Starfield Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[deuxhero]

Planets are just RNG dungeons of very finite size. I expected nothing, but I'm still amazed at how bad they fucked up.

 

[Zeriel]

I always find it so lazy when they make Earth in game but it's either unexplorable or just a flat wasteland. Like, sure, it doesn't have to be civilized, but why not make jungles or wasteland with random ruins and ancient cities that have decayed into just broken down stubs of buildings, etc? That would be super cool to explore and loot stuff. Instead we get le desert.

 

[EvilWolf]

Did Fallout 4 have the same level of mod support as Skyrim? There is so much variety in the Skyrim modding scene it's almost more difficult to try to find a concept for a mod someone hasn't tried to execute. I didn't think Fallout 4 had the same level of devotion dedicated to it.

It got the same support from Bethesda, but didn't attract the same following as Skyrim. The Fallout 4 mods selection is immense, probably one of the largest in gaming, but it distinctly lagged behind Skyrim's in scope and variety.

Some people blame Bethesda for withholding the tools for a couple of months post-launch, others the Fallout IP, and others still chalk it up to fantasy vs. science fiction in general, but I suspect there's another major factor at play - cannibalisation. Skyrim's modding scene reached critical mass in its time and simply kept going and going, so once Fallout 4 came out, some modders just stuck around in their already established ballpit and they're still there today.

Starfield runs similar risks and this is also one of the reasons I maintain swapping engines would be nuts - if you already lose modders along the way from one Creation Engine title to another, giving up on the CK altogether would yield a catastrophic dropoff. And mods are the lifeblood of Bethesda games' longevity because, as a wise man once said: See that thing we couldn't be arsed with? You can fix it!

The problem was a mixture of things.
1. The IP lending itself to a more established character with set goals and the player being an extension of the character versus TES where the character is an extension of the player.
2. The Creation Engine was barely getting by running the vanilla game when OG Skyrim was released, this has improved GREATLY with each re-release, the initial release of Fallout 4 had these same issues and most likely took Bethesda longer to setup the infrastructure for a modding pipeline like Skyrim had.
3. The possibility that, from what I heard which possibly isn't the case, the game had more hard coded elements than previous Bethesda games which limited the scope of what could be done through modding.

 

[Late Bloomer]

It Could Take 130 Hours To Really Start Starfield, Bethesda Exec Says​

Pete Hines says he needed to get past the main quest before Starfield ‘really [got] going’​

https://kotaku.com/how-long-to-beat-starfield-xbox-release-date-bethesda-1850774572

“80 hours in, I went from doing one game to a completely different game where I started really focusing on the main quest,” said Hines, “and then I got so caught up in the main quest, that I spent the next 50 hours just doing that. [...] I’m here to tell you that this game doesn’t really even get going until you finish the main quest.”

 

[Zeriel]

I remember Cyberpunk devs saying the game had 200~ hours of content. Then when people played it it turned out it was a 15-20 hour game for most people who mainlined the story, and in fact this was the proper way to play it, as everything else sucked.

Never trust a studio's pre-release lies--er, conjecture about their own game.

 

[Just Locus]

"Open the map to explore another region, or return to your ship."

In a space exploration game, you cannot fully explore the planets you find in space.

THAT'S LIKE MAKING A ROLEPLAYING GAME WITH NO ROLEPLAYI- Oh, wait.

 

[Zeriel]

Honestly, the boundary thing doesn't bother me much.

The tiles being 99% full of nothing or repetitive bullshit will be more annoying. The best (only good part?) of modern Bethesda games was exploring handcrafted environments. I like Daggerfall, but I like it for pushing boundaries and being very ambitious and systems-driven for its era. This game isn't like that, so it's taking the worst part of Daggerfall's proc gen and none of its best elements.

 

[Just Locus]

The tiles being 99% full of nothing or repetitive bullshit will be more annoying.

Bethesda could've very easily scaled the worlds to be more small (Fallout 4/Fallout 76 world scale) and have more quantity and quality content, it's never "All empty" or "not empty but small as a box"

 

[Hace El Oso]

Bethesda could've very easily scaled the worlds to be more small (Fallout 4/Fallout 76 world scale) and have more quantity and quality content, it's never "All empty" or "not empty but small as a box"

That's a poor No Man's Sky/Spore 'solution' for a game that is trying to depict space and alien planets with some kind of 'realisticity'. All the believability would evaporate. Elite: Dangerous, the only other recent game I can think of that tries to transmit the sensation of scale, functionally works the same way.

