Starfield - Bethesda Softworks - Release Date - Sep 6th 2023

[93LEAFS]

I must have missed them because I played the game on PC day 1 and a score of 86 reflects my experience pretty accurately.

CDPR also only sent out PC review codes. So no outlet knew how terrible shape the game was in on 8th gen consoles.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

I only watched about 5 minutes of one review (ACG’s review posted here) but from the little I saw I’m still excited to play this game.

I haven’t really bothered reading or watching reviews on this game because it’s not a game im debating whether to buy. I usually watch reviews when I’m trying to decide if I want to spend money on a game.

StarField is on game pass and I used free reward points to get the early access + first DLC. So I know I’m playing it tonight. I’ll decide for myself if I like it or not. I don’t need a reviewer to tell me…

I think my expectations are pretty realistic though.
I expect a typical Bethesda game - like a Skyrim/Fallout type of experience in outer space. I’m also expecting it to be a big game I can put a bunch of hours into. I feel pretty confident it can live up to those expectations.


Getting close now! Just over an hour until early access opens up!

 

[Jovavic]

1800 seconds left

 

[Mikeaveli]

CDPR also only sent out PC review codes. So no outlet knew how terrible shape the game was in on 8th gen consoles.

Youre right and thats the reason why I don't think IGN's 9/10 score is out of place. They reviewed the PC version which was actually good.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

Anyone else with early access not able to play? I keep getting the message that I am too early. But I paid for early access and the upgrade is installed.

Edit - nevermind it’s finally working after a 2nd reboot of my series x.

 

[Tw1ster]

Youre right and thats the reason why I don't think IGN's 9/10 score is out of place. They reviewed the PC version which was actually good.

That’s a fair statement. I never played the PC version upon release, I thought the launch across all platforms was a disaster but I stand corrected.

Either way, it looks like with aggregate score so far, IGN seems to be the outlier in this case and this game is closer to a 9 than a 7. We shall see!

 

[Andrei79]

Reviews are ranging from pretty good to really good. Both IGN and Gamespot rated it a 7. It seems like its a Bethesda game through and through and other, smaller reviewers seem to think it's pretty bug free and stable for a Bethesda game. Fallout and Skyrim aren't exactly masterpieces to me. However, they're so immersive that always end up playing many hours. They're great games and the world design has always been top notch. I was afraid for another Fallout 76 and it doesn't seem like it is.

 

[Turin]

For what it's worth, the IGN dude scored Fallout 4 a 9.5 and Outer Worlds an 8.5.. so.. he's just a bad barometer for RPGs.

 

[Smelling Salt]

Lots of complaints about performance. And FSR not actually doing anything. And no HDR support despite that being advertised. I have a mid-range system (12400, 6750xt, 32 gigs) so I am expecting 45-60 fps at low/medium settings @1080p when I try later tonight.

 

[93LEAFS]

Youre right and thats the reason why I don't think IGN's 9/10 score is out of place. They reviewed the PC version which was actually good.

Yeah, what I took away from that is, that no reviewer should just accept a PC code. Like, that was the very end of the 8th gen, and any PC used to review it is dramatically more powerful than a PS4 or X-Box One. I thought it was very dishonest/misleading from CDPR to do that, when the console version was so broken. It should have been a wake-up call to the entire industry. Now, PS5 and Series consoles are atleast within punching distance of a mid-range PC. Curious to see the Digitial Foundry PC breakdown. I'm not a huge WRPG fan or Bethesda, but I'll obviously check it out since I have PC Gamepass.

 

[GreytWun]

I played a couple hours, Lots of examining and exploring for me so far. I spent more time looking around the rooms than engaging in battles lol. Just finished the first mission and headed to the city. Really enjoying the game so far and game runs perfect.

Only weird thing I noticed so far is sometimes when I go to my inventory and then back to the game I won't have my weapon in my hand until I try to shoot then it appears.

 

[542365]

Just fired it up and I must be doing something wrong. I assume everyone gets the same first mission, so hopefully someone can help. I’m supposed to land on this moon Kreet, but it’s insanely far away. I’ve been heading in a straight line towards it and using the boost when available and engines on full for 20 minutes and it’s gone from 2.9 LS away to 2.8 LS. There no way they want us to fly literal hours to the next place. Is this a bug? Did anyone else have this issue? Is there like a hyper speed that I’m not aware of? Anything will help.

Edit: Never mind. I’m just a dumbass and wasn’t paying attention….

 

[Tw1ster]

I’m digging this in third person so far, which has surprised me. And wow, that soundtrack!

Also runs very nicely on Series S

 

[Oogie Boogie]

Running into some performance issues on my end unfortunately that have honestly made it hard to continue playing at points, however I'm sticking with it and it's been fun.

