Starfield (Xbox & PC)
 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/raWbElTCea8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9b4v8B44l2E" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Okay.

So with the big Starfield Direct show tomorrow, and with most critics and gamers calling this Xbox's "Hail Mary", I'd figure I make a thread about this.

Launch date is 9-6-23. And I wouldn't be surprised if retailers flipped the switch tomorrow and started taking preorders after the show wraps.

I know No Man's Sky has been keeping things fresh every now and then. But it was a quick game to get all trophies/achievements and walk away from.

Elite Dangerous has strictly become a PC game after the disastrous Odyssey DLC launch and Frontier making the decision to abandon console support.

Star Citizen is out there. But I don't think that's ever going to see the light of day. It's still in like Alpha or Beta phase, right?


Who's hyped up? Let's talk about it.

Beyond hyped. Space is my favorite setting. I love No Man's Sky, but combining that with bethesda's single player rpg narrative and everything that comes with that is basically my dream game.

No man's sky has 18 quintillion planets. According to Todd, Starfield will have 1,000. This is actually great news in my opinion. It makes me hopeful they are taking more direct control in how these planets are generated to ensure a greater amount of variety than it's peers.

Since it's confirmed there is no seamless transition between flying in space and landing on a planet, then I'm assuming theres no in atmosphere flight, which is disappointing. But I wonder if there will be a land vehicle for getting around the planet.

I need to see A LOT more to be interested. Right now it all sounds good but i need them to show not tell

Presentation today looked great. Its not a console seller for me but when a console seller comes along its a game I'll def pick up...and Metaphor might be that console seller soooo....

Persona 3 remake looks good too.

I remember saying that after all of microsofts recent fails, Starfield can't just be a homerun. It needs to be a grandslam. That deep dive did a lot to convince me they could pull it off.

Only negative is that its locked at 30 fps on console to keep it consistent while all that shit is going on under the hood. PC can run at 60. Mine exceeds the recommended requirements so I might get it on that.

So, watching the presentation, and the watch/controller/headset give me strong Activision vibes.

No, I don't mean current Activision/Blizzard. I mean old school Atari 2600 era "ActiVision" where they'd mail you patches and posters and pins for high scores and shit. Even down to the rainbow aesthetic, since ActiVision used to incorporate that in a lot of the game cover art.


Even though this would be serious conflation, I almost feel like I should also get an Atari Force-esque comic when purchasing this game.

Wank. I've been on 60 for so long that 30 now "looks like shit" to my eyes.


Maybe they can patch it in later or make it "X/S optimized"

So I watched the Starfield Direct after I got home from work today.

I'm liking what I'm seeing. But, I was they just went a bit deeper in regards to the Outposts. Feel like you're going to need an army and a ton of money to pay them if you're going to dot the galaxy with those things. Probably going to have to be smart and have a home system/area.

Not gonna spring for an Xbox when I got a PC rig sitting here just waiting to be put through the paces. Definitely need a new monitor. Wal-Mart brand I'm using now is already on the way out.

I made a comment yesterday/earlier today about the old school ActiVison thing. But something else dawned on me on my way home: a reason why this game kinda ticked a deep seeded box with me.

The rainbow motif. The astronaut suit. My childhood obsession with the space program. I felt the same way watching this presentation of Starfield as I felt as a 3-4 year old looking at the box art for Super Breakout for the Atari 2600.

Why can't Bethesda get eyes right? Always fookin freaky lookin. It's like the running joke that Deadpool creator can't draw feet.

Yeah.... seems very "Fallout in space" right now. That's cool..... but it needs more polish IMO. Looks like it could be a FO4 expansion tbh.

I dunno man, dead eyes aside, this looks a lot better than fallout to me. You might even say 16 TIMES BETTER.

BUT yeah, animation and gunplay specifically looks much improved. Which isn't surprising since apparently they brought in id to help them with it.

I cant take "fallout in space" as a bad thing

It's not a bad thing, per se. It's more of "geez I expected it to look better" and not like it's just a skinned over FO game. Many of the gun sounds and their looks are ripped right out of FO. A combo of FO4 and 76 weapons, with a "fresh coat of paint".



https://youtu.be/Ccio85o2Zy0?t=2291


Watching the combat there ^ it is very obvious.


I will 100% be all over this, as it is my favorite type of setting AND favorite type of game genre. Just somewhat disappointing that it feels more of the "same same".


No doubt it'll be fun.

Well, it's getting some great reviews.

But it sounds like it ain't setting the world on fire as it should be.

Sounds to be your standard fare Bethesda game:


Short main quest
Shallow dialogue options
no "full control" over space flight
too many loading screens




On the flipside of those complaints:


There's always been a fuckton of stuff to do outside of main quests in Bethesda games


Dialogue options haven't mattered in an extremely long time, and wouldn't be a revolutionary change anyway. Bring back dialogue checks that rely on attributes instead.


Not sure what was expected with flight controls.... did people want Kerbal Space physics orrrrr? Players would complain of flight difficulty


Stuff wouldn't look "as good" if there weren't loading screens. People would complain about quality.

Maybe, like The Ink Spots, it doesn’t want to. #references

It definitely isnt enough to get me into their ecosystem. After the xbone the wounds are just too deep. One day though

I wouldn’t worry too much. You’ve got probably at least 5 years if you care about TES VI at all, possibly upwards of 10 if you care about Fallout 5.

Ive told myself the system needs 3 sure fire cant miss console sellers before ill buy it ive learned my lesson. With the studios they have now i think it will happen but until it does... i wait.

How's it looking, Fig?

PRONOUNS!?

fag

Picking this up on PC tomorrow. But won't be playing it immediately.