I don't think 'emptiness' is the issue here, but the way that you transport yourself from zone to zone. Just hitting 'Fast Travel' and rematerializing elsewhere is not good enough.

 

[Konjad]

I liked how it was done in Precursors. You couldn't explore a whole planet but you had large areas and they had something interesting to see or other points of interests spread out.

 

[Elthosian]

Some people around here had already said it was going to have bubbles around landing zones but the fun thing is Pete Hines went and claimed during Gamescom that you would be able to walk across the entire planet and now it turns out it's not possible. And the dude claimed to have played 150 hours and "wasn't even close to seeing everything"

 

[mediocrepoet]

Some people around here had already said it was going to have bubbles around landing zones but the fun thing is Pete Hines went and claimed during Gamescom that you would be able to walk across the entire planet and now it turns out it's not possible. And the dude claimed to have played 150 hours and "wasn't even close to seeing everything"

Whaaat? Pete Hines said something that turned out not to be true while making hype for an unreleased game!?

Now that IS news! Holy crap!

 

[Caim]

It Could Take 130 Hours To Really Start Starfield, Bethesda Exec Says​

Pete Hines says he needed to get past the main quest before Starfield ‘really [got] going’​

https://kotaku.com/how-long-to-beat-starfield-xbox-release-date-bethesda-1850774572

“80 hours in, I went from doing one game to a completely different game where I started really focusing on the main quest,” said Hines, “and then I got so caught up in the main quest, that I spent the next 50 hours just doing that. [...] I’m here to tell you that this game doesn’t really even get going until you finish the main quest.”

I mean, I could fuck around in Skyrim for 130 hours and still not have finished the main quest.

 

[Perkel]

The enduring criticism of all Elder Scrolls has been that the leveling system allows you to be "good at everything," yet in my own playthroughs of each game I've never found that to be the case. Leveling a full Fighter/Archer/Mage, regardless of game, requires more time and grinding than I've ever cared to spend. It's like saying you can technically max out all skills to 300 in Fallout 2 but the time that would take is so prohibitive no one is going to bother.

Better criticism is to say Skyrim is so easy it doesn't matter what you're good at, the game can be beaten regardless of build.

There are many things to criticize Skyrim about but leveling system is not it. It's perk system was bland as hell but the just main way to rise skills was good. It was improvement of previous games.

The issue is that their previous system was brough more or less from daggerfall etc. And with such game you had essentially infinite content to play your build. If you wanted to be tomb rider which required lockpicking etc. you could play 100s of hours like that.

 

[Moink]

Spoiler

 

[Deadass]

Spoiler

the sacrifice of mechs was well worth the effort

 

[DJOGamer PT]

There's a "Cancel" option
So my guess is that you can keep exploring past that point
Those "boundries" then likely exist to simply warn players that they are leaving the area of the planet with any sort of content - or perhaps by that "explore another region" part, it warns players are straying too far off the ship

 

[Space Satan]

 

[Puukko]

For every masterpiece...

 

[Butter]

It Could Take 130 Hours To Really Start Starfield, Bethesda Exec Says​

Pete Hines says he needed to get past the main quest before Starfield ‘really [got] going’​

https://kotaku.com/how-long-to-beat-starfield-xbox-release-date-bethesda-1850774572

“80 hours in, I went from doing one game to a completely different game where I started really focusing on the main quest,” said Hines, “and then I got so caught up in the main quest, that I spent the next 50 hours just doing that. [...] I’m here to tell you that this game doesn’t really even get going until you finish the main quest.”

Hey guys, it's me, Pete Hines, senior VP of Marketing at Bethesda. I'm here to tell you our new game's main quest is so fucking awful that the game doesn't even get going until you're finished with it. Make sure to buy the Ultra Pay Piggy Edition that comes with a shitty watch.

 

[Atrachasis]

There's a "Cancel" option
So my guess is that you can keep exploring past that point
Those "boundries" then likely exist to simply warn players that they are leaving the area of the planet with any sort of content - or perhaps by that "explore another region" part, it warns players are straying too far off the ship

More likely, "Cancel" means "Turn around by 180 degrees and keep walking within the bubble".

Which would be a shame. Still, Noctis IV demonstrated that there is fun to be had within bubbles.

