. It is the one where the some minister's son runs away and the minister won't allow access the power grid to help fix the problems until his son is executed. Makes no sense. I figured there would be at least one shitty quest in the game. Hopefully this is the only one.
 

Diseased Yak

Gold Member
I've distracted myself with wandering around and picking up sidequests. I did one where two brothers were pissed at each other and wanting to fight a duel that was pretty cool, esp how you pick what you're gonna do in the quest.
 

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
Geared up. Got the best sniper rifle in the game and upgraded it with a suppressor. Got the car. Beat the main quest again to stock up on ammo.
Finally ready to start.

 
I finished the DLC. Around 16 hours with what I think are the main long side quest chains done as well. I also did a few optional caves. Definitely had my fill now. Never touching Starfield again. Might as well play this DLC as a reminder to myself never to buy Bethesda's junk games again and as punishment on myself for being dumb and buying the deluxe edition at launch, believeing that it would Bethesda's return to form. I am so done with this junk game design.

DLC story is lame as shit with Bethesda's terrible writing and usual inability to string together a coherent main quest. The choices you make feel forced and they even deny you one major choice you can make towards the end - the games just goes nope and disrespects it immediately. Feels like they ran out on time, money and inspiration to take this anywhere remotely interesting.

The final long sequence in the main story is nice from an art point of view, so there was something to enjoy there. Music was also great at times.
 

salva

Member
Finally got started with Shattered Space. Just got to Darza.
Loving the vibe so far. I'm not going to bother commenting on all the usual Starfield negativity - but if you love the base game you'll love Shattered Space. If you hate Starfield, you're still going to hate it.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
Finished the DLC. The end came a lot quicker than I was expecting. Total game time for me was 13 hours. There were several side missions that I could have done, but didn't. Either way, I was wrong in calling bullshit on those that completed the game in 10 hours. That seems doable now. But the length of the DLC was fine to me. No issues there.

Rest of my thoughts.....don't read if you don't want to be spoiled. Be warned.

-I don't know why this was characterized as "horror". The initial ship part was spooky, but that was it. The "phantoms" were nothing more than soldiers with guns, gone mad.

-I wish Andreja had a part in the story. She wasn't even required to be there. That was disappointing.

-The initial ship mission was really a lot of fun. The hostage mission and the dam mission were both good as well. Fire whoever wrote the runaway son mess. That was shit.

-The mission I said previously that I thought was bad was really the only really bad one. The others were fine. Until....

-The end game makes you choose what happens in conclusion. Or at least that is how they make it out. This is where the DLC really fails. You have only one choice. If you choose the alternative the game just loops you back until you make the correct choice. I saved before making my choice so that I could experience both. Incredibly disappointing that it was bullshit. I would have liked to have seen the consequences of not going down the right path.

-The ending itself was just a leader turned mad scientist out to conquer the galaxy trope. Not exactly original. Enjoyed the journey a bit more than the destination, I have to say.

Overall, taking it all into consideration, it started great but just didn't follow through. Not going to say it was bad. Felt like Bethesda left a lot on the table that could have been explored with House Va'ruun especially with Andreja's background. This would have been better as a faction quest in the base game and don't think they justified the DLC price tag. Not going to say I agree with all the negativity the DLC is getting, but at the same time, I can understand it.

So yeah, it was just ok, but it could have been a lot better.

Looking forward to watching Mattyp Mattyp 's review now that I'm done.
 

Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
decided to upgrade my ship's engine's (and guns) and I'm now 200k poorer.
bCbuy0v.jpeg

I saw some cool ship mods that added staircases to habs though (derretech), but it's bs that every mod disables achievements so I'm just gonna wait till I don't have anything else to do in the game.
 
On second house quest. A bit lame. It is the one where the some minister's son runs away and the minister won't allow access the power grid to help fix the problems until his son is executed. Makes no sense. I figured there would be at least one shitty quest in the game. Hopefully this is the only one.
I remember when this type of stuff used to be considered charm of Bethesda games.

Personally I consider this to be video gamey writing where characters are not trying to be actual people. I treat them same as characters in Mario or Zelda games.
 

avin

Member
The final boss fight at the end of the main story was I thought really good. The debrief/choice after was complete bullshit. Overall: some pretty great missions, riddled with missed opportunities.

As many people have said before me, if you don't already like Starfield, this won't change anything. There's a great game buried in here, somewhere, but we won't see it until Starfield 2. If you do like Starfield, though - perhaps for the magic that is as much your imagination working with these developers - I thought this DLC better than just more of the same.

avin

edit: just learned to use spoiler tags, which for me signifies great personal growth.
 
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Topher

Identifies as young
I remember when this type of stuff used to be considered charm of Bethesda games.

Personally I consider this to be video gamey writing where characters are not trying to be actual people. I treat them same as characters in Mario or Zelda games.

No charm in this one. It was just stupid and so it stood out from the rest.
 
The most impressive thing to me in this expansion is that it didn’t break any of my mods….that has to be a first, even the Fallout 4 hotfixes broke shit.
 

avin

Member
There's a side quest called "Scientific Method" that deserves to win an award for the stupidest, most irritating quest ever made. It's so bad it's actually worth checking out.

avin
 

dmaul1114

Member
Haven’t got to the DLC yet, but I’ve been having a great time since I got back into the base game earlier this week.

Finished up the Ryuji faction quest line earlier today and working on the Crimson Fleet one now as I had skipped those two before betting the campaign back around launch.

Was level 31 when I fired the game back up, and up to 33 now, so hopefully finishing this quest line will get me to the 35 recommended for the DLC.
 
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