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

[Osprey]

I just find it strange that a game like Hogwarts Legacy had basically the exact same criticisms thrown its way as Starfield (story, shallow RPG mechanics, exploration beyond Hogwarts, bad PC version, etc.) and similar critic review scores yet the game has a 92% rating on Steam while Starfield sits at a 74%.

I think that it's because Hogwarts Legacy was different and offered an experience (attending Hogwarts) that people had been wanting for over 20 years. Starfield, on the other hand, gives people an experience that's largely similar to what they've gotten from other Bethesda games. They could be similar quality games, but one gets a boost because it feels fresher and the other takes a hit because it's an iteration of an old formula. The scores for Bethesda's RPGs have steadily declined since Skyrim, so there could be slight fatigue.

 

[Saskatoon]

It's ok to enjoy this game but yea its pretty obvious that there isn't anything groundbreaking happening.

For me, more good questlines would have kept me playing longer. We will see what the modders can do - definitely why Skyrim lasted as long as it did.

 

[Osprey]

 

[Osprey]

How is the overall storyline in this game? Good, bad, average, other, combination of both?

If you mean the main quest, I finished it last night and thought that it was lackluster. It's repetitive (like Oblivion's gates and Skyrim's shout quests), doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the game, isn't original (in fact, I'm a little tired of the concept) and doesn't have any lasting changes unless you accept starting over in NG+ mode and losing everything (your progress, items, ships, companions and so on). It felt like Skyrim's main quest crossed with Mass Effect, but not as interesting or impactful.

 

[Turin]

Yes, I think I misspoke earlier, of course I do compare games to each other, that's why I find it strange that Starfield has a lower score than a game it is a strict upgrade over (Fallout 4). I just disagree with the idea of incorporating expectations of a game into a review, because when I read a review of a game I want just that, a review of the game, not a review of the pre-launch marketing.

Personally I think the game is on the same tier as Cyberpunk where it is comfortably better than a lot of the major "RPG"s that are coming out now (Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon series, Assassin's Creed, The Outer Worlds) while also being obviously worse than the top tier CRPGs (BG3, Divinity: OS2, Pathfinder WOTR). I just find it strange that a game like Hogwarts Legacy had basically the exact same criticisms thrown its way as Starfield (story, shallow RPG mechanics, exploration beyond Hogwarts, bad PC version, etc.) and similar critic review scores yet the game has a 92% rating on Steam while Starfield sits at a 74%.

I don't really get the shallow rpg mechanics critique. Doesn't feel shallow to me - perks feel valuable and impact your game quite a bit, in almost every quest I get a choice to persuade/kill and my backgrounds and traits come up enough in dialogue to feel satisfying. Sure it's shallow compared to isometric turn based rpgs but so was every single other Bethesda game including Morrowind.

 

[Osprey]

I don't really get the shallow rpg mechanics critique. Doesn't feel shallow to me - perks feel valuable and impact your game quite a bit, in almost every quest I get a choice to persuade/kill and my backgrounds and traits come up enough in dialogue to feel satisfying. Sure it's shallow compared to isometric turn based rpgs but so was every single other Bethesda game including Morrowind.

If you agree that the RPG mechanics are shallow compared to CRPGs, then you do understand the critique. You just don't mind because they're enough for you and similar to other Bethesda games.

 

[Turin]

If you agree that the RPG mechanics are shallow compared to CRPGs, then you do understand the critique. You just don't mind because they're enough for you and similar to other Bethesda games.

No, there are a lot of people who are acting like Starfield has shallow roleplaying mechanics relative to action adventures with light rpg elements like CDPR games or even previous Bethesda games. The rpg mechanics aren't as deep as something like Baldurs Gate, but they are generally more focused than Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim and Fallout 4. I suppose New Vegas is the outlier here, because its a sandbox open world with so many skill checks, but I see very few people comparing it to New Vegas.

 

[Osprey]

No, there are a lot of people who are acting like Starfield has shallow roleplaying mechanics relative to action adventures with light rpg elements like CDPR games or even previous Bethesda games. The rpg mechanics aren't as deep as something like Baldurs Gate, but they are generally more focused than Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim and Fallout 4. I suppose New Vegas is the outlier here, because its a sandbox open world with so many skill checks, but I see very few people comparing it to New Vegas.