 

[racofer]

STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM

 

[Zombra]

Screenshots of all skills have been leaked. Notes mine for skills whose functions aren't blindingly obvious. source

Spoiler

Com-1	Ballistics
Com-1	Dueling
Com-1	Lasers
Com-1	Pistol Certification
Com-1	Shotgun Certification
Com-2	Demolitions
Com-2	Heavy Weapons
Com-2	Incapacitation	EM weapon bonuses
Com-2	Particle Beams
Com-2	Rifle Certification
Com-3	Marksmanship	Ranged criticals
Com-3	Rapid Reloading
Com-3	Sniper Certification	Better weapon sway
Com-3	Targeting	Hipshooting
Com-4	Armor Penetration
Com-4	Crippling	Put enemies in a "downed state"
Com-4	Sharpshooting	Better criticals
Phy-1	Boxing	Unarmed damage/stamina
Phy-1	Fitness	O2 (stamina) boost
Phy-1	Stealth	Stealth meter, sneak attack damage
Phy-1	Weight-Lifting	Carry capacity
Phy-1	Wellness	Straight hit point boost
Phy-2	Pain Tolerance	Straight up damage reduction
Phy-2	Nutrition	Better healing from food
Phy-2	Gymnastics	Combat slide, move faster, jump higher
Phy-2	Environmental Conditioning	Enviro damage resistance
Phy-2	Energy Weapon Dissipation	Energy damage resistance
Phy-3	Cellular Regeneration	Increased injury recovery
Phy-3	Decontamination	Increased infection recovery
Phy-3	Martial Arts	Improved crit, disarm, blocking w unarmed AND melee weapons
Phy-4	Concealment	Avoid traps, better stealth
Phy-4	Neurostrikes	Unarmed status effects
Phy-4	Rejuvenation	Straight up health regen
Sci-1	Astrodynamics	Better grav jumps
Sci-1	Geology	Rocks: scan better, more resources
Sci-1	Medicine
Sci-1	Research Methods	All crafting & research cheaper and faster
Sci-1	Surveying	Better hand scanner range
Sci-2	Botany	Plants: scan better, more resources
Sci-2	Scanning	Scan planets for resources, scan ships for various info
Sci-2	Spacesuit Design	Armor mod crafting
Sci-2	Weapon Engineering	Weapon mod crafting
Sci-2	Zoology	Critters: scan better, more resources
Sci-3	Astrophysics	Improved planetary scanning
Sci-3	Chemistry	Craft chems
Sci-3	Outpost Engineering	Unlocks better modules
Sci-4	Special Projects	Research experimental projects, craft rare components
Sci-4	Planetary Habitation	Build on inhospitable planets
Sci-4	Aneurtronic Fusion	Better ship reactors
Soc-1	Commerce	Simple % boost to buying and selling
Soc-1	Gastronomy	Crafting recipes
Soc-1	Persuasion	Speech challenges success boost
Soc-1	Scavenging	Find more resources, can highlight a particular resource at highest level
Soc-1	Theft	Pickpocketing
Soc-2	Deception	Better smuggling AND you are scarier as a pirate
Soc-2	Diplomacy	Force people to stop fighting
Soc-2	Intimidation	Force people to flee
Soc-2	Isolation	Huge "Lone Wolf" combat buffs
Soc-2	Negotiation	Unlocks bribery in speech challenges
Soc-3	Instigation	Turn enemies against each other
Soc-3	Leadership	Improved companion abilities
Soc-3	Outpost Management	Increased outpost capacity & production
Soc-4	Manipulation	Basically mind control
Soc-4	Ship Command	Increased ship crew capacity
Soc-4	Xenosociology	Control aliens
Tec-1	Ballistic Weapon Systems
Tec-1	Boost Pack Training
Tec-1	Piloting
Tec-1	Security	Lockpicking
Tec-1	Targeting Control Systems
Tec-2	Energy Weapon Systems
Tec-2	Engine Systems
Tec-2	Payloads	Ship cargo capacity
Tec-2	Shield Systems
Tec-3	Missile Weapon Systems
Tec-3	Particle Beam Systems
Tec-3	Robotics	Extra damage vs robots, control robots
Tec-3	Starship Design	Unlocks better modules
Tec-3	Starship Engineering	Ship damage resistance & repair speed
Tec-4	Automated Weapon Systems
Tec-4	Boost Assault Training	Inflict status effects, bullet time in ADS when boosting
Tec-4	EM Weapon Systems

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Soc-4	Manipulation	Basically mind control
Soc-4	Xenosociology	Control aliens

Neato.

 

[Zombra]

Neato.

I think my favorite is Diplomacy - at Rank 4 you can use the ability to make someone stop fighting permanently (unless you attack them again). Visions of a character who just walks around going "Yo leave me alone" and people are like "whatever noob" and go back to what they were doing