Starfield

[mmmark]

15 hours ago, Nag said:

^^That didn't work unfortunately... oh well, I'll just have to have borderline OCD while playing.

 

I married Sarah and now everytime I sleep on my ship she's being a complete sex pest.🤣

Apparently you need to go back to an extreme weather planet, have the warning show and walk back to your ship, not fast travel. 
 

I played a little more of this earlier and it’s just so cool and satisfying. The sound design is sublime. 

[Nag]

Yeah I've seen (and tried) that fix with a couple of different extreme environments, including the same type, no dice. Pretty certain it was a Crimson Fleet mission that was responsible.

 

I think this game has jumped to the top spot in my game of 2023 list... I'm not going to pretend it's perfect but it's clicked with me now and I'm having a ton of fun with it.

[spatular]

Yeah theres definitely problems with it but i enjoyed it overall. finished it the other day, 4 factions done, think the vanguard and pirate ones were the best. Barely did anything else like companion stuff, building outposts/spaceships, sidequests, etc. did do a lot of collecting stuff to sell for money which turned out to be a waste as the money wasnt needed at all.

 

There were enough good missions throughout to keep me interested. Thought there were often interesting stories going on but the game doesnt always make the most of them, like the outcomes maybe everyone seems to go along with whatever you say, like if it was the witcher youd pick what sounds like the good option and everything goes wrong, not that id want that to happen all the time but the outcomes could be a little more interesting sometimes. Not sure ive explained that too well but yeah it was pretty good anyway.

always like sneaking through vents in games, even the comedy massive ones you can sprint through here.

 

the graphics are really nice at points too, although the faces arent great and the environments are a mixed bag, some places look amazing, and the insides of the ships/buildings often look really nice and sharp.

 

the combat both ship and on foot isnt great but its not bad either, its fine for an rpg type game.

[mmmark]

Practice makes perfect!

[Nag]

Just done the Entangled mission... that was pretty good, obviously it reminded me of that level in Titanfall 2.

[Nag]

And that's it.... done, level 43 and 84 hours on the clock.

 

After a shaky start I grew to really liking pretty much everything about this from the gunplay to the ship fighting... I'll definitely be returning for a new game plus playthrough but I'll probably leave it until the dlc expansion drops as there's loads going on in video-game land at the moment... I left a load of quests in my log list too so I'll concentrate on side stuff in a new playthrough.

 

Just some pics...

 

 

 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

 

[Nag]

No-one asked you Juicehead.😉

 

I've booted this up again today just for a look see after the recent updates... it has to be said that the HDR and brightness toggles make a world of difference, I can actually get proper blacks now which is nice. Admittedly those should've been in the game at launch but they were probably too busy making up replies to steam reviews.😄

[one-armed dwarf]

This guy keeps posting negativity from the internet! 😛 👎

 

I'm not touching this game again until the first expansion. I still have like 3 other factions to do, I hope they put a hardcore mode in it and make it feel a bit more like James Kirk than selecting waypoints. I need my Space Serpent faction

[Nag]

I'll probably bounce back off it in any case (like you I'm really waiting for the expansion) I just wanted to see if much had changed and how the beginning of the game went in NG+.

[DisturbedSwan]

More weird news than negative news lol, it's just bizarre isn't it? 

 

It's something entitled Indie dev nob jockeys like Digital Homicide etc. have done in the past, just so bizarre for a big company like Bethesda under an even bigger humungous corporation like Microsoft to do really, super odd.

 

No reflection on the game though, I have no thoughts on it really myself as I never played enough of it.

[one-armed dwarf]

I just think it's sort of unremarkable tbh, I was taking the piss with the negativity comment cause it's the thing you keep saying in threads about things you like lol. 

 

I think it's clear at this point that Starfield didn't have the impact that Bethesda probably would have liked here, and as someone who's fairly into the game it left me a bit underwhelmed by its end. I don't think it's a hot mess like Cyberpunk was though, it's just a little too safe and has far too many guardrails in its design that prevent all the different gameplay systems from really working in concert with each other (wtf is the point in fuel?). 

 

I don't think Starfield's problem is in its empty space or proc gen content. Games can use empty space to great effect, BOTW and SoTC show this. Hell, Skyrim probably shows this. It's more that it kinda makes it a little too smooth an experience to really replicate a feeling of space travel. Like they need something in there where you're forced to make an emergency landing on a 'barren' planet, make some space ship repairs and deal with the dangers on the surface, resupply and take off. Things like that, these are the things which feel missing to me. 

 

They also need a more immersive economy system I think which better rewards the piracy and outposts systems.

 

Basically I don't think there's anything wrong with the 'empty by design' comment, but what I think is that their 'design' lacks the intentionality needed to take advantage of that emptiness. Empty does not imply pointless, but in Starfield it often can be. Which is why I'm waiting for those expansions! Or 2.0, which seems to be the trend nowadays with problematic AAA releases

[Maryokutai]

In this space exploration context, I think 'empty by design' works better if the entire experience is seamless à la No Man's Sky. In that specific case it actually does make everything more believable, while simultaneously removing the frustration you might feel when you deliberately pick a planet, land on it, wait through the loading screen, and find nothing in front of you. It's the equivalent of an empty cabin in a fantasy RPG – if you can quickly peek inside and notice there's nothing in there, you just move on, but you appreciate it being there because it makes the world feel lived in. I you had to click on the door and transition via loading screen, you'd appreciate it less.

 

Looking back I think that's the reason the game didn't work as well for me as it could have, because all those planets turned out to be forgettable content instead of a measure of scale. I really enjoyed the game when I was on a hand-crafted planet and observing the scenery and doing quests. But everything in between those moments did nothing for me.