I haven't seen anyone criticize the RPG mechanics for being shallower than even "light" RPGs. You may be misinterpreting the criticisms. One that I've often seen in reviews is that skills require grinding to unlock, which is a criticism of the implementation, not the depth.

 

[GreytWun]

No, there are a lot of people who are acting like Starfield has shallow roleplaying mechanics relative to action adventures with light rpg elements like CDPR games or even previous Bethesda games. The rpg mechanics aren't as deep as something like Baldurs Gate, but they are generally more focused than Oblivion, Fallout 3, Skyrim and Fallout 4. I suppose New Vegas is the outlier here, because its a sandbox open world with so many skill checks, but I see very few people comparing it to New Vegas.

The issue is Starfield was released around Baulders Gate 3. Everyone just wants to compare those two games and they are nothing alike.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

Finished the game the other day and I have to say, I am disappointed in the way new game + works. I don’t know how to use the spoiler tag so I won’t say any more than that.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Finished the game the other day and I have to say, I am disappointed in the way new game + works. I don’t know how to use the spoiler tag so I won’t say any more than that.

I heard it unlocks more story stuff unless I misheard?

 

[Jovavic]

I heard it unlocks more story stuff unless I misheard?

Ehhhh, kind of

 

[WeDislikeEich]

I heard it unlocks more story stuff unless I misheard?

I’m not sure. I didn’t actually start new game+ yet because

Spoiler

in order to start new game+ you lose everything. All weapons, skill points, star powers, money, houses, ships, etc.

That’s the part I’m frustrated with.

 

[GreytWun]

I’m not sure. I didn’t actually start new game+ yet because

Spoiler

in order to start new game+ you lose everything. All weapons, skill points, star powers, money, houses, ships, etc.

That’s the part I’m frustrated with.

Nothing happens with star powers. You just keep levelling them up to level 10.

 

[Osprey]

Maybe they should've just reserved star powers for NG+. That might've made starting over a little more interesting. They seem like an unnecessary addition to the main game and something that most people don't even use much. I didn't use any of them except for one, Gravity Wave, I think, the one that's like Force Push, and that one kind of breaks the game by making it even easier than it already is. Just knock your enemy to the ground, shoot at his limp body (especially in the head if you have the headshot skill) until he gets up, and repeat. Even the toughest legendary boss enemies don't stand a chance, even on Very Hard difficulty. There are probably other ways to cheese the game with the other star powers (half a dozen of which I didn't even bother getting because I got tired of doing temples). The powers are so unnecessary, but Bethesda evidently thought that they needed something like Skyrim's shouts in the game, even though they feel out of place.

 

[Jovavic]

I didn't use the powers in this game or the shouts in Skyrim, never saw the point

 

[WeDislikeEich]

Damn, I used the star power all the time. Especially “see star stuff”. It made all NPC’s glow, even through walls and stuff. I used it to find enemies and even companion locations on the ship or in the lodge, etc.

I also used that doppelgänger skill and a few others. But yeah, the star powers were the least of my concerns. It was losing all of the other stuff that bugged me. I’m glad to know you don’t lose the star powers at least.

Nothing happens with star powers. You just keep levelling them up to level 10.

Spoiler

What about all the other stuff? I read you lose it all. Is that correct?

 

[Jovavic]

New game +

Spoiler

you're in a new universe, it makes sense to me that you wouldn't retain all your possessions

 

[GreytWun]

Damn, I used the star power all the time. Especially “see star stuff”. It made all NPC’s glow, even through walls and stuff. I used it to find enemies and even companion locations on the ship or in the lodge, etc.

I also used that doppelgänger skill and a few others. But yeah, the star powers were the least of my concerns. It was losing all of the other stuff that bugged me. I’m glad to know you don’t lose the star powers at least.


What about all the other stuff? I read you lose it all. Is that correct?

Unfortunately yes. I hated it but I only plan on doing new game + once they start releasing new content

 

[Hammettf2b]

What kind of ships have you guys built? I'm currently building up my tech tree with ship upgrades in order to build a good ship. Currently rocking the Razorleaf from the Mantis mission. Seems like the only weapon needed is the particle beam?

 

[Osprey]

What kind of ships have you guys built? I'm currently building up my tech tree with ship upgrades in order to build a good ship. Currently rocking the Razorleaf from the Mantis mission. Seems like the only weapon needed is the particle beam?