 

[542365]

Played for a couple of hours. Feels very much like Fallout to this point. I'm dropping some frames here and there, but nothing terrible. I'm really enjoying it and wishing I didn't have to go to work tomorrow so I could play it all day. Excited to see more.

 

[NyQuil]

Yeah or finding vol. 2, 3, & 6 of the history books randomly

Don't you mean pages of the books scattered randomly in random order?

 

[Smelling Salt]

Lots of complaints about performance. And FSR not actually doing anything. And no HDR support despite that being advertised. I have a mid-range system (12400, 6750xt, 32 gigs) so I am expecting 45-60 fps at low/medium settings @1080p when I try later tonight.

Performance was better than I expected actually. Ran at 55-75 in the outside areas with everything on High. Changing to Ultra only dropped by about 5fps. I suppose you could say this is still pretty low for a game that started development 10 years ago, but it didn't feel chunky or have any large variances so it felt smooth.

Funny how people have different experiences. Some people say their CPU gets slammed but mine was only 6-8% usage. GPU was 96%.

Game needs a brightness slider though. Totally washed out. Had to make huge gamma adjustments on my monitor to make it look reasonable.

Sucks I have to work today. I'm digging what I see so far and I've never been into these types of games.

 

[Jovavic]

What background did everyone pick? I went with Ronin but I feel I might make a different character and not do my usual Bethesda "sneaky stabby" person.

Dogfighting is ass, though. It does seem like No Man's Sky mixed with Elite Dangerous with some Mass Effect sprinkled in, but it's early.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Don't you mean pages of the books scattered randomly in random order?

Yeah that works as well, nothing quite like missing a piece here or there to leave things incomplete

Like I don't know how many times I have played Bioshock, but I have never found all of the audio diaries, I always manage to miss one or two at least

 

[GreytWun]

What background did everyone pick? I went with Ronin but I feel I might make a different character and not do my usual Bethesda "sneaky stabby" person.

Dogfighting is ass, though. It does seem like No Man's Sky mixed with Elite Dangerous with some Mass Effect sprinkled in, but it's early.

I went with soldier so it upgraded 3 different skills on 3 different trees.

The AI is terrible, I hope they improve it. They just aren’t smart or aggressive so far. If you turn up the difficultly they just become bullet sponges rather than better.

 

[Turin]

Played for 3 hours last night, enough to meet Constellation. The dialogue is a welcome improvement over Skyrim and especially Fallout 4. Combat is pretty fun so far, I love the art style. The animations and graphics are still Bethesda.. but I don’t mind personally. With the gravity effects it literally feels like Oblivion when you jump lol. Don’t like fighting in space but didn’t think I would either - apparently your first ship is terrible though and makes it feel worse than it is.

Oh and having a city like New Atlantis in a BGS game is a welcome sight. People everywhere.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

I played for about 4 hours last night and so far I like it. I am still not to a point where I got to the open world yet. I took my time exploring and collecting, etc.

I would say it’s basically what you would expect from a good Bethesda game. It’s kind of like fallout in space, with better dialogue. I also get a bit of mass effect vibes early on.

I’m looking forward to playing more at some point today (hopefully!).

 

[Tw1ster]

I played for about 4 hours last night and so far I like it. I am still not to a point where I got to the open world yet. I took my time exploring and collecting, etc.

I would say it’s basically what you would expect from a good Bethesda game. It’s kind of like fallout in space, with better dialogue. I also get a bit of mass effect vibes early on.

I’m looking forward to playing more at some point today (hopefully!).

Definitely agree with the MassEffext vibes!

Also, I can already tell this game is just going to be me veering off doing random shit for hours. Just left The Lodge for the first time and a bunch of activities popped up from npc conversations nearby, took me all the way to the slums. Good fun so far

 

[Mikeaveli]

Put around 6 hours into the game last night, I am having a really good time. My only real complaint is that HDR seems to be broken on PC. The main menu and loading screens look great with perfect blacks but the game world looks washed out and even dark areas appear like they are glowing. Hopefully there will be a mod or fix for that soon because the planet surfaces, interiors, and space all look really nice but the bad HDR implementation really sets the visuals back from where they should be.

Performance was fine for me (80+ FPS at native 4k) but I am running this on a top of the line PC, I have seen some videos of midrange rigs struggling to hit 60 FPS even at 1080p. Steam Deck compatibility also seems to be out of the question lol

 

[Turin]

What background did everyone pick? I went with Ronin but I feel I might make a different character and not do my usual Bethesda "sneaky stabby" person.

Dogfighting is ass, though. It does seem like No Man's Sky mixed with Elite Dangerous with some Mass Effect sprinkled in, but it's early.

Diplomat, I’m always heavy on speech if the game rewards it.