Referring to the 'viral' video here (at 30 seconds) if anyone is interested:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B4JWMxV8pz0?si=_SoTDkhuFTAxmscs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Loving it so far. I a watched enough videos before hand to know what to expect though. I said that No Man's sky with bethesda style narrative and world building is my dream game, this isn't that. It's not a space exploration sim. It's very much a narrative driven, traditional bethesda rpg. Space and planetary exploration is more supplementary material to help establish setting and world building, and additionally to give you different places to survey, loot for resources, and kill stuff. It's almost like the classic radiant quests but on a much grander scale. end of the day, if you love bethesda rpgs, you'll love this. If you don't it probably won't change your mind.

Guns feel like a signifigant improvement over fallout. Really putting that id partnership to good use. Combat feels really good. The best it ever has in a bethesda game. Especially when you rank up the boost pack and you're jetting around a base in low gravity.


Lore and history of the world they've created is engaging so far. The big cities and even medium sized settlements are all really cool. Main story questline hasn't really picked up yet but I'm told that it starts slow and picks up. I've been to distarcted by side quests which have been pretty choice. The faction stuff in particular has been really fun.

The other thing thats distracted me a lot is ship building. I play fallout 76 exclusively for the camp building aspect, and this really scratches that itch. Theres so much you can do with it, and experimenting with it is addicting. I already fully levelled up my piloting skill and have a ship large enough where it takes a minute to find a specific crew member.

Space flight and combat feels good. Especially fun to use the targeting to take out their engines and board them. Sometimes it knocks out the gravity. Zero g combat is cool.

I haven't messed with outpost building very much as it requires a lot of resources and as such is considered a late game mechanic. Or at least building the kind of outpost I want to is. I could probably build a small one to get a resource.

A few negatives so far. Some strange QoL decisions. Stuff that has been introduced in fallout 76 like a keyring, area looting, and being able to enter in how much of an item you want trade,sell etc. with the numberpad isn't there.

There's no quick swap between weapons. Instead you use the d-pad with every direction having 3 slots. It's very quick and responsive though, so it's less of an issue than you'd think. Still worth mentioning.

The biggest flaw is how little it guides you for certain things. For instance, I had trouble docking at first, because the game doesn't explain you have to hover over an icon, switch to scan, and then hit A to target. Then the dock and hail options appear. Lots of little stuff details like that, but the biggest offender is ship building mode. There is a signifigantly steep learning curve, and the game does NOTHING to help you navigate it. Everything I know about it, I learned from youtube videos.

I feel like bethesda really intended for this to go back to a hard, immersive role playing experience. You can spend hours upon hours just playing a role as a pirate or bounty hunter. You could even go all in on science and spend all your time building outposts and surveying the planet and collecting resources, and selling the results of those endeavors. I think it's going to be easier to lose yourself in this world, moreso than any other bethesda game to date.

I've barely had time to play, I think I'm level 3.




Anyhoo, this all sounds awesome. I had no idea about knocking shit out in space and fighting in zero G - that's going to be insane.


You built some MONSTER camps in 76 dude, those things were always badass.


Thanks for sharing all this man, giving me more to look forward to.

I hate being an adult with a kid and responsibilities as I want to play this game so bad, but considering I STILL play skyrim and MK11 and MK1 is about to launch, I just dont have time :'(

Is it any good? My buddy that is a big Bethesda fan bought and Steam cancelled within 3 hours. shrug

it is good, but also isn't 100% what they said it'd be.


I am level 17 from weekend play, I've gotten to what I believe is a pretty big turning point in the main story.


I'd say 100% expect a Fallout game, more or less. There are different nuances and systems in place to make it feel different, but by and large it is your standard Bethesda piece of action. The locked 30FPS is my biggest gripe, so far.



Gunplay feels great, honestly. Loot, even at low level, feels great as well. I've a few legendary drops for weapons, and epics for various pieces of armor.


I can see them overhauling the UI. It is very clunky and things are not clearly explained. I can do with digging through menus and sub-menus..... but for a LOT of things, there is ZERO context which can seem frustrating in a complex game. It should be patched.



I don't even think I've scratched the surface, like, at all. I've not taken my time with side stuff, so I may be missing things. I've not come across ship building yet.


Story is cool, and after what I just learned last night, it's getting better.




Thus far, 8/10 - and it's because of the controls and 30fps

For those dealing with serious performance-related issues on PC, an open-source developer recently managed to dig deep into the game's coding and structure to figure out what is the main culprit and it turns out the game has some serious issues in regards to the way it handles video memory.

The good news is that the problem is entirely fixable and the bad news is that its all up to Bethesda on when or if they get around to fixing it and do it properly.

Link: https://www.destructoid.com/open-sou...-in-starfield/ , https://github.com/HansKristian-Work...oton/pull/1694

LolOptimization

Coming up on what I believe is the final mission. Made some pretty monumental choices and was told when it was the "final round".


Didn't do many side quests, though I think I'm going to take the time to do that. I was level 18 killing level 30 enemies. The damn explosive SMG with a 250 fire rate is STILL wiping the floors with everything. I'll never get rid of that gun.

Also had my first location in Zero G. Tried peering over a ledge, thought I was gonna fall and just started floating.


Zero G Combat is fuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnn.




Man this game just gets better and better

I might ban posts for Starfield. I haven't decided yet.

Given that yo're so far into the main quest you may want to just finish it and do sidequest and sandbox stuff in subsequent playthroughs. I say that because of how new game + actually works.

The following doesn't have any story spoilers. It just explains how the mechanics of new game + works in regards to what carries over. But I'll tag it regardless.

2 faction questlines completed and I feel confidant doubling down on my comment about faction content being the best bethesda has ever done