I stopped playing a few weeks ago, but my final ship was the Kepler, which is the second one that you get through Constellation quests, after the Razorleaf. It's a class C ship that comes with some of the best parts available, even parts that you may not have the skill to add, yourself, meaning that you don't necessarily need to put points into Starship Design in order to get a powerful ship. If you just concentrate on Constellation quests, you'll eventually be given the mission by Walter Stroud. Choices made during the quest presumably affect the final ship. You can choose to design it more for combat, cargo or luxury, or go with the "kitchen sink" option, so that it has a bit of everything, which is what I did. My guess is that, no matter which choice you make, though, you probably still end up with the same base ship, just with different modules pre-attached (like more weapons if you choose combat or more cargo room if you choose cargo).

 

[Unholy Diver]

About 80% of the way thru the main story, still enjoying it but kind of losing some interest in the side stuff, and might just finish the main story straightaway and move on, currently about 85-90 hrs into it. I've seen a lot of complaints about bugs and crashes, and have only had it freeze one time, but I have run into several issues lately where the voices get muddled and the sound goes from crisp and clear to it sounds like everyone is talking under water, and I have to quit, and go to the main XB screen and close the software and restart it to fix it

 

[Turin]

Some bad news for Elder Scrolls 6.

Kurk Kuhlmann, a guy largely responsible for the lore and vision of the Elder Scrolls was let go by Bethesda early October. That means every single person who is responsible for the world of Tamriel (Kuhlmann, Peterson, Kirkbride, Rolston) is gone from Bethesda except for Todd Howard. Not good. My hope for ES6 has almost completely evaporated with that news.

Will Shen, the lead quest designer for Starfield and lead writer for Fallout 4: Far Harbor has also left the studio to work on another game. Not as bad a loss as Kuhlmann as far as ES6 is concerned, but I thought he generally did a good job.

 

[Bocephus86]

Not really sure where to look this stuff up so I'll ask here: Any rumblings of upcoming patches/performance fixes? I've been playing for a little over a week and really enjoying myself, but I am getting a ton of crashing on PC. I basically can't access Akila without a crash every 10 minutes. I'm now having some issues wrapping up the Mantis quest.

I've downloaded a tool that allows me to limit my CPU usage to 90% for Starfield, and I have been running it in admin mode with very low settings. This was done after lots of googling and testing, and it has helped a ton overall, though I still have those major issues above as well as random stuttering.

I know I need to upgrade my CPU (probably PC overall, other than my GPU 1080ti). I run an older (~6 ish? years) i5 but I've been running games like Cyberpunk near Ultra with no issues so this is a new experience for me. From my googling, it seems pretty universal for people, at least PC gamers.

That being said, I am plowing ahead as Bethesda games are aimed squarely at me. It's scratching my looter/builder itch & I really like the gun play. I just wish it wasnt so prone to freezing/crashing.

 

[Mikeaveli]

Not really sure where to look this stuff up so I'll ask here: Any rumblings of upcoming patches/performance fixes? I've been playing for a little over a week and really enjoying myself, but I am getting a ton of crashing on PC. I basically can't access Akila without a crash every 10 minutes. I'm now having some issues wrapping up the Mantis quest.

I've downloaded a tool that allows me to limit my CPU usage to 90% for Starfield, and I have been running it in admin mode with very low settings. This was done after lots of googling and testing, and it has helped a ton overall, though I still have those major issues above as well as random stuttering.

I know I need to upgrade my CPU (probably PC overall, other than my GPU 1080ti). I run an older (~6 ish? years) i5 but I've been running games like Cyberpunk near Ultra with no issues so this is a new experience for me. From my googling, it seems pretty universal for people, at least PC gamers.

That being said, I am plowing ahead as Bethesda games are aimed squarely at me. It's scratching my looter/builder itch & I really like the gun play. I just wish it wasnt so prone to freezing/crashing.

I haven't heard anything official about patches beyond the initial statement BGS made about adding an FOV slider, DLSS, etc. but the first release of the community patch just came out.

Starfield Community Patch (SFCP)

A community-driven mod fixing bugs, errors and inconsistencies in Starfield. This project aims to make the game better for everyone by offering up fixes in a free and collaborative manner.

www.nexusmods.com